Luna

Chapter twenty-three

The compound was in the heart of Cairo. But that didn't deter even one of us. Adrian had placed our guards at key points and passed out photos of the head Black Guard, Daveed Hassasin and Mr. Kamdar. Strict orders were given to detain but to not kill.

Raven had placed witches all around the compound, as to cloak what was happening from the public. Cassidy had resorted to staying in one of our vans. Her task was to infiltrate the compound security system and use it to our advantage. Shaé was at my side.
Our watches ticked off to the hour of doom. Everything was set. Everything was perfect. We were clad in warm leather that moved with us and that could hold all the weapons we desired. Shaé's hair was pulled back into a tight braid and her eyes were covered with Fae cloth, in black. The cloth had slits in them for her eyes, so that it could work properly. It had the ability to detect thermal heat from at least a mile away, making it easier to detect and terminate potential opposition.

Adrenaline bubbled inside all of us. And when the clock finally struck ten, we moved in.

I was at the head of it all, making sure the teams kept to their assigned places. I was head of team alpha, Shaè of team Beta and Adrian of the rest. Raven was left to kill any deserters that came up to her fence.

My steps were light and fast. The first round of guards should just have changed shifts, leaving an opening of seconds. I bounded up the steps and into the doors and by the time I came to the elevators Adrian had rung out six shots, disposing of the new guards instantly.

Undoubtedly the alarms then decided to go off thanks to Adrian's shots fired. Guards came pouring out of every nook and cranny of the first floor and I swore under my breath. I didn't grab for my weapons, instead I simply reached for their energy. Black mist came leaking out from my skin and twirled around the men in a flash. They were too stunned to move and I smirked.

To my eyes their souls shined a bright hue, but then they lifted their guns and I had to steal their souls away. The guards already in the room dropped dead and the mist ended. Yet guards kept pouring from the door ways and I had no other choice but to fight.

The stairs were in my vision, but a very weary guard came spilling out of it. I jumped into the air and collided my feet with the guy. He went tumbling back down the stairs, with my feet hooked in his belt. I rode him like a surf board of sorts until the stairs ended.

Quickly I unhooked my feet from him and stepped off his body, but before he could rise I planted a bullet in his head. When I looked up, finally, four other guards stood waiting. The one closest to me had taken out his knife and I laughed at how arrogant humans could be. I took a step towards him and he jabbed carelessly. In under five steps I had disarmed him and slit his throat with his own knife.

The other three men looked at me, a fierce determination in their eyes. They lunged at the same time. With the honed skills of thousands of years, I stepped onto the wall, ran a few feet up, twirled and kicked all three against their temples. They tumbled down, like sacks of potatoes.

I planted a bullet in each's head again.

I trudged on. The map had been firmly seared into my brain, so to find my way to the hall Abney spoke about was easy. But the fight after finding it took me longer than getting into the building itself.

The guards around Xavier's cell had doubled in the time it took me to just get here. I peeked around the corner once more to see others joining the already stationery guards. A hand clamped around my waist and I nearly yelled in surprise. Shaé stood behind me, her eyes wild and her Fae cloth gone. I gestured to shh and looked around the corner. She did as she was told and when she looked back her face was pale.

I nodded once and took out my guns. Because using my black mist could be a hazard towards Xavier. We stepped around the corner and we let our bullets fly. Several guards hit the ground, never standing again, but the rest charged like a well trained pack of dogs. Shaé quickly grabbed the nearest one to her and paralysed him with his pressure points. I snapped the one in front of me's hand, flipped him over my shoulder and threw him into his buddies, giving me enough time to drop my guns and yank out my two perfectly sharpened saï.

In one swift motion I pierced the guards heart as well as his friends stomach, leaving them both falling to the floor. The fighting continued in much the same fashion for the entire duration that we ran through the hall. Men fell victim to my blades and I treasured the splatter of blood on my face once more.

At the end of the hall came a T section. Guards stood to the right and to the left of the branching hall and I cursed under my breath again. Right in front of us was a door with reinforced steel and I could remember Abney's letter saying to rather break him out through that room.

I motioned to Shaé that we should go to the door and she moved in behind me. Taking every ounce of magic I could muster, I bent the door to my will and finally it swung open. Without much care, we ran into the room, Shaè sending bullets flying behind me. When she was safely inside the room I closed the door with a heavy swing of my hands.

I stood against the door for a long while, just panting. Ringing had started in my ears and it took a while before it finally subsided. But then the bleeping of machines started. Both Shaé and I turned.

"What the fuck?" Shaé hissed out when we turned to see a room of maybe 8 meters long and 10 meters wide. It was stark white with no other hint of colour except for a red light that hung over an incubator. My heart sank. "What is this place...?" Shaé asked in wonder and stepped forward. "I don't know." I barely uttered and rushed towards the incubator.

Dread settled over me when I finally looked into the machine and found my hearts desire right there in front of me. A single dragon egg lay unhatched under a red light. By the look of it it was nearly to term and my heart swelled with joy. "I'm not the last one..." I breathed. "Um Luna! I think you better come see this." Shaé called to me and I turned to look where she was. By her feet was a boy maybe 8 years old, looking terrified. He looked up at me in that moment and I instantly knew he was my kind.

His eyes burned orange around the pupil, but grew deeper red the further away it went. Yellow slits ran in the middle of his iris and at the edge of his iris the red turned black. I gasped. I ran towards the boy and crouched down. "You are safe now little one. No one will ever touch you again." I cooed and let my real eyes slide over my blue ones. The boy gasped as well.

"Do you know what happened here?" I enquired and he simply nodded. "Good, good. Now lift your arms for me." he did as I asked and I blew controlled flames to burn off his chains. Shaé had retreated to the egg. When I turned to look at her, confusion was visible on her features. I took the boys hand in mine and walked to her.

"What is it?" I asked. "The machine isn't an incubator, it's a stasis machine. They are keeping the egg from hatching. The moment we take it, it will probably crack." she said, her voice soft and low as that only I could hear. "Shit." then the banging on the door started. Guess they got tired of waiting.

"Shit indeed. What now?" Shaé asked, raising her eyebrows. I looked to the boy one last time, left his hand and walked to find the weakness in the wall.

It didn't take me long to find it... And when I did.

All hell broke loose.