Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)(28)

A figure stepped forward and I recognized Laz, the creepy shithead who had kept Jayden captive in my apartment. That POS was on my list. And my list was not a place anyone wanted to find themselves.

Black eyes with a sliver of silver flashed at me. He threw both hands up in front of him. “Calm down, Princess, we’re here to talk about a truce,” Laz said.

I wasn’t falling for that shit. I didn’t lower my hands. “Yeah right. You want the millions the vampires put on my head.”

He nodded. “I won’t deny that in the past that was true. We’re mercenaries. We work for whomever can pay us the most money. It’s what we’ve had to do to survive in a world where vampires dominate. But now … well, now we know you’re the cure.”

Shit. My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth. I don’t know how long I was passed out for but I needed blood soon.

“I’m the cure … so what? If you wanted a truce you wouldn’t have blown up our house. You could have done something civil like … I don’t know, knock on the damn door!”

For the first time frustration crinkled his face, and with a sigh he ran his hand through his hair. “We tried that in Alaska and you killed our scout.”

I saw red again, anger bursting from me in a torrent of curses. “You set fire to our friend’s barn! Stop destroying shit and we might stop killing you.”

One of the other guys stepped forward. “So if Toby had knocked on the door you would have welcomed him inside for a chat?”

Well, shit, he had a point. I didn’t reply, just groaned. We had such bad beef with these guys that anytime we saw them we just killed on sight. My head was pounding way too hard for this conversation, and I was really worried about the sexy six. If these morons had hurt any of them, they could forget a truce. We’d have a damned war.

Laz opened his hands. “Here’s the deal. We’ve heard about your plan on the network and we want in.”

Fucking Sanctum was on the network? FAIL. Zack needed to rethink his security measures. I knew it was supposed to be for ash, but these guys were not the sort of ash you wanted to share secrets with.

“Why should I trust your bullshit? Last time I saw you, you had a gun to my best friend’s head.”

He shrugged. “Last time you saw me it was in my best interest to capture you for millions of dollars. Now it’s in my best interest to help you take out the vampire race.”

“Why?”

Everyone had a motive. I wanted to know his.

He gestured to his buddies. “It’s clear that the ash are the superior race. Vampires can’t go out in the sun, can’t eat food, and need too much human blood to survive. I want to be on top of the food chain, where I belong.”

Okay, I didn’t exactly agree with that motive, but we could use all the help we could get.

“You’re going to have to prove your loyalty then.” I crossed my arms, tilting my chin in defiance. I wanted these ninja bitches to work for it.

He nodded. “We are up for any task you assign.”

Okay, now that’s the kind of talk I liked to hear. Was this really happening? Was I partnering with the Sanctum? I searched my brain for what we really needed help with. “We need to infiltrate Cellway, lace the bottles with cure, and then be able to deliver them to the Hive-approved blood-distributing hospitals. The Californian and Texan ones, plus all the international. Can you help us with any of that?” With the Sanctum’s help, we might be able to do all this with minimum human casualties, and much more smoothly.

He nodded. “We already have a man in management of Cellway. He will start the paperwork for the enforcers as warehouse workers and delivery drivers. That part is easy.” Apparently Sanctum was both evil and resourceful. “It will take us about a week to get our men into the Hive-certified blood banks and hospitals around the world. But it won’t be a problem.”

As easy as that, apparently. We’ll see.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone and tossed it up toward me. I caught it. “It’s untraceable. We’ll be in touch,” he told me, and they parted, making room for me to step down.

“One more thing,” I said. “If any of my boys are hurt, you’re dead.”

Laz suppressed a grin as if he thought I wasn’t capable of killing him. “None of your pretty boys are dead.”

Relief exploded in my chest. This whole thing was really unnecessary. Couldn’t they have, like, taped a note to the door or something?

He stuck out his hand. “On my honor, I call a truce on behalf of the entire Sanctum. Don’t try to kill us if you see us around.”

I reached out and shook his hand, not sure how much honor he had. “I accept your truce and I expect you to pay for rebuilding my friend’s house.” I kept his hand in a firm grip.

“He’s just a human. A bottom feeder.”

Oh hell no. This guy was a mini-Hitler in the making and I had just aligned with him. Fuck.

“Leave the bottom feeders alone,” I stressed.

Our eyes remained locked for many moments; he was sizing me up, but I would not break. Eventually he just nodded and we broke apart.

Why did I have the feeling this might come back to bite me on the ass in a couple years? Oh well, I’d worry about it then.

“Where am I? I need to get back to my boys,” I said as they started to head for the exit.