Forsaken (31 page)

The
shop where they were holding Ben had been quiet since about ten, and
nothing particularly exciting happened while I waited except for a
recurring feeling that I was being watched. Under other
circumstances, it would have been enough to make me call off the op,
but I wasn't leaving Ben in there for any longer than I absolutely
had to. I woke Isaac up twenty minutes before go time and we stripped
down to our ha'bits.

I
gave the word to Ash's hacker over an encrypted messaging line, and
thirty seconds later, every light for three city blocks went out. We
were less conspicuous on two legs, so we jogged up the street toward
the shop. My shoulders itched the whole way.

The
yard where they stored the vehicles they'd been paid to modify was
secured with a giant chain and a padlock. Isaac transformed his hand
to the wicked, semi-retractable claws of his hybrid
form and sheared through the lock without breaking stride.

The
phone relay for the alarm system had taken some work to track down,
but it turned out that some idiot had run it from the roof up to the
nearest telephone pole. Apparently your garden-variety vampires
weren't very good with technology, and their contractor had pulled a
fast one on them.

I
positioned myself against the exterior wall of the building and
braced myself as Isaac ran toward me. I made a stirrup out of my
hands and launched him as high as I could. Just as I'd expected, the
impact pretty much leveled me. Isaac was a big boy, but I managed to
help get him an extra six or seven feet of vertical. He sank both
clawed hands into the side of the building and then reached up and
grabbed the eaves of the second story that his jump hadn't quite made
it to. A few seconds later, he'd cut through the security phone line
and he was sliding back down.

Odds
were decent that whoever was inside had heard something, but
hopefully they thought it was some kind of big rat or something. We
sprinted around the corner of the building and then Isaac dropped his
shoulder and hit the door so hard that it didn't even slow him down.

I
followed him through the door expecting to find one of the big, open
bays where they worked on vehicles. I didn't expect to find half a
dozen individuals, none of whom looked happy to see us.

Isaac
dodged left as I dodged right. We almost weren't fast enough; I
actually felt the first couple of bullets whistle past me as four of
the six opened up with handguns. Unlike recently, my beast didn't
need any coaxing to complete a transformation. She ripped up out of
me with a fury that took my breath away.

There
were plenty of tools and equipment scattered around the outside edge
of the room. I ghosted along behind the clutter as I heard two of our
opponents moving slowly toward the door Isaac and I had used to enter
the building.

The
smart thing would have been for Isaac and me to beat a hasty retreat,
but I wasn't interested in smart right now. I waited until the one on
my side was almost to the door and then I sailed over a large tool
chest and hit him with all the force my nearly two hundred pound wolf
body could muster.

The
jump was a thing of beauty. I knocked him over and sent both of us
rolling behind another set of machinery. He was still trying to
figure out what had happened when I killed him.

If
his scent hadn't confirmed that he was just a human, his reflexes
would have. It smelled like there were seven or eight different
vampires who regularly came through here, but we were only facing
two vampires. The other three were humans.

Something
went spinning through the air with a buzz and then a meaty thunk told
me Isaac hadn't shifted yet. He was using improvised tools for now.
Not a bad idea. He'd have an even harder time keeping his hybrid body
concealed than he was going to have with his normal form.

"You
two work your way towards them. We'll be right behind you."

That
had to be one of the vampires. They weren't likely to be taking
orders from humans, and I couldn't see very many circumstances where
a vampire would be willing to let an armed human get behind them.

The
humans were at a disadvantage. The shop was too dark for them to see
very well. The vampires were probably in better shape though. The
smart money would be on them trying to use the humans to flush us
out.

I
listened to the sound of footsteps as I quietly circled back around
the way I'd come. Isaac apparently had the same idea. I felt a rush
of power as he shifted and then his wolf form came ghosting towards
me. Our prey was less than five feet away from us when we moved
almost as one, springing out from around our cover once again.

These
humans were more prepared than their fellows had been. They each got
a shot off before we hit them. My beast snarled as a bullet
creased my flank. It hurt, but it wouldn't impair my effectiveness. I
ripped the throat out of my target and then rolled away as a sword
came slicing through the volume of space I'd been occupying just a
split second before.

I
sprang again, trying to put space between me and the vampire who was
so intent on skewering me. As I whirled around and set for another
jump I got a glimpse of Isaac. He'd taken a shot to the chest. It
didn't look like it had hit anything serious, but he was losing a lot
of blood. He'd reverted back to his hybrid form now and seemed to be
pressing his vampire pretty hard despite the wound.

I
dodged to the side, just avoiding a thrust from my opponent, and then
I danced back towards the center of the space. I really hated
fighting vampires. They always had a sword or some kind of weapon on
them, and it gave them a reach that was even better than some
hybrids. My best chance was to move the fight somewhere with some
room to maneuver and then see if I could coax this idiot into a
mistake.

The
next stab was even closer than the last, but I darted in and got a
piece of his upper arm before spinning away again. If I'd managed
something lower down I might have chosen to hold on, but with the
upper arm there was too much chance he'd still be able to stick me.
At least now he was bleeding. If nothing else, that could eventually
shift the fight my direction as his weapon started to get harder to
hold on to.

I
dodged another stab, but this one was a feint, and I had to throw
myself to the side at the last second to avoid a slashing attack. I
still took a respectable gash on my right side, but that was better
than dead, which was what I'd almost ended up being.

I
caught another glimpse of Isaac as I rolled back to my feet and put
more distance between me and the sword. Isaac had ripped a length of
chain out of a piece of equipment and was using it to keep his
vampire on the defensive.

I
saw an opportunity develop and the next time my guy came in with a
stab I didn't just dodge sideways, I lunged forward. The angle
sucked. There was no way I could have used it to attack him, but I
hit him hard enough to send him sideways as I streaked past and
launched myself at Isaac's opponent.

My
vampire called out a warning but he was a split second too late, and
then my jaws fastened on the back of Isaac's guy's neck.

I
hadn't had this much fun in a fight for ages. Isaac kept my guy
backed off for the couple of seconds that it took me to finish off
his guy, and then we were spreading out, flanking my guy. If you had
to choose between keeping eyes on a seven-foot hybrid wielding six
feet of chain or a slightly larger than normal wolf, you'd almost
always choose the hybrid.

This
guy tried pretty hard to split his attention evenly, but eventually
he took his eyes off me for a second too long and my kill count went
up to four. I changed back to two legs as I followed the most recent
Ben scent trail back to a tiny room on the other side of the
building.

Ben
was sitting on his bed in a tiny sliver of light that made its way in
through his window. He looked like he was debating whether or not he
should be investigating the ruckus we were causing.

"Jasmin,
I can't believe you guys really came. I was starting to think you'd
abandoned me."

"No
way in hell, Ben. You and I still have a lot to work out."

He
took in the tattered condition of my ha'bit and started to offer me
his jacket, but I waved him off.

"It's
really cold out there. You'll need it more than I will. Let's get out
of here."

I
pulled his hand up to my shoulder to compensate for the darkness back
in the main part of the building and then started leading him back to
Isaac.

"How
did you guys beat everyone? I mean, there must have been nearly two
dozen of them between the crews of both dealers."

My blood ran cold.

"Isaac,
we're out of time! There's another batch of drug dealers on their
way. We must have arrived just before the meet."

He muttered a swearword under his breath. "There's
gas in here. I've already taken care of the garage. You get Ben back
to the van, and I'll splash some gas on the side of the building I
chewed up on my way up to cut the security alarm."

"Can
do."

I
had Ben almost to the door outside when he suddenly went crazy,
kicking and punching as he tried to break away. It had to be some
kind of programming from the vampires, so I did the only thing I
could think of.

"Sorry,
Ben."

I
hit him hard enough to drop him without needing a follow-up blow, and
then picked him up and slung him over my shoulder. Isaac was already
on his way back with a couple of incendiary devices we'd gotten
courtesy of Ash's contacts.

I
popped open the back of the van and slid Ben inside. Isaac was back a
couple of seconds later.

"They
are on three-minute timers. Let's go before the rest of the vampires
show up."

Adriana Paige
Upper East Side
Manhattan, New York

Mom
had left on another trip, down to somewhere in the Caribbean this
time, so there wasn't any reason for me to spend the night in our
house. Instead, I'd crashed at the penthouse while I waited for the
results of Jasmin and Isaac's attempt to rescue Ben.

Before
she'd left, Jasmin had suggested I get some sleep, but I'd known that
wasn't going to happen. The headaches always seemed worse when I woke
up. Besides, I was too anxious about Ben. He'd been through so much
already. Hopefully the rescue went off without any hitches.

I
knew Isaac was worried. He'd said even less than normal around me,
but he always seemed to be asking Jasmin for more time to do
surveillance. Jasmin was relentless though, and I was pretty sure
they were going to go ahead and attempt the rescue tonight.

Instead
of sleeping, I spent the night pacing across the living room while
reruns of some sitcom I'd never seen before blared from the TV. At
about five in the morning, Jasmin called my phone.

"Are
you guys okay? Did you get Ben out?"

"We
got Ben out, but there have been some complications. We're just
inside of the park, can you come downstairs and meet us? We're just
off 86
^th
. There's a kind of mini playground here."

"You
guys can't come up?"

"I'm
sorry, Adri. I know we're not supposed to let you wander around
outside by yourself, but I can't come up and get you."

"I'll
be right down."

Honestly,
wandering around Manhattan, even the nicer parts of Manhattan, at
night didn't necessarily top my list of things I was comfortable
doing, but if Jasmin was asking me to come downstairs then something
serious had happened. I'd just hurry and hope that if something
happened, they'd be close enough to hear me scream.

There
wasn't time to change, so I just pulled a coat on over what I was
already wearing, slipped into my tennis shoes, and ran for the
elevator. It was too cold to run, so I settled for a quick walk that
wouldn't burn my lungs and tried to ignore the way the cold wind
knifed right through the thin pants I was wearing.

I
kept getting the feeling I was being watched. It got so intense that
I started looking around, trying to find whoever it was that was
following me, but no matter how fast I turned my head, there wasn't
anyone there when I looked.

I
told myself I was just being paranoid and tried to hurry a little
faster. Ten minutes later 86
^th
came into view and I relaxed
slightly. Jasmin and Isaac were just barely inside the
park. They were both bloody, but Jasmin was pacing while Isaac just
leaned against the fence like he was trying to conserve his strength.
As I got closer, I realized the entire side of his chest was soaked
in blood.

Jasmin
walked forward to meet me. "Thanks for coming down, Adri. I
couldn't just walk into the building covered in blood like this. We
need to go; the van is right there. We can be in the air in half an
hour, and land in Sanctuary a few hours after that."

"Wait
a second; you didn't say anything about leaving. I've got school
tomorrow. I can't just leave. My mom will freak out when the
school calls and tells her I didn't show up."

"I'm
sorry, Adri, but this is the only option. Isaac will be okay until we
get back to where Donovan can pull the bullet out, but I've got to
get him back to Alec and the others, and I'm not leaving you here by
yourself. Alec would go ballistic when he found out."

"So
fly Donovan out here instead. That won't take any more time, and it
will allow me to stay here. I can't just disappear again. The last
time I got sucked into pack business, it caused major problems with
my mom. I don't want Isaac to die or anything, but it will be just as
fast to get Donovan as it would be for us to fly out there."