Paul Larkin had been waiting for Aaron to make the call for weeks that he and his team should move in. It was clear something odd was happening with the Guardian Leader because Paul never imagined he would drag his feet the way that he had. There was a good chance that Holland was amassing the great majority of her forces in Paul’s back yard, and he wanted to go in and destroy her as soon as he could; at the least, he wanted to hunt down the maniacal doctor who had tortured Paul for days, and given the opportunity, the Area Leader of Melbourne would take him in and give him a taste of his own perverse medicine. But days had turned to weeks, and Aaron kept putting it off. Paul waited, prepared, waited some more, and then finally, he got the call.
When Aaron told him Cassidy believed the target was Larundel, Paul wasn’t too horribly surprised. He went back over the reports from when he was gone and quickly saw the same discrepancy Cassidy pointed out. Becky and Patsy had been under the impression Jeb and Steph had cleared the facility, while neither of the latter two team members had been anywhere near the place. It was amazing how much damage Holland was able to do with the messages she sent. Confusion and chaos were certainly going to be a part of whatever attack plan they did come up with, whether or not Holland was on the continent or still in Europe when they moved in, but Paul was ready to move into action now that he had permission.
His team was assembled around the table in the conference room in the bunker he’d returned to. They had never gone back to the old headquarters building because Holland’s goons had trashed it late that night, and they just weren’t safe there. It was a tight squeeze in this new facility with so many Guardians sent in as reinforcements, but since none of them had to sleep, only the handful of Hunters he had, they made it work.
“All right, listen up,” he said, gaining everyone’s attention. He still hadn’t learned all of the new people’s names. There were too many of them. “We have permission to move in on Holland’s location.” There was a small cheer, which he cut off abruptly. “I know you’re all as ready to go as I am, but there’s a lot you need to know, and while most of us can’t get killed, we can get captured, and believe me, that’s no fun.”
A few faces shifted to sympathetic expressions, and he ignored them. He was over it, though there were times when his left side would still ache. Jamie had done a great job of putting him back together, but all of the tissue Hines had removed had to regrow, and that took time and wasn’t exactly comfortable. Another reason to bring the bastard in.
“According to the intel we’ve been able to collect, the location Holland has been using for her headquarters is Larundel Asylum.” There were a few gasps as his teammates who were familiar with the place inhaled. “I know we thought we checked it before—that you thought you checked it while I was being held, but we believe that was just a trick on Holland’s part. Jeb, Steph, you didn’t move in there, did you?”
Both of them shook their heads as if they thought the question odd.
“But… you said you did,” Patsy’s pixie blonde hair stayed perfectly in place despite her agitated movement.
“No, we didn’t,” Jeb replied quickly, shaking his head. “We weren’t anywhere near there.”
“It was Holland, wasn’t it?” Becky asked, grimacing. “She was messing with us.” Paul confirmed her suspicion, and the Hunter swore under her breath. “Damn it. We could’ve found you quicker.”
“Or you could’ve gotten killed. Listen, we don’t have a lot of direct evidence to support this, but there’s reason to believe Holland has created an expansive obstacle course that’s going to be difficult to traverse. We can see that ungodly amount of shrubbery and the high barriers from the outside, most of which has barbed wire and other fun, pokey deterrents. We have no way of knowing what else might stand between us and our objective. Which, by the way, isn’t likely Holland. We think she and Hines may be in Europe.”
“Why are we going in now then?” Tanner, another Hunter, asked. “Why not wait until she’s there so we can get her, too?”
“Because Aaron thinks it will be easier to go in and take out the rest of her constituents while she’s not there,” Paul replied. “At the very least, it will give us an idea of what we’re up against, so if we need more reinforcements before we attack again, we’ll be better prepared.”
“Does he think that might be what has to happen?” Becky asked. She had been in charge while Paul was gone, and it seemed to have given her a bit more confidence.
“No, I don’t think so. But either way, we don’t want that to be the case. We need to clear and destroy this facility because whatever she has in there isn’t good. And under her direct supervision, it will be nearly impossible to complete our mission.”
“I’m shocked the KC team hasn’t come to do this themselves,” Derek, one of his most trusted Hunters admitted.
“I think they’ve got plenty going on in their own area.” Paul was actually surprised himself, but he knew something had been going on with Aaron. He hadn’t been himself at all; hopefully that was all over now. “We can handle it, especially with all of our new team members. But we will have to be careful. So… if you are all ready, let’s go over what Aaron and I have come up with, and please, no matter what, be careful. Holland has a lot of tricks up her sleeve. She can change the appearance of her henchmen so that they look like your worst nightmares—or your closest friends. She can disturb our communication. She can capture and imprison any of us. This is going to be the toughest thing any of us have ever done, so we’ve got to make sure to do it right.” His eyes shifted from one team member to the next until he’d made his way completely around the room, and when he was certain they all understood, he took a deep breath and projected a map of Larundel on the wall behind him.
The plan was simple enough. There was really only one way into the place. While he would have a line of defenders on the back side of the complex, they would be there to hold their ground, not to move in. He went over teams, who would be working with who, and how the waves of attackers would move in. While part of him wanted to leave the Hunters behind for fear something would happen to them, he knew not even to bring it up. Along with Jeb, Derrick, and Becky, he had two relatively new ones—Jill and Shelly. They had seen some action but nothing like this. Their eyes were both wide as he spoke, and while he’d already assigned them to the last wave, as well as pairing them with four able-bodied Guardians each, he was still nervous for them.
“Aaron said we need to be extremely diligent when it comes to protecting our Hunters. He said he would not be surprised at all if Holland doesn’t send her troops specifically after them, and there will be nothing but bloodshed on their minds. So those of you that are paired with Hunters, don’t forget your primary purpose. Guardians protect Hunters from Vampires.”
“And Vampires against Hunters,” Jeb said sarcastically, but Paul didn’t smirk in return. He knew that was the original intent of his people, but that wasn’t the case now.
“This is annihilation,” the leader reminded his team. “No mercy, no quarter, no anything. I don’t care if they present themselves as a bunch of crying children, we seek them out and destroy them. Got it?”
Every head in the room nodded, but Paul wasn’t completely convinced they had any idea what they were up against. He had lived it for two days, the longest, most painful days of his life. The thought of being put back in that position terrified him; he wouldn’t wish it upon anyone—except for the bastards who’d done it to him. Thinking of any of his team in a similar situation also scared the hell out of him. They would have to be cautious, that was for certain. But something told him they were about to see things they’d only imagined in their worst nightmares.
