by J. C. Diem
Looking only slightly fatigued, Mark was seated next to Ava on a couch. He met my eyes and his were grim. “How many people have died so far?” I asked. I knew he’d have all the facts on hand.
“Do you really want to know?”
“No, but tell me anyway.”
“Half a million people are either dead or have gone missing so far.”
I expected the number to be high, but it still hit me like a punch to the gut. I was supposed to save mankind from devastation and so far I was doing a lousy job of it. Reece put his arm around me and Zeus popped into sight. I had no idea where he’d been, but he’d felt my anguish and had come to me. He put his head on my knees and stared up at me sorrowfully.
Flynn and Sabine entered the living room arm in arm. Flynn sensed the mood I was in and sent me a sympathetic look. “We’ll find a way to beat Kurt,” he said with far more confidence than I felt.
My dad joined us a couple of hours later. He was well used to working at night and sleeping through the day didn’t bother him. It was nearly dark now and we would begin breaking the captives free again soon. We ate a hasty meal then gathered in the living room.
“We’ll be heading to Wyoming next,” Mark said.
“Have I ever been there?” I asked my dad. We’d moved so often while I’d been growing up that I couldn’t remember every state that we’d been to.
“Not to my knowledge.” He took the mug of coffee that Kala offered him with a grateful smile. A faint blush rose on her cheeks and she was uncharacteristically quiet when she took a seat.
“If a zombie can follow you somewhere you’ve been before, I wonder if the opposite is also true?” Mark said.
I stood. “There’s only one way to find out.” I motioned for everyone to stay where they were. “This will only take a second. There’s no need for everyone to come with me.” Reece stayed where he was, knowing I didn’t want any witnesses if my experiment failed.
My zombies gathered around when I entered the yard. “Have any of you been to Wyoming?” I asked.
Kendricks spoke on behalf of his men. “The O Squad have. The Containment Squad haven’t.” Being linked to me, they were also able to share each other’s memories.
“I need you to take me there,” I said. I held my hand out to him and he took it. His flesh was cool, but it didn’t feel creepy. All of these men belonged to me now. They would remain my minions until I sent them back to their rest. They’d never get tired or need to eat or sleep. They weren’t filled with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. They were firmly beneath my control and were in no danger of running rampant.
Kendricks sank into the soil and took me with him. We popped up a second later on an isolated property. Rummaging through his memories, I discovered we were only a short distance away from the red dot on Mark’s map. Once again, things were working in our favor.
We returned to Cole’s property and I entered the living room. “It worked. We’ll only have to travel about twenty miles to reach the EERI compound.”
“Excellent,” Mark said, almost rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He loved it when his plans worked out.
Quiet murmurs came from the hundreds of shifters and other supernatural creatures who had joined our cause. An uneasy alliance had sprung up, binding us together. I only hoped my power over them would last until we’d faced down our enemy.
Once the sun fell, Mark stood. “Let’s head out,” he said and we followed him outside. Again, I took only my team, the alphas and my zombies with me. We rose on the same spot that Kendricks had taken me to earlier.
Ava pointed the way and I picked her up. We took off at a sprint and slowed down when the bright lights of the compound came into view. Word had spread among the EERI employees and they were ready for us this time. They’d quadrupled their guards, but we carried enough weapons and ammo to overwhelm them.
When my zombies caught up to us, we didn’t bother with silencers this time and immediately went on the attack. Blinded by their own perimeter lights, the guards fired into the darkness after we spread out and opened fire on them. We cut them down and more boiled into sight from inside.
When the last man fell, I shifted us all inside the property. We were halfway to the building when I sensed danger. I heard a faint rumbling sound and the ground began to shake. “Golem!” I shouted in warning a moment before the hydra burst up from the earth. It reared over us and hissed with all five of its cobra-like heads. I grabbed my father and leaped out of the way as it sprayed toxic venom at us. This was the first time the other alphas had seen a golem and they were stunned by its sheer size.
“Shoot for the eyes,” I told my dad when I’d put him down a safe distance away. With a calm nod, he pulled his handgun and started firing. Keep him safe, I ordered two of the dead Containment Squad agents. They nodded and moved to flank him. If the golem came anywhere near them, they’d carry my dad out of harm’s way.
Mark drew Ava and Sabine and the alphas aside and let the rest of us deal with the threat. We’d faced enough golems by now to know how to take them down. Half a dozen of my zombies went flying when the hydra swung its tail around and smashed into them. They sank into the ground only to reemerge right beside it and immediately opened fire again. Our constant barrage of gunfire made it pause each time its eyes were destroyed.
I sensed it prying at Flynn’s mind, trying to take him over again. The main head let out a frustrated hiss when it realized it wasn’t going to be able to subvert him to its will this time.
Flynn’s expression was grimly determined. He turned to Mark and held out his hand. Mark fished a grenade out of his pocket and lobbed it at him. Flynn caught it deftly then ducked behind the golem. He leaped onto its long tail and ran towards its heads, easily keeping his balance. We kept it busy by shooting out the eyes each time they regenerated.
Scaling the middle head, Flynn swiftly climbed upwards. He emptied his clip into its neck then pulled the pin on the grenade and stuffed it into the hole. Through him, I saw the wound heal and trap the grenade inside. He leapt to the ground and sprinted into the clear a second before the grenade went off. With the middle head now lying on the ground, the other four snake heads froze. Working as a cohesive unit, we’d managed to incapacitate it with little trouble and without suffering any losses.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty-Three
Flynn’s grin of triumph turned into alarm as he looked behind me. I turned to see the stone griffin descending from the sky. At first I thought I was its intended target, but it swept past me and headed straight for my father.
It moved so fast that the guardians that I’d set to watch over him didn’t have time to react. Its outstretched talons punched into my dad’s chest and lifted him off the ground. “No!” I screamed and watched in stunned shock as it carried him into the air. Tears blurred my eyes when I realized that even with all of my talents, I couldn’t save him. I couldn’t transform myself into a bird and fly.
You could fly if you really wanted to, my necromancer whispered into my mind. She showed me what she meant and I didn’t waste time debating about the possible consequences. It had nearly destroyed me when I’d almost lost Zeus. If my father died, I’d lose all willingness to continue this fight. I had one chance to save him and I was going to take it. Putting my trust in the most evil aspect of my nature, I surrendered to her will.
Surging to the fore, my necromancer tore my soul free from its confinement. My body collapsed and became lifeless. I only spared it a glance as my consciousness was forced into my soul.
All color was sucked from the world as I gained the gray vision of a ghost. No longer tethered to the ground, I floated a few inches above it. The griffin issued a challenging shriek and Zeus began to transform into a wraith hound. Assuming his much larger and far more dangerous shape, he howled, making the golem pause for a moment.
Seeing my father hanging limply in the griffin’s clutches, rage began to fill me. My insubstantial clothes darkene
d in color and changed to tattered rags that flowed around me. My hair became wild and tangled. I looked at my hand to see skeletal bones showing through the withered flesh. I wasn’t just a ghost anymore. I had become a vengeful spirit.
It was too dangerous to shoot at the flying monstrosity and my friends watched helplessly as my father regained consciousness. He’d dropped his gun when he’d been pierced by the talons, but he pulled another from a pocket in his cargo pants. He waited for the gigantic creature to look down at him then he shot it in the eyes.
Frozen in mid-air, the griffin was momentarily helpless. My father pushed himself off the talons. He’d rather die on his own terms than be killed by a monster. His expression was serene as he fell towards the distant ground.
Reece raced towards him, hoping desperately to break his fall, but I was already speeding through the air. Concentrating hard, I gathered my energy and turned solid. I caught my father as gently as possible when he was ten feet above the ground. Descending lower, I placed him in Reece’s arms.
“Lexi? Is that you?” Reece asked. He couldn’t see through my eyes when I was a spirit. I brushed my withered hand across his cheek in answer then turned to face my foe.
The griffin had recovered and it was preparing to dive bomb my friends again. This time, it was targeting Mark. My boss stood his ground and fired his assault rifle, peppering it with bullets. I turned solid and caught hold of its wing and yanked hard, diverting the golem from its course. Looking around wildly, it couldn’t see me, but it knew something was there.
Ava moved to stand beside Mark when the griffin gathered itself and flew towards them again. Her face was ashen as she lifted her hands and conjured up wind. Blown off course, the golem beat its wings furiously as it tried to regain its balance. A mini tornado formed and the stone monster was spun around furiously.
It was disoriented and confused when it was spat out a few seconds later. I acted before it could recover and streaked towards it as fast as I could. Still solid in form, I smashed into it hard enough to snap off both of its wings. The beast fell with a despairing shriek and hit the ground hard enough to form a crater.
Zeus pounced on it before it could scramble to its feet and batted it to the ground with a paw. Its razor sharp talons passed through him harmlessly as he snapped and growled at its face.
I was deadly while I was in this form, but I didn’t have the ability to destroy a golem. I’d only managed to break off its wings because they’d been attached by thin bones to its shoulders. I didn’t have enough mass to be able to detach its head, but Zeus did. He was far larger than me while in his wraith form. He had the capacity to do what needed to be done.
His ears cocked to the side as I told him what I wanted him to do. Turning insubstantial, he backed up a few yards then sprinted towards the golem. Turning solid as he reached it, the griffin’s head didn’t just become detached. It shattered into thousands of pieces and its body became a headless statue.
Floating beside my vengeful guardian, I stroked his head. We were both just as monstrous as the thing he’d just rendered useless, but we were still capable of love. Kurt Jorgen was evil to the core, which meant his minions were as well.
With the danger now over, Kala raced over to Reece. He gently lay my father on the ground and my friends gathered around them. Flynn scooped up my inert body and carried me over to lay me down beside my dad.
I was pulled towards my empty vessel as my necromancer called my soul back to my corpse. Forcing my spirit back into my body, I became whole again and sat up with a gasp, drawing air into my lungs.
“Thank God,” Mark said in relief. “You scared me when your body collapsed without warning.”
“Turning into a ghost was the only thing I could think of to save my Dad,” I said and shifted to kneel beside him. Glancing at the gawking alphas, I flicked a look at Kendricks. He and some of the other O Squad members took hold of them and travelled back to our base. They returned moments later alone.
Blood ran from the corner of my father’s mouth. A glance told me that the wounds in his chest were fatal. Tears blurred my eyes again and pain lanced through my heart as I realized he was going to die. “Don’t leave me,” I said brokenly. “I can’t do this without you!”
My father roused when he heard my voice. Smiling, he squeezed my hand feebly. “I’ve had a good life, Lexi,” he whispered as Kala took his other hand. “My time is over. You have Reece now. You don’t need me anymore.”
“I’ll always need you,” I said in anguish.
Kala had tears in her eyes as well. “He doesn’t have to die,” she said and her gaze was pleading.
“No human could survive this,” Reece said. He crouched beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. His sorrow was almost as deep as mine. He barely knew my father, but he respected him and had been looking forward to having him as a father-in-law.
“He could survive if he was one of us,” Kala insisted.
My dad’s eyes fluttered shut and his grip went lax. He was still clinging to life, but only just.
“What are you saying?” I asked. I knew it was impossible to save him, but I felt desperate hope blossom anyway.
“Force me to turn so I can bite him,” she said. “My bite will be infectious as a werecougar. There’s a chance that he could turn.”
Back in his usual form, Zeus loped over and bent to nuzzle my dad’s hair. He whined mournfully and the look he gave me spoke volumes. I’d saved him, even if he wasn’t a normal dog anymore. He had faith that I could save my father as well.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty-Four
My dad had only moments left and I made my decision. I brought Kala’s cougar forward and forced her to turn. Her clothes exploded as she assumed her feline form. I picked up his left wrist and offered it to her. She bit into his flesh delicately. A normal shifter would have torn his arm off then eaten him. Beneath my control, she merely made sure she’d pierced his skin then let him go. Even unconscious, he grimaced in pain as the shifter virus entered his system.
Kurt knew the best way to demoralize me would be to kill my father. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of destroying my will. My necromancer took hold of my father’s soul as it prepared to leave his body. I hadn’t known what I was doing when I’d brought Zeus back from the dead. This time, I knew exactly what I was doing.
My father’s heart was still beating, but he was perilously close to death. I needed to get him to safety to finish this and took us all back to Oklahoma. Leaving everyone but Kala and my father behind, I shifted to our compound in Denver so we could have some privacy.
Transforming Kala back to her human form, I waited for her to open the door then carried my dad inside and up the stairs. Placing him on one of the spare beds, I made room for Kala as she crowded in next to me. I could sense that she was almost as anxious as I was, but I didn’t have time to explore the reasons for her distress.
“Get ready,” I told her. “I’m going to shove his soul back into his body. When he wakes up, you have to convince him to bite you. I’m not going to force him to become one of us. If he wants to die, then we’ll have to let him go.”
Taking my dad’s hand in hers, she nodded that she was ready.
Just as my necromancer had done to me, I forced his soul back inside him. He woke with a gasp and stared up at us both uncomprehendingly. Reason returned and he grimaced in pain again. Kala’s bite had infused him with the shifter virus, but he was too badly wounded to be able to survive. I would have to take desperate measures to save him. I wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to forgive me for what I was going to do to him.
“Major Levine,” Kala said and held his hand against her chest. His eyes widened when he realized she was naked and that his knuckles were resting between her breasts. “We can save your life. If you bite me, you’ll become like us.”
He frowned and shook his head. “My time in this world is over. Katrina is waiting for me.” The longing in his eyes al
most broke my heart.
“Screw Katrina,” Kala said vehemently. “She had her chance with you and she blew it. If you were mine, it would take an act of God to tear me away from you.”
He was as shocked as I was to hear that.
“From the first moment we met, I knew you were the one I wanted,” she said. Her tears overflowed and ran down her face, leaving a trail of mascara behind. “I can’t get you out of my head no matter how hard I try. I’ve slept with other men who look like you, but none of them measured up.”
“What are you saying?” he said.
Taking a deep breath, she surrendered to her fate. “I’m in love with you.”
He switched his gaze to me, but I was crying too hard to be of much help. He was slipping away and I wasn’t going to be able to hold onto him for much longer. “Please, Dad,” I whispered. “I already lost Mom. Don’t turn me into an orphan.”
It was a deliberate guilt trip, but it worked. Closing his eyes, he shuddered at what he was about to consent to, then nodded imperceptibly. Kala reached out and held her wrist to his mouth. Mustering his strength, he bit her. Going with my intuition, I took his soul and wound it around Kala’s. She gasped in part pain, part pleasure as his teeth broke her skin. He drank a few mouthfuls of her blood, drawing her supernatural energy along with it.
He pulled away and at first I didn’t think it had worked. Then his back bowed and his grip on our hands tightened as the virus took hold. The cords in his neck stood out and he clenched his teeth to hold in his screams. The older a person was when they were bitten, the more it hurt to become one of us. Usually, the pain came when we transformed into our beasts. His agony was far worse than mine had been. I’d had a fever and had felt strange, but then again my soul hadn’t been forcibly bound to another’s.
Relief swept through me when the wounds in his chest and the bite mark on his wrist healed. His grip went lax as he passed out. Kala stared at me in hope that was mixed with dread. “Did it work?” she asked.