True Traitor (First Wave Book 7) (19 page)

The female that was standing with them stepped forward. “Blade, Fiorn’s got Leif and his mate. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but he’s muttering to himself and acting all weird,” she said worriedly as she lowered her weapon.

The large guy next to her snorted. “Yeah, more weird than normal,” he added.

Blade nodded his head and motioned towards the door. “I want you guys to get out of here. Try and keep everyone calm outside and keep those who need restrained out of the way for us. We’re going to try and get him out of here without harm. I promise,” Blade told them reassuringly, and he meant it. He had no desire to harm their leader. The man may be misguided, but Blade believed he was a good man.

The large man, called Dorian, nodded his head. “Be careful, he’s got four of his die-hards in there and two you can easily convince to get out of dodge,” he said as he hefted his unconscious brother over his shoulder.

“Thank you, Dorian,” Blade said as they headed out of the school.

He turned to Niklosi with a grin. “You know the layout. It’s all hallways and open areas from here in. Nowhere to run or hide, so we move carefully into each hallway and clear it before moving forward,” he said, knowing Niklosi was looking at the images that he’d reaped into his mind earlier.

Niklosi nodded his head and looked down the first hallway a little nervously, wondering about the change in his energy since they’d stepped inside. He could feel his heart racing and his beast had become hyper vigilant. It was Makeerno who finally asked.

“Wait. Before we go further, I need to know if you guys are feeling the energy change in here?” Makeerno asked, looking around for a possible source of the strange energy he could feel.

Blade felt like slapping his forehead. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten to warn them about the energy in here. “Yes, there is a different energy. It will make your heart race and shake your beast. You need to ignore it and try to concentrate on your task. It will help to ease the energy waves beating at you,” he said, looking to see if any of the Valendrans looked adversely affected by the energy.

They’d never had a full Valendran here besides Fiorn and he wasn’t sure if it could affect them adversely or not. The men looked no more uncomfortable than anyone else who came in here though and he felt relieved.

Blade looked around and knew he needed to tell them a little about the place. “This place houses ancient scrolls and relics that we believe are needed for the humans after the conversion. Keep your weapons on stun only and make damn sure you hit your target and nothing in here,” he said warningly.

Niklosi sighed and shook his head. “Why the hell did he come in here then?” he wondered with irritation.

Blade shook his head. “I have no idea,” he said.

Discorian looked around and whistled. “Damn, if you’re going to hide, a place where everyone is afraid to fire is a pretty good one to pick. He’s here for another reason. What would that be?” he asked, looking at Blade.

Blade shook his head and held out his hands. “Even for his crazy ass, this doesn’t make sense. Are you sure the kid didn’t do something to him?” he asked.

Niklosi was beginning to wonder if any of them knew the answer to that. He contacted Grai through the Shengari’ and told him of the latest developments and the location they were in. He knew they would be continuing forward to get to True and Leif and ensure their safety, but he wanted Grai aware that there may be serious problems with Fiorn.

Grai let him know that there were two people on the way to help with Fiorn and their only mission was to keep True and Leif safe. Niklosi would have been relieved if it wasn’t Fiorn who was holding the two hostage that he needed to protect.

He looked over at Blade. “We have updated orders to ensure the safety of Leif and True only. Fiorn is to be someone else’s problem,” he said, hoping that Blade had gotten the same orders.

Blade stared at him for a moment. “I have no such order,” he said.

Niklosi cursed in his mind even though he understood why Grai would not have told anyone else of who he had sent here. “That would probably be because of who is coming,” Niklosi said vaguely.

Blade stopped short and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not going anywhere until I know that you’re not sending in some team to kill him,” he said, trying to get hold of the DF to see if this was authorized.

Niklosi was a little peeved. “We came here to help and if you think one of us wants to answer to your DF, you’re out of your mind. Besides, True is like family and I’d like to continue calling her that. Killing off her mate’s father is not exactly one of those things you’d celebrate together,” he said with an unintended snicker.

Blade laughed. “I know you’re telling the truth because you said nothing about caring if you killed him, only how it would badly affect those who may care for him or that you care for. I hope whoever your leader is sending, feels the same way,” he said, hoping for a clue about the mysterious visitor presumably on the way.

Blade knew that as soon as one of the visitors entered one of the portals, that one of his people would tell him who it was, but he was hoping to find out before it made the rounds of their communication channels on the Shengari’. He hated surprises, especially those that occurred in a place like this and with a man like Fiorn as the target. He feared for his leader, but more for the items in this building that could mean life or death for the remaining human race after the conversion.

Niklosi shook his head. “Trust me, they are friendly and have no desire to harm anyone either. None of us do. Now, let’s get in there and see if we can get Leif and True out. Maybe the DF and the others can come and help Fiorn later, that’s above our paygrade” he said, intending to carry out his mission with or without the help of the hesitant hybrid.

Blade shook his head. “Fair enough, I guess,” he said, clearly unhappy as he headed down a hallway.

Niklosi and the others followed closely, listening carefully for the hybrids still inside and still loyal to Fiorn. He just hoped like hell that help would get here before they got to the potentially unhinged Valendran Legend. He didn’t want to be the one to have to kill him if necessary, but he would do what he was ordered.

Chapter Seventeen

Countdown Clock to Human Discovery

8:00 Hours

This is a WSBC Channel 9 News special report. Authorities have reached what’s left of the ridge and are attempting to determine the stability. They have sent us a few pictures of the area and as you can see, the eastern side of the ridge has completed disappeared into the forest below.

The geologists at Adventure Caverns said it will be closed until further notice until experts can guarantee the underground caves are safe for visitors. Authorities are asking for continued patience from the public, while they determine if it is ok for work crews to enter the slide area to repair the downed Internet and cell phone connections.

Stay tuned for updated information as it becomes available. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

True came to slowly this time and she was pissed off long before she opened her eyes. She took stock of herself as she looked into the furious eyes of Leif, who was leaned up against her, his hands and feet tied as well.

“I’m going to kill the old bastard myself,” Leif growled into her mind as he tried to get out of the tight bindings around his wrists.

True stared at the old bastard, who was in the other hallway, before pulling her hands up to her mouth to rip the tape off of her fingers. She was determined to help this place melt a little faster by setting the bastard on fire. She was so intent on her task that she never heard the large man until he spoke.

“Good, you’re finally awake,” Fiorn said before turning to two of his hybrids. “Get her over there.”

Leif screamed in rage and tried to maneuver his body in front of True’s to prevent them from touching her. “Don’t touch her! You bastards! Fiorn! I’m going to kill you myself, old man!”

Fiorn chuckled, his one eye showing no hint of his thoughts or emotions. “Shut up, you traitorous child! She has a use, you do not. Don’t make me regret bringing you,” he said with an uncharacteristic sneer at his grandson.

Leif was furious and lunged at his obviously bat-shit crazy grandfather. Fiorn punched him in the side of the head causing his body to crash to the ice covered floor, his face smacking painfully against the ice with a thud. True screamed and tried to free herself from the strong hybrids as Leif lifted his head and glared at Fiorn, blood streaming down his face from a large gash above his eye.

Leif struggled to his knees, his bound ankles and wrists making it difficult to steady himself on the ice covered floor. He just got steady and lifted his head when one of Fiorn’s hybrids kicked him in the ribs, knocking him back to the floor.

Fiorn laughed. “Stay down, boy. It’s time to get the truth,” he said as he turned to the struggling True.

“You either do as I say, or your mate will die,” he said callously, his one eye studying True like she was a bug under a microscope.

True looked at Leif in a panic, her concern for him deepening as the ice beneath him turned red with his blood and he continued to struggle awkwardly to his knees again. She could see him favoring his side and knew that the vicious kick had at least caused him seriously bruised ribs.
If they weren’t cracked
, she thought with a wince as he slipped and fell back to the floor.

She saw him struggle to get up and spoke to him through the Shengari’. “Leif, stop, please. You’re only going to get hurt more. Let me see what he wants, ok? Your grandma probably has the cavalry coming at any minute, so just chill out a minute. Please,” she said, his struggles to rise breaking her heart.

The way he slumped back to the floor told True just how badly he was hurt. He was losing blood pretty fast from the large gash above his eye and she was getting concerned about internal injuries when her hair was jerked back viciously.

She stared in fury at Fiorn’s one blue eye and was tempted to spit in the man’s face. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was afraid he would actually kill Leif, she would have. Instead, she held his gaze and refused to be cowed by him.

“What do you want?” she asked between gritted teeth. They weren’t gritted over just the pain of his hold on her hair either. The already rampant and intense energy in this place was heightening her anger and her determination to find a way to put this animal down.

Fiorn yanked on her hair even harder for a second before growling at her. “Thaw the ice down there,” he said as he pulled her head towards the ice covered hallway across from them.

Leif slipped on the ice again as he tried to stand and lay still for a moment in order to catch his breath. He could feel the difference in his ability to breath and knew that one of his many slips had driven one of his cracked ribs into his lung.

Leif used his bound hands to wipe the blood from his face and he looked sadly at True. “Do it, little Firefly. Nana will be here soon and she’s going to kill him anyway,” he said with a chuckle before the movement caused him to gasp in pain and see stars swim before his eyes.

True, her head still immobile by Fiorn’s grip on her hair, turned her eyes from Leif and looked back into Fiorn’s face. “I’ll do it. But, only because you will die soon,” she said, her voice low and filled with determination.

Fiorn let go of her hair and laughed. “I am merely getting the truth for the Warrior Child. You are the fools,” he said as he stomped over to the other side of the hallway.

Although True wasn’t fighting, the nasty hybrid still roughly pushed her over to the other hallway, uncaring that she couldn’t keep her balance and slipped most of the way. By the time he helped her to stand in front of the ice covered hallway, her one ankle was burning in pain from one of her falls and she tried to balance her weight on the other foot.

Fiorn pushed her shoulder, not hard, but enough to upset her already precarious footing on the ice and she began to fall before she was yanked upright. She stared into Fiorn’s eye furiously before forcing herself to calm down.

“If you expect me to use my ability, I need to be able to stand!” she said in frustration as her bound ankles refused to gain footing beneath her. It wasn’t helping that each attempt only increased the agony she was feeling in her injured ankle.

Fiorn glared at her for a moment before nodding to one of his hybrids. It only took a few seconds for the guy to lean down and slice the bonds on her ankles. Although she hated to it, True used Fiorn’s grip on her to help steady herself as she gained her footing and stood and faced the icy hallway.

She let go of Fiorn and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

Fiorn looked irritated with her and he gestured at the hall. “Melt it so we can get to the truth!”

True looked at the hallway that was frozen completely solid and she snorted in disbelief. “You do realize that ice doesn’t burn right?”

Fiorn clenched his fists in anger and True shook her head at him. “Fine, fine, I’ll do it,” she said as she held her hands out to Fiorn to undo the bonds on her wrists and the tape on her fingers.

When Fiorn just stared at her, True said, “I can’t do anything like this.”

Fiorn growled and quickly cut the bonds on her wrists. He watched dispassionately as she began to chew and pull the tape off of her fingers. “Don’t try anything stupid!” Fiorn warned, not trusting the girl.

True snorted in disbelief. As if she’d try anything when they’d already beaten Leif so badly. She turned back to look at Leif and was surprised to see him staring at her with fear in his eyes that he tried to hide when he saw her looking at him.

She grinned broadly at Leif and spoke to him through the Shengari’. “Hold your hand against the cut on your eye before you bleed to death. The badasses are coming baby and these idiots don’t stand a chance so hang in there so you can see the fireworks. You hear me?”

Leif grinned back at her. “You called me baby,” he said.

True grinned and shook her head. “Out of everything I just said, that’s all you got from that,” she said teasingly before she turned to the wall of ice and gathered her energy around her. She hoped like hell Grai was sending the biggest bad asses they had.

She heard Leif chuckle in her mind. “You have to admit, I’ve waited forever to hear you say something nice to me,” he said.

True threw several fireballs at the wall to see what kind of impact they would make and was surprised when only a very small dent was made in the ice where they had impacted. “We’ve known each other less than 24 hours, cut me some slack Romeo, I ain’t ‘that’ kind of girl,” she said as she gathered more energy and turned to Fiorn and his pet hybrids.

“You may want to back up,” she said before she allowed the energy to flow through her in a wave that ended with her throwing a baseball sized ball of fire at the wall.

True barely threw up her hand and turned her head in time to block the shards of ice that came flying back at them from the impact of the fireball. She almost grinned when she saw Fiorn and the hybrids had a few bleeding scratches on them.

She grinned at Leif as she turned back to the wall and saw that there was a jagged looking hole in it. She chuckled and turned to Fiorn. “I hope you weren’t planning on getting anywhere, anytime soon,” she said before she saw the crazed look in his eye.

Fiorn clenched his fists in anger before pointing at the wall. “What the hell are you stopping for? Go bigger!” he fairly roared at her.

True turned back to the wall and allowed her anger and fear for Leif to magnify the energy even more than she had before. This time she continued to gather it until it had formed a mass inside of her that covered her from toe to scalp. She knew she’d achieved her goal when she heard the gasps behind her and Leif screamed in her mind.

“True! By the Gods!” he whispered in her mind.

Keeping her concentration on the energy continuing to build inside of her, she tried to reassure Leif and warn him at the same time. “Listen close baby, this is going to be big, so ball yourself up as much as you can. And stop worrying about me, fire is my thing,” she said cockily as she heard one of Fiorn’s hybrids run down the hallway.

When True saw Fiorn look down the hallway and yell, “Coward!”, at him, she released the fire at the wall and dropped to the floor, looking back to make sure Leif had listened before the air exploded around them.

True grunted as a particularly large piece of ice smacked her in the back and tried to ball herself up as the ice flew around them at high speeds. True tried to look up and see what was going on around her but the rain of ice made her fear for her eyesight.

What seemed like minutes later, when the rain of ice slowed to a stop, True uncovered her head to look at what happened and almost gasped at the rage she saw on Fiorn’s bloody and battered face. One of the two remaining hybrids was unconscious on the floor and the other looked like he was close to killing her.

She looked over to the other hallway to check on Leif and was surprised to see him holding his side and trying not to laugh. She grinned back at him as she stood and faced a seriously pissed off Fiorn.

“That big enough for you or should I tone it down a bit?” she asked. 

True was caught completely off guard by the fist that busted her in the face. She dropped to her knees and clutched her burning cheek before turning blazing eyes to Fiorn. She ignored Leif who was tearing at his bonds so fiercely blood was dripping steadily from the cuts he was causing in his wrists and ankles and she stood to face him. 

“Let me explain something to you asshole. When I was growing up with a telekinetic sister, it was a real common to walk in at the wrong moment and get clocked with whatever she was practicing with. I got a pretty strong jaw. But I also found my own defense for that kind of thing,” she said before she sent a dozen small fireballs at the large man and his remaining hybrid.

She tried to grin as Fiorn’s hands burst into flames, but her face hurt too damn bad to pull it off. Instead, she ran over to Leif and tried to stop him from hurting himself more. She slid along the blood covered ice and grabbed his hands in her own and tried to stop him from fighting against the bonds.

“It’s going to be ok. Just calm down, hon, calm down . . .,” she began before Leif screamed, “Look out!” and pushed her away from him.

True watched in slow motion as the knife that Fiorn had aimed for her back descended towards Leif’s chest instead. She kicked out at Fiorn as Leif lunged to the side, but she heard Leif grunt and grab his grandfather’s hand. She shrieked in rage when she saw the knife protruding from Leif’s shoulder and when Fiorn’s bloody and burned hybrid tried to intervene, she threw fireballs at him until he hid in the main hallway to avoid them.

Sliding across the ice, she grabbed hold of Fiorn’s hair and yanked him away from Leif before kicking and punching him wildly as she gathered the energy into herself again. She knew she’d succeeded in her goal when she smelled singed flesh and hair and Fiorn kicked her away from him. She saw the front of his body smoldering from the contact with her and she made up her mind.

She ignored her beast’s warning that she couldn’t continue to maintain such high levels of energy or fire within her and she flicked several more balls into her palm and ignored Fiorn’s wide eyes as they grew in her hands.

“You want to play, big boy?” she asked as she stepped towards him and almost grinned as he took a step back from her.