Forsaken (32 page)

I
could feel tendrils of power reaching out towards me as Jasmin tried
to keep her beast under control. Whatever she might have said was
preempted by every single light within sight suddenly flickering off.

Jasmin
muttered an oath and looked at Isaac. "Do you think we can make
it to the van?"

"Doubtful,
but it's our best chance. We don't have many options at this point."

Jasmin
grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards the street. We'd only
made it a couple of feet when something out of a nightmare jumped
over the wall between the park and the street.

I
felt a push as Jasmin tried to get me out of the way, and then twin
waves of power washed over me as both Isaac and Jasmin transformed.
As I sprawled out on the pavement, I saw Jasmin dart in towards the
creature that was attacking us, but it swept a huge, clawed hand
towards her almost faster than I could follow, and she was forced to
duck away.

There
was just enough moonlight for me to make out some of the beast's
features. It was big, like a clay hybrid that had been left out in
the rain. Its features sort of ran together in a kind of unfinished
look, but I noticed all of that more as an afterthought. Mostly, I
just couldn't believe how big it was.

Isaac
seemed to be trying to work around to its side, but it spun around
and attacked with a blur of swipes I didn't even have a hope of
following. Isaac seemed to dodge away from most of them, but
something got through, and he went flying backwards through the air
as the creature turned on Jasmin.

She
was fast, faster even than I remembered her being, but the creature
seemed even faster still. For a second or two Jasmin gave ground,
retreating in an effort to keep it from getting ahold of her, but
then I heard a yelp and saw it pick her up by her stomach and slam
her into the fence hard enough that she went immediately limp.

Blood
was pouring out of her stomach wound, but Isaac was back in the fight
before the creature could finish off Jasmin. There was another
blurred exchange of blows but it was obvious that Isaac was on the
defensive. Isaac backed away, but the creature was faster and
suddenly he was dangling by one shoulder from its jaws as incredibly
sharp claws raked down his body.

I
stepped towards Isaac, wanting to save him but knowing full well that
there wasn't anything that I could do. All three of us were going to
die in the next few seconds. Time slowed down as the creature
tore into Isaac, and then suddenly, a slender figure stepped out of
the shadows. There was some kind of sword in the new arrival's hands
and it licked out, scoring a deep hit in the creature's arm.

The
beast dropped Isaac and spun towards the man with the sword. My
breath caught in my throat, but our rescuer ducked the blow and
managed another strike with his weapon as the creature's other hand
passed overhead. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. The man
wasn't much bigger than I was, but he'd just crippled both of the
beast's arms in a matter of seconds.

One
moment it was only heartbeats away from killing Isaac, the next it
was fleeing away before the man with the sword could kill it.

"Come
help me, child. We need to get both of them into their van quickly
before it brings help."

"You
mean there are more of them?"

I
asked the question as I moved towards him and helped pick up Isaac,
who'd already shrunk back down to his slightly more manageable human
form. For a minute I thought the man wasn't going to answer, but once
he had his sword sheathed and was positioned under Isaac's other arm,
he finally looked over at me and nodded.

"There
are more of them than you can possibly imagine. Someday soon, unless
we do things just right, they are going to carpet the earth and bring
about the end of everything."

We
were almost to the van by the time my brain was able to gloss over
enough of what he'd said to resume processing events, albeit in a
halting manner.

"What
was it?"

"It
was one of the earthborn. Your friends would call it a werewolf."

I
opened my mouth to ask another question, not because I had one in
mind, but because I got the feeling it was important to get as much
information out of this man as I could. He pulled the van door open
before I could find my voice again, and then we were laying Isaac
down in the back of the van.

"There
should be a first-aid kit somewhere inside. Grab it and start
bandaging Isaac. I'll be back in a second."

I'd
seen the results of Donovan's handiwork enough to have an idea how to
go about it. I found the first-aid kit and started taping the worst
of the gashes closed without worrying about gauze. Hopefully Isaac's
natural healing ability would do the rest.

A
few seconds later the man was back, carrying Jasmin this time, and I
got my first good look at him. He was dressed all in black with an
odd-looking collar that I couldn't quite place.

"Take
this and get to the front of the van. You drive while I finish up
with Isaac, and then I'll start on Dominic."

I
took the small electronic device from him and then stopped partway
through climbing over Ben. "That's not Dominic. It's Jasmin."

I
didn't realize just how calm the man was until I saw him really
rattled.

"It's
not possible. It was supposed to be Dominic here, not Jasmin. Where
is Dominic?"

"She's
back in Sanctuary with Alec and the rest."

The
man stared blankly at me for several seconds before shaking himself
and pointing at the steering wheel. "Please get us started
moving, Adri. We don't have much time before they'll be back. We're
off script now, so please drive fast. The GPS unit will guide you."

"I
don't understand. How do you know my name?"

He
looked up at me with a kind of terrible majesty I'd never seen out of
anyone else before. He didn't raise his voice, but he pointed at my
friends.

"I
don't have time to answer any more questions for you right now, Adri.
If you don't get this van moving towards the airport, you and your
friends will all die. Not just Isaac and Jasmin, but Dominic, Alec
and Rachel too. By the love of everything you hold dear in the world,
please sit down and start driving."

Every
rebellious bone in my teenage body wanted to take offense at the way
he was ordering me around without an explanation, but I found myself
sitting down and turning the key that Jasmin had left in the
ignition. I couldn't have said how I knew he was telling the truth,
but I was absolutely convinced that every word was painfully
accurate.

The
GPS mounted to the windshield and turned on without any problems. I
could hear the man muttering as he worked on Isaac. Most of it was
too quiet for me to pick out, but I caught an occasional phrase here
and there. I got the feeling he didn't realize he was talking to
himself.

"...inconceivable...talk
to her? ...no, too dangerous...never meet...but she
can't keep on like this...to go blind now...so many years..."

I
drove as fast as I dared, considering that I didn't want to try and
explain away three unconscious, mostly bloody passengers to a cop if
I got pulled over for speeding. The muttering got too faint for me to
make anything out, but that didn't stop me from trying. It seemed
like forever, but it couldn't have been more than twenty minutes
before we drove under a train. The sound of the cars rumbling
overhead worked some kind of transformation on the man. It was like
someone had flipped a switch inside of him and changed him back to
the confident fighter who had driven off the werewolf. He climbed
over Ben, Isaac and Jasmin and seated himself in the passenger chair.

"We
don't have much time left. When you get to the gate, enter the code
that will flash up on the GPS. That will get you inside the airfield.
You need to get these three onto Alec's jet and into the air as
quickly as possible. Dom, I mean Jasmin, should have called ahead and
gotten the pilot up and ready to go. I left six syringes in a case
resting on Isaac's chest. Inject one syringe into each of the shape
shifters every half hour. That should keep them unconscious enough
for you to make it to Shawn. As soon as you are inside the plane, you
need to call Alec and tell him what happened."

"I
don't understand. Where are you going?"

"I
can't be there with you. Things need to unfold in a certain way, and
if I'm there they won't go like they need to."

"Are
you sure?"

The
calm, unruffled man who'd fought off a monster, the one who'd
reappeared as I'd driven under the train tracks, cracked a little
again and I saw worry and uncertainty in his eyes.

"I...I'm
sure of less now than I expected to be, child, but I can't go with
you. There...there are things that I need to do still with
whatever time I might have left to me."

He
was quiet for several seconds as though trying to decide how much to
tell me, and I suddenly remembered his comment earlier about being
off script. I got the feeling he'd been following his script for a
very long time.

"It
is absolutely vital that you get Alec to meet you in Chicago. Isaac
and Jasmin won't make it long enough to fly all the way back to Utah.
If...if Alec tries to suggest an alternate meeting point, you
have to convince him that Shawn needs to be involved. I can't explain
why, but it's important. Also, it's important that you, Rachel and
Dominic are all there when it happens. Make sure he brings Dominic
and Rachel."

"When
what happens?"

"I
can't tell you that either. I can only ask you if you love Alec."

It was crazy, but it was somehow easier to tell him, a complete stranger,
the truth that I'd been unable to fully admit to anyone else I knew.
Alec wasn't just an ex that I had fond feelings for, he was the one
person who I'd risk everything to save even if he never wanted to see
me again. "Yes, I love Alec. Now tell me what is going to happen so
I can save him."

He
looked worried again. "What makes you think Alec needs saving?
It's Dom...Jasmin and Isaac who are hurt."

"I
don't know. It's just a feeling, I guess."

He
muttered something else that sounded like 'more meddling' and then
looked up and fixed me with a gaze that pinned me to my chair.

"I
don't have any more time. All I can tell you is that your love for
Alec is vitally important right now. You need to hold onto that love.
Wrap yourself in it. Wrap him in it. Don't tell Alec this, but it's
the only chance he has against Agony."

We
were at the gate. The GPS flashed a string of numbers at me, and when
I looked back at the man, he'd already slipped out the passenger door
and was walking away from the van.

Alec Graves
Graves Estate
Sanctuary, Utah

I
was tempted to ignore my phone. It had woken me out of the first
night of restful sleep I'd had since Kristin's latest dream warning.

"This
is Alec."

"Alec,
it's Adri."

A wave of emotion washed through me that was even stronger than
I'd expected it to be. All of these weeks and months that I'd been
waiting, hoping she'd change her mind, and now she'd actually
called.

"I'm
sorry, Alec. I wouldn't have called, but Jasmin and Isaac are hurt.
We're taxiing down the runway right now, but I don't think they can
make it all the way to Sanctuary."

Of
course. She'd only called because her friends were hurt. The hope I'd
felt just seconds before crashed, leaving nothing but duty, duty to
my friends and my family. I rolled out of bed and pulled my pants on
with one hand while the other hand held the phone. I was walking down
the hall, shoes in hand, almost before the echo of her voice had died
away.

"What
happened?"

"I'm
not completely sure. They got Ben—he's here in the plane with
me—but Isaac got shot in the process. We were down in the park
and then something attacked us. I think it was a werewolf; it was
huge and it almost killed Jasmin and Isaac."

"Jasmin
and Isaac wouldn't have been a match for a werewolf. Are you sure it
wasn't another hybrid?"

"No,
but they weren't a match for it. It knocked Jasmin unconscious and
was about to kill Isaac when an old man with a sword showed up and
drove it off. Then he got us all in a van and driving towards the
airport. I've got syringes I'm supposed to administer every half
hour, but he didn't say if I was supposed to start now or wait half
an hour before the first dose."

"Give
it to them now. The risk of an overdose from whatever it is isn't as
severe as the risk that Isaac will regain consciousness and kill
everyone on the plane."

I
waited while she administered the sedative, my mind spinning the
entire time. An hour and a half wasn't very much flight time. I
needed a friendly pack with dominants who were strong enough to
contain Isaac if he lost control of his beast. There was only one
option. I burst into Donovan's office and felt my mouth drop when I
saw Rachel standing under her own power for the first time in over a
month.

Rachel
gave me a sad smile, but I couldn't have said why she was sad. She
looked healthier than she had in weeks.

"Hi,
Alec. Donovan has just ordered the plane prepped for takeoff. It will
be ready to go by the time we get to the airport. I've called Dom
already. She's waiting for us in the garage."

I
shook my head. "I don't know how you knew Adri was going to call
me, but you're not coming with me, Rachel."

"I
just knew, Alec. Call it a feeling."

Adri
was back. "What's going on Alec?"

"I'm
not sure, but Rachel has taken the liberty of getting the flight crew
started. She's going to turn around now and go back to bed."