Darkest Before the Dawn (male/male)
Lost and Found

Felix

From our vantage point in the flower field, we were able to absorb how expansive this compound was that we decided would be a good idea to storm. At least an acre, there was a stone wall surrounding it that was easily fifteen feet tall. A dozen cameras dotted the top of the wall.

Beyond that, we couldn’t tell much. There were several roofs obscured by oak and maple trees, so whatever buildings inside must have been two levels. At the front, there was a solid gate guarded by three humans with rifles.

Admittedly, it was a great compound.

“There's a backup team waiting on us to call them in once we free the captives,” Cadence muttered, scrolling on her phone. "We'll call them in once we cleared the place of demons."

Marigold was leaning forward from the backseat. “Are we sure we want to do this during the night? We may have a better chance at survival during the daylight when we only have to deal with humans.” She looked between us, then shrugged when we both sneered. “Okay, but neither one of you can tell me that I didn’t try to be the voice of reason. Test your equipment before we go.”

My hands were trembling when I tapped the microphone attached to my collar. If this went as expected, we’d be able to rescue all the abducted demons.

Including Mew.

“These earpieces have a range of one mile,” Goldie explained, tapping at her laptop. “Try to stick close together. I’m relying on both of your noses and Cade’s magic to help us track Barty in here. I’ll play defense since it seems as if there’s plenty of plants to work with. In case there’s not, I have this.” She patted the seat next to her, a pathetically tiny potted cactus propped up in the seat.

Cadence’s expression fell flat. “Goldie, I’m not, you know, doubting you, but that’s a little small.”

“It’s a baby giant cardon cactus. It’ll help me in pinch.”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” I assured her. “You two be safe. There’s supposed to be a dozen vampires in here. Don’t kill the humans.”

“Got it, bossman.” Goldie opened her door first, grabbing for her cactus with one hand and checking her Kevlar vest and that she had her pistol holstered with the other hand.

Cade and I followed suit, headed to the different positions we had agreed upon. Goldie was to take out the guards, while Cade opened the gate and cleared out anyone there. I made my way to the cameras, taking aim and shooting them down with Mew’s handgun. If my gunshots didn’t alert everyone in the compound that they had visitors, Cadence and Goldie certainly would have.

My best friend did a great job taking out the humans. I discovered the guards in tangles of cypress roots, thick and braided around them while they futilely struggled. Their rifles were nowhere to be found. They flung curses at me as I strode past them. I wondered if any of them were the human who had initially shot Mew at the motel.

Meeting the girls inside of the wall, I found it to be unsuspectingly quiet. Greeting us was a koi-filled pond encircled by lights and ornate lawn ornaments. The hedges were trimmed into different animals, such as lions and horses. Ahead, there was a mansion made largely of glass and stone with massive floor-to-ceiling windows on the two different levels. The lights were on inside, despite the emptiness. On either side of the massive yard were two carriage homes, each with their own floridly decorated knolls and ponds.

“It’s like he had a checklist of tacky designs for rich people,” Cadence muttered. She had swapped out Mew’s other gun for one of the semi-automatics the humans had, shrugging at me when I raised an eyebrow at her. “Mew’s gun couldn’t shoot through walls like this one can. I’m just living the American dream.”

“Don’t hurt yourself, please.” We started towards the mansion. Richard had to be living in the main home, and he’d likely be keeping the demons under close watch.

It was alarming that we hadn’t discovered anyone else yet.

As we got closer to the home, however, Cadence jerked back at the same time I did. “Lots of magic,” she explained, covering her nose.

“And blood.”

“At least we’re getting close.”

A sliding glass door was unlocked by the pool deck. Tacky opulence greeted us inside with the form of taxidermy sport animals, ranging from desert hares to a silverback gorilla. Goldie’s jaw clenched at the sight of the deceased animals decorating the living room, a crown of dark crimson roses blooming on her head. The rest of the living space was a mishmash of different textures and colors that didn’t belong together. Smells of magic and blood wrapped around my nose, much like the night Mew and I found the demon in the woods.

Underneath it, a faint trace of vampire.

My fangs ached in my gums. I didn’t prevent them from coming out.

From the tops of the stairs, a tall man began descending. It wasn’t Richard, at least. “We were beginning to wonder when you would join us,” he started, hands in his pockets.

Cade’s rifle was hoisted in his direction. “Stay the fuck where you are.”

This was another younger vampire, a short Asian man who barely looked like he left high school. “Just the three of you, then? That should be easy.” He stepped onto the floor, slate eyes bouncing between the three of us. “You’re sent from that island, right? Richard’s got his eye on that place. He wants his people back.”

“Is that why he sent people to take our council member’s spouse?” Goldie asked. The man blinked slowly. “Well, he can get his own personal room there if he comes with us. In fact, all of you can.”

He wagged his finger at Goldie. “You’re the nymph some of our humans were talking about, aren’t you? They mentioned you try charming your way out of bad situations.” He clicked his tongue. “Damn shame about your blood not being real. I’d love to have you.”

Gripping onto Goldie’s wrist, I pulled her back towards me. “Are all the demons in the bunker?”

Gray eyes narrowed at me. “I don’t know how you know that. But, look, I’ll personally walk you down to the bunker if the female demon turns herself over. We’ll even return the half-demons down there. We have four of them.”

“I planned on leaving with all the demons in this house. Thanks for the offer.”

“I’ll be blunt. There are a dozen vampires in this house and six armed humans. We’re all aware of your presence, including Richard, who’s excited to see you three. You really wanna take your chances with that, knowing you’re walking into a bl—”

My ears rang from the blast of Cade’s new firearm sounding off. It disoriented me enough to need to grab hold of the leopard-printed sofa, now dusted in blood from the boy’s head. “Goddammit, what is with you and your brother taking headshots?” I hissed, rubbing my ears.

Cade lowered her gun to her side and cocked her hip, ignoring the blood spray on her front. “He’ll survive. I didn’t like how he talked to Goldie.” She rotated her right shoulder and wagged her left wrist. “That thing’s got some firing power, though. Damn.”

Goldie used the back of her hand to wipe off a glob of brain from her forehead, her eyes closed delicately. “Therapy. We’re going to group therapy when this is done.” She exhaled and reopened her eyes. “How long do we have before that heals?”

I went over to the boy’s body, kneeling to check the carnage. Cade took out most of the left side of his head, including some of the mandible. “We have about five hours. That should give us enough time to clear the house and get Akiya and some MMES guards here.” I pointed sternly at Cadence. “Warn me next time you plan on shooting that thing. If it recoils and you lose control, I really don’t want to lose my own head.”

She smirked and gave me a thumbs up.

“You think the rest of the vampires are upstairs?” Goldie asked, eyeing the hallway the vampire had emerged from.

“Probably. They likely sent him down to scope out what they’re dealing with.” I toed the motionless body. “We likely don't have a lot of time before they decide to grace us with their presence. Let's go.”

There was a vacant library, a kitchen with trays of food laid on the countertops, a spacious dining room with a set table, and a billiard room with a half-completed game of pool. We had clearly interrupted the flow of the house and made everyone scatter. But with all that, we only found three people within the home, including the two humans we discovered hiding in the study. Goldie took care of them, using the pothos ivy growing from the bookshelves. They were screaming at us until Cadence lifted her rifle and glared at them.

“That’s going with Akiya for evidence when we’re done,” Marigold told her, carefully placed the pothos closer to the two men on the floor.

They both tried squirming in their bindings to crawl away from us, begging us not to hurt them. “We won’t hurt you if you tell us how to get to the demons,” Cadence explained, falling into the nearest armchair, the barrel of her rifle nested on her knee. It was carefully aimed away from anyone.

The human with a shaved head looked up at me, eyes focused on my fangs. “You’re not with the Foundation,” he stated, turning himself over onto his back.

“Why should I be? You’re aligning yourself with a group of murderers who have some egotistical complex against demons. Tell us where the bunker is.”

He closed his mouth and steadied his jaw. I nodded once at Cadence, her gun now aimed at the human’s kneecap. It wasn’t in the plan to harm any of the humans. Scaring them was always enjoyable.

“She just blew someone’s head off. I’d answer the question,” Goldie advised, on the arm of the chair Cadence was in.

“Oh, is that something we’re going to keep bringing up?” Cadence mumbled.

“I’ll give you ten seconds to tell us everything.” I paced circles around the two humans. The ivy around them began to tighten and slither further up their bodies, closer to their throats. “Ten…nine…eight…”

“Man, it’s over, we’ll just tell them!” the other human exclaimed, turned onto his side. He was middle-aged, a dad-type with a wedding ring. How disappointing that he got wrapped up in this. “The vampires are all upstairs and the other humans—”

“Shut up, Bryce! You don’t need to tell them anything!”

“There’s humans in the bunker, guarding the demons. Richard told them they’ll be safer down there.”

“Bryce, shut the fuck up! Richard said not to tell anyone anything.”

“Are they armed?” Goldie asked.

Bryce nodded. “Yeah, all with 15s. But you can’t hurt them, please. They didn’t hurt nobody.” His talking was speeding up and tears were forming in his eyes. “Please, you can’t hurt us. We didn’t hurt no one. I-I was brought in because they promised to pay my wife’s medical bills. She’s got cancer, a-and I couldn’t afford her treatment. We’re all here because they promised us different things. Please.”

Cadence was already pointing her weapon at the floor when I glanced at her. “We’ve met others who were turned because they wanted it,” I explained, thinking of Madeline’s original crew who sparked this whole issue. “But you’re all here because of bribery?”

Both men nodded. It was the shaved head man who spoke this time. “I’m here to put my kid through college. Some of them downstairs are here for bills to be paid off or because they’re sick and want to be turned. None of us knew people were gonna get hurt by Richard.”

Goldie pulled back on the ivy, the vines twirling back down. The men still had their arms and legs entangled, but they weren’t at risk of suffocation anymore. “You two will stay here. When we’re finished, we’ll come back and get you.” Goldie’s face softened. “And we’ll try to help you all as best as we can. We understand the temptation, but these aren’t the people you want to get wrapped up with.”

“How do we get into the bunker?” Cadence asked, already standing.

In the library, underneath an enormous decorative rug, was a panel in the floor, noticeable only by the small ring handle. My hands were shaking when we found it, the humans having been honest so far.

We were so close to Mew that I could have sworn I smelled him already.

The panel lifted, revealing a hole in the floor that led to a set of wooden stairs. Carefully, the three of us started down them, me in the lead in case this was a trap. Goldie clutched her cactus tighter to her body.

A few feet off the steps was a vault door, protected by a keypad, exactly how Bryce explained it.

“I’ll go in first to disarm the humans. Are you two ready?” Both girls nodded, Cadence already placing her gun on the ground so that it wasn’t even an option for her. No accidental murdering today if we could help it.

The PIN Bryce gave us worked fine. The light on the keycode flashed from red to green and buzzed at us. The girls stepped aside, tucking into the corners of the room we were in. Goldie double checked that her Kevlar vest was on straight.

In hindsight, the vault door made far too much noise for me to be inconspicuous. It shouldn’t have come as a shock to me when a flurry of .223s ricocheted past me, striking me in several spots before I could focus enough to move. Disabling the four weapons was a bit more challenging when I had eight bullet wounds simultaneously trying to heal, but the silence finally came.

Cadence and Goldie joined me when I slid the four weapons out into the room with the stairwell. The three bullets embedded into my thigh and stomach began to push themselves out almost immediately. As much as I tried to hide it, they were excruciating. The wounds were larger than what I was used to with handguns and emptying blood much faster.

“Fee, you need to sit,” Cadence instructed, squaring her shoulders and pushing me behind her to face the four humans. There were three women and one man, ranging from a young adult to someone who looked like someone’s grandmother.

Behind them, laying in rows of beds with medical equipment attached, were more than a dozen demons.

At the far end of the room, strapped to his bed, was Mew.

My heart lurched.

Goldie’s hair was pushed behind her ears when she drew in a deep breath. “You four have the option of letting us do our jobs and taking care of whatever brought you to the BRF. Or, you can choose to be restrained.” Her emerald eyes found Mew. The cactus in her hands grew several inches. “You get three seconds to decide. We have no more patience.”

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