Rolling onto her back, Susan brought the rifle up and tried to aim it at the woman pursuing her. Before she had a chance to pull the trigger, Lisa shifted, turning into a snake. Susan fired a couple of shots, but it was too awkward to use and the snake was too fast. She dropped the gun with a curse and rolled over to crawl away as fast as she could.
When she got to the next vent, Susan put both hands on it and shoved against it while pinning her back against the wall. It creaked in protest and bent a little, but held firm. The snake was getting close. Susan swung her legs up, curling up into a ball with her feet against the grate. She shoved again and the vent popped free with a squeal. Susan fell through the opening, crashing onto the floor and knocking the wind out of her.
Before she had a chance to recover, Lisa fell out of the grate after her, changing her shape in mid-fall. Lisa sat up on Susan and pounded on her with her fists. Susan brought her hands up to guard her face, but the blows still connected. Susan rolled to the side, slamming her knee into Lisa’s gun wound. Lisa fell over with a shout.
Susan sat up and grabbed her handgun out of the holster. Lisa pushed off her good leg and grabbed Susan’s wrist, twisting it hard to make her drop the gun. It landed on the floor with a clatter. Lisa used her momentum to push Susan to the ground again. With her opponent pinned, Lisa reached back and grabbed the dropped handgun. She held it by the barrel and used it like a club, beating Susan in the shoulders and face. Susan tried to protect herself, but it was a useless effort. When her face was swollen and bleeding, Lisa grabbed Susan’s wrist and pulled her arm taut. She flipped the pistol around in her grasp and placed the muzzle against Susan’s shoulder. She fired, and Susan screamed. Pain laced from her shoulder up to her scalp and down her spine.
Her arm went limp and Lisa dropped it to the carpet. She grabbed Susan’s other wrist and shot her other arm in the shoulder. Susan could feel the darkness closing in around her. She wanted to struggle, to get away, but her arms wouldn’t move and she couldn’t think of anything beyond the levels of pain overloading her system. Lisa sat on top of her and brought the gun around towards her face. Susan could feel the heat of the muzzle as it got close.
A large muscular hand clamped down on Lisa’s wrist and another one grabbed her by the neck. The gun fired twice more, but the bullets sank into the floor a few feet from Susan’s face. With a grunt, the man picked up Lisa and threw her into a wall. Susan saw Richard’s face hovering over her as he bent down to pick her up. After seeing his face, she surrendered to the darkness.
Chapter 27
Darien walked down the hallway where Richard had gone, calling out his name. He looked down the side passages, but couldn’t see the familiar hulking form. He moved at a quick pace, searching for his missing friend. He didn’t understand why he ran off. Just as he was peeking around one corner, he pulled back to avoid slamming his face into Bridget. She took several quick steps to stop her run. She had a book tucked underneath her left arm. She grabbed his wrist and pulled trying to drag her with him.
“We need to get out of here. I have what we need.”
“I need to find Richard!”
She put an arm on his shoulder and pulled him close so that he could hear her without needing to shout over the chaos of the crowd as well as the alarm.
“Darien, leave him behind. I just saw him. He’s crazy with rage and I don’t think we’ll be able to stop him. He’s a madman now, killing everything that moves. We need to get out of here while we can, while the Shadows are distracted. I have the book. We have the cure!”
When Darien closed his eyes, he pictured Richard murdering Jason. It looked like he enjoyed the act, and it was an image he wished he could forget.
“I need to try and stop him.”
“Please, come with me. Leave him to his madness. He’s lost to us now and there’s nothing that we can do.” Her fingers tightened on his arm.
“What a surprise to find two Sheynan together in my conclave.”
A dark shape in a human form walked forward with his hand held out behind him. A crowd of people stood back, restraining themselves from charging. The single Shadow advanced, his form hazy and indistinct like he wore the darkness as a cloak. When the two companions turned to face him, he stopped. After a brief pause, he dropped the shadow armor and stepped into the light. Darien gasped.
“Gregory? You’re the Dark?”
Darien heard the book drop to the ground with a heavy thump. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a tiger rushing the leader of the Shadows. Bridget brandished her fangs and claws with a feral roar. Gregory calmly looked at the assault and changed into a Clydesdale. The horse reared back and kicked with powerful front legs, large hooves moving through the air with deadly intent.
The tiger jumped back and growled a challenge. Her eyes no longer indicated human intelligence. The beast stalked from one side of the hallway to the other. Darien called out to Bridget, but she showed no acknowledgement, staying focused on the target in front of her. The horse turned as well, making sure to keep the carnivore in front.
With a whinny, the horse whipped around, pointing its back end to the predator. Seeing an opportunity, the animal jumped forward with claws extended. Before she made her lunge, Darien knew it was a trick. He called out, but to no avail. Gregory brought his back end up to deliver a powerful kick. It missed the tiger’s head and struck her in the shoulder. The force of the blow sent the beast tumbling across the ground until a wall stopped her.
Darien rushed over to Bridget and tried to reach down to help her. She lunged at his hand and tried to bite his arm. Darien jumped back and looked at the creature’s eyes. He saw feral rage. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought this was a wild animal. As he back pedaled away, the eyes cleared up and regained their intelligence. The animal faded away, and Bridget’s human form tried to take its place. The change took several seconds, with Bridget fading in and out of view. When she did resume her human form, she curled into the fetal position and coughed.
Gregory shifted back into his human form and walked up to stand at Darien’s side. He stayed just out of arm’s reach but pointed at Bridget as she struggled to recover.
“This is your future. I have the ability and the desire to make sure that you never experience such suffering.”
Darien whirled on his former guide, making the older man take a step back.
“You’re a Shadow! How could I possibly join you?”
“Remember your memories Darien. The Shadows are not what we’ve been portrayed to be. Perhaps you should be asking who we truly are before you commit yourself to a path that leads to madness and destruction. We are the ones who seek balance. I only want to protect my herd.”
Bridget stopped her coughing fit and pushed herself to a standing position. She took one unsteady step after another until she stood over the book. She looked at Darien and Gregory. Her stare toward the latter was one of abject hatred.
“Come with me and we can cure each other. You know what the Shadows are. Don’t believe his lies. He’s trying to use you. They always try to use us.”
“Bridget, your welcome was overstayed the moment you passed our threshold. If you wish to continue your meager and suffering existence, leave the tome and depart. The disease will take you.”
Caught between the two, Darien looked first from one to the other. They both turned their attention back to him and beckoned for him to join them. He felt paralyzed by the maelstrom of thoughts raging through his brain. It felt as if this strange new world that he was just beginning to understand had collapsed around him and the remaining pieces needed to be put together in a new way.
“The Shadows can and will assist you. With our resources at your disposal, I guarantee we’ll find a solution. She offers empty promises that will lead you down the same path she has traveled. Do not let the actions of a few of our misguided members cause you to judge us all in poor light.”
“Together there’s nothing the two of us can’t do. He�
�s afraid of us.”
Darien backed away from the conflict until he felt a wall behind him. As he turned his attention from one to the other, the noise of battle grew. Screams mixed in with animal howls and screeches echoed all around. When he glanced down the hall away from the group of Shadows, he saw an insane battle. Animals bit and scratched while humans used guns or clubs to keep the creatures at bay. In the chaos, it was impossible to tell who was on which side, or if there even were sides. Some of the people turned down the corridor and saw the three of them standing in the center of the passage. One of the men pointed toward them.
“More Shadows over here! For the Arm!”
What came next was a blur. Bridget rushed forward and grabbed him by the arm. She pulled him away and he stumbled after her. Gregory called out to him, but the voice was lost in the din. When he looked behind him, Darien saw the Shadows rush forward to protect their leader and meet the oncoming wave with full force. Bridget ushered Darien down the halls to the stairs next to the elevators. She winced as she pushed Darien through the door into the stairwell. Even in here, the signs of battle were evident: bullet holes, blood on the walls and floor, and dead bodies. Some of them were animals and a shocking number were humans. Whether they were shifters or normal humans, Darien couldn’t say.
They rushed to the ground floor where someone had propped the door open. Darien heard sirens. He dared a glance into the main hall and saw a mob rushing to the exit, forgetting the battle. Several bodies littered the floor and the pool with the waterfall was red. A body slumped over the edge with its head underwater. More police cars and ambulances than he could count sat just outside the front entrance. The police were trying to get into the building, but the mad flood of people leaving stemmed their advance.
He was about to turn the corner and head to the basement when he saw Richard stumbling with a heavy burden. He saw a long yellow braid reaching down almost touching the floor. The image triggered something in his brain and he snapped out of his daze. With a fierce shove, he broke away from Bridget and ran into the hall.
“Darien! Come back!”
As he got close, Darien saw Susan’s beaten face and the bullet wounds in her shoulders. She looked like she had trouble breathing. He reached out and put a hand on Richard’s arm to get him to stop. Richard looked down, saw who it was, and lowered Susan’s body into Darien’s arms. Darien moved to the exit. He pushed his way through as much as he dared, terrified of Susan’s condition. As soon as he was outside, he rushed over to an EMT. The man inspected her, and then ushered Darien into an ambulance with his charge. Soon, the chaotic world was shut outside and all Darien heard were the sirens as they sped their way to the nearest hospital. He held on to Susan’s hand, uncomfortable with how cold it was.
Chapter 28
The hospital room was cold and unfriendly as Darien sat in the chair next to Susan. He hadn’t changed his clothes or washed up. Blood covered him, but very little of it was his own. The attending nurse had convinced him to allow them to clean up the wound on his leg, but it was just a scratch and didn’t require stitches. The tranquilizer gun was still tucked into the back of his pants covered by his shirt and coat. The police asked no questions, and made sure that the nurses didn’t either. They were brought to a very specific floor of the hospital, where the only people being treated were involved in the battle. Clearly either the Arm or the Shadows or both wanted this situation contained as much as possible.
Darien heard that Richard had been brought to the hospital as well. He lost an eye and a lot of blood. He would be okay, but the eye was irreparable. Darien knew he should go check on his friend, but he didn’t want to leave Susan’s side until she woke. The doctors weren’t sure if she would be able to pull through or not.
Through the next hour, Darien maintained his vigil. He chewed his lip when he saw her respiratory rate increase, but her heartbeat was still weak according to the EKG. A few times, the nurse came in to check on her status and left without saying a word.
Finally, Susan groaned and turned her head to the side. She licked her lips, and Darien squeezed her hand in excitement. While the gesture was weak, she returned the sign of affection.
“Darien.”
Her voice was so soft it was almost drowned out by the steady beep of the EKG. He shushed her by laying a finger on her lips. When he spoke, he tried to keep the tears from his eyes.
“You’re going to be okay.”
Leaning forward, he put his head on her chest and she smiled. She brought an arm up and laid it across the back of his shoulders. When her breathing was slow and steady, he lifted her arm off of his back and laid it across her chest. Leaning forward, he kissed her forehead then got up to leave. He needed to check on Richard. When he found the room, he saw the large man resting on the bed with his right eye mostly closed. He had a clean bandage over the left side of his face, covering it from the ear to the top of his forehead and coming around as far as his nose. A blood transfusion bag hung on a rung attached to the bed and flowed into his left arm.
“Are you alright, Richard?” Darien whispered, not wanting to disturb his friend’s rest.
Richard’s eye fluttered open and he grunted as he turned to face Darien. He moved only his head, leaving the rest of his body still.
“I’ll live, kid. How is she?”
“She’ll pull through. The doctors weren’t sure for a while, but she woke up and seems to be out of the woods now.”
Richard nodded, rustling the pillow as he moved his head. He kept his good eye closed and his breathing was slow and steady.
“What happened to your eye?”
“Bastard Shadow clawed it out in the cells. I got careless.”
“I see.”
A piece clicked in his mind. That wasn’t Richard he saw, but it was someone who knew Richard—knew his hatred, his mannerisms, and how he would act. And someone who had the ability to look like Richard. There was only one person he could think of who might have the ability, the knowledge, and the motive to do that. Shifters kept saying no one knew what a Sheynan could do. How many times had Bridget shown up wearing someone else’s skin?
Darien didn’t know what else to say for the moment, so he stood watch as Richard fell back asleep. He went back to check on Susan and found her also in a recuperating slumber.
When he went to leave the floor, a nurse tried to stop him, but he shouldered his way past her. He marched out of the hospital and signaled for a cab as soon as he was on the street. The driver looked at him and started to ask a question, but Darien cut him off and gave him Bridget’s address. To further stem any argument, Darien tossed two fifties into the front seat.
When they arrived at the house, Darien got out of the car and slammed the door shut behind him. The driver drove off as soon as the door was closed. Darien stood alone in the grass in front of Bridget’s house. Her car was parked in the driveway, and a light filtered out around the edges of the curtains in the windows. Darien walked up to the front door. All the muscles in his back were tense. The door opened on oiled hinges as he pushed it without bothering to knock. From his current vantage point, Darien saw up to the second floor where Bridget stood on the other side of the railing. She held a heavy book bag in her hand. He guessed it contained the manuals. She smiled down at him and walked down the stairs.
“I knew you’d come to me.”
Darien took one step and passed the frame of the door. The weight of his mood stopped Bridget short as she reached the bottom step. She looked him over before she spoke again. Her gaze captured his bloody clothes and unwashed hands. By comparison, Bridget had cleaned up and changed into a new blouse and pair of pants.
“You didn’t come for the cure.”
Darien didn’t utter a word as he slammed the door shut behind him. Bridget placed one foot on the step behind her. Her legs tensed and her eyes narrowed. She dropped the bag at the base of the stairs.
“You don’t want to do this.”
Before the senten
ce had left her mouth, Darien took a sudden step forward and reached out to grab the corner of her blouse. He twisted it in his bloody hand, staining it as he pulled her close. She brought her hand up and pried him off.
“Susan almost died.”
Bridget freed herself and stepped up, away from him. “She’s weak, Darien. She isn’t even a shifter! She could never keep up with you, or understand you. We’re stronger and better. There’s nothing that we can’t do. Think about it. As a force together, no one would stand a chance.”
She walked up the stairs as she talked and Darien followed. Her rear foot was on the second floor when Darien spoke.
“Richard and Susan are my friends.”
“You don’t need them. You’re above them.”
She pointed at him to accentuate her point. Her fingertip touched his chest and he slapped her arm away. She dropped her weight and glared at Darien.
“If you don’t join me, you’re a threat.”
Darien pulled out the tranquilizer gun, but Bridget kicked his hand, sending the weapon to the ground floor. With a growl, Darien bent his legs and closed his eyes, willing his form to change shape. He shifted into a wolf and glared at his intended prey. His mouth opened in a snarl as he shot forward, trying to catch Bridget off guard. She remained stoic as the hunter closed the distance. When he was close enough that her clothes billowed under his breath, she jumped over the railing. Darien ran to the edge and looked down in time to see Bridget disappear and a falcon flap her wings to slow her descent. With a push of powerful legs, the wolf was up and over the railing and became a missile of fangs and claws.
The bird tucked her wings against her body and dove toward the floor, banking hard just before colliding with the ground. Talons scraped across the carpet as the falcon dodged out of the way moments before the wolf fell on the ground on all fours. As soon as his feet were underneath him, he pushed off and soared through the air at his elusive prey. She ducked and turned, rose and dove, staying just ahead of his attacks. Once, she turned so close to the wall that Darien only had time to duck his head before his shoulder collided with it, cracking the drywall and causing small bits of debris to fall around him. He shook his head and looked for Bridget.
The Bringer of War (The Sheynan Trilogy Book 2) Page 21