“something feels… wrong,” she muttered darkly. I pulled a face as I nodded in agreement,
“come on,” I gestured downstairs to where there was a sudden burst of gunfire and the skitter of dragging wings, “we might be missing something.”
If there was a 1st or 2nd generation here, they could be shielding other ferals from us, but my heart sank as I realised how unlikely that was, even as I thought it. We hopped over the banister and landed in the large foyer, where the three units had now converged.
“Well?” I turned to Michael.
He frowned and glanced at Nathan for confirmation as he answered,
“Just two ferals down here, plus the one I just heard you dispatch upstairs.” He shook his head, “looks like this was a waste of time.”
I blew out a long breath, grinding my teeth against the unspent blood lust coursing through me, heightened by my sense of Yzzy doing the exact same thing. Nathan cleared his throat,
“you know, in the US, big ol’ houses like this usually have basements.” He looked round at us, “y’all have that kind of thing over here?”
Michael shrugged, “worth a shot.” He addressed his next words to everyone, “split into units again, look for any sign of a cellar. Units 1 and 2, in the house, unit 3 check outside. Proceed with extreme caution and maintain radio contact at all times.”
Ysabel and I split up again, with me following the unit that went outside and her staying in the house. It was only about 3 minutes later that the radios crackled with a message from unit 1 to say that they had indeed found a cellar door in the back of the pantry, built into the floor. We raced back inside and gathered as close as we could around the pantry. It was quickly decided that Ysabel and I would enter first, which we did with vicious growls, dropping down to the dusty, concrete floor.
Chapter 29
Michael
We crashed through the cellar with as little resistance as there had been in the rest of the house. There were only another four ferals down here, and they had obviously been here a while; they were weak and emaciated. Pathetically easy to dispatch. Beth and Ysabel stalked ahead of us, seeming disappointed at the lack of a fight, even though they had always known there was little activity. We had all been hoping for more in the way of intel, though. The house was practically barren. The cellar, too, was mostly empty, just a few packing boxes scattered about and the odd broken trinket lying on the floor - a reminder that this had once been someone’s home. In one corner though, was a walled off room with no windows and a fairly hefty metal door. Ysabel studied it for a moment, then, after looking back to make sure we all had our guns trained on it, kicked it open with one lazy swipe of her foot. There was a small bank of TV screens, showing the house from various different angles, inside and out, and a couple of filing cabinets that had obviously been emptied in a hurry; the drawers left hanging open and bits of paperwork scattered on the floor around them. The only oddity was that one of the TV screens, the one right in the middle, wasn’t showing a view of the house. The camera linked to it was trained on a sparsely furnished room a bit like the interview room at a police station. Just a table, pushed into one corner, and a couple of plastic chairs. The timer in the bottom corner of the screen was running, and a quick glance at my watch confirmed that the time it was showing was correct - a live feed.
As Beth and Ysabel advanced into the room, another one of the TVs documented it, the camera obviously hidden somewhere on the wall in front of them. As they came closer, and I and a few men followed them in, there was a disembodied “ah ha!”, and then a face appeared in the central screen.
The screen showed a slight, but obviously strong young man, with short black hair and thick eyebrows, shadowing eyes of a clear, icy blue. He had a smile on his face that went nowhere near his eyes; a cruel smirk that instantly made me dislike him.
“Beth!” he crowed, “and Ysabel too. Such a pleasure to look upon your beautiful faces again. Will you introduce me to your companions?”
There was a beat of silence, which I realised with a start was due to the fact that Beth and Ysabel were actually shocked at the appearance of whoever this man was. A low rumble sounded then as Ysabel growled deep in her chest, and Beth stepped forward a pace.
“What the fuck is this game you’re playing now?”
“No introductions then? Ptsh, you have terrible manners, ladies.” He looked towards me,
“My name is Archer Caswell, I’m sure you’ve heard of me.” Again, that smirk, “and you are?”
I gaped, not sure I’d heard right. This was the lead feral? Demanding introductions of us? I gave myself a mental shake, but didn’t say anything, thinking that this was definitely something for Beth and Ysabel to deal with.
“None of your business,” replied Beth for me. “What do you want?”
“Straight to it then? Ok. What I want, mostly, is just to taunt you.”
A full grin this time, showing partially unsheathed fangs, and Beth let out a furious hiss.
“You see, unbelievably, you’ve actually taken my bait and expended your time and energy for nothing. I just wanted to see if I could make you dance to my tune, and clearly, I can.”
He cleared his throat slightly as we all remained silent.
“I also wanted to show you something, you know, to remind you what you’re fighting for.”
He gestured at someone offscreen and the camera zoomed out slightly, just as four higher generation ferals dragged two people into shot and forced them down into the chairs. They looked pale and grim, only a little scared. Both of them had what looked at first like partially shifted eyes, but as the male one bared his teeth at the ferals around him I noticed that he had only four fangs. These must be high vampires then. The air pressure in the room we were in seemed to increase slightly as Beth and Ysabel both stiffened, becoming as still as statues. The female on the screen, tall and dark haired, looked up at the camera and gasped.
“Beth..” she whispered.
The feral behind her cuffed her hard around the head, making her companion snarl furiously.
Archer appeared back on screen, a huge, slightly manic grin on his face, his eyes dancing happily.
“Look who I found!”
He sounded delighted, and nearly skipped back to where the vampires were sat. He crouched down a bit near the female, grasping her under the chin to turn her face back to the camera.
“This is Penny! But you already know that... and this,” he swung around to the male, “is her partner, Chris.”
He paced back towards the camera a few steps.
“We’re going to carry out an experiment, all of you and I. The question we’re going to be answering, is how long does it takes for a high vampire to die, when the bond with their mate has been severed?”
Penny began to cry quietly, and her mate, Chris, closed his eyes and let his head drop forwards. Penny looked out of the screen directly at Beth, who still hadn’t so much as twitched, with a hopeless pleading in her eyes.
The smile on Archer’s face became loaded with a sadistic, evil glee, and he shifted, eyes turning that dull, old-blood red and his mouth filling with fangs. Spinning, before I could even register what was happening, he thrust out a heavily scaled wing and plunged it straight into Chris’ chest. Chris arched, and a brief cry exited his lips before he slumped over, jerking as Archer yanked his wing back out again only to spin and use the razor edge to cut off his head. Ysabel gasped, and Beth’s body jerked as Penny began to shriek. It was awful; a high pitched, unearthly scream of pure agony. Several of the men behind me dropped their guns to clap their hands over their ears instead. The feral holding onto Penny let go, and she fell to the floor, no longer shrieking, but convulsing at super human speed, a bloody foam escaping her mouth through tightly clenched fangs. It only lasted a couple of seconds and then she stilled. Her own back arched and her eyes went wide for a moment before she relaxed. Dead.
Beth was quivering, I didn’t want to know what kind of murde
r was in her eyes, but Archer simply stepped back in front of the camera and normalised. He smiled,
“I made that about six seconds. How about you?”
There was no reply from any of us, Beth simply clenched her fists, hard enough that her knuckles stood out white against the skin.
“Ah, you’re no fun. I thought this was supposed to be a team effort!” Archer chastised cheerfully, “never mind, you’ll have another chance to join in.”
“What?” Snapped Beth, finally breaking her silence.
“Oh, well, I have already tried this particular experiment once, with a rather lovely red head called Samantha. Remember her? And I would have gotten Ella to join in too, but alas, she was already dead, as was Caitlyn...” he paused as if for effect, and his grin turned evil again, “are you noticing a theme yet?”
“You son of a bitch... you gods-cursed fucking MAGGOT!” Beth roared at the screen, her wings ripping out of her back as she stepped forwards, still shaking with rage and impotence. I realised with a jolt that this was the first time we had seen her shift. I had been expecting wings like Ysabel’s; pearlescent white and smooth, but Beth’s were jet black, and scales shimmered across the area directly behind her back and ran along the muscle. They suited her temperament, I thought uneasily.
Archer just chuckled,
“Just wait. The experiments I’ll devise for Cleo and your precious Ysabel will be just... fabulous. Until then.”
He waved, with yet another perverse grin, and the screen went black.
There was the briefest of pauses, then Beth shot forward with a roar and yanked the TV screen off of the wall, spinning to launch it across the room. It hit the wall with an almighty crash, sending the soldiers scattering away. Beth seemed to grow a couple of inches, a furious stream of invectives exiting her mouth in a deep, inhuman, and entirely un-Beth-like voice, and her wings vibrated, making a steady, ominous rumble. She yanked her phone out of her pocket and dialled in a number, but obviously had no luck getting through to whoever she wanted to call, as the phone met the same fate as the TV had, shattering as it smacked into the wall. At this point, a normalised but ashen Ysabel stepped in front of her, hands up in a placating gesture,
“Beth, calm down, please.” she spoke quietly, but forcefully, “look, you’re scaring the men.”
She gestured behind her, and I felt rather than saw Beth’s attention fix on them. Glancing behind me I noticed that Ysabel was entirely right.. being faced with Beth in full angry vampire mode had them nervously clutching their guns and backing towards the door. I suddenly realised that even I had unconsciously raised my gun, and forced my unwilling hands to lower it. Beth glanced over us, then shrieked once more, turning and driving the sword I hadn’t seen her draw through another of the TVs, released a crackling shower of sparks into the air. She remained with her back turned to us, leaning her hands on the table and breathing hard. Slowly her wings relaxed, and she turned back to us, pausing to yank her sword out of the TV and resheath it, although she still didn’t normalise. Ysabel moved up next to her, looking worried and placing one hand over Beth’s where it still rested on the table. Beth looked towards her slightly and I could tell they were having a private conversation.
“Beth?” I ventured cautiously, “what was that all about?” I gestured minutely towards the wrecked TV on the floor behind me. She heaved a huge sigh before answering, an almost-hiss of frustration.
“That,” she snarled, although her voice was mercifully normal again, “was Archer making things personal. Very personal.”
“Why, who were those vampires? And the others he mentioned?”
“Penny,” she gestured vaguely towards the broken TV, “and the others were all lovers of mine.” She rubbed one hand across her eyes, managing to sheath her wings and fangs.
“Shit. How did he even find out about them?”
This question was directed at Ysabel.
“I don’t know. Apart from Cleo, that is. Everyone knew about her, you two were never very subtle.” She scowled slightly and Beth sighed, rolling her eyes.
“Give over, Yz.”
Ysabel huffed slightly but continued,
“He’s a bloody good mind reader, we know that. I honestly think he’s bluffing though. He said himself that he just wanted to taunt you, and that quip about doing that ‘experiment’ on Sam doesn’t make sense; she doesn’t have a mate.”
“we don’t know that,” Beth spoke quietly now, finally completely normalised, “we haven’t seen or even heard from her in decades.”
“Hang on a sec,” broke in Nathan, “why would leech number one be gunning for you in particular?”
He had a point, I thought. The whole stunt was clearly aimed solely at hurting Beth.
She grimaced,
“Because I was leader of the guard at the time he was turned; I was the one who originally vetoed his application. I tried to have him removed from the colony entirely actually, and I very publically continued to fight tooth and claw for that, even after my veto was overturned.”
“Wooah,” I felt this piece of information drop into my mind like a rock, “you were leader of the guard? You commanded the whole warrior class?”
Ysabel replied, with a proud look at Beth,
“She was the youngest and longest serving guard leader ever.”
Beth just looked a bit embarrassed by this. Wincing and looking down at her feet.
“It’s not a big deal.”
“Well yea, it kind of is... we thought you were a private, and now you’re telling us you’re a general. Big difference.”
I looked at her with narrowed eyes, reassessing her.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. I don’t command shit now, because there’s only the two of us left.” She looked towards Ysabel again, “we have to find Cleo before he does.”
Ysabel shook her head, “he won’t find her. You know that, really. We can never find her, and you have a direct link! She’ll be fine. She can take care of herself.”
Beth just continued to look worried, and disbelieving.
“Who is she?” I asked.
“She’s a nomadic elder, so she’s always been hard to track down. Even when we weren’t trying to hide from ferals,” Beth smiled a little sadly, “we were actually together longer than Yzzy and I have been.”
Ysabel snorted quietly,
“Quality over quantity,” she muttered.
I grinned at this, and even Beth’s lips quirked up in a small smile.
“I never had you down as the jealous type Ysabel..”
“Hmpf,” she grumbled in response, “I am very fond of Cleo. But Beth is mine, and she sometimes forgets that.”
Beth outright laughed at that, a short, sharp bark that contained very little actual humour,
“Oh you are so full of crap! Cleo’s tactile with everyone, including you! Ugh. Come on,” she started moving towards the door, “let’s get the hell out of here and find some ferals to kill.”
Beth took off as soon as we got outside without another word, and Ysabel followed her with a brief apologetic look in my direction. Clearly Beth had been perfectly serious about finding some ferals to kill. I blew out my breath in a tension-releasing sigh. I didn’t realise how tightly wound I’d been. Nathan came up beside me as we headed back to the transports.
“The drama never ends with those two does it?” he wondered quietly, “if that leech really does have a jones to torture Beth, you realise we’re right in the firing line?”
I blew out a breath,
“The thought had occurred to me, yes. It’s also going to make it difficult to differentiate between real threats and ridiculous games like this.”
“Maybe having them around is not worth the risk.” Nathan ventured cautiously, “I mean, I know their knowledge is useful and they’re certainly handy in a fight. But they’re also volatile, unpredictable and completely out of our control. We managed before when they were playing at being human, so we could manage without them no
w.”
“I see what you’re saying,” I agreed, as he looked at me with an expression of mild disbelief, “I do! I’m just not quite willing to throw them away just yet. We got by before, but having two vampires on side actually fighting as vampires could tip the balance.”
“Oh yea,” he scowled, “two against the hundreds. That’s really going to make a difference.” He muttered unintelligibly to himself a bit more before falling quiet.
Chapter 30
Beth
Yzzy and I flew fast, heading back to the city and both determined to exact some kind of revenge. Infuriatingly, it seemed like every feral had gone into deep hiding, and neither physical nor psychic sweeps could find them. I paced on an empty street, my unsatisfied anger making me twitchy, and Ysabel wasn’t much better. She leaned against a wall, glowering as she mentally swept the city again, before swearing viciously in French.
“It’s no good. Archer must have anticipated that we’d go on a rampage after his little stunt.”
“Goddamn him to the bowels of deepest fucking hellfire. I swear I will rip his fucking throat out if it the last thing I do.”
Yzzy frowned a little at that, and I felt her anger cool,
“don’t say that. He’s not worth your life.”
“It’s just a turn of phrase, Yz.”
“Well don’t use it.”
She took off, leaping easily into the sky, her wings flaring out and sending a dusty breeze swirling towards me.
“Come on. We’ll go and see Lexi, some of the guild patrols might have spotted something.”
As it happened, they hadn’t. Owen answered the door to us, then made himself scarce, leaving us alone with Lexi, whose eyes popped wide when we told her what had happened.
“Christ on a bike.” She grimaced, “I actually don’t know what to say for once.”
Yzzy sighed and settled back into her chair, resigned to being thwarted,
“Understandable. We didn’t really know what to say either.”
The Guard Page 20