Wrenching Fate (21 page)

Akasha caught the explosive vials before they fell. Thankfully the motion was hidden in the long sleeves of the coat. She forced herself to breathe as she fought off the crippling panic and searched the faces of her enemies for signs of suspicion.

“Why is she wearing your lab coat?” Milbury demanded, fixing suspicious eyes on Akasha. The COAT soldiers stopped their approach… just out of range.

“She’s cold, obviously,” Joe said with impressive nonchalance. “I don’t see why you wouldn’t allow access to the thermostat in here, Francis. Some of the blood tests require higher temperatures.”

Milbury glared at Holmes. The loathing in his chilly stare left no doubt that he meant to kill the scientist. He turned that cold gaze to Akasha. The hatred flared hotter.

“How long did it take you to kill that man in Montana, Akasha?” Milbury sneered as he stalked closer to her. “You look just like a china doll. It’s hard to believe you’re so deadly.”

Akasha shrugged. “Only when I have to defend myself. You and your goons are the deadly ones.”

Milbury choked at her words and stepped closer, followed by the guards.

Akasha’s palms sweated against the slippery glass test tubes.
She stepped back until she reached the operating table, willing them to follow. They moved forward just a half step, but unfortunately remained out of range. She ground her teeth.

Just a little closer
…

She decided to aggravate him further.

“Do you really think killing me will bring your prestige back?” she asked coolly. “I’m not a high priority assignment after all. I’m just a freak accident.”

“How do you know that?” Milbury hissed.

“Silas hired a hacker.” She favored him with a cheerful smile. “We read the entire file. If you get out of this alive, Uncle Sam will only give you a little pat on the back and put you on another petty assignment.”

The agent’s eyes burned in anguish as she hit her mark. He and the firing squad stepped into her throwing range. He began to lift his mutilated hand to signal the COAT to fire.

Akasha took a deep breath and threw the two bombs in quick succession.

She dove under the table, just as the deafening explosion tore the air. Shards of glass pierced Akasha’s arms as she covered her face.

When she dared to look, everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. The closest guard’s face ripped apart. His gun went flying. The other three still held their guns. She whipped the steel table on its side to shield her.

Holmes pointed his
gun at Milbury, but the Major was faster. He shot Joe in the shoulder, knocking the gun from his grasp. It clattered on the floor, by the computer.

“You slimy, scheming son of a bitch!” Milbury roared and leveled the gun at Holmes’s face.

Akasha threw a scalpel.

The tiny blade
embedded itself into the Milbury’s back. He slumped as if about to fall.

Then he
spun around, pointing the gun at her.

***

The vampires heard the explosion just as they were tearing open the jugulars of the two guards. Silas took one last gulp of healing, nourishing blood before dropping his dying victim.

“What in the blazes was that?” Razvan called from the rear of the building.

Silas didn’t have time to wonder.

Akasha!
His mind roared.

He grabbed the keys off the dead guard, shrieking in agony as the light scorched his hand. His eyes burned and watered in the waning sunlight. He could feel his skin sizzling under its meager covering.

“Razvan! Hurry!” They had to make it in time.

Akasha stared down into the black barrel of the gun. The COAT agent seemed to take pleasure in drawing out the moment, taunting her with impending death. She stood there helpless, unable to move or breathe as panic clawed her throat.

Any second, the weapon would spark and smoke as it released the bullet that would pierce her skull, catapulting her into the abyss that was death.

She focused her mind and heart on Silas. She could almost feel the tingling warmth of his presence nearby.

“Now, I’ll find out what it’s like to kill a mutant,” Milbury said, smiling madly. He seemed oblivious to the scalpel embedded in his back like an acupuncturist’s pin. “I wonder… will it feel the same as killing a man? Or will I get twice the pleasure from it?”

His finger tightened on the trigger.
Silas I love you,
she cried silently and squeezed her eyes shut.

Instead of a bang, she heard a terrifying battle cry. Rapid gunshots rent the air. Her eyes flew open to witness what looked like Middle-Eastern terrorists attacking Milbury and the COAT. They were dodging bullets and moving so fast that it took her a moment to realize there were only two. One snapped the necks of the remaining soldiers in impossibly rapid succession. The other terrorist had Milbury in his grasp. Akasha noticed his hands were burned. The little bit of his face that showed looked burnt as well. His brilliant green eyes were watery and bloodshot…and achingly familiar.

“Silas!” she cried and scrambled up off the floor.

“Stay put,” he commanded, his eyes glowing like phosphorus.

He tore the sheet from his face and bared his fangs. Milbury cringed like a kicked dog and a dark wet stain appeared on the front of his pants, trailing down one leg.

Silas was a horrifying sight. His face was bright red. The burned skin around his eyes was tight and shiny. A nose wrinkling reek of burnt hair permeated the air.

“You shouldna ha’ touched ma woman!” he growled and sank his fangs into the Major’s neck.

Akasha had never seen him feed before. It was more brutal, more gruesome than any horror movie depiction. Milbury screamed as his neck tore with a wet squelching sound.

Blood dribbled from the corner of the vampire’s mouth, turning the collar of the man’s shirt a bright crayon red. He jerked and shrieked louder as Razvan bit his wrist, worrying his arm like a rabid dog. The slurping and swallowing sounds were grossly audible in the now silent lab. In her shock she wondered idly when the monitors had quit their droning.

As Milbury’s screams died down and the struggling ceased, Akasha realized something. This was not how vampires usually fed. They were being brutal on purpose; they were
making
it hurt. This was a punishment. She would have been terrified and sickened if she didn’t know the bastard deserved everything he was getting.

When they were done, Milbury was reduced to a gray, pasty corpse. His body hit the cement floor with a thump. Silas wiped his mouth and took Akasha in his arms. She fought back her fear and returned his embrace.

Gratitude filled her in a glorious fount. She thought she’d never see or feel him again. For a few delirious moments, the lab and all she’d been through this day dissolved into pure bliss as the warmth of his love encompassed her. Then Silas pulled away and ran his hands across her face and down her body.

“Are you all right my love?” the vampire’s eyes searched hers frantically.

She tried to laugh off his concern but choked on tears that threatened to break her. “I think you two are in worse shape…” Her eyes widened and her hand dropped. The burns on the vampires’ flesh had faded. All that remained was redness around their eyes and on their hands, as if they’d been out at the beach too long.

“Fascinating…” Holmes breathed behind them.

Silas and Razvan whipped around and had the scientist pinned within seconds. Blood gushed from the wound on his shoulder. Holmes made a small pained sound and Razvan licked his lips, eyes alight with predatory avarice.

“No!” Akasha shoved both vampires back, but they were prepared for her strength and didn’t budge. “Don’t hurt him!”

Razvan cocked an eyebrow. “Please tell me you are not having tender feelings for your captor?”

Silas looked at her over Holmes’s shoulder. His eyes gleamed like lethal emeralds. “Why should we spare him, lass?”

“He helped me,” Akasha fixed them both with a glare. “Milbury was going to kill him too. He’s not part of the COAT. Please, let him go.”

Grudgingly, the vampires released their prey. Holmes shuffled backwards to Akasha’s side. His face contorted in pain as he held his bleeding shoulder.

“Thank you for sparing me,” he panted. “I’m Joe Holmes, FBI. I’d offer a handshake, but as you can see…” He trailed off as blood dripped all over the floor.

Silas began to laugh. “Head of the AIU department? Oh, this is just precious.”

Holmes smiled weakly. “Yes, the irony is not lost on me. Not only did you fool us completely, McNaught, but you know of us?”

“We
all
know of you, and your European counterparts,” he replied gruffly.

Holmes fell back into his usual enthusiasm for scientific discovery. “I’d love to ask you some questions.”

“Not a chance,” Silas shook his head.

“We have not decided whether we will let you live yet, mortal,” Razvan added, doing his “dark scary villain” routine, circling the scientist.

“Knock it off, dipshit,” Akasha told him. “Can’t you see he’s been shot? Make yourself useful and either heal him or get me a beer…or at least a cigarette.”

Holmes flinched at her words to the vampire, eyes the size of saucers.

Razvan chuckled. “You are quite a mouthy wench today.”

She sighed. “It’s been a real shitty day.”

Sympathy actually glimmered in his onyx eyes. He bowed and dug the bullet out of the scientist’s shoulder, oblivious to the cries of pain. Then he bit his finger to apply the healing magic to Holmes’s wound.

The man’s eyes were huge beneath his glasses as the injury vanished.

“The curative powers of your blood never cease to amaze me,” Joe remarked. “I still haven’t managed to duplicate it, much less isolate the individual compounds…” He shook his head and tried to smooth his poofy white hair. “I’m sorry for digressing. I suppose you would like to view Milbury’s files and destroy them?”

Silas nodded and handed Akasha a cigarette, ignoring Joe’s disapproving frown. “I would like to read your findings as well. I want to know everything you have done to her.” His piercing gaze made Holmes tremble.

By the time they’d viewed everything it was almost dusk. Akasha convinced the vampires to let Joe go free, but she was still very worried on another account.

“Even if you keep your mouth shut, Joe, and even if we destroy this place and all the data, they’ll wonder what happened, and they’ll track us down if we don’t move.” She crushed her cigarette butt on the floor. “I mean, I’m grateful to be alive, but it still looks like we’re screwed.”

“Not necessarily…” Agent Holmes said, chewing on a pen.

Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

The scientist grinned. “What is a government good for if not for a cover-up?”

“Explain, mortal,” Razvan demanded.

Holmes chuckled. “With the sheets you were wearing, it wouldn’t be too hard to adjust the camera footage and leave enough intact to make it look like the work of radical Middle-Eastern terrorists. Especially since Milbury was stationed in Iraq on some secret assignment until he lost his fingers. It’s my knowledge of those facts that led to Milbury’s ultimate decision to annihilate me, or so I believe.”

“Why, that’s brilliant!” Silas clapped Holmes on the back. “You can do that for us?”

Holmes smirked. “I can…but for a price.”

Silas’s eyes glowed and his accent thickened. “Och mon, what game are ye playin’? What price? I should think your life is sufficient tender.”

“A vial of your blood.” He held up a hand before anyone could object. “I know…you could kill me any time. I only want the blood to study further… to try to make cures for diseases and such. We already have some, so it wouldn’t be a huge betrayal of your kind… I just need more and I would prefer to get it honestly.”

There was a long, tangible pause before Silas spoke. “Aye, I could kill you any time. Ye best remember that. If I agree I will have your solemn oath that ye will do as ye said and draw the government’s eyes away from Akasha and our kind?”

Holmes nodded emphatically. “I don’t want any of you dead!” He attempted to laugh, but it came out dry and rusty. “You people are far more interesting alive.”

Silas nodded in impatience. “Get your syringe.”

“And hurry up Joe,” Akasha added. “I don’t mind your company, but still I’d like to get the fuck out of here.”

***

Agent Holmes whispered a prayer of thanks for his life when Akasha and the vampires departed.

He’d been terrified that they’d discover his ulterior motives. Not that
he didn’t want them to be safe, he genuinely admired the love the two so clearly had for each other.

It was only that he
had some benefits of his own if the military knew nothing of his involvement with this incident. He doctored the camera footage and erased all evidence of his presence within a few hours quicker than he expected.

He congratulated himself as he rigged the timed explosives.

Minutes later, he whistled a cheery tune as he carried the cooler containing Akasha’s eggs and Silas McNaught’s blood out of the building.

***

“You brought my car!” Akasha exclaimed, wiping joyous tears from her eyes. Her Roadrunner glistened before her, racing stripes brilliant in the moonlight.

Silas shrugged. “I thought you would want to see her right away. Do you feel well enough to drive?”

Akasha took a minute to compose herself before she began squealing like a girl. He was so thoughtful. “Maybe for a little while. Where are we, anyway?”

“Richland, Washington,” Razvan told her. “It’s about a three hour drive home.”

“Really?” she said. “That’s closer than I thought.”

“My guess is they planned it that way.” Silas said, a growl of rage still tingeing his voice. “They probably couldn’t handle transporting a hellion like you very far. We were very lucky that you were not hurt badly.
” He took a shuddering breath as if unable to bear the thought. “I have a doctor waiting at home to examine you, in any case.”

Akasha slid into the driver’s seat, tipping it forward for Razvan to get in the back.

“You want me to ride in the rear?” he asked, outraged. “Surely you jest, woman. I made your master.”

Akasha rolled her eyes. “Waaa, fuckin’ waaa. The boyfriend always gets shotgun in my car. You can fly home if you like.”

Razvan grumbled and got in. “I am too weary to fly all that way.”

When they were all settled, Akasha started the engine and honked the horn, smiling as it went “Meep-Meep” just like the roadrunner on “Looney-Tunes.” Whoever designed this car was a genius.

“You can hypnotize the cops, right?” she asked as she did a doughnut in the barnyard before pulling onto the road.

Silas grinned, heartbreakingly handsome even in the dark. “I take it you’re in a hurry?”

“Yeah. I need a hot shower and a cold beer ASAP…maybe two beers…or six.” She lit a cigarette as she got onto I-90, rolling the window down all the way. Akasha didn’t like to smoke in her car, but after the hours of captivity and certain death, she didn’t give a shit.

They were
almost halfway home before her fatigue caught up with her and she was forced to relinquish the wheel to Silas. She was just dozing off when she heard Razvan whisper to Silas. “When are you going to tell her?”

Silas sighed in obvious dread. “I do not know. Soon.”

Tell me what?
Akasha wanted to ask, but sleep sucked her under.