Chapter Twenty-Six — The Convoy
Chapter Nineteen — The Body Thieves
Three armored transports.
Two tactical escorts.
One decoy route.
Blaine identified the real vehicle in under thirty seconds.
“The center transport has reinforced refrigeration seals,” he said quietly from the driver’s
seat of the stolen utility truck. “That’s our target.”
Silas lounged beside him with one boot resting casually against the dashboard.
“You say things like that and wonder why people think you’re romantic.”
Blaine ignored him completely.
Avery sat in the back compartment gripping Vinny’s photograph tightly between gloved
fingers while Poison City blurred green and silver outside rain-streaked windows.
Body thieves.
God.
If Vinny were alive he’d absolutely make jokes about this.
The realization hurt so sharply she almost smiled anyway.
Outside, riots still burned through lower sectors while House drones circled overhead
scanning crowds with red surveillance beams.
The city looked feverish tonight.
Like it knew something terrible was coming.
Silas glanced back toward Avery lazily.
“You’re very quiet.”
“I’m planning crimes.”
“That’s healthy.”
Blaine cut across flooded side streets sharply enough the truck rattled violently beneath
them.
“We intercept near Hollow Bridge.”
Avery looked up immediately.
“That route passes through containment tunnels.”
“Yes.”
Fear sharpened beneath her ribs.
Containment tunnels meant automated defense systems.
Gas dispersal.
Turrets.
Neural scanners.
Places designed to stop people from escaping alive.
Silas looked delighted.
“Oh good. I was worried tonight might become predictable.”
“You enjoy dangerous situations too much,” Avery muttered.
“You say that like it’s a flaw.”
“It is a flaw.”
“No,” Silas smiled faintly. “It’s a survival adaptation.”
The truck lights flickered briefly as they descended into lower transit sectors.
The farther underground they traveled the quieter the city became.
No crowds.
No riots.
Only steel tunnels stretching endlessly through the poisoned dark.
Blaine slowed the vehicle beside a fractured maintenance barricade.
“We continue on foot.”
Avery stepped out into cold tunnel air thick with rust and chemical runoff. Water dripped
steadily from overhead pipes while emergency lights flashed dim green along the walls.
The atmosphere felt wrong instantly.
Too empty.
Blaine noticed her tension.
“Stay close.”
Silas looked mildly offended.
“I’m right here.”
“That wasn’t directed at you.”
“I know.” The amber-eyed assassin smiled lazily at Avery. “That’s why it was insulting.”
Despite herself Avery almost laughed.
Almost.
Then headlights appeared far down the tunnel.
The convoy.
Three black armored transports rolled slowly through the containment corridor
surrounded by House tactical units carrying filtration rifles and shock batons.
Silver serpent insignias gleamed beneath tunnel lights.
Avery’s pulse crashed hard.
Vinny was inside one of those vehicles.
Dead.
Cold.
Alone.
The grief sharpened instantly into rage again.
Blaine crouched beside the barricade checking ammunition with terrifying calm.
“Silas takes the rear escort.”
“Always giving me the fun assignments.”
“I’ll stop the main transport.”
Avery frowned.
“And me?”
Both assassins looked at her simultaneously.
Blaine answered first.
“You stay hidden.”
“No.”
“Avery.”
“No.”
Silas watched the exchange with visible amusement.
“She’s learning.”
Blaine ignored him.
“This isn’t a negotiation.”
Avery stepped closer.
“They killed him because of me.”
“And?”
The question stunned her briefly.
Blaine’s silver eyes locked onto hers steadily.
“You think getting yourself shot fixes that?”
The words hit hard because part of her wanted punishment.
Silas noticed instantly.
Of course he did.
“You do that often,” he murmured softly.
Avery looked sharply toward him.
“What?”
“Confuse guilt with responsibility.”
Silence.
The convoy drew closer.
Engine noise thundered through the tunnels now.
Blaine rose smoothly to his feet.
Avery grabbed his sleeve before she could stop herself.
The contact froze both of them instantly.
Fabric only.
Still—
Blaine looked down at her hand like it physically mattered.
“Avery.”
Fear tightened suddenly in her throat.
Not fear for herself.
For him.
They moved like something the city didn’t have a name for yet — an assassin, a Theater
ghost, and a poison girl walking toward a convoy of armed men to steal a body. None of
them said that out loud. Silas hummed faintly under his breath, which Avery was learning
meant he was nervous and would die before admitting it. Blaine checked angles without
appearing to check anything.
She thought about Vinny saying I would choose you anyway.
She wondered if he’d known it would lead here. Probably not. Probably he’d imagined
something quieter — the files surfacing, the city accounting for itself, some version of
justice that didn’t require anyone to get shot at in a tunnel.
He would’ve hated this.
He also would’ve come.
“Don’t die.”
The words escaped raw and quiet.
Silas looked away immediately.
Interesting.
Blaine stared at her for one long breath beneath flickering green tunnel light.
Then softly:
“I’ll try.”
Which was not a promise.
Avery hated that.
Then everything exploded at once.
The tunnel lights died violently.
Gunfire erupted.
Silas vanished into darkness like a nightmare finally unleashed—
And Blaine Morana walked directly into the convoy alone.
The first transport exploded before the House guards understood they were under attack.
Fire ripped violently through the tunnel ceiling, showering sparks and concrete across
armored vehicles while emergency sirens screamed alive overhead.
Avery ducked instinctively behind the barricade as bullets tore through the dark.
Then she saw Blaine.
God.
He moved like something inhuman.
Not fast exactly.
Precise.
Every motion calculated down to the inch — knife, gunshot, pivot, kill.
House enforcers dropped before they fully raised weapons.
One.
Three.
Five.
Bodies hit the flooded tunnel floor hard enough water splashed crimson beneath flashing
emergency lights.
Avery physically couldn’t look away.
This was what Black Vein created.
Not just assassins.
Weapons disguised as men.
Blaine crossed the battlefield through smoke and gunfire like he already knew exactly
where every bullet would land before it fired.
Terrifying.
Beautiful.
Wrong.
A tactical guard lunged from the left flank—
Blaine caught the rifle barrel barehanded and snapped the man’s wrist backward with a
sickening crack before driving a blade directly beneath his jaw.
No hesitation.
No wasted movement.
The body collapsed instantly.
Avery’s stomach twisted violently.
Not disgust.
Something more dangerous.
Understanding.
She understood now why the Theater feared losing him.
Silas appeared next like a ghost stepping from smoke.
The amber-eyed assassin dropped from the tunnel rafters directly onto the rear escort
vehicle, dark curls wild beneath flashing red emergency lights while twin hooked blades
glinted silver in his hands.
Unlike Blaine—
Silas enjoyed this.
That was the horrifying part.
He smiled while fighting.
Beautifully.
Viciously.
One enforcer fired point-blank toward him.
Silas twisted sideways laughing softly as the bullet missed by inches before slashing the
man across the throat in one elegant movement.
Blood sprayed the tunnel walls.
Silas barely blinked.
Avery realized suddenly — Blaine killed like a machine.
Silas killed like an artist.
Both terrified her equally.
The center transport accelerated suddenly through the chaos.
“They’re moving the body!” Avery shouted.
Blaine looked up instantly.
The transport engines screamed louder as the armored vehicle barreled deeper into the
containment tunnel.
Running.
Trying to erase Vinny before anyone reached him.
Rage exploded hot through Avery’s chest.
Without thinking she ran.
“Avery!”
Blaine’s voice cracked through the tunnel behind her.
Too late.
She sprinted through smoke and gunfire toward the fleeing transport while alarms
screamed overhead.
Bullets ricocheted off tunnel walls around her.
One House enforcer turned sharply—
then froze.
His eyes locked onto her face.
Recognition.
“The Poison Girl—”
Fear spread instantly across his expression.
Avery’s pulse crashed violently.
The poison inside her reacted.
Always reacting hardest to fear.
The air around her sharpened unnaturally.
The enforcer staggered backward suddenly clutching his throat.
Blood trickled from his nose.
Avery stopped cold.
No.
Not now.
Not here—
Another guard looked toward her.
Then another.
Panic spread through the tactical line faster than gunfire.
“She’s contaminated!”
“Don’t let her near you!”
The fear hit her like gasoline on fire.
Her veins burned instantly beneath skin.
Black lines spread visibly across her wrists under the gloves.
Too much emotion.
Too many people terrified at once.
The poison surged violently alive inside her.
Avery stumbled hard against the tunnel wall breathing unevenly.
Not now.
Please not now—
The nearest enforcer collapsed choking.
Then another.
The tunnel descended instantly into screaming chaos.
Silas physically stopped fighting for one stunned second.
Blaine saw everything immediately.
“Avery!”
She couldn’t breathe properly.
The poison pulsed through her body like wildfire beneath skin while House guards backed
away in terror.
Every heartbeat made it worse.
Someone fired.
A bullet screamed toward her—
Then Blaine was there.
He caught her violently against his chest as the shot cracked past them both.
The impact spun them hard behind the transport barricade.
Avery gasped sharply as Blaine pinned her beneath him instinctively.
Chest against chest.
Bodies aligned.
Too close.
Way too close.
His gloved hand gripped her jaw firmly forcing her eyes toward his.
“Avery.”
Her breathing shattered instantly.
The poison still burned violently through her veins.
Blaine’s silver eyes stayed locked onto hers with terrifying focus.
“Breathe.”
“I can’t—”
“Yes, you can.”
Gunfire thundered around them.
Silas screamed something across the tunnel.
None of it mattered.
Because Blaine still held her like she wouldn’t break him apart.
Like he wasn’t afraid.
“Avery,” he said again, lower this time. “Focus on me.”
The poison surged harder.
Too much fear.
Too much grief.
Her vision blurred.
“I’m hurting them,” she whispered brokenly.
Blaine’s expression hardened instantly.
“No.”
Another enforcer collapsed nearby convulsing violently.
Avery physically recoiled.
“Yes!”
Blaine grabbed her tighter.
“They’re afraid of you,” he said sharply. “That isn’t the same thing as you choosing this.”
The words cut through the panic just enough.
Avery stared at him breathing raggedly while tunnel lights flashed red across his face.
Smoke.
Blood.
Sirens.
And Blaine Morana holding her like the world ending around them mattered less than she
did.