by Art DeForest
Behind them, came his new mistress. Jade walked up to him with angry eyes. “You failed me.” She said in a deadly whisper. “Fail me again, and I may just decide you are no longer needed.” She continued, fingering the red button on the small black box in her hand.
“Take these others and track her down.” She said after a moment. “I want her back, alive.”
Having received their orders. The three fur-clad slaves leapt out into the night in pursuit of their prey.[2]
4
Sara ran. She set a grueling pace, but she feared that it wouldn’t be fast enough. She didn’t know the terrain well enough to go cross country, so was forced to follow the road as it twisted and turned through the rugged sandstone canyons and arroyos.
Tango, she knew, had been raised among these canyons. He’d patrolled them constantly at Hatali’s urging. If there was a shortcut, She knew that Tango would find it.
The road switched back on itself as it descended into the bottom of a steep canyon cutting across the road from north to south. It was at the bottom that Tango and his friends found her. She was crossing the old washout at the bottom of the canyon when a low growl came from a rock outcropping a short distance away.
Sara spun around, bringing her staff up and across her body in a defensive posture. She didn’t pull the blade from inside it, however. It took her a moment to recognize Thomas’ beta in the Grand Junction pack, Mike. He crouched in his battle form on top of the outcropping, his golden eyes glowing in the darkness. She could see the glint of metal around his neck, and her spirits fell further. Apparently, the collars worked on lycans as well.
Her focus on Mike was shattered as two more growls came to her from either side of the washout she was crossing. Moving her head to either side, she saw Tango and Ivan separate from out of the shadows. Sara’s heart lurched once more as she looked at Ivan. He was her favorite among the creations. His big, brown eyes had always looked at her with love and friendship. Not now. A snarl ruined his friendly visage as it showed three-inch fangs to the world. His eyes had the dead look that all the controlled creatures she’d seen so far seemed to share.
Sara crouched as Mike dropped from his lookout position and the three creatures slowly started to tighten the noose that she’d so conveniently walked into. It came down to this, she decided. Be captured or fight and possibly kill one, or more, beings that she loved. She had no illusions in that regard. The only way she would have a chance in the battle against three powerful supernaturals would be if she used lethal force.
Her friends took another menacing step toward her, and she straightened from her defensive posture and let the staff fall to the ground in the middle of the wash where the road crossed it. As clawed hands wrapped around her arms, she sent a mental appeal to Kangee as he circled high above. “Get help, my friend.” She sent, strongly. “She added a mental picture of Thomas along with the command and her raven familiar streaked off into the night.
The walk back to the facility took much longer than her mad dash away from it had. The false dawn was starting to lighten the sky to the east as they stepped into the elevator that would take them back down to the underground complex. Her controlled guard detachment kept a close eye on her, but she was not abused or pushed. ‘At least they retain that much control.’ she thought, glumly as the car descended into the depths.
Tango led the small group down a long hallway before stopping at a steel door on the right side of the corridor. He opened the door and motioned Sara and the other two guards to enter. Sara complied, walking into a small room that was about ten foot by ten foot square and made up of cinderblock walls and a cement floor. The walls were painted a stark white, and there were no decorations on them.
The only furnishing in the room was a heavy metal chair, bolted to the middle of the gray cement floor. Ivan’s huge handpaws propelled her firmly to the chair and pushed insistently on her shoulders until she sat down. That accomplished, he, Mike and Tango took up guard positions, surrounding her on three sides.
They didn’t have to wait long before the metal door opened silently once more. A beautiful woman of Asian descent walked into the room. She was wearing black tactical gear from neck to toe. Her head was exposed, but Sara could see a hood hanging down behind her neck. Long black hair was draped artfully down in front of her left shoulder.
“Sara Nightwing.” She said as she strode gracefully into the room. “My name is Jade. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”
Sara’s eyes widened a little at the elegant, controlled movements of the vampire before her. This was no one to take lightly she thought to herself. She stared at her a moment longer before her head started to nod slowly in confirmation. “I have heard of you.” She said calmly. “I’m surprised that your mother felt this facility was so important that she had to send her personal bodyguard and enforcer to take care of the situation.”
“Well,” she said with a predatory smile. “It was more than just the facility itself that brought me here. My mother felt that it was time you and she had a little chat. She felt you would need someone of sufficient... standing.” She said, throwing her shoulders back. “To persuade you to come by for a visit.”
Sara’s arched an eyebrow at the remark. “And do you think your standing is sufficient to force my compliance?” She asked in a skeptical tone.
“I assure you,” Jade replied, drawing herself up, haughtily. “That my standing is more than sufficient. Plus, I have this.” she continued on, holding up a familiar looking collar. Your compliance will not be an issue in a couple of seconds.
Sara let Jade come two steps closer before launching herself out of the chair toward her. The guards were ready for the move, but they were almost too slow to stop it. Ivan’s attempted hug missed completely as she ducked low and charged. Tango would have also missed if his claws hadn’t been extended. As it was, his middle claw managed to dig into the soft flesh of her neck, turning her slightly and sending her off target. Mike launched himself as she was forced to turn and tackled her swiftly to the ground. The other two guards piled on, and it was too much for even her strength to overcome. She sensed Jade approach as she fought futilely to escape her captors.
She tried tucking her chin down against her chest when she first felt the cold metal of the collar touch her neck but to no avail. A huge, clawed hand grabbed her by the hair and jerked her head back, allowing the collar to be placed around her neck. It snapped into place with an ominous click.
Once the collar was in place, the guards stood her up to face Jade once more. Sara hissed in pain as the collar’s metal edge scraped against the claw mark that Tango had left on her neck. Blood from the wound dribbled down over the collar and ran down Sara’s chest, the smell of the crimson substance filled the room.
Jade’s eyes turned a gleaming red as the smell hit her. Her nose twitched at the fragrance as she stepped in close. Sara ceased struggling and stared coldly at her, half expecting a fist to come crashing into her skull. The assault she received was much different from what she expected, however. Leaning in close, Jade licked the diminishing flow of blood from Sara’s healing wound.
Stepping back, the enforcer looked up and to the right consideringly. “Hmmm,” she said after a moment’s thought. “I can’t tell what you are.” Her tone was quizzical. “You taste different from anything else. What are you?”
“I’m complicated.” Replied Sara with a flip tone of voice, paraphrasing an old movie she’d seen once. Secretly, she reveled in the possibilities that Jade had just given her by ingesting her magically infused blood. Plans started to percolate in her head.
Jade snorted at Sara’s remark. “Well,” she said. “It hardly matters if you tell me willingly or not. Once I activate your collar, you’ll do whatever you’re told.” She smiled smugly as she withdrew a small remote control device from her pocket.
Sara stared at the device with mounting concern. She tried, once more, to jerk out of her captor’s muscular grip, but the attempt was fut
ile. With a leering smile, Jade tapped a three digit code into the remote and hit a large black button. Sara stiffened as she felt sharp needles of pain enter the back of her neck and continue on into her spine. What seemed like a small electric pulse coursed up and down her spine and into her brain. Her thoughts, however, remained her own.
Jade watched Sara’s posture and expression for a moment. Her eyes drew down into a slight scowl as if she didn’t see what she expected. “Tell me what you are,” she demanded, but Sara thought she heard a tremor of doubt in the command.
“I told you,” she said with a sniff. “I’m complicated.”
Jade stared, open mouthed at her before quickly gaining her composure. “Apparently so.” She replied, drawing herself up once more. “It hardly matters, however.” She continued on. “You see, these collars have more than one control mechanism.” With a smile, she turned to look briefly at Ivan’s collar before looking down at her remote and inputting another three digit code. “What are you doing?” Asked Sara as she looked back and forth from Jade to her friend.
“Oh,” replied Jade, motioning for Ivan to move away from Sara and across the room. “Just a little demonstration.” With a bright smile, she pointed her remote at Ivan and pushed the red button. The was the muffled CRUMP! Of a low-level detonation and Ivan’s head exploded in a red haze, splattering blood across the room.
“NO!” Shouted Sara in rage and anguish as the bear’s corpse collapsed to the ground. “You fucking bitch!” She railed as she twisted in her remaining captor’s grasp trying to launch herself at Jade.
Antonella’s gloating enforcer took a half step back and held the remote up, waving it around in a taunting fashion. “Now, now let’s have none of that.” she sneered. “After all, mother would be very disappointed if you ended up like your friend.”
Sara quickly regained control of herself. She’d seen the death of loved ones many times over the centuries. It never got any easier, but she’d learned to set the anguish aside in order to keep functioning. Drawing herself up she stared at Jade with a glacial expression. “You’ll regret the actions you’ve taken today, whatever it takes,” she said in a voice as hard as stone.
Jade chuckled in derision as she motioned Tango and Mike to let her go. “You couldn’t even get away from these three brutes.” She replied dismissively. “I hardly think you’d be a match for me.”
“I didn’t get away because I don’t kill my friends, bitch.” She said scornfully. “But don’t worry, I’ll have no problems where you’re concerned.”
Jade shrugged and turned her back on Sara. “It’s a shame we’ll never find out.” She said as she walked out the door. “I doubt you’ll survive your appointment with Antonella.” Her dry laugh echoed down the corridor as she, Tango and Mike started to walk out of the room.
“Oh, one more thing,” she said in an offhand tone. “In case you were planning an escape before you are taken to my mother, think twice. There is a bigger transmitter hidden in this facility that covers the whole complex, including the area above ground. I doubt that you will make it far enough before I find out and take off your pretty little head. Even if you do successfully get away and bring reinforcements, a single push of this button,” she said, holding up her remote and pointing out a red button that was somewhat larger than those surrounding it. “Will cause every collar within range to self-destruct.” Her smile became sinister. “If we can’t have the mutants, then nobody can.” With that, she walked out into the corridor, letting the door close with a soft click.
5
Thomas squinted at the bright morning sun as he walked up the stairs from his basement apartment. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, combat boots adorned his size thirteen feet, and a black leather jacket was across his broad shoulders. His long, red beard was divided into two braids, and blond hair that hung well past his shoulders was bound in a ponytail behind his head. He had a full face motorcycle helmet in his hand. He was just preparing to put it on as he approached his motorcycle when a loud Caw, Caw, caught his attention.
Looking over to where his pickup truck was parked, he saw a giant raven sitting on the light bar mounted to the cab. The distinctive patch of white feathers on its broad chest left no doubt who this particular bird was. “Kangee?” Said Thomas incredulously. “What are you doing here?”
Kangee cawed again in response, making little hops up and down the length of the light bar, obviously agitated.
“Alright big guy,” Said Thomas, walking over to the truck. “Where’s Sara? Did she send you?”
Kangee bounced to the end of the light bar closest to Thomas. Head turned sideways, he fixed Thomas with a stare from one, bottomless black eye. The Alpha of the Grand Junction lycans stared back intently. A picture came into his head of Sara, out in the badlands and surrounded on three sides by enemies. At the same time, however, the feeling he got from Kangee was that those enemies were also friends. The bird’s confusion was evident.
“Alright, I get it.” Said Thomas in a soothing tone. “You lead the way, I’ll follow.” Walking over to his bike he straddled the iron horse and started it with a twist of a key, letting it warm up as he put on his helmet. Everything ready, he gave a final nod of his head to Kangee, and the raven took flight.
The trip out to the badlands is much shorter when you’re a bird. From Thomas’ apartment to the facility was only a dozen miles if you flew directly to it. Thomas, being bound by the use of roads had about three times farther to travel. He wasn’t worried that he didn’t see Kangee as he followed the twisting, turning path of Interstate 70 through DeBeque Canyon. It wasn’t until he rode through the town of DeBeque itself and was headed out the dirt road to the badlands that he saw Kangee’s large silhouette against the blue sky in front of him.
The raven dropped his altitude and stayed within easy sight of Thomas as he took the circuitous route toward the underground compound holding the creations. He reflected back on the overwhelming changes that had come to his life recently as he rode. A few short weeks ago, he’d been the unofficial head of a small group of lycans that lived in the Grand Junction area. He hadn’t even been an official Alpha. He and his small, tight-knit group had been under the authority of Jake, the Alpha for Denver, and at the time, the rest of Colorado.
That had changed when Sara Nightwing and Kaitlyn Strong had come to town to root out the Abandonados latest ploy for domination. With the help of a few others, including Thomas and his pack, they’d taken down a facility that created mutants intended for use as foot soldiers in the coming conflict that the rogue vampire family was planning.
The mutants themselves weren’t inherently bad. They had been mentally controlled by a Native American shaman named Hatali, but once Sara took care of that crazy bastard, the creations had just seemed more confused than hostile. They were all predators at heart however and needed a strong hand to maintain control of them. As a result, Thomas had found himself suddenly Alpha for the western half of Colorado, controlling one of the larger packs in the country. It was an unconventional pack to be sure.
Packs tend to be more or less single species in their affiliations. Wolf lycans were the most prevalent and largest in numbers, but there was a few decently sized lion prides around. Most of the other types of lycans were solitary in nature as reflected by their base predators. Bears and big cats, except for the lions, preferred their solitude.
Thomas’ new pack encompassed all of these variations along with some that never had a lycan variant. He couldn’t help but smile as he thought of Kenzie the werecorgi. He was a great little guy, currently hanging out with Thom and Zeus. Thom was a garrulous old mountain man who lived in the badlands along with his half great dane, half husky companion, Zeus. Zeus and Kenzie got along great, and the three just seemed to meld together after the facility had been taken over.
Thomas’ attention was brought back to the here and now when Kangee made a sudden dive into a steep canyon ahead. Thomas kept going, knowing that the road he was
on would lead down to the bottom of it and up the other side. When he came to the bottom, he saw Kangee sitting on the gnarled limb of an old juniper tree, fixing him once more with a beady-eyed stare.
Thomas’ turned off his bike and removed his helmet, hanging it on the handlebars. “What’s up?” He asked, looking around at the surrounding terrain. The scene that Kangee had shown him earlier swam up from his memory, and he realized that this spot was where the tableau had taken place.
Kangee flew down from the tree and landed in the middle of the washout at the base of the canyon, pecking at a stick as Thomas kept looking around. After another moment, he noticed the raven’s odd action and got off his bike. “What’s that?” He said, mostly to himself as he walked down into the wash to investigate.
His stomach clenched in dread as he saw that the stick was actually Sara’s staff. He knew that she would never willingly leave her most prized possession behind if she had any say in the matter. Bending down, Thomas picked up the staff and gave it a quick inspection while Kangee took wing and started circling overhead. The staff appeared as it always had to Thomas. Grayish wood wore shiny smooth by years and decades of use. It wasn’t until he drew forth the blade from inside it that he noticed anything alarming. Blood, there was blood smearing the length of the blade. Sara had been in a fight, and she hadn’t had time to clean her blade before re-sheathing it. The sense of dread he was feeling ratcheted up a notch as he considered that.