The Guilty Innocent

by D N Simmons

  “Every word, thank you.” John and I said in perfect unison. Xavier nodded, then returned his attention to the receiver.

  “I guess your fun was ruined,” Sergio chuckled.

  “Oh, I'm still going to have fun, we'll just have to save our little game for later,” the wolf responded. Then there was more silence. The silence was getting on my nerves. I wished I was there to help Sergio.

  “You are going to tell us what we want to know. Where are your comrades!?” demanded the wolf.

  “Kiss my ass!” Sergio said audaciously.

  “Fine, we will be doing this the hard way after all.”

  There was the unmistakable sound of skin being burned and Sergio growled in pain. Over and over again, we heard the sound of Sergio's skin being mutilated and burned until Sergio began to cry out over and over again in agonizing wails. Elise had begun to cry, she stepped outside on the porch. I followed her, tears flowed from her eyes freely. I walked up behind her and put my hand on her shoulder.

  “He will heal, Elise and they will get the justice that they deserve.” I said, trying to comfort her. I could not completely imagine what she was feeling at this point. I knew that most shape-shifters who lived in groups were extremely close, probably more in tuned and adapted than most so-called “normal” families. This must be torture for her.

  “This is all my fault,” Elise sobbed. “I came here because I wanted to win Darian back by trying to save him. I've endangered my people! Sergio was right, I'm not fit to be their queen!” she cried, her hand hovering over her mouth.

  “That's not entirely true,” I said. “Elise. You are just feeling guilty because Sergio and Devin are in this situation, but it is not your fault. Remember when I asked you why you decided to help Darian. Remember what you told me? You said you wanted to help Darian because he helped you once, with no questions asked. There is nothing wrong with returning the favor. Maybe you thought that by doing this, Darian would see you in another way, but that was not your reason for coming here. You felt that you owed Darian. Sergio and Devin joined you, because they love you. Sergio wanted to protect you and you will see, you will have your chance to return the favor to Sergio as well. Everything will work out, we would never have made it this far without you guys,” I said. “Right now, we need you to be strong. You are their queen!” I hoped that I inspired Elise. I respected her, she was as brave as anyone I knew and I did not like seeing her cry.

  “You are right,” Elise said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I will save Sergio and Devin.” She looked at me. “I want to thank you for the kindness that you have shown me in spite of my behavior, you did not deserve it.”

  I was so touched, so this was the real Elise, no wonder Sergio is willing to die for her. She was extremely admirable.

  Elise chuckled softly. “You know, Natasha...when I first met Darian, I thought he was the sexiest and most charming man I have ever seen. A true scholar and aristocrat, someone of my class.” She paused, then continued. “I was married once before, an arrangement my mother orchestrated, he was cruel, powerful and overbearing. He controlled what was supposed to belong to me and I had not the strength to take it from him. When he passed away, and I gained what was rightfully mine, I was not so inclined to share it with another soul.” She turned to face me, a sad smile on her lips.

  “Darian was safe,” she continued. “He had his, and I would have mine and we would be able to satisfy each other without any strings attached. At least that is what I told myself. And now that I have found happiness with Sergio, I don't want this to be a situation where it's too late.” She shook her head. “I will not settle for that!” Elise said with determination.

  Wow! I had no idea. I now had a better perception of who Elise was. She was smart, strong-willed, even a little vain...but above all, she's still a woman nonetheless. I completely understood where she was coming from.

  Elise took a deep breath then exhaled. “Let us go back inside,” she said, then she took my hand and we walked back inside the cabin.

  As soon as we entered, we could hear the torturous wails of Sergio over the receiver, and I fought the urge to run back outside. At this point, standing in the chilled outdoors was better than sitting in the heated cabin. Elise was brave, she sat down in the chair and listened to the receiver. John and Xavier were still sitting where we left them, only now, Xavier had his head resting in his hands, elbows on his knees.

  “You might as well fucking kill me, because I'm not telling you shit!” Sergio spat out through gasps.

  I could hear the anger in his voice and was relieved that he had energy enough to be angry, it proved that he had plenty of strength left. There was the sound of the door opening again.

  “Ivan?” the wolf sounded surprised.

  “Gregor, have you made any progress?” Ivan asked. I was relieved that they were speaking in English.

  “No, he's being stubborn.” Gregor the wolf paused. “But I am sure I can break him.”

  “When?” Ivan inquired.

  “A few hours, perhaps, maybe less.”

  “You have one hour, if you can not get the information in that time, chain him up with the others. The politicians have decided to open the underground trade, his blood along with the others would sell a pretty penny, thus gaining us a handsome fee for supplying the goods. If the others come for him, we will be prepared,” Ivan said arrogantly.

  “What about the vampires and the human chick?” Gregor asked.

  “There are fifteen Pack members here, plus the humans, and they have weapons equipped with K-13's, even a vampire can not survive a gun shot to the head with one of those things.” Ivan began to chuckle. “As for the human woman, do what you want with her.”

  I felt a lump in my throat at the mention of my disposition. I had to swallow hard to keep from passing out. I did not want to think about what they would do to me.

  “What about Elise? Should we trade her as well if we capture her,” Gregor asked.

  “What do you mean if? We will capture her, it is just a matter of time. But when we do, I want her for myself, keep her two kitties alive...and untouched. I want to be able to use them as leverage against her. Do I make myself clear?” Ivan asked sternly.

  “Crystal, sir,” said Gregor, his tone sounded sullen.

  Ivan chuckled. “I know you have had your eyes on the smaller one and I know of your visits with him during the day. If Elise does not give me what I want, then you can have him, but not until then,” Ivan said.

  “Thank you,” the tone of Gregor's voice perked up as he anticipated the prospect of doing unspeakable things to Devin. I myself was relieved to know that he had not assaulted Devin as of yet.

  “Good, carry on and remember, you have one hour.” Ivan reminded him before leaving out of the room, closing the door behind himself.

  “So, that's what this is all about, you fucking traitors! How can you do this to your own kind!?” Sergio exclaimed.

  “Easy! We want money and power. Besides, you are not of our kind. Sure, you are a shape-shifter, but you are just a leopard. We are wolves and only the wolves in our pack are exempt, everyone else is fair game!” Gregor chuckled.

  “I'd rather die a thousand torturous deaths than have Elise give herself to that turncoat motherfucker and she knows this!” Sergio said loud and clear then he began to laugh. “He will never have her, never!” Sergio said defiantly.

  “We will see. Maybe, I should torture your little friend out there, perhaps he can tell me what I want to know.” Gregor threatened.

  Sergio laughed harshly. “You have already tortured him and he has not told you want you wanted to hear, this is why you are in here now...wasting your fucking time!” Sergio said matter-of-factly.

  I laughed outright and even Elise chuckled. John's and Xavier's faces began to perk up.

  “Shut the fuck up!” Gregor yelled, then he continued to torture Sergio, the sounds of Sergio screaming in pain were damn near impossible to listen to. Serg
io was so tough! He never revealed any information. An hour passed as we listened to this torture before Gregor stopped.

  “Fuck!” Gregor growled. “You'll pay for this, you can not save your precious queen anymore than you can save yourself!” he finished.

  “So you say,” Sergio panted weakly.

  We heard chains rattling and clinking on the floor. Then we heard what we suspected was Sergio being dragged once again, he moaned in pain but did not say a word. A few moments later, we heard the clinking sound of metal and I assumed Gregor was binding Sergio the same way they had bound Devin, and the metal sounds we were hearing were the silver bonds being snapped into place.

  “See you soon!” Gregor whispered. There was silence for about two minutes. Then Sergio began to speak.

  “Devin, are you okay?” Sergio asked.

  “Yeah, I'm just peachy!” Devin chuckled. “How is everyone else?”

  “Elise and everyone are doing fine. Listen, do you know what's been going on here?”

  “Not exactly, I have not been able to see a damn thing since I got here. But I suspect they are taking our blood and selling it on the black market. That's the little snippets I hear from time to time when one of 'em comes down here to do the deed.” Devin said, I could tell how much it angered him that this was going on by the tone of his voice.

  “Elise baby, I hope you are still there listening,” Sergio began.

  “Elise! Listening! What's going on!?” Devin asked excitedly.

  “I'm wearing a wire,” Sergio whispered. “Everything that we say is being monitored and recorded. It was Xavier's idea.”

  Devin chuckled. “Sergio, you are butt-ass naked, where the hell did you stick a....oh, never mind.” Devin continued to chuckle.

  “One more laugh and you will pay for it when we get out of here,” Sergio warned jokingly.

  “I'll be good,” Devin said playfully, still laughing.

  I was pleased to know that Devin was still in high spirits, it appeared Sergio being there gave Devin hope and comfort. It made sense considering Sergio was their protector, not to mention, he was wearing a wire.

  “They have us locked up in the basement of the mansion. From the front door, you take a right and walk down a long corridor, then you will come to a black door. That door leads to the basement, and down here you will see about seven shape-shifters, two wolves, three leopards, one cheetah and one coyote. I noticed they had two doors towards the back of the room, and I managed to peek inside as I passed by one. I saw that they had a vampire in there. There was an ultra violet lighting system blocking the exit, that's all I managed to see.” Sergio informed us. We could hear the other shape-shifters in the room talking asking Sergio questions.

  “Take it easy, I'm here to help, just stay cool.” Sergio instructed them.

  I looked at Xavier. “Hell, I'm surprised he was able to see all of that!” I said, amazed at Sergio's skill to take in details. It was at this point that I really wished he had a two-way radio so that I could tell him how proud we were of him, but I think he already knew.

  “They've chained me completely with silver bindings and I can not move, this shit fucking hurts too. A few of the wolves are pretty strong. So make sure you take that into consideration when devising your plan,” Sergio said.

  “Tell me about it! I tried to fight them off, but couldn't.” Devin said.

  “Don't worry, Devin, it's ok. You four better hurry up and save us....I miss my woman.” Sergio said with a chuckle.

  “Wait, hold up, did you and Elise finally mate?!” Devin asked enthusiastically.

  “Oh yeah!” Sergio exclaimed.

  “About time!” Devin began to congratulate him. I looked at Elise and saw that her face had turned bright red and she began to chuckle.

  “Damn men!” Elise chuckled. She relaxed in the chair. Sergio and Devin began conversing, Sergio was bringing Devin up to speed on all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. Devin was amazed by the past events.

  “They tried to kill Darian?” he asked, astounded.

  I could tell the thought that someone tried to assassinate Darian had shocked him.

  “From what I have heard about Darian, he could probably single handily tear this place apart with ease!”

  “Eh! Enough about him,” Sergio grunted. “I'm laying here in pain and the last thing I want to hear is how powerful he is.”

  “Still bitter?” Devin teased.

  “Maybe, but I'll get over it. I just don't want to talk about him right now. I'm still pissed we are all in this situation.” “I understand.”

  There was another moment of silence, then they began to talk about their Pride and other things such as sports or the type of car Sergio was going to buy for his son's sixteenth birthday. I suppose they wanted to talk about anything entertaining to get their minds off their current predicament. Xavier turned down the receiver, but he did not turn it off. He looked up at the rest of us and inhaled deeply then released his breath slowly. He ran his fingers through his luxuriously thick, brown shoulder length locks.

  “Alright, we now know that they have K-13 bullets and that is a problem,” Xavier began.

  “What are K-13 bullets? What do they do?” I asked curiously.

  “K-13's are exploding bullets. When a K-I3 enters the body or whatever it hits, it explodes on impact. So for example, if John or I were to get shot in the head with one of those bullets, we could kiss our immortality goodbye,” Xavier explained.

  This was getting more and more dangerous. I was beginning to wonder who posed the biggest threat, the supernaturals or the humans!?

  “So they have this kind of ammunition, they have hostages locked in the basement and they are utilizing silver bullets and bindings. That means one of us will have to free them. When the others get here, make sure that you inform them about everything.”

  My stomach began to growl, everyone turned to look at me, Xavier chuckled.

  “I'm hungry.” I said with a goofy grin.

  “So am I, come on...let's prepare ourselves something to eat.” Elise said with a smile as she headed into the kitchen.

  Elise and I prepared our meals, then returned to the living room where we sat side by side on the sofa next to Xavier. I was absolutely starving, considering I hadn't eaten anything since earlier. Elise and I discussed other lighter issues, attempting to keep our minds focused. Xavier and John were discussing Darian's situation. Xavier was hopeful that we would be able to save Darian, but I could tell he was still worried about the possible outcome if we couldn't.

  A few hours passed when Xavier rose from the sofa. “The sun will soon be rising and I'm beginning to feel the effects, we have to rest.” Xavier said as he gestured for John to follow.

  I was sad to see them walk from the room. I missed Xavier when he was resting. This would be something I would have to get used to, the fact that Xavier and I would never spend an afternoon on the beach, or an afternoon anywhere for that matter. I rose and followed them into the bedroom. Both he and John had climbed into the bed. Xavier laying on his side on one side of the bed, and John laying on his stomach on the other side.

  I walked over to Xavier and looked at him, he looked up at me, his beautiful grey eyes locked on mine.

  “I love you,” I said then I leaned over and kissed him on his lips. When I pulled away he was smiling, but his eyes were closed, he was resting. I straightened myself and gazed at him a little longer, then I turned and left the room. I looked at Elise, she was still listening to Sergio and Devin talk and chuckling when they brought up something funny.

  I walked over to her. “Elise, we need to rest, we have a big day tomorrow.” She looked up at me, smiled and nodded.

  “It is just so difficult to leave them right now, but I know you are right.” She said then she lay down on the sofa next to the receiver. “You can take the bed,” she offered.

  I didn't bother her about her choice to sleep on the sofa, I believed I understood her reason...she w
anted to be close to them, even still. I walked into the bedroom and took one of the blankets and a pillow off the bed and walked back into the living room. Elise lay on the sofa in a fetal position, I put the blanket over her and gave her the pillow.

  She looked up at me and smiled. “Thank you, Natasha,” she mumbled sleepily.

  “You're welcomed.” I walked back into the bedroom, climbing under the warm comforters, laying my head on the soft pillow. I looked out of the window and I could see the sky through a crack in the curtains. Soon the sun would rise, the sky was lightening up, I could hear the birds beginning to chirp. I began to feel exhaustion sweep over me and I closed my eyes to let the sleep take me. Visions began to circulate through my mind and I decided to concentrate on Warren.

  Chapter Eight

  Day Six

  Warren was talking to Matthew, they were sharing a box of Crunchy Creme donuts. Warren's desk was messier than my closet, he had paper everywhere. Through Warren's eyes, I saw that Matthew's desk was neat and organized. They were discussing a case they were working on. Apparently, there was a shape-shifter loose that killed some livestock on a farm in Dekalb, IL. and the S.U.I.T. wanted him brought in to stand trial.

  “Are you going to tell Xander about the shifter?” Matthew asked as he took another bite of his donut.

  “I've already called him, he is sending some people to gather the shifter now. This shifter is probably new, most likely a bitten one. See, this is what I fucking hate about this government!” Warren cursed vehemently, he caught himself, not wanting to be overheard, he leaned closer to Matthew, who in turn leaned forward. “This shifter is probably scared, might have been his first change and he tried to kill livestock instead of humans, but his fate will be the same as if he had killed humans if we bring him in. Why? Because he was not hunting on sanctioned grounds!” Warren said disgustedly.

  Matthew had sat back in his chair. “Well, that is why they have you to look out for them,” he chuckled.

  “Exactly!” Warren said proudly as he eyed his watch, noting the time. “We should probably check on Darian.”