Chapter 164

Tessa’s POV

“Why would you bring her here?!” Joseph growled as he paced back and forth in Chief Mulligan’s office.

Carter stood in the center of the room, taking all of Joseph’s wrath.

“Don’t blame Carter… it was my idea,” I said, stepping toward Carter like I was trying to protect him from Joseph’s wrath.

Not that I could do much.

“Of course, it was,” Joseph shot back without even looking at me. “You shouldn’t have come here, Tessa.”

“Look, we don’t have time to sit around and argue about this,” Chief Mulligan said, standing to his feet. “Tessa is here, so maybe we could utilize her. You said Ryan tried to capture her before, right?”

“Yes,” both Joseph and Carter said at the same time.

“He almost killed her,” Joseph seethed. “Which is why she needs to return home.”

“Carter is my ride,” I said, motioning to Carter. “I’m not going anywhere without him.”

“Then, you can both leave,” Joseph said, glaring at Carter. “You don’t need to be here either. Why are you?”

“If you answered your phone, then maybe I wouldn’t have had to track you down,” Carter said, folding his arms across his chest.

“Speaking of which, here’s your phone back,” I said, pulling his cell phone out of my pocket.

He narrowed his eyes at the phone, probably confused as to why I had it.

“You left it on your desk,” I answered his unspoken question. “Along with the shattered remains of your remote. Care to explain that one?” I asked, raising my brows.

“Enough of this,” Mulligan said, shaking his head at all of us. He then looked at me and his gaze softened. “Tessa, how about you come downtown with us and—”

“Absolutely not,” Joseph seethed, glaring at Mulligan. “We aren’t going to put her life in danger again.”

“It’s my life, I can do whatever I want with it,” I argued.

Ignoirng him, Mulligan continued.

“If this vampire is the one holding hostages in this bank, then your presence might be able to lure him out,” Mulligan stated simply. “You don’t have to go near him; you’ll stay with the officers the entire time. But your scent is strong enough to attract him.”

“We aren’t using her as bait again, Mulligan,” Joseph argued.

“Do you have a better plan?” Mulligan asked, turning to face him. “What do you propose we do?”

“Joseph, maybe it’s not a bad plan,” Carter said, shrugging. “It’s not like we won’t be there with her. She will be safe.”

“You should have never brought her here,” Joseph said between his teeth, glaring at Carter.“I know… and I’m sorry. But she’s a persistent one,” Carter said, giving me a look.

I shrugged in response, but my face was flaring with heat.

“I want to do my part and help,” I said, turning to Chief Mulligan. “I make my own decisions. So, yes, I’ll do it Chief.”

“Round the troops; we are going in,” he ordered Jordan who was standing by the doorway.“Yes, Chief,” he said as he turned and left the office.

The silence in the office grew thick. Joseph kept his head lowered and I could tell he was trying to keep himself under control. Carter was desperately trying not to look at Joseph and Mulligan was staring between the two of them like he was ready to break up a fight.

I didn’t want to stay in this room any longer.

“I’ll wait in the hallway,” I murmured, turning away and leaving the office.

From the outside, I could hear Joseph and Carter getting into it. Joseph was not happy, and he was making that painfully known.

Oh, Tessa. What are you getting yourself into now? I thought to myself.

Moments later, I realized the bickering had finally stopped and the door to the office was opening. Carter was the first to walk out of the office along with Chief Mulligan and then Joseph. I stared at Joseph as he left the office; he didn’t look at me. He’s hardly looked at me since I’ve arrived.

“Okay, we will head downtown together. My officers are already on their way there as we speak,” Mulligan explained. “Are you sure you are okay doing this?”

I glanced at Joseph who was now looking at something on his phone. A giant knot formed in the pit of my stomach, and I suddenly wasn’t feeling sure about anything.

“We need to get there fast; it was just reported that the local police are planning on barging into the bank. It could be a death sentence if it really is Ryan in here,” Joseph announced, turning and jogging toward the front entrance of the building. Carter was quick to follow him.

I looked up at Mulligan.

“I guess it’s now or never,” I told him.

He gave me a head nod and the two of us ran after them.

I slid into the backseat of Mulligan’s car next to Carter; Joseph sat in the passenger seat and of course, Mulligan was in the driver's seat. He put the car in drive peeled away from the headquarters building and buzzed through the portal and into our normal world.

I knew downtown wasn’t far from here; I wondered what kind of shit show we were about to arrive at.

My eyes trailed back to Joseph who sat in the passenger seat beside Mulligan. He was staring out the window, watching as the trees whipped past us. My heart ached painfully in my chest, and I lowered my gaze.

He was so upset with me. Maybe Carter was right; coming here was a bad idea.Before we reached downtown, which only took about 6 minutes of travel, I could hear the sirens from both the police and the ambulances. There were crowds of people in the streets, making it hard for Mulligan to drive through them. We were stopped once by one of the officers who had shut down the roads but once Mulligan presented his badge, they let him through.

Once it was clear we weren’t able to drive any further, he parked the car, and we quickly exited the vehicle. I could hear the panicked sounds of those around me as they all stared horrifyingly at the building.

As we made our way through the crowd, I noticed some of the same news reporters who covered the football game that evening. It was a busy night for them.

“What do we know?” Mulligan asked as he walked toward a tall and broad police officer with a large golden badge that read: Chief Hansley.

“Mulligan, good to see you again. Wish it was under better circumstances,” Hansley said, walking alongside him while the rest of us followed. We were headed toward the center of town where most of the officers, including the Nightwalkers, were crowding.

Hansley spoke with a thick southern accent, and he had a very gruff tone like he smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. Telling from the smoky scent of his jacket, I probably wasn’t far off on that assumption.

“Cut the small talk, Hansley. Just tell me what you already know,” Mulligan barked.

“There are about 25 hostages, three of them being children and 7 of them being workers,” Hansley told him, guiding us over to the other nightwalkers that stood in the center of the crowded street.

Chief Hansley paused to glance at Mulligan.

“I’m assuming you’re here because it’s one of them beasts?”

Mulligan glanced at Joseph before responding.

“We aren’t sure yet,” Mulligan stated. “For right now we are just here to help.”

“Well, I have men who are at every entrance to the bank, so no one gets in and no one gets out without our knowledge.”

I looked at the central bank and I was in awe of the building. It was tall and made from a rustic deep-red brick. There were about 16 stories to this bank and starting midway there was a ladder that led up to the rooftop.

I squinted my eyes, wishing could see the roof better. I wondered what was up there.

“Are there men on the roof?” I found myself asking.

Hansley looked at me and narrowed his eyes.

“Why would there be men on the roof?” He asked in a gruff tone.

“Because there’s a ladder leading to the room. Are there any entrances or exits up there?” I asked.

“Little miss there are 16 stories to this building, nobody would be stupid enough to use the rooftop entrance. There’s no way to escape from that way,” he spoke in a deep southern accent, and I pressed my lips together in aggravation.

He looked at Mulligan at that point who was now staring at the rooftop with quizzical eyes.

“Who is this girl?” He asked, pointing his thumb at me.

“She’s part of our team,” Carter was the one who answered.

I looked at him surprised and he gave me a wink before turning back to Hansley.

“You really should cover all your bases, Chief. That includes the rooftop. If there is a way to enter and exit the building, regardless of the height, it should be taken into consideration,” Carter told him.

“We can’t get to the rooftop unless we get inside,” Hansley said through his teeth.

“There’s a ladder,” Joseph said, staring up at the building.

I was surprised he was actually considering my idea; though, he didn’t look at me when he spoke, he added, “She’s right. We need to cover the rooftop as well. We don’t know who we are dealing with.”

Hansley grumbled something under his breath as he took out his walkie-talkie.

“Can I get someone to attempt to climb the side of the building and get to the rooftop,” he muttered, bitterly and sarcastically.

“Uh… chief?” The officer on the other end of the walkie-talkie asked.

“You heard me,” Hansley growled.

I found myself shaking my head in annoyance, but my attention was averted when Jordan approached us.

“These pathetic local cops don’t know anything,” he muttered and then glanced at Hansley who scowled at him. “No offense,” Jordan added, rolling his eyes.

Hansley muttered something I didn’t catch before joining away to join his own team. Jordan turned to the rest of us.

“So, do we know for sure if there are vampires in there?”

“Yes,” both Carter and Joseph said at the same time.

“We can smell them,” Carter explained. “It’s definitely Ryan and Fae.”

“So, what exactly is the plan?” I asked. “Hope that Ryan gets a whiff of me and comes running?”

I looked at Joseph, but his eyes were still fixed on the rooftop of the building. It was like I wasn’t even there.

“I think that’s our best bet for right now,” Mulligan said, nodding. “Unless anyone has a better idea?”

He looked from Joseph to Carter, but neither of them said anything.

“That could take forever,” Jordan argued. “Are you sure they are going to be able to smell her like this?”

“Yes,” Carter said immediately. “He will.”

“I don’t trust it,” Jordan said, reaching into his pocket and staring at me. His stare gave me an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew that look; it meant he was up to no good and I raised my right brow at him as he stepped toward me. “I think we need to do something that will make him smell her blood right now.”

Before I could grasp what was happening, he opened his pocketknife and slashed a deep gash in the flesh of my arm.