Born of Ice

Chapter Seven

   She exited the room taking in her surroundings, hopefully for the last time. She made her way slowly down the hall towards the stairs, listening to the creaks of floor boards and the groan of the house as wind battered the sides to get in. Oddly, she felt as if she would have loved to live in this house if things had been different. Sudden fear gripped at her heart as she realized she would be going home without Eric. Where was the sudden fear coming from? She hardly knew the man even with some small part of her brain telling her that she already knew a deep part of his being.
   She made it part way down the stairs before an intense wave of pain shot through her system causing her to stumble. She made it to the last few stairs before the next wave took her off her feet, onto the floor. The sound of her collapsing brought the men rushing in from the kitchen. Their faces paled as they realized something she didn't seem to know about. She tried to speak only to have a soft mewl come from her throat. Eric shouldered her duffel bag, scooping her up in his arms as he looked at the agents that had come to get them.
"We need to move now to get her out of here. Explain the rest on the way or things are going to get unpleasant for all of us."
"Yea, let's go. Leave the car you had we are taking ours. Things are going to get dicey until we make it out of here."
   They rushed from the house into the garage where the agents car was parked next to their car. She felt Eric shift her as he got into the back seat, still cradling her to his chest as another wave broad sided her. She felt her body jack knife in his arms as a cry slipped her lips. What was happening to her? She felt warm droplets landing on her as she tried to focus her eyes on the source. She could have sworn she saw tears coming from Eric as he cradled her closer. She heard him whispering apologies to her as he rubbed his hand over her hair. She tried to lift her hand up to his face only to have it twitch in response. She felt the speed of the car as they took turns, skidding through corners as they sped towards their destination. She dimly remembered Eric soothing her through waves of pain wracking her body. She felt the pinch of a needle before darkness took her, easing the pain.
   Eric pulled the needle out, tossing it to the floor before cradling her to his chest as his eyes stung with unshed tears. This was all his fault. Judging by the fear he had seen in her eyes, she didn't know what was happening to her. They were coming up fast to the road block that they had to make it through to get to their extraction point. He let his senses expand outward connecting to the two human guards stationed there. He shoved compulsions into their brains with the force of a mack truck. He felt his energy draining from him as he held the compulsion to look away as they flagged them through, the car not losing speed as it blew through. He felt his control slipping as they rounded the corner away from the road block. The darkness began to crowd his vision as he prayed that he held on long enough for them to escape from this place.
   The car burst through the open gates of the hidden air strip, gunning straight for the open hatch of the military cargo plane. Off in the distance, they could hear the engines of cars coming straight for them. They skidded to a halt inside the bay as the doors began to close. The plane lurched forward as gun shots rang out, ricocheting off the side of the plane as it gained momentum down the air strip. The agents held on, glancing back to check the 2 in the back seat, noting that even in his unconscious state he still held on to her fiercely as the plane gave one final lurch before they heard the wheels leave the ground.  The plane they used was blessedly unmarked and virtually untraceable with its dull colored paint job. Once they made it back to base, it would get a damage assessment and a new paint job. With the current threat behind them, they let themselves relax. Who said they couldn't take a nap on the way home?