Read Online One of Them (Vigil #2) by Arvin Loudermilk - Free Book Online

sailing off its hinges, clanking backward into an unfinished cinder block wall.
    “After you,” I said, giving Mac another hastening push.
    On the other side of the opening was a staircase, leading upward. Mac hit the bottom rung first. As he scaled topside, I nipped at his heels. He was quick, but not quick enough for me—not with seven flights to go.
    “You’d think Castellano would’ve had a damn elevator installed,” I said as we went. “I don’t know how this is convenient in any way.”
    “He likes to exercise in here,” Mac replied. “And he only uses a chopper every so often.”
    A beep went off on Mac’s belt. It was the page we had been waiting for from Sam. He had made it through. Mac’s shoulders slumped in relief, but his legs kept pumping, skipping every other step up.
    When we finally reached the top, Mac was worn out and winded. I was fine, although quite anxious to breathe fresh air again. But before that was going to happen, we had another door in our way, and another lock. I disposed of both with a sharp bang of my palm.
    Winds gusted through, and the clamor of the city pounded me with a fury. It was like I could hear everything at once. Literally— everything . Thinking was next to impossible.
    I walked outside and looked around. The sky was darkened, but by no means as black as it was going to get. To my left, there was a red and white helicopter parked on the tarmac. I thought for sure that was our way out. Mac was going to fly us away—of course he was. I hustled toward the waiting aircraft.
    He called me back to him. “Not that way. This way.” He held his arm out to the north, looking like a loyal and scruffy pointing dog.
    I came up beside him, but all I could see was the building ledge, a four-foot stony enclosure encircling the roof. I gripped my hands on its lip. There was a parking deck across the street at an almost equal level to the structure we were on, but down just slightly, less than a floor. The sound of vehicles speeding and honking beneath me was about all my mind could take in.
    “Think you can make it?” Mac asked me.
    “I don’t understand,” I said. “My head is super cloudy. You’re going to have to explain things as if I were stupid.”
    He brushed back his blowing brown hair. “To get away—you are going to have to jump across to that parking garage, with me in your arms. It’s only a four-lane roadway down there. I’ve seen you vamps jump way, way farther than that.”
    “I’m not in control of my body at the moment.” I clutched his arm to steady myself. “My senses are going crazy.”
    “We don’t have much of a choice, Grace. We’re going to have to do this. You’re going to have to do this.” He helped me take the duffel off. “Throw this across first. Chuck it hard.”
    “The stuff inside will break.”
    He shrugged. “It’s got to get over somehow, and I don’t think it should be on your back while you’re carrying me.”
    I took the bag by the straps, swung it high, and eyeballed the roof. I let it go without a second thought and it streaked across and landed between two vehicles.
    “That worked great,” Mac said, his thumb extended. “So will this.”
    He drew me backwards by the hand, counting off twenty steps.
    “I need you to pick me up,” he said.
    I scooped him into my arms. He was bigger than me, but he weighed next to nothing.
    “I need you to get a full, running start, Grace. And when you hit the wall, you need to use it as leverage to push off. That should make things easier.”
    “Do you actually trust me?” I asked him.
    “Yes. Now, get yourself together and get us across.”
    I refused to think. I just did it. Mac bounced against me as I raced headlong toward the ledge. I was hauling some serious ass as I leapt, my right sneaker tagging the top of the wall just like Mac had suggested. And boy did I take off—like a rock skipping across a lake. I kept looking straight ahead as I sailed over the empty