Dancing in the Dark - 14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14.

Viktor and I systematically searched the building, killing everyone we found. We seemed to have entered the place where all the guards congregated, and some of them put up a fight, but mostly they were just so surprised that we were able to kill them before they ever even got to say anything.

We finally found our way to what looked like medical labs, and at this point the keycard I had stolen stopped working. The guard obviously didn’t have clearance to get into this area.

“Should we wait for someone to come out so we don’t raise an alarm?” Viktor asked. I considered it for a second then shook my head.

“We’ve killed most of the guards I think, and the longer we wait the more likely it is that someone notices something is wrong. Whatever guards are left are probably going to rotate to new positions soon and we might not get a chance to get a new card before that happens. We need to keep moving, but I don’t want to leave people behind us.”

Viktor nodded, then grabbed the door and pulled. It was a stronger door than the one in the downtown office building, and although it moved, he couldn’t get it open on the first try. I could feel his magic drain out of me slightly, although I couldn’t sense what he was doing with it. The third time he pulled on the door it came open with a kind of screeching, screaming sound and triggered an alarm.

The main lights dimmed, red lights started flashing and there was a low warning sound. It was like something out of a television show. I laughed.

“That is too fucking precious,” I giggled, “it’s like something out of a movie.”

Viktor cast me an amused look and with a final yank the door came open. There wasn’t anyone in the medical labs, although I knew that there was at least one person who should be here. We swept the rooms quickly, and moved on.

The alarms went on and on as we continued searching and we eventually found the cells. The first ones were tiny little rooms with small windows in the doors, and sections that could be opened to pass through items with little danger to whoever was on the outside. Viktor hesitated when he saw the occupants and I’m pretty sure he wanted to find a way to release them, but I was too focussed on finding Miri.

We found her unexpectedly when we came through a door into a large, barn-like area. Well, what a barn would look like if it was also a prison. We froze and I scanned the area quickly, taking in the guards positioned throughout the room, who all had their weapons trained on us. I immediately stepped in front of Viktor and my eyes locked with a tall man who held a rope in his left hand, a long knife in his right hand. I followed the line of the rope and saw that it was attached to a collar around Miri’s neck.

My blood began to boil in my veins and Viktor placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing firmly. Miri was staring vacantly into the distance, and as her eyes slowly came into focus and settled on me I saw them flare with hope and then it died away again. She looked like her soul had died.

“Mr. Atwood,” the man with the rope said in clipped tones. “It’s good to finally meet you.” He gave a brief smile, like we were meeting over coffee to discuss a business venture. I just stared at him. His smile faded.

“Yes. Well. We have something you obviously hold dear. We’re willing to negotiate with you to end this without any more loss of life,” he said.

“No,” I answered.

“No?” he repeated.

I looked around the room at all the guards, and saw a young man in a lab coat standing close behind Miri. He had an ID pinned to his chest, and in one of those crystal clear moments of synchronicity, VIktor leaned forward and whispered the name on the ID in my ear.

“No,” I said again, “you’re all dead. You just haven’t stopped breathing yet.” Shocked silence met my words and Viktor breathed in sharply. His magic stirred within me, bleeding out to mingle with my own magic that enveloped us like a shield.

“You think you can kill us all before I gut her?” the man answered with a short laugh.

“No,” I said, and lifted my sword to point it at the lab technician. “Your boyfriend asked me not to kill you,” I told him, “said you never hurt anything in your life. I left him alive.” Adam’s eyes went very wide and his gaze flickered to rest on Miri’s collar while the man holding the leash shifted slightly. Viktor and I moved the second he did and as the collar unsnapped from Miri’s neck, Viktor’s gun rang out and with a howl of pain the guy in charge dropped his knife.

I stepped into the barrage of gunfire the came our way half a second later, ignoring the bursts of agony as I was hit. For a few short seconds everything was mayhem and Viktor and I tore through the first line of guards. My magic mingled with Viktor’s and roared through us, healing my wounds almost instantly.

I was vaguely aware of Adam dragging Miri away, and then a stray bullet hit my head and everything went black. I think I was only out for fifteen seconds at most before I came to, lying on the ground. The sight before me was horrifying.

Viktor was in a state of unholy rage, practically vibrating with the intensity of it, crouched over me and snarling at the guards who had trained their weapons on him but were holding fire. Time slowed, and I saw how scared they all were, faced with a being so much stronger, faster and angry as all fuck. My eyes settled on a young man who was shaking he was so nervous.

The boss man was shouting at them all to hold their fire, to keep the vampire alive. My hand twitched and moved to touch Viktor’s cheek, let him know I was ok, even though I knew he could feel it through our bond.

Time was still crawling and I realised my mistake too late. That young guy broke, I watched as his eyes lost any trace of sanity as my arm moved to touch my mate, even though seconds earlier I had been dead, my brains splattered across the floor.

The crack of the gun was deafeningly loud in the big room. I stopped breathing as the bullet hit Viktor right between the eyes and his head snapped backwards.

I don’t really know what happened next. Viktor’s magic dissipated, melting out of my magic, and my body and my mind. My magic went haywire, trying to hold onto it, to hold onto him. All I could feel was a sudden and complete emptiness that appeared out of nowhere and that my magic couldn’t fill because it was too busy trying to hold onto the man who for a few short days had made me whole.

When I became aware again everyone in the room was dead. Bodies and parts of bodies were sprawled around me, sightless empty eyes staring at nothing everywhere I looked. I was soaked in blood, and where the smell of it was usually a comfort to me, now it just made me nauseous. I dropped to my knees beside Viktor’s body, just kneeling there and looking at him.

I started screaming then, screaming and screaming my pain and trying to feel him.

But he was gone.

Dead.