Ava was appealing. No, Ava was straight-up hot.
What if this man never intended for her to die?
Ava was a catch like none other, and not just in physical appearance, but also in terms of ability. If this man could control someone who could walk through walls… No one would just throw that away. Thinking about abilities like objects to be possessed – thinking about metahumans as objects to be possessed – then Ava was worth her weight in gold. More even. She was priceless – one of the worst threats imaginable in the hands of an enemy, but one of the most valuable assets in the right hands.
But was there any way to confirm that he wanted to keep her? She had turned into a shadow when I had been shot at, but was that enough proof?
“Was only I supposed to die?” I wondered, knowing this guy probably assumed I could be killed easily like anyone else.
Silence.
Again, I didn’t know if her silence confirmed it or not. I decided to take a different approach entirely to determine if he wanted her. “Did anyone other than me touch you recently?” I wondered hesitantly.
She flinched again. “Yes,” she whispered.
My grip tightened on the steering wheel. Just how long had she been under his control before she came back? I was confident it had only been a handful of minutes from the moment she approached him, but a lot could happen in that short amount of time.
I didn’t feel like it was any of my business to ask my next question, but it was the easiest way to find out if something horrible had happened. “Ava…are you a virgin?”
She flinched again, glancing at me in surprise. “N-No,” she replied hesitantly.
Shit.
“Did you lose your virginity recently?” I asked urgently.
“No.”
“Have you had sex recently?” I tried a second time.
“No,” she replied firmly, meeting my gaze again, her expression determined.
I sighed heavily, leaning back in my seat.
So he had touched her, but he hadn’t sexually assaulted her. Still, a guy with that kind of power, especially if he had the intention of her returning to him after I was dead, surely wouldn’t have let her sexy body go to waste – not when he could make her do anything he wanted.
Just the idea made my blood boil. I was going to kill this bastard if for no other reason than the threat he posed to myself and anyone else I cared about. The idea that someone like him existed in the world was offensive to me. He could turn anyone against me, and make them do whatever he wanted. It made me sick.
My thoughts rapidly began sinking deeper and deeper into a dark place as I considered the implications.
“Jake,” Ava began hesitantly, seeming to struggle to speak. I assumed she was going to comment on my murderous expression, so she surprised me with her next words. “I haven’t had sex in years,” she reaffirmed. “Really, I only did it once when I was younger, and I didn’t enjoy it – it was too uncomfortable. But I still feel…violated.”
Without thinking, I leaned towards her and wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her towards me. The car swerved slightly from my movement, but I kept it under control. Ava yelped from suddenly being pulled against my side, readjusting herself on the center console before wrapping her arms loosely around my head, her slightly elevated position placing her upper chest against my temple.
I was still cold. I still wanted to feed. But my unexpected possessiveness made that all secondary. I didn’t feel like I was a threat to her anymore, because now there was only one person’s blood who I wanted to steal – only one person who would satisfy my bloodlust – my desperate need to kill.
I felt my blood creep out of my body and begin clinging to her, not out of a desire to feed, but out of a desire to protect.
It took me a second to realize why.
“J-Jake,” Ava said with concern as my blood wrapped tightly around her torso.
“Ava!” I exclaimed. “Shadow form. Now! Just us!”
She immediately pulled away slightly to look at me with concern.
“Now!” I repeated.
We both became weightless, the red moon reappearing in the sky, just as the world around us exploded into flames. The car vanished, but we kept moving at full speed in the air through the midnight shadow dimension. Suddenly it felt like I was the one being held by Ava, instead of vice versa, as we began slowing down. Our bodies were hovering a foot above the ground while she held my weightless form tightly against her own.
I finally glanced back as we came to a stop, still hovering in the air. At first, I could see nothing except the wreckage that had once been our car, but as my solid feet touched the ground, I was greeted with a wild inferno.
We had just been bombed, leaving a crater in the highway along with pieces of scrap metal.
Ava was trembling in my arms now, her voice coming out strained. “They…they’re trying to kill me.”
I gawked at her. “Who?” I asked in disbelief. “The military?”
She nodded, staring at the flames with wide eyes, the realization that she had almost died seeming to have stunned her.
I shook my head in disbelief, tightening my embrace. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I scoffed. “You really think it was them?” I asked seriously. “You really think your grandfather would have you killed?”
She finally looked up at me. “It’s not his decision.” She gripped my clothing tightly in her fists. “Jake, I’ve been compromised. I don’t think you fully understand what that means. They can’t throw me in jail. They can’t contain me. And the only power they had over me doesn’t matter anymore if…” her voice instantly cut off like she was choking. I realized she must have begun saying something that would violate the commands she had been given.
I tightened my embrace even more, prompting her chin to snap up towards me, a look of concern in her expression again. I was even colder now after having been shifted into a shadow and back a second time, but my determination to kill this guy had only increased as well.
We had gained some ground on our enemy, but now we were suddenly without transportation. And while I could run as fast as a car, I couldn’t run that fast – I had been traveling more than triple my running speed before a missile collided with us. And the road was deserted, so hijacking someone else’s car wasn’t an option right now.
Still, we had to try. We couldn’t let this guy get away.
I loosened my grip on Ava, and twisted around. “Get on,” I demanded, grabbing her dress from behind me and lifting it up partially.
She realized what I wanted, and this time listened without question, hiking up her dress more and climbing onto my back. I used my blood to strap her securely to my body, trying to keep my focus on the goal so I didn’t get distracted by her overwhelming heat inviting me to get warm.
Once she was in place, I took off in a sprint, quickly reaching my max speed in a matter of seconds. As the ground flew beneath me, I tried to rack my brain for a way to go faster – any way, because our enemy was rapidly slipping away again, going more than twice our speed. But I didn’t know how to go faster. I had flown a couple of times now, but I didn’t think flying would be much better, not to mention I didn’t have a ton of extra blood to create wings to even try.
I was dangerously low right now, more so than I wanted to admit. It was close to the point I had been when I uncontrollably stole Trinity’s blood. As focused as I felt right now, I also knew that losing more blood might make me lose control and kill Ava in the process, and I definitely couldn’t afford that.
As I ran, I began to feel defeated.
Partially because I was hungry, but also because he was escaping. Undoubtedly, I was sensing him much further away than I had been capable of doing only a few days ago, probably thanks to my bonding with Liz increasing my ability, but he was still getting away. I couldn’t even keep up. Even at full speed, I was falling behind. And if I didn’t kill him while I had the chance, then he might ruin my life later on.
After all, this was the reason why I had come back in the first place – to eliminate the person responsible for almost killing us all with a nuclear bomb. This was the guy who threatened everything in my life, the guy who threatened Trinity and Liz’s lives.
I had to catch him. This was the whole point of everything. The reason I left Trinity behind. The reason I came back.
However, just as I had that thought, it happened.
He dropped off my radar entirely.
I gasped, slowing down until I stopped completely.
It was over. Just like that, he had escaped my grasp. Even as fast as I was, I wasn’t fast enough. Even as strong as I was, I wasn’t strong enough. I had failed.
“Jake!” Ava exclaimed. “Why’d you stop?”
I couldn’t answer her. My body began trembling as defeat settled in. It was over. I’d never get this chance again. My enemy was so close and just like that it was over. Just like that, I failed.
Suddenly, Ava’s lips were right at my ear, her hot breath hitting me like I had just opened an oven set to five hundred degrees. “Don’t give up, Jake. Whatever you do, don’t give up. Run.” Her voice began sounding choked. “Run, Jake, until you can’t run anymore.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “Please, Jake. For me.”
I winced, finding myself taking a single step forward, only to stop again.
“Jake, please,” she begged. “Please end this nightmare.” She lowered her voice even more. “I don’t want to be forced to do things I don’t want to do. Please, end my nightmare. Don’t let me be violated.”
I winced again, taking another step forward as those words settled in. Followed by another step. Her words hit me hard, not only because it was her saying it, but also since it could easily be Trinity or Liz saying that same thing eventually. This person couldn’t be allowed to exist in the world. And even though he had escaped my grasp, that didn’t mean I couldn’t still try.
“Please,” she pleaded again, tightening her embrace around my neck. “Run.”
I obeyed.
I took off in a sprint again, quickly returning to full speed in a matter of seconds. Because I had to try. This was the reason why I had come back. The reason I had left Trinity and Liz behind.
I had to kill this man.
I felt my blood begin to boil as all the implications of what this man could do began to really sink in deep into my thoughts.
Ava’s words echoed in my head, ‘Don’t let me be violated.’
Such a vague statement. Because she still couldn’t speak about him directly – not to me. She couldn’t say ‘Don’t let him violate me.’ His hold was absolute, and her desperation only indicated that there was more to it. She didn’t just get to run away. She kept emphasizing that the mission had to continue. We couldn’t stop.
What happened when we stopped? What conditional command had he given her? What would she have to do once the condition was fulfilled?
I knew that if this guy was smart, then he would definitely try to keep her, but that didn’t mean she had to go with him right away. Maybe he told her to act normal, go back to base and kill all her superiors, and then return to him. Which meant, Ava might be dealing with the knowledge that she’d have to kill her grandfather, whom she did actually care about, if we gave up now.
And that was only one option. In reality, I had no idea what Ava knew awaited her, both after this mission as well as once she was forced to return to that man.
And I didn’t want to find out. The desperation in her voice was all I needed.
I had to kill him.
My anger peaked as I considered all that. A vicious growl reverberated out of my throat, just as my jaw popped.
I HAD TO KILL HIM.
As I ran harder, I felt my arms grow thicker. Longer.
I WOULD NOT BE DEFEATED. I REFUSED.
All at once, my back warped, my legs reshaped, claws burst from my shoes, my hands grew larger, and my neck elongated.
What was once a human body was now something much more bestial. I was bestial. An apex predator hunting down my prey.
Zane could run more than double his speed on four legs. It was time to find out if I could do much the same. I heard Ava scream as I fell forward, my claws digging into the ground to spur me onward. I thrust my inhuman hind legs so far forward that my feet flew past my shoulders, before they slammed into the ground and rocketed me forward, my hands – no, my paws – reaching out to catch myself before repeating the process all over again. All the seams in my clothing were torn from the movement, but within a matter of minutes, my enemy reappeared on my radar. And I was doing more than keeping up with him far off in the distance – I was gaining on him.
The world around me blurred away as every rippling muscle in my body propelled us forward. Ava was holding onto my furry neck for dear life, though oddly enough she was lighter than usual.
Weightless.
I glanced back at her head pressed against the side of mine to see her black shadowy form clinging to me as I soared over the endless terrain at an impossible speed. Her coloring was almost indistinguishable from the black fur she had her face buried in.
I hadn’t initially noticed that she had shifted though, because my blood was still holding her. Still strapping her tightly to my body, despite the fact that she was a shadow right now. I wasn’t sure if that was because of her ability to feel solid even as a shadow, which was how she was able to kill people with her blade, or if it was because of my ability to reach beyond people’s powers like what I did with Liz’s shield.
I honestly wasn’t sure, but in that moment, I didn’t really care.
What did matter was that being in her shadowy form removed my desire for her blood, even though I could still feel her warmth.
That, and…
All my senses were homed in on my target again, all my muscles, every fiber of my being aimed in one direction, dedicated to a single purpose – chasing down my prey.
Chapter 18: Synced
I wasn’t sure how long I ran, but it seemed like several hours later I had finally caught up to him, enough so to be able to see him in the distance driving a brilliant white car sparkling in the moonlight like a pearl. However, my speed was only partially responsible for us catching up. For one, he eventually slowed down, likely thinking he was in the clear now, keeping pace with normal traffic. But also, unlike my target, I wasn’t restricted to the roads, allowing me to pursue him in a straight line at all times.
It mattered less now that I was this close, but when he had passed through a city, he had changed directions long before I got there, allowing me to shift my trajectory only slightly and bypass the city entirely. I ran through fields, leapt clear over riverbeds, and occasionally used streets, zooming past traffic so fast that I probably appeared like nothing more than a black blur rocketing by them in the night.
I could also sense Zayden and Blair now too. However, it wasn’t until we drew much closer, being practically invisible to the naked eye due to our midnight coloring, that I finally realized which car was trailing the white one. They had their headlights off, which should have been a dead giveaway among the traffic, but I didn’t notice right away because I could see almost just as clear as if it was daytime. The moon was hidden behind a thick layer of clouds now, yet even still I could see perfectly fine.
Zayden was the one driving, wearing a night vision goggle that only covered one eye.
My ears perked up automatically, focusing intently in their direction when I realized Blair could sense me, bolting along with them through the darkness. I pushed away all other sounds of the night, ignoring the sound of their engine, sharpening my heightened hearing on solely her, catching her suck in a quiet breath as she sat up straighter.
Zayden must have noticed, because he spoke up. “Something wrong?” he wondered, his voice surprisingly polite.
Blair’s mismatched gaze was locked in my direction, her expression one of dumbstruck awe. She was silent for a moment, before
responding quietly. “N-No. Everything’s fine.” She cleared her throat, turning her head away to look at him. “I just realized I left my toothbrush in the bathroom, back on base.” Her voice became full of disgust. “The last thing I need is for some creepy custodian to do something weird with it. They seem to forget I have an excellent sense of smell.”
Zayden scoffed to hide a laugh, before speaking in an even tone. “Stay focused,” he chastised. “This guy can control your mind if you aren’t careful. You need to be at the top of your game.”
“I know,” she pouted, before speaking more softly while glancing in my direction again. “What are you going to do if he does take control of me?” she wondered.
His voice was cold, but it almost sounded…sad, as well. “You know what I’ll have to do,” he replied firmly. “They can’t have any of us becoming enemies. We all know too much, even with as little as they tell us.”
Blair sighed. “If you’re going to take me out, just make sure you get him too.”
“I will,” he replied evenly.
“Promise,” she hissed. “Don’t let my death be in vain if I fail.”
“I’ll blast the area to hell and back,” he reassured her, his tone callous, but still with a hint of that sadness.
I honestly couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I wasn’t too surprised by Zayden’s heartless responses, but I couldn’t believe that Blair was that dedicated to seeing this guy defeated. I could only assume that either she’d rather die than become someone else’s puppet, or else she had someone she cared about enough to die for them – maybe someone like Ava’s situation with her siblings.
Blair spoke up again quietly, her gaze focused in my direction, sounding almost as if she was speaking to me – as if she knew I could hear her. “What do you think is going to happen to her?” she wondered softly.
Zayden was silent as he considered his response. “Hopefully nothing, if we can kill this guy,” he replied evenly.
“And if we both fail?” she wondered.
“I won’t fail,” he retorted. “You’ve never seen my ace – no one has – but when I truly give it my all, there’ll be nothing left for miles.”
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