We drive for a long time, our headlights the only light in the pitch blackness of three am. The littler kids are either snoozing or fighting sleep, trying to keep their eyes pried open, not wanting to miss out on anything. Everyone else seems to be talking in hushed voices:
“I think we finally outran them.”
“Where are we going to go? Polaris was home.”
“It’ll be okay. Diesel probably has a plan—you know how she is.”
“I’m scared.”
Two seats back, MaXXX sits pressed against the window, his head resting against the glass. His face is blank, an empty canvas, but he looks so…lonely. And nervous. Polaris was his home too, budding rock star status or not. It was where he was accepted for being a freak, just like everyone else on this bus. I have the urge to reach out to him, but I stuff it back down and curl up in Iofiel’s lap.
I sleep for what only feels like three minutes before I’m awake again. The bus lurches, gives a groan, and dies. Kids begin to murmur frantically to one another. I peer out the window to find we’re on an empty road with no other cars, lined with forests on either side of the road. No headlights burn tracks down the highway.
Diesel stands up, a concerned look flitting across her features. “Stay on the bus. I’m gonna go take a look under the hood,” she says, then cranks the door open and heads down the steps. The bus is filled with a dreadful silence, people huddled against one another. The little kids haven’t woken up, thankfully, else we’d probably have crying on our hands.
She’s out there for a long time.
“This isn’t good.” Fallon stands up. “Diesel can fix anything. Stay here.”
As the words leave her lips, a haunting howl rises up, fluttering through the windows on the humid summer air. Iofiel’s grip on my body tightens, clamping me so hard to his chest that it’s suddenly hard to breathe. Someone whimpers and three more voices join the hound’s song.
“They’re coming.” His voice is barely a whisper in my ear and fear spikes my pulse.
We’re sitting ducks on a dead bus. We could take off on foot, but how far could we really run before the Unseelie monsters catch up? Before they rip into us like meat bags and drag us, bleeding and screaming, back to their queen? My body quivers, my stomach feeling like its inside out and dripping acids all over the floor.
I blink back the hot burn of tears. “We have to do something.” As much as I want to stay curled up in Iofiel’s arms where I’m safe and loved, I know better: We have to face this Armageddon. I stand up and walk on wobbly legs to the front of the bus. I stick two fingers in my mouth and whistle, the shrill cutting through the silence like a knife. Heads snap up and everyone’s looking at me.
“The cyberhounds are coming.” As I say it, I stare at MaXXX. He’s watching me with a look of dread on his face, his face white like freshly fallen snow. “We can’t just sit here and wait to die. We have to go out there. We have to make a stand, give Diesel time to fix the bus.” Even as I speak the words, I know it’s not going to happen. This is our last stand. “We have to fight. We’re not cowards, we’re Mithos.”
At this, people rise to their feet, their fists pumping in the air. I feel a grin spread across my face, reckless like the beat of my heart’s wild drummer. “A few of us have to stay in the bus and take care of the kids who can’t fight. Gale.” I look to the eldest Mithos to find he’s unruffled. Prepared for anything. “Can you ward the bus? Protect everyone who stays behind?”
“Of course, Lucy,” he says and I’m a little surprised that he knows my name. “Go kick some cyborg ass.”
As soon as our chosen fighters are off the bus, the wards go up in a shimmer of magic. Diesel’s scrabbling around under the hood, muttering to herself, and Fallon is pacing the ground behind her. They both look up as the bus doors slam closed, sealing us out and everyone else in.
“They’re coming,” Iofiel says, his voice quiet and dark, and then his form ripples and he stands on four legs instead of two. He lifts his head, scenting the air, and lets out a growl. Howls rise up, barks and bays that send chills trembling down my spine. The hair on the back of my neck spikes up.
I look at Caddie. Her lips are curved into a devilish smirk, eyes flashing with fire. “Always said if I’m going down, might as well go down fighting.”
I laugh, but there’s no humor to be heard. “Diesel, try and get the bus running again. Everyone else?” I gaze around to the kids surrounding me and swallow back the lump in my throat. This is it. “Get ready.” We gather around the back of the bus, using our bodies as a living, breathing shield.
As the first hound glides out of the forest, I know it’s Lylan in the way that makes my gut feel like it’s filled with sharp rocks. His cyborg eye glows a menacing red in the darkness and he lifts his lips in a show of jagged teeth. Iofiel’s at my leg, his hackles ridged with the warning uttered from his throat. I place my palm against his big head, feeling the sleek warmth pouring off of him, and press my eyes shut in a quick prayer.
Please, God, if you have any semblance of mercy at all…
And all hell breaks loose.
Chapter 29:
Lucy
The sounds of war rise up, crashing through the night silence like a siren’s wail. Energy sizzles through the air, slamming into meaty hound bodies, toppling our enemies over. Fallon yells as she picks up one cyberhound and uses him like a bowling ball, scattering the hound pins across the street.
But as powerful as we are, the hounds are resilient, stubborn, blood thirsty. We knock them down and they just get back up again. It’s like they don’t even register the pain as Caddie burns their flesh with her fire. They just grin and bear down on us.
And we’re weakening. Fast. They’ve pushed us up against the back of the bus. Several kids have dropped back, trying to recoup their energy. Trying to make it so that we win.
Power bursts through my hands in a brilliant display of bright white, ramming into one hound until his pelt is bloodied. His eyes are furious, but at the same time…empty. They only know one thing, and that is to obey their master. Their queen.
Iofiel snarls, sinking teeth into the side of Lylan’s neck. The Alpha does his best to toss him off. They’re both fighting valiantly, but I know it’s personal now.
My body begins to tremble with the amount of soul I’ve given up. I’m shaking like a leaf, my knees rubbery and threatening to buckle. My bones ache. The Need that’s been silent for so long starts to rear up, baring its teeth to the world. I stumble as the cyberhound I’m fighting rams into me. I barely miss a swipe of heavy claws. Fear crawls up my chest like a giant spider. What do I do now?
But the hound doesn’t give me a chance to think. Whipping his head around, he bites me, his fangs diving into my wrist and I cry out as blood gushes from the wound. I don’t think—I can’t even begin to think—I just react: I clamp both my hands over his muzzle, driving his teeth together, and the Need lures his soul into my palms.
He tastes different, wild, feral under my skin. His magic spins around me, weaving a web of energy that settles and pools at my core. The hound’s eyes widen with shock as I stare down at him. Heat burns through me, a fiery pit of Hell, and he lets out a pitiful whimper. I look into his canine eye, the iris a brilliant green, darkening with each ounce of power that I take.
They widen for a moment, then the spark of life, however dark or wrong it might’ve been, winks out. The hound sinks lifelessly to the ground and I drop him. I can feel his energy reverberating throughout my body. I’m horrified and back away from the cyborg corpse just in time to hear Iofiel scream.
Blood splatters the ground as Lylan rips at him, flipping him deftly and pinning him to the ground. Iofiel kicks with his hind legs into the gut of the bigger hound, but the beast is too fast. All I can see are the bone-white fangs sinking into Iofiel’s throat, killing my boyfriend.
Without thinking, thanking God for giving me the boost, I fling a blast of power at Lylan. It collides with his bod
y and he spins, spiraling out of reach. Iofiel scrambles to his feet, albeit sluggishly, and flees behind our faltering line of defense.
Caddie’s shaking violently, as are several of the other kids. She looks to me, her dark eyes wounded and spent, and then doubles over and retches up bile onto the cement. She’s over-exerted herself. “Get back!” I yell, but she shakes her head. God, she’s going to kill herself.
“We can’t keep this up!” Lake’s disembodied voice cries. Then he fizzles and becomes visible again just in time for a hound to maul him. He doesn’t have the chance to yell out. Caddie and Josh scream for him and try and pry the beast off their friend.
I can’t stop this madness.
The hounds are winning.
No one else can recharge like I can. They’re using everything they have inside of them, and it’s not enough. I’m the only one who can take soul and use it as a power source when I grow weak.
I’m their last hope and there isn’t enough of me to go around.
My heart thumps steady in my chest.
I’ll give it my best shot, even if I have to drain every last cyberhound to protect them.
I lunge back into battle, each attack more furious than the last. The hounds rebel with snapping fangs and even though I’m strong, my Need sated, my body is breaking down. I’m bleeding from gashes and bites and with each crimson drip that hits the pavement, I start to fail.
I reach out and snag a hound’s leg, but he’s faster. He twists around and clamps his jaws around my arm, biting down with enough force that my bones grind together and I scream, half in fury and half in pain, as I drain him.
Then from behind me, there’s a blinding white light, like something descended from Heaven. The hounds recoil as energy bursts forth, slamming past me and ripping the hound from my grip. Shrieks of pain bolt through the air, but I can’t keep my eyes open: I’m falling, down, down, down into the blackness around me.
I’m sorry…
***
The first thing I see when I open my eyes is Iofiel. Worry lines stretch across his brow, but when our gazes lock, all the tension seems to flood out of his body. He sags against the bed, gripping my hands in his so tightly that his knuckles bleed white. “I thought I’d lost you.”
It all floods back to me in a rush of twisted memories: The Mithos’ last stand, protecting the kids on the bus; the cyberhounds’ ruthless attack; blood slicking my skin as I tried to stay upright and stable. I glance down at my arms and see that the bites and gashes are gone. My skin is perfectly pale once more, without the flaw of scars. “Am I dead?”
Iofiel chuckles and shakes his head. “You’ve been unconscious for a little while. Faela put you in a coma so you could recover fully, without emotional trauma. Lucy, you really outdid yourself. You were…”
Foolish? Insane?
“Striking. A warrior goddess, taking down hounds left and right.” A smile graces his lips. “You were willing to die to protect us…”
I rub my face with both of my hands, then push a couple strands of hair behind my ears so they quit tickling me. I look away from Iofiel to take in the surrounding room, done in warm browns and golds, like a beautiful autumn forest is right in the room with us. Light filters in through gauzy curtains and leaves streaks of sunlight across the floorboards.
I remembered the burst of white light coming from behind, the way the hounds had recoiled…
“Where are we?”
“We were saved by Faeries,” Iofiel says and it’s as if he can’t believe it himself.
“Not just any Faeries.” Out of the corner of my eye, there’s a glimmer and then a woman with a head of violet ringlets steps into the room, appearing out of thin air. She’s petite, barely five feet tall. Half of her face is obscured by a porcelain masque, painted with shiny silver and golden leaves. Her eyes are more brilliant than polished amethyst and as she looks at me, it’s like I can’t breathe. I’m not into girls, but she has to be the prettiest woman in the world.
Then she smiles and holds out a delicate hand and the spell is broken. Her fingers are soft as moth wings as I touch her hand. “I am Faela, queen of the Seelie Court. I welcome you home, to Omega City, little Souljacker. And just in time, too.”
I blink. Her words are lost on me. Are Seelie somehow better than Unseelie? “I don’t understand.”
“Your powers are unique, highly needed by our people in this dark time. Not many have been created and you are necessary to fulfill the prophecy.” Her pale eyes are glittery with excitement, her hands clasping together in front of her.
“Created?”
“You are Mithos.” She nods. “Perhaps I should start at the beginning.”
“No, ya think?”
She waves a hand and an ornate chair appears beside her. Instead of sitting down gracefully, however, the woman swings the chair around and sits on it backwards, her arms braced over the high-arched back. She smiles.
“Once, a long time ago, all Faeries were Seelie. We lived peacefully together in our clan, in our kingdom weaved from spells and enchantments. Our magic was as pure as the sunlight that dapples the forest floors. I can’t tell you that we were all “good”, in the sense of the word, but we surely weren’t evil.
“I was princess to the Seelie Court, ready to inherit the throne upon choosing a mate. My mother became impatient with my hesitation to choose a king…but I wasn’t swayed by any of my suitors. And then she appeared.”
Faela goes quiet for a moment, one fingertip gently stroking the porcelain of her china-doll masque. “Vashna. She was of a lower-class family, but it didn’t matter. She was witty and sharp-tongued and so darkly seductive. The moment our eyes met, my heart sang for her.”
“We fit together perfectly, our lives meshing. I was gold like the sun, Vashna silver like the moon. I brought her back to the castle with me. Mother tried to fight it, me loving another woman, but my heart had made the decision for me. We made our announcement and, much to the chagrin of my people, I was crowned Queen of the Seelie, as was Vashna. My lover, my mate. Goddess, I loved her.
“When a rogue came to us, appealing to be let back into the kingdom, I’ll admit our decision was…swayed by her beauty. She was young and where Vashna was dark, Hime was pale and angelic. Her parents had committed their crime against the kingdom before Hime was ever conceived. She was born a rogue, but craved the companionship that the other Faeries could offer. And Vashna and I both wanted her: We shared everything else, why not a consort? Hime showed an interest. Things went well. For awhile.
“But she wasn’t who she made herself out to be. Hime fed us lies with her cunning wit; she made me believe, if only for a little while, that Vashna was trying to overturn the throne, that she didn’t truly love me, and that she was out to get me. She told Vashna similar tales about me—she told me of a propechied girl who would come between us in the end. Vashna stopped trusting me and the rift between us grew. She broke our mate-ship and it nearly tore my heart from my chest.
“Then I caught Hime in a lie—I got the truth from her, slowly but surely. She turned out to be an assassin, hand-picked to destroy the royal house. She’d decided that it would be more interesting to let us kill each other. After receiving her sentence—to have her magic stripped from her very core, a torturous process to the Fae—Hime then took her own life. In the end, she was the girl of prophecy…
“I tried to fix her wrongs. I pleaded with Vashna to see the truth, but by then…” Faela shakes her head, a hand pressed to her mouth, words slipping between her fingers. “She was too far gone. Vashna broke away from the Seelie, to form her own court of dark and sinful followers, and the Unseelie were born. It only got worse from there.
“The two courts fought for control, the Fae in a state of disarray. Vashna hated me, but I still loved her…and love was my downfall. After one final battle, the Seelie were broken, my people scattered, half of them killed. I nearly died myself and when I did come around, I knew I could never come back as queen o
f the Seelie Court, so long as Vashna had the power to destroy us. I let myself be believed as dead, hoping it would end her reign of terror.”
“But Vashna wasn’t happy just beating us. She was power hungry and began to assert her dominion over the humans. The Unseelie Court became a government; she created cyberhounds as the eagle-eye sentries of each city, and sent Wraiths to collect energy despite the fact that it killed humans. They are her toys, after all…nothing more.
“In hiding, I began to change myself, becoming unrecognizable to even my own people. It was a slow, painful process that weakened me terribly. I managed to gather the good Fae I could find, the ones who would take my secret to their graves, and together we began to work. I built Omega City and we created the Mithos—a strain of super humans, a blend of Faerie magic and mortality. I swapped Mithos babies out for humans, little changelings to hide my creations from prying eyes. Protecting them from Vashna’s wrath. They began to grow, to thrive. The first generation came back to me and I found that a second generation was developing without my help.
“But it wasn’t flawless—my Mithos would slip up and use their newfound powers and it alerted Vashna to our ploy too soon. She began to send her cyberhounds after them—after you—to capture and use them against me, an army of mind-wiped Mithos with no free will…
“And now it’s rumored that Vashna has a super warrior of her own, a Souljacker who can absorb the Wraiths’ gathered energy—a single man who can destroy my people in one fell swoop. A war is on the horizon, the final showdown between good and evil. But I can’t do it without you.”
I stare at her, in shock and a little petrified. No matter what she thinks or what she saw, I’m no warrior. I was only protecting myself and my friends. “But—”
“Surely you’ve realized that your powers are monumental compared to the other Mithos’. You have the innate ability to absorb energy, to pull it straight from your enemies and use it against them. You’re powerful—and I need you on my side. I would give you anything you desired in return for your aid, Lucy.” Her eyes are shiny once more. She perches on the edge of the chair, as if she can’t contain herself.
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