The ride was silent, everyone seemed lost in their own world as drove into the now ghost town. “What do you think he did with the nonpack people?” Lily asked, gawking out the window.
“Vincent probably let his people drain them,” Zander replied darkly. James didn’t need to see his face that the guilt still was eating him up. The idiot never really stopped to think what siding with the vampire would cost him.
“And we’ll make him pay for each life lost,” Bill vowed.
They stopped at a small, unassuming building that served as a jail, local court room, and other judicial offices were the best-starting place. It was located at the center of town and if things turned ugly gave them plenty of escape routes.
“Alright, this is how we’re going to do this,” Nick said, handing a two-way radio to Bill.
“Bill and I will each lead a team through the city. Each team will be made of four people while two remain here at the base. We will check every building that has a basement or its windows cover. This needs to be thorough and quick. If you find a vamp deal with it quickly and move on. We only want to take the top leeches as a prisoner. To hell with the rest,” Nick explained.
Bill passed around two photographs. “The man as some of you may know is Vincent. He is our primary target. The woman is Veronica, she is our secondary target. She’s a researcher and has done more research on Lily than her, or I am comfortable with. We want her alive preferably,” he started when some of the wolves snickered. Bill gave them a stare that was fit for an alpha. “Now is not to make jokes about whether a vampire is living or dead,” he snapped.
The wolves quieted down, and he continued. “As I said, we prefer to have her alive, but dead is acceptable. What isn’t acceptable is her slipping from our grasp again. We only have a couple of hours before it gets dark and the more vamps we take out before then, the better. The night is their element, and we’re not exactly sure how many are out there.”
“Zander, Lily, and James are with me,” Nick said.
“Mitchell, Donovan, and Lisa are with me,” Bill joined in. “Clarence and Andre, you two are to remain here. Keep the cars running and an eye out for anything that moves.”
“At least, this time, they’re not separating us,” Lily whispered to James.
“Just can’t stand to be away eh?” he teased her.
She didn’t join him in the teasing but very seriously said, “Bad things happen when we’re separated.”
He took her hand and gave it a little squeeze. “So this means you’re stuck with me then?”
Finally, she returned his smile. “I guess it does.”
“This is creepy,” Lily said as they left the house they’d currently been searching. “Like Creepy with a capital C kind of creepy.” She trodded down the steps and looked at the empty street. “It’s like something straight from Stephen King. I’m warning you all at the first sign of a Langolier, I’m tripping your asses so they eat you first.”
“A lang-what? Do you ever talk like a normal person?” Zander said snidely.
“A Langolier, you know Stephen King…” Lily replied then at the look of confusion still on his face she scowled at him. “Ugh! Ignorant little brat, try reading a book! And I am normal! I am so normal! I’m more normal that all of you put together!”
“You keep yelling like that you’ll wake the vamps up,” Nick said coming out of the house. “And if you’re what’s considered normal then we’re all doomed.” He lifted his nose and sniffed the air. “You’re right, though. This is creepy and if the langoliers come it’ll be me tripping your ass. Hell even without them, I may still trip your ass.”
“It never ceases to amaze me that I, James Lacrosse, am the one having to tell everyone to play nice,” James jumped in.
“I didn’t fucking do anything,” Zander snapped. “She’s the freak,” he added, earning a glare from James.
“Pot calling Kettle,” Lily shot at Zander then turned to James. “I still think you made up that whole bad boy reputation of yours. You way too goody goody for it. The kid here has more ‘tude in his cocky smirk than you do in your whole body,” Lily teased him.
Zander started to snicker, but before James could say anything back, Nick pointed to a small box of a building. “That’s next. Let’s go and quit wasting time,” he ordered.
When he turned, Lily stuck her tongue out at him before following him. The smell of dust made her sneeze as they walked in what apparently was a small museum on local history. Rubbing her nose, Lily suddenly picked up vampire musk behind dust. “Vampires,” Zander said before she could.
“And lots of them by the scents,” James added.
Lily sniffed, the dust almost making her sneeze again. She smelled several vampires, including Veronica and Vincent. Eager anticipation filled her as she took out the smooth wooden stake from the holster on her thigh along with her silver knife. “In the basement,” Nick said in a low voice. “Remember, we want Vincent and Veronica alive,” he added, giving Lily a hard look.
“What? I can follow the rules,” she shot back, narrowing her eyes at Nick when he had to choke back a laugh. “Whatever!”
The door to the basement was locked, but it wasn’t fancy so James broke it easily. He insisted on going first, then Nick, Zander, and Lily brought up the rear. She was still debating if she wanted to be offended or not that none of them seemed to believe she could restrain from killing Vincent and Veronica.