Involuntary

Chapter Sixteen

Dmitrei and Elric were eating, trying to get Ann's opinion on what he should do as far as winning Elena back, when his phone beeped. He absentmindedly brought out the phone, wondering who would be texting him, seeing as he never used his phone, and he saw a message from Elena that made his blood ice over instantly.

Help! Taken by Aloys!

He slammed the phone down on the counter and started for the door, pulling on a jacket. Elric ran after him, trying to stop him by jerking on his arm. Dmitrei glared at him, rage in his eyes.

"Aloys has Elena," he snapped, angry with himself as much as he was Aloys. He shook his head, "I really thought he was only after me, waiting for me to come to him. With his powers, I don't want to think about what he could do."

"Hold on," Elric said. "He's a jerk right now, but he's not going to hurt your mate. He has never had any beef with you, unlike me."

Dmitrei sighed, "I'm not betting on anything when it comes to Elena. I need her back. I need to make things right."

"You won't be able to make things right if you walk into a straight-up trap," Elric reminded him. "You have no idea who Aloys is working for or with. There could be many, many people helping him."

"I don't care. He has my mate," Dmitrei growled.

"All right, but I'm going with you," Elric told him, Dmitrei got the sense that "no" wasn't an option.

They both looked at Ann, who was staring in worry at them from her seat in the kitchen. "Be safe," she said softly.

Elric strode over to her, dipped her in his arms and kissed her. "Of course, I will. I'm invincible, remember?"

"I know, but you're everything to me."

Dmitrei couldn't even roll his eyes at them, because he wanted that with Elena. He was going to have it too, just as soon as he got her back. He would freeze them all where they stood and reclaim his mate.

Elric grabbed a few things and they headed out to get into his truck. They set the GPS to the address on the card, and it came up with a travel time of several hours.

"That's not going to work," Dmitrei said, exasperated as he climbed back out of the truck and slammed the door.

"Hey," Elric said. "Come on. I promise he's not going to let them hurt her. I know him. He hates me more than anyone. He doesn't simply hurt random people."

"That was before he woke up. Before he started working with whatever evil piece of shit he's currently working for."

"I know, I know, but come on," Elric said. "I have the route down well enough after looking at the GPS. We can fly. It will be much faster being able to go direct and bypass all the winding mountain roads.

"Great," Dmitrei said striding out onto the main lawn with Elric. It was good they had such a large, private house with expansive grounds. Dmitrei would buy the same thin after he got Elena back.

"Still remember how to shift?" Elric asked, his body already beginning the process of slowly morphing into a dark, black cloud that grew taller and taller.

"Of course. It's what I am. The human is the disguise," Dmitrei reminded him and closed his eyes listening internally.

He felt energy rushing through him and his body began growing, expanding beyond the cramped confines of his human form. As he opened his eyes, he found himself to be at his full towering height. The air around him glittered, crystalline and icy. He spread his massive, blue-tinted wings with a grin. It had been so long since he stretched them. He flapped his wings, rising into the air with Elric, who's darkness seemed to absorb and reflect the light at the same time. When they were high enough, both gargoyles took off into the clouds where they would be unseen, flying at top speed in the direction the GPS had pointed them.

Being panicked made it impossible to enjoy finally flying again. Under normal circumstances he would have watched the mountains and trees pass below him as blurs. He would watch the clouds change color and thickness, reveling in the cold air whipping across his stone body.

He wished he could have shown Elena his beast on his first transformation. Perhaps, he would still get that chance. He followed Elric, who knew where they were going, and tried to keep his mind clear of what could be happening to Elena while they traveled. After a couple of hours without stopping, he began to tire, in that same moment, Elric began descending toward some mountains in the distance. They flew lower until he could make out the little mountain roads and a small cluster of buildings nestled in a valley at the center of the peaks. Unless arriving by air or happening to drive the winding, obscure roads leading to the buildings, no one would ever know it was there. Given that Elric was aiming straight at it, that had to be where they were keeping Elena. They flew in a circle until finding a safe place to land outside the compound, and they both hit the ground hard, claws raking the dirt as they slowed themselves after the long flight.

"Holy shit, I'm already tired," Elric commented.

"Are you, though?" Dmitrei quipped, shifting back to his human form, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. Aside from the flights, he could use all his powers, and his human form was less tiring to maintain.

"No. Not now that we get to fight," Elric said returning to his human form. One of the benefits of being a gargoyle shifter was the ability to stay clothed between shifting forms due to the high level of magic inherent in their transformation process. Thus, Elric still wore his usual leather jacket and dark jeans, just as Dmitrei still wore his jeans and t-shirt under a gray jacket.

They looked up at the first wall into the compound. "Well, they wanted us here. Now they have us," Elric commented.

"We didn't want both of you," a familiar, sardonic voice spoke over loudspeakers. "Just Ice, you dick."

"I think he means me," Elric stated. "Same to you, asshole!" He raised a finger in the direction of the speaker and Dmitrei raised a curious eyebrow.

"I'm fairly sure that means something sexual and offensive," Elric explained with a grin.

Dmitrei stepped forward. "Where is Elena?"

"You just need to come up and talk to me," Aloys said through the speaker. "Hear me out and I'll give your mate back. Safe and sound." There was a rustling sound. "You are safe and sound, right, darling? Tell him you're safe and sound," Aloys said, clearly speaking to someone else.

"I'm safe and sound," Elena's voice said through the speaker, sending both rage and relief flooding through Dmitrei. Relief that she was fine. Rage because Aloys was controlling her.

"I won't talk until I see Elena," Dmitrei called out.

"Well," Aloys said as a whirring, creaking sound began. "I guess we can talk about that in a minute, but first, I have someone here who wants to see you still have your powers."

"What the fuck?" Dmitrei trailed off as cement doors slowly opened in front of them, revealing a courtyard. Standing inside the courtyard were dozens of tall, strong-looking men, all wearing black from head to toe, and some holding modern day weapons. Whatever they were doing up here in the mountains, whoever Aloys was working for, they were raising some sort of army by the looks of it. An army of shifters, according to the various scents in the air. Yet, they didn't smell right, and he couldn't make out exactly what type of shifters they were.

Something was off about them, but he didn't have time to figure it out. He needed them out of his way. A bolt of lightning struck nearby, followed by the clap of thunder and the applause of heavy rain as it clattered to the earth around them.

"I never was overly fond of your ability to do that," Elric said sarcastically, looking up at the suddenly darkening sky and back to his quickly soaking leather jacket.

"Let's take care of these guys and find Elena," Dmitrei snapped ignoring Elric's comment and seething with indignant fury.

One particularly tall man stepped forward, at least part bear if his size was any indication, and judging by his posture, he was some sort of leader. "Move out!" he shouted and the men around him moved forward in ranked groups, approaching the pair of gargoyles cautiously with their weapons raised.

Aloys's voice came over the loudspeaker, "Capture Ice. Do whatever you like with the other. Something painful, preferably."

"Be careful. Not everything they have looks manmade," Elric warned, cracking his knuckles and stepping forward.

"I don't think we'll need to worry about it," Dmitrei commented. He took a deep breath and felt ice flow through his veins, his body changing shape once again as adrenaline and rage mixed with cold, calculated resolution. He would save his mate. If he didn't have to, he would prefer not to kill anyone, but all bets were off now. He had squared with what happened in his past and all he had now was the firm resolve to protect his mate, no matter the cost.

Immediately, the men approaching began firing and Dmitrei focused on the rain in front of him, concentrating it and creating a solid wall of ice. Go time. He charged through the ice wall, right into the center of the unsuspecting soldiers. As the wall crashed all around them, sending the men scattering in different directions to avoid debris, Dmitrei breathed his icy fire all around. A thick white stream of ice that froze anything too slow to avoid it. With the path clear, he charged into the compound, swatting every soldier he came across with huge talons and throwing them headlong into nearby walls.

"I forgot how fun it is to watch you in action," Elric said following in right behind him, swiping at a nearby tower, knocking it over and sending the men on it careening into the nearby tree line. By now, the entire compound was awash in commotion and gunfire. More men poured into the center through the doors that ran deeper into the buildings adjoining the perimeter. Along the walls, men filed onto catwalks in an attempt to surround them from all sides, while others ducked into Humvees and began driving, circling the two huge gargoyles occupying the main courtyard.