Olivia forced herself not to flinch from him. His kind thrived on seeing fear in others. “You can keep me. Just let her go.”
“No,” Mindy said.
“She’s right. We’re not letting either of you go,” he said. “You might as well set that pretty little head to accepting your new existence because it’s all you’ll ever see for the rest of your miserable little life.” Suddenly, he grabbed her breast and ran his other hand down her stomach. His vile touch turned her stomach. “Too bad you’re spoken for or I’d enjoy banging you against this wall while your friend watched helplessly.” He smiled, showing the tips of his fangs. “Instead you will be the one to watch as your friend lives her worst nightmare.”
He stepped away suddenly and motioned for the couple to come forward. In a flash, they were at Mindy’s sides. When they both sank their fangs into Mindy’s neck, she screamed the most horrible scream Olivia had ever heard. Olivia struggled as fat tears streamed out of her eyes. Her pleas for them to stop fell on deaf ears.
The man who evidently ran this den headed up the stairs, looking very pleased with himself.
“You’re going to die for this, you monster!” she yelled at him.
He smiled at her. “That I highly doubt.”
She’d never hated anyone so much in her life. She closed her eyes and prayed that Campbell found them soon, before the couple drained Mindy dry. Before the sound of Mindy’s screams drove Olivia mad with grief and guilt.
* * *
Sometime during the feeding, Mindy passed out. Olivia’s tears flowed a long time after the vampires left. She wanted nothing more than to be able to pull Mindy into her arms, but she was as helpless as anyone else hanging from this cold stone wall.
“I’m sorry about your friend.”
Olivia looked beyond Mindy to a young woman and realized it was Jennifer Watson, who’d been abducted behind her apartment building. “Me, too. How are you doing?”
“Still here,” she said with a shaky smile that seemed to cost her all her energy. “Not sure how much longer I can take this, though. I wonder if I’ll die or go crazy first.”
Though her own hope had suffered a lot in the aftermath of Mindy’s ordeal, Olivia found she wanted to give this young woman a reason to believe they’d be rescued. “I have faith someone will find us.”
“Someone named Campbell?” Jennifer shook her head. “There’s no way anyone can find us down here. There are too many vampires.”
Olivia looked toward the door and wished she had just one bit of knowledge—what time it was, where they were, if Campbell even knew she’d been taken. Deciding to focus on something she could determine, she looked past Jennifer. She recognized the teenage boy who’d been snatched up on his way to school. There were four others, but she didn’t recognize them. The reporter, Leila Russell, wasn’t among them.
“Has there been anyone else kept down here?”
Jennifer leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. Were it not for the shackles holding her up, Olivia had no doubt Jennifer would crumple to the floor.
“A couple,” Jennifer said. “One...one boy died. Another woman was taken somewhere else.”
“Leila Russell?”
“Yeah.” Jennifer shook her head slowly. “I’m not sure if I saw this or dreamed it, but I’d swear a man in a black cloak took her. I couldn’t see his face, but...there was something terrifying about him. It was more than him just being a vampire.”
Olivia swallowed past the dryness in her throat and prayed again that Campbell and the rest of V Force found them soon.
Jennifer lapsed into silence and Olivia thought maybe she’d fallen asleep or passed out. Endless minutes passed with the occasional moan from someone else in the room. The minutes stretched until Olivia wondered if they’d become hours.
“Liv?” Mindy said, sounding weak.
“I’m right here. I’m so sorry, Min. I never meant for any of this to happen. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to prevent them from taking you.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It is.” Fresh tears ran down her cheeks.
Mindy was quiet for several moments before she spoke again. “It’s not your fault. The world just isn’t a good place anymore.”
Olivia didn’t like the tone of Mindy’s voice, as if she was giving up. “Min, listen to me. We will get out of this. I swear to you, I will figure out a way.” She thought she saw a weak smile on Mindy’s lips, one of those that said she didn’t believe a word she was hearing but appreciated the effort.
The door at the top of the stairs opened and the slick vampire descended, thankfully alone this time. He didn’t even spare them a glance as he walked the length of the room and opened a door at the end. After a long moment passed, three people in cloaks walked in. Hoods obscured their faces as they seemed to glide into the room, ever closer to Olivia. When she could see them better, she noticed two of them wore red while one was cloaked in deep black. The story Jennifer had told about Leila caused Olivia’s heart to accelerate. If they took her out of here, she feared she’d never be found and be doomed to a life of horror.
“This is the one I told you about,” the slick guy said. “She’s not been tapped, and she’s AB negative just like you requested.”
Olivia pressed her back against the wall as if she could dissolve into it. The pain she’d seen on Mindy’s face as she’d been fanged made Olivia’s neck burn in dread.
The person in the black cloak nodded once, and the ones in red stepped forward and unshackled her. Immediately, she fought them, but it did no good. Their grips were ironclad.
“No,” Mindy said, her voice still weak but determined. “Let her go.”
They ignored Mindy’s pleas as much as Olivia’s struggles as they dragged Olivia toward the door at the end of the room.
“Liv!” Mindy called out, a bit more forcefully.
“Stay strong,” Olivia said right before she was dragged into a dark corridor and the door shut behind her.
She couldn’t help the thought that the door had just shut forever on the life that she’d known.
* * *
When night finally fell, everyone was already geared up without any direction from Campbell. They knew their jobs and did them well. They all had their own reasons for wanting to put lowlife vampires like Salmeri away.
An hour before Salmeri was supposed to be at the club, Campbell texted Matt with Team 2 that they were heading out and his team should do the same. Everyone had their assigned positions and would be in them within minutes.
Campbell had to tell himself over and over to stay in control, stick with the plan. It was the best way to ensure Olivia, Mindy and the others stayed safe. The best way to make sure they found them and made certain this time Salmeri paid for his crimes. That he didn’t hurt anyone else.
They fell into the premission silence as they walked the now familiar series of hallways to the garage. They climbed into their new truck and Colin drove them out on their first foray since the bombing. Campbell could tell by the focused look on everyone’s faces that they were eager not only to save the human abductees but also to dish out some retribution for Billy’s death.
Colin parked in the dark alley they’d chosen for the express purpose of staying hidden from any vamp who might tip off Salmeri. Still without speaking, they all slipped out into the night and blended with the shadows as they walked the final three blocks to the edge of the Tribeca vampire-club strip. Campbell held up his hand, indicating everyone should stop while he checked in with Matt.
“You guys ready?” he asked over the radio as he looked up to the rooflines surrounding Universal Donor.
“All set here,” Matt said back, and gave Campbell a two-fingered salute from his post across the street. Dressed as he was all in black, he blended against the night sky behind him.
Despite the fact he didn’t need it, Campbell took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “Okay, here we go.
