The way Lawson referred to the Werewolves as abominations made my skin burn hot, and anger crawled all over my body.
If I had been in my Drow form, Lawson would never have taken his next step. He would probably been intimidated and would have exercised more caution. But I look like a fragile human, unlike how I appear when I change. I don’t look dangerous at all in my human form.
Lawson took that step.
His mistake.
With a roundhouse kick, I hit both of Lawson’s wrists and knocked the spray bottle and the syringe from his hands. The bottle hit his shoe, which cushioned the fall before it clattered as it rolled across the floor. The syringe landed a few feet away.
Lawson cried out in surprise and didn’t have a chance to react to my lunge forward as I sent my fist straight for his facemask.
The clear material shielding his face didn’t so much as crack. Adrenaline pumped through me so fast I barely noticed the pain from the impact of my knuckles against the unbreakable material.
I didn’t stop to think because I immediately followed my right punch with my left fist straight into his gut at the same time I hooked my ankle behind his and jerked.
Lawson screamed behind his mask as I pulled his leg out from under him and he fell on his backside.
The grinding sound of the stone doors opening told me Lawson’s backup was coming in.
My knees hit the hard floor as I dropped beside Lawson’s head. He reached for me but I was too fast for him. I had my arm wrapped around his neck and I jerked him up so that his back was to my chest. I settled my elbow against his Adam’s apple as I pulled him tight to me with a small dose of my inherent strength.
He gurgled and no doubt his face was red behind his mask. He was lucky I hadn’t crushed his windpipe. But I needed him and I needed answers.
Before the door fully opened, I used my strength to tear off his facemask and he gave a strangled scream. “No!” He tried to shout but my hold was too tight on his neck. “You’ll contaminate me!”
Several more Drow curse words came to mind and I jerked harder against Lawson’s neck. I wondered if he’d be spitting up blood if I wasn’t careful. His thin gray hair that had probably been combed over his balding head stuck up like wisps of smoke, and this time I thought I might have caught the smells of sweat and terror.
I was using my free hand to reach behind me, trying to grasp the syringe, when the door opened. My whole body stilled as a man in one of the green suits stepped through with a gun.
My gun. Pointed straight at me.
This time I knew it was a man by his build, broader shoulders and the masculine way he carried himself as he walked through the door.
“I’ll break his neck,” I said in a low, furious voice.
“Lawson is now contaminated,” came a mature masculine voice through the microphone in his suit. His voice told me he had to be at least in his sixties. “He is useless now.”
“No!” Lawson tried to get out despite my stranglehold on him.
The man stepped closer, aimed the Kahr—and shot Lawson through the side of the head.
Blood and brain matter splattered the floor to the side of me and on my right arm. Horror spread throughout me as Lawson’s body slumped in my lap. I looked up at the man.
He studied me. He was close enough that I could see the sharp angles of his features and his calculating brown eyes.
I shoved Lawson’s corpse away from me and it landed with a thud on the formerly clean floor. Lawson’s blood was brilliant scarlet against the white stone. The smell of it—now, unfortunately, my sense of smell had partially returned—made me want to gag.
When I started to get to my feet, the man shook his head in a slow movement and kept the gun trained on me. “I am Dr. Johnson.”
Better choices than Johnson came to mind but I kept my mouth shut.
“You will start talking.” Johnson’s angular features were hard behind his facemask. “And keep talking.”
I glared at him.
“I won’t kill you,” he said, surprising me. “But I have no problem shooting you in places on your body that will make you suffer. I will do so until you tell me what I need to know. I can make you suffer in ways you cannot imagine…as I have done to several of the Werewolves.”
My skin went unbelievably cold and I had to suppress a shudder.
Johnson looked at Lawson’s body, then back to me. “Obviously we underestimated you and should have sent in one of the interns with Lawson.” He shook his head. “Lawson was one of our most talented junior scientists.” Johnson’s gaze met mine. “Once you contaminated him, I had no choice but to dispose of him.”
The coldness in his voice was enough to chill my skin even more. I was sitting on my haunches and tired of looking up at him. No doubt he wasn’t letting me stand because he wanted that intimidation factor of his height over my position on the floor.
Sometimes I really hated males.
“So does that mean,” I said, putting the most thoughtful expression on my face and consideration in my tone, “that once I rip off your mask you’ll have to shoot yourself?”
Johnson scowled and pointed the barrel of the Kahr at my thigh. “You’re an abomination, like the Werewolves and that other beast we captured with you.”
I clenched my hands into fists and bit my tongue hard to keep from screaming at him. Abominations? There was that word again. And he had called Angel a beast. Had she shifted into a squirrel?
The dangerous flash in my eyes would only give him more reason to fear and want to exterminate my kind, so I had to control it.
“According to our blood tests, it is something different than the Werewolves.” Johnson scowled as he spoke and my spine went rigid as he referred to Angel as an it.
“She is not an it.” I dug my nails tighter into my palms. Soon I would cut my own flesh open from the power I was exerting. “You’d better not hurt her or I’ll kill you in the most painful way possible.”
Behind his mask he smirked and my nails broke the skin of my palms as I clenched my fists tighter. Stinging sensations radiated through my arms and warm blood touched my fingers.
Johnson glanced at the camera and said, “Send the techs in,” before returning his gaze on me. He said nothing. I wasn’t inclined to speak, so we just held each other’s gazes. I could stare him down all night if he wanted a staring contest.
The door scraped open, giving him an excuse to glance toward it. Two individuals came through the door, whom I assumed were techs. They wore the same type of masked green outfits as Johnson and Lawson, with the exception that each suit had a thick blue armband.
What really held my attention was the shiny metal chair they were rolling in. Metal cuffs dangled from thick-linked chains at the arms and legs.
Johnson intended to strap me to that chair and force me to talk. My palms grew even bloodier from the power I was exerting by digging my nails deeper. It seemed to be the only thing grounding me at that moment.
“Marton, Terrence, set it there.” Johnson nodded to the center of the room and the techs set the chair down with a thump.
No way in all of the Underworlds would he get me in that chair. I might not have my elemental magic, but I had my Drow strength. I’d taken out the other scientist, and I’d take Johnson out, too.
Blood dripped down my palms and a spot splattered on the floor. I didn’t even feel the sting of the cuts.
Behind his facemask I could see Johnson scowl. He looked at the camera again. “Jenkins, Harkins. When you come in, bring sterilized cleaning supplies. It is bleeding. The techs are going to clean up this creature’s blood as well as Lawson’s mess when you bring in what we’re waiting for.”
A hot, hot flush burned my cheeks as Johnson referred to me as an “it” like he had referred to Angel.
“I. Am. Not. An. It.” As I slowly enunciated each word to him, I got to my feet.
Johnson didn’t stop me from standing this time, but continued to point my own gun
at me. He merely looked bored as I spoke. “You are not human, therefore you are nothing short of an animal.”
It took everything I had not to lunge for him.
Another string of Drow curse words threatened to come out. Instead, I couldn’t hold back a human curse. “You bastard.”
This time he had an amused expression behind that mask and I wished I had one of my dragon-claw daggers to pierce his sterilization suit and sink the blade deep into his heart.
Johnson was the one responsible for all of the Werewolf kidnappings, mutilations, and deaths. I knew it with every one of my senses that I had within me. Gut instinct and my heart told me, too.
I glanced at the chair. I could easily rip away from nylon or leather straps, but metal cuffs would be much harder without my elements. Only elemental-magic-treated cuffs of other materials could contain me.
“You’re not putting me in that chair.” My words were strong, definite.
“No, I am not.” Johnson gave a brief nod to the camera before meeting my gaze. “I have better things in mind.”
Before I could respond, if I could have thought of a response, the distant noise of the first door grating open met my ears. It was followed by the sound and the movement of the door to my prison.
Two more green-suited people came in, this pair wearing scarlet armbands instead of blue. Interns, he had called this pair when he ordered them to come in.
The interns carried Angel’s limp body by her feet and her upper arms. Her head lolled to the side and her corkscrew curls were a tangled mess.
Blood from a cut on her cheek and more from her temple had dried a dark brown. Blood stained her now dirty white T-shirt. That, and the bruises on her other cheekbone and on her chin, as well as her black eye, caused a horrible sick feeling to settle in my stomach like pure acid. When I saw the purple bruises around her neck, more acid rose inside me. At the same time fury rode my veins and I shook with it.
“What did you do to her?” I asked as the acid invaded my words.
“The interns will strap the creature in and then the questioning of this beast can begin again.” Johnson watched me and ignored the interns, who didn’t have any trouble doing exactly that with the petite Doppler.
With a tone that was almost absent-minded, Johnson added, “You’ll recognize junior scientists by yellow armbands, interns by red, and techs by blue.” He glanced at one particularly tall man with a blue armband before glancing back at me. “You especially will not want to mess with the techs. They are highly trained specialists. Each is well-versed in some form of martial arts or hand-to-hand combat. Most are former Special Ops from different branches of the military.”
I’d battled Demons. I wasn’t afraid of these men. Not really.
“You said the questioning can begin again.” I looked at the bruises on Angel’s face and imagined that beneath her bloody T-shirt and beneath her jeans that she had even more bruises. “You tortured her.”
Johnson shrugged. “Unfortunately, nothing worked. Not even our truth serum. I thought perhaps you could be persuaded before I start shooting your friend.”
His certain death was behind every one of my words when I looked at him. More human curse words spilled out. “You evil sonofabitch. You will die for everything you have done to her and to the Werewolves.”
Johnson’s features turned storm-cloud dark. “You would be among the dead already if you weren’t an unknown species. First, I need information on the rest of your kind before I dispatch you and eradicate the rest.”
Eradicate. Many, many more of Olivia’s human curse words came to mind but I held them back. I was unique. Alone. Johnson wouldn’t find any of my kind in this earth Otherworld, but I certainly wasn’t going to share any information with him.
When Angel was strapped into the metal chair, Johnson stepped farther away from me and pointed the Kahr at Angel. I sucked in my breath and a ringing sound started in my ears. He didn’t have to say a word about what he was going to do. He was going to shoot Angel if I didn’t cooperate.
“Harkins.” Johnson pointed to one of the interns, a woman, I thought. She was one of those who’d carried Angel in and the intern had cloths hanging out of her back pockets. “Give Terrence and Marton the cleaning supplies.”
“Yes, sir,” Harkins said with a slight bow of her head.
Johnson glanced at the two techs who had brought the chair in. “Clean up the mess, including this creature’s blood.”
“Of course, Dr. Johnson,” Marton said at the same time Terrance said, “Immediately, sir.”
By the stiffness of their stances and words, Terrence and Marton weren’t pleased about their orders. Harkins pulled supplies from large pockets on the legs of her suit—a couple of spray bottles, then the cloths from her back pockets—and handed them to the two techs, who left to clean up the “mess.”
“Wake it, Jenkins,” Johnson said to the other intern who had carried Angel into my prison with Harkins.
“Yes, sir,” said Jenkins.
It. I let every one of Johnson’s hateful words and references add fuel to my anger. I would get Angel and myself out of this. Dear Goddess, I had to.
Jenkins took a syringe from his pocket, found a vein on the inside of Angel’s elbow, and slid the needle into the vein.
Angel blinked awake almost immediately. The drugged expression on her features vanished and she fought against her metal restraints as if she was going after Johnson. “You sonofabitch,” she shouted. I don’t think she had noticed me. Her entire focus was on Johnson.
Johnson’s finger tightened on the Kahr’s trigger as he aimed it at Angel. She froze, her gaze locked on him. He glanced at me. “Just to show you I’m serious.”
He squeezed the trigger.
Angel screamed.
TWELVE
“No!” I shouted as a red spot expanded at once in the jeans material covering one of Angel’s thighs.
She didn’t make another sound but her lips were drawn back in a grimace, exposing her teeth, and her jaw was clenched tight.
Fury raged through me, hot and wild. I would have gone after Johnson, but I was afraid he’d shoot Angel again. He might not kill her because he’d want to experiment on her, but he’d probably mutilate and maim her.
Johnson looked at me in a casual manner, weapon trained on Angel. “If you want it to remain intact, let’s start with you. What are you?”
There was nothing I could do about it. I stared at the blood soaking Angel’s jeans. I wouldn’t let him hurt her anymore. I’d kill him later, anyway.
I kept my gaze steady as I focused on him. “Like Werewolves, I’m a paranorm. I’m half Drow, half human.”
Johnson narrowed his brown eyes behind his mask. I noticed the two interns and both techs had gone still as they looked at me with curiosity and disbelief. Johnson’s voice was distorted through his microphone when he shifted his body to face me completely. “Drow. What the hell are Drow?”
“Dark Elves.” My voice was strong and filled with venom.
He snorted behind his mask, a strange sound through the microphone. “Elves. So you are saying you are part of a mythical race of beings?”
“We’re not mythical.” I straightened. “Much of human mythology is based on fact.”
Johnson jerked his attention to the two techs who were supposed to be cleaning. “I want that mess out of here. Now.”
“Yes, Dr. Johnson,” came a deep voice through one of the tech’s microphones before the pair started scrubbing blood and whatever else had splattered across the floor.
“When you’re finished, get that cadaver out of here. It stinks.” Johnson made a face like someone walking into a public restroom at a gas station. “I don’t want a drop of any contamination left when you are finished.” Both techs nodded and didn’t meet his eyes.
Johnson looked back at me. The sneer on his face told me he didn’t believe what I’d told him. “Explain.”
“A couple of millennia ago, Dark Elves w
ere Light Elves. We were all just Elves, no distinction between Light and Dark.” As I spoke, my mind continued to run through options that would help save both Angel and me. How could I get us out of this room? Best option would be to take Johnson as prisoner once the two techs left with Lawson’s body.
“Drow were banished belowground in Otherworld,” I continued, “…due to differences of opinion and lifestyle.”
“If you come from some other world, why are you here?” he asked. “Where are the others of your kind that live and breathe our air?”
“Live and breathe your air?” My tone was sharp as my temper rose. “It’s our air just as much as it is yours. Dark Elves are everywhere. You would never begin to find us all.”
That wasn’t, isn’t, true. I’m the only one of my people in this Otherworld because I’m the only one of my kind. Full-blooded Dark Elves never leave Otherworld’s belowground realm because they can’t be in sunlight—or they fry.
What is true is that I am the only half-human, half-Drow who can be in sunlight during the day as a human, and shift to Drow at night. All other half-human, half-Drow have been born with their human half completely dominant. They live as humans, never knowing their true birth origins.
I didn’t plan on telling Johnson any of that.
“What about Light Elves?” I continued. “Plan on getting rid of them, too?” Rodán was actually the only one of the Light Elves I knew in the Earth Otherworld, but that wasn’t something I planned on volunteering, either.
Johnson was scowling. “This is beyond absurd.” I went rigid as I saw his fingers tighten on my Kahr. “I do not believe your fabricated story. Elves are mythical beings.”
“Who could make up something like this?” I raised my arms and let them drop by my sides. “You saw the bloodwork.”
“We’ll get back to whatever you are.” He gestured with his head to Angel. “What is it?”
Angel glared at him as she spoke to me. “Don’t tell him.”
“Your other thigh is next.” He spoke with a cruel, calculating intensity. “I can experiment on you no matter what your condition. I can keep you alive until I’m finished with you.”
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