Lucas: #3 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas)

by Madison Stevens

  “Why?”

  Sergius shrugged. “Can’t really figure it out. I know it has to do with the stone. They come back changed somehow after being around it too long.”

  Lucas felt his stomach twist at the thought of Taylor changing because of something they did. If only the hybrids’ forces were stronger, they could have already dealt with the cult.

  The hybrids fell quiet as a mass of men ran below them, several with guns in hand, all in the direction of the front of the compound.

  “Looks like Rem made his move,” Lucas said quietly.

  They waited quietly for a few more moments before unlatching the vent and dropping to the floor.

  “Go find your woman,” Sergius said quietly. “I’ve got something I need to do. I’ll find you as quickly as I can.”

  Lucas frowned a little, but now wasn’t the time to argue with his friend. They all had jobs to do, and because Sergius had been doing his duty, they were able to get in without much trouble.

  He nodded and clapped his friend on the shoulder. “Be safe.”

  Sergius nodded. “You too.”

  * * *

  Taylor had spent the last twenty minutes trying to will herself to sleep, but it just wasn’t going to happen. Giving up, she decided to do a little exploring. The more she learned about the place, the surer she was that coming had all been a very bad idea.

  She quietly crept down the empty halls, glad that Kay wasn’t around to scold her for not following instructions. She could hear voices from a large room up ahead, and curiosity overtook her.

  Unseen by the many people that had gathered, Taylor hid behind a pole to the side of the group. Several men in brown robes surrounded a woman in a white cloak. Her face was shrouded by a hood.

  “So you have come to visit me finally,” the woman said.

  The woman’s voice summoned an odd feeling in the pit of Taylor’s stomach. It was if she could do little else but listen to the woman as she spoke.

  “Thought it might be time, Anassa,” said a familiar voice.

  She turned and for the first time noticed Rem standing not ten feet in front of the woman. All of Taylor’s focus had been so singular on the woman she had missed him completely.

  The men in the brown robes shifted anxiously around the white-cloaked woman, seeming to dislike the presence of Rem there.

  She noticed a few had guns. Rem, however, seemed more amused than anything, despite being surrounded by cultists.

  Anassa gave a small little laugh, and Taylor couldn’t decide if it was like breaking glass or the wind. Maybe a mixture of both.

  “Such a strong leader,” the woman said. “Your children will be strong like their father.” She paused for a moment, the smile evident from her tone. “And their mother.”

  Taylor furrowed her brow. How did the Azilians know about Jenna’s pregnancy?

  Rem tensed, and the brown robed men stepped in front of Anassa.

  “Enough,” she said sternly, and the men wilted at her command. “You have come to know about your people.”

  Rem gave a small nod.

  “They have been chosen by the gods,” she said simply. “They are special, your people and the Vestals that come to them.”

  Taylor wondered what a Vestal was.

  “And why were they chosen?” Rem said.

  Anassa stepped forward and reached out a small snow-white hand.

  “You are our salvation,” she said with authority. “You will lead the people of this world to be judged, and those that can’t stand before the gods will be reclaimed.”

  Taylor’s stomach churned. Apocalyptic fantasies of death were definitely not in the pamphlet.

  “You mean they’ll kill them? Liquefy them?” Rem shook his head. “Doesn’t really sound like the kind of gods I want to follow.”

  She gave a loud laugh, and Taylor covered her ears at the sound.

  “There is no choice in the matter,” Anassa said. “You are a tool of the gods, and you follow their will even if you don’t think you are.”

  Rem frowned and took two steps forward. “The Group thought they could control us as well, but we follow our own will,” he said with a quiet calm that sent a chill down Taylor’s spine. “We will not follow your plan and neither will the Vestals you’ve collected.”

  Anassa shook her head inside the hood.

  “The Vestals are free to leave when they wish,” she said. “But they have seen the will of the gods and know what is coming, what we cannot hide from.”

  Rem gave a small smile. “Free to leave? Good to know.”

  Taylor could have sworn for a moment that he glanced over to where she stood, but surely he wouldn’t have even known she was there. If any of the others had seen her, she was sure they would have taken her back to the dorm.

  A hand wrapped around her mouth, and she gasped around it.

  “Quiet,” Lucas said in her ear. “We don’t want them to hear you.”

  He didn’t remove his hand until they were safely away. Without thought, she was in his arms, holding him so tightly she thought she might break something.

  All this time she’d been so scared and wished he were there. Now suddenly he was, and she couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

  “We need to move,” he said quietly. “They are escorting Rem out, and all those men will be heading our way.”

  Taylor nodded, and they moved back in the direction she had originated.

  Movement down the hall made her jump, and she pressed him into the women’s showers area just off the dorm with the napping women. They moved to the back of the room where he turned on one of the showers.

  “You came,” she said and pressed her mouth to his.

  The kiss was urgent. Everything that she had been holding back since she’d made the terrible decision to come to this place.

  Lucas pulled back to stare down at her.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “They haven’t done anything to me, but something is wrong with these people,” she said. “Seriously wrong.”

  He nodded his agreement. “We just need to lay low for a bit until we get the signal, and Sergius finds us.”

  She nodded.

  Footsteps sounded on the tiled floor, and Taylor’s heart jumped into her throat. Not stopping to question herself, she dipped her head into the hot spray and pushed him back into one of the changing stalls. She flipped off the shower and stared at him for a moment before slipping by.

  “Come get me,” she whispered and stepped out into the open.

  One of the women from earlier was standing just on the other side of the wall. Her strange smile was just as creepy as it had been before.

  “What are you doing?” she asked. “It’s napping time.”

  Taylor brushed past her on the way to the dorm.

  “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought a shower might help.”

  The woman’s smile faltered a bit as she continued to stare at Taylor.

  Apparently no one ever questioned the rules of the place by the way this woman was acting.

  She looked like she wanted to say something more but stopped when Kay stepped into the room. Her keen eyes instantly found Taylor and her wet hair. Her lips formed a thin line on her face.

  “It’s time for devotionals.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Lucas watched from the showers as the women filed out of the room and followed Kay and several brown-robed men to a van parked inside the compound walls. His heart hammered in his chest. They were going underground, and he had no way to get in without alerting the entire compound.

  More time. He needed more time.

  He eyed the van and darted from shadow to shadow and corner to corner, closing on the vehicle. Maybe if he slipped underneath, he might be able to sneak in.

  Any which way, he needed to follow Taylor. They were doing something to those women down there, and he wasn’t going to let that happen to her.

  N
yx had been able to throw off their mind control, but there was no guarantee Taylor would be able to.

  He crept even closer to the van, but it still wasn’t close enough. He was going to have to make his move now and to hell with staying silent. The hybrids had already clashed with the cult a few times, and no war had started.

  He wasn’t about to let his woman be harmed over some fake peace. Everyone knew the hybrids were going to clash with the Azilians in a major way sooner or later.

  He took a deep breath and prepared to charge the van. He didn’t need to kill anyone. All he needed to do was grab Taylor and run like hell. Maybe if he didn’t seriously injure any Azilians, the war could be avoided after all.

  “This way.”

  The voice came from below him. He bit back a growl of surprise.

  He leapt to the side and prepared to punch a cultist or two. Even though he had a gun, Rem had been clear that he wanted deaths only if they had no choice.

  Lucas looked to his left and was surprised to not only find a grate there, but also Sergius down below looking right at him.

  Carefully, they moved the grate to the side, and he slipped inside. This he could work with. For the first time since Taylor left the shower, some faint relief filtered into him. The plan might actually work.

  “They’re taking her to the bunker,” Sergius said. “I came as soon as I could.”

  “We have to get her out of here,” Lucas said quickly. “We’re running out of time. How much longer before they blow the water main?”

  Sergius looked at his watch. They had decided to go with radio silence since the Azilians seemed tech savvy enough to hack their comms, or, at minimum, they might be able to detect their transmissions. It was just too much of a risk.

  “Should be soon,” Sergius said. “We need to get out of these tunnels when it happens. It will be the first place they send men to turn off the main valve.”

  Lucas nodded and followed his friend through the dark tunnels.

  “I think this must be the main access to both facilities,” Sergius said quietly as they made their way through. “It’s the one part of the compound that I’ve had the hardest time mapping during my scouting runs.”

  Lucas was amazed Sergius had managed to infiltrate so much of the compound without alerting the Azilians. He knew the other hybrid was good, but not that good.

  “But you can get us there, right?” Lucas asked.

  Sergius glanced behind him and gave a sharp nod. “No problem.”

  They made their way through the maze-like tunnels, occasionally stopping when they heard someone. A distant rumbling echoed through the tunnels.

  Sergius looked down at his watch and then nodded to Lucas. “That has to be the charge.”

  They picked up their pace.

  The ground beneath them shifted from cold and solid to a soggy mess covered by large puddles. A few more minutes of travel turned the area into a near marsh.

  They splashed along, worrying Lucas. There was only so stealthy you could be when you were a huge man stomping through water, let alone two huge men.

  “We’re getting close,” Sergius said finally. “Since they blew the pipe, there shouldn’t be many men on guard.”

  Lucas nodded. He willed his thoughts to Taylor, hoping she knew he was coming for her.

  They ran further in and stopped when they reached another grate that led out of the tunnel.

  Lucas opened his mouth to ask how far the women were when the grate above them shimmied.

  The hybrids hurried of sight and watched.

  “I’m just going to see if it’s reached us here,” a man said from above. “Go and check on the women.”

  They could hear the footfalls of another man as he made his way to the right. Lucas glanced to Sergius. They now knew what direction to go. All they needed was for this guy to get out of the way.

  A brown-robed man made his way into the tunnel. They had to take care of him before he was able to alert anyone else of the intrusion.

  Without a word and in total silence, Sergius slammed the butt of his gun into the back of the man’s head.

  He fell instantly to the ground. He’d have a splitting headache, but he’d live.

  Lucas climbed the ladder out of the tunnel and peeked into the hall. He didn’t spot anyone else, and the nearest footfalls sounded distant.

  The water plan had worked well, and if luck held, they might be able to get out without further incident.

  He waited for Sergius to emerge from the tunnel.

  “To the right,” Sergius said quietly once they had replaced the grate. “We need to hurry.”

  Lucas nodded. The only things on his mind were finding Taylor and escaping.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Taylor looked around the small room she’d been placed in with the other women. Chairs lined the walls with a large window on the opposite side of the room. Fasteners connected small clear tubes to the chairs and the wall. The ends of the tubes all led to a plastic barrel. A closed wooden box sat on a small glass table in the center of the room.

  She frowned at the set up. Something just wasn’t right about this. Her stomach knotted.

  “Sit down, and I will hook you in,” Kay said firmly.

  The other women quietly took their seats against the walls. Jade glanced over to her, and for a moment, she thought the small woman might say something, but instead she also sat down.

  Kay disappeared into a closet and emerged with a cart covered with what looked like IV needles. She wasn’t sure. She was no nurse.

  Taylor blinked. If the women had all been given drugs, that might explain their behavior. She needed to get out of there, but there was no way she could escape without Lucas.

  Kay moved to each woman and connected an IV to their hand and then attached it to the tubes against the wall.

  “What the fuck?” Taylor whispered.

  Kay stomped over and glared at her.

  “You might think yourself special, Ms. Mills, but I can assure you that you are all equal in the eyes of the gods. Now sit down before you are forced to sit down.”

  Taylor raised her chin slightly in defiance.

  “I’d like to see you try,” she said with all the hatred she felt. Bigger women than Kay had tried to keep her down.

  Even if she couldn’t escape, she didn’t have to submit to whatever weird drug scheme the Azilians had going. There was no way in hell she was submitting without a fight.

  “Very well,” Kay said with a smile. “Please help her sit,” she called over her shoulder.

  A large brown-robed man stepped into the room and walked over to Taylor. He frowned and grabbed for her.

  She scratched at his face. The man let out a yelp but managed to grab her wrist and then her other arm.

  Kay stepped forward now, her face red, her eyes bulging.

  “You are one of the chosen, and all you do is spit in the face of our gods,” she said tightly. She shook. Little pieces of brown and gray hair fell from the tight bun on her head. “Do you know how blessed you are to be picked by the gods? Not all of us have been so lucky.”

  Taylor grinned as the man forced her into the seat. “Feeling a little salty you weren’t one of the chosen?”

  Faster than Taylor would have thought, Kay’s hand cracked her across the face. The stars took a few seconds to clear from her eyes.

  “You can’t harm a chosen,” one of the women said.

  Others chimed in with the same. “It’s not right. It’s not the will of the gods.”

  Kay stepped back and stared at her hand for a moment in shock. She shook herself before stepping over to the wooden box.

  “I had to,” she said, her voice shaking, almost as if she were talking to the box. “I had no choice. She forced me to.”

  Her hands shook as she opened the lid. A bright blue stone sat inside. Blinding blue light filled the room. Taylor tried to squint, but the intense light forced her to close her eyes.

  The hum she’
d heard enveloped her. This time the loud hum overwhelmed her, rattling her teeth. Ache seeped into her bones.

  It had to stop. Someone had to make it stop.

  A scream pierced the air. Her eyes snapped open.

  Kay glowed the same brilliant blue as the stone. A moment later she was gone, the glass behind her now visible. Lucas stood on the other side.

  Taylor’s mind took a few seconds to catch up. She looked over to where Kay had stood. No body remained, only a puddle on the floor. Her stomach lurched, and bile burned her throat.

  “She has been reclaimed,” the brown-robed man said from beside her.

  “She has been reclaimed,” the other women echoed.

  “Taylor,” Lucas mouthed, his presence seeming so far away.

  The throbbing pulse from the box overwhelmed Taylor.

  Lucas stared at the puddle on the ground that had once been a woman. Damn Azilians. The rest didn’t even have the decency to be disgusted. They almost acted like the sick act pleased them.

  He needed to move. The man holding Taylor had been so focused on the woman being liquefied he hadn’t spotted Lucas yet.

  Anger coursing through him, Lucas sprinted around the wall to the room. The man dropped his hands away from Taylor the instant the hybrid came into view.

  The Azilian ran to the door of the room and reached for his gun.

  Not fast enough. Not even close.

  Pushing down some bloodlust, Lucas slammed his fist into the man’s head. The Azilian smacked against the frame of the door and crumpled to the ground, groaning.

  “He’s been touched,” one of the women said.

  One of the women stood and stepped toward him, the tubing connecting to her stretching out. The rest rose, holding out their arms.

  Lucas stepped back, unsure what they wanted.

  “There’s another,” another woman said and pointed at Sergius, who was waiting as a lookout behind Lucas.

  “We’ve got to go,” Sergius shouted. “They must have a camera for the room.”

  Lucas nodded.

  He pushed through the women groping at him and hurried to Taylor. “We need to go.”