Night Hungers (23 page)

“I just proved to them that I was big man on the premises. Had to kill three of the rogues to do it. After that they pretty much left me alone. Sinclair called me into his office this morning and told me that I was a perfect specimen for what he had in mind. I myself think the man is about half a bun short of a loaf, but then most bad guys are that go up against a badass like yourself.”

Aaron laughed again. “Just be safe, my friend, and watch out for Zane. I’m worried for her. She doesn’t work well with others and I’m afraid she will take on too much thinking to keep everyone safe.”

David agreed.

The plan was simple. Zane would pretend to be Sara and come in through one of the bus terminal doors as though she’d just gotten off the bus. Sara, from the safety of their home, was going to keep the people, mostly humans, in the terminal safe and out of harm’s way. Mel was going to be on standby in case Sara needed an extra boost. Zane was going to be “captured” then taken to wherever Sinclair had things set up. They had discovered just yesterday that the lab on the property where Zane had found it wasn’t the only lab there was. If they were going to do this they were going to destroy all of them, including the madman at the helm.

Aaron was going to have car trouble and not be able to meet the man at the prearranged place, but have him come and pick Aaron up along the roadside. This was to keep the people at the mall safe as well. Aaron was to keep Sinclair busy until everyone else was in place. While he wasn’t thrilled about being a babysitter Aaron was just glad that Sara was safe at home. He wasn’t sure where Aiden was in the plan but assumed, like a good mate, he was with Zane.

Aaron moved closer to Sara as they sat on the couch. He laid his hand over her belly and spoke to their child. They had learned with their first two that they could communicate with their unborn through their mental connections. It had proven to be a wonderful experience that they both enjoyed.

“Your mother is going to be a good girl and stay here while daddy goes out and slays the big, bad man for her,” he said in a quiet voice.

“And your mother is going to make your daddy sleep in a coffin for real if he doesn’t behave himself. Aaron, stop telling this baby nonsense. We both know why I can’t leave the house and it had nothing to do with me not being able to take care of myself.”

He grinned. “I’m glad you want to keep Mel safe, love, but I can have my fun too.

Shamus would kill us if something happened to Mel and I can’t say that I blame him.

This child, their child, means so much to them and to the magical kingdom.”

Mel had been mated to Sherman before, but had no idea that he had manipulated their relationship to make it seem as though she was his. And then when she’d gotten pregnant Sherman had lured her and her guard, one of which was Sara, to the dungeon to kill the guard and also to cause Mel to go into a deep sleep, or Fade, never to return. He had planned to run the kingdom as his own playground. He hadn’t expected Sara to survive, nor did he expect her to safeguard Mel until she was strong enough to take him on. It had taken another two years and more magic than they had thought to bring the man to justice. Sherman had been turned into an everlasting tree, always conscious but never able to reach out to anyone for the rest of Mel’s life. And Mel, being a true immortal, would never die.

“And as her cousin I can do no less than to protect her, even from herself. She can be a tad headstrong when she thinks she’s right.” They both looked over at the shimmer of magic just as Mel came into the room.

“You two think you are so funny. Between you and Shamus I can’t even come here and watch reruns with Duncan without him making me sign a decree that I won’t do anything to make him mad. Everything pisses him off so I don’t know how that is supposed to work.”

Shamus came into the room through the kitchen with Duncan and the tray of food. “I wouldn’t have to worry all the time if you would simply remember that I’m the man of the house and obey my every command.” Mel and Sara both snorted.

“Mistress Mel, perhaps you would like to take boxing lessons from me. I was quite the man’s man when I was younger. I have moves that would make that chicken man sit up and take notice.” Duncan handed Sara a glass of iced tea as he spoke.

“Chicken man, Duncan? I’m afraid…Tyson. Ah, yes, I get it. But I don’t believe…never mind. I would have thought that you’d be with me on keeping my Mellie safe, Dunc old man. She is your best friend, isn’t she?”

Shamus reached for the chocolate chip cookie that Mel was about to put into her mouth. His hair caught on fire. With the ease of a man who loves a woman with incredible power Shamus simply brushed his hand through his hair and the flames went out. Aaron was no longer concerned that Mel would be harmed today. There was no way anything would get to her with Shamus around. Any man who could be at ease with large, bright red flames shooting off his head while having a mundane conversation with a man who served chocolate chip cookies to a queen could do anything.

“Oh, sire, she is that, but she is also the queen. Her word is all. I would have thought as a mated man, you would have known that. Why, the household here knows that Miss Sara runs this home. She is the backbone and the strength. Master Aaron is just the one who makes her happy and for that, we are very grateful to him.”

Aaron wasn’t sure if he should be insulted or happy, but his phone ringing stopped the reply he was sure was going to get him into trouble. Zane was on the other end.

“It’s time to make your call. Everything is set up. And when you leave the house, make sure that the alpha is close. He will be able to command the wolves quicker than you will.”

“All right. Anything else?” He wasn’t insulted by her comment as least he tried not to be. He was able to command wolves as well as any other animal thanks to Sara, but he didn’t have to like it.

“Yes. Don’t get in Aiden’s way. If you do, then I’m sure that he will hurt you.”

The line went dead. He wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, but remembered what she said about his guard. They would only protect him as far as he let them and Aiden was the biggest threat to the enemy. Aaron suddenly wondered where Aiden was.

“I must go. Sara, you know the plan. Mel, you two stay here. I need to know that you are both safe before I leave.”

A shimmer of magic was all the warning they got before Aiden came into the room.

He was…Aaron wasn’t sure what it was, but the man radiated power. Aaron looked at Mel and noticed that she, too, was impressed with him.

“I will protect the master, my ladies. He will be with me at all times and I will make sure he does what you have asked. Sire?”

Aaron cocked a brow at Mel. She smiled her answer. “I told him to keep you safe and I would give him a boon. You make sure that I can pay it to him.”

Aaron rubbed his hands together. This was going to be fun. And for the first time since Zane had told him what she was planning, he felt as if it was going to work out.

~~~

Zane shifted into Sara’s form. It wasn’t hard, but awkward. Sara was shorter than Zane and she was smaller boned. Plus, Sara was a girly girl and Zane was not. She stepped through the doors of the terminal just as the wolves, one of them David, stepped in front of her.

“Miss Sara? You need to come with me. There has been an accident at your house and I’m to take you there.”

Sara/Zane nodded and walked between the four wolves that walked behind David.

When they walked past the restaurant Zane could see Simon getting up and walking toward the exit too. She would not have recognized him without his scent.

He had gotten huge—not only huge, but obese. She would have guessed his weight at around four hundred pounds and this girth had to be at least four feet round. She hadn’t caught that when she saw him drive by the mansion. She had a moment to wonder if Aiden wouldn’t get squashed by him if he fell.

“You aren’t very nice, my love. And I don’t plan to let myself get into a position
where he is on top of me. I will be standing long after he falls.”
Aiden chuckled as he answered her query.

“Just don’t get too cocky. And don’t kill him too quickly. I have to know where the
other labs are before he is dead. I think Queen has something planned for him anyway if
we don’t kill him right away. She is scary when she gets like that.”

Zane had met with the queen shortly after she had risen for the day. They had come to an understanding. Not friends, but a sort of truce. The queen was going to grant her wish, a different one this time, if they succeed today. Zane hoped that they would be able to put a stop to this madness once and for all.

“Aaron and I are on the road. We await your call. Be careful. I still owe you an ass beating for leaving my bed this morning.”

She didn’t tell him where she had gone, only that she had fixed things between her and the queen. The boon the queen was going to give her was just between the two of them. Zane knew it was a lot to ask, but the queen had assured her that she could make it happen.

The van that the wolves put Zane into was a piece of crap, but the windows where dark enough that no one could see what happened inside once the doors were closed. The wolves, all of them wild in the way of the shifter, stupid in other words, were easily duped once they were on the road. David took them to a warehouse just outside the city limits, one that Sara was shielding from the others.

Zane was a little mad. She was spoiling for a good fight and when David had his men come in and subdue them immediately she was disappointed. The rogues were more than willing to lead them to the three labs they knew about and to tell them that there was one more, a big one by all accounts, but they didn’t know where it was.

“But you’re sure there is one? Have any of you been to it? And if not, then how do you know there is one?” David shook the largest one of the pack and his men stepped forward when they looked ready to fight back.

“That man, Sinclair. He told us if we fucked this up…pardon, ma’am, that we’d be food for them vampires. The wolves, they been feeding them the leftovers when the vamps done eat. Don’t want no fucking part…pardon again, ma’am, no f’ing part of that.”

Zane tried her best not to laugh. This man was apologizing to her for using the F

word and he was willing to kill her when asked to. This really was fucked up. They loaded one of the men into the van again and David took the other three to a holding cell on the pack land. They would be dealt with later.

The first lab was about three miles from the one on Zane’s property. There were about eight dead bodies inside and three lab men. It was difficult to figure out just precisely how many dead men there were because their bodies had been cut up into so many pieces. They were told that this lab was the “extraction lab.” Here was where they cut up the bodies to see what they could use and not use in the future with the DNA manipulation experiments. Zane killed them all. They were so entrenched in what they were doing they couldn’t see what they were doing wrong.

The next lab they were taken to the man in the car wouldn’t even get out of the van for. He nearly wet himself when she told him she needed him to go with her.

“Can’t. No way. If you make me, then you might as well kill me right now ‘cause I’d rather be dead than go in there again. No, nope, nada, no fucking way.”

This man didn’t apologize for cussing, but he didn’t go with her either. She put him into a deep sleep and moved to the building. When she had touched the wolf’s mind, she realized that he had come from here and the only reason he’d not been terminated when he failed to perform was because he was willing to kill whatever it took to keep him from being in this lab. The wolf had dreams, nightmares really, every night and probably would for the rest of his life.

Zane moved to just outside the door to the lab and waited for the heat she could feel on the business side of the door to move away. Once it did, she knew that the body on the other side was no longer blocking her from coming in. She couldn’t just materialize inside; she didn’t know the area and took the chance of coming in on a piece of furniture or worse yet, a person. It was simply easier just to walk in the door. Much more fun too.

The door opened for her as she moved closer to it. She grinned. Whoever was coming out was in for a surprise. As soon as he saw Zane he lifted his rifle and was dead before he got it to his shoulder. His head disintegrated as soon as she removed it.

Vampire. Moving into the building she came across three more men, all armed with high powered rifles loaded with silver. She managed to kill them before any alarm could be triggered.

The next set of doors led to a cage area was she found six beings. They were in very bad shape and begged her to end their misery.

Zane had anticipated this and had asked the queen what she wanted done with them.

Shamus told her that if she secured the building they would make sure that someone came to help them all. Zane tried to ignore them in hopes of getting them help quickly.

She reached out to Shamus and told him what she had found. It took her twenty more minutes to make sure the lab was empty, but she found three more dead bodies up in one of the bedrooms. Each had recently given birth.

“They didn’t die of childbirth. Please don’t let the queen or Miss Sara know or even
come here. It’s bad. The babies…if that’s what these are, didn’t make it either. They are
an abomination, sire. Nothing should…keep them away.”

“I will, love. I’m sorry you have to see that too. The men and women in the holding
cells, can they be moved? I’d like to bring them to the clinic here in this world first then
on to the castle infirmary once they are stable.”

“They can move. Though I would put them to sleep first.”
Zane sent Shamus a mental picture of what she had seen in the holding cells. The bedroom upstairs was for her nightmares only.

After assuring her that he’d take care of it she moved out of the building. A crew of beings from the castle showed up within seconds. When she was sure everyone was out, Zane blew it. And like the other building, there would be nothing left in an hour. The flames would burn until the cinder block was nothing more than ash.