The Breaking

open.

“That’s P One!” Waylon shouted, losing every bit of composure that had been his normal exterior.

Cole speculated that his initial plan had been to get him, Lambert, and Frank to stumble into an ambush set up by more of the guards from G7. Waylon’s haste to abandon that idea had less to do with a change of heart than with the creature that stood just outside the doors holding a guard in each hand as if they were toys. Frank had accomplished the same basic feat not too long ago, but the Full Blood had room to spare in each fist.

The beast stood just over seven feet tall and was covered in dark brown fur. Slowly, it shifted its head to look at the elevator and open its mouth in a way that dragged its teeth even farther through the rips they’d cut into his cheeks. “There you are,” it growled.

Nodding slowly, Cole took in the sight with calm acceptance. “Burkis. Took you longer than I thought it would. Or are you going by Randolph now?”

The Full Blood cast aside the guards and swatted away several others as he hunched over to avoid scraping his head on the low ceiling while stalking toward the elevator. The parking level was wide open behind him. Beyond a few cars, there was a ramp that led down to the other levels and presumably the street. Between the ramp and the cars parked behind the werewolf, there were a few metal doors along the wall and what looked to be a small office.

“P Two!” Waylon shouted hysterically.

“What’s the matter?” Cole asked as he tapped the button. “Never seen a Full Blood before? What kind of Skinner are you?”

The elevator doors slid shut as slowly as if cutting off just another would-be passenger with poor timing. The Full Blood lowered his head and reached out to grab the edges of the doors with both hands. No man alive would have been quick enough to reach the elevator before those doors closed. No animal would have been able to grab them and force them open. Randolph was neither of those things, so he got to the elevator and pulled both sliding doors completely off their tracks.

“Time and again you refuse to heed my warnings,” Randolph snarled. “If you are a part of what is being protected here, then I was foolish not to have killed you when we first met.”

“I just want out of here,” Cole said while swinging the shotgun away from Waylon to aim at the Full Blood. “Step aside and let us go and we won’t have a problem.”

The Full Blood stared down at the elevator, leaned in to sniff the passengers and then scowled at Waylon. “That one stinks of Lancroft’s chemicals,” he snarled through shrinking fangs. Nodding toward the guards, Randolph added, “As do they.”

“You probably didn’t know anything about this place before, right?”

Randolph said nothing to admit such a weakness, but the flaring of his nostrils told Cole he’d struck a nerve.

When he lowered his shotgun, one of the guards attempted to grab it from him. Randolph bared his fangs and reached into the elevator to grab the guard’s head and hold him in place. Cole kept the shotgun down and stooped down to take something from out of his canvas shoe and toss it at the Full Blood. Randolph caught the chip of metal, growled, and closed it in a shaggy fist.

“I cut that out to interfere with the runes cloaking this place from you,” Cole explained.

“You knew I was close enough to get here so quickly?” Randolph asked.

Shrugging, Cole admitted, “I didn’t have a clue who or what might be in the area. I just hoped that something big and mean would be able to sniff out this place and come running to get to a bunch of Skinners.”

“You would sacrifice your own kind for a slim chance of survival?”

“These assholes may or may not be Skinners, but they’re not my kind,” Cole said. “They’re fucking parasites who took advantage of me getting framed for the deaths of a bunch of innocent cops. They’re bloodthirsty assholes, and if I have to gamble with my own life to get the hell out of here and throw some real justice their way, then that’s how it’s got to be.”

“Justice,” Randolph snarled in a manner than made it unclear whether he spoke the word as a question, statement, or joke.

“If you want to level this place, go ahead and do it,” Cole said. “My friends and I will gladly leave you alone.”

“And what about them?” Randolph asked as he fixed his crystalline gray-blue eyes upon Waylon and his men.

“They could barely contain three prisoners,” Cole said grudgingly. “What could they do to you?”

Randolph seemed to consider that until his ears pricked up and he reached in to grab Waylon’s arm. Somehow, the man in the suit had gotten a cell phone in his hand and made a quick connection. “I need all firepower to converge on Parking Level One,” he shouted at the phone. “The prisoners are escaping and there is a Class One Shifter on site. Repeat, Class One Shifter.”

Randolph grabbed Waylon’s arm and squeezed until bones broke and the phone dropped from his grasp. “Where is the other Jekhibar?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Waylon squeaked.

“The Unity Stone,” Randolph snarled. “It’s here. I can smell it.”

“Then you can find it yourself.”

“You truly want me to tear this place apart?” After a few more sniffs, his eyes drifted toward the floor. “Below. The Jekhibar is below.” He pulled in another breath. This time, he didn’t like the taste. “There are more coming.”

“You’re damn right there are,” Waylon said defiantly. “More than enough to blast you into pieces. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll run before—”

Randolph pulled Waylon from the elevator with such force that his arm came away from his body and blood poured down the side of his suit. Waylon was too shocked to make a sound as he dropped. Even if he could have found enough breath to scream, it would have been washed away by the Full Blood’s bellowing voice.

“No human tells me to run!” Randolph bellowed. “You have survived this long only because we have allowed it. I thought to hinder this madness by collecting the artifacts that would lead your kind to the brink, but perhaps Liam was right. Perhaps things should be allowed to take their course even if it leads to this world being engulfed in fire and humans are all forced to endure the Breaking.”

Cole picked up Waylon’s cell phone and listened to the voice coming through its speaker. “Shit,” he said while disconnecting the call, then tucking the phone under the front of his jumpsuit. “There’s more coming this way.”

“What?” Lambert asked. “Who?”

“I don’t know. Sounded like soldiers.”

“Guns and machines,” Randolph said. “You can go if you commit yourself to one task. Protect the young one.”

Lambert tried easing past the werewolf but was stopped by an open hand covered in Waylon’s blood. “He’s with me,” Cole assured him. “And so is he,” he added, indicating Frank. Randolph let both of them move past him and into the parking garage. “What young one?” Cole asked.

“One of my kind. She is still wild, but must be hidden from the others.”

“Other Full Bloods?” Cole asked as confusion threatened to suffocate him like a rising pool.

“They’ve come for the Breaking Moon and are seeking any way possible to get more than their share of it. Find the young one, take her far from this continent and keep her hidden.” As he shifted into a hulking body that was bigger than most of the compact cars behind him, Randolph snarled, “If Skinners truly care about your species, you must prepare for war. It is too late to avoid now. Organize and find a way to keep my brethren from becoming too powerful to be contained.”

“How the hell do I find a Full Blood?” Cole asked. “You guys always find me !”

“True Skinners find a way. That is why the warrior spirit remains alive in you and not in the rest of humanity. The only way for me to act without answering to Kawosa is for me to remain as ignorant as you in some matters. Now if you wish to survive, you must leave this place.” Shifting his gaze to Waylon, he added, “If you will help me in my search, this can go much smoother.”

Waylon was on the floor, bleeding out through the ragged stump of his right arm. Several guards had shoved open a door somewhere in the parking garage beyond the elevator and fired a few shots at the fleeing prisoners before catching sight of the Full Blood. Cole watched as Randolph absorbed a wave of shotgun blasts that thumped