by G. K. DeRosa
He and Gavin jumped in the Hummer, and my heart constricted. I inhaled a deep breath, willing my erratic heartbeats to slow. Everything will be fine. I gave them a final wave and steeled my nerves.
The Hummer pulled away from the drive, revealing Isla’s small sedan behind it. My gaze followed the SUV until it disappeared from view, ignoring the anxiety swirling through the bond.
Isla turned to me, her hazel irises nearly golden under the flickering light of the lantern. “That’s him? He’s the nocturne king?” she squealed, her eyes wide.
I didn’t think I’d ever heard a sound like that come out of Isla in all the years I’d known her. I stepped outside, closing the door. Then sliding down against it, I settled on a pile of dirt and leaves.
“I’m sorry. How are you?” she blurted. “And I’m sorry again, but he is H.O.T.T. hot.” She spelled it out for me as if I needed the reminder.
I laughed and picked up a couple leaves from the ground, crushing them in my palm. How was I going to tell her the truth about her sister?
“Okay, I’ll stop. I know this is serious. It just all seems so surreal. Are you really going to be all right?”
I nodded, squeezing my arms against my chest. Kaige would find a way to save me; I knew he would.
She leaned against the hood of her car. “Gavin caught me up on everything, and I just can’t believe it.”
“Well, hold on because there’s more.” I fixed my eyes on my old friend. “You might want to sit down for this.”
Her brows pulled together. “What?”
“Did Gavin tell you about the blood slaves?”
Her lips twisted in disgust, and her nostrils flared. “Yeah. I always knew Turstan was scum, but I never expected that.”
“Well there was one thing I didn’t share with Gavin because I needed to be the one to tell you.”
She squirmed, bouncing from foot to foot. “Just tell me, Solaris.”
Chapter 5
Solaris
I sucked in a breath and forced the words out of my mouth. “Carissa is alive. She’s being held in a lab with countless other unwilling donors.”
Isla sank down to the car’s metal bumper. It was a good thing she’d almost been sitting in the first place. Her mouth gaped like a fish on its last breaths. “How? It can’t be. She died years ago.” She gripped the hood of the car to steady herself.
“I’m so sorry, Isla.” Guilt sliced through my chest. I should’ve found a way to get her out too. “I think she’s been there the whole time. I talked to her for a second before the soldiers grabbed me, and I promised we’d come back for her.”
“You mean she’s in there right now? At the hospital on the base? The one I’ve visited countless times in the past few years—the very one she supposedly died in?”
She was rambling now, but I couldn’t blame her. I didn’t know what I’d do if I suddenly found out my mom was alive.
“I’m going.” Isla shot up to her feet.
“No! You can’t.” My legs lunged forward, my arms reaching out to grab her, but my brain stopped my out-of-control limbs in time. I froze in my tracks.
Isla unlocked the car door, her hands trembling.
“Please Isla, don’t go.”
“They’re not going to rescue her, are they?” Her golden eyes seared into mine. “They’re only going to save your dad.”
A pang of guilt shot through my chest, and I lowered my gaze to the ground. “Kaige was just crowned king; he’ll talk to Turstan and force him to release all the prisoners.”
She shook her head. “You don’t know that. Turstan could decide to kill everyone instead. And even if he doesn’t, that could take weeks or months even. Who knows if she can survive that?”
An image of Carissa’s emaciated figure, sunken eyes, and hollow cheekbones flashed across my mind’s eye. I couldn’t be sure she’d even survived this long. “Wait, I’m coming with you.” I raced back into the shed and grabbed a vial of Garridan’s cloaking potion. Holding it in the light, I confirmed it wasn’t tainted like the other one and shoved it in my pocket.
I ran outside and opened the passenger’s side door. “Do you have another one of those masks?”
She dug around in her purse and held it out to me.
“Drop it on the seat, and I’ll pick it up. We should avoid touching each other just in case. According to Kaige, it can only be transmitted by swapping bodily fluids.”
“Okay.” She placed the mask on the seat, and I slipped it on before jumping in the car and slamming the door.
A second later, the tires squealed as Isla pealed out of the drive, her gaze intent on the road ahead of us.
I clenched my jaw, grinding my teeth as we sped down the highway toward the city. Kaige was going to murder me.
It was a good thing I was pretty much dead anyway.
Isla cut the high beams as she rolled toward the fence at the edge of the woods—the same fence I’d jumped over a little more than a week ago when I narrowly escaped imprisonment. If I knew Gavin, this would be where he and Kaige would come from.
The blood bond pounded the entire car ride, a mixture of anxiety and adrenaline coursing through our connection. I tried to focus on Kaige, hoping to get a glimpse into his vision like I had before. I closed my eyes to concentrate, but my mind was too frazzled.
The unease rolled off Isla in waves, shattering any hopes at opening a connection to Kaige. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she stared out the windshield. The chain link fence bordered the backside of the AirComm base hospital. Gray concrete walls and a handful of dim lampposts obscured our vision of the compound.
“I’m going in.” She jerked the door handle.
“No, wait.” The bond pulsed like a rapid-fire rifle reverberating in my chest. “I think they’re coming.”
“How do you know?” She adjusted her glasses and squinted, staring out into the darkness.
“I just do.”
Rolling down the window, I strained to make out a sound. After a few tense moments, the slap of footfalls against cement carried across the quiet night. Three figures appeared around a corner, and my heart took flight. The dark forms sped by a streetlamp, and their shadowy frames took shape confirming my hopes.
A familiar bald head shone in the light, and all the heaviness in my chest evaporated. Kaige gave my dad a leg up when they reached the fence. My dad began to climb, and Kaige’s keen gaze narrowed in on the car. His eyes met mine, and glowing silver orbs lit up the darkness.
Fury raced through the bond, enveloping my torso in a fiery inferno. I pushed the rage down, trying to infuse some calm, soothing vibes through our link.
It didn’t work.
Gavin stepped under the light, and it was only then I noticed a lumpy blanket flung across his arms. He handed the bulky package to Kaige who soared over the fence with the figure cradled to his chest.
Once Gavin reached the other side of the barrier, Kaige handed him the bundle and darted toward me.
He nearly wrenched the car door off its hinges when he jerked it open. Stooping down to glare at me, he pierced me with glowing irises. “Do you purposely disobey me as some sort of joke or are you simply that reckless with your life? Because believe me, your life is worth more than you’ll ever understand.”
“I had to—” The rest of my words were muffled by the crash of his lips against mine. His hand cradled my neck, pulling me into him as his tongue devoured every inch of my mouth.
He finally pulled away, and heat rushed my cheeks as my father’s face coalesced over Kaige’s shoulder.
“Dad!”
Kaige held me down as I attempted to throw myself at him. “I’m sorry. You can’t.”
I slumped back, deflated. This poisoning really sucked. I peered around Kaige to my father’s wide eyes, the bright green a dim shade of its normal self. “Dad, are you okay?”
“I’m fine now, Solaris. Thanks to you and your friends.” There was no mistaking his tone, but all
explanations would have to wait for now.
Gavin approached Isla, motioning for her to unlock the back door. She did as she was told and stared at the bundle in his arms.
“Isla, there’s something you need to know,” he mumbled.
Her eyes snapped open, immediately turning glassy. “No…”
“It’s okay.” Gavin unwrapped the blanket, and Carissa’s pale face emerged. “She’s alive, but barely.”
My heart doubled in size. Thank god they’d found her!
A shrill siren blasted in the distance, ending our brief moment of respite.
“We have to go—now!” Gavin slammed the door shut, and my dad crawled in on the other side. “Kaige and I will distract them. Get Carissa and Solaris to the shed.”
Isla nodded, her eyes still wide and expression blank. She hadn’t said a single word since Gavin revealed her sister.
Kaige unraveled his arms from my waist and buckled my seatbelt before dropping a quick kiss on my cheek. “We’ll be right behind you.”
“Be careful,” I whispered as he released my hand and closed the door.
“Go!” Gavin shouted.
Isla revved the engine and yanked the gearshift into reverse, pealing out of the woods.
Chapter 6
Kaige
The snap of twigs beneath sturdy boots echoed through the small patch of forest. The Collective soldier thought he was as stealthy as a jungle cat sneaking up on us. Little did he know, I was the real predator.
“Let’s get back to the Hummer.” My command made Gavin finally tear his gaze from the disappearing car.
My teeth ground together. If he continued to eye my human like that, I was going to break something of his. Solaris wouldn’t be too mad about one little broken finger.
“Hands up where I can see them.” The soldier finally eased from behind a large, gnarled trunk, a sleek onyx gun trained at us.
Another gun. I was really starting to dislike those things.
Gavin’s hands lifted, and he slowly spun around. “Just stay calm, Marks.”
The soldier’s brown eyes widened, and the gun dropped a centimeter. “Lenox? You’re the one who broke into the AirComm base?” The thick, wide set of his shoulders blocked out the flashing lights on the building. He was probably quite the adversary for a human.
Unfortunately for him, I was no human.
His gaze flicked toward me, narrowing. “Who are you?”
Gavin opened his mouth to answer, but before a single word could cross his lips, I had Marks by the throat.
“Someone you don’t want to anger.” I snatched the gun out of his hand, tossing it through the trees.
He clawed at my fingers as veins began popping out on his forehead.
“Kaige, stop.” Gavin yanked my shoulder, trying to get my grip to loosen. “He’s not a bad guy.”
My fangs dropped. “Anyone who’s involved with trying to harm Solaris is a bad guy.” I didn’t like her father, but soldiers torturing him hurt my human. And I didn’t like it when she was hurt.
“Kaige, Solaris is going to be pissed if you start killing people.”
A grumble resonated in my chest. Of course he said the one thing that would push beyond the crimson haze clouding my brain.
My fingers loosened enough for the soldier to breathe. “Y-You’re a nocturne,” he sputtered, blood quickly draining from his cheeks.
“Good observation. Smart guy.” Most of the other humans I compelled during this mission had been too stunned to believe what was right in front of them. I couldn’t blame them. A nocturne hadn’t set foot in this part of the world since before he was born.
I pulled on my powers of compulsion and looked deep into Marks’s wide, watering eyes. “Listen to me.”
Like the others, the effect was instantaneous. His body relaxed, and the hardness melted from his expression. “Yes?”
“Go back to the AirComm base and tell them you saw nothing. No one was out here.” My hand slid off his neck as he nodded. “You never saw us.”
“I never saw you.” His unfocused gaze slowly drifted away from me as he spun immediately around and marched through the trees.
“You could have killed him,” Gavin hissed, an angry flush flooding his face.
“Yeah, I could have.” I brushed by him and headed for the Hummer. “Are you coming?”
He grumbled obscenities under his breath as he trudged after me.
I had no patience for him or anyone else who wasn’t Solaris. Not now. She was sick, and every moment spent here was another moment wasted. She needed to get to an alchemist immediately so he could begin formulating a cure.
There was a cure. We just had to find it.
“You don’t have to be such a jerk.” Gavin slammed the driver’s side door and cranked the engine. “You’re a king. Shouldn’t you be calm and level-headed or something?”
My eyes slanted toward him, the silver reflecting in the tinted windows. “This is me being calm and level-headed.” What I’d really wanted to do was rush into that lab and kill every one of those doctors and soldiers keeping those poor humans in that hell. Nocturnes needed human blood, but getting it that way was despicable.
The emaciated girl felt like a bag of bones in my arms. She was far worse than any starving field taranoi. When I snuck in and pulled her from that cage, she could hardly even open her eyes.
My fingers curled into tight fists in my lap. I’d wanted to save more, but I couldn’t compel an entire building full of humans.
The interior of the car faded out of focus, and that whirling, out-of-body experience enveloped me as my consciousness soared across miles. I was suddenly staring at the inside of the shed.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Solaris’s voice sounded stronger than it had when I left her to sneak into AirComm.
“Yes.” Her father was bent over a stack of boxes drawing something on a piece of paper. “The city will be crawling with soldiers soon. They could easily come upon this little shed.”
Her fingers readjusted the itchy medical mask on her face. “And you’re sure Turstan doesn’t know about this place?”
He gave a quick nod. “The outpost is located in the less populated outskirts of the city. It was before Turstan’s time, back when humans were still afraid of attacks from nocturnes.”
Humans should be more afraid of their own government than the vampires living across the Shadow Lands.
Unease drifted through Solaris’s chest. “I don’t like leaving without Kaige. We should wait for him and Gavin to get back.”
Malcolm swiped a hand across his forehead, wiping away the tiny beads of perspiration. “No time.” He handed Solaris the paper, a detailed map drawn on it. “This is the place. I’m sure the nocturne will be fine.” There was no mistaking the derision in his tone. “He’s a big boy. He can read the note and follow the directions we leave behind.”
Solaris chewed on her bottom lip, both her and the bond protesting this idea.
The shed disappeared, and the dark interior of the Hummer spun as I settled back into my own body.
Disorienting was not even the proper word for it.
“Are you even listening to me?” Gavin’s irritated voice penetrated my eardrums.
“No, I’m not.” I shook myself and pointed toward the left. “Go that way.”
A line formed between his brows. “What? Why?”
“Because I need to get something from my plane.” Using all that compulsion was finally catching up to me. If I didn’t get some synth soon, I might be tempted to slice open one of Gavin’s veins.
Chapter 7
Kaige
The rusted steel door lowered to the concrete with a grinding whine, closing the Hummer, Gavin, and me inside the vacant auto repair shop. A thick layer of grime coated the discarded metal scraps, and dust motes danced through the beam of dull, yellowed light streaming from the ceiling.
Gavin glanced around, his muscles taut. “This can’t be it.”
“Why do I feel like you’re leading me to my death?” Gavin muttered.
I grabbed the bag of synth from the back of the Hummer. “If I were going to kill you, I wouldn’t need to bring you to some nondescript, abandoned location.” Isla’s car came into view beneath a battered overhang in the back. “See.” I jerked my chin toward the sedan.
Some of the tension released from the human soldier’s body. “Oh.”
When we reached a seemingly solid brick wall, I pressed my hand into the same spot Malcolm had, and a number key appeared above it. I tapped in the code, and the red light turned green.
The not so solid wall suddenly slid open, revealing a set of narrow stairs.
Gavin peered over my shoulder. “Wow. This is definitely not on any AirComm map I’ve seen.”
“Then I guess it’s perfect.” I descended the steep staircase with the soldier at my heels.
We emerged into a stark white room, a few dim halogen lights casting an eerie glow over two large computers that were outdated by more than thirty years.
“Time warp,” Gavin muttered, his hazel eyes traveling over a shelf of obsolete technology.
An electric jolt shot through the bond. Solaris had felt my presence.
I took off in her direction, ignoring Gavin’s calls. It hadn’t been that long since I’d seen her, but every fiber of my being craved her now. I slammed through another swinging door to find her in some kind of medical examination room rummaging through drawers. Her father jumped, dropping the box of bandages he was holding in the process.
“Kaige.” Her voice was muffled as I engulfed her in my arms.
“How did you get in here?” Malcolm sputtered, the erratic beat of his heart echoing in the room. “You were supposed to press the intercom button on the hidden keypad.”