Kingly Bitten by Lexi C. Foss
Calina
Blood paintedthe ground and the walls, drowning the bunker in death.
The lycans and vampires had wasted no time in demolishing the small Vigil army, then they’d moved on to the labs to face their former captors. Fortunately, the researchers and technicians were already dead, thanks to the serum-laced bullets.
I shivered, the mass destruction on my screen sending chills down my spine.
I’d observed every minute, waiting for the higher beings to shift focus to finding an escape. It took hours, their need for vengeance palpable on the live feeds. They’d destroyed everything in their paths—humans, tables, vials, medical equipment, observation windows, and even a few corpses of the slain medical workers.
I could only imagine what they would do to me as the head researcher.
Everything we did down here was at the demand of Lilith. Our purpose was to find ways to enhance life expectancy in humans by making them immortal without any emotional or physical ties to our betters. We were also charged with throttling any additional gifts outside immortality.
Essentially, what Lilith wanted were immortal slaves who could endure great pain and death-like experiences but always regenerate with human blood flowing through their veins.
She desired an endless supply of blood. One that couldn’t die. And also couldn’t fight back.
That had been my intended future—for her specifically—but the experiment had failed because I’d inherited certain abilities. Such as my strategic ability and quick reflexes. Of course, that hadn’t stopped her from biting me every time she’d visited. My blood called to her, as it did many other vampires in the lab.
James, another failure, was mostly lycan. He couldn’t complete a full shift but possessed immortalized strength and the literal claws of a wolf.
Meanwhile, Gretchen was one of the most successful cases. Her immortality made her difficult to kill, and she harbored almost no supernatural traits. That was the primary reason Lilith had allowed her to procreate with James.
But their child was a lycan who preferred his wolf form.
While the test was a failure, Lilith had intended for the child to grow and later be used to replace Louis. That part hadn’t been known to Gretchen or James. And now they would never need to know.
Assuming we found a way out of here.
The lycan and vampire subjects had divided into groups, their movements throughout the bunker reminding me of mice trying to find the exit of a maze.
Except these were predators, not prey.
Louis had stopped at my door earlier, his gaze intent as he’d tried to find a way to beat down the barrier. There were no markers or signs in the hallway that indicated this was my office. Which meant he could smell me in here. And the murderous gleams in his glowing irises had told me exactly what he wanted to do to me.
Or maybe it was James and Gretchen he’d sought.
We’d remained silent, waiting with guns inside, just in case he somehow managed to break down the entrance. It was reinforced steel, hence the reason I’d needed Gerald to test his watch and unlatch the door for me.
Eventually, Louis had taken one of the watches off of a dead Vigil, noted the countdown on the clock face, and left to explore another division via the elevator.
With their bloodlust mostly sated, the vampires and lycans had begun thinking strategically. The video feed didn’t have sound, but I noticed their mouths moving as they all found each other on the various levels and looked at the stolen watches.
It didn’t take much for them to realize we were on a countdown sequence of some kind. And from their hurried efforts now, they’d clearly gathered that they didn’t want to be in this bunker when the clock reached 00:00:00.
Different groups ran into others on each floor, always pausing to discuss the watches and potential escape routes.
Then they scattered again to keep searching.
I observed them with interest, waiting for them to discover the one thing I’d never been taught—how to leave the bunker.
James stood beside me, his arms folded as he watched in silence.
Gretchen sat on the couch that I often used for sleep, her child snuggled against her as she hummed to keep him content and quiet.
There wasn’t anyone else alive in our section—at least, no one we knew about. There were other rooms like mine without cameras, making me wonder if anyone else had hidden out like we were now.
James reached forward to tap on one of the images to enlarge it. I let him take charge, his alpha energy clear in his stance. He usually bowed to my authority, but in this situation, he was the strongest amongst us. As he stood over six feet tall and was built of solid lycan muscle, I trusted his dominance so long as he listened to my strategy.
“There,” he said, gesturing at Group Three—a trio of vampires from the labs on floor two. “They’ve found something.”
I nodded, noting the excitement in their expressions as they tried to open one of the doors on level nine.
“Do you have a way of triggering the opening mechanism from here?” James asked.
I pulled up the access controls within the bunker, searching for one that would unlock the door on that level. Then I frowned and shook my head. “It’s not listed.” Which meant there were probably others like that throughout the building.
I started cataloging them quickly, based on the camera angles and doors I could see.
James fell silent as I worked, giving me the space and time to write down all the doors on each level that were visible in the feed and missing a control.
“There are only two,” I finally concluded after comparing all my lists.
“Where are they with door one?” he inquired, the surveillance feed having been switched as I’d checked each section within the bunker.
I returned to Group Three and found Group Four with them. I’d labeled them all in my head to keep better track of them. Group Four had a lycan and two more vampires. The lycan had shifted and was trying to use his claws to get through the steel door.
Two of the vampires were working on the watches they’d taken from dead Vigils.
My lips twisted. “They’re not making much progress.” I checked the time and found we were down to a little over three hours left.
There had to be something we could do to speed them along.
I started pulling logs from previous visits with Lilith, searching for anything that could signify the entrance or exit. Entrance protocols. System audits. Security logs.
Nothing.
“Shit,” I muttered, frustrated that I couldn’t find a damn thing to help us. Maybe it was my exhaustion or the stress of the moment, but my access and review of the files didn’t help us in any way.
Pulling the footage back up, I discovered that Groups One and Two had joined Three and Four, leaving only Group Five unaccounted for.
I found them at the other door without a system-controlled locking mechanism, which was on level fifteen. “Looks like—”
White light blared across my screen, blinding me before I could finish speaking. James cursed, both of us momentarily stunned. But the feed quickly shut to black, the visual of that area no longer available.
My eyes recovered first, allowing me to pull up the surveillance of the door on the ninth floor. They were all oblivious to what had just happened on fifteen, their attention entirely on that door.
“Hmm,” I hummed, searching for any other views of the fifteenth level.
I finally located one near the elevator and saw nothing but rubble littering the floor.
Rubble glowing with streaks of sunlight, I realized after a beat.
“Is that…?” James trailed off, peering down at the screen.
Gretchen had joined us, reacting to whatever had made James curse and flinch on the screen. “Oh my God, that’s natural light.”
“Daylight,” I whispered.
The three of us shared a glance.
Then I pulled up the footage again of the ninth floor to check on their progress. Nothing had changed. My mind whirred as I considered our options. Either we waited for them to finish their exploration—I checked my watch for the current countdown, noting that we had less than an hour left now—or we made a break for it.
“We need to get up to the fifteenth floor,” I said quickly, standing. “It’s our best option.”
Gretchen and James agreed with matching nods.
My scrubs and lab coat weren’t great for concealing my identity, or useful for stowing weapons, but we didn’t have time to change. And I wasn’t about to pull on Gerald’s uniform. It wouldn’t fit, nor would it make me any less noticeable.
May as well wear what I’m comfortable in and go from there, I decided, picking up two loaded guns.
James did the same, his gaze on Gretchen. “I’ve got you.”
“I know,” she replied.
He bent to capture her mouth with his own. I averted my gaze, ignoring their show of affection, and focused on the dead Vigils.
Searching Gerald, I found a grenade that might be useful and stuck it in one of my lab coat pockets. Then I grabbed his handcuffs and shoved them into my other pocket. Lastly, I put his watch on my opposite wrist, then I handed the other Vigil’s device to James after he finished kissing Gretchen.
“We’re getting out of here,” I told them both. “Thoughts to the contrary will only get us killed.”
They both dipped their chins in agreement.
James cocked one of the guns next, tucking the other into a holster he’d stolen from the Vigil. “Let’s go.”
I checked the surveillance one more time, ensuring the lycans and vampires were still consumed by floor nine, then I followed them out the door toward the elevator bay.
All of us had been inside one enough times to know how to operate them based on observation alone. But James took the lead, using the dead Vigil’s watch and then adding a series of commands afterward.
Obviously, a lycan or vampire had kept a Vigil alive long enough to explain how to use the watches, because otherwise they wouldn’t know. Unless this was standard technology outside the bunker. As I’d never left, I wasn’t sure. But most of the research subjects were brought in by Lilith.
The box sprang to life around us, whisking us upward. Gretchen clung to her son, her hazel eyes wild with emotion.
I slid my fingers closer to the trigger of my guns but kept them pointed at the ground.
Then I held my breath as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.
Dust and debris filled the area, followed by a scent I didn’t recognize. Outside, maybe?
James growled, the sound low and dangerous. “Vampires.”
That didn’t make sense. Group Five had been all lycans.
“Come out here shooting and we’ll return the favor,” a deep voice drawled.
Texan, I recognized, familiar with voice patterns and origins from the pre-revolution time period.
I ran through the known list of vampires in the bunker and couldn’t recall a single one from that region of the world.
Frowning, I returned, “Who are you?”
“Depends on your choice, sweetheart,” he murmured, drawing out the words as though we had all the time in the world to discuss it. “I could be your savior or your executioner. Which do you prefer?”
“I don’t believe in saviors,” I admitted as the elevator released a protesting bell, stating it wanted to close to travel to another floor. Shit.
“Pity,” the vampire replied. “I was hoping to make a new acquaintance.”
The elevator emitted a secondary sound, the warning clear. We either hopped off onto this floor, or we faced our fate on another level.
And considering all the other groups were together, I had a pretty good idea of who’d called for the transport.
Which meant we either confronted these unknown vampires up here or got dragged into hell again to face the research subjects who hated us.
The vocal vampire up here didn’t sound angry so much as amused.
Meanwhile, the ones downstairs would absolutely be furious and kill us on sight.
The odds were also better up here with the potential exit.
All of that made my odds marginally better with option number one—face the unknown vampires.
“We’re coming out,” I said, tossing my weapons into the open space as a sign of defeat. “Unarmed.”
James grunted, obviously not approving of my plan, but I had a grenade in my pocket, and he had another pistol in a holster. It only took a second for him to follow suit, his actions confirming that he was letting me take the lead again.
It was this or go back downstairs.
I preferred the talkative vamp.
“We have a child,” I added, hoping that would earn us a little reprieve from whatever they intended to do to us.
Swallowing, I took the first step.
Gretchen stepped out next, taking a position behind me, and James took up the rear of our small party.
The elevator blared a final warning just as we finished clearing the metal slats. Then the doors slammed behind us, leaving us in a dusty lobby area with a single vampire.
James’s earlier use of the plural had told me there were more, but I could only see the one standing off to the side of the elevator with his pistol aimed right at my head.
“Hello, sweetheart,” he calmly greeted with his Southern drawl, his golden-brown eyes glowing beneath the flickering overhead lighting. The inconsistent illumination gave his striking features a feral appeal, one I didn’t recognize.
He definitely wasn’t one of our subjects, which meant he’d come in from outside.
His eyes tracked over my attire, his gun pointed and unwavering. Gretchen and James said nothing, both of them waiting for me to decide our next move.
“Dr. Calina,” the vampire mused, reading the name on my lab coat. “Otherwise known as Dr. C., I assume.”
Dr. C.That was the name I used on all my transmissions. Was this male from another lab? Did he work for Lilith?
I cleared my throat, deciding it didn’t matter. Because if he knew who I was, then he knew the protocol here hadn’t been followed. Therefore, I needed to prove that we possessed information that made us valuable—information that would keep us alive.
“Yes, I’m Dr. Calina, lead researcher of Bunker 47.” I squared my shoulders, giving my best haughty air—just like Lilith would. “And these are my two primary scientists, Gretchen and James.”
The male’s dark brow inched upward into his thick brown hair. The long length of his strands reminded me more of a lycan, which only seemed to add to his animalistic appearance.
“I see.” He ran his eyes over me once more, then looked around me to take in Gretchen and James at my back. “Hey, King Jace!” he shouted. “I found something you’re going to want to see!”
