by Tes Hilaire
Not that. Never that.
He blew out a poisonous breath. Couldn’t worry about that now. He had to get Mia moving, otherwise Damon’s sacrifice wouldn’t mean anything.
Mia was looking at him with those same wide eyes as her mother. Only where before terror had rested, there was now grit. And wasn’t that also just like her mother.
“Mia, can you be strong for me?”
She nodded, her chin jutting out. “My mommy says I’m very brave.”
“I know you are. But sometimes being brave means following directions and doing something you don’t understand. It requires a lot of trust.”
She looked at him warily. Back through the tunnel, there was some more scuffling, Ganelon called her name. “Mia, come out, Mia…”
He still didn’t realize she was gone.
Mike squatted, getting down to her eye level. “I know you want to go back and help Damon, but right now I need you to trust me and help me get your mommy out of here.”
Her gaze landed on her mother, that damn lip started quivering again, but then she shored herself up, meeting his eyes. “My mommy said I shouldn’t trust strangers.”
Mike smiled, relief flooding him. Thank God he’d asked Katrina about their code word. “Your mommy is right. And I know this is scary and you don’t know me hardly at all, but I do know your mommy.”
“I’ve never met you before.”
“I know. But did you know that my favorite ice cream is cookies and cream?”
She tipped her head, jumped a little when Ganelon bellowed, followed by a crash.
“Did mommy tell you hers?” she asked, her words strung together so fast he barely understood.
He nodded. “She did. Moose tracks. She also said it was your favorite too.”
He shifted Katrina over his shoulder, holding out his hand. Come on, Mia, we need to go. “Your mommy needs us to help her right now. Think you can do that?”
She looked at his hand, back up at his face. “You have two pieces to your soul.”
He blinked. Okay, wow. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
“What color are your eyes when they are normal?”
“Blue. My eyes are blue.”
“Do you love my mommy?”
“More than anything in the world.”
Still she hesitated, and time slipped further away. It was too silent back in those chambers. Surely Ganelon had discovered their flight by now.
“Do you think you could like me? Given enough time,” she hurriedly added on.
“Mia, you just might be the bravest girl I know. It would be an honor to get to know you better. But first we need to get you and your mom out of here, okay?”
She nodded, slipping her hand into his. “Okay. And after? You’ll buy us ice cream, right?”
“You can count on it,” he told her, pulling her down the passageway.
***
Kat woke with one thought in her mind: Save Mia. She jerked up, struggling against the arms that held her.
“Oh, God, Mia!”
“Right here. She’s right here,” Mike told her, pulling her tighter into his chest.
Kat stopped fighting, though she craned her head, an edge of panic in her voice as she asked, “Where?”
“Here mommy.” A little hand touched her ankle. And, thank all that was right with the world, there her little girl was running beside Mike, her mouth drawn in a serious line as she looked up at Kat.
“I’d set you down for a proper reunion, but that has to wait until we get out of here,” Mike told her.
“What’s our status?”
“The passageways are flooded with all sorts of demons. And there are very few routes around the worst of the traffic.” He looked down at her, met her gaze. She could see the grimness in his eyes. The knowledge that this had very little chance of ending well.
“You should take Mia,” she told him. “I can function enough to create a diversion.”
“No!” The exclamation came from Mia, her little voice wavering. “That won’t work. The dream can’t work unless we are together.”
“It’s okay, Mia.” Mike soothed her. “We’re going to get out of here, and then go for ice cream, okay?”
He gave her a significant look, making her wonder how much convincing it had taken to get Mia to come with him. That would have to wait until later because Mike was asking her something else now.
“Kat, can you tell how many there are? My senses are going crazy here and I can’t even tell from which direction the danger is.”
She closed her eyes, ignoring the headache as she gaged the power of the emotions hitting up against her. It was an interesting mix of exhaustion and frustration, unease and anticipation, and though the feelings made her stomach twist, she went ahead and absorbed the energy. She needed to heal. Fast. Especially now that she knew what they were up against.
“The largest group, thirty maybe, is in the tunnel ahead of us. They seem frustrated and tired and if we could wait just a couple more minutes the majority of them will pass by.”
“But?”
“Behind us there is a smaller group, maybe a half dozen? But they are definitely looking for something. Us, I imagine.”
“So we’re surrounded.”
She nodded, her fingers tensing on his shirt.
“Christ.” He hung his head back, taking a deep breath before he looked down at her. “Kat, I’m sorry, but I need to set you down.”
Of course he did. He couldn’t fight them while holding her.
She winced as he lowered her to her feet, but she fought against the blinding pain, determined to remain upright. He held her hand tight, offering support, which was good as she’d probably fall on her ass otherwise.
And then Mia’s hand was there, slipping into her other hand, the fit, her hand in Mike’s, Mia’s in hers, it was a fit so perfect it made the pain ease. She could do this. She would do this.
“Can you walk?” Mike asked.
She could all but hear the wheels turning in his mind. Could feel the sense of hopeless resignation that he felt as he came to whatever conclusion it was he came to.
“Mike?” she asked, worry making his name wobble on her tongue.
“Can you walk?” he asked again.
“I can try.”
“When I engage them, I am going to try to draw them further down the far tunnel. Which means I need you to get out of here as fast as you can and slip out behind them toward the exit.”
“You’ll catch up?” Kat asked.
The regret that hit Kat was so sharp it all but sliced her heart in half. He didn’t think he’d be able too. He’d run the math as had she and didn’t think he stood much of a chance. Which meant he was hoping to buy Kat and Mia enough time to escape. But Kat was barely mobile and scarcely able to defend herself let alone her daughter.
“Mike—” she started, but he cut her off.
“Don’t even suggest it. It’s not happening.”
Okay, so she wasn’t going to suggest the obvious solution again. His determination to not listen to reason on this point would cost them more time with not even close to a guarantee of the result she wanted. “Your beast could take them, couldn’t it?” she asked instead.
And silence stretched between them, his gaze falling to the top of Mia’s head, his eyes haunted. Kat sucked in a breath. She wasn’t stupid, could read between the lines. Mike wouldn’t call on the beast. Not with Mia near. Past experience may have proved that Kat was safe from his beast, but the same couldn’t be said for Mia.
Katrina thought he was underestimating the beast, but then, she thought of how Mike had just watched Ganelon torture her and had simultaneously suffered at the madman’s hands.
And Mike knew that Mia was that madman’s child. Which meant Mia was technically a merker.
No. She’s not. She’s good. She’s innocent.
Kat blew out a breath. Would the beast be able to tell the difference between an enemy’s blood and the truth in said enem
y’s heart? To be safe, to be sure, Kat had to get Mia far enough from Mike so he could release beast. Only then would he have a chance against the numbers advancing on them with each moment she sat her debating.
Mike had squatted down beside Mia, pushing back her lank curls. “Hey, kiddo. Remember what I told you about following directions?”
Mia nodded.
“Well I need you to be brave a little longer. Your mommy knows the way, but you’re going to have to help her stay focused.”
Because he’d be back here dying. And she’d feel every wound that took her Mike further from her and closer to his grave. But not if she could get far enough away. Then he could let the beast loose. Then he’d have a chance.
“You better stay alive. Once I get Mia safe, I’m coming back.”
“Beauty—” He stood, his hand reaching for her, but she pulled away. This would not be a goodbye. She refused to let it be.
“No, you listen this time. Those are my terms. I get Mia far enough away and you stay alive. Otherwise my leaving her and coming back for you is going to really, really suck. Don’t make me do that to Mia.”
He smiled at her, a sad, apologetic kind of twist of the mouth as he brought her hand up to his mouth and gave it a gentle kiss. “I’ll do my best, beauty.”
“You will stay alive,” she told him. But he’d already dropped her hand, and was sliding up the tunnel.
Chapter Twenty-four
Mia couldn’t move. Her feet were stuck to the ground, even though there was nothing there to stick to. The man who said his eyes were blue when they weren’t glowing had drawn most of the bad men away. He’d told her and her mommy to run. And so Mia had run, but Mia had made it all the way to the corner before she realized her mommy didn’t follow. In fact, when she’d first looked, her mommy was laying down. But then she’d gotten up and made it halfway before going down on her knees.
“Come on, Mommy! This way,” she called, trying to keep her focused like the maybe-blue-eyed man had said, because she didn’t know what else to do.
She was too small to carry her mommy and too little to help the man, so she stood at the corner, split between the horror of the sight of the battle going on down the way and the sight of her mommy who had staggered maybe two steps and fell again.
And maybe the man was right, because it seemed to work. Her mommy got up this time and ran.
“Go Mia!”
And so Mia did what brave little girls did and followed directions. Because, maybe it wasn’t her words that helped her mommy focus, but the other bad men her mommy had been talking about that had rounded the corner and were stalking down the passageway toward them. And they were really bad men, their colors all rusty red, crusting brown and smothering black.
“Mommy! Hurry!” she called, looking over her shoulder. Her mommy had made it around the corner. That was good. Only then her mommy fell again.
Breath wheezing in and out of her throat, Mia skidded to a stop and watched her mommy try to get up. She made it five steps towards Mia this time before she fell…again. And still, in the distance, the man with the maybe-blue eyes kept on fighting, trying to keep the bad men from turning and chasing them instead. Mia knew he wasn’t going to last long enough for her mommy to get to her. He was bleeding. Lots. No one could bleed like that.
Her chest rattled, her nose running as she took a step back toward her mommy. This was wrong. She’d been wrong. How could she be so wrong? Her perfect dream wasn’t going to happen if mommy couldn’t leave with her and the blue-eyed man died.
The really bad men from the tunnel rounded the corner, practically stumbling over her mommy who was trying to crawl. Mia screamed as the first man reached down and grabbed up her mommy by her hair, pulling her against him.
“Mia! Run!” Her mommy yelled. The really bad man laughed. Behind him the man with the maybe-blue eyes roared even as the rest of the really bad men turned and went after him.
NO! Stop! Someone help us!
Only there was no one there to help. So many dark colors. So little light.
Something big and bad started building in her tummy. An anger that her dream might not come true. She took another step toward her mommy. Her mommy’s face pulled into her unhappy look, her arm snapping back so her elbow hit the bad man between his legs. He screamed, crumbling to the ground as he grabbed at his boo boo.
Mommy staggered another couple steps towards Mia.
Behind her mommy, the maybe-blue-eyed man slashed out with his arm, something silver flashing, sinking into the chest of one of the weird creature things he’d been fighting originally. The monster’s eyes opened wide, it stumbled back, the dark swirly colors evaporating into the air as he fell to the ground.
Maybe it would be okay, maybe mommy and the maybe-blue-eyed man could get free and they could all run away together now.
But then something grabbed her, arms banding around her. Dark colors engulfed her, trying to smother her. She tried to pull away, but the arms were like vises.
Down the tunnel the maybe-blue-eyed man fell again, two of the really bad men jumping on him. Her mommy had stopped trying to get up and was just crawling, even as the really bad man who pulled her hair staggered to his feet. And the bad man holding Mia was trying to take her away.
The knot in Mia’s stomach twisted, growing, demanding to be let out.
Mia tried to hold it in, she did. She knew if it got out it was going to be bad, but as she watched her mommy crawl, screaming Mia’s name as the first really bad man grabbed her again, and the maybe-blue-eyed man bled and roared as he slashed at the never-ending circle of bad men coming after him, the bad thing in her tummy just kept on growing and growing and growing…
She tried.
She really did.
But the bad man who held her kept on walking further and further away from her mommy and the man who said his eyes really were blue.
Mia’s dream was shattering and she just couldn’t hold it in.
She couldn’t take it anymore.
And so she screamed. On and on and on and on… until the bubble in her tummy finally burst and the world went black.
***
Valin rubbed his temples, trying to ease the throbbing headache that spiked through his skull. Even while ghosting he’d heard that plea: NO! Stop! Someone help us!
Holy shit! Whoever sent that SOS out was powerful.
He’d felt the crush of desperation that tried to smother the hope of the one who’d uttered the request. It was enough to knock him out of the shade and enough to have Gabby chomping at the bit. She wanted to go in. Now. He wasn’t as sure. Yeah, someone had definitely called for help, but was that request a trick or truth?
“We going in?” Logan asked, his mouth tight but determined as he stepped down onto the platform. And look, halleluiah, Lite Brite had brought backup in the form of four more Paladin and a good dozen soldiers, a mix from both Haven and Jacob. The Sharks and Jets, ready to play together. How nice.
Whether Logan had arrived because Gabby had called him, or he’d heard that fucking SOS, too, Valin wasn’t sure. He’d been too busy nursing his exploding head and trying to cover his jangles. Ghosting did have its downside.
“Damn right.” Gabby handed Valin his knife, issuing orders left and right. Valin strapped it onto his thigh with shaking hands, letting his mate do her thing. He’d learned by now that control made her happy, especially when she was unnerved.
“Logan, Jessica, and Bennett will go in with Valin and I,” she told them, picking out the same companions that Valin would have. All had good shields and though he might have been tempted to take Alex, too, they needed someone with decent shielding here.
And sure enough, Gabby turned her gaze on the redhead warrior and the rest of their peeps who rounded out the group. “Aaron, you and your men will stay with Alex and Warren to keep this entrance clean.”
“Once you go in there, we’ll have no way of coming in with backup,” Alex said, not exactly arguing, ju
st pointing out a downside in his matter of fact tone he used when discussing strategy.
“Just hold this platform so we can book it when we get out and I don’t have anyone riding up our ass in there.” Gabby turned her attention to Bennett. “We have this subway station secure, right?”
Bennett answered. “I got you covered, luv. Got this tube locked up tight. Track maintenance has Bedford Park Blvd as the last operating stop tonight. Anyroad, your Papa Bear and his little lady are convincing anyone who is tempted to dilly-dally up topside that they are willing to take a gander down that way.”
Which meant Bennett had pulled another computer miracle and hacked the MTA systems to close this station, and that both Roland and Karissa were up there using their powers of persuasion to reroute anyone who came along and was curious as to why it was closed.
Their mind control thing was one of the benefits of having fangs, though in Valin’s opinion the only one. Thank you, Big Guy, for taking that pain from my mate.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Gabby leapt down off the platform into the bed of the tracks. Valin took his own leap of faith and followed her. He really didn’t like this plan, but he wasn’t going to argue it either. Not when he could feel the rolling emotions driving his mate’s determination.
The Big Guy may have seen fit to remove her vampire nature from the equation of bad shit that had happened to her, but she still fought the demons that haunted her nightmares. Valin realized that helping Katrina and Mike rescue Mia was part of that purging. Not that he didn’t want to help them. Just that he probably wouldn’t be quite as on board without his mate’s need driving him.
The others had taken their own leaps, their footsteps muffled as they warily followed Gabby down the tunnel. They hadn’t even rounded the corner when she stopped, reaching her hand out to touch the cement barrier. And, whoa, what do you know. That wasn’t a wall, but a gaping hole.