Chapter 14 #2
A roar sliced through the night, Caden’s shoulders expanding as he picked up a rifle from one of the dead.
His back muscles flexed as he hurled it like an axe, the spear on the end slicing through the guard’s neck like a guillotine.
Blood gushed out, his head only hanging on by a tendon, his body dropping to the ground.
Warwick whipped around to Caden. The Wolf’s face was smeared with blood and vengeance.
They only glared at each other for a moment before they both jumped back into fighting, Warwick’s claw hacking through two soldiers at once.
It was only a moment, but watching Caden and Warwick fight near each other had chills running down my limbs.
Their movements, the energy coming off them—it was the same.
Birdie’s small gasp next to me told me she saw the same thing.
Footsteps pummeled the pavement behind us, the rest of our group catching up, jolting Birdie and me from our spot. Guns blazing, the rest of us leaped into the fold.
Ignoring the bitter cold seeping into my clothes, adrenaline spiked my body with heat while tearing through a layer of soldiers coming behind Ash and Lukas.
“About time you fuckers arrived,” Ash smirked as he shot one and sliced into another with a sword.
“Sorry, we decided to take a little dip in the lake first. Get refreshed,” I countered, jumping behind one and snapping his neck.
A bundle of guards went flying back, and I craned my head to see Kek, her eyes pitch black, an evil smirk on her face as she tore through another row.
“Someone is having fun.” I swung around, stabbing a guard in the throat with a dagger. “But I think we need to get the hell out of here.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Ash replied, a bullet grazing his temple. “Like now.”
It wouldn’t be long before their number started to overrun us completely. Killian and Wesley shielded Rosie as she shot everything that moved. Her combat skills were not even on the playing field of what was needed here. It was only time before they got one of us.
“We need a diversion!” Birdie yelled at us. “Or we’re toast.”
Scanning the area, trying to come up with an idea, a memory tickled the back of my head, swinging me around to the tiny blonde. “B, remember how we escaped that prison in Istanbul?”
Her eyes grew wide as she took down three huge guys near her. “Yes . . . but we need gunpowder and a charge.”
Fire blazed the roof, but it was too far for what we needed.
My attention returned to Kek as her demon powers yanked more men off the ground, sending them back into each other and knocking them down like dominos.
Birdie followed my gaze, her mouth parting.
“I think we have the charge.” I smirked.
“Fuck a whole barrel of monkeys,” she muttered.
I took that as a yes.
“Rosie!” I bellowed out. “Get all the gunpowder you can from your bullets now.”
Rosie’s eyebrows furrowed, but she didn’t question me. Wesley and Killian stepped up closer to guard her as she emptied her chamber, yanking the bullet shells apart and pouring the gunpowder into her hand.
A cry of pain tore my focus from Rosie. I knew the voice without looking, but when I did, my gut wrenched up into my lungs.
“Hanna!”
A bullet went through her hip, dropping her to the ground. My muscles moved before my brain fully registered what had happened. The need to protect her, shield her from any more harm, raced me over there, mowing down the culprits, blasting every bullet I had into their corpses.
“You okay?” I reached for her. “Can you get up?”
A growl rose from her throat, her eyes narrowing like a cat’s, ready to attack. I leaned down, and her canines, sharp and pointed, snapped at me.
“Hanna . . .” I said her name slowly and calmly, my hands going up in defense. “I need you here with me, little viper.”
She blinked, her body jerking, realizing what she had done. What she became.
I reached my hand out again.
“I’m fine.” She shoved my hand away with anger, struggling to her feet, pain flickering through her expression. I grabbed her to keep her upright. “Get off me. I said I was fine.” She pushed away from me, blood dripping to the ground.
“Scorpion, I got all I can!” Rosie took my attention away from Hanna for a moment, trying to ignore the sting of her rebuff.
“Get Rosie over to Kek,” I ordered Killian and Wesley. No other time in the world would I be demanding anything from the fae lord, but things were not normal right now.
“Kek!” I called over to her, waiting for her to look at me. “I need you to send that gunpowder up.” My head flicked up at the burning roof.
A slow, terrifying smile cut across the demon’s face. She understood.
Gunpowder plus fire equaled the only escape we had.
Another cry hit my ears as a rifle spear went through Lukas’s arm. Warwick, Caden, and Ash were already wounded before we even arrived. We were going down quick.
Wesley and Killian fought to get Rosie to Kek, the blue-haired demon meeting them halfway when a rumble vibrated the ground.
My focus followed the noise, terror freezing me in place when I saw two tanks rolling past the troops, coming for us, several guns besides the main cannon pointed at our group.
“Kek, now!” I screamed.
With her mind powers, Kek blew the powder in Rosie’s hands toward the roof.
The tank’s cannon was turned to face us, the soldiers inside probably not caring if they took dozens of their own men out as well, as long as they got us.
My gaze followed the powder, watching it drift to the flames. Kek let it drop.
“Duck!” I yelled out too late.
Booooooooom!
The blast pushed out searing heat, scorching my face as the pressure tossed us all up into the air like rag dolls. My frame tumbled to the ground, rolling across the pavement into the grass, too stunned to feel any pain yet.
My ears rang, everything sounding far away, my mind jumbled, but I knew I needed to get up. This was our only chance.
“Hanna?” I hollered for her, though I could barely hear myself. Standing up, I saw hundreds of bodies laid out, most with melted faces or no longer in one piece, some on fire.
Fuck.
“Hanna!” I bellowed louder.
“Hey! Come on. We have to go.” Wesley darted into my view. Rosie, Killian, Kek, Lukas, and Ash were with him.
“Go!” I yelled at him, motioning to run. I wouldn’t leave without her.
Warwick carried Birdie, her face burned from the blast, with Caden following behind, retreating before more guards started moving in, taking over for their dead brethren.
Panic caught in my throat when I spotted blonde hair, pieces of it singed black.
“Fuck! Hanna!” I scrambled over bodies to her. She laid half underneath a corpse, and I pushed it off her. “Hanna . . . wake up.” Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I shoved her again. “You can’t die on me, little viper.
I know you want to kick my ass too much.
” She didn’t move. “Hanna!” Terror cut through me.
The memory of losing Maddox was still so raw.
I couldn’t lose her. I knew I wouldn’t recover if I did.
I barely knew or liked the girl, but everything in me wailed like a storm, furious and ready to slaughter the world.
The stomping of new soldiers’ feet grew louder as the tank rolled closer. The regime was moving in.
“Hanna.” I shook her violently, reaching for the link with Brexley, for any power that might hum in my veins to help Hanna. “Please. Wake. Up!”
Her eyes bolted open, her mouth opening in a gasp for oxygen.
Relief almost sank me down through the dirt, the ache in my chest loosening as I watched her eyes dart around, then land on me. The moment they did, something skimmed against my chest, like she was peeling it open.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
“Come on.” I yanked her up. Soldiers started to get through the arched gateway, moving around the tank. “We’ve got to go.” I got her up to her feet. “Can you stand and run on your own?”
She bobbed her head again, dazed, but her feet were solid enough under her. Tugging on her wrist, we took off into the park, the trees creating thick shadows, hiding us from our enemies. I picked up the pace. Soon I realized she was no longer beside me.
Snapping around, I spotted her standing there, gazing back as more and more of the faux-fae army moved in, the flames still crackling over the castle roof and grounds.
“Hanna?” I whispered hoarsely.
She didn’t respond. Her hands flexed and unflexed, her chest heaving.
My stomach twisted, dread washing over me. Somehow, I understood, without knowing how. A battle was raging inside her as if a part of her felt tied to them. They were like her. Her kind.
“Hanna . . .” Once again, my voice was low and soothing. “Hanna, please turn around and come with me.”
Her hand rolled into a tight ball, her muscles twitching.
“Hanna.” I stepped closer. “You are not one of them.”
Her head shot back, her body defensive.
I forced a soft smile to touch my lips. “Come on, little viper. You know you’d rather stay with m—us.” Why did I almost say me? “I’ll give you plenty of chances to kick my ass and punch me in the face.”
She swallowed, as if she was fighting against her instincts, then gave one more glance back at the regime before she turned to me and started to run, her wounded hip only slowing her a bit.
The bleeding had already stopped, and I felt if I had the chance to look at the bullet wound, it would be healing. Something that certified she was no longer just human.
We had all seen what had happened to those who took the pills firsthand. What they turned into. But she ran next to me, covered in blood, wounds, soot, and algae. I promised myself I would do whatever the fuck it took to stop it from happening to this amazing woman.
And promises were binding.