Hunter Hunted Ch. 18

"What the fuck is that?" Mira gasped. It was a continuous growl, one that sounded inhuman and hungry and twenty times as big as the biggest of the Zombie girls.

Hunter leaned against the door as the heavy metal rattled as if something much bigger wanted to open the door and make their acquaintance. He could feel the power that leaked through the metal and the thoughts that tried hard to leach into his brain. He fought it, moving bare inches from the metal. When his skin no longer touched the door, the influence of whatever it was, was gone.

"Whatever it is," he gasped as he heard the door rattle again. "It's strong and hungry. It wants us." He glanced at Dianna and then at the other ASP members behind them. "We'll need to be at our strongest. This thing that Braxton has, it's strong and it's deadly. If it touches you, it will be able to control you. Don't let it touch you."

He glanced at the two weres that were in the other team. "Morph."

Dianna nodded. "Do you know how big?" she asked cautiously.

"If Mage were here, we'd know," Hunter said. He reached out, pulling Mira into his embrace. "Don't let it touch you Mira. You aren't poisonous anymore."

The two Weres had changed. One was a wolf, but he was huge, his fur a dark black that shone almost blue in the light. The other was a sleek cat, the spots of the jaguar evident. He snarled, his fangs gleaming. The other two, one a Vampire and one a ghoul, stood next to them, their eyes wide but blasters in their hands, ready for the fight. Beast yowled his understanding, his hand coming down on Hunter's shoulder, showing his solidarity.

Mirage grabbed Hunter, planting a kiss of quick heat and an expression of love that he couldn't help but understand. "We've got a trip to plan for, don't you go in there and do something as idiotic as getting yourself killed."

"I just love how when I play hero, I'm an idiot, when you do, you're wonderful." He shook his head. "I never thought I'd want to marry a woman with such horrible double standards."

"Double standards!"

Hunter shook his head. "I just came out and told you that I want to marry you and your entire take on that sentence was 'double standards'?" He dropped another kiss on her lips and then reached behind him to grab the door.

The pulsing buzz hit him hard and he gasped, throwing his head back to fight off the will to do what the beast inside wanted him to do. It wanted the ASP members dead. It wanted him to turn his blaster on the woman he loved. He could almost see himself twisting his arm, poking the business end into Mira's beautiful face and pulling the trigger.

He barely heard her voice but he could see her. She was nit picking at him again, every word that came from her mouth was a horrendous insult spoken in her worst nagging voice. How could he have ever wanted to marry someone who treated him and acted the way she did?

"Bitch," he growled, the pain in his head soaring to a new level of awareness and he felt his stomach turn over. He swallowed heavily, his hand shaking as he slowly turned toward Mira, his gun raising.

Mira reached out, wanting to touch him, but before her fingers connected with his skin, she seemed to reconsider. Instead, as the door behind him slowly began to open, she spun, her foot coming out to quickly and almost effortlessly, knock him loose from whatever evil had him in its grip.

She dropped down next to him, watching as the two teams began to rush into what she could see was some freaky kind of laboratory based on the mind of a psychotic serial killer who had to be hooked on some kind of mind altering drug. She could hear the horrified screams of the teams and the glad cries of the beast they had to fight. A splat sounded against the wall, the sound of something wet and gushy being flung against something hard and unyielding. She could hear Beast yowling, his cries growing louder.

Hunt stood up, his hand coming out to take hers. "Thanks," he said. "Let's go help our team."

Mirage stopped him for only one tiny instant. "In case we don't make it out of this...I want to marry you, too."

His smile was wide and he let his thumb brush over her cheek. "Keep that thought in mind. I want to reward it when we get out of this mess."

She nodded and then followed him into the lab.

* * * *

Shadow felt his arm tingle and the satisfying vibrations of a punch that definitely wasn't going to be easy to rise from. "You have to be Myler. Mira said you were a whiny, kiss ass."

Myler lay on the ground where Shadow's last punch had landed him. "I have information," he said with a heavy groan. "I will tell you how to kill the beast if you let me go."

Angel snickered, coming up behind Myler to lift him from the ground to his feet. She tipped her head, glancing at the smaller man and then back to her boss. "What do you think, Shadow? We interested in any of his groveling?"

"Depends on what he's got to say." Shadow barely nodded at Angel, managing just to keep from cracking a smile as the man let loose a high pitched scream when he saw the look in Angel's eyes. When she wanted to, Angel could look like a runaway shark hungry for its next meal.

"Don't let her bite me, man. You're going to need what I got to say if you want to kill the monster behind all of this." He struggled futilely in Angel's grip. "You don't know what kind of beast he found. It's indestructible unless you know what you're doing. Anybody you send after this thing is just going to end up dead."

"Start talking," Angel growled, shaking the man she easily held a foot off the ground. "If anybody else dies, you bastard, I'll be back to take it out of your hide."

"Tell her to back off." Myler's voice was high pitched and terrified and he struggled to get free. "I won't tell you anything unless she puts me down," he screamed.

"You know what, Mira was right. You really are a putz."

Myler groaned as Angel shook him roughly. "Talk or else I'll rip your mouth off."

"We don't know what it's called!" he shouted, anything to stop Angel from shaking his head off. "Taylor dug it up in a cavern deep in the Ashanti Mountains. He had it shipped back here. His entire company is based on what that ugly thing can do."

"What can it do?" Marcus growled, taking Myler from Angel's hands and holding him up higher. "My wife is a little thing, Myler. I'm not saying that she couldn't hurt you. She could, pretty damned easy. She'd enjoy it as well. But I know how easily she gets carried away. She'd rip your throat out before she even knew what she was doing." He glanced over at Angel and saw her roll her eyes at him. "So, if you want me to save you from her, you might want to start talking and do it quick." Marcus unfolded his wings, letting them spread to their full width. With his bare chest and his manly physique, he looked like some kind of beautiful angel. One of God's own to reap punishment upon the sinners.

Not too many could list the amount of debauchery, the selection and range of the sins that he could. Sins that would have him slow roasting over the coals of hell for eternity. With the knowledge of what could lay ahead for him, he wasn't in any hurry to get this part of his life over. "Just keep her the fuck back."

"Then start talking." He let Myler down just a bit and hear Angel's deep growl. Myler heard it as well and Angel roared with laughter as a wet stain spread across the front of Myler's pants. "It has to have some kind of weakness, some way that Braxton keeps it contained."

Mylar sighed. "I tell you and you let me go."

"You tell me and I won't let Angel pull you apart. Did you ever see anyone pull the wings off a fly? Tell me now or you're going to find out how it feels to have your arms ripped out."

Angel lunged and Mylar screamed, words flooding from his mouth. Marcus smiled, listening carefully before taking flight. Closer to the high ceilings of Braxton's manor, he found what he was looking for. The belt that was wrapped around his waist was of sturdy material and Marcus slipped it over the hook he'd found, listening as Mylar moaned and then screamed again.

"No! You can't leave me here! I gave you what you needed." His screaming followed them out the door.

"You know where we're going?" Marcus growled to Angel.

"Yeah," she said, climbing behind the wheel. She waited until she saw Lee get into the other SUV, Tinman behind the wheel. Then she turned the ignition and backed out of the long drive, turning down the road that led by the river. "Let's just hope we can get there in time."

Shadow tossed his communicator on the seat next to him. "They aren't answering," he said, slamming his hand into the door frame.

"We'll get there," Marcus said softly, soothingly. "We'll get there." He didn't even glance back at Shadow, just continued working on the three blasters that were on his lap. "Let's just hope this actually works.

* * * *

Hunter grunted, feeling the crack of plaster at his back as he took another hit from the awful beast. It was ugly, there was no doubt about that. The main part of the beast looked like a huge loogey someone had spat out. It had about thirty eyes, all deep set, moving independently of each other.

If it had been only the one part of the beast, they might have been able to win the battle quickly. But no, it also had tentacles that shot out from the sludgy body. Tentacles that had tiny mouths attached like suckers on octopuses. Hunter had been bitten once and the pain had been excruciating.

He forced himself up and back into the fight, dodging two of the tentacles and making his way to where Beast stood, Dianna at his back. Mira knelt at their sides. She'd taken a lot of hits from this vile beast and she was close to the end of her endurance. He growled as she looked up at him, her pale blue eyes shadowed and dull. She looked beaten.

"Did you get a hold of Shadow?" he called, dodging another tentacle and then letting his blaster cut the damned thing in two. The cut off part wriggled on the floor and he took the time to cook the damn thing with his blaster before he kicked it away.

"They're dead," Mira said softly, knowing that Hunter would hear her. "The communicators are all dead. We don't even get static."

"How is that possible? All our equipment was fully charged and loaded when we left ASP."

"It's the beast," Gregor, the ghoul from the other team said. "It drained them."

Dianna held up her hand, saying two words and sending a bolt of electrical current at the beast. It slashed through the creature and it gave out a shriek that had the teams covering their ears. "That hurt it." She held up her hand and rained current down on the beast's head.

It recoiled its tentacles, giving the ASP teams time to regather.

"It's too fucking strong," Gaia the vampire said, a sigh leaving her pale lips. Dawn was close and it was becoming harder for her to move. They'd lost one of their team members. Craig Oros, a member of the jaguar clan, had been killed within the first five minutes of battle. They'd all learned from Craig's mistakes. He'd rushed the beast and it had picked him up easily, the tentacles winding around his sleek body. His screams had been horrible, the pain he'd felt almost tangible. When the tentacles let him go, he was little more than a dried husk.

"We should fall back." Gregor tried to ignore the looks that the other team was giving him. He knew from experience that most sentient beings loathed his kind. It seemed ingrained in their beings to hate what they didn't understand. Not many could understand his reasoning for becoming what he was. But if they'd known what his life had been like before, they might be more understanding.

Joining ASP had given him purpose and he'd become a valued team member. He was Gaia's second and was always ready for anything. But this beast had him scared. None of their weapons seemed to phase it. And after Craig's death, he began to wonder if they would all end up as splats on the wall.

"We can't fall back. We fall back and that thing will continue to send out that pulse, the Zombie girls will continue to prey upon what ever victim falls into their hands. We can't allow that. We can't allow Braxton to continue what he's doing." Mira's tirade fell off and she took a deep breath, looking up at Dianna. "We can't..."

"No, we can't, Mirage. Gaia, if your team wishes to pull back, go ahead. But I'm not going to allow this thing to force the death of anyone else, not if I can help it." She lifted her hand again and called for the electricity when she saw the beast was recovering.

It burst through the air toward him and they all heard its low, rumbling bellows of pain. It recoiled even more into itself, the tentacles coming up to cover its body as black streaks zipped through it.

Mira rose, her eyes moving around the room until she saw what she wanted. Hurrying toward it, she ignored Hunter's yells for her to come back. An extension cord was plugged into one wall and she grabbed for the other end. Tearing off the plug, she groaned as a quick pulse of electricity went through her. Then she was spinning the end, working up some speed before she let it fly.

Her aim was true and the beast squealed, pustules erupting on its side and then bursting open, loosing orange goop that dripped down its side to puddle on the floor.

Hunter grabbed for Mira's hand, lifting her into his arms. She was exhausted and that final jolt of electricity seemed to have taken the rest of her energy. She let her head droop into Hunt's shoulder, one hand cupping the other against her stomach. "Is it dead?"

Even her voice was weak. Hunter wanted to shake her for pulling something so dangerous and he also wanted to kiss her until she understood what she meant to him. "No baby, it's not dead but you hurt it." The lights in the room began to flicker as the beast's rumbling protests at the pain they were causing it grew louder. Then, with a suddenness that had Gaia yipping, the lights died and blackness surrounded them.

They were only out for a moment and then the back up lights turned on. The two teams stared at each other in surprise. The beast was gone. The only thing left of it was the oozing goop on the floor.

Hunter dropped to one knee on the floor, still cradling Mira against his wide chest. He lifted his head, his nose twitching as he searched for the beast's scent. He could smell the hot wire smell of fried electricity and the sweet scent of his woman. Closing his eyes, he took another deep inhale finally finding the sickly smell of the beast.

"It's still in here."

"Where?" Dianna asked, her eyes searching the shadowed depths of the room.

Hunter opened his eyes. "There," he said, pointing to the rear section of the room, the place that the emergency lights did not cover. "It's back there."

"You can't mean to have us go back there and fight it, Dianna. That's suicide." Gaia held her hands up, trying to halt Dianna as she began to make her way back to where Hunter said the beast was. "We'll all end up dead!" she shouted as Dianna never even looked back. Beast was close on her heels followed by Hunter, still carrying Mirage.

"What do we do, boss?" Gregor asked, his eyes tracking from Dianna's team back to his boss. "We can't let them go back there alone."

Gaia's eyes went from Gregor's to Samuel's, the werewolf. "We go back there, we're signing our own death certificates," she said with a sigh. "I won't ask either of you to follow me."

Gregor tightened his grip on is blaster. "You're not going back there without us." Sam howled his agreement with Gregor's words and moved closer to Gaia.

"You're both fools," she said, but she smiled at them, easing the harshness of her words. "Come on."

* * * *

Angel was first through the building's doors, her eyes searching for enemy and friend alike. She found herself in a hallway that seemed endless, doors on either side with no designation to be found anywhere. "Fuck," she growled, spinning when Marcus strolled into the hallway behind her. "You really are trying to get me to kill you today."

"No, honey, I have perfect belief in your reflexes and in your love." He kissed her quickly before Shadow and the other team came in. "Now we just need to find the right room that houses this thing Braxton found."

They'd barely taken two steps down the hall when the lights flashed and then flickered, finally going out. The emergency back up lights came on quickly and gave off a dim light every few feet down the hallway.

Shadow took lead and the others followed, hurrying to keep up. The creepy sort of mad scientist vibe was growing stronger with ever step they took. It was nerve racking and it had every single agent on the tips of their toes

Lelia Storm had found a ley line, a strong one and her grasp on that ancient magic was fierce. Her eyes sparked and her hair began to stand up on her head. Tinman tried to touch her only to have her draw back, her eyes grim. "I could kill you," she said softly, holding her hands up to keep him back.

"You need to let go on that line a bit, baby. You're hanging on too tight. You know it'll cause you nothing but problems." Drake's voice was soothing and he waited until Lee turned to look at him. "Let it go, baby. Please, just let it go a bit."

Lee sighed and then closed her eyes. A few short seconds later, she opened them and stared at her hubby to be. "Better?"

There was still the buzz of the magical line in her eyes but it was no where near as powerful as it had been just moments before. He reached out carefully and drew her into his arms. "I love you, Lee," he whispered into her hair. "Never forget that."

"I love you, too Drake." She tipped her face back for his kiss, finding the love he had for her to be even more powerful then the strongest ley line. "Let's go kill us a monster.

Kit walked by the hugging couple and patted Drake on the shoulder. "Come on, Tinman. You can get your "tin" on later. We got work to do now."

Drake rolled his. "You heard the boss, Lee. Let's go bag us a big oogly monster."

They followed Shadow and Marcus and Angel, Tambor and Rylan were next and then Kit and her team. Mage's skeletal face looked even paler than usual and his big dark eyes showed more pain than normal as well. He was last in the line but Kit stayed close, knowing the buzzing was getting to him more than to any of the rest o them.

"You're a black witch," Tambor said to Lelia. "You use the ley lines in the earth to tap into the power they possess. Very cool."

"Who are you?" Lee asked.

"I'm Tambor Wynter. I'm a..."

"Black witch as well. Where do you tap your powers from?"

"I'm the last in the Wynter dynasty, I've been given all the powers of my coven as they died or were killed."

"You hold all the powers in the Wynter line. Cool. When this is done, you'll have to give me a demonstration."

Tambor nodded. "I'd love to learn your trick with the ley lines."

Lelia nodded as well. She opened her mouth to speak when something that was distinctly evil seemed to crawl down her spine. "Shadow!" she cried out, gasping in pain at the hold it had on her.

Shadow was there quickly, his hand going out to touch her. Tambor quickly stepped in his way. "No, don't touch her, it would kill you. That's the problems with the lines. When you open yourself up to gather the power of the line, you also leave yourself open to anything else that would want to step in."

Tinman dropped next to his woman, not touching her even though every fiber of his being wanted to pick her up and race her away from the nasty that had gotten into her mind. "Lee, baby, it's me, Drake. Wake up, baby and look at me. You're too fucking tough to let some itsy bitsy pip squeak of a ghoul sneak into your soul. Show him how kick ass you are, babe. Show him no mercy."