by Dannika Dark
When I sat up, the Mage briefly glanced at his speakers and then fled out the window.
Christian torpedoed across the room and yanked me up by the arm. “Get the feck out!”
“Wait. Where’s my stunner?”
“We don’t have time,” he snapped, dragging me to the window.
“Why not?”
“The music is a countdown.”
My jaw slackened. “To what?” I climbed onto the fire escape.
“Hurry!” he yelled, shoving me ahead of him.
I bounded down the first flight of stairs. Just as I jumped onto the landing, a bomb exploded, sending a fireball through the windows and raining glass and bricks. I shielded my head, the Mage already a few floors below us.
I recoiled when another set of explosions went off, bricks knocking against the fire escape and more flames licking the cold air just above us. When the Mage reached the bottom and took off down the alley, I swung my legs over the railing, held on for a second, and then let go. It was a one-story drop.
Christian’s boots hit the ground next to me as he landed solidly. Debris covered the concrete, and a few people were looking out their windows as we fled the scene.
I flashed to keep up with the Mage, slippery patches of ice and street corners slowing me down. Christian couldn’t shadow walk since it wasn’t dark enough, so he tried his best to keep up. When we reached a dead end, I thought we had our guy until he scaled a wall and vanished. Not one to give up the chase, I stepped on a wooden crate and scrambled onto the garbage bin. Christian came up from behind and boosted me over the wall.
“He’s heading toward the subway station!” I shouted, remembering the layout of the neighborhood.
The Mage flashed in spurts to conserve energy, so I ran at human speed since I didn’t have as much power to waste. This guy probably didn’t work out as often as I did, so it wouldn’t be long before he ran out of steam. He periodically stopped to catch his breath and then flashed to put distance between us.
He scaled a chain-link fence and crossed a field, the train station just ahead. With renewed vigor, I scrambled up the fence and jumped off, picking up speed as I followed his tracks.
We descended a stairwell that led to the underground station. The pungent smell of illegal Breed drugs hit me first, followed by the sight of vagrants sleeping on the concrete as I weaved through the crowd. I leapt over the turnstiles and realized people lived down here—tents and desks were set up as if they were businesses.
The Mage ducked behind pillars, and I kept losing sight of him. I jogged alongside the platform as he vanished into the mouth of the tunnel.
Christian jogged a few paces ahead and looked both ways before jumping onto the tracks. “Well, are you coming?”
I shook my head, out of breath. “The train.”
“It’s an abandoned station. The train hasn’t stopped here since you were a babe in nappies. But pay attention if the tunnel splits, lest we have to scrape you off the tracks.”
“Perish the thought,” I muttered, taking his hand and leaping off the platform. Even though he assured me the train didn’t come this way anymore, entering that tunnel gave me the shivers.
He stole a quick glance behind us. “There’s nowhere for him to go for at least a mile, and he won’t be flashing on these tracks for long.”
Darkness swallowed us whole, and a blanket of dread came over me. We were on this guy’s turf, and that gave him an advantage. What if he was waiting around the corner with a sickle? It was far too grainy for me to see in total darkness.
“Can you see him?” I asked, slowing to a stop.
“Worry not, lass. You’re in capable hands.”
A draft blew past me, and when I reached out into the void, Christian was gone. I just knew that fanghole would run ahead and leave me behind!
I flashed but quickly stumbled, unable to see. Suddenly, an idea sprang to mind. With a simple shift in concentration, I channeled my energy to my fingertips. Blue light leaked out like tiny cobwebs caught in a breeze. It provided enough light for me to see a raised platform on the right. The Mage probably took this route to flash, and if so, there was a chance he was long gone by now. I climbed on and created a steady stop-and-go pace. It worked well enough that I finally caught sight of Christian standing at a fork in the tracks where the tunnels split.
“Shhh,” he said, cocking his head and walking to the right-hand tunnel. “I can’t hear the bastard.”
“He knows a Vampire is following him.”
“Even if he stopped, I’d be able to hear him panting like a dog.”
“Maybe he’s holding his breath.” I jumped down, and when my feet hit the tracks, I pointed to the right. “He went that way.”
“You can’t even see which way that way is.”
“No, but I can feel his energy.”
Christian seized my hand and moved so fast that I had to flash to keep up. Vampires could slip through shadows like liquid, and at some point, we’d ended up on the platform to the right.
“Stop! You’re making me dizzy.”
When he let go, I lost my balance and tipped backward. Christian locked his arm around my waist, and I clutched his neck and pulled myself tight against him. He slowly moved me away from the edge, and my cheeks heated from the intimacy of that small act.
“He’s that way,” I said, pointing at a door.
Christian released me. In a split second, he ripped the door off the hinges and it landed on the tracks. Artificial light pierced the veil of darkness, and we ascended a short stairwell.
Out of breath and falling behind, I realized the Mage’s energy was waning as the distance between us grew.
Christian reached another door and flung it open.
Once outside, my legs gave out like jelly trying to hold up a horse. I fell in the snow, my side aching and lungs burning. Tiny flakes of snow swirled overhead, and I blinked up at trees, which led me to believe we were in a park.
“See him?” I asked, out of breath.
“Footprints,” he said. “Get up. He’ll be heading where there isn’t any snow.”
“This wasn’t in the brochure.” When I stood up, I wiped my mouth, which was still wet from my nosebleed. The bones in my nose were probably shattered, and the last drop of light from the sun, which I could have used for healing, was now gone.
Once again, destiny screws me over.
Because of the lampposts, Christian wasn’t able to shadow walk. I had to hand it to the Mage—he was smart. He could have run off into the darkness, but his tracks were right beneath the light, which would slow Christian down and keep him off his tail. I’d used up too much of my core light with not enough in reserve to continue flashing.
I straightened my nose and winced from the sharp pain. “Who bombs their own apartment?”
“Someone who’s hiding something,” he said, not out of breath in the least. Christian strode forward, his eyes alert. “If you’re going to blow up your house to ’80s music, at least pick a song like “Burning Down the House” to put on your playlist.”
“Maybe that would have been too obvious.”
“The shitebag who broke in was his partner, to be sure. And you can saunter on for giving me a scrubbing brush as a weapon.”
I laughed and weaved around a park bench. “It was either that or a spoon.”
Christian leapt onto the wall that served as the entrance to the park. He turned in a circle, his eyes narrowing as he cocked his head to the side.
I remained absolutely still so as not to make a sound, though my beating heart was probably a marching band in his ears.
Christian finally sat down on the highest part of the wall. “He’s long gone.”
I scaled the short part of the wall and up to where he was sitting. “What makes you say that?”
“Tracks disappear by the main road, and we wouldn’t be able to differentiate his from the others. The clubs are in full swing, so better we stay away from the night crowd.”
“Why? Don’t I blend in now?”
He glared up at me. “You look like a bloodsicle. I’m sure every Vampire would line up for a lick.”
I kicked the snow off the ledge and sat beside him, our feet dangling ten feet off the ground. “Viktor’s going to kill me.”
“Why’s that?”
“My phone’s in my coat pocket.”
He looked down at me. “Where’s your coat?”
“In the apartment. I liked that coat too.”
He sighed. “You won’t be alone in the flogging. My phone fell out of my pocket during the scuffle.”
I swept back my tangled hair. When I noticed the bloodstains on my fingertips, I wiped my hands on my jeans. “Now what?”
Christian leapt off the wall and looked up at me. “We find a place to lie low for the night.”
“My vote is for calling a cab.”
He laughed darkly and turned in a circle, arms wide. “Do you really think cabs come out to the Bricks at night? If you want to stay alive, we need to find shelter.”
I scooted off the ledge, and he caught me, lowering me to the ground. “Let’s go back to the subway.”
“We weren’t alone in those tunnels.”
Now there was a creepy thought.
Christian’s brows knitted as he held a distant look in his eyes. “I only saw one motel… but we’re interlopers. We’ll attract attention. People around here are curious when they see a new face, and the welcoming committee isn’t so receptive.”
“Maybe I don’t know the Bricks, but I know the streets.” I smiled and took his hand in mine. “Come with me if you want to live.”
Chapter 14
We walked alongside a dilapidated fence behind a row of buildings, careful not to attract attention. What we needed was a way to climb up to one of those rooftops without having to enter the building. Christian hadn’t exaggerated about how dangerous the Bricks were. We’d witnessed a murder not fifteen minutes after leaving the park.
Our pace slowed as we approached an unoccupied building that looked like a casualty of war. The back wall on the third floor was blown open, leaving a cavity that allowed us to see the desolation within. I pointed up at the hole.
Christian gestured toward the first-floor window, and I shook my head.
“And why not?” he asked. “The entire building is as barren as your womb.”
I gave him a cursory glance. “We have a better chance of escaping or defending ourselves up there if someone decides to drop in. The third floor buys us time, whereas on the first floor we’re just sitting ducks. Why do you think I spent so many nights on rooftops?” Before he could open his mouth with a retort, I jumped up to reach for the fire escape. “Can you give me a hand?”
Christian climbed on top of a trash bin and pulled down an old metal ladder. I cringed at the racket it made but decided there was no better security alarm. While I climbed up to the third floor, Christian pulled the ladder back into place and continued his ascent.
I crawled over the crumbling brick wall.
“Watch your step,” he said. “There might be holes in the floor.” Once he reached the top of the ladder, he jumped inside and walked ahead of me.
The roof was still intact, but most of the back wall was blown out. Twisted pieces of rebar stuck out from the broken chunks of the wall. It could have also been a Vampire fight that caused it. Or a meteor. Snow dusted the floor near the gap, so we moved toward the center and looked around.
“All clear,” Christian said. He disappeared behind a pillar and moved around in the darkness. He finally strode toward me and wearily scratched his jaw. “One staircase is blocked with debris, and suffice it to say that no one will be taking the elevator.”
I felt better knowing the ladder was the only way in or out. With my teeth chattering, I scoped out the room for the safest spot that would get me the hell out of the open. A large row of filing cabinets in the back looked accommodating, so I checked out the space behind them. The nook would shield us from the bitter wind, but it was too easy for someone to corner us.
“Christian, can you pull the cabinets away from the wall so there’s a gap?”
Without argument, he began pulling the first sectional, which was about five feet tall. I closed some of the open drawers until they clicked shut while Christian dragged the second one to meet up with the first. Dirty papers littered the floor, but they were adequate protection against the cold concrete.
My foot slipped from beneath me when I sat, and I came down hard. Not that it mattered. My body was aching with exhaustion, and my depleted core light made me shiver with unwanted cold. Leaning against the wall, I drew up one leg and kept the other straight.
Dried clumps of blood were stuck to my chin and lip. I glanced up at Christian. “You wouldn’t happen to have a handkerchief, would you?”
He removed his black coat and draped it over my legs. Then I watched him rip a large piece away from his shirt before kneeling next to me. “Let me have a look.”
“I think there’s a big clot in my nostril. Do you think it’s okay to blow it out?”
“Are you sure it’s not your brains jammed up in there?” He licked the material and gently wiped at my cheeks and upper lip. “A broken nose is a good look on you. It fills in your face.”
I reclined my head and closed my eyes. “We didn’t even get his name. I’m not sure if that pisses me off more or that we lost him twice. Why didn’t you tell me there was a bomb? Maybe if I’d known that, I would have stolen his computer.”
His hands deftly cleaned my chin. “I didn’t know until he looked at the speakers before jumping out the window. I’d guessed the music was a way to tip off his Vampire friend that there was trouble, but he was damn determined to dive out that window instead of fighting a woman.”
“There you go again, assuming a man can beat me because he has a penis between his legs.”
A smile touched his lips. “It’s not what I think that matters. That’s how most men think, and most wouldn’t run from a woman. Something lit a fire under his arse.”
I winced when he touched a sore spot near my nose. “Yep. Dynamite. Do you think the Vampire’s dead?”
“Unless someone pulled him out, a fire that intense would kill him, to be sure.”
“I didn’t think fire hurt Vampires.”
He stopped cleaning my face, his eyes downcast. “Aye. We burn like everyone else. It takes more to kill us than a Mage since we regenerate, but a burning building is the last place I want to be. It’s an incinerator. You’re a crossbreed, so there’s no way to know your limitations without testing them. Best you remember that.”
“Have you ever been burned?”
Christian set the cloth in my lap and leaned back against the cabinets across from me, his knees bent.
“What happened?”
He reclined his head and looked up at the wall above me. “There was an apartment fire, and I was foolish enough to think I could play fireman. Singed the skin right off my arms.”
I grimaced.
“It healed up… eventually.”
“What was worth risking your life?”
He shook his head as if ashamed. “The sound of children screaming. Humans standing around doing nothing. I saw a wee lass, and it made me think about my sister. Do you see why mortal ties are dangerous? They make you do foolish things.”
I pulled his coat up to my waist. “And did you save anyone?”
“An old woman. She couldn’t walk, so I lifted her out of her bed and carried her to the hall. Humans were rushing down the stairs and trampling each other. I kept climbing up, looking at closed doors and listening. I heard a child’s cry and saw the flames. The fire started on the lower level, eating its way up and spreading fast. Smoke poured through the closed door, so I kicked it open. Half the floor was gone.”
His story gave me chills as it hit close to home. “Did the children die?”
“There was only one child. A little g
irl crying for her mum. There was no way to get to her room without setting myself on fire. I’d turned away to leave, when I heard her cry, ‘Please come get me.’ Fecking hell, I couldn’t just walk away. So I kicked down the door and gave her my coat to protect her from the flames. I had to walk through fire to get us out of there, and after I handed her over to someone in the hall, I headed up to the next level to knock on doors and warn everyone that the fire was spreading. When I reached the roof, I climbed down the escape and spent the next two days in hell. Burns like that don’t heal quickly—not without Vampire blood.”
As he told the story, shock overwhelmed me, and tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Jaysus wept. If I’d known you were that hormonal, I wouldn’t have told the story.”
“How old was the girl?”
“I don’t know. Five? Six?”
Christian didn’t realize.
He couldn’t possibly.
That wasn’t just any little girl he was talking about; that child was me.
All this time, it was Christian. He was the one who’d broken down my door and collected me in his arms after shielding me with his coat. Now, looking back, all the pieces fell into place. His dark hair, the glimpse of a beard as I saw him turn the corner at the top of the stairs. I still remembered the stench of his burning flesh.
Before I knew it, Christian was beside me with his arm around my shoulders. “You shouldn’t have flashed as much as you did. Now you’re nothing but a drained battery with leaky faucets.”
“You don’t understand,” I choked out. “It can’t be true.”
“What are you going on about?”
I looked up at him, barely able to comprehend the truth of it all. “That was me, Christian. When I was five, my building caught fire. My mother died, and I almost did too until a man rescued me from my bedroom. He threw his coat over me and carried me through fire.”