36. Raegan
Chapter thirty-six
Raegan
Holt lands in a hard thud before me.
Sand clings to the blood on his face like an ugly mask.
Spittle drools from the corner of his lips, his ragged breath stirring the dirt.
The others move around him like wolves forming a predatory circle.
He wouldn’t be able to escape even if he wasn’t so injured.
They watch him; watch me like they’re bearing witness to my vengeance.
Sinking to my knees, I bend so he can see my face, poking his arm and sending a single thread of my gift into him.
“Are you still alive, Sparky?”
He screams, and the pungent smell of electricity saturates the air.
Kellan snarls and presses his boot over Holt’s neck.
“Touch my girl again, and I’ll rip your body apart while you’re still breathing.”
Holt whimpers.
The impending lightning clears, and Kell withdraws.
“I s-soh-ee,” he cries pitifully, unable to form the words with how his jaw is now angled.
“Do’n kill ee.”
“No?” I arch a brow, amazed he thinks so highly of me to let him live after what he helped put me through.
After he held a six-year-old girl, pleading with him to let her go while a gun was pointed at her.
“H-heese. I soh-ee,” he continues to sob, his words becoming more difficult to understand.
I tap my finger against his arm again, but I keep my gift from spreading to him so he can hear me.
“You know…I didn’t get the satisfaction of killing Gordon myself. I have over a year of trauma I’d hoped to take out on him. It looks like I’ll have to settle with you.”
He begs more.
Crying and pleading with me for mercy, but all I can see is Mallory doing the same to him.
And the cruel smile he’d worn for her.
“When I was spent…or in pain…when I needed someone most…you were there to inflict more pain. To smirk down on me like you thought you were somehow better than me. But you were the fool for not seeing what I was capable of. For believing Gordon would always be around to protect you. And I’m sure you remember…Gordon taught me that I’m a monster. I’m dangerous .”
I lick my suddenly dry lips.
Take that moment to feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins, my heart galloping wildly.
I continue, my voice cold and apathetic, “He was right. I’d have no problem attacking every individual muscle in your body one at a time and drawing out your pain. I could have you healed, like Gordon did for me, giving you relief and hope that it’s over, only to start from the beginning and put you through it all again. You’d deserve nothing less.”
Holt sobs uncontrollably.
It doesn’t make me feel any better.
“Luckily for you, my demons don’t control me. I control them. And you’re not worth bringing back for a long torture.” My gift pierces his skin.
He chokes, shrieks. I spread it everywhere, invading his body like webs of disaster until I’ve got it all in my grasp.
“Goodbye, Holt.”
His body ruptures in an instant, spraying me with his blood before collapsing in a broken heap.
It’s faster than the deaths I’d given to the innocent victims Gordon brought me.
I could have held back, could have drawn it out to imitate my inexperience and let him feel everything that the others had, but for all that I said to him, I’m not one for torture.
I’d rather be done with it and move on.
Reid hasn’t returned.
It could mean he ran into trouble with Royce or Bea if she returned.
Or he rushed to look for Tinsley without waiting for backup.
Dusting off my pants while standing, I survey the beach house.
There’s no noise, no sign of activity or a fight from here.
“What are we doing with him?” Dane kicks sand at what remains of Holt’s body.
It lifts a few inches from the ground.
“I’ll toss him in the sea.” Jackson’s deep blue gaze captures mine as if waiting for my approval first.
Aiden rubs the light scruff on his jaw.
“With any luck, Royce won’t find him, or the water will destroy enough of him to make him useless.”
I nod absently, no longer worried about Holt, zombie or not.
“I’m going to check on Reid.” Everything is quiet as we approach the door and my gut twists.
Surely, we should hear something if Reid is inside.
The door is still locked when I try turning it.
Aiden takes the knob next, metal clicking inside to shift at his silent command.
He opens the door and takes the lead, Dane hot on my heels and Kellan behind him.
For a house belonging to a necromancer, it’s creepily bright inside.
White shiplap walls, kitschy beach décor, and painted wicker furniture in the sitting room just past the foyer.
Aiden stops, halting the rest of us as he points to Kellan and Dane and the basement.
He looks at me and circles his finger.
We’ll be checking this floor.
Once these floors are cleared, we’ll all head upstairs to Royce.
Nodding, I stay on his heels, watching his back and our sides as we move from room to room.
There are muffled sounds coming from the basement but there’s nothing on the main floor.
We pause at the entryway to the kitchen, Aiden peering in first before he goes in.
Empty.
The larger living area is just as clean and tidy, just as empty, as the rest of the floor.
I walk along the wall, inspecting the pictures of sand dollars and starfish.
Maybe Royce killed the original owner of this home and didn’t bother updating it to his tastes.
I remember what Reid said about a dead wife.
Maybe she decorated the home if this belonged to them.
A line in the shiplap makes me pause, fingering the vertical separation that seems like a misstep in the design.
The wall swings inward, and a hand grabs the front of my shirt, yanking me inside.
I open my mouth to yell, but a hand slaps over it.
“Shh!” a voice hisses.
“I just want to talk.” Blinking in the dim lighting of the tiny room I’m now in, I find Vera.
And Tinsley.
The latter makes me pause.
Vera stands in front of me with her hands raised and empty.
“See? No weapons.” She turns her back to me so I can see her shorts and shirt appear clear, then faces me again.
“It’s okay,” Tinsley urges, her hands in a placating gesture.
“Hear her out.”
I look her over, searching for any sign of injury.
“Are you okay? We heard she”—I indicate Vera— “was torturing you. Reid was freaking out.”
“I’m fine. That was just her cover for us being together so much.”
“Why? What have you been doing here?”
“Raegan? Raegan!” Aiden shouts.
The wall I’d come through is closed again; only the thin line of natural light outlines the panel I must have come through.
“We can talk out there. I don’t want them to worry something’s happened to me.”
Vera shakes her head.
“What I have to say is just for you. Give me two minutes, and you can go on your merry way.”
Aiden keeps calling my name, and my chest tightens.
I don’t want to make him or the others worry again.
Pounding steps join Aiden, and I can hear Kellan and Dane looking for me now, too.
Fuck. “ Hurry up.”
“Royce and Charles made me program a machine that can synthesize Dane’s blood with material objects and into serums without me. And before you say anything, I didn’t have a choice. He’s already had me make thousands of these things over the years, but with this machine, they’ll be able to mass produce them at a crazy rate. Without me. I won’t be able to stop it or slow it down.”
“Why do you care? I thought this was what you wanted.”
“Because of what it means for my brother!” she snaps.
“The weekly blood draws had been enough to sustain what Charles wanted for the last five years. I thought—when they got him back—he’d just have to go through weekly draws again. But with this machine and what I’ve seen them starting to do…” She fists her hands.
“The amount of blood that’s going to be needed to keep up with that machine…he’ll be tied to it for the rest of his life. They’d drain him and have to pump him with more blood, waiting for his cells to take over, and then drain him again on an endless cycle.”
My blood chills, and a heavy weight sinks into the pit of my stomach.
No. I won’t let that happen to him.
Vera’s face looks pained as she grips at her chest. “When I was ordered to make that machine, I started getting nervous about what they were doing. I tried to stall for time, but Royce made me do it. I was afraid for Dane and got Tinsley to help be my alibi so I could make something for him.”
“In exchange for her protection of the other captured Guild members,” Tinsley adds with a smile .
Vera continues, “I wasn’t able to test it, and I have no idea if it works, but if it does, it’ll block Royce’s gift from him.”
“That thing you stuck him with?” I clarify, and she nods.
“It was hard enough getting what I needed for one with Tinsley’s help, so there won’t be another.” She takes a shuddering breath, her eyes closing to compose herself for whatever she’s planning to say next.
“After Dane protected me from those knives—when I thought he’d already abandoned me like Charles said—and seeing what they’re doing with that new machine, I started to question everything . I found his notebook and finally read it. I know…”
She swallows, slowing her words.
“I know I messed up on the island. I didn’t think Dane was in any danger. Gordon…he promised me he would be fine and I believed him. I loved him. I just wanted to impress him. I’d recently figured out how to synthesize gifts into objects, and he’d been so happy with me. I didn’t want to disappoint him.”
My stomach churns at the familiar words.
Making him happy. Not disappointing him.
Fuck…how long had he manipulated her?
How young had she been when it started?
Softer, she continues, “I never fit in with you guys, you know? I wanted to. You and Dane wanted me to, but it just…it didn’t work. I wanted to fit in somewhere. To have friends so close you called them family like Dane did. And I thought…I thought Gordon and GE were giving me that. They made me feel special, as if I was one of a kind. They needed me to better the world. Yes, some people got hurt along the way but it was for the greater good of our kind. But now I know they were just using me. ”
Vera pins me with her amber stare, her voice hardening.
“They’ve been making more than collars and bands, Rae. They’re weaponizing Dane’s gift and others’ gifts. They’ll be able to overpower every gifted person in the world within a matter of months if you don’t stop them.”
“Why me?”
“Because I’ve spent the last couple of weeks studying your gift, and I know what it can do. Tinsley and I destroyed what we could find of your blood before GE fed it into my machine, but not before I analyzed it.”
Tinsley chimes in, “I helped get rid of as many blood samples as I could before they locked away the rest.”
Banging hits the panel.
“Raegan?” Jack. He found me, which means we’re out of time.
“I’m okay!” I yell so they don’t panic.
“I don’t want to hurt Dane anymore. I need to end this before they force me to build any more of those machines or weapons. I need you to do it,” Vera urges.
I step back. “What? Is this some sick ruse to try and make Dane hate me? I’m not killing you again. I won’t do that to him.”
“You’ve done it before to protect him, and I know you can do it again. Kill Royce, and I’ll finally be free of this miserable half-life I’ve been living. You’re going to do it anyway. I’m just telling you that it has to be you.”
“But you gave Dane that serum against Royce.”
She nods.
“Dane’s the only one who can stop him, but I know he won’t deal the final blow. He’ll hesitate. Now that I know he still cares about me, I’m sure of it. There’s no way he’ll finish him. You have to. The second Dane gives you that opening, take it before Royce escapes.”
A blade stabs through the center of the panel, then morphs into a grappling hook and slams back.
The wood snaps and splinters as it breaks in half.
Vera grabs my arm to regain my attention.
“The Guild is under attack. Royce is calling me there. Don’t fuck this up.” She turns to Tinsley.
“Get me past them to the portal outside. Our deal’s over after that.”
Tinsley nods, offering her back for Vera to climb on.
“Raegan!” Kellan booms, bursting through the broken wood to make more room.
As soon as he passes through and leaves a large enough hole, Tinsley and Vera speed off.
Kell whips around when he sees it.
“Let them go,” I say before he or the others try to chase after them.
Kellan yanks me into his arms, swallowing me within his beast form.
“Are you hurt?” he demands.
I rest my hand on the back of his arm, feeling the smooth scales there and finding comfort in his embrace after all the information Vera shared.
“No.” I take a deep breath to calm the racing thoughts so I can focus on the most important and timely one.
“We have to get back to the Guild. Was Royce upstairs?”
Kellan helps me through the wreckage to the living room and the others.
“No. Upstairs was empty.”
Before I’m completely clear of the hole in the wall, Aiden pulls me to his chest, his heart galloping frantically against my ear.
“Leash,” he mutters, reminding me of what he’d said in the hospital room.
Smiling, I withdraw and bump into another body directly behind mine.
Jackson wraps his hand around the front of my neck, holding me tight against him while his thumb angles my chin up to look at him.
His midnight blue gaze pierces mine, and a cool shiver snakes through me.
“I’m sorry,” I breathlessly offer.
To him. To all of them for making them worry.
Dane grabs my hand, stroking my wrist softly.
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
Jack releases me, and I shift so I can see everyone.
“Reid found the five hostage Guild members in the basement. I guess Tinsley was with you,” Aiden fills me in.
“He’s dropping them and Harvey’s body off at the Guild and he’ll be right back. What happened?”
“Vera was filling me in on what GE’s been working on and what she and Tinsley have been doing. But we can talk about that later. She said that Royce is attacking the Guild and he was calling her there.”
Reid appears suddenly behind Dane.
“There’s trouble at the Guild. I dropped them off in the infirmary, but there are zombies and agents flooding the Hall.”
Tinsley zips into the room and crashes into him, taking them to the ground.
“Reid!”
“Tinsley!”
He grabs the back of her head and pulls her into a kiss.
She moans unashamedly, and Dane snaps, “Save the make-out session for after we defeat the zombies and Royce.”
Tinsley pops back, beaming at Reid and then helping him to his feet.
She latches on to his arm and whispers something in his ear, drawing a small smile to his lips.
“I thought I destroyed all his zombies.” When I look at Jack, he nods once and strides outside.
I follow him, the others doing the same, until we’re standing on the edge of the cliff overlooking the beach where the zombie caves had been.
Three portals line the beach, and zombies pile into them.
I bring my gift back, flexing my hand as it tingles beneath my skin.
“Jack, get me down there. I’ll take care of them.” I have no idea how many already made it through, but I can cut them off here.
He kneels before me, and I climb on his back.
“Reid, bring us down, too,” Aiden orders.
“We’re returning to the Guild together.”
Reid frowns.
“We should head back now to help.”
“I’m not risking the two of them alone in case Royce is waiting around to turn them on each other. The Guild can hold their own until we get there. It’s what we’ve been training for.”
He’s right.
We need to trust that the Guild is fighting back.
Jackson jumps over open air, guiding our descent toward the caves and portals.
“Where do you want to be?”
“Between two of the portals.”
He swings his arm out before we land, a blast of air throwing the zombies back.
As soon as his feet touch the ground, I drop and thrust my gift into the sand.
I channel my gift, the beach fissuring and glowing red within those cracks as they spread beneath the mass of zombies before us.
I latch it onto their feet, immobilizing them as I work further back.
All the way to the caves and then spidering my gift along the cliffside.
“Don’t overdo it,” Aiden warns from the side.
I don’t make a move to acknowledge him, but I hear him.
There’s still a fight happening at the Guild, and if I overexert myself here, I won’t be able to help there.
Once I’ve outlined the framework of my attack, I trigger it, releasing the burst of my gift to flood the zombies and the rocky cliff.
The beach trembles. Stone snaps.
Pops. The first opening in the cliff caves in, stone separating and falling inward.
Then, the next one and the next, a domino effect of cave-ins that bury the dead and block their escape.
I pump one last burst through my gift, making sure the zombies on the beach are unable to move.
Unless Royce returns to fill them with more souls and heal them, they won’t be going anywhere.
The rockslide is over, and the cliffside on this cutout of the beach looks more like a steep, slanted slide of rocks now.
I keep my gift active and at the ready.
Dane shifts to my side.
“What else did Vera say?”
“That you’re the only one who can stop Royce.”
“How?”
“That thing she injected you with.” I squeeze his hand and look at him.
“She also read your notebook. I think…she’s realized her mistakes with you. But—”
“Raegan. Dane,” Aiden calls to us.
“Let’s go. ”
“Through the portal or teleporting?” Kell questions.
“All of us through the same portal to conserve Reid’s strength.” Aiden motions us to the one he’s in front of, then takes my other hand. “Now.”