Jaded Blood

“Five bucks says he’ll fall over and hit his head,” Tasuki said out of the blue.

Damon smirked at the ‘human’s’ attempt at humor.

“Ten bucks says he’ll just fall over and try kicking his way toward the door,” Micah challenged and the two men settled in to watch.

Damon’s smirk widened and he decided to… help out a little. When the wolf tipped his chair again, it fell over and the man hit his head on the floor… hard enough to knock himself out.

Tasuki snorted and held out his hand for the money Micah now owed him.

“Yeah, yeah, you got lucky rookie,” Micah said good naturally as he flipped his wallet open and plucked a ten.

“Nice doing business with you,” Tasuki said and pocketed the bill. “Want to bet on how long he stays out?”

Alicia had been calmly watching the werewolf. She thought she’d at least be a little nervous but amazingly the emotion never came. Feeling brave, she took a deep breath knowing Damon wasn’t going to like what she had to say.

“Let me have a few minutes alone with him,” Alicia said.

“I don’t think so,” Damon growled not at all amused.

Alicia pouted up at him, “How do you expect me to learn anything if you’re always there to help me?”

“I’ll always be there to help you,” Damon corrected.

“Oh really,” Alicia put her hands on her hips deciding that batting her eyelashes wasn’t going to get her what she wanted so she again tried the truth. “What if we somehow become separated and I’m left to face something dangerous… alone?”

“You will not go into that room by yourself,” Damon insisted and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You know, it would be nice to be trusted enough to do something on my own for once instead of having a damn nursemaid.” She turned her back on him. “You’re worse than my brothers.”

Damon narrowed his eyes at Alicia’s back while Micah looked at her with a hurt expression.

“Couldn’t you go in with her and let her at least try it alone before you attempt to help?” Micah asked, for once trying to make peace with Damon.

Alicia looked over her shoulder at Damon liking Micah’s compromise.

“We really need every ounce of information we can get from him. I know for a fact that the girls we rescued tonight aren’t the only girls needing our help,” Titus offered as an incentive. “This guy might know where more are hidden.”

Damon inwardly sighed as he watched a stricken look cross Alicia’s face. He was getting too soft. “Very well Alicia, we will both enter that room but the werewolf is all yours.”

Alicia’s expression changed and she smiled up at Damon before sliding her arms around him in a soft grateful hug. Some people might not understand Damon but she did… and she loved every single inch of him.

Tasuki led the couple into the interrogation room and shut the door behind them. He quickly returned to Micah and Titus so he could watch. Micah pulled a chair around and straddled it, crossing his arms over the back of it. Titus leaned against the wall next to the two way mirror while Tasuki made himself comfortable on the other side.

“What’s she going to do exactly?” Tasuki asked as he watched Damon reach down and right the man’s chair even though he was still out cold.

“You know how vampires will hypnotize people in the movies and make them do stuff they normally wouldn’t do?” Micah asked.

Tasuki shrugged, “Well, yeah… but I figured since she was a shifter like you, it wouldn’t apply and I’ve kind of given up on the movies being anywhere near accurate.”

“Ordinarily, a shifter would not have that kind of ability,” Titus agreed then added, “But Alicia is a special case. Being mated to a Sun God does have its advantages.”

Tasuki sighed heavily, “When are you going to tell me what a Sun God is?”

“When we find out,” Micah answered as if that solved world hunger.

The werewolf opened his eyes and suddenly lurched forward in his chair toward Alicia, snarling and growling. “Just my luck… they send in a damn pussy cat.”

The emphasis on Alicia’s feline heritage caused Damon to react and, before anyone could blink, he was standing less than a foot away from the werewolf with a hand gripping the man’s neck. Much to everyone’s shock, Alicia was standing between the two of them with a scowl on her face directed at Damon.

“You promised,” Alicia hissed. “And if I’m right… the hardest thing to put under a thrall would be a dead person.”

Releasing his neck, Damon glared at the werewolf and his amethyst eyes darkened.

The werewolf swallowed when his chair started shaking and the table strained against the bolts that were holding it to the floor. One of the bolts popped loose from the floor sounding almost like a gunshot in the dead silence.

“Damon!” Alicia shouted.

“Just making sure he gets the point,” Damon said and went to lean against the wall on the other side of the table.

“If he didn’t get the point… I did,” Tasuki whispered even though the intercom was turned off at the moment.

Alicia approached the other chair at the table and sat down to stare at the werewolf who was now brooding.

“What the hell do you want?” the wolf asked coming to the conclusion that he was going to die whether he talked or not. “Do they think by sending a pretty girl in here that’ll make me talk?” He leaned toward her a little bit, “Ain’t nothin’ you can do that’d make me turn on Lucca. I got news for you Sweetheart. I got a freakin’ harem waiting for me out there.”

Alicia gave him a small smile and leaned closer, “I’m sure you do, but before you leave you really want to answer my questions. I’m looking for a girlfriend of mine… she’s missing and I was wondering if you’d seen her.”

“I’ve seen more than my fair share of women,” he said with a conceited smirk, not realizing he was already obeying. “But ain’t had any cougars under my tender care for a while now.”

“She’s not a cougar,” Alicia said and tilted her head to the side, feeling giddy when the wolf’s head mimicked her movement. She showed no outward surprise when she suddenly got a strange visual of another girl and realized it was his thoughts she was seeing… not hers.

Pulling on the few flashes of memory she found within his mind’s eye, Alicia decided to use them to her advantage. “My friend is human, reddish-blond hair, green eyes, and has the tattoo of hands holding a crystal ball across her lower back.”

The guard frowned in displeasure, “Yeah… we had that hot little number a couple weeks ago. Lucca took her for himself. He always takes the good ones.”

Alicia tilted her head the other way and he followed. “Where is Lucca?” she asked gently.

“Don’t know,” the wolf answered groggily. “He’s smart that one… doesn’t tell everyone everything… ya know? He’s got so many of us working for him in different areas… no one knows where the other areas are. That way if we get busted we can’t sell out everyone else.”

Alicia’s eyes widened allowing her pupils to enlarge and pulled the werewolf even further into her control. His answers were tempting her anger but she held it in check.

“Where do you find most of the girls you kidnap?” she inquired.

“Sometimes in the dance clubs or the bad part of town where the homeless are easy prey… no one cares enough to report them missing”

“The Slums,” Micah mused. “That actually makes sense.”

“Why’s that?” Titus asked.

“Alicia got into some trouble in that area a while back,” Micah answered remembering the two werewolves she’d drained in an ally. He shoved the memory away. “It’s not a nice area… a lot of drug activity and prostitution. There’s also a lot of demon activity down there too.”

“And my friend? Where did you find her?” Alicia asked since the man’s vision of the girl’s clothing had looked more like a rich girl’s party dress.

“Her and that she-wolf were dancing together at Night Light over a month ago. Parker slipped a drug into their drink and they didn’t know what hit them.”

Micah’s chair fell over he came out of it so fast. “They’ve had her in a cage like that for a month,” he thundered pissed beyond reason that girls had been kidnapped from his bar. “I suspected as much. That’s why I confronted Anthony about it.”

Titus held his hand up at Micah and pressed the button on the intercom, “Alicia, is there any way you can brainwash this guy?”

“There are many things I could do to him right now,” she said not looking away from the werewolf prisoner.

“He might be of good use later,” Titus answered.

“So you want me to brainwash him into being good for the rest of his life?”

Titus arched an eyebrow, “That’s not a bad idea… convince him he’s part of my pack and that Lucca is the pack enemy. Then, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to do the same thing to the other four guards we found.”

“You could make him loyal to you then send him back to Lucca as a spy,” Damon suggested knowing Titus could hear him.

Titus hesitated before clicking the intercom again, “Will I be able to trust him completely?”

“Alicia?” Damon smirked knowing she was just itching to make this guy claw his own eyes out and swallow his tongue.

“Oh I got this,” Alicia said with a saucy smile.

Titus smiled in satisfaction when Alicia added a couple rules of her own… like visiting gay biker bars on his night off and never again being turned on by a female of any race.

“Ouch,” Micah said grinning from ear to ear.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Tasuki whispered.

Micah snorted, “Welcome to our world. This is regular everyday bullshit compared to some of the stuff that goes on around here.”

“Looks like she’s done,” Titus said and pushed away from the wall just as the door opened.

“Was that good enough for you?” Alicia asked with a grin.

“Perfect as always,” Micah praised.

“I’ll take you over to the precinct so you can work on the others,” Titus reminded her but glanced toward Damon for approval.

Alicia stepped over and gave Micah another hug. “Thank you for letting me help out on this. I really enjoyed being needed, so if you catch any more bad guys that could use an adjustment, just let me know.” She quickly slid from his arms and eagerly followed Titus out the door.

Micah smirked at her retreating form but his expression melted away when he saw Damon glaring at him. With a heavy sigh, he shook his head and rolled his eyes before turning away from the man. Micah leaned close to the two way mirror to take a good look at the werewolf and blinked when a small crack suddenly appeared right in front of his face.

Tasuki took a step back from the cougar when he saw a golden hue appear in his eyes. The sight of golden eyes needled at his memory and the vision of the golden eyed man Kyoko had called an angel came back to haunt him. The sounds out in the hall faded away and Tasuki shook the vision away when Micah abruptly punched the two-way mirror with his fist. The glass shattered startling the werewolf still held inside the interrogation room.

“Calm down,” Tasuki said softly.

Micah shook his head, “He keeps Alicia away from her family and thinks everyone is out to take her from him.”

Tasuki left the small room and headed toward the break room, his destination… the coffee machine. He had a feeling that with all of the flashes he was having… sleep was probably a really bad idea. He’d made it two days without sleep so far… what would another one hurt. It wasn’t like he would suddenly go crazy or anything… you had to be sane to do that.

After a few minutes of complete silence, Tasuki headed toward the holding cells but paused when the front door opened and Titus stepped in with a grin on his face.

“Damon seems to be in a bit of a rush so he’s reprogramming three of the guards while Alicia works on the last one,” he announced.

“Figures,” Micah yelled sarcastically from inside the observation room.

Tasuki decided to ignore the remark. “What about ‘Mr. Loves Gay Biker Bars’ in there?” he asked tilting his head toward the interrogation room where the werewolf was still shackled to the chair.

“We are going to transport him and the other guards to the larger jail on the other end of town. Too bad they’re going to overpower the driver and make their grand escape along the way,” Titus answered with a smirk.

Tasuki frowned, “What if Lucca suspects them?”

“If we had only let one of the guards go, then you’re right… Lucca would be very suspicious. That’s why I’m letting them escape as a group, fighting their way out of police custody. Lucca will probably give them a damn promotion for putting one over on us,” Titus answered silently thanking Damon for the idea. “By the way, I need you to do something for me.”

“What’s that?” Tasuki asked.

Titus held up the empty bottle of spritzer, “Stop by The Witch’s Brew and pick up another bottle of this stuff.”

Tasuki took the bottle and looked at its small size, “Want me to pick up more than one?”

“Not a bad idea.” Titus answered and turned his head when he heard Micah growl. “I’d better get in there and give him something to do before Micah releases some of his frustrations on the poor guy.”

Chapter 5

Jade flinched when she heard the sound of breaking glass and cracked her eyes open to thin slits. Expecting to see the cage she’d been locked in for the last month, she was confused for a moment finding herself on a small cot of some kind. She’d been drugged again… that much she knew. She still remembered the sting of the tranquilizer dart she had been shot with.

She slowly inhaled, testing the air for hints of her surroundings. The scents here were different… cleaner… not dirty like the warehouse she’d been in.

As the effects of the tranquilizer wore off and her vision started to clear, Jade noticed the bars were a different kind and seemed further away. Keeping very still so as not to give her alertness away, she moved her gaze just enough to see that she was right… she was in a jail cell rather than her normal cage. It wasn’t much of an improvement, but at least she could move far enough away from the bars if they came at her with that stupid cattle prod again.

She could hear muted voices in the distance and remained still, waiting on all of her senses to wake the rest of the way up so she could make out what they were saying. She recognized the scent of the human that had wanted to release her from her cage and felt comfort knowing he was near. There had been no faking the scent of concern and worry seeping from his pores.

She wrinkled her nose slightly when she caught the scent of one of the guards from the warehouse in close proximity but that paled in comparison to the undeniable scent of an Alpha. She swallowed her growl hating all Alpha’s with good reason… it had been the conceit of more than one Alpha that had landed her in this mess to begin with.

She watched through her thick lashes as one of the men… the Alpha obviously, stepped out of a room to the right and walked past her cell. She remembered him standing right beside the older werewolf that had shot her with the tranquilizer gun. Again, she had to stop herself from growling at his powerful scent. He’d probably given the order to have her drugged.

Not far behind him was the human male. She held her breath when the man stopped long enough to look at her and sigh before he moved on.

“Go on and get him out of here,” Titus instructed. “And make sure you don’t tangle with Damon if he is still over there. He and your sister have actually been a lot of help.

Jade waited as she heard movement and a new voice muttering about needing a vacation before footsteps started moving toward her cell. First she saw the feline… a strong looking male with dirty-blond hair and strange blue eyes walking with one of the guards from the warehouse.

Everything around her screamed law enforcement but here her torturer was walking around free and she was still locked in a cage. Unable to control her reaction, Jade leapt off the cot and charged at the bars separating them.

“No!” Tasuki cried out when he saw that the she-wolf was awake and beating herself against the bars to get at the bad guy turned pack mate. “Calm down,” Tasuki said and approached the cell carefully, “you’re going to hurt yourself.”

Jade continued to snarl and growl at her previous captor, trying to push herself between the bars. This was the bastard that had the sick fetish of continuously telling her what he was going to do to her once the hormones they’d injected her with kicked in. If she ever got the chance, he would lose the one part of his body he boasted the most about.

The guard froze and stared through the bars at the she-wolf feeling his new conscience kick in so hard that he almost felt sick for the way he’d treated her. He inhaled sharply and squared his shoulders, determined to help rescue the other girls to make up for what he’d done in the past.

“Come on,” Micah grumbled and continued forward, pulling the male werewolf behind him by the arm. He hoped that once they were out of the building the she-wolf would calm down a little.

“Control yourself,” Titus ordered with a growl, kneeling so he was eye to eye with the she-wolf. “This is a public place and you will adhere to the sacred rules that have kept our kind from being exposed.”

Jade growled and actually snapped her teeth at him but backed away from the bars feeling his power flare to the point of heating her skin. How dare he give her orders just because he was an Alpha? She didn’t know him and he still had her in a damn cage. She bared her teeth and continued a long growl in warning as she locked her angry eyes with his.

Titus narrowed his own gaze seeing the hate shining in her eyes and silently wondered if he’d been right about her being feral. If he let her out right now, she would only follow her animal instinct and attack someone. He couldn't let that happen… not within the city. The last thing they needed right now was more animal attacks in the morning paper. Already, gun sales in the city were through the roof due to the strangeness of the stories that had already leaked out because of the demons.

“I can only imagine what she’s thinking right now,” Tasuki said softly, wanting nothing more than to open the damned door for her… at least this cage had a door.

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