Okay, and her entrance statement had even sounded weak to her. Sandi was helping her through another aspect of the attack that she hadn’t made well known. With her knowledge, and magical similarities to Shanna’s—in other words, she was powerful enough to handle anything Shanna could throw her way in frustration, anger, or denial—Sandi was the best option to help her process everything. Sandi being a cop was icing on the proverbial cake.
And, yes, even creatures had emotions. Those who were similar to humans, could take human form, or could merge with the human soul were the most likely to give into those emotions. Hybrids were especially susceptible to off the charts hyper emotions.
And Shanna just happened to be a hybrid supernatural creature.
Kai hadn’t be joking about her having a Jekyll and Hyde type personality. She kept her Hyde side in check as much as possible because once released, it was a blood thirsty beast with a mind of its own.
Shanna knew damn well that no one would be okay in her situation, whether they were human or not. Being attacked was one thing.
Being raped was a completely different animal to conquer.
Shanna smiled at Sandi. “Really. I’m fine.”
“I’m going to pull the bullshit flag on that one.” Lisa leaned against the sink, arms crossed. “Weren’t you just downstairs playing twenty questions with Denton? Oh, yeah. Let’s not forget about you turning a certain brother of yours into a mouse the other day.”
Shanna slid down in her chair. “I turned him back. And I wiped his memory,” she muttered.
Sandi shot her a knowing look. “We all know spells that alter someone’s memory are dangerous, not to mention temperamental,” she admonished. “They are also less than a hundred percent reliable.”
Shanna popped the tab on her can of Coke, draining half the can in the first gulp. She ignored the magical lectures, focusing her attention on Sandi. “So, what do I owe the pleasure of a visit on your day off?” She set the can back down on the oak table.
Sandi shrugged. “Just came by to see how you’re holding up,” she replied, her gray eyes meeting Shanna’s. “Why don’t you answer Lisa’s question?”
It was Shanna’s turn to shrug.
“Have you told Denton yet?” Lisa asked from her place at the sink.
Shanna shook her head, suddenly finding the table very interesting. “I was considering it before Dan announced your visit.”
Sandi pushed back from the table, walked to the back door, and yelled out the screen, “Denton, can you come in here for a minute?”
Shanna flinched, finishing off her Coke.
Lisa gave her a pitying smile. “He has the right to know. It’ll be okay sweetie.”
She really, really wished people would stop telling her things would be okay. While she looked like a teenager, this wasn’t her first life cycle. It was more like…well, it wasn’t her first. She was older than she looked, let’s leave it at that.
“You might want to put away the glowing eyes,” Sandi warned, her back still to Shanna.
“How—”
“When your eyes glow yellow, all the magic in the world can’t mask what you are to the supernatural community.”
Damn. Shanna took a deep breath, closing her eyes.
A minute later, D appeared in the kitchen, looking at her like she’d just shot his dog. By the non freaked out look on his face, she assumed her eyes were once again green.
He had changed into a pair of loose fitting jeans, an oversized white tee, and his feet were bare. His curly black hair was frizzy and matted to his forehead from their earlier tussle in the pool.
He looked at Sandi and Lisa expectantly.
“I’ll let the two of you talk,” Sandi said quietly, pushing open the screen door.
Lisa groaned as she heard a splash followed by a high pitched shriek. “I’ll be outside making sure Rhyder doesn’t mount Del if you need me. D, try to keep an open mind and listen to her.”
Suddenly, Shanna was left alone in the kitchen with D, a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. She broke out in a nervous sweat, her heart beating rapidly in her chest as her fear began to build, and she felt her left eye begin to twitch.
She needed to remain in control. There wasn’t a MP pulse or a charm ridden bracelet that emitted an electric charge every few minutes to force her dueling abilities to behave themselves.
D leaned back against the counter, folding his arms over his chest as he crossed one ankle over the other. He raised a dark eyebrow. “Well?”
She just stared blankly at him. She still couldn’t believe they had freaking left her alone with him.
It wasn’t like she was the most stable being on a good day. Add emotional stress into the mix and the devastation from this little trust exercise could make an explosion from Mount Saint Helen’s look like a kid’s science project.
What the hell?
“Shanna, I’m so not in the mood to play games over this. You lied to me over two months ago to go out with another guy. God only knows how many times before or after then you lied to me about that. And I’m not exactly in the best of moods right now.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I honestly thought that we had gotten past this shit.”
“We were through all of this shit. God, D, this hasn’t been as easy for me as you think. There are things I can’t tell you.”
He snorted. “Yeah, I know. The whole ‘I lie to you only in the interest of national security’ defense.” At the incredulous look she shot him, he sighed. “What? You might as well give me that line. There are parts of you locked up tighter—and even harder to gain access to—than Fort Knox.” He shrugged. “It’s not like the truth will ever be mistaken as your greatest strength.”
Ouch. True, but ouch.
Shanna flinched, her hackles rising. “To be fair here, it was Finley’s, you know, your father, idea for me to keep what really happened from you.” She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “He didn’t think you could handle it and that it was in your best interest to keep it on the down low. For the record, I wanted to tell you about it from the beginning.” She met his eyes for the first time since he had walked into the kitchen. “As for the guy I was jogging with that night, you don’t have to feel threatened by him.”
D looked shocked, but recovered quickly. “Okay. Even if that is actually the truth, I should believe you because…?”
“He’s a friend. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, Corelsand. Honest. You haven’t exactly been the pillar of trust lately.”
“And no, Tiern. I’m not giving you his name, age, description, or any other info on him. I’ve got my reasons and you’re just going to have to suck it up and trust me on this one.”
D pinched the bridge of his nose. “My head hurts,” he muttered under his breath. “Yeah, Corelsand. I’ll keep that in mind. Since you’ve been so trustworthy as of late, I’ll get right on that. Can we get this over with so I can crawl under a rock and die for a day or two?”
She closed her eyes and attempted to compile her courage. “You know that I love you, right?”
He sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Yeah. That’s the one thing I do know.”
She stared at the tile floor, memorizing the pattern. “What I am about to admit to you, against Finley’s strict orders, is something that will test you and break you at the same time. Sandi and Lisa are right. Please don’t tell them I admitted that. They’ll never let me live it down. Sorry, got off topic there. You may be the one person who can get me through this in one piece.”
D arched an eyebrow. “They obviously don’t know how you work. Getting you to accept help from me is like trying to pull teeth from a tiger that’s awake.”
Shanna took a deep breath and went for broke. “After my jogging partner left, I was cornered in the park by Kai and Lucian. They had three of their men with them.” She paused when she heard his sharp intake of breath. “After the typical run arou
nd bullshit, Kai and Lucian attacked me. As you can see from the scars, they cut me up pretty bad.”
She heard his deep intake of breath more than saw it. She still couldn’t bring herself to look at him. “Ironically, this was the one time I wasn’t expecting that,” he admitted on a sharp exhale.
“There’s more.”
“Of course there is.”
“Lucian raped me while I was being attacked.”
D opened his mouth, closing it again as he closed his eyes. The look on his face said all that needed to be said.
CHAPTER 29
August 2015
Montana
A fishbowl.
That was what the world looked like when Scott accessed the full potential of his abilities. Okay, maybe a little more clarification was needed.
When Scott cast the type of spell Megan asked for, the world within the predetermined perimeters looked like he was viewing it through a fishbowl. It was distorted and a bit blurry, but every detail could still be made out perfectly.
What the world outside of the perimeters looked like depended solely on the strength of the spell and the magical mental power needed to maintain and control it.
What he did wasn’t an exact science. Or science at all.
Technically, it shouldn’t even be possible.
Nothing any of them were capable of should be possible, but it was. They had a little leeway to work with and were limited on how they could describe it.
With the spell Megan was asking for, the world outside the spell perimeters was going to look a lot like a painter’s canvas before they began painting. White. Blank. Similar to a trip through a person’s subconscious, but a stable, solid white. Not a shimmering, constantly moving white.
No, the others didn’t know he was a warlock. And no, they didn’t know he was a member of one of the highest ranks of The Guard, another branch of the Hunter’s. They were an offset of the Regulator’s, made up of full blooded Infinity Coven witches and warlocks, along with full blooded members of the first twelve covens. The Guard was also comprised of hybrid species of witches and warlocks outside of the species Regulators were bred from.
Okay, so, back to this complex spell he had to cast. He needed to cast a spell that had the ability of sending out a Psychic Magnetic Pulse (PMP) that could penetrate any possible magical charm that could hide a supernatural presence, while maintaining the capability of mapping out any pulse that came back. This spell also had to accomplish all of that while covering a five square mile radius in the middle of nowhere Montana.
Yeah…
He was going to need some help to pull that one off. He had the magical power to pull it off, but there was no need to spread himself so thin when there was others present who could help him achieve his goal.
There was only one other person with the capability to help him pull this off.
Scott couldn’t believe where he was about to go for help. When did that happen?
What was even more unbelievable than where he was about to go for help with the PMP, was who he was going through to get that help.
Grill Firuz later, even if you have to beat it out of him. Spell now.
Fine. He would listen to that rational voice in his head for now. This internal conversation wasn’t over by a long shot, though.
Liceat mihi communicare sine cujus opus dicere.
What? Spells didn’t have to rhyme, be pretty, or be lyrical. They just had to get the job they were cast for done. Wow. Hollywood had really given people the wrong idea about witches and warlocks.
The spells didn’t even have to be in Latin. He, Rhyder, and Shanna just preferred Latin because that was their first language. American English was somewhere around the sixth or seventh language they were fluent in.
Oh, yeah. The spell he just cast. Basically, he had cast a basic spell to allow him to communicate psychically with everyone else.
What? They thought he was one of them. He had to maintain his cover somehow. That generally involved spells.
Kelly, is your ability limited to one person? Or can you reach someone else while leaving the bridge between us open?
The response back was instant. It’s not limited. Why? What’s up?
Would you be able to connect me to Evans? I need his help with this net.
I can do you one better man. I can build a bridge between the two of you so he can talk directly to you with no one, not even me, listening in, and leave the bridge between you and me open.
Damn.
I know. Cool, right? Just consider me you friendly neighborhood telepathic telephone company, complete with call waiting and conference calling.
It sometimes scares me what Medixx Corp is capable of creating. I can see why they would need someone like you.
Aww, it’s nice to feel needed. If you play nice, I may even tell you how they caught me.
Roger that.
Scott heard his mental chuckle loud and clear. Hold on a sec, Raleigh. Let me see if I can even get Evans to respond. His mind is typically encrypted with security the NSA couldn’t hack.
Since he was stuck playing the waiting game, it was probably time someone explained how all of this was possible.
While he was born a warlock—an immortal one at that, but that was a story for another time---none of the others were born with their abilities. General Christoph Yves and a certain mercenary known as Cristian Corelsand were the reason superhumans like the others existed. Cristian had always been obsessed with improving a soldier’s ability to perform in battle, especially his mercenaries from Helix Corp. He enlisted the help of his scientist friend and military buddy, who happened to be head of the super-secret government lab Medixx Corp, Christoph Yves to make it happen.
When they both found out about the existence of supernatural creatures, they both snapped and lost their damn minds. They made Helix Corp the sole security force to Medixx Corp and their experiments. They then took their psychotic ways and ideas to the next level.
They began to work on their army of supersoldiers, their team of privately funded scientists, who were just as sadistic as they were, coming up with a serum that could enhance a soldier’s mental capacities.
That wasn’t good enough for Cristian and Christoph, so they kept working on stronger serums.
They came up with a serum, derived from the magical powers of a witch and some of the most powerful elementals ever to exist in any realm. In 1992, the black serum, known as the Infinitus serum, was tested on three unknowing test subjects.
Christoph’s three minor children had been involved in a major car accident. The accident killed his wife and put the three children into medically induced comas that they had a fifty-fifty chance of coming out of.
Christoph injected the three comatose children with the serum and it worked better than he could have ever imagined on them.
Of course, he didn’t find out exactly how well it worked until years later, but the point was his dream had been realized.
The problem was that the rest of the Infinitus serum was destroyed a few days later in a mysterious lab explosion. Scott had no idea what happened that day. Anyway, another serum, a light purple one called Munera was created shortly after the children’s gifts were discovered. This one was derived from the kids’ blood and a few other choice powerful creatures.
Cristian and Christoph didn’t realize that it wasn’t just the potency of the first serum that made Annelise, Charlie, and Darren so strong. It was Infinitus coupled with the fact that they had been near death when injected that made them so unique.
In the Munera experiments, it was a waiting game to see which supernatural abilities would manifest in the subjects. What abilities that subjects developed mostly depended on which creature or creatures DNA was mixed into the batch they received.
Scott’s parent’s car was the other vehicle involved in the accident that resulted in Mrs. Yves death, the death of his parents, and putting the Yves children and himself in a subconscious battle of lif
e and death.
Since the general had been driving drunk and the accident was technically his fault, he had felt a responsibility to the new orphan and had injected Scott with the Infinitus serum at the same time he injected his children.
The serum didn’t take on him. For one, he wasn’t completely human. Second, he was immortal. If he had died, he would have come back from the dead within hours. And lastly, his body chemistry was completely different from a normal human.
He let the general believe the serum had taken.
Self-preservation and all that.
So, not only were the superhumans hunted by Helix Corp if they stepped out of line, they were also hunted by a supernatural military force they didn’t even know existed.
The Guard and Regulators made what Helix Corp mercenaries were capable of look like a kid’s parlor trick.
Scott, here’s Evans. Yell—mentally, of course—if you need me.
Scott felt Kelly mentally pull away.
Raleigh, send a pulse out with orders for all responding pushes to report to my mental signature.
Wow, direct and to the point. Someone’s getting their Drill Instructor on tonight.
I’m exhausted. Oh, and I just knocked your best friend’s ass back out. Simply because he was annoying me. So not in the best of moods right now.
Clearing his mind, Scott cast the spell with the PMP built into it over the selected coordinates. He felt the familiar popping and fizzling of his magic following his orders. He took a deep breath and sent the pulse wave out over the grid.
After the pulse faded, he set up the virtual equivalent to a checkers board with a compass splitting it into four equal sections. Section one had green and black tiles, covering the north to northeast quadrant. Section two had red and black tiles covering the south to southeast quadrant. The third section had blue and black squares coving the other half of the south to the southwest quadrant. And the final section had orange and black squares covering the rest of the north to the northwest quadrant. The black squares were even numbers and the multicolored tiles were odd numbers.
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