Beast of All

by J. C. McKenzie

  “He won’t hurt you,” I rushed to say. “Promise.” He was more likely to have her swooning at his feet begging for some sexy time. Him and his stupid sex mojo. He usually turned it off around me, but I sometimes had to threaten his junk.

  “Well,” she sighed. “At this point, death by a Seducer Demon is a far more preferable way to go than…” She shuddered hard enough for the air to vibrate. Her breathing picked up. “Than whatever hell Tucker has planned for me.”

  “I hate that douche.” Unlike sadistic Shifters and Weres, whose form of unpleasant torture and domination normally held a sexual undertone of some sort due to their brutish animal nature, Tucker was a norm, and I’d never picked up “rapist” in his asshole vibe. I had no idea what pain and suffering the agent planned for Veronika, but knowing his inferiority complex and insatiable need to overcompensate, it wouldn’t be pleasant. I’d take the Seducer Demon way out, too.

  “Agreed. Now, shush. Summoning in progress.”

  The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood on end as the air swirled into a large vortex. My spine prickled from the dip of my lower back to the base of my skull. The air continued to move, spinning as Veronika’s magic sucked it into her cell.

  With no view of her room, my imagination went wild. Most likely, the vortex formed as it did with a regular summoning, but Veronika murmured no chants, nothing verbal to ground her to the mortal realm, and the air grew hot, as if a dry prairie wind blasted across my skin.

  The scent of Veronika’s sickly sweet fear rushed through the bars of my cell. The hollow pit in my belly churned when no feras perked up with predatory delight.

  The air popped as the portal snapped in place. Almond everything flooded my senses. Normally, smelling a Demon either pissed me off or caused me to worry, but this one meant freedom. This one meant Sid. This one was the best stinking Demon I had ever smelled before in my life. I needed out of here.

  “What a delectable treat,” Sid crooned at Veronika. Hidden from my sight, his silver-tongued voice was unmistakable. “A tasty morsel to whet my appetite.”

  Veronika’s sharp intake of breath and the musky coconut of her induced lust snapped me out of…well, whatever I was doing, or not doing.

  “Sid, you perverted whore,” I screeched. “If you so much as eye-grope her, I’ll wring off your nuts and use them for shark bait.”

  A long silent pause, like the one where wolves freeze when the wind shifts and they catch the scent of prey, or when the sea draws back like a slow caress before it pounds the shore with a destructive wave; that moment of perfect stillness before chaos erupts.

  “Andy?” Sid’s voice cracked.

  “Who else?” I muttered.

  “You’re the only one I know who hasn’t realized slut-shaming is juvenile, and so last decade.”

  Another smile spread across my face and my tense muscles relaxed. “If I’m juvenile, it’s because I’m dropping to your level. We’re in the SRD lab. You need to get me and Veronika out. Like ASAP.” I really hated talking to a concrete wall. The white painted cement held no answers and gave me no information on facial expressions.

  What was Veronika doing? Thinking? Was Sid eye-groping her as we spoke? Did I need to punch him in the nads for being a snake, or did he axe the sex-mojo and switch to his best behaviour?

  Sid grunted. Some shuffling. Some mixed emotional scents from Veronika.

  “I can’t leave this cell,” Sid said, his tone deep and gritty, as if spoken through clenched teeth. “Why can’t I leave?”

  Veronika cleared her throat. “The SRD created some sort of magical shield around this wing. Magic just rebounds off it. I assume magic can’t get in, either, or my brother would’ve found me by now. My portal building still works but only because they haven’t figured out how to block it.”

  Hmm… That might explain why Sid hadn’t visited me on the new moon before, but if Veronika could form a portal, logic followed I could as well. Or was it because Sid actually formed it from the other side? Or did it have nothing to do with the SRD and everything to do with what they gave me to block the beast? A zillion questions zinged around in my brain.

  “What is your name again, Witch?” Sid asked, his tone surprisingly soft.

  Another long pause. Minimal scent signatures to tip me off. I’d love to be a fly on the wall to take in the visual cues ping-ponging between Veronika and Sid. He better not harm her. “Your balls—”

  “Veronika.” Her tone, husky and low, interrupted my threat.

  Oh, for fuck’s sake. If they started humping, I’d lose it.

  “Demon, if you—”

  “Save your idle and ridiculous threats on my junk, woman. This Witch will come to no harm by my hand.”

  No harm, he said.

  I snorted. After Lucien, I learned “no harm” was a relative term. “Just cut the crap, stop using your mojo on Veronika, and get us out of here.”

  “I can’t get you out of here from within.”

  I slapped my palm against my forehead, grunted, and flopped face-first on my bed. The thin mattress did little to cushion my fall, and the hard springs dug into my body as my head smacked the rough surface.

  “Fear not, little one.” Sid chuckled, as if he saw the epic fail at flailing. Jerk. “I’ll get you out of here.”

  I believed every word. Having his free ride to the mortal realm void of encumbrance and the control of the SRD played to his advantage.

  “Please send me back, Miss Veronika,” Sid crooned, his tone full of promises and seduction. “I will see you soon.”

  Gag me.

  “Of course,” Veronika breathed. The air snapped with her power as she opened a portal.

  “Goodbye my lovelies,” Sid said.

  I didn’t catch Veronika’s response, the whirlwind of the demonic streams of hell so strong, they drowned her out. When the portal snapped shut and the air settled, Veronika let out a long dreamy sigh.

  I rolled my eyes. “He’s a seducer Demon,” I reminded her. “Don’t fall for his act.”

  “Act?” Veronika tittered. “Have you seen him naked?”

  Plenty of times. More times than I’d like. He always showed up to summonings naked—all part and parcel of his Seducer image. Sure, he had a ridiculous eight pack and swung his impressive wang around like he knew how to use it, but I’d never held any personal interest in the Demon or interacting with his nether bits… Well, that was a lie. I thought about kicking or kneeing them from time to time, especially when Sid got saucy.

  “I’ll take your silence as a yes,” she chuckled.

  “He doesn’t appeal to me in that way. He just pisses me off, mostly.” No, another man appealed to me. A man slightly taller than six feet, with broad shoulders and the athletic build of a rugby winger.

  My heart convulsed, and I curled up into the fetal position. The pain radiated out to my limbs before it sank deep like rotten waste into the pit of my stomach.

  Tristan…

  I wiped my wet cheeks and took long shuddering breaths.

  Get a hold of yourself, McNeilly. I shook my head and cleared the painful memories. Focus. Here. Now. “Why didn’t you summon a Demon sooner to escape?”

  “Are you crazy?” Veronika whispered. “He would’ve killed me if it weren’t for you. And he’s one of the least crazy. I couldn’t trust any of them not to rip off my head before I had a chance to broker a deal.”

  Huh. “Good point.”

  “Can we trust him?” Veronika asked. “He could sell us out to someone even worse than the SRD.”

  “True, but I don’t think so.”

  “He’s a Demon, Andy.”

  “Also true.” I took a deep breath. “But I’m his anchor. He’ll want to keep me safe.”

  Veronika gasped. She took a couple of quick breaths and seemed to collect herself before speaking again. “Well, at least he’s easy on the eyes.”

  “You should stay clear of him.”

  “Oh, I plan to.” The ste
nch of her lie curled around the bars of my prison cell.

  Chapter Five

  The escape

  “The fact that there’s a highway to hell and only a stairway to heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers.”

  ~Unknown

  The ache of resetting bones thrummed through my body as blood and tears trickled down my face. The bars of my cell remained unblemished from my failed attempts to break out by sheer force.

  Tucker’s smug face smiled at me through my blurred vision as my memories replayed Tristan’s death over and over again. My stomach twisted, and I curled up on the cold cement floor.

  “Please…Please, just kill me…” I begged.

  “Never. Besides, one of my associates would like to meet you. Again.” Tucker tilted his head back and laughed like a bad B-list actor.

  I bolted upright in bed as Tucker’s fiendish laughter echoed in my head and faded away. Stark white cotton sheets stuck to my sweaty body as the nightmare—no, memory—slipped away.

  Had I seriously begged Tucker to kill me? Nausea coiled in my stomach and surged up. I gulped. Fucking hell. That prick did not deserve to see me so weak, so broken.

  When we first met, Tucker had assumed I was a regular Shifter and asked where my fera was. Considering the majority of Shifters were eradicated during the Purge by norms killing their feras, a fate worse than torturous death, Tucker’s question hit a super-sensitive button. The fera bond was sacred. A fera’s death meant the death of the Shifter, and this method was a terrible way to go. The worst way.

  As an SRD agent, he knew better, too. Despite how much I detested Tucker, he wasn’t stupid.

  Of course, I could’ve handled my rage a bit better. But at the time, anger took over, and I lunged across the interrogation table and tried to squeeze the life out of him.

  We’d been enemies ever since.

  I pulled the rough thin sheet over my clammy skin and flopped back on my hard pillow and mattress. Sweat cooled and dried on my face and body.

  Maybe I should eat the drugged food. Sleep did not come easily, and when it did, nightmares plagued my mind and shrouded every corner. Drug-induced delirium sounded pretty good right now as I stared at the dark ceiling and counted the cracks. Twenty-eight so far.

  The door at the end of the hall creaked open. I jolted upright, again. Sitting in my bed, I pushed the sheet aside.

  Footsteps padded down the hall toward our cells. Not the lumbering stalk of George the guard. The beams of multiple flashlights bounced off the stark walls. I slipped off the bed and crouched into a fighting stance. My muscles screamed from neglect, and sweat sprang from every pore. I licked my dry lips. The air rushed in and announced the late night visitors.

  A big sigh escaped my lungs and my shoulders relaxed.

  Soap and leather—Stan, my partner in fighting crime.

  Scrumptious almond—Sid the Seducer Demon.

  Vanilla and honey with a side of sass—Lucus Klug, Veronika’s brother.

  And…

  Unease flowed through my body and froze me on the spot. Breathe. Just breathe.

  Sugar and rosemary ran along my skin in a sweet caress to seep into my bones—Wick, the Werewolf Alpha whose heart I’d broken when I chose Tristan.

  “Rescue never smelled so good,” I whispered.

  Stan snorted as he came into view. The sight of my middle-aged friend and his rotund belly from too many beers and donuts washed away my unease. His flashlight brightened my personal prison, but he kept the focus off me. His smile widened and his snaggled teeth gleamed in the dark. His teeth reminded me of bacon grease, hopping in different directions in a hot frying pan. I’d never been so glad to see that warped smile in my life.

  “You look like crap, McNeilly,” Stan said.

  “Nothing a shower won’t fix. The same can’t be said for you.” I moved toward the bars and Stan’s chuckling. “How’d you find me?”

  Stan shifted on his feet and cast his gaze sideways to where the others stood out of sight. Magic always put him off-ease. His face said it all. We both turned toward Veronika’s cell, though I couldn’t see beyond the bars of my personal prison.

  Lucus whispered quietly to Veronika as she whimpered in her sleep.

  “Ronnie!” Lucus hissed, louder.

  She snarled something before a large thump sounded in her cell. “Ugh,” she groaned.

  While my hearing strained to follow what occurred next door, the rosemary and sugar scent drifted closer to me, giving a split second warning before Wick came into view to stand beside Stan. I gulped. The space in my mind which used to fill with howls and heavy panting whenever this Alpha drew near, remained a silent void, making my soul ache even more.

  “Veronika,” Lucus crooned next door. “We’re getting you out of here.”

  “Lucus?” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Lucus?”

  She started crying and rushed to the bars, her bare feet padding lightly against the cement. Lucus crooned as she sobbed. I envisioned them hugging through the bars.

  While the brother and sister reconnected, I turned my full attention to the Werewolf Alpha vibrating across the bars from me. Standing well over six feet, with solid muscle, broad shoulders and powerful legs, Wick always reminded me of a Norse god with his height, stature, and blond hair. His chocolate brown eyes still threatened to drown me in their softness. I hadn’t broken it off with him because of any fault of his own. Not really. I ended it because I loved him and refused to allow a power-thirsty crazy Master Vampire use us against each other.

  I hadn’t known at the time his wolf wouldn’t accept another mate, even if I left and chose another. Nor could I have foreseen the Pharaoh assassinating Lucien, the aforementioned Master Vampire, which resulted in Wick’s freedom.

  “Andy.” His whiskey and cream voice filled the room with its deep timbre. His alpha power pushed against my skin, but no fera answered. Nothing remained inside save a hollow chasm.

  “Hey, Wick,” I said.

  “Enough of this mortal drama,” Sid huffed. “Let’s get these women out of here.”

  I growled at his tone. “Women” was not a bad word like his tone implied.

  Wick and Stan turned toward the booming Demon and nodded. Veronika’s lock clicked, and the barred door slid open. Lucus walked over to my cell, and after a brief once over, presumably to ensure my well-being, he nodded and repeated the same voodoo-hoodoo Witch mojo crap he did with Veronika’s cell. Without a pause, he reached forward and used a key on a large ring to turn the lock. The keys smelled of George, and blood.

  When my door slid open, I stumbled out and fell into Stan’s open arms.

  “Glad to see you, too, partner,” he whispered into my ear and squeezed me tight. “You missed our B&B sessions.”

  I laughed, but it choked off as a sob tried to escape. I swallowed it down and hugged Stan back. How many beer and bitch sessions had I missed? A lot.

  “We need to leave,” Wick said, tone gruff. His lips compressed as he took in Stan and I hugging. The air turned sour around him. Something inside me shredded, as if my feelings tore in two. The part of me still in love with Wick wanted to sink into the heat of his hard body and let him hold and protect me. The other part balked at the idea. We chose Tristan. We mourned Tristan. Besides, would Wick even welcome the contact?

  We didn’t have time for me to address the hurt I caused Wick. We needed to leave. I needed to be free, to hide, and plan my revenge.

  Lucus, a middle-aged man with a bald head and soft belly, reluctantly released Veronika so Sid could pick her up and cradle her in his arms. A long, heated look passed between the Demon and Veronika. Weird.

  “Can you run?” Sid asked me. Seven feet of sexual energy loomed over me. At least he’d put some clothes on for the rescue.

  I paused long enough to take in Veronika’s appearance as Sid carried her. Petite, with thick wavy black hair, a pretty full-lip pout and angular face, she looked like a cute pixie doll. She turned t
o me and our gazes locked. Maybe a pixie who’d fry you on the spot if you crossed her. In unison, we nodded. Revenge later, escape first.

  I stretched my limp unused muscles. The beast stirred beyond the barrier, but after flexing seemed to fold in on herself, quiet and dejected. My limbs grew heavy, and I imagined myself standing on a precipice, having to decide whether to fall into the deep end and sink to the same gloomy depth as my beast, or to throw my chin up to face of this situation. It took little time to make a decision.

  Feras or no feras, running free cleansed the soul.

  Could I run?

  I pushed past the men with a wink and ignored my screaming muscles. “Try to keep up.”

  Chapter Six

  Old frenemies

  “The human heart is the only thing in the world that weighs more when it’s broken.”

  ~Michael Xavier

  We ran through abandoned hallways, ripe with rat feces, oil, and the residue of intensely acrid, peppery, chemicals. Water continued to drip somewhere in the distance. The walls, once slate gray, were painted with green and black mould as nature attempted to reclaim the area.

  “What is this place?” I puffed, arms pumping.

  “Abandoned substation. There’s several stories. You were on the lowest one,” Wick said as he loped beside me. Jerk didn’t even break a sweat.

  “How’d you find us?”

  “Donny,” Wick answered.

  The name of my old handler at the SRD sent both warmth and worry through my body.

  Wick glanced at me as he kept jogging. “Don’t worry about the wily old coyote. He gave us the information and wisely disappeared. He said it was time to retire, anyway.”

  The knot in my stomach untwisted a little.

  Stan wheezed and grunted as he fell behind. I dropped my pace.

  Abandoned substation. That made sense. This place looked like it got dumped through a rift in space. Insects chirruped in the cracks of the walls. Rodents scurried away as our feet slapped the cold, wet concrete and metal flooring. Goosebumps sprang up along my skin as ice leached into my veins.

  Any second now, an alien would leap out from one of the confines, and spray me with corrosive green slime.