Ivan clenched his jaw and took one last look at Lily and Tomas Soul where they stood facing the horde of giant super soldiers closing in on them. He twisted on his heels and headed after the king, his heart heavy with guilt and anger.
Chapter Forty-One
Vlado scowled as he scrutinized the camera feeds on the flat-screen monitor on the wall.
Their enemy had reached the sixth level of the facility.
‘How? How the hell are they beating the super soldiers?’ He glared at the Crovir Immortals who formed part of his security team. ‘Did Storm generate another lightning strike?’
‘No, sir. But they’re using EMP grenades to disable the liquid-armor suits.’
Vlado gritted his teeth and leaned his hands on the workstation of the secondary command post on Level Eight. Crovir stood silently beside him, his pale eyes impassive as he watched the battle playing out on the screen.
‘Still,’ Vlado said, ‘even without that armor, our men should be able to—’
‘It’s her, sir.’ The Immortal who had spoken zoomed in on a camera on the fifth level. ‘It’s Olivia Ashkarov. She’s already knocked out every Immortal and half-breed she’s come across since she entered the complex. It looks like she’s doing the same thing to the super soldiers.’
Something twisted painfully inside Vlado’s chest as he regarded the woman responsible for his father’s murder.
She’s here!
Blood splattered Olivia Ashkarov’s combat uniform as she wielded her sword, the blade cutting ruthlessly into the flesh of the enemy before her, her expression cold and focused. At her side were Asgard Godard, Madeleine Black, and Anna Soul.
Although Vlado had learned what had happened in Mongolia, he had refused to believe Ashkarov was solely responsible for the fate of the super soldiers stationed there.
‘We’ve bioengineered our army to be resistant to psychic attacks like hers. There’s no way—’
‘Your men are correct, Vlado,’ Crovir said quietly.
Vlado stilled, his gaze swiveling back to the monitor. His stomach dropped when he saw a group of giant super soldiers appear before Ashkarov. Lines furrowed her brow as she raised a hand toward them. They faltered and swayed before dropping to the floor, their weapons falling from their grasp.
It was as if she’d flipped a switch inside their heads.
Impossible!
Fury filled Vlado as he watched her step over the unconscious men. He whirled around, unsheathed the sword that had belonged to his father, and headed for the exit.
‘Take King Crovir to the escape tunnel and wait for me!’ he barked at his men.
Crovir watched Vlado storm out of the command post.
Although he was angry at what was unfolding in the facility and felt nothing but contempt for the enemy who had dared thwart the plans he and the descendant of his son Kronos had been concocting, he was surprised at how much calmer he felt compared to the younger man.
I wonder. Is it because I have lived longer than him and seen more death and destruction in my lifetimes than he ever will?
‘If you would like to come with us, sir,’ one of the Immortals said, distracting him from his thoughts.
Crovir dipped his chin and was turning to follow his escort when something caught his attention.
He froze, his eyes riveted to the top right corner of the monitor on the wall. ‘Where is that?’
The guard’s eyes widened when he registered what had captured Crovir’s gaze. ‘That’s on Level Five, sir.’
Crovir frowned. ‘Show me how to get there.’
‘Behind you!’ Anatole shouted.
Lucas ducked, felt a knife hum a couple of inches above his head, and drove the wakizashi into the chest of the super soldier at his back. The man grunted, his expression vacant. Lucas twisted on his heels and slashed his throat with the katana. The super soldier thudded to the ground.
‘That was close,’ Reid said several feet to his left.
Blood and sweat streamed down the former Marine’s face and his chest heaved.
Lucas scanned the armory, tension humming in his veins. Although they had overpowered the men in the command post on Level One, the super soldier army was proving to be as formidable a force to deal with as they’d anticipated it would be. The human troops still standing at their side were visibly tiring and even the Bastian Hunters were not immune to the devastating fighting power of the bioengineered monsters they kept coming up against.
Much to Lucas’s frustration, the enemy’s numbers had increased exponentially the farther down the facility they went and they had been unable to descend beyond their current location on the seventh floor.
A figure charged at him from the right. Lucas steeled himself, blocked the rapid blows arcing toward his head and chest, and side-kicked the super soldier in the abdomen. The man slumped for a second.
It was all Lucas needed to drive the katana through his heart.
A choking noise brought his head around. Alarm stabbed through him. One of the giants had grasped Reid by the head and was lifting him into the air.
Anatole scowled, took a running jump, and drove his knee in the super soldier’s right loin. The giant’s free fist connected brutally with the Immortal’s chest as he dropped back down toward the floor. A grunt left Anatole’s throat as he sailed toward a wall fifteen feet away. He smashed into it, his skull cracking against the concrete.
Lucas yanked his sword out of the chest of the dying man at the end of his blade and headed resolutely for Reid and the giant. He swooped beneath the super soldier’s swinging punch and brought the katana up toward his rib cage.
The giant cast Reid violently aside and blocked the blade inches from his body, grasping the razor-edged sword with his bare hand. He turned to face Lucas, blood pouring through his fist. Lucas glimpsed the blow coming from his right, leapt backward, and cursed when he stumbled over a body on the ground. Movement blurred below him.
Air locked painfully in his throat when the giant’s knee made contact with his stomach. Lucas doubled over, twisted out of the way of a second kick, and gasped when his attacker’s fingers closed around his windpipe. The super soldier knocked the swords out of his hands and hoisted him up.
Lucas choked as his feet left the ground. He grappled with the giant’s unyielding wrist, folded his knees to his chest, and kicked him hard in the gut.
He might as well have hit a wall for all the reaction his attacker showed.
The giant lifted him higher before bringing him down savagely to the ground.
Black spots exploded in front of Lucas’s eyes as his back struck the concrete. The giant followed him to the floor and closed his other hand around his throat.
Lucas bucked and heaved, a buzzing noise rising in his skull. He reached out blindly for his fallen swords as he struggled for air. Reid staggered into view from behind the super soldier, a gun in hand. The blasts of the shots reached Lucas dimly.
His fingers found the handle of the wakizashi. He brought the sword up and stabbed the super soldier in the heart.
The giant froze and blinked. He looked down at where the blade had entered his body, stared at Lucas blankly, and tightened his hold on his throat.
The buzzing sound filled Lucas’s world. Darkness swamped his vision.
Then the pressure around his neck eased.
Air whistled in and out of his swollen windpipe as he gasped and took deep, shuddering breaths.
The giant gazed dully at his hands, which were slowly uncurling from around Lucas’s throat. Muscles bulged in his arms and neck as he attempted to resist the unholy force moving his body against his will.
‘Miss us?’ someone shouted.
Relief flooded Lucas when he beheld Conrad, Ethan, and Zachary approaching with a troop of human soldiers, Freemasons, and monks.
Ethan narrowed his eyes at the super soldier above Lucas. He flexed the fingers of his left hand and moved his arm in a sweeping motion.
The giant soare
d off Lucas and plowed into the concrete wall Anatole had hit.
The Immortal had been raising himself slowly from the ground. He startled, his gaze riveted to the bloodied figure a few feet from him.
‘Well, that ain’t pretty.’ Anatole grimaced at Ethan. ‘And, hey, a heads up would be great next time.’
Someone loomed over Lucas where he lay on his back.
‘You look like shit,’ Alexa stated bluntly.
Lucas smiled faintly and took her hand. She yanked him up onto his feet.
‘It’s good to see you.’ He glanced from her to the others. ‘I take it this means—’
‘We’ve secured the other facilities,’ Conrad confirmed with a brisk nod.
Zachary’s face lit up. ‘Looks like the rest of the cavalry made it too.’
Lucas followed his gaze to the far side of the armory. A thrill rushed through him. Anna was walking through a doorway with Olivia, Asgard, and Madeleine, a contingent of Bastian Hunters and human soldiers in tow.
A pair of freight elevators slid open eighteen feet to their right.
Lucas’s pulse stuttered as a swarm of giant super soldiers exited the steel cabins.
Chapter Forty-Two
Ivan leaned over the metal banister and peered up the stairwell.
‘Only two floors to go,’ he said encouragingly.
He smiled tightly at the children spread out over the levels beneath him and the Immortal bringing up the rear of their ragtag group.
Ivan took the hand of the little girl next to him as he continued climbing the steps, an infant in his other arm. The child’s fingers twitched in his grip at the distant clamor of gunshots and explosions echoing up the concrete shaft from the battle raging inside the facility.
Ivan’s thoughts went to the two children he had abandoned near the bottom of the structure. He glanced at the girl beside him.
The least I can do for them is help these creatures they so desperately wanted to save.
The final landing came into view twenty feet above him.
Relief flooded Ivan. The exit was a short distance beyond it.
A loud bang resonated in the stairwell, startling him. The girl flinched beside him. Ivan stopped and looked over the railing. He stiffened.
A man stood on the third landing, a sword in hand. A door swung closed behind him.
He was tall and dressed in a similar fashion to King Bastian, the hem of his antiquated robes brushing the floor. His pale eyes shifted briefly to the children and Ivan before focusing on the king behind them.
A chill ran down Ivan’s spine. He knew instinctively he was looking at the Immortal whose race he was currently the leader of.
King Bastian handed the infant in his arms to one of the older children. ‘Take him and go.’
The boy hesitated before nodding. He held the baby close to his chest and herded the younger children around him up the stairs.
King Bastian turned to face King Crovir.
‘This is between you and me, brother,’ he said calmly.
King Crovir frowned. ‘Indeed, brother.’
He removed a second sword from his waist and tossed it at King Bastian. The latter caught the blade expertly in one hand.
Ivan glanced at the exit, his heart slamming against his ribs.
‘Leave, child of Crovir,’ King Bastian said softly. He unsheathed the sword and grasped the handle in a double-handed grip, his gaze never leaving his brother’s face. ‘I entrust the fate of these young ones to you.’
Ivan cast a final glance at the Immortals on the landing beneath him before gritting his teeth and starting up the final steps, the children at his heels.
Alexa blocked a swirl of fists with her sai daggers. ‘We’re not getting anywhere fighting like this! We have to do this together!’
Lucas and Conrad nodded, sweat beading on their faces and blood dripping off the edges of their blades. They regrouped in the middle of the armory with Ethan and Zachary, Reid and Anatole bringing up the rear with their allies.
At the opposite end of the floor, on the other side of a sea of super soldiers, Olivia and Asgard were engaged in a brutal battle with the giants, Anna, Madeleine, and their comrades at their side.
Alexa swooped beneath a high kick, stabbed her attacker in the heart and throat, and studied the layout of the battlefield.
‘Ethan, you and I should take point. Conrad, Lucas, you flank us.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘We have to break through this crowd and join up with Olivia and Asgard’s troops. Our best chance of defeating them is for all of us to work together in formation.’
Ethan’s elemental power brushed against Alexa when he came up beside her. Just as she could feel Mila’s life force buzzing in her veins, so could Alexa sense Jared’s presence in the potent pulses surging across her skin from the man standing a couple of feet away.
Alexa tightened her grip on her sais. Heat rose inside her chest and spread through her limbs, bringing with it a flood of unearthly strength. The ground shook beneath her feet as the ungodly force overflowed and radiated from her body.
She exchanged glances with Ethan, Conrad, and Lucas.
In that moment, a flutter of memories echoed through her from Mila. Of hundreds of battles similarly fought, in distant lands and under strange skies, in times long gone. Of a connection between warriors who had navigated centuries of conflict imposed upon them by their fathers and kings. Of an eternity of devotion and affection between siblings and cousins in the face of constant strife and adversity. Of a bond between kin that had seen them through the most challenging and epic war they had ever fought, one that had seen the end of their Immortal reign and the beginning of the era of men.
Ethan’s eyes glittered intensely as he studied the army before them, his gaze lingering on the far side of the armory and his soulmate. ‘Are you ready?’
There was an echo in his voice from the soul who now lived inside him.
Alexa smiled fiercely.
‘Yes,’ she and Mila replied.
Olivia swooped beneath a vicious punch. She deflected the next blow with her sword and blasted the super soldier attacking her with a wave of elemental energy.
She sensed Ethan and her cousins’ powers surging on the other side of the warehouse as they plowed into the mass of super soldiers separating them.
‘We can’t keep this up much longer!’ Asgard said grimly a short distance to her left.
Olivia glanced in the direction of his gaze. A group of Marines and Bastian Hunters had been driven to the ground by three giant super soldiers some twenty feet behind them.
Navia’s voice resonated inside her mind. He is right. The men fighting with you are beyond exhausted. We need to finish this. Soon.
Olivia dipped her chin. Just as she had done innumerable times in the past hour, she sought out the shimmering lines of power enclosing her heart and drew upon their unholy energy, the soul inside her lending her her strength once more.
Dozens of super soldiers collapsed as she discharged another brutal psychic assault that tore through the barriers of their minds and shut down their consciousness.
Olivia felt the spirits of the human soldiers and Immortals around her rally, their resolve strengthening despite the ceaseless onslaught of the unnatural army they battled against. She clenched her jaw and steeled herself for another psychic blast.
A sword hummed past her head and sliced away a lock of her hair.
Vlado frowned as the woman leapt out of the way of his next strike.
He brought his father’s blade up and around once more. Satisfaction rushed through him when the wicked edge carved a crimson line across the flesh of her arm.
Pain flashed briefly in Olivia Ashkarov’s eyes. It was replaced by a gleam of determination.
Pressure surged against Vlado’s skull.
He glared at her in the face of her psychic attack. ‘You will not defeat me!’
His fingers tightened on the handle of the sword and he aimed it at her once more.<
br />
Sparks erupted between them when their blades clashed.
She stared at him from the other side of their kissing swords, surprise dawning on her face.
‘You are Jonah Krondike’s son.’
Vlado blinked. He was certain she had not broken through his mental shields.
Lines furrowed her brow. ‘You have his eyes.’
Vlado’s pulse spiked, anger filling him with every beat of his heart. He pressed down with his sword and snarled. She grunted, her knees buckling under the sheer physical strength of his attack.
A heavy weight gripped his temples. Her eyes widened.
‘You are like them!’ she said hoarsely, horror tainting her voice as she glanced at the giant super soldiers around them.
Vlado felt the rigid walls protecting his mind waver under her assault. He took a shallow breath and concentrated on slowing his heartbeat, like Jessica Wu had taught him. It was a moment before he felt it.
A power that was his own. One created by a century of endless experiments and augmented by the drugs Jessica Wu had invented especially for him. A shudder raced across his skin as his body changed, his limbs hardening and filling with a deadly force.
‘Not quite!’ he sneered.
The sword blurred in Vlado’s hands as he attacked again. She gasped and countered, her blade juddering in her hands under the violent impact. A thrill of excitement darted through him when his blade found the flesh of her left thigh. She winced and stumbled.
Vlado brought the sword up toward her heart.
Metal clanged before the blade could sink between her ribs.
Vlado froze. He turned his head slowly and stared into the blazing eyes of Asgard Godard, the older man’s knuckles white on the handle of the arming sword with which he’d blocked the fatal swing.
Rage erupted inside Vlado. He growled, twisted on his heels, and brought his father’s blade round toward the man who had dared challenge him.
A third psychic wave pressed against his skull as his blade clashed with Godard’s.
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