by Jane Cousins
Hadleigh’s scowl softened. “Don’t beat yourself up over it Rafe. This always seems to happen to me.”
“Really?” Even Drum was eyeing her speculatively now.
Vaughn didn’t like it one bit. In fact all his team mates could use a good kick in the pants, well except for …. hold on. Vaughn turned his head to stare silently at Nate and slowly one by one so did the rest of the team. The man had yet to say a word, just sat there reading a text on his mobile. As silence once again fell across the room Nate glanced up to find everyone staring at him questioningly.
“What?” He shot back, giving them all a mocking look. “Do I look like I have stupid stamped across my forehead?”
And just like that the tension left the room, laughter and noise filled the space and Hadleigh was once more just another member of the team. Taking a seat in an empty spot by Vaughn she leaned over, grey eyes still a little wary. “I don’t look foolish do I?”
Vaughn stared into those gorgeous grey eyes and couldn’t help but smile. “You look perfect.”
Hadleigh wanted to let it go but the pants were so tight, the top so fitted. “Are you sure?”
“You look exactly what you are, a badass warrior, like I said perfect.”
And the way he grinned at her, for the first time in a long time Hadleigh felt comfortable in her own skin.
Chapter Twelve
The vest did nothing to hide Hadleigh’s attributes. If anything the bloody thing lifted and shoved her cleavage right into the face of anyone who was looking her way. And the one person doing all the looking was Professor Xander Marr.
Vaughn was going to kill him.
Xander should be grateful to Maat that Vaughn and his assigned team were currently searching the attic of the Adams Morgan five storey abandoned villa. Distance was the only thing keeping Xander breathing.
The leering bastard was so distracted he kept flubbing his lines. The Professor might have been many things; vain, egotistical and narcissistic but above all else he was a professional reality TV star and he knew time was money. The more he tried not to look Hadleigh’s way the more his eyes tended to drift there of their own accord. It was a train wreck and the rest of Vaughn’s team and the camera crew were loving it.
Drum leading his two man team was investigating the basement whilst Flynn was outside checking the grounds and the roof. Every member of the team had the same equipment, so like Vaughn they were all riveted to the action being fed to them on their micro monitors by Benny and Pepsy; the two grommets that manned the cameras and cut and edited all the film. Being complete techno lovers the two at the first sign of danger would quite literally melt into the nearest piece of technology until the threat disappeared. That meant Hadleigh’s only responsibility on this mission was to keep Xander safe and oblivious to any real action that was taking place elsewhere on the premises.
Vaughn’s team had almost completed their investigation of the vast attic space when Benny finally announced they had enough useable footage of Xander’s introduction piece which set the scene for the supposed haunting that they could go mobile and head upstairs.
Hadleigh performed a quick check with the team, giving them a heads up that they were officially on the move heading up to the first floor. Her tone only sounding a little peeved as Xander could be heard on the feed provided by Benny reminding her to let him go first on the stairs, as he was the more experienced in dealing with situations like this. On their micro monitors they watched as Hadleigh froze on the bottom step and cocked her head to the side. “Hey did you just hear something?”
Xander swung around so fast he almost broke an ankle at the top of the stairs. “What?” He cleared his throat and asked in a much more normal pitch. “What did you hear?”
Hadleigh waited a beat. “It was probably nothing.” With her hair back in a ponytail, her cap low and sticking to the shadows she looked like a pin up gal for a swat team pictorial.
“I thought I heard something too.” Benny piped up, obviously fighting hard to keep the laughter out of his voice.
On the screen Xander’s eyebrows dipped ever so slightly which was for him the equivalent of a deep frown thanks to his frozen in time forehead. “Well we’ll just take things slow and cautious then. Maybe we’ll get lucky tonight and get actual proof that the ghost of Meredith Fox still walks these halls seeking vengeance on her married lover who bought about her untimely death.”
Only Vaughn and his team heard Hadleigh’s derisive mutter under her breath. “Yeah lucky.”
It seemed that their newest member was not impressed with her babysitting job. Not that any of the team were likely to see much action tonight. This rambling abandoned mansion, isolated from its neighbours by a ring of dense hedges had been chosen more for its dark ambience and sordid history than any real looming threat. They saved the real action for the off book, off camera missions. Still Vaughn and all his team were professionals, they stayed sharp and they knew what indicators to look for.
“I have a rune.” Flynn’s voice came over the secured comms.
Vaughn halted his team. “Come again Flynn?”
“There was some disturbed dirt in the south-west corner. Did some digging and found a rune, sending you a picture now.”
The team flicked their screens over to look at the photo. “Marcus?”
“Yeah I’ve got it.” There was a pause as Marcus studied his screen.
Vaughn was impatient, he didn’t like surprises, he especially didn’t like them on missions with Xander and the cameras present. “Is it a shield to keep something nasty out?” He asked, wondering if the previous occupants had been magic practitioners.
Marcus ignored Vaughn’s question. “Flynn, I need more info. There will probably be others. Check out the other corners of the property.”
“Roger.” Flynn affirmed he’d heard the request.
Whilst they waited on Flynn they all listened as Xander led Hadleigh and the camera crew into what at one time would have been the ballroom. It was kind of eerie listening to him recount how police determined that Meredith Fox was first attacked in that room, stabbed in the stomach before she made a futile dash through the house trying to escape her attacker, the man who had been her lover.
“Got another one.” Flynn’s voice cut through the silence of the team comms line. “Sending it now.”
A minute passed, then two. Finally Marcus spoke. “Shit. Okay we have a potential problem. These runes don’t keep the nasties out, they keep something nasty in!”
“Define the nasty?” Shot back Vaughn.
“It’s not specified on either of the runes Flynn has found so far. There’s probably a centrally located one that holds the focus and will have the species written on it.” Marcus supplied.
“The focus ruin, will it be in the house?” Drum’s gravelly voice asked.
“Unknown. Best place for it if the four corners of the property of the estate are marked would be the roof.” Marcus postulated.
“I’m on it.” Flynn’s voice sounded sure and steady.
“Okay.” Vaughn started issuing orders. “Dash make a hole and get out on the roof as well. Hadleigh keep Xander distracted, we’re on our way to your location. Once there we’ll escort everyone out and off the premises until we can do a full sweep.”
Vaughn took off at a run, Nate close on his heels. They were on the stairs, between the third and second floors when there came a dull roar, as if the earth was being torn asunder. The house shook and groaned, dust falling in a steady cloud, their strobe lights working extra hard to cut through the gloom. Vaughn was about to request an update when there came shouts and a tremendous crash. The threat had yet to be determined but this mission had just been officially upgraded from cakewalk to a five alarm.
Vaughn with Nate dogging his heels joined Drum, Marcus and Rafe at the open double doors of the ballroom. The house continued to shudder beneath them and there came the sound of breaking glass from somewhere deeper in the house.
; “Maat, what’s going on?” Vaughn yelled at Drum for an update. “Where’s Hadleigh?”
“They’re in there.” Drum pointed across the room.
Vaughn went to move past his second for a closer look but Drum fisted a hand in his vest yanking him back. Away from the massive whole in the floor, that gaped wide and descended past the ground floor all the way to the basement. The edges of the hole were charred and in some spots still smoking.
“What are those things?”
At first Vaughn didn’t know what Nate was referring to, then he saw them; three of them, clinging to the shattered remains of what once would have been the chandelier. They were like small black monkeys, if monkeys could be made of black rock with bright orange veins running across their shells. Those veins reminded Vaughn of lava and from the smoking floor boards he was guessing he might not be far off. They chittered like monkeys, glowing strangely in the near dark.
Drum shook his head. “No idea but a minute ago they were the size of my fist.”
Vaughn squinted, trying to see the creatures better through the haze and smoke. They were now the size of small dogs and appeared to be growing. The chandelier swaying and starting to pull away from the ceiling.
There was no sign of Benny or Pepsy but through the strobe lit room he could make out Hadleigh and Xander huddled behind what looked like a painting, no wait, it was a mirror that Hadleigh had managed to yank off a wall. It appeared to be working as a deterrent keeping the lava monkeys at bay, at least temporarily. Though Xander appeared to be struggling and it was all Hadleigh could do to keep the man still and shielded by what limited protection the mirror provided.
“They look like fire monkeys.” Nate commented, firing a couple of bullets into one of them.
It barely took its focus off Hadleigh and Xander long enough to turn and spit a gob of fire towards the doorway. The burning wad fell far short, disappearing into the depths of the house.
Marcus rolled his eyes. “We’ve tried the guns already Romeo. Bullets don’t seem to hurt them.”
“They seem fixated on Hadleigh and X.” Rafe followed up with his observation.
“Probably like the smell of X’s aftershave.” Nate groused.
“Oh for Goddess sake.” Hadleigh’s exasperated tone came over the secure comms line. “Find some water to put out the Drexel. And you.” They watched Hadleigh yank Xander down closer to the ground and practically sit on him. “Stay still, you make a break for it they’ll swarm you.”
Vaughn looked at Rafe. “Find some water stat.”
As Rafe hurried away there came the sound of a muffled whomp and fresh smoke billowed up from the basement. Seems like the flying spit had ignited Maat knows what down there.
“This whole house is going to go up.” Vaughn turned to look at Drum. “I need to get over there.”
Drum nodded. “Marcus and I can throw you over.”
“We’d better hurry.” Marcus was in the process of tying a rag around his nose and mouth. “That chandelier is coming down.”
They all looked at the chandelier. Where it wasn’t burning or melting it was slowly being pulled away from the ceiling, edging ever closer to the floor. Once those Drexel touched down the rest of the floor would be toast.
“Do it. I’ll throw Benny and Pepsy back over then help Hadleigh wrangle Xander out of here.”
Vaughn lay on the floor, allowing Drum and Marcus to pick him up by his ankles and wrists. With three big swings they launched him across the gaping hole in the floor like an acrobat. He managed to tuck and roll but still his landing was far from graceful. At least he was across.
Grabbing the two cameras he tossed them back over the divide to Nate. Who would make sure the cameras got safely outside and coax Benny and Pepsy out of hiding. The Drexel continued to ignore him in favour of chittering, spitting and general arm waving in the direction of the mirror. They were the size of Rottweilers now but way uglier.
Ignoring his instinct to immediately go to Hadleigh’s side to help Vaughn instead turned and headed for the boarded up windows. Finding one that had a couple of boards with some give in them he started to pound away at them using the heel of boot. One gave way on his first kick; the next two took some time. “I have an exit Hadleigh. Can you sidle on over here and bring Xander?”
“On our way.” Hadleigh voice sounded rough and smoke affected.
Vaughn monitored the Drexel whilst Hadleigh crab walked sidewise, holding the mirror and dragging a still struggling Xander. The Drexel appeared really excited now that their prey was on the move. One lost its hold on the drooping chandelier hitting the ground with an audible thunk and sizzle. Smoke immediately pouring out from underneath it. Great the bigger they got, the hotter they got.
Okay this was going to hurt, Vaughn was poised to launch himself between the creature and Hadleigh when suddenly the floorboards beneath the Drexel gave way and the thing dropped out of sight. One down, now causing havoc on the ground floor below, two immediate threats to go.
“I found it.” Flynn’s voice on the comms could barely be heard over the roar of the basement fire. “Repeat, I found the focus rune.”
Everything seemed to happen at once. Rafe had discovered some water and hoses, Drum using one to spray the two remaining Drexel from the doorway with a torrent of water. They hissed and sizzled, immediately beginning to shrink in size under the onslaught. At the same moment Xander stumbled, causing Hadleigh to lose hold of the mirror which crashed to the floor irretrievably smashed.
“Break it. Break the focus.” Marcus’s voice instructed, slicing through the chaos. Suddenly a physical wave of magic crashed across the room, causing the house to shake and sway for a moment beneath them as the Drexel let out a throaty shriek.
Everything seemed to speed up for Vaughn as he raced over to help Hadleigh drag Xander over to the exit point. The floor beneath them visibly beginning to smoulder in new spots and sag in others. The fire from the basement must be eating away at the ground floor and nipping at their toes.
“Out, everyone out.” Vaughn instructed. Gesturing for Hadleigh to go out the window first. “I’ll hand out Xander.” He’d just managed to get an unconscious Xander out through the hole safely into Hadleigh’s arms when the floor gave way beneath his weight, sending him plummeting down to the ground floor below.
He landed badly, on his back, on top of something sharp. With the wind knocked out of him he was finding it hard to breathe and see, as smoke and flame surrounded him, prickling his skin and irritating his eyes. It would have been nice to just lie there for a minute or ten and get his breath back but there was no time. The floor beneath him was too hot and already making groaning noises in protest at his added weight. If he stayed there much longer he’d end up in the basement inferno. Mentally he knew he had to move. Physically he was finding it hard to get going, something was wrong with his back. He was just contemplating the painful idea of rolling onto his stomach and maybe using his knees and hands to get up when the front door flew off its hinges and there through the dense haze came Hadleigh.
With five strides she was standing over him, grime staining her face and neck, ashes in her hair. Reaching down she pulled him to his feet, dipped her knees slightly placing him over her shoulder in a fireman’s lift.
He tried to protest. No way could she haul him out of here, she should call for Drum. But between the smoke inhalation and the pain he could barely manage to take shallow breaths let alone speak. Then she straightened her legs, taking all of his weight. The pain was excruciating for a split second but praise Maat she was actually hauling his ass quite literally out of the fire. He really did love this woman. It was the last thought he had before blacking out.
Chapter Thirteen
Vaughn drifted in and out of consciousness. His first coherent thought being that he was back in his room at the Washington DC base, lying face down on his bed. One of those lava monkeys was sitting on his shoulders, gnawing at his back, sending white hot pain through every n
erve ending he had.
He drifted for a while, maybe passed out again. The next thing he knew he was listening to female voices. That wasn’t right. But one of the voices was familiar ... Hadleigh! He managed to roll his head slightly to the side and there she was. Emerging from his bathroom, her hair wet, wearing nothing but one of his t-shirts which hit her about mid-thigh.
He revised his whereabouts, maybe he was dead and this was heaven. He tried to turn his head to get a better view but excruciating pain lanced through his back freezing him in place, his gut churning, his breath coming in shallow gasps.
Next time he opened his eyes Hadleigh was kneeling before him, her face only inches from his. He hadn’t imagined the t-shirt but now her hair was practically dry. How long had he been out? That thought fled from his head as she bought up a hand cupping his cheek gently. “You need to stay still.”
He tried to speak but his throat was so dry he could only manage a tiny affirmative dip of his brow.
“How is he?” Hadleigh redirected those clear grey eyes, addressing someone standing behind him.
“As good as can be expected, considering I’m looking at bone here in places.”
Expecting to hear Drum’s voice Vaughn was startled at the soft feminine reply, it caused him to jerk. Hadleigh immediately placed firm but gentle hands on his bare shoulders to keep him in place. He fought to stay conscious as another wave of intense pain gripped him. Note to self, don’t bloody move.
“Hey, what don’t you understand about staying still?” Hadleigh used her stern voice on him, despite the pain it kind of turned him on.
“No doctors.” He managed to croak. Was she mad? There was no way a norm doctor should be here treating him. How would they explain his recovery rate?
