Dissension 1

by Katie Salidas

  “Need a lift?”

  “Nah. There are two dead bodies in the basement of that old house. Someone’s going to have to get in there and get a cleanup crew going. Why don’t you radio that in? Word is they were harboring the fugitives. I’d say they made a break for it and are probably roaming the streets as we speak.”

  “Roger that.”

  “Let them know we’re coming in on foot with two prisoners, too,” Lucian added.

  As the large transport began to pull away, Mira breathed a sigh of relief. That had gone more smoothly than she could have hoped for. And Lucian, the way he talked, with such command – his Elite side was definitely showing through. She began to think they might actually pull this off.

  They continued on, Mira moving slowly behind, concentrating on every step, the light burning her eyes. The sound of tires screeching caught her attention. Then a shot was fired from behind. She turned and tried to focus on the transport. Either it was growing larger, or it was heading back in her direction.

  “Shit! Time for plan B. Get down!” Mira shouted.

  The transport came to a screeching halt next to them. Three soldiers inside had guns trained on them. “On second thought. Why don’t you all come quietly with us?” One of the soldiers slid open the side door. Still pointing his gun, he nodded at Lucian. “You and the girl first.”

  “Ladies always go first.” Using a burst of her supernatural speed, Mira jumped the soldier and in one smooth motion snapped his neck. One of the other soldiers in the vehicle shot at her blindly. She felt the sting of the heated metal piercing her flesh, but would not let it deter her from her mission. She snapped the driver’s neck and then ripped away the gun from the last soldier. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this.” She lunged at him, ripping away his Kevlar body armor like tissue paper, and sank her teeth into his tender flesh.

  “Now we have transportation to get us where we need. I say we take this baby and ram it through the front gates.” Flushed full of adrenaline-soaked blood, Mira was ready for another fight. She felt like she could take on all the soldiers in the city.

  “We’ll do that… but on a smaller scale,” Lucian replied. “I know every entrance and exit in the city. We’ll want to hit the least likely one to bring attention. One only Elites are allowed to use.” He winked and took the driver seat. “Get in, you two,” he called back to Curtis and Sarah.

  The sweet coppery tang of blood caught Mira’s attention. More than there should be in the air. She looked back to find the horrified, struggling Sarah trying her best to lift Curtis off the ground. Blood pooled beneath his body. His face had gone dangerously pale.

  Mira jumped out of the car and helped Sarah lift him. The scent of his freshly spilled blood tempted her, especially being so close to it. She could lap it up off the ground and enjoy every last drop, but her concern for their situation and the urgency of their need to move kept her riveted to the task at hand. “Get him inside. I’ll try my best to heal him.”

  Curtis moaned weakly, barely audible even with Mira’s enhanced hearing, as they pulled him inside the vehicle. This didn’t look good. Mira feared he might be too far gone. The desperation in Sarah’s eyes made that thought ten times worse. They were the ones risking their human, mortal lives for her, a slave.

  No, she couldn’t let him die. Mira ripped open Curtis’s shirt to inspect his wound.

  “What are we waiting for? Drive!” Mira shouted to Lucian.

  “Where to?”

  “Anywhere, just get us out of here now.”

  Lucian put the vehicle into gear. It lurched forward, and Mira turned her attention to Curtis.

  “Will he be all right?” Sarah was frantic. She hovered over her husband.

  Mira tried to push her back. “I’ll give him my blood. It should help jumpstart his body’s natural healing.”

  “Should?”

  Mira didn’t have to look up to know the fright that would be written all over Sarah’s face. She did her best to give her an honest reply, though, not wanting to deliver false hope, but not wanting to scare her further. “It’s not an exact science. It really depends on how much blood he’s lost, and how bad the wounds are. I don’t know if the bullet is still in his body or not.”

  “Just help him!” Sarah demanded.

  Mira ripped open her wrist and held it to Curtis’s mouth. Moments before, when she had done this to help Lucian, Sarah had practically condemned her; but now that the tables were turned, she didn’t care what happened. Sarah just wanted her husband to be okay.

  Curtis wasn’t swallowing. His breathing was deathly shallow. Mira massaged his throat to help encourage him to swallow as his mouth filled with her blood.

  With her free hand she prodded the wound, inspecting it but also hoping to get a response from Curtis. Anything, even a pain response would be good at this moment. He was too close to death, and Mira desperately wanted to see him live.

  The bullet must have passed through her and hit him in the chest. She guessed it still remained. Depending on how far gone he was, her blood might not make any difference at all. If the bullet had hit a vital organ, there might be no hope. The good news – if you could call it that – was that there was blood on Curtis’s back as well. If the bullet had passed directly through him, it might be his saving grace. If she could get the bastard to swallow. This man had risked everything to save her and Lucian. He did not deserve this as his fate.

  “Drink, damn you!” She slammed a fist against his chest. “Wake up and drink!”

  “Stop that, you’ll hurt him!” Sarah shrieked.

  “Do you know CPR?” Mira asked.

  “Yes. Do you want me to do chest compressions?”

  Mira listened for a moment for the sounds of his breathing, and the faint thump of his heart. Even with her enhanced hearing, both were scarcely audible. “His heart is barely beating…. Yes.”

  “But your blood is supposed to heal him!” Panic stole Sarah’s voice.

  “It will…. One way or another,” Mira said somberly.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Sarah shot back at her angrily.

  “I’m trying to save him—”

  “You’re not trying hard enough. Do you even want to save him?”

  Mira had to rein in her annoyance. Sarah’s husband was on the brink of death; it was understandable for her to be a little snippy. At least, that’s what she told herself to avoid snapping the human’s neck for daring to challenge her.

  “Just start pumping his chest,” she said through clenched teeth.

  She reopened the wound that had closed in her wrist and again flooded Curtis’s mouth with her blood. “Drink, you bastard!” She rubbed his Adam’s apple and massaged his throat while Sarah went to work thrusting hard on his chest. Curtis’s rib cracked under the pressure, and Sarah jumped back off him.

  “That’s normal, and my blood will heal the broken rib. Just keep up compressions. I need his blood pumping, no matter how slow.”

  Thankfully, Sarah did not argue this time. Steel-faced, she went back to her task, pumping hard at her husband’s chest.

  Mira was beginning to lose hope, until finally, Curtis swallowed on his own. She ripped open the wound again at her wrist and forced it hard down on his mouth. “That’s it. Drink up!”

  Sarah must have understood the relief in Mira’s voice. She relaxed her arms and stopped pressing on his chest. “C’mon, my darling.” The sensitivity in her voice touched Mira on a level she hadn’t known in a long time. This was love. Something she had long been denied, but was still alive in this world.

  Curtis swallowed on his own; and again. Slowly, color came back to his cheeks. He groaned and tried to lift his arms.

  “Easy there, friend. You’re not out of the woods yet,” Mira cautioned.

  “You did it!” Sarah practically squealed with delight as she flung herself on top of Curtis, squeezing him tightly against her.

  Mira let out a small sigh. “He appears to be conscious, but
I wouldn’t say he’s saved yet. I need to get a better look at his wounds, make sure they are healing.”

  Curtis tried to move again and winced in pain.

  “Don’t try to be the tough guy here. Just relax,” Mira cautioned again, and placed a firm hand on his shoulder to emphasize her point.

  “Look sharp, people,” Lucian called from the driver seat. “The city gates are up ahead. We’re going to need some help up here.”

  “He’s going to be fine,” Mira said to Sarah. “I can’t do any more for him now.”

  “You’ve done enough. Now, go see what Lucian needs.”

  Mira smiled at the human ordering her around. “Yes, Ma’am,” she said playfully, and then turned and headed up to the driver’s seat. “What’s the situation?”

  One hand on the wheel, Lucian pointed straight ahead with the other. “There are a few more soldiers guarding the gate than I had anticipated.”

  Mira stood and peered out of the front windshield. The sun hadn’t quite set yet, but was low enough in the horizon to be blocked by taller buildings. Ahead, she spotted a large blockade. Four tank-like vehicles, similar to the one they were driving, flanked a narrow gated road. Armed soldiers stood in front of the gate, weapons raised and ready to shoot.

  “This thing have any weaponry?” Mira asked.

  “Roof-mounted gun, I believe.”

  Mira looked up and spotted a roof hatch above where Sarah and Curtis were sitting. She didn’t want to have to expose herself, but there was no other way. She could take a few gunshots better than the humans. Before anyone could utter another word, she flipped open the hatch and took to the roof.

  No words were needed; Lucian and Mira were on the same wavelength. There was no way to get through the blockade except straight ahead, at full speed. Lucian pressed the accelerator as Mira began to fire blindly at the soldiers blocking their path.

  She barely felt the first few bullets pierce her skin – it was the sting of sun’s bright light, even at this late hour, that had Mira gritting her teeth to stop the scream from tearing up her throat. She focused all of her energy on enduring and keeping her weapon firing as they barreled through the road blocks and rolled over bodies in the street.

  They smashed through the gate with ease, Mira ducking down to avoid the flying splinters of wood as they continued through.

  Even with the city walls behind them, Mira could still hear shots being fired and the shouting of soldiers. The rumble of tanks told her, without having to look, that this fight was far from over.

  Mira ducked her head down into the vehicle. “Can we outrun them?”

  “In the city, we could out-maneuver them; on the open road, doubtful.” Lucian sounded worried.

  “Do what you can, then. I’ll try my best to hold them off.”

  She resumed her place, swiveling the gun around, pointing at what she hoped was the tanks behind them. The sun’s light was still too bright to allow her to focus well enough to be sure.

  She fired off a few rounds, but heard no sound of ricochet. In return, a pursuing tank fired, narrowly missing her. The sound of the racing bullet broke the air next to her cheek. A few inches to the left and she might have been done for. She could well be immortal, but that did not make her invincible. “I need some eyes here,” Mira shouted. “I can’t see a damn thing.”

  Another shot whizzed past her head, parting her hair. “Now!” she screamed, and fired back blindly at the vehicle behind her.

  Sarah’s head popped up next to her. “Left,” she called.

  Mira inched the barrel of the gun over to the left and fired another shot.

  “Down just a hair,” Sarah instructed.

  Mira moved accordingly and fired again. This time she was rewarded by the sound of breaking glass.

  “Now, quick right,” Sarah instructed again.

  Mira adjusted and fired. Again she heard her shots connect, this time clanging off metal. “Did I get one?”

  “We knocked one of them off course for the moment. Broken windshield. But you still have another one on our tail. Move to the left again.”

  The vehicle behind fired. Sarah ducked down, pulling Mira with her. Bullets whizzed past again.

  “They’re still right on us!” Lucian shouted.

  “I’m working on it,” Mira snapped back at him. She stood again, taking hold of the gun and blasting off a few more blind rounds at the vehicles behind her.

  Sarah stood with her and directed again. Together they worked, slowly aiming and adjusting until one of Mira’s bullets actually hit a human target. She wasn’t able to see it, but she heard the moaning yelp as a bullet took out one of the soldiers.

  The sun was sinking lower, and Mira was starting to be able to make out her targets. She aimed to take out the windshield of the vehicle directly behind them. A few well-placed shots shattered the thick glass enough to prevent the driver from seeing. They were forced off course, leaving only one vehicle in pursuit. This one appeared to be lacking a gunman. Its window smashed, Mira looked for the right spot to shoot.

  “Slow it down just a bit,” she called back to Lucian.

  The vehicle slowed and the pursuing soldiers quickly gained on them. Mira squinted, aiming her gun carefully. She squeezed off a few shots, missing her target. They slowed and backed off, cutting across to the other side of their vehicle.

  “Damn the sun!” Mira cursed for missing such an easy shot. “Hit the brakes, make them catch up again,” she called back to her driver.

  This time she would not fail. She took aim, watching, adjusting as the other vehicle came suddenly closer. When they were directly behind again, she fired.

  This time her shot hit the mark. The other vehicle came to a dead stop.

  “That’s it, gun it!” she called back to Lucian. “We’re in the clear. Drive.”

  Breathing a well-earned sigh of relief, Mira ducked back into the cabin of her transport. “We did it.”

  “Great. Now what?” Lucian’s hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly Mira wondered if he might break it off.

  “What do you mean, now what?” Mira asked. “We’re in the clear. You can relax a bit.”

  “Where do we go from here?” Lucian wasn’t letting his guard down that easy. White-knuckled, he continued to stare straight ahead and left his foot planted on the pedal of the vehicle.

  Good question… Mira wasn’t exactly sure. “Just keep driving west for now, I guess.” She’d never actually made it to the safe haven. Never knew its exact location either, only that it was off the coast in the badlands once known as California. If it didn’t exist, they were on yet another fool’s errand; but if it did, she might actually finally get the freedom she so truly desired. Then, she’d work on a way to end the Magistrate and share that precious freedom with her other imprisoned friends.

  So much was riding on this, she almost dared not hope that it truly existed.

  Other Titles By Katie Salidas

  The Immortalis Series:

  Becoming a vampire is easy. Living with the condition... that's the hard part. Join Alyssa as she stumbles through the world of the "Unnatural."

  Book 1: Immortalis Carpe Noctem - Newbie vampire Alyssa never asked for this life, but now it's all she has. Rescued from death by Lysander, the aloof and sexy leader of the Peregrinus vampire clan, she's barely cut her teeth before she becomes a target. Kallisto, an ancient and vindictive vampire queen – and Lysander's old mate - wants nothing less than final death for her former lover and his new toy. She's not above letting the Acta Sanctorum, and its greatest vampire hunter, Santino, know exactly where the clan can be found.With no time to mourn her old life, Alyssa's survival depends on her new family. She will have to stand alongside Lysander and fight against two enemies who will stop at nothing to destroy them.

  Book 2: Hunters & Prey - Rule number one: humans and vampires don't co-exist. One is the hunter and one is the prey. Simple, right? Not for newly-turned vampire Alyssa. A surprise confrontation with Sa
ntino Vitale, the Acta Sanctorum's most fearsome hunter, sends her fleeing back to the world she once knew, and Fallon, the human friend she's missed more than anything. Now she has some explaining to do. However, that will have to wait. With the Acta Sanctorum hot on their heels, staying alive is more important than educating a human on the finer points of bloodlust.

  Book 3: Pandora's Box - After a few months as a vampire, Alyssa thought she'd learned all she needed to know about the supernatural world. But her confidence is shattered by the delivery of a mysterious package - a Pandora's Box. Seemingly innocuous, the box is in reality an ancient prison, generated by a magic more powerful than anyone in her clan has ever known. But what manner of evil could need such force to contain it? When the box is opened, the sinister creature within is released, and only supernatural blood will satiate its thirst. The clan soon learns how it feels when the hunter becomes the hunted.

  Book 4: Soulstone - It’s a desperate time for rookie vampire Alyssa, and her sanity is hanging by a slender thread. Her clan is still reeling from the monumental battle with Aniketos; a battle that claimed the body of Lysander, her sire and lover, and trapped his spirit in a mysterious crystal. A Soulstone. Unfortunately, no amount of magic has been able to release Lysander’s spirit, and the stone is starting to fade. Weeks of effort have proved futile. Her clan, the Peregrinus, have all but given up hope. Only Alyssa still believes her lover can be released. In despair, Alyssa begs the help of the local witch coven, and unwittingly exposes the supernaturals of Boston to unwanted attention from the Acta Sanctorum. The Saints converge on the city and begin their cleansing crusade to rid the world of all things “Unnatural.” In the middle of an all-out war, but no closer to a solution to the dying stone, Alyssa is left with an unenviable choice: save her mate, or save her clan.