“You haven’t looked at them all.” She stopped him by putting her hand on the folder.
“I never fuck my food before I eat it. I prefer it running. Screaming. Pleading for mercy. None of these bodies are mine. Too much meat left on the bones. Too much blood spilled. I eat what I kill. All. Of. It.”
Haley flinched; she couldn’t help it. Niles grinned, his shoulders flexed, and the heat of his trapped metaphysical energy surged like a south wind. Red scales flashed along his forearms and neck.
That just wasn’t possible.
She flicked her eyes back up at his face. Niles’s smile made her blood cold.
“I’m sorry. Did I offend the pet dragon?”
Yeah, he was sorry all right, just not in the way he fantasized about.
Haley shoved the files back under his hands. That bastard was going to give her something to take to the PD if she had to beat it out of him. Another mountain of HR paperwork, but the satisfaction might be worth a pack or two of Bic pens. He was a Male after all. Nothing special. Nothing she couldn’t handle.
Maybe if Haley kept telling herself that she’d eventually believe it.
She frowned. “Respect the dead.”
Niles slapped the file from the table top, turning the white-washed room into a cheap snow globe.
Haley stood and planted her hands on the table. Chains tightened with a sharp clack and kept Niles from standing to his full height as he met her challenge. Even at half-mast he was big. Really. Big.
Haley pegged him with a glare. “You’re going to die in four days. And that means you have four days to do something with your life that shows the Humans that run this world you have some grain of sympathy for their loss of life.”
“Or what?”
“There is no ‘or what’. It would be the decent thing to do.”
Niles threw back his head and roared in laughter. When he rolled his head back down his blazing stare hit her hard. “And you think I care about decent?”
Obviously not. Out loud she said, “Well, at least it would give your existence some sliver of value. Because as it stands, your life is worth nothing. You’re worth nothing.”
A long low growl trickled from the back of Niles’ throat and he curled his lip.
Haley waved him off. “Save your theatrics. I am not a Human and I am not a lowly Male. There is nothing about you that scares me.”
Niles leaned forward as far as the chains would let him. The metal groaned and the air ignited with the smell of burning magic. “Then you don’t know me well enough, Haley Night.” He opened his mouth wide, flashing too many teeth for a Human mouth. It didn’t last very long; the Alchemy overrode his biology and pushed his metaphysical energies back down.
Haley glared at him. “How can you die knowing you’ve done nothing for your people?” Haley snatched up the photos and reports lucky enough to land on the table.
Niles fell still again and the room was plunged into an eerie silence.
When he spoke, his baritone voice was barely a whisper. “How can you live knowing the Chetrah you covet so much are planning the destruction of our people?”
Was he serious? More like delusional.
Haley shook her head. This interview was going nowhere. She had a class at noon full of new trainees for the Civil Peace Division. Unlike Niles, they weren’t a waste of her time. “Your need has scrambled that gray matter trapped between your ears.”
Niles snapped at the air in front of her. Haley refused to back away. As far as she was concerned, he was no different than any poorly mannered half-feral Male. Just bigger, older, and more stupid.
She flicked him a look. “You’d think being on such a short leash would instill some decency to quit acting like a dog.”
Overhead, the intercom clicked on and a tinny voice addressed Haley Night with concern for her well-being.
“I’m fine. Just dealing with a few behavioral issues...”
And these were nothing that a session with the Dog Whisperer could straighten out either.
Niles snarled and snaked his neck in a way that suggested he had joints where no Human would. His eyes rolled up at the overhead cameras.
“Good morning, Romero. How’s that hand working out for you? Are you able to beat off in the john again, or is your fuck buddy, Frank-O, still giving you lip service?”
The speaker crackled but the voice didn’t reply.
Haley glared at Niles while she scrounged for a few more pieces of tossed paper.
Niles lunged at her when she leaned down close to him to pick up a report. She didn’t even flinch and continued retrieving the contents of her folder. There must have been a hundred pages. The thing had been thick, but she never imagined there’d be so many. Haley continued with her private game of fifty-two pick up while Niles frothed and growled.
Pathetic, really.
The intercom kicked on again and the tinny voice asked her if she required any assistance.
Haley stood up with a half dozen rescued glossies. “I’m still okay, really.” She put them back into the folder as neatly as she could. Organizing them would have to wait. She pushed back a lock of dark hair and eyed the mess.
“You know, you’re a real pain in the...” Niles’ hand flew out, slapping the folder out of her hand again. Then he did the unthinkable. He grabbed hold of her wrist and yanked her flush against his body. Touching a Female without permission was an unforgivable act. Haley growled and Niles jerked her like he was trying to shake something loose.
Haley said, “Let me go.”
Niles ignored her.
Overhead, Romero or Frank-O barked orders for Niles to release his visitor and drop to his knees on the floor.
“Fuck you, Romero. Maybe I’ll just have one more little snack before I check out.”
“I’m not...” A hand closed around her throat cutting off the air she needed to speak.
Niles leaned in close. He ran his tongue across her cheek and raked his teeth across her ear, nicking it. “You do a really good job looking like the Chetrah.” His hot breath hit her neck. “Do you think they know? I’m betting even if they do, you’re pretty enough to draw them in here.” Niles’ ruby eyes came up to hers. He was so close their noses almost touched.
The tinny voice overhead trying to sound more authoritative, wound up sounding panicked.
“Scream for me, Haley. Bring the Chetrah to me so I can bathe one last time in their blood.” Niles’ grip loosened.
“Let me go or I’ll...” The vice closed down again.
“Make me, Chetrah pet. Control me like a proper Female. Demand that I bow to you and maybe I will.”
Haley squeezed his wrist and felt something crack. Niles laughed, throwing back his head and roaring like a monster.
“I like this one, Romero! Reminds me of you! Think I should start with her fingers and work my way down her toes? I haven’t forgotten about you, Frank-O. I’ll give you a special treat. Carve your daughter’s name in her back; pretend it’s your kid I’m tearing apart. Think you’ll have nightmares? I bet you’ll have nightmares till the end of your pitiful days.”
The screaming siren cut the air like broken glass. Small yellow security lights flashed from the recesses in the wall above. Niles snarled and Haley squeezed his wrist, snapping the bones. With a quick twist he had her around the waist and pinned to the table. His body pressed down on her back; his mouth was to her ear again.
“I wish we had more time together.” His scent spiked as he moved his knee up between her legs and inched her skirt higher. “But do not think I will waste this moment we have.” To the Humans it would look like he was considering rape. But those kinds of things didn’t exist for Kin. Niles was trying to get as close to her as possible, to feed his metaphysical side. Even the slightest bit of fabric made drawing on it difficult.
Haley strained to push him off her, but he had her too far over the table and her feet couldn’t touch the ground.
Niles said, “I need you to sc
ream for me, Haley.”
His hand inched up her thigh, and slipped under her blazer. Niles’ fingertips dug into the ulysiss gland in her lower back. The surge of pleasure ignited Haley’s body. Niles released her throat just enough that her cries sounded strangled and desperate.
“Very good.”
“Let go of me!” She kicked.
“Oh, nooo ... not yet.” Sharp points raked against her ribs. “Do you fear me yet?”
“No.” Haley bucked. Damn, he was strong.
Niles rubbed his cheek against hers. “I have so enjoyed your company. I only wish my bothersome Brother hadn’t always been there to stop me from doing things...” His lips pressed to her ear. “Such glorious things...”
Haley whipped her head around to the sound of a metal door sliding open. At her back, Niles tensed. In a low, deep snarl he muttered, “Show time.”
Niles Fury threw Haley like a broken doll and she hit the wall hard enough to crack a rib and see black fireworks. Human guards filed into the room, dressed in riot gear, armed with Plexiglas face masks, and were those...?
Stun guns?
They might as well be planning to poke a rattlesnake with a sharp stick.
The sound of chains screaming brought Haley’s head up in time to see the metal links at the floor on Niles’ left snap. A criss-cross of Taser barbs filled the air and hit Niles from head to toe, turning him into a walking pin cushion. The rapid fire sounded like it was coming from microscopic machine guns, and for all the good it did, they might as well have been.
Haley watched in horror as the massive Male launched the chair he’d been sitting in with one kick. It took out the closest guard, popping his skull wide like an over-ripe melon. With a heave of his shoulders once, twice, the chains on his left came free and became a new kind of weapon. Heavy steel whistled, gaining momentum, then with a flick it snapped like a whip. Bones cracked and the sounds of screaming men propelled Haley from the ground. Their fear made the blood they shed smell candy sweet. She had to stop this.
Shifting was out of the question. The confines were too narrow and too many Humans were in the way. But it didn’t mean she couldn’t tap into her metaphysical side, push just enough scale and muscle to back up her demands.
“Niles!” she screamed, but he wasn’t listening. He’d zeroed in on the new game that’d just walked into the room. The kind of screaming and bleeding fun that was right up his alley.
Haley threw herself into the much larger Male and at the same time unsheathed her chelae. His flesh parted and his ribs snapped. Thick green ichor rushed over her hand and splattered on the white floor mixing with red.
Niles spun and Haley slammed her other fist into his chest. Her fingertips brushed the first of two hearts. Haley pulled on the preternatural energy created by her biology and channeled it down her arms. The smaller, half-shifted muscles and bones were not strong enough to withstand the adrenaline pumping through her body. Tendons and muscle shredded under her skin, which split as bone cracked. Anger and pain tore a cry out of her throat, but she succeeded in stopping Niles’ forward momentum and sent him crashing to the ground.
Behind her, the guards scattered. “She’s one of them! Holy fucking God!”
Don’t run ... don’t scream.
It was a battle to stay on top of Niles with her fists buried in his ribs and chest and not chase after the Humans. They smelled like food.
The burn of healing gave Haley something else to think about until they were gone. Niles tried to sit up and she shoved him back down, squeezing his lower heart in her grip. Air bubbled around the hole she’d made in his ribs. Niles’ eyes rolled upward and his mouth opened and closed.
He tried again and she pushed him back. “Stay down, Niles.”
The Alchemists were coming. She could feel them like an oncoming storm.
His ruby eyes blazed. “Finish it...”
“Shut up and lay still.”
“Kill me, Haley.”
“What?”
“Do it. Kill me.” His hands locked on her wrist and he shoved her claws deeper. She retracted in time to avoid piercing the heart. Niles made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat. A thick green bubble formed on his lips and popped.
Haley shook her head. Kin don’t request to die. Kin don’t commit suicide. Kin fear death. Having the potential to live forever will do that.
“You are difficult to anger.” Niles actually sounded exasperated.
“You did this on purpose?”
He grinned at her, flashing sharp teeth painted with blood.
“Why?”
“I have to die so you will be safe.” He touched her cheek and pushed his fingers into her hair. His ruby eyes stared like he was seeing through her most private thoughts.
“Safe? Why would you dying make me safe?”
“He saw your blood. He knows. Deviant Nuestrauss.” Niles slipped into Olde Tongue and Haley cursed her lack of discipline. All Females could speak the Mother language, but then all Females were raised by their Queens, protected and comforted, not thrown out into the Human world, denied the most basic Kin ways.
“Niles...” Behind her, heavy boots rose and fell, rhythmic, like a machine. The air crackled with the stench of magic as the Oisis pin in Niles’s back responded to their presence.
Yeah, it would make sense that something so nasty would recognize its maker.
Haley looked up to see the black dressed figures surround them. A hand reached out and grabbed her by the back of the neck. Eyes, dark pits of nothing but magic stared at her through the protective helmet. Male or Female, she had no idea, but there were bits of blond hair sticking out from the edge of the facemask it wore.
A bark of pain escaped her throat as she was hurled into the table. Blue-white sparks illuminated the room as the Alchemists pulled their tritons. Torture devices, nothing more. Haley struggled for air; something sharp made her breaths come in short quick gasps.
Rib, she thought. The heat of healing was slow to rise. She’d spent a lot of energy taking him down, healed a lot of bones to keep him there. And now she was helpless to watch as they struck Niles, over and over, with the wide-pronged weapons.
One of the Alchemists stepped back from the team giving Niles’s body an electric workout. Haley raised her head. Was it the one who had thrown her?
The eyes were black, same as any other Alchemist.
The Alchemist raised the triton and said, “Night-night, wyrm.”
Chapter 2
Death was about being terrified.
A sensation of smothering in fear and darkness.
But Niles Fury could only feel the touch of Haley’s flesh drowning in his blood. The beating of his heart against her fingertips. Even as the tritons punctured his skin he felt nothing but the hum of her metaphysical force left behind. A mix of their blood.
And he knew why the Queens feared her.
And understood why his Brother insisted that she be saved.
As death came, the walls of Niles Fury’s anger fell. He clung to that moment between the end and now, pushing the thought to the farthest reaches of his mind and out.
Brother o’mine...
He could hear a voice. Angry, but nothing Kin, and it was shoving him toward consciousness.
For the first time in his existence, Niles Fury fought life. There had been a few times in his younger years where death and he were lovers. Once at the hands of a Dominant Male who took too much flesh and left him broken and feeding the carrion birds. Another time, a Queen. Her name long forgotten.
So the empty, godless space was nothing new to him. An endless, lonely blackness. More cruel than Queens or the Blood Rage of a hundred unfed hatchlings, the void was his source of terror. Pushed by fear and Kin instinct for survival, Niles Fury always fought his way back from the void. Until now.
Now he fought to get there, pleading for the bitter frozen fear to leach into his bones and render him helpless.
The predator becoming the prey
.
Only this beast had no teeth and claws to rip and tear. Niles could understand those things. He could anticipate the jarring sting of tendons being ripped from joints, but the darkness gave nothing.
And nothing was far worse than any kind of pain.
“You will not die today, wyrm. You will only die when I say, and today is not your day.”
Niles Fury knew the voice and ran from it, fleeing into the blackness. The veil of anger receded. So close ... so close to embracing the end.
Words drifted through breaks in the static.
“Jesus Christ, did you fucking idiots have to puncture him so many times? He looks like a goddamn pin cushion!” There was a commotion. “I’ve got to pull this pin. It’s interfering with his natural healing abilities and right now those aren’t much, but we need them. Fuck you ... you did this. Unless you want to tell Dobson his pet project is dead, get the hell out of my way!”
Niles Fury took a breath even though he didn’t want to, then he was sucked back under the stillness.
“Pull up that vial of Dopram! Yes, the whole thing ... well, it’s either risk a coronary or he’s dead anyway.”
Niles Fury’s eyes came open and he thought he saw the sun.
“Shit! Do it! Do it now!”
The stench of magic replaced the memory of Haley’s scent. The icy hot pin bit back down into his ulysiss gland, shutting off the biological process for the change. The upper gland provided the heat needed to fuel the process; the lower gland cooled the molecular changes so the body didn’t catch fire.
With the upper gland rendered useless, Niles Fury couldn’t fuel the change and he was trapped in his Chetrah shell.
The irony was not lost on him.
His lungs expanded, sucking the air from the tube threaded down his throat. His eyes rolled upward and he saw the whiteness of lab coats. They had him spread eagle on a steel slab, the cold of the room biting him deeper than it should have.
“I need those heating pads on him now. His DTs are starting. Do it now, ladies, before he rips his peroneus from his tibia.” It wasn’t just Niles Fury’s leg muscles they were going to have to worry about. His ribs made an audible crack as his obliques spasmed. Niles Fury screamed, helpless to stop the onslaught of muscular seizures. Ichor poured from partially healed wounds sutured together as his spine bowed, pulling him off the table. His left hip dislocated and a fresh new pain raced down his leg.
Blood Bonds Page 3
