Chapter 19 Vanessa #5
It didn’t stop there. Leo made quick work of all five the security guards, his blood and theirs spilling all over the ground. His wounds healed right before my eyes while theirs were certainly more permanent.
I hoped his massacre would stop with those five, that it would somehow manage to stop word from spreading, and we could infiltrate the zoo portion of the estate and get Ricky.
I was very foolish.
Because no sooner had he defeated the last one when another wave appeared, seeming to pour out of everywhere.
And this time it wasn’t only human gunmen.
A few moved forward with unnatural speed, streaks of their uniform trailing behind them, and even still others who were mid-shift into different animals.
The massacre I had been so afraid of was actively happening.
I needed to get people to safety. Judging by the screams and shouts of alarm coming from all over, the security didn’t care about any sort of crossfire.
Considering that Leo was in front of me, and we didn’t have any other allies, I figured the security going on full alert, securing and locking down whatever section they were in.
How did everything go so wrong so fast?
I didn’t know, but my thoughts went immediately toward Haelena and the other staff in the orchard. It was quite a distance away, but if I could make it past the tree line, I could use it as cover all the way to the front gate.
I didn’t even make a conscious decision about it. One second I was cowering behind the tea bush, horrified at how many people might get caught in the crossfire, the next I was sprinting toward the tree line.
I heard maybe one of the guards shout about me—and that was a maybe—before I was barreling my way past the thick line that delineated the area of the compound.
It was a meticulously cultivated span of trees, and I raced between them, staying low in case anyone took a shot at me.
All the while the background music to my escape was the screams of those who went up against Leo, and his animalistic snarls and howls as he tore them apart.
It was far too easy to imagine what was happening in my mind’s eye, so I shut it out as best I could.
Luckily, I didn’t have the enhanced hearing, so a lot of the finer details quickly faded out of what I could pick up.
But the gunfire, the shrieks, and other animalistic noises coming from the shifter guards followed me. Sometimes it sounded like it was right behind me.
Despite all the odds, I made it to the orchard, where I found the two I was looking for huddled besides the golf cart.
“Haelena,” I hissed.
“Valencia! Oh, my God. What’s happening? Are the feds here?”
That was as reasonable a question as any other. “Something like that,” I said. “Come on. I’m getting you out of here.”
“What? But if it’s the feds, they’ve got to have the whole place surrounded. All our exits would be cut off!”
I didn’t really have the time to explain to her that federal agents weren’t attacking, but rather my best friend and wolf companion. She didn’t need to know. The guards had likely cut all the exits off, no doubt eager to catch me and Leo—not that they knew who I was.
“I know a different way.”
I’d spent all of the free time I could in the last week trying to find any secrets that would help.
It hadn’t been easy with all the watchful eyes, and I’d mostly ended up empty-handed, but I had found a washed-away service road behind the very same compost area where I’d snuck Leo in.
The area reeked, so most shifters and spoiled rich people wouldn’t go near it, which left the groundskeeping staff.
With Chadwicke seemingly convinced I was a magical being, I figured the staff was mostly human.
“That’s impossible,” Haelena said.
“Many things are impossible, but this isn’t one of them.
Come on. We don’t have a lot of time before this gets worse.
” That seemed to convince the both of them, and they followed me back into the tree line.
I wished we could take the golf cart, but it was far too visible a target, and I had no doubt the trigger-happy guards would fire first and ask questions later if they saw the vehicle speeding across an open area.
Besides, some of them probably didn’t even know it was a wolf shifter attacking them. I had no idea how good their communications were, but with everything happening so fast there was bound to be some misinformation somewhere. I didn’t want to end up bleeding out because of that.
We moved stealthily to the back of the trees.
When we were close enough, I stopped and told Haelena how to find the service road.
It was blocked by a fallen tree and partially obscured by a weeping willow that might once have been maintained, but was now so lush and out of control it was hard to see past it.
“Aren’t you coming with us?”
“No, I need to go help others.” I didn’t even want to think how many people were trapped, confused, and terrified. But even though I didn’t want to think about it, the image of Rosette, hunkered under a table and weeping forced its way to the front of my mind.
God, I wouldn’t be able to help everyone, but I had to try.
I had to.
She grabbed the sleeve of my uniform as I turned, and even though I knew her intentions were pure, I was getting pretty tired of people thinking they could manhandle me. I hadn’t given anyone permission to touch me.
“What could you even do? You’re only one person.”
“I can do the same I did for you,” I snapped. “Go! It’ll work better for all of us if we escape piecemeal.”
Thankfully, she didn’t argue with me again. I allowed myself to watch them for only a couple of seconds before rushing to the nearest garden, where more employees might be.
For the next hour or so, I ran, hid, found people, and tried to get them to safety.
Sometimes it was a frantic, slapdash run toward the compost piles and the salvation beyond them.
Sometimes it was a painfully slow crawl behind all sorts of cover.
No matter where I was, I could hear more sounds of battle.
More bullets. More roars, howls, and shrieks.
In some way, it comforted me. As long as the sounds of battle persisted, Leo was alive. But in another, it completely chilled me right down to my bones. Because every sound I heard—every pop, every scream—meant someone was dying, and painfully so.
I took comfort in the thought that most of the people in Leo’s path were bad men, who reveled in violence and had no problem swearing their loyalty to such an evil man so corrupted.
But also, how many of them were simply doing a job like I was?
How many of them had gotten caught up in one of Chadwicke’s schemes or were trying to protect their families from his wrath?
In life, things weren’t as simple as bad guys and good guys, at least not with so many of us being slaves to our paychecks.
Eventually, I got all the staff I could from the gardens.
That left the indoor staff, who likely had no idea what was going on, and the party guests.
I should probably wash my hands of it and get to safety before I got hurt, but then that image of Rosette played in my head again.
I had to do more. I needed to make up for every ounce of hurt that Leo caused.
So, I did the stupid thing and ran toward the mansion.
Either Leo had caused so much chaos that no one was thinking about looking for an ally of his, or they had no idea he wasn’t working alone.
Either way, I used that and my uniform to my advantage, and slipped in through the back servants’ entrance.
I found a huge group of cooks and serving staff in the kitchen, armed with pots pans or knives as they hid behind anything that might block the gunfire.
I thought they were very brave for trying to be quiet and using anything to defend themselves.
“Is it the feds?” the closest person asked. How often did something like this happened that it was the first question people asked? Considering Chadwicke’s mile-long rap sheet, maybe it happened a lot. Maybe even to this very same staff. Ugh.
“Is it the cartel?”
“Is it that oil baron he pissed off?”
“Never mind any of that,” I said quickly.
“It’ll be safer for all of you if we can get you down into the wine cellar.
Whoever is attacking won’t want to go down there.
It’ll be way too far out of their way.” A few looked doubtful, and I tried my best to sound authoritative.
“Look, whoever is attacking clearly has a personal vendetta against Chadwicke.” I purposely did not mention that he was dead.
“For now, they’re only attacking him and his security.
It seems the rest of us are safe as long as we stay out of the way, because they won’t hesitate to shoot through any of us if it means hitting one of their targets.
Now, I got all of the groundskeeping staff to safety.
Are you gonna let me do the same for you, or do you want to keep hiding here armed like you’re trying to make a live-action Ratatouille? ”
That seemed to convince the lot of them, and they hurried down into the wine cellar. I couldn’t lock them inside—I didn’t want them to be trapped in there and starve to death—so I grabbed a chair and told them to prop it under the doorknob.
“Don’t remove this until it’s been quiet for a while, but don’t wait too long. I figure most of you don’t want to be here once the cops arrive.”
“Aren’t you staying with us?” one of the server’s asked. God, the girl couldn’t have been more than eighteen. I hoped the trauma of whatever she heard and saw didn’t stick with her for too long.
“Gotta help more people,” I said shortly. I was growing brusquer as the minutes marched endlessly on, but who could blame me? I was exhausted down to the marrow of bones. My feet ached, my thighs burned, my back twinged, yet I had to keep going. There was still so much more to do.
“Who are you?” another asked. “Some sort of undercover security detail? Ex special forces? A spy?”
While each of those suggestions was a bit laughable, I couldn’t exactly blame him for assuming that.
I shrugged as I stepped out. “I’m a gardener.”