Blood Hunt

by Shannon K. Butcher

Page 32

 

  Especially Hope. She was precious.

  Logan heard footsteps behind the stairwell door. On his right, the Warden vaulted over the railing and headed for Logan at a dead run.

  The stairwell door opened. “Here!” shouted Hope, holding the door open for his escape.

  There was no time to argue. He darted through the door and grabbed her arm as he passed. He started to drag her down, but she resisted.

  “Up. I have an idea. ”

  Logan went with it, simply because fighting her would waste seconds they didn’t have. He’d stash her on one of the upper floors and continue on without her.

  Even if he had to knock her out.

  “We’ll push it off the roof,” she panted as they ran up the stairs.

  That might work. He wasn’t sure how many stories tall this building was, but it was possible the impact would kill it.

  The scream of bending metal and wind chimes rose up from below, getting closer. If they kept up this pace, the Warden would catch up with them before they reached the top of the next floor.

  Logan slammed his shoulder into the door leading to the sixth floor. More signs of construction showed up here, though it hadn’t progressed as far as on the first floor. The elevator shaft was easy to spot.

  He ran for it and jabbed the up button, hoping it was functional. Surely, they hadn’t been carrying all these construction supplies up the stairs.

  Lights over the door moved as the elevator car slid toward them.

  Through the window in the stairwell door one transparent eye gleamed. It saw them.

  Hope stabbed the up button. He could smell her fear, and the need to protect her from it rose up in him, roaring with the need for violence.

  The stairwell door exploded inward. It flew across the room, gouging a deep scratch in the concrete floor.

  Hope let out a frightened breath. “Oh God. ”

  The elevator doors opened with a cheerful chime. Logan backed her inside with his body. He hit the button for the top floor, then the close-doors button. He waited until the doors began closing, and then darted out through the opening, knowing the Warden would come after the closest target.

  The sun was down, but the last lingering glow on the horizon made everything he did harder. With his strength hampered, he was going to have only one chance to trick the Warden and shove him out through a window.

  The Warden charged. Logan waited until the last second to duck behind the brick-and-steel-encased elevator shaft.

  Crystal blades swung at him, lodging deep in the wall, their tips only inches from Logan’s face. While the Warden struggled to pull them free, Logan sprinted to one of the large floor-to-ceiling windows. The wet street six stories down gleamed under streetlights that had just begun to flicker to life.

  He picked up a drill lying nearby and swung it by the cord, smashing out the window.

  The Warden freed itself and turned. It saw Logan and let out a howl that sounded like shattering glass. Its feet slipped on the floor as it gathered speed.

  Logan stood in front of the open window, his feet braced. He focused inward, collecting sparks of power as he wrung them from his blood cells.

  The glow of sunset behind him seemed to burn his back, but he ignored it. There was no time for pain now.

  The Warden’s crystalline muscles bunched and it lunged for Logan. Logan dodged. The Warden flew out the window. Logan turned to watch it fall, to be sure it shattered on impact.

  The Warden was right there, clinging to the window frame.

  Logan heard its swords shatter as they hit the pavement below. Too late, he realized his mistake.

  The Warden grabbed Logan’s arm and hurled him out of the window.

  The feeling of free fall registered as his arms and legs flailed to find purchase. There was nothing to catch himself on. He was between buildings, dropping like a stone.

  Above him, he saw Hope’s head peek out over the edge of the rooftop. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened around a scream of horror and loss.

  “No!” she shouted.

  The Warden’s head craned around, looking up at Hope, and through its transparent skull, Logan could see its eyes glow with the sight of its next victim.

  Chapter 19

  Hope stared in shock as Logan’s body fell. An unnatural wind whipped around her head, sending her hair into a frenzy. She swiped it out of her face in time to see Logan hit.

  She flinched and a cry of denial was ripped from her mouth by the wind. Tears stung her eyes as she stared down, hoping for a miracle.

  For a second, she thought she saw him move, but that was just wishful thinking. He couldn’t have survived a fall like that.

  The crystalline monster that Logan had called a Warden stuck to the side of the building like a spider. It looked up at her. Light poured from its eyes as it began climbing the wall, right for her.

  Rage and grief flooded her system, making her fingers curl into fists. That thing had killed Logan. She was going to kill it.

  She scanned the rooftop, searching for some kind of weapon. A pipe. A two-by-four. Something.

  There was nothing up here but an air handling unit.

  The Warden crawled over the edge. It had lost its swords somewhere along the way, but she could see a new growth of crystals beginning in its fists. It was growing new ones.

  Hope couldn’t let that happen. She had to strike now, while she could. Once it had its weapons back, it would slice her in two before she could even get close enough to kick it in the shin.

  She didn’t want to die, but she didn’t see any other choice. She had to knock it off the roof and send it careening to the pavement below.

  She’d catch herself at the last second if she could, but she didn’t think that would be possible.

  The brief ten years of her life—those she could remember—flashed through her mind. Of them, the brightest memories were those she’d shared with Logan. She wondered if she’d see him again in whatever afterlife awaited her, or if the only thing waiting was the deep black void that mirrored her forgotten past.

  Either way, her decision was made. There was no time for regrets or second thoughts. The Warden had to die before it could kill anyone else.

  Hope let loose all of her rage and fear, channeling it into her legs. They propelled her forward over the tarry roof. Strength poured through her limbs like it had when she’d carried those men up the steps.

  She screamed and jumped up, hitting the Warden in its chest.

  It swiped at her, but its blades had not yet finished growing back. It missed and jerked back.

  The Warden teetered. Hope threw her weight up and back, grabbing its head to throw it off balance. The slight shift worked. The Warden fell backward, the back of its knees catching on the ledge.

  Its arms spun in the air as it tried to regain its balance. There was nothing to hold on to and it fell, going headfirst over the edge.

  Hope scrambled to grab the ledge, but it was too late. It was too far away and getting farther with every microsecond.

  Ten stories down, the ground waited for her.

  “Like hell!” Joseph shouted at Carmen. “You’re not going anywhere with a Slayer. ”

  “Why not?” she asked, her hands on her hips, her stance belligerent. “It makes perfect sense. Unless of course I don’t mean enough to you to serve as a hostage. ”

  “Of course you do. And you really shouldn’t be offering to do something you know nothing about. ”

  “People talk. It’s all over Dabyr about how the Slayer brought his sister here so you knew you could trust him. It makes sense he’d want the same insurance policy in return. ”

  “Go to your suite. Stay out of this. No one is going with him and that’s final. ”

  A small muscle under her eye twitched, making Joseph realize his mistake too late.

  “Final?” she asked, her tone frighteningly calm.

&nbs
p; Andreas stood up. “I think I’ll leave you two to chat. ”

  Carmen grabbed his arm. “Stay. This won’t take long. ”

  The Slayer looked down at her fingers, which were curled around his biceps. His nostrils flared and Joseph felt more than he saw a shift in Andreas’s posture. His muscles tensed, as if readying for a fight. He pulled in a deep breath and shifted slightly, partially blocking her from Joseph’s sight.

  The Slayer was giving off huge protective vibes. As if Joseph would ever do anything to hurt Carmen.

  She looked up at Joseph, seemingly unaware of the response Andreas was having to her. “I can’t stay here. I’m suffocating with all these rules and restrictions. ”

  “They’re for your safety. ”

  “My safety is my responsibility, not yours. ”

  “Not true,” said Joseph. “Thomas put your care into my hands. ”

  “I’m a grown woman. You can’t see that. ” She turned to Andreas. “Can you?”

  “Depends. You act like an adult, you get treated like one. ”

  “That’s better than I have here. ”

  “Their society isn’t like ours,” warned Joseph. “You may not like it. ”

  “Then I’ll leave. ”

  “Not if you’re a hostage. ”

  “Hostage is such a loaded term,” said Andreas. “You’ll be our guest. ”

  This wasn’t good. Joseph had done nothing but screw things up with Carmen since she’d shown up. She’d had a rough life. She felt like no one had wanted her—not her father, not her uncle, and now Joseph was inadvertently following in those assholes’ footsteps. “Please don’t go. We need you here. ”

  “No, you don’t. You’ve already got more screwed-up humans to take care of than you know what to do with. Let me go. I need to do this. ”

  “Who will teach you to fight if you leave?”

  “I will,” said Andreas. “She’ll learn alongside all the other women. ”

  “See?” said Carmen. “I already fit in better there. ”

  Joseph hated letting her go. He was responsible for her. But he’d made mistakes in dealing with her, and now he was reaping the results of those mistakes.

  If he didn’t let her go with Andreas, where she’d at least have the Slayers to protect her, chances were she’d leave anyway. Without any safety at all.

  Joseph looked Andreas in the eye. “Promise me you’ll protect her with your life. ”

  Carmen sighed. “I don’t need—”

  “I promise,” vowed Andreas.

  Joseph felt the weight of his vow settle over him, giving him some comfort. It seemed only fair to offer that same comfort in return. “I promise to keep your sister safe as well. She may hate living here, but she’ll be safe. ”

  Andreas nodded and offered Joseph his hand. They shook, sealing their bargain.

  There would be peace among the Sentinels. At least for now.

  Logan was still panting with the effort of using the wind to slow his own fall when he saw Hope and the Warden topple from the rooftop.

  He didn’t know how he was going to find the power to save her, but he knew that he would do it or die trying.

  Pain seared along his veins as he wrung every last speck of power from his blood. He felt his body shrivel and his skin sag on his frame. His bones felt brittle and he stooped under the strain.

  He took one weak step toward the falling pair and reached out a hand. Wind answered his call and he sent a wedge of it toward them, shoving it between the two.