Kiss of Midnight_ A Midnight Breed Novel - Lara Adrian [663]
“All kinds.” Dragos went back to the keyboard and typed in another string of commands. The laboratory camera went dark, only to be replaced with another view, this one a panoramic angle of a long corridor lined with prison cells. Although from the camera’s position it was difficult to make out anything but the most rudimentary shapes, it was obvious that the cells contained women, some of them heavy with child.
“Breedmates,” Fabien breathed. “There must be twenty or more of them in there.”
“They don’t always survive the procedures and testing, so the numbers tend to fluctuate,” Dragos said in a conversational tone. “But we have had our successes with the breeding process. These females and the ones who went before them are giving birth to the greatest army this world will ever know. An army of Gen One killers who are at my complete command.”
A hush as thick as a winter cloak fell over the gathering.
“Gen One?” asked the director from the West Coast. “That can’t be possible. You would need one of the Ancients in order to produce a first-generation Breed vampire. All of those otherworlders were exterminated by the Order some seven hundred years ago. Lucan himself declared war on all of the Ancients and saw to it that none survived.”
“Did he?” Dragos grinned, baring just the tips of his fangs. “I think… not.”
With a few more keystrokes, he brought up still another camera view on the satellite connection. This time the focus homed in on a large, heavily secured room, which had in its center a cylindrical cell constructed of light beams. The ultraviolet rays emitting from that cage of tight vertical bars was nearly blinding, even onscreen.
And contained inside that UV cell crouched a hairless, naked creature who would stand likely seven feet tall. His nude body was immense, every inch of him covered in dermaglyphs. He looked up as the camera lens zoomed in on him from somewhere across the room. Amber eyes, pupils all but devoured by the fire blazing out of the sockets, narrowed with lethal awareness. The creature came out of its crouch and lunged to attack, only to be thrown back by the searing heat of the UV bars that held it prisoner. It opened its mouth and let out a furious roar that didn’t need to be heard in order to be understood.
“My God,” more than one of the attendees gasped.
Dragos turned a deadly sober look on the group. “Behold… our revolution.”
Lex’s cell phone vibrated on the center console of the SUV Renata picked it up and glanced at the digital display: Unknown Caller.
Shit.
She couldn’t be sure if the call was actually for Lex or if it was for Nikolai, since he’d been using the phone to call back and forth with the Order. She didn’t know how long he’d be out running reconnaissance, and she was about to lose her mind cooling her heels waiting for him. She needed to be doing something. At least feeling that they would be making some good progress toward finding Mira soon…
The cell phone kept buzzing in her hand. She hit the Talk button but didn’t say anything. Just opened the line and let the caller reveal himself first.
“Hello? Niko—you there, amigo?” The deep voice rolled with a Spanish-tinged accent, as warm and smooth as caramel. “It’s Rio, my man—”
“He’s not here,” Renata said. “We’re in position at the site north of the city, waiting for you guys to arrive. Nikolai’s out on recon. He shouldn’t be long.”
“Good,” said the warrior. “We’re almost there, ETA about forty-five minutes on the outside. You must be Renata.”
“Yes.”
“Gotta thank you for saving our boy’s ass up there. What you did was … well, he’s lucky to have you working on his side. We all are.” She could hear the genuine concern and gratitude in the vampire’s voice, and she found herself very curious to meet the other warriors whom Nikolai called friends. “Everything okay on that end? How about you? You doing all right, hanging in there?”
“I’m good. Just anxious to get this done tonight.”
“Understood,” Rio replied. “Niko told us about the little girl—Mira. I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through, knowing that a sick individual