Night Hunt

by L. L. Raand

  A hand found her thigh and feeble fingers plucked at her pants. Jody covered the girl’s hand with hers. The girl was hot, burning from the inside, like her. A different kind of fever, but dying all the same.

  “A friend,” Jody said, her voice sounding empty as a well that had gone dry.

  “Are we going to die?”

  “No,” Jody said. “Help is coming.”

  “Please don’t leave me.”

  Before Becca, she’d cared little for humans. Like all Vampires, she saw them only as prey. Becca had taught her that humans might be physically fragile, but they could be valorous and foolishly brave. She squeezed the girl’s hand. “I won’t.”

  She only hoped she could keep her word.

  *

  In the dim space carved out of the mountainside, Drake searched for some indication of a way inside. The loading area was the size of a football field, complete with winches, hoists, and pneumatic lifts. Three new-looking all-terrain vehicles were parked against one wall. Clearly, items were off-loaded here and then taken deeper into the complex. The entire place was dark, dark and empty. She tilted her chin, smelled smoke. The mountain was burning.

  An ominous rumble rose from all around her, and the concrete beneath her feet shifted. The moment’s instability reminded her of the time she’d been on the West Coast during an earthquake. This entire place was about to collapse.

  She caught the scent of someone approaching from behind and whirled around. Rafe vaulted through the open bay doors.

  “Most of the aboveground complex is fully involved,” Rafe shouted. “The underground must be too. You need to go.”

  “Where’s Niki?”

  “She took the Rover back to the Compound, as you ordered.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come to look for my Liege. Go,” Rafe said. “If they’re here, I’ll find them.”

  “We’ll find them. There must be a stairwell or an elevator shaft,” Drake said. “You go right, I’ll go left.”

  A huge crack appeared in the center of the concrete floor, and a roar like an avalanche cascading down a mountainside preceded the creak and groan of rock and metal shifting. The structure was folding in on itself, much the way the towers in Manhattan had accordioned when the temperature at their cores had reached a critical level, destroying the infrastructure of the steel and literally melting the buildings from the inside out.

  “There,” Drake shouted, hope cresting in her chest. She pointed to a door with a sign, nearly obliterated by soot, warning an alarm would sound if opened. Beside it, an elevator, no doubt inoperable now. Drake shoved against the bar holding the door closed and it moved an inch. Gathering all her strength, she shouldered it again and felt some obstacle on the other side preventing it from opening further.

  “Let me help,” Rafe said, crowding in next to Drake.

  “Not with those burns on your shoulders,” Drake said. “You’ll strip the flesh right off your bones.”

  Rafe grinned. “If I don’t return with my Liege, it won’t matter. If she dies, her personal guard will all be sacrificed. Our allegiance to her is for life. Her life.”

  “Then use your hip,” Drake said, “because if we find them, you might need to carry them.”

  “Good thought,” Rafe said, and together they shoved again.

  Finally, they wedged the door open enough to slide through, but when Drake started to inch her way inside, Rafe stopped her.

  “Smoke,” Rafe said, wheezing. Blood streamed down her arms and chest. She pointed to the gray plumes wafting through the crevices in the walls and spaces between the rubble that blocked the stairwell. “If they came this way, they would have been trapped in the burning tunnel.”

  “They came this way,” Drake said, grabbing a chunk of metal and stone and throwing it out into the room behind them. “Sylvan is down there. And so is your Liege. If you can walk, you should get out of here.”

  Rafe’s face set with determination. “I’ve already carried her dead body once. I’m not doing it again.”

  “Then we have to get down the stairwell. This has to be the only way out.”

  “If Jody was alive, she would sense me,” Rafe said, helping Drake shove a section of broken wall aside. “She would reach me with her mind, and I don’t feel her.”

  “Maybe she can’t.” Drake nearly choked on the words. Except for that very brief whisper of connection outside in the clearing, she couldn’t feel Sylvan either. Even before they were mated, she’d been able to sense her on some deep level. Since their mating, Sylvan always filled her mind and body and consciousness. If she thought about what might have severed their connection now, she would suffocate with despair. So she did the only thing she could do. She blanked her mind and dug down toward the flames.

  *

  Sophia rushed out of the barracks when the general alarm sounded. Weres streamed out behind her, hurrying to take up positions on the ramparts at the top of the stockade. She headed across the Compound to the infirmary but stopped when the gates crashed open and the Rover barreled inside. Sentries jumped aside as the vehicle careened across the yard up to the headquarters building. The doors flew open and Niki leapt out, followed by the other centuri. They pulled someone out of the back of the Rover and dragged whoever it was into the building. Sophia reversed course and ran to catch up to them. Niki stopped her headlong rush on the porch.

  “We need to prepare for an attack,” Niki said. “You should stay in the infirmary in case we have wounded.”

  “You’re hurt,” Sophia said. Niki’s entire left side was scorched. Large patches of skin on her shoulder and hip were burned and encrusted with debris. “You need attention.”

  “Later,” Niki growled, turning away.

  Sophia caught her undamaged arm. “Niki, where is the Alpha? And the Prima?”

  Niki spun around, her teeth bared, her eyes glazed with pain and fury. “Missing.”

  The breath stuttered to a stop in Sophia’s chest, but she forced the swell of panic aside. She slid her fingers down Niki’s arm and clasped her fingers, letting Niki feel how much she trusted her, how much she believed in her. “What can I do?”

  For a second, Niki swayed and Sophia moved closer, shielding her from anyone who might be looking. Niki was in command now, and the Pack needed a strong leader. She could not appear weak.

  “We have to be ready for anything,” Niki said. “The Alpha may be injured. Possibly the Prima too.”

  “Oh God,” Sophia murmured. “Niki, what happened?”

  “An explosion.” Niki shook her head as if trying to clear her thoughts. “We have a prisoner—a human. I need to interrogate him now. He may know what we’re facing.”

  “At least let me clean your wounds.”

  “No.” Niki cupped Sophia’s cheek. “If we’re attacked, Callan has orders to evacuate the Compound. I want you to go with the others.”

  Sophia stiffened. “I’m a medic, Niki. I can’t leave the fight. You know that.”

  Niki growled, her wolf in control. Red pelt streaked down her chest, over her abdomen. Her canines jutted out. She growled.

  “Niki, I’ll be careful,” Sophia said soothingly, stroking Niki’s face until she settled and her wolf relaxed. “Don’t worry about me.”

  “I had to leave her,” Niki said hollowly. “I had to leave the Alpha behind.”

  “You wouldn’t have if there had been any other choice.” Sophia kissed her. “I know that. She would have wanted you to protect us.”

  “I don’t want to leave you.”

  “You’re not.” Sophia smiled though it took every ounce of willpower she had. “I’ll be across the Compound in the infirmary. I expect you to report to me so I can take care of those wounds the minute you’re free.”

  Niki nodded. “I might need you to bring Katya and Gray over here. Are they well enough?”

  “Misha took them for a run. They were much better when they came back. Why?”

  �
��This prisoner. He says he knows them.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Michel opened the rear of the Town Car, and Francesca slipped inside. Nicholas sat on the far side of the plush leather seat exuding the air of confidence and entitlement of a man used to occupying the central chair in the boardroom of a Fortune 500 company. His charcoal pinstripe suit, monochrome silk shirt, and matching tie with subtle stripes complemented his silver mane. His hair was carefully styled, and his tight jawline and wrinkle-free brow hinted at surgical enhancement. Nicholas Gregory, secret leader of Humans United for Species Integrity, was vain. Francesca smiled to herself. Narcissism was a weakness to be exploited.

  Michel closed the car door behind her and Francesca slid to the center of the seat. The night was warm and she hadn’t bothered with any kind of wrap. Nicholas struggled, and failed, not to stare at her breasts, barely contained in a loosely laced red satin bustier, before his gaze traveled down to her low-cut black pants and exposed abdomen. She’d fed well upon rising, but the presence of such vulnerable prey stirred her desire to hunt. She rested a fingertip on the top of his hand. “I know you didn’t come all this way just to talk to me.” She laughed. “Of course, I could always hope.”

  “I’m afraid tonight is about business,” Nicholas said, sounding almost as if he really regretted it. She knew he loathed Praeterns, but like so many humans, he seemed fascinated by what he hated.

  “Well then, I suppose we’ll have to put pleasure aside.” Francesca slid her entire hand onto his thigh and enveloped him in a subtle thrall. His heart rate kicked up instantly. His blood rushed faster through his arteries, pulsing hot and thick beneath her fingers. His cock stiffened, and by the rigid set of his jaw, he wasn’t used to his body responding without his permission. “At least for now.”

  Nicholas cleared his throat and pushed back in his seat, casually folding the front of his suit jacket over the mound in his crotch. “We had a break-in at one of our installations last night. Sylvan Mir led the raid.”

  “Really.” Francesca waited, wondering just how much of the truth he intended to tell her. Thus far, he’d kept the specific details of what his experiments entailed from the other Shadow Lords. She hadn’t minded, because the less she knew, the less culpable she would be if they were exposed. On the other hand, knowledge was power, and she wanted as much of both as she could get. “Sylvan doesn’t seem the type to flout the law without good reason. She is, after all, a public figure and the representative of all the Praetern species in Washington. How do you know it was her?”

  “We have…witnesses.”

  Francesca nodded, uncertain if he knew Michel had been there when Sylvan’s forces arrived, and if he did, whether he would acknowledge it. Veronica Standish was aware of Michel’s involvement, of course, but Francesca doubted Veronica shared everything she knew with Nicholas—or anyone else. In this elaborate game, everyone had secrets. “I see. What was she after?”

  “We can’t be sure, of course, but we believe she was acting on misinformation. She was under the false impression that we had somehow detained some of her…Pack.”

  “Why would anyone want her to think that? As if you would be that foolish.” Francesca knew of Nicholas’s experiments with human females aimed at producing a synthetic toxin that would cause the nearly universally fatal Were fever in humans. Unleashing such a virulent substance among the human population would induce worldwide panic and turn humans against the Weres. Even Sylvan would abandon her attempt to work with the humans if the autonomy of the Were species was in danger. Michel had reported that several Were females had been imprisoned and were the subject of experimentation. Nicholas and Veronica Standish had not shared that information with anyone.

  If she kept Nicholas talking, perhaps she’d find out why. “What possible use would Weres be to you?”

  “None, of course,” Nicholas lied.

  “Unless, of course, you were hoping to find some way to control them?”

  Nicholas grimaced. “As if that was possible. The only way to control a Were is with silver bullets.”

  “And what could Sylvan hope to accomplish by such an obvious maneuver as attacking one of your laboratories?”

  “Who can know what motivates irrational creatures like these Weres?” Nicholas shrugged. “The point is, she’s dangerous, and she needs to be stopped.”

  “I agree,” Francesca said, slowly tracing her fingertips along the sharp crease in his trousers. “Sylvan Mir is a formidable and unpredictable opponent. But she’s highly visible, and any assault on her is very likely to bring a public outcry and intense scrutiny. We had agreed we would try to dissuade her from pursuing the Coalition goals and convince her to our agenda before resorting to more…forceful means.”

  “True,” Nicholas said smoothly. “But that was before this open act of aggression. We don’t know what she might do next.”

  “How much does Sylvan know?” Francesca doubted Nicholas had any idea exactly how aggressive Sylvan could be. Michel had said there were young Were females in that lab—and whether they were Sylvan’s or not made no difference. Sylvan would never rest until she discovered who was responsible. Nicholas was putting them all at great risk—his usefulness was rapidly drawing to an end. “Does she know who was behind the work there?”

  “There’s no way she could,” Nicholas said. “We’ve gone to great lengths to shield the identities of the investigators from the guar—employees. None of the scientists know the exact nature of our experiments. Even the location of the labs is camouflaged.”

  “Someone must be providing her with information, or why would she have broken in?”

  “As I said”—Nicholas said slowly, adjusting his cuffs. Diamond links glinted on his sleeves—“misinformation. All the same, we have to assume that particular site is no longer viable. We also have to assume that Mir will start looking for other labs.”

  “I imagine your security is very vigorous.”

  “Oh, it is. Everyone who works on sensitive projects is constantly monitored, their access to the labs is limited to work-specific areas, and any kind of data transmission—on- or off-site—is screened.”

  “Then she isn’t likely to discover anything.”

  “Unlikely, but not impossible.”

  Francesca grew tired of his game playing. “You, of course, have a plan.”

  He smiled and glanced at his platinum Rolex. “We’ve had to abandon the installation. Unfortunate, but necessary. My concern now is preventing further interference from Sylvan Mir.”

  At last, he was getting to the reason for his visit. Francesca moved closer until her thigh rested against his and her breasts brushed his sleeve. She enthralled him just enough to cloud his thinking but not enough that he would notice and try to resist. She could overpower him mentally, but she didn’t want to arouse his suspicions. She just wanted him to be disinhibited enough to reveal his intentions. “How?”

  “We either have to kill her or neutralize her…” Nicholas said, his attention slowly shifting from her face to her breasts, his words slowing. “If we kill her…If we kill her, she becomes a martyr. But if we discredit her, have her removed from the Coalition…”

  “What, darling?” Francesca murmured, brushing her lips along the underside of his jaw. “What will you need to do?”

  “Everyone saw that picture of her when she lost control.”

  Nicholas seemed to lose his train of thought, and Francesca found his hand and guided it into her top. “What about the picture, Nicholas?”

  “Animals. They’re just animals.”

  “I know.” Francesca nearly smiled. Humans were so terribly easy and ultimately so terribly boring. She’d never been able to capture Sylvan’s mind and would have been disappointed if she’d been able to. Sylvan had come closer to dominating her than any being she’d ever known, and after an age of enthralling others, she’d been thrilled to be enraptured. Right now, however, she welcomed her ability to manipulate her prey. She grazed her
incisors over the bounding pulse in his throat and he gasped. “What is it you want to do, Nicholas darling?”

  “Force her to show the world what she really is.”

  “How?”

  “Kill everyone she loves.”

  “Why are you telling me?” Francesca punctured the skin in his neck and allowed a slow infusion of her feeding hormones to enter his bloodstream. If she fed from him fully he would orgasm, and she didn’t want him to remember being enthralled. His blood trickled into her mouth and she swallowed. So much thinner than a Were’s, but blood was always pleasurable. Her clitoris tightened with the first surge of blood. He gasped and his cock swelled against her hip. Only a moment more and she would need to stop. “What is it you want?”

  “Your help.”

  “Tell me.”

  *

  “One more time,” Sylvan said. “We’ve almost got it. Push again, Lara.”

  Lara rumbled, and Sylvan felt the presence of another Alpha wolf crowd into the space beside her. Her own wolf charging at the invasion, Sylvan growled a warning. Lara’s body grew larger, heavier, a hulking form in the smoky, dust-filled air. Even in the dim light, Sylvan could see Lara’s transformation, a transformation Lara should not be able to make. She was not shifting—she was arrested in half-Were form, a fully functional hybrid wolf Were, a throwback to millennia past when the progenitors of the species walked on two legs while partially transformed. Now only the strongest Alphas and their mates retained that ability. Until Lara. But even in her half-form, Lara was unlike any Were Sylvan had ever seen. Lara’s Were characteristics were absent—her pelt hidden, her claws and fangs sheathed. Except for her size, her features were more Vampire than wolf. Sylvan had never seen anyone, not even another Alpha, free her wolf while still in skin. Lara’s wolf snarled, her amber eyes flashing gold.

  Sylvan roared in challenge and clamped a fully formed claw around Lara’s neck. She squeezed until the breath stopped in Lara’s throat and pulled Lara to her until they were eye to eye. She unleashed her wolf and let Lara see the power of a full-blooded Alpha. “Hold your wolf or I’ll tear your throat out.”