Rising Shadows (11 page)

CHAPTER 21

Rachel

I smooth my hand over the glass between me and the Armani Squad.
Sturdy enough to stop a train. Can it hold a scared, psychically enhanced woman? Let's find out.

I count the occupants of the viewing room.
Six suits plus Richland and Kadema.
No guards? I'm insulted.
They look nervous with me watching them so closely. Surely they wonder why I am not concerning myself with the zombie wolf in the body bag.
Priorities, boys.

I concentrate on the men in the viewing room. Invisible hands wrapped around their greedy throats.
Can't allow anyone to call for help.
The electric tingle under my skin amplifies. Blue ribbons of energy surge around me. Directing it through the glass and into the room with the suits, it curls around their necks like a lover before pulling tightly. Multiple cracks fill the silence. The viewing window shatters.

Kadema
is quiet, the body bag is still. Richland trips over a chair to get out the door.
Damn, missed him.
I missed Kadema as well, guards will be swarming any minute.

“Most impressive.” Kadema applauds me.

Not the reaction I expected but I’ll accept it.
“I just want to leave. If you don't attack me, then I won't attack you.”

“I’ve no desire to test who is stronger.
Perhaps another time.” He exits the room.

Perhaps you can go screw yourself buddy.

The tank door is locked, but since I shattered the glass barrier to the viewing window with my Arcana I can crawl through it and out of the tank. The popping of gunfire nearby indicates guards are close. Kadema was gunned down. I find this out when I slip in his blood. My left side and hands are saturated. The warmth reaches my skin and I shudder in disgust.

A soldier yells to the others
,  “Hold your fire! Orders are to take the subject alive.”

Nope. I will die fighting or leave with the virus. There will be no more experiments or tests.

“I don't want to hurt you. Get out of my way,” I snarl.

“Get down on the floor!”

I tried to be nice.

All at once, I break the wrists and fingers of the four soldiers pointing guns at me.
Can't pull the trigger if your hands are worthless. I feel bad, they’re following orders.
You know what? Forget that!
They still recognize what is right and what is wrong.
I let them live. That’s more generous than Richland.
The Institute has most likely caused countless deaths.

I make it down a few corridors before I encounter guards again. Nurses and random personnel see me but don't approach.
I am drenched in blood, after all.
Bizarrely, I find employee after employee passed out, sleeping like babies, each and every one. Stepping around them, I count my blessings.
If they’re unconscious, I don’t have to deal with them.

Finding the lab is easy, thanks to the helpful maps posted on the walls. Dr. Morris is
laying on an exam table with his hand behind his head.

“I wondered when you would get here,” he says.

I’m developing an eye twitch from dealing with these people.
  “Been waiting for me long?”  I ask caustically.

He’s staring at the ceiling.  “I figured if you got free, you would want revenge.”

I snort.  “Shows what you know. I don't want revenge. I want Livia healed. I can't do that without the virus you injected into her.”

Sitting up on the table, Morris finally looks at me.  “You are a better person than I.”

“Toxic waste is better than you. Can we quit the chit-chat? I need the virus, and I’m leaving.”

I expect him to argue but he hops of the table and goes to the storage fridge. Morris retrieves vials from a refrigerated locker and stuffs handfuls of them into a cooler bag.

“Take these to whoever is helping you on the outside. They’re the most utilized in the lab. Might help others down the road. Follow me. I can take you down a back hall. Won't get you all the way out of the building, but you can bypass any guards.”

I’m hesitant to follow him, but my options are limited. I strap the bag full of vials across my back.

The hallway is deserted. We arrive at a guard cage that separates the employee corridor from the main halls. Morris unlocks the gate for me using his key card. The old guy inside the guard cage is asleep. Security monitors line one wall, soldiers on every screen stalk me.

“I can slow them down,” says Morris.

He logs into the computer terminal. I watch the security monitors. Morris electronically opens all the cells.

Uh….not sure that was wise.

The shit hits the fan immediately. I doubt every prisoner in the cells
are dangerous. Some of them are bound to be weak or a non-aggressive species. Judging by the carnage on the screen, those that can fight are more than making up for those that can't. Time to go while the chaos ensues.

“Maybe you should stay here, in the cage,” I say to Morris.  “Any one of those prisoners might take the chance to kill you.”

“I appreciate the concern, but I can't live with myself. I want to die.” He looks down and fat crocodiles tears splash the floor.

I have to roll my eyes. Morris is being melodramatic. He doesn’t really want to die. He feels guilt and he should, but I don’t buy that he’s suddenly sorry.
He’s sorry he got caught.

A blast rocks the building. Morris and I rush back to the monitors. Through the dust and rubble, we observe shifters headed into the building through a huge hole. They blew out the side of the lobby. Werewolves make up the majority of the mob. A large white wolf leads them.

My knight in shining armor, err…shaggy fur rides again
.

“What’s happening?” Morris asks me.

Grinning at the monitors, I shake my head.
I should have figured he’d make a grand entrance.
  “I think my husband has come to fetch me,” I tell Morris.

There’s a scuffling sound overhead. Ceiling tiles fall revealing black clad commandos. They drop down surrounding Morris and I. Not waiting for them to give an introduction I blast
Arcana at them, propelling them back up into the ceiling and through the floor above.
Sayonara.
Morris is long gone when I turn around.
He’s on his own.

I take off running towards the front entrance. I only need to make it as far as
Bastien. I’m jumping over bodies and dodging the fight. The hole Bastien made is less than a hundred feet in front of me. I shouldn’t have stopped to catch my breath. Someone grabs me by my hair. They’re dragging me back as I scream Bastien’s name.

CHAPTER 22

Bastien

    The shifters descend on the Richland Institute like a plague. Nikolai and his Wraiths are somewhere. He didn’t like my plan to use explosives.
Too loud. Said he’d find a way in that didn’t alert the world to our presence.

Inside the building, humans are fighting for their lives. Shifter I don’t recognize, Vampires, dark
Fae, and creatures I’ve never seen before are attacking guards.
Did Rachel do all this?
Cleary and Jay are rounding up unarmed civilians. They’re awake which implies they’re guilty of crimes against us, but we won't kill them until we know the extent of their involvement. It wasn’t a popular order but I gave it. Manias has something up his sleeve and I’m playing along. Not all of them deserve to die. A man tries to resist Jay and takes a grizzly paw to the face. Cleary is lying on another uncooperative man. The guy is struggling to get free but with a bored looking lion on top of him, he doesn’t stand a chance.
Cleary and Jay’s idea of crowd control; sit on them.
Lazy bastards.

A woman’s shrill scream breaks my train of thought.

“Bastien!”

Rachel screams for me. A geezer in a suit has his hands on her. She’s covered in blood.
Not a drop of it better belong to her.
In my wolf form, I can smell her fear. I snarl, sprinting towards her.

Geezer viciously yanks Rachel’s head back. 
“Stop! Or I’ll shoot her.” He yells at me.

Skidding to a halt, I growl quietly. Slowly circling him I look for weak spots.

“Richland, it’s over. Give up,” Rachel says.

“Shut your whore mouth!” He pulls her hair again.  “I give you the power to go beyond mere mortal limitations, and you choose to fornicate with animals? You might be worse than they are.”

Richland is focused on his tirade and me, he doesn't realize death stalks him from behind. The werewolf is abnormally large. His shift is wrong, something they did to him here no doubt. Matted hair hangs down his back in a mass of dark shag obscuring his face. On his right pectoral is the tattoo #634860. He hones in on the man holding my mate. The hatred rolls off him. He doesn't care if my mate is hurt in the crossfire. I must be fast. Dipping low I prepare to pounce. Claws extended, #634860 grips his prey by the back of the neck. I leap, knocking Rachel to the floor. The smell of gun powder permeates the air.

CHAPTER 23

#634860

I was ready when the doors to my cell opened. I kept myself alert for any opportunity. Time ceased for me the day I was taken. With no way to track the days, I don’t know how many years have passed. The doctor, Morris is his name, cut me open too many times to count. Injections did god awful things to me. My wolf is a mutated monster. I barely recognize myself anymore.

The worst thing they ever did was forcing the Fae woman on me. Morris gave me pills that drove me into a mating frenzy. They shoved her in my cell. She was beautiful, not that it would matter with the drugs in my system. I swear I did everything in my power to be careful and not hurt her. She didn’t fight me, just cried.
I should’ve fought harder.

  Morris told me she died delivering our child, a girl. I was horrified.
A child? What will they do to her? What do they want with her? If I ever meet her, how can I look at her without hating myself? I don't know if the girl still lives. I’ll find out, make sure she’s safe.

  First, I want blood. I want Richland. Everything is done with his consent or it doesn't happen. I cut a bloody swath through the guards. Richland is attempting to flee when I find him.
I figured the first place he would try for was the door.
He’s holding a woman hostage, a gun at her side. I can't get him and ensure the woman is not harmed.
Collateral damage. She’s not my problem.

I seize Richland by the neck. My claws sink in deep enough I touch his spine. He fires his gun, shooting me in the gut. I swat the gun away like a child's toy. The wound hurts like hell, but I will heal eventually.

“Hello, Richland. Been a long time.” I squeeze tighter.

Terror dilates Richland’s eyes.  “Let me go, please.”

Tilting my head to the side and frowning I repeat,  “Please? How many times has someone said the same to you?”

Adding my other hand around his throat, I shake him. His head pops off his shoulders.

The woman gasps. I forgot about the hostage. She’s on the floor with her mate who is now in human form beside her.

Narrowing my eyes at him I
ask  “Bastien?”

CHAPTER 24

Rachel

    The psycho wolf knows my husband. Wonderful.
I’ve more pressing matters to think about. Livia.

“
Bastien, we should go. The virus, Keller can make a cure for Livia.”

Bastien
cannot drag his eyes off psycho wolf. He stands up, pulling me to my feet with him. Bastien is naked as a jaybird. I grab a lab coat off a chair nearby and thrust it at him.

“After you left,
Winter came back with Fae magic.” Bastien puts the lab coat on.  “Livia was sitting up, and talking when I left.”

I throw myself in his arms. I am relieved.
Is it all over?
Bastien's hug is not overly enthusiastic. He sets me aside. Slowly he moves towards the stranger.

“
Athan? Is it really you?” Bastien asks Psycho.

“What's left of
me. I am not the brother you remember,” he replies.

He reaches out a hand to
Athan.  “You're still my brother. That’s all that matters.”

Athan
recoils. A mixture of horror, anger, and distrust fall over his face.  “No, it isn't. I am sorry Bastien, and this is not a family reunion.”

So this is
Livia’s father, Bastien and Madalaina's brother. Better stop calling him Psycho.
I hate to ask him, but I must. My stomach burns with fear and resentment.

“You have a daughter. She's beautiful, kind. She deserves a family after all she’s been through. What will you do with her?” I ask him bitterly.

He doesn't answer, just carefully assess me before walking away. Bastien's heart is breaking. His pain throbs in my chest.
Psychic energy or mate bond, whatever the cause, it sucks to feel your lover's anguish.
Police sirens scream and flashing lights bounce off the concrete walls through the hole in the building.

Tugging on his hand I urgently say
,  “Bastien, the cops are here.”

“It's taken care of. Come on.” Disappointment and the adrenaline let down from the battle are making us both weary.

The fighting stopped. All the bad guys are either dead or in custody. The innocent are waking up. Witches guide them to exits under an enchantment. They leave without noticing the carnage.
Lucky bastards. Magical blinders.

I recognize familiar faces outside. Shifters from the tribunal stand next to a podium.
What the hell is a podium doing out front?
Whoa! Press and news crew are swarming. Human police are intercepting the captives and handcuffing them. A vampire takes the podium.  “Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, good evening. My name is Manias Artorias. I am the Regis or King of the North American Vampires.” The reporters look unsure about what to make of his statement. A few laugh and make jokes.

The commandos I blasted flank the Regis
. I whipped the personal guard of the Vampire big kahuna. Whoops. In my defense, it’s not like they wore nametags. I had no idea they were good guys.
One of the commandos catches me staring. I smile apologetically and wave. He smirks and shakes his head. At least there don’t appear to be any hard feelings.

“Your government is scheduled to make an announcement following mine. The reason for this press conference is the world you know is gone. No longer will you live under the illusion humans are the only intelligent species. The supernatural is not myth and legend. From this day forward know that we’re among you. Our kind has lived in relative peace with humans. Recent actions by a handful of humans forced us to step forward. Tonight, we ended their reign of terror over us. We will not be threatened. We can live together, or we can destroy one another. The choice is yours. The American government assured us cooperation. Together we will work out a plan beneficial to us all. Thank you for your time.
No questions, please.”

That’s how the world found out all the things living in the shadows
are real.