Page 13 of Kingly Bitten

The Vigils hadn’t wasted any time in killing all the researchers throughout the bunker. And the crystallized glimmer of red from a few of the lab technicians confirmed that the Vigils were in possession of the serum as well.

I swallowed, my stomach churning at the sight.

The bullets turned the blood to solid form, immobilizing the host and essentially dismantling the immortal essence. It had taken decades to perfect the substance. Many of those who had helped create it were now experiencing the impact of the effect… and dying.

Witnessing it now, I realized there was no way I could have seen this through. Lilith had to know that, too. Yet she’d put me in charge for a reason.

My brow furrowed as I tried to puzzle out her logic.

Then a fifth lab flashed across my screen as the Vigils entered to destroy the occupants.

I’m running out of time to act, I realized, my frozen limbs jolting back to life.

I pulled up the feeds from the floors that were already cleared and started a recording to create a loop for anyone looking in on the video surveillance. Three minutes passed before I decided it was sufficient for a consistent replay.

By the time I finished, the fifth lab was already cleared.

Rather than focus on the morbid scene, I began another recording to create a loop for that level. The Vigils were entering the sixth lab as I finished. Rather than record that, I went to the one on this floor where James and Gretchen worked, and created a loop there. Then I returned to the most recent massacre to record and loop.

Adingdown the hall told me that more Vigils had arrived, probably to check on Officer Gerald’s work.

I met James’s gaze and noted the question there.

He’d already assembled some of the guns, but Gretchen still held their furry child in her arms.

Giving him a subtle shake of my head, I called up another series of commands on my computer. The sixty-second loop for our area would have to be enough to fool an onlooker because we were out of time. And, fortunately, my office didn’t have a camera.

My fingers flew across my keyboard as the murmurs began in the hall.

One of the Vigils asked Officer Gerald what he was doing.

He then uneasily replied that he was overseeing my protection while I finished up in my office.

“What? That’s not part of the protocol,” a deep voice snapped. “They all die. You can’t be soft on her just because she’s nice to look at.”

I ignored them, my sequence almost complete.

Boots stomped forward.

Five, I counted.Four.

I hit the Enter button.

Three.

Final command.

Two.

I hit Enter again.

Now.

I nodded at James, and he lifted the gun to aim just as Gerald and his buddy charged in. His aim was true, nailing both Vigils right in their heads before they even had a chance to react.

Hurried steps started down the hall, only to skid to a stop as a sharp howl graced the air. “What the fuck was that?” a gruff voice asked.

A feral lycan, I thought at him. Then I jumped up to help James pull the dead Vigils inside.