26. Kali
Chapter 26
Kali
T he Shadow nodded stiffly, clearly uneasy that we were leaving, but he didn’t argue. Keeva pulled the large bar, unlocking the steel door before pushing it open. Sunlight nearly blinded me for a moment before my eyes adjusted.
I climbed out, peering around with my heart hammering. This was a different entrance than the one we used a week ago. Trees surrounded us, and the fallen barn was nowhere in sight. Nerves flushed through me, making my pulse thud as I rushed to catch up with Keeva after shutting the hatch.
“Wait,” I shouted. “We can’t go far.”
She ignored me, disappearing behind a tree for a moment before going deeper into the forest. This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have let her come out here. I ran ahead, finally catching up to her.
“I’m just trying to find an open spot,” she said before I could say a word. “Relax, Kali. We can both hear if someone is coming.”
Relax. I didn’t even know what that word meant anymore. I’d been walking on eggshells for months.
“There,” I said tightly, motioning to the left.
There was a small patch of long grass that the sun was hitting. Keeva grinned, stepping into the warm rays, and spinning in a circle. I couldn’t help but share her small joy as I joined her. She fell to the ground, lying on her back.
“It feels freeing,” she admitted quietly.
“I know.” I sat next to her, pulling a piece of the tall grass from the ground and playing with it. “If we defeat PARA and Amaros, then we’ll truly be free. But to do that, we need to be careful.”
All I could hear were birds, and other small animals around us, but when Keeva began talking, it became more difficult to hear any new noises.
“I don’t mean to come off as uncaring,” she said, her eyes closed as she laid there. “All of this is just a lot.”
That was understandable, but it didn’t change the fact that we had to be careful. I was counting down the minutes until we had to go back to the compound.
“PARA never told me anything about my past,” she murmured. “I grew up in the dark, knowing nothing.”
“Until I met Zan and his family, I didn’t know anything either.” I rested back on my palms, enjoying the sun as much as she was. “Amaros knows a lot. But we’ll never know it all. If he finds us, we’ll be worse off than if we were dead.”
“Who do you fear more?” she questioned, glancing at me. “PARA or the vampires?”
I chuckled humorlessly. “Both are bad in their own way.”
We sat in silence, and while the sun was calming, I was still on edge. Zan was going to be furious when he found out we’d left.
“We should go back,” I finally said. “It’s been longer than five minutes.”
“Go ahead. I’m staying here.”
I rubbed my temples. “Please. We did what you wanted. We’re vulnerable out here.”
She laughed. “Vulnerable? Look at us, Kali. We’re powerful. So much so that everyone wants us. We are a threat , not prey.”
“I’m also not stupid,” I snapped. “I’ve been with Amaros. Seen his strength. His cruelness. PARA is just as bad. And they have their own power, even if it’s different from ours.”
She ignored my words and began humming. My chest grew tighter the longer we stayed, and I finally jumped to my feet. Between the thick trees and her humming, my senses were working overtime, attempting to listen to any new sounds.
“Let’s go,” I demanded, my patience gone.
“One more minute.”
“No—”
I snapped my mouth shut when I heard something that didn’t belong in the woods. Something mechanical. Fear lit through my veins, and I crouched down to grab Keeva’s arm.
“We need to go,” I snarled.
Her eyes met mine, and I stilled at her emotionless stare. She let me pull her to her feet, but she didn’t move a muscle when I pulled her to follow me.
“Do you know what I fear?” she asked, her voice hollow. “That I’ll lose the one I love.”
Love?
I didn’t have time to wonder what she meant when quiet footsteps alerted me that we weren’t alone anymore. Whirling around, I hoped to everything that it was Zan who found us.
My stomach twisted painfully when I locked eyes with the man who was standing at the edge of the small clearing. I’d only met him once, but his cruel brown eyes and long scar on his cheeks were burned into my memory.
Rowan.
The PARA man who I’d met the night of my birthday. The person who was high up in the government and wanted Keeva and me as badly as Amaros did. This time, he wasn’t in uniform, but in civilian clothes. No weapon was in his hand, but the vicious smirk on his face made me believe he wasn’t alone.
My muscles tensed, and I clenched my hands into fists, wondering if I could get to him before he pulled a weapon. His chuckle was laced with threat, and he shook his head in warning.
“There are five sniper rifles pointed at you right now,” he said, his stare unwavering from mine. “One step, and you’ll have a bullet in your head.”
He could be bluffing. But I stayed where I was until an opportunity presented itself. Keeva was behind me, and her heart rate was similar to mine. I didn’t dare break my stare from Rowan to look at her.
Fuck. How the hell did he find us?
Dread slithered through my limbs and squeezed. How many PARA members were here? No way they could raid the compound and win. Not when there were hundreds of Shadows down there.
“Here is what’s going to happen,” Rowan said, threat deep in his voice. “You’re going to come quietly. If not, we’ll shoot and we’ll drag you out of here.”
Would the Shadows hear the shots? Possibly.
“Fuck you,” I spat out. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Wrong answer,” he boomed, taking a step closer. “Do you know how long I’ve fucking waited to have both of you? I’ve come with enough manpower to make sure that happens.”
“Maybe we should listen to him,” Keeva breathed out. “If they don’t shoot us, we could have a chance?—”
“No,” I snapped, my chest heaving. After freeing Keeva, there was no way this man would leave anything to chance. They’d throw us in a hole so deep that even Zan wouldn’t be able to find us.
Rowan let out a low whistle and a moment later, I heard a muffled shot. I let out a small cry when pain exploded in my shoulder. Stumbling back a step, my hand flew to the bullet wound as anguish spread down my arm.
“Kali.” Keeva gasped, grabbing me when I backed into her.
A pained groan left my lips. “Hawthorn.”
The bullet was laced with the poison just like the one Jasper had shot me with. Without giving myself a chance to think about it, I dug two fingers into the bullet hole, swallowing my scream. If I had any chance of fighting, I needed to get it out.
“Grab them,” Rowan ordered.
Panic swallowed me when masked men began emerging from the trees. Keeva yelled, launching herself at the closest body. I glanced down, seeing black blood gush from my wound as my fingers closed around the bullet.
Pain flared, and I gritted my teeth as I pulled it out. The hawthorn singed my fingers, and I let it fall to the ground just as someone grasped my arm. A needle came into sight, and I ducked, refusing to let them shoot me up with hawthorn. My moves were still sluggish when I shoved into the man, making him lose his grip on the needle.
“Don’t,” Keeva shrieked from somewhere behind me.
New hands landed on me, and I was shoved to the ground with someone grasping the back of my neck to keep my face pressed into the grass. Every passing moment my strength was returning, and when my arms were pulled behind my back, I let out a yell, willing my muscles to work.
“Give her the hawthorn,” someone shouted.
I rolled, tearing from their hold before jumping to my feet. Three masked men were pointing guns at me, and even if I couldn’t see their features, I could smell their fear. They knew I was dangerous. But even I couldn’t outrun bullets.
Chaos suddenly erupted, and I spotted more bodies running into the clearing. I nearly sagged in relief when I realized it was Shadows. There weren’t many of them, but they were already dropping PARA members. Hands grabbed the head of the man who was standing in front of me, and a second later, his neck snapped before he crumpled to the ground.
Zan stood there, meeting my eyes for a mere moment before he went after the other two who were still aiming guns at me. I had no idea where Keeva was, but didn’t have a chance to look as I launched myself at someone who was rushing at me.
Natural instinct had my fangs sliding out, wanting to tear his throat out. But his neck was covered with some kind of armor, so I went back to what I learned with the Clovers. Only now, I was far stronger than I was as a human. I snatched the rifle out of his hand without needing to exert much strength. He fumbled with his belt, attempting to pull another weapon out, but I smashed the butt of the gun into his face, causing him to go down.
Screams of pain and fear mixed in with Rowan’s orders as the fight continued. Zan was staying close to me, and once there were no PARA members surrounding us, he grabbed my hand.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” he said between heavy breaths.
“Where’s Keeva?”
“We’ll find her.”
But then his hand loosened around mine before he slumped forward, falling face first into the grass.
“Zan,” I screamed in panic, falling next to him and rolling him over. “No, no. Fuck.”
Blood was dripping down his face from the bullet wound on the side of his head. He was out cold. Lifting his limp arm, I put it around my shoulders until I was yanked away from him.
“Leave him,” Keeva said shrilly. “We need to go.”
“Get off me,” I snarled, shoving her away. “I’m not leaving him.”
She went after me again, wrapping her arms around my stomach, hauling me off my feet. “He wouldn’t want you to sacrifice yourself for him.”
She didn’t understand. I physically could not leave him. Not when he was hurt and in danger. Gripping her arm that was around me, I forced her to loosen her hold until my feet hit the ground. Shadows were still fighting with PARA around us, but more and more government members were pouring out of the woods.
Spinning around, I pushed Keeva away. “Don’t fucking touch me again.”
Her eyes gleamed with anger. “Fine. I’ll help you get him.”
Turning my attention back to Zan, I moved to put his arm around my shoulders again.
“Kali.”
“What?” I asked without looking at her.
“You shouldn’t trust anyone…not even your own blood.”
A small prick pinched my throat, and immediately pain flooded my body. My hold on Zan faltered as my veins burned. I fell on my knees, looking behind me to see Keeva holding a needle before everything went black.