‘Doesn’t look like there’s going to be much up there.’ Leyth absently petted the mutt on the head, who huffed and sat down.
‘Fine. You can stay here, I’m going to check it out anyway.’
Carl plodded his way back into the foyer as Leyth began to climb the stairs to the first floor.
‘We’ll check the next floor up.’ Jake’s ghostly voice brushed past him. Leyth glanced around to see the djinn literally float up the stairs.
The room he entered was as desolate as the rest of the building. The grey walls came out to meet him, leading him to room after room of empty offices, some lined with sorry-looking desks, others obviously old meeting rooms. There was a sheen of undisturbed dust that covered each and every object in the various rooms, and very little else. There was no scent to speak of other than the disgusting smell of age and dust that seemed to be clogging his senses.
Leyth spun on his heel and stalked back to the stairwell, moving past the second and third floor, where he could smell the two djinn, up to the fourth.
The four of them quickly checked the entire building from top to bottom. Every floor in the building was largely the same; empty, dust-ridden and smelling only of age.
By the time Leyth reached the top floor, sweat was sliding its way down his spine and dampening his face. As he rounded the corner of yet another dull grey office, he heard the grind of machinery, gears turning. Following his ears, he tried to tug the gloom around himself, but found the light streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows was too bright.
Pulling out his bolo, he dived into the room the noise was coming from and flattened himself against the wall. There was a large door that had been propped open next to him; at a glance he hopefully wouldn’t be seen. Lifts. The noise was coming from there. He waited, eyes trained on the doors.
Finally, there was a ding.
‘Eighth floor. Doors opening.’ The electronic voice was painfully loud in the tense silence. Leyth waited, not moving, not breathing. The gun-metal silver doors slid open.
Carl trotted out looking smug, and shot a look directly at Leyth, who fell out from where he’d been hiding, sheathing his bolo.
‘Lazy frigging mutt,’ Leyth muttered.
The dog shrugged and plonked his arse back down on the floor, looking at Leyth expectantly.
‘Nothing on any of the floors, they’re empty,’ Leyth said. Carl huffed, tensing his whole body as he began to shift back into his human form, bones breaking and lengthening, his grey fur disappearing into skin until, finally, the male Leyth knew and loved sat on the floor with a hell of a lot of skin on show.
‘Gimme my clothes then!’ Carl snapped.
‘Ah sorry, man, I left them back in the alley,’ Leyth laughed.
‘Not funny, I saw you put them in your rucksack.’ The guy stood tall and proud even in his nakedness; all shifters, no matter the breed, tended to be more than comfortable in the nude. Hell, they spent half their time naked in various stages of shift.
Leyth lifted the bag he was carrying and pulled out combats, T-shirt and jacket. His boots were clipped onto the side with his socks.
‘Knives please.’
‘Christ, who stole your sense of humour?’ Leyth snorted, unclipping Carl’s blades from the spare holsters on his chest, pulling the other 9 millimetre out of his belt, and handing them all over.
‘My bad leg,’ Carl snorted, walking stiffly over to the lifts and pushing the button.
‘Eighth floor. Doors opening,’ came the muffled, mechanical voice.
‘It’s never been this bad before,’ Leyth observed.
‘Blame the Council,’ Carl muttered, stalking into the metal box and hitting ‘0’.
‘Doors closing.’
‘What’s going on, man? I know something’s up when you get moody on me.’
‘Lift going down.’
‘Sorry, man. It’s just Kaylee.’
‘Your female?’ Carl and Kaylee were the first and only properly mated couple Leyth knew, aside from Raught… But Raught’s relationship was as far from normal as you could get.
‘Floor seven.’
‘She’s been riding me about having kids.’
‘Ah, a broody shifter. That’s always gonna hurt.’
‘Yeah, but—’
‘Floor six.’
‘I want a child. I honestly would love to be a dad. Hell, I’ve seen more than a few years; I’m well past a hundred now.’
‘God you’re old,’ Leyth snorted, grinning at Carl’s sour face.
‘Shut up, you’re nearly there. It’s just this job. The world is dangerous, especially if you are a shifter, because the Council assign us to the most dangerous—’
‘Floor five.’
‘—jobs out there, because of what we are. And what we can turn into. Can you imagine trying to bring a child into a world where its dad might not come home from work every day?’
‘Floor four.’ They stood in silence for a long while, Leyth opening his mouth to attempt some words of comfort or inspiration. Hell, anything would do. Eventually he went with landing a manly slap on his old friend’s back.
‘Floor three.’
‘Sorry, it’s just getting to me. I’ve been running a lot. You know, keeping out of the house, trying to avoid, well, you know.’
‘Floor two.’
‘I know. Can’t you retire? You’ve been working for the Council for how long now?’
‘Ha, more years than I care to remember,’ Carl snorted. ‘I asked. No chance.’
‘Floor one. Ground level.’
‘That sucks, I’m sorry. We’ll find a way around it. We could always turn you into a pen-pusher! A nine-to-five-er!’
‘Very funny.’ Carl chuckled.
At least that got him a laugh, eh?
‘Floor zero. Basement level.’
Leyth shot a glance at the shifter; they’d come in on street level.
Sliding his bolo out, Leyth pulled the darkness around himself and shadowed into the corner of the lift. Carl shuffled back into the opposite corner, resting a hand on the butt of his gun.
A whirring noise abruptly broke the silence; loud and clear, followed by a muffled click as a small hatch at the top of the lift slowly slid open.
Breathing steadily, the two men watched as a small metal dome appeared from the newly opened gap.
‘Gas?’ Leyth hissed.
‘Don’t think so,’ Carl whispered.
Slowly the dome rotated, shining a thin red laser into the small metal lift; the beam stretched from wall to wall and ran the length of the area, running slowly over the two of them. Instinct had them flattening themselves against the walls, but like that was going to help?
Finally, after several heart-stopping minutes, the electronic voice sounded out once again.
‘Access denied. Going up.’
‘What the hell was that?’
‘Not sure. But I’ve got a damn good idea. I’m pretty sure I can think of only one society that would feel the need for a secret underground base with security like that…’
‘The Circle.’
‘Floor one. Doors opening.’
‘Stairs?’
‘Yeah, but they only went up; there’s got to be another entrance.’
‘Call Sapphire in; we’re gonna need that back-up.’ Leyth spoke into the mini coms.
‘Already on it,’ came Julian’s voice, reverberating through his head. Crap, he’d forgotten that everyone could hear every word they said.
A quick glance at Carl’s face told him that he’d forgotten as well. ‘Sorry, Julian, I’d forgotten you could hear us.’
‘It’s cool, Carl, we’ll talk about you and Kaylee when you get back. Sapphire’s on her way with a team,’ Julian confirmed.
‘Cool. Thanks. I could use the blueprints for the building too.’
‘Dax is just downloading them; he’ll send them to your phone as soon as he’s got them. And, boys, we’re pulling every resource we’ve got
,’ the alpha promised.
Tamriel sat back on her heels, swiping at her damp face with the back of her hand. She needed to get moving. They would come for their dead, and they would know she’d escaped soon enough.
‘I will come back for you.’ She stroked the woman’s soft fur. Funny, she thought, woman didn’t really seem to fit when you were looking at a wolf; she now understood why Leyth referred to her as ‘female’ rather than ‘woman’.
She’d found it strange at first. Now it seemed perfectly natural, a fitting word for her kind. The thought gave her strength, she had a race that she actually would fit into. OK, so it may be only half of her nature but she damn well intended to find out who these people were, who Leyth was.
That wolf, that male had gotten well and truly under her skin more than she cared to think about.
Shrugging the thought aside, she scoured the place, searching for anything she could use as a weapon. Finally her eyes came to rest on the dead tomb.
His headless body was ugly and rotten; she could see it decomposing before her eyes. Telling her stomach to get a grip, she inched forward, holding her breath against the smell of death and decay, and rifled through the tomb’s loose clothing. Pulling out the set of keys, she shoved them in her back pocket and checked his side pockets; not a thing.
Slowly getting to her feet, keeping her eye on the zombiefied man as she went, she hightailed it out of the room and back into the dingy hallway.
With her back to the wall, she reached her fingertips out, feeling for the quiet tension of the shadows; when the slight tingle ran across her skin, she carefully tugged at the darkness, allowing herself to sink into it once more. The effort sapped at her strength but, hell, she’d rather not be seen.
Every sense was screaming at Tam to turn around, to run away from this madness; she knew there were going to be more tuhrned somewhere in this awful maze of corridors; hell, she got the sense that there were a lot of them, but lord only knew where.
She couldn’t hear anyone; there was no thundering footsteps, no rumbling voices, but logic dictated that they would come to retrieve their dead and she had the growing sense that they would know as soon as he’d died.
It was those creepy black eyes; she got the idea that they could see, or at least sense, more than even the Council knew.
Somehow, whoever was behind these godforsaken tombs could see through them; they were watching through the eyes of another. She didn’t know how she knew this, but she could sense them, feel their magic, the power they used to possess the tomb. It was almost as if she could see through those black eyes and look into the face of whoever was controlling them.
She should go back, find Leyth, find help, but she just couldn’t. Tam knew she couldn’t let someone die because of her cowardice.
Chapter Nine
As Tamriel pressed on towards the vague sense of life she could feel, flowing through the maze of corridors, the damp walls were slowly becoming narrower, making the space hard to fit through. The concrete gave way to jagged stone that sliced at her bare feet, forcing her to slow down. The damp on the walls became thick, slime-like, and the floor was covered in maybe an inch of stagnant water. Where the hell was she?
As she came to the end of the small, cave-like space, there was a metal door cut into the rock, with a square window cut out of the middle of the door, lined with metal bars. Creeping forward, Tam crouched, holding her body against the wall in an effort not to be seen, tugging the darkness closer around herself, still not fully trusting it.
She peered through the small barred window into complete darkness. It took a while for her eyes to adjust, but when the room finally came into focus, she scanned the empty area. Nothing but silence met her ears.
There was a small bundle of material over in the far corner of the damp room. Inhaling sharply, Tam tried to pick through the scents, searching for any sign of the death and decay that seemed to come with the tuhrned.
The bundle appeared to be unmoving, and the rest of the area was empty. Tam slowly reached for the handle. Locked, of course. Fumbling through the set of keys she’d stolen, she fingered the metal keys one by one until, finally, she came to one that was large and worn; it was made of a different metal than the rest. This must be it.
She slid the thing into the lock; the metal on metal made a slight clink at the motion, making her hesitate, straining her ears for any sign of movement.
She clicked the lock open, and slid the door open. Stepping slowly forward, she scanned the room, checking, double-checking, triple-checking she was alone, allowing her senses to stretch as far as they could go, waiting for any sign of approaching tuhrned.
When she finally came to the bundle, she crouched down, the tips of her toes brushing against a soggy, worn mattress. Tamriel clutched the corner of the ragged material covering whatever was underneath, and tugged at it. It slid away with ease, revealing blonde waves of hair that had been soaked red with blood and a beautiful, pale face that had been blackened with dirt.
It was her, the girl from the alley on the Leas. What was she doing here?
Kneeling on the worn mattress, Tam brushed the girl’s hair aside and checked for a pulse; it was there, but weak.
‘Wake up!’ Tam hissed. Nothing.
‘Please wake up!’ she urged, shaking the girl.
The girl didn’t react; there wasn’t even a change in her breathing pattern. Well, she couldn’t leave her here. She’d lost one person already today. She was not going to lose another.
Tam gently lifted the girl’s arm so it was around her neck and hefted her up. Breathing hard, she managed to lift the girl into her arms and staggered towards the door. The sharp stone cutting into her feet became daggers slicing so deep it felt as though they were hitting bone.
She’d only travelled a few steps, but her energy was at an all-time low; her arms were screaming in protest, her face was covered in sweat, and her breathing was laboured. She propped herself against the metal bars, trying to regain some energy, but it was all too much.
Wiping at her forehead, Tam scanned the room for anything she could use to help the situation, but there truly was nothing. Hefting the girl back to the mattress, she gently lay the woman back down and collapsed next to her. What the hell was she going to do? As the tips of her fingers clipped her ears, she flinched. They were still very furry, and on the top of her head instead of where they were supposed to be. Fear rose hard and fast, panic threatening to overtake her. She shoved it back down. Act first, worry later.
You’re a werewolf. Surely if she was a wolf, she could turn into one as Leyth had. She’d already managed to somehow change her ears? How hard could it be to change the rest of her?
A wolf’s nimble paws would surely be better on this jagged stone than her sore, bloody feet, and the strength and speed of four paws would make the journey easier than her chunky human legs.
But what about the girl? No way was Tam leaving her here.
She doubted the girl would survive much longer in this cold, damp cell.
Tam closed her eyes, briefly picturing her beautiful red wolf; the animal’s image slid into her thoughts easily. It was as if she wanted to be there, wanted to be released.
Leyth’s wolf came to mind too, and she smiled at the image. His beautiful black and grey fur was very different to her own. He reminded her a little of the husky her friend at work had, though he was much bigger than a normal husky. So was her wolf for that matter. She shoved aside the sharp pang of regret that hit her; she used to go walking in the hills with Jason and his dogs all the time. Now she was facing the possibility of death, she regretted stopping; she wished she’d spent more time being sociable, doing what she enjoyed.
She thought of Moses the husky streaking through the hills; he’d been such a beautiful dog, and so ridiculously strong. Once he’d pulled the two of them on a bike along the beach for at least six miles.
Surely if the husky could pull two people on bikes, she could pull one person on
a mattress? It was a sound idea, she’d just have to work out how to turn herself into a wolf now.
Lord only knew; she found it hard enough to believe that it was actually real, let alone attempt to do it.
Mind you, how could she explain her ears? Maybe this was all a really strange dream? She’d been telling herself that too much lately, but it would explain a lot. How else could all this craziness be possible? If it were a dream, she could do anything, right? And that would include turning herself into a wolf, surely?
Damn it, she had nothing to lose.
Rolling onto her side on the mattress, Tam closed her eyes and thought about her wolf. She remembered every detail of the creature, its beautiful black and red fur, green eyes. It was gorgeous.
She called to it; heart and soul, she called to the wolf. Heat flared instantly at her core, washing through her chest, her limbs, burning her gently from the inside out. She embraced the heat, a sigh escaping her lips as she let the warmth of it chase the chill from her bones.
She focused intently on the wolf, remembering every hair from her nose to the tip of her tail. She stifled the fear that leapt to the surface as her fingers and toes started to tingle, the sensation spreading thoughout her body. She was not scared of this. She could do this.
As her bones began to move, she held in a scream. The sensation was horrible; it felt like they were breaking inside her skin. They slowly started to bend and crack and she bit her lip against the pain. Embrace it, she kept telling herself.
She kept her mind locked on her wolf the entire time, letting her in, letting the wolf become part of herself. Her body was screaming at her, pain rippling through her in large waves, making her sick to her stomach. She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to see the process if it was happening, but more than that, not wanting to see that nothing had happened, that she was just imagining the change, the pain.
Her skin was moving, writhing of its own accord against the mattress; she could feel the rough material scraping against her raw skin as her limbs moved.
The pain felt like it went on forever; years felt like they were passing as she was stuck in this abyss of agony.