CHAPTER FORTY:

Lycan Lair

Alex found Michael and Selene, and took her place beside them. She didn't know what to make of Lucian's kiss, but right now she didn't have time to think about it. Because the moment the thought crossed her mind, a large, blurred object came flying through the hole in the floor.

She soon realized the object had actually been Sir William Grey; and he had obviously been catapulted through the entrance by the vampires. Then, as vampires began pouring into the lair, her attention became focused entirely on the battle at hand.

She counted nine of them total, including Sir William. The vampires were greatly outnumbered, leaving them at a distinct disadvantage. It shouldn't take too long to take them out and hopefully they could keep the casualties to a minimum.

They hadn't seen any action as of yet; it seemed the battle itself was being fought on the front lines. She glanced around, viewing their position. Realizing how far back they were, she felt Michael and Selene were relatively safe. She glanced over at them, and saw that Michael had made the change. He appeared ready to fight and planned on using every advantage he had. Selene too, had gone into vampire mode. She flashed her fangs in a grim smile as Alex got her attention.

"Are you two okay back here", she asked the female vampire.

Selene glared Alex before she responded. "I'm quite capable of taking care of both myself and Michael", Selene arrogantly informed her.

Having no intentions of insulting Selene's abilities, Alex quickly responded. "I know that you can. I'm just afraid the vamps may target you. If that were to happen, you'll need to focus all your energies on fighting them; not having to worry about the newest member of the Fight Club", she said only half joking.

Michael saw the tension developing between the two women and was quick to try and dispel it. "I'll stay close to Selene; that way we can watch each others backs", he told Alex. "We'll be fine", he assured her.

Selene had turned her attention back to the fight, ignoringthe other woman.

"Fine", Alex mumbled as she gave the two of them one last parting glance. She hadn't meant to imply Selene was incapable, but she had managed to offend the vampire. She would have to mend that fence later, after the fight was over.

She slipped away, moving towards the front of the room, and the thick of the battle. She had her weapons cocked and ready, watching for vampires and Sir William. The sounds of gunshots and howling filled the room, surrounding her as she moved around the area.

She was getting closer to the action, because the fighting was becoming more intense. She stepped over wounded lycans and dying vampires. So far so good; there were no signs of human injuries. Glancing up ahead, she thought she caught a glimpse of Lucian, leaning over the hole in the floor. She hurried forward, when suddenly her momentum came to a direct halt.

She looked down and saw a pale hand wrapped around her ankle. Another reached out and grabbed her calf, pulling her down. Momentarily losing her balance, she fell hard, landing on her left elbow, jarring her arm up to her shoulder. When her arm was jolted, she lost her grip on one of the guns, sending it skittering across the floor.

An injured vampire was clawing at her, trying to pull himself on top of her. When he was within reach, he clamped his mouth down hard on her left arm. Cursing she swung with all her might, feeling a small amount of satisfaction when her gun connected with the vamps nose. Not realizing her own strength, she literally split his nose in half. Bones could be heard breaking and blood spurted all over her. But still, the vampire kept a vicious grip on her arm with his teeth. Left with little choice, she took aim with her remaining weapon and pulled the trigger. It was a clean shot right between the eyes. She watched as his blood stream filled with a bright blue flame, the ultraviolet rays. She pried her arm out of his mouth, and left him there, burning to ash.

Ignoring her injuries, she located her second weapon, and moved on. The vampires' numbers had dwindled down, but there was still no sign of Sir William. She had also lost sight of Lucian. She looked around the large room, trying to find him. She saw Aaron and Malcolm, bending over wounded lycans, obviously trying to help. A few feet behind them, she caught sight of Sterling fighting one of the few remaining vampires. She changed her course and headed over to assist him; when he quickly ended the struggle by filling the creature's chest with a few rounds of UV ammo. The vampire burst into blue flames, leaving Sterling brushing ash off of his clothing. She still headed over to that side of the room, searching for the two remaining Council agents. She soon located Daniel kneeling on the floor. She moved quickly, trying to get to him when she saw he wasn't the one that was injured. He was leaning over Jorge, the last council agent. Finding a break in the crowd, she ran to his side.

"Daniel", she called out to him, coming to kneel beside him. "How bad is it?" she asked.

Daniel's hands were placed over the wounded man's lower abdomen. Alex leaned in closer and could plainly see a mixture of blood and silver pumping through Daniel's fingers.

"It's bad", he said in a strained voice.

Alex reached over and grabbed Daniel's radio. Opening the channel she issued out an order, "We have a man down, I repeat, we have a man down. We need medical attention stat."

Throwing down the radio, and knowing her clothes were covered in blood, she pushed Daniel's hands aside.

"Are you hit?" she asked, putting pressure on Jorge's wounds.

Daniel looked down at himself. "No, I'm good", he answered.

"Fine, take off that shirt, we have to pack in this wound. We need to slow down the bleeding", she told him.

Daniel sat there in a daze, seemingly unhearing.

"Agent O'Reilly", Alex forcefully called to him. "Your comrade is injured, I need your help. Now take off that shirt and start tearing me up some good size pieces", she said ordering him to move. "Do you understand?"

Jerking back to reality, Daniel stripped off his shirt and began tearing off long strips. Just then, the three other agents came running over. Sterling began pulling out supplies while Malcolm and Aaron were trying to clear off a nearby table, making room for them to move Jorge over.

In the midst of all of this, Alex watched as Jorge opened his eyes and seemed to be trying to speak.

"Hey there Jorge", she called out to him. "You hold on now, ya hear me. We're gonna get you all fixed up", she said trying to keep him with her.

His eyes were beginning to glaze over, and his body began trembling. They were losing him. His mouth began moving, but there was so much noise in the room, it was hard to hear him.

"Malcolm, I need a hand here", she called over her shoulder to her friend.

Malcolm rushed to her side. "He's trying to speak", she told him. "But, I can't understand what it is he's trying to say. You and Daniel get his wound cleaned up and packed", she instructed. When they were ready, she quickly removed her hands from Jorge's stomach, giving them room to work.

Now free, she moved up closer to Jorge's head. Leaning in, she spoke calmly and optimistically to her fallen teammate. "Look, these guys still jump when I say move", she tried joking with him.

Jorge offered up a wan grin; then grimaced as they began working on his wounds. Alex looked up and saw Sterling had moved over and was pouring sterilized water into the wound, trying to clear it of debris and silver. Once he felt it was okay, Daniel quickly began pushing bandages into the gaping wound, while Malcolm did his best to clear away the continuous flow of blood.

Alex glanced back at Jorge and saw that his color was bad and he had closed his eyes again. She looked at his chest and barely detected a slight rise and fall; but it was still an indication that he was breathing. She reached for his hand and took it in hers; it was so cold. Leaning down even closer, she spoke directly into his face, "Agent Garcia, you fight, do you hear me! That is a direct order from a commanding officer", she told him.

Jorge eyes flickered open. Alex could see that even that small movement had taken a momentous effort; he was weak with the loss of blood.

"Please let them know", he said faintly, "that it was an honor to fight by the side of each and everyone of them", he struggled to tell Alex.

Alex felt tears gathering in her eyes, and stinging the back of her throat.

"I promise", she told him gruffly.

"I was never more proud than when I was called to work on one of your teams", he told her, his voice wavering.

Closing her eyes against the tears, she whispered, "It was my honor to have such a talented man working with me."

Then she felt his hand go limp. She slowly opened her eyes, to see he had left them. The other team members were steadily working on him, to no avail. Swallowing hard, she called out, "He's gone."

They didn't hear her; there was still too much going on around them. She cleared her throat and called out again, "Stop…he's gone."

Malcolm and Sterling sat back on their heels. Both men covered in their teammates blood, both silent in their grief.

Aaron came over and put his hand on her shoulder. She reached up and grabbed hold of his hand with her bloody one. She looked over and saw Daniel was still trying to stop the bleeding by putting additional pressure onto the packed wounds. It tore her up to see him trying so desperately to save a dead man.

She shrugged off Aaron's comforting gesture and moved over to the frantic Irishman.

"Daniel", she said gently, "There's no need, he's died" she told him, grabbing his hands and pulling them off of Jorge's horrendous injury.

Daniel looked at her blankly, shell- shocked. They had all lost team members throughout the years, but Jorge had been like everyone's younger brother. They had all respected and admired the young man. Alex looked at each man, as she imparted Jorge's last words to them; they wore looks of stoic pride. Daniel moved over and gently closed the young Hispanic man's unseeing eyes.

She felt tired right down to the bone. She was tired of seeing people she cared about dying, tired of feeling responsible for each death. Sighing, she turned to Aaron, needing to finish this.

"Have any of you seen William Grey?" she asked.

"No", Aaron replied, sounding as tired as she felt.

"Fine, I'm gonna go looking for him. This….fiasco is the result of his greed and his insatiable thirst for money and power. I'm going to end this", she told him.

Aaron looked at his one time protégé, seeing grim determination lining her features. She wouldn't stop until the man was dead. He didn't envy Sir William, but he didn't feel sorry from him either.

"Do what you have to do", he encouraged her, "Just make sure justice is served, and that Agent Garcia's loss was not in vain", he said quietly.

Malcolm walked over and offered his weapons to her. "Here luv, I know you're more comfortable using weapons you're familiar with. Besides, I don't want you to have any excuse for missing the bastard!"

She went to thank him, when Sterling came over and handed her a belt, which still held a few mini grenades. "You get that sonuvabitch, little girl", he told her vehemently.

Alex placed the belt across her shoulders. Weapons ready, she gave them one last look before she moved away, in search of the man responsible for the loss of Jorge's life, as well as her humanity.