Born of Silence (Immortal Guardians) (13 page)

A loud screeching sound had Dani looking at her hand on the glass. Long, white claws had formed at her fingertips and one had scratched through the surface of the window. She cocked her head and drew a claw over it again, producing that same ear-wrenching sound. Pressing hard, her claw cut through the glass, and before she knew it there was a nearly
perfect circle out
lined
o
n
the windowpane. She drew her hand back, inspecting the claws. They didn’t look black as they had earlier when she’d first seen herself
as a Harpy. These were white; j
ust a much thicker, longer, curved version of what
…
well, of what humans had. Even her skin was the same, not that weird color that had scared her before. Had she somehow willed the claws to grow? Or was she changing permanently?

As soon as she thought that, the claws shrank back, disappearing into her skin as though they’d never
existed at all. She looked
at the hole in the glass
, wondering if that evidence had disappeared as well
. As it was still there, she was reasonably sure she wasn’t hallucinating.
She pressed on it with her forefinger, and the round piece of glass popped out, landing on Garrick’s floor.

“Garrick,” she whispered. He stirred slightly, but didn’t move other than that. “Garrick,” she said more forcefully.

He
shifted onto his elbows, looking over at her. His face was mostly shadowed, but she could see some of his features in the dull orange light that filtered into his room.
“Wha
…
Dani?”

“I,
uh, I broke through the window,” she replied, feeling a little embarrassed—and oddly proud—that she’d done it.

H
is bed springs squeaked as he stood from the bed. He approached
, his eyes traveling over
the circular hole in the window
, and then looking down at the matching chunk of glas
s on the ground at his feet. “How did you?
” He sighed as he looked at the hole again. Running a hand through his hair, he said, “How did you do it?”

Dani shrugged. “I don’t really know. I just looked down and I had
claws
. And then I just sorta did that.”

“You were able to get through the glass?” he asked, almost unbelievingly. “With claws?”

She nodded. Was he mad at her for that too now? She couldn’t tell.

Garrick sighed again and sat down, mimicking her own posture as he leaned against the rock and looked at her through the windowpane. “I’ve been tryin
g to get through that since
I
got
here. I haven’t been able to break through at all. Not even a godsdamned scratch.”

“I’m
…
sorry?” she said, still unsure of where his thoughts were.

“No.” He shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. This is good. You overpowered their wards.”

Dani’s eyebrows popped up in surprise.
“Wards?”

“T
hey’re like magical barriers,” he explained. “It’s why I haven’t been able to break through. They must have pre-warded them against my magic prior to dumping me in here.” He rubbed his
smooth
chin for a minute, lost in thought. “I guess because you broke through without magic of any kind, it couldn’t hold up against you.” His face brightened. “Dani, you might be able to get out.”

Could she? Could this new ability of hers allow her a chance to break free? Could she cut through the door that locked her in?
Her heart pounded.
“How?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll try to keep an eye out for more clues as to how we can break free. You keep trying too.”

She nodded, momentarily distracted
because
he’d once again turned nice. It was as if he hadn’t been bothered at all earlier. Or was it because he saw an opportunity to use her for his own escape? “Okay. I’ll keep an eye out.”

“Do you think you can do it without fighting Pyro again?”

“Yes,” she replied honestly. “It’s hard, but I can do it if it can get us out of here.”

Garrick relaxed against the cold rock and nodded. “Yeah, I know it’s hard not to fight them.” He chuckled, regaining his normal easy-going demeanor that Dani had grown
comfortable with. “Boy, do I know how hard it is not to throw everything you’ve got at them. But we’ve got to do whatever we can to get out of here. Oh, and Dani, don’t let them know that you just did that,” he said, gesturing to the hole. “I’m not sure they realize it’s a side effect of whatever they’ve done to you. We need to keep it secret if we have any hopes of making it out of here alive.”

****

Damn the plan. She made it a whopping two minutes before getting the overwhelming urge to defend herself. It was too hard not to fight.

And now she lay strapped to the metal bed again, her pulse quickening with the knowledge of what would come.

Or rather, what would have normally come.

Instead of shooting her up with whatever liquid triggered her change, Dr. Shorman hooked her up to an IV, made sure that the liquid was slowly trickling into her system, and then he and the nurses
scurried
from the lab as quickly as they could. A few of the guards remained though, and had quickly pushed the
rolling
bed into the next room, which she’d immediately recognized as the “training” room where she’d been forced to fight countless demons. Demons. The term had shocked her at first, but after hearing the medical staff talking about them, she knew that was what they
really
all were—maybe even what she was herself now.

So far she’d succeeded in not mentioning to any of Ekhart’s goonies that she’d been able to change all on her own without the help of the shots. One of the guards forced her head up off the bed and shoved something into the base of her neck.
She felt a sharp pain and a
sense of fear spread through her as she realized that it was another of those damned devices Ekhart used to control her. She looked at the guard questioningly when he didn’t brace the large collar around her neck. “It’s new. Less conspicuous,” he explained. Then in a much happier tone, he said, “Have fun,” his voice suggesting that he was about to enjoy watching whatever was about to happen.

“Hey,” Dani called out, cringing from the sting that traveled through her veins. “You forgot to untie me.”

The guard turned then, his eyes locking on hers as he peered over his shoulder. “No, I didn’t.” And then he left, locking the door behind him.

Dani fought against her restraints as the liquid worked through her system. She grew angry and her body shuddered as she felt the beginning stages of the transition. Her skin started to change even as she felt pain exploding in her mouth and her back, and forming at the tips of her fingers. She didn’t scream as loudly as she had before, but she didn’t know if it was because the pain wasn’t as great, or if it was because she was growing used to it.

Her back arched off the table and she felt her wings push through the skin on her back. Her muscles flexed as the win
gs laid directly under her
, slowly growing in size. Almost at the very same instant, Dani felt a burn at the base of her neck, and then she floated into that aware-but-uncontrollable presence that signaled that Ekhart had taken over. Her mind clouded over with
haziness
.

Fight
, was the only thing she knew.

As soon as the word popped into her mind, she was attacked. A yellowish creature was on her. Its slimy, claw-filled paws were wrapping around her neck, cutting into her skin. Other demons fell upon her as well, scratching at her body and her wings. Dani screeched loudly and through the haze, she heard the sounds of glass shattering. Ignoring them, she threw out her hands, the binds shredding under her strength. She did the same thing with the ones at her ankles, and sliced a claw through the one binding her waist.

Her body had taken over, somehow knew exactly what to do.
She was free.

Reaching the yellow one first, she twisting its neck and moved on
to the next demon. She uppercut the beast, her long, thick claws sinking nicely into the skin of his neck so far that she caught sight of them in its mouth. Within an instant its body convulsed against her.

Dead.

She sensed something moving fast, reacted too late as her wing was pierced by something sharp. It passed right through and s
he dropped the demon
, quickly rolling her wrist so that its lifeless body would slide off her claws
. Screeching, she spun around and faced the demon that had dared attack her. It was female and had somehow shot an arrow at Dani though she held no bow. Another arrow shot directly from her wrist, narrowly missing Dani. She reached the demon
a nanosecond later, gripping her neck. She didn’t kill her straight away though. She lifted her, making sure that she saw the whites of the bitch’s eyes. She knew this one was pure evil, her senses telling her somehow. Like instinct. She got the feeling that this demon lived for pain, lived to torture and maim, and enjoyed killing her victims slowly. Dani didn’t question it,
a
nd ripped the demoness
apart, spending extra time to pry her arms from her body lest the bitch decide to try to shoot her again. At last, she lay dead at her feet
, her limbs twitching
.
She barely spared them a glance before moving on
to the nearest living contender.

On and on the fights continued
, h
er instincts telling her this and that about her opponents, and her believing every one of them to be true. She hadn’t done all the killing. Demons fought one another
:
all around her were battles and screeches, screams and cries. Even so, when one would triumph over another, she would swoop in, delivering the final blows to the short-lived champion.
Dani
had been forced to kill
any and every demon in the room until each of them w
as
slaughtered. She’d even had to re-kill the yellow demon whose neck she’d snapped. Apparently he needed his head completely removed. Now only the sounds of her own
beating heart
and that of the breath that heaved in and out of her lungs made any noise at all. She looked up to the vantage point where Ekhart and his men had monitored her before.

There was no one there.

She flexed her wings and rose into the air, quickly darting over to the small room lined with chairs. The glass
was shattered
and she flew through it before landing on her feet. Movement caught her attention and just as she responded, a needle struck her. She fell,
a sea of black claiming her before she even hit the floor
.

She was in that darkness for what felt like an eternity. For what felt like seconds before
sounds roused her from the abyss
.

“Dani.
Dani.
”

Yes, it was
a
voice. A friendly one. Someone she trusted. He spoke again, the name “Dani” reaching her ears and echoing in her head.
Her eyes fluttered open as the worried
tone
reached her.

“A
re you okay? Can you hear me?”

She nodded weakly and turned her head to meet the
anxious
gaze of Garrick, who was currently plastered against the hole in the window that separated them. “Yes,” she croaked, instantly regretting speaking at all. “Ugh, no.”

“Can you make it over here?” he asked.

She tried to push herself off the ground, but
instantly
fell against it.

“Come on. You can do it. Come to me.”

Again, she pushed hers
elf up and this time she
rolled to her knees. W
ith even more effort, she
crawled over to him
, forcing her arms not to collapse under her weight
.

His arm shot through the opening, his hand gripping
her
.
Their gazes locked.
“Don’t make me regret this,” he said quietly.

Garrick’s hand began to glow, and within seconds the
brilliance
transferred to her and traveled the same pattern it had done before. Relief washed through her wherever the light touched and she sighed in contentment.

It was only when the pain disappeared completely that she realized this was the first time they had actually touched. Before, their connection had
crossed
through the glass, but this time it had been direct contact. It somehow felt even more powerful, flowing through her quickly and efficiently, removing the gaping wounds and blemishes before her eyes. The familiar tingle between her legs made her jump slightly, causing Garrick to quickly retract his hand.

She mourned the loss.

Garrick
cleared his throat. “Sorry.”