Lucius (Luna Lodge #3) (17 page)

She stilled as conversation outside the door hit her ears.

“Vanessa wants her right now,” Doctor Fisher said, his voice loud and panicked.

“Well, she had to go,” the hybrid said lazily. “She’s got two more minutes to finish up before I’m going in.”

Her heart kicked into high gear. With no time to waste, she flushed the toilet. Just like every other time, the pipes kicked on. She lifted herself up on top of the stall walls and pushed the ceiling panel aside. It was dark, but she’d be able to make her way.

“See,” the hybrid said. “She’s nearly finished.”

Hannah lifted herself up into the cramped musty crawl space on top of the wall and covered her mouth. Last thing she needed was to start coughing or sneezing. She slipped the panel back into place just as the door opened.

“Hannah dear,” Doctor Fisher called to her. She could see him from a hole and nearly gasped. Behind his back, he held a syringe. “I’ve just got to take you somewhere, and it will be much easier if you let me give you a little shot.”

He turned the corner to the empty stall and frowned. He raced around the small room.

“Where the fuck is she?” he screamed. “Where the fuck did you put her, Magnus?”

Magnus sighed and looked out the window. “I told her not to run.”

“What the hell do you mean you told her not to run? Of course she ran!” Dr. Fisher shrieked. “Now what the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Well,” Magnus said. He turned and looked up at the ceiling right at her, almost like he could see her there. “I’d suggest that you send out the Glycon to hunt her down. That should make Vanessa happy.”

“Yes,” Doctor Fisher mumbled. “Yes that would work.”

The doctor walked slowly out of the bathroom mumbling to himself, but Magnus stayed for a moment, staring out the window.

“Far northern part of the building,” he said, so quietly, she wasn’t even sure he had spoken. “Travel east in the woods.”

When he turned around, she could see he was torn. Something was holding him there and she just couldn’t save him.

Tears burned her eyes as she nodded. She didn’t care what it took. One day, she would repay him.

Without another word, Magnus walked over to the toilet and flushed.

She dried her tears and turned around. It was going to be a long crawl through this place, and each second those pipes were groaning was time she needed to be moving.

* * *

It seemed like hours to Lucius as they waited for Doctor Fisher to bring in Hannah. Angry, Vanessa did what she did best, rant.

“And when you just left me like that, what was I supposed to do, Lucius?” She paced in front of him. Her eyes flashed in and out of the red zone. “How could you do that to someone who loves you as much as I do?”

Lucius snorted. Left her? The Horatius Group had left them to die. He wondered if she honestly thought he had left or if this was just another twisted mind game.

The door finally opened, and Lucius turned, surprised to not see Hannah behind Doctor Fisher.

Vanessa stopped and waited.

“Well?” she snapped.

“She’s escaped,” Doctor Fisher said and backed away.

“She what?” Vanessa moved forward slowly. She blinked several times, and her face reddened.

Lucius watched her with fascination. This was the first time he had seen someone who had made the change that still looked mostly normal, but her mannerisms were totally different from their own. Not only that, but he wondered how it had affected her Vestal abilities.

“But don’t worry, I’ve sent the Glycon after her.” Doctor Fisher smiled.

Her eyes narrowed even more, and Lucius knew that it was the wrong thing to do.

“And how am I supposed to have a baby now?” she hissed.

The doctor’s face fell.

“I’ll call them back,” he said quickly.

She was on him before he could make it to the door. “It doesn’t fucking work like that. You know that.”

“I-I-I,” he stammered and backed against the wall.

“Enough!” she screamed. The room rang with her voice.

Vanessa stepped back, and Lucius thought it might be over.

She gave a harsh smile before he saw the glint.

“No!” The doctor gave a choked shout before she swiped a sharp blade across his neck.

He fell to the floor with a hollow thud, blood spurting from his neck.

“Now I have to change my clothes,” she complained, sighing down at the crimson staining her stola. “Felix!”

The shriveled man next to Lucius pulled himself up into a standing position. His chains rattled as he stood.

Vanessa pushed a button by the door.

“Send in two Glycon to clean up this mess and unlock Felix,” she said.

The door opened, and two pale mutated hybrids entered.

Vanessa passed the dead man on her way to Felix. She stopped in front of Lucius.

“Open up Felix’s chains.” She gave a malicious grin. “He can help me take a bath.”

Lucius turned away as she huffed past. His chest ached at the sound of the chains coming off. Felix wasn’t going to make it through the night. They would be lucky if he made it through the bath. His labored breathing was getting worse, and the poor man seemed to know it was coming. After the hell he had been through, death would be a relief.

“Vanessa, don’t do this,” Lucius said softly.

She stopped at the door and shot him a bitter look.

“You had your chance, you ungrateful man,” she said. “Now back off before I take another piece off you for my collection.”

Her bright red nails were the last part to disappear behind the door.

* * *

Sweat rolled down Hannah’s forehead and the back of her neck as she crawled. Only a little longer. It had been stop and go for hours now, but she was getting to the newer side of the school and knew she had to be headed in the right direction.

She still hadn’t come across the equipment room, but she had to assume that it would be near wherever Lucius was.

“Hmmm,” someone below said. “That’s perfect.”

Hannah peeked through the hole in the floor. Below she found Vanessa in the bathroom with a man beside her. It was the worst spot to stop at, but there wasn’t much a choice. The pipes had stopped, and she was frozen until they started back up again.

The thin man sat on the side of a tub as Vanessa soaked in bubbles.

Hannah moved to the side and jumped when a nail scraped her arm.

Almost instantly, the thin man stood and looked up to her. Luckily, Vanessa had her eyes closed. Hannah waved at him and hoped that he understood not to say anything.

He gave a short nod and turned on the water.

“Felix, towel,” Vanessa said.

Hannah followed him through the rooms and paused. She watched in almost horror as the man gathered a towel and then traveled into the kitchen area. There, he pulled out a large knife and tucked it into the towel. She doubted he would be able to do much in his state, but the distraction would be enough for her to get away.

“Thank you,” she whispered softly.

He gave a nod and pointed in the direction she was facing. He turned the water on and left it running.

In one day, she had accumulated more debt than she’d ever be able to repay, but she’d gladly spend the rest of her life trying.

Hannah quickly crawled away, not wanting to witness what was most likely his last walk.

Chapter Sixteen

Lucius watched as the Glycon cleaned the floor.

“Better at cleaning than I would have expected,” Lucius said.

“They are specialized for certain tasks,” Rem said and nodded to the men. “Most only have a focus for one thing. Cleaning, killing, whatever.”

“Can they be rehabilitated?”

Rem shook his head. “Not that I’ve seen.”

The buzz of an alarm ripped through the air. The two Glycon jumped to attention, and they rushed out of the room.

“This happen often?” Lucius asked.

“Never,” Rem answered.

Moments later, the door to the room swung open again.

Rem and Justus stared in awe at the door.

Hannah, still in her Venus costume, stood in the door covered in dirt, propping the door open like it was just another day at the job.

“Lucius,” she whispered.

She sprinted to him and tossed her arms around him with all her might. Her mouth came hard on him, and for that one moment, they lived in the now.

Rem cleared his throat, and Lucius pulled away.

“Keys,” he said. “Do you have the keys?”

She shook the keys in her hand. “People are really stupid around here. Titus would be so pissed if we went and just left keys in the door.”

He laughed.

“Not stupidity, really,” he said. “Overconfidence. She always was overconfident.”

Hannah frowned. “Vanessa?”

Lucius grunted.

Hannah snorted. She rushed to the three men and unlocked them. After a moment of stretching, they rushed out of the room into the hall. Lucius pushed Hannah behind him. She had rescued him, and now it was his turn to protect her.

They had to be careful. Three big men and a woman were a target, especially when all hell was breaking loose.

“Everyone follow me,” Lucius said. He glanced between Rem and Justus. “Unless either of you knows how to get out.”

They both shook their heads.

“I’m guessing you have no problem if we have to take anyone out?”

Rem shook his head. Justus snorted. “Payback’s a bitch.”

Lucius put his hands on Hannah’s shoulders. “You stay behind us. I’m not going to let that crazy bitch touch you.”

Hannah nodded. “I know.”

After a quick survey of the area, Lucius started jogging down the hall. “How the hell did you escape and find me, Hannah?”

As they moved through the hallway and then a connecting hallway, Hannah filled them in on her journey.

The revelation that Felix caused the distraction summoned both pain and pride in Lucius. The man had likely traded his life to give them all a chance.

“But this Magnus,” Lucius said. “You trust him?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “I think that’s where Romulus’s winning. We need to figure out who we can trust.”

Justus snorted. “He may have helped you out, but he’s still a guard working for that…woman.”

“It’d been easier for him not to help me at all or turn me in,” Hannah said.

Justus shrugged.

The group fell silent and slipped into a classroom. They crept toward a window.

“Is that east?” she asked.

Lucius nodded.

“So let me get this straight,” Justus said. “We’re going to run through the night, with no weapons, in unknown terrain, at the advice of an enemy guard.”

“That about sums it up,” Rem said with a grin.

“You all are crazy,” Justus said. He narrowed his eyes and surveyed the outside.

Hannah pointed off in the distance. “See that shed over there? It might have some things that we can use.”

Lucius grinned. She was thinking more and more like a warrior. Her escape stunt had proven she had the heart of one already.

They slipped through the window and made their way across the lawn. He kept expecting that something would pop out but that didn’t happen. After a few minutes, Lucius looked over to Hannah. She was having far too easy a time getting through the dark. The three hybrids of course would find it trivial, but she had been groping about in the dark not all that long ago.

“They didn’t do anything, did they?” he whispered to her.

Hannah shook her head. “Rachel,” she panted.

Lucius frowned. What the hell the doctor had to do with anything was anybody’s guess.

They closed on the shed. Lucius found himself unimpressed with the lack of parameter sentries. This had to be all Vanessa. Romulus likely wouldn’t have been as sloppy.

Rem reached over and tried the door.

“Locked,” Rem whispered.

Hannah pushed him out of the way and pulled a bobby pin from her hair. With a few twists, she was through the lock in no time. Lucius stared at her.

Hannah shrugged and handed him the lock.

“Mama used to try and lock her booze away.” She grinned. “Got good at picking a lock to dilute it. Besides, those are the easy ones.”

They pulled open the doors, and Lucius sighed. He doubted they would be able to take down their enemy with cleaning supplies, fertilizer, watering cans, hoses, miscellaneous bottles, and a few work shirts. Another quick look around revealed nothing but crap. Hell. Somebody’s half-eaten ham sandwich sat on a shelf, as if mocking him.

Not what he was hoping. It was too much to think they would keep all the good equipment out in the shed.

“Not bad,” Hannah said with a grin. “There’s quite a bit to use here.”

Lucius frowned.

“Am I missing something? No weapons. Fuck, not even some hatchets or something.”

Hannah stepped into the shed and started to pick things up. “Listen, you all have super everything, but what good is that if it gets knocked down?”

She raised a brow at him. The effects of the fumes at the party suggested it wasn’t hard to knock them down. Something like that could mean the difference between life and death at this point.

“So what do you suggest?” Justus glanced over his shoulder as he spoke.

“How do chemical smells make your nose feel?” Hannah said.

“Depends,” Rem answered.

Hannah grinned. “Well, I can put money on ammonia and bleach.” She pulled the cleaning supplies off the shelf. “I don’t have the smell issue you all have. I’ll place this at the edge of the forest. We hit their scent first thing and throw them off. “

He had to admit, it was a good idea.

“Next.” Rem grinned. “How much more you got?”

Hannah grinned back. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

Hannah paced the treeline. She couldn’t put down the ammonia and bleach too early. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work, and they would just end up right where they started.

“You okay?” Lucius walked over to her side.

She nodded. There was going to be a lot to process when this was all over, but for right now, she just wanted to get away.