by G. K. DeRosa
“We?”
Crap. I paused to collect my racing thoughts. As much as I hated this man, survival of humanity had to take precedence over my desire for revenge. There was no ‘us versus them’ anymore. Maybe if the alchemists and our human doctors worked together, they could find a cure. I swallowed hard and told him everything.
As the words spilled from my lips, the heavy weight in my chest lessened. One of the guys in the HAZMAT suits pulled out a tablet and began typing away with his stylus. Glancing at him more closely, I realized he was the man I’d seen in the blood slave lab.
When I finally finished speaking, the entire room was silent.
Turstan turned to the scientist. “Dr. Fawkes, take as many samples of Ms. Levant’s blood as you need. The answers we need are somewhere in her DNA.”
The doctor moved to the counter and pulled out a few items from the cabinets, then he approached me. He pushed a steel table over and spread out the supplies. Removing his thick yellow gloves, he replaced them with thin latex ones and prepared a syringe.
My stomach churned at the sight of the needle. I clenched my teeth as he inserted it into my arm and deep crimson filled the vial. After repeating the procedure five more times, my head began to swim.
“That should be enough for now.” Dr. Fawkes gathered the tubes and placed them on a tray. “I should have results in the next few hours.”
Turstan nodded, his cold gaze never deviating from me.
“Are you going to contact King Kaige? His alchemists could help. They’ve been working on it for over a week now.”
Turstan’s thin lips twisted, his white mustache wiggling like a worm. “The nocturnes can deal with their own problems. I don’t want anything to do with them.”
“You’re wrong. They could help us. We all need to work together now.”
His eyes narrowed, icy daggers piercing into me. “Have you learned nothing, Ms. Levant? Your careless disregard for the prophecy has brought us where we are today. Associating with the savages will only make our situation more precarious. Don’t you see? All we are to them is a blood source.”
“And how about them? All they are to you is a bank.” I attempted to infuse as much venom into my voice as I could. He was as guilty as I was in all of this. He and King Razvan had broken the no contact law long before Kaige and I had. “Don’t you think the people of Imera deserve to know that their country is failing?”
A few of the guys in HAZMAT suits flinched.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, now does it? If we don’t find a cure, there will be no one left in the country.” Turstan wheeled his chair around toward the door, and Dr. Fawkes followed behind.
“Wait!” I struggled in my restraints. “Aren’t you going to let me go?”
A sinister chuckle carried through the hall before the door slammed shut behind the soldiers.
Gavin glanced up at me, his cheek resting on the tile. His arms were bound behind his back just like mine. “Well that went well.” His lips were so swollen it didn’t even sound like him.
“Oh god, Gav, I’m so sorry for all of this.”
He squeezed his eyes shut.
“Are Isla and Carissa okay?”
“Yeah. They left the city as soon as a med checked Carissa out and cleared her for travel. They were lucky they got out.”
“Do you know how many people are infected?”
He shook his head. “At least 75 percent of the AirComm base. Not sure about the rest of the city’s population or even my family. I’ve been stuck here.”
“Kaige will get us out.” As soon as I said the words aloud, I felt better. I knew they were true.
As long as Kaige was alive, he would always come for me.
Chapter 23
Kaige
Crimson liquid flowed into yet another vial, coating the glass sides. Four others lay on the metal table, vibrant against the steel tray. The stark room swam, and the beaten figure crouched on the floor disappeared.
I drifted back into my body, my head spinning. My hand rested on the chilly white wall as I got my bearings. The air reeked of disinfectant, but the hint of death lingered. That wasn’t something the Collective could hide.
Humans were dying fast.
My fingers curled into tight fists. A few more humans were going to die if I had anything to say about it. That doctor might be the first one. He’d taken Solaris’s blood. My blood. She was dizzy and weak from the loss.
I pushed off the wall and continued down the hall, my footsteps silent on the gleaming tiles. I’d managed to easily sneak into the AirComm base. The Collective was so preoccupied with containing the diseased that their guard was down when it came to outsiders. Of course, who would want to sneak into a place riddled with the sick and dying?
A lump clogged my throat thinking of the caged humans. I could only hope none of them had fallen ill. If I had time to free them now I would, but Solaris was my number one priority. Turstan’s as well.
I’d seen his sick, emaciated form from her eyes. The desperation rolled off him in choking waves. He was hell-bent on finding a cure and thought Solaris was the answer. If I didn’t get her out of here, they’d turn her into a lab rat, running tests to see why and how the sickness vanished from her system.
That wasn’t going to happen.
Clunky footsteps echoed, and I ducked into an open door. Two soldiers were marching down the hall.
“Were they even scarier in person?” The tall one’s spindly arms swung back and forth as they walked.
“Not even close.” The other soldier’s lips curled into a crooked smile. “Those nocturnes went down easy. Taking Levant was a piece of cake.”
My fangs snapped out, and a red haze bled through my vision. That one had been at Castle De La Divin. He helped apprehend Solaris. He may have even touched her. I should break each one of his fingers.
“She was with only a handful of nocturnes,” he continued without knowing the danger he was in. “Two of them—they were twins I think—looked pretty lethal.” He tapped the gun in his holster. “But I took them down.”
A rumble began deep in my chest. He was the one who shot me. What about Garridan? Was this arrogant jerk responsible for stealing my friend’s life?
“Doesn’t the new king have a twin brother?”
I bolted from the room and grabbed the soldier’s meaty neck before his tiny brain could comprehend what was happening. His head smacked into the wall with a thud as I slammed him hard. When he tried to reach for his gun, I yanked it out and shoved it in my back pocket. Maybe Gavin could use it. I didn’t need it.
The other soldier shuffled back with a squeak and pulled his gun, pointing it at me.
My head snapped around, and my silver eyes zeroed in on him. “Stop.”
He froze instantly as my compulsion took hold. To humans, the hypnotic abilities of nocturnes probably seemed like a myth. By the widening of his eyes, he must have realized just how real those powers were.
I could control him with one simple command.
The man I had around the throat struggled uselessly in my grasp. “Get off me,” he choked out, his face beginning to redden.
A snarl curled out of my mouth. “Not so tough now without your gun, are you?” Woodward was etched on his nametag.
“I-I’ll shoot,” the other one stuttered, the steel death machine shaking in his hands. “I swear.” His nametag read Jackson.
My lips thinned, and I pinned him with a dark stare as the power of mind control seeped through my veins again. “Point that gun at your head.”
He did as I commanded.
“Now put your finger on the trigger.”
“No!” Woodward screeched.
Jackson was shaking so hard he could pull the trigger by accident. I should have felt bad about it, but the only thing I could think of was this bulky soldier’s involvement in capturing Solaris and killing my oldest friend.
I turned back to him, loosening the grip on his neck.
“Where are they keeping Solaris Levant?” When he didn’t respond, I used compulsion and repeated my question.
His splotchy red face slackened. “On level three in a lab room.”
My pulse spiked. That was only one floor up. “Which room?”
“Twenty-seven.”
“One last thing before I go.” I released his neck and stepped back. “Who shot and killed the old nocturne protecting Solaris?”
Woodward’s lips thinned, giving no response.
“Just tell him!” Sweat drenched Jackson from head to toe, the gun still locked on his temple. “He’ll just make you anyway.”
The soldier cursed. “Crawford. It was Sergeant Crawford.”
“You can drop the gun now,” I said to Jackson.
His arm fell to his side, and he staggered back, hitting a wall.
I dipped into my mental powers again and made the two soldiers forget the entire exchange before bounding toward a staircase to the third floor. I slipped into a room at the landing as two Collective doctors walked by in thick HAZMAT suits. They were discussing the head minister’s diminishing health. According to them, he’d been taking a cocktail of vitamins and antibiotics, but all it seemed to do was prolong his pain.
A sneer curled my lips. Good. He’d probably gotten sick from Malcolm a while ago. He should have been dead already. Hopefully, he was suffering ten times worse than Solaris’s father had.
Once they were gone, I darted down the hall, taking turn after turn. I could feel Solaris now, her panic melting through the bond. She had no reason to be afraid. I was coming for her. I would always come for her.
The door was heavy steel and locked. I was going to make a lot of noise tearing it open—if I was even capable of it. My jaw clenched, and I weighed my options.
Guess I’ll have to grab someone.
It only took me a few seconds to snatch a Collective agent walking by. I gripped his arm and yanked him around.
“What is the meaning—” His words halted as he caught sight of my fangs and silver eyes.
I dragged him toward the door marked twenty-seven. “Unlock this. Now.” My command was riddled with compulsion, not that I really needed it. The trembling man would have done anything to keep me from tearing into his neck.
“Go back to what you were doing and forget you saw me,” I grumbled and shoved him away.
My heart crashed against my ribs with the force of a thousand pounds as I yanked the door open. Her green eyes fell on me, and my world was right again.
“Kaige!” Solaris struggled against the restraints holding her.
I sprinted forward and ripped them off one by one, imagining it was Turstan’s bones I was breaking.
She stood, swaying. I caught her before she fell and crushed her against my chest. “Solaris,” I whispered, breathing in her honey and jasmine scent. Tears burned in the back of my eyes. The last few hours had been agonizing. A giant hole was torn into my gut from the loss of Garridan, but holding her made it bearable.
She pulled back, her bottom lip snagging in her teeth. “You were shot and just lying there.” A sob choked her words. “I thought Xander was going to leave you to the taranoi.”
I dropped a kiss on her forehead. “He didn’t. I’m okay.”
A sniffle slipped out. “What about Garridan?”
She must have felt the grief through the bond because I didn’t need to speak one word for her to know the truth. Garridan was gone.
Her arms tightened around me. “I’m so sorry, Kaige.”
I nodded, unable to speak through the heavy weight on my chest.
Gavin cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but we should really get going.” Bruises and welts covered his skin, and his hands were painfully bound behind his back.
“Right.” I took a deep breath and pulled myself together. I couldn’t let the aching sorrow distract me from getting Solaris out of here. “Let’s go.”
A line of sweat rolled down the back of my neck, soaking into my shirt. The three of us were ducked behind a gray building, waiting for the group of Collective soldiers to march by. The inner city was nearly deserted. Most had gone to the outskirts to escape the sickness and others were hiding in their homes. And of course, plenty had already died.
But that wasn’t what had me breaking out in a cold sweat.
Solaris glanced over her shoulder at me, her brow furrowed. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. Something feels off.” My head tilted up, and I sniffed the air.
Alarms suddenly blared through the city.
I cursed. “They know you two are gone.”
Gavin’s face paled. “Those aren’t just coming from the AirComm base.” He swallowed hard. “They’re coming from the border wall.”
“You don’t think—” Her words were cut off as gunshots and screams filled the night.
I yanked her close, my eyes surveying the dark, deserted road. Smoke and the metallic tinge of blood drifted on the wind. “Oh gods.” Ice slithered through my veins, and my skin puckered. A terrible knot formed in my gut, so fierce I could have purged every ounce of synth I chugged down to heal the gunshot wound in my torso.
“Kaige.” Solaris’s green eyes shifted toward me as she felt the trepidation free flowing through the bond.
A frantic citizen appeared, running toward us. Sweat coated his pallid skin, and his eyes were wild. Sickness wasn’t the reason for his unraveled state. It was fear.
I pulled him to a stop. “What’s going on?”
He took one look at my silvery eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs. I released him, my hands slamming over my ears to block out his screeching.
A figure blurred forward and yanked the man from me. It took less than a second for the citizen’s neck to be torn open, leaving a stream of scarlet blood rushing down his pale skin.
Chapter 24
Kaige
I cursed and wrenched the taranoi off, letting the man fall to the pavement with a solid thud. His eyes stared up at the pitch-black sky, devoid of any life. He was dead.
The taranoi struggled in my hold, his focus on Solaris’s neck. She may not smell like a tasty meal, but he knew she was human and that was enough. My nostrils flared as the instinct to protect what was mine erupted through me.
He wasn’t touching my human.
My fingers fit around his jaw, and I snapped his neck, the sickening pop echoing over the pulsating sirens.
Gavin stumbled back, holding his stomach as his gaze flickered between the two dead, bloodied bodies. “Tell me that’s not a nocturne.”
Solaris swallowed hard, her expression haunted. Was she remembering the taranoi that attacked her? “Yes, it is. A taranoi to be exact.” Her eyes shot to mine. “Now that they know about the synth, they’re coming straight to the source.”
I dragged my fingers through my hair, pulling on the roots. The entire world was falling apart, and I had no idea what to do. What could I do? I was only one person. The title of king didn’t seem to matter to these taranoi anymore. All the lies and oppression from my father and the kings before him had finally been enough.
There would be no stopping them.
“Kaige!” Solaris shook me. “Snap out of it.” She must have felt the hopelessness drowning me. “We have to do something. People are dying.”
“We need to get out of here before we all die,” I snapped.
“No, she’s right.” Gavin pulled out the gun I’d given him before leaving the AirComm base. “We have to fight.”
A humorless laugh exited my mouth. “You’re going to fight a bunch of nocturnes?” I motioned toward his bedraggled condition. “You can barely stand much less take on vampires, even if they’re weak from hunger.”
The tendons in Gavin’s jaw twitched. “At least I’m not a coward like you.”
Heat bubbled through my bloodstream, and I stepped toward him. “Who are you calling a coward, boy?”
A twisted sneer curled his lips. “You may be
a king, but I’m older than you. If anyone should be called boy, it’s you.” He shoved my chest.
“Guys!” Solaris wedged herself between us. “We don’t have time for this. We need a plan.”
Quick, light footsteps sounded, setting off alarms in my head. I pushed Solaris behind me and grabbed the figure speeding by.
“Kaige?” he blurted. “I-I mean King Kaige.”
Dexter’s stringy blonde hair was disheveled and matted with blood, but it wasn’t human. “You’re here with the others?” After I captured him at the club—nearly killing myself in the process—my father had done as I requested and placed the taranoi in the aevitas processing room instead of the fields. He must have escaped during the attack on the castle.
“Yes, but once we were here…” His words drifted off, and he shook his head. “It’s a massacre.”
My fists curled by my sides, aching to punch something. “What did you think was going to happen?”
He shrugged. “Everyone was just so angry—and hungry.” His gaze slid toward Gavin, and he licked his lips.
The soldier’s brows dipped. “Don’t even think about it.”
I shook Dexter to get his attention. “If the taranoi kill all the humans, every nocturne will starve to death.”
He turned back to me. “That won’t happen. They couldn’t possibly kill every human in Imera.”
“You don’t understand.” I grabbed the collar of his soiled shirt and yanked him closer. “The humans are dying.” I jerked my chin up. “Can’t you smell it?” He was a weak taranoi, but he was still a nocturne.
His nostrils flared as he breathed through his nose, lines creasing his forehead. “What is that?”
“It’s death and sickness,” I spat, releasing him. “A disease is spreading through Imera. Between that and the taranoi here, the humans are going to be wiped out within days.”
Every ounce of blood drained from his face. “Oh my gods.”
Solaris inched closer to Dexter, which made me uneasy. “We have to stop them.”
A growl curled up my throat at the look Dexter was giving her. “Back off. She’s mine.”