Eliza backed up further than he had. Her legs were shorter, after all. With a deep breath, she hurled herself forward, building up speed as she went and lifted up off of the ground, swinging her arms forward for momentum. The toe of her boot clipped the top of the fence, shaking it slightly, but other than that, she made it to the other side with no problems and landed a few feet behind Sergio. He gave her a confident nod and they turned to continue their journey.
Lights atop towering polls shed their illumination sparingly in pools around the bottom of their concrete trunks, making it harder to see into the shadowed areas around the buildings. Even with their IACs, it seemed darker in some places than others. Eliza focused her attention on the black spaces, wondering if any of them might start to move. She wasn’t used to shadows picking up their feet and walking, but after what she’d seen the night she killed Honey, nothing would surprise her.
Up ahead of her, behind the back side of the main building, movement caught her attention. This wasn’t a black shadow, though. It was the form of a man. Tall with dark hair, slicked back on the top of his head with longer strands catching the breeze around his shoulders and neck, he stood completely still, his steel gray eyes focused on something at the back of the building. He had to know they were there; if she could feel him, he could sense the attackers as well. Still, he did not move until Sergio had almost made it to the corner of the building, and then, all he did was tip his dark glasses down to take the pair in.
“Sylvester,” Sergio said in her head, as if Eliza needed help identifying the mark. She didn’t respond, only double-checked her after-market safety was off, which it was. If he continued to stand there, Sylvester would make an easy target, and while the chances were good her bullets wouldn’t end him, they wouldn’t be pleasant.
“What is he looking at?” Mila asked in Eliza’s head. Since she couldn’t see the other side of the building herself, Eliza couldn’t answer. She waited to see if Brit or Andor could respond before she took her first shot. Something seemed off about this entire situation.
Brit’s visuals shifted as she moved to get a better view. Eliza watched through her IAC but couldn’t quite tell what she was looking at. “There’s another Vampire....” Brit’s voice was slow, as if she couldn’t quite describe the scene. “And a human man, one of the delivery guys.” The truck they had been unloading was visible, idling over to the right of Sylvester. “He has him pressed up against the building, but he isn’t doing anything.”
“Weird,” Sergio muttered, and Eliza agreed. It was weird.
“What’s the story?” Eliza asked Cassidy on her own, hoping the Hybrid could get into either one of the Vampires’ heads and explain what was happening.
“Sylvester is pissed that you’re interrupting right now. That other Vampire is a newbie, guy named Lukas, and Sylvester was hoping he’d be as ruthless as he was at that age. But Lukas’s mind is different than any other Vampire I’ve infiltrated. He seems to be torn between ending the guy and doing what Sylvester demands. He’s looking for a way out, and since Sylvester announced he needed to hurry, that you were on your way, he’s stalling.”
“Why? So we can end him, too?” Eliza couldn’t fathom what would make a Vampire wait for a team of Guardians and Hunters to destroy him.
“Sylvester’s giving up. He’s turning his attention to you.”
As soon as Cassidy finished the statement, Sylvester’s head swiveled, as if she’d commanded it, and Eliza opened fire.
Four of her shots hit him squarely in the chest, but he didn’t go down, which was a good thing if they were going to take him in. Trails of smoke curled behind him as he moved in their direction. Before he got more than a few feet, he was jumped from behind. Eliza watched, stunned, as Andor launched himself off the top off one of the outbuildings, knife in hand, taking the Vampire to the ground. The Guardian laid into the Vampire with his blade, hacking and slicing with a veracity that would’ve made Jack the Ripper feel like an amateur. Eliza’s jaw stayed slack for a bit too long, until she remembered Sylvester wasn’t the only Vampire nearby. If Andor killed him instead of collecting him, she really didn’t care. It seemed as if her teammate had this under control, so she turned her attention to the others.
Lukas was no longer standing against the back of the building, though. Rather, he had taken off running through the warehouse. Eliza could see his form disappearing through a door to her left. It squeaked as it rocked back and forth from the force of being thrust open in such a hurry, announcing the Vampire’s departure. She took off after the newbie, angry that Andor would be the one to get Sylvester but set on claiming her share of ash.
The newbie was fast, the warehouse was dark, and the path wasn’t clear. Pallets of various construction materials sat haphazardly across the concrete floor. While the intentional rows were obvious, it seemed someone had gotten lazy recently, either that or interrupted, and several pallets were directly in her path as she took off after the Vampire. Eliza jumped over the first one, her heel catching one of the boxes, knocking it to the ground. A million screws scattered all over the floor, making such a racket, the Vampire turned his head at the noise but didn’t slow his pace.
Cursing under her breath, Eliza picked her way around the mess, careful not to step on any of the screws. It wouldn’t hurt much, but it would ruin her expensive boots. Ahead of her, Lukas was closing in on the front exit. A soft glow filtered in from the windows, casting patches of light on the floor. Either of those panes of glass would also do for a hasty departure.
Dodging around another pallet, Eliza attempted to pick up speed, but a pile of bags full of concrete slowed her. Another leap, another brush, and this time she found herself in a cloud of white dust. Lukas would be at the door in a few more steps.
