Chapter 4 #4
Rin was packed tightly in the back seat of a large, armored vehicle, crushed between Cyrus and Auren.
In her palm, she held a small bottle of pills Lucien had given her before they’d packed up and left the Solar City base.
It was earlier than planned, but after her run-in with Kit mere hours ago, staying hadn’t been an option. Every second in the city felt like tempting fate.
The vehicle was Rhyden’s—the vampire was in no short supply of vehicles, weapons, money…
She’d tried to hide her shock as he helped her into the car earlier, even opening her door, leaning over her to help click her seatbelt on.
She shivered as she remembered the way his strong arm had pushed into her lower stomach as he’d grabbed the belt, tightening it just a little too much, before he shut the door with a loud thud.
"Cold, doll?" Cyrus murmured from her right side.
Rin swallowed two pills dry, aware of Lucien watching her through the rearview mirror. He drove, while Rhyden sat in the passenger seat, polishing an automatic rifle, boots kicked up on the dashboard.
"No, I’m fine, Cy." The sobriquet slipped off Rin’s tongue. Her body was sore. But the deepest ache lived in her chest.
Auren’s arm pressed against hers, where he sat on her left side, and she leaned into him without thinking, breathing in his scent. She felt closer to him now, in a way, after he’d trusted her, listened to her.
The moment they’d returned from the graveyard—she still felt Auren’s arms around her, and the dizzying sensation of being pulled through the portal—they’d fallen straight into the cramped living quarters, where Lucien had just been waking up.
Her doctor had taken one look at her and instantly knew she was hiding something.
She had told the truth before the others had arrived.
She’d had enough secrets to last a lifetime. Or more.
Kit was her Soulbond, Lucien was too. It wasn’t too late for her and Lucien, but Kit… her adoptive brother, her best friend, the man she loved… was gone. She wondered if he could ever come back from what had been done to him.
She closed her eyes, felt electricity burning her, and she knew the experiments that made him what he was now had been torturous.
Project Phoenix.
Her mind lingered on the words from the picture Lucien had shown her, the one he’d taken of the file folder deep below the lab in Nova Zone 21:
Biomechanically modified human.
Weaponized.
Sabine and Talor had done this to him.
For that, Rin vowed to make them pay.
Through the tinted windows of the vehicle, she stared at the dark, glistening water bordering the highway, fireworks dazzling the sky to ring in the New Year as Solar City faded behind them. The clock on the dashboard ticked over from 11:59 PM to 12:00 AM. The green numbers were like an omen.
The vehicle was silent.
Cyrus trailed his fingers over the edges of his doll’s hair as she slept. Her head was turned from him, resting on Auren’s shoulder.
He wasn’t jealous. He liked her in the arms of another man. It stirred something dark inside him, a hunger he was no stranger to. Incubi were notoriously perverse—well, okay, he’d call it like it was: kinky.
He’d taken part in all sorts of debauched acts, yet nothing compared to the mere taste of her lips.
Besides, the Soul Searcher could hardly be called a man. He was anything but human.
Vesperin slept soundly, and Cyrus was deeply, achingly glad she could rest. He took her hand in his, splaying her fingers wide to accommodate his own.
They’d left the city far behind, fireworks and high-rises swallowed by distance.
Outside, there was only forest and unregulated road stretching farther than even his enhanced vision could see.
He let his fingers stroke over hers, breathing in her sleep-sated scent and feeling his traitorous cock stir at her nearness.
He had his Soulbond again, so at least he could have pleasure whenever he wanted, claim her body whenever his hunger flared, feel the softness of her against him, and know the feel of her tight heat around him.
But he was growing so tired. He’d not abstained this long since…
he’d been trying to earn her trust on Sibeth, three hundred years ago.
Then, after she’d been killed, and he’d held her cold, lifeless body in his arms until he could barely lift his head from his hunger.
Cyrus exhaled heavily, drawing the others’ attention.
Rhyden twisted in his seat so sharply that Cyrus thought his neck might snap.
Pity. Cyrus wished it would. He felt the violence simmering just beneath the vampire’s flesh.
Maybe if he died before it could boil over, Cyrus would be saved from trying to swoop in and play the hero. He wasn’t a hero. He was…
Cyrus smiled. He was a menace, but for his little doll, he’d be whatever she needed. If only he could be with her forever. Fuck the crown, fuck his father, and really, fuck anyone who ever tried to hurt her.
"I don’t like that goddamn look," Rhyden muttered, one hand gripping the seat back as he stared at Cyrus.
"What look?" Cyrus arched a brow. "This one?" He puckered his lips.
Vesperin stirred then, sighing as she rubbed her cheek against Auren’s shoulder. Her head slipped, but the Soul Searcher caught her gently, cradling her against him with careful hands. He handled her sweetly; it made Cyrus wonder…
Was Auren truly as kind as he seemed?
Cyrus let his senses open, tasting the air around Auren.
Devotion. It was so thick and potent, smelling like caramelized sugar, that Cyrus swallowed hard a few times to stave off a cough.
Infinitesimal glimmers of red filled the air, so faint he hoped the male wouldn’t notice.
But of course he did, dammit.
"What do you search for, Cyrus?" Auren asked calmly, even though Cyrus was invading his privacy.
Cyrus licked his lips, tasting remnants of the sweetness of devotion and deep affection on them. "I don’t know."
"Did you find it—what you were looking for?" Auren’s eyes were bright, the tiny Star flickering like it was burning.
"I guess so. Your devotion for her runs deep. That’s all I wanted, needed, to know.
That you’d do anything to protect her." Cyrus lowered his voice, knowing Rhyden would hear anyway, with his vampiric senses.
"When you came back from wherever you took her, she tasted sad, and you tasted… determined."
A muscle in Auren’s jaw fluttered.
The radio was on low, a newscaster listing the rise in Rogue sightings and violent attacks. Solar City seemed to be rotting from corruption. Cyrus couldn’t help but feel like it was all connected.
Cyrus tightened his hand around Vesperin’s, wishing he could whisk her away to another seaside cottage.
Auren didn’t bother with keeping his voice low. "She asked me to take her to Kiton’s grave, and I did."
Lucien reached forward and turned the radio down.
Cyrus bristled, furious that he’d done something so foolish. Auren lifted a hand.
"She entrusted me, that is why I did it.
She did not sneak away. That behavior should be rewarded.
Not all of us have the gift of history with her.
I knew her for three lives, but each was a breath before she was taken.
She must trust all of us if we are to keep her safe from what is to come.
Fate moves around her, and I cannot help but feel we are all pawns of the Celestials.
" Auren’s words were as sharp as a blade, yet quiet as snow. "Kiton was there—at the graveyard."
The vehicle swerved. Cyrus cursed as Lucien righted the wheel.
Auren told them everything.
Anger rippled through the vehicle in hushed tones, careful because of their shared, sleeping Soulbond.
"You know that he is coming for her. His last word to her was, Run.
He held a gun to her head, but he did not want to use it.
He seemed to wish for her to run, so he could hunt her.
I did not know Kiton as he was," Auren continued, "but I know what I see now, and he is not a man.
He does not move like one. He does not act like one. He acts like a machine."
A shadow moved swiftly as the vehicle sped down the dark road.
Cyrus turned to the window, unease flaring.
He opened his senses, tasted the air beyond, and immediately pulled back.
A rotting, metallic taste suffused his mouth—the putrid taste of a corrupted Soul.
The brief sip settled in his stomach like tar.
Cyrus opened his mouth to warn them, but his words were drowned out by a sudden roar as the whole vehicle quaked beneath the force of what felt like a battering ram. The wheel jerked, Lucien shouted, Rhyden lifted his gun, and Cyrus and Auren both held onto Vesperin tightly.
Rin woke to the sound of cursing.
"Fuck! Goddammit, doctor! Can’t you drive any faster?"
A roar followed, breaking through the fog of a dreamless sleep—or maybe it hadn’t been dreamless. The memory of hands on her, snow crunching under boots, and fire warming her cheeks. A handsome face, eyes full of reverence…
The memory shattered beneath screaming.
In a daze, she thought, Kit… he’s already here for me.
The vehicle swerved violently. Rin slammed sideways into Cyrus, who crushed her against him and dragged them both down. The seatbelt cut into her chest.
"What’s going on?" Her voice grew sharper as she fully woke. She couldn’t see and tried to pull away from Cyrus.
Cyrus tightened his grip. "Stay down."
A thunderous roar cut through the air beyond the vehicle.
Rin stiffened.
Rogues.
She jammed her elbow into Cyrus’s side. When he released her, she shot upright, staring between the seats just in time to see a thick, barbed tail slam into the windshield. Two massive forepaws braced against the glass as the Rogue struck again. It cracked.
The roof groaned as the Rogue rocked the top of the speeding vehicle.
Rin’s heart lurched dangerously.