target. Ohio is pitch-black on the other side. We step through into an abandoned warehouse, needing to keep ourselves shielded. Once we’re all through, Thay closes the portal.
In a voice barely a whisper, Aries says, “I know I say this all the time, but eyes open. This isn’t some small-time male we’re after. I’ve been following leads on this one for months. He’s slipped through our hands too many times. I want him caught. If it’s alive, all the better. We’re aware there are more locations than this one where he’s hiding paranormals. But if we have to kill him, so be it. We’ll just have our work cut out for us as we scour the world looking for his hideouts.”
“He’s a vampire, right?” Echo asks.
“Yes. Full vampire and at least a thousand years old. He’s not new and, from everything I’ve learned, he’s not someone who messes up. Be on guard. Walk through here like we’ve been training. I’m having Echo spotting again tonight since he’s best with the sniper rifle. It’s quiet and he can pick off those we don’t see. I’ve been told this male has many guards. We’re going to have to take them out so we can enter the building. Not all of them though; we won’t have enough time. The second he knows we’re coming, he’s going to bolt. So, take out who we need to so we can get inside. We’ll deal with the rest after.”
We nod then do a second check to make sure our earpieces are working. We did this before leaving but it’s good to do a second one in case someone here is using a jammer. Yes, we can easily hear one another, thanks to our exceptional hearing, but the earpieces come in when our voices are so quiet even a human standing right beside us wouldn’t be able to detect it.
We file out of the warehouse and split off into groups. I stay by Cam’s side. It’s the place I’m meant to be. Guarding him. Protecting him. Knowing he’s doing the same for me. We’re aware of what’s at stake every time we leave for a mission. Cam almost died once. I will never let that happen again.
“And I won’t let you be held hostage again,” he says in my mind.
My chest swells with love for the male. He’s steadfast in his commitment to me and my well-being. That possessive tone of his warms me. No, he doesn’t act like I’m someone to be owned but rather cherished. And he does.
We move in the shadows for a few blocks as the buildings become more broken down than the ones before. Night provides great cover, as do the broken streetlights. I’m not sure why this male has set up shop in such a dilapidated place since, from what Aries has said previously, he has a lot of money. Maybe that’s the point. If he works out of a place like this, no one will suspect him. The local human cops probably don’t come down here unless something major goes on. And the humans certainly aren’t going to come here on their night out. We do pass a few people who are homeless. I’d love to slip them some money but that would give us away and there’s no telling if any of them work for the male we’re after and if they’re planted as lookouts. Therefore, we stick to the walls, never to be seen, thanks to the tactical clothes we wear.
When we get within a couple hundred feet of the location, Aries motions for us to split up. Thay and Austin go around the other side. Aries and Sevan go the opposite way. Echo slips back and begins climbing a fire escape so he can put himself into position to watch our backs. And Sawyer and Des head to the front of the building while Cam and I stay at the back.
We approach slowly, methodically. I hear members of the team state when they’re clear. Movement from my right catches my eyes, but Cam is there slitting the being’s throat before I can even blink. That male moves like the wind. I didn’t see him leave my side.
He wipes the blood coating the blade on his pants and comes back over beside me. I nod and he does the same, silently communicating that we’re good.
We reach a back door and hold our position, one of us on either side of it as we wait for Aries to give