Escape (Elite Supernatural Trackers Book 3)

by Heather Renee

  “Fine, but if you’re lying, she will kill you, and I will make sure it’s the most torturous death in all of history.” Jaxon’s eyes glowed red, and I realized in the moment, we weren’t all that different.

  “Your reservations about me are welcome. It’s good to know my niece has someone watching her back such as yourself,” Gino said, causing my heart to twinge, but I shut it down. I still had two other uncles to kill. Family reunions would have to wait.

  “So, where are they?” I asked.

  “Last I saw, Nic was in the sublevels, and Luca was in his room. This was right before I set off the alarm, making sure nobody got out easily, but they could be anywhere now.”

  I wasn’t at all surprised he’d trapped himself within the prison after hearing what he thought of his family. Grabbing Jaxon’s hand, I tugged him toward the door. “Let’s go.”

  Gino called out once more. “Be wary of Luca. He’s the eldest brother and the strongest. He won’t go down easily.”

  “Then why don’t you help us?” I asked.

  It was as if the thought never occurred to him. “Maybe I will. I need time, though. Head to the sublevels first. If I think I can be helpful, then I’ll see you soon.”

  With those final words, he used his power and shoved us the rest of the way out the door. “Well, that was an interesting turn of events,” I said.

  “I still don’t trust him.”

  “And you shouldn’t, but if he’s not trying to kill us, then we have to move on and take a chance he isn’t lying.” Clicking my ear comm back on, I checked in with the others. “Where is everyone at?”

  Greggor’s voice sounded first. “I have Nic in stasis in sublevel one, but he’s fighting me, and I can’t hold him much longer. Next time, leave your fucking comms on.”

  “We’re on our way.” I turned to Jaxon as we ran toward the lower level stairs. “At least Gino wasn’t lying about where he last saw Nic.”

  “Doesn’t change anything.”

  It wasn’t worth it to try to sway his mind. Only Gino’s help against Luca would do that, but I couldn’t worry about it now.

  Spencer met us at the stairs, bleeding from his nose. “This way.”

  When we arrived, Ethan was in his bear form, limping on what appeared to be a broken back leg. Greggor was shaking with his hands out as Nic floated in the air in front of him, body jerking against the hold.

  “What do I do?” I asked. I’d only acted on instinct before and Greggor seemed to know a lot about how this was going to go down.

  “Reach in, take his power, and then kill him with it,” Greggor murmured through clenched teeth.

  Got it. It was the same thing I’d already done, but for some reason, I was more hesitant. Life and death situations were easy. Choosing to live over dying made sense, but this was straight-up murder.

  “Uh, we have a situation up here, fuckers. Zeke is down, Owen is losing it, and Mason is doing his best, but Luca is circling, and I just got back from dropping Blake and Jenna off. We need more help,” Nixie’s voice sounded over the comm, giving me the motivation I needed.

  My hand plunged into the stasis bubble and latched on to Nic’s arm. His head slowly turned toward me, but I refused to meet his eyes. I was taking the coward’s way out, but I couldn’t watch him die. The only things fueling me were the grunts and groans of my friends through the comms.

  Quickly, I sucked in his power until I felt my fangs reappear. As soon as they were back, I reverted the pull of magic, and pushed everything I had back into Nic.

  The bubble around him broke as Greggor backed up and leaned against the wall. The movement forced me to the ground with Nic, so I didn’t lose my hold on him, and he took the opportunity to wrap his hands around my neck.

  So much for it feeling like cold-blooded murder.

  I choked, trying to take a deep breath, but the more I fought to breathe, the less I focused on killing him, so I changed tactics and hoped like hell I didn’t pass out.

  “You’re too weak to kill me,” he growled in my ear, but I knew better. I’d already killed his mother, and I wouldn’t let him end my life. I would take his first.

  With one last push of my power, his hand finally fell away from my neck, and I gasped, coughing and choking as I finished the job. When he was finally dead, I turned around to find Spencer on top of Jaxon and with a newly forming black eye.

  As I stood, Spencer released him, and Jaxon ran to me. “He wouldn’t let me help you.”

  “You might have been hurt. I can’t be mad at him for that, but let’s discuss this later. We have one more evil bastard to remove from the world today.”

  His hands grabbed the sides of my face. “You’re going to be the death of me.” Then, his lips slammed down hard on mine in an aggressive kiss filled with pent-up rage. We didn’t have a moment to spare, but I gave it to him anyway before Ethan nudged us apart.

  “I’ll be right behind you guys,” Greggor said, still breathing heavily against the wall.

  Without arguing, the rest of us headed back up the stairs. “Where are you, Nix?” I asked into the comms.

  “Common area. The prisoners are helping, but people are dropping like flies. Hurry your ass up!”

  Everyone else heard her, so I didn’t have to repeat the information as we all ran as fast as we could. When we entered the common area, a part of me was disappointed when I didn’t spot Gino anywhere, but we’d already ended two of his family members without his help; a third should be easy enough. Or, so I told myself.

  “Ah, there she is. The one who keeps slipping through my fingertips,” Luca said as he held a prisoner’s limp body in his hands.

  Jaxon snarled next to me, but there was nothing he could do to Luca. I had to do it on my own. “Watch my back, and when I start to take his power, move away,” I whispered while we stepped forward as a group.

  I was mostly speaking to Jaxon, but hopefully, they all heeded the warning.

  “Nice to see you again, Luca,” I said dryly.

  He tossed the body aside. “Is it, though? You’ve caused so much trouble. You must get that from your mother, because your father was such a pushover. It was almost too easy to kill him when he betrayed our family by leaving us for that whore of a witch.”

  He took two steps closer, and I did the same. I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me. Jaxon and the others spread out, trying to stay close, but there were still guards fighting against us, keeping my friends busy enough that I didn’t worry about them being in Luca’s sights for the moment.

  “But maybe you’re also a bit like me. I saw Mother’s body on the floor on my way here, and seeing as how my brothers haven’t joined me, I assume you’ve already disposed of them as well?”

  Interesting. He didn’t know Gino was still alive. I’d be keeping that fun fact to myself.

  “It was too easy. You see, I’m like neither my father or my mother. I’m just like my grandmother. It’s her original power that flows through me. You and the others are nothing to me but a threat I need to extinguish.”

  He smirked. “Funny. I thought the same about you.”

  I knew the Luccovinos all had additional powers outside of being vampires, but I didn’t understand what those were or how they could utilize them. Something I probably should have asked more questions about before I ended up trapped in a cage with one.

  Within the blink of an eye, Luca created a barrier between us and all others there to support me. “It didn’t seem like much of a fair fight to allow your friends to join us. This is a family issue and needs to stay between us.”

  I didn’t mind it one bit. He was only doing me a favor by blocking everyone else off.

  “Why didn’t your family just leave me alone? I never would have bothered any of you,” I sneered, trying to ignore Jaxon’s roaring in my ears before turning off the comm. It wasn’t going to help me any longer.

  “I’ve lived for hundreds of years, because I don’t allow those who threaten my existence
to continue walking this earth. When your father said he was leaving us to be with a Fitzsimmons, he had to die. I knew her love for him would weaken our family.

  “What I hadn’t known at the time was of your creation before his death. But thanks to dumb luck and that idiot warden who thrived off dark magic, we found out about you. Gino was convinced you weren’t who we thought, so we left you alone, but then your mark was awoken.”

  My fingers instantly went to my chest. The mark that was no longer visible because Nixie had continued to cover it up, but it would forever be a part of me.

  “We’d tried to grab you then, but Gino had just missed you, so we set up here, waiting for you to come back. I let you get free twice before, but it won’t happen a third.”

  Gino had been keeping me safe for longer than I realized. Too bad he was too much of a chickenshit to show his face and stand with me to fight his brother when it really mattered.

  “That’s all interesting, but honestly, I’ve had a shitty week, and I’d really just like to sit on a beach somewhere and pretend none of this ever happened. So, enough with the chatter.”

  Magic poured from my hands, my body still pumping with bits of power from Corrina and Nic. Not enough that I thought I could really hurt Luca without taking some of his, but hopefully enough to weaken him.

  He deflected easily and charged for me, first throwing a punch that caught me in the jaw.

  Falling to the ground, I saw Jaxon standing with Nixie at his shoulder, but before I could figure out what they were doing, Luca grabbed my feet and drug me back.

  “Fight me like the powerful being you’re supposed to be!” he yelled after letting me go.

  Getting to my knees, I pretended to be broken already, allowing him to come closer. He grabbed a handful of my hair and, as I screamed, I latched on to his forearm, taking power while he assumed I was just fighting him off.

  Or so I thought.

  He drop-kicked me several feet away. “Not this time, Cara. You can’t fool me twice.”

  Well, plan B it was. Even if it was going to hurt like a motherfucker.

  Ignoring the stupidity of it, I ran for Luca and wrapped my arms around his waist, taking him to the ground with surprise and brute force. I held on tightly, soaking in his power while he threw punch after punch, hitting my face and ribs until I fell onto my back mere seconds later.

  His moves were too fast for me to feel confident I’d syphoned enough, so through swelling eyes, I tried again, but I was already tiring. I’d killed two original vampires already, and even if those had been relatively easy, I’d still used more power in the last hour than I had in my entire life.

  If I managed to best Luca, it was going to take everything I had to give.

  “Do you have a death wish, girl?” he taunted while circling my hobbling form.

  He didn’t seem keen on attacking me while I was down, so I took my time recovering. “Yes, but it’s not for my own.”

  “Can’t you see? You’re not strong enough to stop me. You’re nothing but a worthless witch who will never be anything special.”

  A distant part of me knew that if he really thought that, he wouldn’t be fighting me. He would have walked away and not have bothered with the likes of us, but the more dominant half of me that had been verbally abused all her life, well, she was fucking livid.

  “I’m. Not. Worthless.”

  Remembering the promise that I’d made to myself the day I’d been told my parents died, I decided then that enough was enough. Luca wouldn’t be allowed to berate me any longer.

  Standing tall, I met his eyes and saw a flash of fear. Whatever he saw in mine had him realizing he screwed up.

  Cracks could be heard in the cage Luca had put us in, but I wasn’t waiting for the others. This was my blood. I would clean it up.

  We ran for one another, both of us seeming intent to end the other as quickly as possible. Magic pulsed off of me, and I grabbed on to the first body part I reached, which was his leg. I wrapped myself around him, refusing to let go until I couldn’t take whatever he was hitting me with. After a while, my body was no longer capable of feeling; it was numb as I rolled away from the blows.

  From my view on the ground, the cage fell, but nobody rushed in, and Luca cheered. “Brother! I’m so glad to see you’re alive, and just in time. We finally have our prize. Will you help me do the honors?”

  “You know nothing would make me happier,” Gino replied, voice deep and forced, but I couldn’t see him until he joined Luca’s side.

  As I struggled to stand, my fangs once again poked through my lip, seeming even longer than the previous times they’d made appearances.

  “Look at that disgrace,” Luca spat.

  “I am. Our father would be ashamed of you,” Gino replied, officially ruining his cover.

  “What did you just say?” Luca growled, but his brother didn’t answer. He acted.

  Pulling a blade from his jacket pocket, Gino stabbed Luca, and the attention was pulled from me. They fought hard and fast, so quick that I could barely make out the blur of their forms until one of them dropped to the ground.

  Luca stood over Gino with the blade in his hand. “I told Mother you were holding us back. We should have killed you when we did Emilio.” He plunged the blade into Gino’s chest and was completely distracted, so I took my opportunity.

  Using the last of my strength, I charged for Luca—it was more of a fast crawl given my current state—and held on to his legs. I drew just a bit more power from him, and then reversed it as he began to fight me off.

  As soon as his own power turned on him, Luca froze with one hand around my neck, nearly reaching all the way around, and the other pathetically attempting to push my hands away from him. But even as my airflow began to fade and my vision blurred, I didn’t stop. Even if we killed each other, at least he would be dead, too.

  He fought again once the initial surprise wore off and slammed his head into mine, but I didn’t break my hold or the magic that was pulsing between us, fighting to kill each other. It was going to come down to a battle of wills, and I was as stubborn as they came, so I wasn’t losing hope yet.

  Just as my breathing stopped and my hands started to lose their grip, my suit began to vibrate, then shocked the shit out of me. It hurt like hell, but my heart was pounding much too fast to consider death, which gave me the extra last push I needed to finish the job.

  Another few seconds later, Luca’s hand released my neck, and he fell to the ground next to me while I kneeled over him, paying more attention to Gino, the uncle who had died to help me before I could even thank him for all he had done to protect me.

  Chapter 23

  People were talking around me, but the burst of energy I’d had at the last minute was dying off, and all I wanted to do was sleep. I knew I should check if the others were okay, but my mind was on shut-down mode.

  I’d killed three people who were supposed to be my family and watched the fourth sacrifice himself for me.

  I badly needed an escape from that reality.

  “She’s in shock. Just give her a minute,” Jaxon snarled at someone.

  “Fuck that. She doesn’t get to have all the fun and then check out.” Nixie’s glowing body appeared before me, and her tiny hand smacked me cheek. “Snap out of it and tell me you’re okay.”

  My eyes blinked at her, but I wasn’t really seeing her.

  “Is he still alive?” Mason said, and that got my attention. If Luca wasn’t dead, I wasn’t sure what we were going to do, because I had nothing left to give.

  Spencer passed by me next, and I saw him bend over Gino’s body, then yank the knife from his chest. “He is. Nixie, can you heal him?”

  Greggor bent next to me and lowered his voice. “He can only be killed when his own power is used against him. Luca wasn’t strong enough to do that on his own like you.”

  Gino was alive.

  That had me moving—not quickly, but enough that I’d snapped out of my fog
and started crawling toward my uncle, the only blood relative I still had in this world. Nixie was floating above him, but his wound was already healing on its own as soon as the blade was removed.

  He groaned and rolled over. “Well, that wasn’t pleasant.”

  I choked out a laugh that was more of a cry. “No, it wasn’t.”

  “Thank you,” he whispered.

  “No thanks needed. You’ve been trying to save my ass for a lot longer than you let on.”

  He smiled. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for my only niece. Your father…he didn’t deserve what happened to him, and neither did your mother. She was a different person before she lost him, and I wish you’d been able to know them both the way I had.”

  I reached a hand to him. “Maybe I can through you.”

  “I’d like that.” Gino squeezed my hand back, and I smiled in return as Jaxon lifted my body from the ground.

  “Sorry, but I’ve had to watch you almost die too many times now. We’re leaving.”

  “Wait, is everyone else okay?” I asked.

  Nixie landed on my arm. “Yeah, but first, what did you think of that failsafe?” Her eyes were wide and full of excitement.

  “What are you talking about?” I didn’t want to ruin her glee, but I was confused. Probably from multiple concussions.

  “Ugh. My badassness is wasted on you people. The shock factor at the end. It jumpstarted your heart when it stopped. You were pretty much dead out there at one point.”

  My head shook. “You turned my suit into a defibrillator?”

  “How else did you expect me to bring you back from the brink-of-death moment I suspected might happen?” She flew off as Jaxon snarled at her.

  When she was gone, and everyone else seemed to be breathing at a minimum, I didn’t object to Jaxon taking me a little further away. He sat on top of one of the few tables in the common area that hadn’t been turned over during the chaos.

  His hands gently caressed every beaten and bloodied part of my body. “We’re running away to a deserted island, and nobody is ever going to hurt you again.”