“I know, right?” Pia shook her head. “I hate adulting. Can we just go back to being kids?”
Sergeant Harrison had his back turned to Sloan. Sloan saw Pia peek over his shoulder as she caught sight of something moving in the dark.
“Halt! Who—Captain Sloan?” Pia dropped her rifle. She moved past Sergeant Harrison to Sloan’s side. “What happened?”
The concern in Pia’s voice told Sloan all she needed to know. There was no hunt for her going on at the moment. The Scar and his vampires had just decided to kill her because she was there, not because the queen had ordered her death.
“Help me.” Sloan slumped against Pia’s shoulder. Once again, she felt lightheaded. “Take me to the armory.”
“The armory?” Sergeant Harrison limped over to her side, taking her other arm and wrapping it around his shoulder. “You need a doctor. We should take you to the infirmary.”
“You have to trust me.” Sloan sagged between the private and the sergeant, wondering how she had ever walked without their help. “I need to see Edison at the armory as fast as you can take me there.”
“All right.” Sergeant Harrison exchanged a nod with Pia. “The armory, it is. What happened to you?”
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sloan knew she had been asked a question. The loss of blood had addled her thoughts so that her focus was on Sergeant Harrison’s limp. The limp she had given him before she left to hunt the beast in Burrow Den.
Sloan’s head sagged. She was being half-carried, half dragged. Her right arm was over Pia’s neck, her left wrapped around Sergeant Harrison’s. The scene around her changed from the outside dark to bright mage lights inside the palace.
For whatever reason, Sloan could only think about the Sergeant’s knee.
“I’m sorry,” Sloan mumbled. Blood poured out of her mouth.
“What?” Pia asked.
“I broke his knee.” The words came out of Sloan’s lips like she was drunk. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I’ll be fine.” The sergeant grabbed Sloan tighter as the trio hurried forward like some kind of six-legged amoeba. “I deserved it. In a weird kind of way, it was a wakeup call for me.”
Sloan wanted to say more, but she was fading quickly.
Sloan
“Get her on the table.” Edison’s voice brought Sloan out of her haze-like state. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” Pia’s voice was on the verge of panic. “She stumbled up to the back gate. She said she only wanted to see you.”
“I’m a inventor-slash-scientist, not a doctor.” Edison looked at the wound with a grimace. “That looks painful.”
Sitting up on the steel table where she had been placed was out of the question. Instead, Sloan gathered herself. She opened her eyes, taking in the scene around her. On her left, Pia and Sergeant Harrison looked on, worried. On her right, Edison and Elwood did the same.
“Sloan, are you awake?” Edison leaned toward her. “Are you alive, Sloan?”
Sloan grabbed Edison by his shirt collar and drew him in close.
“The Phoenix Serum … I’m past anything a doctor can do.” Sloan’s words were broken and twisted. Her heart rate slowed to a dangerous pace. “Vampires. The Vampire Project.”
Sloan’s grip on Edison released.
“She’s dying!” Pia yelled. “You have to do something!”
“Okay, all right, okay.” Edison ran to a worktable, one of many in the massive warehouse-like room. “I have an idea, but it hasn’t been tested. I can’t promise anything, Sloan. I’ll need your consent.”
Edison ran back to her side with two long needles. One was filled with amber liquid, the other with blue. Edison jumped on top of the table, looking down at Sloan. He shook his head, wearing a grimace as if thinking the outcome of his actions were not favorable.
“Sloan, I’m going to inject you with Phoenix Serum and the elixir we used to create the vampires.” Edison swallowed hard. “It’s the only thing I can think of. We have a chance, if the healing properties of both liquids act together to heal your body.”
“Do it,” Sloan managed.
“I should warn you that I, in no way, can be held responsible for the outcome.” Edison shook his head again. “This is beyond my—”
Elwood barked something in high-pitched gibberish.
“There’s no need for that kind of language, Elwood.” Edison took a deep breath. “My God, man! Do you kiss your gnome mother with that mouth?”
Edison leaned over Sloan. Both needles hovered over her still frame.
“Okay. One, two…” Edison paused.
“She’s dying!” Sergeant Harrison’s panicked voice filled the room. “She doesn’t need a countdown.”
“I was doing it for me.” Edison plunged both needles into Sloan’s heart. Without hesitation, he pushed the plungers down with his thumbs.
The closest way Sloan’s mind could make sense of the feeling coursing through her body was a mix between being stricken by lightning and having her blood replaced by liquid caffeine.
“Ahhhh!” Sloan sat bolt upright on the table, throwing Edison from his squatting position above her.
Every part of Sloan’s body vibrated with energy. She now knew how her mage sword must feel as it hummed with power. Breathing that had once come in short, painful gasps was now easy, quick, plentiful. The searing agony that had coursed over her head and torso was replaced with a sense of calm.
Elwood was the first to break the spell of silence. He pointed a chubby finger at Sloan’s side, and something unintelligible came from his mouth, though it sounded like he was saying “loella” to Sloan.
Sloan followed his gaze to the slash in her uniform. The black fabric was soaked in her own blood. Without hesitation, Sloan removed her top. Somehow, she already knew what she would find.
The white tank top she wore under her uniform was painted in crimson red. A section of cloth that had been sliced open by The Scar’s knife showed new pale, pinking skin underneath.
Sloan looked up into the wide eyes of Private Pia and Sergeant Harrison. Edison picked himself up from the spot where he had landed.
“Well, no one rush to see if I’m all right. I’m fine.” Edison dusted himself off and walked over to Sloan. “We definitely need to do some tests to see how the Phoenix Serum in combination with our vampire super-soldier elixir is going to affect your body.”
A howl echoed through the room from somewhere outside. Edison and Sloan exchanged a quick look.
“You know?” Edison cocked his head to the side. “Because I know. But I was the one who ran the test. How do you know? Is it … is it Aareth?”
Thus far, Sloan hadn’t said a word. Her mind had been racing to keep up with the changes her body had undergone. Hearing Aareth’s name wrestled her into action.
“I don’t have time to explain any of this.” Sloan jumped off of the table. She caught sight of her sword in Sergeant Harrison’s meaty hand. “Edison, you have to destroy the rest of the vampire elixir. When you’re done, get Doctor Livingston and Commander Brookhaven. Meet me in three days, in Term. If I’m not there by then, disappear.”
“What are you talking about?” Edison’s eyebrows shot up. “It’s possible the combination of serum and elixir could have caused you to hallucinate. Are you high?”
“I’m fine, just trust me.” Sloan accepted her sword back from Sergeant Harrison. “I need you two to find Jack and the Ahab sisters. Tell them the same thing—Term, three days.”
The massive armory doors opened in tandem. The queen walked in, followed by The Scar and his remaining four vampire super soldiers.
The room fell quiet. Everyone except Sloan kneeled in the queen’s presence. Sloan almost did, as well, it so ingrained in her nature to show respect to her queen.
The queen wore a simple white dress, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her face was still as Sloan remembered it: kind, sincere, and above all, trustworthy.
“You
may all rise,” the queen began. Although she spoke to everyone else, her eyes never left Sloan’s. “Captain, I understand you’re confused right now. When you didn’t return after your meeting with Doctor Livingston, I feared he had twisted your mind.”
“Tell me it’s all a lie.” Sloan found a part of herself hoping the queen could somehow make sense of everything for her. She wanted her to say that Doctor Livingston was a liar. “Tell me it’s a lie, and then tell me why you’re working with an assassin who tried to kill me, along with the rest of your vampire soldiers.”
“I never told them to kill you, Sloan. I only told them to bring back Aareth.” The queen gave The Scar a hard stare. “Killing you was an order they decided on their own, and trust me, there will be brutal consequences.”
“I apologize, Your Majesty.” The Scar finally met the queen’s stare. “But as you can see, your captain is resilient. I would be interested in finding out exactly how she survived.”
“Doctor Livingston told me Leah Noble is your sister.” Sloan ignored The Scar and instead flipped the switch on her weapon. “He told me how you’d used magic to bring Aareth’s wife back from the dead, and had planned on using her.”
“Well, the good doctor has told you a lot, hasn’t he?” The queen pursed her lips, deep in concentration. “Okay, Sloan, I’ll tell you everything. Leah Noble is my sister. For decades, we’ve worked to clean up the streets of New Hope. Now, it’s time to do the same for the rest of the Outland. Under our rule, we’ll prosper, we’ll have order, and we’ll thrive together as one people.”
“You mean you’ll conquer the Outland and they’ll live under your rule.”
“If you choose to see it that way, then yes. My sister and I understand the manpower it would take to convince the Outland to join us. Where our army isn’t large enough to wage a campaign, enhanced soldiers could fill that gap.” The queen motioned to the armory. “Edison, along with Doctor Livingston, has done an outstanding job. Of course, I always knew the good doctor was working against me. I didn’t know until now that Commander Brookhaven was our escaped Ashley.”
“You knew Doctor Livingston was heading up The Order, and you didn’t do anything?”
“One thing you realize when you get to be queen is that it’s more beneficial to keep one’s enemies close. At any given time you know exactly what they’re doing, as opposed to leaving them to their own devices.”
“I don’t know how I’ve been so stupid.” Sloan spat the words as if they’d come with a vile taste. “You’ve only ever had your eyes set on conquest. Everything that’s come up to this point is only a means furthering this end.”
“Don’t do this, Sloan.” The queen opened her arms. “I love you like a daughter. I know I should have told you that sooner, but I’ve failed you in that way. Join me as the leader of my army, and we can usher in an era full of peace and prosperity for the entire known world.”
Sloan said a silent prayer that those who had helped her so far were still on her side. If they weren’t, then her plan had already failed.
“Edison, Elwood, you know what to do.” Sloan took a step forward, positioning herself between the vampires and her friends. “Pia, Harrison, I can buy you a few minutes.”
“What makes you think you can even compete with us, after what we’d done to you in the alley?” laughed one of the vampires Sloan didn’t recognize. “You’re out of your league.”
“You!” Sloan roared, pointing her sword at the vampire super soldier. “You die first.”
Sloan
If the vampires had known about the transformation Sloan had undergone, they would have been less willing to meet her attack. They relied on what they thought was their superior sense of speed.
Sloan moved like fury incarnate. Unaware of how strong or fast she was now, she pushed her new abilities to their limits. Energy like she had never known aided her movements as she cut through the queen’s vampires.
Before they could comprehend that Sloan was moving just as fast, if not faster, than they were, two vampires lay on the floor, dead—one decapitated, the other completely cleaved in two from a combination of Sloan’s strength and her mage sword.
Out of her peripheral vision, Sloan saw Pia and Harrison sprint through the open armory door. Edison was grabbing beakers and breaking them across the table. Elwood lit the spilled liquid on fire with a match he had summoned from his back.
“Stop them!” the queen ordered. For the first time, something other than calm had been added to her tone.
The last two vampires beside The Scar moved to do the queen’s bidding. Sloan cleaved through the first like her sword was passing through air. The second vampire was a bit smarter, but not by much.
He raised his own knife to block Sloan’s sword. Either he wasn’t paying attention to the power Sloan’s weapon held, or he already knew he was dead, but he figured, what the heck.
Sloan’s blade cut through the vampire’s knife as easily as it cut through bone and flesh. The vampire fell to the floor, never to rise again.
Sloan positioned herself so her back was to the open door of the armory. Edison and Elwood, both carrying cases, ran through.
“It’s over,” Sloan said from across her blade. She ignored The Scar and looked to the queen instead. “Give up.”
“Oh, my dear, sweet Sloan.” The queen shook her head like a disappointed mother. “This story is only beginning.”
The Scar lunged at Sloan, dodging her blade and getting close enough to strike her across the jaw. The blow brought a minimal amount of pain, causing Sloan to turn her head to the side. Sloan looked back at her attacker with a smile.
“What are you?” The Scar said, hesitating a moment too long.
Sloan struck him across the face with the pommel of her sword. Every ounce of strength she could channel went into her next kick. She hit The Scar in the chest with her right foot, sending him flying across the warehouse room. His body crashed against the far wall and was lost to sight.
“How long until someone raises the alarm?” the queen asked with a sigh. “How far do you think you’ll get?”
“I’ll get far enough.” Sloan lowered her weapon. She had already asked and answered the question. She wasn’t prepared to kill the queen. “I’ll make you see that what you’re doing is not the next step in peace. It’s conquest.”
“Well, history is written by the victor.” The queen moved past her, toward the door. “I’m going to send the men who come after you with strict orders to bring you back alive. I’m not giving up on you, Sloan.”
“And I’ll send them back to you in bandages.” Sloan turned to watch the back of the queen as she made her way down the hall. “I’m not giving up on you.”
“Maybe that’s one of the reasons I like you so much, because we’re so much alike.” The queen disappeared around the corner. “You have minutes before the alarm sounds.”
Sloan
Sloan sprinted down the hall toward the howls and the whimpering. Since the second battle with the vampires began, the noise had been in the background. Aareth was being held somewhere close. Sloan’s speed was astonishing. Even more amazing, her body had accepted her new ability with ease. Sloan rushed past servants and guards in a blur.
She couldn’t blame them for jumping or gawking. Not only was she moving at superhuman speed, she was also a sight to behold. The sheath to her sword was long lost. She held the weapon in her right fist, the blade still humming and glowing a faint red. Her clothes were a mess of her own blood and that of the slaughtered vampires.
The white undershirt was stained crimson and a huge slit was cut on the right side where Scar had nearly killed her. Her hair was a disaster, and she suspected her face still had caked-on blood from the wounds she had received prior to becoming whatever she was now.
Sloan pounded down the halls toward the sound of yelps and cries. The noise was coming from the general direction of the front courtyard. It made sense; Sloan hadn’t seen Aareth during her
journey from the back gate, through the garden, and to the palace.
Sloan barreled into a side door leading out into the courtyard harder than she had meant to. The door blew off its hinges, exploding in a shower of wood splinters. Sloan came face to face with a dozen armed soldiers standing around a massive iron cage. Aareth was bound, still in his wolf form. His howls were so loud this close, they made her insides vibrate.
No one made a move. The soldiers all stared at her, trying to make sense of the seemingly self-imploding door and her ragged, bloodied state.
Sloan searched the soldiers for a familiar face. She caught the eye of Lieutenant Baker. His expression was worth a thousand words as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.
“I need you and your soldiers to stand down, lieutenant.” Sloan switched off her mage sword and lowered her weapon. “I’m taking the wolf.”
Lieutenant Baker didn’t speak. Instead, he looked back and forth from Sloan to the cage, still trying to make sense of the situation. His breath made steaming puffs in the cold night air. The torches and flaming braziers stationed around the courtyard played with the shadows in sinister fashion.
“Yes, of course.” The Lieutenant moved to the side. “Captain, are you injured? What happened to you?”
Sloan forced herself into a fast walk instead of a run to the cage. If she could get away with this without violence, it would be the best option for everyone involved. These soldiers were only following their orders. They had no idea of the plans the queen had at play.
“I’m fine.” Sloan approached the cage. It was at least ten feet tall, with thick, black reinforced iron bars. “Do you have the key?”
“Here.” Lieutenant Baker handed her the cold, steel instrument. “Captain, are you sure you don’t need medical attention? You’re bleeding.”
The lieutenant wasn’t the only one to catch on that something wasn’t right. All around Sloan, soldiers were whispering to one another.
Easy, just breathe, Sloan told herself as she inserted the key and unlocked the cage. You’re their superior. They don’t know what’s going on. All you have to do is get Aareth and get out of the city.
House of Blood: (A Paranormal Urban Fantasy) (The Vampire Project Book 2) Page 15