Balanced Chaos (The Void Series Book 3) Page 10

  She glared at him, giving him a slight shake of her head. Sam turned to Joe and guided him to the only seat without a pot on it. She made him sit and knelt in front of him.

  “It’s okay, Joe. I just need to know who it is. Who threatened you?” she asked in a soft voice.

  “I don’t exactly know. They started leaving me letters at my drop points.”

  “Drop points?” asked Werner.

  “I’ll explain later,” said Sam.

  “The letters got more and more aggressive. They started saying they were going to kill me if I didn’t obey them. They said I had to help their cause. They said there were traitors among us. They said I had to provide them a poison that would kill a fae slowly, and I had to put it at a drop point.”

  “Which one?” Sam asked in the same gentle voice.

  “Please, Sam, don’t go to it. If you go to it, they’ll know that I told. I’ll be dead.”

  “Joe, I can’t stop these people if I don’t follow the trail. And if I don’t stop them they’ll blackmail someone else. Do you want someone else to live in fear like you have? To watch every shadow like it’s out to get them? Do you want that to be someone else’s fate? The guards can protect you. I promise.”

  Joe stared at her for a long moment before glancing up at the corporal, who nodded slowly.

  “North end of the docks, where the tug boat is tethered…”

  Sam nodded encouragingly.

  “Just under the dock, before the first pylon, I keep a small plastic lunch box up under the dock. I put it in the lunchbox at midnight on Monday nights.”

  “Okay, good. I want you to keep doing that, but I want you to augment the poison. It needs to look, smell, taste the same, but be ineffective. Can you do that?”

  Joe nodded. “Easy.”

  “Never doubted you for a minute. Remember, Joe, these people don’t get to ruin our lives. They don’t get to control us. It’s time to fight back. Okay?”

  Joe nodded again, this time with a little conviction.

  “Good. We better leave before someone notices us. Thank you, Joe.”

  He nodded yet again, but didn’t rise to show them out.

  Corporal Werner followed her out of the apartment and into the little courtyard where residents had run lines across the railings to hang laundry. They descended the creaking steps and exited the main door.

  “You think he’ll actually…” began Werner.

  The corporal trailed off as a large beaver skittered across their path, stopping in front of them with its face tilted up. They both stared at it for a long moment.

  “You have a lot of wild life in the Res?” the soldier asked.

  “Noooo,” Sam said, drawing the word out as she held her hand up to draw Werner back against the closed door.

  Her eyes scanned the street dividing the apartment complex and the docks, recently rebuilt with industrial-grade plastic by Roman’s company so that the fae could work within its confines. She couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, so she released her gift, scanning outward into the darkness.

  “We’re not alone,” she whispered just as two sharp objects sailed through the air toward them.

  Werner jerked, folding her into his chest and using his own body to shield her from the projectiles. They plowed into his armored vest with a crack. At the same instant, a winter storm of freezing rain descending on the narrow street.

  “What the?” murmured Werner.

  “Focus,” ordered Sam as she squirmed out of his arms and tried to gage the various powers surrounding them.

  Werner already had his sidearm out and at the ready as he tried to see through the gale.

  “Shoot the beaver,” Sam ordered as she found the transmutation power; it wasn’t a beast conjurer.

  “What?”

  “Shoot to wound, not to kill. Do it!” she ordered as the beaver turned to run.

  Sam winced at the deafening sound of the gun firing right next to her, and hoped Werner’s aim was true despite the blustering storm around them.

  “What is happening, Sam?” he demanded as he brought his weapon up to scan the darkness around them.

  “We’re under attack.”

  “From a beaver?”

  “He’s a transmutating fae. He was here to distract us. He can do a lot more damage than you thi…”

  Sam never got to finish her sentence. A fae emerged from the darkness, stalking forward as though he didn’t have a care in the world. Werner trained his weapon on him.

  “Stop,” Werner ordered.

  The man grinned.

  “I said ‘stop’.”

  Werner fired two shots in quick succession, both rounds bouncing off the fae’s chest as though he was Superman. The fae rolled his shoulder back with the blow of the bullets and turned his head back to glare at Werner. The bullets might as well have been pinches on St. Patrick’s day.

  “Shit,” the soldier said as he quickly holstered his weapon and pulled a large knife from his belt.

  Sam felt her chest tighten along with a painful realization— as skilled as he was she couldn’t rely on Werner to fight them all. Against humans, she had no doubt, he was among the best, but these weren’t humans. She couldn’t expect him to take on multiple fae while trapped in an ice storm. It meant only one thing—she had to rely on her fae gift.

  With a long exhale and a few frozen tears, she released her gift from her tight control. Simultaneously, she directed it at the power of the storm and the fae honing in on Werner. Attacking two fae at the same time meant she couldn’t take as much as fast—especially being so out of practice—but she could do something. As the two powers filled her tank, she began pushing the storm away from the battle ground, giving her and Werner more visibility.

  Sam watched as the armored fae’s steps stuttered and slowed. He was feeling the effects of her attack. But Sam had to make a tough choice. She didn’t know what the armored fae could do, and she needed the powers of an offensive fae. As far as she could tell, the armored fae was just that—nothing but armor. She made the tough call and backed off the theft of his powers.

  Instead, Sam focused on the distant fae controlling the winter storm, stealing more power from him. The more she stole, the more she manipulated the storm, pushing the ice crystals towards the armored fae.

  At the same time, the fae engaged with Werner, producing his own crude blade. Within seconds Sam could tell Werner was the more skilled of the two, his sharp weapon making contact with the fae repeatedly, but doing no damage. The fae, on the other hand, couldn’t get his dull knife past the guard’s defenses.

  As Sam worked with the ice power, focusing it in on the armored fae and hoping to freeze him into a sort of stasis, more faes emerged from the darkness. One looked similar to the armored fae, obviously coming from the same clan, but with six inch spikes growing out of his fists. The other held crude throwing blades in his hands. Sam quickly recognized them for what they were—the cannon fodder of the Harcos, or warrior, clan, her clan. They had sent brute force to deal with her when finesse couldn’t do the job.

  Her clan.

  Had her father—well, the man who’d raised her—sent them to deal with her for good? Fresh tears pricked her eyes, making it even harder to see Werner and their attackers. Her treacherous heart worked against her, making it hard to concentrate on her gift and what needed to be done.

  Focus, her mind screamed at herself. Sam closed her eyes and willed herself to focus on her gift as she wielded the power of the storm. She pushed every ounce of the ice power out of her fingers and directed it at the newcomers. It hit them square in the face, the ice forming over their features in layers. At the same moment, Werner twisted, driving his elbow into his opponent’s nose, causing him to stagger back. The corporal took the brief opportunity to sidestep the armored fae, twisting with lightning speed and driving his knife into the fae’s spine, finally finding a soft spot.

  The stolen winter power had just drained from her tank when Sam
felt a small burst of warmer air behind her. She didn’t pause to assess, but instinctually reached behind her, her fingers grazing something she couldn’t see.

  Her attacker quickly wrapped his arms around her neck, putting her in a headlock. With her heart racing, Sam gripped the teleporter’s face before she gave a mighty pull with her power. The touch increased the speed of transfer, and within a few seconds, her tank was full.

  “Sam,” cried Werner as he dislodged his knife and spotted her in the grasp of their enemy.

  A second later, the teleporter collapsed, taking Sam to the ground with him. The pavement reached out, smacking Sam in the head. She shook off the pain and ignored the stars dancing before her eyes.

  Werner raced towards her, knife in hand. His eyes were wide with fright as the teleporter struggled to get his arms around her neck again.

  Sam had never used the powers of a teleporter before. Now is the time to try, she told herself.

  Sam pushed the pain and disorientation to the back of her mind and focused on the otherness that was the power coursing through her body. Every mystical power she had ever stolen had a different taste. This one actually felt as though she belonged somewhere else—sorta like physical déjà vu.

  Werner continue to battle the storm, trying to get to her.

  With her mind focused, Sam gave Werner a smile and disappeared.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Sam!” he cried, glancing around the small battlefield.

  She reappeared next to him.

  “I’m fine,” Sam said from her new location causing him to jump.

  “How did you…?”

  “Not now,” she said, pointing to the two fae just freeing themselves from Sam’s ice masks.

  As Werner retrieved his sidearm, three more fae appeared from the shadows of the docks.

  “Shit,” Werner mumbled to himself before speaking out to their enemy. “Stay back or I will fire.”

  They ignored his threat and he fired three shots at the nearest fae. At the exact same moment, the second nearest fae released a cone of ice directly at Werner and the bullets streaking between him and the fae. Though it was all happening in lightning speed, Sam knew what the end result would be—Werner and the bullets encased in ice. Sam had only seen it done by the best teleporters, but she had to try.

  Sam lunged at Werner as though to push him out of the way, all the while focusing on her stolen power and where she wanted them to end up. Just as she had hoped, the two of them tumbled to the ground five feet away from where they had been a second ago.

  “What the…” Werner growled, looking up to see the end of the cone of ice, right where they had been standing a second ago.

  He didn’t waste any time, but fired again—not even bothering to climb to his feet—this time hitting the nearest fae in the shoulder. The injured fae jerked back, but kept his feet, glaring at Werner as though the bullet had been nothing more than a bee sting.

  At that same moment, fire erupted inside Sam, burning in her heart, coursing down each vein and artery, and bursting out of her fingers. She screamed, writhing on the cold ground and clawing at her clothing. Through tear-blurred vision, she could see the most distant fae staring at her, never blinking. A small piece of her mind knew she wasn’t actually being hurt, that the pain was all in her mind, but it wasn’t enough to help her ignore the agony.

  She couldn’t move, couldn’t think beyond the fire coursing through her. She heard Werner’s frantic cry, felt his hand on her shoulder, but they were distant entities, like memories of a dream.

  Beyond the thoughts of her pain, she knew Werner needed to be fighting. It was foolish for him to be worrying over her when they still had an enemy trying to kill them, but she had no way to communicate it to him as she screamed.

  Within seconds, Werner came to the same conclusion. He jumped to his feet while a streak of motion raced into battlefield. It was Jeffery, come to save the day. The vampire caught sight of the fae with the throwing knives and gave chase—the two playing cat and mouse between the various structures of the docks.

  Werner wasted no time, but barreled into the fae with spiked fists, engaging the fae in a high-speed battle of blades—his own knife once again drawn from some hidden sheath.

  The fae lunged forward, jabbing at Werner’s face with is his spiked fists. Werner bowed his head aside, swiping his knife upwards at the same time. His knife caught the fae across the chest, drawing a shallow streak of red. The fae glared at Werner, as though the pain only made him angrier.

  The spiked fae swung again, this time swinging wide. Werner ducked low, bringing his knife up with him and driving it hard into the fae’s gut. The fae staggered backwards, taking the knife with him. He glanced down at the blade sunk up to the cross guard. Werner waited a second before applying a fierce kick to the fae’s chest, sending him flying backwards.

  At the same moment, the fae with the throwing knives returned, having lost Jeffery in the maze of the docks. He paused only a second before throwing one of his regenerating knives at Werner. The soldier nearly dodged it with an economical twist of his shoulders—the blade grazing his arm—before raising his sidearm and firing. As if on cue, Jeffery appeared, tackling the wounded fae to the ground.

  Suddenly, a squad of soldiers emerged from the surrounding darkness, encircling the battlefield and shining bright lights on the whole affair.

  “Stand down,” Major Halstead shouted over Sam’s screams. “Sam?”

  “Him, sir,” Werner said, pointing his weapon at the fae who was still staring at Sam—the lone uninjured party.

  Two soldiers jogged to the fae’s side and shocked him with a high-powered Taser. The fae collapsed, shaking at the feet of the soldiers as they trained their riffles on him.

  “What is the meaning of all this?” called a voice of authority as Lieutenant Colonel Gallagher appeared, dressed in civvies.

  He stopped at the edge of the group, his fists planted on his belt as he glared around the gathering, his eyes finally resting on Sam. Werner dropped to his knees, pulling Sam into his arms and off the frozen pavement.

  “What happened to her? You okay, Gollet?” the colonel asked.

  Sam forced her head to nod up and down, her body thoroughly spent.

  “We were attacked, sir,” Werner replied.

  “And what was she doing fighting?” demanded Major Halstead.

  Gallagher motioned for the major to be quiet. “How many mystics attacked you two?” he asked as he prowled through the group getting cuffed.

  “Not him,” Sam croaked, trying to point at the vampire having his hands roughly jerked behind his back.

  “Lieutenant Colonel, that vampire there, Jeffery, came to our aid. He is not one of the aggressors,” Werner explained before adjusting his grip on Sam, pulling her against his hard body armor.

  Gallagher waved for them to release the vampire, and at that moment the bleeding beaver morphed back into its fae body. The men standing near it jumped, a few cursing in their surprise.

  “What is that?” exclaimed Halstead.

  “I think she called it ‘transmutating’ or something like that,” Werner said.

  Gallagher scanned the group again, still looking just as pissed off. “Do I want to know, Corporal, why my asset was caught in what looks like the fucking O.K. Corral? What was she doing fighting in the first place?”

  “Put me down,” Sam ordered, her voice still sounding as though she had smoked three packs of cigarettes.

  Werner obeyed, a supportive hand still placed under her arm.

  “Lieutenant Colonel, I have a lot of people who hate me. When they attack, I don’t hide in the corner. If I had let Corporal Werner deal with it, we would both be dead—no offense,” she added to Werner.

  The corporal pursed his lips and shook his head. Sam wasn’t sure if that meant she was forgiven or not.

  Gallagher turned to the vampire. “And you stepped in to help, too?”

  “Oh, yes sir. We don’t a
ll hate Miss Gollet, like the fae. In fact, most of us think she’s about the best thing to happen to the Res in a long time. She’s stood up to a number of bullies in the past couple of months—and she has the power to do it, too. We need more people like her. I’d stick up for her any day… and so would a lot of folks in the Res, too.”

  Gallagher waved him off before Jeffery could prattle on any longer.

  Sam began to sway, her energy tapped after the attack from the other fae. For once, they had found a fae that could take her, and they lived to spread the good news. Rumor of her weakness would get out, and there would be another attack. The day she had been waiting for had finally come.

  She needed to talk to Jason.

  “Corporal Werner, get Sam back to the admin building,” Gallagher ordered.

  “And remember what I told you before,” growled Halstead.

  “What’s this?” asked the colonel.

  “I just had to reprimand the corporal for some…”

  “Major,” interjected Sam, using the last of her reserves to straighten her spine and square her shoulders, “as this pertains to me as well as the corporal, may I make the request that we discuss this in private?”

  The major glared at her, but Gallagher gave her a nod.

  “Major, get these men to solitary confinement. Jeffery, is it? You’re free to go, but I’d like you to come by the admin building to see me at next sunset.”

  The vampire nodded before racing away at vampire speed.

  “Werner, help Sam before she collapses. I’ll escort you two back.”

  Before Sam could argue, the corporal scooped her up into his arms, despite the cut on his arm still oozing blood. Alongside the lieutenant colonel, Werner walked her back up the main street toward the admin building. Over his shoulder, Sam spotted Halstead watching their departure.

  “Now what’s this all about, Corporal?” asked Gallagher.

  “Nothing, sir.”

  “No, dammit,” argued Sam. “Look, I know I’m not military so I’m sticking my nose in where it doesn’t belong…”

  “Sam,” warned Werner to no avail.