Mutations

Mutations: ~ Chapter Forty Six ~

Mutations:

~ Chapter Forty Six ~

There was no warning for what would come next.

Nothing could have prepared me for what happened. Ripper stood like he owned the land, staring defiantly at Veronica's men with a rage in his gaze that could be understood by anyone; no translation needed.

Ripper was furious.

"What have you done?" Eric hissed quietly, staring at the people who came forward to circle us in. There had to be at least nine of them and they all looked equally battle ready, "What are they?"

Ripper inhaled dramatically deeply and rolled his head around to scowl at Eric, "Now is not the time, Eric." He drawled through a moody tone that would've been funny at any other moment, "Let me live my life. This is my vengeance to take for myself; I deserve this."

Eric clenched his jaw shut with great resentment shining in his dark gaze, but he knew when to shut up; and this was one of those times. Even Veronica's men lost their authoritative smugness that they had a second earlier, their haughty stances became less so and now they looked worried.

And rightly so.

"You come here today to take my monsters from me, and what?" Ripper stepped forward with a grand predatory smile on his face, the face of a man who has won something, "Capture me in the process? are you so unbelievably pig headed to think that I would come without protection?"

I held my breath, nervous as to what would happen next. The men sent for as had trained eyes that darted from one face to another, their fingers rested on the triggers of their guns, and I could tell that they wanted nothing short of a reason to pull them and let the metal rain on us.

But Ripper's confidence, or perhaps it was stupidity, seemed to give them a reason to hesitate. Because he didn't look like a man who had anything to fear, despite the fact that he had all those guns trained on him, he was standing like we were all having a casual talk about the weather.

The air itself was damp and I could tell that it was going to rain, the sun was cowering behind gathering clouds, that painted the sky a grim shade of gray. Rain liked to mess with my nose but I could still smell all the other...interesting smells that surrounded us.

Ripper had created more Splices. Or something akin to us, because these strangers were not all human, but I could smell something close to human DNA within them.

"You have forgotten who I am! I am not a man who bends his knee to the kind of people who steal other men's work!" Ripper shouted, stirring his Splices as they shifted from foot to foot with anticipation, "You either walk from this fight, or you die in this horrible field! Both will only end in humiliation in your part."

I felt Eric lightly nudge my arm and I glanced at him. His gaze was intense but I heard his words clear, even in the low hoarse whisper, "Run." It was like he was shouting it at me, the demand in his eyes was like none other.

'Eric wants us to run.' I instantly informed my pack through our bond and Two straightened his spine, 'I can't run.' He was the first to answer, and I glanced back at him, 'It's not in our DNA, Six.' Three added but he didn't need to tell me either, 'I've still got some fight in me.' Five added enthusiastically but we were all the same.

We were all exhausted but the tease of a fight seemed to wake something new in me; now that I'd had a taste of the violence, it settled at home in me nicely. I wanted to fight but I didn't know how; I wanted to fight with my pack. I wanted to protect our Handlers, but I didn't want to be controlled by them.