Black Bear Fall: A BWWM Paranormal Romance (Black Bear Saga Book 2) (11 page)

“You’re alive,” Anne said in a strained voice startling Grace.

Grace looked at her friend and tried to smile and it wouldn't come. “I feel like I’ve been thrown down ten flights of stairs,” she said wincing.

“The bile will do that to you. Grace most people don't survive. I thought I lost you earlier,” Anne said though gritted teeth.

“I couldn’t stand it, I had given up, I wanted to die, the pain was so immense. I don’t think I can go through that again. I was begging to die as it felt like it was ripping me apart,” Grace said and shuddered at the memory of the searing pain.

“Did you see anything when you were under?” Anne said in a low voice.

“I don’t know. I’m still trying to piece it together. I have fragments. Scents and sensations that are all scrambled up in a mess. My brain hurts trying to think about it,” Grace said.

“Its use has been banned in the black bear clan now for close to a hundred years,” Anne said.

“Do shifters take it as well,” Grace said trying to stretch as much as possible against her restraints. Her shoulders and knees popped with the effort and her whole body felt bruised.

“It’s even more dangerous and unpredictable if we take it. Legends tell of shifters going crazy on their first dose, rambling constantly and repeating phrases again and again, nothing can be done to help the poor souls. Others die painful and protracted deaths, the kind of horrific way of going that you don’t want to ever have to think of. Others get hooked on it like it’s the most powerful narcotic ever designed. The unluckiest ones who take it go into a state of flux. They can’t control their human or animal side and they keep transforming randomly. Arms will shred and the flesh falls away as it shifts into the bear state, while the rest of the body stays human, it can’t be controlled and over a couple of days the shifters body will eventually tear itself apart from hundreds of full or partial transformations coming in rapid succession. It is the most horrifying way for a shifter to go. If they are lucky someone will put them down before the worst of it starts,” Anne said closing her eyes tight in pain as she winced.

“Rest,” Grace said, “you need your strength.”

“Talking keeps my mind off the pain,” she said opening her eyes and giving a weak smile to Grace. “This stuff is dangerous. Our clan tries to not even talk about the stuff as its use comes from a dark period in our clans history. We still don't even fully know what its effects are on shifters or humans. There have been rumours that some members of the white clan started up large scale trials during world war two. They had access to a steady stream of subjects in the camps and conducted one of the biggest tests of bile on humans. The white bear clan might understand the substances effects more than we could ever know. These are dangerous times if they have started using bile again. We need to get out and warn the rest of the clan somehow,” Anne said.

“Can you move with that thing sticking out of your side?” Grace said.

“If I can get it out and I have enough energy left I should be able to heal the wound enough to be able to move,” she said and sniffed the air. “We are on a farm of some kind. I think it might be a cattle farm. I can smell the faint scent of livestock, but it smells like it hasn't been used as a working farm for a long time. Did you see any of the place when they brought us in?” Anne asked.

“I was out cold when they brought me in. I’ve only seen this room the whole time,” Grace said feeling the hopelessness of their situation weighing down on her.

“We can try,” Anne started to say and was interrupted when Slattery entered the tiled room.

“Ladies,” he said with a sweeping hand gesture, “we are moving you to better quarters. Somewhere a little more comfortable so you can both rest for your big day tomorrow.” He clicked his fingers and two guards dressed in all black combat gear came in. They had automatic rifles slung on their shoulders and thick utility belts with a club on one side and a matt black can of pepper spray in the other holster. “Take her to the prepared room,” Slattery said pointing at Anne. “If she makes any kind of move take out her eyes with your pepper spray. Make sure you get a few blasts of it in her open wound. That should keep her in her place,” he said and the guards returned curt nods. The two guards wheeled out Anne on the metal table and she glanced back in Graces direction as she was pushed through the heavy fronds of plastic hanging over the door frame. Her eyes were wide with fear as she passed out of view.

Slattery paced back and forth across the centre of the room and ran his fingers through his slicked back blonde hair. He watched Grace as he walked with a look of wariness. “You chose the wrong side, lady,” Slattery said with barely hidden disgust. “How could you let yourself get mixed up with the black bear clan? They are rotten from the inside, lying to themselves for centuries now about their true natures. The secrets they have tried to bury so they can look like a bunch of peaceful weaklings. If you only knew half of their history you would run away screaming from them and straight to our clan. We are honest with ourselves, we embrace our animal nature, welcome the advantages it gives us over the humans. If you believe in that,” Slattery said pointing up the heavens, “we are only doing what was given to us by a higher power. We aren’t meant to be second class citizens in this world. The humans have had their chance, now its the shifters time to step into the light,” he said grinning at her.

“Is that what this is all about? World domination. How are you any different than the humans you look down on?” Grace said with utter hate in her voice.

Slattery laughed at her as if she was nothing more than a small child who couldn’t understand a complicated issue. “Trust a human to think in such black and white terms. It’s not about domination, we want to bring about change, real change. You all had your chance at the prize it’s time for a regime change.”

Grace said nothing and watched Slattery pace back and forth across the room. He looks like a puffed up peacock Grace thought, I’d love to see the smug grin wiped off his pretty boy face. Slattery looked like he was about to start into another rant when the two guards returned. He took out his notebook and jotted something down and said to the guards, “Careful with her she looks like she might still have some fight in her. Break every finger on her right hand if she tries anything.” He gave Grace one last smarmy look and then left the tiled room.

“Take it nice and easy,” the bigger of the two guards said in a heavily accented voice. Was it Russian, or maybe German, Grace wasn't sure. His right ear had a chunk taken out of it. The ragged edges looking like pink putty.

When the straps were opened Grace couldn’t help but let out a long sigh. She rubbed her aching wrists and gently massaged the frayed and raw skin of her wrists. The guard poked her in the shoulder and she got up from the chair on wobbly legs. They lead her out of the tiled room into a concrete floored corridor. Bare bulbs hung at intervals casting a dim yellow light. The guard in front of her looked pale and diseased under the weak lights. The corridor tilted at a sickening angle and Grace leaned against the walls trying to hold on. The guard behind her poked the butt of his gun into the base of her spine. “Keep moving,” he said in a flat tone. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead as she tried to straighten up and walk without stumbling. A smell of bleach and harsh disinfectant filled her nose making her stomach churn as she walked on. Grace doubled over and then fell to her knees and vomited out the water she had just drank. The smell of stale tobacco had filled her nostrils and for an instant she had seen streaks of blood and chunks of flesh slide down the walls of the corridor.

The guard behind her pushed Grace with his boot. “You stop again. I break your thumb,” he said. Grace got up and went on. The scent of tobacco was overpowering and she held her stomach as it spasmed painfully. They passed by doors with symbols on them that Grace didn’t know until they turned the corner and walked to the door at the end. The first guard opened the heavy metal door and Grace was pushed hard from behind. She sprawled onto the floor and her knees throbbed in agony at the blow. The door slammed shut behind her and she rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling while panting hard.

“
T
hey can’t be trusted
,” Tulimak said as he stood at the large window that overlooked the compound. Fifty years ago this place had been the centre for beef slaughter for the county. After an incident involving Tulimak that had to be hushed up, the business had to be eventually shut down, leaving the slaughter house and the work sheds that dotted the huge ranch to fall into disrepair.

“They can barely conceal their hatred towards us, they are nothing more than twisted freaks,” Slattery said pouring himself a sizeable measure of bourbon from the drinks cart.

“You have eyes on them while they are at the compound?” Tulimak said with his back to Slattery.

“Two groups of hidden guards, each pair positioned with views across any exit routes. They won’t be going anywhere without us knowing,” Slattery said downing half the tumbler and joining Tulimak by his side.

“What about a tracker?” Tulimak asked.

“One of our men slipped it into Nasaks pocket when we patted them down. The tracker is designed to look like a coin. Once they leave the compound we will have eyes on them constantly.”

Tulimak closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them and continued to stare out across the compound. Slattery knew to never expect praise for a job well done.

“I can still smell him here. It’s like he is standing right behind me and judging everything that I do,” Tulimak said. He looked around at the office that was once his fathers and said, “Can you remember the last time we were here?”

“How can I forget. It was the night with Redmond and Hitchley,” Slattery said swirling the amber liquid in his glass. “I think that was the first time I saw your father ever really lose control. If it wasn’t for you he would of killed me,” he said tipping his head towards Tulimak.

A thick layer of dust flew into the air as Tulimak threw the heavy cloth off the large oak desk that dominated the centre of the room. He ran his fingers over the concentric circles of the rings of the tree that the desk was made out of. “Anything for a friend,” he said in a flat tone. “Look at us now, how things have changed in those years. What were you back then? An errand boy for my father?” Tulimak said relishing seeing Slattery squirm as he was reminded of his lowly beginnings.

“You could call it that. He was grooming me for something bigger, you know how your father works. I mean worked,” Slattery said pouring another drink.

“He was preparing you to be his butler,” Tulimak said looking at Slattery for a reaction. He knew better than to let Tulimak's jabs effect him.

Tulimak cracked his knuckles, each bony pop sounding like a firecracker going off, it was a sign that it was time to get down to business. “What do you think Graces chances of surviving tomorrow are?” he asked Slattery.

Slattery took a sip of his drink watching Tulimak the whole time as the warming liquid burnt a path into his stomach. “I don’t think she can take another hit, especially not something stronger. You heard what the doctor said, she was dead for nearly a minute. She wont survive another dose,” he said.

Tulimak leaned against the glass of the window and looked out at the darkening sky. “Do you think I am a fool for believing in our ancient stories?” he asked.

Slattery gulped back another mouthful of bourbon and watched Tulimak with a sideways glance. Their reflections stared back at them as the sky began to darken. Spotlights around the perimeter of the ranch flickered on and shone wide beams of white light into the fields past the barbed wire topped perimeter fences.

“I think it would be wrong not to test her. If she dies its one less human. If she is the one from the stories, we now have her in our possession and we will soon find out how many of those dusty old tales are nothing but make believe. You know how our people are about stories and self mythologizing our grand and ancient struggle. This could be another case of a tall tale becoming the stuff of legend,” Slattery said.

“My father believed it all,” Tulimak said with a sneer.

“You’re a better man than him. He was becoming weak as he got older. Can you imagine us living in harmony with the black bear scum?” he asked.

The noise of the slap sounded like a gun going off. Slattery stumbled back and held his face, a thin trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth. “I didn’t mean anything by it,” Slattery said stuttering as he backed away.

Tulimak turned to him and took a step forward. His lips drew back in a snarl and his canine tooth began to elongate.

“I’m drunk. Too much bourbon too fast,” Slattery said as he stepped backwards and bumped the drinks trolley with the back of his leg. The bottles clinked together and a stack of glasses tumbled off and spun out across the floor. “I didn’t mean to talk out of turn about your father,” he said as beads of cold sweat ran down his forehead. Slattery took another step backward and stepped onto one of the tumblers on the ground. His foot shot out from under him and he fell backwards onto a glass that broke with a dull crunch under him. Slattery screamed in pain and began to sit up.

Tulimak stepped forward and looked down at his friend. “Stay,” he ordered Slattery.

Slattery looked up at him with watering eyes. He gritted his teeth and lay back down as the glass crunched beneath him. Blood began to pool around his shoulder and all the colour was gone from his face. “Please Tulimak, forgive me for what I said. It was foolish to ever say anything about your father. He is a great man. Please let me up”, he said and winced through gritted teeth, “the pain is unbearable.”

Tulimak kicked a curving chunk of glass away with his foot and squatted down beside his friend. He pointed his index finger at Slattery's face. The tip of his finger split and blood dripped to the floor. A long claw began to force its way through the broken flesh as Tulimak spoke, “You know what they would have done to you in the old days?” he said, rubbing his finger down Slattery's cheek leaving a thick red line of blood. “They would have had both your eyes out and for good measure cut your tongue clean off. Then dump you in the woods to die slowly.” Tulimak pressed the claw into the skin under Slattery's left eye watching it dimple under the pressure. “You are lucky we are not in the old days anymore,” he said drawing the claw across his cheek and splitting the flesh open in a ragged slash.

Tulimak stood up and returned to the window and looked out across the ranch. Slattery continued to moan behind him as the glass dug into his lacerated shoulder. I was a different man fifty years ago Tulimak thought as he stared at the old barn where he had slaughtered two human ranch hands. He’d lost control of himself and before he knew what was going on he had ripped one mans throat open and then as the second man stood locked to the spot in fear he had transformed and disemboweled the man and consumed most of him before he was found by his father and his men. Fifty years ago I would have killed Slattery where he stood for disrespecting my father, now I see no reason to.

“Get up and get cleaned up,” Tulimak snarled at Slattery, “we have a big day ahead of us. Be at my office at noon.”

Slattery moaned as he sat up. Blood ran down his back and shards of glass were embedded in his flesh. He stood up on shaky legs and leaned against the desk as he stood up straight. Slattery picked up the half full glass of bourbon and downed it in one go. He looked at the heavy glass tumbler in his hand and then at Tulimak with his back to the room. Slattery put the glass down on the table with a thud and hobbled out of the room.