They were almost to the center of the cave when she heard the strike of a match and light burst forth as Max set the piece of vampire’s shirt on fire. Aria stopped at the entrance to a small cavern. These were not caves that they had once resided in. There were no booby traps and no gates, but she’d hidden here before and knew they were well out of sight and no one would hear them down here.
They may not be as protected here as they were in some of the other caves, but it was sheltered. Searching the rocks above them, she saw no bats that would be scared by their presence and possibly alert others to their location if they decided to take flight. Xavier walked over to a large rock in the middle of the cavern and dumped the vampire unceremoniously on the ground.
Stepping away from the vamp, Xavier grabbed the ends of his shirt and pulled it over his head. He tossed it to Max. “For the torch,” he said. “And for other things,” he added ominously and Aria shuddered.
Max caught hold of the shirt and tucked it into his waistband for later use. The vamp’s brown eyes nervously took them all in before settling on Aria. His mouth parted as his eyebrows shot into his hairline.
“I think he recognizes you,” Max said.
“Can’t say the same,” she murmured.
His already buggy eyes bugged out more when Xavier took the torch from Max and walked over to stand before the vamp.
“Aria, go back into the cave and wait for us there,” Xavier said.
“No.”
Xavier’s face was merciless when he turned to face her. “There is no reason for you to see this.”
“I suggested going after her. I agreed to this. I am condoning it. I will not walk away and let you bear this on your own. Whatever happens here is mine to bear also, and I will stay here until it’s over.” She turned to Max and rested her hand briefly against his arm. “I understand if you don’t wish to see this.”
“I’m not leaving,” he replied.
“Max—”
“I intend to help with this. I’m not leaving.”
“There are some things that can never be unseen,” Xavier said to her.
“I would hate myself more if I walked away to leave you both to this. I’m not going anywhere.”
Xavier turned away from her. The firelight danced over his brown skin and the tattoos covering his chest and back. It was the first time Aria had seen all of the markings etched onto his chiseled muscles. The smaller vamp at his feet made a strangled sound and tried to squirm away, but Xavier rested his foot against the man’s shoulder and pinned him in place.
“I’m going to pull out that gag and you’re going to answer my questions,” Xavier said to him. “Otherwise, I’m going to make your insides your outsides.”
Sing like a canary, Aria silently pleaded as Xavier pulled the gag from the man’s mouth.
CHAPTER 21
Aria
“I cannot believe you took off like that!”
“Not now, William,” Aria replied as she stepped off the bottom step, through the doorway, and into the safe house. The walls pressing against her made her almost turn around and flee back outside.
“You should have waited. You shouldn’t have gone at all!”
Aria spun on him. “I said not now!”
Her brother gave her a ‘huh?’ look, and took a step back as Max and Xavier stepped off the stairs behind her. Max held himself rigidly, his jaw clenched as he stared at William. Blood still splattered the bottom of Xavier’s and Max’s pants, but there had been no help for it as they’d kept them on throughout…
Aria abruptly cut off the memory of what had occurred.
“What happened?” William inquired, his tone much softer than it had been.
“We can discuss it later,” Aria replied and forced one foot in front of the other down the hall.
She froze at the entrance to the main room. At least a hundred and fifty faces turned in her direction. All of them looked tired and frightened, but she also saw the hope blooming in their eyes as smiles curved their mouths. A few of the children released delighted cries and clapped their hands together.
“They’ve returned!” a young boy, no older than five, said as he bounced on his mother’s lap.
“There’s so many,” she whispered.
“They’ve brought word that our troop numbers have grown rapidly. We’re over twenty-five hundred now,” William replied.
Tears burned Aria’s eyes. The memory of what she’d witnessed today, what she’d condoned would forever be burned into her mind, but staring at everyone gathered within, she knew they’d done the right thing.
After a few hours, they’d finally gotten the vampire to spill what he knew; they had answers to many of the questions they’d sought, and one big possible weakness. They’d done something terrible to get those answers, but they were better prepared to defend those surrounding them now.
She would do what she’d done today again if it meant protecting these innocents. This time, when the first one took a step toward her, she welcomed it as each of their touches was a reminder of why she stood here and of who would really suffer if they lost this battle to Sabine.
She’d be dead, her misery over with if Sabine won, but the vampires wouldn’t kill off their human food supply. No, what they would do to the humans would be far worse.
***