Disclaimer: All characters and rights belong to Kelley Armstrong
I really don't have a reason for not updating in so long, other than I got distracted by school, as my second semester was quite hectic. (Biology 30 is kind of intense). Anyways, I am now graduated with not much else to do except look for work, so in the meantime, I decided to pick this up again ^.^ Enjoy!
"M-my aunt? You're trying to tell me that my own Aunt would hire somebody to kill me?" I demanded angrily.
"That's exactly what he's telling you." All three of us whipped around at the sound of another voice. Doctor Fellows had strode into the room, her heels clicking loudly on the cement floor. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced between Derek and Simon. "This," she sighed wearily. "This was not how this was supposed to proceed."
Derek growled, his voice definitely more animal-like than human now. "Apologies for our involvement in preventing the murder of your niece, how inconsiderate of us."
"Yes, how inconsiderate indeed." She turned sharply towards me. "Chloe, you never told me that you had taken up a romantic interest with a werewolf."
"A w-werewolf?" I stammered.
Simon piped up, "Romantic interest? Excuse me?"
Derek, clearly the subject of everyone's anger, shuffled on the spot uncomfortably.
She sneered, "Oh? Neither of you knew it would seem. Little Chloe has been running around, playing house with a mutt."
Rage began to bubble up inside of me, hot unadulterated rage. While her attention was focused on the boys, I turned my attention towards summoning. After the altercation with Royce, I knew what I was capable of now and I also knew that a necromancer was never useless. The dead were everywhere, if one only knew where to look. I extended my reach, probing the forest around us and smiled wider as my summons touched each carcass. Aunt Lauren was in for it and she didn't even know it yet.
"Chloe?" Her voice cut through my concentration like ice. "Chloe, I'd like for you to come with me. Leave these pitiful creatures you call friends behind and follow me so we can continue our lab work."
The smile dropped from my lips and I aimed a stony glare directly at her. "I refuse to go even five feet with you. You're a deranged women with no concept of love or family. You attempted to have me killed for something I have no control over!"
She crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips. "I understand that this is all a little bit overwhelming for you, Chloe. When I realized the experiment had failed on you and your powers were beginning to spin out of control, we thought it for the best that we be merciful and put you down before you hurt someone else." She took a step towards me, pausing when Derek snarled. "For God's sake Chloe, you've been summoning spirits in your sleep for weeks now. You think the school was the first incident you've ever had? Think again."
"Instead of murdering me for your mistakes, why not do what any normal person would do and help me?" I snapped in return.
Simon furrowed his brow, "Hold on for a second. You said we. Who is we?"
She didn't even look his way when she responded. "The Edison group of course."
"You work for them?" Derek asked incredulously.
"Indeed. Now, if you will excuse me gentlemen, I'd like to take my niece and leave this nonsense behind us. The Edison group is not far behind me, they will be here shortly to collect you both and I will be taking Chloe as far away from you two as possible."
The skin on Derek's arm rippled as he stalked towards her, "Not going to happen, Miss."
Dr. Fellows pulled from her coat a gun and aimed it at Derek's chest. Before I could shriek my fear for Derek's safety, a loud noise sounded at the doorway.
For the first time in awhile, Liam's voice piped up from behind us. "What in the bloody hell was that?"
"Probably back-up. Relax, Mr. Malloy." still had the gun leveled at Derek's chest and didn't bother to turn around and greet the source of the noise. Fortunately for me, that was her mistake.
I stepped forward and planted myself firmly between the gun and Derek. "Oh, it's back-up all right, Aunt Lauren. But it isn't yours." A horde of undead animals filled the room, enclosing us from all sides. Aunt Lauren didn't even have time to express her shock as the horde converged on her. A mixture of dogs, deer, and rodents, dragged Aunt Lauren off into the darkened forest. The buzz of flies and the stench of flesh eventually faded, as did Lauren's pitiful cries for help.
Liam stared after her with wide, fearful eyes which slowly turned and settled on me. He cleared his throat, "Right well, if y'all will excuse me. I'd like to be gone before that Missy's employers show up demanding some dang answers."
I nodded, giving him permission to leave unharmed. "Try anything," I warned. "And your fate will be far worse."
He chuckled darkly, "I may like being paid, little miss, but I don't fancy death."
After Liam had fled the opposite way Aunt Lauren had been taken, Derek began to gather our things. "We need to go, now." He rumbled. "Your Aunt said that the Edison Group was not far behind her, which means we need to start putting as much distance as we can between us and them right now."
Simon nodded vigorously. "You're right. You head back to our place and pack our things, I'm going to take Chloe back to hers and gather up some of her stuff that she'll be needing on the road. I'll shoot Liz a text as well and tell her to meet us at your place in 30. Good?"
Derek looked like he wanted to argue, shooting me a nervous look. But after a moment's hesitation, he agreed. "Good. Just be fast and be careful."
"What about my Dad? What do I tell him?" I demanded.
Derek huffed, "Nothing. You don't tell him anything. Look, we really don't have time to give you the run-down about how all of this works. You just need to get your things and get out of town like the rest of us. Like you saw with your Aunt, the Edison Group isn't here to protect us, they're here to eradicate us. You thought your Aunt loved you and look what she did, she tried to have you murdered in cold-blood. Now imagine that kind of evil, but multiplied and that is your fate if you stay behind."
Even though every nerve in my body was screaming at me to just break down and cry, I gave Derek a quick nod and moved to follow Simon. The next half an hour was a whirlwind of chaos. I told Rita I would be sleeping over at a friend's house, to which she responded with great praise. We were all piled into the van by 1am and on the highway straight out of town. Their Dad was doing some sort of job a few states over and Simon had already sent him an email explaining everything. Tori was unimpressed that it was all Chloe's fault they had to up and move again. How inconvenient, I'm sure.
"Where are we going?" I finally asked.
"We've lived in almost every state there is. This is the last one. We all agreed that it's high-time we find a new location, as far from the Edison Group as possible." Simon explained.
"And where exactly is that?" I asked apprehensively.
"Well," Derek laughed. "How do you feel about flying?"