Scion's Freedom (Siren Publishing Classic)

by J. Annas Walker

  “That’s the idea. Never show off too much. Let them underestimate you. It may be your only chance,” she quoted. “Well, that’s what Father always said anyway.” She gave him a few moments more to appraise her in this new light. “There is something else. I have Erica’s thumb drive.”

  “Well, well. Aren’t you full of surprises? Why not tell me yesterday?” Both hands were now on his hips.

  “We were…ah…sidetracked. I am telling you now, however. Want to see what is on it?”

  A smile spread across his face. He was like a small child in a candy store. The glee at a possible clue practically dripped.

  “I’ll be right back. I’ll just grab my laptop.”

  He ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. True to his word, he returned in a few minutes toting a padded black backpack. Another few minutes passed as he booted it up. The USB stick glided into the port. Opening it revealed a number of files. Some were photos. Others were documents. Two were videos.

  “What shall we open first?”

  She did not get the chance to answer. The phone rang. David took the stairs at a lope, again. Cassy could hear him huff a bit as he reached the top. By the third ring, he answered it.

  “Hello?” He waited on the caller to respond. “Oh, damn! I’ll call you on the secure line later.” The receiver slammed down. She could hear him run toward the basement door. “Cassy! Grab what you can and get up here now!”

  She knew that edge in his voice. Erica had had it a few times. It meant trouble was not far behind. Tossing the laptop back in the bag, she decided to use her speed. Finding her shoes took a few seconds and a few more getting them tied. In under a minute everything essential was packed into the backpack. It would be easier to carry than the overnight bag. She scooped his wallet up from the floor where it had dropped out of his pants. Streaking up the stairs, she ran into him at the top.

  “We really have to stop meeting like this,” she teased. Looking down she noticed he had on running shoes, but they were untied.

  “This is no time for jokes. Mills says we may have only minutes to get out of here.”

  “Upstairs! Come on!”

  “No. We need to get out of the house now!” He grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her to the back door. She did not budge. Instead, she tugged him to the stairs leading to his bedroom. “Why are you going up here? We’ll be trapped,” he complained.

  “No, we won’t. They will expect me to be in the basement. You are a justifiable casualty to them. We will get out by letting them underestimate us.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “We’ll be able to see them coming up the drive. Trust me. This isn’t my first escape. Remember?” She gave him a confident smile. Her fangs slid into place as she did. “You aren’t the only person to see me be all moonlight and magnolias.” A chilly laugh followed. In it was her potential. They were dangerous, but so was she, when the need arose.

  He relaxed and followed her to his bedroom. Out the dark front window Cassy could see several large, black SUV’s making their way up the long, gravel drive without the use of headlights. She was willing to bet they were all operatives sent to retrieve her. Going to the back window, she opened it and the shutters. Slipping the backpack onto David’s shoulders, she gave him a wink before disappearing into the dark. Spider-like, she made her way over the guttering.

  “Cassy,” he hissed. “Where are you?” From the steep roof, she leaned back into the window, hanging upside down. He jumped back. “Oh, my God! Don’t scare me like that! How the hell are you on the roof?”

  “It’s a talent. I can climb walls, too. Tie your shoes, and give me your hand. I’ll pull you up,” she said. She extended one hand back into the room. “Trust me. I won’t let you fall. You’re going to hang on to my back.” She heard them park along the tree line. “Hurry! You’re out of time!’

  He took her hand. Before he could object she yanked him out of the window and up onto the roof. He flattened himself against the steep incline, trying not to look down. She kept one hand on him and one flat on the shingles. Nudging him with her elbow, she motioned with her head to get on her back. He made his way into position. He was much taller than her but managed to wrap both arms around her body. He dug his toes into the edge of the gutter. It gave a little creak but held.

  “When they break in the door, hold tight. You may want to close your eyes,” she whispered as loud as she dared.

  Below, she could hear men taking up standard issued points. The trees were very close to the house here. She was sure they would not think to scan the branches. No one seemed to remember to sweep the roofline when dealing with vampires. She heard someone pop the top on a smoke grenade. Someone gave the command, “Three!” The front and back doors burst in, allowing the team access to the house. In a rush of bodies and boots, flash-bangs went off. Cassy pushed off hard, pulled David’s legs up around her waist by the knees, and leapt from the roof into the nearest massive tree. Using the branches like thin balance beams, she walked across the width of the tree’s canopy. As she prepared to leap into the next old growth tree, David gave a gasp.

  “How the …you just…I…” he stammered under his breath. His grip faltered slightly.

  “Shhh! We’re not safe yet,” she whispered. “Keep your eyes closed and hold on tight. Don’t worry about hurting me.” He clamped his arms down like a vise, pulled his long legs up higher over her waist to lock his ankles in front of her, and buried his face between her shoulder blades.

  This time she lightly ran, leaping when the limbs became too thin to hold her feet. The next tree took her weight easily, but shook a little. Without waiting for the shaking to cease, she ran across it at top speed. Three trees later, she stopped and hugged the trunk. Listening hard, she heard heavy boots on the wooden back porch.

  “No, sir, no one is here. They bugged out. We can’t find fresh tracks around the house. They’ve been gone for a while. The car is here with a cold hood, but he could have had another.” There was a pause. “Yes, sir, I understand.” The phone flipped closed with a hard flap. “All right men, we’re out of here. The target is not in sight.” More boots ran across the wood floor and to the SUVs. Doors slammed and engines roared to life. They were gone.

  Chapter 8

  “Can I look now?” The whisper was so quiet, she wasn’t sure she heard him.

  “We have to get out of this tree. If you hang on a few more seconds, I’ll get us down. It’s going to feel like you are falling, but don’t worry. You’ll be fine,” Cassy said. “On three. One. Two. Three!”

  She turned loose of the trunk, stepped out into space, and dropped nearly thirty feet. The ground flew to greet her. The soft earth flexed under foot. Having David’s large frame made her off-balance, but she compensated by shifting one foot back and widening her stance. She felt him lift his face to look up.

  “It’s so dark, I can’t see the branches. How high up do you think we were?” He let go and landed with an ungainly flop onto the ground. Sprawled out, he just sat there regaining his bearings.

  “Oh, I don’t know, twenty-five or thirty feet. The question is where we go to from here. The house would be a bad idea. They may have left bugs. Dawn will be here in less than two hours,” she thought aloud. She extended a hand to help him stand. A small tug and he was upright once more.

  “There is an old abandoned gold mine shaft nearby. It used to cause my grandmother a great deal of stress. She just knew I would be buried alive in there. There’s a logging road that leads right up to the entrance. We can hide out there until sunset, at least,” he suggested.

  “What will you do for food? Water? A coat? It’s too cold for you to be out here unprotected for much longer,” Cassy said, her voice full of worry.

  “It’s my bug-out place. You know, in case of another Fall. There are plenty of supplies in there. It’s not glamorous, but it’ll get you by in tough times. Let’s get hoofing. It’s not far, but it’s not easy either,
” David warned.

  She gave him a smile and a wink. “My dear fellow, I just ran through the treetops carrying you. Do you not think I can hike a well-laid trail?” Her playful tone and phrasing had been out of date for almost a century, but it had the effect she wanted. He grinned back. It was nice to see some things never changed.

  “When you put it that way, I guess you can. Would it be too much to hope you brought a flashlight?”

  She reached into the outer pocket of the pack he still wore. From it, she withdrew a lighter and a spare pair of socks. With a sigh, she slipped the socks over a dry, large, downed limb to make a torch.

  “I remember the days when flashlights didn’t exist. This won’t last long, so let’s get going.”

  David ventured further into the woods. After a few minutes, they came to a red clay road ridged with heavy ruts. Huge tires laden with tons of centuries-old cargo had trudged through the mud. The scars were deep and permanent. Now dormant, the forgotten path led to safety.

  When the torch began to give out, the sky was already starting its transformation from deep black to dusky shades of golden pink and purple. David used the extra light to help find the hidden entrance. What appeared to be an evergreen bush was really a prop disguising a small wooden door. David lifted this out of the way. With a grand sweeping gesture, he bowed and presented the entrance.

  “Welcome to Ashe hideaway. Right this way, miss. Watch your step and your head. We’ll get the door closed tight before turning on the lights.” He pulled the door back into place and latched the side bolts. His hand glided up the wall until a clicking sound brought on the overhead lights. Then he lifted a thick metal bar and slid it into brackets that were attached to either wall. No one was going to be able to open the bushy door from the outside.

  “You have electricity here? What happens if the grid goes down again?” Millions had been sent unprepared back into the Dark Ages in a matter of minutes when the national grid collapsed. Generators lasted only until the fuel ran out. It took over six months to begin bringing the grid back online. Rural areas, such as these, were the last to receive power.

  “After the last time, my family had solar panels with some pretty serious battery storage systems installed. As long the sun shines, we’re good to go,” he reassured her. “There’s a year’s worth of food and medicines. At the back of the mine shaft is a flowing stream. We could be here for a long time and be fine.”

  Cassy gave him a doubtful look. He had not thought about everything. A human would be fine. What about a vampire? No sun was going to get inside, but what about fresh blood? The blood bags in the pack were going to run out in a few days. They were going to have to think of something fast, and she knew it.

  “Well, it seems there is nothing to worry about for the moment,” she lied. Unease rocked her stomach. The bond hated the lie. It sickened her, made her dizzy. She kept steady and gave a slight smile when he looked alarmed. “I’m fine. Just need a rest, I think. Maybe we should get a look at the thumb drive before anyone visits us again.”

  “Good idea. Down the shaft to the left is a bedroom. You can lie down and still look at the laptop. I’m going to get a few blankets out of storage.” He pointed the way and left.

  The room was small. The double bed filled most of the space. There was a chair to one side and nightstand to the other. On it were a few small family photos in simple frames.

  When David had mentioned an abandoned mine, this was not what came to mind. She had expected dirt floors and crumbling walls pockmarked with small animal burrows. She had expected a hole in the ground, a damp, musty cave. This was far from her imagination. The ceiling had been reinforced with concrete. The walls were painted block. Overhead light fixtures made the place seem downright homey. It was a little Spartan, but it was, after all, a converted mine shaft.

  Cassy sprawled out across the unmade bed. From the bag, she pulled out the laptop and booted it up. The light blinked, and the screen flashed. It woke up, whirled as if stretching, and seemingly yawned to life as the fan noise died down. The prompt waited for a password.

  “Oh, good, it wasn’t damaged. I was worried our romp through the foliage might have broken it.” Looking from one side to another, his brow creased. “Where is the memory stick? Please, don’t tell me we lost it in the woods.”

  She sat up and dug around in the bag. “No. It’s in here. It wouldn’t fit sticking out of the side. I packed my shirts around everything to pad it all out. There are two bags of fresh blood in the side pockets. Those need to go into a fridge soon.” Her hands worked at a rapid pace unpacking, searching for the all-important memory stick. She found it tucked into one of her shirt sleeves. “Ah-ha! There it is!”

  David inserted it into the USB. The icon popped up with a dinging bell sound. He opened the first file he came to. Photos of strangers taken from a distance circulated on the screen, a woman having lunch with a dark-haired man in a suit during the day, the same man mowing his grass in shorts, the man picking kids up from school. The next photo made Cassy gasp. The man was beaten, bloodied, and laid out on the pavement staring with eyes that no longer saw. The next set were similar but of a fair-skinned woman with her hair in a tight bun. The end results were the same. In all, eight people were stalked and killed. Cassy was appalled at the deaths and with herself. The sight of all the blood excited her as much as the bodies disgusted her. Her fangs had slid down without her notice. David closed the file.

  David asked, “Did you know any of the victims?”

  “No,” she whispered. “No, I didn’t.”

  “These were the first eight, two elves and six werewolves in as many states. The MO changed afterward. The beatings continued, but the cause of death switched to gunshot, except one.”

  “Erica.” It was all she could say. The ring had reeked of dried blood. She was the only vampire out of more than two dozen victims. “How…?” She choked.

  “Silver stakes were pinned to the wall where her hands would have been. The ashes pooled in the middle of them on the ground held a single oak executioner’s stake,” he said with reluctance. There was a brief pause while he reflected on what he had just told her. “I shouldn’t have told you that. Why did I tell you that?”

  “We are bonding into a mated pair. I felt it begin last night. I wasn’t positive it was the real thing, but I am now,” she confessed. It felt good, as if the knowledge held a burdensome weight that needed to be shared. “It’s time for bed.” She yawned.

  “I should be angry with you, but I can’t be. The thought of being tied to one person forever has always bothered me. I always thought I would be a permanent bachelor. Now, I don’t want to be away from you. Is this love or magic?” The rambling sounded more like he was thinking aloud. He made it sound as if one was exclusive of the other.

  “Aren’t they one in the same? Neither can be explained. Both just happen. Most of the time, the consequences are completely unfore…foreseen.” She stifled another yawn.

  “Maybe. I think I’ll stay up and look at more files.”

  She lay back down. He tossed a blanket over her. “Happy dreams, Cassy,” he whispered and kissed her forehead.

  “Happy dreams,” she whispered back.

  When Cassy woke, there was a sudden sensation of panic, of something lost. David wasn’t beside her. She looked around the small bedroom and even checked the floor. He wasn’t there either. She inhaled deep, hoping to catch his scent. Most of the smells were of Earth and dampness from the running stream somewhere further down the shaft. She could tell he was still in the shelter.

  A whirring noise and the aroma of blood heating gave away his location. Cassy wandered into the kitchenette and sat at the table for two. A kettle of hot water occupied a trivet by the other seat. A cup of instant coffee sat waiting for him to return. When the microwave stopped, he presented her with a warm cup of blood.

  “Good morning or evening, really. Sleep well?” David took his seat across from her and began sipping on hi
s coffee.

  “Yes, thank you. Did you get any sleep? You look tired,” she commented.

  “A little. I stayed on the couch. I didn’t want to disturb you. Some of those files are hard to slog through.”

  “Find anything useful?” The metallic taste hit her tongue as she took the first sip. It made her notice how hungry she was. Careful not to chip the cup with her fangs, she drank in large gulps. It occurred to her she had fed only once the day before. Scolding herself, she resolved to go back to having one large meal a day until the crisis was over. The smaller servings were more for the appearance of being more normal, more human, anyway.

  “I think so. Everything seems to come back to a single source. The more I read, the more I realize there is an organization, but the real power comes from one person. I just don’t know who,” he said. A pained shadow passed over him. He was starting his second cup when he noticed hers was empty. “Want another?”

  “Yes, I think I will. If we are going to be on the run, I should eat more at a time. You know. Just in case we have to leave in a hurry, again,” she explained.

  “Good idea,” he agreed. “Now. Who would have the resources to have this many highly trained people working for them?” He refilled her cup and put it in to heat.

  “I should have thought of this last night. Were there any witches among the dead?”

  “No. But until recently, there were no vampires either. What are your thoughts?” He returned her cup to her. She drank it slower than the first, taking time to enjoy the flavor.

  “Most elves live in another dimension and just come here to work and play. Werewolves live in small groups to reduce the risk of having two alphas fighting over the pack. Shape-shifters tend to live alone or in pairs. Fairies, sprites, and the like are not usually major players. Right?”

  “You’re right. But we already had this worked out from the list of victims. We assumed vamps and witches weren’t being targeted because they live in covens or kisses. You two were the exception and became targets. Where are you going with this?”