I watch him pull down a heavy steel beam to drop into the crossbar over it. “That seems excessive.”
“If I were your father, I would send a team from the front and a second, smaller, team from the back.” Rylan drops into the chairs in front of the monitors and starts clicking buttons.
I concentrate, but I can only feel the irritation in one direction. “Isthere a back to this place?”
“Of course.” He frowns at the monitors and keeps clicking, flicking through the pictures so fast it makes me dizzy. “Only a fool wouldn’t leave a back door to escape from.”
Of course. How silly of me not to realize that was the case. “Whoisthis person?”
Rylan’s fingers pause over the keyboard. “He was a…friend.”
“Was?”
“He died some time ago. His granddaughter owns this house now, and she’s responsible for most of the upgrades. For reasons I’m not prepared to get into, she was willing to offer it as a place to stay.”
I have more questions, but they’ll have to wait. Rylan’s stopped on two screens. One depicts the road we drove in on. A single vehicle works its way up. It almost looks like a tank, armored plating beefing up the sides and roof and small windows not offering much in the way of weak points. I’ve seen that vehicle before. My father owns three of them. He uses one every time he has to leave the compound.
Surely he didn’t come here himself?
“It’s not him.” Rylan shakes his head. “As I said, it’s a good decoy, but this is the true strike team.” He motions to the second monitor.
It depicts a trio of masked individuals. It’s so dark, it takes me far too long to understand what I’m seeing. No trees. No rocks. No dirt. A hallway very similar to the ones we’ve been traveling since arriving yesterday.
“They’re inside.”
32
Ilean close to the monitor. “Why can’t I feel this group?”
“They must be masking their presence.” He doesn’t look happy by the revelation.
I could argue that maybe my lack of expertise is to blame, but there’s no time to figure out the why. All that matters is that they’re in the house and we’re outnumbered. “What do we do?”
Rylan clicks a few more buttons. “You’re not going to do anything. They’re barely inside. It will take them time to get here.” He stands and rolls his shoulders. “I’ll get to them before that happens.”
I’m moving before I register my own intent, shifting to stand between him and the door. “Not alone.”
“Mina.” He smiles slowly. “No matter what else is true, here I am the apex predator. Once I’m out the door, hit this button.” He motions to one in the sea of them. “It will shut off the lights.”
“Vampires have superior eyesight in the dark.”
“They still need some light to be able to see. They won’t get it in here.”
Because there are so few windows. I drag in a breath, fear like a live thing inside me. “That means you need light to see, too.”
“Yes, but sight isn’t the only way to get around. Smell is just as useful.” He closes the distance between us and kisses me hard. “Bar the door behind me. If the worst were to happen, there’s a hatch below the desk that will take you out. It’s narrow and uncomfortable, but you’ll be free.”
If the worst were to happen.
That would mean that Rylan is incapacitated. I drag in a breath. “If you think that’s a possibility, don’t go.”
“Mina.” Gods, the way he says my name. Tenderly, as if testing it out in the space between us. “No matter what else is true, we are warriors. We can only run and hide for so long.” He brushes his lips to my forehead. “I care for you. I won’t let them take you.” Rylan lifts me easily out of the way, and sets the bar across the door aside before I have a chance to react. Then he’s gone, sliding out into the shadows of the hallway. His body ripples as he changes, shifting into a monstrous wolf that looks like something out of a nightmare.
I shut the door and wrestle the bar back over the door. It’s heavy enough that I don’t know if a human woman could manage it. If I wasn’t terrified out of my mind, I would wonder again what kind of woman this granddaughter of Rylan’s friend is, but I have bigger things to worry about.
I hold my breath as I push the button Rylan indicated. Instantly, all the cameras go dark. Did I fuck something up? Even as the worry takes hold, the cameras flick back to life, their images taking on a green tint that indicates night vision.
The giant wolf that is Rylan appears and disappears in flashes, running full out down the warren of hallways. He barely pauses at the doors. I can’t be certain, but I think he shifts one hand to open them each time. It makes me dizzy trying to track him, so I turn to the intruders instead. They’re all dressed in black and wearing masks that hide everything but their eyes, which now glow eerily in the night vision. They could be anyone.