Monica Rossi
Dogs of War Motorcycle Club Series
Copyright 2014, Monica Rossi
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.
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Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
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The light was fading, leaving everything blurred and tinged with grey. Sidney reached towards it, she didn’t want it to lose it, the warmth, the feeling of being safe. That cocooning glow felt like a shelter from everything bad that had ever happened to her or ever would. She wanted to call it back, to chase after it and never let it go.
“Sidney! Sidney!” she heard her name being called and vaguely sensed that her body was being shaken. She tried to focus her vision but her head was pounding and her eyes felt sore and grimy. She blinked and she still couldn’t see anything but smears of muted colors.
“Sidney! Shake it off,” she tried blinking again. She felt someone lift her shoulders as her head rolled back. She tried to put her hands under herself and straighten up, tried lifting her head but everything felt so heavy. Like gravity had suddenly increased a thousand percent and her muscles just weren’t up to the task of coping with it. She tried again anyway, every movement a monumental effort, everything inside her crying out for her to quit, to find the light again and linger in its warmth. She fought it, knowing she couldn’t go back, she had to go forward. She had to find… something.
“That’s it, get it together,” she knew that voice. Her vision finally began to focus. Hovering above her was a face that could only be described as beautiful, only inches away from her own she felt his breath brush her cheek. Jet black hair framed his features, making the contrast of his pale skin that much more striking, sculpted mouth turned down and clear green eyes full of concern, she’d seen this face before, she knew this man. Her mind searched for answers until it found the name that belonged with person before her.
“Demon,” she let the word go with a breath as everything came rushing back to her. She cleared her throat, it felt full of debris, “What happened, are the guys ok?”
“Look for yourself,” he said brushing a lock of hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. She swiveled her head, surveying the damage.
Bodies lay scattered across the yard, some of them of men and women who had come with her, but mostly the men in suits. All of them lay dead, mouths open with blood trickling from their lips, eyes wide with red tears streaking their faces. Sidney covered her mouth with her hand. She hadn’t done this, it wasn’t possible, she couldn’t have done this, it was unthinkable.
“What happened?” she asked, her voice quiet, afraid she already knew the answer.
“You happened Sidney, Jesus,” Demon stared at her intently, probably seeing her with the same horror she was feeling inside. “It was incredible, I’ve never seen anything like it. One minute they were kicking ass and taking names… the next they were on their knees holding their ears and screaming.”
Sidney started shaking her head at his words. No, she wouldn’t accept that she’d done this. She couldn’t, she saved lives, that’s what she’d been trained for. Every day she went to work and did her best to keep someone’s best friend alive, tail wagging another day. She couldn’t stand to see animals in pain, much less humans. She saved lives, she didn’t take them. No, this couldn’t have been her. She hadn’t even been able to explode an apple, something else must have done this.
“Hey it’s ok , it’s ok. Don’t cry, you saved us. The guys were getting butchered and you saved them. If you hadn’t done it then everyone here would have died. Did you see how those assholes were throwing people around? Crushing their bones with one kick, breaking necks with a twist of their hands? It would have been a massacre if you hadn’t done what you did.”
Sidney tried to see it that way, tried to reason that she’d done what she had to do to keep them safe. It all felt hollow. It was a massacre, and she’d committed it. There was no justification for the loss of life that had happened, she could tell herself that she’d had done what she had to do but at the end of the day she was still a murderer. A mass murderer. And she was going to have to live with that.
She took a deep breath, she’d deal with it, she had to, but she’d deal with it later. Now there was work to do. “I should help them,” she indicated to the people who were hurt, the sounds of their moans redirecting her focus from self-loathing to more practical matters.
“They’re healing already, there’s not much you can do. Stay here and rest, I’ve got to go in and get Red.”
Red. She’d almost forgotten the entire reason they were here. She needed to find Red.
“I’m going with you,” Sidney moved to get up, bracing her hands on the ground and pushing up. She failed, her arms and legs were too weak to support her.
“No, I don’t think you are, I’ll be back in a minute,” Demon stood up, “and I’ll have Red with me.”
Sidney didn’t argue, she just waited until he turned to go, then she summoned all the strength she could muster and made herself stand. Her head swam and she felt like she was going to pass out but she stayed upright. Demon was heading across the yard to the door which was blocked by a mound of bodies. Taking another deep breath she followed, willing her legs to take one step after another. It took longer than she’d expected for her to cross the yard. Each step forward a testament of will, she felt like she could melt into a puddle at any moment, but she was determined to see this through, no matter how her tired body betrayed her.
“I told you to stay back and rest,” Demon said when she caught up to him at the door, where he was moving bodies out of the way so he could get through the door.
“And I told you I was coming,” her voice sounded a lot more steady than she felt.
Demon’s eyes hardened and he contemplated his words before he spoke, “You are a stupid, stupid woman. And sadly, you’re probably going to get yourself killed one day because of it.”
Sidney shrugged, she didn’t really care much about his opinion of her intellect at the moment, she just needed to see that Red was safe.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him, through the door. “Do exactly what I do.” He pressed himself against the wall and Sidney followed his lead even though she was pretty sure there weren’t any people left alive to care whether or not they entered the facility.
More bodies lay strewn across the floor down the brightly lit corridor. Sidney tried not to look at them, not to think about the number of lives she’d cut short without even knowing what she was doing. Slowly they made their way through the mess. Demon
seemed to know where he was going, he didn’t pause to look in rooms or down hallways.
“We don’t have time,” he said, shaking his head. Sidney guessed he was talking to whatever invisible entity was feeding him information. “We get Red first and then we can see about your asshole ex boyfriend.”
“Your ghost?” Sidney asked, he was clearly not speaking to her.
“She’s not my fucking ghost. But yes, that’s who I’m talking to. She wants us to go get Frederick, the guy who is running,” he put his hand up to indicate the facility, “this nightmare. It seems he lived through your, uh, outburst and is trying to leave.”
Sidney nodded even though he couldn’t see her since she was behind him. Whoever he was and whatever his reasons were didn’t matter, he needed to be stopped. But she agreed with him, they had to get Red first.
Demon stopped in front of a room and looked inside the door before he turned the knob and entering. Sidney went in behind him, stopping cold when she saw Red. Or what was left of him.
He sat in a wheelchair against the wall, his head lying back against the wall with his eyes closed. She could clearly see how badly he’d been beaten, he wasn’t wearing a shirt and every inch of his skin was covered in bruises or blood. His face was almost unrecognizable, the swelling causing his features to distort grotesquely. Tears sprang to her eyes, someone had taken pleasure in beating him.
Rushing to him she knelt and felt for a pulse. It was there but weak, she didn’t need a medical degree to know that he was too damaged to survive, they’d gotten there too late, something inside of him was broken. “Red. Red, it’ s Sidney, wake up.” The tears were coursing down her face, Demon came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, and she was thankful for the comfort his touch brought. Instead of electricity surging between them, she felt a warmth seeping through her, giving her strength.
Red’s eyes opened into slits, it was probably the most he could manage with the damage done to his face. He picked his head up, looking first at her then at the hand on her shoulder before his gaze travelled up to Demon.
“Hey,” he said, as if he weren’t sitting there broken.
“Hey,” Sidney wiped the tears off her cheek. “We’re going to get you out of here.”
Red gave a little shake of his head, “I’m dying.”
“No,” Sidney cried, “I won’t let you.”
Red looked up at Demon, ignoring Sidney’s words. “Hey man. Take care of Morgan. Make sure she knows I loved her, even though I was a shitty ass father.”
“You got it, brother,” Demon’s face was grim as he agreed.
Sidney looked between the two of them. She’d thought that when Demon called Red brother it was because they were in the club together, but now she could see it, the bond between them, however shaky, was one of family. And Demon was just going to let Red go.
“No,” she said again. She wasn’t giving up that easy. She took Red’s hands in hers and closed her eyes. Whatever she’d done outside she could do again, and this time instead of taking lives, she’d save one. She tried to focus, to call all of her need and love into a palpable form but nothing happened. She concentrated harder, determined not to fail, but this time when the blinding light came, instead of encompassing her and holding her in its warmth, it seemed to attack. Her brain exploded into shards of pain and she fell back, letting go of Red’s hands.
“Sidney, stop it. You’re going to hurt yourself,” Demon helped her off the floor. “You’re spent from what you did outside, there’s nothing you can do.”
“I’m not going to let him die! I just need to try harder! I have to try.”
She stood in front of Red and put her hands on either side of his head and closed her eyes again, willing the power to come, trying desperately to turn her fear into something other than a sick feeling at the back of her throat. The light came and she braced for impact, hoping to find the safe place of comfort and not the sharp edges of pain. The light surrounded her and stole her breath, it ripped and tore at her from the inside out. She crumpled to her knees, sobbing.
“Stop doing this to yourself, you’ve got to let him go,” Demon watched as she climbed painfully back to her feet. “Say your goodbye and I’ll put an end to his suffering.”
“No, you can’t! I’ve got to try again, this has to work,” she was near the edge of hysteria, she couldn’t understand why she could use her power before to cause so much destruction but now that she needed it to save a life it wouldn’t work for her. Still on her knees in front of Red, she clasped his hands, prepared to do whatever she needed to save him.
“Fuck. Move out of the way,” Demon grabbed her shoulders and moved her aside as if she didn’t weigh anything, and took her place in front of Red. He looked back at her and sighed, his eyes full of doubt, “You’re going to have to keep your mouth shut about this.”
He placed one hand on Red’s forehead and the other on his chest. Red winced at the contact but Demon ignored it. The air around them began to pulse, Sidney could feel the movement of energy between them, and Demon began to speak. The words had no meaning to Sidney. They didn’t sound like any language she’d ever heard before but there was a music in them that called to her. Sidney thought that it must sound like that to babies when their mother sang them a lullaby. Incomprehensible but comforting.
The energy intensified, causing the room to almost feel hot, and very faintly she could see that Demon was giving off a greenish glow, surrounding him and Red in an eerily beautiful light. Sidney didn’t know what Demon was doing but she could see the bruises on Red’s skin fading even as his face morphed into a painful grimace. She heard a popping sound and Red cried out, the look on his face telling how much the healing was costing him. Sweat and blood poured off Red’s skin, and the room filled with a sickly sweet smell that made Sidney almost want to vomit. Demon was sweating as well, but neither Red’s obvious distress nor the cloying smells broke his determination.
Red’s back arched and he screamed as Demon’s chanting grew louder and the light around them shone brighter. The room seemed alive with the force of will Demon was exerting and Sidney wasn’t sure either of them could continue. But just when she was about to try to do something to stop them, Demon took his hands away and Red fell back into the wheelchair, both of them panting hard.
Sidney ran to Red, Demon stumbled out of the way so that she could get to him, “Are you ok?”
In answer he stood up, shakily taking a test step, “It would seem so.” He looked at Demon, his eyes clouded.
“Oh you can save the profuse shower of praise and thanks for later, we need to leave,” Demon said, still catching his breath, headed for the door. Sidney and Red followed.
“No, we get Frederick first,” Red said, turning to go away from the exit when they left the room, instead of following Demon out.
“Too late, he’s long gone brother. He and his personal body guards managed to escape while we were healing you. They took the two prospects with them.”
“How the fuck can you know that?” Red demanded.
“There’s a dead harpy screaming in my ear right this second. It’s amazing I was able to heal you at all with her fucking mouth running the entire time.” Demon looked at Sidney, “When we get back to town I’m going to need you to take me to your witchy friends, I’ve got to get rid of this bitch before I lose my mind.”
“What about Big Dog, Trainz, and BillCo?” Red asked, his eyes never traveling to Sidney.
“Don’t know, she hasn’t said anything about them.”
“Good,” Red said. His eyes hardened as he started down the hallway again. Sidney followed in their wake, grateful he was alive but nervous about the look in his eyes.
Sidney was bone weary, she felt like everything inside her had been pulled out and left at that horrible place… or on the asphalt of the clubhouse parking lot.
Big Dog, Trainz, and BillCo had been found in a room she and Demon had followed Red to, but like Demon had said, there
was no sign of the two young bikers, Squint and Squirt. That didn’t seem to matter much to Red though, he seemed satisfied enough that he finally had Big Dog. It had taken Demon physically holding him back to keep him from killing the ex-president right there on the spot. Reluctantly Red had let Demon convince him that they needed to bring him back to the clubhouse for questioning and to let the rest of the members decide on their punishment.
Then they’d gone outside and Red had seen the destruction left by the fight. Fourteen of theirs had been killed. Their bodies, some in human form, some in wolf, had to be left because there was no way to get them home. Red promised everyone that they’d come back and get them, and that the people who were responsible would be dealt with, but everyone seemed shell-shocked. Sidney could tell by the looks in their eyes that they were just as empty as she felt. She just wanted to go home and try to forget what had happened. Forget the image of Red in a wheelchair, broken. Forget the fact that Demon was some kind of werewolf witch hybrid. Forget the dead bodies of men in suits weeping blood tears into the grass. She wanted to forget it all, but mostly she wanted to forget her part in it.
Red had claimed a dead man’s bike for the ride home and Sidney started to get on behind him, but he stopped her with a look, the first look he’d spared her since she’d walked into the room where he’d been held prisoner.
“Demon is over there, you’d better ride with him,” he’d said, and turned his face away as he’d cranked the motor and drove away. Sidney told herself it was just because he needed some time to himself, surely after he’d gotten over the shock of what he’d been through he’d talk to her. They could work everything out and get back to normal.
Her eyes caught Demon’s, he had a look that she could only read as pity in them, as if he could read her thoughts and found them painfully disillusioned. She walked to him and got behind him without a word. She didn’t need or want his opinion.
Dogs of War MC Episode 6 Page 1
