by Hickory Mack
The elevator door opened, and they walked confidently down the hallway, past the steel door containing the fox. Elsie didn’t even glance at it as they walked by. She hadn’t felt anything from the monster in days. It was like he’d given up.
They rounded the corner and Frost growled, lunging forward. Frida leapt into the air, changing into her alebrije form and taking on a painfully bright glow. Shots rang out, too many to count, and Elsie fell to the ground, pain in her stomach and chest.
She pulled an orange dart out of her skin as she felt her magic withdrawing deeper and deeper inside of her. When she reached for it, there was nothing, and she very nearly panicked. She finally knew what the dampener did, how it had helped the hunters catch a six-tailed fox. If this was the same stuff they’d used on him, there was no point in fighting. She’d never be able to overcome a serum the fox couldn’t.
Her cuff grew hot as Frost tried to enter it, but he failed. She looked up in bewilderment to see Angus Cornick standing over her, a disappointed expression on his face.
“I heard rumors that you’ve been spending a lot of time in front of the screens, but I’d hoped they were wrong. I’m so very disappointed. You know, I’d really hoped we’d be able to work together amicably, Miss Chantraine.” He removed Saint’s mask and smiled. “I do have to thank you for bringing this one back to me. He is a beautiful specimen. To be honest, I was quite cross to learn you’d put him down without even considering returning him.”
“Don’t you dare fucking touch him,” Elsie slurred, her tongue feeling thick, but Cornick acted like he hadn’t heard a word she said.
‘Don’t listen to him,’ Saint ordered, but his voice was faint, and her vision was getting blurry.
“Speaking of Cross, we already have him in custody. We don’t yet know the depth of his relationship with you, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon enough.” He straightened and motioned the men with him forward.
‘Change, Saint. Change NOW! Before you lose the ability, hide inside your demon. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry!’ she cried. Her vision was going dark, but the last thing she saw was the steel gray of his fur as he managed the change back to his hound form. The last thing she heard was Cornick screaming in rage.
‘I promise, Saint, I’ll come for you.’
She had no sense of time. The only moments she was lucid was when the attacks on her organs yanked her from the fevered dreams induced by all the drugs they were pumping into her blood. They weren’t giving her the elixir anymore. During those moments, she wondered if they were going to find a new reaper to turn into their slave. She wondered if they were going to let her die. Then the attack would stop and the dreams would come again.
Elsie couldn’t feel Saint or Cross, but she couldn’t search for them anyway. There wasn’t a single coherent thought in her head for days on end. Then, suddenly, it was over. She sat up in the bed she was loosely cuffed to, her head pounding. Someone had broken through her gate from the outside. Someone strong enough to cause serious problems for the hunters.
A stranger stood over her in a lab coat, pushing a syringe of fluid into her I.V. as she looked at him blearily. They’d injected her with three times the elixir she was ordinarily given, plus the counter to whatever the fuck they’d been drugging her with.
“What happened? Who opened my gate?” she asked groggily.
“Your services are needed. Mister Cornick will be here shortly to explain what’s expected of you and what precautions have been taken.”
That made some sense. This person was just an orderly. She looked around the room, blinking hard to try to clear the sleep away without being able to rub them. Reaching within herself, she sought out her bonds with Saint, Cross, and Mouro, but she couldn’t feel any of them.
“Did… Did Cornick kill my demons?” she asked, a heavy feeling of dread in her heart.
“I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
“The demons and the witch are still alive. It seems they’re worth more to us that way, at least for now. We intend to use them to ensure your cooperation,” Cornick answered, coming in through the doorway. “They’re very loyal to you, it would seem. It doesn’t matter what we do. Not one of them will speak a single word.”
Elsie clenched her teeth, her hand balling into a fist, but when she called her magic, it wasn’t there. She could feel the ghost of it waiting just beyond her reach.
“I’m here because we’re in a bit of a predicament. We weren’t going to wake you for three more days, or, one day on Earth. We wanted you to open the gate so we could go fetch ourselves a young woman, but as it turns out, she came to us instead,” Cornick said, his voice tightly concealing his emotions.
“Here is the agreement I am going to make with you right now. We will restore your magic to you and agree not to kill the three who seem to be so important to you, so long as you behave yourself and obey my orders without question. I recognize that bringing you here was a mistake, and we will begin the process of finding a new reaper to work with us. Once we have one, you and your creatures will be allowed to leave,” Cornick spelled out.
Elsie’s heart thumped in her chest. He only had three of them, which meant he didn’t have Frida. “What happened to my cat?”
“That I don’t have an explanation for. It flared up in a light so bright nobody could see anything, and then it was gone. I’d very much like to study that thing,” he answered with a resigned sigh.
Elsie frowned. She’d never seen Frida do anything like that before. All she could hope was that the alebrije had gotten away. “What is it you want me to do?”
“To start with, take a shower and get dressed. You smell terrible. Then you will accompany me to the last gate and bring us into Worldbase B,” Cornick stated.
“Why? I thought it wasn’t in use.”
“It wasn’t until now. We haven’t had a need for it.”
“What’s the need for it this time?” she questioned. He looked at her as he pondered whether or not to tell her.
“We have our hands on someone who is a bit of a... treasure. Someone we can use to wake the fox demon. They must be kept in separate dimensions when we are not using her to rouse him.”
Elsie felt her mouth drop open. A woman had tracked them from over a thousand miles away then broken through her gate to get to the fox. It had to be his mate because she couldn’t think of anyone else who would do such a thing.
“Why do you want to wake him up so badly?” she asked.
“We cannot take his magic until we get him to use it,” Cornick answered. “He is far more heavily drugged than you were, but we bring him to a base level before working with him each day. He could wake up, but he chooses not to. The girl is the key to changing all of that.”
The girl is the Key. Those words reverberated around in Elsie’s head. Wren had told her the Key was in the same forest they’d found the fox in. What if the Key and this girl—
“Are we in agreement?” Cornick snapped, cutting off her train of thought.
“Prove to me they’re alive and unhurt, and I’ll do it.” If they brought her to them, she could portal to them. As soon as she had her magic back, she’d break them all free.
“I was already prepared for a request like that,” he said. He held up a handheld screen she hadn’t noticed before. She’d been too busy glaring at his well-hated face. Turning the device on, it showed a room so dark she could barely see the outline of a man on a table. It was smart of them. She couldn’t portal to a place she didn’t know. “He can hear you. Go ahead and speak.”
“Cross?” she guessed, praying that Saint had managed to fully change.
“Chantraine?” he croaked at her, and she could see him struggling against his restraints. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Gods damn it, are you okay?” she asked.
“I’ve been through worse,” he chuckled darkly.
“That’s good information to have,” Cornick spoke, and Cross shut down. “Moving on to the
next one. I’d wager you won’t get as much out of him.”
The next room was just as dark, and there was a canine shape breathing steadily on a much larger table. She couldn’t tell which of them it was.
“Precious?” The growl that answered was exhausted and the wrong tone. This was Saint. “Growl again if you’re okay. Stay silent if they’ve hurt you.”
A short pause, then a soft growl. He was lying. The stubborn jerk was lying to protect her feelings. He was hurting and probably terrified. The tears poured down her face now.
“Wait for me,” she said, a world of promises in those three words. She would come for him, and the hunters would fall.
The screen shifted again to another dark room, where a pair of glowing red eyes stared at the camera. “Precious, pay close attention. We’re going to take care of this. They won’t hurt you anymore if I just do what they say, so we need to work together. I’ll see you as soon as I can.”
She could only hope he caught on to what she was saying. She’d do her best to get them out of this, but he had to fight too. If he could break himself free and come to her, they had a much better chance together. His bright red eyes blinked once, and he let out a long sigh. Message received.
“Satisfied?” Cornick asked, turning off the screen.
“I am, for now.”
“Wonderful. Now do as I told you. There are armed guards outside of your door, and you don’t have any magic, so don’t try anything stupid. If you behave yourself, we won’t have to continue drugging you,” he said, as though he were doing her a favor in even mentioning it.
The orderly unbuckled her hands and followed Cornick out while she rubbed her wrists, looking around. They’d let her keep her rooms but had swapped out her comfortable bed for a hospital bed and taken away everything else that had made the place so inviting. Elsie opened the wardrobe and found that everything was still inside. She grabbed the first clothes her fingers touched and dragged herself into the bathroom to shower.
Turning on the water, she brushed her teeth before getting in, catching her reflection in the mirror. There was no self pity in her pale lavender eyes. All she saw was the rage boiling under the surface. Holding her hand out in front of her, she attempted once more to call her magic, but nothing happened.
She’d give up her magic for a connection to her mates. Clutching at her heart, she closed her eyes, reaching out to them, begging any of them to answer her. Elsie was met with silence.
Frida was missing, her staff was gone, and she had none of her mates at her side. For someone so used to being alone, she decided she hated everything about it. She wanted her men, she wanted her woman, and her cat, and even her wolf. She loved them, all of them, and she’d make sure she let them all know how she felt the next time she saw them.
Her fist closed over the pendant around her neck. It had been silent the whole time, giving her no indication that Wren had returned. Elsie had no way of knowing what day it was, either here or on Earth. They’d fucked up her ability to keep track, and the equinox could have come and gone for all she knew.
Getting into the shower, Elsie washed quickly before getting out. But as she got dressed, she realized that she’d chosen her clothes all wrong. Walking back into the bedroom, she found one of the outfits Wren had picked out.
The shorts were crazy short, barely covering her ass. The top was gauzy and loose with long sleeves, but it was a high crop top, leaving her middle bare. It showed off the pale scars she’d accrued during her time as a hunter and how toned her body was. Adding her pair of knee-high boots, she threw her wet hair in a high ponytail and raised her chin high.
She’d go out there with confidence. They weren’t allowed to make her feel like shit about her life. She’d take back what was hers and feel amazing in her own skin while she did it.
Her hair was still wet when she opened the door to the hallway outside. A pair of strangers stood outside, and they didn’t bother trying to hide their surprise at what she was wearing. Elsie stared at the wall across from her, sending the clear message that these people were unimportant and beneath her notice.
One of them led the way while the other followed behind, taking her back down to the bottom floor, where the final gate stood. There was a crowd of people standing around the gate site, and most of them were heavily armed. They were guarding a gurney, packed so tightly together all Elsie could see was a flash of pale skin.
Almost every set of male eyes turned her way, but she ignored them all. She’d dressed for herself, not for these assholes. Walking up to the gate, she stared at it in silence until Cornick approached with another orderly.
“We’re going to give you the counter that will return your ability to use magic. If you do anything stupid, you’ll get a front row seat to one of the demons’ death sentence, understand?” Cornick said gruffly.
“I do.”
The orderly gave her the shot, and the change was almost immediate. For a moment, the release took her breath away. Her fingers and toes prickled like they’d fallen asleep as her magic swirled through her body.
Pain rooted into her chest as her bonds came roaring back into her awareness. Saint and Cross felt so distant it was nearly crippling. Fucking Cornick must have them severely drugged as well.
She could feel Mouro far more clearly, though he was in an entirely different dimension. Elsie had an overwhelming urge to go to him. His power was immense; he could help her take back her mates. She waited to be handed her staff, plans falling into place in her head. She wouldn’t help them bring this girl into the next dimension. She’d use it to get to her mate.
Then one of the guards subtly shifted to the side, and she got a look at the girl lying unconscious on the gurney. She was tiny, with long dark brown hair and dainty, almost fairy-like features. This was the girl who belonged to the fox, and she was stunning.
The guard shifted back, taking away her view, but not before she realized she recognized that girl. Elsie’s memory flashed back to that day with Saint. This was the girl happily hitching a ride on an incubus’ back. The witch they’d spent so much time looking for was here, and so very alone.
Fuck, Elsie raged internally. Why the hell did it feel like every time she’d come to a firm decision, the universe threw some new complication in to screw it all up? She would have to add this girl to her escape plan. Elsie thought about the number of guards around the girl, plus her own guards, and calculated that taking the girl now meant she was about to get shot no matter how fast she moved. She couldn’t do it. The likelihood of making it out of here without serious injuries was far too low.
Pissed off and tired of waiting for her staff, Elsie raised her hand in the air, calling out to it with her magic, and it responded. The shaft of her scythe fit perfectly in her hand. Several of the guards muttered, and Elsie looked at the staff in surprise.
The weapon had never been this delicate for her before, but it matched her mood. Dark and angry, the blade reflected a blood red with black runes etched along one side. The shaft was black as well, with silver designs inlaid all the way to the bottom where a thin spear jutted out. It looked like it would snap with the slightest impact, but Elsie could feel the truth.
The Staff of Sanaia wasn’t quite awake, but she was coming closer to awareness. She was singing with latent power, virtually indestructible. Elsie glanced back at the girl one more time. Was she really the Key? Was that why the staff was awakening? Didn’t that mean this tragically beautiful child was her sister?
She could ask those questions later. This one girl could hold the answer for everything. Cornick claimed she would wake the fox, but he planned for it to be done on his terms. Elsie was going to help this witch child do it her own way.
By helping this girl, she would find her mates and destroy the hunters in one fell swoop. All she had to do was play along for a little while longer. Elsie twirled her scythe, knowing she had to make a decision and stick to it. Go find Mouro, or stick with this girl, who looked all too
fragile and innocent to make a difference. Looks were deceiving. She remembered how much power that group had been giving off.
Slashing the scythe through the air, her magic tore open a hole from one world to the next. Elsie stared at the gate balefully, then glanced back at the men surrounding the girl.
‘Sorry about this, kiddo. I’ll visit you soon, and we’ll take back our men together,’ she thought to herself. Two men dressed in maintenance uniforms went through first to prepare Worldbase B, and the gurney was pushed through right behind them.
“You’re going to stay right where you are,” Cornick said. “Security and other staff will be moving their things to their new living quarters. The gate will remain open until all personnel are accounted for and accommodated.”
In other words, they weren’t going to be taking their eyes off of her. No more wandering around the compound or watching cameras at her leisure.
Elsie held her scythe in both hands, bored out of her mind as hours passed. Half an hour could go by without a single person coming in or out of the gate, and she was expected to just stand there. She spent some of her time daydreaming about the many ways she could kill Angus Cornick.
At some point, a woman approached, carrying a brown paper bag and a water bottle, both of which she handed to Elsie, then walked away without a word. Inside was a sandwich, some carrots with no dip, and a fruit bar. No more delicious chef’s food for her. She already knew there was no point in complaining that they were in breach of their agreement. It no longer existed.
She was completely dazed out when one of Cornick’s grunts returned, holding a case with syringes. Elsie glared at the woman. If Angus Cornick thought she was going to voluntarily let his people take her magic for a second time, he was delusional.
“It is now time for you to close the gate. You are to be brought back here tomorrow afternoon. The subject needs time to recover before experimentation begins. You will once again be expected to stand at your post while Mister Cornick sees to his work,” she said. Her voice was so unnervingly pleasant and even, as though nothing in the world could faze her.
