Kimberly was stunned, trying to free herself from Sloan, but her actions were groggy and uncoordinated. Sloan jumped on the chance and begin sending strikes from both fists to Kimberly’s head—that she could now reach.
Something was happening inside Sloan as she punched over and over again. Not quiet anger, but a fury she didn’t know took over. Sloan’s fists battered against the gargoyle’s face, and blood flew through the air in tiny sprinkles of red.
Sloan was lost in a mad frenzy, until she felt her own blood trickle down her lips. She paused to reach a hand to her mouth. Something was off, but she couldn’t quite place what was wrong. Sloan’s right pointer and middle fingers moved past her bleeding lip. She touched her teeth. Canines larger than normal met her fingertips and sent a shiver of the unknown down her spine.
“What, what kind of an abomination are you?” Kimberly sputtered through a mouthful of blood.
“I—I don’t know.” Sloan forced her mind away from whatever she was becoming. She raised her right hand into a fist again. “Do you surrender?”
Kimberly’s face was a mess of cuts and bruises. Her warrior spirit was raging against her obvious defeat. Sloan knew the gargoyle wouldn’t surrender.
“We can call it a tie if that makes you feel better.” Sloan held her fist cocked in case her opponent decided to try anything. “All I want are my friends to go free. I don’t care about winning.”
Kimberly’s dark slate grey eyes took her in once more. There was knowledge in those eyes; yes, fury, but a controlled fury that spoke of not only her ability as a warrior, but also as a leader.
“You’ve won.” Kimberly let out a huge sigh. “The sun will be rising soon anyway. You can have your friends.”
Sloan fell more than moved off her position on top of the gargoyle. She landed on her back beside Kimberly with a heavy thud. Exhaustion would be the best word to describe how she felt. Her body was sore, her muscles screamed with fatigue.
There was no time to think of what she would do next as Edison, Oliver, Elwood, and Kimberly’s two guards ran into the ring to aid the combatants.
“You did it!” Oliver ran to Sloan’s side. “Are you injured?”
“I think—”
Before Sloan could get any further into her sentence, the sound of pounding boots met everyone’s ears. Kimberly’s backyard was surrounded by tall, stone walls at least six feet tall, though that didn’t seem like a problem for the New Hope soldiers as they climbed over the barrier like ants.
Sloan struggled to her feet, trying to discern how many there were. She had seen a handful in the bar with Kade, but it seemed that had been only a small portion of their number. No less than twenty soldiers climbed over the wall. All of whom were equipped with long-barreled rifles, pistols, and sabers.
“Grrrrr.” Kimberly fought her way to her feet with the aid of her two guards. “Seymour was supposed to be on lookout duty. I’m going to skin him when this is over.”
“In the name of Queen Eleanor Eckert of New Hope, you are commanded to surrender yourselves for questioning,” a gruff voice shouted.
Sloan recognized the voice. It was the same soldier she had seen in the bar—Tensor. She got a better look at him now. Past the muzzle of his gun trained on her, his uniform was emblazoned with her own previous rank: captain.
It was clear they were surrounded. Fresh, Sloan had no doubt she would be a match even for this number, but being barely able to stand made her rethink her options.
“I’m not going anywhere with them,” Kimberly whispered to her men. “Anyone taken by the queen never returns. Are you with me?”
The two guards nodded to her.
“I propose an alliance for the time being.” Kimberly turned her battered face slightly toward Sloan. “After we survive the soldiers, we can pick up where we left off.”
“There may be another option.” Sloan put her pinky and pointer finger of her left hand into her mouth, and whistled.
Chapter Twelve
Jack
“Help! She needs help!”
Jack pounded on the thick door providing the only entrance and exit to their room. Their plan was risky at best, but what other options did they have? Staying as a prisoner wasn’t an option.
Jack slammed his curled fist against the door over and over again. “She’s choking, someone help us!”
A heavy click met his ears as someone on the opposite side released the lock.
“Stand away from the door!” a rough male voice ordered.
Jack obeyed, positioning himself away from the door. He took a place next to one of the two beds in the room.
A second later, two soldiers entered. They both wore the black-and-grey uniform of New Hope. Both of them were also clearly part of the Vampire Project. Their skin was an unnatural pale white, their eyes pigmented with a hint of red.
“Here, here.” Jack pointed to the bed where Abigail lay in a crumpled ball. “Help her, she’s choking on something.”
Both soldiers rushed to the bedside, looking down on a pile of pillows stuffed under the blankets to take the shape of a person.
At once, Abigail removed herself from her hiding position between the wall and the open door.
Jack had slowly made his way to the unlocked door as the two guards ran to take a look at the supposed choking victim.
Then, Jack ran at an all-out sprint. He knew he had a second, maybe two, before the guards understood what was happening and moved to block their escape.
Abigail was already through the door when Jack reached it, but the new vampire soldiers were too fast. He could feel hands grabbing at his shirt as he crested the threshold of the door.
Fear of being dragged back into the room seized at his heart. The dreaded sensation of panic overwhelmed his rational thought. Pure desperation forced him to keep moving despite the hands grabbing his shirt. With a loud rip, Jack was into the hall, and Abigail slammed the door behind him, throwing the bolt in place in one fluid motion.
Jack stopped his forward momentum just in time to avoid slamming into the wall. His pounding heart matched the beating of the door that had been their prison seconds before. The two guards in the room were yelling and hammering with abandon. Despite their strength, the door held. Apparently, Leah Noble had thought of everything.
The sounds echoed through the hall.
“We need to get out of here.” Abigail grabbed Jack’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Jack allowed himself to be led. Still shaken by their narrow escape, something tickled the back of his mind. Thus far, their getaway had been perfect, too perfect, like it had been planned on both ends. But that was crazy. Why would they be permitted to escape?
“Jack! Jack are you listening to me?” Abigail stopped at the end of the hall where two paths intersected. Neither one of them led up; one was a hall to the right, the other a closed door on the left. “Which way?”
“I don’t know.” Jack reached for the power inside that separated him as a wizard. The familiar warm feeling appeared like a long-lost friend. Whatever wards Leah Noble had put in place had been contained to the room where they had been held captive. Jack summoned a green flame of magic in his right hand and focused on the way out. Nothing entered into his mind but the idea of escape and the need to find the correct path.
The fire in his hand didn’t move either way. Leah Noble was right. Jack’s powers were infantile compared to her own. His magic had been curated for a single purpose: to track and capture paranormal creatures in the Outland.
“I don’t know.” Jack lowered his hand in frustration. The green flame extinguished. “I can’t tell.”
“The hall, then.” Abigail didn’t hesitate. “We need to keep moving.”
Jack took off at a run behind Abigail, not for the first time admiring her decisive nature.
The hall they followed twisted around a corner. A staircase appeared in front of them, leading up to the main floor of the palace.
“This feels wrong.” Jack
jogged to keep up with Abigail as they began climbing the staircase. “Why was it so easy to escape? Why aren’t there more guards patrolling the area? Why did this staircase appear exactly when we needed one?”
Abigail came to a halt. Both wizard and the warrior-in-training took a moment to think on the validity of Jack’s words. The winding staircase that one moment held so much hope for their escape, now seemed sinister, almost begging them to crest the next step.
“You’re right.” Abigail placed her hands on top of her head. She interlaced her fingers, trying to regain her breath. “But what are we supposed to do? We have to go forward. We can’t go back.”
Jack looked around the still room. Stonewalls met the stone stairs, mage lights burned in outlets along the wall. Long banisters that fell from the ceiling sported the queen’s sigil: a black bat in front of two crossed steel swords.
“What are we supposed to do?” Jack repeated Abigail’s words out loud. The hair rose on the back of his neck as shiver ran through him.
At once, a cold breeze snuffed out the mage lights that had burned so diligently a moment before. Jack and Abigail were lost to stumble in the utter darkness.
“I wonder, I wonder … why a little sorcerer and a little warrior would think escaping from a prison I put them in would be so easy.” Leah Noble’s voice drifted up to them from somewhere below. “There will never be escape for you two. I will send my vampire soldiers to hunt you down and bring you, or your bodies, back to me.”
“Run,” Jack whispered as he fumbled for Abigail’s hand in the darkness. Once his palm touched hers, he grabbed onto it as if both their lives depended on the grip.
Abigail interlaced her fingers in his as they stumbled their way to the top of the staircase. More than once they fell, but when one went down, the other was there to pull him or her up and spur them forward.
Jack’s knee slammed into a hard stone step in front of him, and a shock of dull pain rushed over his wound. Hot, fresh blood poured over the new laceration.
“You’re making my job too easy.” Leah was so close somewhere behind them in the dark, they could hear her heavy breaths. “A fresh blood trail to follow? How have you two survived this long on your own?”
Jack slammed face-first into a door he couldn’t see. More blood gushed from his nose. Water filled his eyes, not that he could see, anyway. Both Jack and Abigail maneuvered their hands over the door in the darkness in a panicked state.
Abigail found the latch, throwing open the door. The light of the recently risen sun blinded them both. Falling over one another, they ran to their freedom.
“Run, run while you still have legs!” Leah Noble’s voice filled the space behind them. “When I get my hands on you, I’m going to make you wish you had never been born.”
Chapter Thirteen
Leah
“A bit overdramatic, don’t you think? I mean, the whole ‘spooky witch’ thing, really?”
Leah allowed the purple magic swirling around her to fade as she left her magically projected form and returned to the balcony with Queen Eckert. She rolled her eyes at her older sister.
“Kids these days expect everything to be a bit dramatic. It’s how they see the world. Besides, I think I did a great job.” Leah flipped her long, dark hair behind her head. “They were second-guessing themselves on the stairs. I guess I did make it a bit too easy for them to escape. I’ll have to remember that for next time. But look at them run! It’s a bit amusing, you have to admit.”
Leah looked out over the balcony attached to the rest of the palace. The secret stairwell she had encouraged Jack and Abigail to escape through let out into the palace’s back garden. Both witch and queen were given the perfect view of a bleeding Jack and Abigail making their way through the garden and to the rear gate. The soldiers who were normally on duty were still there. It would give the two a better sense of satisfaction that they had actually evaded capture if they were chased a few blocks into the city.
“And you’re sure they’ll lead us to Sloan?” The queen followed her sister’s gaze to the retreating figures. “Remember—”
“I know, I know.” Leah took her eyes off Jack and Abigail’s backs. “Captain Charlotte Sloan is to be captured alive. What you see in that girl is beyond me, but I must admit, if the reports on her escape are true and she is as strong and as fast as they say she is, then she’ll make a great test subject.”
“No, Sloan is not to become one of your pets.” The queen motioned for her younger sister to follow as she made her way into the palace. “You have enough anyway. Reassure me that we didn’t just let those two escape.”
“Don’t worry.” Leah followed her sister through the palace halls and to one of the many other outside balconies. “I have them being tracked now and they’ll lead us to the others. In fact, we might have already found them. There are reports coming in from a small city called Term that might prove to be your rogue captain and her pet wolf.”
“Good. Continue to monitor the situation and let me know if you find anything worthwhile.” Queen Eckert stopped in front of another pair of double doors that would lead out to a balcony that faced the front of the palace. “I have a little surprise for you, dear sister.”
Leah Noble rubbed her hands together in glee. She tried to get a peek through the windows in the door, but all she could see was the rising sun on the horizon. She looked at her sister up and down for an explanation.
The queen wore clothing as different from her own as the darkness was to the day. Leah Noble was dressed in a long, black dress with a low-cut top void of sleeves. Her sister wore a pure white dress with diamonds set in the sewing and a diamond crown to match.
“Don’t keep us in suspense.” Leah grinned. “Besides, I have a training appointment to keep with Elizabeth. She’s progressing through her exercises quite well.”
“Oh, yes the little Ahab.” The queen smiled. “Moving forward on all fronts. I like that. Well, while you’ve been training your apprentice and staging the escape, I’ve been busy, myself.”
The queen threw open the doors, revealing a side courtyard lined with rows and rows of soldiers standing at attention. There had to be at least a hundred present, all in their uniforms, all carrying weapons and ready to be deployed on a whim. Leah looked over the gathered show of force, feeling let down.
“Uh, I’ve seen our military strength before.” Leah raised an eyebrow in her sister’s direction. “Is there more, or should I get back to work?”
“Look closer.” The queen smiled. “Do you notice anything different about these soldiers?”
Leah walked to the edge of the balcony, intrigued once again. She crossed the stone ground, coming to rest against the stone railing. Her hands made contact with the cold surface as she leaned out to try to get a glimpse at what her sister saw.
The soldiers did look different somehow, maybe a bit bigger. Then, like a cold bucket of water, the real difference slapped Leah in the face. She turned to look at her sister, not believing her own eyes.
“I thought you said Edison Reeves destroyed the vampire elixir when he escaped the palace?”
“He did, and he even took the plans with him on how to make more. Likewise, Doctor Livingston destroyed his own storehouse of the elixir, but in his haste to escape New Hope, it seems he was a bit eager and forgot to also destroy his copy of the blueprints.”
“You were able to make more.” Leah tore her eyes from her sister to admire the ranks and rows of the vampire super soldiers. “How many? How many have you managed to turn?”
“We have a hundred that have completed the transition, with another thousand to be given the elixir by the end of the week.” The queen joined her sister at the very edge of the balcony. “But once again, I need your help.”
“What is it?”
“We need them to be stronger and faster, as strong and as fast as Sloan. When she escaped, she dispatched our vampire soldiers like normal humans. We need to figure out how she was altered.”<
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“I’ll do it.” Leah let her long fingers drum on the railing as her mind already went to work on the problem. “Jack and Abigail are being tracked. I can use half my days to train Elizabeth and the other half on our new problem. I’ll need more test subjects.”
“Whatever you need, dear sister.” Queen Eckert placed her hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Nothing can come between us and our plan to unite the Outland. The faster we can make these super soldiers and the stronger we can make them, the faster we can begin our invasion.”
Chapter Fourteen
Sloan
Everyone stood still as Sloan’s whistle died in the presence of the still air. The soldiers surrounding every side of the triangle ring looked at one another uneasily.
“There’re twenty rifles pointed at us now.” Sloan looked over to Kimberly. “Don’t do anything rash until help gets here.”
“Help?” Kimberly looked at her confused.
“All right, then.” Captain Tensor took a step forward, confident in his victory. “Hands on your head, step down from the ring, one by one.”
Sloan did as she was instructed, lacing her fingers together and resting them on top of her head.
“Sloan, what are you doing?” Edison did a double take. “We aren’t really going to surrender to these guys, are we? They’ll have us shipped back to New Hope in a second.”
“Trust me.” Sloan began to walk forward. Maneuvering her body through the ring ropes was a bit awkward with her hands on her head, but with difficulty she managed. Every move of her legs and torso reminded her exactly how sore she was.
“Just like that.” Captain Tensor coaxed Sloan forward. Finally, lowering his weapon, he held out a pair of chains. “Thought you were being clever when you turned your back on queen and country, did you? Well, look where it’s gotten you now, you stupid child.”
Any regret Sloan had in her heart for what atrocity was going to soon befall the captain and his soldiers was snuffed out like a candle in the presence of a storming gale.
The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5) Page 41
