Atem’s Darkest Day #2
He tossed the rag on the ground and focused back on her. “Are you alright, vi Seerin? Did they hit you at all?”
“Untouched,” she promised, holding out her arms as if in demonstration.
He still looked her up and down carefully, eyes darkening with arousal when he spotted the blood on her feet.
A gift from her mate – the blood of her enemies on her toes.
It was a domini thing. And Peony was accustomed enough to the culture to ignore the gross factor when she saw the raw appreciation in her mate’s eyes when she lifted her heel and posed a bit for effect.
The moment was ruined, however, by the crunchy buzz of white noise from one of the bodies. Someone was calling over the radio to ask for an update.
There were more.
Peony’s belly dropped. Before she had a chance to be afraid, Atem was there. His hand on the back of her head, guiding her eyes up to his.
“Go get dressed,” he ordered, his tone soft but commanding. “Get me some clothes. We’re going.”
“Going? But wouldn’t it be better to stay?”
“Look at them,” he growled, angered, as he turned his gaze onto the human men in black tactical gear, night vision goggles on their faces, guns at their fingertips.
Yeah, they were intimidating. This was a well-armed, specialized team that had come here for one specific, lethal purpose. It was a definite threat.
But then she looked closer and realized what he meant.
These weren’t just random men. She knew that guy. And that one! Those were members of their own security team! Peony whipped her head around, staring at all of them in shock.
“Clothes,” Atem reminded her, moving towards the door.
She frowned. “Where are you going?”
“To clear the path,” he growled, flinging open the door.
In a second, he was gone, and the door was clicking shut behind him. Peony stared at the exit for another moment before sense kicked in and she turned, running back into their room.
Atem
Yet again, the males of this planet were a threat to his mate. Worse, this time, the threat was coming from the very males duty bound to protect them.
Their lives were too easily taken under his claws.
They had come up the stairwell, quiet and determined. Then filled the hall, slowly clearing each empty suite on their floor. The others were all gone, and he was grateful for it.
The way their bed had been destroyed in the gunfire would forever haunt his memories. Just imagining his Peony remaining there chilled his blood. What would have happened to her delicate flesh if…
No, he felt no remorse for their deaths.
The males had covered themselves in armor. Thick and impenetrable to his claws. But the armor was only in vests around their torsos and a helmet on their heads. Like fools, they left their necks and limbs completely unguarded.
He had learned his lesson about biting human males, their foul flavor still rancid and poisonous on his tongue, but their soft flesh yielded easily to his claws.
He moved quickly. Rushing down the hall, cutting down males through their limbs, their necks.
He stole their weapons and beat them with them, not having the time to bother actually using them as designed.
He felt the bite of a few of their bullets on his skin, but it was nothing. Easily ignored as he slaughtered his way through their enemies. When the last one fell, he returned to Peony, breathing fast, blood heated from the fight.
She was waiting for him, dressed in simple, plain clothing. She offered him some of the same.
“Where are we going to go?” She asked, concerned.
And she had a right to be. They didn't have a comm to call the Stor. Those had gone with the others.
A snarl pulled at his lips as he dressed, thinking of them. His sisters. His council. His friends. The male that might as well have been his brother.
It was infuriating, but…
“We can do nothing for them,” he confessed, pulling the shirt she offered over his head. “And if our security team was compromised, we cannot stay here. Do you know anywhere we can go where we can disappear?”
“Well, Switzerland is pretty far from my home neighborhood,” she admitted with a frown. “And getting lost in a city with no connections and no ability to speak the language will be hard.”
“Not the city. Somewhere natural. A forest, preferably.” Somewhere he could go up. Domini were a tree dwelling species. He would feel better if his female was off the ground.
Peony’s brow pinched. “I don’t know about any forests nearby. I-I really don’t know anything about this place, Atem.”
A soft sound at the door made Atem turn with a snarl, claws raised, ready to defend his mate.
It wasn’t needed. He recognized the female that was stepping into their room.
It was the manager of the hotel. The female that had been seeing to their comfort and needs during their stay.
Her shoes were off, deadening the sound of her footsteps on the carpet outside.
She looked disheveled, like she had been in a struggle recently.
She frowned around at the dead males decorating the room. The expression on her face was odd. Not quite approving, but not really dismayed either.
Atem did not relax. The security team had already proven themselves traitors. He could not say that she would be any better.
She must have read his distrust on his face because she offered him a wry smile as she held up her hands, palms forward, in a motion of human submission.
“She says she's not with them,” Peony translated for her.
Atem wasn’t fully reassured, though he did relax his stance a bit. “What does she want?”
After Peony translated the question, the female reached into the pocket of her simple, black pants and pulled out a human styled key. She offered it to Peony with words spoken too quickly for him to understand.
“She says, they ambushed her downstairs. Locked her in a supply closet. One they didn't know had a back entrance. By the time she snuck out and around, they were already on our floor. This is a key to one of the hotel cars. She’s offering it to us to give us a way out.”
“Why?”
Peony didn't translate the sharp question, but she didn't need to. The intelligent female understood him without needing the translation and spoke quickly again, gesturing to herself, then the hotel, before speaking with conviction that blazed in her eyes that also needed no translation.
Peony provided it anyway, a small smile of admiration on her face, “She says her life is this hotel. She has given everything to building her career here and considers it an honor and duty to serve the important people that come here. No matter what else we are, we’re her guests and we were attacked in her place.
That’s an insult against her and one she won’t stand.
She wants to help us get out of here, away from them, because it’s what’s best for us. ”
Duty and honor were concepts very familiar to the domini. It was a reason Atem could understand, and he nodded once in approval at the female.
She guided them out of their room, down the hall, to a service elevator used only by hotel staff.
It wasn’t as elegant or fine as the one they used, but it was bigger and fast and hidden from other attackers.
It also took them right down to the garage where the female pointed to a vehicle in a line of other, identical vehicles all for the hotel’s use.
It was small, nondescript, and had darkened windows. It was perfect for an escape.
Peony clicked a button on the key, the operational lights kicking on with a cheep.
“Tell the female that I owe her my gratitude and I will repay this kindness,” Atem told Peony, nodding his head at the manager. “Tell her to hide until she knows it is safe.”
Peony did so and the female offered them both a stiff smile and nodded herself before making a hurrying motion with her hands, encouraging them to move.
Peony rushed to the driver’s seat as Atem folded himself into the small, passenger side. It was a tight fit and he had to move the chair back as far as it would go, but he got in and buckled the safety belt as Peony pulled the vehicle back and began to drive.
The manager had given her directions, by request, to a forest far from Geneva. It would take many hours to drive there, but this late at night, as they left the city, there were few people on the road. No one to see their late-night escape.
“So, we get to this forest,” Peony started, both of her hands clenching tight onto the steering wheel, more for her own mental stability than the stability of the car. “Then what?”
“We are going to France, correct?”
“Yeah. Maybe we can find a way to get to Scarlet and Havali. I wish we had phones! This is ridiculous.”
“We couldn’t guarantee they weren’t being tracked.”
“Seriously?” She gave him a wide-eyed stare of disbelief, but it quickly turned back to the road. “Just how far do you think this betrayal goes? Realistically, I mean, not you being paranoid.”
“You cannot keep calling me paranoid when I was right,” he pointed out making her laugh. His own expression relaxed into a grin hearing the sweet sound.
His female was strong, but in an odd way. She could fight and kill like the bravest domini, but doing so was taxing on her psyche. She still carried scars from fights she had on Turv. Seeing her smile now made him hope that maybe she wouldn’t carry scars from this as well.
“Look, finding out you were right one time about a guy hiding behind a bush trying to kill you doesn’t mean that there is always a guy hiding behind a bush trying to kill you.”
“Doesn’t mean there’s not either,” he countered, making her snicker again.
“Fine. You’re going to be even more paranoid from now on. Got it. That doesn’t answer my original question. What’s the plan?”
“Get to the forest. Hide. And wait.”
“Wait? That’s it?”
“If we can find a way to get to Scarlet and Havali, we will take it, but I understand the forest we’re going to isn’t within easy reach of Paris, correct?”
“I mean, yeah,” she admitted with a frown.