Balance

by Leia Stone

  ‘Good.’ This plan had to work. It had to.

  ‘You do realize that just because she can’t feel pain, doesn’t mean she won’t die of silver poisoning, right?’ Sadie told me.

  I sighed. ‘I know. I won’t let that happen.’

  There was silence for a moment. ‘Sadie, they are coming to take another girl for implantation in the morning. We need to get out tonight. Stay awake.’

  I felt Sadie’s apprehension at my news. ‘Okay, we’ll be ready.’

  Werewolves slept at night like normal people. We would be a weak and tired bunch by the time we got out of here, but it was the only way. Now, I just needed to get out of this cage. Once I had word that Tara was free of the torture chamber, I could go to work on getting us out of here.

  ‘Sadie, tell Tara that Max loves her. He wanted to tell her but didn’t get the chance,’ I added.

  I felt fear roll through Sadie. ‘You don’t think we will get out of here.’

  ‘No, I just want her to know. To give her hope.’ Right? I looked down at my arm, which was slowly dripping blood into the bag. How much blood could I afford to lose? Would it start to weaken my power? Blood. Blood! A light bulb went off. I was an Alpha now and Alpha blood was the most powerful for spell casting. I grinned.

  ‘I have a crazy idea,’ I told Sadie.

  ‘Good, I’m down for crazy right now,’ she replied.

  ‘Take Chelsea hostage. Make a weapon and threaten to bash her belly in with it. Anything to create a distraction.’

  ‘Wow, you really weren’t kidding when you said crazy. What if they hurt Kylee?’ she replied.

  My inner wolf didn’t like her challenging my order. But an Alpha did what was good for the whole of a pack, not just one, and Chelsea more than anyone, would understand. She wouldn’t want any other girls to get pregnant. ‘Then you hurt Chelsea. Just enough to get their attention.’

  ‘Shit,’ Sadie said.

  Shit was right. It was risky but needed to be done. We couldn’t cower anymore and let them play us against each other.

  ‘Chelsea, I promise I wouldn’t do something if it weren’t for the good of the pack,’ I told her.

  I felt her nerves run through the pack bond. She had just been taken back to the room of girls and seeing the freaky baby again had affected her. She wanted it out. Now.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Chelsea asked.

  ‘I am alone in the room now and I have a way out of the cage. I need a distraction so I can free Kylee and get us all out of here. I ordered Sadie to use you as a hostage. To hurt you to send them a message.’

  At first I got nothing from her. Blank. No feelings. Then Acceptance. Pride. Trust.

  ‘It’s a good idea. Let’s do it,’ she said.

  Something settled inside of me. These girls, though I barely knew them, were my pack now. Family. I had to get us all out of here. Using my free left hand, I pulled a few hairs from my head. Wincing, I detached the blood bag from my IV cuff, dropping it to the floor. Then I let the tubing drip blood into my open left hand and saturate the hairs there. Next, I closed the clamp, pinching the IV shut.

  Making a fist with my left hand, I squeezed the blood and hair together.

  I took a few deep breaths, centering myself and closing my eyes, calling on my magic. “Blood of an Alpha, I give thee. Remove all obstacles that would block my path. I am not lost, I am not hidden. Let this blood and hair be a beacon in the night! All who seek shall find me now!” I called out and opened my eyes. It didn’t rhyme but mist saturated the entire room and my skin tingled in response to the spell. I smiled and knew without a doubt that Kai and Sylvia could find me now.

  I stuck my blood and hair covered hand out of the small access panel that Layla left open and began to inspect the lock. It was a keyed lock and I hadn’t even noticed the doctor locking it before, so who knew where the key was. I should have paid better attention! I yanked at it hard and produced nothing but a broken nail. The U-shaped loop that the lock was threaded through looked more fragile than the lock itself. Slowly, I began to twist hard to the left and right and saw that the loop was bending. Yes! I began to chant a spell for physical strength, and I felt the Devi rise inside of me, finally ready to end this all. “Blood and Hairs, Strength over fears. Blood and hairs, strength over fears!” Mist covered the lock.

  Pain shot through the pack bond. Sadie!

  ‘What’s going on?’ I had been so focused on the spell casting, I hadn’t paid attention to the diversion. All of a sudden the monitor flared to life and Kylee screamed.

  ‘These bastards shot me!’ Sadie told me, panting.

  ‘Hurt Chelsea!’ I ordered. It felt wrong but it was our only hand to play.

  I felt Chelsea’s pain shoot through the pack bond as my order was carried out.

  Then I yanked the lock, hard. Snap! The lock popped off and I threw it to the ground with a satisfying thunk.

  After opening the large cage door confining me, I reached down and began to undo the bindings holding me, just as I heard the door to my room begin to scrape open. No! Releasing the last binding holding my leg and ripping off the arm cuff, I threw myself at the person entering the room with vampire speed. It was the doctor and she had a big, thick metal syringe on her tray. I grabbed it and shoved the point in her chest. Then I spun and kicked it hard with my foot, sending it through her chest as she puffed to ash.

  ‘It’s a standoff. I’m bleeding pretty bad. Chelsea and Kylee are getting hurt. What do I do?’ Sadie asked weakly.

  ‘I’m almost to Kylee. Make them know you are serious! You will kill that thing growing inside her belly if you have to,’ I infused the power of the Alpha.

  I felt Chelsea double over in pain as I banged on the door to Kylee’s room.

  “Queen Layla needs you in the girls’ room!” I shouted, disguising my voice. The door opened and I pushed it back hard, smashing the vampire between the door and the wall.

  I held my Alpha blood covered hand over his face. “Sleep,” I whispered, dousing him with magic mist and he crumpled. Witch perk.

  The other vampire, who was controlling the torture cage, pushed a button and hundreds of needles pushed into Kylee’s skin. She was naked and lying face down. These bastards were going to die. I reached out and picked up a metal scalpel from a table of torture tools just as the vampire threw himself at me. Pivoting, I blocked his advances easily and kicked him backward, making him stumble to keep upright. He grinned and his fangs lengthened as he jumped up in the air and did a weird cartwheel thing, coming down on my shoulder and knocking the scalpel out of my hands. Ow. Shit! Enough of this human body, I needed my wolf. I tore off my shirt as the vampire looked at my chest distractedly. Then I shifted instantly to my wolf and kicked out of my pants. Lunging, I went for his throat and took him down to the ground, shaking him like a dog shakes a toy. With one quick jerk of my muzzle, I severed his head in my strong jaw. That Alpha power and strength spell had temporarily done something to me.

  His vampire ash coated my wolf tongue. Yuck. But he deserved it. Hearing Kylee whimper, brought my attention to her.

  “The silver, I can’t breathe very well,” she mumbled through the cage.

  Shifting to my human form, I stood and banged on the top of the plexi-glass cage, as a large crack ran down the middle. This cage wasn’t strong and it looked poorly constructed. I gripped the lid in my hands and gave a big jerk upward as I ripped it from its hinges. The needles attached to the underside went flying with it, scattering the ground. Holy shit. This must be how Anna felt.

  Kylee was weak and could barely push herself up, so I helped pull her to a standing position and threw a lab coat over her. After quickly getting dressed myself, I dodged the scattered needles and walked her down the hall, letting her lean on me. At the end of the hall, I saw Layla in the doorway to the girls’ room. Five other vampires stood behind her in a semi-circle and they were completely unaware of our presence.

  I turned to Kylee. ‘You’re too weak
to fight. Go Hide,’ I commanded. She didn’t argue, just limped off in the opposite direction, the silver slowing her movements.

  ‘Kylee is free. Attack! Fight for your lives,’ I sent to my pack. They had nothing on us now, war had officially begun.

  My words were met with the sound of popping bones and growls just beyond the door and my inner wolf was satisfied.

  I decided it was time to let the Devi loose, fully, it was now or never. I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. I had no ties to Kai, no pack members being held captive, it was just me and Layla.

  “Layla!” I screamed and the sound of my voice shocked me. It wasn’t me. It was something foreign. The Devi.

  Layla slowly spun and for once, I saw fear flash in her eyes as the vampires parted to let her fully see me standing in the hallway, uncaged.

  She reached back and grabbed Chelsea’s newly-shifted wolf by the neck skin and took off running with her down a side hall way.

  Dammit! Beyond the door, I met Sadie’s eyes as she lunged for a vampire in the doorway.

  ‘Go!’ she told me. ‘I got this.’ A vampire raised his hand and shot Sadie in the abdomen but then one of my wolves leapt on him, knocking him back as they attacked him in typical wolf-pack fashion.

  ‘Kai told Tara your spell worked. They are on their way,’ Sadie told me.

  I had forgotten Tara was still in Kai’s pack. Good. Help was on the way. I had to go. This was it, my moment. I bolted super-fast down the hallway Layla had gone and saw a door at the end of the hallway about to close. A glowing EXIT sign hung above it and I ran for it, jerking it open to see Layla was halfway across the lawn with Chelsea squirming in her arms. A helicopter whirled to life twenty paces away and she was trying to make a run for it.

  Taking a deep breath, I thrust my arms out. “Stop!” I roared with every ounce of magic I could muster. Prudence wasn’t here, it was just me and Layla. Alek’s words of encouragement came to me then as a huge blanket of mist saturated Layla, reaching out like octopus tentacles and pinning her to the spot she stood. I knew that if Kai were here, he would tell me my eyes were green. This wasn’t me, it was her, the Devi. I didn’t know this magic; it was old magic.

  Layla dropped Chelsea who ran off across the lawn and back into the building to help the girls. From my peripheral vision, I could see a bunch of cars and trucks driving up the road. Then I felt him. Kai. He was here. I smiled but didn’t dare take my eyes off of Layla. Vampires were pouring out of the doors from behind me, and around the sides of the building, but I used my magic to conjure up a magical wall stopping them.

  “You’ve done too much damage for me to let you live. You know that, right?” my Devi voice told Layla.

  She glared at me and dug her heels into the ground, pushing off and flying at me to tackle me, breaking my tendrils of magic. I was ready. Squatting down, I put both hands out so when she put her arms around my mid-section taking me down, I had a good grip on her neck. As we tumbled and rolled on the lawn, I squeezed her neck like a sponge. She kicked and struggled as I stood holding her neck in my strong arms and watching her lash out like a fish on a hook.

  “Aurora, look out!” I heard Kai scream from far away, just as I felt a dozen bullets sink into my back. Oh shit. Not again. I struggled to breathe as I fell to the ground and turned to see Sylvia running towards me, hands outstretched, mist flying from them and saturating the shooter, a tall, sleek vampire who had broken through my magical wall.

  Releasing Layla, a cough rattled my chest as blood came out of my mouth and into my hands. But then, a tingling sensation covered my entire back like pins and needles and the excruciating pain was suddenly gone. I felt the bullets fall out of my back and then the skin healed instantly as if by magic. What the hell? Sylvia collapsed on the lawn next to me and I took a deep breath, no rattling. It was like I had never been shot. What the hell had Sylvia done for me? No! Layla was running for the helicopter as Kai’s pack fought the vampires to keep them from getting to me. Too much was going on and I couldn’t process it.

  “Sylvia!” Blood dripped from her mouth and she was slumped over with bullets in her back. I reached behind me, no blood, no bullets. Sylvia was dead. I knew it. Oh my God. She had asked me outside the barn if I trusted her. This was it. This was what she did. Some kind of sacrifice spell. My chest heaved, and all I saw was red. As my fists balled at my sides, I screamed. I screamed so freaking loud the ground rumbled beneath me.

  Layla was limping towards the helicopter and I turned to Kai who was running over to me. He recoiled suddenly, looking scared as I knelt down to pick up a broken branch with a sharp tip. I ran so fast after Layla, I think it could have been categorized as flying. I had never been so enraged in all my life. Sylvia was my friend, my mentor, my second mother. When I was a few feet from Layla, I leapt into the air and came down on her back, shoving the stick through her chest, then I turned her around to face me. “That was for Devon!” I roared as the trees shook with my magic. Leaves rattling around me.

  “You are a cancer upon the earth.” I held her head in my hands, as the helicopter blades whirled above me, making my hair whip around as Layla gaped at me with an open mouth and one hand clutching the stick in her chest. Her skin was turning grey, but it wasn’t enough to kill her. I knew that. The Devi and I had merged into one, to end her for good.

  “This is for Sylvia.” I grabbed her by the waist and thrust her up into the helicopter blades as they cut into her neck and ripped her head clean off of her body. Dropping her on the ground, I stared at her headless corpse, and for a second nothing happened. I actually had a fear that her head could somehow be reattached. But then the grey color of her skin turned black and she crumbled into ash.

  I was covered in blood, mine and hers. Spinning around in shock, I saw that Kai and the pack were taking out all of her vampires. I slowly walked forward a few feet and then fell to my knees.

  “Balance,” I whispered.

  ‘Layla is dead. It’s safe.’ I told my all female pack as the adrenaline rush made my hands shake. I did it. I actually killed Layla. Something that started so long ago had ended. Kai and I would never have been able to have true happiness as long as she hunted for my blood, for my child’s blood.

  The sound of spinning wheels behind me forced me to turn. Coming from the thick forest, was a group of black quads driving out of the trees. RAIDOS. The black army fatigues they wore brought only bad memories.

  When I saw what was in their hands my stomach dropped. No!

  ‘Get out! Get out of the building!’ I frantically sifted through the pack bonds to see if anyone else was left inside. Spinning around, I glancing at the scene before me. Sylvia dead on the lawn, Kai, Max, and the others locked in battle with the vampires that kept spilling out the open facility door. Most of my female wolves were fighting with them.

  I quickly searched my pack bonds again; Chelsea was still inside. One of the vampires caught up with her and was fighting her in a small utility room.

  Sadie was still inside, too, and I couldn’t reach her. She was unconscious inside the room. NO!! I sensed Karissa was the only one left inside with her. That was three of my wolves inside the building. Karissa’s wolf nudged Sadie to try to wake her.

  ‘Shift and get her out now! They are going to bomb the building,’ I roared at Karissa with Alpha power.

  ‘No, I’ll wipe her memory if I do!’ Karissa whined.

  Shit. She was right, she would have to shift to human form to carry an unconscious Sadie. ‘It won’t matter if you’re both dead! Pick her up and run!’ I commanded it. I slammed Alpha power over her body. Forcing her to shift. Her bones cracked as her human form took shape. She hadn’t been human in so long she almost forgot what it was like.

  A clicking noise forced me to turn around as RAIDOS released the RPG launcher at the building and it felt like time stopped. It sailed through the air and when it hit, it exploded, sending glass everywhere and the building burst into flames. My body hit the
ground with the force of the blast and I was stunned into silence by the ringing in my ears.

  Fumbling, I stood and ran at the side door. “No! Sadie!” I screamed as tears ran down my face.

  Kai was shirtless and bleeding as he ran up behind me, grabbing me by the waist and stopping me.

  “No, let me go! My pack!” I wailed as Kai pinned me down.

  Earl and the militia took off after RAIDOS, pushing them back into the thick trees, guns snapping out bullets around me. This is what it must be like to be in a war. So much death and destruction you didn’t even know where to look.

  Suddenly, I felt all of the fight go out of me. I had used too much power to kill Layla, Sylvia’s death, forcing Karissa to shift, it all had drained me. I prepared for that feeling; that awful feeling you get when someone in your pack dies. It’s like having an organ cut out. I had felt it with Devon and never wanted to feel it again. The pain hit me, Chelsea; she was dead, her essence ripped from the pack. Oh God, as an Alpha it hurt so much more. She burned alive, taking the baby with her and I burned too. My skin, my hair; it tingled with pain as my heart ached from the sudden loss of her.

  “No!” I screamed as Kai held me tightly. Even though he held me close, he felt so far. I needed to be pack with him again, to feel him inside my head. I braced myself for the loss of Sadie and Karissa. The pain of losing three wolves might kill me.

  But it didn’t come. A banging noise drew my attention to the side of the collapsed building. Karissa was naked, in human form, carrying an unconscious Sadie in her arms. They were covered in black soot and Karissa’s leg bled freely. She coughed as she fell to the ground, letting Sadie spill out of her arms.

  I choked on a sob as I ran over to them and Karissa quickly backed up. “Don’t touch me!” she shouted as Kai moved to give her a shirt.

  He froze, arms out. Brett skidded to a halt at Sadie’s feet and picked her head up, slapping her face gently. She was breathing steadily but out cold.

  Karissa turned and met my eyes. “Her life is ruined. I’m so sorry.” Tears spilled over onto her cheeks.