5. Kali

Ilet out a cry, my arms coming up in defense. The back of my head collided with the wall, and pain shot through my skull. Black spots dotted my vision as I blindly swung before dropping to my knees. I blinked rapidly, seeing a shadow to my left, and I dove that way, wrapping my arms around their legs.

A feminine voice yelled when I took the person to the ground, and I recognized it as Jill's right away. Before I could say anything, she was ripped away from me, and I scrambled to my feet to see Viggo shoving her chest against the wall, trapping her arms behind her back.

"Get off me," Jill screeched, disgust thick in her voice.

I rubbed the back of my head, willing the throbbing ache to go away. Viggo glanced at me for a moment before spinning Jill around, his hand closing around her throat. His eyes sought hers out, and my stomach plummeted when I realized what he was doing.

"Calm down," Viggo said in a soothing voice, trying to entrance her.

My mouth grew dry, my pain forgotten as I watched Jill continue to struggle against him. I'd lied to Zan. Told him that neither Jill nor Tim had tattoos like mine. Tim didn't have one. But Jill did. She'd gotten hers even before mine. If I'd been honest, then they never would have let me come. I was hoping I'd be able to convince Zan to spare Jill, and that might have worked. But with Viggo? I highly doubted it.

My gaze darted around the bunker. The entire place was a maze of small rooms, and the one we were in had shelves of weapons. Stakes and guns with wooden bullets surrounded me, and I eyed the one closest to me. Maybe I could sneak some back when we left. I felt naked without weapons and hated being in the vampire city without at least a stake.

"Don't think about it, Kali," Viggo murmured without looking at me. "We came here for one thing, and that doesn't include you bringing back things that can kill me."

"Vampire scum," Jill spat out, raw hate morphing on her face as she swung her gaze my way. "And you. You fucking betrayed us. Your family."

"Hawthorn," Viggo muttered, his eyes trailing down Jill while his hand stayed on her throat. "Where is it? Or did you ingest it?"

"You can't get in my head," she snarled. "You never will."

Viggo's head whipped to the side, his burning glare landing on me. "She has a tattoo, doesn't she?"

"I can explain?—"

A loud bang echoed in my ears, and Viggo let out a snarl of pain, his body falling into Jill's when he was shot in the back again. Black blood began seeping from his wounds, and Jill screamed when another shot rang out. I spun around, spotting the guy peeking around the corner, a gun in his hand. He shot again, and I heard Viggo grunt. Jill had gone silent, but I didn't chance looking behind me as I lunged forward.

I didn't recognize the man, but his eyes widened when he caught sight of me. He aimed, but I was already close enough to knock his arm up before he could pull the trigger. I rammed into him, knocking him back a couple of feet as I reached for the gun.

"They told me about you. Fucking traitor," the guy gritted out as his free hand collided with my cheek. The sting traveled over my jaw, but I didn't slow down, digging my knee into his balls. He shoved me away, doubling over in pain for a moment before stumbling toward me, raising the gun.

I flung myself to the side, reaching for one of the knives that were hanging on the wall. My fingers closed around it, and I quickly swung it in front of me, grateful he was still within arm's reach. The blade sliced his arm, and he let out a hiss, yanking his hand away from me.

"I don't want to hurt you," I said, my chest heaving.

He didn't answer, launching himself at me instead. I angled my knife higher, the sharp edge sliding into him as he slammed into me. I hit the wall hard enough that my breath was stolen from me. The guy groaned, his weight smothering me as we both fell to the floor. I pulled the knife out and stabbed him again when he pointed the handgun in my direction. His warm blood seeped into my clothes, and I realized it was a fatal stab when his strength began waning.

"Fuck," I breathed out, pushing him off me.

He stayed on the floor, and I shakily climbed to my feet. He was choking, gurgling as blood dribbled from his mouth, making me believe I'd hit his lung. Guilt washed through me as I stared at him while catching my breath. The entire reason I'd come was to prevent death.

Forcing myself to move, I backed away a few steps before turning around to where Viggo and Jill were. Black and red blood were mixed in with the dirt, and I crept closer when neither of them moved. Viggo had been shot twice in the back and once in the head. He'd be out until the bullet worked its way out of his brain. But he'd live. Jill was still beneath him, and I crouched down, rolling Viggo off her.

My heart sank when I saw the wound on her chest. One of the bullets had hit her, and I reached over, pressing my fingers to her neck. My chest tightened with remorse when there was nothing. No pulse. No movement. She was gone.

I scooted backward, wrapping my arms around my legs and staring at her before my eyes cut to Viggo. I could kill him. Even tell Zan it was an accident. Would he believe me? Probably not. For some reason, he could read me better than almost anyone.

I could run. Pack a bag and flee before Zan and Pax realized it.

Until I remembered the necklace weighing heavily around my neck. Zan's words resurfaced about being able to track me. I ran my hands down my face, detesting the other thought nagging me. Running would mean being alone again. Something that seemed just as bad as being stuck with vampires.

I silently debated my options as I got to my feet and grabbed the lantern that was on the shelf next to me. I flicked it on before hurrying around the back wall that opened into another small room. The only reason I knew about the journal was because I'd seen Tim writing in it one time while I was here for a tattoo session. He hadn't seemed pleased that I'd seen it since it was a guarded secret. But by then, I'd been with the Clovers for years, and I'd earned trust.

This room was stacked full of clothes. Some were PARA uniforms; others were just extra clothes of all different sizes. The bottom shelves had boxes, and I began digging through them, knowing the journals were in one of them. After the third one, I finally found the one filled with the small spiral notebooks.

I reached for the one on top, my hands shaking slightly as I opened it to the last page. Like I expected, it was all about Zan. I sat down, scanning the page for anything I didn't know.

Black blood. Heals more quickly than other vampires. Shadow? Something else?

Has an interest in Kali (female human). For what? Sex? Blood? Mating? She's useful.

Torture did not have an effect on him. He would not break.

Vampire city is heavily guarded. No known way in without being seen.

I read it again, realizing that the Clovers were just as clueless about him as I was. I flipped back a few pages, curious about what else they'd been up to since I left Project Hope. My eyes froze on one page, my stomach knotting painfully as I read.

An unscheduled convoy entered the city in the middle of the night, and the next day, PARA added more guards around building 1403. Attempts to infiltrate have been unsuccessful.

Other cities are staging protests against PARA. The government is trying to silence it all, but word is slowly spreading. Clovers in that city were caught and killed on sight.

Amaros Kane was sighted. Belief that the vampires are gearing up for a fight has PARA on edge.

"Motherfucker. Fuck, that hurt like a bitch."

Viggo's groggy voice had my heart jumping, and I leaped to my feet, tightly holding the notebook. I understood why Zan didn't want the Clovers knowing about him. But the vampires had no right to learn all their secrets. I spotted a small metal trashcan and scoured the shelves until I found what I was looking for.

"Kali?" Viggo called out loudly before lowering his voice. "I can smell you. And hear your heartbeat. Thank fuck. If you died, my little brother would have killed me."

I ripped the page about Zan out of the notebook, and let it fall to the floor, knowing I only had seconds before Viggo found me. I tossed the book into the trashcan, fumbling with the matches I'd grabbed. It took me three swipes before I finally got a match lit.

"Your heart is racing," Viggo said, his voice getting louder. "What are you up to?"

I saw him out of the corner of my eye right as I dropped the match. The notebook immediately caught fire, its pages curling as they burned.

"What's that?" Viggo hissed, rushing forward.

"You wanted what they had on Zan," I said coldly, nodding to the lone paper on the floor. "There it is."

"Then what are you burning?"

I raised my head to look at him. "I said I'd help you with what you needed. But you don't need to know all the Clovers' secrets."

His eyes flashed dangerously. "We have Warner and Matt under entrancement. We can find out whatever we want."

"Then me burning this shouldn't be a problem."

But it was, and I was sure Viggo knew even though he stayed silent, watching the flames. Warner and Matt might be Clovers, but they weren't let in on every secret, just like I wasn't. The things in these notebooks were only told to a select few. Viggo grumbled under his breath as he plucked the paper off the floor, his eyes moving down the page. After reading it, he tossed it into the fire, and we both stood there in silence as it burned.

"You could have killed me," he said stiffly. "You had the perfect chance when that bullet was in my head. I'm surprised you didn't, after I threatened Warner."

"Thanks to this"—I grabbed the necklace—"Zan can find me anywhere. He might want me alive now, but I'm smart enough to know that would change if I murdered his brother."

I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn't look at him. Instead, I kept my gaze on the dying fire. With a sigh, he moved and grabbed some clothes off one of the shelves. He rummaged through them before finding a hoodie that fit him, and then he tossed one to me.

"Make sure all the blood is covered," he instructed. "We don't want any attention when we leave."

I slipped the gray hoodie over my head, not caring that it was too large. My hands were still stained red, even after wiping the guy's blood off on my tank top.

"What about…them?" I asked quietly.

"Not our problem."

My heart clenched at his careless words. Even if I wasn't with the Clovers anymore, I couldn't help but feel like the traitor they thought I was. My body tensed when Viggo suddenly grabbed the matchbook from my hand.

"Hey—"

"My blood is all over that woman," he muttered. "I have to cover it up."

"Viggo," I shrieked, grabbing his arm when he reached and grabbed a few notebooks from the box. "What are you doing?"

"Destroying evidence that I was here."

"If you set a fire, the whole building could go up in flames. People live here. Innocent people. And this bunker is how the Clovers survive."

He ignored me, shaking me off before striding back toward the weapon room. He was ripping pages out of the notebook as he walked, and I was seriously regretting not killing him when I had the chance.

"They'll lock the city down if there's a fire." I tried again to talk him out of it. "We won't be able to get out."

"We'll be long gone by then. We're two stories underground. I doubt the fire will even reach the building."

"You don't know that."

"Doesn't matter. I'm not leaving my blood here to be found."

He lit a match and held it to a piece of paper before letting it fall on top of Jill's body. I watched in horror as he added more paper to it before taking a hold of one of the shelves and yanking it free from the wall. He snapped it in half, setting it over the burning paper.

"The walls are dirt. The fire won't spread," he muttered. "But by the time it dies out, no one will see my blood."

"And if the building catches fire?"

"We'll be gone by then."

"Do you even have a heart?" I shot back.

"I do," he snapped. "For my family. Not for humans I don't know."

By now, the fire had grown, and I could barely see Jill's body. My eyes went to the left, and I quickly grabbed the stake that had fallen when Viggo broke the shelf. I slipped it into my boot while his back was still turned before straightening up.

"Let's go," Viggo ordered. "We need to find my brothers."

He crossed the room, stopping near the exit, waiting for me to go first. With a deep breath, I slipped back into the narrow pathway that was already filling with smoke.