by Nikki McCoy
Mckenzie worked more with her power under his guidance. Eventually, the tension he felt between him and Daneya faded and he relaxed in their company. It was soothing, in a way. He couldn’t help imagining what it might be like to have this in his life. To be a permanent part of their family. To love them without fear of hurting them.
Hopeless dreams, he reminded himself cynically, and shut the door on those thoughts.
* * * *
It was four o’clock in the morning when Saden returned to the manor. A light drizzle cooled the pre-dawn air outside, lulling the sounds of nature and lending an atmosphere of tranquility to the coming day. That sense of peace would change soon enough, along with everything else. If all went according to plan, Daneya and her family would be free to leave within a day and he would be accepting the death that awaited him. Or choosing to stay on as a Drakon out of his stubborn desire to keep watch over Daneya.
And if something went wrong…
Saden forced that line of thought from his mind. He had less than a week to close his assignment and he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.
He made a quick run into town for gas and the music Mckenzie had requested. By the time he got back, Daneya was dressed, armed and waiting for him in the living room. They loaded into the car and hit I-10 on their way out of state. Daneya avoided him for the most part, staring out of the window at the passing scenery. The silence between them was near stifling.
This wasn’t how he’d envisioned their time together would end. In anger or relief, yes, but not this rigid stalemate rife with unsaid words. He wanted to justify his actions. Explain to her why it was necessary to break off their pretense of a relationship now, while she still had the respect of her friend. More than that, he wanted her to know just what she meant to him. What she and Mckenzie had given him over the past several days.
None of that came out, however.
Instead, he broke the tension by going over the plan he’d worked out during the long hours of the night. “Gabriel is at his home for the time being, so we won’t run into him. He’ll most likely have Djinn guarding the facility since they can walk in daylight and a skeleton crew of leisonguardes and poignots inside. How much do you know of the Djinn?”
Daneya slanted him a glance through thick lashes. “I know they’re spirits born of smoke and black fire who need bodies to contain their energy. Also, that they can reverse the effects of illnesses in their hosts but not heal their injuries. So once the host is down, it stays down, which forces the Djinn to leave the body. They can only enter a new body with the host’s permission. So far, no one has been able to find a way to kill them permanently.”
Saden dipped his head, impressed by her knowledge except for one point. “A Djinn can be killed. The black fire is their soul and can be destroyed by the blue fire of a Drakonem. The Drakonem are loathe to take them out, though, as it requires the death of the host. Usually by a shot or stab to the heart. The sudden shock temporarily immobilizes the Djinn and makes it sluggish when it’s trying to release the host.
“When we get there, keep in mind that the hosts are almost always innocent. They may have accepted whatever deal the Djinn made them, but that doesn’t mean they signed on for what the Djinn does while in control of their bodies.”
“Careful. I do believe that’s sympathy showing through your tough guy exterior.”
He looked at her sharply and saw the teasing glint in her eyes. A corner of his mouth turned up in a grin. “Just remember what I said before. Stay close to me and kill only if necessary.”
She appeared as if she might say something more then turned back to the window. Thirty minutes outside of Phoenix, he refilled the gas tank then set the specific coordinates for the facility into his GPS. According to the receipts on one of the CDs, the medical equipment was delivered to an area on the outskirts of the city. He found a back route and parked the car a quarter-mile away from the facility. It stood apart from a small complex of warehouses currently empty and up for sale.
After telling Daneya to stand by the car, he transformed to his dragon state and took to the skies. Behind the building was a parking lot half full of vehicles, two of which were the same vans that’d been used to transport the prisoners. A single Djinn stood at the front entrance and another at the back with rotating cameras attached above the doors. Although there was an emergency exit on the roof, Daneya would never make it up there without alerting one of the guards.
He scanned the interior with his Drakonem power and sensed twenty-five people on the underground floor. Most of them were stationary and probably the women being held captive. Fifteen were on ground level and two of those positioned directly on the other sides of the entrances.
Gabriel hadn’t taken kindly to the intrusion of his home.
There was no way he was getting Daneya in and out of there undetected. He flew back to the car, materialized to his corporeal form and relayed the information. “This building is identical to the one near LA, so I’m assuming all the facilities have the same structure. Do you recall where the security office was in the building you were held at?”
Her brow furrowed as she tied off the braid she’d pulled her hair into. “It would have to be on the first floor. The cafeteria, gym, infirmary and cells for the women are all underground. I’m not sure where anything else is located. Gabriel kept me locked up most of the time and leaving was…”
A nightmare. The unspoken thought was written on the lines of her face. “It’s all right. We’ll go in through the back. Stay near the cars in the lot until I take out the guard at the door. There’s another one inside so wait for my signal, and try to keep your head down. I don’t want you caught on the cameras.” He readied to switch forms again when Daneya laid a hand on his arm. Her eyes beseeched his and held him frozen in place.
In a quiet voice, she said, “Don’t make me wait for you like last time. In and out, remember?”
He cupped her jaw and brushed a thumb over her lips, unable to resist touching her. “In and out.”
A few seconds later, he was airborne and flew to the roof of the building, tracking Daneya as she sprinted across the open land. When the Djinn’s head was turned, she darted behind one of the vehicles. Saden took out the security camera on his way down then solidified in full view. The man stumbled back in surprise then hit the cement, going down from a glancing blow to his temple.
Saden took the key card from the band on the Djinn’s belt and slid it through the electronic lock by the door. After opening the door, he hid on the other side of it.
“Stephen?” called the second Djinn from inside. “What the hell are you doing?”
As soon as he was out, Saden swung him around by the neck and slammed him face first into the wall of the building. The man rocked back and fell to the ground. Saden grabbed his key card as well then motioned for Daneya to join him. Inside was a long corridor with doors on either side. It was brightly lit and smelled of industrial cleaner. Luck was with him as the first door he tried opened to the security room with a wall of monitors to one side. The guard at the desk jumped up with a hand on the gun at his belt.
Daneya pushed past Saden, saying, “My turn.” She smoothly knocked the weapon from the man’s hand, kneed him in the gut then slammed an elbow into the back of his head as he bent forward.
Saden went to the terminal and told her to keep an eye out. It wasn’t hard to access the main feed for the cameras and shut them down. Back in the corridor, they began checking the other doors but most wouldn’t admit them with the guards’ key cards. Gabriel obviously didn’t trust all the people he was working with.
Daneya gestured for him to come over to a window along the left wall. On the other side of the reinforced glass was a nursery with several infant beds lined up in plain sight. Three of them were occupied and what appeared to be a female nurse was taking their vitals and recording them in metal files hanging at the foot of the beds.
Saden curled his lip in disgust. It appalled h
im that a woman could knowingly support what Gabriel was doing to other females. The fact that the surrogate mothers were human shouldn’t have made a difference, though he knew it did. While Vampyres were raised to respect humans and treat them with equality, a great majority of them still considered themselves superior.
Before he could stop her, Daneya was in the nursery and attacking the poignot. The woman crumpled easily to the floor under Daneya’s fists. It was over by the time he stepped into the room. Daneya grabbed the woman’s key card and held it up with a grim smile. “This should get us into the offices. All of the assistants have access to them.”
Saden had to admit he was glad she was there. When he dragged the poignot to a storage closet, movement from the window caught his attention. He yanked Daneya into the closet with him then shut the door, leaving an inch-wide crack for them to peek through. With her back against the wall, he brought his body flush to hers, ready to anticipate her move.
Sounds of another person entering the nursery drifted to them, and Daneya shifted to charge out as he’d known she would. He placed a staying hand on her neck and shook his head. They needed to do this with as little interference as possible.
A mewling cry came from one of the infants. There were shuffling noises and eventually the infant quieted down. It was a male nurse this time and his voice carried as he mumbled something unintelligible to himself. Saden could feel Daneya’s pulse beating rapidly beneath his fingertips. When the soft click of the nursery door sounded again, he lifted her face to him and saw moisture brimming her lashes. Her eyes remained locked on the beds carrying the babies.
“They’re innocent,” she whispered. “They don’t deserve to be used like this. Given to the Djinn.” Her compassion rivaled the vehemence in her tone.
He gently wiped her eyes and kissed her forehead. “We’ll get Gabriel and save them later, I swear.”
She took a steadying breath then went with him to check the corridor. It was clear once more and they retried all of the doors with the nurse’s key card. When they came to an office that was larger and far more elaborate than the others, he closed the door behind them, positive it belonged to Gabriel.
“Look for papers with current dates, full names, photographs. Anything that might help us track the Djinn he’s working with.” While Daneya searched through the bookshelves and filing cabinets, he powered up the desktop computer. It, too, was protected by a password, though there was no timer attached. He tried Daneya’s name and a few other guesses without success. After a minute of deliberation, he asked, “Your birthday is September fourth, 1986, right?”
She glanced at the computer then rolled her eyes. “Not this again.”
“It’s worth a shot.”
Her jaw flexed as she ground her teeth. “Yes.”
When that didn’t work, he said, “Do you remember the date he kidnapped you?”
“2003, January fifteenth.”
Bingo. Gabriel’s homepage appeared on the screen. Saden confirmed it with a nod, to which Daneya simply turned stiffly away and went back to her search.
He opened the Excel documents first. They contained more of the same information he’d found on the CDs from Gabriel’s house. All except for the last one. “Fuck.”
“What is it?” Daneya left her task to peer over his shoulder. In front of them was a spreadsheet with information in several columns. She pointed to the left column that began with the label Infant 1-5-1, 03/19/1948. “This looks like a list of the babies born to the women he’s used.”
“With the correct dates given for their births,” he added. He moved her finger two columns over. “This has to be the list of people he’s given them to. I recognize the name of the third one down. He’s cousin to the royal family here. So is this one. And Roccuso Mires there is first general to korvaute Weiss, the commander of the leisonguardes for the house of Avram. Shit!”
Saden raked a hand through his hair. “This just got a hell of a lot more serious. Gabriel’s got not only the Djinn, but a whole crew of powerful Vampyres behind him. From the dates, I’d say they even helped him set up his enterprise.”
“Some of the babies are unaccounted for.”
“No.” He scrolled down to a division in the spreadsheet and found what he suspected. “Gabriel made two lists. One of the Vampyres he gave the infants to and one of the Djinn. None of these names on the second half are familiar to me. They have to be the Djinn who are involved.”
Daneya straightened beside him. “This is what we need, isn’t it?”
“That and a whole lot more.” Quickly, he inserted a thumb drive into the computer and copied the documents. “If you found anything important, grab it now. It’s time to get the hell out of here.” When the transfer was complete, he stuffed the thumb drive and papers from Daneya into an inside pocket of his trench.
In that instant, the door to the office opened and a man wearing a white lab coat walked in. He had to be the other assistant they’d encountered, though his reactions were faster than those of the leisonguarde. Saden felt a vacuous shift in the air and realized the poignot’s intent just as Daneya pulled a throwing knife from her belt.
“No!” he shouted and slapped the knife from Daneya’s hand. At the same time, the air in the room was sucked toward the poignot then blasted back with a force that picked them up off their feet and threw them back several yards. A hardwood end table broke his fall and splintered beneath him. The yells of the assistant calling for guards sounded above the ringing in his ears. He crawled to where Daneya lay and cradled her face in both hands, swiping at the blood leaking from her nose. “Are you hurt?”
She coughed then pushed herself up. “I’m fine.”
“Stay behind me,” he said as he helped her stand. “Use weapons only at close range and don’t let them corner you.”
The pounding of boots in the corridor heralded the newcomers. Saden tapped into his Drakonem power and cast it out, erecting a wall of controlled, blue flames in the doorway to block the path of the guards. As he strode forward, he focused all of his concentration on bending the fire to his will. It moved into the corridor then split down the middle. One half blazed from floor to ceiling and proceeded to the left while the other half shifted to the right. It left a small space for him and Daneya to maneuver in.
He pulled Daneya with him and inched his way between the roaring flames toward the rear exit. Gunshots were fired above their heads, shattering the ceiling lights and raining glass down on them. They ducked down in a crouch.
“Lower the shield,” Daneya told him. When he looked at her uncertainly, she leaned in close. “Trust me. Take care of your side. I’ve got mine.”
Against his better judgment, he drew back his power and took a quick assessment of the situation as the flames dispersed. Four men stood in front of Daneya, six on his side including the poignot. Though he had full confidence in her skills, it didn’t keep his attention from being divided.
A solid blow to his back brought him down to one knee. He spun around with a low kick and heard the satisfying crack of the nearest guard’s kneecap. Saden cut off his scream with a fist to his face then dodged the next guy’s attack. As soon as he gained his feet, three of the men came at him in full charge. He beat them back with a flurry of kicks and punches, relying more on instinct than sight to guide his moves. They hit the floor one by one.
Searing pain sliced through his left thigh and he turned to see the glint of steel flash in the hand of another guard. The man hacked with the dagger in clumsy sweeps. Saden waited until he overextended himself then trapped the guard’s hand in both of his, twisting the blade and plunging it into the man’s leg. Without pause, he shoved the guard away hard enough to knock back the rest of the men.
That bought him a brief respite, which he used to check on Daneya.
She was vision to watch. Her movements were smooth and lithe, her body flowing effortlessly in a deadly assault. Two guards lay at her feet, a third was going down beneath her strikes
and the last was reeling from a vicious jab to his windpipe. Saden was about to go back to his own fight when he saw the fourth man pull a gun from his chest harness.
Daneya was too engaged to notice the new threat. He bellowed her name and dove for her, wrenching her behind him while sending a bolt of Drakonem power at the man’s feet.
It was too much. His emotions doubled the force of the blast and he crashed with Daneya into the wall under a spray of choking debris. The ground around them rumbled and shook precariously.
Shit!
He realized he’d weakened the structure of the floor only seconds before it fell out from under them. Swiftly, he twisted in mid-air so that his back hit the floor on the lower level with Daneya on top of him. The breath was slammed from his lungs and his head bashed against the ground painfully. The world spun in a sickening rush around him.
Through the haze of dust above, he made out the silhouettes of two of the guards looking down at them. And the barrel of a gun trained on his head. He rolled with Daneya amidst more gunshots until they were out of view then scanned her for injuries, touching everywhere he could reach.
Her hands were steady as they took his and it was only when their eyes met that he was able to calm the fear-laced adrenaline pumping through his system. “I’m all right,” she assured him.
The distant barking of orders from one of the guards snapped their attention. If they didn’t find a way out soon, they would be trapped underground.
Saden jumped up and looked around. They were in what appeared to be one of the cells for the women. It had a clinical atmosphere with sparse furniture, a metal door and one wall made almost entirely of reinforced Plexiglas. A woman in her early twenties with long, flaxen hair was sitting on the bed. She stared at them with a combination of wariness and hope.
Saden told Daneya to stand back then focused a burst of power at the lock on the door. It swung open and he peered outside. Three guards were racing toward him from the far side of another long corridor. He glanced back to find Daneya standing beside the woman.