The Unmaking (The Rayne Whitmore Series Book 1) (31 page)

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            A little over an hour
later, the other wolves return and give us the long-awaited details on the
lamia and their whereabouts. They are on the outskirts of town in an old
university research building. The place was supposed to be closed by the
government which meant that someone in the local government had to be working
with Namen. I guess it makes sense if children were really coming up missing in
such high numbers, then someone had to be covering it up. If I find out who it
is, I’d pay them a visit too after this was all said and done. Bastard.

             It’s awesome to finally
know where we are headed, but there’s also bad news as well. First, they had to
allow the lamia to take another child. She, the lamia, had been dressed up like
a woman begging for money. When one of the street kids tried to chat her up,
she bit him to immobilize him then disappeared. Second, the wolves said that
they actually smelled more along the lines of twenty of them. This means that
there are enough of them to make a horde, which is what a large group of demons
is called. There’s probably a gate that needs to be closed before more demons
discover it and make their way through.

             Namen is gaining quite a
following. He must be feeding them well, meaning that there are many failures
with his experiments. This could be interpreted as a good thing or bad. Next,
there is pretty strong magic guarding the place. Namen will probably know
immediately once we are inside. We have to be prepared if he does come.

Chapter Twenty Seven

           
Z
ara stalks in with hair freshly braided into singles,
looks at our little group, and smiles, her fangs out and deadly looking. She
throws me a bottle of something. “Here, you drink some of this and give the
rest to Selene. It has my blood in it and it’ll help boost your strengths.”

            “Hell no, you won’t be
creating a bond with me,” Selene says, reaching to snatch the bottle from my
hand to examine it. I pull away from her.

            “What’s in it anyway?” I
ask, slightly disgusted at the thought of drinking her blood like this. At
least the other two times, I had been unaware.

            “It’s an herbal compound
designed to lengthen the amount of time that the blood is effective. I’d offer
it to everyone but it only works with humans and witches since they are the
only two groups that can be turned into vampire,” Zara tells us
matter-of-factly, crossing her arms in that nonchalant signature way. Her black
sleeveless hoodie makes her look like a dangerous thug. I kind of like it. Her
tattoo sleeve making her ten times more attractive.

            “Just swallow the shit and
be done with it. We have work to do,” Anubis says in his Alpha voice. Meaning,
this is final, let’s move on.

            It is actually a wonder
that Anubis and Zara could stay in the same room together for too long since
both of them are clearly Alphas in their own respects. One or both of them are
showing a lot of composure. Zara must also be keeping her power suppressed as
much as possible allowing Anubis to be in charge in his own home.

            I look at the drink one
more time then shrug my shoulders as I open it and take three big gulps,
leaving some for Selene. It doesn’t taste like anything at first, then, the
flavor, or should I say power, hits my senses. It tastes like liquid fire. It
scorches my insides, but also warms me in ring of safety as if nothing can get
past it.

           
“That’s our bond
becoming complete, Rayne,”
Zara tells me, her voice spinning through my
mind.

            I give her a look, but she
is already focused somewhere else. I sit quietly as the power of her blood
cushions me. Then, I hand the bottle to Selene and give her a look that says,
‘drink.’ She huffs and obeys.

            “Good. Now, what’s next?”
the female wolf asks. She pulls back her blonde hair and I watch her dark blue
eyes settle obediently on Anubis. She’s about the same height as me, but much
smaller. Tiny breasts, tiny waist, small lips. Her boyish body makes her look
like a young teen.

            I glance at everyone,
studying them. Their aura is much easier to feel now. All my synapses seem to
be firing from the mixture I just consumed. I want to run, jump, and swim. I
force my body to stay seated. Is this how I’ll always feel with vampire blood
in my system? I hear Anubis speaking and Jaxson muttering a reply, but I’m too
intrigued by what I’m feeling to give it much attention. Okay, time to focus.

            For the next hour, we come
up with a plan. Then, we come up with another two in case those fail. By the
time we finish, we are all set on tomorrow night. It is time. I can’t deal with
any more innocents getting taken. We all know however that this is only the
first step. We’d have to locate his lieutenants if we wanted to do some serious
damage. I’d have to get in contact with Damien as much as I hated to admit it.
He had resources up his sleeve and it would make our job a whole lot easier.

            “So, let’s go over the
plans again,” Anubis tells us as we finish up our discussion.

            Selene will start off with
a perimeter spell that will keep the lamia from getting away. It would force
them to stay in the building. However, since the building is so large, she can
only hold it for five minutes, if that. Therefore, Zara will stay with her to
protect her and eliminate any of the ones that happen to get free if she is
unable to hold the spell or if she becomes weakened. Using our newly formed
bond that Selene is also not too happy about, I will tell Zara to let Selene know
when to start the incantation once we are closer inside. We then are to attack
in three waves.

            Jaxson and I are the first
wave. Anubis and the female wolf, who I now know is named Taryn will try to
circle around and catch them from behind. Last, two more of Anubis’s best
hunters would take advantage of the confusion of battle and finish it all up.
They will also stay behind to burn the bodies.  We are hoping to be quick and
precise enough that we’ll be able to rescue the children afterward. If there are
any children to rescue.

            If the children are being
directly guarded by the lamia, which Zara doesn’t think they will be, Jaxson
will give a signal through his pack bond and the last three will meet up with
us and create a path for me to get to the kids while they take out as many
lamia as possible. Anubis and Taryn would then decide what to do based on how
many children there are.

            The trackers had also
informed us that there are plenty of cameras around and that we’ll need to
destroy as many as we can. Zara said that she’d be fast enough to take out the
ones around the building before we were set up, then we’d have to move quickly
inside to handle the rest. The strategies are based upon our individual
strengths and weaknesses and in the end we all seemed satisfied with who will
be watching our back.

            I have to remind everyone
about the potentially deadly venom of the lamia as well as the fact that they
can regenerate. Last, we’d have to find that damn gate that Namen opened for
the demons. Needless to say, there is a helluva lot of work that needs to be
done.

            When we finish, I stand
and walk towards Selene to ask her what her next move will be, but Zara has
already beat me to it.

            “Hey,” she says to Selene,
slightly touching her arm in as friendly a way as possible. I notice Selene
flinch, but make an effort not to pull away. “I need you to come with me. I
have a spell that’s going to be able to close that bridge that the demons are
getting through, but it’s blood magic. That’s part of why I needed to have you
drink my blood. You’re going to need the strength to practice this,” Zara tells
her gently, making an effort to seem non-threatening. Selene doesn’t care for
vampires, that much is obvious. That in itself is weird to me because Selene
never seemed like the prejudiced type. Maybe I’m wrong; maybe she just doesn’t
like Zara.

            Selene turns her beautiful
green eyes towards me and asks, “Are you going to come with us?”

            I think for a second,
wondering how Selene would feel about being left alone with Zara for such a
dangerous spell, but I know that she’ll definitely have to rely on her
tomorrow, so the sooner she gets used to it, the better. “No. I think I’m going
to take Anubis in the forest with me and see if I can contact Diana. Maybe she
will have some ideas about that day we talked about and how much time we have
before the eclipse hits.”

            She nods in agreement,
even though there’s a small frown on her beautiful face. That’s happening more
and more lately and I don’t like it. We need this done with so there can be
more smiles in our lives.

            “I understand. Now, come
here.” I obey and wrap my arms around her waist as she pulls me in close. I
inhale her scent and smile. I’ll never get tired of her touch. We kiss lightly
and then she brushes a few strands of hair from my eyes. “I love you Rayne.”

            “I love you too. Now, get
going okay,” I say as I pat her soft round ass.

            “That’s not going to make
me want to leave,” she whispers, even though everyone in here can still
probably hear.

            I laugh. “We’ll finish
that later then. For now, we have work to do.”

            “If we must. Let’s go vamp
lady.” Selene waves Zara towards her indifferently and much like a noble would
a servant.

            Playing along, Zara gives
her a sarcastic bow with one arm across her chest. “As you wish priestess.”
Then, we lock eyes and she winks at me, mischievously.

            There was something in
that look that made me shiver. She’s up to something alright.

            “Anubis,” I call out. Not
too loud though, knowing he wouldn’t be too far away. He comes back into the
room and gives me a look that says that as an Alpha he’s not used to people
beckoning him.

            “What is it Rayne?” he
asks, slightly amused with himself it seems for coming so swiftly.

            “Would you like to take a
walk with me through the forest? I’d like you to meet someone.”

Chapter Twenty Eight

           
W
e walk for fifteen minutes before we find a nice
clearing. In that time, I get Anubis to tell me about his mate.

            “She was stunning. She
could walk into a crowd and change the entire mood on a bad day, but she also
had a mouth, which got her into a lot of trouble at times. The first time I met
her she told me off actually. I think that’s what made me desire her even
more.” He laughs a laugh full of happiness and I’m glad that I got him to open
up.

            “I was running late for a
business meeting and I walked through the doors of the office so quickly that I
didn’t even hold the door for her while she was walking out. Her hands were
full of bags and I guess when the door hit her she dropped them. Well, she left
those bags right there, stomped to me as I was getting on the elevator, pulled
me by my suit jacket back out of the elevator and gave me a piece of her mind.
I ended up picking up all her bags, carrying them, and walking her to the car.
Then, she told me that I owed her dinner for all the trouble that I put her
through.” His voice is full of so much love that it almost brings me to tears.

            “Can you believe it? I
ended up being over twenty minutes late for the meeting and losing that client,
but it didn’t matter. After that, I couldn’t get the girl off my mind.” When
Anubis talked about her, his entire aura shifted. That woman was his soul mate,
no doubt.

            “How did you know?” I ask.
“How did you know that she was the one?”

            Anubis stops and looks me
square in the eyes until I am forced by his Alpha nature added with the pull of
the moon to look away. “The first time we kissed, there was an explosion. It
was like every fiber of me had been destroyed then reborn. It’s not the same
for everyone, but that’s how it was for me. There was no doubt.”

            I consider his words and
smile. “I know that it may not feel like it, hell it may never feel like this,
but I think you’re lucky Anubis.”

            He looks at me to
continue.

            “Even though she was taken
from you and it was so unfair, I think that you are so lucky that you had a
chance to meet someone who loved you so completely,” I tell him honestly.

            Anubis freezes and
considers my words, then does something completely unexpected. He pulls me into
a fierce embrace. I return it happily. Then, he finally lets me go.

            “Thank you Rayne. Thank
you for helping me remember.”

            I reply by putting one
hand on his shoulder and squeezing gently. Then, we reach the spot where I’m
going to call on Diana.

            It takes me about five
minutes for me to clear my head enough to reach for my power to call on her.
Then, about two minutes for her to respond. The air shifts and becomes colder.
I hear her voice swirling all around me like a surround sound system before she
appears.