Days of Redemption (The Firsts Book 6) (15 page)

David watched Koen’s face as he reconciled with the truth.

“I don’t want to, either, but we have no choice,” he said.

“I know.  Let’s get this done, then, and get the hell out of this country.  I’d like to
find a phone to let Cherise know I’m okay before she tries to come here.  She’s a strong-headed woman, you know that.”

As the three first bloods moved past the unconscious guards, David stopped to check the pockets of one of them and pulled a cell phone out.  Just as he was beginning to dial, he closed his eyes.

“Wait,” he said to Koen and Xavier. 

The brothers paused as they waited for David to continue.  They watched the door uneasily as David stayed still, his eyes
closed, head up slightly.  When he opened them a moment later, he sighed.

“Cherise is here.  So is Park.  They’re just moments away with Dez and a large complement of vampires.”

His daughter was here.  Koen knew her to be one of the most powerful vampires he’d ever known, and still it worried him to have her anywhere near this place.

“How are you communicating?” he asked David.

“Dez.  I can receive her messages.  You can’t?”

Xavier and Koen shook their heads. 

“Okay, tell them to fall back.  We’re out so we’ll take care of this place,” Koen instructed.

“I’m sorry, I can’t.  I don’t have the ability to send a telepathic message to Dez, and I tried to let Cherise know through our connection, but
often it’s more sensation that specifics.  She’s coming, and I can’t stop her.”

Koen, nodding his head, said, “Okay, then.
  Let’s prepare for a battle.”

Lauren had never been more worried in her life.  She’d already accepted that she was going to die.  But now she was certain that Bryn was going to as well, and it didn’t seem like there was anything she could do to stop it.  

Her belly rumbled, she had to pee, and was more thirsty than she’d ever been, but
she didn’t care about her needs at all.  Sitting on the floor of her cage, her eyes didn’t leave him as he lay twisted on the floor of his.  Tears rolled down her cheeks as she told herself that she would now officially be responsible for a vampire’s death. No redemption for her.  She’d failed, and would die soon, too, but that didn’t matter anymore.  Bryn. 
He
mattered.

She raised her head as the double doors opened and Kalia hurried through them,
across the room straight to Lauren, and to the cage door.

“Hi.  We don’t have much time.  I’ve got the electronic release and R
euben’s codes.  We have to get out of here and get
him
out of here.”

Kalia glanced at Bryn’s unmoving large body.

“Although
that
might be more challenging than possible.”

“We’ll do it.  Thank you, Kalia, for helping us.”

“Nah, it’s what I do.  I’m done with this place.  Stayed as long as I could to help protect people but I’m ready to get them out of here.”  She paused.  “I’m tired of running scared.  I’m ready to go home.”

Lauren nodded.  “I understand.  I don’t even know where home would be for me, anymore, but I wish I had one and could go there right now.”

A series of low beeps and a loud snick announced Lauren’s freedom.

She rushed past Kalia and stood with her cheek pressed on the bars of
Bryn’s cage as Kalia worked her magic and released his lock too.

Lauren pulled the door open and walked to him quickly, squatting, her hand just above his head, paused.  It
might be the last time she touched him.  Strange how she’d gone from dreading even the thought of the vampires to wanting to protect this one more than anything in her life.

She dropped her hand into his hair and weaved her fingers in tight as Kalia knelt beside him, too, and tried to enter his mind again to awaken him.   He really was a good man and she knew he would help everyone in this facility to get away safely. 

Leaning over, Lauren kissed his lips gently, lingering against him, and whispered, “Have the long life you deserve, Bryn.  Try not to drink so much.”

Standing, she started to leave the cage when Kalia looked at her.

“He’s waking.  Thank the stars, we’ll get you two out of here in moments.”

Lauren nodded and touched Kalia on the cheek.

“Good.  Do that, get him out and anyone else that you can.”

When she moved to the double doors, Kalia called out to her.

“Lauren, wait, I’ll need your help with him.”

“No.  Once he’s awake, you can do it.  I have somewhere I need to go to make sure this works out.”

Kalia understood instantly and started towards her.  “No you don’t.  You can’t go to Lamont, you have to leave with us.”

“He wants
me
more than anyone.  I’m the prize, so if I go to him, I can keep him busy while you guys get everyone to safety and burn this place down around us.  I’m okay with that, Kalia.  I’ve been lucky to have made it this long after what I did in Paris.  This is my way of redeeming myself, and I consider it a small price.  Don’t mess this up for me.  Get him and the others out.  And don’t tell him where I am.  He’s a hero, he’ll try to find me. 
Don’t
let him, promise me.”

“He won’t accept your sacrifice.”

“You have to tell him I’m out.”

“He won’t believe me.”

“
Make
him.  I have to go.  I’ll keep Lamont distracted as long as I can.  Do you know where Lamont is right now?” 

Kalia shook her and b
efore she could protest again, Lauren raced to the double doors

Engaging
the doors, Lauren looked down the corridor outside the lab.  No one was around, so she followed the edge of the hallway until she found the elevators.

Where would he be?
   Lamont would either be in the main research lab or the fanciest office in the place.  No way to know, so she needed to find Reuben.  As she continued through the next hallway, a young woman in an all-white uniform exited a closed door that resealed as soon as she left.

“Hey,” Lauren called to her.  The girl looked up, startled.
  Using her best acting skills, she smiled perkily and walked up to the uniformed agent.

“Hi, I’m here with Jacques Lamont’s team, and I’m such a nerd. 
Lost my way in these labyrinthine corridors.  Could you lead me to the main offices?”

The girl stared at Lauren for a few more moments before she looked left.

“Elevators, upper floor 2.  Advance to your right off the elevator and up the stairs.”   Almost robotic, the girl’s manner and voice were cold, detached, and disinterested.

Friendly.
  I can see torture wouldn’t pose an ethical
conundrum for you
, Lauren thought, but said, “Gee, thanks so much.  Have a nice day.”

Elevators, check.  Upper floor 2, check.  On the ride up, Lauren wondered how many people were in this facility right now, how many residents trapped here.  If Kalia
and Bryn could get them out and destroy this place, was there any chance the SRS would stop?   She couldn’t worry about that now.  All she could do right here, right now, was try to save as many as possible.  And save Bryn.

She let her mind wander for a moment on the last time they were together.  It may have not been love, but their connection had been real and deep, special. 
If she had to go out, what a memory to go out on.

The elevator doors whooshed open and Lauren stepped out carefully.  A wide desk wrapped around a raised pedestal in front of a spacious glassed-in office.  An older woman sat busily behind it, and glanced up absentmindedly as Lauren came towards her.  The woman did a double-take.

“Oh, you shouldn’t be here.  Get hell and gone right now before he arrives this evening.”

As she reached the desk, Lauren glanced at a little sign that said
Marie Receiving
.

“You know who I am?”  Lauren asked, surprised.

“I sure the hell do.  I watched that asshole celebrate when they brought you in.  If you don’t get out of here, I’ll watch him dance at your funeral.  If you can get down to the parking garage without being stopped, you can take my car.  Here.”

Mari
e began to reach for a satchel when Lauren leaned over the counter, a hand on Marie’s shoulder to stop her.

“No.  I can’t, thanks.  Listen, I need to kn
ow where Lamont is right now.  I need to go to him.”

“What?”

“I plan to go to him and keep him occupied while Kalia and Bryn help get the residents out. If I can keep him from alerting the guards, they may have a chance.”

“You won’t.  He’ll kill you, pr
obably as soon as he sees you.”

“No, he won’t. 
He won’t get enough satisfaction that way.  He wants to hurt me, so I plan to give him his shot.”

“You can’t do that. There’ll be another way.  Please, just get out of here so that maybe you ca
n return to fight another day.”

“I’d love to, but he has some friends of mine imprisoned here and he intends to dissect them.  I won’t let that happen, I couldn’t live with it.  So this is the plan. Mari
e, I need to know where he is.”

Mari
e didn’t say anything, just watched Lauren as she pressed her weight against the counter.  She studied Lauren, and could see the determination and commitment, her concern for the fate of the others.  She was a good soul.

Mari
e also knew that this woman was the one who had destroyed the Paris lab.  Who was she to stop this Good Samaritan from accomplishing her deeds?  If Lauren was meant to survive, Marie believed that she would.

So she nodded.  “He’s in the main guest suite. 
Alone.  He usually sleeps until eleven or twelve.  I think he’s still on Paris time.  Anyway, be careful.  Take the elevator up to the top floor.  The room’s right off of it.  He usually has two guards outside, but I’ll try to pull them away.  Good luck, brave girl.”

Lauren
smiled, her lips tight. What a kind lady, wishing her luck on her suicide run.  “I hope so, too.”

She headed back to the elevator, and as the doors closed, she released a long-held breath.  This was it.  She would face her enemy directly.  Odds were she’d be dead by the end of the night.  If this played out as she hoped, Kalia and Bryn would
have most or all of the supernaturals out.  Once Lamont realized that, he’d know she’d done it again.  He’d slice her then and she prayed that it would be quick.

No more ruminating, she chided herself.  It was time to take action.

The doors slid apart to reveal two large men with sub-machine guns.  But the guns were slung over their shoulders and they were smiling.

Putting on a bright smile too, Lauren stepped out of the elevator as they stepped in.

“Have a good time,” one of the men said with a toothy grin and a hand gesture she didn’t understand.

Ah. Mari
e had told them to leave because a woman was coming to service Lamont.  Good choice.  Men understood that, if nothing else.

She noticed an electronic lock outside the door of the suite, but a steady green light told her Mari
e had already disengaged it.   Who needed luck when you had such a worthy team?

The room was dark except for a glow around an area near the back that looked like a computer station.  It was enough
light for Lauren to clearly see a man’s figure in a large bed in the center of the room.

It was Lamont.  The shock of white hair practically glowed in the blue-white light coming from the lights in the corner.  At that moment, the only thing Lauren really wanted to do was plunge a knife into his chest, but that was a brutal act and she didn’t think she could do it, even to
him
.

The opportunity dissolved seconds later, though, as he shot out of the bed and grabbed her viciously with hard fingers on her shoulders, forcing her to the floor with his knee in her lower back.

“Who the hell?”  he barked out.

It was a struggle to breathe or speak, but Lauren forced the words. 
“It’s me, Lamont.  You said you wanted to fuck me, so here I am.”

Backing off of her, he yanked Lauren upright and stared at her face in the low light.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“They let me out.  Accidently, but
then I smashed one of them in the face with a big glass beaker.  He thought it would be justice to shove me in here with you.  Must have heard you threaten to fuck me.  Go ahead, if you think it’ll satisfy your jollies.  If you think you’re man enough.”

Lamont stared at her for a moment longer and then shoved her
away from him.  

Lauren was shocked when she sailed across the room with extreme force, crashing headlong into the wall
, her hands in front of her the only thing that kept her from taking the impact with her head.  Her wrists collapsed and she fell hard, the iron taste in her mouth let her know she was bleeding.