by Tina Moss
“You’re almost there,” Strife called out. The words struck like thunder in a raging storm.
The blaze forged a hole in the bars, but licked the floor and ceiling in the process. When the spaces grew big enough for Strife and her to fit through, Sera tried to pull back the flames, but knew it was a lost cause. “We have to get out of here. I can’t stop it.”
“You’ll get no arguments from me.” Strife slipped passed the opening and patted stray flames from her clothes. Black smoke wafted from the blaze, engulfing the aisle. “This way.”
Sera crept through the bars. The fire danced along her skin, but didn’t burn her. She disentangled her body from the licking flares, pushing them away as if they were petulant children. When the visibility shot to zero and an ashen cloud filled her lungs, she coughed and swat at the air. “Str-str-ife?”
A firm hand encircled her wrist and dragged her from the haze. They ran. Their shoes thumped over the floor. Sera’s breaths came out as gasps. She tried not to panic, relying on the vampire’s keen eyesight to lead them out of this mess.
“Stop.” Strife halted midstep, leaving Sera to barrel into her. The vampire huffed, pushing Sera a foot from her, then she slammed into something unseen. A creaking sound broke through the dense fog and fresh air pulled the smoke like a magnet. “Here now.”
Ground lights illuminated a stairwell. Sera stepped onto the landing and peeked over the rail. The steps led down and down like looking into a row of endless mirrors. She gulped and glanced at Strife. The vampire could make it to the ground level in no time. Maybe even jump to the bottom. Sera slowed her down. “Go,” she said, pointing to the floor. “You’ll go faster without me. The fire won’t hurt me.” She tried to put on a brave face. Even though the fire might not burn her, she couldn’t breathe smoke.
Strife’s mouth fell open, but her words were drowned by a blaring alarm. The building’s sprinkler system kicked on and a downpour of freezing water sprayed them. The vampire’s rainy laughter cut the sirens. She shouted over the roar. “I wouldn’t miss the fun. I haven’t seen this much action in decades.” She grabbed Sera’s wrist again and bolted for the stairs. “Follow me.”
They soared over the steps with their feet hardly touching the floor. Sera moved faster than a human, but the vampire’s speed put her to shame. Strife flew, hauling Sera with her, as if the laws of physics didn’t apply to their movements. Forty stories quickly transformed into thirty, then twenty. When they hit the nineteenth floor, a wall hindered their steps…a wall of phage.
“Thank you for your help, Ms. Benenati.” Adriana called from the landing. Her heels clicked on the steps as she rounded the corner and came into view a half flight away. A long red peacoat silhouetted her tall thin frame. Black gloves, hat and scarf prepared her for the cold Calgary weather. The outfit must have been stifling as fires ate up the building. The sprinklers outmatched.
Sera stiffened, pulling her hand from Strife’s grip and placing a foot on the bottom step. She started to run up the stairs, ready to strike the phage bitch, but paused as an army of phage gathered snapping their wide jaws. Spit dripped from their mouths. They shuffled down from the landing above and stomped up the steps from below.
“Have fun,” Adriana called and disappeared up the next stairwell. The phage protected her retreat.
“Shit,” Sera muttered. As the phage filed along, boxing them in, she deviated from the stairs and planted her feet on the landing. Her hands filled with heat. With a quick nod, Strife took up a similar stance, standing back-to-back with Sera. A hum of power vibrated through the vampire and sent a jolt up Sera’s spine. She smiled at having the three hundred year old vampire on her side, then focused on the phage surrounding them at every corner.
Not for the first time, she wished her fake psyke identity held a grain of truth. What she wouldn’t give to communicate telepathically with the vampire. Coordinating their strikes would be so much easier. She refused to let the uncertainty show on her face as she calculated how many they could take out before getting swarmed. When the phage kept coming, her chest constricted until the slightest intake of air became impossible. A startling truth hit her full force. Unless Strife hid some amazing vampire ability, or Sera leveled the building with an explosive fire, the phage would kill them. No matter their choice, they had no chance of making it out alive.
Chapter Thirty-One
Apartment Complex, Calgary, Alberta
Talon stopped the truck and dashed for the nearest entrance. Fires blazed from the apartment’s windows like beasts devouring prey in a glowing inferno. Smoke leapt from the walls, transforming the early gray morning into a nightmare black. Alarm bells blasted from the building’s emergency unit and spread the call over the city.
The knob seared his hand, but Talon didn’t slow. He ripped open the door, breaking it from its hinges. Drake and Val ran close on his heels. Shifter adrenaline surged through his body, accelerating his speed and strength, but fear—mortal gut wrenching fear—gripped his heart, making it beat triple time.
“Find her,” he growled. Raising an arm to shield his eyes from the fumes, he peered inside. A stairwell corralled the smoke into its midst and blocked their views. Trying to capture Sera’s scents proved useless with the fire’s toxins cutting off all other aromas. He cursed his frustration.
“We’ve got to cut the alarm,” Drake shouted close to his ear. “Then, maybe we could hear something.” He slapped the walls and disappeared into the dense vapors. The whining alarm stopped seconds later. When he reemerged, he sputtered and coughed, but held a bunch of wires in his fist. He grinned. “Quick and easy.”
Val rolled her eyes. “I’ve got another idea,” she said, standing to Talon’s opposite side. She walked up the stairs and motioned for them to follow. Her hands flew about like a composer, sending rushes of wind through the corridor. With her unique ability from her psyke-shifter mix, she could control air particles. The smoke swirled in circles, rising in a steady mist to the ceiling and floating out the door. It cleared a path along the steps to the next landing.
“Good work, both of you.” Able to hear his own thoughts, and with the air washed anew, he shifted, expanding his lungs and nose to take in and decipher the smells. Notwithstanding Val’s cleaning, scents remained. They seeped from the walls, across the floors, and along the banister. He inhaled again and again, desperate to find something familiar, as they made their way up a flight at a time. When they reached the fourth level, a buzzing at his belt forced him to stop.
“Be quick. We’re inside.” He snapped into the phone.
“Gotcha boss.” Slick’s voice gave him a temporary reprieve. Despite the gravity of the situation, it was good to hear his friend alive and well. “We’re outside. Four of us.”
“Glad you made it. Can you get up to the roof and scan the floors top down?” Talon’s gut clenched as he issued the order. With the building on fire, it’d be a dangerous job, but he needed the place swept.
“Jame and I aren’t in peak form, but I’d say with Shooter’s help, we’re up to hauling a lazy ass Texas vamp a ways.” A muffled grunt came through as Slick must have cupped the receiver. “Bull’s looking forward to a lift.” He laughed. “See you on the way down.”
“Slick?” The phone still held a connection. “You can handle that shift?”
“Yeah, boss. Birds aren’t my specialty, but I’ll make it.”
A sliver of time passed as hot currents wafted to them from the floor overhead. It heated the metal banister and warned Talon of the peril he was about to put his team in. “All right.” His hand went to the nape of his neck, wiping at the light layer of sweat. “Wouldn’t want to have you out of commission so soon after getting you back, be careful.”
“Always am.” The call ended.
He shoved the phone in his pocket and sniffed the air once more. Waving Drake and Val to continue, he headed to the next level. “Eyes open. Let’s roll.” They followed without question. His nasal passages kicke
d into overdrive, pulling in every odor and analyzing it faster than he could process. At the ninth level, the hairs on his arms stood on end and a prickling sensation raised bumps on his skin. “Stop.”
Burnt flesh, the same charred odors from the warehouse, assailed him first. Screaming echoes bounced off the walls, faint to start but growing louder. Talon signaled for them to continue. They moved faster with each floor they passed. By the twelfth level, the scent hit him. The one he wanted—needed—more than any other. Fresh laundry and a touch of apple. Her scent. Sera.
“We’re close. Stay on guard.” He slowed their pace as they stalked by the giant number fifteen painted on the wall. His gun rested in its shoulder holster, warm against his chest. He bypassed the manmade weapon for something far more primal. Bones snapped under his skin, covering his hands in brown fur. The grizzly bear’s massive paw pads prevented him from drawing a weapon, but provided the perfect remedy—four inches of sharp curved claws.
A cry lit the air at the seventeenth level. Phage bodies tumbled down the stairs, knocking Val over. Her shoulder slammed into his ribcage. He groaned, using the underside of his paws to steady her. “Are you—”
“Get down!” She dragged him to his knees as a fire bolt came hurdling toward them.
Drake leapt over the banister, plummeting to the next platform to avoid the inferno. He let out a “bleeding hell” as he hit bottom, then scrambled back to them in a blur.
The team got their bearings, but another wave of phage descended the stairs. Their limp forms rolled in a frenzy as the flames engulfed them.
“Sera,” Talon muttered. Without another word, he ducked around the bodies and took the steps two at a time. One flight up, a wall of phage blocked his passage. He growled, drawing their attention. Turning as a single unit, they dove for him. Jaws snapped and arms flailed as they fought. Talon swiped at the nearest phage with his claws, drawing a deep gouge on the creature’s chest. The phage howled, but kept coming as if the wound didn’t bother it. “Get them out of the way,” he called to Val and Drake who sprinted to catch up. “I don’t care what you have to do.”
Wind currents blew passed him. A funnel spun in the center of the phage, pushing them to the edge of the stairwell and over the sides. Val’s dancing hands led the show. Drake took cue from her and tackled the phage, ripping at their throats with his fangs. A red glaze seeped into his black eyes. Talon showed no mercy, echoing his partners and slashing at the phage without hesitation.
As they hacked and sliced a path through the mindless creatures, the fires grew ever higher and hotter. Blood coated the front of Talon’s shirt, morphing the plain gray T-shirt to a shiny crimson black. His paws became slow and heavy. He shifted them to normal hands and wiped the red muck on his jeans. With the phage occupied by Val’s winds, Drake’s fangs, and the increasing flames, he took a second to scan the area. When his eyes rose to the nineteenth landing, he froze.
Her amber hair glowed in the firelight, the sleek strands blazing a honey color. Her gaze burned like the sun’s rays, all the brown gone from the irises. The hue, radiating from her skin, nearly blinded him. He shielded his eyes with his hand as he approached. Flames licked her body. At the top of the opposite stairwell, the black haired vamp, Strife, flew through the phage like a hurricane. The blur of motion caught in his peripheral vision, but his attention narrowed, remaining locked on Sera.
His heart hammered in his chest. “Sera,” he whispered. Hell, how long had it been? His thoughts spread to the last night they’d shared—the opulent hotel room, the twisted satin sheets, tangled limbs, and the howl of satisfaction that ripped from his lips. It ignited his memory, yet the brief time together seemed like a lifetime ago. He paused, lost in the moment and without a clue of how to break through to her. “Sera.”
The white-gold of her eyes focused on him. Her body glowed brighter as she stood motionless like the statue of a Greek goddess slowly brought to life. A wave of awe washed over him, causing his pulse to quicken and the breath to die in his lungs. As the phage crept toward him, waiting to strike, he remained transfixed on her. He couldn’t have moved for anything. The hot breath of a single phage passed over his neck. Still he dared not move.
As the creature’s gaping mouth clamped onto his shoulder, her aura shifted. Chocolate brown filled the white irises and her golden hue soared to a brilliant red-orange flame. Heat engulfed his entire right side, but it didn’t burn. It caressed him like a blanket of warm water across his skin. The phage fell away, writhing on the floor in agony and leaving a faint mark on Talon’s skin.
Sera gaped at him with wide, frightened eyes. Her hands stretched forward, palms out toward the spot where the creature had stood. She let her arms drop to her sides and her breath came in quick spurts. Tears touched her long lashes. “Talon?”
The one word, his name on her lips, was all he needed to propel him forward. He grabbed her about the waist single-handed, crushing her to his chest and fisting her hair in his free hand. She moaned into his neck. Her arms wrapped around him. “I-I thought...” She stuttered as the sobs broke forth.
“Shh,” he said against her hair. “It’s all right.”
She pulled back to look up at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“I know. I don’t care as long as you’re okay.” As a smile touched the corner of her mouth, he closed the distance to claim the smile for his own. Her lips met his with equal hunger and need. He pulled them to the corner, uncaring of the melee around them and deepened the kiss until their tongues danced and they gasped for air.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she said, shifting her hands to sneak behind his neck and tangle in his hair.
“You thought I wouldn’t come for you?”
“I didn’t know what to think.” She stroked his cheek. Her fingers skimmed along his jaw. An ember of heat and passion blazed in the depths of her brown eyes.
He leaned in close to her ear. “I’d always come for you.” Blazing a trail with his kisses along her neck, he worked his way to her collarbone, then back to her ear. “I know it’s too soon, but I can’t change how I feel. I love you, Sera.”
“Really?” Heat engulfed him as her body warmed in his embrace. A glimmer of tears swam in her eyes. “I know what you mean and I love you too.” Their lips met again, his blood soared, but she pulled away far too soon. “Oh Talon. I’ve figured out who I am, what I am. There’s so much to tell you.”
“Later.” He kissed her again, plunging beyond her defenses. When a crash boomed a few feet from them, their heads snapped in the direction at the same time.
“Hate to interrupt the party,” Slick said from the upper platform. With his human feet braced on a beam, he hung down so that his shifted spider limbs snatched at the phage, grabbing and dropping them between the stairwells to the bottom level. “But we’re sort of in the middle of a fight, in case you two didn’t notice.”
Talon stifled the smile and clicked his teeth. “No kidding. And when the hell were you planning on showing up?”
“Here now, aren’t I? And I brought friends.” He used one of his six insect limbs to signal at the commotion behind him.
Jame, Bull, and Shooter collided with phage at every turn from above while Drake and Val joined Strife to fight from below. Even as they gained the upper hand on the phage, weeding their numbers, the fires roared ready to declare victory.
“Thanks, but I think it’s time we get out of here.” Talon shifted his vocal chords so he could produce a wolf’s howl. The cry rang out clear and strong over the throng of chaos, alerting his team. Even the members of PCD Eight and the rebel vamp Strife turned to him at the sound. He spoke with unquestionable authority. “Head down the stairs fast as you can. We’re leaving. Now.”
“But the phage? And Adriana? She’s the one responsible for this mess.” Sera anchored her hand on his hip and met his eyes. “We can’t let her go.”
He cupped her cheek, unable to resist touching her. “She’ll get he
r due. Right now, it’s more important to get everyone out of here safely.”
Her jaw tightened under his touch, but she nodded.
As they began their descent, he held a firm grip on her hand. No way in hell was he losing her again. Not after everything they’d been through. She squeezed his palm with equal pressure as if unwilling to let him go.
The team crossed phage bodies that had piled atop the steps. Some of them lay dead, but most had simply been knocked aside. A twinge of pain stabbed him in the gut, but he couldn’t allow compassion for these creatures that attacked with such brutal force. The sympathetic ache wouldn’t exist at all if it hadn’t been for Meg’s revelation.
He recalled her words as he stepped over a burned phage, moaning on the ground. Newbie phage are like zombies. They don’t have rationale thoughts, only a deep hunger and a need to obey their makers. They don’t achieve higher brain function again until their maker gives it to them through a direct command.
And if they never give it to them? Talon had asked, uncertain if he wanted an answer.
They stay their master’s puppet.
He shook his head as the emergency doors on each landing began to buckle and crack under the pressure. The flames licked the walls, leaving charcoal colored tracks along the exposed red bricks. Smoke encased the area, no longer held at bay by Val’s winds. The thickness blinded agents and phage alike, making their exit ten times harder.
A hand brushed his arm and he tucked Sera out of harm’s way behind him. A swift wind—courtesy of Val a flight below—brushed aside the smoke for an instant so Talon could catch his breath and see. The black haired vamp ran beside him, running her hand under his elbow.
“Quicker shifter.”
“Strife,” he said between gritted teeth.
Sera stepped to his other side, keeping pace. “She’s not our enemy. She helped me get out of here.”