by Sarra Cannon
Her amber hair glowed in the firelight, the sleek strands blazing a honey color. Her gaze burned like the sun’s rays, all the brown gone from the irises. The hue, radiating from her skin, nearly blinded him. He shielded his eyes with his hand as he approached. Flames licked her body. At the top of the opposite stairwell, the black haired vamp, Strife, flew through the phage like a hurricane. The blur of motion caught in his peripheral vision, but his attention narrowed, remaining locked on Sera.
His heart hammered in his chest. “Sera,” he whispered. Hell, how long had it been? His thoughts spread to the last night they’d shared—the opulent hotel room, the twisted satin sheets, tangled limbs, and the howl of satisfaction that ripped from his lips. It ignited his memory, yet the brief time together seemed like a lifetime ago. He paused, lost in the moment and without a clue of how to break through to her. “Sera.”
The white-gold of her eyes focused on him. Her body glowed brighter as she stood motionless like the statue of a Greek goddess slowly brought to life. A wave of awe washed over him, causing his pulse to quicken and the breath to die in his lungs. As the phage crept toward him, waiting to strike, he remained transfixed on her. He couldn’t have moved for anything. The hot breath of a single phage passed over his neck. Still he dared not move.
As the creature’s gaping mouth clamped onto his shoulder, her aura shifted. Chocolate brown filled the white irises and her golden hue soared to a brilliant red-orange flame. Heat engulfed his entire right side, but it didn’t burn. It caressed him like a blanket of warm water across his skin. The phage fell away, writhing on the floor in agony and leaving a faint mark on Talon’s skin.
Sera gaped at him with wide, frightened eyes. Her hands stretched forward, palms out toward the spot where the creature had stood. She let her arms drop to her sides and her breath came in quick spurts. Tears touched her long lashes. “Talon?”
The one word, his name on her lips, was all he needed to propel him forward. He grabbed her about the waist single-handed, crushing her to his chest and fisting her hair in his free hand. She moaned into his neck. Her arms wrapped around him. “I-I thought...” She stuttered as the sobs broke forth.
“Shh,” he said against her hair. “It’s alright.”
She pulled back to look up at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“I know. I don’t care as long as you’re okay.” As a smile touched the corner of her mouth, he closed the distance to claim the smile for his own. Her lips met his with equal hunger and need. He pulled them to the corner, uncaring of the melee around them and deepened the kiss until their tongues danced and they gasped for air.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she said, shifting her hands to sneak behind his neck and tangle in his hair.
“You thought I wouldn’t come for you?”
“I didn’t know what to think.” She stroked his cheek. Her fingers skimmed along his jaw. An ember of heat and passion blazed in the depths of her brown eyes.
He leaned in close to her ear. “I’d always come for you.” Blazing a trail with his kisses along her neck, he worked his way to her collarbone, then back to her ear. “I know it’s too soon, but I can’t change how I feel. I love you, Sera.”
“Really?” Heat engulfed him as her body warmed in his embrace. A glimmer of tears swam in her eyes. “I know what you mean and I love you too.” Their lips met again, his blood soared, but she pulled away far too soon. “Oh Talon. I’ve figured out who I am, what I am. There’s so much to tell you.”
“Later.” He kissed her again, plunging beyond her defenses. When a crash boomed a few feet from them, their heads snapped in the direction at the same time.
“Hate to interrupt the party,” Slick said from the upper platform. With his human feet braced on a beam, he hung down so that his shifted spider limbs snatched at the phage, grabbing and dropping them between the stairwells to the bottom level. “But we’re sort of in the middle of a fight, in case you two didn’t notice.”
Talon stifled the smile and clicked his teeth. “No kidding. And when the hell were you planning on showing up?”
“Here now, aren’t I? And I brought friends.” He used one of his six insect limbs to signal at the commotion behind him.
Jame, Bull, and Shooter collided with phage at every turn from above, while Drake and Val joined Strife to fight from below. Even as they gained the upper hand on the phage, weeding their numbers, the fires roared ready to declare victory.
“Thanks, but I think it’s time we get out of here.” Talon shifted his vocal chords so he could produce a wolf’s howl. The cry rang out clear and strong over the throng of chaos, alerting his team. Even the members of PCD 8 and the rebel vamp Strife turned to him at the sound. He spoke with unquestionable authority. “Head down the stairs fast as you can. We’re leaving. Now.”
“But the phage? And Adriana? She’s the one responsible for this mess.” Sera anchored her hand on his hip and met his eyes. “We can’t let her go.”
He cupped her cheek, unable to resist touching her. “She’ll get her due. Right now, it’s more important to get everyone out of here safely.”
Her jaw tightened under his touch, but she nodded.
As they began their descent, he held a firm grip on her hand. No way in hell was he losing her again. Not after everything they’d been through. She squeezed his palm with equal pressure as if unwilling to let him go.
The team crossed phage bodies that had piled atop the steps. Some of them lay dead, but most had simply been knocked aside. A twinge of pain stabbed him in the gut, but he couldn’t allow compassion for these creatures that attacked with such brutal force. The sympathetic ache wouldn’t exist at all if it hadn’t been for Meg’s revelation.
He recalled her words as he stepped over a burned phage, moaning on the ground. Newbie phage are like zombies. They don’t have rationale thoughts, only a deep hunger and a need to obey their makers. They don’t achieve higher brain function again until their maker gives it to them through a direct command.
And if they never give it to them? Talon had asked, uncertain if he wanted an answer.
They stay their master’s puppet.
He shook his head as the emergency doors on each landing began to buckle and crack under the pressure. The flames licked the walls, leaving charcoal colored tracks along the exposed red bricks. Smoke encased the area, no longer held at bay by Val’s winds. The thickness blinded agents and phage alike, making their exit ten times harder.
A hand brushed his arm and he tucked Sera out of harm’s way behind him. A swift wind—courtesy of Val a flight below—brushed aside the smoke for an instant so Talon could catch his breath and see. The black haired vamp ran beside him, running her hand under his elbow.
“Quicker shifter.”
“Strife,” he said between gritted teeth.
Sera stepped to his other side, keeping pace. “She’s not our enemy. She helped me get out of here.”
“Well, actually, Sera helped me, but she is no less correct.” Strife danced in front of them, far faster than any vampire he’d seen before. “I am not the enemy.”
“Can we discuss it outside?” The fires leapt at their backs and the smoke threatened to engulf them once more.
“If I’m granted a pardon.” She smiled, revealing long white fangs. “It’s time your PCD recognized the true threat. Don’t you think?”
“Holy hell, vamp, I said outside.” He took another breath as the air fell under a black haze.
“As you wish,” Strife sang in her rainstorm voice that floated down the stairs.
“She grows on you,” Sera whispered in his ear, then laughed. Tugging on his hand, she quickened their pace.
The journey down stretched on as the smoke engulfed every free breath of air. The fires licked the steps, heating the soles of their shoes and threatening to climb up their legs. An eternity passed before the light of morning rushed at them from the exit door.
As they tasted freedom, Tal
on ran his hands over Sera, ensuring she remained unharmed. She did the same, touching the bite mark on his shoulder and frowning. “Does this hurt,” she asked. Worry lines wrinkled over her forehead.
He grinned. “Not at all.”
“Good.” She stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his cheek.
Tucking her tight against his side, he walked the perimeter of the building to take stock of his team. Slick’s breaths came in shallow gasps and he leaned on Bull, but he assured Talon that only fatigue ailed him from the multiple shifts. Talon raised a brow. Slick’s half-shifter, half-human background meant shifts hit him a whole helluva lot harder.
Bull snorted and said, “Don’t worry. I got him, boss.”
Jame sat with her legs stretched out and Drake kneeling beside her. She gave Talon a thumbs up as he passed, looking tired but no worse for wear. Drake nodded and moved closer to her.
Shooter and Val guarded the exit door on either side about ten feet away to avoid the fires. Phage ran from the building, arms flailing, howling and screeching an inhuman sound. As Talon and Sera watched from a safe distance, Strife floated up behind them and whispered, “Watch.”
A horror show ensued when the morning light hit the escaping phage. The sun ignited their skin, peeling and cracking the delicate layer like crumbled tissue paper. Their screams burrowed into Talon’s ears. He resisted the urge to raise his hands and block the offending noise. His body stiffened as he watched them burn. They died fast, not even the telltale ashes remained from when Sera’s fire had attacked them.
“I thought fire couldn’t kill them,” Sera said, burying her face into his shoulder.
“Fire alone, no. But light rays, yes. And new phage are like new vampires,” Strife said with a note of raindrops in her voice. “They cannot stand the sun.” The corners of her mouth curved downward. Her eyes held age behind her appearance. “When first made, phage and vampires alike possess much of their maker’s essence, and as Sera has learned, this essence is pure light. Thus, the addition of the sun’s rays overwhelms their young bodies and transforms the core of them into a death trap.”
“Too much light,” Sera murmured. Her hand rested over his heart. “It burns them inside out.”
“Yes.” A soft rose scent wafted in the air. Strife’s words dropped to a low tenor. “When they have lived five decades or longer the light fades enough for them to see the sun.” She chuckled, a sinister chorus that grated his ears. “When they become consumed by darkness, it is then they can see the light. Ironic, no?”
“Sad,” Sera said.
“I suppose so.” Strife walked around to stand in front of them. “Now, onto more important matters. How are you planning to capture the phage queen’s general, Adriana?”
As Talon began to respond, bricks crashed from the building. Pieces of the structure started to crumble under the heavy weight of the fires. In the same instant, a helicopter’s blades churned the air. They all looked up to see the chopper taking off, escaping the inferno. Fire truck sirens pierced the skies, but they would arrive too late.
“She leaves her children to die.” Strife spat. “The phage queen will kill her for such insolence, if we don’t get to her first.”
Val and Shooter moved further from the burning apartment complex to stand with them. Val brushed stray hairs from her face. “Looks like we’re not getting our bad guy.”
“We already have the blackmailer,” Shooter said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Talon touched Sera’s cheek with tender fingers. “We have what’s important. Let her go. She can’t run forever.”
“If the bigwigs in the PCD don’t let us go after phage leaders, she may not need to run.” Val’s hands crossed over her chest.
He turned to Strife, a smirk pulling at his mouth. “That’s why we have friends. So, they can go where we can’t.”
Strife’s eyes widened, but she smiled back. “I take it Veritas will be off the radar for awhile?”
“Who’s Veritas?” Talon slanted his gaze toward Val. “Never heard of them.”
Val grinned. “Me neither.”
“Then, I take my leave, and will be in touch.” She nodded her goodbyes and took off, but shouted over her shoulder one word, “Soon.”
The rest of the team made their way over. Drake clapped Talon on the shoulder. “So, I take it I’m off the hook too?”
“Oh no.” Talon knocked the vamp’s hand away and grabbed him by the upper arm. “I’ve got something special planned for you.” He lowered his head and whispered in Sera’s ear. “For both of you actually, if you’re interested.”
She nipped his neck. “Bring it on.”
Epilogue
THE JUKEBOX, DOWNTOWN PHOENIX, ARIZONA
Ten months later.
“Keep the drinks coming, Coco. This agent is thirsty.” Sera held up her empty glass to her friend, the diner’s owner and chief barista. “We’re having a party.”
“You got it, honey,” Coco called from the black and white checkered counter.
Gossip mag flunkie to special agent. Who would have thought it, pet? Guy’s taunts teased across her mind, but he couldn’t spoil today.
Don’t forget who lets you hang around. She bit back.
Face it, pet. You don’t want to get rid of me.
She smiled, knowing he was right. She didn’t want to lose him. He was her link to the Luminarium, her family, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t enjoy drowning him out. She cranked up Queen’s champion tune to royally piss him off, then turned all her attention to the yummy shifter next to her. His ocean blue eyes sparkled with pride all for her, well her, and the vampire. She supposed Talon harbored some pride in him too.
Drake sat across from them in the booth while Bull utilized a specially designed seat to their right. When she’d first introduced the team to her favorite Phoenix hotspot months ago, Coco took one look at the large Texas vamp and ordered a custom chair. Bull had been a regular patron of the diner almost every day since.
“To the newest members of the PCD, Sera and Drake.” Talon raised his cup and held it in the center of the table. “May your academy training suit you well.” He laughed, then added, “And may you ditch it when more important things than duty calls.”
“Here. Here!” The rousing course went around the table. They all clinked glasses and drank.
“Still can’t believe ya all got through it in ten months.” Bull leaned back in his chair.
“Well, it was the fast track program.” Sera smiled. “With Drake’s background as your liaison, and my...” She twirled her fingers in the air, looking for the word.
Talon chimed in. “Talents?”
“Yeah, talents.” She snuggled closer to him. “They bypassed a lot of the new recruit stuff.”
Drake clasped his hands behind his head. “No ‘How to Control Your Abilities 101’ or ‘History of Supernatural Creatures’ for us.” He sunk into the booth, purring like a content cat. “Heck, Sera would have to teach them the real Luminari history, anyway. Wouldn’t you, Brightlight?”
He let out a bark as Sera felt Talon’s leg kick the vampire under the table. She laughed. “What did I tell you about that nickname?”
“Sorry, sorry.” He waved his hand at Sera, then rounded on Talon. “No reason to get your hackles up. I’ve got my own Kitkat to worry about.” His brow rose. “Speaking of which—”
“I told you I’d bring Slick back to us and send you to Jame as soon as you completed training.” Talon spun his glass.
“How’s the little lass doing in District 1?” Bull sat upright and rested his elbows on the table.
“So far, so good. But I wish she would have stuck around longer before taking up a leader position.” He sighed. “She’s got a lot to learn.”
“Don’t worry, chief. Once I’m there and the pup is gone, I’ll look after her.” Drake’s fangs extended from his lips, putting Sera on guard.
“Drake,” she said. “She’s going to be your boss. Don’t forget.�
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“Oh, I’m quite looking forward to it.” He smiled broader with a blatant show of his fangs. “Besides, Sera, as the saying goes, wouldn’t that be the pot calling the kettle black?”
Heat crept into her cheeks.
“He’s got you there.” Talon squeezed her hip and kissed the top of her ear. He narrowed his gaze across the table. “But if you screw up and hurt Jame in anyway—”
“I know. You’ll grind my bones, turn me to mush. Blah. Blah.”
“Not if I getta hold ah ya first.” Bull’s long white fangs elongated over his dark gums. He straightened in his seat, towering over the present company.
Drake nodded. “I understand. You have my word, she’ll be fine.” A round of grumbles went around the table. He chuckled, then clapped his hands and sighed dramatically. “So little faith.”
“Oh yes, poor Drake.” Sera put the back of her hand to her forehead and slouched in her chair. “Woe is me.”
They all laughed, even the vampire. He slid to the end of the booth. “I better get going.”
“Hold on a minute.” Talon held up his hand, palm out. “What news from Strife?”
“There may be a lead. She’s been working to track down this Adriana, but doesn’t want to say much until she’s certain. Don’t worry, the phage bitch will get what’s coming to her.” Drake stood and thrust his chin at Sera. She flinched, and he turned to Talon. “Besides this is a happy day, eh chief?”
Talon fumbled with his drink and choked down the remaining contents. He coughed. “Right. See ya.”
Drake left, laughing as he went. It grew quiet at the table. Bull leaned over and said, “Boss, don’t you want to show Sera the new office?”
“Oh yeah,” Sera cried. “I’m so excited to see it. I still can’t believe Agent Bram agreed to let you move the headquarters to Phoenix.”
“Well, with the generous donation from District 8 to fund renovations, he wasn’t exactly going to say no.” Talon smiled and laced his fingers with hers. “C-Come on. I’ll show you.”