A Shade of Vampire 25: A Clan of Novaks Read Online Free Page A

we communicated instructions via the intercom to those waiting in the submarine. By the time we arrived on the upper deck, my aunt Vivienne, my mother and Rose had already prepared five lifeboats. We had taken the humans who’d looked like they had the most chance of living during this first shift. We needed to hurry them to the submarine where they could start receiving medical treatment.
    We carried them into the boats and escorted them back across the waves toward our submarine. Here, we formed another human chain to lower them down.
    Corrine spoke through our earpieces. “Okay. The ogres are dealt with.”
    “Good,” my father said. “Head down to the humans, and help us get the rest off quickly.” We had more witches in the submarine, but we needed them to stay down there to begin treating the wounded.
    Having emptied the boats of humans, we were about to head back to the ship when a blinding light flashed in the sky, followed by a deafening explosion that sent shockwaves through the ocean. The submarine rocked violently. My eyes, still sore from the flash, traveled up to see a large black helicopter shaped like a wasp with letters painted on its side: IBSI. They had just dropped a bomb.
    “Hunters.” My father spat the word like a curse.
    The humans. Our witches. They were still on the ship.
    We were all in a state of shock.
    “Mona! Brock!” Kiev roared. He looked like he was about to dive into the ocean and swim toward the burning ship when our witches manifested themselves about twenty feet away from us. We all let out a sigh in unison. Hovering over the water, each of them appeared singed, but thankfully for the most part unscathed. The remaining humans, on the other hand, could not have survived that blast.
    All our attention—our shock, fury and indignation—was directed at the hunters.
    What the hell do they think they’re doing?

Derek
    I could hardly remember feeling more furious than I did in that moment. As the helicopter descended toward us, I caught a glimpse of Bradley Thornton’s bald head through the opening side door. Oh, how I hated this man’s guts. He was an “officer” of the IBSI in charge of operations in Australia, all the way up to Japan. Although he was not supposed to be in charge of the ocean, he had been known to encroach before… but never like this.
    My hands were twitching to get on the phone to Fowler so I could yell myself hoarse until I got Thornton fired, when ropes unraveled from the helicopter and four hunters slid down—Thornton included—landing with a thunk on the roof of our sub.
    “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Ben and I bellowed at once.
    “This mission was allotted to us,” I seethed, taking a step closer to Thornton and glaring daggers into his eyes. “We were in the middle of an operation. Your actions have just murdered possibly a hundred innocent citizens.”
    Thornton eyed us with an infuriatingly calm expression. “And that is regrettable,” he said, his voice nasally. He glanced toward the wreckage of the ship, which was now beginning to sink. “I’m aware that this mission was allotted to you, but we happened to be passing this way.”
    I waited for him to continue. Nothing. That was his explanation.
    My hands practically shaking with fury, I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I dialed Fowler’s number.
    He picked up after a few rings. “Fowler,” I bellowed into the phone, possibly a little too loudly, but the chopper’s blades were deafening. “Officer”—I hated to use the word—“Thornton and his men have jeopardized our entire operation, slaughtered possibly up to a hundred humans, and almost killed my colleagues in the process.”
    Silence.
    “Fowler?” I shouted.
    I heard him draw in a breath. “I’m here, Novak,” he responded.
    “What is going on?” I roared.
    He cleared his throat. “Let me speak to Officer Thornton.”
    I shoved the phone into Thornton’s hands. Thornton raised