by LeAnn Mason
“C’mon. Let's get her secured in a cell for the night. We'll interview her in the morning. Right now, Nat, you need to get your arm looked at. Really you should have been gone already,” Dev was back to his calm and rational self, past the emotional barriers that had kept him from seeing Cara as a threat though I guessed he was right. Cara hadn't done any of this. Ember had. I cringed at the amount of blood staining his face and shirt. There were even spots on his jeans. That had been some hit.
“How do you know she'll stay down?” I jutted my chin at the open van.
“Juiced her with the prod high enough to take down a horse,” Devlin said. “I'll stay with her at lockup, make sure nothing goes awry. Go get your arm looked at. Hopefully, we'll all get a little shut-eye, then we'll pick up bright and early. If we’re lucky, get more formal answers.”
He sounded so detached, but I knew the toll this was taking. He'd really liked Cara, liked showing her that a man could take care of her. Give her confidence. This was a big blow to Devlin's thoughts on becoming romantically involved. My thought was just for him to stay away from the broken ones, not all women, but what did I know? We were all broken in our own special ways.
A whimper broke the brief silence, followed by the clang of metal against metal. Heads turned in unison toward the open van. It seemed that prod shot wasn’t enough to keep Cara down, and she was awake and beginning to struggle against her restraints, more than a hint of panic beginning to lace her thoughts. But right now, she was Cara.
“Cara, stop struggling, sweetie. I know you don’t understand, but… you’ve done some bad things,” I said evenly, speaking and moving as if I was trying to corner a lion without being eaten. Which, if you thought about it, was actually pretty spot on.
“What happened? Why can’t I move my arms? Why am I chained to the floor?” She began rocking back and forth, staring at the floor mumbling incoherently. Her mind was clear enough on the words though, “not again” running like a mantra through her thoughts.
“We need to get a move on,” I said, turning back to the team. “She’s breaking again. Ember may surface, so maybe Jade should stay close. Keep her calm.”
The puzzlement my words sparked was loud, but Ember’s emergence, almost as if my words had pulled her forth, was a roar that sent the other voices into silence. We all watched in a dumbfounded stupor as she sat up and pulled her wrists apart from one another, seemingly unfazed by the metal biting into her skin enough to bleed. She turned her fiery eyes on us and again roared as, with a wrench of her arms, the metal binding her snapped.
“Holy crap,” Jade breathed heavily.
The guys scrambled into action, moving to unholster weapons I hadn’t seen on them, beelining for the gaping van where Ember kicked out sideways, sending the restraints scattering into useless shards as she gripped the open maw of the doorway, metal bending under her iron grip.
The guys got there just as she leapt to the ground, completely feral. She’d flipped her switch and was now operating purely on instinct. Self-preservation paired with what appeared to be the Enhanced ability of strength did not bring warm feelings teeming to the surface. In fact, I was much closer to vomiting and passing out though I was going to blame that on the pain of my broken arm and not the fear crawling up my throat.
“Never. Again,” Ember seethed. “I will never be caged again.”
The guys surrounded her, the van at her back, but that didn’t worry her in the slightest. Devlin struck first, a mean straight punch that landed square to her nose with a sickening crunch, sending vibrant red blood racing down her face to land on her chest. It did nothing to slow her down. The two of them now like a macabre duet, each matching in their gruesome appearance and moving in a coordinated effort, striking in rapid succession or simultaneously but to different parts of Ember’s body. Not all landed, but because she couldn't fend them all off, some did.
I fought the urge to jump in. I was already injured and adding more bodies – frail bodies – wouldn't help anything. Our team was divided, the Primals on the offensive and being all aggressive while we Sages were standing in the relatively safe background. Just as advertised.
I shook my head at the wayward thought, focusing on how to help. This whole thing made me nervous. We had no idea what Ember/Cara was capable of, except that she could, and would, kill. “Steve, can you immobilize her from here?” I cast a sideways look at Steve who had come back from the search effort, parked himself on the other side of Jade, and now stood enthralled with the fight before us. “Steve!”
“Huh? Yeah. Yeah, of course I can.” He so wasn't sure.
“Let me know when you're ready so I can give the guys a heads up. Jade, give me the prod. How close do you need to be to calm her down?”
Loud laughter from the club's entrance drew my attention. A man and woman had just exited and were roving each other's bodies like an eight armed octopus… until they pulled apart long enough to be distracted by the happenings of our crew.
“Damn it. We need to call for backup and crowd control. We may have to take turns with where we aim our talents. Steve.” He flicked his eyes to me briefly in acknowledgement and nodded, the sounds of the fight still permeating the space, the masculine grunts becoming more pronounced as they fatigued. “Wait for me to warn the guys. I know firsthand how your muscles will clench around something when under Steve’s power, so we need to make sure they're clear. Jade, prod.”
I held out my hand in Jade's direction, heart like a jackhammer in my chest when my hand closed around the cold, metal cylinder. “Jade, once she's immobile, calm her down. Hopefully we'll get Cara back and end this. I'll come in behind you with the prod to hopefully knock her out if she's still not compliant. Good?” Mental agreements, though filled with trepidation, answered me.
The mental excitement of the new onlookers caught my attention again. “You guys may have to divide your attention and tend to the gawkers if they decide to move in.”
With a deep breath, I tried to calm both my mind and body so I could do whatever we needed to end this. “Guys! Steve's ready. Back off!”
As one, Holden, Dane and Devlin all stopped their assault and retreated out of Ember's considerable reach. The moment they did, Steve thrust his ability at the enraged and bloody Primal running on instinct and preservation.
“I've got her, but make it quick. She's really strong,” Steve gritted, his jaw set and hands pushed out in front of him. It seemed that the physical “push” helped with harder holds.
I hurried toward the group while Jade tried to focus her empathy on Ember, tried to alter her mental state. I stopped Jade from moving closer when we were about five feet out. Far enough that she couldn't be grabbed, I knew what those hands could do.
“She's fighting me,” Jade panted. “I've… never… had this much… trouble.”
“Keep trying. I don't know how much longer Steve can hold her,” I rushed. Steve was flagging, his body sweating and his mind yelling with effort. We needed to get this done. Needed to get this woman under control and somewhere she couldn't hurt anyone else. “We need this now, Jade.”
I flicked my eyes to Holden and breathed a sigh of relief when I found him whole. A bit bruised and a lot tired but nothing major. When those beautiful blues shifted away from me, I finally noticed that Jade had crept closer in her attempt to alter Ember's mental state. It wasn't working. In fact, Embers state was rubbing off on Jade, and she grew more agitated.
An anguished and defeated sound came from behind us as Steve shouted, “Shit, guys, I lost it!”
And then it all went to hell.
CHAPTER 28
IT SEEMED ALMOST LIKE slow motion as I reached for Jade at the same moment Ember broke from Steve's hold and lunged through the gap in beefy Primal bodies – right where Jade was stationed. The guys moved in unison, closing the gaps and cutting off Ember's easy escape.
With the intensity being flung around all night and the pain still radiating from my arm, I was running
on adrenaline, but the crash was coming. We needed this to end for so many reasons. I needed everyone safe. Then I needed to have my father tend to my arm.
I breathed in the heavy, moisture thick air and focused again on our task. But I was coming up blank. She was too strong for any method to be effective… well any 'non-lethal’ tactics, and I didn't have any lethal ones. Not to mention the small fact that I wasn't sure I could kill another human.
When her arm snaked out and wrapped around Dane's throat, all logic left me. I lunged, prod extended, and jolted her with as much electricity as I could deliver.
Thankfully, that caused her to release Dane. Unfortunately, it didn't immobilize her completely, and the hand she'd previously had around Dane reached down to where I had the metal pressed under her ribs and yanked. The prod fled my hands, the force of her pull so hard, I couldn't help but follow.
Losing my balance, I fell forward and waited to feel her slender fingers around my own throat once more. It seemed to be her favorite method to deliver death. Both victims had broken necks, and she'd already wrapped me once tonight.
I cringed at the thought that I'd die here while Ember would be free and out in the town, able to swing back and forth between two completely different types of unstable personalities on a whim. But she didn’t reach for me, and I headed for the cracked black pavement instead.
I flicker of thought terrified me, “Guys, she’s going to launch the van!”
No one believed she could do it. This was chaos. A squeaking creak was the only auditory confirmation of the vision before me. Ember crouched, hands grasping the back bumper of the van. With one smooth upward motion, she stood, bringing her hands upward and flipping the van ass over tea kettle.
A loud bang rang out, then another, obliterating the sounds of fighting, struggles and mental yelling. A ringing started in my ear, accompanying the pain of my arm which was roaring once again because, of course, my gut reaction was to use that arm to break my fall. None of that was enough to distract me from the deafening crash and shock wave that accompanied the van’s impact with the ground, causing me to instinctively curl into myself.
The chorus of stunned thoughts assailed me as I unfolded from the pavement. My attention landed on Ember, now sitting on her butt on the cracked concrete, hunched forward and breathing heavily. A large red stain was blossoming on her pretty dress just below her ribs on the right side. She sat, wheezing and groaning in pain, a hand covering where I assumed a bullet hole resided. A second bloom, in the center of her chest, was on full display.
The whiskey colored eyes that moved to meet mine were no longer lit with fire but filled with pain and sadness. “I'm so sorry,” she choked.
“No!” Jade screamed a wail of anguish, and horror that rent the air as she scrambled back to where she’d been standing when Dane had pushed her out of the way. The van now lay on its hood, Dane pinned beneath its metal hide. Dev and Holden moved to meet her, Ember disregarded and forgotten as they tried to shift the vehicle enough to extract Dane.
Ember's rage and pain had tossed a four thousand pound hunk of metal several feet as if it was no more than a strenuous exercise. He was out cold, blood pooling behind his head from the impact, and pinned to the dirty pavement below the ribcage.
This was far too similar to a scene I'd endured a couple months back. Rolph had barely survived that incident. Would Dane now?
The sound of sirens on approach broke my stupor, allowing me to think through the shock. I scrambled to my feet, pain all but forgotten, and ran to join my team by Dane's side.
Dev and Holden were kneeling on his right while Jade was on the left, sobbing and telling him he’d be fine. I could hear nothing from him, but the others’ thoughts were overpowering. I tried erecting my mental brick wall, but it only dulled the raging.
“There are sirens on approach. Hopefully one is an ambulance. We'll get him looked at Jade. We'll get him looked at. He'll pull through. He's strong,” I said it as much to convince myself as Jade. We couldn't lose Dane. He was such a good guy, a sweet natured teddy bear wrapped in a bodybuilder package.
With that dismal thought, finally, uniformed enforcers broke the line and forced the now larger group of onlookers to remain a decent distance from our group and the van as they began setting up a perimeter. The ambulance arrived a moment later, the street now alive with flashing red and blues while organized chaos ensued.
The team was forced to retreat from Dane as the paramedics worked to extract Dane from underneath the damaged hull of the vehicle. I was glad no one brought my arm to their attention. We didn’t need anything distracting them from Dane’s rescue at this moment. I couldn’t pull my attention from their plight to look at Ember, but I heard her mental anguish, so I knew she wasn’t dead. Looked like a couple of bullets were enough to stop her. One of the medics was telekinetic and was able to lift the van with Steve’s help, enough for Dane to be pulled from beneath it, but it took precious time and a lot of effort.
Only after Dane had been strapped to a gurney, with paramedics awfully worried about his condition, did anyone’s attention shift. Harried, one went to check on our assailant, and one came toward me. I waved mine off, telling him I’d get myself to the hospital but that Dane was the priority. I had no idea what was in store for me, but I knew that my dad needed to focus on saving Dane, not on mending my broken arm. He nodded and took off back toward the ambulance where Dane was being pushed aboard, Jade scrambling in behind them.
The telekinetic medic had a very pale, very bloody Ember up and onto a second stretcher I hadn’t realized was there. Within moments, they too were pushing into the ambulance, a third crew member slamming the doors and running to open the driver door.
We stood, shell-shocked and immobile, as two of our teammates were swiftly taken away, the old ambulance wailing its urgency into the dark night. Every mind I could hear was reeling, just as stunned as I was, but only the men closest to me shared my pain at seeing Dane broken and bloody. Fighting to live. I never thought it would be one of our Primals who would be taken. It never occurred to me that there were some things that even they couldn’t handle.
A thick arm wound around my aching shoulders, pulling me gently into Holden’s side as I let loose the tears burning my eyes, making his shirt wet with my misery.
Come on, Nat. we’ll meet them at the hospital. We need to get you fixed up too. At my nod, he steered me toward where we’d parked, Steve trailing quietly behind us as Dev gave quick orders to have a crew haul off the van and cordon off the area until it was safe. We moved swiftly to the old truck Holden and I arrived in, Steve taking the wheel, Dev and Holden jumping into the bed while I went to the passenger side and pulled it open.
Normally, I’d protest the arrangement, but right now, I just needed to get to the hospital. I needed to be there for Dane, for Jade. Steve had better not make light of the situation, though, or I might just have to kill him. Damn the consequences.
*****
The wait for news about Dane was agonizing. The waiting room was packed full of people worried about how he was doing. His family was large, and unlike the other Primals I’d met, they weren’t hostile toward Sages. Like Dane, they were kind. With them and the whole task force milling around the small space, the mental bombardment was debilitating. I’d been given a splint and sling to hold my arm steady while I waited. I wasn’t going anywhere until we knew Dane’s fate.
Upon arriving, we’d learned that Ember had died of her wounds while in transit. Dane had been alive but critical. As they’d rushed through the emergency doors, we heard them yelling about him crashing. We were right behind them as far as they’d let us go, then they’d corralled us here to wait. Jade was catatonic at this point.
We’d been waiting for hours while my father attempted yet another miracle, and the longer we didn’t hear anything, the more despondent the room grew. I held Jade’s immobile form across my lap, pulling my hand continually through her blonde tresses as tears streamed d
own her face, but she otherwise showed no life.
I’d thrown up my mental walls after five minutes in the room. I just couldn’t deal with everyone else’s grief on top of my own at this moment. I needed solitude, so I’d shut everyone out, including Holden. That didn’t stop him from showing the same kind of affection I was giving Jade. He’d pulled me into his side and moved my head to lie on his shoulder as he held me to him like a lifeline.
Hearing the automated doors buzz open, I jerked my attention to the surgeon walking into our huddled mass. His blue scrubs were pristine, a false image of the carnage seen in cycle within these walls. The entire room held its collective breath as we waited for what news would be delivered. Too many wore hopeful expressions. I’d seen that look on my father’s face before. The news was not good. It was only a matter of just how bad it actually was.
“Mr. and Mrs. Wilson?” My dad tentatively addressed the older couple at the fore of the group crowding the door. At their anxious nod, he continued slowly. “Dane was brought in with severe internal bleeding and damage to a number of organs including the liver and kidn—“
“I’m sorry, Doctor, but tell me… Is my boy going to make it?” a large man, closely resembling Dane interrupted, very near breaking.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Wilson. Dane’s internal injuries were too numerous and too severe for my attempts to be successful in saving him.”
About halfway through my father’s consolation, Dane’s parents folded in on each other, sobbing profusely. The rest of the family in the room gathered around the couple like a sports huddle as they each simultaneously fell apart and attempted to hold others together.
Jade had begun to cry harder only a few moments after my father’s appearance in the room. She’d obviously read his emotions and knew that the news wasn’t good. Knew Dane wouldn’t recover. I wrapped her tighter as silent tears streamed down my own face, marring any attempt at composure I was putting forth. Rubbing her hair away from her face once more, I asked, “Sweetie, do you want to stay? Do you want to see him? Say…” I had to pause and work to swallow past the lump in my throat at the thought that Dane was gone. “Say, goodbye?”