by Trina M. Lee
“You want me because you see me as a weapon.” I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. “I know it was me you wanted, but you settled for Juliet. I will never work for you or with you. I am against everything you stand for. Now where is my sister? She was never locked up at all, was she?”
Briggs had a good poker face. His expression did not betray how mad he was. His energy did though. “You might know how to smell a lie, but I know how to tell one,” he said, looking smug.
I couldn’t stop myself. Without thinking I reacted, lunging across the table. He had to die. Fuck Shya’s demon mark; I’d wear it for all eternity if I had to. I just needed to kill Briggs.
Briggs was ready for the attack. He braced himself when we went down on the floor. The man was no rookie. Not only was he ready, he’d planned for it. In his hand was a syringe I hadn’t seen him produce. The sharp point stabbed into my abdomen, filling me with the cool rush of a tranquilizer.
A deep scratch from a claw marred his cheek. My strength ebbed away before I could do further damage. My vision blurred and grew dark.
Briggs shoved me off him and got to his feet. “You’re too predictable for your own good, O’Brien. Too damn impatient. You’re leaving me no choice. You’re just not worth the risk.”
Everything went black.
I woke up when my face hit the ground. Dirt and leaves pushed into my mouth. I dug a clawed hand into the ground beneath me, finding it hard and cold but vibrating with strong earth energy. Beneath that was the hum of the evil that lived here. It taunted me, but its mocking call was drowned out by my own sense of self preservation.
Suddenly alert and ready to fight, I sat up to find that I was in the parking lot. The night had thinned with the coming dawn. I could feel it in my blood. Sunrise was close, a minute away at best.
Briggs stood in the doorway to the building, watching me with a grim expression. He shook his head and shrugged, as if I’d brought this on myself by refusing to be his weapon.
“It’s not too late to change your mind,” he said. “We can still work something out.”
Forced to choose between the FPA and the sun, I was tempted to take my chances with the sun. There wasn’t much time for me to argue with the puffed up Fed.
“You know Arys will kill you, right?” I got to my feet, holding tight to the earth’s energy. It was grounding, calming.
“Presuming he survives your final death. It’s possible.” Briggs nodded, having already made peace with the domino effect my death would cause.
The old haunted hospital was in a residential area. There were houses nearby. Even as fast as I could move, I knew there was no way I’d reach one in time and get safely inside. Briggs had timed this perfectly.
“So anyone who refuses to join you dies. Is that it?” Could that be why my sister held so tight to the belief that she was doing what was right. Because the alternative was death?
“Sacrificing one for the good of many isn’t a new concept. You’ve been given several chances to cooperate.” He was stiff, unfeeling. Like a monster that he himself had made.
“You know, Briggs, you’re just as inhuman as the rest of us. The difference is, you don’t have an excuse for your behavior.” My skin began to grow warm as the eastern sky blazed with pink and orange rays. My eyes began to burn, and panic gripped me.
Knowing it might be the last thing I ever did, I flung a shot of power at Briggs, seeking out his fragile human heart. He collapsed and clutched his chest. But he wasn’t stupid enough to be alone. The agents watching his back surged forward to drag him away before slamming the door.
It was desperate and made me feel foolish, but I tried the door anyway. It was locked, most likely heavily barred. There was another way into the building. I’d gotten in before. Twice.
I ran for the opposite end of the building but knew that I’d never make it in time. As fast as I was, I couldn’t outrun the sun. It broke over the horizon, and I began to burn.
I fell on my hands and knees, crying and praying, begging anyone who would listen. I couldn’t die this way. The evil entity within the building lurked close, taunting me. It had tasted my death once. Now it would have me again.
‘Arys, I’m sorry,’ I shouted inside my mind, shattering the door between us with my frantic cry. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’
I couldn’t form any other thought. Tears streamed down my face as I waited to burst into flames. The pain never started off small like a sunburn. It was immediate, scorching pain until I was consumed with the raw, burning sensation of fire licking my skin.
Arys was there inside my head, a helpless passenger as the sun roasted me. His panic echoed my own. I hoped it would be fast because it sure as hell wouldn’t be painless.
Instinct took over where rational thought ended. From within me came the guttural snarl of the wolf as it exploded forth. My hands became paws, my face a muzzle, and suddenly I was wolf.
And the sun no longer burned.
Chapter Twenty-Two
With my amulet still hanging safely around my furry neck, I shook off the tattered remains of my clothing and paused to glance around. Then I ran like hell before Briggs could see that I was alive and have someone sniper me from the roof.
With no destination in mind other than away, I ran for the closest hole in the fence and slipped through. Then I darted down the street. It was early, hopefully early enough that nobody would see an ash-blonde wolf running through the city.
‘Did that seriously just fucking happen?’ Arys’s voice was in my head, his presence strong.
A jolt of elation struck me. I’d shifted for the first time since I became a vampire without incident. My wolf had saved me from the sun. I didn’t know how it was possible, but I was overflowing with gratitude for such a blessing.
I shot past the little blue car before I realized it was Shaz’s Cobalt. He jumped out and shouted my name, bringing me to a halt. Had he been out here all night while I was inside? The amazingness that was Shaz would never cease to awe me.
The wolf was fully in control when I turned back and leaped on Shaz with exuberant joy. With paws planted against his chest, I pasted him against the side of the car and showered him with wet wolf kisses.
Shaz grabbed a handful of my fur and kissed the side of my muzzle. “What the hell’s going on? Are you ok?”
Unable to voice my issues, I pawed at the car for him to let me in. Then in my head I said to Arys, ‘Call Shaz. I need you to bridge this little communication gap for us.’
As wolves Shaz and I could communicate with a look, a touch, a twitch of the ears. In our current forms, there was a bit of a barrier. I clambered into the back seat when Shaz opened the car door for me. Seconds later his phone began to ring. He got into the driver’s seat and answered it.
I relayed to Arys that I needed Shaz to get Jez over here with a change of clothes for me. The three of us were going to wait for Briggs to leave and tail him home. He’d been working all night. Surely he’d be headed home soon. That motherfucker was mine. Soon after that he would be Shya’s.
Shaz put Arys on speakerphone and listened as he repeated everything I told him in my head. He turned to look at me where I sat awkwardly in the small backseat.
“Are you sure about this, Lex?” Shaz asked. “I mean, I’m game, but this could be dangerous.”
“Briggs just threw her out in the sun to burn,” Arys said, his voice coming loud from the speakerphone. “I’d be there to help you if I could, but it’s time to deal with him. Nothing seems to get through to this man. He’s either fearless, stupid, or both. But he’s got to be stopped.”
Shaz regarded me with a mix of anger at what Briggs had done and awe at the fact that I was sitting there unblemished. “The wolf saved you,” he breathed in disbelief.
‘Ask Shaz if he’s up for this. He’s been here all night.’ There was no hiding the shame I felt at that realization from Arys. I fought hard to keep from thinking about what Falon and I did. This was not t
he time for either of them to find out. I knew they would, but I would face that nightmare when it was time.
Arys and Shaz talked while I sat there watching out the window for any sign of Briggs leaving the FPA building. After they hung up, Shaz called Jez and told her to meet us as soon as possible. Then we waited.
Shaz kept reaching back to stroke my head. I poked it between the front seats and nuzzled him. Being wolf felt exactly like what I needed. It was overdue. My psyche had suffered. Even now I worried that I wouldn’t be able to shift back. And I worried deep down in a place I would not touch lest Arys see it, that my vampire side had led me to do too many things for which there was no absolution.
‘What happened in there, Alexa?’ Arys’s voice in my head was both a comfort and a concern.
‘Briggs took my blood. He locked me up. Then he threw me outside in the sun.’ Yeah, that was the short form version. It was the best he was going to get out of me right then.
Arys’s presence in my head meant I could feel what he felt. So I knew he was certain I was leaving something out on purpose. Knowing better than to press it, he didn’t. I couldn’t help but think that part of him already knew.
“I couldn’t shake this feeling that I had to stay,” Shaz said, pulling my focus outward. “I almost left, but I couldn’t. Something kept me here.”
His hand was warm on my face as he stroked my nose and gave an affectionate tug on my ear. Closing my eyes, I leaned into his touch with a sigh. The wolf didn’t think in full thoughts, but the sense of content love was prominent.
‘That wolf is going to love you forever, no matter what you do. You know that, right?’ Arys said it in a way that told me this had recently been discussed between them.
‘You guys have been spending a lot of time together, huh?’ It was a good thing. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made.
Arys found some humor in my acceptance of the new level their weird relationship had reached. ‘We share something. It used to divide us, but now it brings us together.’
I eyed the bite mark Shaz wore. My mark. ‘Yes. But just how close together is it bringing you? Be careful, Arys. Don’t push him to a place he doesn’t want to go.’
‘He came to me, Alexa. Of his own free will. It was you he wanted, but he settled for me.’ There was no remorse in Arys. He wasn’t sorry, not that I expected him to be. We’d been down this road before.
‘You loved it.’ It wasn’t an accusation. I just knew that it was the kind of thing that would get Arys going. I wished I’d been there to see it.
‘I wish you’d been there too,’ he said. ‘That’s how it should be. The three of us. It still can be.’
He sounded so sure. It still baffled me that Arys was so willing to embrace what Shaz and I shared. They were both far better than I would have been in either of their positions.
‘I’m not so sure about that anymore.’ I thought, more to myself than to Arys.
‘Give it time.’
I rested my head on Shaz’s shoulder and watched the building. Together we sat in silence, enjoying just being in each other’s presence. I couldn’t believe it had taken so much death, separation, and misunderstanding to bring us to this much needed moment.
Arys slipped away in silence, giving Shaz and I our moment of wolfy comfort. I could still feel him there, just on the other side of that door between our minds, ready if I needed to reach out to him.
It was impossible to relax. Tense and alert, I stared hard at the building, daring Briggs to come out. I was relieved when Jez arrived before that happened. She jumped out of her Jeep and into the passenger seat of Shaz’s car with a bundle of clothing in hand.
“Wow,” she said when her gaze landed on me. “Who would’ve thought your wolf could still go in the sun? Un-fucking-believable.”
Shaz nodded and ran a hand through his hair, as he always did when stressed. “This isn’t something that should be common knowledge.”
“Hell no. You’re one of a kind, Lex. Probably the first vampire on the planet to walk in the sun and not die.” Jez’s ponytail bounced in time with her animated chatter. Funny statement coming from someone who was one of a kind herself.
“It’s a definite advantage,” Shaz mused. “But there is risk involved. Wolves can’t just run the streets without attracting attention.”
Jez stared at the FPA parking lot, a wary expression on her face. “True. But it sure comes in handy on a day like today.”
I listened to the two of them make conversation, twitching my ears and smacking the seat with my tail when they looked to me for participation. It felt like forever before Briggs appeared in the parking lot.
He was accompanied by a few agents who stalked over to examine the pile of clothing I’d left behind. We watched them search for any remnants of dust and ash. Briggs examined the area. He looked pissed and puzzled, like he couldn’t figure it out. Idiots.
“I’m surprised he didn’t stay to watch you burn.” There was total disgust in Jez’s voice. “Pussy.”
I agreed wholeheartedly. Briggs had the balls to throw me into the sun but not the stomach to watch me burn. I wondered what kind of story he planned to tell Juliet to explain my demise. Wherever she was, he had made sure she’d be out of the way so he could feed me a lie that would get me into that building. Once he’d gotten a sample of my blood, he’d had no reason to keep me around if I wouldn’t conform to his rules. Whatever he planned to do with that sample, it wasn’t going to be good.
Briggs waved a hand in an angry gesture and grabbed the agent closest to him. He shook the guy and shouted something we couldn’t hear from where we were. Then he stormed away, to a dark-grey Mercedes in the parking lot.
“Think you can tail this guy unnoticed?” Jez asked Shaz, who already had the car running and in gear. “He probably knows how to spot a tail.”
Shaz’s hands were tight on the wheel, ready. “I’ve got this.”
The Mercedes pulled out of the lot with a squeal of tires. Shaz hit the gas to follow, and I fell against the backseat. My wolf form wasn’t quite so car friendly.
Shaz’s car was perfect for tailing someone through the city. It was small, blue, and looked like every other compact car on the road. It blended in well with the morning rush hour traffic.
As we followed the Fed home, Jez shouted what she likely thought were helpful commands. “Take that lane. Watch out for that guy. I think he’s exiting up ahead.”
Always patient, Shaz took it all in stride, maneuvering the car smoothly through traffic so Briggs was always within his sight while keeping a safe distance.
Much to my surprise, Briggs led us into a neighborhood I’d been to before. It was a swanky area filled with million dollar homes, the same neighborhood Lilah had lived in. I was curious if Briggs knew a demon queen had been one of his neighbors. Or perhaps he’d known that when selecting the place.
“He’s going to pull a weapon the second he sees us,” Shaz warned, stopping the car down the block from the house Briggs pulled up to.
“Then we make sure he doesn’t see us.” Jez pulled a dagger out of her boot, and I pawed at the side of her seat. No weapons. I wanted Briggs alive. She read my expression and reluctantly put the dagger away. “I’ll go first. Alexa can come with me. You back us up.”
Shaz nodded, trusting her plan. Excitement seized me as I followed Jez out of the car. The thrill of the hunt drove my every step.
We moved toward the lavish house Briggs had disappeared into. It wasn’t as big as some of the other homes on the street; however, it was just as pretentious. Raising my nose, I scented the air. Car exhaust and the scent of dog in the yard next door, both normal, safe aromas. Nothing stood out to me as suspicious. My vampire senses were more pronounced now, post mortem. They’d been subdued before. Still, I could feel that my access to my power was confined in wolf form, as it always had been. I couldn’t be fully wolf and vampire at the same time. Some might see that as a disadvantage, but to me, it felt r
ight.
When we reached the yard, I broke away from Jez and slunk along the hedge line. As I crept up unseen, she brazenly strode up the front walk. For a guy who worked in such a secure building, Briggs’s house was wide open. That was suspicious.
There was a very obvious camera above the front door. I expected him to open the door with gun drawn. So while Jez hit the doorbell, I lurked just out of sight of both the door and camera.
The moment stretched on as we waited. I crouched ready to pounce. Jez appeared casual, but I knew she was braced to spring into action. Briggs wouldn’t so be careless as to walk with a heavy tread. We were ready when the door opened.
As expected, his gun appeared first. Jez didn’t hesitate. She grabbed his wrist and promptly snapped it. The gun hit the floor, and she kicked it away. Jez forced her way into the house, and I darted inside and lunged at Briggs. I threw my weight into his chest, and his feet went out from under him.
In just seconds Jez and I had disarmed him and taken him down. Briggs grunted as I bared fangs and snarled into his face. One wrong move and I would scrap my plan and rip his throat out.
“How the fuck did you survive?” The confusion in his dark eyes was priceless.
“Doesn’t matter,” Jez answered for me. She placed a heeled boot over his groin, squeezing another grunt from him. “Your mistake was thinking you know how this all works. Haven’t you learned yet?”
Briggs just glowered at her. His heart pounded, and he stank of fear. It caused my snarl to deepen. His gaze jumped to Shaz as he entered behind us. Knowing he was defeated, Briggs lay unmoving beneath me even though I was pretty sure he wanted to bellow in pain because of his injured wrist crushed beneath me.
Shaz chuckled when he took in the sight of us. “You ladies kill me.” He reached under Briggs and dug around until he produced the silver cuffs the Fed always carried.
I backed off just enough for Shaz to wrench both of Briggs’s hands behind his back. My vicious fangs remained just inches from his face. Briggs winced but choked back his pain.