The Breed: Nora's Choice (26 page)

            She had a
job to do.

            Two hours
later, however, and she hated everyone on the planet, and was praying for a new
plague.

            The first
two Hunters had known exactly zero about anything useful, and had spent their
entire hour either spewing racial slurs at Memphis, or sexually harassing her.
The things they chose to think instead of say out loud were enough to make her
need a shower.

            One of them
she asked to have killed the moment he left, once she discovered brutal sexual
images of a very young girl that his mind greedily coveted.

            Jax and
Kain had gotten into a fist fight over who would get to do the honors. Since it
was Kain’s capture, he eventually went back to the holding cell to claim the
kill as well.

            “You okay
Tessa?” Memphis looked over concerned, before they brought in the last Hunter.

            She was
mentally exhausted and emotionally drained, but she nodded her head anyway.

            “Yeah I’m
fine, just ready to get this last one over with,”
big girl panties
, she
reminded herself.

            “You’re
learning to be tough girl,” he patted her shoulder lovingly, “I’m proud of
you.”

            Jax opened
the door to the interrogation room, and in walked the last Hunter. He sported a
bald head and blonde handle bar mustache, and had a swagger about him that told
her immediately that he would be different than the others. They had finally
caught a big fish.

            “Before you
even get started,” he looked down his needle thin nose at Memphis’ bloody
knuckles and sneered, “if you lay one finger on me, I’ll never tell you
anything. I’m willing to make a deal for all the information I have, but I’ll
be making it with her. I don’t negotiate with
your
kind.”

            The insult
had Tessa seeing red, but for the good of everyone, she swallowed down her
anger.

            “Are you ok
with that?” Memphis asked her, clearly unphased by all the Hunter’s ignorance.

            Collecting
her notebook she nodded her head firmly and moved to sit in front of him.

            “To make a
deal you would have to have something we want, something we’re willing to trade
for,” she folded her hands neatly in front of herself, then stretched out the
mental tendrils of her gift and slithered her way into his mind.

            “I’ll give
you every piece of information that I have. All our secret compounds,
everything I know about the experiments, and what little I know of the Nine,”
his voice was calm and steady as he spoke, but his mind was a mess.

            Frantic
images flooded his consciousness of another man, this one younger, closer to
her own age.

           
Help
him…. Please god help us….
His consciousness begged.

            “And you’ll
do this in exchange for what?” she asked, making her voice as hard as she could
while her mind still tried to figure out what his game was.

            “A safe
haven away from my own people, and the rescue of another Hunter, also to be
brought here,” he bit his lip as he laid out his demand and suddenly his
intentions were clear.

            His mind
filled with images of the other Hunter, of them sneaking off to be together.

            “Your
lover,” she whispered as his thoughts ran across her mind.

            Memphis let
out a low whistle and leaned back in his chair, his overly shined boots
reflected the light as he planted them on top of the table.

            “Well, I
guess that puts you in quite the pickle huh?” a big smile splayed across his
face, “I bet those Hunters hate gay men just as much as they hate everyone
else. You would have thought that being born gay without a choice would have
opened your eyes to how wrong their hate is, but instead you’re still every bit
as bad as they are… in fact, probably worse because you’re betraying yourself
to fit in with them.”

            “Do we have
a deal girl?” the Hunter spoke over Memphis as if he couldn’t hear him.

            “If you
want us to go on a rescue mission for a Hunter, you had better be supplying
some very serious information,” she answered him the same way she knew Casstiel
would.

            “Half the
information now, and half the information when you’ve brought Ian to me
safely,” he folded his arms across his chest.

            Tessa
looked to Memphis for the final approval. She didn’t need to ask Cass to know
that if the information was good enough he would take the deal, but right now
Memphis was running the interview.

            “Hey I’m
all for helping out broke back redneck over here, as long as his information is
good,” he narrowed his eyes and sized the man up.

            “I’d say
it’s high time you started talking,” Tessa flipped to a new sheet in her
notebook and started jotting down his thoughts as he spoke.

            Most of the
information he decided to share was relatively small potatoes, but he did
explain the color coding system no one in the Breed had been able to crack, and
shell out the locations of three more secret Hunter compounds, though he
“wasn’t sure” if they were still operational.

            “You’re
gonna have to do better than that, I want names of betrayers at least, or no
deal,” she pushed the bargain as hard as she could.

            Taking a
deep breath he bit his lip hard, and she heard him mentally debating to
himself.

            “I don’t
have names of your kind. Even if I was that high up the ladder I don’t think
they’d be stupid enough to give their real names,” he sounded furious at the
hand he had been dealt in this negotiation, “I’ll give you one of the biggest
cards I have but you have swear to hold up your end of the deal.”

            “Unlike
your people, we’re not untrustworthy scabs. We’ll get your man, don’t you worry
Princess,” Memphis spat at him.

            The Hunters
eyes drilled into Tessa’s and she fought to keep her composure. She wanted the
info so bad she could taste it.

            “All of our
orders from the Nine have been coming from the Charleston Embassy. Whoever the
leader of the Nine is, you’ll find him there,” he finally bit out.

Quinn
and Nora were the last to arrive to the defense department. They strolled in
holding hands and he couldn’t help but think that something felt right about
it.

            He wished
more than anything that he was bringing Nora in for something more cheerful
than for her and Tessa to go meet with their comatose best friend, but he
couldn’t change what fate had done.

            The moment
they were through the door the girls were hugging.

            Every one
in the room stayed respectfully silent, even the four new people who had no
idea who the girls really were or how close they were to Remy.

            Casstiel
sat in the corner scowling and having a very heated conversation with what
sounded like Sebastian.

            Before the
tears started to fall the girls headed out together, arms wrapped around each
other’s waists, heads bent together mumbling as they went.

            Just as
they hit the elevator Nora looked back, almost as if to make sure he was still
there.

            He gave her
an encouraging smile, and nodded his head. No matter where she went, or what
she had to face on the way, he would always be with her, watching her back,
supporting her every step.

            She took a
deep breath and smiled back, understanding the message in his eyes, and the
feelings he was sending to her.

            The small
contact only lasted a heartbeat, but it was enough to make his chest swell with
pride. She was beginning to trust him, learning to lean on him.

            Blinking
out of his stupor he focused on the meeting unfolding in front of him.

            Everyone
had gathered, even Roderick, who still looked like hammered shit with his arm
in a sling and his body busted.

            The two
women they were all here to question sat quietly in the corner, nervously
refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Now that they had been cleaned,
attended to by doctors and dressed in fresh clothing, Quinn could tell there
was a significant age difference between them, despite their similar size.

            Angrily
Cass snapped his phone shut, looking to be in a foul mood. He pinched the
bridge of his nose for a good ten seconds before finally letting out a breath
he had been holding and forcing his features into a smile.

            “Girls,” he
began with all the politeness Quinn was sure he could muster, “I promise you we
don’t mean you any harm. I know you’re scared, I know you’ve been through a
lot, and this probably seems like you’ve just traded one prison for another,
but I promise you, no one here will ever hurt you, and after the dust all
settles, if you want to leave the Embassy, we’ll find you a safe new life, we
just need your help first.”

            “What do
you want from us?” the older woman mumbled, clutching the younger girl
protectively against her chest.

           
Perhaps
they were mother and daughter?
Quinn thought to himself, unsure how young
the Hunters forced women to become wives.

            “All we’re
asking for is to hear your story, and for you to give us as much information as
you possibly can about what the Hunters are doing,” Cass answered, and even
Quinn could see the man’s heart breaking at how afraid of him the women were.

            “Then
you’ll leave us alone?” the little girl asked, her tiny voice filed with
anxiety.

            What kind
of a life had she led?

            “If that’s
what you want baby girl,” Memphis walked closer to them, then crouched down to
her level, “you can have a good life here though. We have schools, lots of kids
for you to make friends with and play with. You and your mother wouldn’t have
to take orders from anyone, or ever be afraid.”

            “Faithie
isn’t my mother. My mother is dead,” she spoke matter of factly.

            “Faithie?...
Faith Dunaway?” he asked, and suddenly they all remembered the name on the list
they had gathered from the Hunters.

            The woman
nodded her head but still refused to look at any of them, her eyes firmly
planted on the ground. The deep purple scar around her neck twisted with each
movement of her head and made him sick.

            “Just tell
us your stories girls, anything you can tell us might help,” Cass frowned sadly
at them.

            “I don’t
remember my mother; she died when I was little. The other women in my village
had to take care of me because I was born blind. My father and brother weren’t
as mean to me as other men in our village were to their women, but they never
wanted anything to do with me either. One day they packed me up and said it was
time for me to go and serve our people. They took me somewhere and left me with
the people who run the laboratories. They kept me in a small room with Faithie
and other women. They made us drink nasty stuff and gave us shots all the time.
They weren’t mean to us though so I didn’t mind.

            One day
they gave us all a shot together and none of the other women woke up from it.
We did though, and that’s when I started to be able to see for the first time.
They said my eyes are all wrong, but I don’t care, I’m just happy to be able to
see,” again she stated all of this matter of factly, her voice holding a cold
deadness that no child’s should ever have.

            “There’s
nothing wrong with your eyes,” Balor spoke kindly, and flashed his own set of
obsidian irises, “never let anyone ever tell you there’s something wrong with
you, you’re perfect the way you are.”

            Quinn
finally realized how she could be so small, and yet so utterly indifferent to
life or death. She had no earthly idea how sad and horrible her life
actually
was. She had never met a single person outside of the Hunter compounds,
couldn’t even begin to guess what a normal life felt like. To her, all that
was
normal.

            The poor
little thing had never even seen anything in the world besides a laboratory and
the inside of a refrigerated truck.

            “How old
are you sweet heart?” Memphis asked her softly.

            She simply
shrugged and Faith explained, “We don’t celebrate the birth of women, only men.
If I had to guess I would say she’s eleven or twelve, and I’m somewhere in my
early thirties.”

            “Tell me
what your name is sweet heart,” Memphis’ voice was softer than they had ever
heard it before.

            “Ruth Ann
Pelts,” she smiled sheepishly.

            “Hello Ruth
Anne, my name is Memphis,” he held out his hand and she gave it a good strong
shake.

            Without any
prompting, everyone around the room began to introduce themselves, giving the
girls warm smiles and little waves. Even Kain was sweeter than Quinn would have
thought the man capable of.

            “Your names
are funny,” Ruth wrinkled her nose, “I like them. I wish I had a funny name
too.”

            “Now that
you’re one of us you can choose any name you like,” Jax piped up, “you don’t
have to be Ruth Anne forever. You and Faith are starting a new life now, why
not have new names?”

            She beamed
up at him as if he was a real life knight in shining armor.

            “Faith,”
Casstiel called gently, “we need your story as well please.”

            Panic over
took her features, but she quickly covered it with a blank stare he was sure
she had practiced often in her lifetime.

            “I was sold
to my husband when I was a few years older than Ruth. We didn’t know it when he
bought me but I was defective and couldn’t bare him children. When the Hunters
began their experiments on your kind, I was the first human to be taken to the
laboratories. The first one to be tested,” her voice shook a little but she bit
her bottom lip hard and kept going, “slowly over time the others began to
come.”

            “Do you
know exactly what they did to you? Or what they were trying to accomplish?”
Cass pressed on, still much kinder than Quinn would have thought it possible
for him to be.

            “All I know
is that they injected us with your blood,” she looked at the ground again and
it was clear she was hiding more information.

            Was she
afraid for her life? Could she possibly still be loyal to her husband? Or did
she simply not trust them and feel like keeping quiet was her only chance for
survival?

            After all
the horror she had to have been through in her lifetime, getting through to her
and gaining her trust would be a damn near impossible feat.

            “With whose
blood?” Ghost asked the million dollar question.

            “Vampire
and werewolf blood,” she whispered, “they combined your blood and injected us.
It’s what killed all the others.”

            A deafening
silence filled the room.

            What the
hell had they done?

            “What has
it done to you?” Memphis asked in shock.

            Never
before had something so blasphemous been heard of among them. What mad
scientist could dare to dream up something so horrendous?

            “I don’t
know,” she mumbled and they felt her fear.

            The panic
they were all feeling at her revelation had to be microscopic in comparison to
what she was feeling. Little Ruth was far too young to understand what had
happened to her, but Faith was a grown adult, and was right to be terrified.

            “We have to
eat blood now,” Ruth chipped in, her small voice completely unaffected by what
she was saying, “but we can go outside in the day time. Oh and we can do this!”

            Her nimble
little fingers grabbed the letter opener sitting on the nearest desk, and
before anyone could even guess at what she was going to do, she slid the blade
across her tender throat.

            “No!” the
room roared in unison, as everyone trampled over each other to stop her.

            It was
completely unnecessary however. Though she had pressed the blade tightly
against her skin, there was no damage. Not even red irritation marks.

            “How the
hell is that possible?” Kain stammered looking both terrified and in awe.

            Ruth simply
shrugged and looked pleased with herself.

            “Bullet’s
still go through,” Faith rubbed her shoulder tenderly and it wasn’t hard to
figure out who the Hunters had tested for that information.

            With a hard
sigh they all heard Cass drop into his desk chair. His head in one hand, he
opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a glass and a bottle of cognac. He
filled the glass right up to the top and started drinking.

            Without a
word Roderick and Balor took up seats across from him and pulled flasks out.

            “I need to
get out of here and think,” Ghost headed for the door.

            “I need to
get out of here and not think,” Kain was right behind him with Jax bringing up
the rear.

            The shocked
silence seemed to stretch for hours before a soft pitter patter filled the
room.

            “Is that
rain?” Ruth Anne perked her tiny head up and stared out the large windows, “I
always loved the rain, but I’ve never been able to see it before.”

            Getting up
she walked over and pressed her frail face to the glass.

            Memphis
followed her and placed a warm palm on her bony shoulder.

            “If you
stay here with us, not only will we keep you safe, but we can show you the
world that the Hunters kept from you,” he spoke to the child, but Quinn noticed
his eyes constantly drifting over to Faith.

            “I want to
stay,” Ruth said firmly, “and I want to be called Rain now, because rain makes
me happy.”

            “Well Rain,
would you like to go outside in this?” Memphis held out his hand and she
snatched at it immediately.

            Hand in
hand he watched them walk out on the balcony together and was happy that amidst
all the drama and emotions of the day, one little girl was about to get a fresh
start in life.

~

            Through the
mists Remy heard the soft whispers of Tessa and Nora’s voices. They had come to
see her every day, and were now informing her that she had been in this….
state, for five days.

            Five whole
days had passed of her life, and yet here she sat in this strange
between
realm.

            She knew
that the land and places around her were only a projection her subconscious
mind was putting up, but she still wasn’t able to escape it.

            Aimlessly
she wandered from one grey landscape to another.