The Breed Casstiel's Vow (37 page)

           
She couldn’t see Casstiel but in front of her Memphis had transformed and was
snarling with rage, his biceps bulging as he strained to pull the bars apart
with his bare hands.

It was nothing in comparison to her brother.

           
His eyes boiled a deep blood red, his roar so loud it rumbled the ground as he
bit, clawed and slashed at the metal bars.

           
“The Breed whore goes first, then the animals,” the hunter pressed the muzzle
of his gun flush against her temple, while shaking his head at the reaction
Quinn was giving them.

           
Tessa sobbed hot tears of rage as she kicked and bit at the hunter wrestling
her. She wasn’t going to let this happen, they would have to kill her before
she let them take everyone she loved.

           
“Nora!” she screamed out in desperation, as her friend sat defeated on her
knees, her head hung low.

           
“Stay still bitch!” the hunter screamed slapping Tessa hard across the face.

           
She felt her jaw immediately swell with bruising, but she refused to stop. No
matter how hard he hit her, even when his slaps turned to closed fists, she
clawed and bit like a wild animal to get free.

           
Until she heard the gunshot.

           
The shot brought a sickening silence with it. No more growls or savage attempts
at freedom from the Breed, even her heart seemed to silence in her chest,
heaving to a stop at the horrific sound of a body crumpling to the floor. 

           
Tessa rolled to her side to vomit, and was pushed savagely away by the hunter
holding her captive.

           
Behind her sound suddenly exploded; screams of pain and rage erupted with a
hail of gunfire so loud it drowned out the noise of her own heart breaking
sobs.

           
Her loved ones would die and all she could do was sob and vomit.

           
No. She wouldn’t let it end this way.

           
Weak and unsteady she rose to her feet, her vision blurry from tears, and her
eyes swollen from the hunters’ blows.

           
She had made up her mind, she would die with them. She would fight until they
had no choice but to kill her with the rest.

           
Being taken alive was not an option; not when her life would consist of
constant torture and rape, all the while being eaten alive with guilt over
Nora’s death and the pain her capture would be inflicting on Casstiel.

           
Death was a far better option.

           
She roared with every ounce of energy she could muster, running towards the
chaos in front of her, exhaustion blackening her vision and weakening her
limbs.

           
Every indistinct shadow she passed was an enemy she attacked drunkenly as she
weaved herself through the fray.

           
She felt a fever spiking through her blood, but still she pushed herself to
fight. Just because she had accepted death, didn’t mean she was going to go
quietly.

           
Like a crazed animal she threw herself at the closest target, managing to
launch herself onto their back. 

           
“Jesus Christ!” he screamed as she dug her nails as deep as she could into his
neck, blood bubbling against her skin.

           
She held on for dear life as she began to fade in and out of consciousness, the
world was a blur around her, her mentality slipping in and out like a
flickering television set. She was fighting for her life, then she was five
years old learning to ride a bicycle, hunters rushing past her screaming, her
mother teaching her how to make stuffing on thanksgiving; memories melded
together in a grotesque collage of life and death. 

           
A sharp jerk shook her out of her stupor, she bit down hard on his shoulder as
he tried to swing her off, the cotton of his shirt filling her mouth as she
clenched.

           
Someone screamed behind her, grabbing her by the middle and tugging.

           
She kicked and fought with all her might as they tried to pull her off the
hunter, she wanted to take down at least one of the bastards. Blood ran down
her wrists and forearms as she dug her nails in deeper and tried to hold on.

           
Still kicking and thrashing she began to black out. Her grip grew slack and she
felt herself being ripped away from her prey. She could no longer hold herself
upright,
she had no choice but to slump back and allow them
to drag her away.

           
Her vision faded in and out with every heartbeat, giving her small glimpses of
what was happening around her.

           
Everywhere shadows were moving, but her eyes were too tired to keep up with
them anymore.

           
Vomit rose in her throat again as she caught a glimpse of Casstiel, he was
screaming something to the person carrying her, clearly trying to threaten or
bargain for her life. It didn’t matter, it was too late.

           
Her arms and legs were too heavy to hold up anymore, so she let them fall,
along with all hope for the future.

           
As she came close to blacking out again she looked up to see that she was being
taken by an angel.

           
An angel whose skin was marred by blood and bruises, with a
golden halo of light covering dark hair.

           
She heard a shot go off close to her head, the angel was shooting?

           
Darkness enclosed around her, and she let herself go.

~

           
Tessa clenched her eyes tighter as the sound of buzzing filled her ears. She
tried to swat at the noise but her arms were just useless weights attached to
her.

           
She caught snatches of the conversation going on around her, but none of it
seemed to make sense.

           
“… severe dehydration ….”

           
“…Charleston will need to be first….”

           
“…Are we telling the others or not…”

           
“…How long has she been sleeping for…”

           
“Tessa, my sun, it’s time to wake up,” a warm hand caressed her cheek.
Casstiel, she would know that voice anywhere.

           
Her eyes sprung open with disbelief.

           
He was sitting on her hospital bed smiling down at her.
Alive,
in one piece, and
happy
.

           
“What happened? How are we alive?” she asked, her mouth felt full of sand.

           
“Well, once again you and your side kick almost got everyone killed, but
somehow we managed to save you,” his voice went from jovial to pissed off in
one breath.

           
Sebastian, the only other person in the room, gave her a quick nod of the head
as he backed out through the door, and she could almost swear a smirk crossed
his features.

           
“We were trying to warn you! The hunters made a trap-”

           
“Which we had figured out a good hour before you got there, made a decent plan
for the situation, and up until you showed up, were doing pretty well,” he
glowered down at her.

           
“Pretty well?
Jax and Kain are dead because of your
stupid plan!” her temper rose up to meet his.

           
“You humans will never accept the power of the Breed,” he laughed shaking his
head, “both of them are alive and well, which you should know since you tried
to maul Jax to death before you blacked out. I guess I should be grateful
though, the hunters’ made the same mistake and that’s the only reason we are
all alive today.”

           
“Nora?” she asked, choking on hopefulness as she said the name.

           
“Carried you out of the fight, killed two hunters to do it. You really don’t
remember much do you?” he caressed her face softly.

           
“She was the angel,” she closed her eyes around tears of relief, “I was so
destroyed, I thought everyone was dead. I kept blacking out and my mind was all
over the place, I couldn’t concentrate on anything, my focus was shot.”

           
“It didn’t help that that hunter broke your eye socket. If Remy wasn’t here to
heal you…” the hairs on the back of her neck stood up at the expression on his
face, “I took care of him last.”

           
“So… so Jax and Kain came up stairs and saved everybody?” she asked, wanting to
change the subject before he threw a chair through the window.

           
“They shot the hunter who had Nora, then released Quinn, it was basically over
at that point,” a look of pride filled his features, “your brother is
incredible in his transformed state. I watched him snap a man’s back bone
between his hands like a pretzel.”

           
“Yeah, incredible,” she frowned at the imagery, “so what are we doing, what’s
going to happen now?”

           
“Sebastian is heading alone to the Charleston embassy; we’re immediately going
to start trying to weed out the traitors. The hunters were right, letting the
whole Breed know what’s going on is only going to cause panic, we need to try
and nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand.”

           
“It’s too late,” she shivered, “I looked into
Ivesley’s
mind, and he wasn’t lying. This war is going to be horrific, there’s so many of
them.”

           
“You,” he flicked the tip of her nose, “just keep your nose clean and worry
about your punishment. Let the warriors do their job, we’re pretty good at it.”

           
“My punishment?” her lip quivered.

           
“Oh yeah, Lucy and Ethel are both going to go through basic training,” he
smiled evilly down at her.

           
“B...basic training?” she was the most out of shape, least physically gifted
person that she knew, she would die.

           
“Since you insist on throwing yourself into every single thing I ask you to
stay out of, and it almost gets you killed EVERY time, I’ve decided you need to
go through combat training. Furthermore, you better hope one of my men
volunteer to teach you, because if I have to do it, you’re going to really
really
wish you had just stayed home.”

           
“You’re trying to kill me,” she was out of breath after walking a flight of
stairs, combat training was a death sentence.

           
“Just keeping you tired enough to not want to get into trouble,” he winked at
her, “don’t worry
though,
there will be plenty of
massages afterwards.”

           
He rubbed his hands firmly over the back of her neck and she was immediately
putty in his hands.

           
“I like massages,” she purred.

           
Reaching down he scooped her into his arms like a china doll and carried her
from the room.

           
“Where are we going?” she laughed.

           
“I’m taking you home for a full body massage,” he stared down at her with so
much love and devotion that even the threat of war breaking out couldn’t stop
her smile.