The Bringer of War (The Sheynan Trilogy Book 2)

by Dylan Birtolo

  Forcing herself to gain control, she resumed the shape of the blond woman and pushed herself to a standing position. She wiped the back of her hand against her mouth and looked down at the unconscious guards. Her eyes were bloodshot and her vision blurred. Inhaling deeply through her nose, she bent over and searched the male guard’s belt. Finding an electronic key card, she pulled it free and walked over to the door. The key matched the lock and the door swung open. Inside, the vault was completely dark.

  Bridget groped to the side of the door for a light switch and was rewarded for her efforts. Large spotlights in the ceiling turned on. She stood in a large, circular chamber. The walls and floor were a reflective black. Near the center of the room, three pedestals stood in a semicircle. The closest pedestal was empty, but the other two held large tomes at chest level. In the center of the room was a stone slab made of a light gray stone that contrasted with the floor.

  For a few seconds, Bridget stood in the doorway, staring at the manuals. When she recovered from the initial shock, her lips tightened into a grin and she walked forward. The secrets contained in these books—the rituals—would be quite the treasure. She was tempted to take both of them, but carrying them would be difficult. It was a shame, but once she was cured, she might be able to come back. She examined the books, looking for the one that matched the description in the Arm’s manual. The first one she looked at had the image of an eagle emblazoned on the cover. She passed it by. The other had a frog. Bridget stopped and traced the design with her fingers. She opened it and scanned the pages. It took several minutes. When she got near the end, she found what she was looking for: the key to her cure.

  Bridget closed the book and picked it up, cradling it against her chest. She held it there as she left the vault. Her forehead was covered with perspiration from her previous ordeal, but her face was painted in a permanent smile. She stepped over the bodies in the hall, not giving them a second glance. She heard chatter on the radio attached to the sleeping guard. According to the reports, a large force of the Arm had penetrated the basement floor, and the fighting had grown to a fevered pitch.

  She returned to the main network of corridors and watched people running past. At one point, she recognized Jason running with a small group in the direction of the meeting room. He hustled away, being shouted at to protect the Dark. Her grin deepened and her eyes narrowed. This was a temptation she couldn’t resist. She turned on her heel, running into the bathroom. She lifted the cover off of the trash can and picked up the edge of the plastic liner. Leaning forward, she placed the manual on the bottom of can, and then replaced the bag. Afterwards, she moved to the sinks in front of the mirror and looked at her own reflection. With a deep breath, she took her time shifting, not wanting to strain herself. When she opened her eyes, Richard’s face stared back at her.

  Using her new disguise, Bridget sprinted down the hallway after Jason. He lagged behind with another Shadow, checking side passages and doors that the main group jogged past. Bridget got as close as she dared, and then waited until Jason sprinted ahead to the next passage. She ran up to the other Shadow. He turned to look at her and started to ask a question. She fell on him before he was able to say anything.

  Her fist struck him squarely in the chin. The combined force of the blow and her momentum made his head snap back and collide with the door frame. His legs folded underneath him and he dropped to the ground. Bridget grabbed his neck and pounded him once again, this time in the nose. She landed three blows before her victim went limp. When she turned to face Jason, he looked at her.

  She crossed the distance to him in two long strides as he tried to bring his gun up to aim. Bridget grabbed his wrist and slammed the back of his hand against the wall until he let go of the firearm. It clattered to the floor, but the sound was lost amidst the chaos. He punched her once in the face, snapping her head to the side. She responded by striking him in the solar plexus with her free hand. He coughed. With a tug on the arm, she sent Jason flying across the hall to collide with the opposite wall. He got his hands up to soften the blow and turned around to face her. He swayed, but managed to drop into a fighting stance and waited for his opponent to move.

  “This is more fun than I thought it would be.”

  “Shut up and fight, old man.”

  Jason lurched forward and led with his fist. Bridget blocked the blow. Before Jason could pull back, she snapped her head forward, driving her forehead against the bridge of his nose. He fell back, bringing his hand up to his face and trying to stem the flow of blood. Bridget pursued him, landing one blow after another against his ribs. She heard a crack and felt the bones give way under her knuckles.

  Jason tried to swing out with a wild punch. Bridget leaned back, letting it sail in front of her. She caught the wrist after it went past and jerked it with a twisting motion. He turned to keep his arm from breaking and Bridget responded by bending it up behind his back and making him arch to get away from the pain. She brought her other arm around, gripping his throat and digging her fingers into either side.

  “You’re coming with me. I want Darien to see what I’m going to do to you.”

  “Richard!”

  A voice shouted through the chaos. It was just the person she wanted to see. Bridget turned so that she faced Darien, Jason at her mercy. He ran in their direction.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Look who went back to the Shadows, kid. He ratted us out, like I told you he would. Once a Shadow, always a Shadow.”

  Jason shouted out to Darien, spitting blood. “Help me, Darien! He’s gone crazy! He won’t believe that I don’t want anything to do with them! They caught me, and now he’s trying to kill me! Please, you must believe me!”

  Bridget couldn’t have given him a better line.

  “Richard, stop!”

  “I’ve had it with your weakness! This is war!”

  Bridget dug her fingers into Jason’s neck, cutting off his reply. She grabbed as much as she could of his throat and tried to rip it out. She didn’t tear his throat out, but the effect was still a gruesome display as blood filled the skin under the neck and sprayed out of his mouth. Darien shouted wordlessly and ran forward as Bridget tossed the body at him and ran back toward the bathroom. Darien tried to catch the body as it fell. Bridget heard him call out for Richard as she ducked around the corner.

  Chapter 25

  Richard walked down the hallways and stared straight ahead. He attempted to ease his tension and appear relaxed, but it was a futile effort. He was so focused that he bumped into two people engaged in their own conversation. The pair glared at him, but he didn’t turn around to face them. He continued along the path he memorized.

  Finding his way back to the cells was a simple task thanks to the floor plans. They were outdated, since the original floor plan didn’t include a jail, but the general structure of the hallways was the same. According to the plans, these rooms were originally designed as storage lockers. Midway through his journey, an alarm blared out, making him jump. Richard hoped he and his companions had enough of a head start to pull off their plan. In the short term, the alert worked to his advantage. Several guards ran past him on their way to the lobby. When he saw them coming, Richard flattened himself against the wall to give them room.

  As he came to the last corner before the cells, he stopped and peered around it to see who was left on duty. Two men sat behind a desk, staring at the monitors. There was no cover between him and the desk, only twenty yards of empty hall space. Trying to look like he belonged there, Richard walked into the hall, into their line of sight. The sentries didn’t notice him until he covered half the distance. When they did, one raised a hand in a gesture to stop.

  “What’s your business down here?”

  “I’m on orders to see one of the prisoners.”

  “Which prisoner?”

  The other guard poked him in the shoulder and leaned close to whisper something in his ear. The guard’s face tightened and his eyes
narrowed. He reached for his gun. Richard lunged forward and vaulted over the desk. He swung his legs around, connecting with the first guard in the chest. Between Richard’s strength and significant bulk, the man slammed in the wall behind him, his head cracking against a corner. He fell like a rag doll.

  The other Shadow reached out to press a button on the console, but Richard caught his hand. Placing his other hand against the man’s chest, he grabbed the cloth and heaved him over the desk. He slid across the floor and rolled over to face Richard on all fours. He pounded his fists on the ground once, then closed his eyes and shifted into a gorilla. Richard matched him, shifting into a black bear. With a deafening roar, the large bear stomped forward to meet the gorilla.

  The beasts clashed against each other, with the bear falling on top of the other animal. The gorilla reached up and managed to stop the bulk before it crushed him to the ground. His knees flexed, and he threw Richard off and into a wall. Plaster cracked and flaked away from the force of the blow. Richard let forth a bellow that ruffled the other animal’s hair. Richard turned his head down, trying to grab anything in his mouth. He found an arm, and sank his teeth into it.

  Holding on with his jaw, Richard fell to the side, using his weight to bring the other animal along. The flesh tore and the arm threatened to come off. The gorilla groped with his free hand, felt the bear’s muzzle, and drove two meaty fingers into an eye. Richard let go and pushed away with all four legs, sending the combatants to opposite sides of the hall. He turned over and got up an all fours, blood streaming from a useless eye. Despite the disfiguring injury, Richard stalked forward with his head low, leaving a red trail.

  The gorilla rolled backwards onto his feet with the knuckles of his good hand on the ground. He lunged forward, trying to grab the bear by the neck. As the primate got close, Richard swiped with a massive paw, drawing four deep gashes across his opponent’s face. The gorilla clutched at the wounds and tried to stop his forward charge. Richard rose on his back legs and fell down quickly, driving his weight onto the other’s shoulders, driving him to the floor. Richard clamped his jaw down on the exposed neck. His strong jaw broke the neck. He lifted his head and panted, the blood from his eye mixing with the gorilla’s blood in his mouth before it dripped to the floor.

  Easing off the dead body, Richard slumped against the wall and took deep breaths with his tongue hanging out. His one good eye closed, and his breathing returned to normal. The bear faded from view, and Richard was in his human form, lying on his side against the cold floor. His eye socket was a dark red hole, and his left cheek was covered in blood.

  Half crawling, half stumbling, Richard made his way to the guard desk. He put his hand on the counter and hoisted himself to a standing position. Fumbling around in the drawers, he searched until he found an emergency medical kit. Cracking it open, he removed some gauze as well as the medical tape. He cleaned up his eye as best as he was able before applying gauze to the area and wrapping the tape around his head to keep it in place. The tape clattered as he dropped it to the floor. His legs shook and he needed to grab onto the desk for support. After several deep breaths, he felt strong enough to walk to the individual cells.

  The doors were all barred on the outside, but had no locks. Richard unlocked the bars and opened the doors as he hobbled down the hall. Most of the cells were empty. The first few people Richard found fled down the hall as soon as they realized Richard was not a Shadow. One couple, a man and a woman in the same cell, saw Richard’s face when he opened the door and ran to help support him. He grunted his thanks. Between the loss of blood, the injury itself, and his previous exertions, his movements were sluggish and came with great difficulty.

  Before he opened the last door, Richard heard a faint murmuring behind it. With a solid pull, the door swung open. The prisoner inside lifted his hands over his face as if to protect himself from the sudden light. Despite his cowering, or maybe because of it, Richard recognized Twitch.

  “Please, please don’t hurt me. I told you everything. I’ll do anything you ask. Just ask, and I’ll do it. Please ask!”

  He saw the blood and bruising around Twitch’s wrists and ankles. Based on the smell, Twitch had soiled himself and the Shadows left him to sit in his own filth. Even if Twitch was a Shadow, no one deserved to be locked up and treated like this. Richard took it as a testament to their nature that they would do this to one of their own.

  “Relax, Twitch. You’re free to go.”

  “Is that the bear? Here you are, and I didn’t expect you. But you are here. You must be even if you can’t!”

  “Get out of here.”

  Twitch tried to jump to his feet, but the motion was too quick and he stumbled to keep from falling on his face. He ran out the door, skipping every few steps in the middle of his sprint. His laughter echoed down the hall as he made his way toward the exit. Richard shook his head, and then looked at the couple still standing nearby.

  “You’d best get out while you can. This might be your only chance to escape.”

  They nodded and ran, leaving Richard standing alone. He placed his hand against the frame of the final door and took a few deep breaths with his good eye closed. With a shake of his head, he shuffled down the hall to the guard desk. He looked at the monitors and saw hallways filled with people and animals running in every direction. He hoped the prisoners would be able to escape. Something on the radio caught his attention and he made a point to listen in. From the chatter it seemed more intruders had come in through the sewers. Someone mentioned that the Arm was attacking.

  A scene flashed on one of the screens that piqued his interest. Darien hunched down in a corridor, over what looked like a body. His breath caught until he realized that the corpse wasn’t Susan. The text in the bottom corner of the monitor screen said second floor, main hall. With a stumbling gait, he made his way out of the jail and began the trek toward his companion.

  Chapter 26

  Susan slid down the ventilation shaft, easing one arm in front of the other and trying to keep the rattling to a minimum as she made her way to the large meeting room on the second floor. She dragged her rifle next to her, sliding it forward in between her own meager advances. At least the heat was on and it kept her warm. She was glad that she left her jacket behind on top of the elevator. Though she doubted she would be able to get it back.

  Several times during her journey she heard voices of people in the hall through the heating vents. She listened as she continued on her way, taking extra care to be stealthy, but she didn’t stop. She had the shortest distance to go of all the companions, but each foot was a significant effort for her.

  Back in the comforts of their hotel room, Susan had rehearsed the route several times in her head while looking at the floor plans. She had even closed her eyes and pictured all of the turns she would need to take in her mind. She was pleased to find that her practice had served her well and she soon found herself staring through a vent into a large circular chamber.

  The edges of the room were concealed in darkness. The only light was a small circle in the center that surrounded a wooden chair. It looked like the light came from a shaft in the ceiling. Susan shifted, pulling her rifle up next to her and straining to see anything in the room. Other than the chair, the only thing she could see was the edge of a desk that sat just outside the circle of light.

  Susan heard a pair of doors slide open and then latch shut to her right. She could feel the reverberations through the wall. Two people, a man and a woman walked into the room and stood in the center of the circle of light. When they stopped, a voice came out of the darkness in the direction they were facing.

  “It is late, Cameron. Why have you presumed to summon me?”

  Susan’s throat leapt. The man in the light had to be Cameron. And if he was the second in command, then the voice could only be the one that Bridget said was known as the Dark. Both of their targets were here in one room. Susan swallowed, trying to steady herself before she dared to move.
When she relaxed, she eased back, positioning herself so that she could use her rifle through the vent.

  “Lisa discovered that you have one of the ritual books in your room and are using it.”

  “You should not waste your time investigating me. You forget your place. This is insubordination.”

  “I have been in touch with your superiors. They question your decision, as do I.”

  An alarm blared through the room, making the woman jump. Susan’s time was up, she needed to take the shot. She couldn’t see the Dark, but she knew about where he was. Steadying her aim, she put her finger on the trigger and squeezed. The man yelped and there was a thud, but Susan didn’t waste time trying to see the body. She swung the barrel around to look at the other two.

  They were making a run for the doors which were just out of Susan’s range of sight. Someone had swung open the doors and light filtered in from the hallway. Susan lined up a shot with Lisa’s leg and fired again. The woman collapsed to the ground, sliding across the tiles. As she hoped, Cameron stopped to try and help her up. Now that he wasn’t in a dash, Susan took aim. She fired again and watched as the bullet ripped through Cameron’s neck and he fell.

  Lisa screamed.

  Susan dropped the gun, letting it clatter as she turned around in the confined space. There was no point in secrecy any more. She heard another scream, this one filled with rage. Susan shuffled away from the vent, moving as quickly as she could manage in the cramped quarters. She heard a crash and looked down past her feet to see Lisa hoisting herself into the ventilation shaft. Her face was contorted in a permanent snarl as she pulled herself forward.