Dark Assassin

by Dena Christy

  “Horn injected me with his formula. Samara came and killed both Horn and Alex,” Eric said as he tried to sit up.

  “We have to get you back to Kingston so we can see if we can figure out what the contaminant in the formula is.”

  “I know what it is,” Eric said, drawing away from Samara, and Hadria noticed that he would not meet the other woman’s gaze. “Horn said the genetic material he used is infected with rabies.”

  “If it’s rabies, then we can cure you,” Nick said. He looked relieved for the first time since they’d departed from the Order’s headquarters. He helped Eric to his feet while Hadria went over to Samara.

  “What happened, honey?” Hadria asked once the men were out of earshot. Members of the team had come into the room as soon as it was safe and were making preparations to clear away the bodies. Hadria avoided looking at Alex’s body, the pain of his betrayal still too fresh.

  “They chained me to the bed, and I broke free. All I could think of was saving Eric. I transformed, and when they came to kill him I lost it. I’m sorry about Alex,” Samara said as she looked up at Hadria, sympathy burning in her eyes.

  “Alex chose his path. There is nothing to be sorry for.”

  “Alex told Eric I was sent to kill Rowan.”

  “Did you tell him what happened?”

  “I tried, but he won’t listen to me, He’s assuming the worst, and who can blame him after seeing what I am?”

  “Let’s get back to headquarters, and then you can deal with the mess with Eric. Once we’re back there I’m sure he will be willing to listen to you, and you can tell him that you did not kill his brother.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Samara said, and Hadria helped her to her feet.

  As they walked to the door, Hadria was finally able to look down at Alex’s prone body. The death mark on his face was fading, but still evident enough for her to see. It was all she needed to confirm that her curse was alive and well. She looked over at Samara, and only hoped she had more luck with her wolf.

  CHAPTER 19

  “How did you get involved in all this?” Eric asked, trying to get out of the bed he lay in. They were on their way back to Kingston, and Eric was in a small infirmary housed on the plane. Nick pushed Eric back down on the bed.

  “Will you lie still so I can examine you?” Nick said, exasperated.

  “Not until you tell me why you’re here,” Eric said, suspicious of his brother’s avoidance of the subject. He looked down when his brother placed a blood pressure cuff around his bicep, and when his gaze fell where the edge of Nicks t-shirt pulled back from his arm, he noticed something dark peeking out from under the shirt. He pushed back his brother’s sleeve and saw the mark of the Order.

  “Did you join the Order just to come out here to get me? Nick, you shouldn’t have given your life away for me.”

  Eric heard his brother sigh before he slid his sleeve back down to cover his mark. Nick removed the blood pressure cuff and set it aside. He pulled up a chair and looked at Eric.

  “I’ve been a member of the Order for the past four years,” he said, his eyes serious.

  Eric sat in stunned disbelief. Nick had been a member of the Order for four years and he’d never known of it? Then it dawned on Eric what all that meant.

  “You knew when you called me exactly what had happened to Rowan, didn’t you?” Eric demanded. He felt his temper rise inside him. It would seem that everyone knew what happened to Rowan.

  “Yes, I know what happened to him,” Nick said. “It’s not what you think. Yes, Cadric sent Samara to kill him. She couldn’t finish it. He’s at headquarters right now, in a coma.”

  “You knew he wasn’t dead, and didn’t tell me? You let me think Samara killed him?” Disbelief raced through Eric as he stared at his brother.

  “I didn’t let you think anything, you jumped to that conclusion all on your own. The only thing I led you to believe was that he was missing.”

  “And why is that, exactly?” Eric growled, glaring at Nick.

  “The Order needed you for this mission, and I was asked to contact you.” Nick’s voice was quiet, and he avoided Eric’s eyes for a moment.

  “You knew Samara was going to be at the club that night, didn’t you? That’s why you sent me there.” Eric’s words fired out of his mouth like bullets, as he realized just how deeply his brother had betrayed him.

  “Yes, that’s true too. We needed you to go to the compound with her. I volunteered to go with her, but Cadric didn’t think it was a good idea. We had no way of knowing if Horn knew I was part of the Order. We needed someone from outside the Order to go, one who was also known to Horn. You were the obvious choice.”

  “Did you send Rowan into Samara’s arms too?” Eric watched with a small amount of satisfaction how the blood drained out of his brother’s face and his eyes narrowed. He knew his insult hit its mark.

  “I’m loyal to the Order, but you and Rowan come first. I had no idea about the death sentence on Rowan. I didn’t know it had happened until Samara brought him to me half dead. You and Rowan are my family, and nothing and no one is more important to me.”

  “You have a funny way of showing it. You sent me off to the compound without as much as a word to me about who you worked for. That tells me the Order is more important to you than family.”

  “Don’t talk to me about the importance of family.” Nick’s voice rose by several decibels. “You’re the one who turned his back on his family. Do you think Rowan would have gone to Horn if his twin had been around to help him through the death of his wife and child? I was there for Rowan, but where the fuck were you, Eric? Would you have even come home if I told you the truth, that Rowan was in a coma? Would you have torn yourself away from your own selfish life if I’d done anything other than what I did? I somehow doubt it.”

  Eric clenched his jaw and turned away from Nick. His brother’s words cut him deep, echoing something that had lodged in Eric’s head since he’d learned Rowan had taken part in Horn’s experiments. He refused to look at his brother. Nick’s chair creaked and Eric felt a hand on his arm.

  “Eric…”

  Eric jerked away from Nick and turned to glare at him.

  “Get out of my face,” he snarled before turning away from his brother again. Eric lay down on the cot and closed his eyes until he heard his brother leave the room.

  He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. As he lay there, his anger festered deep inside him.

  Samara had lied to him. His own brother, too, and Nick even thought it was his fault that Rowan was in a coma. Maybe it was.

  Eric took several deep breaths to try to ease the tightness in his chest. He realized now that it was better not to let anyone close, better not to trust. He should never have gone to Kingston in search of his brother, he told himself before he closed his eyes.

  SAMARA LOOKED up when Nick came to join them. She had been waiting for him, to see how Eric was faring.

  “How is he, Nick?” she asked, her voice soft. Nick sat down beside her before answering.

  “He’s fine so far. There is no evidence of rabies yet, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the symptoms show. When he gets to Headquarters he will have a course of rabies shots. Hopefully it will be enough to stop the madness from consuming him.”

  Samara looked at Nick and wondered what it was he was not saying.

  “Is he still angry with me?”

  “It’s safe to say at this point Eric is pissed with the world. He saw my mark, and I told him about my involvement with the Order. He didn’t take the news well.”

  “I need to go talk to him,” Samara said as she levered herself out of her seat. She looked down at Nick when he caught her arm.

  “I don’t think that is a good idea,” he said. “Eric isn’t in the best of moods right now, and who knows when he is going to start showing signs the madness caused by the formula.”

  “I’ll take my chances, Nick,” Samara she said,
removing her arm from his grasp. “I need to see him.”

  Samara made her way back to the infirmary. She opened the door, and it pained her to see Eric lying on the bed with his eyes closed. He was such a strong and vital man that seeing him like this and knowing what was coursing through his veins was hard to witness.

  He jerked his head toward her when she entered the room. The coldness in his eyes was such that Samara almost turned and walked out again, but she knew she had to talk to him.

  “What do you want?” he growled, turning his head so he wasn’t looking at her.

  “How are you doing?” she asked for want of something better to say.

  “How do you think I’m doing? I’ve been lied to by you and my brother, and I’ve been injected with a formula that is going to do God knows what to me.” Eric turned back to her with a scowl on his face. “I’m doing great, Samara, thanks for asking.”

  She winced at his cutting tone, but she supposed she deserved his anger. In Eric’s mind she had betrayed him in the most brutal way. She had to convince him that he could still trust her.

  “Eric, if you will let me explain—” she began, only to step back when he vaulted out of the bed.

  “I don’t need you to explain anything,” he said, stalking her as she moved back toward the door. “I cannot believe anything you tell me at this point.”

  “Eric, you have to understand what happened with Rowan,” she tried again, her back pressed against the door.

  “I don’t want to hear it, thanks. My mind has painted a pretty picture on its own. Did the lights explode when you were with Rowan too?”

  Samara gasped when she realized what he thought had happened.

  “I was never intimate with your brother,” she sputtered. She could feel the blood draining from her face.

  “And I suppose you’ll tell me now that what happened between us was special, and that you’ve never experienced it before.”

  “Yes Eric, it was.” Samara’s voice was soft.

  “Stop lying. I don’t believe you anymore.”

  “What have I lied about? Everything I told you was true.” Samara reached out to touch his arm. He jerked away from her touch and turned his back on her.

  “You hid things from me, important things. Do you know what it did to me to see you kill Alex, and to think that you had done the same thing to my brother? To see the woman that I…”

  “That woman that you what? Eric, please, talk to me,” she begged. That wall he’d left behind for the past few weeks was coming back up.

  “I think it’s best for both of us if you leave,” he said, and made his way back to the bed.

  “Eric, I…” Her voice cracked on the lump forming in her throat when he still would not look at her. His coldness was killing her inside, and she didn’t know what she could do to get him to listen to her.

  “Just go.”

  Samara stood there looking at his back. She opened her mouth to speak to him again, but thought better of it. Eric was still too angry over everything that had happened to listen to her. She turned away and left the room, closing the door with a soft click behind her.

  ERIC JOLTED awake when he felt someone trying to strap him to the bed he was lying on. He grasped the arm moving over him in an iron grip, only to realize it was Nick. His shoulders sagged—with relief he told himself—when he saw it wasn’t Samara. Seeing her had made him feel like someone ripped his heart out.

  “Relax, Eric,” his brother said as he yanked his hand out of his grasp. “I have to strap you in. We are going to begin our descent at Norman Roger’s Airport in a minute.”

  Eric tried to relax on the bed, but it was difficult. He always hated landing; this was the time his mind decided to paint pictures of the plane flipping down the tarmac in a fiery ball. It was why he tried to avoid flying whenever he could.

  “Just relax,” Nick said, patting him on the shoulder before he left the room.

  Eric’s jaw clenched and he shut his eyes tight when he heard the plane begin its decent. It didn’t take long before he heard and felt the wheels hitting the runway.

  Once the plane taxied to a stop he reached down to undo the belts strapping him in. When he stood his legs felt weak and shaky, and he had to stand still for a moment before he felt like he wasn’t going to fall down.

  Nick came back for him and they exited the plane. To Eric’s surprise it was still dark outside. It felt like so much time had passed since he and Samara were at the complex, that he felt it should be lighter.

  Samara came to stand beside him, but he refused to look at her. He wasn’t ready to deal with the emotions, both good and bad, that she stirred in him, so he avoided her altogether. She reached out to touch his arm, but he pulled away from her and walked over to Nick’s car. He waited for a few minutes, while Hadria and Nick conferred with their team, then he got in the front seat of the car. Samara looked over at him one last time before getting into what he assumed was Hadria’s car.

  “Where are you taking me?” he asked his brother once they left the airport.

  “We have to take you to our headquarters. There is a hospital on one of the floors, and you need to go there for treatment. It’s Cadric’s orders,” he added, as if that would mean anything to him. He was only going with them because he knew he needed help fighting off Horn’s formula, and that was the sole reason. If it wasn’t for that he would have taken off on his own somewhere far away from them all. No matter what fucking Cadric said.

  Nick pulled the car down the road that led to the Beachgrove Complex and the Kingston Psychiatric Hospital.

  “Why are we going down here?”

  “This is where our headquarters are. Our order bought the Penrose building years ago from the provincial government.”

  “The Penrose building? I’ve never heard of it.”

  “But I’m sure you have heard of the old Rockwood Lunatic Asylum.”

  That he had heard of. Almost all the people who lived in the city knew what that building was. The Rockwood Lunatic Asylum was built in the mid-eighteen-hundreds, and housed Kingston’s mentally ill for over a century before the new psychiatric hospital was built. It was an eerie gray stone building that loomed in front of Lake Ontario on the grounds of one of the most scenic and beautiful locations in the city.

  “I thought the building was abandoned.”

  “That’s what we want people to think. What better place to set up headquarters for a secret organization than at a building that looks abandoned and is rumored to be haunted?”

  “Yes, but don’t people see you coming in and out of there?” Eric asked, for once forgetting to be angry at Nick as he grew fascinated with where they were going.

  “There is a fence around the building, and the doors are chained shut. We don’t go in the building through the front door. We access it through the Tower House, and then take the tunnels that run underneath to the basement of the building. It makes it easier for us to come and go undetected by the general population.”

  “Why did you join the Order?” Eric asked, a question that had been burning inside him since he discovered that Nick had joined.

  “Cadric approached me about a position as head physician for the Order. They needed someone who had experience with treating human ailments, but was also someone who wasn’t human. I saw it as a good opportunity for me, and it has been. I haven’t regretted it.”

  “Why did you never tell me?”

  His brother look over at him, his eyebrow raised. “You haven’t exactly been in contact for the past six years. I tried to give you the space you needed to get your head together, but I guess that hasn’t worked.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Eric demanded as his brother pulled to a stop in front of a stone building.

  “You know what, forget I said anything. Let’s just get you inside so we can start your treatment.”

  Eric decided not to push his brother for an explanation. He had been through hell tonight, and he didn
’t feel up to dredging up the past.

  The two men got out of the car and Nick pulled out a key to unlock the door to the stone building. They descended a flight of stairs and went down a long corridor. They came to another door, and Nick produced another key. They entered a long windowless corridor that was lit with electric lights.

  “Are these the tunnels?” Eric asked, not willing to admit to the shiver that insisted on crawling down his spine.

  “Yes. They run under the property and go to the old hospital. They used to transport bodies out of here.”

  Eric almost wished he hadn’t asked, since it didn’t make the funny feeling he had dissipate at all. After walking for several minutes, they finally came to another door.

  “This door leads to the basement of the asylum. It’s original to the building, and hasn’t changed since the nineteenth century.”

  As Eric followed his brother inside he felt a great sympathy for those who’d suffered from mental illness in the past. The chains were still on the walls where those unfortunate souls were once shackled.

  Eric breathed a sigh once they were out of the basement and onto the first floor. This part of the building was modern and looked like any other office building.

  “The infirmary is on the second floor. We’ll get you settled into a room and then we’ll start your round of shots.” Eric followed Nick to the stairs that led to the second floor.

  “My shots?”

  “If what Horn said about the formula is true, then I think the best approach to prevent you from going feral is to put you through a course of rabies shots. You’ll have to stay here for a few days for observation to see if the treatment is going to work. If it does, you’ll have to stay in town until you’ve finished your full course of shots, which will take twenty-eight days.”

  “And what if the treatment doesn’t work?” Eric asked as he stopped and put his hand on his brother’s arm.

  “Let’s not borrow trouble. If the treatment doesn’t work, we’ll think of something.”