“Dammit.” Lucas punches the side of the building, cracking the brick. “You don’t even know where this guy is, and you want to go save him.”
“I don’t have a choice, Lucas,” I retort pointedly. “War will get stronger the more he kills. He’ll be harder to kill the stronger he is.”
“You have contacts with the Chicago police, don’t you?” he asks Melinda.
“Not in this district,” Melinda asks, eyeing Lucas. He looks terrifying when he’s angry like this. “I can make some calls.”
I put my hand on my lower back, trying to stretch it out. It’s more of a discomfort than pain, but dammit, I’m not used to feeling so human. And why does the baby seem ten pounds heavier now than she did this morning?
“Your heart is beating fast.” Lucas brings my wrist to his mouth and draws his fangs, gently pressing them over the big blue vein that’s visible through my skin. “And your blood pressure is up.”
“Yeah, I’m stressed.”
“You can tell all that from…from whatever you did?” Abby blinks a few times.
“After centuries of drinking only blood, you pick up a thing or two,” Eliza tells her. “And I’m going to agree with my maker on this, Callie. I can’t be your nanny if you lose the baby.”
“Eliza,” Lucas growls, and she shrugs.
“I’m saying what we’re all thinking.”
I start to feel sick with fear, which is another feeling I’m not used to. Things have gotten bad, really bad. Yet somehow, I always know I’ll make it. This time, I don’t see how that’s going to happen.
“Go to the hospital,” Melinda presses. “I’ll get Easton and we’ll track down that guy. We’ll get him to safehouse and will keep him alive until we figure out how to un-infect him.”
“Thank you,” I say and feel a huge sense of relief that does little to quell the fear brewing inside of me. “Did you drive here?” I ask Lucas since he just showed up.
“No, I ran. I’m not making you walk,” he says, and I’m about to protest and say he’s not fucking carrying me to the hospital when the police at the scene across from us seem to get a call at the same time.
“What are they saying?” Melinda asks, knowing both Lucas and Eliza can hear. Eliza looks at Lucas, brows furrowing. She reaches for both Abby and Melinda’s hands, pulling them closer.
“They said there’s an active shooter in the area.”
Chapter 23
War.
“It has to be him,” I say, voice coming out a little thin. “It’s War who’s behind this.”
“It might not be.” Lucas pulls me closer to the brick wall of the building behind us, putting himself in harm’s way in front for me. I get a flash of him moving in front of me at the last second to keep me from getting shot back when I dealt with another Horseman. It terrified me then, even though I knew he’d heal. “But we can’t leave it up to chance.”
He looks at Eliza. “Go back to the bar. If the threat gets closer, lock the doors and move everyone away from the windows. You four go into the basement and stay until I’m back.”
“Wait.” I grab both of Lucas’s hands. “Where are you going?”
His dark blue eyes meet mine. “It’s your turn to trust me.” He gives me a quick kiss and takes off, speeding away in the blink of an eye.
“We need to move,” Eliza rushes out. As someone who can withstand bullet wounds, she doesn’t share our same fear of getting shot, but it doesn’t keep the fear off her pretty face. “The street will turn to chaos once word gets out. Go, now!”
I take Abby’s hand and jog down the sidewalk, telling a couple lingering outside the bar to come in with us. Eliza shuts and locks the door and startles from something I can’t hear. “Rene,” she says without raising her voice. Rene’s at the bar and looks up, able to hear. “Close the metal blinds. Now. I’ll explain later.” Rene puts down the cocktail shaker and zooms away, leaving behind several confused customers. The metal blinds come down a second later, sounding just like the ones at the house on North Orchard—but louder. It takes me right back to the research lab, and I squeeze Abby’s hand.
Elena moves, stretching out painfully again, and it’s all I can do not to be overwhelmed with the smell of bleach while being blinded by bright lights. I’m here. At the bar. War is in Lincoln Park, and Lucas is out there with him. I shake off the memory and remind myself that no one is going to take Elena from us and run experiments on her like they did to me.
Not even the fucking Horsemen.
Still holding Abby’s hand, I lead her and Melinda through the bar, getting through the crowd before anyone starts to panic.