Addict

by Lexi Blake

  Silently I pointed up, and Liv nodded, making sure she stayed out of range. I had to pull Casey back though. He was going to walk straight into the shot and perhaps preen for a close-up.

  “Camera,” I said shortly.

  His mouth made a silent O, and he nodded. He gave me a thumbs-up. I remembered what Henri had told me about him. He was a technohead. That could work to my advantage.

  “Can you take it out?”

  “Where would I put it?” Casey asked.

  I had to hope he was better with technology than he was at listening. “I meant can you render it useless without shooting it or causing a whole bunch of noise?”

  A look of recognition passed across his cute boy face. “Oh, yeah. I can do that. It looks like there’s an electronic lock on the door. I can probably break in. That’s a bad idea though, right?”

  I gave him a pointed stare.

  “All righty then.” Casey laced his fingers together and his knuckles cracked. “Let my criminal life begin.”

  He went still for a moment, breathing deeply and seeming to go inside himself.

  “Hey.” Liv looked around. “Where did he go?”

  Casey moved past the cameras carefully. He studied the range of the camera and twisted his body to stay out of it. He was shielding. Most people wouldn’t be able to see him. The camera wouldn’t be deceived, of course, but we had other considerations. No one would think it strange that a couple of women were standing, talking on the street. A guy fiddling with a security camera might raise some questions.

  “He’s handling it, Liv.” I watched him work. He couldn’t shield from me. Liv’s eyes would slide over a vampire when he was in that state. My senses were a bit more finely tuned.

  “You can still see me?” Casey jumped gracefully onto the window ledge under the camera.

  “Clear as day, buddy,” I replied.

  His fingers worked quickly to pull off the back of the camera. He started to study the wiring system.

  “Cool.” He gently pulled and tugged on the inside of the gadget. “Henri said you were a badass. Actually, he said something about you being an incredibly rare and powerful creature, but mostly, I just heard badass.”

  It might be nice to have someone on the team who actually spoke my language. “You’ll have to help me translate when it comes to Henri and Hugo. I’m pretty good with Marcus. It’s all in the eyebrows with Marcus. He can say the same thing in the same way, and it means something completely different because he arches that one aristocratic brow.”

  “I can help out with the professors. I’m starting to get what they’re saying,” Casey promised. He pulled a wire and then nodded back my way. “Camera’s out. I’ll have the door open in a sec.” He pulled out the phone he’d been using in the autopsy room and connected some computery looking wires to it.

  Liv stared at the place where Casey had disappeared. “It’s freaky. He’s invisible and you can see him. What am I here for?”

  “You’re pure muscle, Livvie.”

  She shook her head. “Obviously. I don’t feel any wards on the building. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any on the inside.”

  The door clicked open and Casey smiled as he showed us the way in.

  I patted him on the head as I walked through. He was a good boy. “I didn’t realize cell phones could be so useful.”

  He put it back in his pocket and dropped his shielding. “I might have modified it in a way the manufacturer would not approve of.”

  “Well, I approve.”

  The clinic inside was cool and quiet. It smelled of antiseptic. The East Side Clinic was a model of clean efficiency. It had a small waiting room with functional seating and a desk for reception and triage. I glanced around and saw two more cameras. Casey nodded and quickly dispatched them.

  “Liv, check those files, and see if you can find Alan’s,” I said quietly as I turned the blinds to a closed position. Now it would look like the clinic was merely closed, not being burgled. I tossed Casey a thumb drive. “You know what to do.”

  He did. It was the good thing about having a supergeek around. Marcus would have stared at me and asked what this strange thing did. Marcus appreciated many of the things technology had to offer, but he was useless when it came to electronics. I had to teach him how to use the remotes on our entertainment system, and half the time, he still erased my shows.

  I took a leisurely look around. Walking into the back of the clinic, I noted three exam rooms and a locked door reading Pharmacy. I was interested in that pharmacy.

  I slammed my foot against the door, but it didn’t budge. “Casey.”

  He was at my side in a second. “Wow, that’s some tight security.” He pointed to the high-tech looking device attached to the doorknob. “Thumb scan. You need the right print to get in.” He pushed against the door. “Considering how advanced the lock is, I bet this is reinforced with some strong stuff. I don’t think we can bust it open.”

  “Use your thingee.” I pointed to the phone.

  “Nope.” He shook his head. “That worked on the door because it used a sequential number code. This is way more sophisticated. I’d need my laptop and even then, it’s iffy. Someone doesn’t want you back there.”

  I huffed but accepted the inevitable. We didn’t have all day. I had to consider the fact that someone would notice the security cameras were no longer giving them a live feed. We had ten minutes tops. I pointed to a door with a Doctor Linford name plaque on the door. “How about that one?”

  Casey walked over and turned the handle. It opened easily. “I got this one, boss.”

  “Smart ass,” I said as I walked past him.

  The desk that dominated the room was neat and perfectly clean, with the single exception of a stack of files. I brushed through them. One was a financial analysis of the clinic for the accountants at a company called Bellacorp. Winter had mentioned that this was the company doing the clinical trials on his drug.

  “Bellacorp? As in Brandon Bellamy?” Casey asked, looking over my shoulder.

  “I have no idea who that is.”

  Casey looked at me like I’d said I didn’t know who Jesus was. “Seriously? He’s revolutionizing the entire way we look at technology. The new computer system Bellacorp Electronics is rolling out in a couple of months will move us forward light years. The processor is insane. He’s a genius. He came out of nowhere seven years ago, and now he’s one of the preeminent technological minds of our time. He started out in a small shop in Fort Worth where he developed his first generation processor. It doubled capacity.”

  “Good for him,” I muttered, looking through the rest of the files. “It looks like he’s expanding into the medical industry.”

  “Oh, Bellacorp is into almost everything.” He had a serious case of hero worship.

  I was going to have to point out a few truths to my new buddy.

  “Including demon contracts.” I shoved the files into my bag. I decided to take everything.

  We needed to get going. Maybe I would get lucky. I tried to open a file cabinet. It was locked. I pulled hard and presto, no more locks.

  “What do you mean demon contracts?” Casey’s blue eyes were wide and innocent. I hated to be the one to crack that naïveté.

  And there it was. A nice fat file marked Brimstone Clinical Trial. I pulled it out and shoved it in the bag before turning to the newbie. “No corporation takes over the world in seven years. No dude who used to have a shop somewhere goes from small business owner to king of the world in seven years, not without some help.”

  Casey’s forehead wrinkled. “You don’t think he sold his soul or something?”

  “I don’t think, Case, I know.” I patted his arm in what I hoped was a soothing fashion. “I’m having dinner with the man tomorrow night at the duke’s house. When I say duke, I don’t mean some English dude. He’s a duke of Hell. You don’t do business with him without an ironclad contract.” Casey’s face fell and I felt for him. I never had anyo
ne I looked up to that way, but if I had, they would have disappointed me, too. It was the way the world worked. “Let’s go. We need to get home and let Henri make sense of all this medical jargon.”

  Casey nodded and followed me out into the lobby. I noted that his shoulders slumped forward a bit. I wondered if he had a family who still mourned him. It must be weird to know that they were out there somewhere, and he couldn’t see them again. A picture of Nathan flashed through my mind for the second time that day.

  “I found a file on Alan and one on Scott,” Liv said, her pretty face tight with tension. “There’s more, Kels. I know a bunch of these guys. They’re weres and shifters. They had a couple of witches in there, but from what I can tell, those experiments didn’t work. They had a stamp on them stating they terminated the tests. Do you think they’re dead?”

  “Were you close to any of them?”

  Liv shook her head. “No, I only know the names.”

  Good. I could be honest. “Then yes, they’re totally dead. That’s what terminated usually means. Let’s get going before we find ourselves in the same boat.”

  “This is serious.” Casey stopped in the middle of the lobby. There was a panicked look in his eyes.

  “Yes,” I replied, agreeing with him and pointing toward the door. I didn’t have time to play the shrink.

  “They really are killing people,” Casey said more to himself than either me or Liv. “This isn’t some joke.”

  “No, it’s not.” I could practically feel the vamp’s distress. He was like a mouse who thought there was cheese at the end of his fun maze only to discover a big fat cat waiting for him with its mouth open. Welcome to my world, buddy. “Let’s go, and you can get back to your Xbox.”

  It wasn’t said unkindly. I meant it as reassurance. He wasn’t cut out for this, and Henri was going to have my head. I would give it to him on a silver platter, too. I hadn’t been thinking. I shouldn’t have even brought Liv with me, and she knew what she was getting into. If I needed backup, I should have taken up Trent on his offer. He knew the score and had experience in sticky situations. My only saving grace was the fact that this situation had turned out to be a breeze. We waltzed in, and we were about to waltz right back out.

  The door at the front of the clinic opened. My day went straight to shit.

  “I don’t know how many there are,” I heard a voice saying. “It’s probably asshole kids trying to score some drugs.”

  I waved my hand for Liv and Casey to get behind me. We had some cover. The reception desk was in front of a wall of those pretty glass cubes a lot of offices use to separate spaces. Whoever was in the front didn’t see us yet. I pulled my Browning automatic. Casey and Liv knelt down behind a desk. I noted that Liv had the semi in her hand.

  “I’m going to die,” Casey said quietly. “It hurt bad the first time. Do you think it’ll be even worse this time?”

  “Buck up,” I ground out, trying some tough love. Now wasn’t the time to coddle the baby vamp. “You’re a fucking vampire. You might not like killing, but I assure you, you’re damn good at it. If you can’t help, then keep your head down and try to survive.”

  I gave both of them my most ferocious “keep your mouth shut” look and opened my senses.

  “They were smart enough to take out the security cameras,” one of them said. “Maybe we should call the police.”

  There were three of them, and they were armed. I could see through the blocks of glass. They were obscure figures walking through the lobby. I breathed in deeply. I thought two of them were human. The third made my skin crawl. Demon. I would have bet my life he was a halfling, like Gray. He would be tough, but mortal.

  I turned my attention to Liv. I held up two fingers and pointed at her chest. She nodded that she understood. I then held up one finger and made a little horn over my head. Her face fell. I knew she got the picture. Casey seemed to be concentrating. I thought he might be trying to shield. I could have told him that it wouldn’t work with the demon any more than it did with me. He’d gone to someplace inside himself, and I prayed I didn’t get him killed.

  I took a deep breath that had nothing to do with oxygen and everything to do with that piece of me that contains my wolf. My adrenaline started pumping. Part of me was thrilled at the prospect of a good fight. Instead of twitching, my body got righteously still, preserving my power and energy for the moment of attack. It was times like this that I could almost feel the change. I would never shift forms, though I’d been told tales about Hunters who managed to change their hands.

  Still, I could feel the need. I could practically feel my teeth lengthen, my limbs loosen.

  “Stop,” the one who seemed to be the leader said. “Shit. What’s a fucking vampire doing here?”

  Demons have pretty good sniffers, too. He dropped his voice. “I’m getting one witch, a vampire, and something else. I don’t like that something else. I…it feels wrong.”

  He had good instincts.

  “I didn’t sign up to fight vampires,” one of the humans said.

  “It can’t be vampires. I have to be wrong. It’s daylight. It must be something left over from the testing. You know they have all kinds of supes in here. Just calm down.”

  “We should get out of here.” There was panic in the human’s voice.

  “If you run, my master will kill you, slave,” the demon shot back. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  I walked out from behind the glass partition because it was obvious they weren’t leaving anytime soon. It was time to fight my way out. “And if you don’t run, I’ll be the one who kills you.”

  “It’s only a girl.” The second human appeared to be roughly twenty-five, and the dude worked out. He was a big, muscular guy. He slapped his partner on the back with a sigh of relief. “It’s some dumb-shit druggie.”

  The demon was in human form. He was much more slender than his human counterparts, but looks were deceiving in his case. Demons didn’t need massive muscles to be strong. His eyes went red and he took a step back, now obviously more wary than the humans. He knew I was something different, and different in our world could be deadly. “I don’t know what you are, but you better not mess with me. Do you have any idea who I work for, bitch? I have a piece of his power.”

  “I don’t care.” I couldn’t. I had to get Liv and Casey out of here. I couldn’t give a crap who this dude’s master was. “We can work this one of two ways. I can kill you quickly and walk out of here or…I can’t think of another way, sorry.”

  I had no choice. If they reported back to Winter or the Brandon guy, my cover was going to be blown. I needed to get into Winter’s place. I couldn’t risk it. I quickly raised the Browning and all hell broke loose.

  I went for the humans first. Do I feel bad about killing a couple of guys in league with demons? Nah. I was doing them a favor because at some point that shit was going to get real for them. The first guy went down without a shout, falling backward. I started moving, rolling to take cover behind the desk because now the other guy was firing.

  “I need backup at the clinic,” the demon shouted into a cell phone. I tried to shoot it out of his hand, but he was quick.

  The desk thudded at my back, thumping as they shot into it. I kind of hoped they would run out of the damn things.

  There was a brief lull in the firing, and I felt something rush past me in a great gust of speed. The door to the clinic opened and then shut again. The demon cursed and seemed to try to take out his frustrations on the desk again. I was ready to take out some frustrations of my own.

  Casey. The bastard had run and left Liv behind. He’d been quick, but I caught sight of the shirt he’d been wearing as he ran past the window. I swore if I survived this, that brat and I were going to have a long conversation.

  Casey running left me with no choice but to get this done now. I no longer could pray that Casey was smart enough to take Liv out the back. I had to get her out of here and fast. Someone was going to hear the shoo
ting. Someone would walk down the street, hear the obvious sounds of gunfire, and the cops would be called. I didn’t know who I was looking forward to dealing with less—the Dallas PD or whatever the clinic considered backup.

  Either way, Liv would lose, so I had to fix this situation now.

  “Hold her down,” the demon shouted. “The cavalry is on its way.”

  I wasn’t waiting on the cavalry.

  “Liv, you run when I give you the go!” I shouted, not waiting for a response.

  I needed to get some distance between us and the clinic. Then I would have to swallow my pride and call my uncle or Trent to pick us up. Without pausing to consider the idiotic move I was about to make, I leapt on the desk.

  “Go!”

  I put a quick two rounds into the nearest guard. The last human shouted and went down, but not before he got off a shot of his own. I felt a massive force shove me to the side. I went tumbling onto the carpet as the bullet whizzed by.

  The residual magic in the air gave the demon a momentary pause. Liv stood in the open, her palms up. She’d saved me by shoving me out of the way. Now she shook with the force of the power she’d used. The demon saw his opening. His hand was out and reaching for her.

  I jumped up and put myself between the demon and my best friend. He grabbed my arm, and I felt the power in him.

  “Bitch, this is from my master,” the demon hissed. “Jack Frost says hello.”

  I gasped as cold entered my skin and the world around me seemed to freeze.

  Chapter Twelve

  The pain was horrible. I’ve taken a lot of damage, but this was something different. Pain is usually hot, like a flash fire through my system. There was nothing warm about this. It was foreign, as though ice had suddenly replaced the blood in my veins, and the chill went straight to my soul. My arm felt like it was swelling, and for a moment I actually wanted the damn thing to burst. It would relieve the horrible ache.