"He's experimenting to find out the best way to kill preternaturals. He must not have the book yet."
Bandit jerked his head around so fast he swore he got whiplash. The gun was up and pointed at the speaker before Bandit really got a good look at him. Raze stood there, hands in the air and a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Sorry about that, man. Forgot to walk heavy, so you'd hear me come up."
Bandit lowered the gun and shoved to his feet. Before he could pick Jess up, Raze had the injured lycan in his arms.
"I've got him. Trust me; he won't tire me out, and we need to be moving. Max wants this place in pieces within ten minutes. Ba'el's watching the door for us. Let's head out."
Taking the lead, Bandit kept the safety off, and his eyes peeled. He didn't want to miss anything that might get them killed. He didn't doubt Raze had been thorough in his dispatching of bad guys, but again Raze was right. They didn't know if there were re-enforcements coming.
Coming around a corner, he spied Ba'el standing at a doorway. The demon gestured for them to come forward. They joined him at the entrance.
"The vans are only about ten feet away. Rhonda and Malik have us covered. You two go first. I'll bring up the rear." Ba'el looked at Raze, and Bandit could tell he was biting back telling the angel to be careful. "I'll be right behind you."
It was touching how protective Ba'el seemed to be of Raze, but funny as well, considering as an angel, Raze was about indestructible as Ba'el. The angel nodded and they bumped shoulders as they passed each other.
Bandit glanced both ways before he ducked out of the building and dashed across the open ground. Someone opened the side door and he dove into the van, swinging around to grab Jess as Raze thrust him at him. Bandit scrambled back and settled on the floor, holding Jess tight. There weren't any seats in the back of the van.
The side door slammed shut and he looked up, noticing Ba'el and Raze weren't with them.
"Wait a minute. What about Raze and Ba'el?"
"Don't worry. The angel and demon will be fine. They don't come with us. They'll stay behind and blow the place, then disappear back to wherever corner of hell they came from."
Bandit glanced around to see a man sitting behind the wheel of the van. He was human, and Bandit immediately stiffened, wondering if he'd fallen into another trap.
The human held up a hand. "I'm one of the good guys, man. I'm Max's pick-up guy. We have to get out of here. I don't want to be around when they blow the place."
The van started up with a low rumbling and the driver drove away. He didn't speed or draw any more attention to himself than necessary. It helped that the building was set off the road in a corpse of trees, without neighboring houses or people to see them leave.
Jess mumbled, and Bandit leaned forward trying to make out what the lycan was saying.
"Is Pavel with us?"
"No. There isn't anyone else in this van except us." Bandit wished he could tell Jess that Pavel was fine, but he wasn't going to start lying to his friend. "I don't know if he's with the rest or not."
Jess fell silent, and Bandit did something he'd never done before. He prayed to all the gods, not just to the god of the lycans, but all of them, even the human God. He prayed Jess would survive what was done to him, or at least the physical wounds would heal without trouble. It would take years, if at all, for the memories of his torture to fade enough not to wake him up at night. Bandit prayed for Pavel, sending the vampire strength if he was still alive to hang on until they could free him.
A muffled boom drifted through the walls of the van, and the human chuckled with evil delight.
"One less torture chamber for Grime to run to."
"What did he do to you?" Bandit wasn't sure he really wanted to know, but it passed the time while they headed back to the city.
"Name's Samuel. God, what hasn't he done? I didn't know you all existed until Grime asked me to join his group. I was a runaway and needed a place to stay. He offered a job and a room for help with some jobs. It wasn't until I went on my first one that I figured out what he was doing."
Disgust colored every word Samuel spoke. Bandit was used to that tone when humans talked about preternaturals, not when they talked about each other.
"What did he want you to do?"
Samuel grunted. "He wanted me to seduce this girl. She was eighteen or so, and I was to convince her to come back to my place for some fun. I asked him what he wanted her for, and he laughed, saying she was a dirty wolf and deserved to die. I wasn't sure what that meant and I refused. I might have had to sell myself on the streets, but I wasn't going to do something that would hurt someone else, especially not a girl."
"Little did you know, the girl could probably take care of herself just fine," Bandit commented.
"True, but it wouldn't have mattered when Grime grabbed her with all his men and the silver he has."
"Since you're on our side, I'll let you in on a little secret, which I'm surprised Grime hasn't figured out yet. Not every lycan is affected by silver. For some of us, it's simply just a burning sensation, but it doesn't stop us from shifting, and it definitely doesn't kill us." Bandit looked at Jess, who had moved to lie on the floor with his head in Bandit's lap. "There are some packs who have an allergy to silver, like Jess here. They are the ones who can die from silver, if they're around it too much."
Samuel shook his head. "Grime doesn't know that. He believes all the old legends about how to kill preternaturals, though I think he's slowly starting to realize his ultimate goal might take a little longer to accomplish."
"How'd you get away from him?"
"I refused to help take the girl, and Grime had his men beat the shit out of me. After that, I ran as far away as I could, all the way to the west coast, where I ran into Max. He introduced me to preternaturals and explained what Grime was trying to do. I'm not sure how he knew, since Grime seemed mostly based out of the city and east."
Bandit shrugged. "Something tells me Grime has his hands in a lot of gangs all around the country and world, apparently, considering Jess and Pavel were in England when his men grabbed them."
Samuel turned onto the highway. "Yeah. You'd be surprised how many people out there want to kill preternaturals, even though they don't know anything about them. It's that whole 'if you're different from me, you must be bad' theory."
"Humans have always gone after those who are different. I think that's why preternaturals have chosen to stay hidden for the most part." Bandit studied Jess as the lycan mumbled. He brushed the hair away from Jess's forehead. "I hope Max has someone who can help us with Jess."
"He has a witch doctor on call, and the doc will probably be there when we get back. Rhonda called to give Max a heads up about the condition of the preters we rescued, though your friend looks the worse of all of them."
A witch doctor was good, but Bandit wished Nick would be there waiting. He had a feeling the newest avatar would be able to help Jess far more than any witch doctor around, if only because they were best friends.
"Why don't you catch some sleep, man? It'll be another hour or so before we get back to the safe house." Samuel met Bandit's gaze in the rearview mirror. "I've got it from here. The others are right in front of us. There are some blankets and pillows back there for you to use."
Bandit nodded and arranged everything to make the ride as comfortable as possible for Jess. When Bandit lay down, Jess snuggled close to him, and Bandit wasn't sure if it was for warmth or because in Jess's subconscious, he knew Bandit would keep him safe. It didn't matter. All that did matter was they'd gotten one of their friends back and they wouldn't stop until they got Pavel back as well.
Closing his eyes, Bandit let the hum of the tires on the asphalt lull him to sleep.
* * * *
He woke up when the sound of the van's engine ceased. Bandit grabbed the gun lying next to his head, positioned himself between Jess and the door, and waited. When the door slid open, he tensed.
"Thank God, they got you back."
Allen peered in, and Bandit lowered the gun, easing out of the van before he swept Allen into his arms. He ignored his protesting muscles and wounds as he kissed Allen until his head spun from lack of oxygen. He set Allen down and rested his forehead against his lover's. Bandit got lost in Allen's eyes until someone shoved past him to get to Jess.
"Who the hell is this?" Max growled as Bandit turned to watch Ba'el lift Jess from the van.
"His name is Jess. He's a lycan from a pack out east. Not sure exactly how he got here, but considering Grime's group grabbed him in England, I'm saying he's pretty well-traveled."
"Beaten to shit and back. What the hell happened?" Max gestured toward the warehouse. "Take him to the infirmary. Doc will check him out there."
"He's severely allergic to silver, and Grime had him chained, cuffed, and collared with it. They tortured him as well, so he hasn't been able to shift to heal either." Bandit kept his arm wrapped around Allen's waist, but followed Ba'el into the building.
"Fucking humans. Always so interested in making us bleed," Roman muttered as he joined them.
"Wait. I need to know if there was a vampire named Pavel among the other preters you rescued," Bandit asked, hoping with every fiber in him Pavel had been with the others.
"No. There were a couple of vampires, but their names aren't Pavel." Rhonda stalked up to him. "Why are you asking about the vampires?"
"Because Pavel and Jess were taken together, and they're both friends of mine. Nick, the newest avatar, is Jess's best friend, and Nick's partner, Gryphon, is Pavel's. It's all very complicated and twisted, and hard to explain." Bandit smiled slightly. "I'm pretty sure once Nick and Gryphon get done talking to the High Council, they'll be flying here to see Jess for themselves."
"They're on their way," Roman informed them. "The High Council stonewalled them, and Serpens had enough. He told Nick they were to leave and come directly here. No one argues with the spirit guide, so they hopped a plane. They'll be here in three hours."
"Shit, those old geezers really do have a death wish, don't they? Ignoring an avatar? Not the smartest thing they've ever done," Bandit muttered as they went into the infirmary.
"We told you the members of the High Council look out for each other, not for their own species." Max shrugged. "Not sure what we can do right now."
"What we'll do is wait until Nick and Gryphon get here, then we'll make sure Jess is okay. After that, we'll call my mother and we'll discuss what we're going to do." Bandit stopped for a second and turned to look at Allen.
His lover seemed a little worse for wear, not nearly as bad as Bandit, but then if he had fought, he would have had time to shift, whereas Bandit hadn't changed yet.
"What the hell happened to you?"
Allen grimaced. "You're looking at the new alpha of the Dow pack."
"No fucking way. You challenged Kinsey? You weren't supposed to do that until I got you more detailed information." Bandit wanted to shake Allen.
The look Allen shot him should have killed him. "Man, I was supposed to wait until you got me more information? We didn't know where the hell you were. The only thing we did know was Grime probably had you, and Kinsey knew where the hell Grime was. So I did the only thing I could. I challenged Kinsey and I killed him."
Bandit blinked, and his jaw dropped slightly. It wasn't the fact of Allen killing Kinsey, but the matter-of-fact way his lover told him. Any sort of timidity Allen might have possessed seemed to have disappeared while Bandit was away. He grabbed Allen's hands and studied him closer.
"Are you okay? You didn't get hurt too badly, did you?"
Allen grinned. "A broken rib, some really deep scratches, and a few bites, but nothing a doctor and a shift couldn't fix. Now I'm just bruised, and those will fade after a while."
Taking a deep breath, Bandit loosened his grip on Allen's hands. His lover was an adult and an alpha. He could take care of himself without Bandit interfering. Knowing Allen was stronger than him--and didn't need Bandit to take care of him--really didn't bother Bandit. Allen loved him and needed him for emotion support more than anything else.
"Great. I won't have to go and beat the shit out of Raze, Roman, and Gianni for letting you go then." Bandit winked to let Allen know he was joking.
"I'd like to see you take Raze on. That angel is scary as hell." Allen shuddered.
Bandit agreed. He never thought angels would be quite as violent as Raze was. Not even fallen ones held such leashed strength. The fallen tended to lean toward the crazy side of the personality spectrum.
"You're the alpha of Dow pack now?"
Allen nodded.
"Have you met all your pack members? How did you find out where I was?"
Bandit ducked when a loud boom came from the first floor of the warehouse. They rushed to the railing and glanced over. Nick and Gryphon stood in the middle of the empty room, arms wrapped around each other. Bandit shouted, bringing their attention up to him.
Nick broke away from Gryphon and raced up the stairs. The blond embraced Bandit tightly. Allen growled low in his throat, and Bandit shook his head at his lover.
"Thank you so much for rescuing Jess. As soon as Serpens realized what happened, he told me to flash us here." Nick broke away and turned to hug Allen. "Thank you as well, Allen. I know you helped out."
Allen patted Nick on the back. "We couldn't have left him there, Nick."
"Especially when we were blowing up the building." Raze spoke from behind them.
Gryphon joined them on the landing. He shook Bandit and Allen's hands before sliding his arm around Nick's waist. "Did you find Pavel as well?"
"I'm sorry, Gryphon. Jess told me they took him a couple days ago, and he wasn't with the others we freed." Guilt welled in Bandit's chest.
Raze tapped Bandit on the shoulder. "Maybe your friends would like to see Jess. He's in the infirmary. He's not very lucid, but he's awake and talking. Having you both around will probably help him relax. He's still really worked up about Pavel."