Monstrous Intent, page 8
That’s when the doglike one lunges at me as panic fills the bar and people scramble to escape. The issue is that we’re blocking the doorway and they have nowhere to go. I move in quickly, swinging my knife through the air as she tries to dodge my strike, but I have to move inward to stop her next attack.
Then someone decides to be a big hero and jumps into the fray. Irritatingly, all he manages to do is get in the way of my attack, pushing me back and giving her time to clamp down on his arm. I hear the horribly audible sound of his arm being crushed between her strong jaws, but it gives me the opportunity to drive the knife into the back of her neck.
The catlike one sees what I’m doing and leaps onto the bar, stalking toward me as she leaves the front door unguarded.
Seeing an out, people rush toward it in a panic, but the bar is small, and they slam into me, jostling me toward the door as I try to move out of their path. One of the chimeras uses the distraction of the chaos to tear a woman to the ground as screams fill the bar and people push harder.
“Calm the hell down,” I yell, but it’s lost in the panic. When I finally break free, I find that it’s just me, a bleeding woman crawling across the ground, and the two monsters. But they’re not staring at me. No, they’re staring past me, and the moment I move toward them, they slink down like wounded dogs before turning and rushing through the back door of the bar that’d been left open by a panicked employee.
It’s never a good thing when a chimera fears something other than me.
I turn to face what sent them fleeing and see Lake standing in the doorway with a huge smile. “I came to eat your girlfriend but looks like someone already did. Is that her?” he asks as he looks at the poor terrified woman on the floor.
“It is not.”
“Dammit.”
“Weren’t you just naked?” I ask.
“I actually took that picture earlier but was looking for the perfect opportunity to use it. On your date sounded best, oddly enough.”
“Yeah, oddly enough. What are you?”
He smiles at me. “Your new date, of course,” he says, stooping down in front of the woman and giving her a poke in the shoulder. “You’ll be fine.” He pokes her again for good measure before standing up.
“I should follow them,” I say, realizing that for all I know, he was protecting his own kind from me and is using this time to distract me.
“Why don’t you help this lady. I don’t know much about medical stuff, so I’ll follow them,” he says. “I’m a hunter too, after all.”
“Okay,” I say as I stoop down to help her while he hurries out the back door.
As I use her sweater to slow the bleeding, I realize that Lake is quite the liar and I dumbly just agreed. If he’s worked as a medical examiner and could stitch up his own arm with perfect execution, he’s obviously better at medical stuff than me. Shit… should I follow him?
No… no, it doesn’t matter because he’s going to do what he wants anyway.
And if I go… will I finally get my answer to what he is? He didn’t appear to have any weapons on him, so how would he plan on killing them? Do I not want my answer? Because if I go out there and find that he really is a monster, isn’t stopping him the right thing to do?
Shit… What is wrong with me?
The police move in through the door, and I’m glad I don’t have to deal with Officer Riley, but I know that the hunters will be here before too long. I quickly blend back into the surroundings to avoid them. Even once they tell me I’m free to go, I find myself hanging around, avoiding the hunters while wondering if Lake is planning on coming back.
When there’s no sign of him, I finally break down and send him a text.
Me: You alive?
Lake: I am. Did you miss me?
Me: No, just disappointed.
Lake: That you didn’t get to see more of me?
Me: That you’re alive.
Lake: You know my address. You can come eat me up whenever you’re hungry. I’ll be waiting.
He’s going to be waiting a long time because I head straight out to my car and drive for home before I remember that Emma called me at some point, probably wondering if I was also still alive.
I send her a simple thumbs up and head for home.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
LAKE
“This is getting out of control,” Jameson says as he comes barreling down into my wonderfully boring basement.
“Yeah?”
“Two more last night. My hunters didn’t arrive until the scene was cleared and they tell me that Declan was there,” he says.
“Uh-huh?” I’m really not overly interested in anything he has to say because I find him quite dreadfully boring.
“Are you doing this?” he asks.
“Doing…?”
“Calling them here or some shit.”
“Last I checked that’d be a no,” I say as he comes in closer.
“Let me see your wrist.”
I hand it to him and he presses his phone against it before he stares at the device for an annoyingly long time.
“You were at the bar they attacked,” he says.
“Yeah, I met Declan for drinks. Do you not remember that you came in here yesterday with some grand idea about me seducing him or something? Let me just say it’s the best job you ever gave me. He luvvs me so much already. Yesterday, he even told me I can eat his girlfriend. Oh, my heart,” I say as I clutch my chest.
He oddly doesn’t seem as excited as I am about eating Declan’s girlfriend. “You’re not taking this seriously, are you?”
“How am I not? I think I take human eating pretty seriously,” I say. “Like barbeque, rotisserie, or grilled… ooh, meat pie! Did I ever tell you I absolutely love Sweeney Todd?”
He’s irritated and gets up into my space again as he’s known to do, which is exactly what I wanted so I could steal the keycard again. If my new lover wants information to ruin Jameson’s life, then I shall give it to him. I know Jameson has a meeting at four that he announced earlier, so I’ll take that time to enjoy myself in his office.
“I bet if I asked him to suckle my big toe, he’d do it,” I declare.
“Just do your damn job.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I say as he turns around and leaves me. I wait a few minutes before I head up to the second floor. It’s trickier today because there are others wandering around, and at least one person in the office next door. Thankfully, my hearing is phenomenal, even in this form, so I stay tucked back out of sight until the hallway is clear before walking right up to Jameson’s door and swinging it open.
Stepping into the room, I shut the door and wander over to the laptop. While I don’t quite know the numerical password for it, I have watched his finger placements, and it only takes me four tries to get it right.
Settling in, I glance over the screen to make sure that when I’m done, I can put everything right back where it was.
“Well, hello there, handsome,” I say as I see Declan’s picture looking right back at me. Jameson’s obsession runs deep. Deeper than mine, even!
Just as I go to click away, I freeze as the numbers 5921 stand out to me. They’re listed as his employee ID number but…
I slowly turn around in my chair and unlock the cabinet behind me. Pulling it open, I take out the binder I’d flipped through yesterday and find the very page I was looking for. And right at the bottom, the very last number on the chart, is the number 5921.
Interesting…
What is the chance that the company used this number for a chimera as well as Declan?
Not a good chance.
Did they do… testing on Declan? I wish I knew what it was. I suppose Declan would know, but will he tell me? My guess is no…
I hear a noise and feel like there’s a possibility I’ve outstayed my welcome long before I find anything of much use. Holding the keycard, I question what to do with it to not get in trouble. As I go to slip it back in his jacket, I realize the other one is still in there. This must be his spare, telling me he’d never found the other. Slipping one into my pocket and keeping the other in my hand, I head out the door as I hear someone reach the top of the stairs.
By the time they pass through the opening into the hallway, I rush forward so I slam into them.
“Damn you,” Roger says as he jerks back, his coffee dripping all down his shirt as I slip the keycard in his pants pocket.
“You got a little stain there. How disorderly,” I say with a shudder.
He scowls at me as I slip on by and hurry down the stairs. Sadly, before I get too far, I run into Jameson.
“Where have you been?” he asks, making me question how he’s already done with his meeting.
“Bathroom. Dealing with you and Roger gives me the shits.”
“I want to show you something.”
“Okay,” I say as I follow him over to the elevator and get inside. Instead of riding it down to B2, he clicks B3, a level he hasn’t allowed me on since I arrived.
“Can I have my card, please?” he asks as he holds his hand out while glowering at me. “You do realize that your monitor can tell me which room you’re in, right? So please, give me my card.”
“Fine,” I say as I set the remaining card I have into his hand, not too pleased that I have to give it over already. I was hoping to play with it at least a little longer.
Jameson presses it against the sensor, which allows him to ride the elevator down. “Declan put you up to this, didn’t he? You’ve always been a little shit, but since he came around you’ve been exceptionally irritating.”
“Yeah? Well, I was just doing as you asked,” I remind him.
“Right,” he says as the elevator doors open and he steps out into a hallway. “You know if you kill any monsters, you should bring them here, right?”
“I do. I didn’t catch up to the two last night. In this form my ability to run is heavily stunted. I’m not quite sure how you humans accomplish much,” I admit as I follow him over to a door where he scans his card and inputs more numbers I blatantly stare at.
He heads through the door and into a room that looks like a lab.
“Oh? Are you finally allowing me to check out the lab?” I ask.
“That’s Roger’s expertise, not yours. I want to know what you think of this,” he says as he leads me over to what looks like an industrial safe and unlocks it with his thumbprint. Swinging it open, he pulls out a small box which he sets down on the table between us.
“Never seen it in my life. Can I touch it?”
“Go ahead,” he says, so I pick it up just as I notice a pile of papers underneath it that I’d love to nose through.
The box has some weight to it, but I don’t get what it is beyond some box that doesn’t appear to be locked. The moment I flip it open and see that there’s absolutely nothing inside, I glance up.
And that’s the moment the gunshot goes off.
Pain tears through my chest as I jerk back, dropping the box, and look up at Jameson in shock. I’d gotten too comfortable with him. I knew he was a dick but I kind of thought he needed me.
“I’m sorry, Lake, but your usefulness has run its course,” Jameson says.
“You fucking… shot me!” I exclaim.
“I did,” he says as he lifts his gun. “The band on your wrist slows your nature. I wanted to see how well it worked, you know? Could I really keep a monster like you down? Could it keep your bestial side at bay? Honestly, it works beautifully. You’re humanlike, you’re slow, and you don’t heal as fast. Hell, I could have complete control with this.”
“You… shot me,” I repeat.
“I did, and I’m going to shoot you again… I’m not sure why I’m explaining all of this when you’re going to die anyway.”
He lifts his gun and I rush toward him but I’m so damn slow in this form that he manages to shoot me again, this time in the abdomen. Ducking down, I grab the box before diving behind the table that’s between me and him.
“Goddammit. Come on. Just die,” he says.
The thing is, he’s made the biggest mistake of all thinking that he can kill me down here in a room that is soundproof, which is evident by the way I struggle to hear what goes on down here from one floor up. His assumption that he had me under control, that I was a mere level three, told him that he’d be safe as long as I couldn’t shift. That he wouldn’t die no matter what he does because he has a gun and I’m playing human.
My fingers dig into the box as I sprint over the table and slam into him, smashing the box into the side of his face. He’s flailing wildly as I grab onto his throat with my other hand and use the strength I still have as a human to begin crushing his throat. He’s struggling with his gun, but he’s able to get his free hand down where the first bullet entered and rams his fingers into the hole.
Pain makes me jerk back but he’s bleeding, and now that I’ve seen blood, I will not rest until he’s lying dead at my feet.
“You made a mistake, Jameson. Not when you shot me. No… you made the mistake long before that. Back when you thought I was a level three. You don’t know how powerful I am, do you? You don’t know that I’m the most powerful monster in this goddamn city. And you don’t know the very reason why I let you catch me.”
There’s a flicker of understanding in his eyes as my aura fills the room. His human nature is to fear me and tremble at my feet. His hand is shaking as he raises his gun, but the first shot goes wide and he misses.
He’s panicking now as I lunge at him and smash him against the wall, slamming his head back until he stops fighting and begins to struggle. To fear me as I dig my fingers into his skin, wishing I had my claws to tear him apart.
“S-Stop! We can help each other! I made a mistake!”
“You sure as hell did,” I say as I grab the gun from him and shoot him in the head.
Dropping it as his body slumps down to my feet, I let out a hiss of pain. With this form and the band around my wrist, I wasn’t meant to take two bullets.
I look at the blood running down my abdomen and stagger, slamming into the side of the safe. The door cuts into my back as I look over and see something that strikes interest in my pain-riddled mind.
“Ha…” I grab onto it as I stumble and slip in blood. I’m not sure if it’s my own or Jameson’s, but I hit the ground hard on my back.
I reach into my pocket and grab my phone, wondering what the hell has come over me that in this state, all I can think about is an angry and sexy hunter.
Me: I might be dying. Tell me you think I’m hot. But also, you need to go down to B3. There’s something down here you have to see. I don’t know who has access to my phone so I can’t write it out. The card for the elevator is tucked in Roger’s front pocket.
When I don’t get an instant reply, I feel disappointed. What happens if Roger gets down here first and finishes me off or hides the evidence? What happens when—
Declan: I’m not telling you shit. If this is a game, I get to off you myself.
Me: My love! I knew you’d reply. Show me your penis before I die.
Declan: I swear to god, if this is some bullshit put on by Jameson, death for all is on the radar.
Me: Oh, it’s totally on my radar, but I’ll be fine… I think. Oh! I killed Jameson for you. Not for me. And not because he was killing me, but for you. All for you because you’re my beau.
My phone immediately starts ringing and I’m delighted to see that Declan is calling me. I accept the call.
“What the fuck do you mean you killed Jameson?”
“I shot him…”
“You’re sure he’s dead?”
I look back at the ultra-dead man. “Super-duper dead.”
Declan falls oddly silent.
“I thought you’d be pleased.”
“Do you know how much authority he has in this town? Do you understand that the DRD would tear this city apart for him?”
I feel weirdly lightheaded. I’m honestly not sure I’ve ever felt like this before. “Hm…”
“Lake!”
“Hmm?”
“What do you need me to see?”
“Hmm?” What do I need him to see? “I… don’t know… eyes?”
“What?”
“Yeah…you need eyes… to see,” I say.
“Lake!”
I’m suspended in darkness as I listen to Declan call my name. God, it almost sounds like he misses me. And while I decide that I’m not going to die today, I also decide that I’m gonna shag that man.
CHAPTER TWELVE
DECLAN
This was not part of my plan for today. My plan was to win my job back, read a book, maybe even watch some TV. Really normal things. Enjoy my summer break. Maybe I’d even go for a walk.
But nope, here I am standing outside the DRD again.
Inputting the code I’d seen Lake use, I pull open the door and step inside. My hope is that no one will be around besides Roger, the man I’m somehow supposed to steal a keycard from.
The trick to not drawing attention to me being here uninvited is appearing like I’m supposed to be here. So the moment I’m inside the building, I strut past two hunters who openly stare at me as I head for the stairs. One tries to smile at me, but I completely ignore her as I would any other day. Once up the stairs, I head over to Roger’s office.
If the keycard is in his pants, I need him standing. If he’s sitting behind the desk, it won’t be the most discreet if I have to climb over the desk to slip my hand inside.
Knocking, I can hear Roger inside a moment before he goes, “Come in.”
Deciding to ignore him on the high chance that he’s sitting, I beat on the door again.
“I said come in!” he yells, and just hearing him irritates me.
“The door’s locked,” I say as I jiggle the handle without fully turning it.
Roger is less than pleased to swing the door open and find me on the other side. “What do you want?”
Grabbing his collar with one hand, I push into him, forcing him to stumble backwards. His moment of surprise at my not-so-gentle greeting is all I need to grab the keycard peeking out. “Are you in on this?”
