Bound by Night(89)

She just hoped no one would stop her, and fortunately, everyone was too focused on the coming danger to pay attention.
She fell in behind a group of young males who were so preoccupied with anxious boasting about how badass they were going to be in battle that they didn’t notice—or care—that she was following. Apparently, vampire youths were as full of swagger as human teens.
The group moved swiftly through the forest, and she had to struggle to keep up.
She knew the moment they got close to the front line. The forest animals became silent, and raised voices vibrated the very branches on the trees. Tension hung heavy in the air, an invisible fog that seemed to squeeze the breath from her lungs. As she topped a ridge, she came upon MoonBound’s warriors, and between them in a clearing, in perhaps a fifty-yard span, were easily three times as many ShadowSpawn fighters.
Where was Riker?
She pushed desperately through the forest of vampires and weapons toward the front of the crowd.
Hunter’s angry voice rose above the others, followed by another equally loud voice, and she wondered if he was talking with the other clan’s leader. She was almost at the front when a hand came down on her wrist and yanked her aside.
“Don’t.” Myne’s voice was a low growl in her ear.
“You’ll only make it worse for him.”
She opened her mouth to ask what he was talking about, when two people shifted, creating a gap through which she saw what Myne was trying to hide from her.
Riker was kneeling with his head bowed in front of a massive ShadowSpawn male carrying a bloodstained club, wrists bound behind his back, a chain looped around his neck, and blood streaming down his face.#p#分页标题#e#
“No,” she croaked. “No.”
Riker lifted his head, and her heart stopped. Had he heard her? The two vampires closed the gap. She struggled against Myne’s grip, but she might as well have been as chained as Riker. Myne held her against his big body, his hold bruisingly firm.
She heard a noise, the sickening thud of something hard and blunt striking flesh. A chorus of angry growls and curses stirred through MoonBound’s ranks.
Myne’s bloodcurdling snarl drowned them all out.
“What’s going on?”
Myne held her tight, ignoring her, as a new sound rose up, as if a herd of horses was circling. Standing on her toes, she looked out at the enemy, who were doing exactly what it sounded like. The entire clan was surrounding MoonBound.
Suddenly, the enemy disappeared, melting into the forest. The last thing she saw was Riker, being dragged by his feet into the brush.
“Riker!” Her hoarse cry was cut short by Myne’s hand over her mouth. She kicked, screamed deep in her throat, beat at him with her fists, but he only held her more securely against him to quell her struggles.
“He’s gone.” Myne’s shredded voice sounded like it had been dragged over sharp stones with Riker.
“We have to do something. We have to—”
“There’s nothing you can do.” Myne released her, but he hovered close, prepared to grab her again.
“But I’m going to make those fuckers pay, Nicole. I promise.”
Rage, unlike anything Nicole had ever felt before, welled up. She’d spent her entire life drifting, passionate about the scientific field she’d chosen but knowing she’d be forced into a company position she didn’t want. Since being captured by Riker, she’d learned to hate that company, to wish for its destruction.
But now she wasn’t going to let her entire life go to waste. Daedalus was going to do something good for once.
Daedalus was going to save Riker’s life.
 
 
• • • • • •

 
 
 
Nicole didn't sLeep at all that night.
She’d fought Myne until exhaustion left her so numb and worn out that by the time they made it  back to clan headquarters, she could barely think, let alone move. She’d let one of the females, Alina, take her to her room, where a pounding headache and nausea joined the exhaustion as she pored over the files she’d stolen from Daedalus. Surely she’d find something to take to ShadowSpawn, perhaps information on where to find clan members snatched by the company.
So far, nothing.
She’d come across a lot of fascinating research but nothing of potential use in getting Riker back.
At six A.M., as she was fighting to keep her blurry eyes open, a thumb drive fell out of one of the files.
Hoping the walk to the lab would help wake her, she shuffled down desolate halls that should be bustling with vampires coming in from night hunts. Instead, there was only silence. The clan had been spared a horrific battle, but Riker’s loss had hit them hard.