And was furious.
“You’re out of your mind if you think I’m hiding in this box.”
“I don’t have time to argue,” Bones cut me off, shoving me inside. “There are monitors, a phone, your cell, and more of your belongings. These are ghouls attacking. With those rumors Majestic said were swirling around, who do you think they’ll target? You, and anyone guarding you. If you remain out of sight, it will improve the chances of everyone fighting, so for God’s sake, Kitten, stay here.”
One glance at Bones’s blazing eyes told me that awake or lights out, I would be in this shelter.
“You have a monitor facing this door,” he went on, tapping another button on an interior panel. “If anyone you don’t recognize tries to get in, you hit this. Now back away.”
Without waiting for me to comply, he pushed me farther into the room and hit the exterior device. The door slid shut with a heavy clinking sound of locks settling into place. They quieted with a finality that was appropriate for the settings. I was sealed in.
Something caught my attention farther back in this shoe box. Monitors. There were six of them, all with different angles. One pointed toward the closet exterior, as Bones had said, but the others were aimed at the outer grounds. It startled me to see the exterior of the house, because it spoke volumes about where we were. No wonder I hadn’t been allowed to even step outside. From the looks of it, I was in a small castle. I hadn’t been able to tell that from the inside, considering how modern the interior was.
Dawn was just breaking. The sparse lightening of the sky made it easier to see the rush of activity outside, since it didn’t appear that the cameras had night vision. Most of the angles were fixed at points around the castle, but one was aimed at the sloping hill of the lower yard.
I gasped. There were so
Over a hundred ghouls marched with lethal steadiness up the uneven ground. They were all armed. Some held even more deadly devices than guns or knives, like rocket launchers. How many people were here? Bones, Spade, Rodney, Ian…and a few guards, Spade had said. Against such numbers, it would be a slaughter.
A man strode up from the ranks and approached the castle. He was of medium height, with salt-and-pepper hair and a commanding manner. He was saying something, but the damn monitors didn’t have sound. The room was too reinforced for my ears, so I couldn’t hear on my own, either. Whatever it was, it didn’t appear to be well received. Bones pointed an emphatic finger at the man, and it wasn’t his index one. The guy spat at the ground before whirling around and returning to the others.
With or without sound, it was clear that negotiations wouldn’t happen.
The first of the machine guns began firing. As one, the vampires took to the air, while Rodney manned a machine gun of his own. I was relieved to see some unfamiliar faces come from the castle to join Bones and the others. The vampires disappeared from the screens for a few seconds, reemerging as they bombarded the ghouls like their bodies were inhuman missiles. When they flew off in bursts of speed, either the ghoul would be headless on the ground, or dazed.
It was an incredible sight to see. From my rapid calculation, there were a dozen vampires guarding the castle, and each one of them struck with the force of a guided tornado.
Except it didn’t appear to be enough. The ghouls who survived the fierce one-on-ones didn’t stay dazed long. They shook themselves off and began their grim march forward. Step by step, they were covering the distance to the castle. Their numbers were lessening, true, but they had an obvious determination. Bones and the others might be formidable, but math was math. There weren’t enough of them.
After about twenty minutes of fierce fighting, the ghoul spokesman fired a flare, illuminating the still-muted sky in a blaze. I tensed, my hand pressed against the unforgiving screen as if that could offer assistance. It didn’t, of course. And the others forces began emerging from beneath the cover of the lower hills.
I screamed, vaulting up and tugging at the door to my sealed cage. It didn’t even budge. I started searching to find the lever to open this trap. There had to be one.
My heart was pounding so loudly, it seemed to be screaming along with me. Another hundred ghouls had just come from the concealment of the landscape. They had attacked in two waves, a clever, deadly plan. Pick just before dawn when the vampires were weakest. Have them expend their power on the first segment, draining them further. Then, when they were at their weariest, close in for the kill. And here was I, locked in a safe room, utterly helpless to do anything but watch.
A ring shattered my concentration. With my hammering pulse, I actually waited a second to see if it was real or imagined. It sounded again, and I had to wade through the spilled items I’d flung about to find its source. Underneath some clothes was my cell phone. I grabbed at it, hoping against hope that it was Don. Maybe he could help. Send some troops, even if I didn’t know where the fuck we were.
“Catherine.”
The voice reached me before I’d even had time to gasp hello. It wasn’t my uncle.
“Gregor.”
I was breathing heavily, a combination of my broken ribs, terror over losing Bones, and my futile search for a way out.
“Don’t be afraid, my wife.”
His tone was soothing, but it had an undercurrent of something else. What, I didn’t know or care.
“I don’t have time for this…” Spaces were needed to catch my breath. “Have to get out of here…”
“You are in no danger.”
That made a harsh laugh escape me. “Boy, are you wrong.”
“They won’t harm you, Catherine.”
Now I clutched the phone and recognized what his voice held. Confidence.
“These are your ghouls, aren’t they?” I breathed.
On the screen, Bones was regrouping the vampires nearest to him, dodging gunfire with every second. The earlier scene made sense to me now. An envoy had approached and made a demand that Bones refused. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that demand was. That’s why Bones had me under lock and key. He knew I wouldn’t have sacrificed everyone if I could help it.
“It doesn’t have to end this way,
“What you don’t know is that I’m locked in a panic room,” I snapped. “Even if I wanted to, I can’t go anywhere.”
“You don’t have to move from where you are to come to me,” he almost purred, “I am the Dreamsnatcher. I can get you if you but sleep.”
Sleep? Who could sleep at a time like this? The walls vibrated from the barrage of shooting, and I was going to throw up over what was on the monitors. Short of banging my head against the wall until I passed out, I didn’t see sleep happening.
“Easier said than done.”
My voice trailed off, losing its desperate scorn. Bones had packed this room with care. There were a few books, snack foods, beverages, writing utensils, and most importantly—pills.
I weighed the decision, glancing between the pill bottle and the desperate scenario playing out on the monitors.
It might be dangerous to go to him, but Bones and my friends were in far more danger now than I’d be with Gregor later. I couldn’t just sit back and hope a miracle would prevent them from being slaughtered before my eyes.
“I’ll do it, but not without conditions.”
Gregor made a disbelieving noise. “Perhaps you don’t know the seriousness of what’s happening.”
“I’ve got a bird’s-eye view,” I corrected him, biting my lip. “But I still have conditions.”
Another scoff. “I won’t harm you, Catherine.”
“That’s nice, but it’s not what I’m after.” God, the new force of ghouls was starting to fire, converging with the remaining first group. I didn’t have much time. “As soon as I’m with you, this attack stops. You’re responsible to make sure they get called off and stay called off. You want me to remember what happened with us? Fine, I’ll do it. But if after I remember everything, I still want to go back to Bones…you’ll let me leave, immediately, and without exception. It’s a gamble, Dreamsnatcher, how confident are you?”
I was deliberately going for his arrogance. There was no doubt in my mind that whatever I discovered, it wouldn’t change my feelings toward Bones. Gregor didn’t know that, of course. With my open challenge, he’d have to be insecure not to agree, and he didn’t strike me as insecure.
“I wouldn’t turn you out without protection, if it came to that. I would see you safely escorted,” was his careful, measured reply. “Yes, I am confident enough to gamble. Your terms are acceptable.”
I wasn’t going to let him mince words. “Swear it on your life, Gregor, because that’s what I’ll take if you’re lying.”
“You’re threatening me?” He sounded amused. “Fine. I swear it on my life.”
I released a deep sigh. I didn’t really trust Gregor, but I had to take the chance. If I didn’t, and everyone here died, I’d never forgive myself.
“All right. Get ready to do your stuff, because here I come.”
I snapped the cell phone shut and picked up the bottle of sleeping pills Bones had stored in case I needed to keep Gregor out. What he hadn’t guessed was that I might use them to let Gregor in.
Don had been very specific about the dosage. Four pills all at once. If I took less, they’d make me fall into normal sleep. I unscrewed the cap and popped two in my mouth, washing them down with a bottle of water. Then I grabbed a pen that had been stacked near my books. The pills metabolized quickly; I was already starting to feel dizzy. There wasn’t any paper in this cell, so I ripped out a page from one of the books and scribbled on the small blank space.
The words blurred before I was even done writing them. With my last effort, I stabbed them into place with the pen. Then my vision blackened completely.
I was running, except for once, I wasn’t being chased.
