Chosen

by Kiersten White

  “On it.”

  “Be careful,” Cillian says.

  “Oh, I don’t plan on being careful. I plan on being vicious.”

  Jade appears from the dorm wing. Her head is still bleeding, but she has my discarded crossbow and looks terrifying as opposed to terrified. “Took out two more. If you can cover me, I’ll go to the shed and get supplies to blow up their vans so they can’t get away.”

  My mother cuts a hand through the air. “Too risky. There are hellhounds out there. Post yourself at the far end of the dorm wing. Guard our backs.”

  Jade scowls, but she nods and disappears where she came from.

  “We do need to neutralize the hellhounds.” My mother checks the safety on her gun. “I seem to recall we’re both pretty good at—”

  That’s when the front doors blow up.

  24

  MY HEAD RINGS, AND I cough as bits of dust and plaster and centuries-old stone particles invade my lungs. I scramble to my feet, blinking away the grit and expecting a hellhound to lunge at me from the gaping hole where the front doors are hanging wildly by one hinge. But no hellhounds are prowling.

  “Hey, Wheezy! Catch!”

  I turn just in time to have my own mother thrown into me. I catch her, stumbling backward and nearly falling. I set my mother on her feet. She straightens her suit jacket and pulls out a sleek black club. “Thank you.”

  Honora stands across from us, one of those wretched shock sticks in her hand. I’m going to take it from her, and then I’m going to shove it down her—

  “You were supposed to be unconscious.” Honora’s hair isn’t even mussed, a sleek high ponytail showing off her lustrous dark locks. She’s wearing perfectly fitted black pants, combat boots, and a black sweater. She’s like an advertisement for traitorous assholes—betray your people, but look good doing it!

  Now it’s not the grit that’s making it hard to see. It’s the pulsing red on the edges of my vision. “Yeah, well, you were supposed to be screaming ‘my arm!’ ”

  She tilts her head in confusion. I rip one of the heavy doors the rest of the way off and throw it at her. She only has time to raise one arm to protect herself, and the door slams into her forearm with a bone-shattering blow.

  “You bitch!” she screams, clutching her arm and dropping to her knees.

  I shrug. “It’s not ‘my arm,’ but it’s close enough.”

  “Nina.” My mother’s voice is sharp. “Careful.”

  “Not with her.” I refuse to try and hold myself back. Not for Honora. I take a step toward her, then twist to the side as a dart whistles through the air, hitting the wall behind me.

  Artemis reloads. Judging by her position, she came from somewhere else in the castle—the dorm wing, or the Council residence hall, or the kitchen. I don’t know which. I was too focused on my prey. Artemis is holding a pillow, of all things, in one hand. But in the other, she has the dart gun trained directly on me.

  “Artemis,” our mother says, “you are grounded.”

  Honora laughs, her normally low voice high and tight with pain. “You’re all lunatics. All you had to do was give up some demons. Now look at us.”

  I don’t take my eyes off the dart gun, but I’m trembling with rage. “You came here! To our home!”

  “This isn’t a home,” Artemis says. “It never was.” She tosses the pillow to Honora and then fires three darts at me. I twist out of the way, jumping and somersaulting across the floor. None of the darts hit me.

  “Oh.” Our mother stumbles to the side, then leans against the wall and slides to the ground. One of the darts is embedded in her shoulder. “So grounded,” she slurs before her eyes close.

  “You tranqued our mom!” I point accusingly at where she’s lying on the floor.

  Artemis reloads. “Yes, I did.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “You wouldn’t understand. You’re the last person who could understand.” She circles. I follow her, not letting her get behind me or to the door to the gym where Doug is.

  I used to be the only person who understood her. Now? She’s right. I don’t. “What happened to you?”

  She laughs wildly, gesturing to the castle. “This happened to me, Nina. You happened to me. You have no idea how it feels to be powerless. To know as much as we do and be totally dependent on others to fight it.”

  “Of course I do! I had to watch you be the capable one, the strong one, the one who always got picked. I was powerless for sixteen years of my life!”

  “No! You were always chosen. From the day we were born. You were chosen. Well, I’m choosing myself. I don’t need ancient mystic forces determining I’m worthy of power. I’m going to do it myself. And then no one will be able to hurt me, or hurt you, or hurt any of us.”

  “You’re hurting us!”

  “Means to an end.” She lifts the gun and fires several darts so fast I barely have time to dodge.

  “Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing.”

  She raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”

  “You’re angling me away from Honora while she sneaks off.” I stop moving, raising both my fists. “She can’t get away. I’m faster and I’m stronger and I’m better than her. Not only is Doug staying here, but she is too. We have a whole dungeon waiting for her.”

  “Actually,” Honora says, sweat beading on her forehead from the pain of her arm, “she’s angling you in front of the door so that this can happen.”

  The snarl behind me is just enough warning. I turn and catch the hellhound as it barrels into me. It takes me to the floor, and I hold its jaws where they’re desperately straining for my neck. Hot, sticky saliva drips down on me. I kick up into its stomach, launching it off me and through the air. It hits the wall with a thud and lands with a yelp, scrambling to right itself. I pull out a stake, but the hellhound changes direction and lunges for my unconscious mother.

  Two darts stick out of its back before it gets there, and it stumbles, then slumps down.

  Artemis doesn’t lower her gun, instead firing another dart at me. I dodge, then run at her, hitting her stomach with my shoulder and carrying her across the great hall with my momentum before tossing her down. I’m about to grab her—and do what, I don’t know, but my heart is racing and my anger is eating me alive, hotter and fouler than the hellhound’s saliva. But a popping sound precedes Tsip.

  “Nina!” she says, crying. “It’s terrible!”

  I whirl around. The door’s intact! No one could have gotten in to Doug! “What? What happened?”

  Tsip holds out her hand. Her palm is lined with dust. “Their eyes turned into dust! All the pretty eyes! And it’s my birthday.”

  I grit my teeth and clench my fists. “Tsip. Get back to your post right now, or so help me, I’ll take your own eyes and gift wrap them for you.” It’s not an empty threat. I know as I’m saying it that I’d do it. But I don’t have time to feel disgusted with myself.

  She scowls, her lower lip trembling. “That would totally defeat the purpose.” She disappears, and I turn back to Artemis to see her slip something into her mouth. Doubtless one of their demonic booster drugs.

  “It won’t matter.” I fold my arms and watch her stand up. “You can’t beat me. And yes, I noticed Honora is gone. I’ll catch her.”

  A hellhound howls. Artemis turns sharply toward the sound. It’s not coming from this side of the castle. It howls again. It’s coming from the back corner.

  The tower.

  The pillow Artemis stole. She must have come from the kitchen. Which meant she stole something there that had a scent. And the only person they could possibly want to hunt who had a pillow there—

  “Not the demons,” I whisper. Leo. They’re after Leo. He was right to question why they’d attack now. Because it was never about Doug, never about the other demons or revenge or anything. It was about the one new factor at the castle. Leo.

  Artemis launches herself at me in a flurry of punches and kicks so fast I can b
arely block them. She drives me back across the great hall toward the dorm wing, the opposite direction I need to go. The tower is through the kitchen, which is accessed via the entrance to the Council wing.

  I dodge a punch and then grab her arm, spinning her and throwing her into the wall. I sprint across the great hall and into the Council wing, whipping around the corner to the kitchen. I can get to the tower through an old door and passageway here. But someone could get in from the outside if they scaled the side up to a few of the gaping holes we didn’t have money to fix. I have to beat them. I have to—

  Artemis slams into me from behind, sending me flying into one of the fridges. The metal dents. I don’t. I pick up one of the rolling stainless steel counters and throw it at her, knocking her down. I’m almost to the door. She grabs my foot and tugs, tripping me and climbing onto me to hold me down. I flip onto my back and kick her off. The door is locked, so I break the handle and shoulder it open, the wood splintering and my shoulder screaming in agony.

  It’s almost pitch-black. We never bothered wiring this part of the castle, for obvious reasons. I sprint down the damp stone passageway, my heart in my throat. I just got him back. No one gets to take him away from me.

  The hallway curves ahead of me, and I can see dim light. Pelly yelps, and I push for another burst of speed. But my foot catches on a stray jumble of stones. I go down hard. It’s enough time for Artemis to catch up to me. She jumps on me, trying to pin me. I throw her off and scramble to my feet. Turning the corner so fast I skid and nearly fall again, I’m greeted with a wide circle of a crumbling room, half the floor covered in rubble. Moonlight streaks in from the gaping holes twelve feet up the wall. One of the holes reveals a vampire scrambling up a rope, Leo following. Honora is standing at the top. She takes Leo’s hand to help him out—he’s climbing out of his own free will—and then they disappear out of my sight.

  I run and leap for the hole, but Artemis grabs my foot, interrupting my trajectory. I slam into the wall instead, falling on her.

  She rolls so she’s on top, pinning my arm behind me. “You never took the real Watcher lessons. They were all about acceptable sacrifices. Demons are always acceptable sacrifices. Even Leo knows that.”

  I slam my elbow up and back, catching her on the jaw. She falls off me, and I jump to my feet. “He’s not a demon! He’s one of us!”

  “But it was okay to hurt Honora? She’s one of us too!”

  “She chose to leave!”

  “So did he! So did I, for that matter! Are you going to break my arm?”

  We stand across from each other, chests heaving.

  She rubs her jaw. “I’m making the hard decisions. The ones you never could. You have to trust me.”

  “How can I?”

  “Because I’m your sister. I’ve always protected you.” Artemis sounds hurt. After everything she’s done, she still expects me to trust her? To let her do these terrible things for terrible people? She lured me out of the castle and set vampires on me. She brought hellhounds and vampires into my home. Against people I love.

  Leo wanted so desperately to trust his mother that he kept the truth from all of us, and Bradford Smythe paid the ultimate price. I nearly did too.

  I don’t trust Artemis. I won’t let myself.

  My posture betrays my intentions as I lean toward the hole to go after Leo. Artemis leaps at me. I catch her and throw her against the wall. I spin with the motion, fist raised, and punch as hard as I can. She dodges, barely, and my blow goes against—and into—the crumbling tower wall. It rumbles and cracks.

  Artemis and I share one wide-eyed look. I throw her out of the way before half the wall comes down on top of me.

  25

  BUFFY STANDS ON THE SHORE. I try to reach her. I need to reach her, to talk to her, to get her help. But every time I get close, a roaring wave of darkness grabs ahold of me and drags me backward. Drags me under. I can’t breathe, and I can’t move.

  I crawl. I’m almost to her. She stands like a beacon of light, her blond hair brilliant and shining.

  “Some things you can’t fight,” she says, crouching low and fixing her sad green eyes on me. “Some things you have to just survive.”

  I reach for her. She extends her hand, but the darkness sinks its claws deep into me and pulls me under.

  * * *

  Something nudges insistently at my shoulder, which in turn makes my shoulder scream in pain. I crack my eyes open, but I can’t see anything.

  I also can’t breathe.

  Panic surges through me, and I push out with all my might, dislodging the stone and bricks that blanketed me. They tumble down, a small avalanche freed by my movement. I roll away, pretty sure I’m bleeding in more than one place and bruised in every single place possible. But nothing’s broken that I can tell, and Artemis’s coat saved a lot of my skin.

  Pelly nudges me again, putting its arm out and making a low chirping noise.

  “It’s okay, Pelly. I’ll heal fast. You keep your skin for yourself.” I push to standing, shaking off the dust and bits of stone still clinging to me.

  And then everything crashes back down on me in a rush of memory. Leo, climbing out. Artemis, fighting me. Artemis, who is gone, leaving me buried in the rubble.

  I sag against the nearest intact wall. Because as much as that hurts, it hurts more that it was my punch that brought down the wall. My punch that was aimed at Artemis. If she hadn’t dodged …

  Gods. What happened to us? What happened to me? I could have killed her. If I don’t know her anymore, I know myself even less.

  I limp out of the tower section, broken more than physically. I don’t know how much time has passed. I could run out and see if I can catch them before they escape with Leo, but—

  I miss a step, nearly falling. Nope. I could not run out. Not right now, at least. The kitchen is empty, but the Great Hall isn’t. My mother’s still unconscious, but she’s been dragged in front of the door to the gym. Jade is standing guard over both my mother and the door, bedraggled and bruised and armed to the teeth. She lifts a sword, watching behind me for enemies.

  “No one gets Doug!” she shouts.

  “No one was trying to.” I kneel heavily next to my mother and check her pulse. It’s steady. No telling how long it will take her to wake up, but she will, at least. I remember the tranquilized hellhound, but a wicked knife at Jade’s side is thick with black blood. She made sure it wasn’t a threat anymore. Good for her.

  “Call Tsip.” I lean against the wall next to my mother. “It’s over. We lost.”

  “But Doug—”

  “Leo.” His name coats my tongue like the dust of the tower; I almost choke on it. “It was Leo they wanted all along. And they got him.”

  “Oh.” Jade has the grace to sound sorry. She knocks twice on the door before pulling out the walkie-talkie and announcing the all clear. Cillian and Rhys will have a walkie-talkie, as will Ruth Zabuto and Imogen in the library and Jessi in the Littles suite.

  Tsip pops up in the middle of the hall. She looks around eagerly, but there are no enemies with available eyeballs. Her shoulders deflate, and she scowls. “Is it over?”

  “Yeah.” It’s over. It’s all over. Everything. Sanctuary. Me. Because if I couldn’t protect Leo, and I couldn’t stop myself from almost killing my own sister, how can I claim to protect anyone? I’m not a Watcher. I’m not a Slayer.

  I’m a failure.

  I’m a monster.

  All that extra demon in me has nothing to say now. It won. There’s no reason for it to gloat or try to take over. It already has me.

  “What should we do?” Jade asks. The sound of boards being pried free from the door behind us is the only noise in the cavernous Great Hall. It’ll take Doug forever to get out. Not that it matters. There’s no rush. We have no plan. No way of making one. And I’m certainly not going to try.

  Leo is gone. Artemis is lost to me. Sean and Honora and their zealots won.

  “Nina?” Imoge
n rushes into the Great Hall. I stand so fast I almost fall over. She’s covered in blood and shaking.

  “Where are you hurt?” I look for a wound, but I can’t find one.

  “It’s not—it’s not my …” She takes a deep breath. “Ruth is dead. It was Artemis.”

  “No.” No. I run past Imogen, careening off walls, my balance not quite back yet and my speed too much for my battered body. I get to the library to find the door ajar. That crack of light spilling from inside slices me open. I push the door, not wanting to see. Needing to see.

  Ruth is splayed on the floor. Her plaid skirt has ridden up, revealing baggy nylon panty hose, and I want to sob at how much I know she’d hate that I saw that. Instead of her favorite pair of fake pearls, her throat wears a jagged red line, the dark pool beneath her rippling.

  Rippling. Which means there’s still blood flowing into it. Which means Ruth’s heart is still beating. “Pelly!” I scream. “Pelly!”

  Pelly races in behind me. It doesn’t even pause. It crouches next to Ruth and pulls off a strip of skin from its forearm, the skin thin and translucent. It puts it over the slit in Ruth’s throat, stopping the blood.

  I kneel in the pool, feeling it soak into my pants. I put my fingers against Ruth’s repaired throat, hoping, praying. Her own skin is papery thin, Pelly’s replacement smooth. But there’s no pulse. No pulse. The darkness inside me wells, threatening to swallow everything, but then, there! A flutter. The tiniest brush of life. Ruth isn’t dead.

  “Rhys is O-negative!” I shout, not knowing who I’m shouting to.

  Jade answers. She followed me. “I’m on it. I’ll get him and a stretcher.” I hear her sprinting away down the corridor. There’s nothing I can do for Ruth until I have Rhys and some supplies.

  “Tsip!” I scream.

  She pops up next to me. “Yes?”

  “Go check on Jessi and the Littles and the other Slayers. Come back immediately and tell me they’re okay.” They have to be okay.