Kelley Armstrong - Stolen

"Blowtorch," Leah said. "That'll work. We'd better get ready."

We never got a chance to put our plan into motion. As I swung into the empty cell, the exit door suddenly opened. The guards' shouts of surprise broke into a barrage of commands. Leah darted into the first cell with me. As I wheeled to close the door, I realized Bauer wasn't with us.

"She bolted," Leah said.

"Shit!"

I threw open the door. Bauer was running down the hall.

"Sondra!" I shouted.

She stopped. Instead of turning around, though, she started pounding on the cell door to her right.

"Open up!" she yelled. "Goddamn you! Let me in!"

At first, I thought she'd lost it. Then I realized she was at the one remaining occupied cell, that of the Vodoun priest. Of course, Zaid couldn't hear her. The wall was soundproof. Despite everything happening out here, the poor guy was probably sound asleep. I leaned out the doorway to tell her to hide, but she was already gone, vanishing into Armen Haig's former cell.

As I closed the door, I realized we had a problem. Leah and I were hiding behind a one-way pane of glass. Any guards in the hall could see us, but we couldn't see them. Not good. I scanned the cell for a hiding spot, knowing I wouldn't find one. We were exposed. Any second now the guards would come around that corner-I stopped. Why hadn't they come around the corner already? When I cracked open the door, I heard frantic shouts, then a scream, an inhuman shriek that made my hackles rise.

I motioned Leah back. "I'm taking a look."

"Crouch," she said. "Stay below eye level."

We both hunkered down. I eased the door open. A flash of light ricocheted off my eyes and I jerked back, only to see the beam skitter from wall to floor to ceiling, like someone wildly brandishing a flashlight. Over the screaming, I heard a male voice; then a high-pitched alarm swallowed all sound. I sniffed and smelled something so unexpected I doubted my own senses. The acrid stench of burned meat filled the air. As I inhaled again, second-guessing myself, a guard rocketed by so fast I didn't have time to retreat into the cell. It didn't matter. He flew past, mouth open in a scream swallowed by the siren. Something flapped at his side. I squinted in the near dark, then shuddered. It was his arm, almost severed above the elbow, swinging back and forth as he ran.

The flashlight beam continued to bounce around the walls. Shapes flickered, casting contorted shadows on the wall. The siren wavered and gave one last coughing blip. As it died, sound filled the air: the hissing of the blowtorch, shouts from the guards still hidden around the corner, the endless screams of the guard with the severed arm. Another guard stumbled around the corner, the blowtorch flickering beside him. As he passed our cell, he slid on something, his legs flying out. The blowtorch sailed into the air. Then it stopped. Stopped eight feet above the ground and hovered there, spitting blue flame. The fallen guard sprang to his feet. The blowtorch flew down and sliced him across the back. His arms shot up and he pitched forward, screaming as his shirt ignited. The stink of charred flesh and fabric filled the air.

"Open the fucking door!" a guard yelled from around the corner. "Get us out of here!"

"They're trapped," I whispered to Leah. "I can't see what's going on. The blowtorch-"

Bang! A gunshot. Then three more in quick succession. Four loud metallic clangs.

"They're shooting the door," Leah said. "We should stay put."

"Trust me. I'm not going anywhere."

A sudden roar overlapped the screams and shouts.

"What's that?" Leah asked.

I knew. Even as I squinted down the hall, I knew what I'd see. Bauer had changed into a wolf. She charged the guards. I threw open the door. Leah grabbed my arm.

"The guards are still around the corner," I said. "I can stop Sondra before they see her."

"Then what?"

Bauer reared as she collided with the fiery guard. Yelping, she backpedaled and skittered away from the flames. Then human instinct overtook animal. Wheeling around, she skirted the burning body and continued charging down the hall.

"Just let me-" I began.

"No. Think, Elena. You can't help her."

Bauer barreled past us and rounded the corner. A guard screamed. He raced into the main stretch of hall, blood spattering from his torn shoulder. Bauer ran after him. Before they even reached our cell door, she pounced, landing on his back. As they fell, she sank her teeth into the back of his neck, tearing out a mouthful. Blood and gore sprayed.

"I'll use the distraction to run down to the other exit," Leah said. "Maybe it's open now."

"What-?" I began, then realized she couldn't see what was happening, wasn't affected by it.

Leah brushed past me.

"Watch out! "I yelled, but she was gone and Bauer was too engrossed in her current victim to chase down another.

Bauer ripped chunks from the guard's shoulders and back, throwing them into the air. The guard's body convulsed. His face was stark white, eyes impossibly wide and blank. A guard around the corner shouted, as if just realizing his comrade was missing.

I couldn't watch any longer. I threw open the door and leaped out, no plan in mind other than somehow saving Bauer. Did she deserve saving? Was her life worth risking mine? It didn't matter. She was a werewolf, a female werewolf born from my genes. I had to protect her.

As I tore from the cell, another guard came around the corner, gun raised. He fired. The shot blazed through the darkness and hit Bauer in the left haunch. She lunged at him. He lifted the gun, but she was on him, teeth ripping at his throat. As I ran toward them, two shapes sprang from the darkness. Gunfire resounded down the hall. I dove, twisting around just in time to see the bullets hit Bauer, blasting her in the chest and head.

In that second, even as blood and brain exploded from Bauer's shattered skull, even before her body collapsed to the floor atop the dead guard, I saw the exit door swing open. I saw it and I saw my chance. My only chance. I felt my feet move, my body turn. Savannah flashed through my mind. I couldn't leave without her. Yet even as I thought this I felt my body diving for the open door. I didn't have time to go back for Savannah. Even if I could, should I? Who knew what she was capable of if things got really bad? With Savannah in tow, I might never escape, might die trying. Better to leave her here, underground, where her powers could be controlled, where she was too important to be killed. I'd come back for her later with the others.

I was already in the hall, my body having made the decision even as my brain floundered. What about Leah? Was I abandoning her, too? Coward! But my feet kept propelling me toward the elevator. Once there, I pounded my fist against the button, slamming it over and over, feeling the pain course down my arm and only hitting it harder, punishing my cowardice.

The elevator doors opened. I stepped in.

"Elena!"

Leah's voice. I grabbed the elevator door before it closed. Leaning out, I saw Leah jogging from the opposite exit.

"I couldn't get to Savannah," I called.

"Me neither. Shit! All hell's broken loose in there. We'll never get back inside."

"Hurry then."

As she ran, the elevator door jerked, as if trying to close. I shoved it back, but it kept moving, pushing harder and harder until I had to lean against it, straining to hold it open.

"Come on!" I yelled. "Something's wrong with the doors."

When Leah was less than five feet away, the door jolted violently, slamming into my shoulder. I stumbled. Leah reached to grab me, but I fell backward into the elevator car. The doors clanged shut. I jumped up and pounded on the button to reopen the elevator.