Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Valen is gone, and I hear an ear-piercing screech from somewhere close.
“Fuck!” I slam open a small metal box beside the door and find a console of switches, one of them lit up red. Beside it is a keyhole. I try to press the red button, but it’s just a light, nothing more. I need a key.
The shed shakes as something hits the pavement hard just out front. Through the barred window, I see the redhead rise to her feet, a hiss like the air leaving a tire on her lips. She turns, her gaze meeting mine, and then she throws herself at the guard shack.
I scream and flinch back as one of her clawed hands busts through the glass, but then she’s gone, flying through the air with Valen’s silver blade in her chest. “Door?” he asks, a deep gouge at the edge of his temple.
“I need a key!” I open the drawers, ransacking everywhere it could be.
“Forget it.” Valen pulls me through the doorway, wraps me tightly in his arms, then gets down low.
“What are—” I squeal as he bounds over the fence and lands with a hard thump on the grassy area beyond. “Holy shit.” I suck in a breath as he sets me on my feet. “Didn’t I just say I needed more warning!”
“Let’s go.” He kisses me, his fangs grazing my lips, then pulls me up the path to the White House. The guards from before lie in a heap in front of the open door. “Coal already did some recon, it seems.” Valen peers down the hallway.
A body bursts through the trees overhead, branches splintering and leaves scattering on the grass as Coal hits the ground. Portia is on him before he even sits up. He yells as she buries her fangs in his shoulder. Several more vampires appear, all of them jumping on Coal who throws off one but gets swamped by three more.
“Jesus.” I stare, wide-eyed and frozen.
“Fuck!” Valen says. “Wait here.”
He rushes off and rips Portia from Coal, then pulls his blade free from her chest and stabs it in again to the hilt. She screeches, and I have to cover my ears at the sound.
“Doc!” Someone grabs my arm, and I whirl and shove them off me.
“Gene? Is that you?” I rush forward when I realize it’s him and help him to his feet. “What the hell are you doing here? You should be on the road to Atlanta.”
“I got caught up in getting some more supplies for the trip and missed the convoy. I’ve been hiding in here ever since. There’s some—” He glances out the door. “—strange things going on out there.” He lowers his voice. “And in here, too.”
“Have you seen Juno?” I blurt.
“Yeah. She’s in bad shape. I came up from the kitchen and got lost, then had to hunker down when I heard screaming. I don’t know what’s happened here, but it’s bad. Real bad.” He points down the hallway I remember from last time. “I think I saw her down there, but I didn’t have time to help before I had to hide again.”
Is she still in the same room? Still in that goddamn chair?
When I glance out the door, I don’t see anyone. Valen, Coal, and Portia are gone.
“Come on. I’ll take you to her. Maybe you can help her.” Gene takes my hand.
“Okay. But we have to be careful. There’s a vamp—” I shake my head. “There’s a bad man here.”
“I think there’s more than one.” He grimaces.
We walk along the hallway until we get to the room I remember. It’s dark inside, but I can tell it’s empty. Nothing stirs, only the stench of rot remains. If someone’s in there, they aren’t alive. I try not to think about Aang, about what he might have gone through in here.
“This way.” Gene pulls me along, past several more sets of doors and then into the offices adjacent to the Oval Office. He keeps going, then pauses at the door. “She’s in here.” He pushes through, and I follow.
The lights are out in here as well, darkness covering the familiar desk.
“Where?” I whisper.
“At last!” Theo’s voice booms.
I scramble backward, but Gene’s grip on my hand turns painful. “Gene!” I try to yank my hand away.
“I’m sorry, Doc.” He pulls me forward with surprising strength, then tosses me on the floor.
My knees sting at the impact, and before I can even try to get back up, Theo’s cold hand closes around the nape of my neck. He lifts me into the air, pain radiating down my spine.
“You’ll turn me now. Right? All the way. Like we agreed?” Gene clutches his hands together. “Turn me, please.”
Theo lowers me to the ground though his grip remains. “You did well,” he speaks to Gene, but his eyes are on me. “But not quite well enough.”