Captured by ghosts, p.1
Captured by Ghosts, page 1
Table of Contents
Captured by Ghosts (Ghost Crews, #2)
GHOST CREWS BOOK TWO | CAPTURED BY GHOSTS | GHOST CREW 231 | DAGMAR AVERY & AURORA MARIS
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The story continues with | cherished | by ghosts
In the meantime... Why not Join us at the Ghost Crew HQ group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/957142781874275 | Early posts, fun, games and hangouts! Don’t miss it!
GHOST CREWS BOOK TWO
CAPTURED BY GHOSTS
GHOST CREW 231
DAGMAR AVERY & AURORA MARIS
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Captured by Ghosts (Ghost Crews Book Two)
9798417740206
Copyright© 2021, 2022 Dagmar Avery and Aurora Maris
Cover Artist: Stella Price
Interior text design: Stacee Sierra
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
PROLOGUE
From the day the fractals appeared in the skies above, literally out of nowhere, nothing had ever been the same. At eleven fifty-two and seven seconds, Eastern Standard Time, on the twenty-second of October, an explosion above the world, somewhere out in space, lit everywhere around the globe with a blinding light that lasted for a devastating thirty-nine seconds, causing car and plane crashes, electricity whiteouts and global devastation.
When the light receded, fifteen different spiral patterns in an array of colors, fractals that followed the Fibonacci sequence, dominated a sky that used to be blue with clouds during the day and dark with stars at night. Twelve hours into the event, men did one of two things: dropped dead, or fell into a death-like coma.
Of course women jumped into action, in no way the weaker sex that men had portrayed them to be for so long. They kept order, worked the problem and figured things out. But they couldn’t be prepared for what would await them when the men in their lives, the men that lived, started to wake up a day later, changed into...other things.
Some were monstrous, others seemingly normal, but all were the horrors of our nightmares made flesh, visible to the naked eye, visceral and tactile and...skewed. The world had been changed, and the apocalypse had begun for all of humankind.
The changes the fractals had wrought weren’t just physical, augmenting the basest natures of all the men touched by their unearthly light. Those that were honorable remained as such, but those that weren’t...those men touched already by darkness became monstrous creatures, corrupted by their powers and determined to dominate this insane new world they found themselves in.
It was chaos for an entire year, men and women versus monsters, the lines blurring as factions shifted back and forth, territories carved out and then lost again as some new power boiled out of the curving light. But five women figured everything out. Amidst the chaos around them, their brilliant minds learned, adapted and set the world on the road to peace.
A professor of paranormal studies with a focus on Mythology, Marian Westberg, was the first to understand what the planet was dealing with. Classifying the men into new races and sub-races, she pulled from her studies to best equip the world around them with knowledge. It was easier for people to accept the familiar—fiction brought to life—than face the unknown.
Vampires, shifters, elementals, demons...they weren’t figments of humanity’s collective imagination, they were real and walking the Earth. She found that the myths were not just myths, but records, ones whose origins had been lost to the mists of time.
Because the fractals had been here before.
An Astrophysicist by the name of Tenga Shimuroi figured that out, working backwards through celestial events. Three times in the Earth’s history had the fractals appeared, changing the course of evolution, and no one had any idea where they came from.
Archaeologist and head lecturer at Oxford before the fall, Bettany Fortuna, found the proof of her colleagues’ findings in the fossil records. The first two fractal events had also affected men, but the third had affected women, and only some but not all. Men all but eradicated the women that had been changed, leaving the untouched females to begin again. And time forgot, as time often does, those civilizations of the past.
An Anthropologist understood what we needed to do to survive. Teddy Ravela was the one to understand how the birth rate and therefore the survival of the entire species was affected, and was the first to welcome those that survived the conversion, to help them to better adapt to their new designations.
But it wasn’t without strife. Religion and tradition warred with reality, many men and women unable to accept the idea of polyamory being necessary to provide the genetic diversity required to create life. In the end, after a war that raged for more than four years, resulting in heavy losses on all sides, it was a young politician, Amanda Vicnar, taking office as High Chancellor that brought everyone together under one banner, preaching tolerance for survival, and carved the world up into territories.
In the Light territories, the Five were in charge, the women that had understood the path to freedom and worked to keep peace and harmony.
But not every country lived in the sanity of the Light, and what were the United States is in a state of flux...evil men attempt to change the flow of time and destiny.
The Dark sectors were lost to chaos, where the monsters ruled and where lawlessness and carnage still raged...
Chapter 1
Colonel Galen Kent stood in the tree line, looking out over the compound from the shadows. Their intel had been accurate as far as the layout of the structures and the guards on duty went, but he’d been watching for more than an hour now and there was no sign of any of the women...no sign of Lisa. She had to be in there. This was the last place the slavers had been tracked to and they’d been watching this particular warlord for some time. She was exactly his type.
If she wasn’t in there...no. He couldn’t think about it. This was a job like any other job and if he didn’t focus on the mission, he’d get them all killed. Caldera was violent and vicious and, worst of all, intelligent. If they were going to take his compound down and rescue the women that had been trafficked there, he needed to get his shit together.
His timepiece vibrated silently against his wrist and he drew a deep breath. It was time. It was mid-shift—the guards on duty would be getting complacent and the ones off duty would be either well asleep or heavily into whatever they enjoyed doing in their downtime. Now was the time to strike.
He tapped his com, “Milo, it’s time. Light it up.”
“Copy that.” Some distance away he saw the blond warrior flitting through the trees, a pale shadow in the dappled half-light, and then the hair on his arms began to rise. Milo stopped at the tree line, flaxen hair slowly drifting out around him as the air thickened and began to smell like ozone, his gaze focused on their target. Seconds later, his silver eyes flashed bright argent and, half a mile away, lightning began to strike.
From their position they could hear the panicked shouts as buildings were blasted to smithereens and strategic defensive positions exploded, throwing soldiers about like so many broken dolls. Galen shielded his eyes grimly, knowing the rest of his team except Milo would be doing the same.
“All targets acquired.” Milo’s voice had that breathy hollow sound it gained when he was flushed with his power and it still sent a chill down Galen’s spine, even after all the missions they’d done together.
“Copy that. Keep them busy for us. Everyone else, move out.”
He didn’t need the murmured assent from the rest of the team to know they were already on the move; he could feel them around him as he loped across the plateau toward the nearest hole in the outer wall of the compound. Overhead, another bolt of lightning struck the wall ahead of them, sending bricks and dirt spinning away into the air. The fortress was breached. It was time to get in and then get out, preferably leaving Caldera dead somewhere along the way.
***
“We have to go, now!” Evan Noori said as the second blast hit, raining down dust from above them. The lights had gone out during the first blast, waking herself, and two others. The fourth girl, whom she didn’t even know the name of, had been up, keeping watch. Now was not the time for pleasantries, though, now was the time for action.
What sounded and felt like bomb blasts lit up the night around them, rocking the building they were in, causing the entire compound to shift. Whoever was attacking was not taking any chances, and had given them their window to get the hell outta dodge.
“How? We won’t be able to leave the room, the doors are bolted.” The girl looked about nineteen, her accent sounding like southern United States.
Noori pointed to the crack in the wall just next to the window, where two other women were trying to push the window loose. “Girl...” she said, hauling the slight woman from the ground. “Do you wanna stay here and see who is creating that fucking cha
No. And she would not trust any male with a slippery smile and deep pockets again. That was what had got her in trouble in the first place.
The girl looked at her and nodded. “We need to go.”
“All right,” she said. “Come on.”
The far wall was cracked in several places, as well as the ceiling. Looking up, she shook her head. They needed to get out of there and quickly, or three other levels of building were going to fall on them and no one would be able to find them. “Is the window moving?”
The tall dark-haired beauty nodded. “I think it’s going to take all of us. We aren’t that strong alone.”
Nodding, Evan and the girl she’d picked up came to stand with the other two, in a line. “If we push it, it’s going to mess with the integrity of the wall,” the fourth girl, a short Caucasian female with blonde hair, said as she frowned. “It might bring it all down. We have to be ready.”
“I’m going to take that chance,” the tall brunette said.
“Yes,” the slight girl said. “Let’s do this.”
“I’m not dying here...and I’m not letting one of those mother fuckers put hands on me,” Noori said. “Let’s do this.”
Working as a team, they pushed and felt the give. The blonde female growled. “Close...get ready...”
They pushed once more and a bomb went off on the other side of the building, close enough to feel the reverb. Another big push and the window broke free from the wall, crashing to the ground, just a few feet under it.
“Okay...careful of the glass,” Noori warned as the brunette and blonde made their way through the hole, and reached for the slight girl. After they had pulled her through, Noori was the last to go. “One second...” she said as she rushed back to the pallet she had been sleeping on and grabbed the one thing she’d had when she’d woken up, aside from her clothes—her house key that had been in her pocket.
Another explosion went off, this one just outside the far wall of the building. She screamed as the wall blew in and then raced to the other side of the room, at the urging of the brunette, who was waiting. “Move your ass!”
The building started to fall, the floor above her starting to pitch, and she dove through the open window, just as the entire ceiling came down, landing just past the broken mirror and rolling a few feet.
“Holy shit, what are you, Special Forces?” The blonde’s mouth was hanging open.
“What kinda Special Forces female would get captured?” she demanded as she panted and hauled herself up, looking at the rubble that had been the building they had been in. “We need to go. Now.”
“Where?” the slight girl asked.
She pointed farther into the trees. “North... We need to get to Canada.”
“We don’t know where we are,” the blonde pointed out.
“I do. The assholes that brought me in said something about New Spokane?” Scanning the space around them, Noori spoke quickly, but quietly.
“Eastern section of what was once Washington state,” the blonde said. “The territory is called Gig now, after the win against the Light nations at Gig Harbor.”
“We don’t need a history lesson right now,” Noori snapped as they kept low, rushing to the tree line. “Only our location. How far is New Spokane from the Canadian border?”
“I don’t know...” the blonde replied. “Maybe three days?”
Noori shook her head. They wouldn’t survive three days dressed as they each were, which was literally what they had been tossed in the room in. The brunette was wearing satin slippers for fuck’s sake. Though it could have been worse...they could have all been naked. “We need to find an outpost then, get kitted out for the haul. We make it to Canada, we are safe.”
“Stop them!” Behind them a megaphone blared out.
“Shit... Run!”
They did, the night around them still exploding in light and smoke. Hoping it would be enough to cover them ‘til they made the denser tree line, she prayed to Gaia, begging for safe passage to the darkness beyond.
***
Galen cleared the last room, disemboweling a soldier with a swipe of his claw, and howled his rage and frustration at the sky. She wasn't here. His sister was not in the compound. She had been; he'd caught her scent in a couple of places in the compound, but they'd missed her. The guys had cleared every room still standing and none of the women were there.
Not in any immediate danger, he shifted back to his human form and tapped his comm, snarling, "Report!"
"I think they might have escaped," Milo said, rounding the corner to speak to him directly. "I heard Caldera sending people after someone as I was coming over the wall. They were heading east."
A surge of hope rushed in Galen's chest. They'd found a few bodies near the dormitory where the women had been kept, but none of them had been his sister. Was it possible she was out there somewhere?
"Then we head east," he replied simply, hope turning to fear as he realized the women were alone and being chased in the wilderness. It was dangerous out there for anyone, even him, and they were unaccompanied. He just had to hope they got to them before anyone else did. "Move out!"
The others checked in and Milo fell in beside Galen as they headed for the nearest breach in the wall, taking out a couple of last stragglers before they were up and over and looking across open country toward the rendezvous point they'd set up beforehand.
***
“Mark Sector...” the women heard from their left, far too close for Noori’s liking, and she pulled them to an outcropping, putting her finger to her lips. Seconds later a tall male walked by with a gun.
She needed to get that gun. And she needed to get these women to safety. The youngest girl’s eyes were wide, pupils blown with fear. The other two were holding up better, but still worried. All of them would make a mistake...and she couldn’t involve them in what she was about to do.
Using hand signals, she told them to stay put and then walked around the back of the outcropping, grabbing a rock as she did. If she could sneak up on him, the big If, as she didn’t know what faction the male was from, she could take him out, get his gun and defend them.
“Mark Sector, clear,” the male said and she came up behind him and bashed him in the skull with the rock. He went down to one knee, losing his gun, and then turned, eyes flashing green blue.
Shit. An Aquea. What was an Aquea doing with these low-lives?
“Oh, baby girl...” the male said, his voice garbled with what she knew was the change coming over him to his hybrid form. “You done fucked up...”
Not giving him a chance to get up, she moved quickly, hitting him once again with the rock, then kicking out with her left foot, pushing him back. Bright lights lit the night once again and she realized that they were just on the edge of a ravine. If she could get him to fall...
She watched as his eyes and face started to change, revealing the grotesque features of a Lampera, the large circular mouth taking up the majority of his face, rounds of teeth growing there. That explained why he was with the assholes that kidnapped her. If he was able to latch on to any part of her body, he would kill her, draining her of all her bodily fluids in seconds. He roared and rushed her, just as another explosion went off, and she took her shot.
Falling backwards, she grabbed for the first thing she could find, a rock, and smashed it into his gaping maw. “Fuck you...fuck you!” she screamed and pushed farther, the piece of granite getting stuck in his mouth. The male stood, trying to get it out, and she rolled, got to her feet, staying low, and threw herself at him, sending him flying over the edge of the ravine. She heard a sickening crunch somewhere far below and shook her head in disbelief, then turned to see the girls, the brunette holding the gun.
“Holy shit. You are a Special Forces female.” The blonde was gaping at her again.
No, I just want to live,” she replied.
“Was that a Lampera?” the blonde asked as the brunette handed her the gun.
“Young, but yes. Now, we need to go.”
“Where? We can’t...” the slight girl started.
A shot rang out and the blonde’s eyes went wide. As she turned, blood bloomed just on her sternum, and she fell into the slight girl, who screamed. Noori shot back, hearing a thud, hoping her bullet had hit its mark, and then they were back behind the outcropping, the brunette and slight girl pulling the blonde farther in.
