Wraith Captive, page 17
“It’s done,” I say.
Gabriel is there in an instant, wrapping his wrist. Winding the sheets from Blade’s bed around it until he secures it.
“Do we need to stitch it up?” I ask, heart pounding.
Gabriel shakes his head. “He’s a supernatural. He’ll heal on his own.”
My legs shake as I go to the sink and wash the metal until it’s clear of the blood. Behind me, I see Gabriel shake Blade. A minute later, his eyes flash open. Almost instantly, Ax sits up with a gasp.
His gaze swings to his wrist, and he stares and stares for a long minute.
“It’s done,” I say.
It takes him a minute before he manages a soft, “Thank you.”
I hand Gabriel the knife and sit down beside him. “Are you okay?”
“I will be. As long as I can shift now.”
“Try it,” Gabriel tells him.
I whirl on the fae. “Give him time to heal.”
“We might not have time,” he says, his voice unyielding.
Ax takes a deep breath beside me, and his body seems to shimmer for a minute. And then, suddenly, I’m looking at myself. Or, at least, a very beautiful version of myself. I swear my hair looks fuller and shinier. My lips look larger and my freckles lighter. And my boobs… I’m damned sure they’re bigger than my own.
“Ax!” I say, smacking his…my knee.
He grins, which is eerie. “So this is what it feels like to be you.”
I scowl at him. “Shift back.”
Instead, he lifts his hands and grabs his/my breasts. “Nice.”
I feel my cheeks heat, and I smack his arm. “Stop that!”
“They’re so big and perky!”
“Ax that’s not what… Stop that, you pervy weirdo!”
Gabriel and Blade actually laugh.
“It’s good to have you back,” Gabriel says.
Ax grins and shimmers again, going right back to his impossibly beautiful face.
“I definitely prefer your own face,” I mumble.
I squeak as he tugs me into his lap.
“Oh yeah?” His mouth crushes mine, and for a minute I’m lost in his kiss before his hands close around my breasts. I break our kiss with a gasp, but he grins and says, “The real thing is so much better.”
I wiggle in his lap, and he groans. “Stop that, you damned siren!”
“Stop grabbing my breasts.”
And then Ax looks to Blade and Gabriel. “Either of you jealous?”
I stiffen, surprised by his question.
“Blade is turned on,” Gabriel answers.
Blade glares. “Like you aren’t, asshole.”
Ax’s grin widens. “I knew sharing her would be just fine.”
I wiggle again and push his hands away. “Don’t we have more important things to talk about?”
When all their faces crumble, I find myself instantly regretting my hastily spoken words. I’ve been in the prison for a couple days and seen just how awful it could be. They’ve been here for years. The least they deserve is a few minutes of happiness.
“She’s right,” Gabriel says, then moves closer to us, sitting down on the floor by my legs. “We should prepare her better.”
I tense, waiting.
Ax’s breath tickles my ear as he speaks. “Blade has a guard that is going to sneak us out of here. He’ll get us beyond the wall. After that, we have contacts that will help us get as far from the prison as possible.”
“And what are our chances of getting out? And getting away without being tracked down?”
“If we can get out of the prison, with our combined abilities, we should be able to disappear pretty nicely.”
“So then, we just wait?”
Ax’s arms wrap around me. “Exactly.”
I relax back against him. “I can do that.”
But even though it’s nice to be surrounded by my men, being held by my men, tension sings under my flesh. Tonight we’re escaping a paranormal prison, Nightmare Penitentiary. I can’t imagine it will be easy.
Despite myself, my thoughts begin to shift through all the possible ways we could get caught, and what the hell they’ll do with us if they catch us. My stomach flips and a tremble wracks my body.
It’s strange, I swear I feel Blade’s mind stroke mine. Goosebumps erupt on my flesh and a deep sense of contentment fills me.
I turn to Blade. His deep brown eyes are locked on me. “You’re such a softie,” I say.
He grunts, but says nothing more.
Unable to help myself, I lean over and kiss him.
For a second I think he’ll pull away, but then he kisses me back, stealing my breath.
When I pull away, Gabriel is staring at me. He looks away when he catches my eye and something flutters in my chest. We’re all still figuring this out. The last thing I want to do is screw it up.
I’m about to say exactly that when I see a light flicker.
“Fuck,” I mutter, tangling free from Ax.
“What is it?” Gabriel asks, instantly leaping to his feet.
I go to the bars of our cell and stare out. A bulb somewhere is flickering just out of my view. I want to pretend it means nothing, but my time in this prison has taught me better. And yet, I loathe the idea of stressing out my guys unless…
Suddenly, all the lights start to flicker.
“What the hell?” Ax mutters behind me.
“What does this mean?” Blade asks more quietly.
It’s hard for me to say the words, but now I feel it deep in my soul. “Death is coming.”
“Elizabeth…?” There’s a question in my name.
And then all the bulbs burst at once, sparks of light falling for one horrifying second before we’re bathed in darkness. “Be ready, something’s coming.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ax
One minute I was sitting there thinking about how lucky I was, despite my throbbing wrist. I had a beautiful woman and my two best friends. We’d shared Elizabeth, something I hoped had less to do with Blade’s lure and more to do with the guys being open about such an arrangement…permanently. My mind had started to run through what we’d do together once we were free, the places I’d take them, and the happiness we could have.
And the next minute, the world had gone dark and Elizabeth was speaking of death.
I just hoped she was wrong.
Suddenly, a strange sound like a thousand clicking locks rings through the darkness, and our cell door squeaks open, along with the squeaking doors of a hundred other cells.
“Fuck,” I mutter. “This can’t be good.”
I hear someone shout in triumph. I hear the sounds of people rushing out into the open hall. But we all remain rooted in place.
Cell doors don’t just open on their own.
None of this was good.
“What does this mean?” Gabriel asks. “Is this the work of your guard?”
Blade speaks softly but quickly. “No, this is something else.”
“What should we do?” Elizabeth sounds frightened.
I reach out and wrap an arm around her shoulders, wanting to comfort her, but not knowing what the hell to say. We have to get Elizabeth out, tonight, before the warden and the bitch take her into their torture room. But something about this feels wrong.
“If they want us out in the hall,” Gabriel begins slowly, “we stay right where we are.”
None of us argue.
The sounds in the hall grow louder and louder. There’s talking. There are the sounds of shifters racing around, their claws running along the metal floor.
A gruff voice says, “Someone break down the door!”
I hear metal striking flesh. A few growls fill the air and then I know people are fighting, and I’m breathing hard. I have no clue what this means. But no matter what, the three of us have to keep Elizabeth safe.
No matter the cost.
Suddenly, a horrible shrieking fills the air. I cover my ears and the shrieking seems to come from all around us. From a dozen different places. I crumble to my knees, gasping against the pain, afraid my eardrums will burst at any moment.
And then the sounds stop.
Fire flares to life outside our cells. Several demons flame their fires, lighting the hall and cells with gold, dancing light that radiates from beneath their flesh like lava. The four of us crowd together, waiting.
Overhead, a grate from a vent tumbles down, hitting the ground loudly, the sound of metal striking metal eerie in the silence. Above us, I see a dozen grates hit the ground.
“What the fuck—?”
From out of the vents, red beasts with bodies like chewed-up hamburger bound out. When they hit the ground, they expand to the size of bears. Their four legs, or clawed hands, dig into the ground, and the prisoners stare as dozens of the creatures leap down around them.
“What the hell is this?” a demon roars.
One of the beasts leaps onto the demon like a massive spider. In seconds, its clawed hands rip his body apart, the pieces falling to the ground with a cracking of bones and a splattering of blood.
There’s a horrifying moment of silence, and then the prisoners begin to run or fight. The beasts attack, fast and deadly, and shifters, demons, vampires, and the others fight with every ounce of their abilities.
“Close the door,” Gabriel orders.
We pull it closed, but the lock doesn’t work. We hold on, our hands wrapped around the bars, trying to hold it into place.
“Maybe we should run,” Elizabeth whispers.
Gabriel shakes his head. “They’re faster and stronger.”
“But once they’re done with the others—“
“Maybe they won’t see us,” I lie, heart pounding.
Blade’s voice comes soft and tense. “This is why they ordered the guards away. This was a plan. They intended to massacre us.”
My stomach flips. He’s right. But what the hell are we supposed to do? If we could make it to the main door to the cells that lead to the rest of the prison, we’d still need time to get it open. If we made it to the courtyard, I had no doubt we’d just be caught out there and killed, while the guards in the towers pretended not to notice.
We were screwed.
“Fuck,” Elizabeth says, and she sounds frightened.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, looking from the grisly scene to her.
“There’s…so…many bodies.” She gasps the words.
And then she yanks the door open with a strength that has us all falling over. I’m shocked for one terrible moment before she walks out of the cell, straight into hell. Gabriel is the first to react. He reaches out for her, but hisses and jerks his hand back before he can grab her.
I leap out and try to grab her too, but some invisible force sends a steak of pain through my hand when I try to touch her.
“Stay in the cell,” she gasps. “I have to go to a body. I have no choice.”
My hands curl into fists. If she walks out there alone, she’s dead.
I leap out into the main room and shift without thinking, growing into a giant, one of the few I’ve seen in my lifetime. I grow and grow until my head nearly touches the ceiling, and then I look down at the scene below me, my gaze seeking out Elizabeth.
Gabriel and Blade are keeping pace with her.
One of the beasts leaps at Blade. He slashes out, and the creature tumbles back.
Gabriel lifts a hand, pointing at one of the beasts as it races toward him. Instantly, the beast’s legs crumble under him, and even towering over them I can see the pain in Gabriel’s expression as he tries to seep the creature of its strength.
Clearly the little beasts had the same skill to fight off his ability to kill with just a touch.
Which was bad news for us.
One of the beasts leaps toward Elizabeth. I reach down and smash it beneath my fist, careful not to hurt the prisoners below me. Briefly I consider tearing off the roof, but I’m too afraid of things falling and killing the small people below me.
Instead, I look at the door that leads out into the rest of the prison. Curling my hand into a fist, I hit the metal. Once, twice, a third time. The metal gapes, but before I can punch it a fourth time, prisoners scramble to escape through it. I want to fling them back, to finish opening the door, but more of the beasts leap forward, ripping the prisoners down.
I try to help. But at this size, I’m too slow and clumsy. I’m strong, but strength isn’t always the best skill. I crush the little beasts with my fist, but it seems every time one dies more pour from the vents.
Elizabeth finally stops her trek. I have to kill another beast as it leaps toward her, stopping it inches from touching her. Blade and Gabriel are fighting like mad, but I can see them slowing. And the blood that covers them can’t possibly be all the beasts’.
Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain in my foot and then another in my other foot. Looking down, I see the creatures on my feet. I try to kick them off, but it doesn’t work. I try to pull them off, but fire seems to run through my veins from their claws.
My head spins, and then to my horror I feel myself shrinking.
It’s like a nightmare. Me growing smaller and smaller, half a dozen of the little beasts surrounding me, my friends too far away to help.
But as much as I try to reach for my giant form, it slips away. And I sense something dark and sticky running through my blood.
Something deadly.
I glance across the room one last time to see Elizabeth standing over a body, her arms spread out on both sides of her, and then everything goes dark.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Elizabeth
I’ve never felt anything like this before. Dozens upon dozens of wisps fill the air, flooding into me, filling me with a swelling power that’s nearly blinding. But as the last of the wisps absorb into my skin, I’m released from death’s hold.
Turning around, finally aware of more than the blinding power, I see my men fighting.
The rest of prisoners… They’re nothing but bodies.
Ax’s massive form shrinks and tumbles over. I see a mountain of the beasts close in around him.
Lifting my arm, I press my magic out and the beasts explode over him, raining down their flesh like a storm. But still, my magic swells inside of me, looking for release. I spin to face my men. They have slowed down. The beasts strike out, playing with them, and anger uncurls in my belly.
I turn my hands towards them, and the spirits around me shriek as they unleash, tearing the beasts into shreds. My body feels light as I run to Ax’s still body, reaching my hands out around me and killing more of the creatures as they race toward me. Gabriel and Blade are at my side in an instant. We work together to clear our path.
When we reach Ax, I can’t pause to see if he’s still living. I turn and face our opponents. More and more of them leap from the vents, an endless supply of death.
My hands stretch out, and my magic attacks them one after another, but there’s always more to replace the last.
“We’ve got Ax. We need to get to the door!” Gabriel shouts.
I keep my hands out, killing and killing, clearing our path. But if anything, they seem to come faster. And then, a dozen of them jump down in front of us, cutting us off from the door.
I lift my hands. For a minute nothing happens and terror uncurls inside of me, and then the creatures burst, littering the air with their pieces. Inside of me, I feel my powers dwindling. Soon there will be nothing left.
We reach the door. Blade uses his claws to hack at it until we get it the rest of the way open. I kill more of the beasts, going slower and slower each time.
Gabriel yanks me back, and then we’re running down a hall.
That terrible shrieking fills the air once more, and I glance back to see the creatures racing after us, scrambling on the ceilings and walls, chasing us as if we’re their next meal.
We reach a door at the end of the hall. Gabriel pounds and pounds on the door, screaming for help, but no one answers.
Heart in my throat, I turn and blast the door off the hinges, staggering as I do so. Gabriel says my name and comes to my side, dragging me as Blade drags Ax the rest of the way.
We have another hall lined with doors. No escape in sight.
My stomach drops.
“This way!” Gabriel says, stopping in front of a door. He manages to open it, much to my surprise. “Inside!”
We pile into…a storage room.
He turns and closes the door, sliding a metal bar into place behind him.
Outside the door, we hear the beasts smashing and smashing against the metal.
“They’re going to get in,” I say, tears choking my throat.
“No,” Gabriel says softly. “The ghosts say this was meant as a panic room. It should hold.”
“And if doesn’t?”
He doesn’t answer me. We just sink to the floor, flinching every time the beasts hit the metal.
“It just has to last until morning,” Blade pants.
I don’t tell them that I don’t think it will. Because we’re all thinking the same thing.
And in the air, I scent death.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Elizabeth
My entire body has been shaking all night. Exhaustion and fear have drained me to the point that it seems to take a great deal of effort just to remain sitting up. Ax had awakened sometime in the night. He was pale. He’d fallen in and out of consciousness several times, but Blade said he was going to be okay.
The metal door stood before us. Smashed nearly through in several places. Warped and strained by the beasts crashing against it all night.
But it still stood.
Despite all logic.
And then some time ago the beasts had grown silent, eerily silent, and we’d sat together, watching the door in terror. Wondering if this was some new plan, or if the sun had finally risen.
At last, Gabriel whispered, “The ghosts say they’re gone. All of them.”
My heart beats faster. “What do we do now?”
