Should she take a risk and set the Beast free?
“Ari, watch out!” Jak gasped. “It’s about to—”
Just then, with a roaring growl, the lasher lunged at her.
“Zzo, this other male with fangzz…he meant zzomething to you?”
Lathe opened his eyes to see Mukluk standing over him, his pain-prod held ready to deliver the killing blow. Since he was lying on his back, Lathe could imagine where the blow would be. His body couldn’t take many more of the punishing electrical jolts. The last one had nearly stopped his heart—he could still feel it hiccupping unsteadily in his chest as though it was trying to find its natural rhythm.
It’ll only take one more jolt, Lathe thought. If he presses that thing to my chest and shocks me there, my heart will give out—for good this time. I wonder if that’s the way he killed Thonolan?
The thought sent a surge of anger through him, as strong as the jolts from the Horvath’s pain-prod. And then he felt a swirl of chilly air eddying against his cheeks and a new thought intruded.
Cold air…that’s not good. Why? Something important…something I forgot…
“You are too zzmart for your own good, Medic. I don’t know how you managed to dizzable the climate control and delay it azz you did,” Mukluk hissed, his forked tongue lashing. “But you will be going to the hole for it.”
“The…the hole?” Lathe frowned. Something about the hole—what was it?
The Horvath guard hissed angrily.
“Yezz—the hole. If I feel merciful. Juzt now I think I might kill you after all.”
The Horvath’s hissing words brought back what his scrambled memory had been unable to supply and Lathe felt a sudden burst of horror.
The Hole! The climate control…the cold air, it will wake the lashers—Ari! She’s right down there in the hole, the middle of their den with only my scent to protect her!
He had to get out of this alive—not just to avenge his brother but to save the female he loved—even if she didn’t love him back.
“You’ll never know how I hacked your system if you kill me,” he pointed out, trying to keep his voice steady. “What if the override I put in BleakHall’s system is set to go off every night at the same time? What if it’s set to go off at a random time? You’ll never know when the lashers might be sleeping instead of guarding the inmates as they’re supposed to. You won’t have a fucking clue.”
He was taking a chance and he knew it—hoping to get Mukluk angry enough to want to question him without making the Horvath guard so enraged he just decided to kill Lathe on the spot. But it was all he could think to do.
For a long moment, the verdict seemed to hang in the balance. Lathe could see the Horvath’s fingers tightening on the trigger of his pain-prod and the deadly metal tip of it hovered just over his chest, only about an inch from his heart. If Mukluk pulled the trigger—
At last the Horvath guard made a hissing sound of disgust and flicked his forked tongue.
“You will be punizhed for this, Medic. Punizhed and quezztioned mozt thoroughly until we get everything you have done out of you. I wizzh I had time to do it now. But the lazhers will be coming—get up.”
“Not until you get that thing out of my face.” Lathe nodded at the pain-prod.
With a hiss of annoyance, Mukluk pulled the deadly metal tip of the long, black rod back just a few inches. Not very far, but it was enough, Lathe estimated.
He prepared to make his move.
As the lasher lunged at her, Ari had the presence of mind to hold up the flaming blow-torch. But the torch hadn’t been meant to use as a weapon. Its flame was short—no longer than an inch—and the lasher simply dodged her hand and aimed for her other side.
Without thinking, Ari pulled out the big wrench—the one she’d gotten in case she needed a weapon.
Well I certainly need one now! she thought numbly as she fumbled the heavy metal tool out of her belt.
There was no time to swing the wrench—the lasher was too quick. She was barely able to get it up between herself and the springing beast. But she had no idea if the security shock which kept the tools from being handled by anyone but the person they were designated to would work on a lasher.
Please, she thought. Please, Goddess…
It worked.
As the end of the wrench touched the short black fur of the lasher’s muzzle, Ari felt a powerful jolt go through it. It probably would have been strong enough to knock a grown man down but the lasher was bigger than a man—and much more massive. It simply snarled and took a step back, its muzzle wrinkling in anger.
“Get me out of here,” the Beast said urgently from his cell. “Before that thing fucking eats you up, little girl.”
The lasher had retreated to the doorway of the tunnel, its yellow eyes glowing balefully in the dim light. Ari felt safe enough to move the few steps it took to get to the Beast’s cell. Keeping one eye on the snarling, angry beast standing in the doorway, she began to burn through the lock on the Beast’s door.
“Ari, no!” Jak protested, seeing what she was doing. “He’ll kill us both as fast as the lashers will! Hell—he probably wants to leave our bodies for bait so he can get away.”
For a moment his words almost made Ari pause…but then she remembered again, Lathe telling her how Kindred always honored and protected women.
“I don’t believe that,” she said steadily, continuing to cut. “Lathe told me that Kindred protect females. I’m going to let him out.”
“Thank you, little girl.” The Beast’s voice was a rough growl. “I swear you won’t regret it.”
I hope I won’t, Ari thought, keeping one eye on the angry lasher as she continued to cut through the lock. Or it will probably be the last thing I do!
Lathe made as though to sit up and then kicked out, catching the Horvath guard in the shin and sending him toppling forward. He barely rolled out of the way in time as Mukluk came crashing down with a hissing howl.
The moment the Horvath was on the ground, Lathe elbowed him hard in the midsection and rolled again, getting out of the way of the lizard guard’s long, muscular tail. He wanted to bite the bastard—he could feel the venom gathering in his fangs—but Mukluk was thrashing and he couldn’t get a grip on any one part of the guard’s body. Also, though he longed for revenge, it was no longer his primary objective—rescuing Ari was.
Grabbing the pain-prod, which had clattered to the floor when Mukluk fell, he gripped it by the handle and rammed it against the Horvath’s side. Pulling the trigger, he felt a surge through the prod and watched with grim satisfaction as Mukluk’s entire scaly body went rigid, jerking and seizing, dancing to the tune of the deadly jolt.
He didn’t pull back until he saw the yellow eyes roll up in Mukluk’s head. Then, when he was sure the guard was out, Lathe got to his feet. The cold air was swirling all around him, the temperature dropping fast, and he was afraid for Ari. She was down in the tunnel with the lashers and Lathe wasn’t sure how long his scent would keep her safe.
Gripping the pain-prod hard, he started for the hole at a dead run, knowing that he was racing against time.
Please, Goddess, don’t let me be too late! Please let me save her one more time!
As Ari finally finished cutting through the high-density metal lock and it fell to the ground, the big lasher was twitching its scaly hindquarters, obviously getting ready to pounce.
“Ari, run!” she heard Jak shout and then the cell door slammed open and the Beast emerged.
He was immense—much bigger than she’d guessed from his face with its mismatched eyes peering from between the bars.
Goddess, he must be seven and a half feet tall, Ari thought numbly. And then the Beast lunged forward to meet the pouncing lasher. With one massive hand, he caught the animal by the throat.
The lasher struggled and hissed, its muscular, scaly bottom half lashing frantically. Its long front claws dug bloody furrows in the Beast’s arm and chest but he didn’t even seem t
o notice.
“Die, you big bastard,” he growled and Ari saw the tendons in his muscular wrist and forearm stand out as he squeezed the lasher’s throat. It let out a final strangled roar and went suddenly limp in his hand.
Ari expected the massive Kindred to drop the lasher, but instead the Beast wrapped his other hand around the furry throat and twisted. There was a sickening cracking sound like a thick tree branch splintering and the lasher’s head was suddenly hanging at an odd angle.
“Just in case,” the Beast said. He looked at Ari with unreadable mismatched eyes and finally dropped the lasher in a heap at his feet.
For a moment her heart was beating right between her teeth. What would he do to her? Had Jak been right? Was she next to have her neck snapped?
“Stay away from my little sister, Slade.” Jak was suddenly behind her, having finally come out of his cell even though Ari had told him to stay inside.
“I haven’t been with a female in a long fucking time but I’m not interested in this little girl.” The Beast’s nose wrinkled. “She’s got another male’s scent on her so strong he might as well have stamped his name on her forehead. Or…someplace else.” He raised an eyebrow at Ari and she found herself blushing.
“That’s Lathe—he’s a Kindred too,” she explained. “He told me he has an escape route dug under the prison but we have to get to him first.”
“Which means going through that tunnel filled with angry, hungry lashers.” Jak sounded shaken. “How in the Hell are we supposed to do that, Ari? I can’t touch any of your tools and you’re bleeding—calling the damn things right to you. Slade might be strong but he can’t take on fifty lashers at once.”
“Oh no? Just watch me.” The Beast—Slade as Jak called him—rolled his broad shoulders and flexed his neck from side to side, like a man warming up for a fight. He turned to Ari. “You ever get the lights in the lasher tunnel fixed, little girl?”
Ari’s heart sank. “No—I was saving it for last. I wanted to have an excuse to come down and see Jak as often as I could.”
“Too bad.” Slade shrugged. “It would have been better for you two if you could see what was coming. As it is, you’ll just have to stay close to me.”
“Are you going to fight them in the dark?” Ari asked, her voice wavering.
“Not dark to me, little girl.” Slade grinned, showing his fangs again, and pointed to his mismatched eyes. “Kindred have great night vision. Now come on—we need to get out of here before someone sounds a fucking alarm. I’m not going back in the hole.”
Ari exchanged a look with her big brother and Jak nodded silent agreement.
“All right,” she said, taking a grip on the wrench with one hand and her still-burning blow-torch with the other. “Let’s go.”
Lathe smelled fresh blood as he came down into the subbasement—the same place he had found Ari crying earlier, before the meeting of the Mistresses. The memory made his heart fist in his chest, especially when he remembered how roughly he’d spoken to her.
Was it her blood he smelled now? Had the lashers torn her to pieces when the climate control system kicked on and began blowing the cold air that woke them?
“Ari?” he shouted, plunging into the mouth of the tunnel.
A low, snarling growl come back in answer. Lathe could see shapes in the darkness up ahead—one shape, actually—but it was moving too fast to distinguish and it was larger than Ari—much larger.
What in the Seven Hells? Is that her brother? Gods, what a monster! How is she so petite if he’s over seven feet tall?
But the scent wafting from the tunnel was distinctly Kindred. Lathe frowned even as he ran forward. There was no other Kindred here in the prison, of that he was certain. If there had been, he would have taken steps to rescue them. In fact, the only male he knew of who was supposed to be kept down here in the hole was the dangerous prisoner the Horvath’s had called ‘the Beast’ and his files had said nothing about a Kindred heritage.
A lasher launched itself at him from out of the darkness and Lathe batted it away with the buzzing pain-prod. It made a sound of pain—almost a yelp—and slithered off as fast as it could.
“Ari,” he shouted, running forward. “Ari are you safe? Where are you?”
“Behind me, Brother—she’s behind me,” a deep, growling voice answered him. “Move out of the way, we’re getting out of here fast.”
“I’m okay, Lathe.” Ari’s voice floated to him from somewhere back in the dark tunnel. “There aren’t many lashers left—Slade killed most of them.”
They all ran out of the tunnel together and Lathe had a confused impression of one of the biggest Kindred warriors he had ever seen. The male was bearded and shaggy and had two mismatched eyes—one green and one gold. He was also covered in bloody scratches and bites, but he seemed well enough.
Behind him was a much smaller male with black hair and dark blue eyes like Ari’s. And behind him—
“Ari!” Lathe caught her up in his arms and crushed her to him.
“I thought you’d left without us.” She hugged him back, her voice filled with tears. “Oh Lathe, I thought…” Her voice hitched in a sob. “I thought you were so angry you decided to leave me here.”
“Never,” he swore fiercely. “I’d never leave you, Ari!”
Then he smelled the scent of blood on her again and held her by the shoulders so he could examine her.
“What happened? Where are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.” She sniffed and dashed tears from her eyes. “None of the lashers got me—Slade killed them before they could get to us.” She looked up at the huge Kindred with the green and gold eyes. “Thank you—you saved our lives.”
“That’s all right, little girl but do you mind if we save the celebration until after we’re out of here?” He turned to Lathe. “I heard you have an escape tunnel dug somewhere in the prison. You mind pointing the way?”
“It’s in the Infirmary,” Lathe told him. “Let me just get it ready.”
Tapping his prison ID, he gave the command he’d been holding off for as long as he could—telling the nanites to finish the tunnel as fast as possible. It was certain to trip the prison’s alarms but at this point it couldn’t be helped.
“Come on.” He gestured for them to follow him. “We have to get going—we’re going to have company pretty quickly and I’d rather be out of BleakHall before they find us.”
They ran up through the subbasement and through the prison. If there were any more lashers around, they made themselves scarce because Lathe saw neither hide nor hair—neither whisker nor scale might be more accurate—of a single one of them. He wondered how many the huge Kindred warrior called “The Beast” had killed in the tunnel. There had been multiple scaly shapes slumped unmoving in the darkness and the male certainly looked like he had been through a terrible battle.
Lathe was just grateful that the other Kindred had kept Ari safe. She was still armed with her tools but he knew very well that such weapons wouldn’t keep back a hungry lasher for long, especially if it smelled fresh blood.
As they came around the hall leading to the infirmary, he braced himself for a fight. He was almost certain he hadn’t killed Mukluk—although the Goddess knew he wished he had. If the head guard had assembled the other Horvaths and all of them were armed, it was going to be almost impossible to get through, even with The Beast at his back.
But when they got to the area outside the Infirmary, Mukluk was gone.
Lathe stopped short, frowning. Where in the Seven Hells had the lizard guard gone? And for that matter, where were the rest of the Horvaths that Mukluk should have called to help him catch the escaping prisoners?
Narrowing his eyes, Lathe peered into the shadows but he saw nothing. His frowned deepened—he didn’t like surprises. Could they be in the Infirmary?
But when he opened the door, his work station was quiet. There were the familiar shelves with their meager supplies, his battered trustee tablet which
he had used to hack the BleakHall system—with a little help from some extra nanites—and the cracked plasti-leather of the exam table.
Where were the guards? What was going on? Had Mukluk dragged himself off to a corner somewhere and died? Or maybe just passed out without alerting anyone else? That would be the best-case scenario but Lathe didn’t hold out much hope for it.
“What’s wrong, Brother?” the huge Kindred asked him. “Problems?”
“Not right now,” Lathe said grimly. “But I’m betting we’ll have some soon. Better be ready to fight.”
“Oh, I’m always ready for a fight.” The Beast grinned, showing short, sharp fangs. “You could say it’s my specialty.”
Lathe frowned. The Beast must be a hybrid—that would account for his massive size and mismatched eyes. He told himself he should have read the chart more carefully and gone down to examine the other male when he was first transferred into BleakHall. He had almost left a fellow Kindred behind!
But there was no time for remorse now—they had to get out of here.
“Come on,” he said, jerking his head towards the supply closet. “Let’s go. We’ll worry about the fight if—or more likely when—it happens.”
Forty-Two
Ari had to take a deep breath before she could make herself jump into the dark hole in the ground Lathe revealed when they got to the Infirmary supply closet.
“This is it? Looks kind of narrow.” The Beast—or Slade as she was beginning to think of him—rumbled, frowning.
“I had the nanites dig it to my own dimensions,” Lathe said. He glanced up at Slade, who was at least half a head taller and broader in the shoulders than he was. “Sorry, Brother—I didn’t expect to run into anyone of your, er, size while I was here.”
“It’s all right.” Slade sounded unconcerned. “I’ll make it work.”
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