Chapter 21

Chapter 21

It’s astonishing how fast everything goes to hell after that, although maybe that’s just my altered perception from whatever energy-draining procedure they’ve been using on me. Either way, the world seems to move almost in slow-motion for the next few minutes, and I’m helpless to do anything but watch.

Hunter is the first to move, shifting into his vampire form with a speed and precision I’ve never seen from him before. His rage is written all over his face and if it weren’t for one of the henchmen -- an equally fast vampire shifter -- he would be tearing Hawthorne’s throat out right now. As it happens, though, he ends up locked in close-quarters combat with the woman behind him, the two vampires grappling each other with a ferocity I’ve never seen before. She appears to be a bit stronger, and I watch in horror as she pushes him into the wall, wrestling to maintain her grip on his arms as Hunter leans back into her with all the strength available to him.

“Get off!” That’s Landon, already using his siren’s voice , and the command is enough to give the woman pause. She looks like she’s resisting it on her end, but the momentary diversion is enough for Hunter to regain the upper hand, whirling around and slamming her face into the wall with an animalistic growl.

Looking now, I can see that there are a handful of other henchmen escorting my would-be rescuers. Almost as soon as the fighting is going down among the others, everyone seems to be shifting at once.

Silas, whose powers have been giving him trouble ever since he was in my position, seems to shake off his difficulties with no trouble now. I wonder if it could really be because he sees that I’m in danger. Shifting and giving a flap of his enormous wings, he unleashes a massive gust of wind in the enclosed space. The vampire shifters are able to maintain their footing, but Hawthorne, the only human in the room, is blown back by the force of it; he stumbles into the far wall, nearly tripping over his own feet.

“What are you doing?” he yells, all of his composure out the window at this point. “Stop them!”

One of the other guards looks like a wolf shifter, and he’s halfway into his form when Landon charges him, body checking him from the side and breaking his concentration. I’ve never seen the siren shifter go so readily into the melee before, but a flash of his now-green eyes tells me he’s beyond caring about his own safety at this point. The thought brings tears to my eyes, the reality of it sinking in: they came for me. They actually came for me.

Shade tag-teams with Landon, lunging for the struggling wolf shifter and completing his transformation before he even hits the ground. He pins the man to the floor, sinking his powerful jaws into his shoulder and eliciting a cry of pain from the trapped guard. It’s only as my attention turns to Silas in the doorway that I realise the worst has yet to come.

They have a dragon shifter of their own. Of course they do . The giant reptilian beast, his scales a shimmering green colour, is doing his level best to force his way into the room. Silas is keeping him at bay, his wings spread defensively as the two of them exchange blows with their mighty claws. Because dragons are immune to the effects of dragon fire and highly resistant to other kinds, Silas seems to be using his own body as a shield to deflect the majority of his opponent’s flames. My heart leaps into my throat when I see that he’s flagging a little. The second that dragon shifter makes it into this enclosed space, he’s going to light us all up, Hawthorne included.

Hawthorne...

Wait a minute. Slowly I force myself to turn my neck, every single muscle in my body protesting the movement, which feels as difficult as running a marathon. My former school president is nowhere to be seen, but there’s an emergency exit door now standing open in the back of the room. The coward can’t even be bothered to stand and fight his own battles! Well, no matter, I guess. We’ve got our hands full enough as it is. If he comes back with reinforcements, though…

I begin to thrash weakly against the straps holding me to the table, for all the good it does. We might be evenly matched right now, but there’s no telling how many other Academy loyalists he has working in this facility.

The enemy vampire shifter sees my renewed efforts to free myself and immediately ignores Hunter in favour of lunging at me. Adrenaline rushes through me, and I close my eyes, bracing for the death blow, but a snarl from Silas makes me glance up. He’s craned his neck around and unleashed a targeted fireball, not enough to catch me, but enough to hit the vampire squarely between the shoulders.

She gives out an inhuman shriek, self-preservation instincts kicking in as she drops to the ground, giving Shade a perfect opportunity to pounce. This gives the other wolf shifter a window, however, and soon enough there’s a second giant wolf charging us. Hunter zooms across the room, picks him up by the neck, and hurls him into the back of the room, where there’s the sound of laboratory equipment scattering across the floor.

“Hunter,” pants Silas. Hunter and I look up at the same time to see the enemy dragon bearing down on Silas in the doorway; he’s the bigger of the two, and it was only a matter of time before he would turn things around.

“Go!” Shade snaps, still in wolf form. “I’ll cover you!”

Hunter nods and rushes to help Silas hold off the dragon, and in the meantime Shade, now unoccupied, charges across the room to assist Landon with the remaining guard, another siren. His commands are useless against the guys, and within moments they’ve overpowered and dispatched him.

With the vampire shifter still fighting the flames and the wolf shifter lying dazed in a heap of medical supplies, all four can now turn their attention to the dragon in the hallway. “Get out of the way,” Hunter commands Silas, squaring his shoulders.

“What?” Silas demands. “What are you…?”

The vampire shifter turns his red eyes on the dragon , and I see them burning with a vengeance. “Trust me, Silas.”

There’s a brief pause, and then Silas releases his grip on the other dragon. They both come tumbling backward into the room, knocked off balance by the sudden shift. Hunter wastes no time seizing his chance. Without a second thought, he leaps onto the dragon’s long neck, grabbing it at the base of its head with his powerful arms, and breaks its neck with one swift movement. The dragon shifter crumples to the floor, already changing back into human form as Hunter leaps off. And just like that, it’s over. The guys shift back, breathing hard from the exertion. Somewhere in the facility, I can hear an alarm going off.

Hunter is the first to my side, already fumbling with my restraints. “Boots,” he says, his voice breaking with worry, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t…” I rasp. “Don’t apologise. Nobody’s fault.”

“I shouldn’t have tried to push you away,” he murmurs, pressing his forehead to mine as his voice breaks a little. “I should have listened to you. I should have…”

My left hand, now free, comes to rest on his cheek. “It’s okay,” I whisper, running my thumb over his soft skin. “I’m here.”

“How are you feeling?” demands Shade, now standing at my other side. “Can you stand?”

“I don’t… The machine…” I pant.

Landon whirls around to stare at the equipment they have me hooked up to. “Where the hell is the off switch on this thing?”

“There is no off switch,” Silas tells him flatly, breathing a long jet of fire into the device. There’s the smell of burning plastic and noxious steam, and we watch as the machine slowly melts down into a pile of scrap, letting out a few final listless beeps.

Landon gently removes the IV line from one of my arms while Shade works on the other, and within moments the guys are helping me sit up.

“Here, hold on to me,” Silas says, putting an arm out. I allow him to support me as I stumble down from the bed, but my legs are too weak to support me, and they crumple out from under me.

Hunter catches me. “Don’t try to move. I’ll carry you.”

“Are you sure?” I ask, eyes wide.

“Of course,” he replies. “Vampire, remember?” Without another word, he shifts back into his vampire form and scoops me up into his arms, carrying me bridal-style towards the door.

“We have to leave now,” Landon says. “This place is going to be crawling with guards any second.”

“Come on,” says Shade, taking the lead as we hurry out the exit door. “This looks like a way out.”

We find ourselves in another fluorescent-lit hallway, hurtling down with hardly a glance behind us. I can feel the guys stealing concerned looks at me, fear and relief in their eyes. “I can’t believe it worked,” I rasp, burying my face in Hunter’s chest.

“Shh,” says Shade, turning to put a hand on my thigh. “Don’t try to talk. It’s okay. We’re here. We’re safe.”

That’s enough for me, and by the time we emerge into the bright sunlight, the pain of the past hours is already beginning to feel like a distant dream. Being surrounded by guys you love will do that to you.

The relief is short- lived, however; the shrill alarm is still blaring out of the facility, and we turn around momentarily to see guards pouring out of the doors and into the remote field where we now find ourselves. “Run,” says Landon.

“We can’t outrun them,” protests Shade.

“Millie,” Silas says gently, “can you teleport us? It doesn’t need to be far. Anywhere that’s not here.”

“She’s barely hanging on,” protests Hunter.

“I can try,” I say, struggling to pull myself up in the vampire’s arms. It feels like I weigh a thousand tons, but I’m not about to give up now, not when we’re all still here and alive. Closing my eyes, I reach for my witch powers. They were elusive before, but I’ve been able to jump us across the planet once already. If I just dig deep, tap into my energy reserves…

But almost as soon as I begin searching for that cool, familiar magic, my blood runs cold.

I try again, more desperately this time, throwing off all thoughts of Hawthorne and the procedure and concentrating completely on accessing my form. But it’s not an issue of concentration, I realise with a surge of dread. It’s not a problem with my ability to access my powers, because my powers aren’t there. They’re gone, as surely as my physical strength is gone, and it doesn’t take more than a second for the terrible, terrible truth of my situation to dawn on me.

I can no longer shapeshift.