Jos slumped against the window as the man who had pinned her to the spot only moments ago vanished from the room, dispelled by the sound of muffled voices from the hallway. Their interaction was beginning to teeter on the frightening side once again leaving her shaken to the core. Her nervous gaze moved from the sleeping girl on the sofa to the turning knob of the room door. She prayed silently that April would wake up in a timely manner, and another day could pass without her secret being revealed. She forced her trembling legs to hold her upright as she prepared to greet Arei and the others. As the door opened and his bright smile lit up the room, Jos could feel a sinking in her heart. She hated keeping this from him. His dishonesty with her had been such a major issue for her, but now she was no better. She could see the question reflecting in his eyes, but he did not ask, and she did not divulge. She forced a smile. "You're back. Did you have any luck today?"
Arei's smile widened as he stepped into the room. "We didn't have any luck finding what we were looking for but look what found us!" He stepped aside as Ry stepped into the room behind him.
Jos's eyes lit up. "Ry!" But no sooner had his name left her lips than a pang of debilitating guilt set in. Her eyes took in the large wound over his eye and the reddened stain of his once crisp, white shirt. He was injured regardless of his healing abilities and had lost nearly half of his normal body mass. "Ry…" Sadness weighed the single syllable of his name down heavily.
Ry buried his suspicion behind a charming smirk as he held his arms out for her. "Don't sound so sad. I got to live out every man's fantasy for a while until you sent my crazy ex to rescue me." He forged irritation. "I owe you one for that." He shook his head in mock disappointment. "Pulled away from an island of beautiful, horny women by a pissed-off ex with a grudge… Tsk, tsk… Just can't catch a break." His wide smile broke through his pretense as he sent her a wink. He lifted his arms out wide. "Well?"
Jos didn't hesitate as she quickly closed the distance between them and gave him a tight hug. "I'm glad you're back… and not too injured." She added as he winced against her weak embrace.
He held her tighter as she moved to pull away. His eyes traveled around the room suspiciously. The faint scent of poppies filled the room, and to no surprise, April was fast asleep. His knowing gaze shifted to Arei. The god of sleep had been here in person once again. He frowned as Arei nodded in silent understanding and agreement. He gave Jos one final squeeze before releasing her with a sigh. He ran his hand through his uncharacteristically long hair. "Welp, why don't you guys share with me what you know so far, and I'll see if I can't work my magic."
Three hours later they were standing outside of one of the largest waterfront factories in the area. Several workers moved freely around the grounds, a concoction of various factions.
"Well?" Ry asked no one specifically.
Russo cleared his throat though a slight tremble was still present. He nodded toward a group of guys that seemed to be working independently of the majority of the others. "Them… they were with the DeMarco group… Might still be."
Ry nodded. "Good, then this is definitely the right place. Here take these." He dug in his pocket and pulled out two small cases of earbuds handing Russo and April each a set. "Put these in and turn them up until our voices are completely drowned out. I'll signal to you once it's safe to remove them." He sent Jos a glance over his shoulder. "You got this?"
Jos swallowed hard, her worried gaze moving around the large, spread-out group of people. "I… I don't know… I've never tried with this many people at once."
Arei clasped her shoulders reassuringly. "You've got this, Kitten." His eyes moved around the men. "Most of them are either human or vampires, so there shouldn't be any problems."
"Don't worry, we'll be right behind you in case something goes wrong." Chary reassured her.
Jos nodded as she forced down the bile rising in her throat. She fidgeted with her hands as she nervously nodded. She adjusted the thin straps of the seductive dress Chary had insisted she wear. Regardless of the many layers of thin, translucent material gathered at her waist and flowing along the ground around her feet, the plunging neckline held together by thin glistening chains left her feeling exposed. She shot a nervous glance over her shoulder but there was no ease to be found among their reassuring nods. She turned back toward the large group of men and cleared her throat.
Ry clasped April's shoulders. "Make sure the volume is as high as you can stand it." He whispered as a luminous blue began to radiate around Jos. He watched in shocked disbelief as the first notes of her lulling song caused everyone around them to stop dead in their tracts. "I've never seen anything like this. Are you sure we will not be affected?"
Arei nodded. "Yeah, though I've only experienced it once when she was much younger, it was easy enough to shake free of." His hand darted out to stop Russo as her enchanting voice called out drawing anyone around to her. He clasped Russo tightly as the man fought against him. "Turn up your volume more!"
Ry's eyes widened. "Wait, let him go!" He snatched the phone from the vampire's hand and paused the music. "We'll let him get drawn in with the group so they will think he is one of them once they regain control."
Arei grunted his agreement as he watched the men flock around Jos, their grimy hands reaching out to caress various parts of her body.
"Stay cool. As soon as she gets them all inside the cargo hold she can release her hold on them, and we can search the area freely." Chary reminded Arei.
"Then let's start looking. I'm going to go crazy if I have to keep watching this."
Chary laughed as she took April's hand and followed Arei. "Good luck." She called back to Ry as he began inching closer to where Jos was leading the large group of men.
He shook his head with a chuckle. "No problem. I'm just wishing we would have put this skill to use long ago. I can think of at least a hundred times when this would have come in handy."
Arei let out another grunt. "Don't let her out of your sight. Even in this form, she has very little control."
"Seems like she's doing fine to me." Ry replied in amazement as Jos made short work of drawing the workers away. When Arei seemed to hesitate, Ry rolled his eyes before reassuring him. "I'll protect her, I promise… and if I don't I'm sure someone will." He sent him a cocky shrug. "So, get going already."
Ry was just stepping through the heavy metal doors of the shipping container when he noticed one of the men working his way closer to Jos. Unlike the others, his hooded gaze held no trace of the hypnotic spell the others were under. He quickly turned the music back on and cranked it as loud as it would go on Russo's phone. His brows furrowed as he began pushing his way through the thick cluster of bodies. "Jos, don't stop singing but try to start working your way to me." He muttered carefully.
Jos nodded, her brilliant, glowing eyes meeting Ry's concerned gaze over the swarm of bodies.
Her movements seemed to make the hooded man more irritated. Ry could see a cruel snarl curve from under the hood as he forced his way toward her. "Jos, to your right! He's not affected! Hurry!" He cut his words off and began shoving his way through as her singing began to falter. The hooded man lunged at Jos, a utility knife clutched in his grip causing Jos's singing to be replaced by a gasp. "Fuck!" Ry threw himself between Jos and the man. Sharp pain radiated from his already wounded side. Thick warmth saturated his shirt and ran down his hip as he closed his arms around Jos. A fierce primal instinct to protect her overwhelmed him as he felt the sharp blade retract and then penetrate him over and over. "Keep singing, little one. I have you. I'll get us out of here!" His voice shook from the pain, but he refused to succumb to it until they were both safe and the heavy metal doors were latched and secured. The blade cut into his back but was quickly removed.
"Run, I'll hold him off!" Russo called out loudly over the music playing in his headphones.
Ry's eyes widened as he watched the vampire disarm the hooded man and break his wrist. As Ry passed through the doors, he spun around with Jos still cradled in one arm and clinging to his neck. "Get out of there now!" He frowned as he realized his voice would not penetrate the earbuds. "Shit…" He quickly glanced around them, a possible solution coming to him. "Keep singing… I'm not the best at this…" He blew out an uneasy sigh as he swept his arm upward before pushing the heavy pressure building behind the gesture forward. He clenched his teeth as he tried to control the pressure of water shouting forward trying everything he could to avoid Russo as he struggled with the other men and the heavy doors. The blasting flow of water was doing well to hold back the men but was doing little to assist Russo in closing them in.
"Step aside brother! We've got this! Take Jos and head to the docks as fast as you can!" Chary and Scylla closed in on the storage container, a massive, well-controlled tidal wave of water guided by their hands following. Scylla quickly took the opposite side as Russo and together the doors were being forced shut finally.
Ry didn't waste a second longer as he realized they had everything here underhand. He spun and forced his feet to carry him and Jos both in the direction Chary had instructed. He hadn't realized Jos had stopped singing until her cold hand clasped his cheek. His feet stumbled to a halt as his wide questioning gaze moved down to meet hers. "What? Oh…" He bent and lowered her to the ground letting her slide slowly from his grasp, but she didn't step away. Instead, her hands slid down his chest working the buttons of his shirt free as she did. His brows knotted as he clasped a hand over hers to still their movement. "That's a very dangerous thing for you to be doing… even for you…"
Jos didn't take her eyes away from the blood-soaked shirt. "Maybe so… but you're hurt…" She slid her hands free and finished working the buttons free, then carefully tugged the soaked fabric away from his tender flesh. "You should heal this before we go any farther." Her hands trembled as she examined the wound before her eyes trailed upward to a streak of splatter across his shoulder. "It wasn't just this place was it?"
He blew out a sigh. "It wasn't. I'll get in the water as soon as we make it to the boat." He gently clasped her upper arm and gave it a nudge. "Come along."
Jos dug in her heels as she pulled away from him. She tore free one of the many layers of the gown she wore. "You and Arei are much more alike than either of you would like to admit." She muttered as she began wrapping the fabric around the oozing wounds on his side. "How bad are the others?"
Ry bit back a grunt of pain as he lifted his shirt out of her way. "Not nearly as deep…" As soon as she tied off the final loop of cloth, he caught her hand and pulled her along beside him not wanting her to have a chance to see his back. Their footsteps trailed off as they both stumbled to a stop in front of the aftermath of what must have been a gruesome fight. "Looks like we missed out on all the fun."
Jos's eyes widened in concern as she took in all the blood and scattered bodies spread out around a shabby-looking old vessel. A shriek penetrated the silence of the dock. Jos bolted forward, her skirts flying out around her. She raced across the rickety upper deck until she finally found the door to the lower levels. "Arei! April! She cried out as she pulled and tore at the fabric that kept getting caught on the rusted railing. Her eyes widened and she froze once again when she saw the lower level. Horrible memories of the night she'd helped rescue the wolf girls flashed through her mind making tears burn her eyes and pain clamp down on her chest. With a gasp, she forced herself forward. "April?!" She made quick work of finding the girl. "April!" She called out when she saw the girl crumpled over in a corner of the room. She hit the floor hard bruising her knees as she did. As she slid to a stop beside April, she quickly pulled the girl into her arms. Her heart thumped to a stop when she saw what was nestled in April's arms. "Oh…"