Free True Born by L.E. Sterling

makes my guts hurt before crumpling at the monster’s feet.
    I’m so shocked I don’t realize I’m just standing there, dumb and staring, until the monster has grabbed hold of me with a hammy hand. “Don’t struggle,” the other man orders. He’s skinny to the point of Plague-struck, his bones jutting into knots at the joints. The slim fit of the white Protocols suit makes his thinness even more pronounced.
    “Who the hell are you?” I ask rudely, trying to put together what’s wrong with his face. No eyebrows, no eyelashes to cover his red-rimmed eyes, the whites pink against pale blue irises. He has hair, but it’s almost as pale as his skin. Albino, I reckon.
    “Be quiet, Lucinda. My orders are to make sure you and your sister are safe. But accidents can always happen.” His voice is high pitched, with a strange lilt that reminds me of some of the foreign dignitaries who have dined with my parents.
    “What do you think you’ re doing? ” I back up, mentally screaming at Jared to wake up.
    Behind me and tucked against the wall, Margot stirs and twitches, but it’s not until the albino asks, “Where is your sister?” that I realize he hasn’t spotted her yet.
    “I was going to ask you the same question,” I reply. It’s a brazen lie, but I’d do anything for a few seconds to think. The albino steps over Jared like he’s a suit of clothes. “Do you work for the Clinic?”
    The albino’s thin lips curl in an amused half-smile. “Something like that.”
    “May I inquire what your plans are for us?”
    He laughs, sounding like a little girl. “Don’t you just have such good manners,” he drawls.
    My attention is diverted by the monster, who holds up Jared’s unconscious form and shakes him like a rag doll. Something protective rears up inside me. “Don’t hurt him,” I warn. Jared may be a stranger, a merc, but every cell in my body goes crazy when I think of him being hurt—protecting us, no less. I’ll not leave him to be harmed. The albino’s eyes turn sharp. “You want to rescue your friend here, do you? I’ll tell you what. We’ll make a deal. You get your sister and come with us without a fuss, and we’ll consider letting your friend live.”
    No one is looking when Jared cracks open an eye with a bright green glow. “ But I don ’t know where she is. We came in here looking for her,” I whine.
    “I think you do.” The albino advances a step, something so incredibly off about him that I step back, realizing a second too late that it will expose Margot.
    But in that second all hell breaks loose. The albino’s back is turned when Jared sinks four-inch claws into the monster’s chest. The big guy bellows and tries to shake off the attack as Jared leaps again. With a snarl and roar, Jared plunges his teeth into the monster’s thick neck, the blood spraying across the whites of their uniforms and coating the albino’s hair.
    “Siggy,” the albino barks. But it’s too late. The monster crashes around in a blind, dull rage, knocking the albino off his feet as the blood pumps from his wound. They both land with a thud in a growing pool of red. I throw myself back. Still in the corner, Margot twitches and moans softly. I shake her, willing her to open her eyes, but they remain shut.
    “Margot, please,” I whisper, kissing her cheek and telling her everything is all right but that we’ve got to move. Nothing.
    I turn my attention back to the spectacle before me. The monster’s eyes are dull, lifeless, as he slumps over the albino. Jared straddles a beefy leg and brings his fist down on the albino’s head again and again, until I hear a crack and the soft sighs coming from the albino cease.
    Jared’s head snaps up like he can feel me watching him. His arm halts mid-blow, and he pushes the albino’s messy face down and leaps up, blood soaking his shirt so now the letters read, “ Girls -re f-- .”
    He doesn’t so much as glance at me as he rips the rest of the reinforced