Evol

chapter fifty-two

Tuesday 20th August, 2019

I leapt out of my car, spotting the boys huddled in the dark street, in front of a looming warehouse.

They turned to look when the car door slammed. I sauntered toward them, "what's going on?"

"Well. . . Bleu scratched his neck. My eyes flicked over them all - Carter looked alive for the first time in a week, so that had to be a good sign.

"Well what?"

"We were trailing one of the vamps, in his car, and he parked here--" Daniel pointed to the dilapidated warehouse behind us. "He went in there."

I scanned it - in the dim moonlight, not much could be seen. Smashed windows, empty rooms. . .

"Why aren't we going in?" I snapped, and sped past them, my stomach clenching. Was she in there?

"No, Julian!" Bleu flashed in front of me. "We followed him in, and there's an elevator underground."

"Okay?"

He blinked, "okay, just letting you know. Let's go."

I glanced around at all of them - I hadn't noticed before, but they all looked as worn down and desperate as me - the realisation dawned over me. This wasn't just about getting Brooke back - this was about stopping a war.

"Let's go and get my girl," I said, and they all grinned, striding with me toward the warehouse.

Inside, it was just as crumby as the outside - we took extra care as we trod around, avoiding anything that would alert someone to our presence.

We crept our way through dim, moon-lit rooms, and crammed inside an unstable elevator, pressing to go down. I could hear the metal scratching along walls as it went down, shrieking in protest.

Heavy breathing filled the lift.

"There'll be guards," I warned.

"Yes," Bleu rubbed his hands together. "At least I'll get some fun out of this."

I rolled my eyes, but for the first time in a week there was something other than pain and dread inside me. A spark of hope.

The doors opened into a dimly lit stone corridor - cold air blew inside the elevator, and I swept the area with my eyes before the guards along the corridor turned.

"Who are you?" One of them asked.

I grinned, "your worst nightmare, handsome."

The guard frowned, and it was enough time for me to lurch forward, thrust a hand into his chest, and yank out his heart.

They all came, then. I ran forward, as far down the corridor as I could go, hearing the boys fighting behind me, before I was met with another vampyre.

She came to me, claws outstretched, and I dodged her, reaching behind me as I spun away to tear her head off her neck.

Blindly, I rushed through the corridors; each one looked the same, like a maze. Glancing down the end of the corridor, I started, only to be yanked backwards.

A vampyre threw me down - I flipped back before I hit the ground, and had the satisfaction of seeing a confused look in his black eyes at my speed before I tore out his heart.

I had one goal in mind - to find Brooke. And yet, as I raced down corridor after corridor, panting, I saw nothing but stone walls and vampyres I ended up killing.

Skidding around a corner, I pushed damp curls out of my eyes, and they landed on something. The breath gusted out of me - there was a vampyre stood outside an empty cell - the metal bars were rusty, stone walls covered in moss, and as I spotted the crappy, narrow bed in the corner, my mouth went dry.