How had they found us? Was it the phone? I crouched into a ready stance as I studied them. Full tactical gear wasn’t meant for a walk in the desert for fun. Were they here to take us back or to take us out?
“Lyra!” Colin cried out.
I delivered a low roundhouse kick to sweep his feet out from under him, but he leapt back. Dorian successfully regained his balance and blocked a punch from Roxy. He flipped her onto her back with a resounding thud, and I heard the air explode from her lungs.
“Why aren’t you running? They said he kidnapped you!” Roxy yelled.
Who were they? Uncle Alan’s face popped into my mind. Him and his delightful board members discussing the extermination plans.
“You’ve got it all wrong. We don’t want to fight you,” I said through gritted teeth. Colin hesitated, but Roxy threw herself at Dorian again.
“We have orders, Colin!” She delivered a sudden kick to Dorian’s side. He slid on the dusty ground, unable to find purchase on the smooth surface until he raked his sharp nails into the hard earth.
Colin’s fist flew out toward me. I grabbed it and used his own momentum against him to throw him into Roxy, who had crouched to come at Dorian again. They collapsed into a tangle of limbs, the metal of their uniforms clinking as they collided. It gave Dorian enough time to rush back to my side. We took our stances as the two got back up.
What could I say to convince them? The more we fought, the more energy we lost.
“I don’t want to fight you, and I think you’ll realize why when I show you something,” I said. “The Bureau is lying to you. You don’t know what’s going on.”
Roxy raised a mocking eyebrow and sneered at me. “Oh, Lyra. You always thought you were Little Miss Hero, didn’t you? But I guess even you aren’t immune to being manipulated by monsters.” She lunged at me, and we fell back, sliding down the canyon as Dorian and Colin exchanged blows. The wind howled in my ears as Roxy forced her entire weight onto my body.
She was strong, but I was pissed. And better at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It was no secret that she often challenged me, even during missions where I was in charge, but I had never lost to her. I didn’t plan on changing that now.
I threw her off me, growing impatient. “Please listen to me.” What if she decided to radio the Bureau to confirm our location?
“We’re trying to save your ungrateful ass,” Roxy snapped bitterly as she swiped blood from her mouth.
I narrowed my eyes. “Save someone else. I don’t want it. I don't need it. Would you just listen to me?”
“I know this may come as a surprise,” Roxy snarled, “but I’m not taking orders from you right now.”
We returned to blows. I could hear Colin’s pained grunting as he fought off Dorian’s maneuvers. Dorian didn’t look like he was breaking a sweat as he batted Colin around. I narrowly dodged another punch, my break in focus nearly costing me my consciousness. Roxy was arrogant and crazed at the moment, a dangerous combination.
Her kick flew above my head. I’d dropped low just in time. As she tried to bring her foot crashing down, I ducked under the incoming blow and tackled her, slamming us to the ground. Her helmet struck the hard earth as she went down. I took advantage, assuming a controlling position over her torso, but her eyes were closed. She was knocked out.
I looked up to find Dorian holding up a similarly unconscious Colin, whom he leaned against a boulder. I dragged Roxy’s limp form over to join his. Dorian and I took a step back, examining the wreckage of our battle. Roxy was even more of a pain in the butt when she was trying to help me.
“Some of the bags made it,” he said. Five still survived, but the others had burst and emptied. The water had already nearly disappeared into the parched ground.
“Collect them. We don’t have much time.” Before he moved, I grabbed his elbow abruptly and stared into his glacial eyes. “Dorian. They don’t know what’s going on. The Bureau is still lying. My friends—” My choked ending was lost in the wind as it whipped past us, the sand scrubbing my skin.
We both had our teammates and loved ones pitting themselves against us.
He nodded solemnly. His hand found mine and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Let’s get back.”
Chapter Three
Fantastic. My old team was hunting me down, and now I got to drag their unconscious bodies through the desert. I blew a stray hair out of my face as I hurriedly patted down Roxy and Colin for any equipment that could be used to track us. Less than twenty-four hours after our daring escape from Phoenix, and the Bureau was officially on our tail. In any other situation, I would have been proud of how quickly the team had tracked the target and moved in. It was a little more complicated when I was on the receiving end of the Bureau’s power.
Dorian stooped beside me. I studied his face, seeing how it teemed with shadows and dread. Our eyes met in a silent exchange. We would have to do something with Roxy and Colin.
“We can’t leave them here,” I said. “They might get picked off by a redbill for lunch.”
“What’s the benefit of bringing them with us?” Dorian asked, skeptical.
“We get to interrogate them and get a sense of the Bureau’s plans. They can tell us numbers. Facts are better than speculation,” I insisted.
“Fine.” Dorian’s resistance faded. Bringing them in brought another issue with us—we would have to inform our merry group of new vampires.
“Can’t be helped,” I muttered bitterly.
We moved quickly. I grabbed the comms off Colin and Roxy. Dorian took one, I the other, and we stomped them into pieces. It was best to grind the components almost into dust to make sure there were no tracking components left. With the bits of comm already being consumed by the desert, we hauled their bodies down the rest of the canyon. Dorian hoisted Colin’s body over one shoulder, and I took Roxy in a military carry across both shoulders. It wasn’t the first time I had carried her out of a mission like this on account of her recklessness.
Part of me wished we had time to tear their uniforms and gear off. The added weight wasn’t doing us any favors in the hot sun.
A figure appeared at the mouth of the cave but darted back in before I could identify them. Almost certainly a vampire. Dorian sighed, sounding exhausted already. My stomach sank with a nervous weight.
The sound of muffled arguing became audible. The deck was already stacked against us, and we didn’t have another second to lose.
I kept close behind Dorian, being careful not to bang Roxy’s head on the wall as I slipped her off my shoulder. Dragging my old teammates into a cavern of vampires. Despite Roxy and Colin’s aggression, maybe there was something I could’ve said to make them calm down in the desert. Everything had happened too fast.
We entered the main cavern to find nearly everyone waiting for us. Their voices died as soon as Dorian took a step inside. That wasn’t the reaction I wanted, but I couldn’t blame the vampires. The phone had gone off an hour before, and we were now bringing them a gift of unconscious soldiers. While the former might not be the cause of the latter, it was easy to interpret it that way.
I couldn’t see Dorian’s face, but I could feel the tension radiating into the air. Vampires huddled on one side of the cave in the darkest of the shadows, most with tightly drawn expressions. Gina and Bryce sat on the sandy floor near the far passageway that led to where Zach was resting. I sucked in an anxious breath, preparing myself for a barrage of questions, but Dorian spoke first.