by Honor James
“Good enough for me,” Drake growled out. “Stay with Volos, Azy. Do not let him go. This is going to be bad. Volos, keep her safe and out of the way.” Turning, he walked to the door. The space they were in was getting warmer, a lot warmer, really fast.
“Boys, kill them,” Drake ordered. The next moment, there was a loud crashing sound and light flooded into the space around her. Drake, Maurice and Graven were already gone, moving fast into the facility.
Azy nodded and pressed her face into the curve of Volos’s neck and held onto him. She heard the door being broken down and the lights as it flooded around them. She jerked when she felt the death blow, but ignored it. She bit her lower lip and rubbed her cheek to Volos’s neck. “Hands up my shirt,” she begged him. “More touch, please?”
He didn’t question her, just shoved his hands up under her shirt, palms flat to her back, fingers spread wide. “Breathe, baby. You’re going to hyperventilate if you keep this up, Azy.” Nuzzling at her throat, he pressed kisses along her pulse, his cheek rubbing hers as he teased her skin gently.
“I’m trying.” She breathed in deeply and bit her lips. “I don’t know why this is so much harder. I just feel so sick. I think it’s because there are so many dead and they are trapped inside of this bubble. We have to find and cut out the power to whatever it is that they are using to hold the dead in here.”
“We will,” he said. “We’re not leaving anyone behind, alive or otherwise. You know that, Azy. We’ll get them all out of here, somehow. Fuck if I know how at this point, but we’ll find a way.” A scream from inside the facility had a shiver racing over her spine, it was so blood-chilling.
“Oh Gods.” She felt herself jump and wanted to sob. “I don’t like this,” she said quietly. “Something is missing but I can’t grab what it is. This feels too easy.” It wasn’t easy, but it felt too easy and she didn’t like it, at all. It felt like she was being tested for some reason.
“Calm, Azy. Push everything away and let your mind calm down. Focus on your breathing for a couple of minutes and maybe it will come to you. You can’t force something like this. If your subconscious knows something, you need to let it just come to you.”
Azy nodded and breathed in, then out, in and then out. “Oh shit.” She felt her eyes go wide. “They have a baby here. One of the Races. I can’t determine which. The parents of the child are dead. The baby is a floor beneath us,” she said and then pulled back. “We have to go down, have to get that child.”
“Okay, it will be okay,” he said. “We’ll get the child out. We need to ensure that the threats are all neutralized first. I’m not letting you go inside if there’s even one of the humans still alive and kicking. When we get the okay to go in, we’ll go to personally see to the child. Deal?”
Azure nodded and moved back into Volos’s arms and held him tighter. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent that was Volos alone. “I love you. I need you, too.” She was shaking still. She couldn’t stop it, not with knowing what she did. “The mates are free to see to their mate. Don’t look at her, don’t touch her. They are on the edge of homicidal at the moment.” As Maurice found out when one of the Vhampires took a swipe at him.
“Yeah, I’m getting that vibe from the sniveling your guard is doing. Idiot,” he muttered. “Let’s go, Azy. Maurice, let Drake know we’re heading down one level. I made the princess a promise and I plan on seeing it through.”
“I’ll let him know when he comes this way again. Don’t take too long. While you’re down there, look around and see if you can figure out where that high-pitched screeching is coming from, too.”
Azure nodded. “I think it’s coming from down there, too. They are using it around the baby.” Monsters, she muttered under her breath. “They are trying to see just what the child can and can’t withstand, and it’s not something I can allow to continue.” She paused in the stairwell. “Wait, there are four or five humans down here. They are all watching the child. I don’t know why, though.” Weird. Truly weird.
Volos stilled, shooting her a look. “Shit,” he muttered. He pushed her back into the hallway. “Maurice, we have more humans below. Get Drake here, now,” he said sharply.
With a nod, the other Draygon jogged off.
“We don’t move until Drake gets here. There’s no way I’m letting you down there without him, besides the fact he’d kill me, and I’m not ready to die a horribly painful death like he could come up with.”
“I don’t want to go down there without backup, either.” Azure agreed fully on that one. “So let’s just wait.” Waiting was something that she could do. Easily. Waiting wasn’t hard. Until she heard the baby cry. “Oh no,” she whispered, and wanted to run for the child. She hurt for the child because the scream from the baby was one of pain.
“No,” Volos said sharply. He wrapped an arm around her middle. “I know it’s hard, but we can’t rush down there. It could be a trap, Azy. If they ever got their hands on you…” He didn’t finish the thought. He didn’t have to. It wasn’t a pretty thought.
She nodded and was crying. She sobbed with the babe when she heard it screaming in pain again. “It’s a Draygon baby,” she whispered with her eyes wide. “Oh God. How in the hell were they able to make a Draygon babe?” She wanted to get to the child even more now.
“A what?” That was Drake’s voice, and he sounded seriously pissed off. “Azy, are you sure?” he asked. He was striding toward her fast, his long legs eating up the remaining distance quickly.
“Very.” She was now fighting against Volos’s hold. “It’s a Draygon baby down there that they are torturing. Those bloody fucking bastards!” She wanted to get to whoever it was, wanted to kill them herself for harming such a sweet and innocent treasure.
“Azy, calm,” Drake said. He cupped her face, forcing her to look up at him. “You need to be calm or you’re no good to anyone. You can’t go into this angry. It will blind you to threats you would otherwise see. I would make you remain here but I know I can’t, not this time. So you go in, but you do this my way or I’ll fucking tie you up and leave Volos to sit on you, got it?”
Azy tried to calm herself and finally nodded. “Okay.” She looked up at Drake. “Okay, let’s do this. We need to get down there before they hurt that baby even more. Before they do something the child can’t heal from.”
He stared into her eyes and, after a long time, nodded. “Okay. You stay behind me and Maurice, right next to Volos. We haven’t released any of the spirits yet, but that infernal screeching is likely the cause of what’s binding them here. We need to find it, destroy it, kill the humans if necessary, and get the baby free. Azy, I know it will go against every fiber of your being, but don’t touch the baby.”
She nodded and closed her eyes. “Okay.” She wanted to go to the babe, needed to have the child free and wanted to hold it close. “But as soon as you are certain that there are no traps, I want the child.” If they couldn’t find the parents or family, she would take the child as her own.
“Azy, you’re not hearing me, and I’m not explaining well. A Draygon babe, one that’s been injured and is scared, is a weapon. All of the Draygons have protective instincts within, ones we bury as we grow older and are able to change shapes. The baby is deadly to anyone but another Draygon until it realizes, on its own, it is safe. You cannot touch that child until I say so, and neither can Volos, so don’t ask him to pick it up, either. One of us will tend the babe.” He indicated Maurice, Graven, who had just joined them, and himself. “No other living being can lay a hand on the child at this time, or for a time after.”
“Oh.” Well, damn, she didn’t know that. She took a deep breath and nodded. “Please just save the babe. They are the most important part of this mission. That baby is more important than any of us.” It was a Draygon baby, something that hadn’t been born in a very, very long time. That baby was beyond important. “The babe will be ours if we can’t find the parents.” She didn’t ask, she told them.
“Agreed.” He nodded. Stepping back, he let his hands fall from her face. “Stay behind me at all times,” he said. Only when she nodded did he head down the stairs to the next level. At the bottom, there was nothing, just white hallways with absolutely nothing in them. Drake paused for a moment before his head turned to look up one hall and he signaled them to follow.
Azure nodded and bit her lower lip to try to stop the tears that still wanted to fall. She looked to Volos and nodded. She hoped that he understood, that he would help keep her from going to the babe, because she knew herself well, as did her mates.
When they walked into the room where there were men and one woman poking and slicing at the babe, Azure tried to break for the babe, tried to get to him in order to save and protect the child, but was stopped by Volos’s arms around her middle.
Drake went straight in, and with a sweep of his arm, smacked everyone away from the child. “Maurice, Graven, secure them. They will go for interrogation,” he snapped out. His attention moved from the downed humans to the baby strapped to the table, squirming to be free. “Shh,” he whispered. She watched him lay a gentle hand to the baby’s head as her Draygon whispered words she didn’t understand to the infant. With careful hands, he got the baby free and picked it up into his arms, holding the child close as he rocked the baby back and forth slowly.
Azure looked to Drake holding the child and put her hand to her mouth. Oh god, she loved the way that he looked with a baby in his hands. “Is he okay?” she asked as she moved closer to Drake. “Are you okay? Do you think that I can take him? That way, you can all fall in around us while we get the hell out of here and find whatever it is that’s making that noise.”
“She will be fine, but no, you can’t take her yet. Hold your hand over her forehead. You’ll be able to feel the heat pouring off of her. She’s in full protective mode, the only one she has against being harmed.” Drake turned a little so that Azy could see the baby better. “She will need time to heal and to calm. Gods, Azy, it’s really a baby Draygon. The first in too long,” he whispered, his voice filled with awe.
“And a girl.” Azure didn’t know that Draygons were born as girls. This was a first. “She’s not ill though, right? She will be okay?” She stepped in closer and whispered softly to the baby, singing a soft lullaby to her as she stroked her fingers over the wee one’s little bare head and cheeks. “Don’t you worry, little love, we will always protect you.”
“I don’t know, Azy. I can’t really check her over until we get out of here. Volos, destroy that infernal machine already, would you? I’m starting to get a massive migraine from the noise, and the little one isn’t any happier with it, either.”
“Uh, right,” Volos muttered. “How do you suggest I turn it off?”
“Unplug it,” Graven commented drily.
“Yeah, there’s no plug. There are no wires of any sort coming out of it,” Volos said. Watching him, she saw him bend in close and frown. “The humans didn’t make this,” he said suddenly. Pressing something had the sound shutting off and her ears plugging up from the sudden lack of sound.
“Damn,” Maurice muttered. “That’s a relief. Who made it, if not the humans?”
Volos turned a look her way. “Only one of the Races has this language,” he said quietly, almost apologetically.
Azure looked at the writing on the piece and felt sick. “That’s Necromancer,” she whispered. “The oldest language. It’s only written and spoken by those who are like me. Only those who can speak to the dead are able to write and read this.” She was shaking.
How? She had never seen anything like this machinery before. She looked to Drake and then Volos. “Let’s get out of here. Destroy that machine. I don’t care how but destroy it. It’s a capture for the dead. It’s a way to trap those not of my world to keep them from doing harm to those like me.”
Graven moved up next to Volos and they both stared at the machine with dubious expressions. “I think it would be best to take it with us, princess. If we try to destroy it and do something wrong, we could make a bad situation worse. It’s off for the moment. We will return it to your realm and see if anyone there knows how to properly destroy it.”
“He has a point, Azy.” Volos looked to her again and shrugged. “I could beat on the thing until it started to crack, but if I hit it wrong, punching a button by mistake, or cross a wire during the process…” What he left unsaid, what they all understood, was that it could go very, very bad.
Azure chewed her lower lip and nodded. “Okay. We will take it back to my home world.” She looked to her guards. “Take it to the island. You know the one I’m talking about.” The Island where her mother had gone when she was alive, her retreat of sorts, a place that Azure would never, ever go to because of the memories of her mother.
“Of course, princess.” Graven nodded. He looked reluctant to touch the machine, but after a few minutes of poking around, he found a bag large enough to slip it into.
She staggered then and put her hand to her head. “Oh God,” she whispered and looked to the child. “Her parents are gone. The mother was killed at birth and the fathers very shortly after. The poor baby is alone.” She had them now, though. Azure, Drake and Volos would take the child and treat her as if she were theirs. “We need to get gone. Her parents are telling us that the humans are mounting up with weapons, somewhere close. We need to get the AEDA here and have them clean up the mess that’s left.”
“Volos, make the call,” Drake said. He moved to a table and eased the child down onto a blanket. He wrapped it around her gently before lifting the baby back into his arms. “The rest of us are getting the hell out of here, now. Maurice, Graven, your only concern is getting that thing out of here without the AEDA or any of the humans out there knowing you have it. I know you have reservations, but go off the roof just this once, huh? Azy, I need you to stay close to Volos until we’re out of here. The little one is starting to warm up again, so no more touching her until we get her somewhere safe.”
Volos nodded as he pulled out a cell phone and placed a call. Reaching out, he touched Azure’s arm lightly.
“Does she have a name?” Maurice asked. “The baby, did her parents name her or have one chosen?” he added when they all looked at him.
Azure shook her head sadly. “No. They never got to even hold her or touch her.” She felt the tears drop from her eyes. The poor child had never known the loving touch of a parent. She moved closer to Volos and slipped her hand into his. She listened to him as he spoke into the phone and relaxed as the dead seemed to all fall away and move into the afterlife.
“So, I suppose that the naming of the child will fall to us.” She looked to Drake and smiled. “You look very good holding a babe. I’m happy that you are able to hold her. She needs to have someone to show her some love.”
“She’s a sweetheart,” he said quietly. “Hungry, though. I can practically hear her belly growling. We need to pick up some formula before we go anywhere at all. We also need to decide where the hell we are going. Sorry, little one. No using swear words, they are bad.”
“We will take her to the Draygon home world. We will stop and get her some formula along the way, but for now, the safest place for her to be will be on our home world.” At least Azure thought it would, keeping the child as far from the device that had held her parents’ spirits captive for so long as possible. “And yes, we will name her and feed her. She shall be ours. To all our families and peoples, she will be ours.”
Drake looked to her with a smile, leaning over to kiss her gently. “You are a very generous woman, Azy. Not many would even think about taking in a child they knew nothing about. I love you, little mate. Now, let’s get moving, and while we are getting our butts out of here, think of a name for the little one. With some options, since I doubt we’re all going to agree on anything right off.”
“She is an innocent in all of this and deserves only love from all of the horror she survived,” Azy said e
asily and licked her lips. She did so love the taste of her mate upon her lips. “I will think of names. I’m not very good with them, but I will think of something for her and we will put them before her and see which she might prefer as well.”
“Likely a good idea,” he said.
Volos hung up, pocketing his phone. “The AEDA is en route. They will be here in ten minutes, which means we need to get gone.” Tugging on her hand, he led the way out of the room, Maurice and Graven following them out and shutting the door to keep the semi-conscious humans inside. Her guards gave her a nod before they took off at a jog with their package. She and her mates moved a little slower, but still quickly.
“Roof, Volos. I’ll have to shift and get us out of here. It’ll have to be a partial, since she’s still too warm for either of you to carry around,” Drake said.
With a nod, Volos looked up the dark stairwell. “Crap,” he muttered to her. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get climbing.”
Azy looked up at the darkness that greeted them and bit her lip. “Okay, but if I hit a wall, I’m totally going to cry and make you feel all kinds of bad and such.” She was teasing him and let him know it by squeezing his hand. “Don’t worry, we have this babe,” she teased him and headed up the darkened stairs.
“I won’t let you hit a wall,” he muttered. “Besides, it’s stairs. We go up six, turn, go up six more and repeat until we get to the top. It’s just a long, long way to the top. I hate stairs, damn it.” With a sigh, he started moving, tugging her along gently until they got their rhythm up the stairs.
Azure was laughing, racing up the stairs along with Volos. “Come on,” she teased him. “You have massive stamina, my Vhampyre, so why would you be worried about a few stairs?” She was teasing him, mostly, but she raced ahead of him, turning and moving through the stairs with a bit of help from the glow of Drake’s eyes behind her.