Area of Influence (Immortal Ops Book 8) Read online

His body tightened in anticipation of what was to come. The air held a threatening note, and Thor caught the faintest hint of a smell he recognized at once as belonging to Chilton. The thick heavy stench of rotting meat took over, and Thor knew instantly what was closing in on them—hybrids.

  And not the good kind like he was. The broken, decrepit kind that were mindless killing machines. The defective attempts at supernatural blends. The ones that ended up locked in varying states of transformation when their bodies began to break down as they rejected the additional strands of DNA that had been introduced to them.

  Fuck.

  They tended to be single-minded and obedient to a point, to those holding their strings, and if what he was smelling was accurate, they were about to be overrun by them.

  Turning a slow circle, Thor let his eyes adjust to the darkness, and kept Emi behind him the entire time, wanting to use his body as a shield for her. As he felt the enemy moving in from all sides, he sighed, knowing he was about to become what she feared.

  “Emi, please don’t freak out at what I’m about to do,” he said, as he put his hands out to his sides, his claws emerging quickly.

  He had to protect her.

  And he had to claim her.

  Claim her?

  The thought left him unnerved far more than the fact he was about to be outnumbered by zombie-like mutants.

  Something snarled, sounding like a wounded animal, a second before a hybrid charged at him from the darkness. It was quickly joined by more.

  Thor bent and came up fast as the first neared him. He rammed his clawed hand through the thing’s gut, but the action did little to slow it down, as he suspected it would.

  Yanking his hand free, he spun, careful to ease Emi out of the way before he slashed out at the hybrid’s neck, taking its head from its body.

  He expected Emi to scream, run—do anything other than what she did.

  She hauled off and punched a hybrid right in the nuts with enough force to make the thing double over.

  Once it was bent, she kneed it in what used to be its face, but now that it had two faces, it was hard to tell which was the original. Whatever it had going on, Emi’s assault worked to render it immobile for a second.

  Thor seized hold of it and clawed its neck open, turning to keep the blood from splattering on Emi.

  Emi stared at the thing on the ground and then his hands, her eyes wide. “What are you?”

  “I’m like them but not,” he said honestly. “I’m a mix of more than one thing, two of which aren’t human.”

  She nodded and drew her lip to one side as if contemplating everything he’d just confided to her. She then pointed at something behind him. “Unleash that not-human stuff on that thing. Eww. And for the record, you are nothing like them. They smell like death. You smell good enough to eat.”

  Thor took a hit from a hybrid as he realized she was as turned on by him as he was her. Since it wasn’t the time or place to fuck her, he pulled his attention back to the matter at hand.

  The enemy.

  Thor twisted, knocking one hybrid back as more swarmed him. He lost sight of Emi and began to panic, causing him to take blows from the hybrids that he’d have normally been able to block.

  Suddenly, someone was there, ripping a hybrid back from him.

  A tall man with pale skin, crisp blue eyes, and long brown hair stood there. Thor recognized him as a vampire he’d encountered when on a mission with Belial. He remembered the man being called Auberi. He blinked several times, unsure why the man was there.

  Auberi grinned. “Fancy meeting you here, Toov.”

  Toov?

  Thor would have questioned the vampire, but more and more hybrids came rushing at them.

  “Whoohoo!” yelled another man as he ran into the fray, his jet-black hair whipping about wildly as he laughed, taking on two hybrids at once. “Good times!”

  “Blaise, yer nae right in the head,” another man said, who was clearly Scottish, as he sliced through a hybrid. “These things smell like arse.”

  “And just how often do you sniff ass?” asked Blaise, strutting on his way to kill more hybrids. The man actually stopped right before he was about to attack two hybrids and started dancing to music only he heard. He spun and did a dance move that coincided with striking a bad guy. He then ran his hands through his hair and rocked his hips, singing something about being sexy and knowing it.

  Thor stopped bothering to listen. The jackass was going to get himself killed. In addition to that, Thor had the strongest urge to call someone named Wilson and apologize for ever thinking he was annoying. The problem was, he didn’t know anyone named Wilson.

  At least he didn’t think he did.

  “Where are they all coming from?” asked a British male as he joined in the fight. “And did you just say something about passion and pants?”

  “Daniel, duck,” yelled Blaise, and the British vampire did as instructed. Whoever the men were, they had the situation well in hand, in spite of the fact they’d brought along a jackass.

  Thor turned his attention to finding Emi. “Where’s the woman?” demanded Thor. His only worry was for Emi. Not himself.

  “No clue what you’re talking about,” said Blaise, still dancing. “There isn’t any woman here.”

  Thor artfully dodged a massive hybrid as it launched itself at him. Twisting around, Thor plunged his clawed hand through the thing’s chest and came away with its heart in his hand. There was a momentary delay before the hybrid fell to the ground, its body twitching as it died.

  Thor couldn’t help but think it a mercy killing.

  Living life trapped in a state of mid-transformation while your body rotted slowly, but your mind went fast, was no life at all. These hybrids were different from the ones Pierre called his pets. These hybrids were something else, something that had gone horribly wrong from the get-go. They were the forgotten. The unfortunate souls who were already on borrowed time. Killing them was a kindness.

  Another charged him, and he did a double take as he realized it had a body that reminded him of an alligator but its head was partially shifted into something that looked a lot like a rotting bird.

  “Oh yuck!” yelled Blaise as he stepped back from a dead hybrid. A long line of what could only be described as snot hung from the man’s arm to the body on the ground. “That one gooed me!”

  “I fucking hate the gooers,” said the Scot.

  Auberi moved up alongside Thor, moving fluidly through the enemy. The next Thor knew, he and the vampire were fighting side by side as if they were one unit. Auberi ducked and Thor spun, slashing out above Auberi’s head and killing the threat there. Then it was Thor’s turn to go low. When he did, Auberi stood and thrust an arm out, killing another hybrid. The two went on and on, fighting together as if they’d done so on numerous occasions in the past.

  “Catch!” yelled the Goth as he threw the head of a hybrid at Auberi.

  Auberi batted it away, raised a brow, and then shook his head, cursing in French partially under his breath.

  Thor laughed as he kicked one of the hybrids away.

  “Laughing only encourages him,” said Auberi, a serious expression on his face. “You know how he can get.”

  Thor didn’t know Blaise at all, so he wasn’t sure what Auberi was going on about.

  Blaise jumped high in the air, and when he came down, he was next to Thor. Grinning, he leaned in close. “Auberi tells me you’re family to us now, since Pierre sired you. I gotta say, your new smell is a big improvement on the stench of cat-shifter. Tell me something though, do you ever have the urge to lick your ass or did that go away with the introduction to the vampire side?”

  “Hey, taking offense,” said a newcomer, his dark hair to his shoulders. He was dragging a dead hybrid with one hand and holding a live one off the ground in the other. “Found these two trying to head to the Quarter.”

  “Malik has all the fun,” said the Scottish vampire.

  Thor continu
ed to fight the hybrids as he chanced glances at the men who appeared to be on his side—at least for the moment. They acted as if they all knew him.

  Malik killed the other hybrid and then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his hands clean. He made quite a production of removing the blood. The moment was short-lived as he twisted quickly, claws emerging from his fingertips as he struck the throat of a hybrid that had tried to get the jump on him. “Their blood is the worst to get out of clothing.”

  Thor locked gazes with the man and swayed, his mind racing suddenly with images of the guy with much longer hair than he had now. The man was with him, pointing in one direction, communications gear on his head, a weapon in his other hand, dressed head to toe in black. He was issuing tactical commands to Thor. And there was an undeniable level of trust between himself and the man they’d called Malik.

  “What the hell?” asked Thor, his attention snapping back to the here and now. He blinked several times, unsure if he’d finally broken mentally.

  Malik stared at him. “It’s good to see you again, brother.”

  Brother?

  The men certainly didn’t look anything alike. Malik’s skin was bronzed and his hair was dark, as were his eyes. Thor was about as opposite of that as one could get.

  “Amnesia-Boy looks lost,” said Blaise. “Bet he’s trying to figure out the family dynamic. Tell him your daddy liked to bone Swedish supermodels.”

  The Scottish vampire laughed. “Would the correct term be memory challenged, nae Amnesia-Boy?”

  Amnesia-Boy?

  Memory challenged?

  Thor concentrated on the men around him, so much so that he didn’t notice another hybrid coming at him from the right. It hit him hard, lifting him up and off the ground. The hybrid bit into Thor’s shoulder, tearing flesh and muscle, down to the bone. It hurt like hell, but Thor ignored the pain, lifting his hands and sticking his clawed thumbs through the thing’s eyes.

  He expected it to lurch back from him. It didn’t seem the least bit fazed.

  Oh shit.

  The demon in him wanted to be permitted full freedom. At the same moment, the panther did as well. Thor gave in, knowing the two would blend. He felt his upper body increasing in size and mass. Black fur coated his arms and upper body as his mouth changed shapes.

  Snarling, he used the increase in size and strength to thrust the hybrid from him. He then came up fast and propelled himself at the beast. They struck with such a force that the area seemed to shake. He snapped his jaws at the hybrid, catching it by the neck. Its rancid blood filled his mouth and he ripped the flesh back, taking with it important parts before releasing the now-dead hybrid. It fell away and he twisted, spitting the vile, bloody neck tissue onto the ground.

  When he turned, he found the other men all staring at him with wide-eyed expressions. The Goth was the first to speak. “Holy fuck, he bit its throat out. That was awesome and gross. Did it taste as bad as it smelled?”

  Thor used the back of his hand to wipe the blood from his lips as he nodded. A shaky laugh fell from him when he realized there were no more hybrids attacking them. “Worse.”

  “Blaise, yer covered in boogers,” said the Scot.

  Blaise grunted. “And you’re an asshole. What’s your point, Searc?”

  “Toov has hybrid guts all over his face,” said Auberi, stepping forward.

  Thor lifted a brow. “Why do you keep calling me Toov?”

  Daniel stiffened, but then licked his lips and spoke. “Because that is your name.”

  “Should we be telling him that, Daniel?” asked Blaise. “Can we make his head explode or something? We don’t know what my brother did to him when he converted him. Pierre is a total dick with a god complex. He probably figured out a way to put a fail-safe in his mesmerizing-his-minions cocktail.”

  Malik glanced at Blaise. “Hmm, think stores will start stocking that? Could be all the rage soon. Looking to forget your troubles? One sip cures all your worries.”

  Blaise grinned. “Warning: Side effects include obeying a total dicknob and getting a stupid god name.”

  Thor listened closely to their witty banter and then took a small step back. “My name is Toov?”

  The men shared a look before they shoved Daniel at Thor, as if they’d designated him the bearer of bad news. The British vampire cast them each a hard look then turned to face Thor fully. “Yes.”

  “Do you know a man named Lance then, because Emi said I was Lance?” asked Thor.

  Blaise slapped his hand over his eyes. “Fuck. His mind is pudding.”

  “Pudding?” asked Searc.

  Blaise shrugged. “I love pudding.”

  “Yer a douche,” said Searc.

  Auberi walked toward Thor, filling the gap between them. “Do you remember anything before your time with Pierre?”

  “Where is Emi?” Thor demanded, spinning around. She wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Had the enemy run off with her?

  “Who?” asked Daniel, his voice even, as if he was concerned Thor would snap.

  “Woman. Dark long hair. In a skirt. She’s beautiful. You can’t miss her.”

  Daniel glanced around. “There’s no female among these hybrids and none was here when we arrived.”

  “She was just here,” Thor said, a piece of him wondering if he’d imagined her. “Wasn’t she?”

  The men shared another look.

  “If you say so,” said Blaise. “Let’s all keep the really strong guy from flipping his lid, okay?”

  Auberi sighed. “Enough. I told you before I think he’s trying to break the hold Pierre has on him. I think he’s fighting to regain his memories of his life before.”

  Thor shook his head. “Can you help me remember?”

  Blaise stepped forward fast and caught Auberi’s arm. “We can’t. If we screw with what our brother did to him, we could end up leaving his mind totally broken. You know that. We’ve both seen it happen before.”

  Auberi snarled. “Pierre is no brother to us! We may share a maker, but he turned his back on everything and everyone in his quest for power. He is a monster now.”

  Thor found himself nodding in agreement.

  Malik watched him carefully, saying nothing.

  Thor pointed to Malik. “I had a quick flash of you. You had longer hair. You were dressed in ops gear and issuing orders to me. Was that real, or are they right about my brain being pudding?”

  Malik perked. “We’ve gone on many missions together. What you’re seeing in your head is real. It happened. I can’t tell you which mission, because there were a lot, but I can tell you that, yes, we’ve been together in ops gear on missions. It’s been a while, but it happened.”

  He stared at the men, trying to trigger memories of them, but nothing came. All that did happen was his head started to hurt. A lot. Hot wetness trickled from his nose and he knew it was bleeding again.

  Auberi reached out and touched his shoulder. “Don’t force yourself to remember. Bad things can happen if you do.”

  “Worse than not knowing who I really am? Worse than endless nightmares?” he asked before thinking better of it. “Worse than imagining a woman to the point I thought she was really here with me?”

  Auberi didn’t look surprised. “Yes. Worse than that. Far worse.”

  “Yeah, like the kind of bad that leaves someone putting a bib on you, feeding you pudding, and then wiping your drool,” said Blaise.

  “What the bloody hell is your obsession with pudding?” demanded Daniel.

  “Oh, look, the Brit is cursing,” added Searc. “Excuse us while we all piss ourselves with laughter.”

  Daniel grunted. “If you’ll recall, I am your team captain.”

  “So they keep telling me,” returned Searc with a salute and a mock grin.

  “He gives you hell because you’re British,” said Malik. “Striker does the same thing to Corbin.”

  “I’d love to hear Corbin’s trick for not killing Striker,” said Daniel
, sliding a hard glare in Searc’s direction.

  “Lately he’s taken to filling darts with what we call Mercy Juice and shooting Striker in the ass when he’s not looking,” said Malik. “Boomer too. Duke is worse. He’s actually tried to kill them both a few times.”

  The men laughed, and Thor felt removed from the discussion. Though, he did recognize some names.

  Auberi stayed close to him. “Does Pierre have you here in New Orleans for a reason or did you just decide to take a vacation from that asshole and conveniently walk into a hybrid ambush?”

  Thor was quiet a second…before he realized that his silence equaled obedience to Pierre. He growled, and then straightened. “He ordered me here to hunt Chilton, and whatever weapon Chilton has.”

  Auberi’s surprise was masked quickly. “Did he forbid you from discussing this with others?”

  “He always does that,” said Thor.

  Auberi looked to Blaise. “Yet he just told us.”

  Blaise grinned from ear to ear. “Means he’s breaking the bond he has to Pierre on his own. Weakening it for sure. Good. Pierre is a bag of dicks.”

  “So you mentioned,” said Thor. “Not that I’m disagreeing or anything.”

  Auberi laughed. “How about we call in a cleanup crew and then make ourselves presentable before we find a place to discuss what we’re all doing here in the city?”

  Thor glanced back in the direction he’d last seen Emi—or where he’d last imagined her to be. If she was even real at all. “I want to know more about all of you and how you know me, more about my past. But I swear to you there was a woman here with me. I don’t know, maybe I did imagine her. It was so vivid. Dark long hair, dressed kind of like a fortune teller meets flower child, and smelling of sage and lavender?”

  “From the dreamy look on yer face, you fancy the lass,” said Searc.

  Thor inclined his head quickly then cleared his throat. “I don’t know what to think anymore. Maybe I’m as broken as the rest of the master’s fucking pets.”

  Malik walked to the edge of the street and bent. He picked up a red piece of material and held it up.

  Thor recognized it as the scarf Emi had worn on her head. He gasped and lunged toward Malik. “Emi had that on as a headband!”