I pushed open the door. The hallway seemed identical to the floor we’d been on. It felt a bit like a hospital hallway, and it smelled hyperclean, as if it had been recently flushed with antiseptic.
It was dark here and very quiet—too quiet—as if everyone had already escaped. If there had been anyone here to begin with.
I stopped walking and listened hard . . . and heard something. A steady pounding noise. “That might be her.”
“Might be.”
“Worth checking.” I picked up my pace and moved down the hall until I reached the door from which the sound was coming. I pressed my hand up against it. “Is somebody in there?”
The pounding stopped. There was silence for a moment and then, “Help! You have to get me out of here! I’m locked in!”
I tried the handle, but she was absolutely right. I looked at Declan.
He nodded. “Step aside.”
“Stay back,” I told the woman through the door. “We’re going to break the door open.”
Declan kicked the door hard. It only took a few good kicks with Declan’s heavy boot—not to mention his dhampyr strength—before it flew inward.
The woman was dressed in a pink hospital gown, her face pale with fear as she stared out at us with wide eyes. “Who the f**k are you?”
“You’re welcome,” I said. “Now let’s get the hell out of here. We can do the meet and greet later.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” She looked warily at Declan, and whatever she thought of his fearsome looks made her noticeably cringe. “Where’s Dr. Reynolds?”
“He’s dead.” I said it bluntly, but it made me flash back to what happened in the examining room. I shuddered. “And so are we if we loiter around here for much longer.”
“Dead?” Her voice broke.
“I’m surprised you care. He’s the one who locked you up.”
“No—” She looked confused. “He’s paying me a lot of money to help him with his research. I need the money. My parents—I’m supporting them. I’m all they have.”
I stared at her with surprise. “You agreed to be here? Do you know what kind of experiments he was doing?”
“Reproductive studies. I know I was agreeing to be artificially inseminated. For the money I’m being paid, it’s worth it. I already agreed to give up the child when it’s born.”
I felt sick at hearing her story, knowing what she didn’t know. She might have signed up voluntarily, but it was unlikely that she knew the results—that being artificially inseminated by a vampire would likely leave her torn in at least two very bloody pieces.
“Are you pregnant right now?” I asked cautiously.
She shook her head. “We were going to officially start tomorrow.”
I let out a shaky sigh of relief. “We need to get out of here.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“You know there are vampires here, don’t you?”
“Vampires?” she repeated, frowning hard. “Are you crazy or something?”
We didn’t have time for this. “Yeah, I’m crazy. Now let’s go.” I grabbed her arm, happy that she didn’t fight against me as I pulled her out of the room.
She looked over her shoulder at Declan. “He’s scary as hell, isn’t he?”
Despite everything, that almost made me grin. “He’s an adorable puppy dog compared to what’s downstairs. Come on.”
“Just keep climbing until we get to the surface,” Declan said. When we reached the stairwell again, Declan swung open the door. Before I had the chance to go through, pale hands grabbed the front of Declan’s shirt and dragged him over the threshold. The door closed behind him with a click.
I felt as though the breath had been completely knocked out of me.
“No!” I let go of the woman and grappled for the door, pushing it open so hard it bruised my hands.
I saw Declan fly backward, down a flight of stairs, and he hit the cement wall hard at the landing before tumbling down a couple more steps. Blood streamed down his forehead.
“Declan!” I screamed.
His pain-filled gaze locked on mine, and he must have seen the terror in my eyes. “Go, Jill! Take the woman and get out of here! Now!”
The vampire—no, there were two of them—drew closer to him. Normally, I had no doubt Declan could take them. But my blood had weakened him. He could fight for a while, but it wouldn’t be long before they tore him apart.
He wanted me to leave him, to save myself and the woman. And maybe I would have done just that—in a previous life.
I glared at the woman. “Stay right here. Don’t move.”
“What are you doing?”
“Whatever I have to.”
“Leave him. Let’s just go! He said we should!”
I shook my head. “He should know by now I rarely do what I’m told.”
There wasn’t any more time to explain, to figure out a plan, to think things through. I had only a few seconds to save Declan. And I had only one weapon at hand. The same weapon I always had at hand.
Myself.
I took the stairs two at a time until I landed between the vampires. Declan was down a few more steps, and he sent a fierce look my way. I noticed his leg was twisted in an awkward position, and a chill went down my spine. He’d broken it in the fall. It would heal just like the rest of him did—quickly. But that was only if he lived.
“What the f**k are you doing, Jill?” he snapped at me.
I didn’t have time for a Q&A at the moment.
“Hey.” I tapped the vampires on their backs. In unison, they turned to me, their nostrils flaring, their lips curling back from sharp white fangs. I tried to see past the monstrous veiny exterior, the sunken cheeks, the black eyes. These were human once—a man and a woman. For all I knew they could have been husband and wife; accountant and journalist; teacher and lawyer. Whatever. I didn’t know where they came from or what their stories were. I didn’t really care.
All I knew was that they were a threat—to Declan, to me, to the woman I’d committed myself to rescuing. And I knew they were drawn to the scent of the Nightshade inside of me. Since they weren’t well fed like Lawrence was, they didn’t have his control—the control that kept him from sinking his fangs into me to get a taste of my irresistible blood.