Page 108 of Love Bleeds

Crimson's fist clenched. Even though he'd only known those vampires for a couple of days, they'd already become more of a coven to him than his original coven. He couldn't let their efforts go to waste.

When he looked back at Luke, his friend was briefing Savannah on the location of the escape tunnel again. Her hands were shaking by her sides, but she nodded, all of her attention focused on Luke and the information he was giving her.

Crimson told himself that she was going to be fine. Savannah was never one to go down without a fight. In their games, she always played the knights and battle monks. Tough characters who kicked and screamed their way to the top.

"Once I open the door," Crimson said, "I'll shape-shift and run left, as if I was going for the elevator too. With everyone's eyes on me, Savannah can run in the other direction."

"We need to time it close to the blast, so they won't notice she's gone for a while," Luke said. "If they go after her straight away, she won't be able to outrun them."

Crimson nodded his agreement.

"Won't they be running for the tunnel once this place is on fire?" Savannah asked.

"We can only hope that they'll be more interested in saving themselves at that point," Crimson said.

"I gotta say," Savannah looked at each of them in turn, "this is a really shitty plan. Almost as bad as that plan we had to escape the orc stronghold. Oh God, I can't believe this is real life."

"I'm sorry," Luke said.

"It's not your fault," Crimson reminded him, almost out of instinct by this point.

"Well, I did build that bomb." He paused. "I wish we had a clock."

"That would come in handy right now," Crimson agreed.

"So, to recap," Luke took a breath, "you open the door, run out, I watch out and give Savannah a sign to start running when no one's looking our way. Maybe cause some more chaos if anyone tries to follow her. Then I cover us so we're protected from the blast."

"I think that’s about it," Crimson said.

"You'll be able to resist Nicolai's orders?" Luke asked.

Crimson nodded. He wasn't a hundred percent sure, but if hecouldn'tdo it, they were screwed, so failure was not an option.

Luke stepped up to him and touched his shoulder. Crimson searched his eyes. Luke gave him a tiny smile, and then leaned in for a kiss. "Just in case things go south," he said as he moved away again.

"They won't," Crimson promised. "We'll get out of here. Both of us." He wasn't at all sure how he was going to make that happen, but he was.

Luke nodded, then looked at the door again. "Do you think it's about time?"

"Yes." Crimson inhaled deeply and listened for sounds from outside. No movement that he could hear. All the vampires on their way outside must have passed them by already. He pressed down on the door handle and gave a firm push. There was a little resistance, but it gave soon enough. In the relative silence of the base, the sound of the lock breaking was like a tiny explosion all by itself.

Crimson didn't think. As soon as the door stood open, he shifted, and then he ran, up the hallway.

He hadn't forgotten his sire's words. Even now they pressed on his consciousness, trying to get him to stop, to go back to where he'd come from, but Crimson didn't stop.

Whatever his sire wanted wasn't as important as getting the coven's attention off Luke.