Whatever drug was in the dart, coupled with the cobalt, had to be doing a number on him as a half-human.
“Doc!” I shouted as we passed his empty office.
Ben coughed. “He’s not here. Otherwise, he would be running to our rescue.”
He was right about Doc. The man would run into battle to save any one of us, but especially Ben. Doc viewed Ben as an anomaly and made it his mission to study his DNA.
Doc was also studying another half-breed who had been a victim of an experiment gone wrong—an experiment to genetically manufacture vampires from humans by a former and now dead enemy, Edmund Rain. We also knew there were more half-breeds out there, but we didn’t know where or if they were still alive. In the five years since we’d killed Edmund and demolished his research, we hadn’t seen or heard of the other half-breeds.
I deposited Ben on the bed in the first room I came to.
He moaned. “Have you heard from Jo?”
I snatched my phone from my cargo pants. “Not yet.” Before I could call Jo for the tenth time, my phone rang. “What?” I answered as I started to go in search for Doc.
“Is that how you address your lieutenant?” Tripp’s tone held a slight hint of playfulness.
Tripp and I were tight, and I considered him one of my best buds. He’d just been promoted to lieutenant about six months prior, stepping into Webb’s former shoes. Before then, he’d taught me everything I knew about being a vampire. He’d been assigned to Jo and me after we’d been forced to lose our humanity five years ago—a process that was unique. To activate the vampire gene, those born with it had to ingest their vampire father’s blood. The process couldn’t be done until one reached puberty or later. Even then, it was a choice. But Jo and I hadn’t had a choice. In order to save me, she had given up her humanity. My father’s blood hadn’t been strong enough to turn me since, as a human, I’d been on my deathbed thanks to Edmund Rain. So Dr. Vieira had pumped Jo’s vampire blood into me.
“Sorry. Did you get a hold of Dr. Vieira?” On the way back to base, Kraft had called Tripp to get Doc on standby.
“He’s on his way, as am I,” Tripp said before he hung up.
As I pocketed my phone, my bloodthirst hit me like a freight train. “Doc will be here shortly,” I said to Ben as I left and beelined it to the fridge.
I snagged a sixteen-ounce bottle of blood, popped the top, and knocked back the irony drink like I was downing a cold brew. The throbbing in my gums dulled until Layla and her tits skipped through my brain. I got another bottle and didn’t waste any time draining the contents, hoping I could get my hunger under control. But the more I thought of Layla, the need to taste her blood amped up. I tossed the empty bottles in the trash and collected another one. Maybe three was a charm, but somehow, I didn’t think an ocean of blood would sate my hunger if she kept invading my thoughts.
“If you drink all that blood, Doc will have a cow,” Tripp said behind me. “The blood bank can’t deliver anymore for a week.”
I whirled around. “A little warning you’re here would be nice.”
He laughed but quickly shifted his tune, his bronze eyes flashing to vampire black. “What’s got you rattled? And why didn’t you hear me?”
I was thinking of a curvy, auburn-haired woman who had my dick begging for freedom. “Where do I begin?” I took a swig of blood.
Leaning against a lab bench, he crossed bulky arms over his broad chest. The lights above served to enhance the shine in his sandy-blond hair.
Ben stumbled out of the room and practically fell into a computer and the table it was sitting on. “Did you get Jo yet?”
Tripp’s forehead creased as he examined Ben from a distance. “I still don’t get how a recon mission went awry. And how a half-breed like you allowed a human to best you.”
Ben mumbled something under his breath as he managed to lower himself into a chair.
Tripp nailed me with his stern lieutenant glare and tight mouth. “And explain what went down in that club since Kraft and Olivia don’t have all the details.”
I’d only given them bits and pieces of what had happened, and they hadn’t seen anything from outside the club.
“Please tell me Roman doesn’t have a target on Jo?” he asked.
If I didn’t know him or what Jo had been through with Edmund, I wouldn’t have caught the hint of trepidation in his tone. That uneasiness was not only out of concern for Jo. None of us wanted to be around Webb if Jo’s life was at stake.
Tripp prodded me with those black vampire eyes, waiting impatiently.
I smoothed a hand over my black hair and rested against a sink next to the fridge. “The humans were trying to flush me out into the open, but they also threatened Jo’s life. I don’t know why they want me either.”
He scraped a hand along his unshaven jaw. “Humans want you?”
A printer came alive, warming up before it began to spit out sheets of paper.
“When will Doc get here?” Ben was hunched over with his head between his legs. “My insides are burning like a motherfucker.”
“So, this drug,” Tripp said, “knocks you out and freezes your limbs?”
I bobbed my head. Ben had only woken up a mile before we’d reached the base. “And it has cobalt in it.” Cobalt was a vampire’s kryptonite, and it could be deadly if a cobalt blade was driven through the heart. However, it would have to be embedded for a period of time to allow the metal to burn the heart to a crisp.
Tripp popped off the lab bench and paced like a madman. “Webb is going to have a field day.”
Our new commander was going to blow his top for sure. My old man would too. Like me, he was tired of anyone and everyone hunting our family.
My fangs finally retreated, and my thirst was sated for the moment. “Please tell me Webb and Jo are at their house on base and not at the one in Maine,” I said. Even though Jordyn had said they didn’t rig Jo’s house with explosives, a part of me needed one hundred percent confirmation. Regardless, Jo had been talking about going up to Maine for the weekend. Maybe she’d left midweek.
The double doors creaked open, and Dr. Vieira came in looking like he’d had a rough night already. His brown hair was disheveled, and he buttoned his lab coat, surveying each of us like he so often did when we showed up in the infirmary after a mission. “Where’s the fire?”
“In my veins,” Ben whined as he stumbled to stand.
Dr. Vieira regarded me. “You look like you’re in one piece.”
I grinned. “Don’t worry about me. I’m a Mason.”
He grabbed Ben’s arm. “I worry about all you Sentinels. And may I remind you that the name means nothing. You can die just as well as the next—”
Tripp’s phone rang, slicing off Dr. Vieira’s words. “It’s Webb.” He tapped the speaker button and set the phone on the glossy black marble top. “I got Sam here.”
Ben and Doc went into a patient room as Ben explained to him what had happened.
“Sam, is there something wrong?” Webb’s exhaustion came through loud and clear. “You’ve been blowing up Jo’s phone. We tried to call you but got your voice mail.”