“I want him alive,” Cain yelled, charging forward.
Killing the bastard would give him enormous satisfaction, but his oath demanded that he hand him over to the authorities. They’d make an example out of him, no doubt with a much-publicized execution.
Orange flames jumped up at Cain’s back, illuminating their way. He said a silent thanks to Clelia. After three more paces, he expected to see a wounded man lying on the floor, but there was no one. Nothing. Not even a trace of blood. He cursed under his breath. What was going on? Why was Godfrey not dead? The only plausible explanation was that the man he’d shot was a clone.
He lifted his palm to advise caution. They advanced slowly. Their attack would be expected, but Godfrey was wounded. The odds were in their favor. At the end of the corridor, a door like the one they’d passed through stood open. Beyond it shone a dull, red light. A sickening smell of sulfur filled his nostrils. There was something sharp but fainter underlining the odor. Iodine. The combination was a strong mixture of sea and rot, like sea bamboo decaying on a shore.
Entering the stone vault was like crawling into a photo development dark room. The red glow was just enough for him to make out the central part of the interior. The light didn’t bleed all the way to the walls, but it appeared they were in a circular room. He scanned the space with a quick sweep of his gaze and came to an abrupt halt when he noticed the tank. Understanding dawned when he took in the smaller tanks in which fetuses drifted. They’d uncovered Godfrey’s experiment.
“What is that thing?” Sky exclaimed on a whisper.
It was Sara who replied. “It looks like a cross between a turritopsis nutricula and a … human.”
“Over there.” Josselin pointed at a vertical tunnel.
Cain was about to give the signal to move when Godfrey’s voice spoke up from the darkness that bordered the room.
“Thanks for accepting my invite, Jones.”
He didn’t sound like a man who’d taken two bullets. Cain searched the shadows. He flicked his fingers at Clelia. In silent understanding, a flame jumped up where the voice had come from. What the flame illuminated made him forget about everything else. Godfrey stood tall, holding a naked and shivering Olivia in front of his body like a human shield with a gun pushed against her temple. She was gagged and handcuffed. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but her chin was lifted and her shoulders straight. Fury pounded through his veins, eroding the calmness he usually felt during a fight.
“Ivan,” he said.
The only response he got was a thud and Clelia’s shriek. He tore his gaze away from Olivia to see Ivan’s body lying on the ground and Godfrey’s kid standing over him with a tennis racket.
“At last I got to play,” the boy said.
Josselin grabbed the kid by the back of his collar and lifted him off his feet. The child, already closer to the age of a teenager, dangled in the air.
“This is between us,” Cain said, turning back to Godfrey. “Let her go.”
“Kill the flames,” Godfrey said.
Cain nodded at Clelia. When the flames died, a red light came on over Olivia and Godfrey.
“Let her go,” Cain repeated. “It’s me you want.”
“I may want you,” Godfrey answered, “but we both want her.”
There was no arguing that. Cain’s mind worked frantically. He couldn’t take out Godfrey without the risk of harming Olivia. For now, he had no choice but to play along. Surely, Godfrey was weak from his injuries. He’d collapse soon.
“What do you want?” Cain asked, his eyes never leaving Olivia’s face.
“We fight it out, just me and you. The winner gets the woman. The loser dies.”
Olivia’s thought hit him between the eyes. Don’t! It’s a trap. He’s immortal.
The fact that Godfrey wasn’t bleeding out at his feet now made sense. The bastard had done it. He’d not only cloned himself, but he’d made those clones indestructible. Well, almost.
“All right,” Cain said, straightening as much as the ceiling allowed. “It seems fitting. You, me, and a fight.”
“We each get one chance,” Godfrey said with a sickly smile. His gaze dropped to the gun in Cain’s hand. “Since you’re my guest, you can go first.”
Cain, no! Olivia’s eyes begged with him.
Cain moved forward, barely aware of the burn in his lungs from the breath he was holding.
Godfrey’s grip tightened on Olivia. “Give it your best shot, Jones. If you kill me, she’s free. If you don’t, she’s mine and your team’s dead.”
An immortal man could go far in fighting a small army of arts practitioners, but his body needed time to repair. Godfrey may not die, but he couldn’t hold them all off. The minute he came to the conclusion, another thought from Olivia registered in his mind.
There are others.
They were in for a battle. So be it. It was a war he’d been looking forward to for a very long time.
“What are you waiting for?” Godfrey taunted. “Scared?”
“Not at all.” Cain closed the distance until he stood right in front of Godfrey. He lifted the gun, pointing the barrel between Godfrey’s eyes.
He won’t die, Cain. He’ll kill you.
Godfrey expected him to pull the trigger. What he didn’t expect was the hypodermic needle Cain pulled from his pocket and jabbed into his enemy’s neck. He emptied the syringe, praying to God that this was going to work. If not, they were all dead.
Godfrey’s eyes flared. He slapped a hand over the needle puncturing his skin, baring his teeth. For a moment, there was fear in his eyes, but as one second ticked to two and three and nothing happened, his sneer turned into a grin.
Cain closed his eyes briefly. The world wasn’t a fair place. There was no rule that said good had to win over evil. There was no guarantee that Eve’s formula would work, just as there had been no promises of happily-ever-after when man had been born into Paradise. Man had set the ball rolling when he’d taken a bite of the forbidden fruit, and the battle between good and evil had raged ever since. If he lost today, there was no turning back from the evil that would invade every corner of the earth. There would be no good left. Not even a dormant grain that could offer hope in the unforeseeable future.
Uttering a cold laugh, Godfrey pushed Olivia aside. “My turn. I’m not quite as generous as you. I’m going to cut open your skull and feed on your brain while you’re still alive, and you’re going to watch me eat it. Every great man deserves a grand finale, wouldn’t you agree?”
The slightest flare of Olivia’s eyes warned him before her thought did. Behind you!
Cain flung around to see five Godfreys step from the dark. Each of them had a gun trained on a team member.
“First,” Godfrey said, “I’m going to make you watch them die.” He turned to his brothers. “Tie them up. We’re going to make it a nice and slow death for each of them. A bullet is too…” He coughed. “Too quick.” The last word ended on a gurgle.
Clutching his head between his hands, he spat on the floor. The other Godfreys stilled. A roar sounded as Josselin cast the boy aside and dived through the air, bringing down one of the men. The second their bodies hit the floor, Josselin slammed a needle into arm of the man he’d tackled.
Violence erupted. Lightning lashed through the air, the bolt electrocuting the men and knocking the guns from their hands. They went down, but recovered at a remarkable speed. No amount of flames or lightning kept them down for long. It was only the gale force wind Lann commanded that blew them into a corner, keeping them from getting back their guns.
The clone Cain had injected fell to his knees. Bent over, he clutched his stomach. With a chilling cry, he fell face down onto the floor. While Clelia retrieved the needle protruding from his neck, Josselin, Sara and Sky scurried for the weapons.
“Quick,” Clelia called. “Give me the serum.”
Cain took the vial from his pocket and threw it at her. She inserted the needle and filled the syringe.
Josselin moved his huge frame into the wind Lann had created, dragging one of the clones out by his collar. He held him down while Clelia injected the deadly serum. Like a colony of cockroaches, they crawled over each other to get away. One of them managed to break free. He was creeping toward Olivia on his hands and knees when Cain caught sight of him. Tackling the man, they both went down to the ground. A fight involving fists, teeth, and feet followed. Cain got so caught up in the battle for life he didn’t notice the kid that had snuck up on him until Olivia’s warning cut through his mind.
Look out!
Cain ducked, missing the tennis racket just in time. He grabbed the boy’s ankle and pulled his feet out from under him, but not before his opponent had planted a fist on his temple. Stars exploded behind his eyes. His vision blurred. Olivia charged the man who was pounding his fists in Cain’s stomach and brought her cuffed wrists down on his head. The man exploded in a fit of fury.
“Josselin!” Cain yelled the warning even as he struggled to his feet.
Josselin didn’t disappoint. The needle sunk deep into his attacker’s neck before he could avenge himself on Olivia. A blow from the racket hit Josselin on the head. Grabbing the racket, Josselin broke it in two and cast it aside. He managed to catch the child by the wrist and dragged him to the cage. He dumped him inside, locked the door, and pocketed the key.
By then, the whole lot had been injected, except for one. He’d managed to punch Sky. In the chaos that ensued, he’d gotten hold of one of the guns they’d kicked aside. As he pointed the barrel at Cain, Sean charged. He threw his body into the clone, knocking him sideways. The shot went off, echoing loudly in the enclosed space. The pain Cain expected didn’t tear into his body. Instead, there was a sound of fracturing glass followed by the crash of water. The tank had splintered and broken, spilling its charge onto the ground. Sticky red liquid ran over the floor. It filled the crevices between the stones while the organism lay in the middle of the mess, surrounded by stinking water and shards of glass.
Sean and the last remaining clone were still wrestling for the weapon.
“Stand aside, Sean,” Lann shouted.
When Sean rolled away, Godfrey aimed the weapon at Cain. Before he could pull the trigger, lightning carved through the space and hit the clone. The man’s body fell back with a violent jerk. The minute he was immobile, Sara struck with a needle.
The room turned quiet. There were no more Godfreys left, unless one counted the slippery mass on the floor.
Olivia turned in a slow circle, taking in the destruction. Her body shook all over.
Cain pulled off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Gently, he removed the gag. He motioned at the cuffs. “Where’s the key?”
She moved her aching jaw from side to side. “One of them must have it.”
“Search them and find the key,” he told Lann.
“It’s over.” Cain pulled her close and hugged her to his body. “This time, it’s really over.”
“Got it,” Lann said, holding up a key.
When Cain had unlocked her cuffs, he ran his fingers over her chaffed skin, his touch providing much needed comfort.
The Godfrey replicas lay motionless on the floor. Clelia confirmed each one’s status with a shake of her head, checking their pulses as she moved from the one to the other.
“The babies,” Sky said, facing the row of tanks against the wall. Her soft voice was filled with anguish. “What do we do with the babies?”
For the first time, Olivia noticed the tubes that had connected the smaller tanks to the bigger one, now lying in disarray on the floor.
“The amniotic fluid was fed from the bigger tank to theirs,” she said. “Godfrey said they needed stem cells to feed on.”
“Without the amniotic fluid, they’ll die,” Sara said. “The main body fed them nutrients and oxygen.”
“A slow and cruel death of suffocation,” Cain concluded. “We end it now.”
Olivia’s heart clenched. She wanted to argue that they were only babies, but she knew from experience what they’d be capable of when they grew up.
“Inject the serum through the tubes,” Cain instructed.
Unable to watch, Olivia turned away. The gel-like liquid that had spilled from the tank had bled to the edges of the room. She was standing in the lukewarm substance with her bare feet, the smell ten times worse now that it was no longer contained in a tank. The unbearable stench seemed to seep into her skin. She had to get away. She rushed for the door. She wanted to flee down the corridors and surface in the daylight, dragging sunshine into her lungs.
She was halfway to freedom when something almost tripped her. Someone had grabbed her ankle. She jerked her leg once. Twice. Panic flared. Looking down, she saw one of the tentacles wrapped tightly around her ankle. She kicked with more force, only to have another tentacle snake up her leg. She pushed at them, trying to pry them open with her fingers, but they entangled themselves around her arms, tying her up effectively. The more she twisted, the faster they spun around her and the more they tightened. She was trapped in a cocoon, unable to breathe. Her lungs compressed and her ribs ached from the force.
Cain!
He twirled around, alarm in his eyes.
I can’t breathe.
“Get me an injection,” he shouted, running to where she lay entangled on the floor.
Cain tore at the tentacles where they connected to the three-eyed body, ripping them off with his bare hands while Josselin was chopping at them with his knife. There were too many tentacles. Through the tangles, it was impossible to tell which ones where twisted around her body. The faster they worked, the harder the squeeze became, until she saw white spots in her vision.
Clelia ran up with a hypodermic needle that she jabbed between the eyes of the creature. A sharp pain punctured Olivia’s side. Godfrey had broken one of her ribs. He was going to kill her, after all. She looked at the source of her suffering, her gaze connecting with the three eyes. Satisfaction bled into their dirty-yellow depths. They both knew she was a hairbreadth from blowing out her last breath. Turning her head away, she searched for Cain. He was still tearing at the beast like a madman.
Cain.
He stilled.
I need you.
He swiveled on his heels, their eyes finally locking. Dropping what he was doing, he moved to her side. He clutched her face between his hands and offered her a smile. It was a beautiful smile, one that spoke of love and hope, of having searched and found.
I’m glad you stalked me.
“I’m glad I found you,” he whispered.
There was a buzz in her ears. The pungent smell evaporated. Her vision blurred around Cain’s face, the edges of the picture fading. Finally, all sounds turned quiet.
Chapter 20
Cain ripped at the tentacles that squeezed the air from Olivia’s body. Every time he tore one off, it grew right back and fastened around her quicker than an unwinding anchor rope. Seeing it was useless, he grabbed the injections Clelia was preparing and plunged them into the beast. Syringe after syringe he emptied, until there was none left. With nothing left to do, he stood back and watched helplessly. Olivia’s skin was white and her lips blue. Agony carved into his chest. He wanted to dig the smug expression from the eyes of the creature staring up at him. Most of all, he wanted to save Olivia, but instead, he was watching her die.
“He stopped moving,” Josselin said, kicking at the side of the translucent blob.
True, the tentacles were not tightening further. Cain fell to his knees next to Olivia and put his face close to her nose. A faint trickle of air moved the fine hairs on his skin. She was breathing, albeit weakly. One by one, the tightly wound tentacles started giving. The creature was dying.
“Help me.” Cain’s voice carried the order with calm authority. He renewed his attack on the elastic arms. This time, the tentacles he severed didn’t grow back.
Josselin rushed to obey, making quick work of cutting Olivia loose. The mo
ment she was free, Cain pinched her nose closed, tilted back her head, and breathed air into her lungs. Most likely, she’d have broken or at the very least fractured ribs. If broken, he had to ensure none had punctured a lung. It took a few breaths before her heart started to pump normally again. Cain kept a finger on a jugular vein in her neck. When the pulse was stronger, he dared to lift her in his arms. Staring into the disfigured eyes of his enemy, he took a moment to imprint the scene in his mind. This is what Godfrey had become. This is what greed and vanity had turned him into. The light in those bulging eyes started dimming.
Cradling Olivia against his chest, Cain stood over his enemy. “This is how it ends.”
A flash of denial sparked in the eyes that were too much animal to be human and too much human to be animal.
“And this is how it begins,” Cain continued softly.
He didn’t blink or breathe as the life force slowly faded in the creature’s eyes until they turned out of focus and finally glassy. Silence hung heavy over the room as the team witnessed the final and first moments. In death there was life, and in life there was death. There was no end without a beginning and no beginning without an end. The one needed the other like day and night, yet, from the day the Creator had fabricated an apple and a snake, dark and light were doomed to fight as eternal enemies. As long as the earth turned on its axis, day and night could never exist in the same moment. They could never be together, except for those fleeting moments during dusk and dawn. Twice a day or twice a night, depending on the side of the fence from which one was looking, black and white brushed fingertips in the passing. Before the touch could deepen, the orbit flung them apart, their destiny solitude. Some said the moon forever looked over its shoulder, longing for warmth, while the sun stared after the moon, craving its cool nights.
Man (Seven Forbidden Arts Book 9) Page 27