CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: A Step In The Right Direction
Lucian finally let monster have free reign. He let the change wash over him as he quickly made his way into the forest; and then, with power coursing through his veins, he raced through the evergreens and across the snow. He ignored the biting wind and focused on finding where Alex was being held.
Since hearing of Alexandra's disappearance, he had had entirely too much time to think. Time to contemplate the way he had handled the situation with her, how she made him feel, and what may be happening to her. Once he heard of what the Corvinkus twins were capable of, it had eaten away at him knowing she could be suffering at their sick, twisted hands. But instead of dwelling on these thoughts, he allowed them to spur him on. He couldn't put a name on what his feelings were for Alexandra; but it was very important that he find her. Then, once she was with him and safe, he would do whatever it took to keep her with him.
Knowing this wasn't going to happen until they found the Corvinkus' compound, he hurried his already frantic pace. The trees and rock passed by in a blur as he moved up the mountain. Then on the air he caught a scent that brought him up short. The smell of fear, desperation, and lycans filled the night.
He rushed forward, moving towards the source and shifting back into his human form so as not to frighten the ones he sought out. Soon, he came across what it was he was searching for, and it took him by surprise. A woman, scantily dressed in nothing more than a kilt, had skidded to a stop a mere thirty feet before him.
"You'll not be taking me alive, you bloody sonofabitch!" she yelled at him in an Irish accent.
"I have no intention of hurting you," Lucian tried explaining to her. "In fact, I'm hoping you may be able to help me."
"I'm not helping you with anything," she snarled at him. "You people may have taken me once, but I won't let you do it again," she promised him.
Lucian put up both hands, showing her he wasn't armed, hoping she would calm down enough to listen to him.
"I'm actually here to looking for someone, in fact there are thirteen other people here with me. We have come in search of a friend of ours. She's an American, by the name of Alexandra Douglas; she was taken like you, and we were hoping to find her here."
The Irishwoman stared at him in disbelief. Lucian watched as first fear, then shame and finally relief became apparent on her face. Then surprising him, she over threw her arms around him, crying.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the near hysterical woman kept repeating.
Lucian consoled her for a moment, then gently pushed her back as he took off his shirt and offered it to her. She looked anxiously at him then gratefully took the shirt and covered herself as she buttoned it up.
"Do you know the woman I spoke of?" he asked her again.
"Alex, yeah…red-hair, purple eyes?" she asked.
"Yes, that's her, she's here with you?' he asked, looking around hoping to see her running towards them even as they spoke.
"Yes, she's here, but not with me," she told him. "She's the one that's responsible for our escape. There were twelve of us before she was brought in, and we were all kept sedated with a drug that kept us lycans from changing," she told him. "For whatever reason, the drug didn't affect Alex as much as it did the rest of us. Somehow, she found a way outside, managed to take out the guards, and freed us from our chains. She got us outside and partway down the mountain, all the while carrying one of the girls that had never regained consciousness."
"That sounds like her," Lucian said with a smirk. "And she's where?" he prompted the girl.
Bryna looked at him, and saw the concern in his deep-set eyes. She swallowed her tears and struggled to tell him all she knew.
"I..I'm not sure where she is," she replied honestly, seeing he was looking around for her again.
Lucian's head snapped back to face her, "What do you mean?"
Bryna gulped, then answered, "I mean that on the way down, we were chased. There were six snowmobiles and they were catching up fast," she told him. "Alex was already beginning to slow down, because she was carrying an extra hundred and ten pounds. She said she would try and distract them so that more of us could get away. Then she made us memorize the number of a gent that would help us. Is that you?" she asked hopefully.
Lucian shook his head no, knowing Alex didn't know his number, "I believe you're looking for Aaron, one of the men with me. He's looking over the west side of the mountain with another team. Please, tell me what happened to Alex.
It was all the same to Bryna, they were there to rescue them, and there was more than one of them. With a shake of her head, she continued.
"As I said, Alex was tiring, and said she was slowing the rest of us down. So she told us to split up and run; and not to stop until we were safely away. The vampires went one way and us lycans went another. I don't know what she did, but the last I saw of her, she had managed to catch the attention of two of the snowmobiles. They were chasing her back up the mountain as she drew them away from us. When we split up so did our pursuers. We were chased by two of them. I decided we should split up yet again, bettering our odds of escaping…and here I am," she said finishing her tale.
"Damnit!" Lucian screamed into the night sky. Then walking around to calm himself he called out, "Can you take me back to where they held you?"
Bryna hesitated. She didn't really want to go back there, but she owed something to the woman that had freed her.
"Yes," she responded slowly.
"Can you change?" he asked her.
Bryna attempted the transformation, but found she wasn't yet able. She shook her head no.
Lucian sighed, then said, "That's fine, let's get moving."
"Yeah, let's not keep Alex waiting," she said with a sad smile.
Then the two of them took off, heading back up the mountain. Lucian followed the female lycan, going over all she had told him in his mind. There was no doubt in his mind, that the woman she had described was his Alexandra. Just as there was no doubt that she had been recaptured trying to give the others a chance of escaping. Damn stubborn, noble, courageous woman. By the Gods how she confused and confounded him! But he also admired and respected her, and her talents. She was a warrior long before she met him, and a good one at that. He had to hope that any extra amount of power she was able to use from the change would serve her well.
His thoughts were soon interrupted, when the sound of an engine could be heard behind them. The Irishwoman stopped short, then turned ready to bolt; but Lucian grabbed her arm, and assured her it was okay. Together they watched as an older off road vehicle pulled up beside them.
"It looks as if you picked up a hitchhiker, yourself," Daniel called out when Lucian opened the door.
Lucian looked into the vehicle and found Rhys was already inside. Lucian moved back so that the woman could enter the truck before him, then he quickly climbed in behind her.
"Yes well, my guest is far prettier than yours; and though I don't yet know her name she does have a fascinating tale…and she knows where Alex is," he told Daniel.
"I'm Bryna," she said to them both.
"A lass from home," Daniel said then introduced himself as well as Rhys and Lucian.
"You say you know where our Alex is?" he asked as he started back up the trail.
"Yeah, the girl is either the bravest or the dumbest woman I have ever met," Bryna replied.
"Sounds like our girl," Daniel said then, called out over the radio to Aaron and Sterling.
Once Lucian had brief them on what he had uncovered, Bryna then gave everyone a description of the area, along with general directions to the place where she and the others had been held. Everyone agreed to meet up, but to wait until they were all together before they moved in. Then silence reigned in all the vehicles as they moved towards the agreed rendezvous point.
Daniel and Rhys were excited at the prospect of finding Alexandra; he could feel it coming off of them in waves. But he wasn't able to shake off the sense of unease that had worked its way into his very soul. And the closer they came to attaining their goal, the worse the sensation became. He tried shaking off the feelings and remain optimistic about seeing her again, but found the emotions were too strong to ignore. So he kept silent as they drove up the trail.
By the time they met up with the others, they themselves had picked up two other lycans. When they disembarked from the truck, it seemed the others had found a few others as well. All in all they had seven women, all dressed in outrageous costumes, all frightened and all trying to shake off affects of the drugs that had been pumped into their systems.
Michael looked the women over, and though they were suffering from exposure to the elements, he decided they would all be fine once the vampires were able to get some blood into them, and the lycans could shift their forms. The women all huddled together in various groups in each vehicle, all but Bryna and a French vampire named Giselle. They wanted to be an active part of this rescue mission.
Lucian stood just outside the group and listened as they discussed the best way of handling the operation. The humans wanted to go in covertly and try to stay unseen as the removed all hostages. His lycans were ready to jump in guns and monsters blazing, taking out all anyone and anything that got in their way. He noticed that Raze and Michael were as quiet as he was. But then so was Malcolm. Lucian watched the human, noticing the glances he kept throwing over his shoulder and his sense of unease. These were very odd characteristics for a man that had been battling vampires and lycans for over ten years. Something was definitely going on with him, and it left Lucian with a very bad taste in his mouth.
Finally, after more than fifteen minutes of arguing, Lucian stepped forward.
"Gentleman, ladies, this is getting us nowhere," he said speaking in a very strained and forced manner. "I'm sure both plans have merit, but we are doing Alexandra no good fighting over how to save her. We have weapons and ammunition, for both lycans and vampires. We have to be prudent as to how this ammunition is used, as we have a limited supply, but if we are careful we should be able to get in and find Alexandra and the others. No we don't have to kill everyone present, but I refuse to sneak in and let them get away with what they've done. I will find those responsible and make sure they are never able to perpetrate these crimes on anyone ever again," he stated emphatically, all the while watching Malcolm's reaction.
He was not surprised to see the Australian blanch at the mention of finding those responsible. Lucian also noted the beads of sweat that had popped out along the man's forehead. Somehow he was involved, he just wasn't sure to what extent.
Everyone seemed okay with his plan and they all went about checking their weapons and gearing up. Lucian walked over to where Michael and Raze stood with Aaron and Sterling. None of them were talking, but it was apparent they wanted to say something.
Lucian decided to break the ice.
"Aaron, what exactly does Malcolm have to do with this?" he asked quietly, but fiercely.
The older human stared at him, astounded, then glanced over at Sterling. With a sigh, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked to see where Malcolm was. Noting he had his back to them, Aaron turned his full attention back to the question at hand.
"We don't know," he replied adding an "honestly," to the end of the statement when Raze snorted disgustedly at his answer.
"He's telling the truth," Sterling commented backing up Aaron's answer. "Malcolm made a couple of statements we found very odd, and started behaving strangely as soon as Alex disappeared. We kept tabs on every move he made but weren't able to uncover anything directly or indirectly involving him in this mess."
"Yes, but I can tell you this," Aaron replied, "A couple of days before Alex and Sterling were to leave for America, Alex and Malcolm got into a fight, one that Alex decidedly won. Malcolm has become very…territorial when it comes to Alex. So, whatever happened I truly don't believe it was supposed to occur. He wants her for himself, but Alex will have nothing to do with him in that manner, which has caused him to become quite jealous of you and your relationship with Alex," Aaron said pointedly to Lucian.
Lucian gave a sharp bark of laughter at Aaron's statement before he responded, "Alexandra and I have no relationship, or has that not been made aware to the man."
"You left her with mating marks Lucian, ones that will not disappear overnight. So whenever Alex looks in the mirror she will think of you. When future lovers go to kiss her neck, they will always wonder where the bite marks came from. You will always be with Alex whether you are physically there or not," Aaron told him.
Lucian clenched his jaw and fists at the thought of Alex with another man, but fought back against the threatening emotions knowing they would do him no good. Aaron was right, he had laid claim to Alexandra, fully aware of what he was doing at the time. Now wasn't the time to quibble over semantics. He thought of Alex as his, and had wanted her to know that.
"So, where does that leave us with Malcolm?" Raze asked.
"I want you to follow him," Lucian ordered. I want every move he makes observed, every conversation he has monitored. He knows more about this situation than he is letting on, and I want to know just how deeply involved he is."
Turning to Michael he directed his next question to him, "What kind of condition are those women really in?"
"Other than being emotionally distraught and trying to shake off the affects of the drugs, they are in reasonably good shape. The exposure to the elements has left them feeling uncomfortable, but I believe this too will go away as soon as the drug wears off," Michael answered him honestly.
"And what of the others, do you think they will be much in the same condition?" Lucian asked quietly.
"I don't know," Michael said shaking his head. "Alex could taunt the devil, not stopping to think of the circumstances when her tempers up. But as it is, she threw a huge monkey wrench into their plans, I can't imagine they'll be too happy with her."
Lucian closed his eyes briefly, praying Alex kept her mouth closed and didn't push them too far before they were able to get her out. Then with a ghost of a smile he looked at the men in his small group.
"Well then, let's go rescue our damsel in distress, before she manages to piss them off even more."