Tempest

44 :Unchained

The last but one phase was in progress.

Adria, Aida, Samual, Marc, Leon, Ceres and a few other warriors and other supernaturals had managed to teleport to The Establishment when Vivian had arrived. They walked stealthily through the sterile passageways, keeping their eyes and ears open. They had come through Victoria’s room, sure that it would be empty as advised by Liam. It had indeed been void of any bodies and as the party of twenty moved swiftly through the building, they were mostly not disturbed.

“There are fifty guards across The Establishment. Most of them are human so they will not be much of a challenge. Who you should be worried about, however, are the Druids themselves. We all have varying skills with different strengths but you should be able to manage them with the skills set that you possess.”

Victoria and Liam had given the team a quick debrief, including the layout of the facility as well as who was being kept where. The anger that had simmered within the group at hearing what had happened had made he and Liam wriggle uncomfortably in their seats but no one had said anything to them.

Now, they separated and moved like shadows through the building that had been the cause of so much pain, brutality and death. Nothing in the clean, well-lit corridors indicated just how much suffering had been caused within these white walls. 

Adria, Marc, Leon and Micah headed towards the wards, where the experiments had been taking place. According to Victoria, only one shifter was still kept there, locked up and bound. 

"There won't be many guards there," they had been told. "They have him tied up with a lot of silver. There is enough wolfsbane in that room to incapacitate a small army. He is the most powerful were Noah had ever come across and he wasn't taking any chances."

As such, they had come with a Sylph, a small woman with purplish skin, delicate features and pointy ears who looked like an angel and fought like a demon. Sylvia was also able to control air and had been specifically chosen for this assignment.

When they got to the wards, they easily took out the human guards and walked into the large, windowless room. They immediately felt the effects of the wolfsbane and stepped quickly back, wheezing as the dust entered their lungs. Sylvia flexed her fingers and made delicate movements which gathered up the powdered wolfsbane into a ball. She wrapped it in a bowl of air and shoved it into a shelf. Turning quickly, she forced whatever dust was in the lungs of the weres around her out, adding it to the ball in the shelf.

The twins and Micah came into the room and Marc and Leon growled in fury. Adria,  however, felt her knees buckle as she saw him. Leon reached out to support her as the sob that left her body hung in the air like a phantom punch.
Lying on a stretcher, bound and trussed, lay Kian. His huge form was half shifted and a ferocious snarl ripped through the air as he saw them. Despite the rows of silver that bound him and the spiked collar at his neck, he strained to get off the table.

She moved forward slowly and reached out to touch her husband. A warning growl rumbled through Kian’s chest at her movement. As she continued to move forward he roared. Long, hard and loud. The sound echoed through the room and everyone covered their ears with their hands.

After the air left his lungs, he lay back down as though the effort had exhausted him. Panting heavily, he watched as Adria’s had finally made contact with his skin. He whimpered and closed his eyes. Slowly he transformed until he was in his human form.

The chains that bound him shrank down with him and tightened around him. Clearly they were enchanted. 

Adria moved up until she could hold his face in her hands. She took the duplicate key that had been made from the one Victoria had given her and carefully unlocked the collar around his head. She didn't seem to mind that her hands started to sizzle in the process. She tossed it aside and pulled something from the pocket of the pants she wore. She held it over him and spoke.

"Extrico," she said out loud in Latin. Release.
Immediately the chains fell off of him. As soon as they fell, however,  Kian moved faster than any of them had anticipated. He pushed Adria backwards until her back hit the wall. As the team around her rushed to help her she held out her hand, warning them to stay back.

Kian kept his eyes on her, a snarl on his face, a wild look in his eye. Adria slowly lifted her hand and touched his face gently. He tightened his hold around her neck, squeezing in warning.

"When the cold wind blows across a barren earth," Adria said softly. "When the stars have all fallen from the sky. When the sun no longer blankets the earth with its warm…"

"Not even then will the love I have for you fade," Kian said as his hold on her neck loosened. His voice was gravely and low, barely above a whisper. "For you are one with the most basic part of me."

"And neither time nor space could ever keep you from me indefinitely. Or deny the most important truth of our lives. For you are mine  and I am yours. And not even death will keep us apart," they finished reciting their wedding vows together, softly.

Kian leaned into Adria and she wrapped her arms around his large form. They stood like that for a long moment until Leon coughed discreetly behind them.

"We really need to go," he said. 

Adria nodded and helped her husband stand up straight. She pulled something else out of her pocket and gave it to him. "Take it," she told him. "It will heal you and restore your strength. We have to go now. The others are preparing to release the others. Then we need to get back."

As Kian swallowed the pill she gave him, he straightened and pulled his wife into his arms. He turned to face the four who were watching him warily.

"Where is Tempest?" he asked.

"She's fighting Noah which is why we can't stay here long. We need to go," Adria told him.

Kian nodded, his arm still around his wife. 

As one, they all turned and headed out the door that would lead them to the others. They walked quickly and quietly, keeping an eye out for Ceres and the rest of the team.

As Adria turned a corner, a slightly familiar smell hit her nose and she grinned, allowing her canines to extend. She rushed over to where a man was coming from the opposite direction and stood in front of him. The man's eyes widened and terror filled his eyes as he fumbled for the gun at his side. Adria chuckled as she grabbed him by the neck.

"I told you I would remember you, didn't I?" she said to him as her claws extended, drawing blood. "I also told you I couldn't wait to taste your blood on my lips." Adria’s grin widened as she pulled him closer to her. "I came to collect."

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30 December 2020
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