These macabre forms ranged anywhere from a fully grown human male, to a deformed gnome. They all appeared to be sleeping in the fluid.
Commander Steel stared open-mouthed at the scene from a nightmare. “You have issues. What have you been doing down here?”
“Well, lucky you. You’re about to see first-hand.”
Leah brushed by the commander. She made her way to the center of the room where an exam table stood upright. It was padded with brown leather cushioning. Straps for the occupants’ wrists, ankles, midsection, and forehead hung off the table like brown snakes.
“You’ll need to remove your shirt.” Leah didn’t bother gauging the commander’s level of fear; she knew his kind too well. He realized he was in too deep to pull out and a part of his sick drive for power even wanted to be experimented on if it meant his evolution. “The first installment of enhancers will mean a series of injections. The straps are there to ensure you don’t break any of your own bones during the spasms.”
“How reassuring.” Commander Steel obeyed, taking off his shirt to reveal a pale canvas of crisscrossed scars over his torso and arms. He stepped up into the standing bed.
Leah wasted no time securing the straps. No matter how sure she was of Commander Steel’s resolve, there was something about being tied down that even the most stalwart warrior hated. She maneuvered deft fingers through the straps on Commander Steel’s wrists, ankles, midsection, and forehead.
“Aren’t you going to buy me a drink first?” Commander Steel grinned at Leah. “What exactly are we expecting to happen from this procedure?”
Leah worked a circular crank at the base that brought the exam table to a parallel resting position. On the table next to her was a gun-like instrument of her own making. Instead of a barrel, four needles poked out from the front. Each needle connected to a vial of different colored fluid—slime green, bright pink, faded yellow, and translucent blue.
“Are you going to inject me with the different shades of the rainbow?” Commander Steel asked with a hint of doubt in his voice. “Seriously, what kind of results are we anticipating here?”
Leah lifted the gun of vials and stabbed Commander Steel with the needles. The slick steel spikes ran through his pale flesh like meat skewers through a freshly slaughtered pig. Her placement was perfect, right over his heart.
Commander Steel looked at her with eyes full of pain and regret. He couldn’t move, but Leah guessed that if he could, he would strike her across the jaw.
Leah pulled the trigger on her gun with her left hand, while her right hand covered Commander Steel’s mouth.
Animal-like screams were already coming from somewhere deep inside his chest.
“I don’t really know what to expect.” Leah smiled down at her victim. “But if you do survive, you will be something to be dreaded by the rest of the world.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Jack
There was no time to come up with a battle plan. Jack and Abigail stood back-to-back, facing down the guards who had chased them from the inside of the bar, as well as those who had been unluckily waiting for them in the alley.
“Take them!” ordered the soldier leading the group from inside the bar. He was young for a commanding officer, clean-shaven, a boyish look of excitement in his eyes. “Take them, now!”
Jack could feel Abigail tense behind him. Back-to-back, her hips lowered against his, the muscles in her back tightened.
Jack allowed the familiar magical warmth to race across his body. Green flames erupted from his hands as the first set of guards arrived.
Jade flickering flames of magical energy hit each of his targets in the chest, sending them careening into their counterparts behind. Jack trusted Abigail to hold her own as he moved to finish off the soldiers on his side of the alley.
He had the easier of the two tasks. The guards Jack faced were those simply out for a smoke. Four were half drunk, without weapons, and totally unprepared for a fight. He struck the two remaining guards, who struggled to their feet, across the temple and jaw. The magic covering his fists added an extra layer of toughness to his hands.
When Jack’s blows landed, he didn’t even feel the impact. What he did feel was the familiar drain of energy. When he didn’t have an item such as a wand or a staff to channel his magic through, the act of using any magic became ten times as tiresome. How Leah Noble was so strong as to not require any kind of magical item was beyond Jack.
A grunt from behind made him change his train of thought. Abigail was already bleeding from the right corner of her lip. The meager amount of training she had received from Sloan wasn’t enough to fend off the group of trained soldiers.
It was only Abigail’s resolve to stay free and to find her sister that carried her through this fight. Jack raced to action. Five soldiers stood on Abigail’s side, all armed and ready to kill if need be. One of the five was already on the ground, thanks to Abigail. The other four pressed in.
A muscular-looking guard saw Jack break off from his own fight to come and help. He raised a long-barreled rifle to his shoulder and took aim.
There was no room to maneuver in the narrow alley. In a raging rush of energy, Jack forced the magic in him to his hands. Emerald flames shone bright as he crossed his forearms in front of him and did his best to make himself small behind this untested barrier.
BOOM!
The shot from the soldier’s rifle rang out loud in the alley, echoing off the brick walls. Jack felt the impact of the bullet strike the magical force around his hands and bounce off. Jack and the soldier looked at one another, each just as shocked.
Jack was the first to recover. Pushing both hands forward, he channeled a beam of magic. It hit the soldier square in the stomach. The soldier doubled over and fell in a heap to the gravel ground.
Jack was sweating. His heart pounded in his ears. He was testing the boundaries of his magical ability now as he prepared for the next engagement.
To her credit, Abigail was still on her feet. She fought like a woman possessed, biting, scratching, and kicking at the last three men who had her pinned up against the alley’s far wall. Two of the soldiers held her, while the third was failing to maneuver her wrists into a set of manacles.
Jack kept his hands burning bright with the magic. He struck the first soldier in the back of the head. The soldier crumpled. Jack brought his fist down onto the next soldier’s jaw, sending him to his knees, where he hit him once more in the nose. Blood squirted everywhere as the man rolled on the ground, both hands on his broken nose.
Abigail had an answer to the last soldier. It was the young commanding officer. He looked at the two, taking a step back, the empty manacles swinging in his hand. “Wait just a minute now, I had the opportunity to fire on you and I didn’t. You owe me—”
Abigail took a step forward and sent a powerful kick to the man’s nether regions. Whatever he was going to say was lost in a high-pitched gasp. He fell to his knees, grabbing at his crotch.
“Let’s go.” Jack finally allowed the magic coursing over his hands to fade. He was exhausted, but they had to move.
“Go where?” Abigail pressed the back of her left hand to her bleeding lip. “We don’t have any friends in New Hope.”
“We might have more than we thought.” Jack motioned for her to follow as he made his way down the alley.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Jack
The two had managed to lose themselves among the crowded streets of New Hope. With a few directions pointed out to them by wary store owners, Jack and Abigail made their way to 2999 Martelle Street.
While they were traveling to the address, both Jack and Abigail had done their best to straighten their clothing, but it was clear they had been part of something out of the ordinary that day. Abigail’s new dress was ripped at her right shoulder. Jack’s coat was spotted with dark dried blood.
The whole time, Jack couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched. Every look up to the rooftops
or behind his back led to the same result: nothing. Still, Jack’s imagination ran wild with the possibility of spies lurking in the shadows. Just as he was about to suggest to Abigail that they double back, the pair of weary convicts arrived at the address.
Jack’s stomach did a backflip as he realized he still hadn’t eaten that day. The sun had long set, making the residence in front of them look more sinister than it should. The two were in a low-end residential area of the city. Single-story homes stood squeezed together with not so much as a walkway between the buildings.
The mage lights that added illumination to the moon and stars overhead cast weird shadows on 2999 Martelle Street. The brick structure looked ancient with cracks spider webbing up from the overgrown yard that touched the foundation of the house, to the sagging roof that looked as though it could collapse with the next heavy rainfall.
“Are you sure Lieutenant Baker said this was the address?” Abigail looked up and down the deserted street. “You don’t think this is a trap, do you? I mean, Lieutenant Baker wouldn’t try to trick us, would he?”
“No.” Jack couldn’t imagine a scenario where they couldn’t trust Lieutenant Doyle Baker. “He wouldn’t have let us go at the bar, only to trap us here. He’s a good man.”
“Well then, do we just knock?”
Jack looked over at Abigail. Her face was in the shadow of the house, but he could imagine her determined eyes staring back at his own.
Together, the two made their way through the shabby yard to the front door. Jack stepped over a spider as it scuttled across the cement walkway. Once, long ago, the door had at one time been painted a bright, cheerful blue. Now, the paint chipped and flaked off the pitted wood.
There was a window on either side of the door, dirty drapes obscuring their view inside. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack caught movement from the window on his left. By the time he turned to see what it was, it was too late. The only thing there was the last sway of the stained curtain as it fell back into place.
Had he even seen anything at all? Jack had to wonder how much his imagination was toying with him at the moment, and whether or not there was actually someone staring at them from the other side of the window.
Abigail missed the interaction. She raised a fist, striking the door three times. The sound of her knocks reverberated inwards.
The pair of convicts waited. Jack looked over his shoulder. Besides a few random pedestrians crossing the street a few blocks down, there was no one.
Abigail raised her hand again, but this time, before she could make contact with the wood, the door swung open in a rush. Two scarred hands reached out, grabbing both Jack and Abigail around their collars. In a heartbeat, they were pulled into the dark house. The door shut behind them.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Sloan
“When was the last time you ate or slept?” Ashley asked as the two women surveyed the perimeter of the town. “I’m only asking because I can’t remember the last time I did either.”
“Food’s not really been my thing lately.” Sloan avoided eye contact with the woman. “I took a nap earlier today. I don’t know for how long.”
That seemed enough for Ashley. Instead of chatter, the two warriors scoped out what would serve as their battleground.
The town of Term was hedged in on two sides by the forest and on two sides by a kind of dead, rolling grass that eventually turned into desert. There were no natural barriers. The small town simply began where the first building started and ended where the last street came to a stop.
It would be near impossible to fortify the town from attack. There was no time to dig ditches, no time to build walls. Even if there had been time to raise defenses, who would man them? Sloan’s objective was to buy the townsfolk time to flee to Azra.
Already the town was alive with the hustle and bustle of packing. Lights were on inside windows, even at this time of night. Voices murmured and argued on what would be packed and what could be left behind.
Even at this distance, Sloan could hear them. Mothers and fathers arguing, children excited and panicked. Sloan let all of the background noise drown out as she stared out into the darkness brought on by the late hours of the night. Was it the late hours of the night, or the early hours of the morning? Sloan couldn’t tell.
“I’m not as versed in strategy as you are, but this doesn’t look like much of a defensible position.” Ashley stared out into the night. Her mage sword had been powered off. It rested comfortably across her shoulders. “If you’re just trying to buy the fleeing citizens time, you might as well try to engage them in a head-on fight instead of trying to defend anything.”
“You should’ve been in the army.” Sloan drummed the digits of her right hand on the pommel of her own mage sword. “I need to keep them in the city for as long as possible. Every second I can give to those escaping Term might make all the difference. If I can stop the invading force here, make them lose enough men to pull back, that would be even better.”
“Who’s staying with you?”
Sloan didn’t think about the question for more than a second. “I can do it by myself. Edison and Elwood aren’t fighters, Kimberly and her men need to push the refugees from Term along the road as quickly as possible, and … well, you and Aareth have your own future to think about.”
“Yeah, a future that starts with a past I can’t even remember.” Ashley let out a long sigh.
The chatter of an excited child reached their ears. The women turned to look. One of the first houses on the way into Term was in the process of being vacated by its owners. A mother about Ashley and Sloan’s own age held a sleeping baby in her arms, while her husband corralled two giant suitcases and a rambunctious child that couldn’t have been more than three.
“Where are we going? What are we going to do? Can I bring my stuffed animals with me?” The questions tumbled out of the child’s mouth as if each one were connected to the rest.
“Do you ever wish your life had taken a different route?” Ashley didn’t look at Sloan while she asked the question. “I don’t mean, ‘Do you regret your past?’ but are there times you’ve wanted more for yourself?”
“Since my fall out with the queen, so much has gone through my mind. I really don’t know any more.” Sloan thought on Kimberly’s words a bit longer. The silence lengthened between the two women as each was caught up in memories long past. “The older I get, the more I realize there’s more to life than service and duty. I understand now the truly important things I’ve missed along the way.”
“We should help them.” Ashley nodded to the young family struggling to gather their belongings and children. “They don’t look like they’re capable of much, let alone preparing to flee their homes in the middle of the night.”
“You’re not as heartless as you think.” Sloan smiled over at her companion as the two warriors began walking toward the family. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Jack
Jack was so tired from the fight before, it took everything in him to again shoulder the power of magic as he focused past his roaring stomach. His eyes were still adjusting to the dark room when he once more called the green magic to his hands.
His brain immediately registered a handful of facts: He and Abigail were in a dark room, there was a large man looking down at them, and the man had one eye glowing a strange hue of orange.
“None of that.” The man held a pistol to Jack’s forehead. “Try one of your magic tricks, and I’ll paint the wall with what little brains you have, boy.”
The cold metal of the gun and the intensity in the man’s single, orange eye told Jack he wasn’t bluffing. Jack’s mouth went dry as he thought about his options. The man was large and quick, even with his perceived handicap of having one of his eyes covered by a black patch. Jack couldn’t imagine his own odds were good.
“Please, sir.” Abigail shook her head and held up her hands. “Lieutenant Doyle Baker sent
us here. He said we would be safe, that you would be able to help us.”
The man didn’t move his gun from Jack’s forehead. However, at the mention of Doyle Baker’s name, Jack felt the pressure of the cold steel barrel lessen.
“He said all of that, did he?” the man asked. He motioned to Jack’s hands with his chin. “Lights out, Sparky. I’m not going to lower my weapon, only to have you throw a blast of magic at me as soon as I do.”
Jack’s shoulders slumped as he allowed the magic inside to dissipate. It was already fading, anyway. Whatever reserves he had had been tapped. With the disappearance of the magic dancing over his hands came the loss of the illumination inside the room. Once more, the interior of the house went dark.
Jack’s eyes were still adjusting as the man began to speak once again.
“Why would Baker send you here?” the man asked, now barely visible as Jack’s and Abigail’s eyes began to adjust. “Who are you?”
Abigail spoke first. “We’re on the run from the queen. The queen and her sister had captured us. We escaped, and now—”
“You fools.” The man rushed to one of the front windows, barely moving aside the drape to look at what was outside. “No one ever escapes the queen.”
As if to punctuate his words, both windows burst inward under a shower of sharp glass shards. The orange-eyed man went down under the weight of a black-clad attacker. As the two wrestled on the ground, another assailant who had entered through the opposite window moved toward Jack and Abigail.
The man moved so fast, it was impossible for Jack to tell much more besides that it was a vampire soldier. He descended upon Jack and Abigail so quickly, Jack hadn’t even had time to try to call on his magic for assistance. In the blink of an eye, the vampire soldier slammed into Abigail, sending her flying across the room.
House of Spells: (A Paranormal Urban Fantasy) (The Vampire Project Book 3) Page 13