Dreams of a Dark Warrior

half an hour before they reached the old research facility, a bunker tunneled into the side of a mountain. It was the first modern one on this island, circa nineteen fifty.
    Declan led them through a series of rock cutouts, much like a labyrinth, winding deeper into the mountainside. When the trail appeared to dead-end at a sheer rock face, he edged to the right and kept going.
    “An optical illusion,” the halfling murmured. “Coo-ell.”
    They finally arrived at the bunker entrance, a thick metal door covered with lichen and moss.
    “All right.” Brandr said, “So how do we get in?”
    “Untie me, so I can enter a code.”
    “Just tell me how to do it.”
    At the man’s implacable expression, Declan said, “Tear away the moss. There’s a manual code pad. If I can remember the code.”
    When Brandr uncovered it, Declan rattled off a series of numbers for Brandr to enter.
    Clicking gears sounded. With a hiss, the door cracked opened. Declan entered, and the others followed. The air was stale, the inside pitch dark. Regin’s glow was so dim it barely made a dent in the pressing black.
    Brandr shut and locked the door behind them with an echoing clang, and Declan led them down a flightof narrow stairs into a large room. The exam room. Rows of metal tables—with restraints—stood in the center. Cages lined either side, while desks and cabinets occupied the front and back walls.
    Oversize ventilation grates covered the ceiling. Blood drains dotted the tiled floor. Archaic-looking tools hung from wall pegs.
    Thad whispered, “This place gives me the creeps.”
    Brandr rubbed his chest, no doubt reliving his own torture. “The ones in the cages had to watch?”
    Natalya added, “Regin’s going to lose it when she sees all this.”
    Declan gazed around, trying to see it from their point of view. Though the Order’s research work hadn’t changed much in sixty years, the manner of it had. The new facility’s atmosphere was sterile, distanced.
    This was raw, blatant, leaving nothing to the imagination.
    Regin
would
lose it. She
should
. He glanced at her in Brandr’s arms. She was shivering and soaking wet.
And still not waking.
    Brandr gently laid her on one of the desks, then began exploring. “There are more rooms?”
    “Smaller exam rooms and some lavatories. The water should still work.”
    “Will there be a key here to remove the torques?”
    “No, none.” Wanting Regin close, Declan sat on the end of the desk beside her, ignoring Brandr’s scowl.
    “I guess we’re bunking here tonight,” Brandr told the others. “It’ll give all of us a chance to recover.”
    “And to eat.” The halfling began unpacking his bagatop another desk, pulling out energy bars and bottles of Coke. He, Brandr, and the fey began splitting the take.
    “Where did you get all this?” Brandr asked.
    Natalya said, “Thad cleaned out the PX store. He’s a natural at looting. I was quite proud.”
    Thad beamed. “Well, the Scout motto
is
Be Pre-pared.”
    Declan realized that he hadn’t eaten in eighteen hours and had no more medicine in his system to dull his appetite. Withdrawal already threatened. He was alternately starving then nauseated, hungering for food while missing his nightly shot with a feverish intensity.
    But he’d be damned before he asked them for something to eat.
    They’d just finished their meal when banging on the door sounded. Everyone tensed.
    Natalya said, “Has to be Lothaire. Are we certain we want to let that vampire in?”
    Thad felt his busted lip. “He cleaned my clock.”
    “We all swore allegiance, remember?” Brandr started for the stairs. “Besides, he will help us keep Chase alive for the time being. He stays for now.”
    Moments later, Brandr returned with the vampire.
    So much for my hope that Lothaire would die.
    The vampire strolled in, casting his surroundings a bored look. “Breathe a sigh of relief. I’ve returned.” While he’d been out, Lothaire had acquired a hooded camo jacket and a bush hat. More claw marks riddledhis shirt and pants, and blood trickled from a wound down his chest.
    My blood.
Filthy leeches. Declan’s hands fisted as he reminded himself that Lothaire had saved them all this night. And might come in handy in the future.
    But at what price?
Make no bargains with vampires.
    Lothaire leapt onto a tall cage, sitting atop it with his back against the wall. He began removing his many weapons—one of which was Declan’s sword. A vampire