by Zoe Forward
“Death. Today, you were chosen.”
“I don’t think so.” Liz jabbed a knife deep into his abdomen.
Hadn’t seen that. Shit, that hurt. He disregarded the screaming urge to cave onto the floor. Instead, he leaned in to draw her soul from her body.
The door exploded inward. He was thrown away from Liz before he completed his task. He rolled, anticipating the metal trash can flying toward his head. The metal can’s impact rang in his ears. A blond giant glared around the room, taking in the dead guards, the wounded Serenity, and Liz, who had slumped into a heap, weakened by the soul ripping.
Go invisible, he thought toward Serenity.
“Shane? You? I thought you got kicked off Sentry duty after you tried to rape me, which if I remember didn’t go so well for you,” Serenity said. “You cried like a four-year-old when I shattered your arm.”
“I’m looking forward to killing you.” Shane targeted her with a gun and smiled. “We’re going to be one of those powerful bonded pairs.”
Serenity shook her head sadly. “Liz doesn’t plan to keep you for any longer than you’re useful. She doesn’t love you. Don’t you get that she’s using you?”
“We’re destined. You just need to die for us to complete the bond.”
“You’re not this evil, Shane. A horny bully, yes. But to kill people? Masses of people? That’s not power. That’s psychotic. Sentry druids don’t do that.” Her gaze darted toward the trash can that had missed him.
What the hell? Serenity was stalling Shane to give him time to get his shit together and move. Damn, he loved this woman.
Shane’s gaze darkened. Serenity went invisible seconds before he shot, confirming Liz’s spell hadn’t worked on her. Shane shot at random around the room, alternating between him and Serenity. Alexi ran at super speed toward Shane but was tossed away and into the wall. Shane smirked and stalked toward Alexi. “Bet you didn’t expect that. Now what the hell are you?”
“No one move,” Liz ordered with a gun pointed at Alexi. She stumbled but managed to hold the gun steady. “Show yourself, Serenity, or I’ll shoot him.”
“Don’t shoot,” Alexi ordered Serenity. He stared at where she stood just beyond Liz with a gun targeted at Liz’s head. This had to be done the right way or Liz’s soul would not be available for Hades.
Liz fired. “I’m not kidding.”
Blood oozed from Shane’s neck. He futilely pawed at his neck against the riptide of life streaming from his body. In silent shock he flopped to the floor.
“Told you I meant it,” Liz said. “That weak dickhead would never have killed you, Serenity. But I will.” Liz glanced wildly around the room to find her.
Alexi gazed at Serenity, pleading silently that she not fire. Serenity kept invisible but lowered her gun. She said out loud, “It’s your game, then.” She slipped right and out of the path of Liz’s bullet. But remained invisible.
In an eye blink, he disarmed Liz and headlocked her. With power revving, he released her soul entirely. Now the duty fell to Hades to capture it. Liz slumped to the floor. Dead.
Shooting, shouts, and chaos echoed through the hallways. Good guys. For an instant he acknowledged Serenity’s wide-eyed shock, wishing he had anything comforting to offer her. But he had nothing.
All she said was, “You killed my sister.”
“It’ll be okay,” he said. “I promise.”
“Nothing will ever be okay again.”
He ignored the pain searing his gut to force his body to stand. And move. With an awkward shuffle he made it to the door. “What can be fixed has been. You are free to find your chosen man and live your life.”
“What? Don’t leave me. Not now.”
“You’re going to be okay. I’ve got more to do here today.”
Serenity slowly collapsed to a kneel a few feet away from Liz’s body. “Did Hades have you do this, because she was Jainukul?”
“I had no choice. Like Losev, Hades slated her soul for hell as penalty for her evil deeds.” He didn’t want to leave her here, hurt and confused. But this was the end. Their journey was over. Barely able to choke out the words, he whispered, “Good-bye.” I love you.
He turned and fled into the shadows. Away from her. Back into the darkness, where he belonged.
Chapter Seventeen
“Serenity. Serenity.”
Some male voice repeated her name, but the reality of her sister’s evil spun her brain like a stuck DVD. Liz’s lifeless body rested a few feet away. Hoping Liz would reanimate and be a different being was sci-fi bullshit. Yet she hoped. Stranger things had happened in her life.
Someone shook her body to the point she rocked with each shake. Reluctantly, she shifted focus onto her torturer. “Matt?”
“It’s Eli.” His eyes narrowed, silently cajoling her to play along with the identity hoax. “Are you okay?” he demanded in his fake British accent. Behind him a mixture of MI6 and FBI agents swarmed. “Look at me, Serenity. Are you hurt?”
“What are you doing here? Where’s your brother? What are all of these people doing here?”
“We’re here to take down this major terrorist operation and Jainukul.”
She waved at the body of her sister. “Liz was Jainukul.”
“I know. You beat us to her. Are you hurt?” Matt asked while he conducted a less than gentle once-over on her.
“You knew?” She hissed when he touched her left side. Her body bowed away from his probing fingers.
“You’re hurt. Bullet or knife or something else?” he demanded.
“How would you know about Liz?”
“Tell me if you’re hurt.”
“I’ll be fine. How did you know to be here?”
Matt’s cheeks turned a dark red. His gaze skittered away from hers.
“Did he contact you before all this?” she asked, despising the edge of hysteria in her tone.
Matt didn’t answer.
“Did he?” she demanded.
Matt still didn’t meet her gaze.
She gritted her teeth. “He did. Damn it. You both played me. Or did you all three play me? Where’s your brother?”
“I’m Eli.”
“Your accent sucks and at the moment I don’t give a crap about whatever bullshit you’ve got going on.”
“Shh.” His head darted around. “Pull yourself together.”
“How’re you any better than that conniving bastard you coordinated with? He just waltzed in here with everyone but me in the know. He murdered her…sucked the soul out of her.”
“I suspected he would…kill her, that is. I’m not sure on the life-sucking thing. You’re safe now. He’s gone. He probably won’t bother you again.”
But I don’t want him to leave me alone. Anger swept through her mind, wiping away that pitiful sentiment. He couldn’t even stick around to make sure she was okay and explain this mess. He’d just taken over her life, “fixed” things, and then strolled out of it. Damn him. She’d relied on him, and like every other time in her life when she’d depended on another, he’d disappointed her, and he might possibly be on his way to dead.
Please don’t let him die, she begged silently to the goddesses. Cripes, she was messed up over this.
Matt said, “Give me a moment…”
Her body tingled with warmth that converged on her injured side. That snapped her brain firmly out of its seesaw between hate and panic over Alexi. “Get away from me.” She scrambled away. She deserved every second of the bullet wound’s agony for missing the obvious about her own sister—the world’s most evil monster. She deserved the pain for being so blind. And for trusting Alexi.
Where was the slippery bastard? She expected him to be lurking in the shadows, as usual. One glance around…
Nope.
She struggled to a less than graceful stand, intent on finding him. Three steps later, the world teetered and her vision went blurry. Blackness hazed her mind with the threat of a floor ass-kiss blackout. How she hated
being shackled by an injury. With a clumsy tilt, she rested against the wall.
Matt advanced.
“Piss off,” she said to him.
He whispered, “Don’t hop with all these people here. Let me help you.”
Her glare stopped his approach.
“Good job, Agent Danssaert,” announced a deep British voice she knew well. Her supervisor from MI6 nodded as if the business was closed. “You nailed Jainukul. We’ve been tracking and trying to trace him…er, her for years. You know I despise being kept in the dark. You and Eli in deep cover…” He shook his head as if the vastness of that idea was incomprehensible. “And to think it was your own sister. That bites.” A slightly feral smile dipped his lips upward. It didn’t improve his sagging jowly face. He waved his arm, and all his boys began the task of searching bodies.
Her ex-boss’s eyes widened when they lit on Matt. “Eli? I saw you downstairs minutes ago. Guess you weren’t as gone to shit as you looked?”
What did that mean? Was the real Eli hurt?
Her ex-boss asked her, “How in the world did you get the Shadow to work with you and then not leave you dead?”
I slept with him. How much more cliché did it get than that? “You did send me after him last year. Let’s say that we…came to an agreement when he had the upper hand in that confrontation.” She hoped she’d done a decent enough job masking her what the hell over this whole predicament.
“Well done, not that I consider him a friendly.” He waggled his eyebrows. “That connection might just come in as a handy contact in the future.”
“He walks his own line,” she said noncommittally.
Her ex-boss, perhaps now again boss, turned away to speak to the men examining the bodies.
She drew upright and asked Matt, “Deep cover?”
“Both of us have been in deep cover for the past year to find Jainukul. Remember? Did you get your head whacked or something?”
“Maybe,” she said softly. Or something covered it well enough. Her mind zipped back to Alexi. “What did he arrange?”
Matt whispered, “He must’ve hacked into…everything is solid. He’s got some damned good contacts in the intel business. You and Eli were deep cover MI6. Your dismissal was fake in order to let you search for the terrorist. Can you walk? We’ve got to go.”
She wobbled. He reached out to catch her. She jerked away. “Don’t touch me. I’ll walk out of here myself.”
“You’re about to fall over.”
“I might. But don’t you dare fix me. I want the scar to remind me of my stupidity every day for the rest of my life.”
“Stop being dramatic.” He gripped her arm as she swayed.
Adrenaline infused her system. She right hooked his nose, hearing a gratifying crunch. “Don’t patronize me.”
Matt cursed and staggered away, gripping his nose.
“Where’s Eli? I need to find him.” Please don’t let him be hurt. She stumbled out of the conference room. All thoughts about Alexi took a backseat behind her need to find the man who’d been her best friend and partner for years. FBI agents swarmed everywhere. She asked one nearby. “Are there any wounded agents? I’m looking for one. A British male.”
He pushed his ear communicator and spoke low. He nodded. “Fourth floor. That’s where they had the standoff.”
She shuffled to the elevator, resting hard against the wall while she waited for the elevator to ascend. Her brain swirled. Passing out was not an option.
Matt stormed down the hall behind her. He paused well out of striking distance. When the elevator’s doors popped open, he unclasped his nose. “I’m riding down with you. No option.” He moved into the car next to her.
“I’m not leaving until I see Eli.” She couldn’t lose both him and her sister in one day.
As the elevator moved down, she shifted her feet to dissipate the pain. Panic that Eli might be on his way to gone snapped her out of her tailspin of self-pity. He couldn’t be. He had a beautiful soul waiting to achieve his destiny. He was meant for something big. It just hadn’t claimed him yet. She might not be his destiny, but she loved him like a brother.
Matt started, “Serenity—”
“Don’t,” she interrupted. She dodged his large hand as it reached out to comfort her.
When the elevator door slid open, she shuffled out, ignoring the darkness pressing on her mind and the spiking pain that jolted her body with each step. You will not pass out. More FBI agents swarmed the floor. She asked the first one, “We’re looking for injured agents. A British male.”
“Down the hall,” the guy pointed.
Her top speed was a disgraceful shuffle. She stumbled once. Matt caught her elbow, but her snarl had him backing off. Finally, she reached the right room. There on the floor sprawled Eli’s large frame. She knelt beside him and lifted his head to rest it on her lap. “You with me, Eli?” She smoothed his hair away from his face.
His unfocused, dilated eyes roamed her face. He slurred, “Hey. Knew you’d eventually come.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you, she sent up to the gods. She choked and then the true sobs hit her hard. Eli wrestled to a sit and pulled her into his embrace.
He held her tight and whispered, “Shh. I’ll live. I’m just high as a bloody kite on the morphine some do-gooder medic shot me up with.”
She sobbed. “Just so glad you’re okay.” She clung to him.
“I’m glad that you’re alive, too. More than glad.” He scooted backward to prop himself against the wall, dragging her with him. “Shh. Don’t cry. I’m fine. We’re going to make it. Both of us.” He glanced around as if disoriented, his gaze drifting over the dead bodies piled around the room.
She brushed away tears, still choke sobbing, and tried to make sense of the mess. “What happened in here?”
“They had me cornered. Then he appeared like a bloody terrifying angel of death. He took all of them out in seconds.” Eli hugged her tighter and whispered, “He knocked out the other friendlies to tell me you were on the way and you were hurt. Are you?”
“A little bit, but I’m better now.” She clasped him tight. “I’m just so glad you’re okay.”
He massaged his forehead. “My head’s spinning.”
Between sobs she choked out, “Liz is dead.”
He didn’t immediately respond. In a neutral tone he said, “Did the agents kill her?”
She pulled away from him and took a few deep breaths. “She faked the kidnapping in order to try to get me killed. She’s Jainukul. I can’t believe this was all about her wanting to be the Pleiad. How could she be a psychotic international terrorist?” She inhaled on another sob. “Oh my God. The things she did. The thousands she killed…”
“Did you kill her?” he asked.
“No. He did.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want you to have…had to do it.”
Her vision dimmed. She shook off the threatening blackness. “I’m pissed at you for colluding with him. For keeping me in the dark.”
“He gave you your life back. All of it. You’re legit in MI6 again. Everyone thinks you’re amazing to have worked with him. I’m back in, if I want it.” He shook his head. “I hate owing him.”
In a small voice she said, “I didn’t want my old life back. I wanted him.”
Eli stroked her hair and whispered, “I know.”
The tears fell harder. “But he doesn’t want me.” She gave in to the crushing pain in her heart and the weakness drawing her into a dark tunnel.
“Serenity. Don’t pass out. Listen to me. That bastard is not worth dying over. Hold on, baby.”
As if floating outside herself, she heard Eli yelling, “Get over here, Matt. Heal her or use whatever you’ve got. I’m tapped out.”
Then Matt was there. She heard the hum of Eli’s voice but not the distinct words. Her body tingled. The pain disappeared. Her body felt floaty.
She worried about Alexi. Although livid at how he handled things, she prayed to the
goddess, Please, let him live. His blood lineage forced him to be a killer, but he’s good at heart.
Then she gave in to the darkness she could no longer fight.
Chapter Eighteen
Alexi wheezed though the subbasement back to the rented sedan. Caffeine from a Mountain Dew out of a vending machine was all that kept him from collapsing. He refused to acknowledge the agony in his stomach. The trajectory of the bullet didn’t equate with life. Yet, he still breathed. He dropped into the driver’s seat and squinted to focus. The numbers on the dials went double and then back to single.
Someone got in on the passenger side. He unholstered, targeting the new arrival. The world wobbled from even the small movement.
“Idėti ją toil.” Put it away, Nikolai said.
“Why are you here?” He swallowed a welling cough. He would not reveal just how truly close to death he was.
“Call this payback for what you did the other day when you saved my life. I guess you were right that our visions are but suggestions of a possible future. You don’t even want to know what I saw about where this ends.” Nikolai scanned him and whistled low. “You look like shit.”
“Don’t worry. I already future scanned. It’s a bit hazy but doesn’t end well for me. I did not see you here, though. That’s unexpected.”
“Nice to know I can still surprise you once in a while. Get out and let me drive. We have to get somewhere safe.”
Alexi shook his head. “This requires far more than a bullet extraction and a Band-Aid.” He ran a hand over his abdomen. “Stomach hit. Straight through. Unless you’ve got a miracle, this is it.”
“Fine. Maybe this is it. You want to die in a fucking parking garage for some FBI goobers to find you? If you’re not entirely dead, they’ll lock you up in some secret detention facility and torture you for decades.” Nikolai jumped out and rounded the car. He slung Alexi’s arm around his neck and helped him move to the passenger seat. “Maybe I have a miracle.”
Nikolai sped the car in silence out of Boston. Alexi’s mind churned between pain, delirium, and worry about Serenity. Eli better protect her when he was gone.
Nikolai pulled into a hotel. “Don’t die on me yet. I already checked in.”