Viper (Second Wave Book 1)

by Mikayla Lane

  “Can’t you give her something?” Jax asked, her concern rising.

  “We’re trying!” One of the techs grunted, trying to get his hands back on the stretcher.

  To Jax and the rest of her team, it looked like Erin and the two techs were slapping at the stretcher, even though they knew that wasn’t the case. Irritated and worried Jax put both of her hands on the stretcher to try to help them hold it, when all four of them were thrown clear.

  Jax lifted her head off the floor in time to see the straps holding Lara down snap, one at a time. She could feel the heat and energy as Lara’s body was lifted from the stretcher and suspended above the floor.

  Jax awkwardly brought herself to her feet as the rest of her team stepped back from Lara’s body. She didn’t know what the hell was going on, this wasn’t exactly her expertise, even though her team were screaming at her through the Shengari’ to do something. Jax sent a quick message to Grai through the Shengari’ before making yet another mistake.

  Jax walked up to Lara’s suspended body, showing none of the nervousness she felt. “Lara? Hey girl, we need to get you to Amun, so he can help you.” Jax said, raising her hand to touch Lara’s arm.

  Jax felt her arm being stopped just shy of touching Lara’s arm, as if someone grabbed her. She fought to free her arm of the invisible grasp when Lara’s head lifted from her chest.

  Jax heard the gasps before she saw the glowing golden color of Lara’s eyes. It was so bright; it actually illuminated her face in an eerie yellow light. That wasn’t what made Jax scream out to Reven in fear, through the Shengari’. It was the voice.

  “Do not touch the host.”

  The deep, resonating voice that came from Lara’s mouth caused everyone to take a step back. The invisible hand chose that moment to let go of Jax’s arm, and she stepped back quickly.

  “Is she possessed?” Someone asked in a shaky voice.

  Jax stared at Lara’s glowing eyes and suspended form and shook her head. “I don’t know a damn thing. This is a new one. Even for us.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  The men waiting at the portal in Dillon, heard the panic and fear screaming through the Shengari’ at the same time. Grai and Viper were the first through the portal and skidded to a stop a few feet from Lara.

  “What the fuck did you do to the forest ninja? Holy shit! Is she possessed? Oooh damn!!! Can I do an exorcism? Please Grai! Please let me do… what the fuck!” Traze said excitedly before David smacked him in the back of the head.

  Grai turned a granite stare to his brother. “If you do not shut up, I will allow David to shoot you. This is not the time!”

  Traze looked like he would argue, then thought better of it. “Fine! But I’m recording this shit in case her head starts spinning, or she starts puking pea soup… all right, all right! I’ll be quiet.” Traze said, stepping back from his brother and David.

  Viper didn’t even hear what was going on behind him. He, Dread, Drago and Ratoka stood in front of the still suspended Lara. Her head was slumped on her chest, arms and legs dangling, her toes inches above the ground.

  Viper took a tentative step towards her; his hand extended as if to touch her when her head whipped upwards. Her eyes glowed an unblinking golden as she stared blankly at Viper.

  “Do not touch the host.” The booming voice startled even the normally stoic among them. Grai took a step back from Lara as well and urged the others to do the same.

  Amun shook himself out of the amazed stupor he was in and pulled out his scanner, while Reven pulled an unresisting Jax farther away from Lara and behind him.

  “What’s going on Amun?” Grai asked evenly, never taking his attention off Lara and the glowing eyes that unnerved him.

  “Almost all of her brain functions have been shut down, stopping the brain heat. That is the only part of her brain still functioning right now, besides the part that controls the dream state. That is her beast.” Amun said with quiet awe as he stared at a beast in complete control of its host.

  “Is she…?” Drago asked in a whisper.

  “No, she’s alive.” Amun said just as quietly.

  “Who are you?” Viper asked roughly, tears shimmering in his eyes as he looked at his mate.

  The silence hung awkwardly as the glowing eyes stared at everyone before turning its gaze to Viper.

  “You are mate, but I am Prime. You will wait.”

  “Prime? Is she gonna turn into a car? Is…” Everyone sighed in gratitude when David slapped his hand over Traze’s mouth.

  “Prime? You are of the Prime?” Ratoka asked, looking puzzled.

  “I am Prime.”

  Those who weren’t staring at Lara were looking at each other in confusion. No one was quite sure if its name was Prime or if that is what its kind were called. Hell it could mean anything.

  “My mate is sick and she needs help. Give her to me.” Viper said determinedly, holding his arms out.

  “Do not touch the host. She will be well soon.”

  Viper gritted his teeth at the response.

  “She is not well! Give me my mate. Please.” Viper said, holding his arms out for her again.

  The glowing eyes showed no hint of emotion as they stared blankly at Viper. “Do not touch the host.”

  Viper shook with fury and fear for his mate. “She’s not a host! She’s my mate! Give her to me!”

  “Do not touch the host.”

  Viper lunged and tried to wrap his arms around Lara’s waist. He never touched her before he was thrown several feet back. Dread and Drago helped him back to his feet and checked to make sure he was all right.

  “Can you tranquilize her?” Grai asked Amun through the Shengari’.

  “It would do no good, the part of the brain it would affect is already shut down.” Amun said, struggling to figure out what was going on and how to shut down the beast, so they could get to Lara.

  Ratoka moved several steps closer to Lara and stared at the glowing eyes. “Are you protecting her from the brain heat? Are you healing her?”

  “I am Prime. I am correcting the anomaly.”

  “The anomaly? What anomaly? She is not an anomaly!” Viper said, trying to fight his brothers to get back to Lara.

  Ratoka turned to Viper and laid a hand on his shoulder, sending calming energy to him. “Calm yourself. I think I understand. She is in no danger.”

  Ratoka turned back to Lara. “You are helping her through this aren’t you? When she is better, she’ll be back?”

  “I am Prime!” The voice echoed loudly, literally shaking the beast in the brains of those who had them, causing them to drop to their knees, grasping their heads.

  David, the lone human among them stood as the others moaned in pain on the floor. “Hey! Hey!” David said holding both hands up to Lara showing he had no weapons in his hands and intended no harm.

  “They don’t want to hurt her. They are worried about her. We don’t know what Prime is…” David said, staring raptly into the eerie golden eyes.

  “You are Prime. However, you are anomalous. I will correct you later.” As soon as it spoke and the echoing stopped, Grai and the others began picking themselves off of the floor and stared nervously at Lara.

  “Can you tell me what Prime is?” David asked, looking around at the others and hoping they could come up with a way to shut the thing down before it decided to fix him next.

  “We are Prime. The first of many and the strongest. You should know this as Prime.” David felt as if the glowing eyes were chastising him, and it creeped him the hell out. It didn’t help that everyone was looking at him to talk to the thing since it was responding to him instead of chucking him around the room.

  “So you are what the others call Beast?” David asked, assuming he was correct.

  “We are Prime; we are not Beast. Beast are only the early beginnings of Prime. They have much to learn to be Prime.” The way it was said gave everyone the distinct impression that it didn’t think the Beast were evolve
d enough to be considered a Prime.

  Nevertheless, it was not said unkindly. On the contrary, it was said almost affectionately. That did not go unnoticed either.

  “Is that why you didn’t hurt them? Just showed them who was boss?” David asked, struggling to understand.

  “Prime do not harm their brethren unless necessary. It is not necessary, unless they try to touch the host.” The voice said almost gently. David was a lot more comfortable with the nicer version of Lara’s beast.

  “No one will touch her, but can you at least put her down? It’s really freaking me out to see her hanging in the air like that.” David said honestly.

  Viper held his breath as Lara’s body was slowly lowered to the floor of the portal room, until she was sitting with her back against the wall. It helped to alleviate some of his fear, but not nearly enough.

  Amun was getting ready to speak to Grai through the Shengari’ when his thoughts were interrupted by the Prime.

  “You speak as if I cannot hear. This is the word of the Prime!” Lara’s glowing eyes settled on Amun, but its voice radiated outward in an energy wave that could be felt in the cells of their bodies.

  It had felt as if its words had imprinted themselves in their bodies momentarily. It wasn’t painful, but the power of it shook them all. David’s body was rocked the hardest by the words and the sound, setting off a tingling in his head that didn’t stop. The others lost all contact with their beasts, their connections completely silent.

  “You are the Chunataia. The first Beast Clan.” Ratoka said with a hint of surprise and awe in his voice.

  David felt a little better when the eerie eyes focused on Ratoka. His head still tingled and felt a little cooler though. He couldn’t shake the suspicion that although its attention was off of him, it hadn’t forgotten about him.

  “It has been long since I have heard the true name of our people. Tell me, what do you know of my people?” The small smile on Lara’s face did nothing to ease the minds of the people standing helplessly around her body.

  Everyone stared curiously at Ratoka, waiting for the man to explain. “The Chunataia came from a planet that was destroyed long before the beast records began. It had broken into thirteen pieces. Pieces that traveled through space and time until they impacted each of the world’s currently inhabited by known beast nations.”

  “The beast survived deep within the remnants of the planet and evolved on our worlds, adapting to each new species, driving their evolution.” Ratoka said, wondering how much of the early legends were correct. The deep chuckle that followed his words, caused a tingle to shoot up his spine.

  “There were fourteen pieces. Now you must step away and no matter what, do not touch the host.” The voice warned moments before a shimmering golden net of energy surrounded Lara’s body.

  Dread, Drago and David held tightly to Viper, keeping him from rushing to Lara, while Amun’s hands flew across his comm running as many scans as he could.

  “Stop Viper! He’s not hurting her; he's helping to expand the connections in her brain while preventing the brain heat. He’s helping her.” Amun said quietly, as if afraid the Prime would hear him, but knowing it could.

  “How the hell can that thing shut down our beasts?” Grai asked Ratoka, still worried about the loss of his connection to his beast, Death.

  “It is the first, the oldest and most powerful of all of us. The parent of all beasts.” Ratoka said as if that explained it all.

  “How did that one remain so evolved while our own beasts are not nearly that powerful?” Grai asked, not liking this new turn of events.

  “I do not know. It could be the energy on this planet or how long the pieces traveled in space, and how much they had to de-evolve in order to survive the long journey through space. There are too many possibilities to guess at this point.” Ratoka said, staring at the energy net surrounding Lara, trying to understand it all.

  “So you’re telling me that Lara, my mate Tricia and even David is infected with the most powerful beast species we’ve ever encountered, and you have no idea how to deal with it?” Grai asked the spiritual leader incredulously, his anger growing.

  “Grai… I don’t know what to tell you. All I know are legends and until this moment, I had no idea they were, in fact, truth. Without my beast, I cannot ask my brethren to search our records.” Ratoka said helplessly.

  “What’s happening to her?” Viper asked, never taking his eyes from Lara.

  “She’s fine. Her base life signs are perfect, and her healing responses are accelerated. She’s in a deep dream state and unaware of what is going on.” Amun answered, never taking his eyes off the information scrolling on his comm.

  “She’s his host; I doubt that he would harm her. That’s how that works right? Your beast, you’re safe.” David said, pretty confident he was right. The tingling in his head had become a slight hum that he barely noticed anymore.

  “He has a point, whatever it’s doing; it wouldn’t harm Lara… or any of their hosts. We need to remember that.” Grai said, thinking of his mate Tricia and hoping he was right.

  “Its preventing me from getting my mate medical care!” Viper said angrily, lunging uselessly against his brothers to get to Lara.

  “Whatever it is doing; it is helping her. It has done more in ten minutes than we could have done on our own in days.” Amun said, hoping to ease some of Viper’s concern.

  Grai walked over to Viper and laid a supportive hand on his shoulder, before turning to Ratoka.

  “What else do you know about them?”

  “I… I don’t know. It’s just legends from when I was a child. I barely remember them. They were very powerful, their ability to harness and use energy were relegated to myth…” Ratoka looked perplexed as he looked at the energy net around Lara’s prone form.

  Grai snatched hold of Ratoka’s collar and shook him until he knew he had the man’s undivided attention. “Stop staring and start thinking. In case you hadn’t noticed we’re kind of fucked right now, and I’d like my beast back.”

  “Stop it! Shaking me won’t help you.” Ratoka said slapping Grai’s hands away from him and taking a step back from him.

  “I have no idea how it has silenced our beasts, but they are not gone. Only silent. If you look within yourself, you will find that your beast was forced into slumber. Stop and use your heads, and we can figure this out.” Reven said, looking around the room at the others.

  “He’s right, mine is just asleep. How the hell can it put our beasts to sleep? And why?” Ivint asked, not really expecting an answer.

  “The energy. It’s the energy.” Amun said with a sigh before explaining.

  “The different energies, along with her memories were causing her brain heat. Taking her through the portal, and our own energy, if we touch her, would only add to the distress she’s already in.”

  “It’s protecting her while helping her through the expansion of her brain connections. The power that it radiates is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Whatever you do, don’t attempt to touch her, the damage it could do might be irreversible.” Amun said, looking around at everyone warningly before settling his gaze on Viper.

  “How the hell could you not know this was among us?” Grai asked Ratoka angrily.

  Viper looked around the room at his fellow warriors, and it didn’t take the heightened senses of his beast to tell him everyone was afraid. Even if none of them had outright admitted it.

  He was a little stunned by the way the others had slowly drifted farther away from David and Lara. Except for Traze, who stubbornly remained by the side of his unwilling mentor, obviously feeling the tension in the room.

  Viper stepped closer to the others. “Hey! Let’s stop placing blame here. Since when do the Beast species turn on their own? We need to learn about our brethren before we relegate it to an enemy."”

  As much as it choked him to say it, Viper continued. “All its done so far, is protect her the same way our own beast
s would protect us.”

  Grai looked like he’d been slapped and looked around the room, noticing for the first time the fearful stances of some of their teams and the way they had gravitated into a huddle away from what they perceived to be the danger. It didn’t help the situation that they couldn’t communicate with their beasts, who could have helped them access the Prime.

  It killed him to think the other infected humans, his own Tricia, would be subjected to this kind of reaction. Not including the fact that he couldn’t allow something like this to divide their forces. The mission to save their people and this planet from the Relian’s was too important.

  Grai moved to stand in front of the Tezarian’s, Lara and David, his hands placed threateningly over the handles of the weapons strapped to his thighs.

  “I’m going to say this one time, and I will leave it up to you to ensure that the word gets around. If something like this can disturb you so greatly that you will question your loyalty to your team members and our mission, then you need to leave now.”

  “Viper is right, Prime or Beast does not matter; it is Brethren, and we do not turn on our own. So either stand firm, and remember the true reason you are here, or leave now. Personally, I will wait until she is out of danger and try to learn more about the impressive new addition to our beast clans… and our war.”

  Grai said the last with a wicked grin. One that seemed to spread among the others, their attitudes changing the more they considered Grai’s words.

  “Yo Dude you are not allowed to smack me anymore if you unleash super beast.” Traze said to David, whose eyes gleamed dangerously at him.

  “Tell him Grai, that’s an unfair advantage.” Traze whined to his brother with pleading eyes, while David stared at him.

  David turned to Ratoka with a fiendish smile. “How do I get this thing activated?”

  “Oh hell no!” Traze said running behind Grai.

  *****

  Lara’s mind sped through the memories as if someone had pressed the fast-forward button until it reached the part where she, and Jacordan had decided to get closer to the asteroid. She looked around the inside of the ship that had stopped as if the pause button had been pressed.