We Shall Rise (30 page)

There were four guards there. As soon as they saw Julian, they fired their weapons. Using his supernatural speed, he quickly disabled the first by slicing his neck with his claws. He shot two of the others with the gun while Yasmine took out the last with her revolver.

Julian broke the steel lock of the cage where the witches were imprisoned. They cried as they clung to Yasmine. Sasha was not among them. “Where’s Sasha?” Yasmine demanded.

“We do not know,” one of the witches replied. "They brought her back to the prison with us the night of the bomb. When they realized you escaped, they grabbed her and took her away. We haven’t seen her since.”

Yasmine’s heart broke.
Please don’t let Sasha be dead
. She prayed to any deity that would hear her cry. She felt the cooling calmness of Julian’s hand on hers. “We’ll keep looking until we find her,” he promised. His blue eyes filled with such certainty. Maybe he was the answer to her prayers.

He clutched her hand urging her to continue on their search. They escorted the women they freed out the building and to where the sirens were now playing dodge ball with the lions. The witches and sages trembled from fear at the disturbing scene. They watched as one petite woman picked up a head and threw it with such force at one of the naked lions, barely missing him. She pouted as she stormed off to the side. Apparently, she lost.

“We can’t go out there,” one of the witches cried. This seemed more dangerous than the prison they had just escaped.

“Don’t worry,” Yasmine tried to reassure them. “They’re friends. Creepy, psychotic friends, but friends nonetheless. They won’t hurt you,” Yasmine hoped. She found Anastasia and asked them to keep the girls safe. Anastasia agreed and offered them a chance to play. The women declined, opting to huddle close together in the corner while the games continued.

Yasmine returned to Julian and they set off to find the lab. Yasmine had no problem recalling the location. They arrived within minutes. There were three men rounding up the children. Julian sprung on them with lethal grace. Yasmine watched as the men fell to the ground. She didn’t hear the one sneak up behind her and squeeze the air from her lungs as he clutched her throat. Julian prepared to attack, but before he could get there, Yasmine fell forward as the man holding her let her go. She whipped around to see her father’s black boot stomping him into pieces. “No one hurts my baby!” she yelled as she continued to stomp breaking every bone in the man’s body.

“I think he’s dead now, Father.”

Diamonde paused to look at the battered remains. She pounded him a few more times and when her foot went through his body and hit the floor beneath him, she relaxed. “Now, I know he’s dead. Are you alright, baby?”

“I’m fine.” Yasmine looked around to see the children who were clinging to Julian. He was a pure, like most of them and they would feel safer with him. She held the hands of the two trembling shifter girls and followed Julian out.

Lucian and Olivia were focused on finding Adam and Eve. They knew the others would take care of the children. He needed to deal with the threat of the Council and the only thing that would resolve that issue would be to find Adam and Eve. They may not be in control of ELM, but they were clearly high on the food chain if they were given the authority to run this cell. At a minimum, they would have valuable information about ELM’s plans for the vampires and lycans.

Lucian heard the approaching steps. He forced Olivia to stay behind them as they hid in the shadows. He heard the voices and knew they were the enemy. As they came into view, Lucian could see three of them holding rifles. No doubt filled with silver bullets. Lucian summoned his telepathic ability. Using his mind, he caused the men’s bones to splinter as they fell to the ground in agony. He stepped out the shadows, intensifying the torture as the men howled from the unrelenting anguish until their cries were silenced by death.

A bullet whizzed past Lucian’s ear and he saw another man fall after a shot hit him directly in the center of his skull. He turned to see Olivia still holding a gun with a determined look in her eye. “Nice shot,
cara
. Thanks for having my back.”

“You have such a nice backside, I would hate to see it scarred.” She sauntered up to him gently slapping him on the ass. She kissed him hard, but quickly broke off the kiss. “Let’s go dear. We have some more ELM bastards to kill.”

Alejandro had been partnered with Yanis, but he decided to stay behind with the sirens. He couldn’t blame him. Alejandro had been tempted to do the same. He prowled the halls alone as a jaguar, trying to scent any indication of trouble. He had already taken down four demons.

He found a winding darkened stairwell. He could not tell where it led, but he smelled blood. That was enough for him to explore further. The blood smell increased with every cautious step he took. He could hear the cries of a woman who was no doubt in significant pain.

He hated to see a woman suffer. He knew Nyah had suffered. His gorgeous wife had been taken by members of her own wolf clan whom had wanted to punish her for choosing to be with a mutant shifter. He was dirt in their eyes and Nyah was the most desired woman of her clan, yet she chose him. She defied them all and married him even though they were not truly mates.

No one knew that though. They both wanted it to be true so badly that they convinced themselves they were mated. It should have been true considering the passionate love they felt for one another. How could they love so deeply and not be mates? It had to be a mistake of the fates to not bind them heart and soul. It did not matter to them. They refused to be apart. They lived and loved for sixteen years until they took her from him. He heard her cries and raced to save her, but it was too late. She had been raped and beaten and then shot with silver. He held her in his arms as she told him how much she loved him and how she would never regret the life they created. Alejandro held her until she took her final breath and faded into the darkness along with their child she carried within her.

Alejandro’s mind went black. He awoke a day later surrounded in the blood of Nyah’s entire clan. He didn’t remember killing them, but he knew he did it and he wasn’t sorry.

The woman moaned again and Alejandro followed the cry. He heard the presence of two other men. He saw them taunting the woman as they sliced her naked flesh. Images of Nyah’s tortured body flooded his mind. Alejandro could taste blood and he leapt in the air quickly ripping one sage’s throat out before dispatching with the other. He shifted into a male and untied the barely conscious woman. Her red hair caked with blood. He grabbed a sheet and wrapped in around her body. He removed the pants of one of the men he just killed and covered himself. Like all shifters, he wasn’t shy about nudity, but he didn’t want to scare this woman who had been hurt so deeply. He held her shivering body tightly in his arms and carried her out the barn.

IV

Yasmine had called to let Reysa know that the children were safe and so were the kidnapped witches and sages all except for Yasmine’s friend Sasha. Moments later, they heard from Alejandro that he had recovered Sasha. All that was left was Adam and Eve. Lucian and Olivia had been searching for them as well, but no luck. This barn had so many floors and secret doorways that it was difficult to find anything, but they continued looking.

Christian and Kaden followed closely behind her. She had a gut feeling that there was something here she had to find, but she had no idea what she was looking for. They had killed at least twenty ELM followers and every room seemed to reveal another. They had no problems dispatching with any of them. They weren’t much of a threat. Their magic was weak and before they could unleash it, Kaden had torched them or Christian had ripped them in half. Even without shifting into the wolf, he was a remarkably strong male.

Reysa on the other hand had killed a few, but she was a step slower than usual and surprisingly hungry. She should just take a bite out of Christian even though her heart wanted her to feed from Kaden. She would definitely not taste his blood. That would bind them even more and that’s the last thing she needed since she pretty much despised him at the moment. She couldn’t feed from Christian now either. She just fed from his yesterday and he would be suspicious that her hunger returned so soon. She didn’t need his interrogation right now. She would snack later.

Normally she didn’t need blood more than once a week, but lately she was always starving and weakened until she ate more. She had exerted herself more than her body was used to these last few weeks between all the fighting and making love. The constant stress didn’t help either. Her head was throbbing again. Those annoying headaches began when she fractured her skull as a child after the fall from her father’s window. Even when she fully transformed, the headaches did not fully heal. They were a constant reminder of that mistake she made that day.

They stumbled upon another room. This one was heavily guarded by four demons. Kaden burned two of them and Christian took care of the other two before she had a chance to whip out her blades. Damn she was extra slow today.

There were several laptops and other high tech equipment in the room. Hopefully there would be some useful information on these machines especially if Adam and Eve had escaped. They gathered up as much as they could and headed to the next room. That was becoming increasingly likely as they were running out of rooms to search.

“I think we’ve exhausted this place,” Christian drawled. “We’re starting to walk around in circles. I think it’s time to go.”

Reysa knew he was probably right, but there was a feeling she could not ignore. Her instincts were screaming that there was something more for her to find. How could she explain that to them? She had to try because there was no way she could leave right now.

“I know there’s something here we need to find. I don’t know what it is and I can’t really explain it, but I can’t leave yet.”

Kaden had been silent the whole time they searched, but he finally spoke. “Then we’ll keep looking.”

Reysa was stunned. He just accepted her words without question. That was so unlike him. She was expecting to argue with him. He continued down another hall as she and Christian followed.

The feeling was getting stronger with every step she took. Had they travelled in this direction before, she wondered? Now the feeling was so much more intense that she struggled to keep her balance. “What’s wrong, babe?” Christian asked as he caught her.

“There’s something here,” she whispered. Before he could respond, she took off along a narrow corridor. Both men followed behind her but struggled to get their large bodies through the narrow passage way. Christian pounded the walls and was able to push them apart, allowing him and Kaden to get through and find Reysa.

They found her standing before a locked door struggling to open it. It was made of strong steel, but Christian knew she should have been able to open it. He yanked on the door with one hand breaking it free from its hinges. Reysa walked inside as he and Kaden followed.

Reysa stopped at the sight of a man curled up in a ball in the corner of the room. His dark skin was a ghastly pale. Reysa called out to the stranger, but he did not move. She took a few steps closer, but both Kaden and Christian stopped her.

“I can smell vampire,” Christian warned.

“A vampire in pretty shitty shape,” Kaden observed. “He could be feral.” Blood starved vampires would occasionally turn feral. A madness would set in from blood lust and they would destroy anything in their path. “We can’t take any chances with this vampire.”

“We have to help him,” Reysa pleaded. “He may not be feral. He may just need our help.”

“He’s skin and bones, Reysa,” Kaden countered, “that means he hasn’t eaten in a long time. That increases the odds of him being feral. I’m not taking any chances with your safety.”

“My safety is not your concern,” she bit back.

“It’s his concern as well as mine,” Christian stated pointedly.

She leveled an angry glare on him, but he would not relent. “I can’t believe you’re taking his side,” Reysa pointed at Kaden. “You hate him, remember?” She knew she was being childish, but she was desperate. Something drew her to this vampire and she could not just leave him here to rot.

“I’m certainly not one of Kaden’s biggest fans, but I agree with him when it comes to your safety. For some reason, you’re not thinking clearly about this. Calm down for a moment and think about this situation. Get some perspective.”

She didn’t want perspective. She wanted to help this vampire. Kaden could see it in her eyes that she would not back down. He approached the vampire and lifted him up. His green eyes were open but there was no life in them, but he had a pulse. He was alive, but barely. Even if he were feral, he would be too weak to do anything. Kaden sat him up against the wall, wiping some of the dirt from his face. He heard Reysa gasp and then stumble backwards into Christian’s arms.

Her eyes were filled with tears as she struggled to catch her breath. Kaden cupped her cheeks in his hands as Christian held her. “What is it, Reysa? Talk to me, babe,” Kaden pleaded. The color had faded from her cheeks and she looked like would have passed out but for Christian’s arms keeping her upright.

Reysa just stared into the eyes of the vampire they had found. His green eyes matching hers, but they were as lost and vacant as she had remembered. There was still no light of recognition, no acknowledgement that she existed. Just that familiar dreaded silence.