Mere seconds had passed, yet to Violet, it was as if she’d entered a world of slow motion. Before Nathan and Thane’s first two casualties even hit the floor in several gory pieces, Violet’s flames ignited. All her fury and all her heartache poured into the teal fire flickering over her hands, and then she charged.
Of the remaining four guards, two aimed their electrical cannons at Nathan and Thane. Violet swiped her arm at the first one she reached, smacking her flaming hand against the barrel of the weapon. The blue electrical bolt meant for Thane was diverted to his companion, who jolted from the shock. As a result, the second blue bolt meant for Nathan ricocheted off the ceiling and into one of the massive water tanks.
A deluge of shattered glass, water, and who knew what kind of creatures rushed toward Violet and the others. The wave of knee-deep water knocked Violet’s feet out from under her, and she bounced off the hard concrete, rolling two or three times across the floor. Gasping and spluttering, she stumbled back up, only to find herself face-to-face with one of the remaining guards.
With a furious scowl, the man aimed his cannon at her. A female guard still sprawled in the water screamed a warning at him, but it was too late. A flash of blue erupted in front of Violet, and a thundering crack of electricity blasted over the drenched guard with the cannon. Not even a split second later, Violet shrieked from the electrical shock that crackled through the now ankle-deep water and across every inch of her body.
After a few minutes—or was it seconds?—Thane was pulling Violet up. The aftereffects of the blue bolt were excruciating. Every muscle, every cell in her body roared with agony. Based on how both Thane and Nathan were stumbling and splashing in the water, they hadn’t been immune to the shock either.
Only when the stench of burning flesh reached Violet did she realize how fortunate she was. Four charcoal-black guards and the fried bodies of the marine animals from the broken tank smoked and sizzled on the damp ground around her. If she were still human, she probably would have died instantly, just like the guards.
Shoving that horrific thought from her mind, Violet latched on to Thane’s arm, and the three ran for the maze of corridors.
Nathan, still in full Veniri form, barked into his mic for directions as they hurtled through the hallway. They paused at an intersection to wait for a reply, but no one answered. Their communications with the others had been fried.
“Damn it!” bellowed Nathan, tearing out his earpiece and smashing it onto the ground. “We’re flying blind.”
“We’ve just got to try our best to backtrack,” said Thane.
“Yeah, but who’s going to warn us if there are guards ahead?”
“What choice do we have?” Thane rolled his shoulders back and led the way down the next hall.
With every step they took, Violet couldn’t help thinking about how she was running farther and farther away from her daughter. She knew that without Autumn and Tio’s guidance, there was no way of knowing which direction she needed to go to get back to Solace, but she still found herself trailing behind the others—as if the presence of her baby were physically pulling her back.
Up ahead, Thane and Nathan veered left and disappeared around the corner. Violet rounded the corner herself a few seconds later, then immediately skidded to a stop.
A solid netting had pinned both Thane and Nathan to the wall so tightly they could barely lift a finger. The net glistened a deep, familiar magenta.
“You!” Violet snarled.
Standing a few feet away from the trapped men was the blonde Magneii woman who’d fought Violet for her baby.
The woman’s mouth curled into a malicious grin. “Looky what we have here.” She raised an eyebrow and scanned Violet from head to toe. “You’ve come for round two, have you?”
Violet scowled.
The woman gave a condescending titter. “I’ll make sure to finish you off this time.”
Before Violet could react, a magenta whip appeared in the blonde’s hand and a loud crack split the air, followed by a searing pain across Violet’s cheek. She hissed at the sting, her hand flying to her face as she stumbled back.
Nathan and Thane shouted at Violet to run, to get out, as they struggled uselessly against their bonds. The woman simply cackled.
Violet checked her hand. No blood.
Only then did the woman’s laughter stop. She stared at Violet’s cheek, her brows furrowing, but the confusion on her face quickly vanished. “Oh yeah. I can’t believe I forgot. You’re a lucky one to survive a shifter bite.” She tilted her head to the side, eyes glittering. “I’ve never turned a human before. It’s almost heartbreaking to kill you.”
The whip cracked again. This time, the tail swung around Violet’s neck, instantly cutting off her air supply. The woman yanked, and Violet crashed to the floor. The magenta cord tightened around her throat as Violet was dragged across the ground, clawing desperately at the binding.
Only when she came to a stop at the woman’s feet did the whip slacken enough for Violet to rip it off. She dragged in deep gulps of air between coughs, still curled up on the ground.
A heavy boot collided with Violet’s ribs. She howled in agony, but before she could try to push up onto her hands and knees and crawl away, another bone-cracking kick smashed into her torso.
Flashes of her previous brawl with the blonde Magneii flickered through her mind. The woman was just as strong and fast as she remembered, but this time, Violet knew what the Magneii was capable of—and this time, Violet was capable of so much more.
She caught Blondie’s foot on the next incoming swing, then followed with a kick of her own, knocking Blondie’s standing leg out from under her.
The Magneii crashed heavily to the tiles with an ooph. Before she had a chance to recover, Violet sprang onto the woman’s chest and landed a punch to Blondie’s jaw. The woman’s head snapped to the side, but her countermoves were swift. In one bewildering instant, Violet was knocked back onto the floor, her chest pinned beneath Blondie’s knee.
Violet’s cry of pain came out on a wheeze as the woman’s knee pressed into her sternum. Leaning in close, Blondie jabbed a finger against the bridge of Violet’s nose. “All it takes is one good crack of the skull, right here, and it’s bye-bye, little Magneii.” A newly forged magenta hammer appeared in the woman’s free hand, and she raised it high over her head, preparing to swing.
Violet rasped out three words.
The woman paused. “What did you say?”
“I said—” Violet coughed “—not a Magneii.”
Flames erupted from Violet’s eyes.
Blondie’s jaw dropped. “Teal flames? But . . . that’s impossible.”
This time, it was Violet who donned a malicious grin. She threw her hands up and clamped them onto either side of Blondie’s head, where they exploded into a ferocious blaze.
The Magneii shifter shrieked in agony, and the hammer fell to the ground as she writhed and yanked out of Violet’s grasp. Her shrieks diminished into sobs of terror, and she staggered away, staring wide-eyed at Violet. “What are you?”
Violet pushed herself up from the ground. “Something you’ll never find out.”
With a flick of her wrist, a teal-and-magenta dagger hurtled through the air. The blade stabbed deep into Blondie’s head, right between the eyes, destroying her Luxium with an audible pop.
24
Absinthe Green
“You’ve been practicing your light forging,” was all Nathan managed to say after Violet broke him and Thane free from their magenta restraints.
The last few minutes had been hell. Watching, helpless, as Violet fought for her life was the worst kind of torment he could have ever imagined. If Violet had died in front of his eyes . . . he didn’t know what he would have done.
He wanted to tell her how proud he was of her, how much she meant to him, how sorry he was for the pain he’d caused her, how devastated he would be if she got hurt. But he couldn’t seem to find the words. He was abou
t to reach out and pull her into a bear hug, but he remembered he was in Veniri form. The last thing he wanted to do was skewer her with the spikes on his torso. But when he tried to haze back, nothing happened . . . Damn. Not again.
“We should go,” said Thane.
No sooner had he spoken than shouts and a stampede of boots echoed through the hallway. A group of security guards were dashing toward them from the other end of the corridor.
Thane grabbed hold of Violet’s hand, and without another moment’s hesitation, the three of them sprinted in the opposite direction and through the maze of hallways. With every anxious breath Nathan dragged into his lungs, the stomping of boots behind him drew closer and closer.
At the next turn, Nathan’s heart skipped a beat. A metal gate at the end of the corridor was slowly descending. If he and the others didn’t make it through before it shut, they would have to face at least four guards.
A blast of blue lightning shot past him and hit Thane square in the back. His friend bellowed in agony, convulsed, then collapsed to the ground. Luckily, Thane and Violet had released hands only seconds before, or she would be convulsing right along with him.
Violet tried to help the half-stunned Thane to his feet, but he was too heavy for her. Nathan’s gaze flicked between her and Thane struggling on the ground, the almost half-closed gate, and the guards closing in on them.
Not all of them were getting out of this.
Nathan caught Thane’s eye. It was clear from his expression he’d realized the same thing.
“Violet, run.” Nathan pushed her toward the gate. “I’ll help Thane. Run. We’ll catch up.”
Violet bit her lip, then nodded, but only after Nathan had slung Thane’s arm around his shoulder did she actually sprint for the exit. Nathan followed as fast as he could while half carrying, half dragging Thane along with him.
“She’s safe,” Thane said in a low voice when Violet slid under the barrier. She was waiting for them on the other side, beckoning them to move faster, yelling at them to hurry.
Nathan glanced over his shoulder. The guards were almost on top of them.
“This is it,” he warned Thane.
“I’m ready.”
When Nathan turned back to Violet, it took him a split second to realize Sagan was running up behind her. The descending gate had just passed halfway down, and without even slowing, Sagan dropped to his knees and slid beneath it. Armed with a Diamantium blade in each hand, he tore past Nathan.
“Get them out of here!” the ex-hunter ordered, motioning toward the exit. Then he threw himself into the midst of the oncoming guards, allowing Nathan and Thane enough time to scramble through the rapidly narrowing gap beneath the security gate.
Once on the other side, Nathan shouted back to Sagan, “Come on!”
Sagan had made quick work of the four guards, but seven more had already rounded the corner.
“GO!” Sagan shouted. “Find En’gorr.”
Nathan groaned. He’d almost forgotten about that metal idiot.
Thankfully, Thane was starting to get back some of his mobility. With both Violet and Nathan helping him along, they managed to navigate the remaining hallways at a decent pace. They’d almost made it back to the destroyed bathroom where they’d entered the facility when the unmistakable shouts and clashes of a melee echoed down the hallway.
“That must be En’gorr,” said Nathan. “You two go on ahead. I’ll find him.”
He didn’t wait for them to respond before turning around to follow the sounds of fighting. When he reached what appeared to be a lunchroom, he stopped short.
The scene before him was horrific. Torn and mangled bodies littered the floor and lay draped over broken furniture, every single one wearing a white lab coat with the Xabat Biogenetics logo on the breast pocket. Smears and splashes of crimson covered every surface, but what caught Nathan’s attention even more was the other color of gore splattered among the red—absinthe green. Since when did Erathi and Sathoi shifters work together under the same roof?
The trail of bodies led Nathan into an adjoining hallway, where the clangor of a brawl only grew louder as he walked. He passed a room that looked like a surgical theater, the patient on the bed forgotten as the doctors and nurses lay on the ground in their own pools of red or absinthe-green blood.
Inside, he found En’gorr—fully shifted—surrounded by at least five security guards. Even more people in lab coats and several others in security uniforms lay motionless at the fighter’s feet. With En’gorr’s golden armor, his orange electricity, and the guards’ blue electricity, the battle was an absolute chaos of bright light and flashing color. For several seconds, Nathan simply watched, dumbfounded. Had En’gorr done all of this carnage by himself?
Only when the final guard was struck down by a mighty clap of orange lightning did En’gorr notice Nathan’s presence.
“What the hell are you doing!?” Nathan roared over the never-ending alarm.
Even behind the ferocious golden mask, En’gorr’s scowl was evident. “You save baby. I kill Xabat.”
Fury boiled in Nathan’s veins at the stupidity of the kamikaze prince, but his rage fizzled out when En’gorr turned, clearly grief-stricken, to a huge pile of bodies in the corner. Every single corpse shone with a metallic hue, and the blood that dripped and pooled on the floor was bright orange. Only then did Nathan register that all the patients on the theater beds were splattered with orange blood. These must’ve been En’gorr’s comrades, captured by Matthias Branstone.
En’gorr sank to one knee. “Too late. All dead.”
With a heavy heart, Nathan counted at least fifteen Jiovis shifters, all cut up and discarded into a heap. In the end, the only response he could muster was “Come on, En’gorr. We’ve got to get out of here.”
He took hold of En’gorr’s arm and dragged him out of the room. The prince allowed himself to be pulled along, probably because there was no one left to kill.
But as soon as they stepped into the hallway, they were met by an army of guards sprinting directly toward them—only about a hundred feet away and rapidly closing.
“Come on!” Nathan bellowed.
But the prince stood still.
“There are too many of them!”
En’gorr ignored Nathan and pulled something out of his pocket. It wasn’t until the prince flung the item into the air, straight into the oncoming army, that Nathan recognized it as a grenade. He shoved En’gorr into the hallway’s intersection, and a half second later, an earth-shattering boom drowned out the alarm.
Where the hell had En’gorr got himself a grenade? Explosives weren’t the Jiovis way of doing war.
Nathan continued to tug En’gorr all the way to the bathroom. Just as they scrambled into the tunnel, a clamoring echo behind them announced the guards’ arrival.
En’gorr once again pulled out a grenade and tossed it behind him, out of the tunnel’s entrance. Then he and Nathan hightailed it through the passage as fast as they could. The booming explosion that followed was a little too close for Nathan’s comfort, but he and En’gorr didn’t stop running until they reached the surface.
Back at the vehicles, Nathan’s stomach tightened as he scanned the faces of those who had made it out safely. All were accounted for.
Except Sagan.
He shot an alarmed glance at Autumn and Tio.
Autumn looked sick as she met his gaze. “Sagan was captured.”
25
Don’t Be So Naive
Violet staggered out of the van when they arrived back at Maple Shire, then swayed and leaned back against the vehicle, unable to take another step. She’d replayed the mission over and over in her mind through the whole two-hour drive home—going over each step, looking at every angle, questioning every move.
How had it all gone so very, very wrong?
Overcome by another wave of grief, she slid to the ground, her whole body racked by sobs.
The others crowded around her uncertainly.
Autumn crouched at her side while the guys stood in a huddle, each and every face drawn with sorrow.
“I’m sorry, guys,” she choked out. “You came out tonight for me. For my baby. But after all our training and planning, Solace is still trapped. And now Sagan . . .”
Autumn pulled her into a tight hug. The others gave some words of comfort, trying to make her feel better and not blame herself. But the night’s events were still too fresh, and she was still too raw. In the end, she excused herself and made to go to her room, refusing Thane’s offer to walk her over. For now, she needed some space. Some time alone to mourn her lost daughter and her friend.
Violet collapsed to the ground by her bed and curled into a ball, her tears carving rivers down her cheeks.
Inches. She had been mere inches away from her daughter. Violet wanted to scream. She wanted to curse the ones to blame, but she didn’t know where to start. With En’gorr, for setting off the alarm and alerting an army’s worth of security when he went all Kill Bill on the Xabat staff? With Sagan, for being so stupid in sacrificing himself to ensure she and the others could escape, when they hadn’t even accomplished what they’d come there to do? Or with herself, for her foolishness in thinking they had even a smidgen of hope to rescue Solace?
Violet didn’t know how long she lay on the floor, crying her monsoon of misery. Her eyes were stinging; her throat was hoarse. Her hair and the carpet beneath the side of her face was damp.
With every ounce of her energy drained, she finally allowed sleep to claim her.
“Violet, wake up.”
Violet groaned.
A hand gently shook her shoulder. “Violet, you need to wake up.”
She slowly rubbed at her eyes and stretched her aching limbs. Her room was awash with the gray of predawn, and the twitter of early birdsong was already drifting through her open window. What was she doing on the floor?
Flames of Mars (Celestial Shifters Book 2) Page 26