Defiant: Book 2 of the Forbidden Series

Chapter One: Awake

Livy

    He was screaming again. No. Wailing.

Livy nodded to herself in the dark. Wailing was a much more appropriate word to describe the sounds Abe Van Helsing made on and off all day, mostly on during the darkest hours of the night. He'd started not long after they locked him in a cell. Those who had been there when it began said it was like watching a switch flip. One moment, he was unconscious on the cot, and the next moment, he sat up, eyes wide and mouth stretched in an endless scream. Only a strong sedative silenced him, and even then, he thrashed and whimpered.

She turned in her bed and stared at the panelled wall, for once wishing she had human hearing. The moonlight slipping through the curtain crack was weak and did little to beat back the darkness, but she could see clearly with half again as much light. Her night vision was even better than Luca's, something she used to enjoy rubbing in his- and every other male shifter's- face whenever the chance presented itself. Now, she knew it was because of the Protean blood running in her veins.

Sitting up, she stretched out her arms and watched as white hairs pierced through her human flesh, growing longer and thicker until all the tawny bronze skin was gone. Her blue painted fingernails fell away as thick black claws sprouted from the tips of her fingers. If she let the shift continue to its completion, the girl she was would completely disappear, replaced by the snarling polar bear she'd envisioned in her mind.

Livy let the shift go and drew her knees to her chest. Turning into other animals wasn't like shifting into her panther form. Her panther was part of her- a half of herself she kept tucked away until she could be safely released. But when she became a bear or leopard, or- she shuddered at the memory of the disastrous attempt at flying- a bird, it was only her changing forms, not trading places with the hidden part of her. She supposed she ought to be grateful. She couldn't imagine sharing headspace with everything she could become. Madness would be a certainty.

Xandra tried to help her understand. Shifters were as much the animal they became as they were the human they lived as. It was the Protean magic that gave them the ability to slip between forms. It was the magic that was a separate entity inside of a Protean, and thank the gods, it was not sentient.

Abe's wailing increased in volume. There was a scuffle, and then silence. The Supreme would be lucky someone didn't "accidentally" slit his throat to shut him up one day. Most people were unhappy with the decision to keep him alive, but Xandra made a valid point. Without him, it would be difficult to undo the years of brainwashing. Killing him would make him a martyr.

After another thirty minutes of trying to sleep, she decided a walk might help. Throwing back the covers, she pulled on the pajamas she kept on the nightstand, having learned quickly that most humans were shocked by someone prowling about in the nude.

Despite the late hour, the Helsing Estate was a hive of activity. Updates from the field didn't wait for daylight, not when there was a war to be won, but Livy supposed it didn't hurt that half the occupants were nocturnal. A woman whose name she struggled to recall walked by and smiled. Lux? No, Luce. She was a witch who'd joined the rebellion two years ago after falling for a Slayer.

Livy returned the smile, and it lingered on her lips as she wandered the hallways. That they were using their enemy's favorite home as their new base amused her to no end, but it had less to do with pettiness and more to do with necessity. She paused at the base of the stairs.

It had been three weeks since they captured Abe. Three weeks since Van fell into a coma and a week since Livy had gone up the stairs to check on her. At first, she'd stayed in the room with the girl, her own body frail and weak after being abused by the Slayers, but as she grew stronger, it became harder to watch Van decline.