Balance (19 page)

                ‘Shit,’
Sadie said.

                Shit
was right. It was risky but needed to be done. We couldn’t cower anymore and
let them play us against each other.

                ‘Chelsea,
I promise I wouldn’t do something if it weren’t for the good of the pack,’
I told her.

                I
felt her nerves run through the pack bond. She had just been taken back to the
room of girls and seeing the freaky baby again had affected her. She wanted it
out. Now.

                ‘What’s
going on?’
Chelsea asked.

                ‘I
am alone in the room now and I have a way out of the cage. I need a distraction
so I can free Kylee and get us all out of here. I ordered Sadie to use you as a
hostage. To hurt you to send them a message.’

                At
first I got nothing from her. Blank. No feelings. Then Acceptance. Pride.
Trust.

‘It’s
a good idea. Let’s do it,’
she said.

                Something
settled inside of me. These girls, though I barely knew them, were my pack now.
Family. I had to get us all out of here. Using my free left hand, I pulled a
few hairs from my head. Wincing, I detached the blood bag from my IV cuff,
dropping it to the floor. Then I let the tubing drip blood into my open left
hand and saturate the hairs there. Next, I closed the clamp, pinching the IV
shut.

                Making
a fist with my left hand, I squeezed the blood and hair together.

                I
took a few deep breaths, centering myself and closing my eyes, calling on my
magic. “Blood of an Alpha, I give thee. Remove all obstacles that would block
my path. I am not lost, I am not hidden. Let this blood and hair be a beacon in
the night! All who seek shall find me now!” I called out and opened my eyes. It
didn’t rhyme but mist saturated the entire room and my skin tingled in response
to the spell. I smiled and knew without a doubt that Kai and Sylvia could find
me now.

               
I stuck my blood and hair covered hand out of
the small access panel that Layla left open and began to inspect the lock. It
was a keyed lock and I hadn’t even noticed the doctor locking it before, so who
knew where the key was. I should have paid better attention! I yanked at it
hard and produced nothing but a broken nail. The U-shaped loop that the lock
was threaded through looked more fragile than the lock itself. Slowly, I began
to twist hard to the left and right and saw that the loop was bending. Yes! I
began to chant a spell for physical strength, and I felt the Devi rise inside
of me, finally ready to end this all. “Blood and Hairs, Strength over fears.
Blood and hairs, strength over fears!” Mist covered the lock.

                Pain
shot through the pack bond. Sadie!

                ‘What’s
going on?’
I had been so
focused on the spell casting, I hadn’t paid attention to the diversion. All of a
sudden the monitor flared to life and Kylee screamed.

                ‘These
bastards shot me!’
Sadie told me,
panting.

                ‘Hurt
Chelsea!’
I ordered. It felt wrong but
it was our only hand to play.

                I
felt Chelsea’s pain shoot through the pack bond as my order was carried out.

                Then
I yanked the lock, hard. Snap! The lock popped off and I threw it to the ground
with a satisfying thunk.

                After
opening the large cage door confining me, I reached down and began to undo the
bindings holding me, just as I heard the door to my room begin to scrape open. No!
Releasing the last binding holding my leg and ripping off the arm cuff, I threw
myself at the person entering the room with vampire speed. It was the doctor
and she had a big, thick metal syringe on her tray. I grabbed it and shoved the
point in her chest. Then I spun and kicked it hard with my foot, sending it
through her chest as she puffed to ash.

                ‘It’s
a standoff. I’m bleeding pretty bad. Chelsea and Kylee are getting hurt. What
do I do?’
Sadie asked weakly.

                ‘I’m
almost to Kylee. Make them know you are serious! You will kill that thing
growing inside her belly if you have to,’
I infused the power of the Alpha.

                I
felt Chelsea double over in pain as I banged on the door to Kylee’s room.

                “Queen
Layla needs you in the girls’ room!” I shouted, disguising my voice. The door
opened and I pushed it back hard, smashing the vampire between the door and the
wall.

                I
held my Alpha blood covered hand over his face. “Sleep,” I whispered, dousing
him with magic mist and he crumpled. Witch perk.

                The
other vampire, who was controlling the torture cage, pushed a button and
hundreds of needles pushed into Kylee’s skin. She was naked and lying face
down. These bastards were going to die. I reached out and picked up a metal
scalpel from a table of torture tools just as the vampire threw himself at me.
Pivoting, I blocked his advances easily and kicked him backward, making him
stumble to keep upright. He grinned and his fangs lengthened as he jumped up in
the air and did a weird cartwheel thing, coming down on my shoulder and
knocking the scalpel out of my hands. Ow. Shit! Enough of this human body, I
needed my wolf. I tore off my shirt as the vampire looked at my chest
distractedly. Then I shifted instantly to my wolf and kicked out of my pants. Lunging,
I went for his throat and took him down to the ground, shaking him like a dog shakes
a toy. With one quick jerk of my muzzle, I severed his head in my strong jaw. That
Alpha power and strength spell had temporarily done something to me.

                His
vampire ash coated my wolf tongue. Yuck. But he deserved it. Hearing Kylee
whimper, brought my attention to her.

                “The
silver, I can’t breathe very well,” she mumbled through the cage.

                Shifting
to my human form, I stood and banged on the top of the plexi-glass cage, as a
large crack ran down the middle. This cage wasn’t strong and it looked poorly
constructed. I gripped the lid in my hands and gave a big jerk upward as I
ripped it from its hinges. The needles attached to the underside went flying
with it, scattering the ground. Holy shit. This must be how Anna felt.

                Kylee
was weak and could barely push herself up, so I helped pull her to a standing
position and threw a lab coat over her. After quickly getting dressed myself, I
dodged the scattered needles and walked her down the hall, letting her lean on
me. At the end of the hall, I saw Layla in the doorway to the girls’ room. Five
other vampires stood behind her in a semi-circle and they were completely
unaware of our presence.

                I
turned to Kylee.
‘You’re too weak to fight.  Go Hide,’
I commanded.  She
didn’t argue, just limped off in the opposite direction, the silver slowing her
movements.

                ‘
Kylee
is free. Attack! Fight for your lives,’
I sent to my pack. They had nothing
on us now, war had officially begun.

                My
words were met with the sound of popping bones and growls just beyond the door
and my inner wolf was satisfied.

                I
decided it was time to let the Devi loose, fully, it was now or never. I had been
waiting for this moment for a long time. I had no ties to Kai, no pack members
being held captive, it was just me and Layla.

                “Layla!”
I screamed and the sound of my voice shocked me. It wasn’t me. It was something
foreign. The Devi.

                Layla
slowly spun and for once, I saw fear flash in her eyes as the vampires parted
to let her fully see me standing in the hallway, uncaged.

                She
reached back and grabbed Chelsea’s newly-shifted wolf by the neck skin and took
off running with her down a side hall way.

                Dammit!
Beyond the door, I met Sadie’s eyes as she lunged for a vampire in the doorway.

               
‘Go!’
she told me.
‘I got this.’
A vampire raised his hand and shot Sadie in
the abdomen but then one of my wolves leapt on him, knocking him back as they
attacked him in typical wolf-pack fashion.

                ‘Kai
told Tara your spell worked. They are on their way,’
Sadie told me.

                I
had forgotten Tara was still in Kai’s pack. Good. Help was on the way. I had to
go. This was it, my moment. I bolted super-fast down the hallway Layla had gone
and saw a door at the end of the hallway about to close. A glowing EXIT sign
hung above it and I ran for it, jerking it open to see Layla was halfway across
the lawn with Chelsea squirming in her arms. A helicopter whirled to life twenty
paces away and she was trying to make a run for it.

                Taking
a deep breath, I thrust my arms out. “Stop!” I roared with every ounce of magic
I could muster. Prudence wasn’t here, it was just me and Layla. Alek’s words of
encouragement came to me then as a huge blanket of mist saturated Layla,
reaching out like octopus tentacles and pinning her to the spot she stood. I
knew that if Kai were here, he would tell me my eyes were green. This wasn’t
me, it was her, the Devi. I didn’t know this magic; it was old magic.

                Layla
dropped Chelsea who ran off across the lawn and back into the building to help
the girls. From my peripheral vision, I could see a bunch of cars and trucks driving
up the road. Then I felt him. Kai. He was here. I smiled but didn’t dare take
my eyes off of Layla. Vampires were pouring out of the doors from behind me,
and around the sides of the building, but I used my magic to conjure up a
magical wall stopping them.

                “You’ve
done too much damage for me to let you live. You know that, right?” my Devi
voice told Layla.

                She
glared at me and dug her heels into the ground, pushing off and flying at me to
tackle me, breaking my tendrils of magic. I was ready. Squatting down, I put
both hands out so when she put her arms around my mid-section taking me down, I
had a good grip on her neck. As we tumbled and rolled on the lawn, I squeezed
her neck like a sponge. She kicked and struggled as I stood holding her neck in
my strong arms and watching her lash out like a fish on a hook.

                “Aurora,
look out!” I heard Kai scream from far away, just as I felt a dozen bullets
sink into my back. Oh shit. Not again. I struggled to breathe as I fell to the
ground and turned to see Sylvia running towards me, hands outstretched, mist
flying from them and saturating the shooter, a tall, sleek vampire who had
broken through my magical wall.

                Releasing
Layla, a cough rattled my chest as blood came out of my mouth and into my hands.
But then, a tingling sensation covered my entire back like pins and needles and
the excruciating pain was suddenly gone. I felt the bullets fall out of my back
and then the skin healed instantly as if by magic. What the hell? Sylvia
collapsed on the lawn next to me and I took a deep breath, no rattling. It was
like I had never been shot. What the hell had Sylvia done for me? No! Layla was
running for the helicopter as Kai’s pack fought the vampires to keep them from
getting to me. Too much was going on and I couldn’t process it.

                “Sylvia!”
Blood dripped from her mouth and she was slumped over with bullets in her back.
I reached behind me, no blood, no bullets. Sylvia was dead. I knew it. Oh my
God. She had asked me outside the barn if I trusted her. This was it. This was
what she did. Some kind of sacrifice spell. My chest heaved, and all I saw was
red. As my fists balled at my sides, I screamed. I screamed so freaking loud
the ground rumbled beneath me.

                Layla
was limping towards the helicopter and I turned to Kai who was running over to
me. He recoiled suddenly, looking scared as I knelt down to pick up a broken
branch with a sharp tip. I ran so fast after Layla, I think it could have been
categorized as flying. I had never been so enraged in all my life. Sylvia was
my friend, my mentor, my second mother. When I was a few feet from Layla, I
leapt into the air and came down on her back, shoving the stick through her
chest, then I turned her around to face me. “That was for Devon!” I roared as
the trees shook with my magic. Leaves rattling around me.

                “You
are a cancer upon the earth.” I held her head in my hands, as the helicopter
blades whirled above me, making my hair whip around as Layla gaped at me with
an open mouth and one hand clutching the stick in her chest. Her skin was
turning grey, but it wasn’t enough to kill her. I knew that. The Devi and I had
merged into one, to end her for good.

                “This
is for Sylvia.” I grabbed her by the waist and thrust her up into the
helicopter blades as they cut into her neck and ripped her head clean off of her
body. Dropping her on the ground, I stared at her headless corpse, and for a
second nothing happened. I actually had a fear that her head could somehow be
reattached. But then the grey color of her skin turned black and she crumbled
into ash.