Ablaze (Indestructible Trilogy Book 2) (21 page)

Below is the entrance to Jared’s place. And a shadow moves down there. Not human-shaped.

Dirt flies everywhere as one of Jared’s fiends claws its way out in a snarling, fanged blur. I back up, hand stinging as the healing cut brushes the ground. The fiend launches itself up into the air and dives, claws outstretched like a mutated, demented bird.

I ready my weapon just in time, ducking to avoid the swipe of claws. The group scatters. Apparently, even Jared’s influence hasn’t obliterated survival instinct. But they aren’t prepared to fight. Not like this.

I’ll have to draw the fiend away. No doubt that’s Jared’s plan, to distract me while he calls in his unwilling army. Wherever the hell he is.

Fury surges, and before I have the chance to doubt myself, the fiend descends again. I jump, slashing at its clawed foot. The fiend hisses, circles above, and dives. I’ve drawn its attention onto me. I need to taunt it some more.

This time, I let fire flow to the edge of my blade and slice the claws of one foot clean off. Blood sprays me, but I don’t care. The fiend screams and thrashes, abandoning its diving tactic and trying to take my face off with its remaining claws.

But I’m too fast. And too close to Jared’s cave. I walk backwards, far swifter than I’d ever have been able to as a human, slicing the dagger in a figure-eight motion that keeps its claws getting close to my face. Every step brings me closer to the place the opening to Jared’s place lies.

If he thinks I’d hurt my friends to kill his monster, Jared’s sorely mistaken. Instead, I’m going to draw him out… and take him down.

Maybe this isn’t a wise plan. But right now, I don’t have a lot of options. The divide’s too close, more than I thought. From here, it’s barely a hundred metres away, and the thought of it behind me reawakens an old fear of being hunted, even as I’m the one luring the fiend away from the others.

A shout. Ryan runs towards us, having dispatched the other fiend. I’m right at the edge of the cliff now, above the entrance.

“Come and get me,” I mutter. “Or fly back to your shithole home.”

The fiend’s claws miss me by inches, but I successfully sever its wing membranes, sending a burst of fire across its back. Its russet-red skin goes up in flames, and its huge, heavy body slams down as its wings give way.

Ryan assails it from behind with his own blade, but I have the situation in hand. Literally. The point of my dagger pierces the fiend’s palm, and with a final burst of flame, the fiend ignites.

Both of us back away as the monster explodes into rock-like pieces. Ryan gapes at me, then turns to the others. The spell seems to have worn off, because they’re staring aimlessly into space.

“Dammit. I’ll fix those tattoos. You… keep an eye on the entrance?”

“Will do.” Ryan shifts to peer inside, down the ladder, I’d guess. “It’s dark in there. But I hear something…”

“Don’t get too close,” I warn, approaching the blank-eyed group of Pyros. “Wouldn’t surprise me if he set up a trap.”

“We
set a trap,” he points out, but he backs up slightly. “If it goes off… let’s hope Val decides to hold of hitting that switch.”

Hell. The bomb’s right under our feet. But I can’t stop now. I reach the Pyro whose tattoo I cut before, and quickly finish the job. I automatically look for Elle next.

But she’s not there.

“Are you sure you want to be doing that, Leah?”

I freeze, knowing before I turn around who’s come back. Even clawed, winged and twisted, Jared looks the same: raving mad.

And holding the Transcendent’s blade to Elle’s throat.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ryan swears, but neither of us dares make a move. Not with Elle’s life at risk. She doesn’t even react when blood wells around the blade.

“This isn’t her fight. Let her go.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Leah.” Jared’s eyes narrow. Crap, he’s seriously pissed off. No wonder his cheerful demeanour is even less convincing than usual. “You’ve made things unreasonably difficult for me. Your blood was supposed to be the key. Pity…”

I want to ask what the hell he did with Cas, but more urgent is getting Elle away from the madman. Distracting him. But I can only fight close-up, and if I move, he might kill her.

“What do you want me to do?” I let defeat seep into my voice. “We both know I won’t let you hurt her. Just because you can’t kill me…”

“Oh, I can, Leah.”

“Then what? I’m sick of your games. If you’re going to make your big play against us, do it already. We’re all bored with you, Jared.”

The blade slips, and I still my tongue. He’s shaking with fury now, his clawed hand trembling. In fact, blood seeps down his arm. And one black wing hangs limp at his side.

“Someone attacked you,” I say slowly. “Your experiments turn out to be a little too much to handle?”

“Quiet!” Jared snaps. “You’ve been nothing but a liability from the start. I want your full cooperation.” He drags Elle with him towards… no, not the entrance to the lab.

The divide.

“You sure you want to get so close to the Fiordans?” I shoot at him.

“Afraid?” He laughs coldly. “I’ve captured enough of their kind for them to be wary of me. If not for your interference, Leah, I would be more than capable of taking the Fiordans down.”

“And you’re not?” I shoot at him. “Not even as a monster?”

“Monster?” Jared laughs. “This isn’t a level playing field any more, even for the Pyros. The Fiordans want this world, and they might as well have it already for all the use most of you are. But
you,
Leah, there’s hope for you yet.”

“So what, you want me to be your prisoner again? Not sure it’ll work out in your favour.” I indicate his clawed hand. But from what he said earlier, it sounded like he intended to capture the Fiordans and use their knowledge. For what—domination of both worlds?

He smiles. “I want to control you. Just like her. Just like them.”

He points at the huddled group. And the air goes up in flames.

I’m sent flying, dust filling my vision, the ground quaking. My back slams into cracked earth, the red sky spinning around me, my ears ringing. There’s blood on my face, though only my hands hurt.

My hands are on fire. Not literally. It’s not my power, not mine…

“Your blood, Leah…”

My left arm ignites, and this time, I scream. The flames consume my vision, and I can’t see where Jared’s voice comes from. Whether Elle’s still alive.

For the second time, I tumble head over heels. My hand catches on something. A red coat.

Red, everywhere. The other Pyros lie on the ground, scattered. Unmoving.

Ignoring the pain, I push to my knees, lurch forwards. I don’t know the girl, but her arm is a mess of red.

The tattoo. Jared—he—

He killed them. They’re dead.

I fall, and the world is swallowed up in black.

***

I almost welcome the vision when it comes. I expect to see the lab, like usual, but instead, red-cloaked figures gather around me. The campsite.

For some reason, Murray’s there, in the centre, shouting. My ears ring, making it impossible to hear anything other than the words coming from another mouth than mine.

“Don’t hit the switch. She’s underground.”

Underground? None of this makes sense. If it’s a vision, what’s Murray doing there? He and Val are arguing… arguing over a piece of metal in Val’s hands…

The bomb.

“Don’t! She might be alive.”

“He killed
all of them.”
Murray’s voice.

“I didn’t see her,” says another person. Ryan.

When is this happening? I only fell a second ago. A few seconds. Everything blurs again, as much as I try to hold onto the image. Just to know they’re alive. Poppy. Tyler. Val. Murray. And Cas…

***

But I’m pulled back with a sharp jab between my shoulder blades. This time, a familiar room spins around me. The lab. I’m flat on a table, and deja-vu rushes in as I remember seeing the room before, through Cas’s eyes. But I’ve been in here myself, and it looks different. So red…

Bloodstains. The walls and floor are stained red, bright and unnatural. I stare, my head propped up against something hard and metal. I’m still clothed, but my sleeves have been rolled up, wires inserted into both wrists. My dagger is gone, and its absence is like a physical ache.

I twist my head, pulse beating fast. No one’s around.
Not again.
What the hell happened this time? This is where the Transcendent attacked Jared when he was doing something to Cas.

I half-sit up, tugging at the wires. Sharp pains sting where they pierce my skin, but it’ll heal if I pull them out. So I do, properly sitting to look around me.

The sight turns my blood to water and makes nausea rise in the back of my throat.

A body slumps inside one of the glass cases at the back of the room. Maybe the one Jared trapped me in before. The body’s almost unrecognisable, every inch of skin covered in sharp lacerations, as if someone took a knife and deliberately cut, slowly, taking their time with the torture. The slumping angle of its legs suggests bones are broken, but the glass is smeared with blood, making it difficult to tell. Though I can’t see the face, I know it’s a Transcendent. Probably the one who disobeyed.

So where are the others?

I’m shaking, and barely react when blood spurts from where I pulled out the wires. My dagger’s no longer in sight, nor are there any weapons in here that I can see. I stare around at test tubes and odd contraptions. Nothing looks dangerous, either for me or for other people. The Transcendents are resistant to most things, anyway.

If any of them are working for Jared anymore.

I don’t dare hope. He somehow got me down here. He killed the others with the tattoos, slaughtered them in a heartbeat.

I put my head in my hands, gritting my teeth.
Elle. God, not her.
I thought my blood made the tattoo stop working. But if it’s not true, did Val fall under the spell again, too?
Oh, no. Please no.

One thing at a time.
If Elle’s alive, she has to be underground.

I have no intention of spending another second as Jared’s plaything. My arms sting, but the cuts will heal within seconds. My feet touch down on the floor. At least I have my shoes on, because the polished linoleum is slippery with blood. I swallow hard and head for the door.

Once again, the corridor’s empty. But there’s a gaping hole in the wall further down the corridor, at least five metres wide. I head that way, unable to contain my curiosity. This must be where the Pyros set off the test bomb, I realise, eying the smoke rising from the collapsed stone wall. Lucky they didn’t bring the whole place down.

Crap. I shouldn’t be going this way. I race in the opposite direction instead, recalling the way out from last time. Must have been hidden behind a wall. But I can’t leave, not without finding out what happened to Elle.

Footsteps. No time to hide. My fists clench, and it hits me like a wall of falling rock: I’m unarmed.

I’m not defenceless.

But I’m done being ambushed, taken by surprise. I march towards the noise instead of away…

And run smack into Cas.

I gasp, my mouth falling open. “You’re alive?” are the first, stupid words to come out.

“Disappointed?” His face is a mask, as impassive as though this is a random encounter on the street.

I stare at him. He looks the same as usual, not at all as if he’s been tortured or worse. The only thing out of place is the absence of his usual blade. He has no weapon, either.

Thoughts tangle in my head. “What the hell is going on?” I demand.

“I could ask you the same question. I thought you were aboveground. Then I hear you decided to go chasing after the fiends again.”

“Hold up,” I say. “That vision was real, right? You talked to Murray? He’s out there?”

“He’s out there,” Cas repeats, and what little light there was in his eyes seems to go out. “He’s pissed off. Really pissed off. Val and Ryan had to hold him down to stop him coming back here when I did.”

“Yeah, still missing something here,” I say. “How long was I out for? Jared has an awful habit of locking me in places and disappearing into thin air. It’s almost not a challenge to escape anymore.”

“Don’t speak too soon.” There’s an odd expression on Cas’s face, like a smirk. “You’ve been here an hour, I’d guess, but Jared’s sadly indisposed at the moment. It looks like he’s having trouble adjusting to his new upgraded form.”

“He what?” I stare at him again. “It’s not working?”

“Oh, it’s working.” Now he’s definitely smirking. “I never thought I’d be glad of Jared’s total idiocy as a scientist, but he conveniently forgot I grew up in labs. I thought it might work, after I switched out the fiend blood he tried to inject in you before, so I stole a serum he’d been messing with.”