Challenging Love (Drekinn Book Five) (12 page)

“What did you see?” Kade asked.

“The facility is large, and has a lot of levels on the outside it may look like a one story building, but it goes down, way down. When I was first taken there and was useful, they had me on the top level. I tried to break out of there twice. Once I made it to the laboratory section, I was shocked to see them experimenting on magical people. The second time, I made it to the back gate. It is through their garage, I can tell you that is where they are the weakest. They barely had any guards there, if one of them hadn’t been out smoking, I would have made it. I did notice they had cameras, but the back gate faces the river, I am sure they think it is safe not to guard it. I mean, there are rocks and the river, it is wide open and you can’t really be secret if you want to enter there. I believe with the right people though it would be the best place to breech their gates,” Calix said and then continued, “When you enter the torture phase they move you to another level, apparently they don’t like seeing blood and shit every day. The woman who came into my cell all the time complained I was bleeding all over the place.” Calix laughed.

“How rude of you,” Cherri drawled.

“Anyway, the cells with equipment in them to chain you are one floor below the main floor. It is harder to escape but if you can make it to the elevators, you are golden. The problem is, who is working the cameras in this area. I figured out pretty early on, each floor had their own security room, with a wall of cameras in each. As you become less useful, the farther down you are caged. One of the guards was talking one time when they thought I was passed out. They were talking about a guy they needed to bring up. They said it was his yearly interrogation. I felt bad for him, but I got the feeling the guards hated him.”

“Do you know how many people they have held there?” Kade asked.

“No, I wish I did, and I don’t think we will be able to rescue everyone. I would bet we will be able to get Vivi out, and make it out by the skin of our teeth,” Calix said.

“I don’t know if I can leave them, the prisoners,” Rissa said.

“We will have to until we can get a good picture of how they work. One thing I do know, you don’t want Vivi to have to be there too long. You don’t know what they will do to her,” Calix said.

“Mother can take care of herself,” Calli said firmly, as if she was trying to convince herself as well as everyone in the room. “She will probably tell them what they are doing wrong if they try to torture her.”

“We will get her out,” Pilar said and stood. “Even if I need to resurrect Mrs. Praton.”

“Oh hell no,” Brooks said. “We killed her.”

Calix shook his head. “When you told me you were her, I almost freaked, I mean, we have all seen Mrs. Praton speak about the Drekinn. People respect you, but the Prentiss fears you, if you show your face, you will be captured and killed. They won’t ask questions. They will just kill you, as an example. I won’t let that happen.”

“Listen,” Pilar said slowly.

“No, you listen,” Calix said and looked at Brooks. “When I was there, being tortured, I knew I was going to get out of there. I had to, I had to find you. I will not give you up, and that is what will happen, they will take you from us. There is no doubt in my mind. So we will think of something else.”

“We need to figure out something, and fast,” Shelly said.

“We need a plan,” Kade said grimly.

“Well,” Blackie said slowly. “We have abilities they don’t know about.”

“Oh yeah,” Brenda said, rubbing her hands together.

“We still need a plan. They aren't going to let us waltz in there and take Vivi out of there without creating a huge stir. If she escapes, sure, but us going in. We are going to have to be sure none of us get caught, they would love to show everyone one of us on a freaking captured poster,” Calli said.

“I still have some contacts, maybe they don’t all know that I have defected,” Simon said.

“For once, being a murderous bastard will work in our favor.” Rissa clapped. “Good thinking, honey.”

“Yeah. Good thinking,” Phillip drawled and then looked at Kade. “I will gather my friends in the other compound. They may have contacts as well.”

“All this sitting around and planning is wasting time. You don’t understand!” Brenda yelled.

Victor stood and put his hands on her shoulders. “Bren, we need to be patient, they are going to rescue her. Richard, Paul, and I will help, we will make sure Vivi comes home.”

Calix was the only one who noticed that Brenda wanted to argue but her mate, Richard, who was sitting next to her, grabbed her hand and held on tight. He forgot it as Pilar stood and walked to the large board in the middle of the room.

“Fine, if Mrs. Praton is dead, then Pilar is not. My dragon will be the perfect cover. They will be more interested in me than guarding the gates, I would be a good prize,” Pilar said.

“Me too,” Phillip said. “Hey, how many of you have seen two dragons so close together.”

“Well, it would be a good start,” Kade agreed.

“Wait,” Calix said and looked around the room. “I don’t like the thought of Pilar as bait.”

“Hey,” Pilar said. “I do realize I have let the whole scary older woman persona go. However, I am still a cold bitch when I want to be.”

“It's hard to think of that when I look at you,” Calli admitted. “I mean, you were my boss and I respected you a lot when you were Mrs. Praton. Pilar is my friend whom I respect but I also would totally give you a wedgie and get drunk with you.”

“Looks can be deceiving. Just because I am not old anymore, doesn’t mean anything,” Pilar said slowly and then took a deep breath and let it out.

Rissa cheered and clapped when fire shot out of her mouth and circled the group in a controlled stream. No one moved. Brooks just sighed and looked at the ceiling.

“Another side of our mate you have yet to experience,” Brooks drawled.

Calix grinned. “I can’t wait.”

“I'm just saying. Since Mrs. Praton disappeared, I have taken a back seat as not to draw attention with the sudden appearance of a dragon. However, it is time for me to take my place in this pack. I am a descendant of the Chosen, we are all Alphas and strong in our own way. Kade and Calli are our leaders, but we are each a force of nature. It is time they learned exactly who they are dealing with. The Drekinn is not going to hide in the shadows forever,” Pilar said.

Calli stood and looked around the room. “No, we are going to go on the offensive. They have been torturing our people, and trying to ruin our name. It ends now. I am sick of putting up with this shit. Daily we hear of things they are doing. Cruel things. The time has come for us to take control.”

Kade stood and held out his hand to Calli who grabbed it and smiled. “Hell yeah, the time has come. No more waiting and watching. We need to find out exactly where the people are and quit waiting for them to show up. We are going to complete the Drekinn, and we are going to defeat these bastards once and for all. We deserve to live in peace.”

Chapter
Ten

Vivi shook her head and looked around, where the fuck was she? She remembered drinking with the girls and then running in wolf form for fun, chasing the little sprites in the field. Now she was here, and had a hell of a hangover. The memories began to flood back, shit she had chosen to come here and find out what the fuck was going on. Well, they never should have tranq’d her,
it is tacky
.

One man sat in the corner glaring at her and she frowned. Not good, an
Ulfer
cat shifter in the same room with her, she had planned on being alone. How in the fuck had things gone so wrong? And where were Brenda and Shelly? They had been with her; they were going to get Calli and Kade.

“Hey, snaggletooth, what the fuck am I doing here?” Vivi groaned out.

The man hissed at her, actually hissed, the asshole. “Just shut up and wait, the boss will be here soon.” He grinned menacingly at her.

Right, sounded like a meeting she would want to miss. Vivi looked around the room and wondered what she could use for a weapon. This was not somewhere she wanted to be for too long. If the asshole thought she would sit here waiting while they got ready to torture her, they were sadly mistaken. She needed to get the information and get the fuck out.

Calli would be pissed about right now, they knew the
Ulfer
took her; her pregnant daughter seemed to have the hormonal issue going on. She was fluxing between murderous, and slightly civil, which was good for Vivi. Her mate, Kade, didn’t seem to think so, since he was wearing a nut cup a lot. But Kade can harness her anger.

“I need a drink of water. I am hung-over,” Vivi grumbled.

The man snorted and didn’t answer; instead, he reached for his water bottle and took a long pull from it. Fucker. She rolled a little and felt something poking her in her side. Oh yeah, her pocket. Now she remembered, when they were at the house Brenda, Shelly, and her decided they needed to keep small weapons with them at all times. Things that would not be noticed if they were captured. Vivi had chosen an oldie but goodie. Visine, just a few drops in someone’s water, and they would be violently ill.

Well, they hadn’t chained her. They thought she was harmless, they really didn’t know her. “I need to go to the bathroom, I am serious, unless you want to be smelling my shit for the next few hours, you are gonna figure something out,” Vivi warned.

“I said, shut up, and wait. They will be here soon,” the guard growled and ignored her again.

Of course, it would not be that easy. Vivi shifted and moved, looking around the room, there was two doors, one of them had to be an exit, the other a bathroom. She could hear the water sloshing in the toilet and another guard walking up and down the hallway.

The guard in the room had one of those communicators on his waist though. That was what she wanted, she had seen the little screen before she was drugged, all their information was on it. It had also had something else that Vivi recognized. Something she had long forgotten, the sign of the Chosen next to their names, which was not too surprising since they had one of the books. However, it was the picture of people she didn’t recognize that had the symbol next to them is what she needed. They had to be the ones they were looking for.

Did the Prentiss know where they were? Had they been identified? Who had told them; the Drekinn hadn't been able to find a trace of any others yet. It was imperative they had the same information the Prentiss had. It was the only way they were going to get ahead.

She laid on the hard bed and thought out a plan, she needed to make sure that whatever happened, she got information for the others. Vivi needed to know she had helped them in the end. It had always been her goal, all of their goals, to help the Drekinn.

The guard silently watched and drank his water, she waited until he had to refill it and left the lid and went to the bathroom. While she waited, she moved around a little, trying to unstiffen her muscles. So, when he stood and went to the bathroom she moved quickly.

Seven drops in the lid was all that was needed. Visine could cause death and Vivi would never use it on a human, but a shifter had fast metabolism, it will work through quicker but still have the desired effect without harm. At least she hoped so, when the guard came back and put the lid back on his bottle she grinned. Now she only needed to wait.

“When are they coming?" Vivi asked, hoping it was not for a while.

“Soon,” the guard said.

“Snaggle, I know soon. You said that a while ago and they are still not here. So either you don’t know, or they are late,” Vivi reasoned.

“They are probably getting a room ready for you.” The man laughed.

“A room ready, why not here?” Vivi asked innocently. She knew why, because she would have done the same thing. Torture.

The guard shrugged and took a long drink of his water and grinned at her like it was bothering her he was drinking in front of her.

“We like to keep these rooms clean, you know for those who cooperate,” the guard said.

“No one has asked me anything, how do you know I am not going to cooperate?” Vivi protested.

“Turn on your daughter?” The man laughed. “Right.”

Vivi was silent and then finally said, “You never know.”

“Yeah, we do.” The man smiled and then took another drink.

Vivi saw the moment the eye drops worked. The guard shifted in his chair uncomfortably and a light sheen of sweat began to gather on his brow. Oh yeah, he was starting to feel uncomfortable.

“You never know what people are capable of when it comes to their kids you know.” Vivi smiled.

“I read your file while you were out. I am pretty sure you don’t need an excuse to be crazy,” the guard muttered.

“You know there are some things I just enjoy.” Vivi shrugged.

The guard’s eyes opened wide in panic and he stood and ran for the bathroom.
Uncontrollable shits really sucked
, Vivi thought and laughed. She stood and stretched a little. The guard had left everything on the small table and she walked to the table and picked up the communicator.

After looking around the room, she hid it in the mattress. She would make sure they left her here for now. It shouldn’t take too much to make that happen, Vivi grinned to herself and picked up the bottle of water and poured it on the ground.

“So let me ask you a few questions.” Vivi laughed as she stood in the doorway of the bathroom.

The guard had barely gotten his pants down before he apparently had shit in them since the belt buckle was still secure.

“Damn, Snaggle, you stink,” Vivi said.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” the guard screeched and held his stomach.

“Me? I didn’t do anything. Damn, why am I getting blamed,” Vivi said softly and flipped on the fan in the bathroom. “But you should really talk to someone about your issues there. So, who is the ‘boss’?”

“You crazy bitch!” the guard yelled.

“We have already established that. Who is in charge?” Vivi said and picked up a roll of toilet paper and threw it at him. “You know in your rush you left your weapon out on the table.”