The Breed Casstiel's Vow (17 page)

Nora placed a finger in front of her lips, took another
deep breath and peered around the corner again.

After a few seconds she swiveled her head back to Tessa.

“They’re looking over a map of the subway tunnels and
checking some kind of electronic device. From what it sounds like they’re
coming up with a game plan. We’re gonna have to move fast because they’re
coming our way,” she moved into action.

“Is this some kind of a set up?” Tessa asked, how had
they known where to be and when?

“We don’t have time for any thinking right now, we just
need to get out of here and fast,” Nora rushed towards her friend.

“We have to warn Casstiel,” she whispered, feeling
nauseous.

“I don’t think you can make it Tessa, you’re too slow,
and they’re coming too fast,” Nora moaned, panic and fear weaving into her
speech.

“But you’re not. Get to Cass, I’ll be behind you as fast
as I can,” she reached for a courage she didn’t think she had.

Nora was right, she was too slow to make it, and if she
tried running now it would just make the hunters attack her; Nora was their
only chance of warning Casstiel and stopping whatever the hunters were about to
do.

“They’ll kill you,” she choked out, panic making her
hands shake, “You don’t know how they are, they’ll kill you.”

“They’ll think I’m another homeless person, by the time
they figure out I’m not you’ll be on your way back with help,” she replied
confidently as she reached out and squeezed her  hand, “Just promise me
you’ll find Quinn for me. Promise you won’t give up on my brother.”

For a moment Nora just stared into her eyes, searching
for fear and regret, but she was rock steady. She refused to believe she would
be killed by the hunters, she wouldn’t die down here in this shit hole and she
wouldn’t let her friend feel guilty over the decision she had made.

“I promise,” a single tear slid down her face,
then
she bolted in a blur down the abandoned tunnel.

Tessa walked as fast as she could, her heart aching
painfully in her chest as she tried to calm down her breathing.

It was only moments however, before a cold hard voice
called out behind her.

 “Hey …what the fuck are you doing down here?”

Play it cool Tessa…. Play it cool…You’re just lost and
need help…

“Thank god I finally found someone that’s not a homeless
person! I’m visiting the city for the first time, and I got separated from my
group. I’ve been trying to find my way out of here, but it’s so dark I keep
getting more and more lost,” she rambled through the weakly stitched together
lie she had come up with.

“Lost on the subway and separated from you’re group,”
the man standing at the front of the hunters repeated slowly.

 She couldn’t tell if he believed her as he
thoroughly looked her over, a scowl covering his face.

She nervously shook her head as one of them pulled
something that looked like a cell phone out of his pocket, waved it around in
her direction,
then
showed the screen to the man in
charge.

The men looked truly evil through the eerie light of the
flares they held, covered from head to foot in riot gear and wearing night
vision goggles. The fact that they were pointing assault rifles at her didn’t
help matters.

Not one of them wore a sympathetic face. If any of them
believed her, she couldn’t tell, but it was obvious that none of them cared
about the situation she was in.

“If you keep wandering around down here you’re gonna
come to an underground government training facility and we can’t have that. You
need to take your ass back the way you came, and I mean MOVE!” The leader
barked, never even bothering to lower his gun.

The last thing in the world Tessa wanted to do was head
away from Casstiel and towards a group of hunters, but with their guns pointed
at her and no option for escape, she didn’t have a choice.

~

“That’s funny, because you look an awful lot like him to
me,” Casstiel replied, not interested in playing along with the game.

 “You listen to me and listen
good
,”
Quinn growled viciously as he stood up, “you go back, and you tell my parents
that I’m dead, you got it? Tell them you found my body down here if you have
to, but convince them to go home, get back to their lives and forget they ever
had a son.”

“And what about your sister?”
Cass demanded, his temper boiling.

Who the hell did this sniveling brat think he was? His
family had spent years looking for him, and now he wanted them to go back with
some weak bullshit story about him dying? Not a chance.

“Tessa,” he whispered, a pained expression crossing his
face, “I knew it wouldn’t be able to work on her, her minds too strong. She’ll
be harder to convince than my parents, but you have to do it. They have to
think I’m dead, they have to move on.”

“Look, why don’t you just come back with us to the
embassy. Whatever’s going on with you we can help, we’ve kept your family safe
all this time, we can keep you safe too,” Cass spoke as calmly as he could
muster.

“No one can help me now,” he shut his eyes tightly,
sorrow and regret coming off of him in waves.

Casstiel stiffened as he heard the sound of feet hitting
pavement at a pace much too fast to be a human.

“It’s a Breed female,” Kain confirmed as he and the
other members of the team fanned out around the entrance.

He knew who it was before she came into view.

 “Cass!” Nora screamed, still fifty feet from him,
“hunters!”

A roar of anger exploded from his lips as he took off
like a bat out of hell, every muscle in his body screaming with the sudden rush
of adrenaline.

Jax and Kain exploded into wolf form and barreled down
the tunnel after him.

“Who was that?” Nora asked
,
pointing
to where Quinn had been a few seconds ago.

“Quinn Roberts. I’ll go after him,” Ghost began
following him.

“No I’ll go. I promised Tessa I would find him. They’re
gonna need you, there’s nine hunters,” Nora said hurriedly, desperately wanting
him to follow and help save Tessa.

“Only nine?” he scoffed and turned on his heel, “By the
way, Quinn is faster than a normal member of the Breed, if you’re going after
him you may want to transform. Also, I wouldn’t expect him to come willingly.”

“Right,” Nora nodded as the awkward feeling in her
stomach returned, and for the first time in seventy five years, she made the
transformation into her wolf form.

~

Tessa walked as slowly as she could without making it
obvious that she didn’t trust them. If they were going to lie and pretend to be
military soldiers, then she would have to play along or risk their suspicion.

When she was less than fifty feet away she heard thunder
rumbling behind her.

Her heart began to soar as she realized it was Casstiel.

“The fuck is that?” the man in charge demanded,
squinting his eyes.

“Sir at least three Breed members coming this way fast,”
the man with the mobile phone like device read off his screen.

“Fuck! Open fire!” the leader screamed.

Suddenly time seemed to slow down as loud popping noises
erupted behind her.

A bullet rushed passed her and ripped through Casstiel’s
shoulder, sending a spray of blood onto the wall.

She screamed but he kept running towards her unfazed,
barely jerking back from the impact. His eyes stayed locked onto hers, not even
breaking the contact to wince in pain as the bullet exited his body and buried
into the wall behind him.

Jax, now a golden haired werewolf, also had blood
pouring down his front. He didn’t seem to notice he was wounded as she watched
his heavily muscled body continue to work tirelessly to get to her and the
hunters.

She screamed until her lungs were on fire, knowing true
danger and fear for the first time in her life. She didn’t believe they could
survive; there was no way they were walking out of this.

The first bullet slammed into her shoulder, stealing the
air left in her lungs and strangling her scream. As she began to collapse, she
felt two more tear into her before she hit the floor.

Pain seized her body, as her own blood now painted the
grimy floor. Her lungs burned and her eyes rolled in her head as blackness over
came her vision.

The last thing she saw was Casstiel diving to cover her
body with his own, then everything went completely dark and she felt like
nothing would ever matter again. 

The change felt soothingly unfamiliar to Nora, she
stretched muscles that she hadn’t realized were cramped then reveled in her
increased strength as she flexed them.

She was almost a foot taller now, and her irises changed
from round to slits like a cat.

After taking a moment to adjust she crouched onto all
fours and tore off after Quinn, she stumbled slightly at first, but eventually
muscle memory kicked in, and she followed his scent like a ship follows the
beacon of a light house

Nora had always chosen to avoid this form, truly hating
it. Her whole life she had been praised and envied for her beauty, but when she
was in this form it counted for nothing.

No matter how voluptuous her body was as a human, when
she transformed she was still an overly muscled beast. Her skin became covered
in thick coarse fur, her teeth sharpened to vicious points, and her hands
instead of ending in delicate painted nails, sharpened to thick yellow claws.

To Nora, who had been raised in the Victorian era, a
time where women were expected to be as delicate and beautiful as blooming
flowers, this form was beyond grotesque.

Quinn’s scent began to intensify, she wasn’t far now. He
was moving much slower than she had imagined, and she wondered if he was even
trying to escape.

As she gained on him, the scent of blood mingled in and
along the wall she noticed a small trail of fresh droplets.

Had they wounded him?

The strange pain in her stomach worsened as she gained
on him, making her have to stop and take a breath more than once. Since she had
joined the Breed she had never had anything like this happen to her.

Finally she came into eyesight of him; he was leaning
heavily on the wall for support and barely stumbling along.

“Stop following me,” he called out gruffly without
bothering to turn around.

She didn’t care what she had to do, even if it meant
dragging him by his ankles, she made a promise to Tessa, and she was going to
deliver.

Growling deeply she put on a burst of speed and in a
flash, positioned
herself
to block his path.

He stopped dead and sniffed the air.

“A female werewolf?” he asked as a smile spread across
his lips, “I haven’t seen one of those before.”

She rose onto her hind legs and snarled. It didn’t
matter if she was a female; in this form she had the same strength and speed as
any male.

“I’m not going to fight you,” he sighed, “I’m tired, I
need to heal, and I didn’t come here to fight anyone from the Breed.”

She crouched into a fighting stance, she wasn’t moving.

Tension crackled through the air as they each refused to
lower their gaze.

Nora took a moment to strategize, and was highly annoyed
to see he merely looked back at her in boredom.

She could tell by looking at him that he had been on the
streets for a while; his clothes were dirty and
disheveled,
his hair over grown and unkempt. Though he was no more than skin and bones, his
face sunken in, the shadow of a once athletically muscular man still shone
through.

In spite of all of that, his deep green eyes were kind.
Regardless of the situation they were in, she could see clearly he would not
harm her.

His eyes only added to the confusion of why he wouldn’t
come to the embassy. He could get cleaned up and off the streets, have food,
and be safe from whatever it is he was running from.

Steeling herself for the fight, she took in a deep
breath and slashed at him without warning.

Faster than her eyes could track him, he dodged her
strike and easily moved away from her.

A split
seconds confusion sent
her reeling before she understood what had happened and collected herself.

She tried again, this time lunging at him, and again he
smoothly dodged her.

“Please just stop it,” he sighed looking exhausted,
“just go back to my family and tell them to move on without me. It’s better for
everyone if they think I’m dead.”

Her thickly corded neck muscles tensed with rage as she
wildly slashed at him again. How could he think that? Did he even care what Tessa
and there
family were
going through?

Quinn simply turned his back on her and began to stagger
down the now open hallway.

She needed to change and talk to him, no matter how much
it made her skin crawl she would have to plead, and she couldn’t do it in this
form.

She had never been good at asking for anything, and
begging was always out of the question, but with the thought of what the
hunters could be doing to Tessa in the forefront of her mind she pushed her
pride aside.

Relaxing her body she felt the change begin; her skin
began to smooth, her teeth to dull while her jaw pulled back, her muscles
contracted and shrunk along with the rest of her body.

It felt so much better to be back in her human form, her
skin finally feeling like it fit again, instead of being stretched over all
those ungodly muscles.

“Quinn
wait
! Please!” she
called out to him while her body finished changing.

She didn’t know if it was the sound of her voice, or the
desperation that was clearly ringing through it, but slowly, unbelievably, he
turned around to face her.

As his eyes roamed her body, a sudden memory crashed
through Nora.

Her mind slipped back to Memphis first teaching her
about the change and how to control it, he had taught her something else very
important. She would need to carry clothes everywhere with her, because when
the change
happened
your clothes almost always
shredded from the substantial change in size.

Looking down at herself, she realized she was standing
completely naked.

~

Casstiel’s heart was hammering in his chest as he dove
to protect Tessa; he hated himself for not being faster, for not getting there
sooner.

With his fangs fully extended the smell of her blood
made him want to rip apart every hunter in the room, but more than he needed
vengeance, she needed shielding.

He glanced up in time to see two werewolves, one golden
yellow and one a dark chocolate brown, soar over his head.

           
They launched themselves at the hunters, easily taking down two each and
causing a spray of bullets to smash against the tunnel. The rest of the hunters
turned and ran for their lives, knowing with so few men they didn’t stand a
chance.

           
Ghost slowed from a run and took aim. After a fraction of a second he squeezed
off a shot that lodged itself firmly into the back of a hunter’s skull.

           
“Genetic freaks, how dare you stand against
us!
” A
scream roared out from somewhere in the fight.

           
Jax towered over the two men he had taken down, ripping at the throat of one,
and holding the other in place with his deadly claws.

The hunter being pressed down pulled a knife from his
boot and stabbed wildly at Jax’ back and side, but it did little to help him.
Despite the pain of the stabs, he didn’t even flinch.

Once they transformed into werewolves they no longer
seemed to notice pain or fatigue, only feeling the adrenaline that was pumping
through them.

In the midst of the fight a gun was brought out and
pointed at his temple.  Ghost knocked it away easily on his way to help
Kain, who was being swarmed by hunters.

Kain had easily been fighting two men at once, going hit
for hit, but one more had joined the fight, launching himself onto his back.

Furiously he roared and reaching around, digging his
claws into the hunter’s shoulders trying to pull him off. As soon as his hands
were out of the way however, the two hunters in front of him sent a barrage of
vicious blows to his torso.

Ghost ripped the hunter off of his back, tearing his
flesh apart from Kain’s claws, and threw him easily ten feet. The man got up
faster than Ghost had anticipated and began barreling towards him.

He tried shooting at Ghost first, but realized his gun
was out of bullets.

Throwing the gun aside he lunged, his fists flying, but
he was far too slow and Ghost dodged him with ease. Before the hunter could
turn around and face him again Ghost sent a kick smashing into the back of his
skull.

Dazed and disoriented the hunter whirled around to face
him and pulled a twelve inch hunting knife from his belt. He charged
,
the knife raised high above his head like a battle axe.

Slashing and stabbing he made wild uncoordinated
movements, but no matter how erratic, he still wasn’t quick enough. 

With another powerful kick Ghost’s boot connected with
the hunter’s fist and sent the knife flying.

Rage and disbelief crossed over the hunters face as he
screamed a violent string of insults,
then
threw
himself at Ghost, his meaty fist smashing his jaw, dislocating it instantly.

Pulling his gun from the holster on his hip, Ghost
placed it against the hunter’s temple and pulled the trigger.

He wiped the blood off of his chin and cracked his jaw
back in to place,
then
left the fray to call for an
evac
for Tessa.

           
Jax snapped the neck of one of the hunters as easily as a child snaps a wish
bone,
then
threw the corpse into the two hunters who
were trying to run.

           
From the ground the two hunters shot off a hail of bullets that he easily
dodged. He didn’t back down for a second against their semi automatic rifles,
determinedly walking through the gunfire towards them, never showing an ounce
of fear.

           
Casstiel gently cradled Tessa’s head against the crook of his neck, and refused
to look down at her. He could feel her heart beat fluttering, slowly weakening.
He held his hand over the wound on her neck, a shallow gouge where a bullet had
torn through her skin but not embedded in it, and the wound above her hip where
a bullet was still lodged.

Behind him Ghost’s voice echoed throughout the tunnel as
he shouted directions into his cell phone, no doubt calling the embassy’s
medical team. When he ended the call he ripped a thick strip of his shirt off
and rushed over to them.

Cass flashed his fangs and snarled viciously, deep down
he knew it was his friend and trusted team mate coming to help him, but
instinctually he felt the need to claim and protect his mate; to let his fellow
vampire know that this woman and her blood belonged to him.

“Ease up Cass, I’m gonna wrap this leg then help Jax and
Kain. Med team will be on the roof in four minutes,” he relayed, then as
quickly as he could wrapped the fabric around the wound on her calf.

Cass felt rage roil through him as he watched Ghost’s
hands on her body. He reminded himself that Ghost was helping, but down in his
most basic of primal instincts, he wanted to rip his hands off of his woman.

An ear piercing roar sent everyone’s heads flying in
Kain’s direction. Apparently one of the three remaining hunters had succeeded
in shooting him because blood began to gush down his forearm. Kain grabbed the
man by the throat and slammed him against the dirty concrete wall hard enough
to shatter ribs, then roared ferociously in his face.

Of all the members of the team, Kain was the last one
you wanted to piss off.

His temper was volcanic, and once he lost it, calming
down was nearly impossible. He began slamming the hunter into the concrete over
and over again, smashing his body each time, until eventually all you heard was
a wet squelching sound.

Ghost launched himself back into the fray, complaining
loudly that the boys had only left him two hunters. He smoothly dodged a bullet
from one of them, then grabbed the barrel of the gun and smashed the butt of it
into the hunters face, efficiently breaking his nose. 

The only human who was left standing turned and began to
run, but Ghost grabbed his hand gun and quickly put a bullet in his knee cap,
sending him crumpling to the ground.

As Cass heard the screams of men echoing, he picked
Tessa up gently, cradling her like an infant. Now that the bullets had finally
stopped and all the hunters had been detained, it was safe for him to move her
out.

“Leave one alive for me,” he whispered hoarsely to
Ghost, then tucking her body into his, took off running.

He didn’t care that the subway was too crowded to be
running at this speed, he didn’t care that he was smashing into people, all he
cared about was getting Tessa onto that medical chopper.

~

Quinn was no longer leaning against the wall for
support, instead he stood upright and sauntered over to her.