“So you came to tell us to come home?” Chad shook his head. “Not happening.”
“Nope.” He patted my brother’s back, and that was when his own backpack became visible.
Wait. Was he…? “Are you proposing to come?”
“Well, a large portion of my family is here. It only makes sense I’d join in. I’d have to be an idiot at this point to not know what you’re doing. I’m going to help.”
This was bullshit. My father hadn’t done a mission like this in at least five years. There was something else going on.
“I’m not family,” Deacon rolled his eyes.
“Oh, now, Deacon, you know we think of you as family.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Until recently, he had detested Deacon. But, okay. Fine. Now maybe we were all family.
My father wasn’t done. “At least as much as Glen here is.”
Chad groaned, and a muscle ticked in Glen’s jaw. I really didn’t know how much longer my brother-in-law was going to put up with this crap.
“Get over it, Dad. You have a grandson from him. And another on the way. You should be kissing his ass for putting up with Tia at all.”
My father totally ignored me. “Where is Rachel?”
“Not coming.” Chad rocked back on his feet. “She’s pregnant. I managed to talk her into staying home.”
Silence fell over the group, and then seconds later, we exploded into noise. The whole time we were on the hill, he’d not said a word. Everyone patted him on the back, and my father hugged Chad like he’d single handedly saved the entire universe. I couldn’t help my grin. Chad was going to be a daddy. The son of a bitch was going to have girls. I knew it.
I pulled him into a hug. “You should go home. You too, Dad. And Glen. And you Deacon. You all have families.”
Glen shook his head. “You’re our family. When are you going to get that? I can’t go home to my wife and tell her I didn’t do everything to help her brother. So let’s get moving. Where do we get to meet this former Vampire?”
That was the thing. So far, she’d only found me. Not the other way around. “I don’t know. She’s made herself known to me twice. Apparently, saved my life three times I didn’t know about. But if we head in the direction where I’ve encountered her, perhaps we’ll have better luck.”
We’d stepped into her zone. This was her world, and if she didn’t want to deal with us, we’d never find her. The trick was going to be to make her think she did. I side-eyed my father. This was going to be hard as hell.
“I don’t suppose you’d go home, Dad.” It wasn’t a question.
He raised his eyebrows. “Don’t you want to spend time with the old man, Micah?”
“I can’t imagine you want to spend time with me.” I shook my head. “Never mind. Not the time or place.” The last thing that was going to make Brynna come out was a bickering Lyons family.
If it were me out there in the dark, watching, I’d give us a wide berth and not get anywhere near this mess.
That was when it dawned on me. The fluorescent lights weren’t flashing. Someone had changed them. I stared up at the solid light for a second, knowing everyone waited on me, watching.
“Micah?” Deacon wanted my attention. “You okay?”
“Who me?” I smirked at him. “I’m always okay.”
Or at least I pretended to be.
We finally located the room where I’d encountered the scientists bent on bringing back Icahn. It was still a mess, but something had changed. A panel on the floor was open. That was different. Someone had been in here since I left.
Squatting, I examined the opening. “This wasn’t visible before.”
“Icahn and his underground stuff.” My father shook his head. “Just when you think you’ve gotten as low as you can, you find another layer.”
Truth. “We don’t know if this is Icahn. Any of the scientists could have made this mess.”
“They’re all scum.” Glen scooted over, sticking his head in the hole. “They’ve got a ton of equipment in here. Score. I’m going down.”
My brother-in-law leaped into the hole without giving it another look. I sighed. Glen got so excited by electronics. We had so little of it, and tech had been his passion in the Before Time. I hoped it wasn’t all booby-trapped and I wouldn’t need to yank him out of there. Or, worse, he died and then I’d have to explain to my loose cannon sister why I didn’t watch Glen better.
We really did all obsess about having to deal with Tia.
Chad and I made eye contact then he called down. “Are you okay?”
“Yep.”
My father shook his head. “Amazing you have all survived this long. You’re supposed to be the elite Warriors. You simply jump into holes?”
“Pretty much.” Chad shrugged. “Holes. Battles. Death traps. We jump. A lot.”
I rolled my eyes. Chad never jumped into anything without thinking about it first. He was pissed at my father, and this was how he was dealing with it. I didn’t like to be the cause of friction in the family, at least not for other people.
I patted Chad on the back. “You do, Big Brother, but you’re super Warrior. I’m probably hanging back, not doing much.”
He furrowed his brow. “Hardly. You…”
I didn’t let him finish. I followed Glen. Deacon, who had been pretty quiet, swore. “Damn it, Micah.”
I looked around. Glen was bent over some old computers. “These are floppy disks. Remember these?”
I shook my head. “Not really.”
“Yeah, they were old even back then. How long was all of this being plotted?”
Too long. “And how did we end up in the middle of it? We were a bunch of kids from New Jersey.”
Glen raised his head to smirk at me. “I was from Rockland County in New York. I’d only lived near you guys in Jersey for a year and a half.”
That was right. He’d met Tia that year in high school. She’d pretty much chased him tirelessly while Chad and I ran point, trying to stop her from going too far. “How did they get you? I mean, they came for us in the middle of the night. Dragged us out of bed. Dad even fired his gun.”
“I… I was there with Tia.”
I gaped at him. “You were in her bedroom? Never mind. Don’t tell me.” They were married. They had a baby. This shouldn’t make me feel like I wanted to beat him to death.
“They found me there and then went and got my parents. It’s all so… surreal to even think about.”
These were not memories I liked to visit. I strode over to the shelves. There were books and photo albums. I pulled one out and flipped through it. They were pictures of Vampires. In all states of development. Vamps looked downright human when they were first changed, and then their features got more and more distorted, more monster-like.
Had Brynna done the same?
Did she look more Vampire or human now?
How did it work?
There was an oomph as Chad jumped down to join us. He looked around. “Oh cool. Are those floppy disks? How retro.”
Of course he remembered them. I rolled my eyes. One of the Vampires in the picture clawed at her own face. What was wrong with her? These poor photographed people. I swallowed. That was right. They were people. Like Brynna was a person.
And yet, we had to kill them because they would kill us.
How did any of this make any sense?
Deacon jumped down, followed by my father. I looked up at the ceiling. “You realize not one of us considered how we were getting up from here. I mean. It’s not like there’s a ladder.”
My dad sighed. “That’s what comes from just jumping.”
“You leaped without looking, too.” Deacon patted him on the back.
Personally, I was done with the 'leaping before we looked' conversation and the underlying things we weren’t saying. The possible metaphor of the whole dang thing was an oversimplification anyway.
“Someone got down here and left again. That’s why i
t was opened. They got out some other way.” Or they were still down here. I wasn’t lost in my memories, so I doubted it was Brynna. I turned around, searching the possibilities. “Glen, leave that here. We can come back for it another time.”
He grimaced but set aside the box of parts. Regret filled my stomach. He really loved to get ahold of items he could use to create basic technology these days.
“Seriously, we’ll come back.” I hated disappointing people, and damn, why were they listening to me anyway? I was never in charge. When had this happened? Even my father looked at me for direction. “Everyone touch the walls. Look for hidden levers or moveable panels—some way whoever came down here could exit.”
I hoped I was right. If that didn’t happen, I was going to look even dumber than I usually did. Everyone started touching the walls, and ultimately, it was me who found the secret door. The wall gave with a click, illuminating another hallway. I sighed. All this time, there had been a whole other level beneath me, and I’d no idea.
Glen smiled broadly. “How cool.”
He hadn’t been doing this for weeks. “So much for my map.”
“The reality is you were never going to make a map.” My dad pushed past me toward the hall. “You’d have gotten bored with it.”
Chad followed him out. “He hadn’t yet.”
I grabbed Chad’s arm. “Taking my side has always been pointless.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop doing it when you’re right. He’s not the only stubborn member of the family. You’ve never been stubborn, which is why you can’t win with him. I get him completely.”
What the hell? I wasn’t stubborn? I ended up walking behind Glen and next to Deacon down the new hallway. I was pretty darned stubborn. Wasn’t I?
“Not there,” a voice called out into the darkness, stopping us all in our tracks. I knew the low yet feminine sound well by now. It was Brynna. She stepped out in front of my dad, all elegant movement. Memory shoved at me.
I was ten years old and playing baseball. I’d been a big star that season. I could hit, and when I did, the ball left the field. I was Homerun Micah. Except when my father was there. Every time I swung, I missed. I could never turn around to see him. I knew the look on his face…
Utter disappointment.
I swung. I missed. Tears pressed in my eyes, and I shoved them back. Lyons didn’t cry.
Almost everyone around me groaned, Chad doubling over to hold his knees. Yes, it hurt the first time. It really did. Deacon seemed to be okay, too. He shook his head. “Such an odd sensation. I forgot all about tripping down those stairs.”
“I’m sorry.” She looked away. “If I could make it otherwise, I would.”
I pushed past the others to get closer to her. “Why does it happen?”
“You’d have to ask Margot. I simply live with the knowledge that it does.” She pointed behind her. “In a minute, you’ll all get your Warrior Vampire signal. A room full. Hungry and needing their drugs. Makes them more violent. You don’t want to go there.”
My father was at my side. “You must be Brynna.”
“I must be.” She didn’t smile at him, and her always hard to read face showed annoyance for a second. “You must be Patrick Lyons. Leader of Genesis. Father of five.”
His mouth fell open. “You know me?”
“I know lots of things.” Her gaze moved past me to Chad behind me. “Good to see you again, Chad. Deacon. Glen, this is a first time.”
Chad rocked back on his heels. “When did we see each other before?”
“When you were a Vampire. Before you died. And yet you are here. Cloned. Welcome back?”
He shook his head. “I don’t have any memories of what you’re talking about. I don’t remember dying. I don’t remember being cloned. I feel as though… I’ve always been.”
She didn’t have a response, so maybe there wasn’t one to make.
Deacon looked between them. “And she knew me, too, when I was Vampire bait.”
A sudden memory hit me, but this time it wasn’t my own. A little boy, light brown hair, ran down a hallway screaming at the top of his lungs. Vampires watched. He skidded past them, searching for his parents and what was left in his wake was overwhelming sadness.
The emotion almost brought me to my knees. I gasped and everyone looked at me. The little boy was… Deacon.
I jolted, looking around. Had no one else seen the horror but me? I’d experienced Deacon’s terror alone. My pulse was in my ears, and my gaze fell on Brynna. Her eyes were huge.
“Did you see that, Micah?” Her voice was barely a whisper. “How is that happening? Why is that happening? You shouldn’t be in my head.”
My father had clearly had enough. “Brynna, we need to speak to you.”
She sucked in a breath, her expression steeling, unreadable. “I can’t imagine what we’d say to one another.”
I knew in my gut she was about to run. “Don’t go.” I clasped her arm. Her skin was soft, like silk, and for a second, we both stared at where I held her. I hoped I wasn’t bruising her. I swallowed. “Please.”
She was quiet. “Okay, Micah. I won’t.”
That was good. The question remained, however, about what the hell I would say next.
Chapter 4
“Brynna,” I said her name again, even as I held onto her arm. “We need your help with our Isaac Icahn problem.”
She sucked in her breath. “They’re re-cloning him.”
“Yes. We only destroyed the cloning machines we knew about. They obviously have more.”
Brynna sighed. “They have hundreds of them, at least. And those are just the ones I’ve seen. You aren’t destroying all of them. I’m going to suggest you don’t even try.”
“Young lady,” my father tried to cut in.
I spoke before he could finish. Nothing that Dad began with young lady ended well. “Will you help us?”
I waited for the what’s in it for me. I knew she would have to ask. It was how the world worked. What’s in it for me? She visibly swallowed, then said, “Okay. But I have one request.”
Here it came. What did she want? She had us by the balls. We’d give it to her. My father wouldn’t even object. “What’s that?”
“Don’t ever call me a monster again. Please.”
My heart fell to my stomach. Guilt pressed on my shoulders and threatened to take me to the ground. I’d really hurt her. “I would never have done it again anyway.”
Was it possible to have a moment in front of others?
It was like she was the only other in the universe and we were alone in a dark quiet room, not down the hall from Vampires with my best friend and family watching us.
She sucked in a breath. “Even when you think it.”
“I won’t think it.” I meant it. I said it, and I meant it. Damn it.
“You will.” Her voice shook. “Even when you do. Please don’t say it.”
I cupped her face in my palms and locked gazes with her. “I won’t.”
She nodded. “Thank you, Micah. Yes, I’ll help you.”
“Thank you, Brynna.”
The world pounded back at us. I was suddenly keenly aware of everyone else in the room breathing. I dropped my hands from her face then stepped back. My breathing was shallow, and my heart beat too fast. Fuck. What was the matter with me?
She spoke again, which was good because I wasn’t sure I could. “We will have to go past the Vampires to get to where you need to be.”
My father answered her. “We’ll kill them. That’s what we do.”
I had to ask. “Is that going to be a problem?” She’d been a Vampire. She had… unusual abilities. Was she going to try and stop us?
Brynna withdrew a step. “Honestly? For them it will be a relief.” Her voice broke. “An escape from all of the memory. All of the pain. All of the blood. Please try to be quick and kind. I’ll wait for you. On the other side of the room. You won’t see me till it’s over.”
With my father leading, we headed toward the fight, but I only had eyes for Brynna. One second she was there, the next a blur of movement as she vanished. I sighed. How was I supposed to keep track of her when she moved so swiftly?
Chad grabbed my arm. “I thought you weren’t going to do what Dad told you to do.”
I didn’t follow him. “I’m not.”
“Then what was that?”
Deacon patted him on the back. “Chad filled me in on what your dad wanted. So, I’m in the loop here.” They’d discussed it? “Boy here just fell hard. Like over a cliff. He doesn’t even know it yet.”
A range of emotions passed over Chad’s expression, ending with him scrunching up his face. “Fuck. You fell for the…”
I put my hand over his mouth. I didn’t know what kind of hearing Brynna had. And, in any case, I wasn’t at all sure that what he was about to say was true. “Not now. Later.”
Way later. When I could… think.
Chad nodded, and I dropped my hand. Whatever my brother was going to say, he’d keep to himself now. At least until a more appropriate time. In the meantime, I needed my heartrate to calm down a little bit. I was going to fight angry Vampires. I couldn’t do it this… tense.
There was no time for me to pull my shit together. Totally oblivious to all of this, Glen pulled open the door, unleashing the raving masses onto us. My Vampire alert hit me hard. Sometimes I had to fight whether I was ready or not.
And this was a lot more understandable than the woman I’d promised to never refer to as a monster again.
I staked my last Vampire and jumped left, prepared to take on more. But they were all gone. Glen threw up in the corner. He puked after battle. Always did. Every time. We’d all gotten used to it by now. At least he was in the corner. One time, he’d puked on my shoes.
Chad bounced from foot to foot. He wasn’t winded and neither was I. Deacon leaned against the wall. My father spun in a circle, his eyes were wide. He’d performed, but it had been a while since he’d had to engage in straight combat.
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