How this could have been built without the knowledge of the entire world was beyond him.

Luckily he had spotted April, but she had been so far down the catwalk, following a man, she had not heard him call out to her. By the looks of it, they were trying to seem inconspicuous, walking softly and sticking to the darkened corners. Try as they might, Rye had almost lost sight of them in the enormous boiler/engine room. The noise there was deafening, and the lack of security made it easy to weave through the forest of machinery. Staying in the shadows, he tried to predict which way April and her companion had gone. He’d closed his eyes and thought of her. If he were April, where would he hide?

Luckily, the misshapen pile of debris which partially covered a door caught his attention. It looked somewhat out of place, like someone had shoved the pile to one side to get to the door. Rye glanced at Miranda, who gave him nod. They agreed it was the most logical place to go.

Through the metal door they went, still mystified at the lack of resistance they had met. Upon entering and making their way down the tunnel, echoes of screams had vibrated against the brick walls and metal ceiling. The haunting shrieks coming from the far end of the tunnel made the skin on his arms prickle with gooseflesh. He couldn’t even make out where they were coming from yet. The dimness of the neglected lighting here made it impossible. Even the darkness seemed to swallow them up as the tunnel progressed. The only thing leading them in the right direction was the yelling and screaming echoes which slowly got louder.

In full sprint, Rye didn’t wait to see if Miranda was still following behind him. His gut told him April was there, maybe the one screaming, for all he knew. Whatever was attacking her and her companion was hurting them badly. He had to get there now, if not minutes ago. Pulling out his swords while running was not easy, but he did it, ready to pummel whatever came into view.

Slowing down as he approached, he wasn’t prepared for what hovered above a group of warriors, all swinging swords and shooting their guns upward, toward a darkened blur that shot across the roof of the tunnel. It had black wings and snarled with a mouthful of sharp, pointed teeth. Otherwise humanoid and female, it was vicious-looking. Its red eyes flashed brightly and its talons dripped with crimson blood. Roaring, its screech bounced on the walls, making his ears ring and surge with pain. What the hell was that?

Rye ripped his eyes away from the creature to locate April. She was perched over another woman with long red hair who was bleeding buckets. He watched as she accepted the sword from her fallen comrade and crouched away, ready to jump and strike at the flying abomination. If she failed, it would slice her into a thousand strips of blood and gore. He couldn’t let that happen, he couldn’t let her sacrifice herself like that.

He sprinted forward, his swords swinging with the momentum. He wouldn’t make it on time, and that realization hit him like a thousand darts in his chest. He could see the flying woman diving down, snarling and smirking at April, ready to take her talons to April’s soft skin. His legs were on fire, burning with the effort of his full on dash to get to her.

In what felt like slow motion, he watched as April jerked her sword down, faking her path of destruction as she rolled to her right, tucking her body into a ball as the creature fell for the false move. Jumping up and now behind the winged horror, April brought her sword down, effectively slicing through one of the creature’s wings.

An unnatural scream filled the air, making most of the soldiers collapse to their knees, holding their ears from the agony. The woman took to her feet, swinging her arm to backhand April so hard it sent her flying backward into the mud, the sword slipping out of her grip. Disarmed, she would not stand a chance against that thing one second longer. Without wasting another moment, Rye dropped one sword, gripped the other with both hands and pushed off the ground behind the monster. He pulled his arm back and arched his sword upward and toward her neck.

It met its mark, sending her head plummeting to the floor and the headless body, writhing behind it, sprayed a fountain of dark, reddish green blood. It jerked and spasmed across the mud as its lone wing thrashed and twitched. Finally, it fell in a heap, right on top of April. Rye hurried to toss the creature off of her.

The demon’s body was surprisingly light, but he could feel its ferocious muscles under the humanoid skin withering away as its blood drained into the mud, making it black and sticky. It stuck to his boots and soaked his pants as he reached over to April and cradled her to his chest. She had been knocked out by the hit she had received, leaving her unconscious with a bloody claw mark where the woman’s talons had sliced into her cheek. It stood out across her perfect skin, bleeding and bubbling with a green ooze that seemed to be festering before his eyes.

He shook her, called her name and willed her to open her eyes, but she didn’t. He slid his fingers below her jaw to feel for a faint beat under her warm skin. He found it, but it was weak and thready, almost fading. He had to save her, but the only way he knew was with blood.

He bit into his wrist and dripped the warm, viscous liquid down into her mouth. It stained her teeth and slid down past her tongue. Hope surged through him as he saw a faint swallow, hoping it would work. But she didn’t wake up, and her heartbeat became slower and slower.

“April!” He yelled at her, hoping to startle her awake. “Come on baby, open your eyes. A hand slid over his shoulder, making him jerk his head around to find Miranda. She was squatting next to him, having just checked the redhead who was also unconscious from the festering wound on her shoulder.

“It’s poison. Her talons had some sort of venom excreting from them. I think it’s lethal.” She pointed over to one of the downed warriors, the first to be scratched. His skin was pale with a shade of green tint to it, his chest still and unmoving. “It’s like the vampire withering sickness that turns us green, but works even faster.” Her eyes searched his face, a doomed look slipping into her gaze.

“No, she’s not going to die.”

“The human woman is near death, too. It won’t be long until….”

“No!” He glared at his commanding officer, unwilling to hear her out any longer.

Christian came stumbling over to them. His chest had been slashed by the creature, but it was already healing, weaving itself together. “Move.”

“Don’t touch her,” Rye hissed at the hybrid vampire who obviously was the last person he had expected to see.

“If I don’t give her blood, she dies.” Christian met his stare with equal intensity, trying not to shove Rye away, though he wanted to with every cell of his body. The way he held April was too intimate, too close. He swallowed down the jealous feelings and waited impatiently for Rye to relent.

“I already gave her blood. It’s not working.”

“That’s because you are not immune to the withering.” He ripped away the rest of his shirt, showing blood smeared across his perfect chest. Where the creature’s claws had slashed him, only healed skin lay under the telltale streak. “I am. So, move.”

Rye’s mouth gaped in disbelief as Christian moved to cradle April in his lap. He wanted to shove him back, get him away from April. So this was the man accompanying her out of the underground. How would she have ever agreed to let him help her? She hated Christian with every fiber of her being. She blamed his hive for hurting Helen and breaking her. There must have been a good reason; April wouldn’t trust anyone lightly.

Nicking his wrist, Christian let his blood drip into April’s mouth. Her skin was paler and was taking on a green tint as the wound on her face swelled and bubbled madly. But the moment his blood touched her tongue, it seemed to halt the festering, bringing it into a full reverse as the wound began to heal and weave itself together until only smears of red and green fluid dirtied her skin. Christian handed her back to Rye and ran over to the fallen redhead to give her his blood, too. Within minutes, April and the others wounded by the creature were awake, glancing around and confused about what had happened. Only the one already dead had not responded, his body already cooling in the dampness of the underground mud.

Rye sat confounded. He let his surprise morph into happiness as April reached up to push a strand of his hair away. Her weak smile made him want to jump up and dance. His heart surged as her eyes flickered toward him.

“Rye,” she croaked, her mouth sticky with red splatters of blood.

“Hey. Missed you.” He slid his fingers down the side of her face where the wounds were mere pink lines slowly fading on her cheek. He wiped the leftover blood from it and smiled, pulling her closer and never wanting to let go.

“Missed you, too.” She closed her eyes, looking tired and worn out. He was sure that her time down there had not been pleasant. He realized that he had forgotten about the human guards who were now circling around them. He stiffened, wondering what they were going to do. One of them, a man with brown wavy hair, stepped forward and knelt down to check on April. His grin looked friendly, and he appeared relieved to see her breathing.

“She’s okay?” he asked. Rye nodded, still unsure of the man’s intentions. “Good. She’s a tough cookie.” He stood and walked over to the redhead, who was now sitting up with a couple of the other human soldiers checking her out. He did the same with her before returning to Rye. His dark eyes scanned the tunnel behind them.

“We should go. I don’t think she brought anyone with her, but I don’t want to find out.” He looked down, wary of the hybrid vampire. “I’m Elijah by the way. April’s my friend, and we have chosen to leave the city of Vida and join forces with her.” He cocked his head, an amused twinkle swimming in his brown orbs. “I guess that means we’re allies, too.” He held out his hand for Rye, waiting to help him up.

Rye nodded. He took the hand and stood up above April. If she trusted this man, it must be alright. The secrets she had been keeping lately were piling up, leaving a searing pain in his head. Helping her up, he was relieved to find that she could stand, but the sudden isolation he felt choked him and sat heavily on his shoulders. She had a ton of explaining to do. But for now, they just had to get out of there.

“Who’s going to take care of the city?” Sarah’s voice interrupted them, her uncertainty written on her face. “We can’t just leave them down there. They have no leader now.”

Elijah nodded. He turned toward the others and looked over them. “Anyone want to volunteer to take over?” Four of them stepped forward at his request, leaving him relieved that he wouldn’t have to force anyone to do the deed. “Take her body back there, show them what she really was. It will convince her followers to reject the idea of revolting against us. Get things together, radio me and let me know what’s going on and we will keep contact with you from above.” They gave him a nod and started to retrieve Katrina’s remains.

Miranda gave Rye a reassuring pat on the back. He knew the concern in her eyes was the same reason he was feeling awkward. He watched as Christian talked to Elijah, making motions with his hands in the direction they had all been headed before they were attacked. He didn’t know what these two meant to April, and his eyes followed her as she eased herself over to listen in on the discussion.

The way her eyes hovered over Christian was disheartening. It was almost as if she had some sort of connection to him. He continued to watch them, keeping the flame of jealousy contained within. Something was off. He could feel it in his bones and in the air around him. He’d seen that look on others, other hybrids who had chosen mates.

Seraphin’s face briefly flashed in his mind. He thought about how they had chosen their new names of Rhystrom and Seraphin once they had changed. The way she had loved him so intensely and then the way she had tried to avoid Alan’s stare when he had joined their hive. She had flushed bright red whenever he had been near. Rye remembered the fear in her eyes when she had told him what had happened and explained away her affections for Alan, unable to fight the connection that called her to him. She couldn’t have helped it. He was her mate and she had to join him, leaving Rye alone. There was no resisting the match. The hybrids were cursed with this phenomenon.

But what of the ones who never found their mates? What of the ones without any connection to another hybrid? Rye turned back to April, his heart sinking. Even if a person chose another, there was always the fear that a new vampire would become matched with a chosen partner, taking them away forever.

That couldn’t be the case here, though. April was human. She was not a hybrid vampire, but a hybrid in another way. How this could happen was beyond him, and he silently prayed that it wasn’t what it looked like.

They followed Christian and Elijah to the end of the tunnel, where a door to a darkened hangar full of windowless vans stood, dusty and undisturbed. Cranking the engines with the vampires stowed in the back, where the rising sun would not disturb them, they drove out of the hangar and into an underground tunnel, disguised as a floodwater drainage channel.

Surprised by how they had hidden the underground city’s back entrance so cleverly and in plain sight, Rye let his head drop back against the metal of the van’s interior, trying to relax in spite of it all. Miranda had suggested that they all head back to the hive where he was sure Blaze would not be happy to see them with new people. Closing his eyes, he sighed, happy that April had quietly slid in next to him in the van while Christian rode in another. She laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyelids, weary from her ordeal as the van lurched and rolled over debris strewn across the waterway, heading home.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Raining Fire

April

THE ROAD HOME seemed longer now, with the knowledge of all I had seen in the past few days hanging over my head. After cleaning up in the hive airport headquarters and getting a good lecture from Blaze, I was finally heading home. Jeremy had been ecstatic to see me once more, squeezing me so tight I had to peel him off. He was staying at the hive now, my mother free to roam at our bunker in the mountains.