Hypnotic Ch. 08

Mishtar's words pierced my grief and I began to grow angry. He had caused so much pain. I knew it was only a matter of time before Dav killed him. I'd never relished the thought before, but I did now. Dav's eyes narrowed as he stood up to look out the windows, but he didn't say anything.

"Oh yeah look around. I know exactly where you are, Velaku, and you're the one who is dead."

A sudden report from a gun was followed by a sharp crack against the window directly behind Velaku. He dropped the phone, and Natham shoved him down.

"They can't shoot through the windows, they're bulletproof," Dav said, "but this place won't withstand a full out attack. They're coming, get ready everyone. Bob, your men outside need to be warned."

Everyone grabbed their weapons. The whale let out a long, loud bellow that I could hear being answered faintly. Other shots began to fire from outside the house. I clutched the first aid kit to my chest, my breath coming in short gasps as my heart began to race. Dav came over to me, grabbing my shoulders as he steered me to the bathroom where the women waited.

"Stay here. No matter what; you stay here. Am I understood?" I nodded. He leaned down and kissed me, our teeth and lips clashing together for too brief a time. He pulled away, and I could feel a fierce satisfaction through our bond. He wasn't about to take joy in the killing, but taking out a danger . . . he would do it and be glad for it. He wasn't afraid of the males coming; his only concern was for me.

"I'll be fine. Be careful," I whispered. I reached up to touch him, but a sudden loud roar startled me.

The front door burst open and several Carthera ran into the house. Gunshots followed them, then other Carthera rushed in. Several of them fell to the shots from the gunmen waiting inside, but then everyone was mixed together and it was too dangerous to keep the bathroom door open. I slammed it shut and locked it.

I looked over at Merrianne. She was snarling and held a gun in her hands. Her mate had insisted that she hide with those of us who couldn't fight, but she hadn't been happy about it. I could see her control was precarious. I moved over to stand next to the female wolf.

"It'll be okay," I said reassuringly.

I tried not to puke as I heard roaring and shrieks in the other room. People were being killed, possibly people I loved. One of the women in the room gasped and fell to her knees. Tears filled her eyes, but she didn't try to rush out of the room. I tensed, waiting to see if she would go feral. Her mate might have died. A few of the other women surrounded her, pressing against her body to help comfort her with their closeness.

It seemed like we'd been in there forever, but we had no way to figure out what was happening from the flashes of emotion we got through our bonds that our mates couldn't suppress. The only way out of the room was the door, and there were so many sounds all mixed together, along with screams and shouts. It was not safe for us out there, so I couldn't check on our side and see if any needed me.

I hadn't felt anything but cold rage from Dav, but I didn't think he'd let me feel any of his pain if he was injured, not with other Carthera to see it. I shook slightly, wishing I knew where he was.

Dav had made me promise to wait until after the battle to leave the bathroom, no matter what.

A shot suddenly came through the door. We were all crouched down so it went over our heads, but one of the females screamed. The door burst open, and a male I'd never seen before filled it. He was short but wide, his absolutely massive shoulders touching each side of the frame.

In the second I saw his gun come down to point at us the fact that he must be Hyena clan floated absurdly through my mind. I moved, intending to cover the women next to me when Merrianne shot. She'd had her gun trained and pointed steady at the door. It trembled a little as the loud sound of the shot blasted in the room and made my ears ring, but she kept it pointed toward the door after the Hyena fell.

No one came toward the open space and the sounds had faded a bit; as if the battle had moved outside the house. I inched closer to the door, just intending to close it as best I could since the top hinge looked broken. When I got close an arm reached in, the hand tipped with sharp talons, and yanked me out of the bathroom into what looked like a battlefield in a gory movie.

I shouted in fear, trying to pull away. The talons tightened and dug into my arm, piercing the skin and sinking in to the muscle. I screamed at the burning agony of the feeling of one talon scraping bone.

"Well, well, look what I have here."

I gasped and stared through blurry vision brought on by tears of pain.

How Mishtar had survived the bloodshed so far was beyond me, but he had. The look of gloating hatred on his face made me shiver in fear.

I was so fucked.

His triumphant look sickened me. He had blood all over him; his clothes were nearly soaked in it. "I knew he'd have tucked you away somewhere safe," he said.

"Let me go!"

"No! You're my ticket to get out of here. Your sick fuck of a mate had this whole property booby trapped. Almost all my males are dead."

I sobbed. I'd looked around the room and there were several bodies of men I didn't know in plain sight. Their glassy eyes and motionless chests told me they were beyond help, but I could see Wheril under a body of a Falcon, his neck sliced open in gaping bloody furrows with blood dripping on the floor. I didn't know if he was dead, but he looked it.

Bob was still alive, lying on the floor next to the bathroom door, but I could see his intestines through a gaping wound in his stomach. He was groaning in a constant stream of sound, his round eyes barely open slits. I could tell that he'd tried to protect the bathroom door, and he would probably lose his life because of that.

The psychotic Falcon had killed innocent people, Carthera who only wanted to live in peace and lead their clans to do the same. They shouldn't have had to die.

"You bastard!" I screamed. I twisted in his grasp and struck out. A bright hand print on his cheek bloomed from my slap, but he just shrieked in laughter.

"Stupid human. You can't hurt me." A sound from the hall made him spin us, tugging me back against his chest. The warm, damp blood on his clothes made me shudder as I fought his strong hold.

I thought I'd see Dav or Velaku coming to save me. Instead I saw Elalera. Her eyes glowed red and her wings were up and flared the second she stepped into the room.

"You killed my mate!" she shrieked.

I screamed as she rushed toward us. Mishtar's body was almost completely covered by mine. Her talons raked out and caught both our shoulders as she tried to slice open his neck.

I screamed in pain. Mishtar let me go, and I collapsed. His hand came up, and then I saw the gun. I tried to tackle him around the legs, but he got a shot off before I could stop him. I watched in disbelief as a huge red wound opened in Elalera's chest. She fell backward, her body arching as her shriek trailed off with a gurgling sound. He'd shot her in the lung and possibly the heart.

Mishtar grabbed for me, flapping his wings and pulling us to our feet and toward the front door that was hanging off its hinges. I fought him as several Carthera rushed into the main room of the house, including Dav.

"Ellis!" Davis hissed and began to move forward. A murderous fury filled our bond.

"No, Davis!" Velaku shouted, "He is mine!"

"Stay back! Neither of you are going to hurt me, or I'm going to kill the little human just like I did Velaku's parents." Mishtar cackled. "I'm going to leave here and take the little bitch with me. If any of you try to stop me, I'll kill him."

Velaku's eyes fell on his mother's broken body, her wings bent under her and covered in the blood from her chest wound. His wings flared and his shriek hurt my ears. His eyes glowed red, and Natham had to grab him before he could attack us.

Dav's sudden sick fear made my stomach lurch as it began to bury the rage, and then a sense of fatalistic acceptance filled me. His emotions were swamping our bond and I couldn't even feel my own, just his.

No. I couldn't let this psycho take me out of the safe house.

I knew my life would be forfeit if I did and so did Dav. I knew he was going to try to kill the Falcon to save me, and I was right. He moved almost too fast for me to see.

Mishtar tried to raise his gun to shoot my mate and a rage, unlike any I'd ever felt, consumed the acceptance and calm inside me. We'd only had a short time together and I wouldn't lose him now. I wouldn't let Mishtar take my mate away from me.

"No!" I twisted to face Mishtar. His grip had loosened on me as he tried to watch the Carthera in the room. With both hands on his wrist with the gun, I pulled his arm in close to my body, jerking when something hot blazed across my stomach. I felt a sudden pain in my mouth, and I let instinct take over. I hissed, and clamped down on the slices in his neck Elalera had opened. Closing my eyes, I sank my teeth deeper into him.

He shrieked and tried to tear away. I bit down harder; my hands locked around his arm, and then pumped fluid from my new fangs into him. I had no idea what I was doing as my mouth worked to inject him with venom, but I didn't stop until he fell and gravity ripped his throat from my teeth.

His eyes were wide and disbelieving as he lay gurgling on the floor. I kicked at his hand and the gun went skittering across the floor to ricochet off the wall and then under a table. His body arched and his talons dug into the floor as he tried to fight the effects of the venom. He had no chance though; he was dying from the poison rushing through his veins.

My poison.

I hissed, swaying as I glared down at him. "I hope it hurts as much as you hurt others, you bastard. I hope you rot in hell. Die!"

His heels drummed on the floor and froth came out of his mouth. I started to turn, needing to make sure my mate was unhurt. His shock was rippling through our bond.

"Ellis." He caught me as I began to fall. He looked down at my stomach and blanched at the red stain blossoming against my shirt. He yanked it up and hissed. I was just barely able to raise my head and look down.

"Shit."

I was bleeding from a long furrow that crossed from one side to the other as well as the cuts from Elalera's claws across my shoulder and the wounds in my arm. I'd been shot, but it was just a graze that started right by the hilt of the knife Dav had given me to a spot next to my far ribs. The thought that I hadn't even remembered to use the knife Dav gave me to stab Mishtar hit me out of the blue. I began to shake as everything sank in.

I'd killed someone.

Not with a gun or a knife. No, I'd killed him by biting him and injecting him with venom. His blood was in my mouth, the copper taste making me gag. I hadn't known I had fangs before now. My tongue swept across the roof of my mouth and I could still barely feel them, now that I knew they were there. They ached, and my stomach hurt. I turned and began to vomit, bringing up sour bile.

Tears streamed from my eyes as I shuddered in my mate's arms. He held me close and rubbed my back.

"Dav," I moaned.

"Shh, Ellis. It'll be okay."

I wasn't sure if he was right this time.