Blood of a Phoenix (The Nix Series Book 2)

by Shannon Mayer

  I grinned at him. “I’ve killed a lot of brothers. Would you like to meet him? I think that might be best.” I kicked out with my right foot, catching him in the knee. He howled and went down, and I followed the first kick with a second to his jaw. The abnormal slumped backward with a groan. Pussy.

  “The myst invaded the electrical circuits, I think. There’s no way we’re getting down without crashing,” Simon said.

  I grabbed his arm and dragged him back into the cabin. “Ever go parachuting?”

  There was a groan behind us and the abnormal pulled himself to his feet. I yanked Eleanor out and pointed at him. “Don’t miss,” I said.

  “Never,” she whispered and I pulled the trigger. The jerk in my arm was almost as satisfying as the bloom of red that exploded in the middle of the abnormal’s face. He roared and swung toward us with those oversized hands of his, the teeth covering the palms snapping and grinding.

  “What the fuck?” Simon dodged the abnormal’s first swat, and for the first time, I got to see what Simon was capable of.

  He caught hold of the abnormal’s arm and where his hands touched the other abnormal, the bastard’s skin peeled back along with tendons and muscles until there was nothing but bone showing. The abnormal screeched and I took a few steps back as the flesh continued to peel and flake away from his body in chunks.

  “Find the parachutes,” Simon yelled. “I got this.” Those words were followed by a thud of the abnormal leaping on top of Simon, pinning him to the floor. They rolled and I turned away.

  The plane’s engines wailed, and for a moment, we lost gravity as we dipped downward too fast. I lost my footing, then slammed into the seats as gravity caught up to me.

  We had to get the fuck out of here, and fast.

  I ran to the back of the plane and found a single parachute. It was going to have to be good enough to carry us both. I slung it on, snapped the buckles in place and then went to the side emergency door.

  I put my hand on the lever. “Hang on to something, Simon.”

  His eyes found mine as he wrestled with the abnormal. “Ah, shit.”

  I tucked a leg around the chair struts closest to me, and yanked the lever, opening the door.

  The suction from the change in pressure ripped the door handle out of my hand and the air from my lungs. I held my breath as the plane began a slow spin, the engines dying mid-flight.

  The abnormal with the big nasty hands was pulled from Simon and kind of floated through the air toward me. Like an oversized party balloon. The abnormal tried to stop his momentum, grabbing at the seats as the suction pulled him toward the open door. He wasn’t going fast enough for me. I pulled Dinah out and shot at his fingers.

  “No time!” Simon was up and running toward me, blood streaming down his face. “I’m trusting you, Nix!”

  And just like that he jumped out of the fucking plane. I leveled Dinah at the abnormal. “Incendiary.”

  Her inner workings clicked and I pulled the trigger and turned before I saw the damage the flaming bullet would inflict. The howls of the abnormal were enough for me.

  I unhooked my legs from around the seat struts, jammed Dinah back into her holster, took two steps and leapt from the plane. I tucked my arms in tightly and nosedived toward Simon. He was out of his mind. He jumped from a plane when he wasn’t even sure I would come after him.

  Or maybe he trusted me. Idiot that he was, he didn’t understand I did not feel the same, that I would never trust him enough to jump from a burning plane and believe he would catch me.

  I caught up to him fast, seeing as he had his legs and arms out spread-eagle to slow his descent.

  I grabbed his hands and he spun in closer to me, a wild grin on his face. He mouthed something. Probably, “I knew you’d come” or something equally as self-righteous.

  My eyes watered from the rush of air as we hurtled toward . . . the pacific ocean on the edge of Seattle by the looks of it. Goddamn it, I hated swimming.

  We were getting close enough that we were going to need to pull the cord in a matter of seconds. I moved so that he slid underneath me in a rather weird approximation of having sex. He grinned up at me and I glared down at him. He wove his arms around my body, and his legs around mine. I reached back for the cord, took a breath, and yanked it hard.

  As soon as the parachute began to deploy I shot my arms around his upper body, under his arms.

  The parachute caught, jerked hard against our combined weight, and the rapid descent slowed.

  Simon smiled at me, his legs wrapped around my hips. “Nice. This is nice.”

  “Shut the fuck up.” I shook my head. “What was that shit you pulled up there?”

  “You mean the whole flesh-eating thing? That’s nothing.” He winked as if he’d said something funny, which he most certainly had not.

  “You obviously can turn it off and on.”

  “Yes, I prefer not to use it. The process is draining and seeing as I am the only one who can do it, it’s a calling card I don’t like to use.”

  A gust of wind shoved us closer to the shoreline. Seattle waterfront stared up at me. At least we were close enough we could start our hunt for the code breaker right away.

  “Why are you not even talking about the obvious?” Simon asked.

  “What’s that?”

  “Who the fuck set that asshole on us, for starters?”

  I shook my head. “Wasn’t Mancini, wasn’t Romano, likely wasn’t Killian. And it wasn’t us. It was me the thing was after.”

  Which left two options. Either Genzo had already got wind of my involvement, which I doubted. Or it was a random abnormal looking to cash in on my death.

  “The bounty is still on my head.” I looked past him.

  Dinah laughed from her holster.

  “You think he still wants to have sex with you, Nix? Because he’s got something in his pocket bumping into me that tells me he likes this a little too much.”

  I chose to ignore her, and when Simon shot me a look, I shook my head. No point in egging Dinah on.

  “The bounty is a convenient way to have you killed and have no one take the blame. Or at least, no one of importance.” Simon glanced down and grimaced. “I hate water.”

  We were about fifty feet up and I started to loosen the straps. “Let go, Simon.”

  “I don’t want to.” He grinned at me and I glared right back.

  “Dinah, if I tell you, you shoot whatever it is bumping into you.”

  She cackled and Simon let go, sliding down my body until he hung from my ankles. “You are a violent woman.”

  “No, I’m a woman who takes no shit from the men around her. Remember that.” I flicked my legs and he fell, laughing, the bastard, then hit the water with a big splash.

  “Girls, we’re next.” I pulled at the straps on my legs first, loosening them, then reached for the ones on my upper body.

  There was some communal grumbling from Eleanor and Dinah. They would still work after being soaked, but I would need to pull them apart as soon as possible and get them cleaned.

  Fifteen feet up, I got the last of the straps off and fell, the parachute blowing away from me in the wind.

  I hit the water feet first and went straight down. Holding my breath against the sharp urge to suck in a breath because of the cold water, I swam to the surface. The weight of my clothes and shoes sucked, but life would get even harder if I stepped out of the ocean half naked and shoeless, wearing nothing but a pair of guns.

  I started for the shoreline, stroke after stroke, letting the waves help me along where I could until my feet touched something resembling footing. I stood, water pouring from my shirt and pants as I sloshed out of the drink.

  Simon was already on shore, flat on his back, panting hard. “Did I not say I hated swimming?”

  “We weren’t going to land on land. Be glad I didn’t drop you from any higher.” I walked past him, kicking sand at him as I went.

  He rolled away from me and pus
hed to his feet. “Thanks?”

  “That’s more like it,” grumbled Dinah.

  I pulled both guns from their holsters and dumped what water I could from them.

  “Better, but I need a cleaning,” Eleanor said. “Our incendiary rounds won’t work.”

  “I know.” I put them both back and then turned to where Simon walked behind me.

  “Where to?”

  “Somewhere to get dry clothes and a place to crash for the night.” I headed up the beach and Simon jogged to catch up to me.

  “I hate to say it, but I’m glad Abe isn’t with you.”

  I glanced at him. “And why is that?”

  “Because I don’t think it would have been me you caught on the way down.” He grinned and I shrugged. No point in denying it.

  Abe wouldn’t have bitched about the swim either. I was going to miss him. I had no doubt that there was no way I’d ever get Simon even half as trained as Abe.

  We stayed the night in a small hotel on the outskirts of Seattle after I had Zee wire me a couple thousand dollars, enough until I could get to my own hidden accounts that held all the money I’d stolen from Romano. My bag with extra weapons, ID, and gear had been lost along with the plane. At least I still had Dinah and Eleanor. And Linx. I touched the strange abnormal tool that was strapped to my body, through the thin T-shirt I wore. I still wasn’t sure what to make of Linx. He could pretty much become anything I needed him to be, from lock pick to tweezers that could pull out living splinters from under the skin. Useful for sure, but being sentient like Dinah and Eleanor, I was warier with him.

  My fingers found the angel wing necklace under my shirt.

  I even still had the phone that Mancini had given me. Waterproof, it still turned on with a full charge.

  “I’ve heard about those phones.” Simon held his hand out and I gave it to him. “They need a charge like once every couple of months, waterproof, shatterproof. Pretty cool. I don’t think they’re even on the market yet.”

  I shrugged and took the phone back. I was no techie and couldn’t care less as long as the phone worked when I needed it to. I flicked it open and scrolled through the numbers embedded in it. I had no doubt there was a tracking device in the phone so Mancini could keep tabs on me.

  There were a few names I recognized. Tank Follietta. Killian Fannin. Tommy Romano. I frowned. Why the hell was my older brother’s name in here and what exactly did Mancini mean by giving it to me?

  More mysteries than I wanted to deal with on an empty belly and a cold body.

  We grabbed food at a fast food place and got more than a few looks for the soaking wet clothes, stopped at a local outdoor store for a few supplies—mostly cleaning equipment for the ladies, and then checked into the hotel room—two beds this time, despite Simon’s protests that he could help keep me warm.

  I took the time, even with the ache in my body, the throbbing heat in my shoulder from the bite wound, to clean both Eleanor and Dinah thoroughly once we were settled into the room.

  Eleanor was quiet during her cleanup, but Dinah was more than happy to sigh and moan her way through the process. “Oh, that’s good, right there.”

  “Does that not freak you out when she does all that groaning and such?” Simon glanced at me from his bed, remote control in his hand. He’d changed, but hadn’t showered, and his hair stood on end from the salt water.

  I blinked a couple of times and then shrugged. “No. They’ve saved my life enough times that the least I can do is make sure they’re happy.”

  Dinah fell silent but not for long. “Then why didn’t you let me shoot Mancini?”

  I laid her on the table, challenging her. “What does he have to do with my sister?”

  “Not a word, we promised!” Eleanor snapped, surprising me. She was not one to be loud, or pushy. She did her job and was the more stable one of the two guns.

  “I won’t,” Dinah sulked. “I promised and I won’t, but you didn’t see. I could have shot him.”

  “It wouldn’t have killed him.” Eleanor softened her tone. “You know that.”

  I looked at Simon, my eyes wide. “What do you mean you wouldn’t have killed him? Do you know what kind of abnormal Mancini is?”

  They both fell silent. Simon didn’t move from his position on the bed. “Ah, they’re full of shit. After all, they’re just guns.”

  I didn’t move, knowing exactly what he was doing. Smart man, much as I hated to admit it.

  Dinah was the one to break first, no surprise there. “Fuck you, Simon! We’ve dealt with Mancini. One of his men made us.”

  Bingo.

  Eleanor gasped. “Dinah!”

  Dinah said nothing else, and I think if she could have cringed she would have. I laid a hand on each of them. “Enough. Just stop talking. I’d like you to trust me enough to tell me what you know, but I have no way to force it from you, and I won’t let Simon trick you again.”

  Which was true. I couldn’t force anything from them. How did you threaten a weapon that if it so chose, could pull its own trigger? I put them on the side table next to my bed and headed to the bathroom.

  I stripped and got into the shower, the hot water and soap washing away the salt water, but aggravating the still-healing, rather fresh wound in my shoulder. I got out of the shower and inspected it. Of all my injuries, it was the one that hadn’t changed much in the last two days. If anything, it was looking worse, not better.

  Wrapped in only a towel, I stepped out of the room, my eyes still on my shoulder. “Simon, I need you to look at something.”

  “Damn, I thought you’d never ask.” He jumped off the bed and all but ran to my side. I pointed at the top of my shoulder.

  “This. I think it’s infected or maybe is it possible that it was a venomous bite?” Which didn’t make sense. If it had been venomous, it would have acted up before now. But what else could have set it off?

  He raised an eyebrow. “Can I touch it?”

  “Yes.” At least, he’d caught onto the rules. Ask before touching. Carefully he probed at the wound with his fingers, his brows drawn low over his eyes. I gritted my teeth against the pain and shooting stars that danced in front of my eyes each time he pushed, the blanket of stars growing.

  “What was Noah going to do?” I barely got the question out, but I needed a distraction from the pain.

  “He said he was going to see if he could find out more about what Romano was up to. Now, hold still. I think this is going to hurt.” He poked at a section of my skin that had swelled under the stitches. I sucked in a sharp breath and had to reach out and grab his arm to keep from falling over.

  “Fuck.” I breathed the word, unable to do more.

  “Yeah, it’s infected, and this here,” he gave a squeeze over that same spot and bright yellow pus oozed out, “this is nasty.” He turned his head and gagged with a whole-body heave. “Seriously nasty.” He coughed and shook his head as he stepped back. “How did it get infected? We’ve been keeping it clean.”

  I couldn’t answer him. I swayed where I was as a lance of pain rolled from my shoulder down through the rest of my body. Simon caught me with an arm around my waist. “Okay, you need to lie down, and I need to find you some really lovely drugs. Only the best antibiotics for you.”

  I closed my eyes as he helped me lay back on the bed. I had to trust him. I had no choice at that moment, though it killed me to let him take control.

  The wound, though, it was like something had activated the bite wound to suddenly go wild. I wracked my brain for possibilities and it wasn’t long before an image came to me.

  The spit from the abnormal in the plane had flown everywhere, splattering my face and clothing. Dripped down my neck. Right into the wound.

  “The thing on the plane. That was what did it,” I said. “It was spitting and hissing, the saliva went into the wound.”

  “Yeah, I think you’re right. Wait here, I’m going to get you something.” With my eyes closed, I knew he’d left on
ly when the door slammed behind him.

  “Linx.” I called on the magically made tool. He was on the table next to Dinah and Eleanor.

  “Yes, boss?”

  “Can you drain my shoulder somehow? I think if I don’t . . . it’s going to kill me.” The pressure under the skin and the stitches was growing incredibly fast and unless Simon managed to get back in fewer than five minutes, it was going to prove a very large problem. I reached to the table without opening my eyes, fumbled around, and found Linx.

  I brought him to my chest with one hand. “Can you do it?”

  “Yes, I can make myself into a thin probe that’s hollow and curved. I will act as a drain and draw some of the fluid off.”

  “Please, quickly.” I groaned the words, pain cutting into my mind, making me numb. Linx shifted on my chest.

  “I’m ready,” he said. Unlike his previous owner who’d been an abnormal and able to float him around with her magic, I had to physically put him into the wound for him to do his job.

  I forced my eyes open and wrapped my fingers around the now long, cylindrical Linx. I shimmied up the pillows so I was partially sitting which made my head spin. Gripping him tightly, I turned my head to look at my shoulder. The top of it had swollen and was the size of a large grapefruit. The skin throbbed with each beat of my heart, but the wound had not burst, and in fact, was barely leaking, even through the stitches.

  I drew a breath and then pressed Linx’s tip into the thickest part of the swelling. A scream bubbled up my throat as pain burst over my body and mind. Waves of agony rippled outward from the bite wound as Linx dug in deeply and created a drain for the infection.

  “Yeah, that’s working well,” he said. “Good thing, too, it stinks bad, hey?”

  I would have agreed if I could’ve found my voice. My shoulder smelled of rotting meat and vomit, a mixture that made my stomach roll. The last thing I saw was the bright yellow pus sliding out the tail end of Linx and spilling onto the sheets, and then the room wobbled and I passed out.

  The sound of the door opening roused me, and I reached for a gun with my good hand, my eyes still closed. My fingers found Eleanor and I brought her up as fast as I could.