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Prelude to the Beast	By : snakecharms Category: Anita Blake > General Views: 5019 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Anita Blake series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 11

Facing Fear

I was afraid. But I kept trying to deter my thoughts from how I felt to what I was going to do. It was as if I was one of those dumb women in torroorror movies that I hated.

“What the hell are you doing? Don’t go towards the scary sound you dumb bitch! There’s a guy with a chainsaw behind that door!”

I kept walking, maybe even regretting the fact that I wanted Haruko to hang back while I went in alone. The roars continued to flow down the dark hallway. They should have frightened me even more, but they didn’t. They were sad, foreboding roars. Then the sound of something large slamming against a door awoke me from my daydreaming. I pulled out the gun from my back and haules dos down the hall.

It ended in two large wooden doors with an old fashioned wooden latch that went across both doors. The latch was undone, meaning there were people inside. Taking in a few gulps of air I slowly pushed open one of the doors. But only went so far, leaving me only a crack too small to squeeze through. Inside it was bright with walls made from stone, and not the fake stuff, but real stonewallslooklooked down to see what was blocking the door from opening and saw a hand. There was a body in front of the door and more than likely it being thrown against the doors was the sound I had earlier. Great.

“What the hell?” said a voice inside.

“Go check it.”

I heard a growling mumble after the voices had sounded. I stepped back and knocked as if I was nothing more than a girl scout selling cookies. I watched in the corner of my eye as the hand quickly slid away from my view. The door opened.

He was tall, normal height with skin the color of creamy milk chocolate and his eyes were almost slanted and shaped like almonds. The fact that I was comparing everything about him to food made me wonder just how hungry I was.

“Who the hell are you?” He asked, throwing a hand on his hip. I blinked, taking my eyes away from his bare chest and ripped denim jeans.

“Alicia. Kan- the Master of the City called me to take care of this problem.”

His eow qow quirked, and he looked me up and down. “You’re joking.” There was another growl that made him flinch and look behind him. He was more than likely exchanging glances with whoever else was in the room.

“Does this even seem like a time to be joking?” I turned the safety off. “Look, I saw the body in front of the door, Kanaye and Haruko are relying on me,”

“Haruko…”

“Yeah he’s hanging back in the lobby, now if you’ll just let me in…” I didn’t particularly care about what the guy in front of me had to say or anything, I was tired, hungry, and needed to get to the bear before he hurt anyone else. I quickly ducked under the guy’s arm, which was holding open the door.

“Hey!”

“You’re too slow even for a tiger.” I mumbled before nearly tripping over a body on the floor. It was just a human reaction to look down…

“Holy…”

It was a Caucasian man, young, wearing what seemed to be a red shirt that had been ripped to hell. But upon closer inspection I realized the shirt had originally been white. Red blood pooled around him, as he lay on his back, motionless. I didn’t see any wounds…

“What the hell’d you let her in for Dom?” I turned to my left, which was the origin of the voice, and saw a group of about eight men, all a mixture of flavors. I swallowed, rolling my tongue around in my mouth. I could almost literally taste their beasts. They were a mixture of wolf and tiger. But the thought was thrown quickly inhe bhe back of my mind. Standing in front of them in the corner was a bear. A huge bear, bleeding from a wound on its side and panting heavily.

Those black beady eyes looked over in my direction. So sad, so full of pain. Bears don’t belong in stone rooms, especially not in the city of Baltimore either. Heat rose to my face and all I felt was red-hot anger. It was just like vampires to try and claim and tame everything for their own.

“Who the fuck did this?!” I shouted, actually letting the forbidden F word to come from my lips. “I want to know now!.”

The group was dumbstruck. They exchanged glances then finally one of them turned to Dom. “Where’d you get this crazy broad?”

I could hear Dom’s footsteps coming closer to me from behind. “Dunno, she said Haruko and Kanaye sent her. Says she’s the beast tamer.”

Beast tamer? I was about to object when a man stepped from the group. He was built like a wrestler with a body slick with sweat that made him shine under the glow of the lights on the walls. His hair was long and blonde, hanging around his face like a curtain. Oh he was a pretty boy all right, and I was willing to bet an asshole too.

“Beast tamer?” He snorted. “Get her out of hear, we don’t need anymore dead weight than we already have.”

Dom came up behind me, about to place his hands on either side of my arms, but I spun around, shoving the gun under his chin. Was everyone oblivious to the fact that I had a GUN in my hand? Or did they think that because I was so small that I wouldn’t know how to use it? I had had enough of being underestimated, demeaned, and interrupted tonight to last a lifetime.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

I heard pretty boy burst into laughter behind me. “She’s not gunna shoot. Are you, little girl?”

The red-hot anger from before rose and burst along my skin. He was right, I wasn’t going to shoot Dom. As far as I could see the one who really needed the bullet was standing behind me. I turned, remembering where he last stood, and aimed.

I could feel Dom tense behind me, about to take me down from behind. Pretty boy shook his head, that large ego shinning through. “She ain’t gonna shoot.” He took a step forward.

“You know, you really oughta learn when to keep your mouth shut.” I fired. The sound of the gun blast echoed, bouncing off the walls. The bear roared, inching further back and showing us all a good view of its sharp teeth.

“You bitch!!” Pretty boy collapsed, grasping his leg. “You shot me in the foot! The fucking foot!” Blood spurted out from his black boots like a red fountain, pooling around him.

“Yeah well you guys might want to take him, and that guy,” I pointed over toward the body that I nearly tripped over coming in. “out of here, the smell of blood isn’t good if you’re trying to calm the bear down.”

No one said anything or moved, except for the man I shot, who was still moaning and groaning over his foot. I looked behind me at Dom who was smiling oddly enough. Did my gunplay influence anyone?

“You guys deaf? Get them out.” he said

His sudden act of dominance was surprising but if he was going to help me out I wasn’t going to complain. They moved as one, lifting the fallen jackass up off the ground and practically carrying him out with ease. One man took care of the other body as well practically yanking him up with one hand and throwing him over his shoulder as if he was nothing more than a rag doll.

“I’m surprised.” Said a familiar voice from the doorway. I craned my neck around to see Haruko and Angus. His muscular arms were folded across his chest barely covering his nipple piercing. “I knew you were tougher than most women, but I didn’t know how tough.”

I wanted to smile, but my body was too tired. “You have no idea.” I thought he would come in but he only watched the men as they gathered the wounded, leaning in the doorway.

“So I assume this was a bit of a test?”

All he did was give a half shrug. “Now the big question is: can you handle this?” Haruko motioned toward the bear, all but forgotten, now becoming braver and edging away from the wall. The fear had drained away leaving a burning anger within.

I took a step backwards and slid my gun back into my pants. “Not even I know the question to that one.”
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Prelude to the Beast