catching and picking up the line of glowing figures, carrying them across the road into the other thick stand of pines.
Lowering my arms, I shook out the tension creeping up my shoulders and stepped forward. A few looked like smashed bugs on a windshield, covered in shimmery liquid. They wouldn’t be getting up again any time soon, but the others would.
Kat climbed to her feet. Straightening, she pointed at the limo. Rolland was wiggling out, still in his human form. “Kill them!” he shouted, then got all repetitive in our native language.
There were at least seven or so standing, and as I darted toward Dawson and Kat, I knew the odds weren’t looking good. We were doing some damage, taking a few out here and there, but there were still many left. Too many.
During it all, Dee stood there. She didn’t get in on the fight, didn’t come to our aid or theirs. She stood by the side of the road, her hands balled into fists, watching the remaining Luxen surround us. I raised my hand as I reached out to her. She had to join us. There was no way. No matter how strong the pull, we were her real family.
But she didn’t move as the others drew closer.
Dee?
She looked at me and shook her head, taking a step away. I couldn’t believe it. Weight pressed down on my chest as I stared at her. She couldn’t be making this choice. There was no way.
The Luxen were closing in.
This is bad. Dawson’s voice floated through me. This is real bad.
It was, but we weren’t going down like this. I wrapped my hand around Kat’s and she squeezed back, causing light to pulse up my arm. I pulled her closer as Dawson moved to stand in front of her. Wasn’t that either of us thought she couldn’t handle her own. But ultimately, we were stronger than she was. We could take more hits, and there were definitely some major hits coming our—
What sounded like a hundred large-winged birds descended on the forest surrounding us. We turned, just like the other Luxen did, as six dark-colored helicopters crested the tall pines.
They tilted as they neared the road, doors open on all except one, which circled around, sliding the doors open.
I’d seen the movie Black Hawk Down a few times. I knew what I was watching.
Ropes flopped over the edge, spinning down to the road. Within seconds, soldiers appeared at the doors of the helicopters, dressed in all black, faces hidden behind protective headgear. Some went for the ropes, rapelling down. Others knelt at the edges of the helicopters, aiming weapons that reminded me of a small rocket launcher.
It was the same weapon strapped along the backs of the soldiers racing down the street—PEP weapons, pulse energy projectiles. Weapons deadly to Luxen, hybrids, and Origins.
Oh hell.
{ Katy }
Every part of my body ached. Things went from oh crap to FML in a matter of seconds. We were seriously screwed every which way from Sunday.
The brothers, slipping into their human forms, pushed me back against a wrecked cruiser as soldiers dropped to the street. We didn’t have a chance. Not with so many soldiers coming down like rain all around us.
Daemon’s hand tightened around mine as one of the Luxen reared, sending a bolt of the Source at the nearest helicopter. The energy hit just below the propellers. Sparks flew as the helicopter veered sharply, spinning out of control and into the pines. The impact shook the ground, and the wave of heat from the fireball forced me farther back against the cruiser.
A soldier went down on one knee, hoisting his weapon. There was a blue flare at the end of the muzzle, and then light shot out, much like the Source, but it was a brilliant sheen of blue. It smacked into the Luxen, lighting him up as if he had been struck by lightning. There was a vibrant pulse, a whitish-red, and then the Luxen fell backward. As the glow dimmed from the Luxen, it was obvious that there was no life left.
All hell broke loose.
Pulses of PEP streamed across the street, as did the light from the Source. Both sides were going down quickly, toppling like a row of dominoes.
“Jesus,” Daemon grunted as he pushed me to the side.
I hit Dawson’s chest as a stray beam of PEP rolled into the cruiser. He pushed me around the hood and kept pushing, but I dug in my heels, straining around the cruiser so I could see Daemon.
He was moving among the abandoned cars, blue and white light flashing across his form.
“Dee!” he shouted.
My eyes scanned for his sister, finding her farther up the road near a rapidly retreating Rolland. He was heading for her, narrowly dodging blasts of light. My heart jumped in my chest as a PEP explosion hit the ground only a few inches from his feet.
“Daemon!” I started toward him but was grabbed from behind.
“You’re going to get yourself killed!” Dawson yanked me against his hard chest, and as I struggled to get free, he lifted my feet clear off the ground.
I grasped his forearms, kicking out. “Let me go!”
Dawson kept pulling me down the side of the road as Daemon vaulted over a sedan, racing toward his sister. Dawson turned, and near the limo, the flashes of light were almost blinding.
“Good God,” Dawson muttered in my ear. “Look at them.”
For a moment, all we could do was stare. He lowered me to my feet, his grip loosening. We shared the same objective, maybe morbid, fascination.
One by one, the Luxen charged and were picked off by a blast of PEP from the soldiers who had formed an almost impenetrable line.
The Luxen were well aware of the weapon, but they didn’t seem to grasp the fundamental fact that all it took was one blast. But as far as I was concerned, they could keep running straight at the soldiers all they wanted. Have at it.
However, two soldiers streamed up the middle of the road, in between the cars, searching down the Luxen who seemed to have an ounce of common sense and were making a run for it.
One of the soldiers was heading straight for Daemon, who had caught up to Dee and had her by the shoulders, shaking her. Rolland was by the side of the road, too close to them. A cluster with nothing but bad things written all over it was about to go down.
All I could think about was getting to Daemon.
I slammed my foot into Dawson’s, startling him into letting go, and I broke free, racing up the side of the road, his curses following every one of my steps. Pain lanced my leg as I darted between a Hummer and a cruiser.
The soldier went down on one knee, leveling the gun.
Up ahead and in front of the soldier, Dee yanked herself free from her brother, her face contorted. “No!”
“Please—” He grabbed for her again.
“No. You don’t get it!” She shoved him, and he stumbled, more out of shock than from her strength. “For once, I don’t hurt. I don’t worry. I want this.”
Blue light pulsed at the end of the muzzle, but I couldn’t pull any more of the Source. I was drained, wiped out. I pushed with everything physically in me, more than willing to go hand to hand.
I was no more than three feet from the kneeling soldier when the other soldier abruptly stepped out in front of me. Skidding to a stop, I lost my balance and landed on my butt.
The end of a PEP weapon was planted in my face.
“Don’t move,” came a muffled voice from behind the helmet.
Blue light flared from the other weapon, and horror zinged through me as I cried out. Daemon whirled around, shielding his sister even as she pushed free from him once more. The PEP blast shot through the cars, forging the distance between the gun and where Daemon and Dee stood, striking its target in the chest.
Behind them, Rolland was knocked back, flipping in and out of his human form. His head kicked against the road as he bellowed. The glow surrounding him throbbed once, and then there was nothing.
The soldier hadn’t been aiming for Daemon—and Daemon stared, his eyes wide, chest rising and falling sharply.
Dee hesitated, and then she turned, shifting into light and disappearing among the thick pines. Blu
e light bounced off the tree trunks, following her retreat. Daemon started to twist around, to go after her, but stopped when he saw me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dawson being guided toward where I was still sitting.
“I told you to stay put,” he gritted out without taking his eyes off the soldier with the gun trained on me.
“Looks like that worked out well for you,” I shot back.
The other soldier now had Daemon rounded up, herding him back to where we were. When he reached us, he slowly bent down.
“Stand still,” the soldier barked.
Anger rolled off Daemon as he continued on, shooting the soldier a look that screamed to try to stop him. The finger on the trigger spasmed as Daemon wrapped his hands under my shoulders and hauled me up. He pulled me into the shelter of his arms, angling his body so that very little of me showed.
A muscle thrummed along Dawson’s jaw. “Well, crap.”
Chopper wings beat at the air, and within seconds, another Black Hawk crested the pines, easing down in the middle of the street a couple yards from us, kicking up wind and causing my hair to whip out from underneath Daemon’s arm as I pressed tighter against him.
Exhausted and beat up, drained like a twisted sponge, I knew we were done. The three of us. If they opened fire, it would be over. A sick feeling crawled up my throat. I wanted to close my eyes, but that seemed like a coward’s way out.
There was the sound of metal grinding, and then the door to the helicopter slid open, slowly revealing who was kneeling inside, staring at us. Waiting. Like always.
Nancy Husher.
10
{ Daemon }
There were moments in my life when I seriously couldn’t believe things could get any more fucked up than they already were, especially with Dee running off to join the damn Luxen circus.
But each time, I was proven, yet again, how wrong that thought was.
Nancy stared down at us with dark eyes, her face devoid of any emotion, a total blank slate.
Dawson swore and started to shift, but Nancy spoke before he could do something that would end with a lot of explosions and general mayhem.
“If you want to live,” she said, voice clipped, “you’ll get in this damn helicopter. Now.”
We really didn’t have much of a choice. Either we put up a fight and got taken down with one of their weapons, or we got in the helicopter. Then what? We were out of the frying pan and smack-dab in the middle of the fire. But one option most likely involved dying now, while the other was probably dying later. Later gave us some time to figure a way out of this latest mess.
I shot Dawson a look that said, Simmer it down, and for a moment, I thought he was going to say to hell with it, but his shoulders squared, and then he hoisted himself up into the helicopter.
Turning to Kat, I met her eyes, and the wariness in her gray gaze, the exhaustion and pain, were tinged with fear. It cut me deep seeing that and knowing there wasn’t anything I could do at this moment to change it.
I bent my head and brushed my lips across hers. “It’ll be fine.”
Kat nodded.
“How cute,” Nancy said.
My lip curled as I turned my gaze to her. “Remember how it ended last time you thought you had us under control?”
A flicker of anger crawled across her otherwise stoic face. “Trust me. It’s not something I’ve forgotten.”
“Good,” I growled, hoisting Kat to where Dawson waited just inside. He pulled her toward him as I leaped in, crowding Nancy. The woman backed up, dropping down onto a bench as she met my stare. “But this time will end differently.”
“Will it?”
I got all up in her face and lowered my voice so that only she could hear as the chopper propellers blocked out my words to anyone else. “Yeah, because this time, I will make sure you’re dead.”
Nancy stiffened as I drew back and reached for Kat. My brother handed her to me, and Nancy said nothing. Instead, she tipped her head back and closed her eyes. The woman had bigger balls than I did, all things considered.
I tucked Kat against me as Dawson sat on her other side. Two of the soldiers jumped in, taking the seats beside Nancy. One leaned back, motioning with his arm to the pilot to take us up.
The moment the bird left the ground, Kat squeezed her eyes shut. A shudder rocked her as she balled her fist into my shirt. Her heart was pounding too fast. She wasn’t a huge fan of flying, so being in a copter probably had her one step from full freak-out mode.
Keeping my eyes trained on Nancy and her little minions, I lifted Kat up and sat her in my lap. I wrapped my arms around her, curling one hand against the back of her head, positioning her so that her heart rested against mine.
One of the soldiers propped his gun between his legs and reached up, pulling off his helmet. Shoving a hand through his sandy-brown hair, he worked out a kink in his neck as he opened his eyes.
Amethyst.
Freaking Origin.
Obviously one of Nancy’s successful products, like Archer and Luc. I couldn’t pick up jack shit from the guy, but I hadn’t picked up anything from Archer before he revealed what he was. The same with Luc. I always knew there was something off about the kid but could never put my finger on it. And Sadi had felt like a Luxen to me.
Another Origin talent, I assumed, seamlessly blending into something that they weren’t. There was a lot about them I didn’t know, and right now, didn’t give a crap about.
Lowering my head, I kept a steady watch on the three across from me as I spoke into Kat’s ear. I talked absolute nonsense. The last Ghost Hunters show I’d seen and how I wanted to check out the abandoned asylum one day. I told her about the time I’d convinced Adam that I’d seen the Mothman one night when I’d been out scouting for Arum. Then, I reminded her that with Halloween only a month or so away, we needed to find us Gizmo and gremlin outfits. I talked to her about anything, trying to keep her mind off the fact that we were winging through the air, heading to God knows where. It worked to an extent. Her heart rate slowed a little and she loosened her death grip some.
No one talked during the ride except what I was saying to Kat. Wasn’t like you could really hear anything unless you were right up on someone. The drone of the helicopter traveled through our bodies, making it feel like we were in a steel drum.
I had no idea how long we were in the air. Maybe an hour or so before the copter started to tilt to the side, and I was almost positive Kat started praying under her breath. Any other time I would’ve laughed, but wariness settled into every cell.
What were we about to face now? Being locked up? As I watched Nancy open her eyes and smooth her hands across her black pants, I doubted she wanted to keep us alive. Her obsession with breeding Luxen and hybrids to create the perfect race could only go so far. She had a huge bone to pick with us. After all, we’d broken out, taking down a lot of soldiers; had a hand in destroying an entire city; and had exposed what we were before the Luxen came.
Hell, what we did might’ve had something to do with why the others chose this time to arrive.
Then again, if she wanted us dead, it would’ve been an easy feat to carry out on the road outside of Coeur d’Alene, so I had no clue what she was up to.
The helicopter landed, and the doors were drawn open immediately. As Kat leaned away, I got my first glimpse of the outside. All I saw was a tall chain-link fence, and beyond that, a gray mountain in the distance. Maybe the Rockies?
One soldier climbed down, motioning us out. Dawson went and then Kat. We kept her between us, and the moment my feet hit the ground, I grabbed her hand. Getting a better look around, I didn’t like what I was seeing.
It was obvious we were at a military base, a huge one that spread as far as I could see. Row after row of bunkers and planes and tanks and other major inconveniences when it came to forming an escape plan. Up ahead, there was a wide and tall U-shaped building.
And a whole crapload of soldiers.
Some dressed in fatigu
es. Others wearing black like the soldiers on the road. I had a feeling they were extra special.
“Welcome to Malmstrom Air Force Base,” Nancy said, stalking past us. As we passed the lines of soldiers, I expected them to salute Nancy. They didn’t. “The whole base is under lockdown. No one gets in or out, including the Luxen.”
My eyes narrowed on her back.
God, that woman had a bull’s-eye on her head. Not just for what she did to Kat, but also for my brother, for Beth, and for every