Trent seemed to be handling it a little better, but I was sure the flask that he kept bringing to his lips when he didn’t think anyone was looking was the true reason for his newfound bravery. His tall, lanky form hugged the wall. In his state of alcoholic bliss, vampire head chopping, blood wards, and sentinels weren’t going to bring him down, and he had a big simper to prove it. I had a feeling he planned to be in this state for a while.
CHAPTER 13
It took longer to reassure David and Trent that they were safe in their own home. After seeing the sentries that Sebastian had provided and the small arsenal of weapons Winter had left with them, their fear of a cadre of vampires bursting through the door to attack lessened. Once Josh had erected the blood ward, even Trent had put aside the sword he’d been carrying around since we’d arrived in the house. That lifted my concern that he was more likely to hurt himself or David than anyone else, and since he’d adopted Winter’s strike-first-ask-questions-later rule, I was afraid for anyone who got within striking distance. David just smiled at his partner, who paced in front of the door, a glass of red wine in hand, periodically looking at the sword he’d placed against the wall.
By the second hour, they were noticeably relaxed and we felt comfortable leaving them. Which we needed to, because we needed to get Kelly.
I stood next to Josh in front of a ward erected nearly a hundred yards from the house. His magic was alive in me—familiar, natural magic. Nothing that I had to manipulate or wonder if it was going to try to take over. We whispered the incantation as the others waited. We had no idea what to expect, and we’d surveyed the area so much that anyone worth anything had to know that we were coming. Sebastian looked directly into the cameras that surrounded the place. They had Kelly, and that was all we needed to know. Please let her still be here.
The ward fell, and we cleared the space between it and the house quickly. Steven and Gavin in animal form were swift as they moved past me. A few others, too. It was rare that this many had been called, and we also had the benefit of three other Alphas, who had remained in the city. Joan moved slower in her jaguar form, scanning the area. Cole, as I’d suspected, was a wolf, light gray in color but as massive as Sebastian. He stalked the area, moving as though he’d been given permission to hunt, and whether he had been or not, he was ready to.
The large shatterproof glass windows of the massive three-story brick Colonial-style home were covered with dark curtains. The doors were metal, thick, with keypads and several locks. The house was equipped to withstand most forms of trespassing. There were two cameras placed near the door in plain sight and three more at the corners. I wondered how many there were that we couldn’t see. It didn’t matter, though; being seen wasn’t going to deter us.
Shatterproof glass didn’t mean unbreakable by magic, and there weren’t too many locks that could withstand a powerful witch. Josh blasted open the door; those in animal form went in first. Strong magic and the same tinge of medicine met us at the entrance, along with dirt, oil, and other foul odors. There were two visible staircases: the one in front of us led up, and I assumed the other set led to the basement. I followed Ethan and half of the group up the front stairs, and the others followed Sebastian downstairs. Gavin ran past us, then he let out a loud and commanding roar. We followed—he must have Kelly’s scent, and at this point he couldn’t care less who knew we were there.
We passed several doors, each one with a keypad lock. Sterile white walls gave the home an institutional feel. The various scents became overwhelming and interlaced with the putrid smells of decay and death. The sneer on Ethan’s face and growls from Cole told me that they smelled the foul miasma, too.
That familiar imprint of Marcia’s magic wafted through the air. She had performed magic here recently, and so had others. It still lingered, its existence brushing over my skin. The combination of mage and witch magic felt rough as it moved over me.
The farther we walked down the long hall, the stronger and more turbulent the magic became. Hostile. Aggressive. Violent. I heard before I felt the impact of Marcia’s magic, just before a blast slammed me into the wall. I returned the favor, sending a wave of it toward her. She crashed into the armed group of men behind her. I sent another surge that hit a protective field instead of her. She moved in step with the men, ensorcelled in the magical bubble, her eyes fixed on me. I prepared myself, knowing she would have to drop it if they planned to use their weapons. I needed her to drop it. Blasting the borrowed magic, which was substantially weaker, I battered it. It dropped but it was too late.
One shot, a dart, went into Steven, another into Gavin. Ethan grabbed another guy before he could take his shot, disarming him and taking the darts from him. I laced the magic around Marcia and shoved; she tumbled back. Darkness flooded her eyes, her lips moved quickly, and magic thrashed through the air.
Those standing behind the protective field that Josh erected were safe, but Steven had been smashed into the ground, and Gavin had been hit hard enough that his solid-muscled form smashed into the banister, breaking it. He fell to the lower floor. I heard him pounding back up the stairs and breathed a sigh of relief. Kelly had to be on this floor; he was coming for her. He bared his teeth at Marcia before lunging at her. Seconds before he could make contact, her magic tossed him back. I realized the darts they’d shot them with nullified were-animals’ immunity to magic. This was why she’d been silent. This was what she’d been working on with X. Gavin pulled his lips back, baring teeth, growling as his animal felt the brunt of her magic for the first time.
I heard more footsteps from behind Josh. Magic just as strong and powerful as Marcia’s swept through the air. More men with the same weapons focused on their targets—any of us in animal form. Behind the men were the magic-enhanced mages, who indiscriminately whipped people out of their way. As they approached Josh, self-assurance and arrogance lifted their lips into deviant smiles. Josh had his back to me, and I couldn’t see his face, just the looks of fear that wiped away the mages’ grins. Magic curled around him like a viper around a tree and felt just as deadly. Stronger than anything I’d ever felt off Josh. More powerful than it should have been since he’d shared his magic. But it wasn’t different—it was dark, violent, and totally unhinged and out of control.
Seeing the fate of the mages, who were toppled over, only one of them breathing, Marcia vanished.
Josh, on a path of destruction, went through the house, clearing anyone that wasn’t part of the pack. The house filled with the sounds of screams, glass shattering, and objects being tossed. The metallic odor of freshly spilled blood quickly overpowered the other scents in the air. I held my breath and tried to get a handle on everything. Gavin, in human form, carried a body wrapped in a sheet; Kelly’s pallid face peeked out from it. More weres in human form came out of the rooms, either holding someone or guiding the ones able to walk. I counted at least twelve. I gathered all the darts like those that had been shot into the were-animals, some of the weapons, and everything I figured could be of use. I gave it all to one of the were-animals directing people out.
Ethan, Winter, and I split up, going through the house to make sure we had gotten everyone out. I found an addition to the house that had been converted to a lab. Inside it, I found several cages. The rotting smell of death and decomposing flesh couldn’t be hidden by all the floral scents and plug-in room fresheners in the world. The smell of old and new blood inundated the air, and I ignored the bodies on the other side of the room. Dr. Jeremy’s bloodstained hands loaded up things from the desk, papers, and smaller equipment into a bag he’d procured. I gathered up vials with the unknown substances.
He grabbed a laptop and started out, then stopped to take another look at the room: beds with straps on them, electric cattle prods, chains. I knew guilt would fester in him, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Anger and frustration overtook his features, making his gentle, regal appearance hard and menacing. His gaze shifted to the bodies discarded throughout th
e room, and it was hard to ignore the lust for violence that flickered in his eyes, a wish that he could do it all again—more savagely, to savor the revenge and retribution. The longer he looked at the room, the tenser I became, the way anyone would when faced with an unknown animal. At the moment, I wasn’t familiar with the violent, bloodthirsty beast next to me.
The warm smile, kind eyes, and paternal smile that had defined Dr. Jeremy as the gentle doctor for the pack had faded to all predator. After a few more moments, I urged him to move. He did so reluctantly, with the same graceful strides as the tiger he changed into, and he seemed just as dangerous. I wanted to say something, but I wasn’t sure if anything I had to offer was going to help. We had Kelly, but we now knew that for all the days she was here, she had been experimented on and subjected to the unthinkable. All the signs of violence that filled the hallways, the blood and gore that flashed past me as I walked out of the house, didn’t bother me as much.
Moving down the hall, I did another quick sweep of the rooms that we passed. I needed to be the calm one because Dr. Jeremy was gone. It became harder to do so as I looked into the windowless rooms, some with cages and others with beds with restraints. They all were as sterile and plain-looking as the walls. I could sense the hopelessness that anyone had to feel being there for days, weeks, and maybe even months. I had no sympathy to give to any of the people who had been killed. Even if they were just coming to do their jobs—at what point did this stop seeming inhumane to someone? I thought about Quell, who was always questioning the humanity that he didn’t believe existed in people anymore. He’d become misanthropic for a reason, and I was feeling that way, too.
The thirst for more violence was building in me. I had to get the hell out of there. When I was a few feet from the door, a weak dust of magic hit against my back. I turned to find X, flanked by two other men, approaching us, his hand illuminated by magic that looked more impressive than it actually was. He shot one at Dr. Jeremy, who stumbled back and dropped the items in his hands. X directed his men to retrieve them.
He hit me, and I stumbled, but not enough to fall. A burst from the mage to his right hit the wall. Sliding to the floor, I assumed a position on my hands and knees, preparing to shift to my wolf when a massive tiger lunged over me, mouth open, and grabbed one of the men’s neck. He was dead by the time he hit the ground. X started to back away as Dr. Jeremy turned his attention to the other mage with him. X was at a full run when Jeremy’s claws slashed across his companion.
I shifted, chasing after X as he ran down the hall. I increased my speed, pounding after him so fast that I skidded into the closed door. I thrashed against it, trying to open it, but it was solid and reinforced, clearly made not to be broken down. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t open it using my paws, so I shifted to human, opened it, and then shifted back to wolf, racing after him. He was nearly thirty feet away. I moved fast, racing to get to him before he could get to the awaiting car.
As I gained on him, he pulled out the same type of gun that had been used on Gavin to nullify his immunity to magic in animal form. He shot; I skittered to the side, barely avoiding the dart as it went into the ground just a few feet away. I was able to dodge three more shots while gaining ground on him. I had just a few more feet. I jumped at him and felt a sharp pain as a hard object slammed into my ribs. I howled and whipped around to the attacker. It was one of the witches, holding the tire iron that she’d just used on me.
She hit again and I accepted the blows until I could get hold of her arm. I buried my teeth into the offending hand as she wailed in pain, blood spurting over my face and blurring my vision until I couldn’t see the blow from her other hand coming. She slammed into the side of my head. My grip on her arm loosened enough for her to disappear. When I turned back to the street, X was gone.
When I turned to the house, Dr. Jeremy was back in human form, naked and carrying the papers and computer. We found the others ushering everyone who could walk into the SUVs and carrying the people we’d found who couldn’t. Josh’s face was hardened into a disgusted frown that became more intense as the minutes went by. He waved his fingers in Dr. Jeremy’s direction and clothing slowly wrapped around him, covering his nudity. Once I saw him do that, I changed, and the moment I did, he covered me. Like Dr. Jeremy, I was in a simple t-shirt and jeans.
In the car with Ethan, Sebastian, and Josh, I informed them about X attacking us and trying to retrieve the computer.
“The witches worked with Dexter just so they could create something that would make you all vulnerable to their magic,” Josh said, disgust lying heavily on his words and distorting his features. He closed his eyes and shook his head, and I knew he was doing the same thing I had been working on—trying to get the images of the people and the rooms out of my head.
“It looks that way,” Ethan said. He was speaking softly, very softly, in the manner one would use to calm a volatile animal or person.
“They don’t even care about the witches anymore, or anyone. It’s just about power, and they will do anything to achieve it.” Josh was angry and we could feel it. It felt like a sandstorm in the SUV as his magic drifted chaotically about, wild, uncontrolled. Before anyone could say anything to calm him, he was gone.
The pack’s retreat was in a state of disorder. We had recovered fifteen people, including Kelly, and they all needed to be examined. The shifters that had been injected with the serum that nullified their immunity to magic waited outside at Sebastian’s command. They looked scared at the very idea that they could be subjected to magic in animal form. Dr. Jeremy was confident as he informed them they wouldn’t stay that way. I really hoped he was right. We had taken the computer, the records, and a lot of things from the building, but I didn’t know what information X and Marcia had and if they could recreate what we’d taken.
Cole and Joan helped Dr. Jeremy, assisting him as he triaged everyone to get an idea of what needed to be done. Worried eyes followed him around the room as he went to each one, checking their vitals. When he drew blood, the fear that they displayed made anger well in me again.
“I feel violent,” Cole admitted, taking a position next to me at the entrance of the infirmary, his gaze following mine as I looked at everyone in the room.
“Yeah,” I said softly. It was hard not to. “And X is still out there.” I let my mind wander, because if the image of his smug, entitled face popped up, I wasn’t sure if I would have the control necessary to be of any use.
“You handle yourself very well,” Cole said, and again I found myself under his watchful gaze. He smiled. “The pack is very lucky to have you.”
“We are happy to have your help and Joan’s.” I used that opportunity to look away, but I could still feel him looking at me. He was about to say something when Ethan’s arms slinked between us as he pulled me back into him. “We have to go get Josh.” Once I was a couple of steps from Cole, Ethan slipped his hand in mine, and we followed Sebastian and Winter out the door.
I didn’t need to ask where we had to go retrieve him from. I’d seen his face and felt the draconian magic that came off him, only overshadowed by his anger. It wasn’t a matter of where he was, but the condition the place and the people would be in once we got there.
Ethan drove with Sebastian behind him, but there wasn’t a sense of urgency. We knew we were already too late. Marcia and the Creed had crossed the line one time too many. They had destroyed the tenuous lines of civility that existed between them and us and attacked his pack and his brother more times than Josh could tolerate without it being checked. They’d incited a war, expecting him to be acquiescent and concede. They were wrong.
We pulled up to the store that was a front for their office. The portentous smell of death and blood inundated my senses the moment we opened the door. Remembering the anger on his face when he’d left and knowing that it had been expunged through his retaliation against the witches, I hesitated. Having had my fill of dead bodies, blood, and violence, I readied myself
for what I might see. Splatters of blood trailed to the doorway.
As we made our way to the room where the witches often met, the energy of Josh’s anger filled it just as much as magic did. Thick and suffocating. Sebastian, who was ahead of us, stopped and waited for Ethan to catch up. Waiting at the threshold, this man who had a disturbingly high tolerance for violence and the macabre frowned at the vision before him.
Sebastian moved aside when Ethan approached, moving slowly with an uneasiness. Residual magic and blood flooded the air. Josh’s body was tension-filled and stiff, and when he finally turned once Ethan called his name, he didn’t look like his charismatic, quirky, easygoing self. Unremorseful coal-black eyes watched us with caution as we walked into the room with bloodstained walls, crumpled bodies, shattered glass from the mirrored wall that had been destroyed, and splintered and broken furniture.
“Hey,” Ethan said in a low, gentle tone as he closed the distance between them. Josh’s labored, sharp breaths were an indicator that he was still trying to deal with his anger. He struggled to gather some semblance of control.
Josh’s small smile surfaced quickly, and when Ethan was just inches from him, he reached for him, cradling his head and pulling him toward him. Ethan rested his head against his younger brother, who was so far gone that control wasn’t easily in his grasp. “You kind of made a mess of things, huh?” Ethan said softly.
Josh nodded once and sucked in a breath.
Ethan looked around the room. “It’s okay. We’ll fix it.”
Josh nodded. But there really wasn’t anything to fix, just to clean up. A lot of cleanup, and damage control regarding what had happened.
Ethan and Josh rested with their heads against each other, finding a familiar sibling comfort that we could never understand or offer. Josh finally moved away, quickly appraised the area, and then said, “I guess I should clean up.”
Moon Cursed (Sky Brooks Series Book 5) Page 19
