Defiance

by Adrienne Monson

  Conflicting emotions ran through her, but she knew this was the best course of action. “I’ll miss you.”

  A laugh escaped him. “Hopefully, it’ll only be one day. I’m sure you won’t miss me.”

  Smiling shyly, she hugged him back. “I guess I got used to you being glued to my side.” They pulled apart and Samantha saw Tafari’s disapproving stare. It looked very similar to Leisha’s.

  Chapter 23

  March 11th

  Leisha was beginning to feel desperate. Luckily, Mason and his goons hadn’t been back to see her in what she estimated to be about three days. She assumed that her enemy had been called away on some mission. While she didn’t have to worry about them for the time being, she was starving, her bladder was full, and she was still strapped to the uncomfortable metal slab. Her pants were still pulled down and her belly was exposed. The worst part was that when she shifted, her skin stuck to the metal surface.

  She had decided to conserve what strength she had left for when they came back. She couldn’t escape without Mason’s access card, so she had to wait for his return before she could try out her haphazard plan.

  Obviously, there hadn’t been much to do to occupy her time. She usually exercised when she was in a confined area to keep her sanity. But since she couldn’t move, this time she’d had to get creative within her mind. She’d done all the times tables, counted how many minutes between the generators turning off and then on. Leisha had tried to ignore her own body odor as it became more and more pronounced.

  She’d also tried to figure out what to name her son. Though she’d thought of several names she’d liked, she felt that it would be wrong to name him without Tafari’s input. Of course, she had yet to contact him about the child. Now she wasn’t sure if she would get that chance.

  The baby had started kicking a lot. He was getting incredibly active and was very strong. Luckily, she was a vampire and healed quickly from the damage he inflicted. Though it still hurt pretty badly. Her ribs had been broken several times, and she was surprised the baby hadn’t kick through the placenta since he’d damaged her organs time and again .

  Sighing loudly, she pointed and flexed her toes while she rotated her wrists to keep her blood circulating. She didn’t know when Mason would come back, but she had to be ready when he did.

  As if summoned by her thoughts, footsteps echoed down the hallway. They stopped right outside her door. Licking her lips, Leisha looked over at the restraint on her right arm. One of the links in the chain was just loose enough from her yanking on it over the past few days. She simply needed to pull hard enough and it should break free.

  Redhead and another guard with puppy-brown eyes entered as the door swung open, their weapons trained steadily on Leisha. Mason came behind, looking both impatient and excited at the same time.

  “Well, Leisha, you’ll have to excuse me for neglecting you.” He grinned. “Turns out you’re not the only special species on the planet.” He leaned toward her, his spearmint breath whispering on her chin. “I have new specimens coming in and I have to say I’m thrilled to discover their secrets.”

  Leisha stiffened at his words. Had the government found an immortal, or was there something else out there that she wasn’t aware of?

  “Anyway, back to where we left off, hmm?” Mason walked over to the hidden panel and the two guards held their weapons loosely, looking relaxed. “I’m afraid we’ll need to hurry. I’m completely booked today, but I need to know where my Samantha is.”

  “I already told you all that I know,” Leisha said as she squirmed against her restraints.

  Mason shook his head as he held up a new needle. Leisha assumed this one had some kind of reinforced steel coating. “You were running away from that house in Canada. You were planning to catch up with her. How would you be able to do that if you didn’t know where she’d be going?”

  “I would have followed her trail.” She began struggling against the bonds in earnest now, but was careful to not break the one on her wrist yet.

  “No, that can’t be it. She was canny enough to lose us, and we have the latest equipment and technology. There’s no way you could have followed her.”

  “It’s true! I was going to follow her scent.”

  Brow drawing up in confusion, Mason asked, “Her scent? But you don’t smell anymore. Once turned into a vampire, you lose your sense of smell and taste.”

  Though she hadn’t planned to divulge the information, Leisha couldn’t help a smile coming to her lips. “Not true. I don’t know why you guys lost those senses, but vampires have everything enhanced.”

  Eyes narrowed, he pointed the needle at her stomach. “That is a lie. When we’re through, you’ll be spouting everything you know, and then some.”

  The needle was about four inches away from her belly when Leisha used the little strength she’d reserved to pull up her right hand to snap the chain. She hit the needle out of Mason’s hand and grabbed him, using him as a shield when Redhead fired at her. The blast echoed loudly in the small room and Mason gasped as his body jolted from the impact. The bullet hit him in his back, blood already spreading through his shirt.

  Sending a warning look to both of the guards, she seized Mason’s Adam’s apple. “I realize you must be in a lot of pain right now, but you’re going to unstrap my left arm.” She squeezed his neck for emphasis. “Now.”

  Trembling fingers reached over and unbuckled the binding on her other arm. Leisha put both of her hands on Mason’s neck and sat up, her ankles still bound, and kept him in front of her the whole time. Once upright, she gestured with her left hand to the new soldier. “Toss over your weapon or I’ll snap his neck.”

  The guard glanced over to Redhead, who shook his head. When he didn’t move, Leisha shrugged and dug her fingers into Mason’s neck.

  “Do it,” Mason screamed. His voice was rising toward hysteria.

  Redhead was still shaking his head, but the guard tossed the gun to Leisha. She caught it easily, and keeping her right hand on Mason’s neck, pointed the gun at the redheaded guard.

  “Now,” she said to Mason. “You will free my legs.”

  It took little time to get them undone. As soon as the straps were off her ankles, she shot Redhead without even looking in his direction. The bullet hit him right in the heart. He was clearly surprised by it, and dropped his gun. Before his weapon fell to the floor, Leisha had taken Mason’s key card and was over at Redhead’s side, picking up his gun and strapping it over her shoulder while the man bled out behind her. Quickly yanking her pants up, she was ready for escape.

  Mason was hidden behind the other solider. The guard had his gun out and aimed at her, but it looked like he was uncertain if he should take the shot. Keeping her gun trained on the other two men, she went to the door and used Mason’s card to get out. As she backed out of the room, she pulled the trigger and hit the other soldier in the gut. Mason jumped behind the metal slab and pulled the guard with him for cover.

  Leisha fired several more rounds, hitting the man in the legs and blasting bullets into the metal slab. She could hear Mason’s heavy breathing and erratic heart, but it was more important to escape than to make sure he was dead. She wasn’t certain what kind of security awaited her outside.

  She studied the outside panel for a minute before figuring out how to lock the door behind her. A quick scan with her eyes and strain of her ears told her that there was no one else in the hallway.

  She rushed over to the elevator and pushed the button. She fixed her disheveled clothes so they fit more properly, though they were very wrinkled and crusted with blood.

  Standing there and waiting for the lift to arrive seemed ridiculous, but she had no other choice. She could feel her hands beginning to shake, but she clamped down viciously on the urge to draw upon Samantha’s strength.

  Finally, the elevator dinged. Pointing her gun at the doors, she waited for them to open. Once they did, she blinked in surprise. Tafari was standing before her�
��the last person she expected to see. He stood passively while one guard held his upper arm and two other soldiers stood close to the door, their guns trained on Tafari.

  Before anyone could react, Leisha quickly shot the man holding Tafari’s arm, hitting him in the face and killing him instantly. The man closest to her chopped down on her arm, making her drop her weapon.

  As her opponent started to raise his own gun, she punched his hands down and to the side with her right hand while simultaneously jabbing him in the face with her left. Blood sprayed from his nose but he stayed upright. His green eyes blazed with pain and anger as he lunged for her.

  Leisha swerved to the side and kicked him in the chest. Unfortunately, it didn’t have much power since she was pregnant and weak. Green Eyes rushed at her again, but this time Tafari was there. He gave an uncharacteristic growl and seized the soldier in a head lock. He pulled at an angle, and the man’s neck snapped.

  Leisha looked in the elevator to see the man she’d shot with the back of his skull gone, and the other guard was on the floor, his head gushing blood. Glancing back up at Tafari, she marveled at the storm that seemed to rage in those silvery blue eyes. “What are you doing here?” She demanded.

  Stooping to drag the one with the head wound out of the car, he answered. “I came to get you out. Samantha contacted me when you did not turn up.” He pulled the other man out and gestured for her to get into the elevator with him.

  Inside, Leisha handed him the key card so they could move. His musky scent filled her nostrils and she took a deep breath before saying anything. “Thanks for coming.” It came out awkwardly, but she didn’t know what else to say. “Is Samantha alright?”

  Tafari shrugged. “She is eating a lot of steak because she refuses to drink blood. Not that I can blame her.” He gave her an accusing glare. “I cannot believe you made her your human servant.”

  Looking away, she nodded. “I never intended to.”

  “The road to Hell, and all that.”

  Leisha pressed her lips together and then met his stare. “But I’m already going there, right?”

  She could feel his frustration in the small confines of their car. “Let me ask you this,” he said. “Did you ever intend to tell me you were pregnant?”

  Putting a hand over her large stomach, she looked down. “Eventually.” She licked her lips. “I didn’t know how to tell you. Seek you out in person, or try to call. Either way would have been hard considering how we left things.”

  “Yes, because this way is working much better, is it not?”

  Leisha tried to find a retort, but was saved when they heard the elevator ding. “What’s the security like?” she quickly asked as she gripped the gun from her shoulder.

  “Fairly light, actually. This base is so secret that there are not that many people guarding it.”

  The doors opened to show a sizable army waiting for them in a large lobby. They all had guns trained on the couple.

  “You call this light?” murmured Leisha. There must have been hundreds of soldiers filling up the two hundred yards between them and their escape. “These guys may all have heightened abilities. We’ll be lucky if we can kill half of them.”

  Appearing unperturbed, Tafari stood there looking at the soldiers. “Wait for it.”

  Some of the soldiers had their fingers pressed halfway on the triggers. Leisha could see in their eyes and hear in their heartbeats how much they were anticipating this attack.

  “We need to get the doors closed now,” she muttered softly. “Maybe we can get out through a window or something on one of the higher levels.”

  Eyes still scanning the crowd of soldiers, Tafari shook his head slightly. Leisha swallowed and tried to see what he was looking for. But before she detected anything, an explosion crashed through the front doors of the lobby, felling the majority of the men. The blast reached the elevator, and Tafari wrapped his arms around Leisha from behind to keep her steady.

  Before she could recover, he grabbed her elbow and was pulling her through the smoke. Though the blast had knocked a lot of men down, there were still enough left over to challenge them. Tafari let go of Leisha to rush at a man who was about to fire upon them. In one fluid movement, Leisha unslung her spare gun and pulled the trigger, spraying bullets in a wide arc. The smoke made accurate aiming difficult, but the room was so crowded with soldiers that she almost couldn’t help but hit them.

  Suddenly her weapon clicked on an empty chamber. Quick as a thought, she flipped the gun around and, grasping it by the muzzle like a baseball bat, she laid about her furiously, smashing in faces and cracking rib ages of anyone who got too close. Three had tried to sneak up on her from behind, but she was able to take out two of them with a combination jab and sidekick. She almost lost her balance from the move, but quickly recovered. The third got close enough to yank back a handful of her hair. She pivoted and clocked him in the jaw with her elbow, then kneed him in the groin hard enough to make him pass out.

  The smoke was beginning to clear a little, and Leisha scanned the area for Tafari while she fought off two more soldiers. She didn’t see him. The couple in front of her worked well as a team and got in a few swipes at her arms with their knives. She finally got a good hold on one and threw him at his partner . She wanted to feed on one of them, but the urgency she felt to get out of there overran her hunger .

  Just as she was turning, there was a sharp jab at her lower ribs. Leisha grunted as she heard bones cracking. Tafari came out of nowhere. “Did they get you?” he asked as he tried to move her hand away from her side.

  Shaking her head, she said through clenched teeth, “Don’t worry about it. It was only the baby kicking.” She gestured with her hand. “Bad guy.”

  Tafari quickly stepped in front of her and took little time to kill two soldiers trying to sneak up on them. Eyes wide, he glanced down at her stomach and spoke as if they hadn’t been interrupted. “I thought I heard your bones breaking.” He squinted through the smoke and grabbed her hand to maneuver through through the parts where there were less soldiers to fight.

  “You did,” she said dryly as she shot a man coming at them. “He’s real strong and tends to break my ribs at least a few times a day.”

  Had there been time, Leisha would have laughed at the expression on Tafari’s face; mortification and pride warring with each other. But the downed soldiers were already stirring from the explosion and time was not something they had. Instead, she grabbed his arm and went toward the outer doors. “So I’m assuming that you have some kind of escape planned for us, right?”

  Blinking, he nodded. “We need to get to the beach, and we will be out of here shortly.” He looked at her. “How well can you run with broken ribs?”

  “I’ll manage.”

  They fought off a few more groups of soldiers on their way out. This time, Tafari didn’t leave her side and she could tell he was trying to take on of the bulk of their opponents. She knew she should be indignant about that, but at the moment, she really didn’t mind.

  Before she knew it, they were outside. The sun was just touching the horizon, which meant that the soldiers would soon be at their full power. Leisha sighed. They were hard enough to fight off when they weren’t at full capacity.

  The parking lot they were standing in was surrounded by palm trees. A saltwater breeze brushed over them. She nodded toward a single lane road that led east “Is that where we go?”

  Shaking his head, he went in the other direction, still holding her hand. There were dozens of soldiers already coming after them, and Leisha could hear at least two helicopters nearby. As the pursuing footsteps drew closer, she tried to tug her hand free of Tafari’s so they could fight off the men. Tafari just held tighter. “Keep running. They’ll be taken care of,” he said.

  As if on cue, she saw Rinwa leap from a nearby palm tree onto the nearest group of soldiers. Leisha was running too fast to stay and watch, but she heard a good fight ensuing. It sounded like Rinwa was more than
a match for the soldiers.

  “Glad she’s on my side right now,” Leisha muttered.

  Tafari grinned. “I trained her pretty well.”

  Grinning, she responded, “Typical man, you take all the credit for her natural talents.”

  He chuckled and before she knew it, they were slowing down.

  “This is the rendezvous spot,” Tafari said unnecessarily. They were standing on a white-sand beach. There was surprisingly little debris, and clear water was lapping at the shoreline.

  Before they could look around much, a small pontoon plane landed in the water about thirty feet from the shore. Nikita called out the window. “Does she need assistance, or can you come out to us?”

  “I can help her,” Tafari called back. They walked into the water. He reached out to her when they were at waist level and fifteen feet from the plane.

  “I’m fine, Tafari,” she protested. “I can get there on my own.”

  Batting her hand away, he picked her up and kept walking. “You get to carry the precious cargo night and day. Let me have this moment for now.”

  A sudden well of emotion rose in her chest. Blinking back tears, she relaxed into his arms. She wasn’t sure why that statement affected her so much, and blamed it on her hormones.

  As soon as Leisha was inside the plane, Samantha grasped her from behind, hugging her fiercely. “I’ve been so worried!” she nearly screeched. “Are you okay? What did my dad do to you? Did he hurt the baby?”

  Leisha pulled out of the girl’s embrace so that she could settle in next to her friend and patted her hand. “I’ll be fine. I’ll tell you everything once we’re safe.”

  “And after you have fed and rested,” Tafari put in.

  Feeling sheepish, Leisha looked around. “Speaking of which, is there any food in here? I haven’t eaten in days.”

  At Tafari’s questioning glance, Samantha answered for her. “She needs real food as well as blood while she’s pregnant.” The teenager put her arm around Leisha. “She usually eats enough for about five normal people in a day, so she must really be starving right now if my dad didn’t feed her.”