Born of Silence (Immortal Guardians) (16 page)

Dani thought about this for a minute. “I’ll break free of his hold—”

“How?”

“I
…
I’ll spin out of his hands and make a run for it.”

“And what happens when he chases you? Because he will.”

“I’ll run faster?”

“Dani,” he sighed. “You can’t say that like you’re asking me. If you’re going to make a break for it then you have to know you’re ready for it. Picture it in your head. What happens?”

She closed her eyes as if she really were trying to picture it. Her shoulders slumped after a few seconds. “I just see that I’ll be able to outrun them.”

“You might be able to outrun some, but what about the ones that trace?”

“Trace?” she asked, her eyebrows rising.

Garrick’s head fell into his hands. “Oh jeez.” Dani really knew nothing of the Lore world—of the world that she was now a part of.

It was going to be a long day.

****

It had been a long day. Garrick went over countless obstacles Dani could potentially run into and, in doing so, had to tell her a whole lot about the new world she’d been thrust into at the hands of Ekhart. He hadn’t been able to cover every possible scenario though before Burly and Goatface made an appearance in his cell.

Garrick quickly shifted away from the window, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that there was a hole in it now. “What do you want?”

Burly lifted an eyebrow and cocked a half
-
smile. It was that sickening flirtatious smile that caused bile to rise up Garrick’s throat.
He just didn’t swing that way, and Burly certainly wouldn’t be his first choice if he did.
“Pyro wants to talk to you.”

As if that had been an introduction, the skinny, blond-haired Ignitis entered his cell. He radiated his normal cockiness as he looked Garrick over and then looked through the glass at Dani, giving her a wink.

Garrick snorted. “Way out of your league, my man.”

“Is that so?” Pyro asked, slowly strolling toward him. He kept his hands linked behind his back as though he hadn’t a fear in the world.

Likely didn’t, with the muscle that kept his ass safe.

Garrick risked a glance at Dani who remained silent during the exchange. The look on her face suggested she didn’t want them to find the hole either. They both knew it would raise a lot of questions and would likely cause them a lot of problems. “It is,” he sa
id, facing the goth Ignitis
. “She’s way too good for you.”

Pyro’s eyebrows popped up at this, and he gave Burly and Goatface a quick glance before flicking his eyes to Garrick. They rushed toward him, taking hold of his arms as Pyro’s eyes began to glow red. “And do you think that
you’re
worthy of her?” His face was now only inches away from Garrick’s.

Did he? No. She was a Harpy. He was a Fairy. The two species didn’t mix other than in battle. But, that wasn’t the point of this conversation. Pyro was here to make a point, and Garrick wanted to make his own. He looked toward Dani and smiled. Winking at her, he faced him again. “Yes, I am.”

The Ignitis laughed, and then turned serious a split second later. Within an instant, he pulled back an arm and punched Garrick in the stomach. “I thought you’d say that.”

Garrick bent over in pain
, his arms still held tightly by the other two guards.
Pyro’s knee came up and connected with his nose. He heard and felt the crack of bone as his head flew upward and landed against Burly’s massive chest. Shaking his head, he blinked at the Ignitis. “That all you’ve got?”
He felt blood seep past his lips, gathering at his chin before dripping to the ground.

Pyro stepped closer, his face in a permanent sneer. “Not even close.”

Garrick matched him look for look. “Why don’t we make this a real fight then? Or do you only dare fight me when I can’t fight back?”

He seemed to consider
this for a moment before shrugging. “Spoils of war. You could fight your way out of their holds if you really wanted.” His eyes flicked up to Burly and then back again, a wide smile covering his face. “Or do you like being in the arms of Boris? I see he likes holding
you
.”

He obviously did like holding
him
. The evidence of Burly’s immense pleasure was currently pressed into his hip. Bile threatened to rise from his stomach yet again, and Garrick forced himself to ignore the hardness that was thrust against him.

“Boris,” Pyro continued. “Do you want your boy broken and bloody or would you like him relatively unharmed?”

Burly chuckled against Garrick’s ear, his warm breath fanning over his ear and neck. “I’ll take him however I can get him.”

“Ah, now you see? Boris is a team player,” Pyro said. “Well, tell you what
,
big guy, why don’t we knock him around until he can’t fight anymore, then you can have your way with him while
I
have my way with
her
.”

His chin gestured to Dani and Garrick couldn’t help but look in her direction. Rage formed in the pit of his stomach as their eyes met. Her eyes held fear. A fear that she only showed to him. So, the bastard planned to take her by force? And not only that, but he was going to gift-wrap Garrick to the overly large bastard behind him?

Hell no.

Letting that rage fuel him, Garrick spun, taking the two guards by surprise as he wriggled out of their grasps.
He kicked, connecting
with Boris’
s
hip, sending the large bastard to the ground just before kicking out once more and sending Goatface flying. He whirled again just as Pyro descended on him, fists barreling toward his face. Garrick ducked and dodged the blows, getting in a few of his own.

Until the others got up and attacked him en masse.

Garrick was quickly overcome. Three big-ass bastards against one was hardly a fair fight. And yet, it was one that he normally would have been able to handle with his tracing abilities.

His eye swelled shut after a few too many blows, the other eye not far behind it. His nose hurt, his mouth hurt, and being on the ground as he was now, his stomach hurt as each of them kicked him in the sides, stomach, back, and chest. He could hardly see, only able to take the blows that connected everywhere. A burning sensation overtook him then, and he felt the flames of hell itself
incinerating
him.

Pyro had unleashed his Instinct.

The sounds of glass shattering reached his ears, accompanied by a loud scream
. The three guards stopped
pummeling him
and covered their ears as the sounds of hissing and growling echoed
off
the walls. Garrick turned as well as he could, focusing his one
barely-
open eye on the distraction.

It was Dani, fully Harpy now, flapping her wings as her feet hovered a foot off the ground. Her clothes were still on her, but they
were in shreds, barely covering
her near-naked body. Her dark hair shown under the lights of Garrick’s cell as she slowly floated into the room, the maroons and blacks glistening in the light. The three guards silently stepped backward, holding their hands up in surrender, murmuring comments with sounds of fear and surprise.

“Call for help,” Pyro said.

Dani hissed
as her head whipp
ed
toward the Ignitis.

“Okay don’t,” he corrected, trying to sound as though she didn’t scare the ever-living shit out of him.
Garrick silently laughed.
“Whatever.”

“Let him up,” she growled through a fanged mouth.

Pyro looked down at Garrick, then up at the other two guards, anger flashing in his eyes. “Well, let him up.”

The two did as he said and held Garrick between them.

Dani’s blood
-
red eyes focused on him, though not in anger. Her gaze traveled over him, beginning at his face before traveling downward. Then she looked at Pyro. “Release him.”

They did, and Garrick stumbled toward her. She didn’t wait for him to reach her though. Instead, she flew forward and the three guards were thrown to the ground. Blood spurted as she ripped through them
, their screams and cries bouncing off the walls in horrendous chaos.
Dani
worked through her rage enough that she’d grown tired and returned to her human form.

Garrick approached her and he found that surprisingly
, the three guards
survived her wrath
. “You let them live?”

Breathing heavily, she turned toward him.
Her hair and skin w
ere
bloodstained, but there was a vibrancy in her he couldn’t ignore. “
I want them to remember who they’re messing with.”

He hid his smile. Whether that was a smart move or not, time would tell. Either way though, that choice was hers. She’d suffered what they’d dealt to her for a decade, and finally—blessedly—judgment day had come. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s find ou
r
way out of here.”

Dani nodded. She reached down and pulled syringes and knives out of the guards’ pockets. Handing them to Garrick, she threw their radios against the wall, effectively shattering them into bits. She then sank the syringes into each of their necks. “See how you like it,” she said
as she pumped Pyro full. A
nd then she turned and followed Garrick to the door. The
y
shut the door behind them, activating the locks.

He moved slowly, weakened by the beating he’d just been forced to take, while Dani moved with speed and agility. She may have been winded, but the girl was running on some serious adrenaline. They silently made their way down the hallways, stopping frequently to listen for sounds of approaching footsteps. Once they felt like they were clear, they moved forward, inspecting rooms as they passed. The hallways were dark.
Some only lit by the rooms that actually had lights on.
After a few minutes of dodging close calls with the Institute’s guards, they reached a fork in the passageway.

Garrick reached behind him, grabbing Dani’s arm. “We’ll take this one,” he whispered.

She looked at him and nodded, then followed him down the dark meandering hallway. They followed the same procedure, checking rooms and pausing whenever they heard the sounds of nearing footsteps before moving on. Most doorways led to rooms that held other creatures. Some were shackled to walls,
while
some were knocked unconscious on their beds. They’d found dozens already, creatures that had been experimented on, tortured and tormented for gods knew how long.

Garrick peeked in through a door’s window, a small sound escaping his lips as he saw what was held inside. Dani hastened toward him, looking inside the darkened room as she stood on her tippy-toes. “What is it?” she whispered.

Garrick stepped away from the door, looking at Dani as he placed a finger to his lips. “It’s a Harpy.”

Her eyes widened and she quickly plastered her face to the window, looking in at the thin female figure. The light was off, but it was clear that the Harpy was bound to a metal bed.

The sound of running footsteps echoed
off the rocky walls,
and Garrick and Dani took off at a fast clip. They ran and ran until
he
spotted the end of the passageway
,
a dead-end by th
e looks of it. He grabbed her
arm and yanked her inside a darkened alcove. They stood there, listening for signs of Ekhart’s minions, with only the sounds of their breath and the pounding of their hearts.

“How are we going to get out?” Dani whispered. “We took the wrong one.”

“Not sure,” Garrick replied, confident that no one was too nearby. He ran his hand over her shoulder, giving her arm a gentle squeeze in reassurance. “Stay here.”

He stepped away from her, looking back to make sure that she didn’t move a muscle. He felt along the darkened rock, hoping that there was yet another passageway in the midst of the deep alcove. If there wasn’t, then it was only a matter of time before Ekhart’s men found them.

There.

Garrick stopped as his hand fell through the rock. He pulled it back and pushed forward once more. Again, his hand went through the wall as if it didn’t exist. He felt around further, realizing that it was a good size, and he grinned.

No freaking way.

“Dani,” he whispered.

She approached cautiously, feeling her way through the dark. “Someone’s coming,” she said. “I think they’re trying to be quiet, but I can hear them.”

That meant that Ekhart’s lackeys ha
d an idea of where they were.
“I think I found a portal. I’m not sure where it’s going to take us, but I think it’s our best shot.”

Dani’s eyes met his
in the darkness
and without a second’s hesitation, she said, “Okay.”