InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 6: Shameless ❯ Eli ( Chapter 33 )

~~Chapter 33~~

~Eli~

 

 

 

“What the . . .?” Cain grumbled as he scowled at the street in front of Denver International Airport. Hands on hips, he could discern Jillian's scent, albeit faint, and from what he could tell, the youkai that took her had led her on foot along the sidewalk to the left, but the strange thing was, Gavin and Evan's scent—stronger than Jillian's—weren't following Jillian's trail at all. Heading straight across the parking lot, or so it seemed, Cain couldn't figure out why they'd deviated from the trail.

 

InuYasha stomped outside, casting Cain a furious glower. He stopped, too, eyeing both directions for a moment before heading off to follow Gavin's scent.

 

Cain caught his arm and pulled him back. “Where are you going?” he growled. “Jillian went this way.”

 

“Keh! I know Jillian went that way,” InuYasha snarled.

 

“Then you're going the wrong way,” Cain gritted out, struggling to control his rapidly rising irritation.

 

“The hell I am!”

 

“The hell you're not!”

 

“Fine . . . you go that way if you want. I'm going this way.”

 

“Look, I don't know why Gavin took off this way, but her scent goes that way,” Cain growled, pointing back the other direction.

 

InuYasha snorted. “You know, you were fucking stupid when you almost killed my pup, and you're even stupider now, damn it! He's her mate, ain't he? Maybe he can sense where the fuck she is!”

 

Cain recoiled slightly from the harsh reminder of what had happened so many years ago. There weren't many things that had the ability to make him cringe, but that memory . . . it was enough. All the same, he wasn't so sure that Gavin did know where Jillian was. If he was running around, half-cocked, then he wasn't really going to help Jillian at all. “All I'm saying is that maybe we should go see why her trail leads off that way,” Cain said, forcing his voice to remain calmer than he was feeling at the moment.

 

“You go do that,” InuYasha growled. “I'm going this way.”

 

“Of all the hot-headed, idiotic things to—” Cain began. The trill of InuYasha's cell phone stopped him, though, and he waited impatiently while the hanyou dug the device out of his pocket . . .

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

Gavin knelt, glowering through the row of hedges at the brick building. Jerking his arm in a vain effort to dislodge Evan's hand, he growled low in his throat but remained silent as Evan held the cell phone to his ear. “Let go, Evan!” Gavin hissed.

 

“Just hold on,” Evan told him. “You can't go charging in there yet.”

 

“What?” InuYasha growled in lieu of a greeting when he finally answered his phone.

 

“Where the hell are you?” Evan growled back.

 

InuYasha snorted. “Where the fuck else? Arguing with your old man.”

 

Evan rolled his eyes and tightened his grip on Gavin's arm when the youkai tried to jerk away again. “Yeah, well, hurry it up, will you? You can follow our trail, right?”

 

“What the fuck do you think I was trying to do?” InuYasha snapped.

 

“Just follow us. Gavin's youkai got us here, but pay attention. Our path doubles back on itself in one area near the South Platte River—someone thought we could just fly right over it . . .”

 

“I could have,” Gavin growled.

 

Evan snorted. “You could have, then I could have spent the next hour looking for your sorry ass while you ran off and got yourself into trouble because you're not thinking!”

 

That earned him a black glower but he ignored it. “Anyway, we're just over the river to the north of Denver. It's some sort of industrial facility, but it doesn't look like there's an actual business here anymore.”

 

“Be careful, damn it,” InuYasha demanded. “I don't feel like having to rescue you, too.”

 

“Yeah, yeah . . . Hurry it up.”

 

Clicking off his phone, he slipped it into his pocket before leveling a no-nonsense look at Gavin. “They'll be here. Let's scope the place out. It doesn't look like it's being guarded, but you never know . . . Are you positive she's here?”

 

Gavin stopped long enough to glare at his friend. “Yes, I'm sure she's here!” he snarled. “She's here! I can feel her!”

 

Evan nodded. It hadn't really crossed his mind, the idea that Gavin might be wrong on this. He'd heard stories from before; stories about other youkai having the ability to sense when their mates were in danger. Gavin and Jillian were both youkai, and they'd been so integral to one another for so long, it was probably second nature to both of them, really. That was the main reason he hadn't argued when Gavin had taken off in a completely different direction from Jillian's scent. That was the main reason why he trusted Gavin's conviction now. “Okay. You go that way; I'll go this way. Just check around the building before we try to bust in there.”

 

Gavin growled but nodded, and Evan finally let go of his arm.

 

Setting off in opposite directions, Evan glanced back in time to see Gavin dash around the side of the building.

 

Of course, that same sense that had led them here had also led them straight into the South Platte River. Too wide for them to jump across, Gavin had been of the opinion that he could transform into his energy form and make it over. Too bad Evan couldn't. Youkai, certainly, but since his mother was a hanyou, Evan lacked the ability to do that. After a lot of arguing, Gavin had grudgingly given in, realizing on some level that Evan was right; that splitting up wouldn't be good when there was only two of them, to start with.

 

Apparently Gavin's youkai was being led straight to Jillian, literally, and that didn't account for such things as rivers . . .

 

It didn't make sense, though. Why would someone have brought her here? The place was some sort of abandoned facility. Near the entrance on the wall were the still-discernable outlines of letters that had been affixed to the building at some point. `Carradine Medical', it read.

 

Evan frowned as he kept moving. `Carradine Medical,' he repeated to himself. He vaguely remembered the name. He'd heard it somewhere before . . .

 

Something else had occurred to him, too. From what Gavin had mentioned, Jillian hadn't been taken by another stalker. No, it seemed like whoever took her was working with or for someone else, and that someone wanted something from her. Gavin said she kept telling him that `they' kept giving her shots and stuff, and there wasn't a doubt in Evan's mind that, while Mickey B. was a nuisance, these youkai were the real threat . . .

 

He could smell several of them in the area surrounding the building. That worried him even more. Sure, Gavin had been trained. It wasn't a secret that Moe Jamison had always hoped that Gavin would follow in his footsteps and become a youkai hunter. To that end, he'd been thoroughly trained—almost as thoroughly as Evan and Bas had. Still, Jillian was Gavin's mate, and Evan had seen enough youkai make idiot mistakes when their mates were involved that he knew that even the best training might not help much in the given situation.

 

Gavin rounded the side of the building and spotted Evan, shaking his head as he closed the distance between them. “I didn't see anyone,” he said without preamble. “You?”

 

“No,” Evan admitted, “and I don't like it.”

 

Gavin nodded. “Me, either, but I'm not leaving her in there another minute. You coming?”

 

Evan cracked a half-assed grin. “Wouldn't miss it.”

 

Gavin grunted. He looked like hell, actually. A good shave would help . . . so would some sleep. His hair had come loose during their trek over the Denver skyline, and somewhere along the way, he'd torn the arm of his shirt. Striding back toward the entrance of the building once more, Evan paused and grabbed Gavin's arm. “There's someone coming,” he mumbled.

 

A strange look passed over Gavin's features—a stubbornness in the set of his features as he shook Evan off and strode forward. Evan grimaced and followed.

 

“Where's Jillian?” Gavin demanded, stepping into the path of the two youkai who had just emerged from the building. One was wearing a white lab coat while the other was clad in black. Both looked rather surprised.

 

“What are you talking about?” the one in the lab coat—a kitsune—asked with a shake of his head. He was trying to play ignorant. Too bad Evan hadn't missed the momentary look of recognition that lit the man's initial gaze.

 

Gavin wasn't waiting for answers. Lunging forward, he grabbed the man by the front of his coat and slammed him back against the thick glass doors. “Where is she?” he demanded once more.

 

The other man—a rat-hanyou—started to move in. Evan darted over and grabbed him, bearing him back against the wall. His skull cracked against the bricks, and he slumped to the ground in a heap.

 

“I-I don't—” the youkai began, his tone rising as Gavin started to growl low in his throat.

 

“I wouldn't lie to him if I were you,” Evan drawled, nudging the hanyou with the toe of his boot to make sure he really was unconscious. “He gets hella grumpy when his mate goes missing.”

 

Gavin wasn't waiting for an answer. Jerking the man off his feet, he sent him flying through the air. He hit the ground in the middle of the ragged-looking lawn and slid a good fifty feet before he finally came to a stop, and he didn't get up, either. “Damn, Gavvie,” Evan remarked. “Remind me not to piss you off.”

 

Gavin's only response was a curt grunt as he jerked the door open and strode inside.

 

The lobby of the building was eerily empty. The lobby encompassed the entire front of the building, and was opened up to the metal rafter beams high overhead. Gavin shot Evan a glance as he stepped forward, his cowboy boots resounding on the hardened clay floor like the echo of gunfire. “She's . . . downstairs . . .” he finally said.

 

Evan nodded. “You go get her. I'll make sure there're no surprises up there,” he said, nodding at the open staircase that rose from the center of the lobby.

 

Gavin paused long enough to look at Evan once more. “Thanks.”

 

Evan shrugged. “Go get my sister, will you?”

 

Gavin nodded and strode toward the steps leading down.

 

Evan waited for a moment before hurrying past the staircase and down the hallway on the ground floor. Judging from the outside of the building, he'd say there were only two levels of the facility above ground. The corridor was lined with doorways: most of which were open. They looked like a series of empty offices, for the most part. A couple held desks that had been abandoned long ago. Glancing up and down the hallway, he paused long enough to tug his boots off. He should have told Gavin to do the same, come to think of it. He didn't like the feel of this place, not at all . . .

 

Moving past the swinging doors of what looked to be a bathroom, Evan looked through the windows in the doors. Over the row of sinks was a plate glass window, and he shook his head. `An . . . operating room . . .?' he mused. `What the hell kind of place is this?' He sighed and kept going. Making his way down to the last door at the very end of the hallway, Evan stopped, closing his eyes and stretching out his youki to check the area. He couldn't sense anyone inside the room, but he wasn't taking any chances, either . . .

 

Pushing the door open very slowly, he peered around it and narrowed his eyes. The room looked like a laboratory . . . microscopes on lab tables . . . a row of x-ray lights lining one wall . . .

 

He slipped into the room and looked around. This room, unlike the others he'd seen, didn't seem abandoned. A Styrofoam cup sat beside one of the microscopes, and upon closer inspection, he realized that it still held half a cup of still-warm coffee.

 

`What the fuck are they doing here, and why do they have Jillian?'

 

He couldn't smell her in the room. She obviously hadn't been brought in here. Too bad Evan couldn't decide whether or not he thought that was a good or bad thing . . .

 

He turned to leave when something else caught his eye, and he frowned as he slowly walked toward it. A strange sort of device was lying on a lab table. It was shaped like one of those hand-held metal detecting devices that airport security used to find concealed weapons, and Evan slowly picked it up, turning it over in his hands. Things were getting weirder by the second. The sooner Gavin found Jillian and got her out of there, the better . . .

 

Shaking his head, he dropped the device onto the counter and hurried out of the room and down the hallway. It didn't really matter what they were doing here so long as Jillian wasn't in danger anymore . . .

 

Negotiating the stairs was simple enough. The quietness of the building wore on his nerves with every step he took. Hurrying down the hallway, he wasn't surprised to find the rooms as empty as the ones below. Eyes focused on the door at the very end of the corridor, he spared cursory glances into the rooms he bypassed.

 

If the room below had been a laboratory, he wasn't sure what to call this one. Filled with all sorts of medical machinery, he grimaced when the all-too-familiar scent of his sister infiltrated his senses. Jillian had been in here, hadn't she? On a small, portable surgery table, he saw the unmistakable bottle; the syringes—carefully covered with disposable plastic caps—arranged: the drugs she'd told Gavin about while she was helpless; immobile. `Cyclimorph,' he read with a scowl. `Cyclimorph . . .' It was a mix of morphine with an anti-sickness medicine mixed in, if his memory served. It was normally used as a pain killer, but Evan remembered hearing Kichiro tell him awhile back that it in youkai, it tended to knock them out if administered in the right dosage. “Bastard!” he growled, grabbing the half-empty bottle and crushing it in his palm.

 

`Jillian . . .' He grimaced, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand as he watched the shards of glass fall from his hand before he shook the blood and residual liquid off. Following her scent to the far end of the room, he scowled at the hulking machine. It looked like a mobile MRI system . . .

 

“What the fuck do they want from her?” he growled in the silent room. Rage building deep down, his vision wavered as anger the likes that he'd never felt before ignited below his skin, burning him from deep down. A steady roar built in his ears—he didn't realize that the sound was coming from low in his throat. Vision disintegrating in a reddened haze, he gnashed his teeth together and slammed his fist into the small, round window, shattering the tempered glass, which did nothing to relieve his rampant frustration, his outrage.

 

A harsh hiss erupted behind him, and Evan wheeled around, stopping short as a strange youkai stepped out of the elevator. The youkai didn't seem surprised by Evan's presence—or he was damn good at hiding it. Evan didn't care one way or the other. One thing and one thing alone registered in Evan's mind: the youkai before him—the eel-youkai—he was the same one who had been around the ranch. “You,” he growled.

 

The eel-youkai made a mocking bow. “Me . . . ? Eli, at your service.”

 

“Where the hell is my sister?” Evan growled, his voice lower, more gravely than his normal timbre.

 

“Hmm, I'm not sure . . . Maybe she's dead.”

 

“You wouldn't touch her,” Evan snarled, cracking his knuckles as he glowered at the youkai.

 

Eli smiled insincerely and shrugged. “Wouldn't I? I did kidnap her, didn't I? You really think I wouldn't kill her? Pampered little cunt . . . I'd love to.”

 

Evan unleashed a furious howl as he barreled at the youkai. He caught the youkai in the center of the chest, barreling him backward into the wall. “You bastard!”

 

With a grunt, Eli shoved Evan away. He staggered back a couple steps but caught himself and lunged forward again. “Anger is your enemy, hanyou,” Eli laughed. “Lose control of your emotions, and you'll be the one to pay!” His voice rose with every word, the final one punctuated with a lightning-fast motion as Eli whipped around, grabbing Evan and slamming him against the wall. Holding him in place with his forearm under Evan's chin, Eli grasped the middle finger tip of his Gila-monster glove on his free hand and tugged it off. “Say goodbye, son of the Great-Dog,” he said as little strings of lightning crackled between his fingers.

 

Evan couldn't control the unbridled rage that threatened to engulf him. He might not be able to lose himself in the youkai rage that true hanyous could, but that didn't mean he was immune to the overwhelming need to protect his own—his family. Eli's fist was a blur of movement. Evan ducked and heaved, hitting the floor and rolling to the side as the errant shot of lightning energy shot out of Eli's fingertips.

 

Rolling to his feet, chest heaving as he drew deep breaths, Evan shot forward once more, arms encircling Eli's waist, locking around him, propelling him back across the room. Eli twisted, his fingers crackling, bolts of electricity sending sparks trailing behind them like a shooting star, and with a mighty shove, he thrust Evan backward. The bolts of lightning hit him dead center in the chest, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying back. He smacked hard into the huge scanning apparatus, his head snapping against the unforgiving metal, his scream cut off abruptly as the air whooshed out of his body; as he slumped slowly to the floor.

 

Eli stared down at him for several moments, a cold grin spreading over his features. His fingers itched to finish off the pup, but unfortunately, he didn't have time for that. He wasn't a horrible adversary; Eli had to give him that. Too bad he'd been too angry to put up a decent fight. With a disgusted sigh, he turned away with a flourish, yanking off his other glove and retrieving the one he'd dropped before stuffing them into his pocket. He doubted that the bitch's brother would be here without her mate . . .

 

His smile widened as he glanced at the elevator and turned on his heel. The elevator wouldn't provide the element of surprise that he wanted. Her mate might be a complete square, but he was also huge, and with a father who was a renowned hunter . . . Well, Eli wasn't stupid enough to take any chances. He'd been ordered not to harm Jillian Zelig, but things had changed, hadn't they? If the tai-youkai's son and would-be son-in-law were here, then it was a safe bet that the others wouldn't be far behind.

 

No, he needed Jillian Zelig alive, but not because he'd been ordered to let her live. He needed her to ensure that he stayed alive, and for that reason only, he'd play the game . . .

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

`Damn it . . .'

 

It didn't take Gavin long to figure out that trying to be quiet and being angry enough to kill someone just didn't go well together. Slipping down the half-lit hallway, he looked around for any signs of opposition. Jillian had to be lower—there seemed to be at least two underground levels in the building—and he could feel the pull of her youki. He just had to make certain that there was no one who could interfere.

 

The first basement level yielded him nothing. It was just as well. A myriad of memories were tormenting him as the fierce need to protect her warred with the insane desire just to see her, to touch her, to know she was still there with him. The first time he'd met Jillian with her silvery hair caught up in piggy tails, little tendrils that had escaped hanging in wisps around her angel's face . . . the bright smile that always greeted him, always made him feel just a little taller, a little bigger than he ever really had been . . . the way her eyes glowed whenever she looked at him . . . He'd come to realize that the light that illuminated her gaze was her way of telling him for so long that she really did love him . . . She'd been telling him that for so long . . . He just hadn't realized it until now . . .

 

Sprinting back down the hallway, he caught the banister to swing himself around the corner, leaping over the railing onto the next level down. Landing in a crouch as two youkai darted around the corner, Gavin vaulted off the floor, lowering his shoulder as he pummeled straight into the first one, knocking him back into the other one. The two sprawled on the floor, and Gavin wasted no time in jabbing two fingers behind each of their ears to knock them out. Sparing a second to ascertain that they were both still breathing, he stood up and ran down the hallway, absently muttering a word of thanks to his father, who had insisted that Gavin learn how to utilize pressure points to disable his opponents.

 

Another youkai dashed out of a room off to the side, catching Gavin around the waist and shoving him against the cinderblock wall. He grabbed the front of Gavin's shirt and jerked him away from the wall and started to shove him back. Gavin braced his hands against the youkai's chest and heaved him away. His shirt ripped as the youkai careened away, smacking into the wall hard, his head hitting the cinderblocks with a sickening thud. He slumped to the floor, and Gavin grimaced, glancing down long enough to see the jagged streaks of blood running down his chest from the youkai's claws.

 

`She's behind that door . . .'

 

Face contorting in an irate grimace, Gavin lowered his shoulder and barreled into the door. It slammed open with a resounding crash, and he stood in the doorway, scanning the room for Jillian.

 

She was handcuffed to a gurney with youkai—a doctor?—standing over her. They seemed to have been talking when he broke in, but the doctor looked rather stunned, and Gavin . . . well, he certainly wasn't about to waste any time. The flash of something in the doctor's hand caught his attention, and his eyes flared wide when he realized what it was: a needle.

 

“Hell, no!” Gavin bellowed, shooting across the room and catching the doctor's wrist, bearing him back against the wall. The air whooshed out of the doctor's lungs with the force of the impact; the syringe in his hand clattered helplessly to the floor only to be crushed under the heel of Gavin's boot. Grasping the youkai by the throat, Gavin hefted him off his feet, fighting the desire to snap his neck. “What do you think you're doing with my mate?” he growled.

 

The doctor wheezed, clawing pathetically at Gavin's hand in an effort to break his hold. The color in his face mottled, darkened, and he grimaced as he tried in vain to choke out a word.

 

“Gavin!” Jillian called, her voice oddly detached, almost hollow—doubtless a residual effect of the drugs she'd been given. “Don't kill him . . . he knows . . . knew . . . my biological parents . . .”

 

Gavin winced. As much as he wanted to rip the guy to shreds—as much as the guy deserved to be torn limb from limb—he couldn't ignore Jillian's quiet entreaty; not to mention the idea that Cain would want him alive, if only to question him. “Damn it!” Gavin snarled, slamming the youkai against the wall with a force so strong that the cinderblocks groaned. Letting go, he glowered as the doctor crumpled to the floor in a careless heap.

 

“Gavvie . . .”

 

Gavin ran back to Jillian and hugged her tight. “Oh, God, Jilli . . . Are you all right?” He straightened up, grasping the length of chain between the cuff on her wrist and the one hooked around the leg of the gurney and yanking hard. “What the . . .?”

 

She nodded and heaved a sigh. “I think . . . I think he has the keys . . .”

 

He spared her a momentary glance before hurrying back over to the doctor. Pushing the youkai onto his back, Gavin made quick work of searching the doctor's pockets to find the ring of keys. His hands were shaking so badly, though, that it took a few tries before he actually managed to free her hands and feet, dropping the keys on the floor before scooping her up and setting her feet on the floor. He didn't let go. Hugging her tight, refusing to relinquish his hold on her, he closed his eyes just for a moment as he tried to comprehend the idea that she really was going to be all right. She leaned against him, her legs unsteady, burying her face against his shoulder. “Come on,” he said, carefully lifting her into his arms. “Let me get you out of here.”

 

“Okay,” she agreed softly. “The girls are all fine? Minnie and Karis, Sherry and the baby?”

 

“They're just fine,” he assured her, kissing her forehead. “Just fine . . .”

 

“Oh . . . you're hurt!” she exclaimed softly, her panic spiking as she struggled to lean away, to inspect his wounds.

 

“Don't worry about that,” he told her. “Just scratches. Barely feel a thing.”

 

That didn't reassure her. If anything, she seemed even more distraught than she had before.

 

“Well, well, well . . . isn't that just sweet?”

 

Whipping around, Gavin's arms tightened as he watched the eel-youkai stride into the room. “You're the one they smelled around the ranch,” he growled.

 

Eli grinned insincerely. “Rather lax in the security department, aren't you?”

 

Sparing a moment to set Jillian back on the gurney once more, Gavin slowly turned to face the youkai once more. “You're not stalking her . . . what do you want?”

 

The youkai's grin widened. “Stalk her? Please . . . She's a job; nothing more.”

 

“So it's not personal,” Gavin shot back, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

 

“On the contrary . . . all of this unpleasantness could have been avoided if you'd just kept your nose out of it.”

 

“As if I'd do that.”

 

“Suit yourself. Let's hope you prove to be a more controlled fighter than your friend.”

 

Gavin couldn't contain the savage growl that spilled over. “Where's Evan?”

 

“Was that his name? He wasn't bad . . . he simply let his anger rule his head. Let's just say he won't be making that mistake again . . .”

 

“Evan . . .?” Jillian echoed.

 

“He's lying,” Gavin told her. “He's just trying to bait me.”

 

“Am I?” He shrugged. “Very well, then. Let's see what you've got.”

 

Gavin stood his ground as the youkai advanced, shaking his hand, sending droplets of blood from the paltry lacerations inflicted by the doctor flying. Flexing his claws, he refused to move, refused to let the youkai anywhere near Jillian . . .

 

Eli chuckled as he sized Gavin up. Lifting his hand, he let the electricity crackle between his fingertips. “Come now, puppy . . . we'll make this fast . . .”

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~ =~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

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Reviewers

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eye1thesandbox:

I'm enjoying this continuation as much as I have enjoyed the others, however, I have one question. Will Hank be getting his own story? He is such a great character and more often than not tends to steal the scene. Just curious.

 

Hank is not slated to have a story in the current planned Puritycontinuations … but never say never … heh …

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MMorg

inuyashaloverr ------ artemiswaterdragon ------ OROsan0677 ------ Deceptress ------ leeksandmisosoup ------ vvkimbo07 ------ inuluver313 ------ Acheronlover

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zoriko ------ angelfire777 ------ Chva the Mai-coh ------ Firedemon86 ------ JLFEclipse ----- OROsan0677 ------ My Own Self ------ Deceptress ------ Chva the Mai-coh ------ Love_Grows_83 ------ psyco_chick32 ------ cutechick18 ------ stefikittie ------ Weavern

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Final Thought fromJillian:

Where's Evan …?

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Shameless): I do not claim any rights to InuYashaor the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~