Luna's Sokjan (Book one) (34 page)

“No, Tigress, wait here.
Give us fifteen minutes before you come in. That should give us
enough time to secure the scene.” He told me when he blocked my
way.

“Really, Gabriel? This is
my job remember?” I said in an exasperated tone.

“Yes, really, remember
you’re my mate? I want to check the place out before you come in.
Then you can do your job.” He told me and then crushed me to him,
“You may tell our children any twisted story you like. As long as
you tell them I went in first. As long as you tell them I protected
you.” He kissed me, “I love you, Branwen.” And then he was
gone.

Tell our children any
twisted story? Really, what children? Could I even have
children?

Thirty minutes later, I
lay on the roof of the SUV humming AC/DC’s ‘Thunder Strikes’. I was
watching lightning arch across the night sky and listening to the
massive booms of thunder that shook the ground. Hmmm, someone was
building up a lot of power.

Singing
Creed’s
,
‘One
Last Breath’ to myself, I decided it was time to go in. There had
to be a problem. The boys hadn’t come out of the building yet. I
just couldn’t wait any longer to see what I was going to find.
Jumping down from the SUV roof top, I headed for the building. As I
jogged across the parking lot, I pulled on a black cap to cover up
my white hair
.

“Open.” I commanded
placing one hand on the locks of the double doors.

Hearing, the locks
disengage I pushed the doors open
.
Power greeted me like an old friend as soon as I
walked in. Pulling, out my cell phone I sent a quick text message
to Ted and Adam. Letting them know what I was doing.

Madison Street had been
named after the very prominent businessman Donald Madison and the
original owner of the Madison Street Pub and Brewery. At one time,
you could buy Madison beer in any pub or liquor store in the state.
The restaurant drew the attention of the rich and famous throughout
the country. In the late sixty’s the Madison family sold the
business to a local rival. After old man Madison died suddenly from
a massive heart attack. The restaurant did remain open for a few
more years, before financial issues caused it to close permanently
in the early seventy’s. Over the years, the 15,000 square foot
building had fallen into utter disrepair, and then the ghost
stories surfaced.

The stories told about
ghostly screams being heard in the middle of the night, lights
turning off and on. Some people have even claimed to have seen old
man Madison himself walking around. I had heard many of these old
stories after I first moved to Fall Branch. My curiosity getting
the better of me, I went to check out the rumors. When I walked
through the condemned building I didn’t get any of the usual
feelings associated with spirits, but that had been two years ago.
Things might have changed.

The once elegant
restaurant had the sitting capacity for 250 people. Which is a
normal size restaurant by today’s standards, but back in the
forties, when the restaurant first opened, it was considered
outrageous
.

Old tables and chairs in
their original positions covered the restaurant floor and bottles
of liquor sat on stacked shelves behind the old wooden oak bar. The
restaurant looked ready for business. I had always wondered why no
one had cleaned it out. Behind the large restaurant was the brewery
area. Complete with six stainless steel fermenting tanks, an office
and a lab. Both the office and the lab where located off to the
left side of the brewing area. At the end of the brewing area was a
large stock room, complete with a huge walk in freezer.

I moved silently through
the restaurant following the pull of power. It was coming from
behind the double doors next to the bar. Crouching down, I pushed
one of the double doors open and slowly entered the large brewing
area. Humming, ‘Night Prowler’ by AC/DC, I snuck up to the first of
the six fermenting tanks.

The twenty four feet high
steel tanks line the walls, three on the right side and three on
the left. I tested the strength of the metal ladder. It ran from
the bottom to the top of the tank and attached to a large metal
platform that circled the top. Amazingly enough it was still strong
and I slowly climbed up trying to make as little noise as possible.
Walking around the metal platform, I lined myself up with the next
tank. From this vantage point I could hear chanting coming from
behind the last tank. I waited for the next rumble of
thunder.

The big booms of thunder
caused the windows to rattle and drowned out the chanting for a
second. Using the thunder to muffle my sounds, I jumped to the next
tank. Quickly I got into position and waited for the next
tremendous boom to jump to the last tank. Sam had said there were
three men. I knew two men were chanting. I looked around for the
last man. Lightning flashed and light expelled the darkness from
the room. I crouched down and waited for the big boom. BOOM, I
jumped to the next tank and looked around.

The scene before me was
incredible. I could see six women hanging on the walls, three on
each side of an altar. The women looked half dead and some bled
freely from savage claw marks covering their bodies. Two cloaked
figures stood at the altar chanting in an ancient spell caster’s
language. A smile formed on my lips as I spotted my merry band of
men. Gabriel, Sam, and four of the men we had brought with us. All
knelt with their arms bound in silver behind them before the altar.
Something moved to my right. I knelt down quickly calling my power
to me and I hid in the shadows.

“I smell a kitty.” A deep
voice hissed out.

It sounded like a snake
hissing. The chanting stopped, and both hooded figures looked up at
the creature.

“Who is here?” Anthony
Steven Robinson asked.

“She won’t come. I told
her not to come, didn’t I Sam?” Gabriel told Anthony.

“Yes you did Alpha, right
men?” Sam answered.

He knelt behind Gabriel to
his left side from the way sound carried up to me, and the other
men were spread out behind Sam, agreed. Gabriel was trying to let
me know where everyone was, and trusty old Sam was playing
along.

“Oh Gabriel, I know she
will, I saw the way she looked at you at the party. She will come
and try to save you, just like I want her to. She will trade her
life for yours and then she will be all mine,” Anthony laughed.
“She will help me control the beast when he comes out of the
portal.”

I would kill him
exceedingly slowly and enjoy every moment. Use me to control a
beast, would he. I don’t think so.

“I don’t know exactly
where she is, but I can smell her.” The creature moved from the
shadows, and in to the light.

All the women had gone
quiet and still at his appearance.

Hmmm, could he have been
the one that tortured these women and killed the girls?

He was seven to eight feet
tall. It was difficult to gage height from my vantage point. Long
black hair that hung around the creature like a coat, but it didn’t
hide his slender frame or his long fingers that curved into bird
like talons. I cocked my head and watched him walk. His gate was
curious, almost like one leg was longer than the other. He threw
his head back and his arms wide as he pushed power around the
room.

I used my power to conceal
me from his searching energy. His face gave me pause, he was ugly.
Thick scars covered his face and ran down its length to his neck.
Metal piercings ringed his green glowing eyes and hung from his
nose. The piercings that ringed his mouth only accented his sharp
yellow teeth.

Gabriel looked around
searching for me in the darkness behind them. It made me smile, no
one ever looks up. My hunting style had obviously changed since the
last time we’d hunted together. I like to use the environment to
hide me before my attacks.

“Here, kitty, kitty.” The
creature called out.

Oh, now that was
original.

I snapped both of my
wrists, feeling the black daggers fill both of my hands.

“NO! McKenna, leave here
now!” Gabriel commanded me fighting against his silver
bonds
.

“Here, kitty, kitty.”
These were the last words that creature would ever say.

The first dagger caught
him in the throat, and the other one caught him in the chest. The
force from the rapidly fired power thrown daggers sent the creature
crashing back into the altar. Scattering candles, stones, and cups
everywhere. I loathed being called a kitty.

Leaping down from my
twenty four foot high perch, I landed in a crouch ready to fight. I
sniffed the air, death and blood covered the musk of the rotting
building, but nothing can cover up the smell of fear. What was
Anthony afraid of? I hoped it was me.

Standing up to my full
height, I threw another dagger. Catching the second hooded figure
in the head and killing him before he hit the ground. Screams
echoed from the women hanging on the walls. Ah, the sweetest music.
Power stirred the air around us focusing on a spot closest to where
the altar once stood.

“You’re too late to save
them. The portal is opening, and he is coming.” Anthony told
me.

Oh, goody more things to
kill, I liked this place.

“Come slave and take your
place next to your true master.” Anthony commanded me.

I laughed out loud as I
moved forward. When I reached Sam, I leaned down slightly and
dropped a dagger into Sam’s bound hands.

“You can use that to cut
through the silver bonds.” I whispered softly to him.

I had keyed the tattoo
spell to cut through almost any metal. I had my hands bound by
silver shackles once.

“Do you honestly think
that I will ever bow to you?” I called loudly to Anthony,
distracting him from what I was doing. “I can smell your fear
Anthony. Whatever you called you’re afraid of it. Now why would you
call something that scares you so?”

When I reached Gabriel, I
dropped a dagger into his hands, before running my loving hand over
his hair.

“This is what I will tell
our children Gabriel. How mommy saved daddy and his men’s
collective asses.” I whispered softly to him, before moving on to
face Anthony.

The portal was growing
brighter and larger as I neared Anthony.

“What did you call
Anthony?” I asked him coming face to face with the man. “Didn’t
your mother ever tell you not to play with things that can kill
you?”

“You will see soon enough
what I called, and you bow before me
,
beast.” He told me.

Anthony was trying to
watch the opening portal and me at the same time. Poor Anthony was
in way over his head, I almost felt sorry for him, almost. I lifted
an arm to shield my eyes from the intense light as the portal
opened.

What the portal left
behind when it closed was a crouching figure surrounded by black
scaly wings. After a moment, the creature opened its mighty wings.
It stretched up to its full height and I understood what monstrous
truly meant. The thick, muscled human like figure stood close to
fifteen feet tall. Four heavily muscled arms stretched out
displaying long claws at the end of each five fingered hand. His
huge wings were covered entirely in black scales. With a wing span
nearly nine feet wide and tipped with a long, thick talon. Yellow
silted eyes stared at us from below high black brows, in elongated
face of a predatory dinosaur. He had dressed his massive form in
brown leather pants and a brown cotton shirt.

“Welcome Myurr, kneel
before your master.” Anthony commanded this strange creature. “I
offer you Gabriel Obrien Garrison and his men as payment for the
calling. If you are still hungry, you can have the women on the
walls.” Anthony announced to the creature motioning to Gabriel and
women
.

I looked back at Gabriel,
he didn’t move, but I saw Sam’s shoulders move just a
little.

Myurr looked around the
room taking in the six quiet women hanging on the walls, and the
two dead creatures lying on the floor. At Gabriel, and back at
Anthony then to me.

“Who is this female?”
Myurr asked and waved towards me. His speech was slightly slurred.
“Why didn’t you offer her? She would make a better payment, then
all six women.”

“She is of no concern to
you. Do you accept my offer of payment?” Anthony
demanded.

Myurr stretched his nine
foot wings again obviously he didn’t like be spoken to in this
manner.

“I will accept the women.
I have no need of the men, and this Gabriel Obrien Garrison is not
here.” Myurr responded. “This one is very powerful, but I need his
true name to take him.” He nodded to Gabriel, “I will take her in
his place. She will make an excellent servant indeed, better than
the one you killed.” He appraised me. He had dismissed Gabriel and
the men all together. “Yes, she will do very nicely. Come woman and
take your place with the others.”

“I don’t think so, Myurr,
and you can’t have the other women, but you can have him.” I said,
pointing to Anthony. “I know his not much, but he is the best I can
do under the current circumstances.”