Page 32

Chapter 32

I pushed myself slowly to my feet. Sidnee was also standing up, but Thomas wasn’t moving. I rushed over but Sidnee beat me to him. She threw herself down next to him, her hands clutching and unclutching.

I leaned down to check his pulse. It thrummed strongly against my fingers. ‘He’s okay!’ I said. Or at least I think I did, because the blast had knocked out my hearing. Immediately I realised that, my ears made a clicking sound and I moved my jaw to rebalance the pressure. Noise was restored in a rush that made even the slightest sound seem like a roar.

Finally Thomas’s eyelids fluttered open. He groaned, then rolled to his side and tried to sit up. Sidnee grabbed his arm to help him. ‘What the fuck?’ he mumbled.

Yeah: what the actual fuck? ‘I don’t know,’ I admitted. ‘Something went boom.’ I looked around and saw a huge cloud of dust and smoke in the distance. A chill ran down my spine. My voice, when it came out, was a harsh whisper. ‘My God, I think there was an explosion at the mine.’

Thomas swore and rolled to his feet. ‘We’ve got to get over there,’ he said grimly. ‘Can you call the fire department?’

I pulled out my phone and dialled. ‘666. What is your emergency?’ the perky female voice asked, as if people dialling 666 were inquiring about party supplies. It was the number of the dedicated emergency line for supernats; sometimes supernat emergencies weren’t compatible with calling 911. Okay, most of the time.

‘We need response at the Chrome Mine in Portlock,’ I said briskly. ‘There’s been an explosion.’

‘Who am I speaking to?’

‘This is Officer Barrington with the Nomo’s office. We need immediate emergency response.’ I paused. ‘Send everyone.’

The voice on the other end stuttered a bit. ‘Yes, of course. On their way.’

I hung up and called Gunnar. ‘We felt it,’ he said grimly. ‘The whole town heard the boom.’

‘We’re going to need all the emergency personnel here as soon as possible," I said.

‘From the sirens, they’re already on their way – and so am I. Are you and Sidnee all alright?’

‘Yeah, we’re fine. The blast knocked us down but we’re not injured.’

Other than swiping at his ears, Fluffy seemed to be okay. Shadow was nowhere to be seen. Dammit: I should have kept an eye on him! The moment he woke up, I should have known something was going down – that lynx really did have a sixth sense. I hoped that he was hiding because cats were sensitive to noise and vibration and Shadow was more so than most.

‘We gotta go!’ Thomas called. ‘Move!’ He already had the engine running. Much as I hated the idea of leaving Shadow wherever the fuck he was, I also knew that my feline fur baby could definitely look after himself.

The windows of the SUV had been blown out but Thomas had wiped the glass off the seats. ‘We’re going to the mine, Shadow!’ I yelled before we set off. I doubted he’d understand because he wasn’t a shifter like Fluffy, but it was worth a try. I was worried but lives were at risk and we had to see if and how we could help; I’d come back for my cat before I went home.

Thomas drove like a man possessed; I didn’t blame him, though I did clutch onto the door handle. As we tore down the road, I texted Connor that I was okay but there had been an explosion at the mine .

The car park was littered with debris and the whole entrance to the mine was gone, leaving a gaping hole in the hillside. My jaw dropped. The debris was still smouldering and producing noxious smoke. I coughed as it hit the back of my throat.

There were dwarves and humans everywhere, most of them moving and moaning; supernats tended to be harder to kill, which was one plus. Sidnee, Thomas and I jumped out of the SUV, spread out and ran to help those nearest to us.

I ran over to one of the moving bodies, a dwarf. I checked him over: his hair was singed; he had cuts and scrapes and probably a broken wrist. I helped him up and moved him to a clear area.

‘Less serious injuries here,’ I barked to Sidnee and Thomas. They nodded and moved another two of the walking wounded to sit with my dwarf. All three were obviously in pain and shock, but they weren’t in mortal danger. Sidnee grabbed supplies from the SUV and gave them each some painkillers and a thermal blanket.

I went to the next dwarf, triaged and moved him to the less serious area. A vampire, blood pouring out of him, was moving towards one of the dead dwarves intent on getting some fresh blood. ‘No!’ I said hastily. ‘They can’t go to the afterlife unless their whole self is burned, including their blood. Here, bite me.’

The vampire hesitated for a second and then took the wrist I offered him. His fangs bit into my wrist and I cried out in pain. I guess this dude hadn’t learned the neat hypnosis trick that Connor could do. I gritted my teeth. He wouldn’t need much blood to kick start his healing, so it would be over soon. You can cope with anything for fifteen seconds, right? Except maybe decapitation.

With a panicked shout, Connor was suddenly there. He ripped the vampire off me, reared back and punched him in the head. ‘Connor! No! I offered!’

He turned on me, chest rising and falling rapidly. ‘Fuck! Vampires don’t feed off vampires, Bunny!’

I blinked. ‘Because it’s rude?’

‘Because they can’t stop! He would have sucked you dry!’ His panic was evident, his eyes blown wide.

I licked suddenly dry lips. ‘He’ll be okay, though?’ I looked at the unconscious vamp who was already visibly healing.

‘I should kill him,’ Connor said tightly.

‘No!’

‘Your blood,’ he hissed to me. ‘You’re a hybrid Bunny, remember?’

‘Okay, so? ’

‘So there’s a reason why the council is scared of hybrids. Beyond the fact that you can feed on auras, if a vampire feeds off your blood they’ll be in thrall to you. Totally and utterly. He’ll do whatever you want forever – he’s your slave, Bunny!’

He shook his head. ‘And if he lives we’ll have to hide him, hide his blind obedience to you.’ His expression was grim and he took a step towards the fallen vampire. ‘Better he dies.’

‘No!’ I snapped. ‘I didn’t save him to have you kill him! Look around you – there’s been enough death tonight.’ I held onto his arm and looked pleadingly into his eyes. ‘Please, Connor, we’ll deal with this together. But don’t kill him.’

Connor blew out a long breath as he looked at me. ‘You’ll be the death of me ,’ he muttered, but he turned and shook the vampire until he awoke. ‘Go to my old cabin and remain there until we come for you.’

The vampire ignored Connor and looked glassy eyed at me. ‘Mistress,’ he said happily.

Oh boy. I swallowed hard then repeated Connor’s order. ‘Go to Connor’s cabin and remain there until we come for you. ’

The vampire floated to his feet and was gone in a second. ‘Shit,’ Connor said. ‘Shit.’ Visibly upset, he scrubbed a hand through his curly dark hair.

‘What?’ I asked.

‘That’s Parker.’

‘So?’

He grimaced. ‘He’s been one of my biggest rivals since I arrived in Portlock, and now we’ll have to bring him into the heart of our group if we’re going to hide this. I’m not sure the other vampires will buy such a sudden change of heart.’

‘We’ll work it out,’ I said stubbornly.

I’d never seen Connor look uncertain before and it was unnerving to see it now. ‘Yeah,’ he agreed hollowly. ‘We’ll work it out.’

‘How did you arrive so quickly?’ I asked.

‘I was at Kamluck,’ he said. ‘I ran.’

I blinked. ‘That’s some run you’ve got there.’

He gave me a crooked smile that warmed every inch of me. ‘I will always run to you, Doe.’

Sirens blaring, the ambulances arrived and interrupted our moment. The firemen followed moments later. Connor and I split up to help the emergency teams, and I pointed out the more seriously wounded dwarves to the paramedics .

We worked for hours. The injuries worsened the closer we got to the mine until there were only dead bodies and scattered limbs. At one point my phone buzzed in my pocket – I’d missed a call from Helmud’s dad. Hard to worry about that amongst all that surrounded us.

Gunnar finally found me as I was staring into the caved-in mine. I hoped Matilda was okay; I knew elementals were tough, but even the toughest being would die if they were blown to smithereens.

My boss looked as rough as I felt; he was covered in blood and mud and his eyes were weary. We’d all go on seeing this scene for some time to come. He put his arm around me. ‘Let’s go home, Bunny. We’re done.’

I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I was numb.

Gunnar continued, ‘I’ve sent Sidnee home with Thomas. You need to go too.’

I shook my head slowly. ‘Gunnar, there are a lot of hurt people but there should be more.’

He frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ve seen maybe thirty people out here, including the bodies, but there should have been at least a hundred miners coming on and off shift. Where are the rest? Vaporised?’ I paused and realised I hadn’t seen the one dwarf I needed to ask. ‘Have you seen Leif? ’

Gunnar frowned. ‘No, but I didn’t work the whole field.’

I nodded. I should have looked for Leif, investigated the hatch under the tractor, found Shadow, but just then I didn’t have the energy – or the heart. We’d already worked through the night and dawn was coming again. I was dead on my feet. Dead-er.

I met Gunnar’s eyes. ‘The men that went down the hatch had something to do with this, and someone at the mine must be helping them. That’s why the casualties have been minimised. We need to get back to the hatch and check the cameras we put up.’

‘We will, but not now. Our people are exhausted – you’re exhausted, Sidnee is wiped out and I’m finished, too.’ He looked at the mine. ‘We’ll make mistakes, mistakes we can’t afford. Something is going on here and we need all our wits about us. I’ve tagged April and she’s heading in to the office – she’ll call if there’s an emergency. Now, go home and rest, and we’ll make a plan tomorrow. That’s an order.’

I wouldn’t let it go. ‘Gunnar, if it is the same people – those MIB assholes – they had a submarine . We need to check the water,’ I said stubbornly. I was swaying where I stood. Man, I really wanted to go home and snuggle with Connor and my pets, then sleep for a one hundred years. ‘Shadow…’ I sighed.

Gunnar tugged his rough beard. ‘What about him?’

‘He ran off when the mine exploded. I need to find him.’

‘Tomorrow, Bunny,’ he said gently. ‘One night in the wild won’t harm him – far from it. He’ll be in his element. Go home, that’s an order.’

I shook my head again, but the movement almost knocked me off my feet. Fluffy whined, and as I looked up a vision walked towards me through the smoke and debris: Connor, with Shadow on his heels. My mate was dirty, his shirt was torn – and he was perfect. A half-sob caught in my throat and I ran to him.

He caught me and I clung to him. ‘Let’s go, Doe. We’ve done all we can. Now it’s time to take care of you.’

I shuddered. ‘It was so bad.’ I looked around and let myself really see the scale of the disaster. This might be the worst thing that had happened to the town since the barrier went up. ‘Where did you find Shadow?’

‘More like he found me,’ Connor said wryly. ‘I was helping load someone into the ambulance and he just appeared.’

I pulled back and gave Shadow a scritch behind his ear. ‘Thank God you’re okay.’ I bundled the huge lynx into my arms to give him a squeeze, and for once he didn’t try to jump away. I turned to Gunnar. ‘Okay, I’m ready to go home.’

‘Good. Ring me when you’re up.’ He fixed Connor with a hard stare. ‘Look after her.’

‘Yes, sir,’ Connor said, with no trace of irreverence. We watched the big man trudge off; his shoulders bowed as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Connor turned to me and his eyes softened. ‘You look undead on your feet, my love.’

I smiled. ‘Yup.’ I leaned back in. ‘I want your magnificent shower, tea – and you.’

‘Your wish is my command,’ he murmured. ‘Let’s go.’