by C. M. Cevis
Max frowned slightly. “Case?” he repeated, taking a few moments to think. “Are you referring to the murders that were eventually linked back to a coven of witches?”
Samson nodded. “The shifters that attacked me seemed to think that they would be teaching me a lesson about framing them for something that they didn’t do.”
“Even though the perpetrators were witches?” Max repeated, leaning forward, concerned.
“That is what I told them, but they didn’t seem to care. They were determined to take their frustrations out on me.”
Max sat back and tented his hands in front of his face, thinking. “I haven’t heard anything that would make me think that this is happening often. But you’re right, this is a concern. I’ll put out a call to see if anyone else can come forward with instances and experiences like yours. If this has become a problem, it’s something that I need to take care of.” Max’s eyes focused once again on the man in front of him, and he noted that he didn’t seem to be even slightly roughed up. “How many attacked you?”
“Three, sir.”
“You don’t seem any worse for wear, having fought off three shifters.”
Samson smiled for the first time. It was somewhere halfway between scary and friendly, almost like Samson wasn’t sure which one it was supposed to be.
“I’ve handled more at once before. Three was not difficult,” Samson responded as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
“What exactly were you doing before you were asked to come here to me?”
“Whatever I was asked to do, sir.” That was not an answer. That was the equivalent of I was asked by the Directorate to do things that I’m not supposed to tell anyone about, least of all you. At least Max knew that he was trustworthy when given secrets.
“Fair enough. How much did Dracon tell you about me?”
“Not much beyond his opinion that we would get along well. Though I believe that might be because I prefer to form my own opinions of others instead of simply taking someone else’s opinion and making it mine. Others are not often as observant as I am.”
Max smirked behind his hands and nodded his head slightly. That would have been his preference as well, were he there to risk his life for a stranger. “My last bodyguard was involved in what looked to be some sort of plot to sow doubt in my abilities to lead this area, were you aware of that?”
Samson nodded slowly.
“Did Dracon tell you?”
Samson shook his head.
“Do I want to know how you knew, then?”
“Probably not.” Max almost laughed. He could appreciate Samson’s honesty. There was nothing more refreshing than someone who would simply tell you that he couldn’t answer instead of lying to you. Lies were something that Max couldn’t abide. Not when the truth would work just fine.
“There’s a boxing gym not too far from him that I like to frequent. I’d like for us to go there now. We can return for your bags afterward.”
“Alright,” Samson replied, standing just as Max did.
“You don’t want to know why?”
“My assumption is that you want to get me into a boxing ring and see what I am capable of.” Well damn, that was exactly why Max had suggested the boxing gym.
“What makes you say that?”
“Because were I in your place, I’d want to make sure that the person watching my back was worthy of my trust. And the only way to do that is to make sure that he or she is better than I am.”
Max chuckled and motioned for Samson to follow him. Dracon had been right, the two of them were going to get along just fine.
15
“ALRIGHT, WHO GOT THE TRANQ?” Leo asked, looking around the room at the others. It was Justin who stepped up with a smirk.
“I’ve got it, enough to keep the vamp useless for weeks if we have to.” He said. Noah shrunk himself to the back of the group. He knew how he’d gotten recruited for this one, but he didn’t like it. It had evolved from a power play into a plan to torture. Noah was a lot of things, some of them not things that he was proud of, but a torturer wasn’t one of them.
“Good. Our contact has gotten us information on him leaving for an event tonight. He’ll be alone, other than the contact, and taking him should be quick and easy.” Leo said. There was a murmur of agreement that went around the room. Noah didn’t know who this contact was, but apparently, the guy was a real piece of shit. Then again, so was Leo, so it seemed fitting that they were working together.
“He’s not guarded?” Someone asked. See, that was a good question, why hadn’t someone asked that sooner? Noah sighed, this was going to be a suicide mission if Leo didn’t pull his head out of his ass.
“Normally, no. Mainly because he can hold his own pretty well, and because his schedule as both a rock star and the son of the head of the vampires is pretty hectic.” Leo said, his voice a bit mocking. He was jealous of the guy, wasn’t he? At least he had a little bit of information… They were all idiots; vampire blood was not that big of a damn deal.
“Everyone will have the tranq on them, that way whoever gets closer first can hit him with it,” Justin said to the room. Who in the hell had been stupid enough to do whatever was necessary to make that silplacid work on a Wellborn? Noah had overheard Justin say something about getting a witch to do something to it, but he hadn’t gotten the whole story.
“Where the hell is our ace in the hole? Noah!” Leo barked. Noah cringed. But, he had to respond. Leo was higher in the streak than he was.
“I’m here, Leo.” He said, making his way to the front. He just had to be the big, badass one, didn’t he? Damn it all. He sighed and pushed his thick hair back out of his face as he forced a smile.
“This is the one we all need to look to if this ends up being a fight. He’s the most skilled and trained, and he’s also the strongest.” Leo said, slapping Noah on the back. How he’d gone from the cub everyone made fun of for being the little Asian orphan to being the one they all looked to was a mystery. Oh wait, no it wasn’t. They needed him. Right. He wanted to get out of that damn pack so badly…
“Alright everyone, we do this tonight, so get some rest. Meet here at 11 PM to load up.” Noah said. There was a collective nodding of heads, and then the group broke up, each going off to wherever they were getting their shit together for the night.
“This is going to be fucking awesome.” Noah heard Jason say to Leo as the two of them left together. Noah sighed and shook his head, finally making his way out of the room and outside. He leaned up against the side of the building and lit up a cigarette.
“We’re going to have a ready and fresh supply of it, dude. This shit is so cool. Have you ever had it before? It makes you damn near invincible…” Noah heard some little idiot saying from around the corner. It did not make you invincible, but it’d make you think you were and get your happy ass killed. He sighed again and took a drag, watching the cherry light up his hand.
“You okay?” He smiled as Amber’s hand came to rest against his bicep.
“Does it really matter? I’m being used and I have absolutely no say in it. Why in the hell do people do this?” He asked. Amber hushed him before someone heard.
“Just… go with it, ok? I don’t want this to get any harder for you than it already is.” She said. Even her, Amber, one of the most beautiful women in the streak and the closest thing he had to a ray of sunshine, was just using him. She liked the way his muscles flexed around her when he was holding her. She liked the fact that she could mouth off to just about anyone and they would back down because she was his girl, and no one wanted to fight him.
“Yeah, okay.” He said. He was getting really tired of being used. The sex wasn’t worth it, the fear in people’s eyes wasn’t worth it, none of it was. But he had nowhere else to go.
~*~
HOURS LATER, NOAH AND THE others stood outside of the building, waiting as a dark van pulled up in front of the building. Everyone had been instructed to dress in dar
k clothing and cover anything that could be an identifying feature. For Noah, that meant that his face was covered, his hair was pulled up into a bun and tucked under a skully, and that all of his tattoos were completely covered by his clothing. He wasn’t proud of what he was about to be part of, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to get caught doing it. Neither the Directorate nor the Organization seemed like beings he wanted to be hunted by.
The vehicle was a simple panel van painted either a black or a dark blue. It was difficult to tell which in the dim street lights. Everyone was given two small needles containing the silplacid and instructions from Justin that if things got out of hand, concentrate on getting that chemical into the vampire. Once the van was packed to the brim with trifling shifters intending on kidnapping someone, the doors slammed shut.
Leo turned in the passenger’s seat so that he was looking over the side of the seat at Noah and the others in the back before he spoke. “So, here’s the deal. Profane Persuasion is having an album release party tonight. Owen had a few things to do with his father beforehand, so he’s getting ready at the hotel once he arrives instead of with the rest of the band. The others in the band will already be inside.”
“Lucky us,” Noah said under his breath. Leo ignored it but shot Noah a look that he didn’t care about.
“The contact and Owen will be together, and we’ll be told when they are about to leave the hotel room to head down to the party. We intend to grab him before he gets that far. The contact will worry about roughing himself up and give us a bit of a head start by saying he took a beating. That way we have some time before anyone realizes that something’s wrong.”
It wasn’t a terrible plan in terms of execution, but Noah was still pretty sure it was all going to go to shit at some point. Either tonight or when someone came looking for him. He wasn’t in the mood to have to beat someone’s ass for an idea that he wasn’t really in support of. But that was the problem with packs, wasn’t it? It wasn’t a democracy, it was a dictatorship and currently, the dictator was idiot Leo. Noah let his head lean back with a sigh and tried to enjoy the last few moments of peace as the van moved through the city on its way to the hotel.
16
“HAVE YOU BEEN DOWNSTAIRS YET?” Owen asked as he stood in front of the mirror to tie his tie.
“Not in the ballroom, but I went down to see how much of a crowd you all are pulling in. There are an insane number of people down there waiting for you,” Roger said with a chuckle.
Owen smirked and shook his head. “I know it sounds stupid, but I still find it so odd that so many people want to hear our music.”
Roger rolled his eyes and tossed one of Owen’s clean socks at him. “Dude, you have never been humble a day in your life, don’t bullshit me.”
“Hey, I didn’t say that I wasn’t awesome. Just that I’m fascinated at how many people agree with me.” Owen laughed, and straightened his shirt and tie before reaching over to grab the suit jacket that he’d had made for the evening. He’d had the jacket embellished with patches of fabric that had portions of past album covers on it like he’d used them to patch holes. It had come out a lot better than he’d thought it would and was glad that he’d take the chance on that outfit idea. He pulled on his socks and a pair of boots that he called curb stompers before standing with a sigh.
“Alright. How do I look?” he asked, holding his arms out and giving Roger a spin.
“Like a million bucks, as always. Exactly the way you need to look for the media downstairs.”
“Perfect. Let’s go.” Owen turned towards the door of the hotel room, and Roger followed him out into the hallway.
“You’ve got the extra room key?” he asked.
“Yup. Right here,” Roger said, tapping the breast pocket of his suit through the jacket. Owen nodded and let the door close behind him, and he and Roger began walking towards the freight elevators. He’d opted to go in through the freight since it gave him a few extra moments before the media figured out where he was and started stalking him with their cameras and microphones.
He caught sight of the two of them in the large mirror at the end of the hall and smiled at how good they looked. This was what it was supposed to be. Him and his best friend kicking ass, taking names, and looking good while doing it. It had been hard with Roger so far away since there weren’t too many people that he felt comfortable being vulnerable around. Roger may give him shit about being a bitch or something, but he genuinely cared about Owen. That wasn’t something that he could say about everyone.
“I am so glad that you’re back, bro,” Owen said as the two of them stepped into the elevator together.
Roger chuckled. “Stop being a little bitch,” he said, elbowing Owen playfully. Owen grinned, and slipped his hand into a pocket, getting his game face on.
The elevator doors opened, and Owen looked up into the concealed faces of several men who didn’t look to work at the hotel. One leaned forward and jammed something into this arm before he had a chance to react, and the world around him immediately began swimming. His veins burned inside of his body, rendering him almost completely useless as the pain bucked its way through his nervous system. He’d heard about what silplacid felt like, but while he knew enough to know that’s what he’d been injected with, the descriptions that he’d heard were nothing like the real thing. He was in blinding pain and he couldn’t move under his own power, but he could hear and see most everything that was going on around him for a few more seconds.
Long enough to see his best friend in the entire world look down at his helpless body with a bored look on his face.
~*~
ROGER WAITED UNTIL OWEN STOPPED fighting against the silplacid and lost consciousness before he moved. It was interesting to watch. He’d never seen the effects this close up. Once Owen stopped moving, he looked up at the masked face that obviously belonged to Leo.
“Pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen.” Roger stepped over the body of Owen as he spoke, strolling in the opposite direction of the exit, and leaving them to finish removing the body.
17
JUSTIN HAD FOUND AN ABANDONED factory that he and Leo had decided to use to hold the vampire. He’d had the place stocked with a ridiculous amount of silplacid, had his witch do his or her thing to it, and set up a room on the second floor for holding. As far as Noah knew, that was where they were headed.
The unconscious vampire had been unceremoniously dumped in the floor of the van and was currently rolling back and forth with each turn of the vehicle. He wasn’t even slightly awake, but the others seemed to be eyeing him, silplacid in hand. Why had they bothered coming along on this run if they were going to be scared the entire time? What did that prove? Then again, he was pretty sure he was the only one in the pack that didn’t feel that they had anything to prove to anyone.
The empty factory was about forty minutes outside of the city. Far enough to be out of the way, but not so far that they couldn’t get to it easily. The van rumbled and bucked over the rough road that led to the loading zone, finally coming to a stop just in front of a door at the rear of the building. Justin had left a light on back there but turned off the lights around the front from what Noah had seen when the van approached.
When the time came to remove Owen from the van, everyone looked at everyone else, but no one moved. Noah rolled his eyes and pulled the body from the van, tossing the unconscious vampire over his shoulder. Owen grunted, but that was about it. None of them seemed to be able to feel Owen the way that Noah could, so while he knew that Owen wasn’t even close to waking up, the others were petrified. He could have told them, but it was fun watching them act like wusses. How in the world did you get into kidnapping if you were afraid of everything?
Noah carried the body through the factory, up a set of metal stairs, and into a room where a bed had been set up, complete with headboard, footboard, and ties. “I thought we were kidnapping him. What the hell freaky shit do you all have in mind?” he asked with
a smirk. That was going to piss someone off.
“Just put him on the bed,” Leo snapped. Noah turned, the body still over his broad shoulders, and frowned.
“You put him on the bed. He’s your prize, right?”
Leo’s eyes looked slightly panicked all of a sudden. “You’ve got him already,” Leo stuttered. “All you have to do is put him down.”
“Here you go.” Noah hefted the limp body off of his shoulder and put it on Leo’s stepping back before Leo could hand it back to him in a panic. Leo squeaked and almost ran to the bed, tossing Owen down so roughly that he bounced from the force. Noah almost laughed out loud.
“Tie him up. Quickly, before he wakes up,” Leo snapped, looking daggers at Noah as he waved his hands about dismissively.
“I’m sure you all can handle that.” Noah pulled a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and slipped one between his lips. “I’m going outside.”
Leo looked as if he might protest, but one look around at the others in the room stopped the words in his throat. The others were watching him, waiting to see how he would react, whether he was about to show weakness. The only other person out there with any sort of rank was Justin, and he was still downstairs fussing with the silplacid. Noah shrugged his shoulders and left the room with a smirk on his face. He was probably going to pay for all of that later, but it was worth it.
Noah stayed outside but could hear as people called out back and forth across the warehouse. Justin had dosed the vampire again to make sure that he was out, though that was a waste of product since his being was just as still as it had been before. Noah knew he was out cold, but he wasn’t going to tell the others. Let them waste money.
None of that was important to him in the grand scheme of things. He cringed when he heard Leo call out to everyone that he’d cut Owen, and that everyone should come drink now before the wound closed. He was not going to take part in that, regardless of what might happen because he chose to take the high road. He was still disgusted with himself for being dragged into this, for allowing it. He should have walked away the moment that he figured out what this was really about, but he hadn’t. Now it was too late, he was an accomplice. But he wasn’t going to become an addict as well. That seemed like a terrible idea on top of a bad one. Pass.
