ROMANCE: SHIFTER: Shifter to the Max Collection (Dragon, Bear, Wolf and Panther Shifter Romances) (Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection) (92 page)

Killian looked as if he had seen a ghost. His complexion was already pale white, but seemed to turn a deathly shade of blue. Then, before Karyn could react, Killian was screaming across the room to his supervisors. Whoever was creating this mess was planning an attack on New York, and LaLevy had been rung, which meant that this was an inside job. No one but Department 99 agents even knew about LaLevy’s existence. Their criminal was a member of Department 99. The culprit was one of them. There was a traitor in their midst.

The next few moments passed by in a haze. Killian guided Karyn into his car and peeled out of the parking lot.

“You’re not bringing Jack?” Karyn asked, confused.

“No,” Killian spat back. “We’re going to St. Peter’s hospital. The LaLevy alarm is located inside, beneath the morgue.”

Karyn knew St. Peter’s Hospital well. She had worked there briefly, when they had suffered a shortage of nursing staff, but had quit because the establishment simply cut too many corners for her. After watching staff make a particularly gruesome medical mistake, she had walked out and vowed never to return. Their weasel-like Human Resources manager had called her later that afternoon, threatening a lawsuit for breach of contract. Karyn told the woman that if they sued, she would expose them to the media, and the woman had simply coughed and quietly hung up the phone.

Not everyone at St. Peter’s hospital had been bad news, though. Karyn had become particularly friendly with a doctor by the name of Kevin Camaro. Kevin had often talked about wanting to change things at the establishment. Karyn also remembered that St. Peter’s had gotten into a bit of hot water for improper disposal of medical waste. Could the incidents be related somehow?

Killian peeled to a stop in front of the hospital. He drove quickly, but mindfully and Karyn didn’t feel unsafe with him behind the wheel. Together they hopped out of the vehicle and headed into the lobby. Maybe Dr. Kevin Camaro was still working there. Maybe he could help their investigation. Karyn almost smiled at the thought of seeing Kevin again. He was such a warm and caring man.

The lobby was a vast expanse of glass and scattered plastic seating areas. Something about the scene didn’t feel quite right to Karyn. Where were the patients and information desk clerks? Where were the doctors, the visitors, and the security guards? Where was everyone? “Stay close to me,” Killian instructed Karyn. The way he said it made her feel nervous. He seemed to sense something very dangerous too.

Karyn followed Killian through a combination of narrow passageways and into the elevator. As they descended into the basement, Karyn’s heart jumped up into her throat. What a horrible mess this was. For some reason, when Karyn remembered Dr. Kevin Camaro, she wished that she could go back to her old life. Sure, she had experienced plenty of trauma and hardship, but there were beautiful moments of kindness too. Then, Karyn looked over at Killian. He was focused and single-minded. He moved with precision—and he was kind too now, despite whatever he had been in the past.

Killian and Karyn approached the double metal doors of the morgue. As a nurse, Karyn had plenty of exposure to death. She had removed tubes from the bodies of the deceased, and had sometimes tried to make car accident victims’ bodies more presentable for their families. She had seen people die on the operating room table—and while those deaths stayed with her, a part of her soul had gone with them…wherever they went when they left earth. A part of Karyn had stupidly wanted to die too, a long time ago. Growing up in foster care had been rough, and she seemed to have a perpetual longing to go home, wherever home was.

Killian’s feet made virtually no sound as they opened the door to the morgue and crept inside. Karyn wondered what the LaLevy alarm would look like. A few sheeted bodies were pushed up against the wall on gurneys at the far side of the room. The others, Karyn knew, were in the freezer. Still, where were the morgue attendants? Where was the security guard? What happened to everyone? The room was uncomfortably cold, and the slightly sweet smell of decomposing flesh emanated from the bodies closest to the wall.

Killian walked over to a drain in the middle of the adjoining autopsy room’s floor. He looked at the drain, frowned, and then looked back down at the tiny hole in the floor. To Karyn, it just looked like a simple drain—nothing remarkable. Killian bent down on his hands and knees and began to pry off the mesh covering. When the cover came lose, he quickly tossed it up into Karyn’s hands. She caught the lid, without thinking, and then threw it back down onto the floor. Human blood, bile, urine, and all other kids of foul things had passed through that drain. The thought made Karyn feel sick.

Killian reached his hand down into the hole and started to jam his fingers around. “I know it’s not pretty, but they knew that no one would come looking here. Ah, there it is.” Killian appeared to tug on a little device, which quickly came free. He brought a tiny metal box up through the hole and offered it to Karyn, who took an immediate step back. Killian sensed her discomfort, and he flicked back the latch and opened the box. The square container was empty.

“We’re in big trouble,” Killian said in a whisper to Karyn. The look on Killian’s face seemed to halt the movement of space and time. Karyn had never seen him appear so serious.

“Should we look for clues?” Karyn asked. Killian nodded. Perhaps the traitor had worked in the morgue. Karyn went to the file room and began to search through a small desk in the front room. There was nothing of significance. Then, Karyn had a thought. Perhaps they should check the freezers? Perhaps they should check the bodies?

Karyn slowly approached Killian. He seemed wild and unlike himself. “Should we check the bodies?” She asked. The question seemed to almost bring Killian to tears. He placed his hand over his mouth and squinted hard. Then, his expression of grief was replaced by a look of sheer determination. Killian walked over to the freezing unit and pulled open the first locker door. There was a body inside, laying on a gurney. Killian pulled the body out, and looked down at the person’s face. Killian fell backwards. It was the boy--the boy from his recurring nightmare—the boy that he had repeatedly dreamt of hunting, stalking, and killing. Killian fell to the floor, shaking. Karyn immediately rushed to his side.

Instinctively, Karyn gently pushed the gurney and body back into the freezing unit, and shut the small door. She stooped down on the floor next to Killian. His eyes seemed to glare right past her.

“Killian...” Karyn spoke his name in a whisper. He did not react. This time Karyn reached up and began to gently stroke his beautiful hair. Something flashed in his eyes and Killian’s hand shot up and grabbed her firmly around the wrist. He pressed down as if he wanted to crush her bones. Karyn gasped as she was suddenly seeing and feeling everything that Killian was experiencing within his head. There was nothing human in his mind; in that moment, he was pure vampire. The Killian she knew had vanished, and he was nothing but primal instinct and violence.

For a second, Karyn panicked. It was as if someone or something had temporarily pulled everything good out of Killian, and he was nothing but a killer.

“Killian, stop!” Karyn screamed, her own mind beginning to drown in dread. Killian continued to press down hard, his deep grey eyes boring into her. Karyn watched as Killian’s fangs slowly emerged, and his mouth began to descend to where her wrist was being held, locked in his deathly vice grip.

Karyn took one desperate stab in the dark and sent out every warm thought she had of both she and Killian together. Finally, she saw the light shift in his eyes again. He seemed to become immediately aware of what he had done. He was frightened of himself.

Killian released Karyn’s wrist and rapidly moved into the corner away from her. “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…oh my God…what have I done?” Karyn cradled her wrist protectively to her chest, and Killian stood up, reaching out for her. Karyn instinctively stepped back. “I don’t know what happened to me,” Killian pleaded. “I…I couldn’t control it.”

Something new now flashed in Karyn’s blue eyes. Killian had never seen her look like that before—even when she had faced the werewolf. Karyn looked murderous. She spoke in a low tone, “If you ever lay a hand on me again I’ll kill you. Let’s find whatever we need to find and get back to the department.”

Killian felt a terrible wave of shame engulf both his mind and body. He had thought that Karyn understood him. Why didn’t she know that he hadn’t meant to hurt her? Why did he always seem to hurt the people he cared about the most? Killian thought of the dead boy in the freezer again and shuddered. His eyes looked desperate and almost child-like. For a moment, Killian considered trying to explain the situation, but what would he say? He didn’t even know what had happened. No. To try and to explain away what he had just done, would be a trick—it would simply be his old primal self trying to manipulate someone for his own gain, and Killian didn’t want to be that soulless person again.

After searching the other bodies in the morgue, they came up empty. Karyn seemed to feel like the next thing they needed to do was to search the sewers. After all, Department 99 was built down into the ground. Maybe there was something of significance under the hospital.

Together, they wandered the lower level of the hospital looking for an opening, which might reasonably lead them into the sewer system. As they searched, Killian couldn’t help but admire how strong Karyn was. Her wrist was injured, but Karyn didn’t waver, and still didn’t seem particularly threatened by being alone with him. Instead, she wanted to find out what was causing the shifters to lose control. Helping others was the only thing she cared about.

Eventually they came to an opening near something that looked like a prison shower room. Karyn didn’t know why the hospital would need a communal shower room like that, but she didn’t allow her mind to ask too many questions about the scene. The LaLevy alarm had been activated and there was no time to make mistakes, or to waste time thinking about inconsequential nuances.

As they stood at the mouth of the sewer, Killian turned his lip upwards, as if in disgust. “Human waste is almost as foul as vampire waste,” he said—trying to lighten the mood.

“Well, if you think about it we’re both carnivores,” Karyn spat back. Soon after, she disappeared into the darkness of the sewer tunnel.

Visibility within the sewer was terrible. Karyn stumbled about and almost hit her head on a low-lying pipe. “Let me go first,” Killian offered, trying to push past Karyn. His vampire eyes allowed him to see better in the darkness, but she was so angry that she wouldn’t allow him to step in front of her. Instead, Karyn sped up. Even for Killian, Karyn was moving too quickly. He was trying to scan the area for both danger and clues, but as she moved ahead he found that he was distracted—struggling to match her pace, and not lose her as they twisted and turned in the damp sewer tunnels.

Finally, after walking for a while, Karyn slowed down. “Why did you do it?” Karyn asked blankly.

Killian turned towards her. He was closer to her face than she realized—she couldn’t tell, because she couldn’t see him in the darkness. “Why did you hunt that little boy? I saw it when I read your mind by accident on the day we first met.” Killian was taken aback. Again, he felt ashamed.

“I don’t know why I did it because something happened to my memory when I got sucked through the vortex… but I imagine that I probably did it because that’s what vampires do. We hunt—same as humans.” Karyn felt angry again, and then her rage slowly began to subside. Who was she to judge? He was right. Some humans did hunt other animals for sport, and for food. Was it really that different?

“You see me as the bad guy, because you’re my food source. A chicken or a cow sees you as the bad guy, Karyn, and they see me as their protector…from you.”

Karyn sighed, “Chickens and cows don’t think, Killian.”

Killian shook his head. “Vampires used to say the same thing about humans. I think that everything that’s alive wants to preserve its own life, and in that instinct there is a certain kind of consciousness.” Karyn felt suddenly ashamed. In judging Killian, she had never considered that she, too, was a predator. Karyn had always thought of herself as a healer.

Karyn suddenly heard a far-off scuttling sound. Both she and Killian froze in their tracks. Karyn’s heart raced. If a shifter was coming towards her, she would be helpless because she couldn’t see. For a quick moment, she regretted having been so harsh on Killian because she needed him now.

Killian tiptoed up closer to Karyn and took the lead, positioning his body between Karyn and whatever had made the noise. A rat quickly scampered by. Karyn relaxed, but Killian wasn’t fooled. Whatever had made that sound had been bigger than a rat. Something was down here.

Suddenly, a tiny ball rolled itself down the tunnel towards Karyn. “Don’t move,” Killian whispered. The ball continued its slow roll towards them until it reached a dead stop right in front of Killian’s shoe. “Get ready to run,” he said to Karyn. It was too much. Karyn wanted to cry and scream. She had been in more danger over the course of the last few days than she had in the entirety of her life before Department 99. Why had this happened to her? Of all the people on the planet, why did she have to be a shadow-walker? Karyn blinked. All of a sudden, she could see. For some reason, even though it was dark—she could see clearly.

“Come out here, ghost!” Killian called. No answer. Something scampered around again in the distance. The form of a very short woman appeared in the middle of the tunnel. “I guess I was wrong. It’s nothing.” Killian stated.