by Helen Scott
Every muscle in my body tenses. “I’m going to go somewhere…just with you? Is that safe? Shouldn’t at least a couple of them come?”
For a second, he gives me such a scathing look that I’m sure he’s not going to answer me, but then he says, “As soon as they ferret out the rats, you’ll come right back, safe and sound.”
Dragon clears his throat. “Sir, I’m not much good at ferreting out assholes. How about I come along and--?”
“This isn’t a discussion, and I’m not wasting any more time sitting out here pissing in the wind. Let’s get this done, so we can get her back here and know she’ll be safe.”
Striker looks back at me, his expression unreadable. “Go on then, Dani.”
I surprise myself by shaking my head. “I don’t want to go with him.”
The Prez comes to stand between the bikes, towering over me. His face is unreadable with the moon behind him and his face cast in shadows, but his voice comes out gentler. “I know you’ve been through a lot, but now that you’ve drank demon blood, you’re one of us. We’ll get you your cut and explain more to you, when it’s safe, but right now the most important thing for you to know is that I’m in charge here. No one questions me. Not because they never want to, but because we’d never get anything done if we had to debate every decision. And right now, we’re all exposed. If we keep standing out here, I have no doubt we’ll bring trouble, and if we go inside, you won’t be safe. So, I need you to trust me. This isn’t our first rodeo.”
I release a slow breath. I guess if I’m going to join this club, I’ll have to be like the guys, badasses who didn’t listen to anyone…except this man. “Okay.”
My body feels stiff as I climb off. I look at all the guys, but can’t tell what they’re thinking as I follow Prez to his bike. We both get on the bike, and I look to the guys one more time. All have blank faces until I look at Phoenix. There’s something in his eyes, something in his face, that tells me that he’s not sure about this.
The bike rumbles to life beneath me, and I have to hold on or get thrown off as we tear out into the night. I look back at the guys and the compound, and regret makes it hard to breathe. There aren’t many things I’m sure about in life, but that I’m safe with them is one of them. I only hope this Prez knows what he’s doing, and is tougher than the four of them, or else we might find ourselves in even more trouble, and with no backup to help.
28
Dragon
Striker slams me against the wall, and I punch him hard in the side of the head. When he staggers back, I don’t stop, even though I hear Phoenix shouting at me. I hit him in the stomach, then kick his legs out from under him. Leaping on top of him, my hands close around his throat, and then pain flashes through me, and I fall back from him onto the floor, gasping for air.
“Calm the fuck down,” Striker pants, standing over me, one of his gloves in his hands.
Of course he wants to me to calm the fuck down. The second I’d tried to follow after Dani, Striker had taken my keys. He’d driven into the compound, while I chased him. Crash and Phoenix had trailed slowly behind me. Striker had walked into the building like he hadn’t just screwed Dani, and I wasn’t having any of it.
“You’re a bastard,” I say, gasping and sitting up, ready to fight again.
“If you had followed Prez, he would’ve had you killed, either because you disobeyed a direct order or because he thought you were the leak.” Striker sounds calm, which only pisses me off further.
I get to my feet and shove off the wall, heading straight for him. My twin is between us in an instant, and he looks so upset that it throws me off for a second.
“We’re all worried about her.”
“Like hell!” I shout, and then turn my glare onto Striker. “You think the blood cursed you for no reason? Nah. It cursed you to give pain because you’re not capable of feeling it.”
“Then what does it mean that it made it so you manipulate emotions?” he asks, lifting a brow.
I dive for him again, but my brother shoves me back, surprising me with his strength. “We don’t have time to fight amongst ourselves. We need to find the leak and get Dani back.”
My mouth opens to argue, but Phoenix continues, “You’re not the only one who cares about her.”
I chance a look at Striker, and there’s one second where his expression matches the way I feel, and then our eyes meet, and the look vanishes. Something about that moment, it calms me down. Striker is the VP. Usually he shows absolute loyalty to the Prez, but in that second I’d needed him to show me that he cared about the woman too. He’s never going to be the guy to say it, but I needed to know it.
Pacing away from them, I rub my mouth, my thoughts running over the night.
“We need to be smart about this,” Crash says softly.
Yeah, it’s true that I’m the guy to punch first and ask questions second, but I can be smart, and I know exactly where to start. Turning, I head for the elevator.
“What are you doing?” my brother calls after me.
I flip him off, then use my card to get into the elevator and leave them all staring. My heart is racing as I go down to the room with all the computers we’d confiscated from the lab that had taken Dani. Phoenix had told me all about the nerd who was compiling a document with info. If there is any way we’ll have a chance at ferreting out the leak, this is it.
When the elevator doors open on the ground floor, two men are waiting on the other side. Two members who I can’t quite recall, which probably means they aren’t supposed to have access to this level. My gaze goes from the big blond goon to a man with dark hair and dark eyes. My hands instantly tighten into fists.
“You don’t look familiar.”
The blond grins. “We’ve been gone for awhile.”
“Well, I’ve been here for awhile…”
Blond’s grin falters. “We were out at the east coast base. Prez called us home, since there’s been so many member deaths.”
We did have an east coast base. And it did make sense not to leave us vulnerable right now. Still, these guys make me uneasy. I go to move past one of them, as they walk into the elevator, when the gun in his holster starts to glow red. Before I know what I’m doing, my hand snaps out and I grab it, then back out of the elevator.
The man jumps and spins to face me, and there’s a threat in his eyes. “I believe that’s mine.”
I hold his gaze. “Try and take it back from me.”
The elevator dings, and I wait, eyeing both men. Waiting.
“You’re Dragon, right?”
I nod, still waiting. But the elevator doors close and neither of them moves to take the gun. When I hear the elevator heading for the top door, I look down at the gun in my hand. All of this feels…too convenient. Being ambushed today. Prez taking Dani. The two strange men. And now, a Chosen Weapon almost leaping into my hands.
The gun has a pearl white handle and looks old. There are carvings on the side of it I recognize, but I’m not sure from where, and the barrel is longer than a modern gun’s. I have this feeling I could stare at it forever if I let myself, but the thought of Dani makes me jerk my gaze away.
Clicking on the safety, I hide it in the back of my pants and put my shirt over it. I can figure out the gun any time. For now, I need answers. Heading down the hall, I find the room with the computers and swipe my card. The doors open…onto a massacre. Blood paints the walls, dripping down, and I see the head of the young member on the ground, and his body parts thrown all over. I grit my teeth as bile rises in the back of my throat and pull out my phone.
Phoenix’s voice comes down the line a second later. “Calmed down already?”
“That Whiz kid. He’s dead. And two strange bikers just left the restricted area.”
He swears.
“Find them, and let’s get these bastards.” Then I hang up the line.
The computers and electronics have been smashed against various walls. But still, when I step over the
pieces of the man, I go around collecting the computer pieces, then try to get them put back together the best I can. Holding my breath, I flip on the computer switch. The exposed motherboard sparks, then smokes. I curse and unplug it.
We won’t be finding any answers here.
On the desk, Whiz had laid out sticky notes in a ridiculously anal way. Most of them just said experiment numbers and a brief description. But in two spots, the notes are missing. Leaning down, I try something that’d worked for me before and hope it works again. I breathe out over the spots, and the writing appears on the desk, even though it’s hard to read.
My eyes narrow, and I pull the table lamp over closer. The first spot says Dani’s experiment number and her name, then scribblings I can’t make out. The second one says a number I’m not familiar with, followed by a dash and the words, “Only other survivor.” There are more words in smaller writing, but no matter how I look at them, I can’t figure out what they say.
I stare at the spots. Someone destroyed this room, killed the man, and took these sticky notes. I can understand why anything about Dani needed to be removed, but what about the information on the other survivor? Why was that important to hide? And were they talking about someone we didn’t know or…
Jumping to my feet, I head out the door and down the hall. I swipe my card again, and the door slides open into darkness. A chill rolls down my spine, and I enter the room, clicking the light switch, but the lights don’t come on. Reaching for the gun at my back, I feel it almost humming as I click off the safety and creep into the room.
Someone has me in a headlock in seconds, and he grabs the wrist with the gun, his hands like stone as they tighten around me. “Who the fuck are you?” he growls. “Where the fuck am I?”
He’s breathing hard.
I’m breathing hard. “Let go of me.”
His arm tightens around my throat, and his voice is low and dangerous. “Not a chance.”
My thoughts focus to a point. “We’re the people who saved you from the lab. Only you and Dani survived.”
“Dani?” His tone changes and his grip lessens ever so slightly. “I saw her there. She was never awake, and then they used the angel serum on me and…I was gone too.”
“Angel serum?” What the fuck is he talking about? Demons exist. Angels are bullshit.
“Yeah.” He sounds confused. “They didn’t know I heard them, but they were trying to make some kind of angel-hybrid, but the humans always turned out to be twisted and wrong.”
My heart races. This guy is insane. “Well, now you’re at the Immortal Hunters club, and you’re safe. But I came here to ask you questions, because Dani’s been taken.”
“The Immortal Hunters?” He screams, a terrible sound, and then he’s on me.
The gun gets knocked away. His fists pound into my face until I’m tasting blood, and I try to fight back, punching out, kicking, anything. In the darkness, I hear the other prisoners hissing and growling. The man above me is strong, stronger than anyone I’ve fought before, but I don’t think he’s nearly as experienced. When his fist goes to hit me again, I sense it in the darkness, and jerk my head to the side. I hear as his fist hits the concrete ground with a terrible crunch. He cries out, and I punch him in the throat.
He’s gasping in breath as I shove him off of me, grab my gun, which now glows bright red, and press it to his forehead. The red light illuminates the fear in his face.
“Do it,” he whispers. “But I won’t be your experiment either, Prez.”
“Prez?” I stare at him, confused.
His face is impossible to read. “I heard them talk about you. I know you’re just as bad as they are.”
Prez? My stomach drops.
It can’t be. There’s no way. Prez can’t be in on this…can he?
And then, everything hits me at once. Puzzle pieces that didn’t make sense before suddenly fall into place, and my world changes forever. Then my thoughts shift to the present.
Prez is with Dani. Alone.
I lower the gun. If Prez is in on this, I doubt he’s alone.
Behind me, I hear the crack of a gun, and bullet after bullet slams into us before the world goes dark.
29
Dani
We’d driven to the other side of town, then kept going until we reached the woods around the town. After a while, they’re stretching out around us. Prez had taken a random turn and seemed to drive us out into nothingness, just a barely visible, bumpy, dirt path, and with each mile that passed, my gut clenched harder. I was beginning to think he was just taking me somewhere to put a bullet in my head, when around a corner, a building surrounded by a massive fence seemed to come out of nowhere.
Approaching the fence, we didn’t even have to slow down when the gates opened in front of us. We just went straight through and came to the big white doors at the top of a few steps. Then Prez cut the engine and silence surrounded us.
“Come on,” he said, climbing off the bike and offering me his hand.
I take it and start up the steps, him right behind me. My head swivels from side-to-side. This place doesn’t feel like a home, nor does it feel like a medical facility, like with the order. It’s almost like…any office building you’d find in a city. Except, it’s in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a twenty foot fence.
There’s a card slot beside the door, but when I push on the door, it opens. There’s an empty hallway, and I glance back at him, unsure of where to go.
“Last door on the right,” he tells me gruffly.
I nod and keep going. “So what is this place?”
“A safe house.”
It’s probably the safest place I can imagine. Not even the order had to know about something like this. Still, the lingering feeling that I’d be safest with the guys remains.
“And I won’t be here long? As soon as the guys find the rat?” I hate that his answer is so important to me.
“You’ll be free,” he confirms with a nod.
We reach the end of the hall, and the door is just like any other. I release a slow breath, push the button on the side, and stare in shock. It’s…a lab. A doctor is waiting in front of the first table, arms crossed, a grin on his face, and half a dozen men in familiar black uniforms have guns pointed on me.
My heart stops. Horror sends ice racing through my veins. This…can’t be.
Prez shoves me forward so hard that I hit the ground.
Every hair on my body stands on end.
“I brought her. Where’s my money?”
The scientist’s lips spread and he nods his head at one of the guards. The guard turns, grabs something off the ground, then holds out a heavy-looking black bag. No one else moves. No one else reacts. Like this is the most normal exchange in the world.
“You…sold me to them? You’re the rat?” I say, my questions coming out of teeth that chatter together.
Prez doesn’t look at me as he heads for the bag, but the scientist answers, “Don’t you understand, patient six-two-nine-one? You are far too valuable to us to give up, for any price.”
When Prez grabs the bag, the scientist springs forward and shoves a needle into his neck. The big man spins around as the scientist jumps back. I stare in shock between Prez, holding his bag as his expression falls, and the scientist, who watches him, a sick kind of fascination on his rat-like face.
Prez’s eyes are wide as he mumbles, “What the fuck did you--?” Then he crumbles to his knees.
“Put experiment nine-seven-one-three in his new cage,” the scientist says, pushing up his glasses on his nose and setting the spent needle down on the metal table behind him.
Prez collapses to the ground, but his mouth keeps moving, even though no words come out. I feel sick as I watch him. I’d had that same medicine slammed into me too many times before. Medicine that made it so I saw everything, felt everything, but couldn’t speak or move. It’s awful to see it in action once again, even if the man in question is a bastard who deserves e
very horrible thing that’s about to happen to him.
One of the guards grabs him by the arm and starts to drag him to the back of the room. All the other guards keep their guns trained on me, and I have to swallow down the bile that rises in the back of my throat at the thought that soon that could be me.
My gaze snaps back to the doctor, and I feel my Chosen Weapons heat at my back. The room and everything around me seems to slow. My heartbeat seems to slow to match it. No one knows where I am outside of this room. No one knows the Prez is the rat, not even my guys. I have one chance to escape, or I’ll become a lab rat again.
The scientist smiles.
The guards keep their guns leveled at me.
Slowly, I slide my hands toward my weapons.
It’s now or never.
Want more of Dani’s adventure? Preorder book two, Van Helsing Damned, now!
ALSO BY HELEN SCOTT
Don’t forget to check out Helen’s other series.
Immortal Hunters MC (Cowritten with Lacey Carter Andersen)
Van Helsing Rising
The Wild Hunt
Daughter of the Hunt
Challenger of the Hunt
Champion of the Hunt – Coming Soon
Prisoners of Nightstone (Cowritten with May Dawson)
Potions and Punishments
Incantations and Inmates - Coming Soon
Twisted Fae
(Cowritten with Lucinda Dark)
Court of Crimson
Court of Frost
Court of Midnight - Coming Soon
The Hollow
(Cowritten with Ellabee Andrews)
Survival
Seduction
Surrender
Salsang Chronicles
(cowritten with Serena Akeroyd)
Stained Egos
Stained Hearts