Phoenix Rising (Book 5 The Kindred Series) (19 page)

Chris's heart beat a staccato against the inside of his ribs as his hands began to shake. Where were they and what had they all walked into? "Chris?" Melissa whispered.

He held up a finger to her before turning back down the first hall. It was like being in a demented game of hot and cold as he strained to take in something that he may have missed.

That he
had
to have missed.

He focused all of his ability forward as he forced himself to open up even more to Cassie and Luther. He stopped as he spotted the door beneath the stairs. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he realized that this was it.
This
was where they were.

He pulled the door open and peered into the murky depths of the basement. Lifting his arm to his nose he struggled not to inhale through it. He glanced toward the kitchen but he couldn't see Melissa anymore. Chris checked his back pocket and was reassured by the weight of his stake and knife before he slipped down the wooden stairs.

***

Devon stalked around the building, looking for some weakness in its structure but finding none. His anxiety was spiking to epic levels as he spun and returned to the back door. Julian had his hands and ear pressed against the door. "Do you hear anything?" Devon demanded.

Julian frowned as he shook his head. "It's quiet, too quiet."

"There has to be a weakness."

Julian's red eyes turned toward him. "We can't get in anyway."

"If we can get the owner out I'll kill them."

"I don't think they're going to be stupid enough to step foot outside right now."

Devon bit back a shout of frustration, his hands clenched at his sides as he fought the urge to start ripping the outside of the house apart with his bare hands. He opened his body to the bond that linked him to Cassie as he sought out her mind. He was having a difficult time touching against her mind. He tried to search out Chris and Melissa's minds but came up against a solid wall of nothing.

A wall that was even more solid than the one surrounding the building. A growl escaped him, his fangs elongated as he leapt onto the porch beside Julian. "I can't touch her mind; I can't touch
any
of their minds."

Julian stepped back to survey the brick façade. "What is this place made of?"

"I'm guessing steel, perhaps iron, something solid and nearly impenetrable."

"Nearly?"

"I can still feel Cassie through our bond as mates."

"She's still alive then?"

"She's still alive, but I don't know for how long."

Julian rested his hands upon the door as he bowed his forehead to it. "Never should have let them go in there."

"You think I don't know that!" Devon barked.

Julian lifted his head to look at him. "I meant Chris and Melissa. We've just handed all of The Hunter's over to them."

"If we can get them to open the door again, I can take control of the child."

"I doubt he's the owner Devon," Julian retorted.

Devon sneered at him as he pressed his hands against the door. His fingers curled into the wood facade but it wasn't Julian he was infuriated with, it was himself and fighting with Julian right now wouldn't accomplish anything for either of them. "But he could bring me the owner or I could have the child kill the owner."

Julian's eyes gleamed. "No one would expect it. We'll just have to get them to open it up again."

CHAPTER 18

Cassie
slipped as noiselessly as a wraith through the basement. She spotted a hot water heater and furnace, but there was nothing else within the shadowed interior. She found the back wall and ran her fingers across its cool surface as she desperately searched for Luther, for
anything
. Like a hound on the trail she followed the scent of death as she fought to bury the thirst that churned through her veins and caused her canines to tingle. She was going to find Luther, and she was going to destroy anyone that may have hurt him.

She paused at the end of the wall and twisted her head from side to side as she tried to pick up something. The increasing scent of death drew her toward the right. She prayed it wasn't Luther's death trail she was following, but there was a part of her that was growing increasingly convinced it was. She fought against the sorrow threatening to swell within her, now was not the time.

The wall didn't end as she'd expected but continued down a narrow hallway that ran beneath what she assumed was the ground. She was convinced there were tree roots dangling above her as she tilted her head back to study the gloom. Even with her enhanced eyesight though, she couldn't see the ceiling. The stench of death increased as she was drawn steadily onward.

The hallway ended in a wall, but she could feel the caress of barely flowing air against her skin. Cassie ran her fingers over the wall as she searched for something that would help get her past this. Her fingers picked up on a latch set above her head and to the left. She hesitated as memories of being trapped beneath the school, locked within a cell, and tortured for the pleasure of twisted men assailed her.

She didn't know what was beyond this wall, what secrets it held, or if she would be able to escape it again. She sensed that Luther was here though, that this is where they had taken him in order to lure her here. A trickle of sweat slid down her spine, her hand shook as she clung to the small switch.

She didn't know what was hidden behind this door, but no matter what she couldn't leave him there. Cassie pulled the switch down and stepped back as a small door swung open within the wall. Sickly radiance spilled around her feet, the stench of death caused her stomach to roll at the same time that exhilaration tore through her.

Her fangs sprang free as the coppery tang of blood wafted over her. She stepped through the door and grasped hold of it before it could slam shut on her. She hesitated in the doorway, there had to be a latch on this side that would open the door, but she didn't plan to waste time trying to locate it when they evacuated here.

She glanced around the dimly lit hall, but there was nothing within reach that could help her. Adjusting her stance she shivered as she slipped her jacket off. Balling it up, she propped it in the doorway and made sure that it was enough to keep the door from locking shut again. She moved cautiously down the hall but she had no doubt that they already knew she was here.

The hall reminded her of the setup beneath the school. The small rooms on the side of the hall held cots, but none of them seemed to be occupied right now. Another room held a contraption that resembled the room where she'd been repeatedly electrocuted. A shudder tore through her at the same time an impotent fury began to escalate toward higher and higher levels. This place was The Commission at work again, and if they had harmed Luther, or if they felt they were going to take her prisoner again, they had another thing coming.

She felt bad about what she'd done to the vampire, but here, now, she would
not
feel guilty. If she came across them in here, she wouldn't hesitate to rip out their throats. In fact, much to her disgust, she knew that she would take great pleasure in it. Cassie turned the corner and stopped as she came upon a large, glass window. The room behind the glass was hidden in shadows but Luther's scent was stronger here. She pressed her fingers against the glass as her enhanced eyesight began to pick up details of the interior.

There was a bed within, and what appeared to be a person on top. It was a trap; it had to be a trap but she
knew
it was Luther on that bed. She nearly bolted into the room but managed to stop herself before she did. Luther may be in that room, but there were others watching over her, just waiting for her to mess up. She already felt that they'd made the worst move of all by entering this house, but she couldn't reverse that one. She could keep herself from doing something just as stupid again though.

She turned away from the room to study the dim hallway. The lack of illumination wasn't a hindrance to her, but it would be to the people trying to keep them here. She suspected that they had some surprise up their sleeves, some way to come at her without actually confronting her. They'd had her once before, and she'd barely gotten away with her life. They wouldn't allow her to escape this time. She just didn't know how the children fit into this, or what they planned on doing to her and Luther. Whatever it was though, she had to keep her wits about her if she was going to get them out of this. She had to go on the offensive, had to go after them, and destroy
them
.

She moved swiftly into the room on her right and flipped on the switch. There was no point in trying to stay hidden at this point. They'd known where she was from the minute she'd entered this freak show of a house. Cassie swept through the room as she searched for something she could use as a weapon.

They had pumped gas into the rooms that she and Julian had been kept in before and they had drugged their food supply. The gas they'd put into Julian's room had to have been different than the gas they'd put into her room. Julian hadn't required air and neither did she anymore. The gas would have to be absorbed into their bodies in a completely different way, perhaps through their skin. Cassie glanced at the walls and ceiling, but she saw no vents in this room. These rooms had been designed to lock away something that wasn't as lethal as she and Julian.

The children, the creepy children who had sat wordlessly by as that
woman
had led them through the seemingly innocent home. Had they come all this way just to discover that there was nothing worth saving within the children anymore? That they had endured something within these rooms that had rendered them unsalvageable?

Cassie refused to believe that as her thoughts turned to the boy. There had been something worth saving within that angelic face and astute eyes. He had thought her an angel,
his
angel. If there was nothing left there to save than he wouldn't have welcomed her here, he wouldn't have thought of her as his savior. There had to be something here worth saving.

Cassie strode back out of the room and looked to make sure Luther was still present on the bed before entering the room across the hall. She wished she still had her jacket. If it was a gas that was absorbed through the skin, the extra material would have come in handy. As it was, she didn't think her thin sweater would keep her protected once she entered Luther's room.

It was in the third room that she finally found something of a little use to her. Three sheets had been left behind on one of the cots. She hastily ripped one into pieces and wrapped it around all of her exposed skin and head. She tucked the other one beneath her clothes and carried the last one for Luther. She doubted it was enough protection but there wasn't much else she could do.

She swept through the remaining rooms but found nothing else of use. In the last room she tipped the cot over and busted the legs off of it. Though she carried a stake she knew she would require more weapons. Unfortunately she didn't think that the two metal legs would be enough either.

She slapped them against her palm as she exited the room again. Her jacket was still tucked into the door, but she had a feeling that once she went in after Luther, that jacket would be removed. She shuddered at the thought, but there was nothing that she could do about it. Feeling like a Mummy, Cassie returned to the glass window outside of Luther's room. She had to get in and out as quickly as possible. She hovered in the doorway and peered into the room as she tried to learn as much about it as she could. There were vents in the ceiling that were most likely already omitting some type of drug.

Her hand rested on the knob as she glanced around the hall. She studied every shadow and nook as she searched for any sign of life, but nothing stirred. Deciding she couldn't keep putting it off anymore, Cassie plunged into the room and instantly staggered back.

The smell of death sent her emotions and senses skittering in a thousand different directions, none of them were even close to sane. Her bloodlust surged to the forefront at the same time that all she wanted was to vomit and flee from the five day old road kill stench.

She didn't see the death that lingered within yet, but it was there. Luther, she had to get to Luther. She hoped the sheets wrapped around her would be enough protection for a few seconds as she scurried toward him. Seizing hold of his arm she roughly heaved him up and half tossed him over her back.

He released a low moan that sounded as if he were in pain, but she couldn't think about that now. Not now. Now they had to break free of this trap. Cassie spun but faltered beneath the extra burden of Luther's weight, and the fact that she finally spotted the source of the stench permeating the room.

There were bodies, at least three of them, tucked within the tiny bathroom. The world tilted precariously, tears burned her eyes and slid down her cheeks as she stared at the massacre. And to her, it was a massacre, because all of the bodies had been children. She didn't know where any of the monsters were in this building, but if she found them, she
would
destroy them.

Half dragging, half carrying Luther, she managed to get him into the hall and slam the door closed. Though she felt a little woozy, she thought she'd managed to get out of the room quickly enough not to have too many effects from the gas. She hefted Luther back up and hurried down the hall as fast as she could with him.

She was halfway down the hall when the first figure emerged. Burdened by Luther's weight, the effects of the gas, and the bulky sheets still engulfing her she barely evaded the onrushing attack. Luther groaned when she cracked his elbow against the wall as she fell back. She almost toppled to the floor as the large figure barreled past and nearly crashed into the far wall before darting into another room.

Though it was unceremonious and probably hurtful, Cassie dropped Luther like a sack of potatoes to the ground. She snatched the metal legs out of the twisted sheets and prepared to use them to beat their attacker bloody if she didn't rip their throat out first. The attacker rushed back out of the doorway, a strangled cry tore from his throat as he charged her.