The drive over to the duplex took about thirty minutes. We pulled up behind two of our security vans about two blocks away. Everyone except me got out and headed to meet with the other two teams. I wanted a few minutes to myself. I breathed in deeply, closed my eyes and focused on the task at hand. I had to get them back. I never really noticed how I have always just assumed that Talia was there. I said a little prayer to whoever was listening. I was never a big believer but right now I could use all the help I could get. I got out of the van and looked over our team for tonight.
The first thing I noticed was that Lela had one of the guys pulled to the side and was having a quiet discussion. Must be her mate. He was good looking guy, about 6 feet with reddish brown hair and a lean build that all male wolves seem to have. As I approached Craig and the other team leaders, Lela grabbed the front of her mate’s tactical vest and yanked him down for a passionate kiss. After she let go, he turned back to his team and she grabbed his ass. “You better make sure that comes back in one piece.” That elicited laughs and cat calls from his team members.
“What’s the word, gentlemen?” I asked.
“The house has been quiet. From who’s come and gone, it looks like they number about half dozen to a dozen.” One of the team leads with the name tape of Johnson answered.
Craig turned to me. “We have two guys to keep watch on the front and the back.”
“When we were told about the presence of a witch we pulled back and left just the lookouts.” Johnson offered.
“Samantha, how much time are you going to need to cast the spells that will block out the sound and some of tonight’s actions?”
She appeared to be giving it some thought before she answered. “Shouldn’t take too long. I’m guessing that my wayward sister has some soundproofing wards in place.”
Craig gave the two team leaders their instructions along with our goals for the evening. We then broke up into our groups and we made our way towards the duplex. The evening was typical of a late September night. It was about 9 pm when we arrived at the duplex. We held back while Samantha did her thing. That took about ten minutes, then she nodded to me. I signaled over the comm system that we were a go.
Craig and Lela stacked on the door. Which is to say that they pulled up on either side of the basement door while I, with my pistol in hand, kicked the door in. The sound of the flashbang grenade that Craig tossed inside went off, followed by the sound of two more detonating elsewhere in the duplex. We entered and followed the military’s room clearing practices. Making our way forward with me at point, Lela followed me with her silenced Heckler & Koch MP5PDW submachine gun at the ready and with Craig watching our six with his own silenced H & K MP5. We followed the hallway to what looked like an entertainment room complete with big screen plasma on the wall. There were three shifters in here, as one tried to jump me and knocked my pistol aside as he punched me. The other two were no match for Lela and Craig, who both put three round bursts into their chests. They finished them off with shots to the head.
The one who jumped me pulled a knife and rushed me again. I just pulled my pistol up shooting him twice in the head.
As we cleared the room I could swear I picked up both Talia’s and Khloe’s scents. “Lela, can you scent Talia? I think I can smell her but I’m not sure.”
As she made her way over to where I was by the back of the room, the comms erupted with an all clear. “Sir, we’ve found Joseph. He’s been badly beaten. No sign of the witch though. Everyone else is either dead or in cuffs. I’ve sent three guys to bring up the vans. I’ve also called in a cleanup team.”
“She’s here, I can scent her but not place her,” Lela said
“Thomas, can you bring Samantha to the basement? I think she is going to be needed.” I asked over the radio.
A few minutes later, Samantha came into the large entertainment room. She glanced at the three bodies, now covered by sheets with blood staining them. As she got closer her eyes lit up with surprise, “Oh yes, I see what she did. Nice camouflage spell on the wall. It must be hiding a door to another area. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll have it removed.”
I felt a pressure building in the room, or at least in my ears. The hair on my arms began to stand as the pressure reached a crescendo to reveal a large metal door in the wall where both Lela and I scented the girls. As I walked over to the door it looked like it was some sort of leftover from the Cold War. I turned the handle and pushed the door open to find another hallway with a light at the end. My ears also picked up a sound, “Take that you fucking bitch!” Followed by the sound of someone getting the crap beat out of them. Then I heard another voice, one that my wolf perked up to. “Beat her ass, T.” I took off at a run.
I came sliding into the room to find Talia had the witch in a Brazilian Jujitsu choke hold. Khloe was still chained to the wall. Both were looking at me open mouthed like I was a ghost. I guess to them I was. The last time they saw me I was almost dead. I ran to Khloe and wrapped my arms around her. Talia released the knocked-out witch and joined us in a group hug.
I went over to the witch and searched her until I found the keys to the chains. As I released Khloe from the chains, she began a methodical search over my body for wounds, and before long was kissing me as tears ran down her face. After a minute, I stepped back and opened my arms for Talia. She ran into them. Holding Talia, I reached for Khloe to hold them both.
While I held the girls, Samantha came into the room. With my attention on the Talia and Khloe, I didn’t notice her until she spoke. “Well, well, Eve.” She said as she looked around the room. I released the girls, then turned to Samantha. “I guess you just couldn’t wait, could you?” That made my hackles rise. “I told you I had a plan, but you had to have it your way.” As she stepped over ‘Eve’ to the table which had a large ancient tome on it, pressure built again. With a wave of Samantha’s hand, we were frozen. Reaching down, she picked up the ‘Book of Souls’ then looked over at us. “You have no idea the untold power that is contained in this book.”
“Are you insane?” Khloe yelled at her “Do you know what he’ll do to you to get that book back?”
Samantha laughed, “Who do you think I’m getting it for?” As soon as she said that, I could feel a malevolent wave flow into the room as one of Kirin’s priests entered. He had both of his kukri blades drawn. Blood was dripping off them. She looked at him. “Are they taken care of?”
“Yes, Mistress. What about them?” he asked gesturing at us.
“Kirin said to leave them. But her,” she said as she pointed at Eve. “She’s yours. Have your blades have feasted well tonight?”
“Yes, Mistress. Enough that I have the power to take us to the Master.”
“What have you done, Samantha?” I asked.
The priest went over to Eve. With one swipe, he cut her head clean off. He then cut open her chest and pulled her heart out. What I hadn’t noticed until then, was that besides the obsidian blades, his hands were covered in blood as well. He brought her heart up to his face. As he opened his mouth, his fangs dropped. He sank them into the heart and drank her hearts blood. Talia and Khloe both covered their mouths in horror. I looked over at Samantha to find her watching in fascination.
“To answer your question, Alpha, I have done what I had to do to ensure my place in the coming new order.” She looked back to her companion. “We can leave when you are ready.”
He nodded and walked over to her. Just like he did before, he held out his blades and drew a circle around the two of them. In a flash of black fire and smoke, they were gone. With them gone we were released from whatever spell Samantha had cast on us.
I raced out the room, leaving Talia and Khloe behind, to see if anything had happened to Craig and Thomas. As I came out of the hallway, I heard the girls follow me. The first thing I noticed was that neither Craig or Thomas were present. The bodies of the three dead shifters were uncovered, exposing their torn chests. I held up my arm stopping the girls short.
“What about Joseph?” Talia asked from behind me while looking at the bodies on the ground. “Is he?” She couldn’t finish the question.
“He was alive when they found him upstairs. Beaten and bloody but alive. They were going to take him to Doc Abraham’s.” I answered her as we made our way through the room towards the basement door.
As we came outside, I saw the two teams standing next to their vans with no sign of the van that I came in. I looked over and saw Johnson and the other team lead near the front. Seeing us, they walked over to. Lela burst from the group, running full speed, throwing her arms around Talia. Khloe joined the two women, taking part in the reunion of friends.
“Johnson, where are Craig and Thomas?”
He looked hesitant for a moment with a quick glance over to Talia then back to me. “They took Joseph to the Doc’s house. He was beaten worse than we thought. Several broken bones and most likely a punctured lung with internal bleeding. One of our guys used to be an Air Force Para Rescue and triaged him before they took off.”
“That makes sense since most of them watched as Joseph put rounds into Dutch and killed him after what he said about Talia.” I looked around before I continued, seeing that no had noticed us. “Did you guys see the priest when he came into the house?”
“Yes, Craig and Thomas both said to stay clear of him and his demon blades.” Johnson might have shivered at the mention of the priest’s blades. I couldn’t blame him as I recalled going toe to toe with either him or one of his fellows.
“The clean-up team is on its way then?”
“Yes, one of them is bringing your truck with them. We’ll stay to keep watch while they clean up the duplex and make sure everything is secure. From what Lela said this is a Pack property.”
I turned looking back at the duplex “Really? That is good news then.” I turned back to Johnson and held out my hand. “Thanks for everything tonight.”
Johnson looked a little surprised before he shook my hand. “It’s all part of the job, sir.”
“Yeah but a few things have changed this evening. I don’t think most of it was for the better.” I led him back over to his guys. “Alright guys, as of tonight, both Talia and I are the new Alpha’s of the Pack. We will also be taking over the operating of Fenris Security. With the events of tonight and the last couple of days, we are going to be headed into a turbulent time in regards with our dealings with other supernatural races. I have a feeling that I’m going to be heading back to Central America to help the cat and bird shifters with this Kirin.” I looked at them and noted that I had their attention. Good, I thought they accepted me as their Alpha. I guess it was as simple as mom put it. Still though, no magical mumbo jumbo. That was kind of a bummer. “The first thing I want to ask of you is to reach out to all the members of the pack. We’re going to have to get everyone together so we can go over all the changes that have happened, as well as what we are going to be facing in the coming months.”
Everyone started talking at once and I held my hand up to quiet them as the girls joined us. Lela joined her mate. Talia and Khloe came up on both sides of me. “Save your questions until we have everyone present. That way it will save us from having to rehash everything.” I looked at Talia and asked, “Anything else?”
“Call in tomorrow to make sure that all your contact info is up to date.” Talia said before looking to me “How soon can we go? I want to see Joseph.”
“As soon as the clean-up team gets here with my truck,” I said and put a hand on her shoulder as Khloe grabbed my other hand. I looked over at her. She smiled grimly, and she knew that this has just begun.
I looked back to the guys. “Great job tonight guys. Let’s not drop our guard now. Look sharp, we don’t know who is watching.”
About ten minutes later, the clean-up crew arrived with their van and my truck. I loaded Talia and Khloe up and left Lela, who said she would ride back with her mate, Danny.
It took us about fifteen minutes to reach Doc Abraham’s place. I parked behind the Fenris Security van, we went around the side of his house to his clinic entrance. ‘Clinic’ in the fact that he’s the pack’s doctor. Talia and I had been coming to see Doc Abraham since we were infants. When we entered, we found both Craig and Thomas inside, sitting in the waiting area.
“How is he?” Talia asked, concern evident on her face.
Both Craig and Thomas jumped to their feet. “Are you girls alright?” They both asked at the same time.
I stepped up next to Talia. “They are a little beaten up but they will be fine. What about Joseph?”
Craig nodded and composed himself before continuing. “Joseph will be fine. His healing has kicked in and he should only be laid up for a couple of days. Something in the manacles that they bound him in kept his wolf’s accelerated healing from kicking in.”
Talia slumped down onto the sofa and let out a heavy sigh. Joining her, Khloe put her arm around Talia’s shoulder and pulled her close. I told Craig and Thomas about what had happened after they left, including our encounter with another one of Kirin’s priests, and Samantha’s betrayal.
“Damn, she seemed really nice.” Thomas supposed after I recounted the events.
Doc Abraham came out after that. “Oh good, you girls made it. Now both of you need to follow me so I can check you two out. Dorian, Joseph is in my recovery room. Last door on the left. I’ll bring the girls after I check them over.”
“But Doc…” Talia tried to protest.
“No, Talia.” His tone indicated that he wasn’t in the mood. “He’s not going to die. You can wait a few more minutes while I check out your injuries.” She nodded to him and the girls followed him into his examination room.
I turned to Craig and Thomas. “You guys can head out if you want to. We can handle it from here.”
“That would be great. We need to begin calling all the pack members.” Craig said and Thomas nodded his agreement. After they left, I made my way to the recovery room to check on Joseph.
I found Joseph asleep with an I.V. inserted into his arm. Both of his arms were wrapped with bandages around the wrists. That must have been where the manacles had been. He looked good except for the bruises and cuts. The sound of his breathing was even, deep, and without a rasp. His ribs must have finally healed, or he was lucky and didn’t suffer a punctured lung. I sat down next to his bed. I rested my head in my hands and recalled the last week’s events. My mother thought I was ready but right now I wasn’t so sure. I had lost my cool, almost died in the jungle, and would have had my father not been able to intervene. I needed to better understand my beast form. I never needed it while in the Marines. Before then, I had only changed into that form by accident. I was going to need all my abilities if I was going to get Khloe’s parents back.
“I know that look,” Joseph said.
I looked up, startled from my thoughts. “You do, huh? How are you feeling?”
“Yes, you’re questioning everything that has happened in the last week and blaming yourself for everything that went wrong. I’ll be fine in a couple of days. Where’s my girl?” He said.
“Your girl is right here,” Talia said from the door. She made her way over to him and climbed into bed next to him, being mindful of the I.V., before kissing him deeply. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she purred in contentment.
“Hey, beautiful. I’ll be fine in a couple of days with plenty of rest.” He said to Talia before he looked back over to me. “None of this is your fault, Dorian. How were you to know that Dutch and his band of miscreants were going to get help from Fallen Angels? Besides, how are you even alive after what the girls said was done to you?”
Khloe had come into the room and climbed onto my lap. She kissed me while Joseph was talking. “He’s right. How did you survive? We saw you fall. What about Kim, Alan, and Steven?” She asked me. Seeing both Talia’s and Joseph’s faces, they wanted to know as well.
I told them what had happened. It was probably a good thing that I was a shifter because I think Khloe was determined to crush me with the hold she had on me. I explained how dad somehow knew that we were in trouble and that the Fallen were involved. He and mom had raced to try to help save us. When they arrived, the battle was over. They had been taken and I was left for dead.
“What I don’t understand is how did you survive?” Joseph asked.
“From what my dad told me, it has to do with both Talia and I being half-angel half-shifter. It was the angel half that kept me from dying and gave him a chance to heal me.”
He looked to Talia. “Half-angel? I knew you were heaven sent.” We all groaned at him over that lame ass line.
Khloe looked like she was just about to pass out. I looked over to Talia. “I take it you’re staying here for the night?” She nodded her answer. “Alright, I’m going to take Khloe home to get some rest. Call if you guys need anything?”
“Will do D,” Talia said as she snuggled into Joseph’s side.
Instead of heading to the townhouse, I drove us up to New Hampshire and to my family home. Mom and dad wouldn’t be there. I wanted some alone time for the two of us. I thought I had lost Khloe. She thought I had died. We arrived at the house around one in the morning. Khloe was out cold. I parked, walked around to the passenger side, and scooped her up. She snuggled into the crook of my neck as we made our way inside and up to our room.