5. Finley
Finley
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”
Well, fuck. This is going to make things harder.
Delilah crawled out from under her pet, still screaming at me as she took in the rest of the room. Only the supers were starting to rouse, all her so-called friends lying there dead, surrounded by puddles of piss and vomit.
“What the fuck are you doing?! Kill her!” Delilah shouted at her gorilla man. Instantly, he shifted and started to charge at me.
Without any kind of weapon, I wasn’t going to do any damage against a silverback.
Turning on my heel, I ran out of the room, slamming the door closed behind me, and raced down the halls toward the back of the house.
I knew where the guns and other supplies for their hunting events were stored.
I just had to get there if I was going to have a chance of getting out of this alive.
An alarm went off, blaring through the whole house and around the property. In moments, guards would come running, so my only option was to get some space between me and them.
The cold winter air bit at my skin and bare feet as I tore across the gravel driveway, but I reached the large barn doors only to find that they were locked with an electronic keypad.
I slammed my fist against the door, pissed that I didn’t have what I needed, but this was why the Organization had given me the job—to deal with and succeed despite all the unforeseen variables.
Taking a moment, I slowed my breathing and ran through what I knew about the property.
An idea struck me, so I took a few steps back and looked at the barn as a whole.
Seeing what I needed, I ran to the side and climbed up onto the pallet of bagged salt they used on the driveway.
I jumped, catching the edge of the roof, and pulled myself up until I was crouched low on the shingles.
Just as I hoped, I caught sight of a skylight that I could use to get access into the building.
It was made of hard, foggy plastic, but I easily kicked it out and sent it crashing to the ground.
Not the most subtle of entrances, but I didn’t have time for stealth at the moment.
Grabbing the lip of the opening, I lowered myself until I was dangling into the space, taking in what was below me.
It was a concrete aisleway with cell doors instead of your typical stall doors for horses.
I dropped down, rolling into the fall so I didn’t break anything as I landed, then popped up and started moving to the gun safe.
Breaking into safes was not a particular talent of mine, but I knew enough that I’d be able to get into the old spin rods and lever-style safe.
Crouching down next to it, I put my ear near the dial, closed my eyes, and took deep breaths to slow my heartrate down until it wasn’t thudding in my ears.
It took me ten tries to get it, but when the final click sounded and the handle turned, I couldn’t help but be impressed with myself.
I grabbed two shotguns and a box of shells labeled “pure silver” and loaded both guns before I grabbed the rifle and loaded that one up with silver bullets as well.
I found a Carhartt jacket that had been left behind and shrugged it on, filling the pockets with ammo.
Climbing up to the hayloft, I headed to the door and unlatched it from the inside, sliding it open just enough to see out.
I could see the guards scouring the property alongside wolves.
If I was going to have any chance at getting to Delilah, I needed to take out some of these guards and supers before I even thought about going back into the house.
Pure silver bullets could kill any shifter if it was a fatal shot, and they would also work on vampires if hit directly in the heart.
With the barrel of the rifle propped up on the lip of the hayloft door, I took two deep breaths before I wrapped my hand around the stock and placed my finger on the trigger.
Adjusting to looking through the scope, I took in what was going on around the house.
Many of the guards had scattered into the forest to search for me, but I caught sight of a werewolf who had picked up on my scent.
Easy enough to deal with from here. I let out an easy breath as I squeezed the trigger, hitting it right between the eyes.
The wolf dropped hard, and before the one right behind it could tell what had happened, it was dead too.
If any supernatural creature was going to protect these people after all they’d done to them, they didn’t deserve to be brought back into the real world.
With the amount of abuse and mental torture I could only guess they’d endured, they were a lost cause anyway.
This was the kindest option to give them their freedom.
Sweeping back to the right, I saw a guard walking toward another barn, and once he slid open the door, I could hear all the noise from the animals inside.
Trusting my gut, I took him out with a head shot before he could get any further.
Two more ran over to check on him, lining up nicely for me to finish them off as well.
Now halfway through my clip, I pulled back, knowing I would need to change locations.
I quickly reloaded, keeping one bullet in the chamber, ready to shoot in an instant.
Heading to the back of the barn, I noticed something huddled in one of the cells, but I didn’t want to chance getting caught to see what it was.
I got to the back door and opened it, but the pitiful whine made me pause.
Leaving the door closed but not latched, I went back to the cell.
When the head of a wolf lifted, I was met with an amber gaze filled with fear and sadness.
I knew those eyes. “Cory?”
The wolf let out a whine and crawled over, keeping himself low to the ground, his tail tucked between his legs. Everything about him screamed ‘submissive prey,’ to the point where he rolled on his back, giving me his belly, when I walked closer to the door of his cage.
“Cory, I’m gonna get you out of this cell. When I do, I need you to run and hide in the woods because I’m going to wipe this place off the map. Keep low and hide well so the guards don’t find you. Can you do that for me?” I whispered as I looked around for something to break the lock on the door.
I noticed a rusted long-handled axe in the corner by other castoff tools.
Setting aside my guns, I grabbed it and swung it as hard against the lock as I could.
Sparks flew, but it didn’t do much else, so I swung again and again until it finally fell away.
“Alright, let’s go, Cory,” I urged, trying to shoo him out of the cell.
If anyone was near the barn, they would have heard the noise.
Cory didn’t move, though. He just whined and scratched at his neck.
In the dim light from the moon, I hadn’t noticed he had on a collar that was chained to the wall.
Letting out a growl of irritation, I rushed over to him and reached for his neck.
If he were a normal wolf, this would be a risky move.
However, since Cory was such a submissive, it should have been safe.
Without warning, Cory bit me on the forearm, his teeth sinking deep into my skin. So much for being submissive.
“Fucking hell,” I gritted out through clenched teeth. “Why the fuck did you DO that?! I’m trying to get you out of here! I’m sorry if I scared you, but you didn’t have to go and fucking bite me!”
This is bad. This is very, very bad. I was just bitten by a werewolf, and there are only four days before the next full moon. Margaret is going to kill me if I make it through this alive.
“Cory, I need you to let my arm go so I can get us both out of this hellhole alive,” I murmured, trying to keep my voice calm and gentle.
“That’s it, good boy. Now, I’m going to take this collar off, then you will be free to run and hide like I said before.
See, there we are, no big deal. Now, RUN! ”
Cory bolted out of the cell, crashing through the back door of the barn and continuing into the woods.
Thankfully, with the thick jacket on, his bite wasn’t as bad as it could have been, only breaking the skin but not tearing into the muscle.
Although the damage was enough that it was going to change my life forever.
With werewolves, one break of the skin was all that it took.
The Organization did have supernatural assassins, but they were greatly limited in what jobs they could take.
I put that thought on the back burner to deal with if I made it out of this alive needing to stay focused.
Going back to my weapons, I slipped out of the barn and into the woods, heading to the left of the house.
I had no idea how many supers or guards were searching for me, so I kept one of the shotguns at the ready.
Moving along the backside of the barn the guard had opened, I peeked through a grungy window.
Shifters of all kinds were locked away in small cages, their animal forms looking crazed.
These must be the ones they hunted because they would be far too dangerous to let loose otherwise.
A guard rushed into the barn and hit the large red button on the side of the wall, opening all the cage doors, setting everyone free.
Within seconds, the guard was attacked by the feral shifters, unable to get into the secure room in time.
As much as I wanted to sneak back to the house and finish this mission by taking out Delilah, I wasn’t going to be able to with the fifty or so rabid shifters this close to a full moon.
For now, the plan was to stay alive and finish the job another time.