Mission_Improper

by Bec McMaster

  "And how many others are there?"

  "There were six of us altogether: Ghost, me,

  Omega, Obsidian, Sirius... and X. Omega died in

  the fire. The rest of us fled when Falkirk went up

  in flames, and took new names to represent our

  rebirth. It took a while to... come to terms with

  being free. Ghost took control because he said that

  we couldn't simply slaughter our way through the

  population, or they'd turn on us." A snarl curled her

  lips. "Why should we care? We're better than them,

  all of them. But he said that even we should fear

  the people, and the way technology has provided

  them with a means to hunt us with their spitfires

  and Cyclopses."

  "So Ghost is making the rules," he said,

  watching her face. "Kill him, and... we're free?"

  Why the hell did this Ghost have something against

  Malloryn?

  Zero seemed to come back to herself. The

  distance faded out of her eyes and she turned that

  direct look upon him. "Try to kill Ghost," she told

  him, "and he'll make you eat your tongue for

  breakfast. If it were so easy, do you not think that

  I'd have done it by now?"

  "You don't seem to care for your brothers very

  much."

  "There is no blood between us. Only a shared

  experience, and they consider me to be the weak

  one." Hatred ignited on her face. "I'll show them

  weak. I'm the one with the vampires."

  Byrnes eyed the nearest creature. Its head had

  jerked up, its nostrils flaring wide.

  "What are you—?" Zero followed his gaze,

  her cool smile vanishing as she too saw the

  intensity in the creature's frame.

  Please don't be Ingrid. Or no, please be

  Ingrid. Byrnes strained against his ropes, but it

  was hopeless. There was no escape.

  Footsteps pounded along the hallway, and

  gunfire suddenly burst out in a sharp staccato.

  Both vampires perked up, like hunting hounds

  sensing prey. It would be a slaughter if he didn't

  warn them.

  "Vampires!" Byrnes bellowed, knowing that

  he'd blown his cover. "There are two vampires in

  here—"

  A fist slammed into the side of his head.

  Byrnes spat blood, trying to blink through the

  dizziness.

  "So...." The look on Zero's face boded

  trouble. "You lied to me," she said, and the way

  she said it was so eerie that all of the hairs on the

  back of Byrnes's neck lifted.

  "No, I never meant to—"

  And Zero slammed the syringe into the muscle

  of his arm and injected all of its contents into him

  with a vicious look upon her face.

  THE FIRST SCREAM tore through the asylum.

  Ingrid had never heard anything like it. She

  froze. "Byrnes." There was no way to guess how

  she knew it was him, but something about that

  animalistic sound shivered down to the very core

  of her.

  "Ingrid! Wait!" Charlie snatched at her sleeve,

  but she wasn't listening.

  All that she knew was that her man was in

  danger. The world vanished as blood rushed

  through her veins and she tore ahead of Charlie,

  Malloryn, and Gemma, just as a pair of vampires

  came out of nowhere.

  One of their heads exploded like rotten melon

  as someone shot from behind her. The other one

  launched itself toward her, claws raking the air,

  and its lean body twisting catlike as she threw

  herself beneath it, rolling in a ball as it flew over

  her—

  Ingrid came up and hit the door with her

  shoulder. It jarred the whole way through her. She

  caught a glimpse behind her of Charlie and Gemma

  parting around the vampire, moving with blue

  blood grace as they lashed in with knives. Another

  scream echoed from within, and Ingrid slammed

  into the door again.

  Malloryn withdrew a hollow-looking rifle

  from inside his coat. It looked somewhat similar to

  a grappling gun. The second he had an opening he

  fired, and a silver-tipped net shot out, trapping the

  vampire inside.

  "Go," he called, catching her eye and jerking

  his head toward Charlie.

  The vampire's high-pitched scream of rage

  pierced her eardrums as she took out her pistol and

  shot the lock off the door. Slivers of wood erupted

  from the timber and Ingrid flung her arm up in front

  of her face. The second it had settled she burst

  through the door, looking for Byrnes. He strained

  in a chair, blood dripping from a mark on his arm

  and the muscles in his biceps standing out in stark

  relief as he screamed again. There were chains

  bolted into the floor, holding him there.

  The sound shocked her. Not pain. Not fear.

  That was rage she heard in his voice.

  “Byrnes?” she whispered, sliding to a halt.

  No time to follow up. Zero came out of

  nowhere, swinging some sort of staff, with a pair

  of vampires at her heels.

  This time Ingrid didn’t hesitate. She ducked

  below the staff and came up with her fists

  clenched. Her first punch smashed into Zero’s face,

  flinging her back onto the table.

  Bitch. Ingrid grabbed a chair and swung it.

  Zero rolled off the table a second before the chair

  hit it and came apart at the legs. Then she darted

  forward, low enough to hit Ingrid around the waist.

  They both went down with a crash, one chair leg

  remaining in Ingrid's hand.

  “Fancy seeing you here,” Zero spat, locking

  her hands around Ingrid’s throat as she crawled up

  over her body.

  Ingrid tried to twist free, her air cutting off.

  She outweighed the woman by a decent portion of

  solid muscle, but the dhampir was strong.

  “You’ve… got something… belongs to… me.”

  Zero’s eyes narrowed and she leaned close

  enough to whisper, “He belongs to me now.”

  What had she done to him? Ingrid drove her

  knee up between the woman’s legs and tried to

  fling her aside, but something crashed nearby and

  then a weight hit Zero, flinging her off Ingrid with

  ease.

  Charlie. He stood over her with his gun held

  low as he tracked both the vampires and Zero. “It’s

  clear!” he called.

  A pair of vampires circled them, crouched

  low and snarling.

  The others came in firing, and Zero darted

  into the shadows. She shot Ingrid and Byrnes one

  last furious look, then turned to her vampires.

  “Come!”

  One of the vampires followed her as she

  vanished behind a tapestry hanging from one of the

  walls. The other’s gaze locked on Byrnes’s arm

  and the single drop of blood there. Only the fact

  that there were five of them in the room seemed to

  confuse it.

  “Got it!” Gemma said, and clipped it with a

  bullet.

  "Byrnes!" Ingrid took her chance and slid to<
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  her knees in front of him.

  Byrnes strained in his chains, his fingers

  curled into claws and bloodied froth spilling from

  his lips. The berserkergang died down a little as

  she saw that. Suddenly she was swimming up

  through the tides of the fury, her speed and strength

  ebbing as uncertainty overtook her.

  "Byrnes?" What was wrong with him? His

  shirt was torn, and a faint bloodied circle marred

  the muscle in his upper arm.

  Somehow he ground his teeth together, every

  cord in his throat standing out in sharp relief. His

  black eyes met hers, every trace of the man she

  knew washing away until all she could see was the

  hunger overtaking him. "Run!" he screamed, and

  his forearms flexed as he tore at the chains. The

  steel links stretched, then one tore apart with a

  clink.

  "Ingrid." Charlie dragged her back out of the

  way. "He's not himself at the moment. He might not

  recognize you."

  "What's wrong with him?"

  "I think she gave him the elixir," Charlie said.

  “We’ve got to get him out of there.” Ingrid

  strained against his hold on her.

  “We’ve got other concerns first,” Charlie

  retorted, and jerked her back sharply as the

  vampire skidded on the rug nearby, narrowly

  missing Gemma.

  Bullets retorted behind them as Malloryn spun

  to track the creature, firing five times as the white

  blur bulleted around the room. "Stand still, you

  bastard." He clicked empty, and Gemma rotated in

  front of him, a pistol in each hand.

  BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

  The way they moved showed an old

  partnership, as Malloryn swiftly reloaded then

  rotated back to point the second Gemma ran dry.

  Tracking the vampire with the pistol, he let it get

  dangerously close to him before he shot it point-

  blank in the face.

  The head exploded. Black blood spattered

  across Malloryn’s chest, but he let out the breath

  he’d been holding and lowered his pistol.

  The second he did so, Byrnes broke the

  second chain pinning him to the floor, his black

  gaze locked on Charlie. “Mine,” he snarled.

  Charlie’s face paled as he dragged her away.

  "Whatever it's done to him, it's unleashed the

  hunger within him. He might not be able to

  separate friend from foe at the moment."

  "He knows who I am," Ingrid replied

  incredulously. This was Byrnes. Control was

  practically his middle name.

  Byrnes darted toward Gemma and snatched

  her back against his chest, hissing at Malloryn over

  Gemma's shoulder as he curled his hand around her

  throat. Gemma froze, her hand locking on his

  trembling arm and her gaze meeting Ingrid’s

  pleadingly.

  “Byrnes!” Ingrid called, stepping forward

  with a placating hand. She forced herself to be

  calm. “Let her go.”

  “Jesus,” Charlie muttered.

  Byrnes dragged Gemma back a step as the

  three of them fanned out, flanking him.

  Malloryn lifted the pistol, aiming it directly

  between Byrnes’s eyes. Then he hesitated.

  "Ingrid?"

  "Don't shoot!"

  Byrnes grabbed a fistful of Gemma’s hair and

  tilted her head forcefully to the side.

  “No!” Both Ingrid and Gemma yelled.

  “Talk him out of this, Ingrid!” Malloryn's

  pistol never wavered.

  “Don’t hurt her!” Ingrid took another step

  toward him, meeting those all-black eyes and

  trying to find any hint of the man she loved. “You

  don’t want to do this, Caleb. We’re your friends.

  I’m your… your lover. This is just the elixir

  running through your veins. Zero did this. She

  infected you with whatever she herself is infected

  by. Focus on her. Not on us. Use that rage against

  her to take control.”

  Byrnes paused. “Zero,” he said in a

  shockingly hollow voice.

  Gemma squeaked, and went up on her toes as

  his fingers tightened on her throat. “Malloryn—”

  Malloryn visibly steeled himself. "Ingrid. It's

  for the best. There's no coming back from this."

  "No!" Ingrid smashed into his side as the

  pistol retorted.

  An enormous chunk of brick wall shattered

  into powder. Byrnes flinched and Gemma tore free,

  throwing herself into Charlie’s arms. Byrnes turned

  swiftly and then he was gone into the tunnel after

  Zero, moving like liquid night itself.

  Ingrid wasted no time. She wasn’t about to

  lose him.

  Not now.

  THIRTY-THREE

  INGRID LOST BYRNES in the space of five

  minutes. Scrambling through narrow tunnels, she

  finally came to a halt in a larger cavern, following

  the scent of Byrnes's aftershave.

  "Byrnes?" she called. Not a cavern, but an

  abandoned underground train station. Which meant

  she was somewhere below the asylum now, and

  the room where she'd first discovered him.

  And, as she turned in a slow circle, she began

  to realize that she wasn't alone. Ingrid jerked

  around as an ethereal ghost stepped onto the

  platform, the hairs down her arms rising.

  "So," Zero said, her boot heels ringing on

  stone as she settled into an aggressive posture. "We

  meet again. The beauty... and the beast. May the

  best woman win."

  Ingrid glared back at her, bringing up her

  hands in a pugilists position. "This is not a

  competition."

  "Oh, it is," Zero purred. "You're the only thing

  stopping him from being mine. Once you're gone,

  he'll accept the transformation."

  Ingrid took a step toward her. "You're mad as

  hatters. Byrnes is not some prize to be won. And

  you've effectively poisoned him. What if he doesn't

  survive?"

  Zero's smile faded, and her black eyes

  glittered. "I'm not mad," she stated flatly. "And if

  he doesn't survive, then clearly he wasn't worth it

  after all."

  Ingrid sidestepped the other woman's sudden

  lunge, her heart pounding. It wasn't much, but the

  sudden rage in Zero's eyes hinted at a weakness to

  exploit. What was it? The reference toward

  madness? Had to be... and they were standing

  beneath an asylum, which Zero seemed to know all

  too well.

  Warily they circled each other.

  "Your kind are filth," Zero spat.

  "As opposed to vampires?"

  This time there was no avoiding the blow. A

  fist hammered toward her face, and Ingrid barely

  deflected it, taking the blow to the shoulder. She

  retaliated with a brutal elbow as she ducked

  beneath Zero's second swing, and they came

  together with a clash. Fists punching, arms

  flailing... it wasn't pretty, and she couldn't avoid

  every blow. One slammed into her face, sending

  her sprawling to the ground, but as Zero le
apt upon

  her, Ingrid kicked up with her feet into the

  dhampir's midsection and sent her crashing off to

  the side.

  Ingrid flipped up onto her feet just as Zero

  tackled her. They hit the platform hard, and then

  they were rolling, each fighting for the upper hand.

  Ingrid landed flat on her back, the other woman

  getting in a glancing blow across her cheekbone.

  Pain exploded through her face and ear and she

  tried to lock her legs around the other woman's

  hips.

  They rolled, end over end. Ingrid felt her fury

  growing. "You poisoned him!" She slammed Zero's

  head into the floor. "You bitch!"

  "Maybe he wanted it? Maybe he was tired of

  smelling your rank scent?"

  "And maybe," Ingrid rasped, her hands

  closing around the other woman's throat, "he just

  pretended to be interested in you so that we could

  find you? You do realize there's a tracking device

  on him?"

  That sent her sprawling as Zero's eyes

  narrowed and she renewed her efforts. A knife

  flashed and Ingrid scrambled to grab Zero's arms

  as the woman stabbed down with it. Ingrid's arm

  trembled, and she grimaced as Zero forced the

  knife closer to her throat. Christ, the woman was

  strong!

  "Just die," Zero hissed.

  "N-never." Ingrid shoved her face to the side

  as she let go of Zero’s hand. The knife sparked as

  it hit the stone beside her ear, and Zero lost her

  balance just enough for Ingrid to throw the

  dhampir clear.

  They scrambled to their feet, both of them

  panting.

  One thing was becoming abundantly clear:

  she would need every trick in the book to win this.

  Zero's strength superseded her own.

  But then, Ingrid had grown up in a cage. She'd

  been used as a child to test Lord Balfour's men and

  their strength. Balfour had pushed her into cage

  matches at the age of ten, sending his men in with

  steel against her to prove their worth. Verwulfen

  strength might be an arsenal all in its own, but it

  wasn't the entirety of what she had. Ingrid knew

  what it felt like to fight men or women stronger and

  faster and bigger than she. She knew how to push

  through pain and focus on winning. And she'd been

  doing it since she was a child.

  "What did they do to you?" Ingrid asked.

  "Lock you up in here? Why? Why are you doing

  any of this?" It made no sense. Why attack the

  Council of Dukes, or the queen? What did the

  queen have to do with Zero?

  “None of your bloody business.” Zero circled