Soul Resurrected (Sons of Wrath, #2) (4 page)

BOOK: Soul Resurrected (Sons of Wrath, #2)
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“I can assure you—”

“You can assure nothing but risk.” Penwell cleared his throat. “You were chosen based on your creativity. You have a brilliant mind, no doubt. But your reckless behavior makes you an unsound investment. And I’m beginning to see no benefit in this venture. Perhaps another expert is in order. We’d like you to hand over the girl immediately.”

Wade sat forward in his chair. “Now wait—”

An alarm, like an air raid, blasted through the intercom.

Lights flickered.

Penwell’s palms flattened against the desktop, his eyes so wide they damn near bulged from their sockets. “Not another one.”

Wade twisted in his seat. “Where the fuck’s the fire?”

“No fire. Escapee,” Junior said and clutched the arms of the chair, knuckles white.

The way Penwell senior squirmed had Wade’s asshole puckering. The usually stoic expression on the man’s face morphed like he might curl up in the fetal position at any moment and start sucking his thumb.

“What …”

Wade’s question trailed off, as a flash of white whipped past Penwell senior and grabbed him up from behind. It materialized into the creepiest bastard Wade had ever seen. A network of veins pulsated beneath translucent skin. Where there should’ve been white in its eyes, blood red filled the space, its pupils so dilated they damn near swamped the red. Its arm dripped crimson, flesh and fibers hanging from a bloody stump as if its arm had been ripped right from the shoulder.

A scent filled the air, crinkling Wade’s nose. Pungent. Like rotted meat and a piss poor attempt to cover it up with some sterile shit.

“What the hell is that thing?” Wade asked as two scientists burst through the door, one holding a syringe cocked and ready for stabbing.

With another flash of white, a second creature appeared behind them. Long white fingers with browning nails wrapped around the armed scientist’s neck and the beast bit down. Bursts of red shot back at the creature, spattering against the white like blood on snow. The veins enlarged beneath its translucent skin with each suck from the poor bastard’s neck.

The second scientist backed up against the wall and took off running.

A paralyzing chill climbed Wade’s spine as the thing chewed at his victim’s throat, the scientist waving his syringe around the other side of his arm. Like a big white spider injecting its poison into a fly. Futile.

“What kind of messed up shit …” Wade muttered.

A silent scream threw open the scientists mouth, agony and pleading clear in his large, widened eyes. While the beast feasted on the wound gaping across his throat, the man’s hands lowered as though void of strength.

“No!” Penwell junior lurched forward beside Wade.

Wade swung his gaze back around, as fangs slid from the mouth of the white beast still holding Penwell senior captive.

“They’re … unstable,” Junior spoke out of the corner of his mouth, his voice quaking.

“What the hell is it?”

“A virus? We don’t know exactly. It craves blood.”

“You gotta be shittin’ me.”

Wade drew his Glock and shot two bullets in its head without so much as a blink, and the beast dropped to the floor behind Penwell. Crossing his arm over his chest, he pointed the gun at the second beast, but it threw down the scientist’s limp body, disappearing before Wade could take the shot.

As guards piled into the office, Penwell senior held up his hand, glancing down at the fallen bloodsucker. “It’s okay.”

“Great timing, boys. D’ja take the fuckin’ choo-choo train to get up here?” Rolling his eyes, Wade turned back to the beast he’d shot. Clear fluid with golden flecks spilled among a very trace amount of red blood that oozed onto the floor beside its head. “What’s that shit coming out of the bullet hole?”

“Ichor.” Senior wiped a kerchief across his face and behind his neck.

“Ichor?” Wade drew back. “Pus?”

“As in blood. Immortal blood.”

Wade sneered. “He don’t look so immortal to me.”

“Mister Wade, I thank you for your quick thinking.”

“Wasn’t a lick of thought involved in that. I shoot on instinct.” He gave a quick nod. “What the hell happened to its arm?”

“We’ve had so many escape entirely. They find new and
innovative
ways of breaking out of their confines.”

Wade bent forward to get another look. “You tellin’ me this son’abitch chewed his own arm off?” He chuckled. “Innovative’s right. That’s pretty downright desperate there.”

“So, it would appear.” Penwell fell into his chair and blew out a breath. “At least I can rest easy knowing
one
of them is contained.” He looked past Wade toward the guards standing limp-dicked behind him. “Escape team. ASAP.
If
by some miracle you find this one, kill on sight and bring it back here.” A sharp nod followed and the shuffle of boots signaled the guards’ retreat.

“Mind telling me what we got going on here? Say a …
life-saving
perk?” Wade snorted then glanced back at the sound of more scuffling.

Three lab rats dragged the lifeless bodies out of the office. Penwell senior waved them off before leaning forward again with that penetrating Goodfellas stare, like Wade’d just earned himself a pair of cement shoes. “Mister Wade, the creature you just witnessed has the potential to wipe out a demon. Which is why it is imperative that you continue your work, and that we get that girl.”

“A bullet to the head and it drops? ‘Fraid you’re gonna need a more hearty supe to rival those demon pricks. Pardon my French.” He thumbed his chin. “Not knocking your work here. It’s that whole food chain business that I’d like to break with a pair of cutters.”

Penwell gave an un-amused stare. “They’re weakened at the moment. Centuries of extinction will do that, I suppose.” He sat up straight and adjusted his tie. “Once we figure out the infecting organism’s structure, with some time and a little help, they’ll be a force like no other. Therefore, no one must know what you saw today. Forget the mutts. We’re running out of time.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Now, tell us where we can find the girl.”

A grin stretched wide across Wade’s face. “I’ll talk to this nephilim. Get her back to you straight away.”

CHAPTER 2

Present-day …

ABANDONED HOSPITAL IN DETROIT GOES UP IN FLAMES

The headline flashed on the TV screen while Marg Penderbaum’s head bobbed silently beside it. Footage revealed firefighters working to control the flames that licked upward toward the darkened sky. The hollow blackened building looked almost unrecognizable from just a couple hours prior, when it still housed the Alexi soldiers and their twisted leader, Jackson Wade.

Gavin fell into his chair, kicking his feet up on the desktop. A smile tugged at the corner of his lip, recalling the look on Ayden’s face when she’d finally defeated her enemy, bringing an end to the Alexi regime. All the Alexi soldiers had escaped, left to wander the streets of Detroit. Better? Worse? Who the hell knew? All those kids had played a part in Wade’s sick ploy to build an unstoppable army.

He swirled the Elysia liquor in the scotch glass and sipped it.

What a night
.

Nothing topped the evening, though, quite like getting himself enslaved by a succubus for his brother, Logan.

No doubt, a toddler could probably get into less trouble than the youngest of Wrath’s sons. Seemed everywhere Logan went, a black cloud loomed overhead, itching to wreak havoc on anyone stupid enough to stand close by.

Still, being indebted to a succubus seemed a small price to pay for saving his brother’s life.

Gavin stared into the amber fluid as it whirled in the glass like ebbing waves of flames, his thoughts drifting to the first time he’d ever been enslaved on Logan’s behalf.

The most horrific torture he’d ever known in all his centuries of living.

Tipping back the liquor, Gavin sipped the last of the Elysia. He squinted at the burn coating his throat, as the fluid seeped into his chest like a sip of hell’s fire, before pouring another glass.

It’d never been easy with Logan, who lived recklessly and never by the rules. Kid had a hard-on for death and Gavin always imagined if he went face to face with the reaping bastard, Logan would probably throw down first. It wasn’t until he actually saw his brother laid out on a bed that he realized even strongest and darkest souls could fall.

The buzzer nearly knocked Gavin backward off his chair. “Son of a bitch!” He swiped at the liquor that’d dripped down his shirt.

“Sir.” The haunting, mutilated voice spoke over the sound of ghostly conversation, like something out of a Poltergeist movie—one of the Catatones, the ghouls that guarded the estate and kept trespassers scared shitless. “Please come take a look at what we’ve found.”

Gavin set what was left of his drink on the desktop and rose from the chair, brushing one last time over the wet spot on his shirt. He made his way down the hall until he reached a door. A creak bounced off the walls as he gave a heave to the panel, the frigid cold from below blasting his face. Beyond, sconces lit the way down the spiral staircase into the catacombs of the mansion.

He didn’t have to venture far into the dungeon before coming upon the small group of ghouls standing around a white object lying on the stone floor.

Gavin frowned as he approached, tipping his head to see around them. “What’s this?”

“Trespasser.” The head of security stood from his crouch. His tattered clothes barely clung to his body as he shifted his weight and crossed his arms over his chest. “Found him snooping around outside the gates.”

“How’d he get like this?”

“Tried to get past the gates,” the ghoul said with a grin. “He’ll be properly disposed of but wanted to give you a peek at him. Not seen a supe like this before.”

Gavin bent down and balanced himself on one knee, examining the gaunt and withered body spread out on the cement. Its skin had turned a sickly shade of white, almost gray and translucent, a network of veins branching beneath. The arm opposite Gavin had been torn off right to a stump.

He nodded toward it. “You do that?”

“Nah. Was like that before we got to him.”

A hand seized Gavin’s arm and fangs penetrated his skin.

Gavin jerked back and pounded his fist into its face. Over and over he hit the pale white flesh, sprays of fluid flying up from its mouth and nose, until sparks glinted from beneath Gavin’s arm and the struggle ceased.

After dislodging the fangs, Gavin threw the head to the ground and gave the ghoul beside him a sharp nod.

The ghoul replaced a dagger in his holster. “Knew I shoulda ripped the fucker’s head off before calling you down here.”

Clear fluid erupted from the bite marks on Gavin’s wound as it began to seal, glistening in the candlelight. “What the hell is this thing?”

“We hoped you might be able to tell us.” The ghoul swiped at his mutilated nose then jerked his head back toward the catacombs. “Got an acid bath waiting for it, though.”

“Wonder what it wanted here.”

“Damn … s’pose I should’ve asked that first, huh?”

Gavin lifted the lip of the severed head, where fangs made a slow retraction back up into the gums. Pooling on the floor, the gold floating in the clear fluid almost sparkled, and a scant amount of dark crimson seeped into what looked like some kind of plasma. “As if there’s a whole separate circulatory system,” Gavin muttered. “The body structure suggests it was human at one time. Looks almost emaciated.” He scooted back to avoid the expanding pool of fluid. “That sure as fuck isn’t human blood, though”

“Wonder if that’s real gold.”

Gavin glanced up to find the ghoul’s eyes fixed on the fluid, and shook his head. “You want to pick through this shit, be my guest. But do me a favor and clean it up when you’re finished.”

“Will do, chief.” The ghoul saluted with his ragged limb.

“Nice job.” Gavin’s lips tightened as he rose up from his crouch. “But I think we’re going to need to up our security. First that little shit who broke in earlier and now this.” Gavin met the lifeless, black orbs of the ghoul’s. “I’d wanted to avoid this, but I think it’s time to call on Xander.”

The ghoul’s shoulders slumped and he rubbed a mutilated hand down his face. “Ah, hell, boss. Sure about that? I mean, with all these ladies you got staying here.”

“We know nothing of these creatures. Xander is a loose cannon, but I know whose side he’s on. Let’s not forget it was a nephilim who armed our trespasser earlier. Until we find the kid, our security is at risk.” Gavin raised his brows. “Time to fight fire with a goddamn blowtorch.”

“Sir, nephilim at least have
human
motivations. The fallen …” The ghoul swallowed a harsh gulp. “Well they’re worse than demons. No disrespect to ya, boss.”

“I understand. But right now, I have two brothers overseas and one out of commission. Having him here will only be temporary.” Gavin pointed at the ghoul. “And you’re still head of security.”

BOOK: Soul Resurrected (Sons of Wrath, #2)
4.85Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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