Chapter 8 #4
Rhyden blew a soft breath into her ear. "I know, I know."
"I didn’t know she was back on Earth. It’s the perfect opportunity." She reached for his rifle. "Give me that."
Rhyden’s hand pressed over hers, his fingers stretching hers uncomfortably as he dragged her hand down to her hipbone, where the gun he’d given her was holstered. She’d nearly forgotten about it.
"If you want to kill her, use this. The bullets are laced with Aether. It’ll hurt more."
He forced her to tug the gun out of her waistband, bringing her arm up to rest beside his, the muzzle of the gun resting on the concrete lip jutting out before them. He curled her finger around the trigger, nearly crushing her beneath the weight of his arm as he settled half on top of her.
"One shot, right in the head," he murmured.
She breathed out, placed her eye to the sight, and lined it over Sabine’s forehead.
Sabine was waving her hand, calling for one of her own guards to pull a briefcase out of the trunk of her car.
She popped it open, revealing stacks upon stacks of large bills.
The man with the briefcase had sweat at his temples, fingers visibly shaking around the handle of his own briefcase.
Sabine’s face took on a look of impatience.
"It’s up to you, wife," Rhyden, the devil on her shoulder, whispered. "Whatever you want." His confidence in her made her head swim.
If Rin did this… She was a killer.
But she would be half avenged, as would Kit.
Could the ends really justify the means?
Her finger brushed the trigger. Was she really going to? She breathed deep and—
Chaos exploded below.
The doors exploded inward in a wash of dust as a sleek figure barreled into the warehouse.
Rin’s grip grew slack on the gun as she stared below. Kit was covered in his uniform, mask over the lower part of his face, but his eyes—she’d know them anywhere.
The guards burst into action. Gunfire exploded as they shot at him. She wanted to yell for him, tell him to run, hide!
Kit grabbed one of the guards by the neck and threw him against the wall.
He kicked out at another, and his booted foot went right through the man’s chest. The sick crack of bone breaking reverberated through the warehouse.
In the flurry of chaos, Sabine ducked, herded by guards as they got her in the car.
They sped away, almost crashing into the wall.
No sense hiding now.
Rin rose on her knees and fired after the retreating vehicle. The bullets pinged off the walls.
"Shit!" Rin cursed as the vehicle disappeared.
The guards below were scattered in pieces. Legs and arms. Rin’s throat closed up. Heads.
Kit roared as he held a guard above his head, not appearing to bow beneath the weight of a full-grown man as he threw the guard into the wall. His head smacked against concrete, breaking open upon contact. Blood went everywhere.
She was going to be sick.
Everyone was dead. She didn’t see the man with the briefcase, so she assumed he had gotten out or was somewhere scattered amongst the gore.
Blood dripped from the ends of Kit’s hair. He reached for his mask and tugged it down, revealing the perfect curve of his lips, the line of his jaw, the freckles scattered across his nose. Her Soul broke into pieces.
He tipped his head back, and he stared right at her, where she knelt in the rafters.
Kit’s lips twitched. It was as though he did not know if he wanted to smile at her or bare his teeth.
Blood dripped steadily from the tips of his fingers.
He reached out for her with a steady hand, and she made only the faintest of sounds at the gesture.
It was enough to break the mellow sense of waiting between them.
Kit’s face grew murderous. "I found you." His voice carried up to her. "I win. And you lose."
He began to run, and Rin fell back into Rhyden’s arms.
"He can’t—there’s no way up here, right? No ladder?" Rin’s voice wavered from fear.
Rhyden hurriedly lifted his rifle, but instead of folding it away, he kept it at the ready, grabbing her by the arm to yank her away from the edge of the rafters. He all but dragged her on her knees to the broken window.
The entire warehouse shook with the force of a battering ram, thumping against the concrete pillars that supported the rafters. Dust fell around their heads.
"Rhyden," Rin warned. The concrete beneath her trembled.
Rhyden brushed the remaining glass away to leave a clear exit point, uncaring that it broke his skin, his blood dotting the edges of the broken glass. "Go. Quickly."
She placed her hand on the cleared edge of the window frame, but as the structure shook, her palm slipped, slicing a long gash on the center of her hand. She gasped.
"Fuck," Rhyden cursed, long and drawn out as the iron scent of her blood filled the air. His hands tightened on her arm.
She turned her head to meet his vibrant, red eyes and felt like a predator caught between two raging wolves, fighting over their territory.
Atlas must intervene. If he did not…
The Celestial shuddered.
His Vesperin would be torn apart—by them both.
The time for Kiton and Vesperin to cross paths again was not yet, but soon. Created to be a weapon, but love would stop Kiton from killing her. The weapon would no longer be used against her, but for her. He would become her most fierce protector.
Just as Kiton had hunted Vesperin, Atlas had tracked him—leading him inevitably to her.
Atlas let his hand phase through the shadows in which he resided. He felt the technology in the area ripple, as if it sensed a force beyond comprehension.
Kiton pushed against the concrete pillars. His breathing was not labored. It was easy for him to do so. He kept staring up above, as if he wished to catch a glimpse of her once more.
Atlas’s arm came out of the shadows, then his shoulder. There he stopped, one arm fully revealed. Atlas made a fist, and Kiton paused where he stood, one leg behind him, palms braced on the concrete as he pushed. He was frozen by Atlas’s will.
Kit stared at the shadowed arm sticking out of the wall. He was immobilized, only able to turn his head.
He narrowed his eyes.
The shadow had hunted him. At first, he thought it was an ally, leading him to the one who haunted him. Now, he was not so sure. The shadow kept him from the one he wanted to crush.
Kit bared his teeth, watching as the shadow swept his hand out, pointing to the blown-open door.
He knew nothing but the single-minded need to hunt Vesperin down. The shadow had led him here. The shadow now wanted him to leave. He was the Phoenix. Made to be this. Made to be a weapon. He did not obey.
Return to the base. Return to the base.
Every ignored order proved his skewed allegiance.
So why did part of him want to obey this shadow now?
He regained control of his limbs slowly. Cracks spread through the concrete as he pulled his hands away. He realized he would have killed her.
He did not want to kill her.
He wanted to crush her. Pin her. Hold her.
Breathe her in.
She smelled like cherries. He gritted his teeth.
He remembered the way she had felt. Would her soft flesh give easily beneath his touch?
How hard would he have to pull to rend her limbs away from her torso?
Would her blood look like red cherries, and would strings of her flesh cling together, unwilling to be torn?
Kit’s head fell back in a moment of weakness.
He stepped back toward the door. He turned and found the shadowed arm was gone. Another step back. Another.
It was quiet above in the rafters. He imagined her frozen up there like he had been frozen. Vulnerable.
Would she cry if he tore her apart?
Kit did not like that thought.
He forced his feet to move. Some forgotten part in his brain screamed at him to leave her alone as he stepped over limbs and blood. He sprinted out into the night and far from the warehouse.
He did not stop until he found himself in the woods miles away. Only then did he fall to his knees, grip his hair with his hands, and scream to the sky.
"I think he’s gone," Rin whispered. It had been utterly silent for a while now. She kept her palm pressed firmly against her thigh, as if she wanted the blood to be forced back into her veins—anything to stop Rhyden from looking at her like she was his next meal.
Rhyden had moved as far from her as he could. His taut back was to her as he breathed shallowly.
"Rhyden," Rin prodded, shifting just an inch—and she heard his harsh inhale, the way he groaned.
"Goddammit, Vesperin." Rhyden gave a tortured, masculine sound, and it made warmth drip down her spine and settle heavily between her legs. She’d never heard him say her name quite like that before.
He barely turned his head, enough for her to see his profile, illuminated in the moonlight.
His red eyes glowed, nostrils flaring. The blood on her palm grew slicker, making her hand slide from where she pressed it to her thigh.
Blood splattered on the concrete beneath her.
Rin had wondered why Rhyden was the only one to come tonight—sure, he brought her, but ultimately, he had been on his own. He didn’t even give her a weapon until he’d been practically forced to. She’d wondered how he felt secure enough to handle what could have been dozens of armed men.
In this moment, as he turned in a flash and was upon her before she could fully register it, she realized the pure, vampiric strength simmering beneath his immortal flesh.
Rhyden caged her against the wall, and half of her back pressed into the window frame. She felt the breeze against her back as she was almost pushed out of the window. She didn’t look down, not wanting to break his gaze and signal weakness.
Rhyden pressed his nose to her cheek, and she felt his fangs against her jaw.
"I could eat you up, drink you alive."
Rin shoved at him. He felt so good against her…
"Rhyden." She tried to make her voice firm. He didn’t budge. She said his name again. Then again.