The End?

~Drake~

I've been anxiously waiting all day for night to come. I want to get these children free and, maybe, try to move on with my life. I have been back and forth with my various contacts. We have everything prepared: transport and medical for the children, any codes needed to get in, the exact security schedule for the building, it's all set. We will only have about 30 minutes or so to get the kids out and flee. The response time for the other guards of the corporation is pretty quick. We know what to expect from them, so the attack at my apartment wasn't a waste.

I'm in the clearing, behind the building, waiting for the rest of the point people to show up. Everyone is in charge of their own thing, we are just meeting to make sure we are all on the same page. Everyone is gathering now, making sure they haven't been followed. "Well, well...looks like we are finally going to do this huh, D?" Bruno is a big guy, but a total softie. He has two teams working on getting the kids to safety once they are let out of the cages.

"Yeah. All of these years this is what I've been working towards."

"I can't wait to bring this company to it's knees," Lexie says walking up behind Bruno. She is a fierce fighter and has been working with me for a long time. Her teams are in place to make sure everything technical goes how it is meant to and that the security stays on schedule. I feel a hand smack the back of my shoulder.

"This is a good night to cause a bit of havoc, don't you think?" Bish and I go way back. He is actually a former child slave of the Reese Corporation. When we met up a few years after getting out, we both had the same mission in mind. I nod at Bish and we take a few moments to go over the plan again. Just as we agreed and start to walk towards the building, a voice is heard behind us.

"Don't forget about me. I know I can be of help." I turn to the sound and stare in shock.

"Janessa, what the hell are you doing here? We agreed that you would stay out of it."

"No, you wanted me to stay out of it. That was never my intention. I need to help you." I shake my head and walk towards her.

"You can't do this. I can't risk your safety like this."

"No one is asking you to keep me safe. I got me. You can't ex-"

"Uh, as heart warming as this is, we really need to get in there if we are going to pull this off," Lexie interrupted. I sigh because she's right. I don't have time to argue with Janessa right now. We are on a tight timeline and can't spare even a minute. I hold my hand out to Janessa and she accepts. We all walk towards the building, ready to get this done.

~Janessa~

I know Drake isn't happy that I'm here, but there was no way he was going through this without me. As I walk up to the group, I can smell that they aren't all humans. There are at least two werewolves in the small group. They all seem to know each other well so I wonder if Drake knows what they are.

As we walk back to the building and encounter more people, the werewolf scent gets stronger and a few vampires can be identified as well. I look at Drake, but he looks unphased. Either he knows that this is a mixed group, or he is ignorant of all things nonhuman. I will just follow his lead. I made sure to let my Alpha aura leak out a bit so no one would be tempted to ask me any questions in front of Drake. "Oh, guys," I whisper, "I have replaced the two Nemes security guards with two of my own...people. Please be gentle." They look at each other then to me, nodding in agreement.

_Lana, Markus....be on alert. There are werewolves and vampires working with Drake. I'm not sure if he is aware of this._

_Yes, Alpha._

_I told them that I replaced the Nemes security with my people so no one should bother you._ I cut the mindlink.

Everyone knows where they are supposed to be and what they are supposed to do. I see each other their watches light up and figure that must be the timer starting for this mission. No one speaks while getting into position. I see Drake's watch light up again and he pulls me with him to go into the building. "We are going to go in and find the cages to release the children," he whispered to me. We check our surroundings and head to the back of the building. There are three windows at the bottom, almost touching the ground. We stand in front of the middle window and Drake opens it while I keep watch. He starts to slide inside the building and I follow. We end up in a dark room that has clear bookshelves all around. Drake leads me to a door, opens it a crack, and pokes his head out. After a few moments, he motions for me to follow as he walks out of the room. We go down the hall until we see a door marked 'Basement'. Drake quickly goes through that door, closing it behind me. He produces a flashlight and we continue on our way.

The room is musty and dank. It looks like huge, old pipes are flowing all over. At times we have to duck just to keep from hitting our heads. We continue until we get to a wall. I'm confused because the wall looks like a dead end. Drake runs his hand over the wall until he hits something. He pushes a bit and we hear a click. The door swings open and we cautiously step in. This room seems to be made of steel and it looks like it is all state of the art. Everything looks new and sterile. I can smell so many different scents and I try not to give in the nausea that is following. We quietly make our way down a hall and at that moment, I'm thankful that I ditched the heels and leather. I like to look a part when I do surveillance or do late night missions, but something told me not to bother. I kept with a pair of black skinny jeans, black tank top, black zip up hoodie, and black combat boots.

As we walk down the hall, the room in front of us opens up. I can see we are on a higher level. Below us are rows and rows of cages, each one occupied with a child. The ages are all over the place from toddlers to teens. Some are asleep and some are huddled in the corner of their cage, terrified. The fluorescent lights are bright and harsh and there is metal music blaring from speakers placed all around. These children are being broken down mentally and it is tragic to witness. Drake gives my hand a squeeze almost as if he senses what I am dealing with in my mind. I'm heartbroken and I can hear Sky whining in my head. These children should be at home, happy and laughing. Instead they are here, terrified and exhausted. We hear feet pounding and a few pops. I look across the room and can see some of the people from around the building. They have entered this prison room as well and have taken out a few guards that we didn't see. We all got to work opening cages and sending children out.

I get to a cage and see two little girls hugging each other from across their bars. They look to be identical twins. I inch closer to the cages and they try to press themselves back against the cage. "I won't hurt you," I coo. I want nothing more than to wrap them up in my arms and kiss their fears away. "I'm going to open these cages and these people behind me are going to help you get out. Would you like to go home?" One of the girls nods at me and I give her a small smile. I quickly open both cages and when the girls exit, they wrap each other up in a fierce hug. I grab them and put them into the waiting arms of someone else and they turn to lead them out. One of the girls turns her head back and mouths 'thank you.' I nod and continue to open more cages. Drake and I meet up in the middle of a row and watch as the kids are herded out to safety.

The room is just about empty. There are only a few kids that are still being helped out. "I should have known!" We hear a booming voice behind us. Drake turns around first and I hear a gasp from him. I turn to look at him and see his eyes are wide and his mouth is hanging open. I turn the rest of the way and see a woman standing on the upper level with her hands on her hips. I hear Drake whisper 'Samantha'. Ah hell, not this bitch!

~Drake~

I can't believe this. Samantha is standing there, staring at me. I thought she might be dead. Every time I tried to contact her, I was met with silence. When I went on the run, after the attack on my apartment, I tried one last time to find her. Nothing I did was answered and I thought it might be best to let her go. Yet, here she is, standing in front of me.

She certainly has grown up, her body shows that, but she looks the same. Samantha has the same platinum blonde hair as she did before. I would guess it has grown quite long based on the length of the ponytail she is sporting. She has the same ice blue eyes and they still have the ability to pierce through my soul. Samantha has always been tall and I would guess she is about my height now. Becoming an adult has given her all of the necessary curves and they are visible in the black, leather bodysuit she is sporting. "Samantha, I thought you were dead." I take a small step forward and swear I hear a growl coming from Janessa. I quickly shake that off, deciding to focus on Samantha instead.

"Of course you did. I wanted you to think that." What does she mean? Was Reese after her too so she needed to fake her death?

"Samanth-" She put a hand up to silence me. I watch as Samantha sighs and rolls her head back and forth on her shoulders.

"Damn Drake! Why couldn't you have just stayed dead? I told you last we spoke that they thought you were dead so just stay that way. Why didn't you listen?" I could feel the confusion spread across my face. I remember that conversation from a couple of years ago, but why would I have done that? I needed to save these children from experiencing what I had.

"What are you saying Samantha? I couldn't stay dead. I had to find these kids and save them. I had to try to stop Reese. I had to….I had to save you." Samantha laughs. The laugh that comes out of her is one of pure evil.

"Save me?! You needed to save me?" Samantha shakes her head and glares at me. "Save me from what exactly, huh? This….." Samantha gestures to the room we are in. "This is mine. This is my inheritance, if you will. Why would I need to be saved from money and power?" Samantha has a gleam in her eye that I have never seen before. I can't believe what she is saying right now. How could she be associated with this evilness?

"Your inheritance? What are you talking about? What did they do to you?" Samantha laughs again and this time it makes an icy chill run through me.

"You are so stupid and weak. My father built this company. He placed me on the inside so I could get close to you. You were making too much noise all those years ago. He needed a quiet way to neutralize you so he sent me to find out what that was. You were never meant to live." Samantha pulls a hand from behind her back that she had kept there all this time. In her hand was a gun, not just a gun but a desert eagle. The gun was huge and I was starting to panic. I couldn't allow her to get away, couldn't allow Janessa to get hurt. I turn to Janessa and mouth 'run' to her and turn back to Samantha. I watch as she brings the gun up and aims it straight at me. I can hear footsteps behind me. It sounds like they are running back in. There is either a disturbance outside or they know there is trouble here. If Janessa just runs, she can be saved by the others. "Drake, you should have just stayed dead. I guess I will have to rectify that problem." I can hear the click and see the smoke come out of the gun. I feel like time has slowed but not slow enough for me to make a major decision. I can hear my clicks and I see Samantha dodge a few times before she runs off. I brace myself for the impact, but it isn't a bullet that I feel. I feel myself being pushed, forcefully, to the side and I hear a grunt and a fall. I am on the ground trying to look around. I don't feel any pain, but maybe it is because of the adrenaline. I look around hoping to see Janessa is out of harm's way. I look towards where I was standing and that when I see it. My heart drops and I scream out, crawling towards the body on the floor. "I NEED HELP!!!" Janessa was shot. The bullet didn't go in me, it went in Janessa.