Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Dr. Karl, Stefan, and Andor descended steps on one side of the vast room below.
A handful of other people in lab coats milled around.
Whether scientists or doctors, I didn’t know or care.
If they looked up, they could see us, but they were all far too busy with what they were doing to notice the voyeurs above.
Half a dozen bodies were strapped to tables with strange machines or equipment next to them.
“Oh gods.” My hand covered my mouth, bile burning up my esophagus when I spotted one victim, no more than ten years old. Tubes were in her veins and nose, dried blood smeared across her tortured expression. Her body continued to half-shift into a buffalo, then stop, reverse, and start over again.
“My sister was just a calf, but they had no problem kidnapping her, experimenting on her, and then taking her life.” The memory of Rodriguez, what he said to be moments before I killed the bull-shifter in the Games crashed down on me like a brick.
My knees wobbled, and my head spun as I choked down vomit.
His anger and rage, the need to kill me .
. . in some way fight for his sister, honor her.
I understood it now. This little girl was like her, was possibly someone’s sister.
Someone’s daughter. She was innocent. A child, but because she was fae, HDF treated her as if she were a rabid animal.
A soulless creature who needed to be put down.
For so long, I thought as they did, believed the propaganda, not wanting to actually look past what they told me and see they had all the qualities our side deemed were worthy.
Humanity. Those claims we were righteous and better because of that single word.
They were not human; therefore, they must be evil.
When all along, we were the evil hypocrites. Rotten to the core.
Dr. Karl gestured past the tables, strolling to the farthest wall. Leaning over, my lids squinted trying to see what he was monitoring, what took up the entire wall.
“Holy fuck.” Ash’s tone made my stomach twist more, taking me a little longer to see it clearly.
Holy fuck was right. Water tanks. We had overheard Dr. Karl mention them, but this was nothing close to what I had thought he meant.
Approximately seven-by-four see-through water tanks lined the wall.
Twelve of them, filled with some kind of thick liquid, and floating inside were people.
Young and old, women and men. Their mouths fastened to a breathing device, their eyes shut, tubes pumping something into their veins.
The same machines the fae subjects had attached to them at the table were beside each tank.
It appeared one was pumping fae essence out, and the other seemed to be pumping in.
“What is that?” My voice barely made it out, my eyes rising to Ash, hoping I was wrong.
“I have no idea. But I think we both know whatever they are doing here, it’s not good.”
“They’re killing the little girl, aren’t they?” The lump in my throat barely let me swallow.
Ash’s expression pinched, his head bowing. “Yeah. She’s too young for her body to endlessly change like that. I mean, an adult would die after that much stress to their body. I’ve been told it takes a lot of magic to shift.”
“They’re taking her essence every time she shifts?” It wasn’t really a question.
Ash nodded again. “That’s when magic is at the highest. Shifters use the purest magic in the transition between the animal form and their ‘human’ one.”
They wanted the most powerful and richest magic, which is why they weren’t allowing her to fully change either way.
True fae essence.
A clank came from behind us, the door unlatching, jerking my head with a snap, a gasp rising in my throat. Ash moved before I could even blink. His arms wrapped around my torso, yanking me down behind the dome on the other side of the door.
Footsteps hit the ground a few feet away from where we were hiding.
“Tell Dr. Karl more shipments are coming in. I’ll prepare the side bay for their arrival,” a man’s voice spoke.
“Will do,” another one responded.
Peeking over the half-wall, I watched one go right toward the stairs to the lab, and one went left down another corridor.
“There’s another entrance in here?” Ash said the moment the guys were out of earshot.
I shrugged. “Makes sense.”
“Probably a tunnel leading here from somewhere close by, so they don’t stir up notice,” Ash answered, tapping my arm. “We’ve got to go.” Ash, low to the ground, started heading for the door we came through.
I glanced down again, the young man reaching Dr. Karl, but it was the young girl on the table who pulled my attention.
Agony warped her adorable features as she shifted into a buffalo before going back, and every time she did, I saw more liquid pump out of her, travel down the tube, and into a clear bag.
Forcing her to change over and over while tearing her very being from her. Her soul.
They were monsters.
I was empathetic to her pain, the loss. It wasn’t being torn from me, but it was taking part of my soul, and that loss hurt deeper than I ever imagined possible.
“Brexley.” Ash frantically waved for me to follow him. Giving the little girl one last look, I made a vow I’d get her out, and then I turned and followed him.
We shuffled to the exit; Ash hit the button next to the door. My heart tripped over itself when voices came down the passage, and the door didn’t budge.
“Oh, hell no.” Ash stabbed his finger into it again, the voices growing louder. Closer.
The door jolted, slowly opening like we had all day to wait for it.
Ash slammed his palm against it, tearing it open. While I watched to see if anyone came up behind us or was walking up on the other side of the door.
The moment it was wide enough, we darted through and up the stairs. We raced down the corridor, about to turn down the tunnel leading back to the door we originally entered.
Two men stepped around the corner, HDF insignia branded on their black t-shirts and cargo pants. HDF-issued guns with walkie-talkies were attached to their gun halters.
Two more I knew by face, but not by name, but I was certain they knew mine.
The shock of seeing us, their eyes landing on me, gave them pause for a moment before they snapped into soldier mode, reaching for their guns.
Ash didn’t hesitate to take advantage of their shock.
He sunk his fist into the taller guy’s face, the power making him stumble back.
The guy’s gun fell to the ground, snapping the rest of us into action.
I leaped for the shorter one. My knuckles skated across his cheek, into his nose, tipping him to the side with a crack. I didn’t give him time before I punched hard at his eardrum. A spot that could mess with your equilibrium.
A grunt barked from him as he swung back for me.
I couldn’t get out of his line fast enough, so his hand drove into my gut, heaving me over.
Biting back the pain, I gripped his arm and swung my body till he stood behind me, his arm bent the wrong way.
Using all the momentum I could, I flipped him over on his back with force.
The other HDF member was flung by Ash and landed on his face right beside his partner. They weren’t out cold, but out enough to escape.
“Come on!” Ash wouldn’t want to waste any more time on them while others could be coming for us. We sprinted around the corner and down the tunnel, no longer caring about being quiet, our boots striking the ground with heavy thuds.
“Stop! You traitorous fae-lovin’ bitch!” one of the guards screamed from behind us. “Or I’ll shoot!”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time.” My words barely made it out before bullets were being shot down the passage.
“You had to encourage him?” Ash griped at me.
“Like they weren’t gonna shoot at us, anyway.”
Picking up our speed, Ash still had to keep himself from zooming past me, my legs not carrying me as fast as he could go.
“Code red! Code red. Intruders in the west tunnel. Brexley Kovacs confirmed. Need backup.” I heard one soldier speaking into his walkie-talkie.
“Damn,” Ash spit through his teeth. “They really don’t like you, do they?”
They hated me more than they hated the fae next to me because being a traitor to them was worse than being the thing they hated.
Reaching the door, we didn’t have the luxury to check for threats before bursting through it. My lungs happily soaked in the cold air of the night, happy to be out from the underground.
Ash and I barely made it up the stairs when shouts and orders rang through the air, whipping us faster toward our comrades. I knew Lukas nor Scorpion would leave, though if we got out of this, one or both would most likely kill me.
Racing toward the brush, they leaped up. “What the utter fuck did you do?” Scorpion roared. “I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“Not the time, man.” Ash waved them on as he kept going. “Let’s get the hell out of here first.”
Louder voices and commotion flipped Scorpion and Luk’s focus to retreating with us.
“We got them, X. Get out now!” Scorpion ordered through the device while he picked up pace, the brush forcing us back onto a path.
A burst of light beamed on us from behind. Twisting my head, I saw car headlights and then heard the roar of an engine coming to life. The car squealed as it jolted toward us at full speed.
“Fuck! Run!” Scorpion bellowed, waving us on.
We tore around the corner near the water, running on an old bike trail and walking path, but the car didn’t care, jumping onto the path, the engine roaring louder with momentum, nipping at our heels. Passing under the bridge, we cut across train tracks and brush, hoping to lose it.
The shout of guards and the sound of horseshoes clicking on the pavement clawed more terror down my nerves.
“Split up!” Scorpion shouted. We all knew us being in a cluster was perfect for them. We needed to divide their attention and sources, though I was really the one they wanted.
I dragged up my hood, needing to hide my features the best I could.
Lukas and Scorpion splintered, one along the river and one heading northeast up a side alley.
“Ash, go. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“We’re too noticeable. They know you’re with me.”
“If anything happened to you . . . No.” He shook his head. “I’m not leaving you.”
“I’m not asking.”
Ash would stay next to me even if he knew it would be his demise. Not just because he was a good guy and my best friend, but for his brother, too. He had some warped idea that when he protected me, he was protecting Warwick as well.
“No.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me down a street. The pounding of horses and boots echoing in the air, bouncing off the deteriorating building. The area was more modern than most of the city and didn’t have as many nooks and areas to hide in.
“There they are!” Someone shouted from behind, his nasal voice arrowing through my spine, his bloodlust and excitement pitching it even higher.
“Shit!” Ash hauled me faster down the lane, gunfire ringing out behind us.
The wide path let us see the soldiers moving in to block us from the other side, peeling us off across an area of land now used for livestock. Weaving and darting through the sheep, cows, and pigs, we slipped across the road.
My breath was heaving so hard it hurt, but my shoulders eased, thinking we finally lost them. But the piercing sound of tires squealed across the pavement, headlights blinding my vision for a beat as the car came for us.
“Move!” Ash screamed, shoving me out of the way, my body flying back as the car plowed into the tree fairy. My bones hit the ground while I watched Ash’s form sail into the air, crunching hard on the top of the roof and rolling off on the other side as the car came to a squealing stop.
“Ash!” A guttural cry ripped from my gut.
I didn’t have time to get up before the man behind the wheel stepped out, his gun pointed at me, a sneer on his face.
Kalaraja.
“Finally,” was all he said before his finger tugged at the trigger.
Scrambling up, I dove behind a bin as the bullets bounced off the spot where I just had been.
“I always get my mark. Always. And I no longer have to bring you in alive.” Bullets hit the metal, the sound forcing my hands to clasp over my ears. His boots moving closer.
I was dead. This was it. How I would die. Behind a smelly dumpster.
The gunfire suddenly stopped, replaced by the thud of bodies hitting, bones cracking. “Brex, run!” Ash’s voice strained out. “Go!”
“No!” I scrambled out, seeing my friend holding down Kalaraja. Bruised, bloody, and torn up, but alive. In the distance, shouts of soldiers were heading right for us.
“Go!” Ash ordered, struggling with Kalaraja, his fist cracking across the older man’s jaw so hard Kalaraja’s head went limp. “Just run! I’m right behind. Go!”
A shot zipped through my hair, making me duck down, and seeing Ash appear to be getting up, ready to run with me, I twisted and tore down the street, running as fast as I could and cutting down an alley. I paused behind a wall, sucking in gulps of oxygen, turning back to see if Ash was following.
I felt it too late. The form slipped in behind me, grabbing me firmly.
“N—” Before I could even try to fight, a rag slipped over my mouth, and a shot of adrenaline zipped up my spine, knowing exactly what toxin covered the cloth. I couldn’t stop or control it.
Warwick! On instinct, I felt myself reaching for him.
As my eyes shut and my body went limp, I thought I felt a hum of something, but I was wrong.
It was just empty darkness.