“I hope we understand each other now.”
She cupped his face and pulled him close. “I need to know what happened. Leave out the bullshit.” And he did. Gave her a thorough run down of events. To be sure she made a mental note to check the video he said was available later. She showed teeth. What she hunted was close.
The stairwell had its own share of bodies, and blood. She lost count after nine. She knew there were two killers now. Some of the bodies had been butchered; sliced and diced. Fingers, arms, a foot in one case, all separated from their torsos. The stairs were slick with blood. Good thing she'd put plastic booties over her shoes. Red, low heels, stylish but comfortable. They'd been hard to find and she hated shopping.
Whoever had done the cutting was a sociopath. A lot of the cuts were to extremities. The killer had played before getting down to the business of killing them. A few had been killed by blunt trauma, blows to the head and body. One killed by a fall. There were bullet holes everywhere. All from the same gun type. Security had been up against something that didn't use a gun. Twenty five men with guns against two, unarmed men. She mulled the word over in her mind. It hadn’t been much of a contest.
She continued up to the office. A pitched battle had been fought here. There were pools of blood on the floor. A blackening pool stretched the width and half the length of the room. More body parts, heads and limbs. Something new here. Some of the guards had been torn apart. The pieces were ragged, flung haphazardly about. A third killer? An animal? She forced herself to take small sniffs. Small was always better. The smell could overwhelm her. Something inside moved and she took a moment to re-establish control. A part of her she never let anyone see, smiled. The smell made it hungry.
She noted parts of the walls were punched in. There was blood there but it wasn't human. The colour was wrong. It had a greenish tint and an iodine smell that made her feel vaguely uncomfortable. She pulled out a small device and read the results from a sample on the tiny LCD. She nodded to herself. Then the device started pinging. Alert, she held it up and used it like a locator to trace her way through the room until she found the door hidden behind the curtain. It had a weird security panel that seemed dead to the touch but she knew it wasn't. She seen something similar before. Now there was zero chance she'd been wrong. This had been an incursion! She’d been sent to the right place after all.
Her phone beeped and she pulled it out. It was James, one of her techs. The crew had arrived. Then she noticed the time. She'd been wandering through the building for over an hour already. She frowned, they were good but this was early for a report even from them. She thumbed the answer button.
“What?”
“We found something you're going to want to see.”
His voice, heavy with bass, contrasted strongly with the young face she knew belonged to it. The excited tension in his voice was normal. James was still in his late teens. When they'd assembled her team they'd gone all in for youth as well as brilliance. They needed minds open to anything. Things you thought went bump in the night were also pretty active during the day. You needed minds capable of considering all possibilities. He was excited. That meant he’d found something special. She grimaced. Special came in all flavors and was seldom good.
“Just tell me.”
She heard a sudden commotion in the background and swore out loud. Voices.
“What the hell is that?” It was the Captain. He was speaking to James. She thought she’d been clear. He wasn’t supposed to be in there. This was going to get awkward.
“We're not sure sir but you need to stay back. It could be dangerous.” James’s voice.
“Not bloody likely! I need to look at it. Then I need it photographed and bagged!” The Captain again, his breathing quick and a little out of control. Where ever James was, things were going downhill.
“James!” She snapped. “Give the Captain your phone and while he's on it, do your damn job!” There was sounds of fumbling, then the Captain's voice, gruff and belligerent. “What do you want Walker! I've just seen something from the twilight zone and I don't have time for chit chat.”
She took a calming breath. Tried to remember he was just doing his job.
“Chief, remember that card I gave you? Take it out and turn it over.” He was about to protest when she put a little power into her request and pushed him. She heard him mumbling in the background but also doing what she'd asked.
“Yeah, OK, I got it. Nothing on the back but a number. Doesn't say to who.” He sounded disgusted. Probably thought she was playing games with him. If so, it wasn’t a game he was going to like.
“Captain, this is a direct order. Leave the building. Take your men, all of them as well as anyone not related to my team. Set a zero access perimeter for anyone else. Under no circumstance are you to return to this crime scene without my permission. Your function is to secure the area and keep the media outside that perimeter. Do this immediately upon completion of this call. Tell me you understand.”
She backed up her words with power and waited patiently. The Chief was strong and used to getting his way. He needed an outlet for his anger so she allowed him to treat her to some fairly inventive language. When he paused for breath she resumed. “Phone the number on the card if you have any doubts. I've been where you are so I'm giving it to you straight. You do anything but what I asked and your career is over. Don't fuck up,” she added softly.
There was a long pause at the other end. You didn't get to be Captain without political savvy. You also had to be an excellent judge of people. He was judging her now. She hoped, correctly.
“Will I get any answers if I call this number?” He asked finally.
He deserved honesty. “Not the ones you want. But you’ll know you made the right decision.”
She felt a movement in the back of her head and growled. Her Beast was waking. She'd tapped its power too often. Closing her eyes she concentrated. A pang of guilt ripped through her. She hated this thing they’d put in her. But also needed it. She took hold of herself. It was a means to an end. A necessary evil. She felt a surge of hunger and violently suppressed it. Not today monster, she whispered to herself.
“Fuck you!” he growled and then the line went dead.
Another perfect day on the job she thought. A moment later James came back on. “I don't know what you said but he threw my phone and cracked the bloody display!” James sounded aggrieved. “It's a new phone for Christ's sake. I've only had it a week.”
“The Agency will buy you another.”
She closed her eyes again, willing herself to stay calm. She scared herself and everyone around her if she didn't. Sometimes they were like children. They forgot what was at stake. “Stay on track here. What's he doing now?” She asked.
“He's on the phone with someone and doesn't look happy. Not that I've seen him happy yet. Now he's waving everyone out and…. OK, he just gave me the finger. Nice! You really know how to get on the good side of law enforcement.” She heard him start laughing in the background.
“If there's a grin on your face, wipe it off!” she snapped. A thin spike of power escaped and she heard the sudden intake of breath at the other end.
“He’ll see you laughing and that would be bad,” she explained, pulling her intensity level down. “We just pulled rank on a good man, James. That's a lousy thing to do. Even when it's necessary. I want your report ASAP. Also, send me any relevant video you find. Now tell me why it was necessary to pull rank on the Captain. What did you find?”
She sensed James nodding at the other end. He was a little excitable but still a nice boy.
“We'd hardly turned the equipment on before a DNA sensor started beeping. I traced the signal to the vents and found something out of this world. I mean, literally out of this world. Not natural either. I think it was made in a lab. Not by us,” he added quickly. “I put a piece of it under my scope. Genetic modification that’s superior to anything we can do now. Whoever did this makes us look like Neand
erthals in comparison. I'll send you video.” When she groaned he added, “Don't worry, you don't need to be a scientist to realize how advanced this is. Just look at it and you’ll know!” Suddenly his voice dipped as he spoke off phone to someone else for a moment. “Clair has the lobby video for you. Seems they only have cameras in the main lobby, nowhere else. Kind of strange but we'll keep looking. Can't wait to take what we found back to the lab! Our equipment here isn't enough.”
He hung up and a moment later her phone dinged. The first email showed several pictures of an armored creature that had been badly mauled. James was right. This creature didn’t look like it had been born here or anywhere else really. The second contained a link to a video. She ran it. Watched as a handsome young man took out three others who were trying to gun him down. All this in the lobby. Quick, efficient, brutal. He moved like an animal. Fluid. And he was fast. As fast as her and she knew that wasn't normal. She'd seen this before. It was the reason she was here. The reason she was who she was at the moment. She wondered if she'd be able to stop him this time. She'd stopped others like him but it was always close. And there was a price. Her control now wasn't as strong as it had been when she'd started. Her monster was closer to the surface now. It woke easier. And the hunger? She shuddered. It was stronger, closer to the surface as well. Difficult to resist.
She paused the video, zoomed in on the man's face. About her age this time. There were never too old or too young. She manipulated the machine, zooming in on him. His face was a little distorted at this magnification but it was his eyes she wanted to see. As expected they were wrong in the worst way. Jet black. He was one of the Taken. A monster had him. Some weird, barely understood possession. She flicked a button and her phone snapped a copy of the frame. She sent it off with a note to put it on the "wanted" channels. In ten minutes every police agency in the world would be on the lookout for him. He’d be identified and found. Hopefully before he killed anyone else. She wanted to arrest him if she could. This would be her third try at bringing in one of the possessed. Oh, she’d brought them in before. But not alive. Just a body. The lab boys had been so excited. They'd changed all their protocols. Stuck her for weeks in the labs after each one. Improved her. She smiled. She was version 2.0 now. A new and improved killer. Like him in so many ways. She wondered again how much of the old her remained. Then dismissed the thought as meaningless. The old her was dead, long buried by the changes they'd made to her DNA.
She decided to make another call. An operator came on asking for certain codes which she gave, the most important of which was “Flash Fire”. Who thought of these she wondered, wading through the inevitable line of security until it was finally decided she was legitimate and they put her through.
“Sarah.” The voice at the other end was firm but friendly. “What do you need?”
“A termination order.” Her voice was cold and distant. To ask for such a thing you needed detachment. “The team’s sent in appropriate files and pictures.” This was a dance they’d done before. She waited.
“Of course. I'm looking at your data now. Your team really is the best.”
He paused obviously checking through what he’d been sent. “No doubt with this one. An incursion.” A moment’s hesitation. “I'm sending a second team to the site. It needs to be scrubbed before we leave. Then there’s this door. We'll need to get in there. I'll have to get back to you.” He hung up.
She stared at the phone. They didn’t talk anymore. She'd changed so much it had to bother him. When he looked at her what did he see? What was there, she supposed. The same monster they were chasing. Finney had been part of her family once. Her almost brother-in-law. Now he couldn’t look at her. She reminded him of her sister. No more family chit chat. He asked what she needed, then provided it. That was their deal.
She put the phone away only to have it ring once it was in her pocket. Grumbling she fished it out. She was surprised to hear his voice so soon again.
“Sorry, but you‘ll be getting a call from Medical momentarily. Please take it. They tell me you have a tendency not to answer when it’s them. Please take the call. Forgot to tell you that.” Then he was gone.
She frowned. Medical? Memories flooded back to her. Distasteful, painful memories. She shoved them away. It was the price she'd agreed to pay years ago. She waited patiently for their call and the inevitable series of questions.
"Had she heard any voices in her head? Any feelings of paranoia? Anger control problems? Headaches? She'd tell them what she always told them. Nope. Zero. Nada. Everything‘s peachy. Nothing wrong here. Besides, everyone got headaches. She'd had them before the change. She blinked and put an involuntary hand in the pocket holding her meds. They weren't specifically for headaches but they did the job. What about the anger, the paranoia? She laughed. It wasn't paranoia if it was real. How about that voice in her head? That feeling of something growing there? Something powerful and so hungry? That she kept to herself. The phone rang and this time she took the call.
Chapter Five
I woke to the smell of cinnamon and strange clicking noises. Something mechanical was moving carefully over my body. Whatever this thing was, it seemed to be helping. The pain I had experienced was gone. For the moment I did nothing but lie there and enjoy its absence. I knew subjectively that my injuries were recent, but pain has a way of making you think differently. Part of me felt like I'd suffered for a long time. That part was finally beginning to relax.
Fighting the light trying to insert itself between my eyelids I drifted. No fear, no worry, no thought. Dreamy without dreams. So much better than reality. I was tired of fighting. My mind went back to an image of Fusto staring down at me. I quickly moved from it to another. I had killed. Guilt washed over me. This was what happened when you woke. Things got real. There were consequences to living. More pain? More fear? More fighting creatures that outclassed me? What had Brenal-Tik said? I was just human. Weak. Nothing to worry about here.
I stirred restlessly, fighting my desire to sleep and opened an eye, then closed it immediately. The clicking noise was coming from a large spider-like machine wide enough to cover my chest. It was moving slowly, bathing my body in a soft green light as it went. When it got to my feet it gave a happy chirp and scuttled across the room to a figure folded over Belle.
The person working on Belle was tall, way too tall. I shuddered. Here we go again. Another monster. My other eye opened and my view became more detailed. Not a monster. A woman built like a step ladder. She had to be nine feet tall and thin to the point that I wondered where she hid her internal organs. Spidery. She resembled her little mechanical partner more than she did anything human. But then, I didn't think she was human. I’d seen her before in the alien ship. Kat had called her Meeta.
She was working on Belle. I concentrated and suddenly it was like a switch threw and I could hear her in my mind. This was speech akin to what I'd experienced with Kat.
“Fear not youngling, Meeta is here. You are hurt but you live. The time for teeth is over. I will assist your change. It is your true form we need now. I feel your pain great warrior and take it into my body so you may have the strength to change, heal and recover.”
I must have dozed off because the next time my eyes opened Meeta cradled a giant creamy white cat head in her arms. The Belle of teeth and armor had disappeared. What lay in its place now was still predator enough to make a grizzly take the long way round but she was also beautiful. She resembled a tiger in the same way a tiger would resemble a house cat. They looked similar but Belle was a lot bigger. Her fur was like waves of snow flowing over her body. You wanted to sink your face in it. Then you saw the teeth and thought better of it. She had two massive curved canines about six inches long. A mane of jet black fur formed a line down her back. Inside a big, round head two pools of blue fluttered open before closing.
”Belle. You’re beautiful.”
It just came out. I'd given her the name as a joke but it wasn't a joke anymore. I fe
lt a wave of emotion, of caring. She’d saved me. Hurt herself in the process. Her eyes flickered open again. Met mine across the room. Something passed between us. Then her eyes slowly closed. She’d heard me. Perhaps felt what I’d felt. I hoped so. I hadn’t the words to express my thanks.
I realized Meeta was staring at me. She seemed surprised I was awake. My eyes followed the length of her body all the way up. She had purple hair cropped very short. Her face was human but pixie like. Smaller than it should have been for someone so tall, with small sharp features. If her proportions had been more natural she would have been quite pretty. Her eyes were dark and deeply inset. Their edges were red rimmed. She’d been crying as she stroked the big head in her arms with precise, delicate fingers. She picked up a harness from the floor beside her and put it over Belle.
“Back you go little warrior. To SHIP and safety.” She touched one of the studs in the harness and Belle's great body rose in the air. She gestured and a portal similar to the one Brenal-Tik had opened appeared. She stepped into it taking Belle with her and was gone. The portal remained. A few moments later she returned.
Her dark eyes regarded me as I lay there. Whatever she’d done had helped but also seemed to have pumped me full of drugs. I was there but also far away. I tried to read her intent but couldn’t. Was that compassion or anger in the depths of those eyes? Then the spider thing at her feet made another bell-like sound. She looked at it, took a small device from her belt, waved it over the spider while it chirped at her. Next she manipulated the device until she held a small screen in her hand similar to a tablet computer. She stood, half a room away reading carefully. Her eyes widened appreciably at one point, then she nodded. She crossed the room in two steps to stand over me. The smell of warmed cinnamon intensified. I breathed it in and felt my body noticeably relax. An image came to me of a forest thick with tall trees surrounding a meadow of green. In the distance, a lake. She bent down close and exhaled. Her breath drifted over me. Images of sunlight, blue skies and all the things that made you feel safe rolled through me. Just being close to her made me feel better. Safe. A heavy lassitude came over me that was more than just my injuries. I realized she was a drug all by herself. I almost slept but fought to stay awake. Whatever happened, I wanted to be awake.
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