The five of us head toward Brooks’s office where he turns his computer screen around so we can see the message.
“I just received an email with an address on it.”
I peer over Finn’s shoulder to get a look since he’s about half a foot shorter than me.
If he speaks, he lives. If he lies, he dies. He knows the consequences. 3832 East Dale Street, Room 24
“Is it a setup?” Finn asks.
“Only one way to find out,” Marcus says. But Marcus is always eager for a fight because he has this ludicrous idea that he’s invincible. “Brooks, do we have permission to head out?”
Brooks stares at the screen for a moment longer before nodding. “Permission granted, but please be cautious. You don’t know if this is a setup. We were set up not that long ago, and we don’t want it to happen again,” Brooks says, referring to the blood that’d been dumped on the group, leaving us to attack Finn, who’d been new at the time, because he’d been the only human in the vicinity. Thankfully, we hadn’t scared him off because he was able to calm us all down and keep us from attacking him or any other human. I think that’s when the majority of us started to respect him.
We head out, following Marcus to the vehicles we have access to. Since the VRC is such a specialized unit, there are few who make the cut. Many vampires can’t handle the blood that the unit requires them to be used to. But since the standard police and human homicide detectives are to pass every vampire case over to us, we’re stuck doing it all. Which is why we are the ones responding instead of a specialized team who are trained to handle possible hostage situations.
We get into an armored vehicle that’s driven by a woman who’s part of the VRC but not a detective. While she heads toward our destination, Marcus has us armor up. This is something rather new seeing as before Finn came, Marcus liked to think everyone was unbeatable. But then Finn came in with his reasonable explanations on why people shouldn’t purposely put themselves in danger without at least a bulletproof vest.
It made so much sense that it’s a wonder why a group of older vampires never thought of it.
“Karsyn, get your vest on,” Finn orders.
Alexei just grumbles at him as he pulls it out. Alexei Karsynov is one of those people who wants you aware that you irritate him while actually wanting you to irritate him. Especially Finn. For having the desire to eat the human not that long ago, he’s now quite friendly to him—friendly by Alexei’s standards, anyway.
“I should have eaten you when I had the chance,” Alexei says.
“Church might eat you back if you try,” I warn Alexei.
“Then why don’t you try?” he asks me, like he wants me to be eaten instead.
“Hayes, do you feel like you’ve accomplished a lot when your team discusses eating you?” Briar asks, sounding curious. She’s generally the more low-key one of the group besides me. The two of us, for the most part, just kind of go along with whatever’s happening. The other three are the ones who love making chaos, death threats, and ridiculous jokes—that last one is mostly Finn, although he’s been known to drag a joke or two out of Alexei. Marcus, on the other hand, seems to only want to joke with Finn, which is weird when he used to proclaim that humans were semi useless.
“Feels pretty good, if I’m being honest. It’s not often that men fight over me,” Finn jokes.
“I will destroy anyone who plans to fight over you,” Marcus growls. Marcus isn’t much of a sharer, even if no one actually is trying to take Finn or even wants him. Marcus just wants to make sure everyone is extremely aware that Finn is his, and he’ll fuck up anyone who thinks otherwise.
“Maybe we could focus and do actual work,” Alexei says as he pulls up an interactive image of the outside of the building. It’s an older motel with doors leading outside, instead of being on the inside like many hotels. “It looks like there’s only one window at the back and one in the front. Oh, and it appears that the back window is in the bathroom that’s attached to the room. DeGray and I can go around back and move in, just in case the abductor is still inside and tries to flee.”
Marcus nods as he moves the image around before zooming in. “Sounds good. The rest of us will go in through the front. Please be safe and we’ll move in together only once we’re positive it’s not a setup.”
“The woman working the desk said the room was booked online and that there isn’t anyone in the surrounding rooms,” Alexei says.
“Did she say how he got the key for the room?” Finn asks.
“She said he’d asked her to leave the key in a specific spot because he’d be in after dark.”
The moment the vehicle stops, Alexei and I move around to the back of the building. It makes it harder to tell the exact room since the numbers aren’t on this side, and we have to count windows to make sure we’re at the right one. I have an earpiece in my left ear that is connected to the others so Marcus can relay the information when they have a plan to move in.
“The window’s open,” I say as I slip past it so Alexei can be on the left and I’ll take the right.
“Smells like they left this way,” he whispers, but we don’t make a move to follow the trail just yet. It’s not extremely fresh, telling me they probably already hit the road.
Marcus’s voice sounds in my ear. “I have the key. We’re going to move in through the front. Are you two in position in case he’s inside?”
“We’re next to an open window. I can hear someone inside, but it seems to be a single person. Do DeGray and I have permission to move in through the back window?” Alexei asks.
“Yes. Be careful.” That’s when I hear the front door open and Alexei grabs the ledge to pull himself up. I hear something out toward the trees that separate the motel from the highway and look out into them. When a cat notices me and starts trotting toward me, I turn away and pull myself through the open window and join the others. We end up in the bathroom and push forward into the main room where Finn is checking the man who’d been on the video while the other two are securing the area.
“Looks like you’ve healed alright. Are you hurt anywhere else?” Finn asks as he carefully removes the gag.
“That fucking psychopath tried to kill me! He fucking tried to kill me!” Wilder cries. He’s hysterical as his voice rises and he throws his body around in the chair.
“We need you to calm down,” Finn says, voice gentle. We’ve quickly learned that he’s generally the best one to deal with people because he’s not menacing and his smile puts almost everyone at ease.
Wilder seems to notice Finn at that moment, but the look on his face is anything but at ease. “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to, human?” the man asks, a bite to his words.
Finn hesitates and glances over at Marcus who’d stilled at the sharp tone the vampire had used with Finn. Marcus rushes in front of Finn, ready to kick Wilder’s ass even though we’re supposed to be saving the man tied to a chair. The funny thing is we all respect Finn and care about him enough that if Marcus did it and blamed it on the attacker, not a single one of us would say otherwise.
“Do you have a problem with that?” Marcus says, voice extremely quiet as he leans into him. Wilder’s eyes get huge as he realizes quite quickly that he’d better not have a problem with it or he might wish the abductor hadn’t let him go. The thing about Marcus is that he has the aura to make everyone get a bit timid around him. Even I feel timid during times like this.