“Her name wasn’t Seraphin back then.” The glowing halo of his eyes shined in the artificial light of the tunnel. It made them glow like an unnatural metal. He was handsome, more so than any guy I had ever met, and it was disarming to stand so close to him and not want to be even closer. “It was Angela before the outbreak.” He let out a breath as his voice steadied.

“We all decided to choose new names after we discovered how changed we were. We were no longer human, we were something else. Our human selves had died with the outbreak and it was a way to start over.” He sighed, slipping his fingers through mine. He tugged gently to start us walking again. I let him pull me into stride beside him as he continued.

“My name was Brian Reynolds before the virus took it all away.” I listened to his story, of how he got married in a chapel on the Strip of Las Vegas Boulevard, how he had met Angela at a Starbucks while she served coffee behind the counter, how he had fallen in love with her flashy smile that seemed to charm even the grumpiest caffeine-deprived customer. He had been a goner when her pretty brown eyes had flashed up to meet his, mesmerizing him immediately. He wooed her from that point on, bringing her little gifts like flowers and small figurines that he would come across that reminded him of her beauty. Eventually, they got engaged and married. They had planned to start a family but after two years of trying the outbreak came and the end was not far behind it.

“Who is her mate now?” I asked, hoping it wouldn’t sting too bad to answer my question.

Rye let out his breath. The tension sat on his brows, making him look as if his concentration was stuck on his face, creasing his otherwise smooth skin. He glanced at me, relaxing the strain on his face, bringing a smile to his face.

“She met Alan after we changed–he was a vampire in the opposing hive. He used to live here, amongst us, but felt that it would be too awkward to stay here after Seraphin left me.” He was now watching the tunnel ahead of us, steering me toward a bend in the path. “I knew when she saw him that it was over. It was that fast, like severing an arm, fast, sharp and permanent.”

“Somebody that you used to know…” I mumbled.

“What?” Rye gave me a confused look.

“Gotye. He was a singer whose song I heard when I was in school, not that much over a year ago. It’s about someone treating you like you’re a stranger after being intimate lovers.” Biting my lip, I watched him, hoping I hadn’t said too much. He gave me a slight nod as we reached the end of the hall where we encountered another locked door, bolted heavily into the wall.

“I heard that song. Definitely fits the bill.” He turned the locks, grunting as they screeched to life. “Well, now it’s all done and gone. She has Alan now. Me…,” Rye winked at me as he pulled at the dusty door. “I have you now.” His statement made me flush as I followed him into a darkened room. He pulled the door shut behind us and switched on another set of lights.

They flickered on, making me squint at the now-illuminated room. A staircase stood at one end of the room, leading upward. It looked like a small basement room and I wondered where the steps went. We should’ve been right beneath the airport. I wondered if that was where we were heading. Wouldn’t it be full of feral vampires up there? I gulped as I watched Rye motion me forward, taking the steps quickly as though they were nothing. I scrambled to keep up with him, fingering my belt for a machete, hoping he wasn’t going to hop into a dark space filled with crazed and hungry vampires. I wasn’t in the mood to fight any ferals at the moment. Not that I ever really was but it was not smart to jump into it if you didn’t have to.

I was about to ask him what exactly he was doing when we reached the top of the stairs. I stared down at the flights below us; we had gone up at least three floors before stopping. I placed my hand on the hilt of my blade, hoping and praying that I wouldn’t have to use it.

Rye gave me a little squint and grinned, shaking his head as he grabbed the door handle. “Relax, there are no wildings up here. The entire airport is secure. We took care of that a while ago and the perimeter is heavily fenced.” He shoved the door open, leading us into one of the large carpeted rooms of one of the terminals. This one was circular and had ports leading to jetways that had been used to board passengers onto planes. Some of the gates were empty and some held silent planes, awaiting people that would never come.

The place was miraculously free of bodies or anything decaying. I wondered if they had cleared it out or if it had just been abandoned once the outbreak hit. I made a note to ask Rye about it once I had a clue about what we were going to do up here. The large windows faced out into the city, letting the sun’s warm rays filter in from the west-facing windows.

I went to the clear glass, peeking out onto the tarmac. It was quiet and solitary here, making me feel safe in the light that I relished. Soaking up the light, I had not realized how much I had missed it. My hand came up to touch the warm glass. Spots of old rain and dirt encrusted the outside of the window but it was still clear enough to see the once-glorious Las Vegas Strip in the distance. I had been in this airport before but had never known about the labyrinth of tunnels beneath the terminals. Still, the surface was much more fascinating, even though it lay in suspended state of petrified neglect. My fingers slid down the smooth glass, making me want to touch the air around me. Sadness for the world I once lived in washed over me.

In my mind, I could almost hear the ground vibrate from the engines of the planes taking off. The way the massive planes sped up and left the earth behind had always fascinated me. I had ridden on planes a few times in my life and the guttural rush it gave you as the wheels left the sturdy runway always took my breath away. Watching the ground shrinking as it sped by outside the tiny plane windows had always made me wonder if I would live through the flight. I always did. Not even an airplane could bring me down.

Now the stretch of asphalt and concrete runways sat silent and the airplanes were like ghost ships, sitting and waiting. They would probably never reach the sky again.

Turning away before the knot in my throat threatened to open up into a gush of tears, I found Rye watching me. He was serene as he pulled me into his soft embrace. I nuzzled my face in his shirt, taking note that although he was a vampire he didn’t smell any different than a man would. His scent was pleasant, that of a musky mountain wind. I inhaled, finally not feeling so alone anymore. His hand softly rubbed my back, sending a shiver down my spine as he kissed my head. I knew then that no matter what, things would be alright. Whatever lay in the days ahead, I would get through it as long as Rye was by my side. His strong arms held me in place and his sweet light lit my dark world.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Why’d we come here?” I whispered as we stood in the middle of the airport terminal. Rye’s arms encircled me as we both stared out the tall glass windows. The night was approaching fast, our last night before the ambush on the enemy hive. The last night without my family. If it went the way I hoped, I would be embracing my mother and Jeremy in just a matter of hours. If only it would go that way. If only…

“I had to show you the beauty of it all again. We secured this airport soon after the outbreak. People fled the airport almost immediately when flights were suspended, so it wasn’t too hard to do that. Only private planes and pilots had access, and those who could, left in the small planes. Otherwise, air travel came to a halt.” Rye rolled his neck, stretching it as he spoke. “No one took to the skies; it was too big a risk to have a vampire outbreak in the air. Can you imagine what that would’ve been like? I’m sure most of the cabin would have been bitten before subduing a vampire. It would have been a graveyard up there.” Rye sighed as he rubbed his chin on the top of my head. He was taller than me, but just by a head. His body felt warm and sturdy as I let him hold onto me. It felt like a slice of pure heaven, at least for a moment.

“Do you think we’ll succeed?” I turned to face him, searching his eyes for truth. They gave me a flicker of hope.

“I think we’re going to go for it, I wouldn’t underestimate this hive, April. We are very strong and determined. We’ve been meaning to take them down, this city is a bit too small to support two large vampire hives and they have been destroying our food supplies.”

“Wait, food supplies? What do you mean?” My eyebrows raised in confusion. Something told me that I didn’t know the workings of this hive at all, that what I had seen was just the tip off the iceberg. I was starting to feel very small in a vast plan.

“Well, to the south we have a herd of cattle, sheep and pigs we raise to help feed our population. We keep them in guarded warehouses lining Lake Mead Parkway, near one of the hospitals off Eastern Avenue. Sometimes they raid one of the outlying facilities and get away with some animals. We’ve managed to stop them before they get too much but it puts a dent in our supplies and the attacks are increasing.” His jaw tensed as he thought about the conniving opposition they had been facing lately. “It’s just fate that rescuing your family has finally given us the incentive to counterattack.” He smiled as he pushed a strand of my hair back, wrapping it around his fingers as he slid his hand down. I felt the tingle in the pit of my stomach, blushing as I turned back to face the window.

We sat on one of the rows of chairs that had once seated passengers waiting to board the planes. He had retrieved a couple of water bottles and snacks still packaged from a locked up safe that had been placed in the room. It seemed that we weren’t the only ones that visited this area. It was like an observatory, quiet and surrounded by windows, where one could view the beautiful Las Vegas Strip without obstruction. It had been amazing to peek out those windows at night, when the lights shone bright, flashing their endless advertisements and previews of shows. It wasn’t the same anymore though; the dead darkness of night brought no more twinkling billboards or crowds. Now nothing but silence and blood reigned once the sun went down.

I reflected on his words for a moment. “Yeah, you could be right. It is fate that brings us together now, of all the times it could’ve before.” I wondered if I really believed my words the moment they left my lips, the doubt bubbling up within me again, making me close my eyes. I wanted to believe that we would win this battle. I had to believe it. There was no other choice.

I thought back to the first days after my family had been taken; the determination that had driven me back then had been like fuel on a fire. I was afraid the fire was dying inside me and that was something I didn’t want to happen. As I opened my eyes, I felt the fire stirring again–I was ready to take anything on. I had not let it die completely; I had just let the thought of it slip out of my mind for a short while. My lips upturned as I felt the heat of my drive returning. My fingers itched to swing a weapon around and cut down some vampires, even if some of them would be the insanely fast and powerful hybrids. I was always game for a fight–holding a weapon felt more natural than holding a conversation. I would see my family again. Even if I died doing so, it would be more than worth it.

Rye tugged on my hand, breaking me away from my thoughts. “We should get back. Dinner is coming up and we want to be rested for tomorrow.” I nodded, glancing back at the dimming light of the outside world as we headed to the door of the stairwell. My only regret was that the casino lights I so wanted to see light up once more never would again.

*****

Seraphin’s glare followed us as we entered the dining room. She sat silently at the end of one of the tables, her plate scraped clean of food. Something laced the scowl splayed across her face as we got in line to get a tray of food. Was she jealous? I looked away, scooping up potatoes and chicken onto my plate. I wondered what she was thinking. Why was she here anyway? She was supposed to be in place at the enemy hive, waiting for our attack. I tried to shake my suspicions but felt her eyes burning into my back.

“Why is Seraphin here?” I whispered to Rye, hoping she couldn’t hear my lowered voice.

“I don’t know.” He turned toward me without searching her out, making me wonder if he did that on purpose so she wouldn’t know we had been speaking about her. “I’m sure it’s not without good reason. Why don’t we pay her a visit?” He winked and tilted his head for me to follow him. I groaned, irritated that he was going to put me face to face with his killer ex again.

As we approached her table, her glare never receded, sending daggers our way. Her face never lit up or cracked a smile at all at us; in fact, she seemed to be seething that we had come to her side of the room. Rye sat his tray down and plopped onto the bench in front of her. I scooted next to him but felt my appetite disappear as I lowered my gaze to my tray of food. It no longer looked appealing and the growl in my stomach had silenced the moment I had spotted her.

“So Sera, what brings you to this side of our little world?” Rye took a bite of his dinner roll, which was still soft, warm and steaming. I took a swig of my water and attempted to look busy picking at my chicken.

Her eyes narrowed into thin slits. A look of disgust filled her face, making what was a beautiful woman look increasingly ugly as her scowl grew. I wondered why she would act like she hated Rye so much. Hadn’t she left him?

“You have some nerve to speak to me at all and sit here with that abomination.” She hissed at me, making me drop my fork in surprise but I didn’t move away. That would have shown weakness, something I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing. Wondering for a moment if I should ready a weapon, I focused on her dark eyes. She was hiding something. What it could be, I hadn’t a clue. Something was irking her too. Maybe it was Rye, maybe not.