`You can't smell that?' Ralph screwed his nose up and shook his head.
`Obviously not.' Tashia uncrossed her arms.
`Take my word, it's not good.' He stepped closer, taking shallow breaths. `What the hell happened on the island? He reeks of… And Renee is, is different.'
`Whatever, boy,' Tashia said gathering Renee into her arms. `We have to move them now. Can you take Mason Douglas?'
`I'd rather take Renee,' he said, reaching for her.
Tashia stepped back. `I don't think that would be wise, boy.'
`What is your problem? I would never hurt her!'
Miekia touched him. `We're not sure what has happened and Renee is, like you said, different. Touching her might not be a good idea. She's been exposed to a lot of our energy. You understand?'
`Maybe.' He glanced at Eleanor who nodded encouragement, holding Nikki tight against her. Work with her, Ralph.
`So what's the deal with the old guy?' Ralph reached in to manhandle Mason out of the SUV. `He's not that heavy but, Christ, he stinks of something really weird.'
`Hmm, less talk. Move.'
Eleanor hung back, watching the three of them walk up the front steps. Nikki stirred in her arms.
`Well, my little Nik,' she whispered, moving towards the house while feeling the many eyes on her from outside the gate. `You need to wake soon. So many questions need answering.' Eleanor didn't look back as she went inside.
Mason stood in a clearing with pine trees clawing into the night sky above him.
`Choose.'
He winced. The voice in his mind was metallic, hard. Alien.
`Choose what?' He looked around in the darkness. `Where am I?'
`Matters not.'
Movement came from across the clearing. He could see a shape. A woman.
`Where is my family?' He struggled to remember what had happened. Was he still on the island?
`Safe.' She moved closer. Colours flowed across her.
`Who are you?'
`Darla.' She stopped not far from him.
He didn't move. Her body was covered in black scales. It was all she wore.
`Why am I here?'
`To choose.' Colours swirled beside her. An image formed.
`Ruth.' Other images began to take shape. Children. `What are you showing me? Whose children are they?'
`Yours.'
Mason blinked hard. Ruth smiled as two girls ran to her. A boy — not Wilson — sat beside her on a chair.
`What you offer is impossible. We can't have any more children.' He crushed the spark of hope trying to ignite in him.
Darla laughed, a sibilant gurgle. `Not I. Gaia. This is her gift.'
`Then why are you showing me this?' He reached for the images as they faded, leaving the sound of children's laughter echoing around him. Pain he had buried long ago, the desire for more children, clawed at him.
`So you understand to keep the hate controlled — or this.' She moved and an image of deadly carnage sharpened.
Mason recoiled. Bile churned in his throat. `I would never hurt my family. Or so many people.'
`Not you. The evil thing in you, Butcher.'
`Not possible.' Mason stepped forward, heart pounding. `He is not me. I control him.'
`Power corrupts.' The images faded.
Mason inhaled a deep breath of cool air and pine scent, cleansing the stink of death from his senses. `That was not a choice.' He shook his head, trying to get the images out of his mind. `I have never hurt my family.'
`Yet a monster lives in you.'
`One not of my making.' He clenched a fist. `Unnaturals did this. Your kind.'
`No, not my children. They do not deserve the fate you have dealt to the Bloodells. The monster within has always been there.'
She pointed at him. `Do not lie to yourself. The darkness born in you has only been awakened.'
`If I am such a monster, why not kill me then? Stop me becoming that thing.'
`That is not for me to do. It is your choice that matters, and your heart and will is strong.'
`You make no sense.' His skin tingled. `Why tell me all this?'
`So you will understand.' She reached out and rested her hand on his bare chest, over his heart. Warmth flared.
`Understand what?' He looked at her hand, hot on his chest.
`Why you need to trust again. Otherwise my treaty is lost on you.' She stepped closer and Mason edged back.
`Treaty? What is that exactly?'
She smiled at him. Rows of sharp teeth flashed. `You and I are bonded.'
`Bonded?' He tried to shift again but couldn't as her face grew closer. Stars moved in her eyes.
`Yes, I gave a part of me to you and your family.'
`I—'
`Enough.' Her fingers touched him.
Her lips touched his and Mason bucked.
Pain and pleasure coursed through him. Hot black energy crackled on his skin as Darla's face faded. Only the darkness remained, hot and itching at his flesh as her final words seeped into him.
`Hunter, awaken.'
CHAPTER 14
The thrum of helicopters rose above the sounds of the city. Hidden from view under the eaves of the main roof, Tashia could see the men stationed around the estate. They moved to follow the sound of the helicopters.
The time for waiting had ended.
`Hmm.' She ran a finger over a fine scar hidden between the silver lines in her skin. It had been a long time since she had fought in battle. Once-dormant Ancient strength flooded through her body, and the scar ached. `Let us hope your General has more control than you do, Mason,' she said to the air, letting the ancient lines on her body hum with energy.
Eleanor joined her. `You still talk to yourself?'
`Same as you still sneak up on people.' She gave Eleanor more room, sparing a second glance at the flowing skirt and little lace blouse the priestess now wore. Who was she expecting?
`One the perks of being me.' Eleanor crossed her arms as activity increased outside the estate. `The helicopters are unexpected.'
`Really?' Tashia glanced at her. `Even I know what they have at their disposal,' she said, pausing as the helicopters grew louder. `And considering that we have him here, I expected more.'
`So you've learnt how to use the internet?'
`Hmm, don't start. Miekia was beside herself when I asked how to do it.'
`What did you learn?'
`Humans are addicted to porn.' Tashia watched as two helicopters broke away from a third. `And the Douglas Fund is very dangerous.' She pointed at the helicopter circling around the estate. `Whoever is in that one is coming here.'
`His name is Max.' Eleanor watched the helicopter hovering high up over the driveway. `He's not exactly covert.'
`Hmm, no.' Tashia raised her eyebrows as a figure dropped from the helicopter. `Can he fly?'
`I…' Eleanor moved closer to the roof's edge as the figure plunged feet first towards the driveway. `There.' A flicker of colour gave away his secret. `You see that? He's on a rope of some sort.'
Tashia appraised the man landing in the driveway. `Tall, young, very fit and wearing some sort of armour. He is not afraid.'
`No. He isn't.' Eleanor stepped up onto the turret, wearing a smile Tashia hadn't seen for a long time.
`Hmm. No, no, girl. Don't you smile like that. He's here to kill us. And I'm wasting my breath, aren't I?' Tashia said to the space were Eleanor had been.
`You're a bad influence, Mason Douglas, a very bad influence.' She stepped off the roof and landed on the lawn beside Eleanor.
`Do not do anything rash,' Eleanor whispered as the man strode towards them.
`I'm not the one trying to make an impression by stepping off the roof of a three-storey building in a flimsy dress.'
`Where is he?' Mason's general barked.
Tashia couldn't stop it. His attitude called all her battle instincts to the surface. He was armed and thought he was in control. The sound of helicopters echoed around her.
Eleanor signalled with an airy wave of her hand. `Upstairs and unharmed.'
Tashia's senses prickled. She glanced down. Red dots covered her chest. Laser sights. Not good. That she knew.
`Scan it.' he said without taking his eyes off them.
Tashia spotted the tiny earpiece he wore even as Eleanor moved towards him. Since coming back, she had studied how the modern soldier fought.
`I was clear about this, Maxwell. We are not the Bloodells. You do not need all this.' Eleanor waved at the red dots decorating her body.
Tashia could sense no anger in her tone or attitude. Eleanor was flirting with him. Was it a distraction or was she really interested?
`Don't move again.' The man, Max, said, oblivious to Eleanor's interest. His hands rested on pistols strapped to his waist.
`Hmm, charming, isn't he?'
He glanced from Eleanor to her. She smiled.
`Is this a game to you?' He gripped the pistols tighter.
Tashia ignored Eleanor's glance.
`No. Maxwell.' His reaction to her use of his full name confirmed a thought she'd had. He wasn't really used to dialogue with the enemy. `This is very real, Maxwell, but one does not have to be a prick about it.'
`Tashia,' Eleanor hissed, sounding genuinely embarrassed.
`Well, he doesn't.' She shrugged and crossed her arms as Max struggled to find his voice. `If we were enemies of the Douglas clan, Mason would be dead and this meeting would never have occurred. In fact, you would not even know about our existence, Maxwell; yet, here we are.' Tashia tilted her head, hoping the tactic would work, that he would think instead of reacting.
`Mason is alive,' Max said, taking a hand off a pistol. `But there are many Unnatural life signs within the house.'
`That's because there are a lot of human life signs out here with machine guns.'
He stared for a moment, then his eyes slid away from her to Eleanor. `I need to see Mason, to confirm he's all right.'
`I agree. But first you need to make these go away.' Eleanor smiled and tapped at the array of red laser dots on the skin her plunging neckline revealed.
Max's eyes followed Eleanor's finger. `Stand down, team one.'
Tashia breathed nosily as the dots blinked out of existence.
`Thank you, Maxwell.' Eleanor smiled but he watched her with a guarded look.
`Take me to Mason.'
`Inside.'
Tashia cleared her throat and when Eleanor glanced around, looked down at her own chest still covered in red laser dots.
`She stays out here.' Max pulled a pistol and aimed it at Eleanor. `You and I will go inside. If anything happens they will shoot her then burn the house. Understood?'
A sharp metallic taste filled Tashia's mouth. The man's threats meant nothing because the house had begun to moan. `Eleanor. Something's wrong.'
The air fouled. Max moved closer as Eleanor's gift reached out to her home.
Dark smoke exploded out of the windows. Glass and timber rained down around them.
Tashia called up her gift, the men outside the estate forgotten as black tendrils of energy crept up the wall of the house.
`Mason? Where is he?' Max stepped closer, pistol at Eleanor's head. Then Tashia tasted his fear. `What's happening?'
The house wailed and shook. Energy snaked down onto the grass. Tashia wet her lips as the energy fanned out, calling to her. She recognised Mason in it.
Seductive.
`Mason. He's waking.' Eleanor's voice deepened. Inky black fingers of energy stopped at her feet.
`What the fuck?' Max backed away from her. `Mason's in there with that thing?'
`No,' Tashia said. `That thing is Mason.'
`He's an Unnatural?' More fear. She could taste it now as Max stared at the growing darkness.
`Wait. You will see,' Eleanor said over her shoulder.
The taste of fear vanished and when Tashia looked at Max again she saw tears filling his eyes.
`This can't be happening.' He stepped back as the wall split and sandstone chunks crashed down. `Make it stop.'
`We can't…' Eleanor's words were lost in the roar of the explosion.
Tashia threw herself in front of Eleanor. A wave of heat and energy hit her so hard that bones cracked, but she did not fall. Max howled as he dived behind them both, making use of her shield. Timber and stone flew past; some tore at her flesh.
She did not care.
Eleanor was safe.
Mason opened his eyes. Darkness swirled around him like a thick fog. His skin itched and smoke clogged his throat. Timber floorboards creaked under his bare feet.
`You in there?' Renee's question made the darkness encasing him shimmer.
`Yeah.' He reached out and cool energy lifted off his skin. Mason could see her as the darkness slipped away. `Where are we? Where's…?' Cold pinged inside him. Ruth lay on a charred bed behind Renee.
`Everyone is fine.' Her hand pressed into his chest as he moved towards Ruth. `No one is hurt.' Her face filled his vision. Small freckles on her face creased as she smiled. `We're in our house in Sydney. See?'
He touched Ruth as he moved toward the gaping hole that had been the wall. She lay unharmed, sleeping.
Looking out he recognised the skyline. Then he looked down.
`Shit, Max.' Mason looked for a quick way down as Max waved his pistols at Tashia. He knew what was about to happen. Laser targeting flashed in the fading light.
`Go,' Renee said, touching him. `Jump, before it's too late.'
Mason didn't hesitate. The fall was short. The ground gave under his feet and the soil rippled from his impact. He had time to enjoy a flicker of surprise. I did that.
Silence made him look up. All eyes were on him. Good.
`Holy shit, Mason.'
Red flashed all around him. Laser sights. `Stand down, Max.'
`Sir!' Max faltered.
Mason knew Max had to give the order now. `Stand down! I repeat, stand down. The Douglas is secure. For Christ's sake, stand down.'
Tashia grinned at him as the laser lights vanished. `Hmm, hello again. I like the new look.'
What the hell? `What new look?' Mason stopped moving. He could hear the sounds of people moving all around him, in the house, outside. A lot of people.
`Sir, Mason, what the hell happened to you?'
`Not sure Max, but pull everyone back.' He paused as helicopters passed overhead — his helicopters.
`This place isn't a threat.' He caught the look on Max's face. `Damn it. What is wrong with you?'
Max edged closer. Tashia grinned while she pulled a spear of timber from her shoulder. Another woman nearby stood still, her gaze intense.
`Are you okay?' Max asked.
Mason frowned. Was the boy mad? `I'm fine.'
`Can you tell me what happened?'
`No idea. We were on the island. The next thing we were here.' Mason turned and realised the house behind him had been badly damaged. He identified the room he had been in by the yawning black hole he had jumped from. `Was there a fire?'
`No fire, just you,' Tashia said. `You managed to destroy the club on the island last night as well.'
Images flickered in his mind. Max still looked odd, twitchy. Tashia was grinning weirdly. `What's wrong?'
`He doesn't realise,' the motionless woman said.
`Sir, look at your hands.'
Mason looked, stared — at the black scales that covered his hands. He felt them on his chest and face. Scales covered his entire body.
`Suits you,' Tashia said, still grinning. `Odd, but suits you.'
Words failed him. Colours moved within the scales. Panic murmured through his mind. What was he?
`We need to get you to our medical facility right now.' Max's eyes were wide, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. And swallowed again.
`No,' Eleanor's commanding tone rang through Mason, making him look up. `We can help, here. The science of humans will not understand this, or accept what has happened.'
Mason touched his face again, testing the delicate sensation of scales rasping on each other.
`Hmm, I agree, Eleanor, we need to move inside,' Tashia said, looking towards the sound of sirens in the distance. `Many unwelcome eyes will be here soon.'
`Ruth and Wilson are awake.'
Mason stiffened. The presence touched his mind again.
It's me — turn around.' He spun on his heel. Renee waved to him from the hole in the house.
`None of us are hurt. We'll meet you downstairs. Let Mother know we're okay.'
`Mother?'
`Yes.' She put hands on hips as he watched her look down at him. `Remember we're people like you. We have parents.'
Mason swallowed. Her reprimand had been sharp. `Tashia?'
`No.' She threw her hands up at him. `Tashia doesn't even look like us. Eleanor, you idiot.'
She disappeared into the house and he let a smile crease his face. It felt good to hear her in his mind.
`Everyone is okay in the house,' he told those around him. `Renee wanted me to let you know,' he said, looking back at Eleanor, feeling slightly embarrassed.
`Thank you,' she said, nodding back. `Yes, I am her mother. I am Eleanor, Priestess of this House.'
`You heard us?' Heat filled his face.
`No,' she said, smiling just like Nikki did. `But most people struggle to see Renee as my child. And her hand signals are a dead giveaway when she's explaining who I am to someone new in her life.'
`Mason?' Max edged closer.
`I'm fine.' He smiled further, enjoying how it felt. His fear retreated with the touch of Renee's mind in his.
`Yes, but what do you want me to do?'
Mason nodded at him. Max needed direction, orders, some sense of normality. `Secure the area. Although, you've probably done that. No one comes in. Okay?'
`Sir.' Max snapped to attention. Mason could see him already working out how to secure the area better. That's my Max.
`We will stay here,' said Mason. 'Until we have a better understanding of what's happened. Make sure the Fund is aware of this. The Darkells and their kin are no threat. You need to send staff to the island, fix whatever needs repairing. Help any injured — you understand?'
`Yes, sir.' Max nodded and typed madly into his comms tablet. `What about Sally? Wasn't she on the island?' He looked up, shamefaced. `Since Wilson and she… I make sure we know her whereabouts at all times as well now, sir.'
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