Broken

by Zara Novak

  It turned out she was on the cusp of making a great discovery, and a meeting had been arranged to open some ancient Chinese coffin.

  The hard thing about being a Guardian is that a lot of our jobs were handed to us by Saydra, the clairvoyant vampire witch with enigmatic visions. Details often didn’t make themselves clear until danger was right at your doorstep.

  A vision had warned Saydra that Rachel Stone needed to be protected, but I couldn’t see for the life of me how she was in danger, until I learned who the coffin belonged to.

  The Harkin family.

  Leopold Harkin was heir to the Harkin fortune. They were one of the oldest, most powerful, and influential vampire families in the modern world, and they were rumoured to have their fair share of skeletons in the closet.

  I’d crossed paths with Harkin before and I didn’t like the bastard. His family had very old-fashioned ideas when it came to humanity, and they believed that vampires were above all humans. If they had their way humanity would be in chains, and vampires would rule the world by force.

  Their ideals didn’t mesh well with an organization like the Guardians, who worked hard to make sure that all the crazy paranormal shit out there didn’t affect humanity.

  We were chalk and cheese.

  Or chalk and dog shit.

  I grew even more concerned once I got a chance to snoop through Rachel’s research after hours. It appeared she and her team were looking for the Halo Amulet, an ancient artifact that had been missing for hundreds of years.

  My stomach turned when I learned the truth.

  The humans thought the Halo Amulet was just some pretty amulet. In reality it was a very powerful magical artifact, one that would be incredibly dangerous in the hands of a vampire like Harkin.

  I also had my own personal history with the amulet.

  It wasn’t good.

  I prayed to god that Rachel Stone was wrong, and this casket just held the mummified remains of a long-dead Chinese dude, but something in my stomach told me this was serious.

  Security wise, the week passed by easily enough.

  There was no sign of Harkin and I’d done a full screen of the museum from top to bottom. I couldn’t detect any threats, and I couldn’t find the stone sarcophagus either, believe me, I’d tried. The museum had it well hidden.

  Visions of Rachel were the hardest thing. They’d come out of nowhere. I’d be chasing her down dark hallways. Pinning her against walls, throwing her against the floor. I’d fucked her in my mind a thousand times over, nearly bursting in my pants every time I thought of her tight pink pussy.

  On the seventh day I had somehow made it through the week. It was the night of the meet and I had a feeling my services were about to be required. I was watching from airducts high in the ceiling as Harkin and his team of goons finally arrived in the museum.

  What a prick.

  The curator lady led them to the sarcophagus, and I stalked through the ventilation shafts, delicately controlling every minute muscle on my body to ensure absolute silence. You might not think it to look at me—I’m 250lbs of muscle after all—but my training and expertise meant I can move with absolute silence.

  I could tiptoe over broken glass and a fucking mouse wouldn’t hear me.

  They headed down into the museum basement. It was a sprawling subterranean labyrinth of archives and research areas, but I had done my best to memorize the space in the week I had watched Rachel.

  The journey ended in a large concrete room with an atmospheric chamber in the middle. Harkin quickly took over the opening, the fucking prick. I was perched above them, watching through the grate of the duct as Harkin threw back the top of the stone coffin. Then I saw the small amulet gleaming in the tomb, and I knew we were all fucked.

  I had to stifle laughter as Harkin doubled over in pain. The bastard couldn’t touch the thing for some reason. Rachel could though. It lit up when she touched it.

  That was very interesting.

  Every hair stood up on the back of my neck. Harkin was holding a gun, and he was pointing it right at her. Rachel.

  My mate.

  No fucking way.

  It was time to make myself known.

  I thrust my feet through the grate and dropped down from the ceiling, crashing through the glass chamber like an anvil through rice paper. I landed square between Rachel and Harkin, planting my legs wide as I straightened to my full height. His eyes opened wide as soon as he saw me.

  “Hunter! What the fuck are you doing here?!”

  “I’m about to execute your ass, get that gun out of her fucking face.”

  He squeezed the trigger and the gun exploded. Everyone gasped as he opened fire. The weight of the bullet hit my chest and sent me back a half-step. I looked down very slowly and ripped my shirt open. I pulled the crunched-up bullet from the surface of my armour-like skin and dropped it onto the floor.

  “Big mistake Harkin. Now it’s time to die.”

  3

  Rachel

  I’m not the type of girl to scream. I never have been. But when that fucking giant of a man dropped through the glass ceiling and landed in front of me, I was squealing like a pig in butter.

  It only got worse when Harkin fucking shot the man. I didn’t understand how we had got here so fast. We were on the cusp of a brilliant archaeological discovery and now I was in the middle of Reservoir Dogs.

  The shot screamed through the small chamber; the sheer volume of the sound hurt my ears despite my sealed suit. I think we all screamed when Harkin opened fire, but in the seconds after that the world was deafening silence.

  Ringing started through my ears, and as it faded, I heard the stunned quiet of a room that had just witnessed a murder. I expected the man to drop to the ground, but instead the huge motherfucker simply dropped back a step, ripped open his shirt and then I heard something metallic clang against the floor.

  Had he just… had he just pulled a bullet out of his fucking chest?

  “Bullets?” the big guy said to Harkin, laughing to himself as he did so. “You need more than that to kill a Guardian, Harkin, come on.”

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Harkin growled. The two of them no longer seemed to notice the rest of us.

  “Making sure you have a bad day,” the big guy replied.

  Harkin looked visibly unsettled. I got the impression he was debating more shots, but then he moved his gun across and aimed at Barry.

  “Oh god, oh god,” Barry repeated in the corner as he went into full panic attack. “Oh god, oh god, don’t kill me! I’m just a—!”

  His words were cut short as Harkin sent a bullet straight into his forehead. “Shut the fuck up, fuck!” Harkin roared.

  I wanted to scream again as Barry hit the floor, but I also didn’t want to draw attention to myself. My whole body trembled as adrenaline spiked through me.

  Doctor Turner, Juniper and I all exchanged very careful looks.

  Harkin hadn’t only lost his mind, he was dangerous.

  The big guy surged forward then, moving so fast I couldn’t believe it. What surprised me is that Harkin moved out the way just as quickly. The two of them were moving at supersonic speed.

  “Kill him!” Harkin shouted to his goons outside the chamber. “Kill him! Get the girl! Get the amulet!”

  Harkin ran, repeatedly firing his gun at the big guy until he was out of bullets.

  The huge man sprinted around the chamber as he gave chase, somehow dodging bullets like they were flying through molasses.

  Then something hit me.

  Literally.

  It scooped me up from the floor and I was flying.

  For the next few seconds the world turned with a confusing blur of light and shadow. I had no idea what was happening until I came to a sudden stop. I was no longer in the atmospheric chamber; in fact, I was in a different part of the museum altogether. I looked around and saw the Courts of Ancient Egypt exhibition. I was on the third floor, and I wasn’t alone.

>   The huge guy was there with me.

  “You!” I said. He had put me down and was on his knees, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “What the fuck is going on here?! How did you do all that?!”

  Looking down I noticed I wasn’t even in my hazmat suit anymore.

  My large accomplice didn’t take any notice of me at all.

  He’d pulled out some sort of futuristic looking tablet and his fingers were whirring over it. “Rocky?” he said, holding one finger to his ear. “I need a safehouse, something completely untraceable. Urgent.”

  “Hey, big guy!” I said. I marched up to him and kicked him with my foot. In a flash he yanked my leg and I landed on my ass.

  “Valora heights? Brilliant. Peace out.”

  With another burst of movement, he disappeared the tablet device into his long leather jacket and then he looked at me, finally acknowledging my presence. The lights were low, but I saw him properly for the first time.

  He really was a giant of a man.

  Every part of his frame suggested muscle and might. He had short black hair, a square jaw and a strong face. His brow was thick and black, his cheekbones sharp and dressed in stubble. A prominent chin sat under thick lips, and a strong nose led up to blazing red eyes.

  Yeah, bright red.

  Like fires burning in the pit of his soul.

  “It’s you…” I whispered to myself. “The guy from…”

  The guy from the visions I’d been having. The disturbing, over-the-top, panty-soaking visions.

  “From downstairs, yeah. Sorry about that sudden entrance, Harkin left me with little choice.”

  “What the fuck are you?” I gasped. Whatever he was, something told me this man wasn’t all human. What kind of man could move that fast and pull bullets from his chest like they were thumb tacks?

  “Doctor Rachel Stone. My name is Garen Hunter, and I have been assigned as your guardian. Your life is now under threat and your survival is the highest imperative. I will now extract us to a safe location, where we will remain until I deem the threat over. These terms are not negotiable, so cooperation is strongly suggested. Any questions?”

  “Yeah, you can’t be serious?”

  “I am, and you don’t have a say in the matter. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

  “Well in that case…”

  I don’t know why I did it.

  I think it had something to do with his tone.

  I sent my foot flying up and kicked him in the chest. I don’t think the blow did any real damage, but it took him by surprise and gave me a second to spring up and start running.

  Who did this guy think he was exactly? I wasn’t going to let some stranger abduct me and take me into hiding. I didn’t know what crazy bullshit Harkin had pulled me into, but he had another thing coming if he thought—

  “Hey!” I said, screaming as the giant caught up to me and pinned me to the ground. He had thrust me down face first and had my arms behind my back. The bulk of his weight was pressing against my rear. Something hard, thick, and incredibly long was digging against the thin fabric of my suit trousers.

  Was I wet?

  “Listen to me very carefully little lady,” the giant whispered into my ear. “I’m a big guy and I’ve not got a lot of patience, especially when girls like you break the rules. So, here’s what we’re going to do, I’m going to give orders and you’re going to follow them, otherwise I’ll have to start dishing out punishments. Is that clear?”

  “Go and fuck yourself,” I hissed through my teeth. I’d never been so cavalier with anyone before, but something about this brute just got me fired up. I turned over so I was facing him and spat in his face.

  That was another first for me.

  He didn’t look amused, but he didn’t have time to retaliate. His attention suddenly shot to the corridor outside and he pulled me to my feet. Harkin’s goons appeared around the corner.

  “They’re here!” they shouted and opened fire.

  Tiny threw himself around me and started running for a large glass window at the head of the room. “Time to leave,” he said as he cradled me in his arms. “It looks like we’ve overstayed our welcome.”

  With one great leap he smashed through the huge pane and we broke into the cold air of the night, falling through the darkness for a good thirty feet until his feet came down on the museum roof. I heard voices shouting through the darkness behind us, accompanied by the sound of more erratic gunfire.

  “Put me down!” I screamed at the giant taking me captive, but he just laughed and sped up.

  “Not a fucking chance princess.”

  As we sped across dark rooftops, I found myself wondering one thing over and over again.

  What was this man?

  The weight of my body seemed no issue to him at all, and it didn’t impend his startling speed, and he had to be running at a minimum of thirty miles an hour. Then there was the way he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, clearing twenty feet expanses as though he was hopping onto a kerb.

  I had been shouting for help, but with a stern look from those blazing reds I felt an invisible vine wrap around my jaw and seal it shut. He was controlling me somehow, silencing my protests. I was disturbed by the strange effect but shouting for help probably wouldn’t have been that useful anyway.

  It was very clear to me that ordinary people wouldn’t help me escape the clutches of this captor. He wasn’t all human, that much was obvious, so just what the hell was he? History and archaeology were my speciality and separating fact from fiction was a routine part of my everyday work.

  Science made it easier to explain things these days, but in the past people resorted to the paranormal much more frequently. You’d be surprised how many historical accounts contained claims that were downright impossible.

  But then here I was in the arms of some super-human man, so what did I know?

  The dark city moved underneath us. Bright streets and veins of traffic passed under us in a blur. Tall skyscrapers crowned overhead as he moved towards the city centre. A light rain started, which soon became a heavy rain.

  We were only outside in the torrential downpour for a few minutes before we reached our unknown destination.

  The giant dropped down to street level and headed straight into the lobby of a very expensive looking building. It was late so there weren’t many people about, but it was obviously an apartment block for the ultra-wealthy. A lone guard sat behind the desk. I hoped to god he would do something to help. I opened my mouth to scream for help, but my lips still wouldn’t move.

  The man sitting behind the desk didn’t even look up as Tiny walked on by. It was like he couldn’t even see us.

  An elevator took us up to the building’s top, and Tiny carried me all the way down a hallway to a door at the end. There wasn’t a conventional key. He held his wrist against a keypad on the wall and then the door clicked open. Tiny barged in, kicked the door shut with the heel of his foot and practically threw me into the room.

  The sheer momentum made my feet carry me a dozen paces into the dark room. I finally stopped when I hit the back of a very wide sofa. Looking back, I saw the giant standing in the entrance. He pulled off his long black jacket, hung it up and walked forward very slowly, a silhouette sliding through shadow, light twinkling in those impossibly red eyes.

  With his jacket off I could properly make out his sheer size now. A tight grey t-shirt strained against the hulking torso underneath, and black combat trousers bulged around huge thighs. He was a mountain of muscle from head to toe, easily dwarfing me by a foot and a half.

  The only light in the apartment came from the ambiance of the city outside. Large bay windows ran along the wall to my left. Rain hammered against the glass and droplets left strange shadows across the gloomy interior.

  “Talk,” he said, uttering the one word as a command. The strange force keeping my mouth shut broke and I gasped for air as words finally came back to me.

  “What the fuck are y
ou?” I said.

  “You’re the smart one. Why don’t you tell me?” he said, advancing very slowly. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, there was something utterly hypnotic about the way he talked and moved. He looked at me like a lion eyeing a steak. Vulnerable wasn’t the word.

  “You’re not human, whatever you are,” I said. “A human couldn’t do half the stuff you just did.”

  “So,” he said, inching closer with each commanding step. “What am I then?” He smiled ever so gently, and as he did his lips pulled back to reveal long white fangs.

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “Not possible. They’re not real, vampires aren’t—”

  “But here you are,” he said curtly. “Looking into the eyes of one. Did your science prepare you for this?”

  “You said you were supposed to protect me,” I said.

  “That is correct.”

  “Then why do I get the feeling you are trying to intimidate me?”

  “You must forgive me Doctor Stone, but the fact of the matter is that you are a very beautiful woman, and I am a very impatient… man.”

  He ignored the question and took one final step, almost completely closing the distance between us. My breath shook on the inhale and I found his scent on the air. It was masculine, powerful, and somehow deeply comforting.

  “You see as your guardian I’m not supposed to touch you in that way. I’m supposed to stay focused. Your safety is my number one priority. But…” He trailed off and lifted his hand, allowing his fingers to brush up my slender neck. The touch sent a flourish of fire through me. Every atom in my body came alive and yearned for one thing.

  Him.

  “But rules are hard to follow,” he finished.

  “Don’t you dare touch me,” I said, grabbing his hand and pushing it away. In a flash of movement, he had my wrist in his hand, holding it in the air as we stared at one another.

  “You’ve seen the visions. I’ve seen them too. You’re a bad girl. You need a man with a good touch. You need bending. Breaking. Disciplining. You want it, don’t you Doctor Stone? A firm touch from my strong hand? I can see it in your eyes. I can smell it on your…” He inhaled deeply and looked down between my legs. “Person.”