Chapter Ten
No One's POV
"Ah shame," Paul said. "I could have really done with having a bit of fun with you first." He yanked her hair to the side, revealing her neck. Then he touched her skin so softly he was almost caressing her. Taylor didn't make a sound which was unusual for her. Usually she always had something to say. She looked somewhat detached from the situation.
"What are we going to do?" Claire whispered to Shane moving a tiny bit closer. She was really starting to worry about him. He'd been hit pretty hard around his head and the wound was still bleeding quite badly.
"Nothing," Shane whispered back just as quietly. "There's nothing we can do. We're helpless. If we make a move they're going to stop us and take it out on Taylor or Mike. Or both. Taylor will get us out of here. I know she will. We just have to wait." That was new. Shane actually being the patient one. He'd usually take any excuse to get in a fight. No matter what the odds.
Claire looked over to Eve who was sat on her left. She'd been crying on the way over but she'd stopped now. Claire thought that Eve would have been reacted a lot more to the fact that Michael was being tortured but she didn't. She looked worried obviously but there was a different kind of vibe going on between them. Perhaps it was just stress. Eve looked up from the floor when she felt Claire staring at her and took her hand.
"What do you need me to do?" Taylor asked Luke. She seemed to be trying to ignore Paul. Nobody could blame her. He was starting to get really creepy.
"We need you to break into Amelie's office. We'd do it ourselves of course but we don't actually know where it is," Luke answered. "I'm guessing you do."
"What for?" she asked.
"None of your concern," Paul sneered picking up a strand of her hair. "You just be a good little girl and-"
"No. She has to know what she's looking for," Luke said. "And by the way, leave her alone. She isn't here for your amusement." He dropped her hair and backed away, clearly not impressed about being ordered around by a teenager. Taylor looked at Luke almost thankfully but it went away extremely quickly. Not before he saw it though. He smiled at her but said nothing of it. "We need information."
"About what?"
"That's where it gets complicated. We don't know. Some kind of document perhaps. We want to know everything that Amelie knows. Which includes the things she keeps to herself. Whatever the Founder is hiding we need to know about it. There's bound to be something she's kept from every other person in this town."
"If she's hiding something do you really think she'd be stupid enough to leave it in her office? What's it going to be under? A folder on her desktop called 'secrets'? Come on, what are you really after?"
"If you must know we're looking-" he started to say.
"Luke," Paul said warningly.
"What's she going to do? She's tied to a chair," he said mockingly. The men in the room shook their heads slightly. Particularly the ones who had brought her in. They'd seen what she was capable of whilst she was still drugged. Who knew what she could do now they'd all but warn off. "We're looking for a way to extract aspects from vampires. The speed and the strength for example. That would be very handy for our military. It would give our soldiers the advantage. It could save countless lives. Surely you see the benefits?"
"No I don't. It's a fantasy. It can't happen."
"And how would you know. You're not exactly a scientist."
"No I'm not," she replied truthfully. "But I have practically spent every waking hour studying vampires. There's no way you can have that kind of power without the bloodlust which would therefore mean you might as well be a vampire. And vampires on the front line, all that blood, would be chaos.
"Besides, our society is not ready to know about them. That's why the majority have been contained to this area. Morganville humans have adapted. Learnt to survive. But that doesn't mean that some people still don't have a vendetta against them. It's a completely ridiculous idea."
"Maybe. But it's an idea nonetheless. We have to try. The US is growing more and more vulnerable. The number of terrorist threats increases every day. We need an advantage and this could well be it," he said. His words were convincing and he did make some points that actually made sense.
"Whatever," Taylor sighed. "You don't need me to agree with you. That's not what you want me for. Lets get this over and done with before Amelie realises that we've all been kidnapped and sets off alarm bells."
"You're right. Untie her Paul," Luke ordered.
"You know you didn't have to put up this façade," she said to Luke whilst Paul made his way over to untie her.
"What do you mean?" he asked confused.
"You didn't need to pretend to be in love with me. You definitely didn't need to marry me for crying out loud."
"Maybe I got a little carried away," he said quietly.
"Yeah well that wasn't fair. I would have done anything for you. Or the you I thought you were. How could you lead me on like that? Do you not have a conscious?"
By now her hands were free but they were clasped in front of her. She looked so desperate for answers. So needy. The look in her eyes would have reduced anyone to fell sorry for her. It worked on Luke because he took a step towards her, hand outstretched.
With more speed than thought humanly possible Taylor reached behind her with one hand, grabbing a gun from Paul's waistband, and grabbed Luke with the other. Then she spun so that her back was against a wall leaving no room for anyone to sneak up behind her. The gun clicked as she turned the safety off.
The men in the room had barely had time to blink. They could all just now see Taylor with a gun pressed up against Luke's temple. "You're not the only one who can act hunny," she said to Luke, who looked terrified.
Michael POV
"Please. Let me go," he begged.
"Come on now pretty boy, where's your ego gone," she asked menacingly. It reminded me of something. That was it. The night she tried to torch Monica Morrell. She had the same tormented look in her eyes now as she did back then.
"Come on Taylor we don't want to hurt you. Put the gun down and we can talk about this," Luke said trying to reason with her. He should have known he'd pushed her buttons too much for that to happen.
"Who exactly are you? You're too young to actually be a part of the FBI, so why are you so important that these guys take orders from you?"
"I don't know-"
She cut him off. Despite her asking questions that sounded like they were directed at him, she was musing to herself. "So you must be some kind of relative. Someone high up the food chain otherwise they wouldn't have high enough clearance to know about this." I thought she was distracted by her thoughts. So did the guards because one tried to take a step forward but she pressed the gun harder into Luke's temple. "Don't be stupid," she told him. He retreated whilst holding up his hands as a sign of surrender.
"Plus I've heard the director of the FBI is quite untrustworthy of those around him so that could only mean…" When she trailed off I looked at her confused. "You're his son."
Luke smiled. "I always knew there was a reason that despite it being a cover I was attracted to you. You're smart."
She grinned back but not at his charm. "You're not. I was guessing you fell for it." His smile fell. "Now you're going to tell these gentlemen to let my friends go and then maybe I won't put several rounds into your head. Got that?"
"You won't hurt me," he said. She literally twisted his arm until he said, "Fine. Do what she says."
"Luke you can't be-" Paul started to say.
"Now!" Luke shouted.
"Uh uh uh," Taylor said to the men as they started towards us. "Weapons first." They looked at Luke then they slid their guns across the floor to them before untying us. They took my chains off last. I would have loved to have ripped Paul's head from his neck for hitting Taylor but I was too weak. Wearily we made our over to Taylor who looked slightly calmer now we were free. "Shane," Tay said. "Grab those guns and put them in that bag over there. Not that I don't trust you or anything Pauley." Shane did as he was told. "How many more men are there?"
"It's just us," Luke said.
"Don't lie to me," she laughed.
He sighed. "Just four. Two on each exit."
"Good," she said. "You guys first," she said to us. She added, "Out," when we didn't move. "Come along hunny," she said pulling Luke.
"Wait wait wait," Luke said. "I thought you said you'd let me go."
"No," she said shaking her head. "I do believe I said I wouldn't kill you if you let my friends go. And I won't. But you're our ticket to getting out of here alive. Be patient."
She backed out of the room not tearing her eyes away from the guards. Somehow she managed to keep pointing the gun at Luke and lock the big heavy metal door. There was no way they were going to be getting out anytime soon. "You guys okay," she asked us all. Shane, Eve and Claire all answered but I didn't. I didn't want to lie. "Michael. Are you okay?"
"Ah how sweet. Vampire hunter worried about her vampire boyfriend," Luke sneered.
It didn't provoke a very encouraging reaction form Taylor. "Just because it'll be easier to get out of here with you does not mean I'm past the idea of killing you on the spot. So shut it Daddy's boy." She looked at me still expecting an answer.
"A little weak," I said breathless.
"Do you need-"
"Yeah," I interrupted her to save myself from the embarrassment of admitting I needed to feed.
She clearly understood. "Right jackass, you first," she said to Luke. "And don't do anything stupid." She let him go and he rubbed his shoulder but he didn't move. "Now," she said shoving him.
He did as he was told. Not that he had a choice. Something about her right now made me think that she wasn't joking about the fact she'd kill him on the spot if she had to. Seeing her heart broken in front of me all over again was one of the most horrific things I could have been put through. I'd rather have been stabbed in the arm with another stake. I just wanted to hug her to make her feel better but I didn't want to put her at risk. I could smell both her blood and Shane's. There was no way I was going to allow myself to be tempted. Not in the slightest. Not by Shane and definitely not by Taylor. That's why I choose to walk a couple of steps behind the rest of them.
I didn't really want to hear what Taylor's plan was. I didn't want to see her in danger. Of course though, she was taking charge. She handed Luke off to Shane whilst she quietly and efficiently managed to take out the two guards. I looked over at her worried and then listened. Just as I thought, they were just unconscious. Taylor would never kill someone unless she absolutely had to.
"How exactly do we plan on getting out of here?" Shane reasonably asked.
"We're going to drive obviously," Taylor replied as if he was stupid. She looked around before jogging over to one of the garages. She wasted no time in seeing whether it was open or not. Instead she pulled a clip from her hair and used it as a lock pick. It didn't surprise me she had something like that on her. Obviously, any search they'd performed on her wasn't very thorough.
It took her a matter of seconds before she was pulling the shutters up. We followed her over and watched as she used the gun to smash the window. She reached through the smashed glass and pulled the lock up. "In," she commanded.
"Urgh Tay," Shane said. "What do we do with him?" He meant Luke of course.
"Oh. That's a point," she said. Momentarily she left the car alone and went over to Luke. I was confused when she reached up behind his neck. When he fell to the floor, it only added to my confusion. He didn't get back up again either. "Pressure point," she explained. She went to the back of the car and opened up the trunk then gestured to Shane and myself. "He'll be out for at least an hour. Stick him in the boot. Michael you're up front."
I knew that she only said that because I was worried about hurting the others. Most of the time she always knew what was going on in my head. She wasn't worried about herself and her own safety but she never was. When I joined her in the front she found the wires that she needed to start the car. Something she'd learnt when she was just fourteen. I wasn't impressed at the time but now it was really coming in handy.
The roar of the engine followed shortly after a few sparks from the wiring colliding with each other. I rested my head against the head rest and closed my ears. Claire was muttering in the back to Shane, asking if he was okay. Taylor was uncharacteristically quiet. When Eve asked her if she was okay she just nodded and went back to pretending to pay attention to the road. I knew she was only pretending because just like the hot wiring of the car, I'd learnt from a young age that no matter what, Taylor never paid any attention to where she was driving. The constant blare of car horns that followed her journey was proof of that.
"I don't suppose any of you have your cell phones do you?" she asked us all. Before we could answer she hit the brakes so hard that all of us flew forwards. I managed to catch myself before I hit my head on the dashboard. "Cell phone. Shit. Stay here."
She threw herself from the car and dashed around to the back. It wasn't a good move. I couldn't follow her straight away because I got caught in my seatbelt. She had the advantage because she hadn't been wearing one. I was going to have to have words with her about that later, when we weren't in danger of being killed of course.
"What are you doing?" I asked meeting her at the back of the car. The others were sat in the back obeying her orders.
She popped the trunk open again and searched Luke's, who was still unconscious, pockets. As she pulled out his cell phone she sighed. "It has a GPS tracker," she explained. I understood now. She didn't want us being tracked by the FBI so she threw it on the floor and stomped on it. When we got back in the car, before continuing on our journey, she reversed the car over the phone. "There," she said clearly pleased with herself. "Now onwards."
I assumed that we were heading home so when she stopped the car outside of the hospital I was both confused and concerned. "Why are we stopping here?" I asked.
"You and Shane need help," she replied stepping out.
Taylor POV
"You can't park there," a doctor yelled to me.
"Oh really," I shouted back. I wasn't in the mood to be bossed around. "Because it looks like I am. Come on Shane." Firmly I dragged a protesting Shane from the car and up the steps then handed him off to Claire and Eve. "Take him to get stitched up Claire. We'll be up soon."
"Where are we going?" Michael asked when they went through the doors to the entrance and out of sight.
"You need blood," I said. Surely he knew that I wasn't just going to stand there and watch him suffer. "I'm coming with you."
It was clear to him that there was no point in arguing with me. When I was in this kind of mood nobody had a chance of changing my mind. I was being strategic. If we had Michael at full strength and ready for anything, we had an advantage. Begrudgingly he fell into to step with me as I started towards the opposite end of the hospital.
"Maybe it's not a good idea for you to come in," he said as I attempted to open the door. He pressed it firmly shut so I had no chance. "There are probably a lot of hungry vamps in there right now and you've got blood on you."
"Do I look like I care?"
He half smiled. "No. That's the problem." Sighing he opened up the door and held it wide for me to walk through.
I waited with him as he signed a couple of forms and stood in line. It was kind of weird. Just like queuing to buy your shopping at a supermarket except you could only get blood here. I got many glares from the other vampires in the room. It should have felt intimidating being the only prey with a pulse in the room but I was unaffected.
Michael on the other hand wasn't. He shifted, staring at every one of them in turn, warning them not to even think about touching me. That concerned me. I didn't want him getting hurt trying to protect me. Luckily though, he looked serious enough that they all stayed away.
He turned away from me to drink the blood. "Feel better?" I asked as he tossed the empty bottle in the bin.
"Much," he replied.
"Good." I reached up and rubbed the dirt off of his face. The tops of his ears turned pink and I smiled. It was cute that vampires could still blush and feel embarrassed. "Go and find someone willing to lend you their phone. Amelie needs to know about this. I should have told her from the beginning. She's going to be pissed."
"No way. No splitting up. We stay together. It's not safe."
"It never is…"
Hey guys. I'm going on holiday for two weeks soon so this'll be the last update till I get back on the 17th of August. I'll put the next chapter up as soon as I get home.
Thanks for reading xx