by A and E Kirk
“Yeah, not really super assassiny. Are you sure she’s the real Oleander?” Jaeger picked up a pistol off a fallen guard and shoved it into the waistband of his jeans. “Want a gun?”
“Not my style.”
“Yeah, you’re really weighted down there with a lot of sharp, shiny stuff.” Jaeger motioned at the arsenal of weapons covering the vampire’s body. “A little aggressive for a diplomat, don’t you think? I mean, wow, that’s the biggest ninja star I’ve ever seen.”
“It is a bladed boomerang,” Leontes said dryly.
“Who doesn’t have one of those?”
“You.”
“Touché. How about those things sheathed on your back? I see the hilts of—”
“Machetes.”
“Of course they are. And is that a tomahawk on your belt, or are you just happy to see me?”
“Your wit never ceases to underwhelm me.”
Jaeger rolled his eyes with a smirk. “How’d Kiara even hear the prisoners?”
“Dimitri must have holding cells down here for his live cargo. She picked up on their pain. It is a psychic thing. Something she used to do. Perhaps hearing about her past caused that ability to resurface.”
“And she went to rescue them all by herself?”
“This Kiara is annoyingly impulsive.”
Gunshots exploded up ahead. Before Leontes and Jaeger could react, a panther the size of a small rhino galloped around the corner with a speed that sent it sliding into the wall, taking out a chunk of stone. Debris flew as it surged straight for them, muscles rippling beneath fur so black it shined a deep purple.
The elegant beast snarled and leapt.
Jaeger went for his gun. Leontes knocked him down, using his body to keep the werewolf prince pinned to the ground. The panther soared over them and slammed into a giant brown bear, which had managed to sneak up behind the two men. The snarling beasts collided with enough force to shudder the walls. Lights flickered. Dust wafted down from the ceiling.
The bear righted itself out of the tumble first and raked claws across the panther’s ribs. Blood spattered. The panther rammed its shoulder into the bear and trapped the brute against the wall. In quick succession, the large cat shredded a burst of slices along the bear’s torso. Hunks of flesh and fur flurried the air. The bear’s jaws snapped with savage intent, but could not fasten a good hold. The panther sunk massive fangs into the bear’s shoulder and with a vicious snarl, flung the huge animal down the hall.
The bear moaned a deep growl and lumbered away with a severe limp. The panther kept low, tail swishing, a triumphant purr rumbling the ground.
From underneath Leontes, Jaeger muffled, “What’s happening?”
“Shut up,” Leontes hissed.
The panther whirled, fangs bared, and stalked closer. Its purr morphed into a cautionary growl. The cat sniffed at the vampire. Blood dripped from its mouth and onto Leontes’ coat as it lowered its jaws around him.
A bullet ripped through the panther’s shoulder. The animal let out an angry yowl of pain. More henchmen filled the hall. The panther bounded over Leontes and Jaeger and sprinted at the new attackers. The men shouted, guns exploding as they retreated around the corner.
“Follow the bear,” Leontes stood, yanking the young werewolf up with him. “He might lead us to Kiara.”
As Jaeger took off, Leontes ran ahead and sprinted through a doorway just as the gunfire died. He slid to a stop in the center of a circular room filled with cells. A barred door lay bent and twisted at his feet. Bodies and guns were scattered on the floor.
A growl fluttered Leontes’ trench coat. He turned slowly.
The panther rose from its crouch atop a squirming man, then twisted its paw, silencing his struggles with a loud crunch of bone. Another guard hung limp in the cat’s jaws, blood spurting from rips in his flesh. The animal gave a great shake of its head. Blood flung onto the walls. It crouched low and prowled in a wide arc between Leontes and the only exit.
As the vampire considered his best course of action, a voice said, “Quite the pickle you is in, ain’t it, mate?”
CHAPTER 44
Callahan leaned casually against the entryway. From Leontes’ vantage point, he saw more fairies filling the hall behind their leader. But not all of them. The rest must have been out searching for Kiara.
The panther growled a warning to the fey and tightened the hold on the body in its jaws, as if someone might be insane enough to steal its meal.
Callahan kept his distance and smiled at Leontes. “I been ‘round even longer than you, and I never seen a cat this big before. How ‘bout you, guv?”
Leontes fought every urge to move, to keep his expression impassive. He was cornered, with no leverage and no witnesses. They could kill him. Or worse, open a portal to the fairy realm and take him along.
With a motion from Callahan, his crew entered the pit of cells with an eerie grace. The panther snarled, dropping the body to lunge for the closest fairy.
Callahan did nothing more than flick his eyes. The bent and twisted cell door jumped off the floor, rammed into the panther, and flung the cat back into a cell. Ice froze around the metal door’s edges to cement it in place. The panther toppled over several drugged victims before lurching up and throwing itself at the bars, but the ice held firm.
In perfectly synchronized, lyrical movements, the fey slid around the edges of the circular room. Bowing low and rising on tiptoe, they peered into the cages, as if on stage for a ballet performance rather than searching through bodies and blood for a girl to kidnap.
“Easy, kitten, we want no trouble.” Callahan turned cold eyes on Leontes. “Just a word with me old friend.”
Incensed, the animal roared and gnawed at the bars. Leontes dragged his eyes away from the beast, half wishing it would remain trapped, half wishing it would break out.
“Well, look at that. Did you bring all those grand weapons to rescue the one little lady?” Callahan nodded at Leontes’ attire. “Mighty thoughtful chap you is. What say we go find her together? Strength in numbers and all.”
“Offer declined,” Leontes said in a steady, firm voice. “Now step aside. I will take my leave.”
Callahan’s men and women paused their search to turn a collective glare upon Leontes. As a light dusting of snow suddenly fluttered in the air, the fey rotated together and fell into a stiff, soldier-ready posture.
Callahan tsked. “Sorry, guv. Can’t let you do that. Not until we is working together. Way I see it, you got yourself two options.”
“I will never agree to let you take her.”
“Gotta act the hero. I can respect that, I can.”
“Callahan,” one of the other fairies said softly.
He held up a hand, eyes only for Leontes. “No need to leave the pretty little thing. Come with us. Haven’t carried out many diplomatic missions in the ice since the demotion to babysitter. Queen’s itching to catch up, she is.”
“Callahan.” Another fairy’s posture stiffened, eyes zeroing in on the cages.
“Less chance the little lady be hurt if you quit fighting me on this.”
“Callahan,” a third fairy called.
“What?!” he rounded on his brethren. A thick line of jagged frost erupted from his feet and speared toward them. “Can’t you see I’m having a bloody negotiation here!”
The fey pointed in unison at the cells.
“Yes, I see the bloody—” Callahan stopped. His brow furrowed. He jogged down the steps and peered into the cells, then turned back to his crew, eyebrows raised, jaw set with fury. “Well, this changes things, don’t it, mates?”
He strode out of the room, a sharp rigidity to his body. The remaining fey fell into step in a single file behind him. Before he disappeared, Callahan waved a hand in the air. The ice on the cell shattered. Since the panther was still gnawing on it, the door came loose in its mouth.
Obsidian claws easily tore through the earth as the panther shredded a path after the fai
ries. A torpedo of snow-laced wind rocketed through the entryway and knocked the animal off its feet.
The big cat righted itself quickly and with a feral roar, turned its fury on Leontes.
CHAPTER 45
“Easy.” Leontes held up a hand.
The panther stalked closer. Blood on its coat winked in the light. With fur so black, it was hard to notice the deep, jagged wounds dripping dark liquid. A few specks of human flesh were caught in its jaw.
“That is enough!” Leontes said.
But the panther’s claws dug into the earth and kept coming forward. Bloodied saliva drooled out between its fangs.
Leontes gritted his teeth and stopped his retreat.
He sighed wearily. “Do not tell me you have lost yourself in there already.”
The panther blinked, eyes shuttering to gold briefly before flickering back to an eerie green. Hot breath rolled past fangs. Leontes’ outstretched hand rock steady in contrast to his shaky insides.
The panther thudded her face into his chest. He sighed and hugged her thick neck. She nearly knocked him down as she rubbed her face against him, purring so deep he could feel it vibrating his bones.
“All right.” Leontes bit back a laugh as he staggered and gave her pat. “We need to get out before the fey return. But you will not fit in the get-away car in this state.”
The panther groaned and limped a few paces to a closed cell. Conscious prisoners inside scrambled away from the bars. The panther dropped unceremoniously, flumping with a cloud of dust. Black fur receded to reveal bloodied, lacerated skin. Bones snapped at disjointed angles before settling into human shape. Muscles shrunk with wet pops until all that remained was Kiara’s frail body. She lay there, curled in upon herself, shivering and naked.
“Kill, kill, kill, kill,” Kiara murmured shakily under her breath.
She cradled her head in her arms. Blood dripped off her body. She looked like a child’s horrific toy doll, paling with every beat of her heart. The open wounds refused to heal fast enough to retain her precious life force.
Leontes knelt beside her and lightly touched her shoulder. She flinched, wild eyes clearing when they settled on him.
She flashed a weak grin. “You worry too much.”
He sighed. “Because you worry not enough.”
An arm stuck out between the bars, offering Kiara red ribbons.
She took them. “Thanks for holding my dress.”
The young girl nodded, eyes wide, and backed away deeper into the safety of the cell. Leontes rose and averted his eyes, looking anywhere but at Kiara’s naked form as she pulled on the dress.
The sweet perfume of her blood scented the air. From where he had touched her, he could feel the warmth of it seeping through his leather gloves and onto his fingertips. The overwhelming urge to lick the thick scarlet liquid washed over him. With a quick flick, he withdrew a handkerchief and wiped the temptation away, then stuffed it back into his pocket.
“In case you do not recall, psychic connections sap your strength,” he chided to distract himself. “Even your original self found it the most draining of her magical skills. In your present state, you are not prepared for it at all. And you certainly should not have shifted. Jaeger saw you. So did the fey.”
“I needed to assess the situation in a way they didn’t expect.” She smiled and bumped her shoulder against his. “Plus, I found you.”
“I suppose.”
He glanced down, relieved she was clothed. Not that the so-called dress covered very much. With so much skin exposed, he could easily see her trembling with exhaustion. Leontes was surprised she was still standing.
At the sound of footsteps fast approaching, of which there were many, Leontes moved toward the entrance. He hoped it was not the fey, but that just left them with a slightly less worse option. Dimitri was infamous for his mercenaries. Although, Leontes had not thought he would employ such a damn persistent crew.
“Time to go,” Leontes said.
“Hear that guys?” Kiara swung open the closest jail cell. “We’re getting out of here!”
“Kiara, we cannot afford the luxury of escorting the prisoners.” Leontes caught her arm. “We must leave, now.”
“But—”
A body flew through the entryway. A white wolf. It tumbled across the ground, popping to his feet in time to slam into the metal bars. Blood matted his snowy fur.
“Jaeger!” Kiara gasped.
“Dammit,” Leontes said.
Eight tigers slunk into the room. Three lions blocked the entryway. More beasts salivated and growled behind them. And once Leontes concentrated, he could hear guns being reloaded in the back.
Kiara snatched a dagger from Leontes. “I’ve got this.”
She swiped a dirty forearm across her sweaty brow. Dark brown and fresh crimson smeared together into morbid abstract art on her forehead. Blood trickled and oozed from dozens of cuts on her exposed skin. She wobbled on buckling knees.
As the snarling Jaeger lunged for the first tiger, Leontes shoved Kiara back into a jail cell with the rest of the prisoners and slammed the door closed with a deafening clang.
“Don’t you dare!” she screamed, grasping the bars and rattling the door in a frenzy. “They’ll kill you!”
Leontes calmly ignored her furious protests and grabbed the first tiger by the throat. Coattails flaring, icy menace chilling his veins, Leontes unsheathed his weapons and went to work.
CHAPTER 46
One hand gripping its neck, Leontes slammed the weretiger’s skull against the stone wall. He let it crumple to the floor, ducked, spun, and slashed the tomahawk back as another tiger lunged. The blade sliced through its gut, and it went down, entrails spilling into the dirt.
Jaeger, in his wolf form, had a weretiger pinned on its back, ripping at its throat, when two men came around the corner. They aimed guns at the white wolf.
Leontes threw the tomahawk. It embedded into one guard’s chest. Blood spurted. With a grunt, the man dropped to his knees. The second guard turned his weapon on Leontes and fired several shots.
The impacts jolted his body, but Leontes strode forward, undeterred. He grabbed the gun and broke the man’s arm as a werelion hurdled at Leontes’ back. He turned and emptied the clip. The animal thudded to the ground and did not move.
As the injured guard cradled his broken arm, cursing in pain, Leontes used his bare hands to snap the man’s neck, then flung the body into another charging tiger, knocking the beast across the room.
Three tigers circled Jaeger, who had one lion at his feet, its throat a ravaged mass of red. Leontes flung the bladed boomerang. It sliced through the neck of one of the tigers stalking Jaeger, then returned to the vampire’s hand in time for him to spin sideways and jam the blade up under another tiger’s jaw. The force of the blow pierced its brain. Life flickered briefly, then the pale yellow eyes went flat with death.
The rest of the weretigers paused any further frontal attacks. Instead, crouched and snarling, they circled Leontes, looking for an opening.
He reached back and grabbed the hilts of the machetes. With a glint of silver and the high-pitched scrape of metal, he pulled them free. He rotated his wrists to twirl the weapons in graceful arcs, and then smiled. “Gentlemen, shall we dance?”
The shifters snarled again, but remained at a distance, tails flicking in anticipation.
Leontes sighed. “Very well, then. I will take the lead.”
CHAPTER 47
Leontes did not see clear images, just shadows and threats needing to be dispatched. His body responded easily to battle, the memories embedded deep within the sinews of his flesh.
It felt good. Familiar. Even natural after so long.
The blood on his latest victim’s throat made it difficult to grasp. But not impossible. He felt the windpipe collapse, as pliable as wet clay beneath his fingers. He let the tiger drop, twitching, convulsing, gasping silently for breath that would never again come.
“Leont
es!”
An entity disturbed the air at his back. He spun, slicing a blade at the neck. The entity ducked and rolled.
Through a gritty film of swirling dust and a haze of fading fury, Leontes focused on the scene before him. Shifters lay shattered, broken, and torn. Some scattered in ravaged pieces. The cloying scents of copper, sweat, and rage clung to every molecule.
A wolf prowled through the remains of the slaughter, growling at the fallen shifters as if daring them to rise. Prince. Ally for the moment. He could live. Bloodied weapons gripped in his hands, Leontes turned in search of Kiara.
Pounding footsteps headed toward them. Jaeger landed in a snarling crouch next to Leontes as an army of shifters barreled in, ready for battle. The man leading the charge eyed the white wolf, fur now matted and stained with an ugly mix of dirt, blood, and unidentified fleshy bits.
“Jaeger?”
The wolf howled.
“Thank God,” Alpha said with visible relief as the rest of the pack stared at the carnage. “Did Dimitri take Kiara?”
“No, she is…” Leontes stared at the cell of prisoners, but none wore a barely-there red dress. “Kiara?”
The more coherent prisoners pointed up. Leontes stomped forward, choosing to ignore the fact that the prisoners flinched back in fear, and glared at the crumbling hole in the ceiling.
“She said to tell you he was getting away,” one of the prisoners said.
Leontes snarled. “Who?!”
CHAPTER 48
Dimitri ducked his head as he climbed into the helicopter. He flopped into the seat, wincing in pain. The pilot, who sported a heavy salt and pepper beard and a patch over one eye, offered Dimitri a helmet, but he swatted it away.
“Just get me out of here, Klaus! Go! Go! Go!”
The pilot shrugged his thick shoulders and began flipping switches with gusto. A high-pitched whirring sent the propellers on a slow spin.