Off With His Head

19. I really do have crap taste in men

"How did we miss this?" Zach paces in front of the computer monitors in the surveillance room. His ocean eyes are bloodshot and his hair stands on end from his hands constantly running through it. Even from here I can see that his nails are bitten down so low they are almost bleeding, but his hands still keep trailing towards his mouth.

Last night, Lideri had dismissed me and Caleb from his room and asked us to fetch Zach, who of course went racing there as soon as he heard he was summoned. They had been holed up for hours, I assume to discuss a way forward, while Caleb took me back to the hospital wing and tucked me into bed.

This morning, I had been awoken by someone named Angie, who is apparently the resident doctor here. She quickly became my favourite person in this place when she handed me a cup full of pain killers with a bright smile and a glass of water.

By the time Caleb came to fetch me, all my aches and pains had been reduced to a dull throb and I was feeling more than a little antsy. I wanted to be involved in whatever they were planning and help figure out what our next move is.

Now, sitting in the comfortable chair and watching Caleb play with the monitors and Zach walking back and forth, I can't help but feel that no plan has actually been set into place yet.

"He was smart," Caleb says. "That's why it took so long to catch him. Clearly, we underestimated him."

"We're going to have to find them and hunt them down, one by one, before they can come to us." Zach runs his hands through his hair in frustration again. "We're no match for them if they all come together."

"Pardon my interruption," I cut in. "But aren't there more Vampire Hunters? Surely it's not just the three of us?"

"They're spread out all over the world chasing down their own leads, Peyton," Zach explains patiently. I almost fall off my chair when his words aren't accompanied by his usual sigh that normally follows my questions. "Caleb and I are the only ones here."

"And me," I add but Zach ignores me, his arms crossing over his chest as he makes another turn and stalks towards the other end of the room.

"We've never dealt with anything of this scale before," Caleb tells me. "Even Lideri is worried. We don't know how many there are, or who they are. This could end badly." He glances at Zach who has reached the opposite wall and is now approaching again. "For all of us."

"How long do we have Peyton?" Zach asks. "Did he say?"

"He was a little preoccupied with killing me." I shrug before realizing that my sarcasm probably wouldn't be appreciated in our current situation. "Sorry, I mean no." I shake my head. "He just said 'soon', whatever that means. But," I try to look on the bright side. "They have no idea where we are, we should be safe here."

Zach finally stops pacing and looks at me. "Peyton, I'm not worried about them finding us. I'm worried about what they will do if they don't. They'll draw us out by going on a killing spree. And in the meantime, who's to say they won't turn more people to strengthen their numbers?"

If Zach is this scared then I know that this is bad, even worse than I had originally thought.

"Well then, Caleb." I swallow loudly. "I suggest we start up our training again, immediately."

"I think that's a good idea," he nods grimly as Zach starts up his pacing again.

¤

"Come on, Jennings." Caleb releases his foot from my throat and I finally take in a deep breath. "I know you can do better than this."

"Excuse me for being a little sore from the beat down I received two days ago," I grumble, pushing myself back to my feet while my body screams in agony. The morning dose of pain killers that Angie gave me are starting to wear off and it doesn't help that Caleb has added a few new bruises to my already impressive collection.