Vengeance

by Carrie Whitethorne

  It was never proven, but word had it that the Assembly tipped off the CIA to the existence of shifters after they refused to join their order. And I was inclined to believe my sources.

  Second, he hadn’t shot me the moment he’d learned what I was.

  Settling back in my seat, I watched the sun as it dropped behind the trees in the distance. “So, what do you plan to do?”

  His fingers drummed on the steering wheel for a moment before he replied, “While we travel I’m gonna figure out which is the safest post to report to. Right now, we’re AWOL, so I should call my commanding officer and tell him I’m relocating my team. That takes us off Army radar while we head south, back to my usual post. We’ll take you home on the way. I think that’s the safest place to be. Seems to me there’s a lot going on behind the scenes. And I think that needs to change.”

  My place was nowhere near on the way to Jackson, but the Assembly were sure to be on our tail, and given their kindness, the least I could do was see them to safety.

  Chapter 3

  Sorrel

  The guys took turns driving throughout the night so the others could catch some much-needed sleep. I didn’t offer, and they didn’t ask, but they did continue to drive west without me having to explain why. When it was decided that they were following my lead wasn’t clear, but I was glad I didn’t have to use magical persuasion.

  I was only trying to help keep them alive, after all.

  Four AM lit up on the center console and, beginning to feel tired, I struggled not to rub my eyes. We’d recently driven past a sign at the side of the road welcoming us across the border. I kept catching sight of the sun in the side mirror as it began its ascent behind us as we slowed to pass through a small town just outside of Salt Lake City.

  For the time, the road going through the small town was quiet, but a couple of people were bustling about. I imagined they were getting ready to start their day. Opening my window slightly, I breathed in the faint smell of freshly baked bread, making my stomach rumble.

  After passing a sign that read, “Thank you for visiting,” there was a smaller sign for a gas station a couple of miles ahead. We’d only stopped once briefly in the night, so I wasn’t surprised when Cox announced, “We’re starting to run low. I assume we’re gonna keep moving?”

  “Yeah,” I confirmed. “We need to head north from here and avoid the city, so we better get whatever we need now. Then we won’t need to stop again before midday.”

  He glanced my way before returning his attention back to the road. There was a question in his eyes, but I didn’t prompt him. I merely sat and waited. I didn’t have to wait too long before he finally questioned, “What are you running from?”

  Of all the things he could have asked, I hadn’t expected that. “I told you, the Assembly.”

  “I didn’t ask who,” he corrected coolly. “Something has you spooked, and it’s not people.”

  Oh, if he only knew. But he couldn’t, no one could. My head would have a hefty price that no one would refuse if I revealed anything more about our world than I already had. I planned to wipe their memories before we parted, and then all secrets would remain safe, but in the event that I didn’t, anything they’d seen so far could simply be put down to nothing more believable than an alien abduction story.

  “I’m not spooked,” I replied begrudgingly, before turning in my seat to look into the back. Jefferson and Naylor were still both out. It would be a shame to wake them, especially since Jefferson had driven longer than the other two, but needs must.

  Repositioned in my seat, I drummed my fingers on my thigh as I admitted, “I’m concerned for your safety after all the kindness you’ve shown. I’m going out of my way to get you away from that place, so rather than quiz me, maybe it’d be best if you stopped for gas and—”

  “Shit.” His curse cut me clean off and awoke both guys in the back.

  “What?” Jefferson demanded, springing into action and poking his head between the front seats.

  “We were followed,” Cox growled.

  I squinted at the passenger side mirror and spotted three black USV’s not a mile behind us and gaining.

  “Who the fuck would follow us?” Naylor questioned, turning in his seat to look out the back window.

  “The same people who didn’t want anyone on that post to survive the blast,” I spat, resting my head against the headrest and closing my eyes. “This is perfect,” I groused, as I tried to come up with a plan on the spot.

  “They put you there,” Naylor reasoned, “so it’s their fault there were survivors, you protected us.”

  The thing about the bohemian look was that there were lots and lots of layers. That meant hidden pockets in skirts, compartments to conceal small trinkets and baubles.

  Spotting the gas station ahead, I ran my finger across one of the trinkets as a plan formed. “And it looks like I’ll have to again. Pull in and hand me those keys.”

  “What are you going to do?” Jefferson demanded as Cox slowed, pulling the car onto the verge.

  I didn’t answer, and instead waited for Cox to get out so I could climb across the center console and into the driver’s seat as Naylor and Jefferson clambered out.

  “Go around the back of the gas station and stay quiet. If anyone comes looking, you’re going to have to break their necks. It won’t kill them, but it’ll incapacitate them until I can get to you.”

  “Break their—” Naylor’s voice turned high-pitched. “You expect us to take orders from this freak, Jeff?”

  “I’m going to let that slide just this once, Naylor. The guys after us aren’t human…” Alva bristled at the insult, and I huffed while momentarily closing my eyes to wrangle her in. There wasn’t time for him to freak out or for Alva to teach him a lesson in manners. “I’ll explain later. Just get out of sight before the shit hits the fan.”

  “Let’s go,” Jefferson commanded, while giving Naylor a pointed look, and all three car doors slammed in unison.

  To be honest, it was a relief that at least one of them trusted me. Given the circumstances, I didn’t blame Naylor, but I couldn’t risk lives based on one idiot’s inability to get his head around shit.

  I thought soldiers were supposed to be adaptive.

  I didn’t wait, gunning the engine without checking that they were clear before turning the vehicle around in the small, gravel parking lot beside the gas station.

  Back on the road, I stepped on the gas, kicking my way up through the gears and leaving my former captors behind.

  This was not the plan. The plan was to get myself caught and watch the post, identify any magical individuals hiding in their midst, and get the hell out. I wasn’t to worry about getting caught, and wasn’t let in on the plan of how the Assembly was going to get me out, but I couldn’t have expected they’d blow the damn place up, or had the knowledge beforehand that one of the teams on watch would be decent humans. I wasn’t prepared for any of this.

  But I wasn’t about to disappear and leave them to fend for themselves either. Especially not when they’d shown me nothing but kindness. That wasn’t how I worked.

  I didn’t adhere to the Wiccan rede, per se, but I followed my own moral code, and leaving good people to suffer a terrible fate wasn’t on my willing-to-do list.

  It should be, my inner beast snarked, but it wasn’t. I wasn’t that far gone.

  The cars following us were no longer blobs in the distance with flashy beacons surrounding them. A plain black SUV took the lead with two slightly smaller SUV’s following behind, their lights and sirens were blaring giving me a clear sign of their intent. They could intend whatever they liked. I knew what they expected, and they were going to meet far worse.

  Anyone else would have already second-guessed what they were about to do and slowed their vehicle, but not me. With my foot firmly on the gas pedal, I reached into one of my pockets and dug for the small stump of candle I’d shoved in there after drawing my last gate. There was just enough
left for what I needed.

  With one hand on the wheel, the other over my head, I began to sketch my runes. It didn’t matter if I overshot, I just needed to be out of the car at just the right time.

  Timing was everything, and I inched into the middle of the road as the three vehicles came within a few hundred yards.

  A click of my fingers and the circle of runes ignited. As soon as it caught, I slammed my foot on the brake and yanked hard on the steering wheel to turn the SUV left. The momentum of the sudden move brought the car to a screeching halt for a split second before it flipped and rolled down the road toward our pursuers.

  It wasn’t my most graceful maneuver, falling through a hole as the car rolled, but it got me out in one piece. My arrival on the asphalt wasn’t pretty either, the gate opening in a cloud of gray smoke and sulfur, and me fighting to remain upright as I emerged only ten yards from the carnage the flipped vehicle had caused.

  Scanning the now smoking wreck, I readied myself. There was no way those guys were hurt. Despite having an SUV careen into them like a bowling ball hitting a strike, their kind could withstand all kinds of physical punishment. This simply acted as a big enough distraction to keep them away from the gas station.

  Movement by one of the smaller SUV’s on the right caught my attention and I rubbed my fingers together. The smoke was barely visible, but it formed the runes I needed, and my trusty shield charm slammed into existence.

  It wouldn’t protect me indefinitely, especially if they’d thought to bring a witch with them, but it gave me a head start. Knowing how many I was up against was half the battle.

  “Alright, lads,” I called, walking toward the wreckage. “Why don’t you come out and we can talk about this like rational hu—people?”

  The reply was three rounds from a handgun.

  “Charming,” I muttered, as the bullets reached my shield and fell to the ground with three distinct plinks. “Come on, don’t play stupid, you fuckers, it never ends well,” I shouted.

  Okay, so maybe the cussing was a little antagonistic, but they had just tried to shoot me.

  Bastards.

  “Where are your hostages, Bishop?”

  Now, you’d expect a strong, booming voice from a dragonkin, wouldn’t you? Something heavy and commanding. Not the sniveling, nasal wheeze that came from behind the bigger mangled SUV.

  The fact he was still hiding meant I could afford to get a few feet closer without running the risk of leaving myself open to too much damage.

  “Hostages?” I asked, snorting a laugh. “If you know my name, then you know more about me than most. That means you’re more than aware that I just want to be left a-bloody-lone!”

  “Rescuing survivors wasn’t in the brief,” came the weasel’s haughty reply, and I took the opportunity of him being momentarily distracted to move closer.

  To keep him talking, I gasped in outrage, but ended up coughing to cover a snort I almost let loose. “You read my brief? Glad someone did, I was never shown one. That’s a real shit show they’re running, you know?”

  Reaching the overturned vehicle, I smirked to myself and threaded my fingers into my hair. It was my last candle. Or the last one I had in my possession at least, so my options were few.

  Doing rough calculations in my head, I silently drew a very small circle of runes on the underside of the SUV, then pushed the candle back into the hair tie holding up my ponytail.

  Satisfied with my handiwork, I rummaged through one of my hidden pockets for a capsule.

  They weren’t my first choice, too small for my taste and prone to leakage or premature eruption, but they were handy in this type of situation.

  Igniting the wax with a snap of my left finger and thumb, I took a few steps back until I was out of the impact zone in case it went wrong, and tossed the capsule into the miniature gate and waited.

  There were few sounds more satisfying to the beast inside me than hearing the startled cry of a grown man. It didn’t really matter what species or the reason behind it. If we were really getting down to it, it didn’t have to be a man at all. Panic made my heart sing.

  His silence indicated the capsule had done its job, but I was unsure how many of those guys were left. Working on a guesstimate of two per car, I had too many to toy with and not enough time.

  The inner beast swished her tail in annoyance at not being allowed out to play.

  But I had to be careful. If they were to live, then I couldn’t afford to reveal too much.

  “Okay, now that your snotty friend is out of the way, can we work on some sort of arrangement? I know you’re just doing your jobs, so I’ll make this easy for you. Come and get your friend, all of you turn your backs, and let me get out of here. Tell your superiors I used a shrinking potion and gave you the slip if it’ll save your asses.”

  There were several moments of silence, and I used the time to search my many pockets for more spell samples. I had a shrinking potion on me somewhere, but it was an absolute last resort. I couldn’t escape and get the guys to safety before it wore off and these assholes found them.

  “Okay, Bishop, we’ll do this your way,” came a voice. This one was deeper, younger. “I’m coming out. No weapons. No tricks, okay?”

  I shouldn’t grin the way I did when I heard his nervousness, but in these types of situations, I couldn’t stop myself. Realizing this frightened young thing must be the next in the chain of command made my smile turn into a grin.

  What was even better was that he was only human. Fucker didn’t stand a chance.

  I could mess with him, I was itching to, but the guys were still waiting behind the gas station, and the longer I took, the more chance there was that one of them would come looking. That wouldn’t be good. These guys had been sent to wipe any remaining survivors off the map, and knowing the Assembly had sent them, I knew they wouldn’t stop until they got what they came for.

  Even with the risk of exposing what I was, I couldn’t allow that to happen.

  Not that I was a human rights activist, I just didn’t really want to have to deal with any of them. The dragonkin, the humans, and the shifters to name a few, none of them mattered a shit to me. I was only there to earn enough to cover my research costs and return to my little off-grid cabin in the woods.

  But as much as I wanted to just bugger off home, I couldn’t. My conscience wouldn’t let me. The guys had been kind and considerate despite me being their prisoner, and my mother had raised me to always return someone’s kindness.

  With my arms loosely folded across my chest, I stepped from behind my vehicle and smiled. The kid was no older than twenty-two, probably forced trained, and nervous as hell. They were taking them on younger and younger.

  “What’s a good-looking lad like you doing working for people like him?” I inquired, tilting my head in the direction of his frozen friend.

  “You disobey—”

  I had intended to hear him out, but my attention was pulled away by the sound of boots scraping on tarmac Tweedle Dee’s balls weren’t too big, though, because he was still out of sight behind one of the vehicles.

  That wasn’t what we’d just agreed on, and my temper flared. My internal beast swished its tail in excitement at the potential of blood being spilled.

  “Look, love,” I snarked, cutting him off as I spread my arms wide. “I kept my side of the bargain. You kept your side. But that stupid prick behind you just lost you your head.”

  He didn’t see it until it was too late. Ducking was futile. Running certainly wouldn’t have saved him.

  The tiny gray capsule hit his cheek and burst on impact. The poor bastard stared at me, wide-eyed, as he realized what he’d been hit with. By then it was too late. The results were immediate, if a little disappointing, but that was the risk of using an insta-spell.

  He was frozen solid from his head down to his elbows. Not entirely incapacitated, but it was enough for the moment. I watched on, amused, as his lower arms flailed uncontrollably—it reminde
d me of one of my chickens back home.

  Rather than use the distraction to escape, I ran directly at him, grabbed him by his cheap leather belt, and pushed my body right up against his.

  “Alright, sunshine, here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to keep walking while I stay pressed right up here.” I nudged my hips against his ass. “They want nothing more than to shoot me, which means they’ll have to shoot you first, and while I know their orders come before camaraderie, you’re their commanding officer.”

  He couldn’t respond verbally, but he didn’t struggle, so I took that as confirmation of his cooperation and pushed my knee into the back of his to get him moving.

  “How many are there?” I queried as he moved, reaching for his hand. “Squeeze my hand once for every additional officer you have with you. I don’t care what species.”

  Oddly, there were only three squeezes.

  “Whiny over there was alone?”

  Another squeeze.

  “And the four of you are human, no powers?”

  Another squeeze.

  That changed things. It wasn’t a fair fight, and that was exactly why the Assembly had sent them after me. The more damage I did, especially to hapless humans, the easier it would be to vilify me. It wouldn’t matter how much provocation they’d provided; I had no evidence for my defense. This was a complete set up.

  I hated to, it wasn’t as much fun, but I switched to plan B.

  “Put them down, boys,” I called, following my human shield. “Let me get out of here and I’ll act as though you made it real hard for me to escape. I promise.”

  A glance down showed my hostage was playing ball. His hands were turned and his fingers were splayed in a gesture of surrender.

  Not even a second passed before their firearms hit the ground in a series of metallic rattles. I took that as my cue to move.

  My throw was piss poor—I hadn’t had much practice, having never attended school or been forced to play ball games—but it hit the target. Targets. All three of them came into view right as the capsules burst on the asphalt, and I followed it up with a hastily sketched memory charm right after.