Page 54 of The Vampire and the Case of the Perilous Poltergeist

He continued, ‘I’m so glad I don’t have to pretend to be one of you anymore. I finally feel clean again. Sharing your air was making me feel sick.’

What a total wanker. He’d be damned lucky to be a real shaman. Anissa, the one I knew in Portlock, was one of the nicest people I’d met, much nicer than this prick.

I heard someone coming down the stairs behind me and something in me eased. Connor was finally on his way. Sliding back and standing up slowly and carefully so Eben wouldn’t see me, I turned to watch him come down the corridor. Relief and joy filled my sluggish heart.

Only it wasn’t Connor who stepped into sight. It was Lieutenant Fischer.

For once I was speechless; I had officially run out of expletives.

Chapter 38

I looked around desperately for somewhere to hide but Fischer had seen me. A dark grin filled his face. ‘Expecting someone else, recruit?’ he asked. His lips had a cruel twist to them. How had I ever thought he was handsome? Silver fox, my ass; silver gorilla, more like, which worked because silver gorillas were dangerous as fuck. Oh good, my expletives were back.

I swallowed. What had he done to Connor and Sidnee? ‘Maybe,’ I said pugnaciously. I wasn’t going to admit to anything.

Eben came around the corner and stood by the lieutenant. More people were coming down the stairs and they weren’t being quiet. My heart sank; nobody but Sidnee and Connor knew I was down here…

However, the people coming down the stairs were Thorsen and Miller, the other MIB agents we’d discovered.

Sergeant Marks wasn’t amongst them; either they’d used him to keep Connor and Sidnee at bay or he wasn’t involved. Iopened my mouth to shout for help. There were other supernats in this building and although being in the basement might muffle my screams, there was a slim chance someone might hear me.

I yelled, ‘Aoife!’ with everything I had and got out one good holler before the lieutenant sprayed something in my face. My voice cut off and I could no longer make a sound. And Aoife didn’t show.

I choked in a breath but it was difficult because my throat was partially closed. I could breathe if I stayed still but any exertion was impossible. I put my hands to my throat and glared at the lieutenant. ‘What did you do to me?’ I mouthed,

Fischer seemed to understand. ‘That’s one of our handy new drugs – it makes you silent. It doesn’t last long but we’re working on it and it’s more effective than duct tape. I’ve been longing to use it on you,’ he crooned. ‘Damned encyclopaedic brain, spouting the answers like a little know-it-all, showing everyone else up. Well, now I have you, Elizabeth Octavia Barrington.’

He smiled smugly then motioned Thorsen to come forward and tie me up. ‘I know you vamps don’t need to breathe, but I’m sure this will still be uncomfortable. If you don’t struggle, we’ll get you out of here to our submarine soon enough. First we need to collect the others then it’ll be time for you to go away and for me to greet the next bunch of recruits.’

I glared at him. Someone was going to notice if a full cohort of supernats went missing, even with the lack of communication between the various supernatural safe havens. This couldn’t be swept under the rug and that thought gave me some comfort.

Fischer gestured to someone down the corridor and one of Thorsen’s cabal came forward carrying Sidnee over his shoulder. Two more of them were dragging Connor. They secured their bonds and leaned them against the wall next to me. I chokedback a sob as hope drained from me. A rescue team wasn’t coming.Iwas the rescue team – and I was so screwed.

‘Shouldn’t be long, but we need to find the other three supernat recruits and that bastard Marks. Seems they received a warning.’ Fischer glared at Connor’s limp body. Although Connor wasn’t breathing, he was a true vamp; he had to be alright or they wouldn’t have brought him down here. Sidnee’s breathing was slow and steady: she was out, but she was okay.

But where was Fluffy? At least Shadow was sleeping safely in the truck and no one knew about him. It was a small consolation as the rest of my life went down the pan. As if he’d read my mind, the lieutenant asked, ‘Where’s the vamp’s mutt?’

‘We tied him up like you said,’ Miller answered. ‘We could do with a highly trained K-9.’

The lieutenant nodded. ‘Saves us some money on training.’

Were they keeping Fluffy for the State Troopers or the MIB? For his sake, I hoped it was the former. I was relieved the bastards hadn’t shot him; they didn’t like supernats but they understood the importance of a good dog. I hoped Fluffy would go along with the subterfuge until he could escape and get back to Gunnar. Gunnar would take care of him.

Oh man, Gunnar was going to be so mad when Sidnee and I didn’t return from the academy. Fischer didn’t know what kind of hell he was bringing down on his head. If I’d worked it out, so would Gunnar – and Gunnar would be prepared with backup and seventeen different types of weapon. He was a demi-god; he would make them regret their every action. Knowing that steeled my spine. Whatever happened to me, Gunnar would make them pay.

It had to be enough.

Chapter 39

I gritted my teeth. I would not give up hope and resign myself to this fate. Danny, Harry, George and Sergeant Marks were still free, and none of the enemy knew that I had fire magic. I needed tothinkmy way out of this; I had time as long as I kept a level head and didn’t panic.

Lieutenant Fischer was hissing angrily at Thorsen; he was trying to keep his voice down, so naturally I strained my ears to hear what he was saying. I only snatched a word or two, but it seemed like Thorsen was arguing with him. Was my earlier mesmerising still making him sympathetic to supernaturals?

Hope blossomed in my heart – then rapidly died as I heard more of their argument because they were arguing about injecting me. Thorsen was all for it but the lieutenant wasn’t. They had four more people to bring in and only two more doses of somnum. Since I was already tied up, there was no need towaste another valuable dose on me. But it was good to know that I’d rattled Thorsen’s cage enough for him to be afraid of me.

Predictably, the lieutenant won the discussion; this was Fischer’s territory so he won the pissing contest and several of the MIB soldiers went off with the two remaining syringes to bring back the four missing supernats.

I tested the cuffs again: they were tight. The tensile strength of these suckers was more than 180 kilos. I might have been able to break them if I’d had some leverage but I had none.

---