Ilona Andrews own the kate daniels series.
A/N: Seleyda's POV. Enjoy!
Un-beta'd
Chapter 4 - Super
Ana stared at me in surprise as the man who's supposedly my uncle vanished behind the wooden door. "You actually let someone go. A bouda."
I shrugged. Finding a chair, I pulled it against the wall and seated myself. "I can be reasonable. Ana. Now, hush." I closed my eyes and concentrated, augumenting my ear's hearing to receive higher frequencies.
"What is she trying to do?" Barabas asked. It sounded like a thunderclap.
"ARGH!" I exclaimed. The chair skidded beneath me and I fell off. My elbow hit the stone floor first first, at the wrong angle. A sickening pop sounded. My arm started to burn. "Ow!"
"Oh my god, are you okay?" Barabas asked, startled and worried. He took a step closer. He gaped at the sight of my arm hanging in a distinctly off angle.
"NO!" I scrambled upright, careful not to jostle my arm, "It's okay. I can do this myself." I tried to smile through the tears running down my face, but it must've come out wrong, since Barabas paled. "Really. This happens all the time."
I scooted back near the wall. My breath was coming in shallow gasps. I was hyperventillating. The pain was making me hyperventillate. Using the wall as a support, I took a firm grip of my dislocated arm and jammed it back into the socket. I gasped at the sudden relief the action gave me, and quickly wiped off my tears. I moved my arm gingerly, testing it. Good as new.
"Is that an old injury?" Jezebel asked.
I was wary. "Why?"
"I've seen this before, but only ever in ol-more experienced fighters," she quickly amended at the warning look in Drew's eyes. "It appears when a fighter goes through severe continuous trauma over a very short period of time on a small area. The cartilage and bone don't 'bond' as well as they used to and dislocation becomes a frequent occurrence." She frowned a little, looking at me from head to toe. "Judging from your height, the guy would have to be around five eleven to six feet to deliver the maximum damage here-" she indicated half an inch above my elbow joint. "-and leave lingering side-effects on a shapeshifter. He probably has a hundred pounds on you at least, to be able to pin you down and make near perfect hits to the same area, and is probably much stronger than you." I growled. He wasn't stronger than me. I was just stupid. Jezebel gave me a look. You know the one.
"You're still growing into your power as a teenager. But-" she gripped my face when I decided not to look at her. "- you are not a fighter to be underestimated. Even with the average human brawler you will probably be at an advantage. Therefore the fighter who inflicted such damage to your arm is also a shapeshifter, someone who's along the lines of bears and the like. Heavyweights. He's also very experienced. It can't be a woman because we do not possess the ability to train up the level of strength required to do such damage." Wow. And I thought Sherlock Holmes was a myth.
"So, who did this?" She finally asked.
I glared at her. "Why do you want to know? You're not my mother!" Jezebel flinched. Barabas embraced her in a hug that would have been tender had the veins in his neck not been bulging.
"I'm sorry," he apologised. "We'd recently lost someone. Jezebel was...traumatised by the whole incident."
"Joey," I whispered. "His name was Joey. From Clan Bouda. You babysitted him often." I felt his soul's presence, begging to be released. I gripped my shoulders. No. Ahissa. Flee. He screamed at me, the black hands of Mara dragging him back to be judged. Good Lord. It's my first time summoning a spirit before it's been judged.
"H-How did you know?" She asked shakily. Only seconds must've passed. That's new. New's not good.
"It's not something I'd like to have publised," I whispered.
Jezebel relaxed against Barabas' arms. "Did you see him?"
"Yes."
"Was he-" she swallowed. "-Did he look...okay?"
"If he hasn't done anything bad, he's going to be fine there."
Silence.
"Does failing to protect a minor count?" Barabas asked.
"Depends."
"On what?"
"On how the future of the minor changed becuase of him. If it's good, then he goes through safely. If it's bad, then he gets a first class ticket to hell." Just like that idiot who broke my arm.
"The girl made it out alive," Jezebel whispered. "Does that count?" She looked down at me, eyes pleading.
"Yes."
Jezebel sagged against Barabas' constricting arms. "I'm fine now, Barabas. You can let me go." Barabas looked at Jezebel for a long moment. He let her go. She launched herself at me. I tensed. Solar plexus or jugular? Jezebel held me close to her. For a moment, I was stunned. Then, her shoulders shook, and I realized. She was crying. "Thank you," she whispered.
"Erm, you're welcome." She cried some more. I stared at her, stunned. I quickly looked up at Ana. What am I supposed to do? I mouthed.
Just hug her back. Pretend I'm her. Ana mouthed back.
Pretend this Hispanic woman was my porcelain-skinned Ana?! I stared at Jezebel, who continued to cry. What the hell.
I wrapped my arm around her, pressing my head against hers. Her small, controlled whimpers turned into bawls. Great. My shirt probably won't survive this.
Finally, she settled down. Her eyes were still red, but at least she didn't have anymore mucus on her face. Surprisingly, my shirt survive the storm. I stared at the wall. Is there anymore that I can hear that'll be useful?
"Seleyda?" She asked.
"Yes?" I answered queitly.
"Can I ask something?" Jezebel questioned.
"Okay."
"Who did that to you? The arm, I mean." Not the talking and summoning the dead thing, I suppose. I frowned, trying to remember the first.
"Werepuma. Male. Monstrous size. I think he was in his mid-thirties. He was half-loup, judging by the smell of his blood. Stronger because of it. He did an arm-lock on this-" I indicated my newly-working arm. "-and bashed it into a nearby boulder many, many times. He shredded and dislocated it."
"H-How old were you?"
I frowned. "I was seven. I was running away from someone, he was in my way. Why?"
"I can count on one hand how many shapeshifters can take down a loup with odds against them. All of them are adults." She swallowed. "You did kill him, right?"
"Yeah."
"Who healed you?"
"A werebear. I called him Pooki." I smiled, remembering the clumsy-looking giant who blotted out the sky when he stood above me, whose hands were anything but. "He was...family."
"Why did you want to sit beside that wall?" Barabas asked.
"I was trying to eavesdrop." Barabas gave me the look most people reserved for the mentally unsound.
"The meeting room was built like a bunker and soundproofed from supernatural hearing. Shapeshifters, vampires and the like have been tested to hear not a pin drop from the room." I tried not to laugh. Not this shapeshifter.
"You can try," Barabas said smugly.
Barabas," Jezebel said. "Shut up."
Silence.
"Wha-at?" Barabas exclaimed. "Jez, are you listening to yourself?"
"If Seleyda can talk to the dead, wouldn't you say, Barabas, that chances are she would have other abilities outside of the norm." She looked at me. "Isn't that so?" Thank you Lord, I said in thought.
"Yeah, sure."
Turns out, I didn't need to.
"I'M NOT LETTING MY WIFE HELP THE PEOPLE JUST BECAUSE GHASTEK CAN'T SOLVE HIS OWN SCREW-UPS!" Curran roared through the soundproof room. I almost lost my hearing. It was so loud.
"CURRAN!" It was Kate. The volume of their conversation settled down considerably.
"Now can I listen in?" I asked. Everyone nodded.
I sat down on my chair. Barabas eyed me for one long moment, then sighed and went to get a chair. Probably wanted to say something else. Jezebel grabbed the nearest chair and plopped herself in it. Ana and Drew settled down a little farther, on a cream-colored couch. I looked around the room one last time, and settled down into a comfortable position.
At first, all I got was white noise. Like when you turn on the radio during magic and all you get is this crackling, buzzing noise because you can't get a channel. Slowly, bits of conversation came through. but nothing made much sense. Then, I realized my ranger was too far, since I was hearing a bunch of cooks arguing over how to plate a dish, whatever that is, in the middle of nowhere. I shortened my range, hearing a cook in the kitchen scolding a new assistant in the process, and found my target.
"-find someone else!" Kate's voice hit me. I flinched at the audio volume, then tuned my sensitivity down. It's sort of like trying to make a person dumber. "Ghastek owes me! He can go find the Pinkertons or whatever!" The bald-headed idiot who's life is revolved around written facts? She must've pulled off a miracle to earn the second-strongest vampire navigator's personal favour. I may hate vampires and navigators even more, but it doesn't mean I'll let it cloud my perceptions of my enemies. Ever. "-on their own! They caused this...outbreak!" My stomach lurched. Good Lord. No. "I'm not going to be their mom and clean up their own mess!"
"The shapeshifters are in danger, Your Majesties." I sucked in a loud gasp of air. It was Raphael Medrano, my supposed uncle. His joking, relaxed manner was gone. Instead, a cold, icy man bent on revenge and destruction greeted me. He sounded familiar...like me. I see why we are related. Then, I understood his words.
Fuck.
"How?" I flinched at the sheer rage and fury in the Beast Lord's voice. Which he, in that moment, undoubtedly was. Calm down. He's not here.
"They...recruited shifters, sir. Not within our borders, of course- we'd have found out much sooner. This isn't the first time they have done this, Your Majesty. Not by a long shot." A lion's growl started, and went on for a long time, reveberating across the room. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up, and for the first time in my life, I felt my fangs protract themselves. He called my animal. If we're in the same room, his veiled command would become a reality. I let out a wild hiss. I flinched at the foreign sound.
"Seleyda?" Ana whispered hesitatingly. I shook my head and concentrated on the conversation.
"-have they done?" Curran growled into my eardrums. I flinched.
"Mostly experiments, I think, sir," Andrea began haltingly. "The man let out very little. He only let out one thing, and it was just before the door closed behind us when we were leaving." I could feel her frown. "Something like LYPD. LYPI?" My blood ran cold. This was happening within this city's borders, and I knew exactly which combination it was.
"It's LVIP, honey," I heard the slap of soles hitting the floor. "We don't know what it stands for, unfortunately." I know what it does. In fact, I was a part of it. I opened my eyes, flinching at the sudden bright light. Stumbling upright, I went towards the vicinity of the door to the meeting room. I half-sang a couple of notes, and felt the slow return of my eyesight.
"Seleyda, what-" Ana started. I hissed. She immediately went quiet. "Drew?" She sounded small and frightened. I had no time.
BOOM. The doors swung open.
"Barabas! Jezebel!What is the meaning of this?" Curran shouted.
Blinking rapidly, I stared at Curran and Kate. Their shape was still a little blurry. "I know what it is."
They looked stunned. "What?" Kate managed.
"I know what LVIP is. Or rather what it means." Andrea and Raphael looked speechless with shock. Curran frowned.
"How did you hear us? Jim said-"
I cut him off. "What your head of security says has nothing to do with the lives of everyone within this fort." I immediately got everyone's attention. I could feel Barabas behind me, slightly to the left. Jezebel was warching me, trying to decide whether I was a threat or an information hub waiting to be plundered. Curran quickly settled down.
"Please, can you tell us more?" Kate asked.
"LVIP stands for Lycos-V Immortuus Pathogen Insemination. The word 'insemination' was officially dropped from the acronym when the average man kept mistaking it for making babies." Memories flooded back to me. "It's not." A warm hand slid itself into one of mine, small and soft. Ana. "Vampires take a long time to reach a notable level of strength and speed, since nature itself cannot stand its presence. " Kate nodded, understanding. "It's a pretty big setback for the People, in general, so they offset that by taking in large number of humans.
"Shapeshifters are the direct opposite, perhaps because we are creations of man and nature. At our youngest we sometimes have the fastest speed and strongest strengths, and it's becoming more common." I inclined my head at Raphael and Curran. One thing I knew for certain was that the alphas of the Atlanta Pack was not to be reckoned with.
Gold sparks danced in those grey eyes as understanding flared. With it came a rage beyond anything I'd ever seen, and only surpassed by my own.
He cared. Dear God, he cared.
"But our lifespan is comparatively shorter than the average vampire which, minus beheading, would exist for a very long time." Kate's eyes were alight with understanding. "That's why the shapeshifters and vampires can never fully destroy the other at any given time. We are too well matched." A corner of the Beast Lord's smile lifted. I clamped down on the embarrassment rising within me. He'd fucking read me. "LVIP is helmed by the more...radical-thinking members of the People." I could hear everyone snort. "Please, I'm trying to phrase it as delicately as possible. I'm as biased a source as they come." They sobered up. In the corner of my eye, I noticed how pale Andrea looked. Did she know?
"Anyway. One man started this...thing. Have you ever heard of Jonathon Gilbert?" Kate and Curran flinched. So they have. I wouldn't have expected anything less. The man had, after all, tried to frame Nataraja for running a sex slave ring. "He wanted to create the...perfect vampire. The goal of his department is to genetically combine the pros of both species to create an amalgation that is better than its sire."
"Would that fail?" Raphael asked. "I mean, genetic manipulation requires tech. With the waves being so sporadic, wouldn't it be-"
"-Unfeasible?" I answered for him. "Yes, it was. The initial experiment had been a complete failure-except on one count. It was discovered that a certain...quantity of silver could tame Lycos-V. The silver keeps it busy with regenerating more of itself, but does not completely kill it."
"That's not possible," Barabas scoffed. "Nothing can tame Lycos-V."
I looked at him coldly. His face whitened beneath his tan. "I'll be very careful with throwing words like impossible and nothing around if I were you."
"Excuse me." I turned to face Andrea. I could feel the others' attention focus on her. She looked uncomfortable. Then why the hell would she choose to become female beta of Clan Bouda. Oh wait. She's in love with the male alpha of the exact same clan. Joy.
"Yes?"
She looked severely uncomfortable. "Well, the way you describe it, it's like you think it is capable of human intelligence. That it can be occupied by something to the point where it won't realize what's going on."
"It is alive, Andrea," I explained. She flinched, as if not expecting me to know her name. Please. Like I could forget it when she could be my future aunt. "The point I'm trying to drive into your skulls is that both Lyc-V and Immortuus Pathogen viruses are alive. Nature does not accept vampires, because they are the aberration of the virus it created, but it did not try to kill it because it cannot. Could you kill your child, when he has a child out of taboo?" Andrea flinched. "What the LVIP created and is still creating is the aberration of nature. You of all people should know this."
"H-How?" Andrea exclaimed.
"You smell more animal than human. It's not very strong, which must be why you managed to hide it for so long. That and probably some sort of charm."
"How w-would y-"
"I tried once." I rubbed my neck. I didn't like talking about myself. "I...shifted too young. My body got messed up. I tried it, so I don't suddenly spout fur when I'm startled. As you can see, it didn't work." Well, it was as close to the truth as I can tell. No need to say the process hadn't been consensual. "Could you let me finish?" Andrea, startled, began to nodded. I quickly turned to face Curran and Kate.
Too quick, I suppose.
Hastily concealed looks of pity filled their face. I felt like screaming, but the small hand still in my hand reminded me that I had an audience. I cleared my throat, looking away for a few moments. When I looked back, a mask of serenity covered their true emotions.
"Officially, they screen volunteer shapeshifters and navigators, then make them sign the usual contract of confidentiality. The shifters only need to submit anything that contains Lyc-V and the navigators help pilot vampires through the process. Vampires are created or given in the name of charity, though it is stated that most may not survive." I heard quite a few snorts. A vampire cost thirty grand. Whoever donating had to be extremely stupid or rich.
"Unofficially?" Andrea asked, sounding as if she didn't want to hear what I wanted to say but steeling herself to do it anyway. My impression of her increased some.
"They kidnap young, hapless shapshifters on the cusp of puberty. Most of them take on smaller, considerably weaker or rarer forms, depending on what they...lack. The vampires are all forcibly created or stolen." I rubbed my arm, remembering the long, icy bite of pure silver. "They experimented on them to find the 'perfect' purity of silver for the compound they were creating. Enough to tame Lyc-V but not kill both viruses. Immortuus Pathogen proved to be the more...temperamental of the two." Hisses and growls filled the air. "It took them fifteen years to find it." The tension within the silence was palpable.
"They inserted the compound into a range of vampires. What they got was a new and extremely inventive way to take out a vampire," I continued bitterly. "Imagine squeezing a full blood bag very suddenly. Or shooting at it with a Sig Sauer P226."
"You like guns?" Andrea asked.
I was surprised, but didn't show it. "Yeah. I'm good with a sword and bow too."
"You're more than just good," Ana chided. I shook a finger at her. Not now. Surprisingly she stayed silent.
"See, the ratio itself is imperfect. It doesn't account for the chemical differences of each individual body. Some people are allergic to milk, nobody knows why. Some gain weight just by looking at chocolates. Others can gain and lose weight at the drop of a hat. These differences affect the ratio of silver to Lyc-V to Immortuus Pathogen. But the scientists didn't know that. It took awhile but they finally realized. Then some idiot broached the idea of trying the same compound on shapshifters.
"Apparently, according to Isaac Farrer, shapeshifters would have a higher percentile of success as their regenerative ability is ridiculously high, especially during puberty, and also one of the leading factors to why the chances of teenage shapeshifters going loup are disconcertedly higher. Most especially for boudas, because ours tend to run higher than ours. Other species can be higher, however." Curran nodded and gestured for me to continue.
Sam Buchanan's glee-filled face appeared in my mind's eye. I tried to swallow, but realized that my throat was drier than the Sahara Desert. "The first batch went loup within the first twenty-four hour period, according to reports. It was eliminated, except for one. I believe you know him as Sam Buchanan." I saw Kate and Curran share a look of knowledge and horror. "They found that the...compound was too potent for a shapshifter."
"H-How did you learn so much?" Andrea asked.
"LVIP has many...branches around the world, all very well hidden. One of them used to be in California, Death Valley. Sam and I share the same origins, in terms of where our...powers come from." A look of shock crossed their face. The smile on my face felt brittle. "When I was...escaping, I came across several files on the departments's...previous patients." Growls echoed around the room, amplified by the dome shape of it.
"How old were you?" Jezebel asked. Everyone jumped a little, all caught up in their little bubble.
"I was eight, going on nine. I think," I added hesitatingly. Raphael's look prompted me to explain further. "I was...sedated for a long time, so my sense of time was a little wonky. It was early spring when I first..." Died? Lost consciousness? Went out like a light? "...passed out, so to speak. The next time I...woke up, it was somewhere between late fall and early winter. "The look of shock and horror was mirrored on all of their unfamiliar faces. Only Ana and Drew knew, before them, and they stood with pale faces in a mask of calm. They'd told me that my...story caused this effect I was seeing on most 'normal' people.
"If there are so many of them, why hasn't the People...taken care of it?" Curran asked. "If it'd been me, I'll have ripped the heads off everyone involved."
"Contractually, LVIP is bound to the rest of what the People owns. However, they are an autonomous department, meaning even when other areas lack...resources, they have full rights to get their own without reporting to their superiors. Gilbert also gave them empty departments to cover their tracks, before his untimely death."
"So what are you saying?" Andrea demanded. "We're facing an outbreak of these...monsters?" Ana hissed behind me, hearing the subtle insult to my intelligence. I looked at her, showing her with my eyes that I understood the insult and to cool it. She nodded, but her anger didn't dissipate. Andrea flinched at the venom shooting out of Ana's eyes. It was a valid question.
"I'm trying to say that if you approach this the normal way, the clans of the Pack are going to call for blood. Your blood." I raised my hands, palms facing the Beast Lord and Consort, to pacify them. If I'd tried any harder, I'd been bowing, but that would've just lost my head. Literally. "I'm not implying, nor trying to, that you are incompetent fighters. I'm not," I insisted. Kate released her death grip on her sword, Slayer. Curran leaned back on his plush leather seat. "I'm simply stating facts. These aren't normal breeds of shifters here. At least seventy percent of the surviving patients permanently teeter on the brink of loupism. Ten percent retains up to a third of their brain functions. Fifteen percent receives extra boosts in their already staggering physical attributes as well as near-human intelligence and form. Four percent looks and talks just like a bipedal human except they tend to not last vey long. One percent retains all the cons of the process with little or no side effects." Except that the silver goes supernova during tech waves. I felt my lips twist into a cold smile. "Sam Buchanan was, in the words of the scientists, a defective." I gestured towards myself. "I was their first viable prototype. The one percent they had strived towards. These...people have had five years to improve their treatment, to create worse freaks pf nature, because Mother Nature doesn't condone this. Oh no. That's why heroes are called and legends are made."
"In your opinion, what would you suggest we do?" Curran carefully asked. I smirked slightly. I have the advantage now.
I sobered up. This could be used to Ana's advantage.
A/N: Wow. 4000+ words. Never managed that before. Here's to all Kate Daniels fans; sorry I'm so late. Too much goodies + too much rain = splitting headache + flu. I'd wrote extra for all of you. Hoping my side of the world gets Magic Rises soon. I absolutely loooovvveee the smell of new books to read.
Anyways, Love You All!