‘Claire,’ Dr Wilson turned to the nurse, ‘call security now.’
Theo ignored the doctor as he scrolled through his list of contacts and dialled.
‘Mac,’ Theo spoke as soon as the call connected, his jaw clenching tightly, ‘we’ve got a big problem. Someone’s taken Olivia.’
‘WHAT?’ Mac growled from the other end of the line. ‘Where are you? What happened?’
‘I’m at the hospital,’ he relayed, ‘we had an appointment with the OB. I stepped out of the room to fill out some forms while Olivia got dressed and when I returned she was gone. Her purse is still here and there was an empty vial of sedative and a syringe on the floor.’
‘The wheelchair that is kept in this room is also gone,’ Dr Wilson interrupted.
‘Did you get that Mac?’
‘Yeah I got it,’ he answered, ‘must be how they got her out of the room. How long has she been gone?’
‘Ten minutes, maybe fifteen.’
‘Get whoever is in charge to get security to lock down the hospital. Jake’s with me now, we’re on our way. I’ll call in for back up on the way over, keep this line open.’
‘Got it.’
Theo hung up the phone and turned to Doctor Wilson. ‘The police are on their way, get security to lock down the hospital.’
‘Do you really think someone took her?’ Dr Wilson asked with wide eyes, ‘that someone will hurt her?’
‘Yes I do,’ Theo’s voice dropped low. ‘Right now Olivia and our children are in very real danger and every minute counts.’
‘I’ll get security,’ she nodded and dashed out of the room.
The wheels squeaked loudly in the deathly silence of the deserted corridor, deep in the bowels of the hospital. Sabine hummed softly to herself as she wandered along comfortably, pushing the unconscious woman in the wheelchair. She’d decided against taking Olivia from the hospital grounds, gambling that the humans would assume she’d taken her someplace else and concentrate their search outside.
It seemed to Sabine far more economical for her to keep her hidden deep in the unused sections of the hospital. She didn’t think for one second it would take long to break the witch and retrieve her secrets. She was only human after all and Sabine was extremely talented when it came to extracting information.
She’d learned from Zachary, who was known throughout hell as the little maestro when it came to torture. A brief frown marred her perfectly sculpted brow as her thoughts returned to Zachary. She’d still been unable to locate him; Hades had him locked down tightly. Shaking the thought from her mind, she returned her attention to the figure slumped in the wheelchair before her.
Budget cuts had forced the hospital administration to close off lower levels of the hospital and one of those areas happened to be the old morgue. No longer used since they’d built a new one and moved it to one of the upper floors, it had been used for storage for a while but later abandoned. It would serve her purpose perfectly. With a wide array of medical implements at her disposal and space to work, it also solved the dual purpose of not only extracting the information she required but how to dispose of Olivia’s corpse once she was done with her.
A door clicked in front of Sabine, followed by the jingle of a bunch of keys. She looked up, her eyes narrowing in annoyance as a man in a maintenance uniform stepped into the corridor ahead of her. He noticed her and nodded in greeting. Sabine smiled widely revealing perfectly straight white teeth.
‘Hi,’ she greeted him brightly, ‘I didn’t think anyone came down here anymore.’
‘They don’t usually, in fact I’m never down here but there was a fault with a fuse box,’ he replied. ‘Still, all fixed now,’ he looked down at Olivia as if realizing for the first time, something wasn’t quite right. ‘What are you doing down here?’
‘Oh nothing much,’ she replied cheerily. ‘I’m just going to torture this woman and then I might cut her heart out to give to a friend of mine as a gift,’ she laughed gaily and shrugged. ‘I haven’t quite decided yet.’
‘What?’ he replied, sure he hadn’t heard her correctly.
‘You know it’s a shame you had to pick today to come down here,’ she sighed with mock sincerity.
‘I’m calling security,’ he scowled, reaching for his phone.
Sabine reached out and suddenly his head cracked to the side with the sickening crunch of snapping vertebrae. The phone tumbled to the floor with a harmless clatter as it fell from his limp fingers and he collapsed to the ground.
Sabine glanced dispassionately down at the corpse littering the floor. She reached down and picked up the phone from the ground.
‘Be a dear and hold onto this will you?’ she dropped the phone into Olivia’s lap and patted her limp head as if she was a pet.
Grasping the dead guy by one heavy work boot she once again began to push the wheelchair down the corridor, this time dragging the dead body behind her.
‘I guess we can’t just leave you here,’ she threw over her shoulder, speaking conversationally, as if she expected the dead man to reply to her. ‘We wouldn’t want anyone to accidentally stumble over you before we’re done.’
She reached the double doors at the end of the corridor and glanced down at the chain threaded through the handles and secured with an old padlock. Wrapping her slender fist around the lock she crushed it as if it were as flimsy as a soda can. She dropped the remains and yanked the chain through the handles as the noise reverberated through the abandoned corridor. Pushing the door open, she wheeled Olivia in first before returning for the maintenance guy and dragging him into the empty room.
She left him sprawled across the cold tiled floor, his limbs protruding at an awkward angle. She barely spared the discarded corpse a glance. She wasn’t interested in him, her focus was all for Olivia who was still slumped unconscious in the wheelchair. Lifting her dead weight as if it were nothing Sabine laid her out on the metal table and looked down at her, studying her as if she were a strange and curious specimen.
‘So much fuss over such an unremarkable human,’ she murmured.
Grasping Olivia’s jaw with a firm grip she shook her face.
‘Wake up Olivia!’ she called to her in a singsong voice. ‘You wouldn’t want to miss all the fun!’
Olivia didn’t so much as stir.
Sabine frowned and peeled back her eyelid.
‘Hmmm, maybe I gave you too much,’ she mused thoughtfully, ‘but not to worry,’ she added brightly. ‘Fortunately I brought a little something with me.’
She unzipped the small black pack she had strapped around her waist and pulled out another glass ampoule but this time the syringe she drew out to accompany it was huge, with a long, wicked looking needle.
‘A shot of adrenalin should wake you up.’ She filled the syringe and ran her fingers up Olivia’s torso, feeling her rib cage and counting up the spaces in-between her ribs. Holding her fingers in place for guidance, she raised the syringe above her head, ready to drive the needle in with enough force to puncture through the muscle layer to her heart.
She’d sucked in a breath ready to plunge the syringe down when she suddenly heard a small, unexpected rattle across the room. Slowly dropping her hand and the needle down to her side, her eyes narrowed and she leaned back, trying to get a clear view of whatever had caused the unwelcome intrusion.
‘Who’s there?’ she called out warily, stepping away from the table.
There was another clang, the metallic bounce of a small metal implement being knocked over, this time from the other side of the room.
Sabine bared her teeth in a hiss of anger.
‘Show yourself.’
This time, the noise when it came, was a low feline growl. Sabine took another step back, slightly less sure of herself.
There was another ominous clatter of metal pots and dishes hitting the ground, echoing around the room. Grasping the syringe more securely in her hand she raised it in fro
nt of her body like a weapon, her eyes darting around the room warily.
The loud smash of glass had her head whipping around to her left. Bottles and jars containing gruesome looking specimens suspended in oily looking fluids, which had been left lined up on the counter, were systematically being nudged across it and dropped to the floor, as if something was slowly and methodically stalking closer to her.
A sharp unpleasant chemical smell filled the air as more containers fell to the ground and cracked open.
‘SHOW YOURSELF!’ Sabine shouted angrily.
‘You really don’t want them to do that,’ a low, smooth voice filled the air.
Her head snapped up and her dark gaze collided with an icy blue one.
‘Who are you?’ her gaze narrowed suspiciously as she studied him. Suddenly her eyes widened, ‘I know what you are.’
Sam’s mouth curved slightly but his eyes remained cool.
She opened her mouth to speak again but froze at the deep, disturbing growl right next to her ear. She turned slowly, her eyes widening as the air next to her began to shimmer and undulate. Before she could move or even utter another word the disturbance solidified and she found herself staring into a huge pair of jade green eyes. Breath gusted across her skin as the creature growled again, revealing huge pointed teeth.
It was a gigantic cat. Its jet black fur shimmered in the dim light as if it were wet. Its whiskers were long and thin, like whips, and its paws were huge. Its body was powerful and sleek, and it stood as tall as a horse.
The sudden loud sound of metal being twisted out of shape echoed within the confines of the room causing Sabine’s gaze to track slowly over to the metal table upon which Olivia slept. Either side of her body were four huge dents, each roughly the size and shape of a giant set of paws. Even as the thought occurred to her, the air above Olivia began to shimmer and this time the creature that materialized, although in every other way identical to its mate, was pure white with pale ice blue eyes.
‘What are they?’ she whispered.
‘You don’t recognize the Gata?’ Sam replied in amusement.
‘The Gata…’ Sabine breathed slowly. Her mouth tightened into a thin line, her eyes locked on the great white feline crouched protectively over Olivia’s unconscious form as it snarled at her.
‘The personal bodyguards of Hades,’ Sam answered coolly, ‘here on his express orders I presume. They will not allow you to harm her, so if you want her, you’ll not only have to go through them, but also the God of the Underworld himself…’
Sabine stepped back slowly, her eyes darting nervously to the side as the giant black Gata prowled closer to her, growling again.
‘If I were you I’d start running now,’ Sam’s voice was cool and laced with authority. ‘You might outrun them, but I doubt it.’
The impossibly large black cat opened its mouth letting loose a sound which was somewhere between a snarl and a shriek. Sabine dropped the syringe and turned, and in a swirl and flash of color she was gone. The black Gata hissed and leapt, shimmering in mid-air before disappearing too.
Sam turned carefully to the large white cat crouched over Olivia’s still form protectively. He approached slowly, his hands raised as the giant feline tracked his movements with eyes the colour of ice.
‘I mean her no harm,’ he spoke softly. ‘She’s my friend, but she could be hurt. I need to take her back to her own kind.’
The creature regarded him with serious unblinking eyes.
‘I swear I will let no harm come to her,’ he told the Gata reassuringly.
Finally something that sounded curiously like consent rumbled deep in its throat and it leapt down from the table. It circled Sam once, then twice, bumping his body none too gently with its nose. Once it had his scent, it rubbed the length of its shoulder and torso against him, almost knocking him off his feet due to its sheer size, but he couldn’t complain. He figured that was as close as he could get to a seal of approval. The giant cat sat back on its haunches and watched him, its long thick tail twitching occasionally.
Sam reached down and tucked his arms carefully under Olivia, lifting her easily into his arms. He turned back to the Gata and nodded in recognition as a kind of understanding passed between them. Then the air around him shifted and blurred. As they both re-materialized in one of the upper floors he saw Theo standing close by, surrounded by Mac and Jake, a doctor and several other law enforcement personnel.
‘Theo!’ he called out and took a step toward him.
Theo turned at the familiar voice and his heart almost stopped at the sight of his wife lying lifeless in Sam’s arms. He rushed forward and pulled her from Sam’s arms into his.
‘Olivia!’
‘It’s okay Theo,’ Sam reassured him, ‘she was sedated but I’m pretty sure she’s unharmed.’
‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ Dr Wilson rushed forward. ‘Get a gurney,’ she called to one of the nurses.
Within seconds she was wheeled into an examination room, followed by Theo, while the others hovered anxiously outside her room.
‘Sam,’ Mac pulled him aside and spoke quietly so only he and Jake could hear. ‘What the hell happened? Where did you find her?’
‘Was it Nathaniel?’ Jake interrupted.
‘No,’ Sam shook his head, ‘not this time. It was Sabine.’
‘Who the hell is Sabine?’ Mac frowned.
‘She’s a demon.’
‘Fuck,’ Jake swore under his breath, ‘another demon? Like we don’t have our hands full just dealing with one of them.’
‘This is different, Sabine isn’t like Nathaniel. He’s a demon lord, ancient and extremely powerful. In comparison to him, she is still relatively young. Both she and her sister Saffire are very highly placed followers of Nathaniel. Along with Zachary, Nathaniel’s second in command, the sisters are the only other ones Nathaniel would trust completely.’
‘Do you think Nathaniel used Sabine to get close to Olivia?’
‘It’s possible,’ Sam replied. ‘Sabine took Olivia down to the lower levels, to the old mortuary. You might want to send someone down there by the way, there’s another body.’
‘What?’ Mac replied.
‘Sabine killed someone, a maintenance guy by the looks of him,’ Sam told him.
‘Jesus,’ Mac frowned, ‘Mercy used to be such a peaceful, safe town. Now we’ve got bodies dropping left, right and center.’
‘I hate to break it to you Mac, but it’s probably going to get worse. We now have at least two demons in town, neither of which have any respect for human life. There’s also Olivia’s mom and we know how many people she’s killed, but slowly others will start finding their way to Mercy. Word is already spreading that the book has awoken and it’s only a matter of time before it’s found. It’s going to lead them straight to Mercy and unfortunately straight to Olivia.’
‘We need to get her out of here,’ Jake turned and stared at the door his two best friends were behind. ‘I’ll feel better once we get her back to her house and inside those protective wards of hers. She’s too exposed here.’
‘She’s safe enough for now.’
‘What do you mean’ Mac asked.
‘It wasn’t me who saved Olivia from Sabine, it was the Gata.’
‘What the hell is the Gata?’
‘They are a mated pair of giant cats.’
‘Giant cats?’ Jake repeated in confusion, ‘you mean like tigers or something?’
‘Something like that, only much bigger,’ Sam nodded.
‘Oh come on,’ Jake replied incredulously, ‘I think we would have heard the screaming if two giant wild animals were loose in the hospital.’
‘They’re invisible.’
‘Invisible?’ he repeated dryly.
‘Most of the time,’ Sam shrugged, ‘well at least when they want to be. The rest of the time the male, who is the larger of the two and the most fierce, is pure black with eyes as gr
een as moss. The female is only slightly smaller than him but still just as dangerous. She’s pure white, like snow and her eyes are as pale as ice. The two of them are Hades’ personal bodyguards. That he has sent them up here to guard Olivia shows how highly he places her safety.’
‘Still,’ Jake replied obstinately, ‘I will feel better when she is locked up at home safe and sound.’
‘She’ll never agree to that,’ Sam chuckled lightly, ‘you should know that Jake.’
‘She doesn’t have a choice,’ he replied, ‘and I guarantee Theo will agree with me on this. It’s too dangerous for her right now.’
‘And that’s not going to change unless she does something about it,’ Sam told them.
‘What do you mean?’ Mac frowned.
‘Olivia has to find the book, it’s the only thing that will put a stop to all of this,’ he told them both seriously. ‘She can’t do that while she’s under armed guard at her house.’
‘So what are you suggesting?’ Jake snapped.
‘That we help her anyway we can,’ he replied, ‘but at the same time, do whatever is necessary to protect her.’
Mac sighed and ran his hand tiredly over his face. ‘Let’s just wait until Olivia’s awake and then have a conversation with both her and Theo. Sam’s right about one thing, if we try to pin Olivia down she’s only going to fight us that much harder and that will end up putting her in more danger. We have to all be in complete agreement and one hundred percent unified on this, it’s the only way to keep her safe.’
‘Agreed,’ Sam nodded.
‘Fine,’ Jake blew out a frustrated breath, ‘now we just need to wait for her to wake up.’
Theo gazed down at Olivia, smoothing back the hair from her face as he watched her sleep. His hand rested atop both of her hands which were folded across her swollen belly, as if they both cradled their unborn children. The monitors next to the bed beeped reassuringly, as they not only monitored her heartbeat but the babies as well.
‘She’s going to be fine,’ Dr Wilson told him. ‘She was heavily sedated, but it shouldn’t cause any harm to her or the babies. They all have good strong healthy vitals. I’m reluctant to give her anything else that will bring her around. The best thing at this point is to just monitor her condition while she sleeps it off.’
The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum Page 167
