by Lola StVil
She nods at me.
She raises the knife an inch and starts to plunge it towards Nikki’s throat. I open my mouth to shout no, to tell her to kill me instead but before I have a chance to even utter a syllable, the door beside me slams open.
Emmy stands outlined in the doorway. With a look of sadness, she nods her head in Cassidy’s direction. The knife falls to the floor as Cassidy begins to shake uncontrollably. As suddenly as it started, the shaking stops and Cassidy’s body crashes to the floor.
“She’s dead,” Emmy announces.
I throw myself into her waiting arms.
It’s been two weeks since we completed our mission, and a lot has happened in that time.
We’ve all been going back and forth to the clinic to have various lotions and mixtures spread on us. Today is our last treatment. I have come to really hate the sight of the clinic and I’ll be glad when the last treatment is over.
Sitting in the waiting room again, my mind wanders back over the last two weeks.
Parker and Fish have made a hesitant sort of peace. Parker is only too aware that Fish not only saved her life when the Miven acid got into her eye, but she also saved all of our lives by giving Parker the means to heal herself so she could heal the rest of us.
Fish is spending more time at the house and I’m glad they’re managing to get along. I even hope that one day, they could become friends.
Dylann and I have made progress too. She knows I didn’t kill Davis. It was just a Sirbiss. But she’s still not quite ready to forgive me for sending Rage to get her out of prison. She had to promise him she’ll stay away from Davis and it’s killing her.
She still made the effort to make sure I was okay after Cassidy’s little stunt though. I told her I don’t think there’s any future for Lucas and me, and we bonded over our shared misery.
I might get frustrated with her at times, and her with me, but when it comes down to it, we’re family and we’ll always have each other’s backs.
Ryder told me yesterday that RJ has a date this weekend with the person he saw in the Sirbiss hallucinations. Although he still wouldn’t say who it was, Ryder is happy that it means he’s finally moving on from Sabrina and he can stop feeling guilty about being with her.
Milo has stopped talking about RJ. I think he might finally be over him, although a small part of me wonders.
What if RJ’s date is Milo? No… It can’t be… RJ isn’t… Is he?
Lucas and I have an unspoken treaty. After Emmy killed Cassidy, she insisted we go straight to the clinic and she would take care of Cassidy's body and look after Nikki until we returned.
I managed to get five minutes with Lucas. I told him I get why he’s with Nikki. That she needs him in a way I never will.
I told him that we are good together, but it’s the wrong place and the wrong time. That we’ve had our time together and now, we need to move forward with our lives.
He tried to argue, but ultimately, there was nothing left to say. His Sirbiss was me. And that means I am his heart’s desire. But he made a commitment to Nikki, and now he has to honor it.
We even managed to hug without arguing and without any weird tension between us.
It hurts, but I know I’ll get over it. I’ll get over him. Life is pretty good right now and that tells me I can be happy without being with Lucas. Maybe I needed this to happen to see that no one but me is responsible for my happiness.
Emmy pulls me back into the present when she starts talking to us in the waiting room. Since the day she looked after Nikki, she’s never missed an appointment with us yet.
“You know, I never did say this, but you all did exceptionally well on your mission, on both of them. You achieved something no one ever has. And you did it by working together as a team.”
We look around at each other and smile. The atmosphere between us seems to have finally lifted.
“Group hug?” RJ laughs.
“I’ll pass if you’re in that.” Ryder laughs.
“Well I’m hurt,” RJ says, but the twinkle in his eye says otherwise.
The door opens and a healer comes in.
“This will be your last session. I’ll be administering a shot to each of you. It will complete the healing process by cleaning out your blood. Anyone allergic to Vint?”
We all shake our heads. In fairness, I don’t really know if I am or not. I’ve never even heard of it, let alone taken it, but here’s to hoping.
“Can I go last? I really need some fresh air,” I say.
The nurse nods and tells the rest of the team to follow her.
“Are you okay?” Dylann asks me.
I nod.
“Just need a minute,” I reply.
“You scared of needles, Summit?” Ryder teases me.
“It’ll take more than that to scare me,” I laugh.
I really am just going stir-crazy. The stuffiness inside the clinic is beginning to get to me.
I sit on a small bench in the clinic’s grounds.
A man who looks not much older than me passes me on his way to the clinic. He looks at me in passing, then comes back and looks again.
“You’re Summit, aren’t you?” he asks.
I nod. I’m kind of used to strangers recognizing me by now.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” the man says, sticking his hand out.
I shake it.
“I’m Sorten. I owe you an apology for giving Lucas his powers back.”
I shrug.
“It’s not your fault,” I tell him.
It kind of is, at least in part, but I’m over the initial anger and I really can’t be bothered to argue with him.
“Lucas should have known better than to put you in that position,” I add when it’s clear he’s not going to go away.
“I’m used to it when it comes to that family. I always seem to end up doing things I don’t agree with.”
“Like what?” I ask.
Sorten shakes his head.
“I can’t say. I’ve said too much already.”
“Well then, it’s your lucky day. I have to get back in for my shot or I would totally get it out of you,” I say with a smile.
“Shot of what?” Sorten asks, falling into step beside me.
“Vint. The whole team gets a shot and then we’re officially discharged.”
“Shit,” Sorten shouts, his face paling.
He rushes away and I run to catch up.
“What is it?” I demand.
“Nix can’t have Vint. It’ll have a bad reaction with something he’s already taking,” Sorten explains.
“Are you sure he’s taking something? He didn’t mention it,” I say.
“He doesn’t know. His father has had me secretly administer True. It’s a mixture that will suppress his emotions and stop any evil inside him from surfacing,” he says, running frantically into the clinic.
I gasp. That explains a lot. It explains how he was easily able to make a logical decision even when it involved murder. It explains why he can’t see that both Fish and Parker are in love with him.
“How could his father do that to him?” I say.
“He thought it was the right thing to do. That it would stop Nix from having any of Malakaro’s compulsions.”
I shudder.
“Nix isn’t anything like his father,” I say.
“Didn’t he try to have you killed?” Sorten asks.
“Yes, and now I know why. He didn’t have any emotional receptors to tell him it was wrong. His father turned him into a monster. But luckily he was strong enough to fight past the mixture and follow his heart.”
Sorten doesn’t answer. He’s frantically peering into windows as we pass them.
“What will happen if he gets the Vint?” I ask.
“You don’t want to know. We have to find him.”
“I need to know,” I insist, but I up my pace.
“The Vint will react with the True and instead of suppressing the DNA h
e got from Malakaro, it will enhance it, replacing any and all good inside Nix with an evil so dark he won’t be able to fight it. In essence, Nix will be gone.”
I spot the team through one of the windows and rush into the room.
“Wait…” I start.
The words stick in my throat as I take in the scene before me.
The team sit, shocked, cowering back from Nix, who stands over the dead body of the healer who administered the shots. Her head is twisted away from her body, her neck snapped.
Nix turns at my shout. His eyes are no longer human. They are pools of pure black.
“Summit, nice of you to join us,” he says.
His voice is cold and calculating. Gone is the Nix I have gotten to know, replaced by a stone-cold killing machine.
“How could he do this to you?” I say under my breath.
“Nix, what did you do?” Lucas asks.
I can hear the shock in his voice.
“That isn’t Nix anymore,” Parker says, her own voice shaky with terror.
“So astute,” Nix comments.
He doesn’t take his eyes off me as he says it.
“So, who are you?” I demand.
“My dear cousin, I am the evil you were warned about…”
Nix raises both hands high above his head and every window in the building shatters. He waves his hands effortlessly, and everyone in the room is sent hurtling to the ground. He kneels in front my body and strokes my hair.
He speaks to me in a loving and warm tone that almost sounds like the Nix I have come to love. “You were always afraid of the end. Running around trying to stop the end from coming. Well, it’s not coming. It’s here…”
He waves his hand again and brings a sharp blade speeding across the room. Without any effort, he buries the blade in my chest. I gasp in pain as the whole world goes black.
END OF BOOK TOREN BOOK 2
LOOK OUT FOR “TOREN 3”
WINTER OF 2017
GUARDIANS: THE GIRL (BOOK 1)
GUARDIANS: THE FALLOUT (BOOK 2)
GUARDIANS: THE TURN (BOOK 3)
GUARDIANS: THE TRIPLEX (BOOK 4)
GUARDIANS: THE QUO (BOOK 5)
GUARDIANS: THE LYRIS (BOOK 5 PART 2)
GUARDIANS: THE SHOMA (BOOK 6)
GUARDIANS: THE NYCREN (BOOK 6 PART 2)
NOTE: The “Guardians” story is complete after Book 6 part 2. The saga continues with the next generation in the “Noru” series
NORU SERIES:
NORU: BLUE ROSE (BOOK 1)
NORU: THE LAST AKON (BOOK 2)
NORU: FALL OF THE CHOSEN (BOOK 3)
NORU: WHEN ANGELS BREAK (BOOK 4)
NORU: WAYS OF THE WICKED (BOOK 5)
NORU: RISE OF THE ALAGO (BOOK 6)
NORU: RAGE OF ANGELS (BOOK 7)
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