by Dean Murray
I listened to the sound of footsteps as I quietly circled back around the way I'd come. Isaac apparently had the same idea. I felt a rush of power as he shifted and then his wolf form came ghosting towards me. Our prey was less than five feet away from us when we moved almost as one, springing out from around our cover once again.
These humans were more prepared than their fellows had been. They each got a shot off before we hit them. My beast snarled as a bullet creased my flank. It hurt, but it wouldn't impair my effectiveness. I ripped the throat out of my target and then rolled away as a sword came slicing through the volume of space I'd been occupying just a split second before.
I sprang again, trying to put space between me and the vampire who was so intent on skewering me. As I whirled around and set for another jump I got a glimpse of Isaac. He'd taken a shot to the chest. It didn't look like it had hit anything serious, but he was losing a lot of blood. He'd reverted back to his hybrid form now and seemed to be pressing his vampire pretty hard despite the wound.
I dodged to the side, just avoiding a thrust from my opponent, and then I danced back towards the center of the space. I really hated fighting vampires. They always had a sword or some kind of weapon on them, and it gave them a reach that was even better than some hybrids. My best chance was to move the fight somewhere with some room to maneuver and then see if I could coax this idiot into a mistake.
The next stab was even closer than the last, but I darted in and got a piece of his upper arm before spinning away again. If I'd managed something lower down I might have chosen to hold on, but with the upper arm there was too much chance he'd still be able to stick me. At least now he was bleeding. If nothing else, that could eventually shift the fight my direction as his weapon started to get harder to hold on to.
I dodged another stab, but this one was a feint, and I had to throw myself to the side at the last second to avoid a slashing attack. I still took a respectable gash on my right side, but that was better than dead, which was what I'd almost ended up being.
I caught another glimpse of Isaac as I rolled back to my feet and put more distance between me and the sword. Isaac had ripped a length of chain out of a piece of equipment and was using it to keep his vampire on the defensive.
I saw an opportunity develop and the next time my guy came in with a stab I didn't just dodge sideways, I lunged forward. The angle sucked. There was no way I could have used it to attack him, but I hit him hard enough to send him sideways as I streaked past and launched myself at Isaac's opponent.
My vampire called out a warning but he was a split second too late, and then my jaws fastened on the back of Isaac's guy's neck.
I hadn't had this much fun in a fight for ages. Isaac kept my guy backed off for the couple of seconds that it took me to finish off his guy, and then we were spreading out, flanking my guy. If you had to choose between keeping eyes on a seven-foot hybrid wielding six feet of chain or a slightly larger than normal wolf, you'd almost always choose the hybrid.
This guy tried pretty hard to split his attention evenly, but eventually he took his eyes off me for a second too long and my kill count went up to four. I changed back to two legs as I followed the most recent Ben scent trail back to a tiny room on the other side of the building.
Ben was sitting on his bed in a tiny sliver of light that made its way in through his window. He looked like he was debating whether or not he should be investigating the ruckus we were causing.
"Jasmin, I can't believe you guys really came. I was starting to think you'd abandoned me."
"No way in hell, Ben. You and I still have a lot to work out."
He took in the tattered condition of my ha'bit and started to offer me his jacket, but I waved him off.
"It's really cold out there. You'll need it more than I will. Let's get out of here."
I pulled his hand up to my shoulder to compensate for the darkness back in the main part of the building and then started leading him back to Isaac.
"How did you guys beat everyone? I mean, there must have been nearly two dozen of them between the crews of both dealers."
My blood ran cold.
"Isaac, we're out of time! There's another batch of drug dealers on their way. We must have arrived just before the meet."
He muttered a swearword under his breath. "There's gas in here. I've already taken care of the garage. You get Ben back to the van, and I'll splash some gas on the side of the building I chewed up on my way up to cut the security alarm."
"Can do."
I had Ben almost to the door outside when he suddenly went crazy, kicking and punching as he tried to break away. It had to be some kind of programming from the vampires, so I did the only thing I could think of.
"Sorry, Ben."
I hit him hard enough to drop him without needing a follow-up blow, and then picked him up and slung him over my shoulder. Isaac was already on his way back with a couple of incendiary devices we'd gotten courtesy of Ash's contacts.
I popped open the back of the van and slid Ben inside. Isaac was back a couple of seconds later.
"They are on three-minute timers. Let's go before the rest of the vampires show up."
Chapter 18
Adriana Paige
Upper East Side
Manhattan, New York
Mom had left on another trip, down to somewhere in the Caribbean this time, so there wasn't any reason for me to spend the night in our house. Instead, I'd crashed at the penthouse while I waited for the results of Jasmin and Isaac's attempt to rescue Ben.
Before she'd left, Jasmin had suggested I get some sleep, but I'd known that wasn't going to happen. The headaches always seemed worse when I woke up. Besides, I was too anxious about Ben. He'd been through so much already. Hopefully the rescue went off without any hitches.
I knew Isaac was worried. He'd said even less than normal around me, but he always seemed to be asking Jasmin for more time to do surveillance. Jasmin was relentless though, and I was pretty sure they were going to go ahead and attempt the rescue tonight.
Instead of sleeping, I spent the night pacing across the living room while reruns of some sitcom I'd never seen before blared from the TV. At about five in the morning, Jasmin called my phone.
"Are you guys okay? Did you get Ben out?"
"We got Ben out, but there have been some complications. We're just inside of the park, can you come downstairs and meet us? We're just off 86th. There's a kind of mini playground here."
"You guys can't come up?"
"I'm sorry, Adri. I know we're not supposed to let you wander around outside by yourself, but I can't come up and get you."
"I'll be right down."
Honestly, wandering around Manhattan, even the nicer parts of Manhattan, at night didn't necessarily top my list of things I was comfortable doing, but if Jasmin was asking me to come downstairs then something serious had happened. I'd just hurry and hope that if something happened, they'd be close enough to hear me scream.
There wasn't time to change, so I just pulled a coat on over what I was already wearing, slipped into my tennis shoes, and ran for the elevator. It was too cold to run, so I settled for a quick walk that wouldn't burn my lungs and tried to ignore the way the cold wind knifed right through the thin pants I was wearing.
I kept getting the feeling I was being watched. It got so intense that I started looking around, trying to find whoever it was that was following me, but no matter how fast I turned my head, there wasn't anyone there when I looked.
I told myself I was just being paranoid and tried to hurry a little faster. Ten minutes later 86th came into view and I relaxed slightly. Jasmin and Isaac were just barely inside the park. They were both bloody, but Jasmin was pacing while Isaac just leaned against the fence like he was trying to conserve his strength. As I got closer, I realized the entire side of his chest was soaked in blood.
Jasmin walked forward to meet me. "Thanks for coming down, Adri. I couldn't just walk into the building covered
in blood like this. We need to go; the van is right there. We can be in the air in half an hour, and land in Sanctuary a few hours after that."
"Wait a second; you didn't say anything about leaving. I've got school tomorrow. I can't just leave. My mom will freak out when the school calls and tells her I didn't show up."
"I'm sorry, Adri, but this is the only option. Isaac will be okay until we get back to where Donovan can pull the bullet out, but I've got to get him back to Alec and the others, and I'm not leaving you here by yourself. Alec would go ballistic when he found out."
"So fly Donovan out here instead. That won't take any more time, and it will allow me to stay here. I can't just disappear again. The last time I got sucked into pack business, it caused major problems with my mom. I don't want Isaac to die or anything, but it will be just as fast to get Donovan as it would be for us to fly out there."
I could feel tendrils of power reaching out towards me as Jasmin tried to keep her beast under control. Whatever she might have said was preempted by every single light within sight suddenly flickering off.
Jasmin muttered an oath and looked at Isaac. "Do you think we can make it to the van?"
"Doubtful, but it's our best chance. We don't have many options at this point."
Jasmin grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards the street. We'd only made it a couple of feet when something out of a nightmare jumped over the wall between the park and the street.
I felt a push as Jasmin tried to get me out of the way, and then twin waves of power washed over me as both Isaac and Jasmin transformed. As I sprawled out on the pavement, I saw Jasmin dart in towards the creature that was attacking us, but it swept a huge, clawed hand towards her almost faster than I could follow, and she was forced to duck away.
There was just enough moonlight for me to make out some of the beast's features. It was big, like a clay hybrid that had been left out in the rain. Its features sort of ran together in a kind of unfinished look, but I noticed all of that more as an afterthought. Mostly, I just couldn't believe how big it was.
Isaac seemed to be trying to work around to its side, but it spun around and attacked with a blur of swipes I didn't even have a hope of following. Isaac seemed to dodge away from most of them, but something got through, and he went flying backwards through the air as the creature turned on Jasmin.
She was fast, faster even than I remembered her being, but the creature seemed even faster still. For a second or two Jasmin gave ground, retreating in an effort to keep it from getting ahold of her, but then I heard a yelp and saw it pick her up by her stomach and slam her into the fence hard enough that she went immediately limp.
Blood was pouring out of her stomach wound, but Isaac was back in the fight before the creature could finish off Jasmin. There was another blurred exchange of blows but it was obvious that Isaac was on the defensive. Isaac backed away, but the creature was faster and suddenly he was dangling by one shoulder from its jaws as incredibly sharp claws raked down his body.
I stepped towards Isaac, wanting to save him but knowing full well that there wasn't anything that I could do. All three of us were going to die in the next few seconds. Time slowed down as the creature tore into Isaac, and then suddenly, a slender figure stepped out of the shadows. There was some kind of sword in the new arrival's hands and it licked out, scoring a deep hit in the creature's arm.
The beast dropped Isaac and spun towards the man with the sword. My breath caught in my throat, but our rescuer ducked the blow and managed another strike with his weapon as the creature's other hand passed overhead. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. The man wasn't much bigger than I was, but he'd just crippled both of the beast's arms in a matter of seconds.
One moment it was only heartbeats away from killing Isaac, the next it was fleeing away before the man with the sword could kill it.
"Come help me, child. We need to get both of them into their van quickly before it brings help."
"You mean there are more of them?"
I asked the question as I moved towards him and helped pick up Isaac, who'd already shrunk back down to his slightly more manageable human form. For a minute I thought the man wasn't going to answer, but once he had his sword sheathed and was positioned under Isaac's other arm, he finally looked over at me and nodded.
"There are more of them than you can possibly imagine. Someday soon, unless we do things just right, they are going to carpet the earth and bring about the end of everything."
We were almost to the van by the time my brain was able to gloss over enough of what he'd said to resume processing events, albeit in a halting manner.
"What was it?"
"It was one of the earthborn. Your friends would call it a werewolf."
I opened my mouth to ask another question, not because I had one in mind, but because I got the feeling it was important to get as much information out of this man as I could. He pulled the van door open before I could find my voice again, and then we were laying Isaac down in the back of the van.
"There should be a first-aid kit somewhere inside. Grab it and start bandaging Isaac. I'll be back in a second."
I'd seen the results of Donovan's handiwork enough to have an idea how to go about it. I found the first-aid kit and started taping the worst of the gashes closed without worrying about gauze. Hopefully Isaac's natural healing ability would do the rest.
A few seconds later the man was back, carrying Jasmin this time, and I got my first good look at him. He was dressed all in black with an odd-looking collar that I couldn't quite place.
"Take this and get to the front of the van. You drive while I finish up with Isaac, and then I'll start on Dominic."
I took the small electronic device from him and then stopped partway through climbing over Ben. "That's not Dominic. It's Jasmin."
I didn't realize just how calm the man was until I saw him really rattled.
"It's not possible. It was supposed to be Dominic here, not Jasmin. Where is Dominic?"
"She's back in Sanctuary with Alec and the rest."
The man stared blankly at me for several seconds before shaking himself and pointing at the steering wheel. "Please get us started moving, Adri. We don't have much time before they'll be back. We're off script now, so please drive fast. The GPS unit will guide you."
"I don't understand. How do you know my name?"
He looked up at me with a kind of terrible majesty I'd never seen out of anyone else before. He didn't raise his voice, but he pointed at my friends.
"I don't have time to answer any more questions for you right now, Adri. If you don't get this van moving towards the airport, you and your friends will all die. Not just Isaac and Jasmin, but Dominic, Alec and Rachel too. By the love of everything you hold dear in the world, please sit down and start driving."
Every rebellious bone in my teenage body wanted to take offense at the way he was ordering me around without an explanation, but I found myself sitting down and turning the key that Jasmin had left in the ignition. I couldn't have said how I knew he was telling the truth, but I was absolutely convinced that every word was painfully accurate.
The GPS mounted to the windshield and turned on without any problems. I could hear the man muttering as he worked on Isaac. Most of it was too quiet for me to pick out, but I caught an occasional phrase here and there. I got the feeling he didn't realize he was talking to himself.
"...inconceivable...talk to her? ...no, too dangerous...never meet...but she can't keep on like this...to go blind now...so many years..."
I drove as fast as I dared, considering that I didn't want to try and explain away three unconscious, mostly bloody passengers to a cop if I got pulled over for speeding. The muttering got too faint for me to make anything out, but that didn't stop me from trying. It seemed like forever, but it couldn't have been more than twenty minutes before we drove under a train. The sound of the cars rumbling overhead worked some kind of transformation on the man. It was like someone had
flipped a switch inside of him and changed him back to the confident fighter who had driven off the werewolf. He climbed over Ben, Isaac and Jasmin and seated himself in the passenger chair.
"We don't have much time left. When you get to the gate, enter the code that will flash up on the GPS. That will get you inside the airfield. You need to get these three onto Alec's jet and into the air as quickly as possible. Dom, I mean Jasmin, should have called ahead and gotten the pilot up and ready to go. I left six syringes in a case resting on Isaac's chest. Inject one syringe into each of the shape shifters every half hour. That should keep them unconscious enough for you to make it to Shawn. As soon as you are inside the plane, you need to call Alec and tell him what happened."
"I don't understand. Where are you going?"
"I can't be there with you. Things need to unfold in a certain way, and if I'm there they won't go like they need to."
"Are you sure?"
The calm, unruffled man who'd fought off a monster, the one who'd reappeared as I'd driven under the train tracks, cracked a little again and I saw worry and uncertainty in his eyes.
"I...I'm sure of less now than I expected to be, child, but I can't go with you. There...there are things that I need to do still with whatever time I might have left to me."
He was quiet for several seconds as though trying to decide how much to tell me, and I suddenly remembered his comment earlier about being off script. I got the feeling he'd been following his script for a very long time.
"It is absolutely vital that you get Alec to meet you in Chicago. Isaac and Jasmin won't make it long enough to fly all the way back to Utah. If...if Alec tries to suggest an alternate meeting point, you have to convince him that Shawn needs to be involved. I can't explain why, but it's important. Also, it's important that you, Rachel and Dominic are all there when it happens. Make sure he brings Dominic and Rachel."
"When what happens?"
"I can't tell you that either. I can only ask you if you love Alec."
