Page 47 of Dead

All grew quiet as the final vamps in the room were brought down. Noah turned to Colm and Theis. “Can you take the men and clear the rest of the building?”

Both men nodded before rounding up the group. Kane walked past, but Noah reached out and grabbed Kane’s arm.

“Are you good, man?”

Kane eyed him, a frazzled, unhealthy glow to his eyes. “I want to kill them all. Every fucking leech in Midnight.”

“There are some who have lived here peacefully for many years.”

Kane spat on the floor. “Only good vampire is a dead vampire.”

Noah watched as the man left the room, and then followed him out. He joined the half-vamp as they began clearing rooms, looking for stragglers, or anything that might help them piece together who was running the show.

On the third room, they found a naked man tied to a chair.

Kane shoved his silver stake into a holster on his hip and walked over to the man. He had bites all over his neck and shoulders. His head fell limply to one side, his skin pale.

“It’s just a feeder,” Noah muttered.

“No,” the man moaned. “Don’t… bite…”

“Damn it,” Theis said, rushing into the room. “Ralnur.”

“Ralnur?” Noah asked, remembering the name. “The king’s missing uncle?”

Theis bent down to check the man’s face. “The king’s uncle—who was reportedly kidnapped by the Suns.”

Kane began feverishly untying the man.

“Wait,” Theis said. “We don’t know if he was a part of this.”

“Does he look like he was a part of this?” Kane snapped before lifting Ralnur into his arms. The half-vamp walked on through the room and carried the king’s uncle out, Theis behind him.

“Noah? Talk to me,” Eilam’s voice came into his ear. “You all clear?”

“The portal is down. We’re clearing the building now—seems Theis has identified the king’s uncle. We found him covered in bites, bound naked to a chair.” Noah continued to clear rooms as he moved toward the voices below.

“Damn,” Eilam sighed. “We’ve got healers already on location just outside the vampire’s territory—so far, we have three injured, one bitten, and one dead. The EMTs can take Ralnur to the hospital.”

Noah heard his team calling in floors being clear, one by one. Finally, he heard the floor he was on was cleared and began heading to the stairs they’d fought their way up. “Status report, Theis?”

“We had the one bitten and one injured. Seems the other team wasn’t as lucky,” Theis answered back.

Noah finally reached the lower level and eyed Theis. “Who was the casualty?”

“One of the SWAT guys,” Theis answered.

“Bitten?”

“Angelo,” Chris called out.

“Fuck,” Noah said. “I better go check on him. You guys stay put and keep this location secure. Eilam’s got a team coming in to get what’s left of the portal to dismantle it.”

“Kane did a pretty good job of dismantling this one,” Chris said.

Noah searched the group for Kane. “Where is he?”

“Carrying Ralnur to the EMTs,” Theis said. “I sent Colm and one of the SWAT guys to cover him.”

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