by Amelia Jade
This one showed nothing but a street in a city somewhere.
“How the hell am I supposed to find Karlie in all this?” he asked. There were quite literally hundreds of folders, with perhaps thousands of files in each.
He hit the search function, and typed in Karlie’s name. Not surprisingly, there were no matches found. He tried dragon, and then Ferro, but no luck. Lastly he typed in shifter.
“Hello,” he said softly. There were a number of matches, but far fewer than the original list.
Scrolling through, one of them seemed to stand out to him.
Shifter Compound, followed by an address. Clicking on it, he opened up the subfolder containing video from the day before. There were files for each camera, listed by what appeared to be location. He clicked “Bedroom—Primary.”
Holy shit. He rocked back in the chair. There, sleeping in the bed—the tape started at midnight—was a brunette who looked exactly like the photo Ferro had shown him. Raphael quickly pulled it from his pocket and compared the two. The video was grainy, but of high enough quality for him to be sure it was her.
He hit the back button on the computer after inputting the location into his phone. It wasn’t far, perhaps a two-hour drive northwest of his location. But as he got back to the original search results, another folder caught his eye.
“What do we have here?” he said softly, clicking on the video.
Chapter Four
Karlie
Go to your room.
The mocking tone haunted her. It had been two days since her aborted escape attempt, and every waking hour—and even a few nightmares—had been dedicated to the helpless feeling she had endured while hearing him laugh at her, scolding her like a child.
She was a child to them. That, perhaps more than anything, was what irked her the most. Vincent was far older than her, and it showed in the dominant display of strength that had followed his blow to her face. He had picked her up by the scruff of her neck with one hand and literally dragged her back to her room before throwing her on her bed.
Karlie had half-expected him to force himself upon her after that, but thankfully he had just sneered at her and left. She was the daughter of a dragon shifter, and by all rights, she should be able to whip Vincent around like he was nothing.
But she couldn’t, and because of it, Vincent was making her life hell.
Ever since that day, any time he encountered her around the compound—which now boasted extra guards—he had laughed at her, making fun of her horrible escape attempt. It had been pathetically easy to apprehend her, he joked, much to the laughter of his men. Had she seriously thought that all the guards would immediately run to look after a leak? Leaving her alone to do what? Drive out of the compound unnoticed? Her face burned even now as she sat alone in her room, remembering the humiliation.
Vincent was an asshole, and she couldn’t wait until he got what was coming to him.
In the meantime though, she needed to figure out how to break free. An escape route wasn’t going to magically appear in her bedroom, so she needed to get out and look around to try and get her mind going.
She ended up on the couch in front of the television after wandering around the compound for a bit. The big wall in front of her had a massive flatscreen TV on it, surrounded by a dark wood unit that covered the entire wall in shelves and storage areas. It was a thing of beauty to look at. To the left was a floor-to-ceiling glass wall outside that let the sun in to brighten the room. Shutters would descend from hidden rolls at the flick of a switch to make it feel more like a movie theatre if necessary.
Right now she was enjoying the view. The ground on this side of the compound sloped slightly away from the building, giving an elevated view of the forest floor. With the house built right on the lip of the mountainside, it was also on the edge of the forest line. It created interesting views from nearly ever side of the house, most of which were very different from one another.
“Enjoying the view?”
She turned her head slowly, giving Phillip a withering glare as the shifter appeared in the doorway. This was one guard whose mouth was much bigger than his ability to back it up. She didn’t fear him.
“Come over here and say that,” she dared him, laughing loudly when he declined her polite offer. “Yeah, exactly. Run along. Make sure you tell Daddy that I’m still here.” She gave him a wave of her hands.
Phillip gave her a glare as he departed, but it just washed over her.
Outside, as if mimicking her mood, dark angry clouds rolled in. She watched, mesmerized, as they came across the horizon. The sun was beginning to dip behind the mountains to the west of them. It made for an early sunset, and the evenings grew dark earlier than expected. As the storm blew in, it erased any sign of the brightness that had been around earlier.
Within an hour, rain began to lash at the house. It fell lightly at first, driven by the wind. But as Mother Nature picked up her frenzy, the drops grew in size until they were slamming against the house like a staccato of hammer blows. The wind howled outside, growing faster and more violent as the evening wore on.
Karlie wandered the darkened hallways, finding her way back to her room. She passed several guards before shutting the door behind her. The lock clicked into place, though she knew that not only did Vincent have a key, but the flimsy metal wouldn’t stand up to a determined blow by a shifter. Still, it gave her a false sense of privacy.
She lay back on the pillow, watching through the skylight as the rain pelted it with abandon.
***
“Stay here!”
She sat upright, realizing she had dozed off.
“Where would I go?” she snapped at Vincent, who had barged into her room unannounced.
Then it dawned on her. The lights were off. Everything was off.
“The power is out,” she stated before her captor could reply.
“How very observant,” he sneered. “Now like I said, stay here.”
He turned and left the room. Karlie got up, went over and closed the door behind him, once more turning the lock.
“Asshole.”
Moving to the closet, she pulled on some nightclothes. It was well past midnight. She had been asleep for five solid hours.
Just as she finished changing, there was a tap at the door. She spun, stifling a cry of surprise.
Nothing was there. Moving to the window where she had heard the noise, Karlie looked down. There was a tree branch, a small one. It must have been picked up by the wind and driven into the window.
Taking a deep breath to try and calm her racing heart, she eyed the bed. The room was blanketed in darkness, but her eyes were sharp enough to pick up the various objects. The frequent flashes of sheet lightning in the sky outside gave her plenty of extra light.
Another branch tapped against the window behind her.
“That is not going to make sleeping much easier,” she said angrily, half-stomping over to the bed.
Behind her, the branch tapped insistently.
Branches don’t tap insistently, she told herself. She was half-asleep; that had to be it.
It tapped again.
Angrily she whirled back to face the door. This time she inhaled, ready to cry out, but managed to stifle herself in time. Standing at the door was a tall figure clad completely in black. His eyes were wide and he was holding one finger to his mouth, frantically motioning for her to be quiet.
Frowning, her eyes immediately went to the camera on the wall. The camera without any power to it.
Her legs carried her to the glass door that led outside to her balcony in a rush, and she quickly undid the lock and opened it just far enough for him to slip inside. The wind howled and a crack of lightning snapped through the room. She quickly shut the door, hoping the guard outside hadn’t heard anything.
“Who the hell are you?” she hissed. Her guard was still up as the unknown shifter—she’d picked up both his scent and made an educated guess based on his towering size—wa
lked around her room.
“We need to go,” he said softly.
Karlie crossed her arms and tapped one foot on the ground. “How do I know you’re not just some sort of goon sent by Vincent?”
“Who?” The shifter’s eyes furrowed together in confusion.
Outside the door, she heard footsteps, followed shortly by a rapping on the door.
“Open the door!” It was Phillip.
“Your grandfather sent me. We need to go now,” the shifter insisted, urging her toward the door.
“Not in these clothes,” she told him, moving to the closet and putting on some of her active wear while he waited with his back turned.
“Don’t make me smash the door down Karlie!” The warning came from the hallway.
“I’m not answering the door naked you perverted asshole!” she shouted back. “Give me a second to put on some clothes.”
She saw the head of her apparent rescuer twitch. “Got a problem with my language?” she asked crossly.
He shook his head, still facing away from her.
“Okay, let me grab my bag and we can go,” she said. Her little backpack was next to the door. In it she kept all the personal belongings she would want to take with her in the event of an escape.
Grabbing it, she turned to go just as the door exploded inward under the force of Phillip’s shoulder. The majority of it stayed intact and struck her hard, sending her flying forward in a heap until she wound up hard against the bed.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Phillip snarled, looming over her, his fist raised.
“Coming with me,” a deadly calm voice said, and from the darkness she watched as a shadow attacked Phillip.
He moved so fast she could barely keep up. Hands like steel hammers delivered blows to Phillip’s side, and a vicious kick snapped a bone in his leg. He fell toward her, his eyes widening in pain and shock at how outclassed he was. She met his eyes just as her rescuer’s hands settled on his head and wrenched it around violently.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed, tearing her eyes away from the scene. The sound of Phillip’s neck snapping made her stomach roil, and for several moments, she thought she was going to be sick. The look in his eyes, of the fear and understanding of what was about to happen, followed by the sudden dulling of light, was not a memory she wished she possessed.
“Sorry about that.” With a grunt he pulled Phillip’s limp body away from her, tossing it into the corner. “Can we leave now?”
She nodded hastily, assured now that even if he wasn’t who he said he was, he was taking her away from the compound at least.
“Watch out,” he said as she rose to her feet somewhat unsteadily.
“What are you doing?” she asked, but he was already doing it. He was on the far side of the bed from her. With one massive boot from his foot, the entire bed frame screeched across the floor until it connected with the wall. With her help, they then began to move as much furniture onto the bed as possible, barricading the opening.
Just as they finished, fists began raining down on it. There hadn’t been much of the door left, but they had wedged it into the frame as best they could. It came apart now under his blows.
“Open this door right fucking now!” Vincent’s voice was furious.
“Time to go,” she said, making a beeline for the door.
“You sure have some happy friends,” he remarked, moving past her. His legs bunched and he simply leapt over the railing, landing on the soft forest floor below.
Karlie followed somewhat more carefully, flipping herself over the side before dropping to the ground as she released her grip on the handrail. Her rescuer gave her an odd look, but didn’t say anything, instead turning to run into the forest. Behind her the barricade shattered and Vincent and other guards poured into her room.
“Can I at least have your name?” she asked, dashing after him as they moved deep into the wild forest as quickly as they could.
“Raphael,” he said, moving along swiftly.
“Where’s Ferro? Where’s my grandfather?” she asked, drawing abreast of him as they passed through a thick copse of trees and emerged into a small meadow.
“It’s a long story,” he said, sounding somewhat irritated now. “I promise I’ll tell you the whole thing after we’re safe.”
“You don’t think we’re safe?” The moment the question left her lips, she realized it was a stupid question.
Of course they weren’t safe. Vincent would be sending out all the guards to pursue them, and they were miles from the nearest edge of the property as far as she knew.
Behind them came the sounds of pursuit. Risking a glance over her shoulder, Karlie saw two shifters in bear form burst from the trees on the far side of the clearing. She and Raphael plunged back into the forest as they reached the line of trees once again, but it didn’t matter.
“We can’t outrun those two,” she gasped, her lungs heavy for air. It had been a long time since she had done this much exercise, and dragon blood or no, she wasn’t used to it.
“Can you fight?” he asked.
“A little,” she admitted, shrugging her shoulders as they slowed to a stop.
“Do your best,” he ordered, and then disappeared into the darkness.
Karlie frowned, wondering what the hell he meant by that. Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the two guards. They were newcomers added to Vincent’s team after her first escape attempt. She didn’t know their names, nor did she care.
One of them shifted back to human form.
“What happened to your little friend?” he asked suspiciously.
She backed away, feigning terror—which wasn’t all that hard given her current state. She had no idea where Raphael had gone, or if he was even nearby. The constant downpour of rain washed away any scent that might linger.
A figure dropped silently from the trees above, landing on the shifter still in bear form. It stunned Karlie, but she saw it happening before either of the others, and thus was able to react first as well. While Raphael fought his target, she charged forward, leaping at the shocked guard. The moment she left her feet, Karlie realized her mistake.
The other guard was already recovering, and she could see his arm sweeping back toward her. This is going to hurt. His stiff arm connected solidly with her shoulder and she flew to the side, landing hard in the mud. Angrily she scrambled to her feet, stalking forward with more precision this time. The blow hadn’t been as strong as she’d expected. He was young, she noted, as more details of his face resolved itself from a clap of overly bright lightning. Barely able to grow facial hair.
Weak.
He threw up an arm to block her blow, but it was just a feint. It drew him out of position as her other hand, the real attack, swept up and into his midsection. He didn’t double over, but his body was stunned for a moment. Hands flattened into blades double-chopped at his neck. The second blow collapsed his windpipe, while also likely breaking a bone in her hand. He began to cough and choke, falling to his knees as he gasped for breath.
With an angry snarl she dropped an elbow into his temple. He collapsed, his body shaking as it struggled to breathe. Not wanting to watch him suffocate, she turned to see how Raphael was making out.
He was standing behind her, watching her. Blood dripped from his face. At first she thought he was injured, but after a moment it became clear the blood wasn’t his. A limp form on the ground beside him told her of the other shifter’s fate. It was still in its animal form. That explained the blood then. The weak point on a shifter bear was the neck. Tear enough flesh from there, and no amount of shifter healing would recover from that blow.
Karlie made a mental note never to cross Raphael.
“Let’s go,” he said, and headed out once again, this time at a more sedate pace.
“Where are we going?” she asked, her voice soft against the harsh weather that surrounded them.
“To the way that I hope will get us out of here
.”
“You hope?” she asked, concern entering her voice at his uncertainty.
He shrugged. “I didn’t plan for the storm, but it just made too much sense. Then when the lightning took out the power, I had to make a move. So the plan is still a little rough at the moment,” he explained.
Karlie’s eyes narrowed. “How rough?”
In her periphery she saw Raphael wince.
“After the next stage, pretty much made up on the go,” he admitted tentatively.
“Oh,” she said in a small voice, her hopes sinking. “Well, at least there’s another stage.”
“If they didn’t find it,” Raphael said.
“Right. If they didn’t find it.” Karlie knew she was close to going into shock, and that their run was likely the only thing preventing it at that point. She tried to focus, to get her attention back. “I’d like to know the next stage.”
“I rented a kayak.”
She blinked. “What?”
He looked over at her. “There’s a river that runs through the northeast part of this place. I hiked around north of it, took the kayak downriver, and hid it. Now we’ll use it to follow the river east and off the property, until we get to where my car is parked.”
“Right,” she said, shaking her head, trying to rid herself of cobwebs. It was imperative she keep up with him. They wouldn’t make it if she was just a drone following him around. Vincent was too smart for that.
“Vincent will have people out watching the roads,” she cautioned.
“It’s a two-day trek downriver. From what I remember, there are only two road crossings between here and the one I left the vehicle at.”
She frowned, picturing her internal map of the property. “You’re right, but there is a stretch where the road parallels the river for several miles. Perhaps two, two and a half,” she told him.
“Good to know.”
The ground began to slope up and away from them, and Karlie grew increasingly more fatigued. Beside her, Raphael matched her pace effortlessly. The whole ordeal didn’t seem to faze him at all.
“Are you even human?” she asked him an unknown amount of time later.