“What we need to know right now is how many soldiers there are in there,” Tau said.
Zander looked up from his phone. “Maybe we need to go get help.”
“Incoming,” Tau said. Giovanni and Zander looked at each other, confused, until Hung tapped on the passenger’s window. Despite Tau’s warning, it startled them both.
Giovanni threw his divining rod into the floor of the car and jumped out to give Hung a big hug.
“It looks like someone missed me,” Hung said, wrapping his arms around Giovanni’s waist.
“Maybe,” Giovanni responded.
“Have you two forgotten what we’re here for?” Tau spat.
“I’m here for this,” Hung said, grabbing handfuls of Giovanni’s ass.
“This is serious,” Tau insisted.
“Tau is right,” Hung responded, reluctantly pulling away from Giovanni. Tau and Zander got out of the car and joined them.
“We can’t just go down there and knock on the door and ask if our supernatural friends can come out and play,” Zander said.
“You forget who we are,” Giovanni said.
“What do you mean?” Zander asked.
“My baby can survey the place for us,” Giovanni said.
Hung bowed. “Your wish is my command.”
“We’ll sit here and wait for you,” Tau said. Tau took a seat on the ground and pulled Zander down to sit between his legs. Giovanni gave Hung a kiss on the cheek and told him to be safe. Hung was gone in a blur. Stealth was the vampires’ forte; they moved at near superhuman speed and were able to bend shadow and light in ways that made their movements practically imperceptible.
Giovanni paced across the parking lot while they waited for Hung’s return.
Zander turned and gazed at Tau. “I really appreciate you being here with me.”
“I can think of no other place that I would rather be,” Tau said.
“Really?”
“My mother says that a man may have many lovers, but that he will only have one true love,” Tau said.
“And how does a man know when he has found his true love?” Zander asked.
Hung returned before Tau could answer. Giovanni showered him with hugs and kisses before he could start talking.
“Let the man breathe, Frosted Flakes,” Tau said, pulling Zander up to his feet.
Hung immediately began to share everything that he had learned. “All of the activity is on the first floor. The second floor is nothing but storage. It looks like they captured eight vampires, eight witches and warlocks, and eight shifters. They are pulling them by species for some kind of tests. Of the twenty-four supernaturals that they captured, three have already been picked apart and killed, one from each species. They have removed their vital organs and are straining and examining their blood now. There is one vampiress on the examining table, and I can’t tell if she’s dead or alive.”
“Blessed be,” Giovanni and Zander said, their voices low with shock.
“So, assuming that the vampiress is alive, that means that there are twenty-one supernaturals in that building,” Giovanni said.
“There are humans down there, too,” Tau added. “I can smell them.”
“You’re right, Tau. There are twenty soldiers and six scientists,” Hung explained.
As the son of a pack leader, Zander knew Tau had been trained in the ways of battle. When he showed off his training, Zander found it extremely sexy. First, he instructed Giovanni to make a witch light drawing of the layout of the building as described by Hung. The result was an illuminated floor plan that literally hung in midair. Once it was drawn, Tau made sure that each one of them knew how to find the entrances, exits, lab, and holding room. When they were done, Giovanni erased the magical drawing as easily as one might clean a chalkboard.
“We have the element of surprise on our side, but that may not be enough. Hung, disable the power in the building, and then we’ll take out the soldiers and the scientists,” Tau ordered.
Zander knew what Tau meant by taking out the soldiers and scientists, and although it was necessary, he was chilled by how casually Tau had mentioned killing. Zander had never even torn the wing off of a day fairy, let alone thought about harming another living creature. He didn’t mention it. Instead, he asked, “What about me?”
“We need you to free the supernaturals. Do you have a spell that can break locks and remove the collars and cuffs?” Tau asked, as he removed all of his clothes except for the black pants that Hung had given him. Zander couldn’t help but stare.
“I think I do,” Zander said, regaining his composure.
“Then let’s go shut this bitch down,” Giovanni said fiercely. “Once we have all of the supernaturals out, we will burn this motherfucker to the ground the same way they did the club.”
“I suggest we enter on the far north end of the building. I’ve already unlocked the door for us, and it’s the closest exit to the holding cells,” Hung added.
“Then let’s go.” Tau led the way.
Chapter 22
Zander was a nervous wreck as they made their way down the hill. The only thing that Zander had done that was even remotely close to this was playing hide and seek with his cousins, who always teamed up against him and used magic to make sure that he always lost. Upon closer inspection, the facility sat in a natural bowl, with the old, abandoned parking lot up on the hill on one side and woods on the three remaining sides.
Everyone else appeared so confident, which only made Zander feel that much more unsure of himself. Tau’s suggestion to kill the power and the lights had been a good one, since all supernaturals had better night vision than humans. The black outfits supplied by Hung also helped to camouflage them as they made their way toward the unsuspecting soldiers and scientists.
Once they reached the northern entrance to the building, Hung stopped them. “Wait here while I go disable the power. I’ll be right back.” It didn’t take long for him to return. The sound of panicked scientists and alarmed soldiers could be heard emanating from the building.
“We don’t have long. Let’s go,” Tau said, as he transformed into the lion-like god that made Zander’s heart skip a beat. Hung stepped back and moved his hands in an intricate series of motions that bent the shadows, covering him in a blanket of darkness and making him invisible. Giovanni followed with a piece of magic that created a shield similar to the protective bubble that he had created in the club.
They moved in complete silence, with Tau leading the way. The first room they reached was the holding cell, which was guarded by two of the twenty soldiers. Tau made short work of them, punching the first in the face and then using his limp body to knock the other out cold. Zander took the key off of the first soldier and immediately opened the door to the holding room.
General panic filled the room when Zander swung the door open.
“Stay calm. I am a warlock,” Zander whispered, creating an arc of witch light as a safe signal.
“Zander?” his grandmother spoke up from the back.
“We’re here to get you out, but we’ll have to be quick and quiet,” Zander told them.
“You got this?” Tau asked, giving his lover a quick pat on the ass with his large, furry paw.
“Be safe,” Zander instructed Tau, before he led Hung and Giovanni up the hall.
Zander turned back to the room. “I need all of the shifters to line up first.” He applied a piece of alchemical magic to their metal collars, making them brittle and as easy to shatter as glass. When he was done, he did the same thing for his grandmother’s arm cuff.
“You found me,” she said in tears.
“You and I have got to talk,” Zander told her.
“I know,” she said, as she wiped her face clean.
“What do these cuffs do?” Zander asked.
“They injec
t us with a deadly toxin at the first sign of a spike in our blood pressure. Most of the witches and warlocks have been meditating to stay calm,” she answered. Zander knew that he had to move quickly. The mere excitement of escaping was enough to raise the average person’s blood pressure, and they had come too far to lose anyone now. Zander and his grandmother started to break the cuffs with the same magic that he had used on the collars.
“I’ll need all of the shifters to help carry the vamps,” Zander ordered, while he led the way toward the exit door.
One especially beautiful young shifter with red hair and freckles stopped Zander. “I am glad that you and the prince came to rescue us.” Zander didn’t have time to figure out what that meant, but he knew he would have to ask later. The group filed out in a relatively quick fashion. Zander pulled up the rear to make sure that everyone got out safely. They were outside and up the hill near Hung’s car in record time.
“I need for everyone to stay here and give my grandmother your name and contact information,” Zander ordered. “I know that it isn’t normal to ask for this type of information, but I may need to contact you to get information about anything that you might have seen or heard while you were captured. The more information that we have, the more likely it is that we can find out who did this.” Zander gave his grandmother his phone to take names and numbers.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“My friends are in there. I have to go help them.” He gave his grandmother a quick kiss on the cheek and dashed back down the hill.
Giovanni, Tau, and Hung had already made short work of eight of the soldiers, leaving ten more somewhere in the building. Zander caught up with them right before they reached the laboratory.
“Is everyone out?” Giovanni asked.
“Yes, I have my grandmother getting their names so that we can contact them later if we need to.”
“Good idea,” Tau whispered. Then, he signaled for all of them to be quiet. They were stopped just outside the laboratory.
Without a word, Tau burst into the lab and scared the pure hell out of the six scientists, who were all gathered around the vampiress, Muslee. What happened next could have been a scene out of a horror movie.
The lead scientist must have assumed that Tau was one of the captives because he kept screaming, “Activate his collar!” Unfortunately for them, Tau didn’t have a collar.
Tau slashed the lead scientist’s throat with one stroke. Hung punched another through the chest and squished his heart before biting the third in his neck and drinking from him until the life drained completely from his body. Not to be outdone, Giovanni sent a tray full of scalpels flying through the air and into the neck of the fourth scientist. Blood spurted out like a fountain until he fell to the floor.
“Wait!” Zander said, before anyone could harm the last two scientists.
“What is it?” Giovanni asked.
“The vamps are still up on the hill and knocked out from the drugs. The blood from these last two scientists may help them recuperate faster,” Zander said, amazing himself at his sudden disregard for human life. The last two scientists, one a small, balding white man and the other an even smaller Asian lady, began screaming wildly.
“Shut the fuck up,” Hung said to the doctors, as he grabbed them and dragged them out toward the parking lot.
“What are you going to do with their bodies?” Giovanni asked Hung.
“I’ll bring their dead bodies back inside when we’re done,” Hung said. To have six vampires drain two small humans promised to be a brutal and painful death. The small man screamed again, and Hung shook him until he stopped.
Zander went over to the examining table to check on Muslee. She was still alive. Zander rushed over to the computers and file cabinets and began collecting papers, reports, and jump drives.
“What the hell are you doing over there?” Giovanni asked.
“We need to figure out what they were up to. This information may help us. Giovanni, go with Hung and take Muslee and these files to the car.”
“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” Giovanni asked, looking over at Zander.
“Yes, just go,” Zander said.
As Giovanni headed to the door, five soldiers rushed into the lab with the same rifles that Zander had seen at the club.
“Set to kill!” the first guard yelled. They all aimed at Tau, the largest and seemingly most dangerous target in the room.
Tau was fast, but not fast enough to outrun the lightning blasts emitted by the soldiers’ guns. Zander had seen just one of the rifles kill Milo instantly. The blast of five was sure to kill Tau.
“No!” Zander screamed, and in a flash of magic the entire room was bathed in a white light that rearranged the soldiers like pieces on a chessboard. They found themselves all facing each other in a circle with their guns drawn, engaged and ready to fire. It was too late for them to do anything. With their guns magically trained on each other, they reluctantly watched as they fried each other to death.
“Damn!” Giovanni said, gaping and still holding the box of files that Zander had given him.
“Thanks, babe,” Tau growled.
Zander smiled. “You’re welcome.”
Giovanni managed to get the naked Muslee up on her feet and wrapped in a sheet. Hung, however, handled the two diminutive scientists with much less care, even banging them together once or twice for good measure.
“You have no idea what you are doing!” the small woman yelled. Hung pulled her face close to his and growled at her, showing her his full fangs. She immediately wet her pants.
“We will be back soon,” Hung laughed, as he and Giovanni exited.
“There should be about five more soldiers in the building,” Giovanni warned as he left.
“Get the files out and bring the two scientists back,” Zander instructed. “We’ll burn the building down when we’re done. We don’t have long before the authorities come.” The lab doors swung shut behind Hung and Giovanni, as the acrid smell of frying human flesh filled the room.
“Where are the last five soldiers?” Zander asked.
“It won’t matter where they are if we magically seal the doors and burn the building down.” Tau pulled Zander into a full and loving embrace.
“There are three doors, not counting the one that we entered. Let’s go make sure they’re locked and leave the way that we came,” Zander said.
Zander and Tau found the first door without incident. Zander drew heat in around the metal door and its frame, permanently sealing it shut.
“Good job,” Tau said appreciatively.
It felt good to use magic without limits. Zander felt free for the second time in his life. It was appropriate that Tau was there with him, since the first time he ever felt really free was the first time he made love to Tau.
They had just sealed the second door when two soldiers confronted them.
“What are they?” the first soldier asked.
“I can’t tell if it’s two shifters or a shifter and a warlock,” the second soldier said, pausing and giving his handheld device a puzzling stare.
The moment’s pause was all that Zander and Tau needed. Tau grabbed the first guard by the neck and slammed him into the ground multiple times like an angry child would a ragdoll. Zander’s approach was less violent but no less effective. He concentrated on the second soldier’s helmet, reached into the air and made a fist that he closed tighter and tighter. As he did, the soldier’s helmet constricted around his head until it crushed his skull like a piece of ripe fruit.
They were on their way to the third door when Giovanni and Hung found them.
“Has everyone left?” Zander asked.
“The witches and warlocks all jetted. Giving the vamps the last two scientists was a great idea.” Hung smiled at Zander. “The blood gave them enough energy to get up and ge
t away. I threw the scientists’ bodies back in the lab. They both died slow and painful deaths. The shifters are another story completely. They won’t leave. They said they will wait on the prince a few more minutes, and if he does not exit the building soon, they will come to help him.”
“Is there something that you aren’t telling us, Tau?” Giovanni asked. Zander thought Giovanni must be serious if he was using Tau’s real name.
“The prince?” Zander asked. It wasn’t the first time that he had heard the reference.
“There’s no time for talking now!” Tau yelled, exasperated. “There are still three guards somewhere in this building, and we have to get out.”
Zander picked up the soldier’s handheld device from the floor and stuffed it in his pocket, and the four rushed toward the exit, which was at the very end of the long corridor. They were halfway to the door when two guards stepped out from a hallway, blocking their escape. They all froze in place.
The third and final guard snuck up from the back and snatched Zander before he could respond. “If any of you move, I will fry this one’s brains out!” He held the rifle directly against Zander’s temple.
“Let him go,” Tau roared.
“Fuck you, shifter. Revert to your human form now, or I’ll kill him.”
“Don’t do it,” Zander pleaded. The guard tightened his grip around Zander’s neck.
Tau growled, slowly shifted back into his human form, and then gave the guards a mischievous smile.
“What do you want us to do?” Giovanni asked Tau in a panicked voice.
“Nothing,” Tau answered calmly.
Seconds later, a group of werecreatures burst in through the northern door. Zander saw werecougars, werewolves, and even a werefox. They were all majestic and very lethal. Being a gymnast, it wasn’t difficult for Zander to slip away from the distracted soldier, do two backflips, and then magically throw the guard against the wall.
“Two backflips? Really? That was such gay magic.” Giovanni smiled.
The shifters took care of the rest, ripping all three guards limb from limb. When they were done with the guards, they took formation in front of Tau and bowed.
All Knight Long, Book I: One Warlock's Love Story Page 12
