The Alphas Game - Complete Set (21 page)

Chapter8

Alfi’s natural form is enough to send a normal person screaming for the hills, and I can’t say that under a different circumstance I wouldn’t be feeling the same way, but that monster had Hope and there was no way that I was going to let her die. His dragonfly style wings and insect eyes and scales were creepy and cold looking. I couldn’t help but notice how violent and vile he looked and realized that he could kill me with a single blow from his clawed hands. I can’t say that I didn’t blame myself for this, but it was too late to take back the danger that she was in, the only thing that I could do was save the woman. I didn’t think that it was going to be too hard considering that Alfi couldn’t keep his eyes off of me while he licked the poison from his lips. I felt the fear start to cloud my vision, but I wasn’t going to go down that easy as I clenched my fists and prepared to defend myself. I wondered why humans held such a loathing for insects. While there are exceptions I don’t really know why we are so afraid of them, but I still hold the fear. It made me pause, staring at the creature of destruction who was staring at me with his beady multi-faceted insect eyes. I had grown accustomed to seeing fairies as butterflies, humans with some elf ears and pair of brightly colored wings, but Alfi looked nothing like that.

Before Alfi could advance on Rosie he was bowled over by a mass of grey and white fur. She stepped back as Grey and the male fairy started to roll around on the ground, grunting and punching each other. Grey’s shoulder had caught the fairy directly in the stomach and he was gasping for breath as he tried to fight back, ripping and clawing at the shifters fur covered neck. It looked like a fight in a school yard, except for the flying scales and fur drifting into the air around them. They rolled and fought, Alfi just trying to fend off his attacker until he managed to recover from the surprising tactic.

The detective felt her jaw drop as the two men rolled in the muck, but the dirt and cold wetness seemed to stop the fur from flying. She realized that a mistake had been made, but wondered if it actually had helped their cause, allowing Grey to attack from a flanking position and take out the fairy quickly.

She squinted, trying to identify any injuries or wounds that were given to any single individual, but she couldn’t tell much, there was too much going on. Kevin stared on, covering for any escape or clear shot on their enemy. Rosie’s eyes flickered over the scene and she saw her loyal secretary, who had been dropped to the ground when she had come into sight. She noticed that she was going to have to rush past the combat in order to help her friend, but the fear of being caught up in the blood and fur didn’t seem to enter her mind. She ran into the fray, but was stopped before she reached her goal.

She didn’t see the hand coming toward her, but she still felt the yank on her collar. She was jerked backward, a violent motion that managed to save her from getting bowled over by the rolling combatants in the swamp. Alfi appeared to be steering the fight toward his target, making Grey move with him, but taking damage for every inch. Alfi drug his claws across the wolf’s face, but Agent Randolph countered with a grunting noise that accompanied a closed fist punch to the gut. The wolf was trying to knock the wind out of his opponent again, but the fairy had seen it coming and released his breath right before the strike, lessening the effect of the powerful strike. Alfi struggled toward Rosie, trying to reach for the woman’s leg, but Grey made the fairy pay for the distance he gained, by ripping a lump of flesh out of the scaled creature’s abdomen. The wings tensed as the creature screamed out in pain, shoving at his attacker and managing to push out of the wrestling hold.

Rosie watched this as she struggled against the lion who held her in his clawed hands. She turned and yanked her shirt out of his grip. He shrugged and let her go, but it was hard to speak in his hybrid form so he didn’t even attempt to defend himself. Instead he let the woman go and stepped in to support his partner who was nursing some pretty severe wounds of his own. Grey stumbled to his feet while Kevin continued the assault, giving Rosie some room to get to her target, but before she could reach the captured secretary she was tripped, falling on her face in the muck.

Alfi scrambled a quick retreat, trying to decide on his next course of action, but he wasn’t going to get the chance. He backed away after gaining his footing and moved away from the dangerous shifters. Kevin moved up, closing on him as he stumbled backwards and swept a foot under his opponent’s legs. The lion was taking his turn and it struck the observer almost as if the other agent had been tagged in by his partner. They were starting to take turns exhausting the fairy, but magical creatures were different than they were. Fairies didn’t tire like shifters and humans did. They were more like vampires in that respect. The tactic didn’t seem to be working. The only thing that seemed to be slowing the creature down was the wounds that he had suffered and the fact that he didn’t have the same physical strength or healing abilities of the FBI agents. It was to his disadvantage and it looked like the agents were taking full advantage of his weaknesses, but he had an ace up his sleeve and he was ready to reveal it.

Alfi fell to the ground with an annoyed grunt escaping his lips. He wasn’t ready to give up and he reached for Grey, scraping his poisoned fangs across the wolf’s ankle as he struggled to turn toward the second attacker. Rosie jumped back, out and away from the flailing limbs and swinging shifters. She shuddered as she looked back towards her secretary. The woman was looking at her boss in fear and Rosie could feel her heart start to tug. There was no way that she could reach the secretary without putting herself to close to the fray. She called out. “It’s going to be ok. Just hold out a little longer.”

Hope nodded, but she didn’t look happy. Her body was stiff and still, trying desperately not to get trampled in the chaos of two shifters fighting against her captor. They were within three feet of her and while the FBI agents seemed to be doing their best to pull Alfi away from her prone and bound form he didn’t seem to cooperate, keeping close to his prisoner. He knew that if they dragged him away from his prisoner, they would be able to go all out in the combat, taking him out quickly, but being in this location gave him an advantage, and he wasn’t ready to let that go yet. The shifters had to pull their punches, trying their best not to trample the woman. Alfi smiled at them and kicked at the secretary as he pushed off of that leg, delivering a violent kick to Kevin’s midsection as he removed something that shone in the light out of a pouch that had been strapped to his leg. The blonde woman screamed behind her gag, her eyes growing wide with the sudden sharp pain that she was feeling.

Rosie cursed, Hope wasn’t meant to go through anything like this. Kevin stumbled back and tried to gather his breath back and Grey was starting to pull himself up, fighting the poison that was coursing through his veins from several different bite wounds. Alfi smiled and backed over Hope, planting one foot on either side of her. His body bobbed and moved over her, his naked form, changed into its non-human and twisted form making the secretary’s eyes widen with the sight of him. “Silver.” Rosie shouted as she realized that the knife in the fairy’s hand was shining a little brighter than steel.

“Damn it.” Grey grunted as he pulled up against a tree. Kevin let out a curse the likes of which Rosie had never heard the lion growl before. Both of the shifters were barely understandable, their reshaped vocal chords, tongues, and mouths making it so that they were built more for growling, howling, and roaring than for speaking. Rosie wondered if Kevin could purr and meow in this form but decided that this wasn’t the right time to ask that question.

Rosie stopped herself from flying into combat. She wasn’t meant to physically fight supernatural creatures. Grey stumbled up against a tree and Kevin started to move in, thinking as he slowly advanced on the fairy. The lion knew that he needed to plan this perfectly, or the bound woman could get seriously injured.

Kevin advanced anyway, knowing that they couldn’t let the fairy get the advantage and the giant man-like bug thing slashed with his weapon, leaving a stinging trail of blood across the shifter’s midsection. Agent Leonard jumped back, managing to lessen the blade’s effect to nothing more than a light scrape. Still the metal made a hissing sound when Kevin’s blood touched it and the smell of burning flesh and fur filled the air. “Did you think I wouldn’t plan for this?” The fairy’s voice was arrogant.

“We’re taking you in.” Grey groaned as he shifted fully onto his own feet, no longer putting his weight on the plant life in the area. His body was starting to heal, but he could still feel the effects of his poison. His voice was garbled and growling as he stood up to his opponent, slightly barking the threat.

“You aren’t going to take me anywhere. I’m going to stay right here with my little pet.” The creature didn’t seem to have the same problems talking that the shifters had. His voice was clear and not at all distorted by the fangs that shimmered in the man's mouth, dripping with a violent poison.

Rosie looked at him and suddenly realized exactly what he was, knowing that he would kill them all if he got the chance, but she also saw the look, hidden deep in his eyes. The fairy was afraid that he couldn’t win this. He was starting to contemplate escape attempts and wondered why he didn’t just fly away, streaking off into the night.

Hope’s panic started to fade. Her eyes darted around and the woman was thinking as Kevin stuttered over his decisions. Alfi paid no attention to her, giving her a chance to strike if she could make her body respond properly. Taking a deep, rattling breath around the gag and through her nose the woman steeled herself for the action. Forcing her body to move she sat straight up, bringing her forehead into her captor’s dangling manhood.

Alfi had no idea that the attack was coming and cursed himself as he bent over, hugging his tender wound. Kevin saw his chance and picked the fairy up, plucking him into his arms and throwing the creature onto the ground, roughly throwing the specialized shifting and magic blocking handcuffs on the creature with a sneer on his face.  “I have to buy a new damn suit now.” Grey moaned as he pulled himself up further and Kevin felt a smile form on his face as he heard the groaning words from his partner and noticed that the wolf’s suit was in even worse shape than his own, with gaping holes in the fabric.

The detective noticed that the creature’s wings were shredded, so badly destroyed that they were barely hanging on. It became clear at that moment what had given them the advantage. Grey had nearly ripped them off when he was rolling around with Alfi on the ground. She couldn’t help but smile a little as she rushed over to her secretary, eager to free the woman from her bonds.

Chapter9

Hope was a mess, and she looked like she had been crying for days. I couldn’t get her untied fast enough. The ropes were caked in mud and dug into her flesh. She looked up at me, her eyes pleading to be released as I worked, struggling with the inhumanly strong knots. It didn’t take me long to realize that I should pull her gag off first. I pulled it down, out of her mouth and left it resting around her neck like some kind of macabre necklace. The woman’s hair was matted and dirty, with a mixture of mud and blood causing the curls to form into flat rat’s nest in the back and dreadlocks in the front. I had never seen her like that and it bothered me more than I would ever be able to express. I fought against the tears, knowing that seeing someone cry would just upset my secretary more. The woman had a weakness for tears, it was just in her nature, her kindness and weaknesses were her most endearing qualities.

“I wish that I would never have brought you into this line of work.” Rosie forced some confidence into her voice as she struggled with the knots. She fought the tears as she worked and her vision clouded, making the work even more difficult.

Hope was a mess, but she wasn’t shaking. Her face was full of shock, she couldn’t believe what she had done. “Did I stop him?” Hope was worried about something else. There was a strange light in her eyes, a loss of fear that seemed to make everything click into place. “Did I get him? Did I really get him?” She peered over her boss’s shoulder and stared at the prone form of her captor. He was lying face down in the mud with the lion agent kneeling over him. The man was trussed up with one pair of cuffs on his wrists, with another attached at his elbows and one more around his ankles. It wasn’t a comfortable position with his elbows locked behind him so close together but it was obvious that they weren’t going to take any chances with this anymore. They were going to keep him and contain him.

Grey stumbled up. “You took him down. Kevin’s got the cuffs on him and we’re going to take him in.” He smiled at the secretary. It was comforting to everyone there, the thought that they had captured the bad guy and that he wasn’t going to be able to hurt anyone anymore. “We got him, you stopped him.”

Hope beamed. “I actually helped.” Grey bent down to help untie the ropes as he grinned back at her. He didn’t answer, instead letting the detective fully realize the fact that they had captured the bad guy.

Rosie was shaking, absorbed in her own guilt, so Grey answered for her. “You saved the day sweetie. You did great.”

“Are you sure?”

“We couldn’t have done it without you. He probably would have killed at least one of us with that knife.” Grey told her. He wasn’t sure if it was the truth, but that didn’t matter. The dirty secretary was entirely surprised by her own actions, but was beaming in pride.

“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that I did something like that.”

“You saved the day.” Rosie snapped into the conversation. “You saved the day. You did it. You saved us. I’m so proud.” The detective’s voice was full of stunned disbelief, but she knew that feeling like a hero would help the young woman cope, at least until the reality of everything that she had just lived through sunk in. She knew that she had to say something to the secretary, and Rosie felt the need to say the words. It might help her beyond that, but only time would tell how this would affect her over the ages.

Time seemed to blur as help arrived, loading Alfi up to take him to a prison and taking everyone to the hospital who  needed to go, and that was everyone there except for Rosie who was dirty, but uninjured, except for a few scrapes and scratches and a bruise around her shoulders from Kevin yanking her away from certain doom.

“There’s so much mud in the shower.” Hope mentioned the fact that both women had used the shower in her hospital room to rinse off.

“I showered in my clothes at first, and stripped after I rinsed off.”

“I was washed in my clothes at first two.” Rosie had been loaned a set of scrubs and the patient was wearing a hospital gown. “Is someone bringing new clothes for us? I’m ready to get out of here.” Hope held up her right hand, a tube and needle were stringing out of it, but it wasn’t attached to anything. They had inserted it merely to make it easier for them to give medication. Her hand had tape around it, limiting the movement in her uninjured hand. Alfi had broken one of her hands when she was being dragged through the swamp and he had broken one of her ribs when he kicked her. Her hair was still knotted and tangled, matching the dark bags under the woman’s eyes.

The doctor came in, looking over his patient and offering to help as much as he could. They stayed silent, answering only the basics as they went through the meeting with the harried-looking medical professional. He didn’t ask any more questions than he had to and moved on, quickly shifting to the next patient on his overworked schedule.

“I’m tired.” Hope sighed once the doctor had left. She leaned back and closed her eyes, the bags under them were unmistakable.

“You look exhausted.” The detective told her closest friend, the only one she trusted with all of the information for a case.

“So do you.” The smile was weak from what felt like an eternity of trials and tribulations.

“We’ve had better days.” Rosie chuckled weakly, slumping in her seat.

“That’s an understatement.” Rosie stayed silent for a long minute, considering whether or not she should ask the question that was weighing heavily on her mind. Hope noticed and squeezed her boss’s hand. “You want to know.”

“How long did he have you?” The question weighed heavily. “I had forgotten to check in for several days.” She admitted, not feeling very happy about it.

“You had just found Schmidt’s body. It wasn’t that long.” Hope tried to comfort the upset woman in her own special way.

“What did he do to you?” Rosie wasn’t sure if she really wanted all of the gory details or not.

“Not much, he pretty much just kept me in a room while he tried to find you and let you know that he would trade me for you. He got pretty upset when you disappeared and that’s when he lost patience.

“He’s not good at waiting.”

“I noticed that. He’s an instant gratification kind of guy.” Rosie chuckled. “That’s what got him caught.”

“He’s also not good at remembering to feed his prisoners. When are they bringing lunch, I’m starving.” Hope rubbed her stomach with her IV pierced hand.

“Are they letting you eat?”

“I hope so. You know how hard it is to get a straight answer from anyone here.”

“Hospitals suck.” Rosie agreed with her friend. “I hate getting stuck in here.”

“You’re the lucky one. You can leave any time you like.” Hope told her friend.

The detective shook her head. “You know I’d never leave you here. Why weren’t you with your family? Why didn’t they get a hold of me?”

“I don’t know, and I wasn’t with them when he took me. I can’t answer these questions. I’m sorry.”

“Where were you when he got you?”

“I was at my place. I was feeling good so I went there to pick up a few things. I never thought that he would come after me. I was sure I wasn’t on the radar.”

The detective hung her head in her hands. “This is all my fault.”

“What are you talking about?”

“This is all my fault. I did this to you because I got his attention. I got involved in this case and I should never have touched it.”

“You had to, you had to stop them.” Hope reached out for her friend. “You did the right thing.”

“But at what cost?”

“I think it was worth it.”

“You’ve gone through hell over this.” Rosie apologized once again.

“So have you.” Hope told her friend.

Rosie pulled her head up and looked at her friend. “You stopped him.”

Hope giggled. “I did, didn’t I?” She seemed almost giddy with the idea. “I can’t believe that I would do something like that. I feel like my whole world just changed.”

“It did. It’s never going to be the same.” Rosie explained, trying to figure out whether Hope was going to run for the hills or come into the light and finally realize her own strength. The truth was that the detective had known her secretary’s strength for as long as the two had known each other. It was Hope who had always doubted herself. It was a product of growing up in a world that condemned her love, that self-doubt that always ate away at her soul, destroying her decisions. They talked for hours until they slept, Rosie in the chair next to the bed. It was an exhausted sleep, the dreamless kind that you have when a great sleepless stress had been lifted from your chest.