“End?”
On the glass, she can see a white ouroboros imprint. A chill runs up her spine.
“The end. The final extinction. The end of the cycle,” he says.
Trembling, Rae places her hand on the glass again. The baby opens her eyes, and everything comes flooding back to her. Her memories fold into one.
Cassian.
Her mind awakens.
“I’m sorry, but he misled you,” Rae says. “That soldier was Cassian. He designed me, but he was not a holy figure, nor was he a reliable innovator. He was a pathological killer. A mad scientist, if there ever was one. I’m afraid he fooled you.”
“He predicted that you’d find me,” he says. “Said you’d fall right into my lap. Well, here you are.”
“Here I am,” she mutters. “I killed him.”
“He showed me the way. He trusted me,” he says.
Cassian was looking for a way to keep me alive, young, and always breeding.
Everything he constructed was to keep her his docile little slave. And somehow, even after his death, he has trapped her. He will break and destroy her as she did so eagerly to him.
She shakes her head, praying the fragile devil can see his error. “He was a lonely, spiteful alpha with decreasing masculine abilities. His ego destroyed him,” she says. “He let the entire world fall to ruin because of one omega clone. Me. He thought I was perfect. His masterpiece. But he was wrong. I am broken, and that’s why my alphas love me. Cassian failed, and now he’s using you as his backup plan to destroy everything.”
The devil bows and places the baby’s tank against her chest. Instinctually, she closes her arms around the glass and feels the warmth below her breasts.
Everything goes silent. It’s just her and the child. Floating. Breathless ecstasy.
She remembers the joy of pregnancy. She remembers love. Real love. The love that sees you at your lowest and wants more of you. The love you keep fighting for no matter how hard it breaks you.
Killian, Lucas, Vash. Where are you?
“Look at her. She is alive,” he says. “All this time, she has been alive, waiting for you. She opened her eyes when you plugged in. You can use the energy stream to provide her first memories, transmitting yours into her. Overriding basic neural networks with your own. The tubes that kept you alive were supposed to weave you two together, but there was a process error. You woke up.”
“I was hooked up… to her? So that’s why I lost my memories,” she whispers.
“A symptom of pulling out too fast. The language sector of the brain is overworked, causing temporary amnesia. It wasn’t supposed to complete like that,” he says.
“What else did Cassian tell you?”
“You are a clone, perfect in so many ways. But he knew your limitations. On the inside, you were always unraveling. Little by little. Every day that passes, you lose more. When your essence evaporates, a part of you will grow unstable, and--”
She interrupts. “Unstable?”
“Your molecular level It will sift inward, attacking itself. You will fall into a state of rapid deterioration before your atoms go haywire...”
Rae lowers her voice. “I’ll bring extinction.”
“Yes,” he says. “Compared to the rest of the clones, your genetic code is complex. He built your body with a natural failsafe right within the source code.”
“A failsafe,” she whispers. “But I feel fine…”
They are both silent.
He adds, “Your consciousness came with a duty. A responsibility to bring people together.”
A cold current runs down her throat. “If what you’re saying is true, everyone will die. I’ll never see my loved ones ever again. I’ll never hold my children. Never get to smell their hair before putting them to bed. I’ll lose everything.”
“Don’t you understand? With no extinction, the world will repeat the same cycle. In your death, you will live again through a new body. Those that survive can build a new society,” he moans. “The cycle can start over. You can begin again.”
“The child is just a copy of a copy. She will also degenerate,” Rae says.
“I have faith that she won’t,” he whispers.
“Faith,” she says. “There’s that word.”
He scrunches his brow with concern. “Extinction is a new beginning. It is our only hope at finding salvation.”
On shaky feet, Rae stands. “I don’t want to live forever. I want to live, and then I want to die. In that order.”
A simple smile creases the thin skin of his face. “You don’t get to live. Nor do you get to die.”
“I’m stuck,” she mutters. “I’m a shadow. I’ve always been a shadow. By plugging in, I thought I was making a decision I could finally own.”
“You believed ending the New Republic meant ultimate autonomy,” he says.
She looks down. The realization comes with a bitter taste. “I was wrong. I’ve never made a single decision in my life,” she says.
“You are the one,” he whispers. “The end of Alpha. The beginning of Omega. The end of all this violence and misery. The last detonation that will bring us together again. The survivors can build a new world. One where you can live in peace.”
“And my alphas–what will happen to them?” she asks, voice rising with shaking intensity. “My children? What the fuck will happen to them?”
The fragile devil takes the tank with the child away from her, hooks it back up to the altar, and the artificial light returns. “We should go. There is a lot to think about,” he mutters.
Tears cling to Rae’s eyelids. She has sacrificed repeatedly to keep love. Alls he wanted was a constant state of connection that enlightens the heart. And what did she get?
The chance to become some messiah?
As she follows him back to their room, she bows her head and listens to the silence outside of their footsteps. A barely audible hum comes from the other side of the wall. Is it the energy source he was talking about?
No–It’s something else. It’s the sound of life still breathing.
They continue walking.
Once more, the fragile devil shackles her. He tosses the keys around a nail in the wall.
Pushed to her limit, she hits the ground and screams. “Is this your idea of a cruel joke?”
A part of her wishes it was. But it’s not. She was born to a world that wanted to break her. This shit is par for the course.
From birth, they gave her a death sentence. She never had a chance at winning this.
The devil lights a candle near the ouroboros statue. He stares, mesmerized.
“What is it?” she asks.
He remains silent and motionless.
“I asked you a question. What is the statue?” she asks. “It looks like a gravestone.”
He turns back to her. “Tomorrow, I will ready the synthesis tank. You will degenerate there under my supervision and care. When the extinction comes, I want to be the first one to feel it. The power of the Alpha-Omega.”
“You’re insane,” she cries.
His hand lands around her wrist. Squeezing, he says, “Fate is no shallow madman. Fate is the code of the cosmos. There is no escape.”
There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.
She lowers her voice. Fighting isn’t worth the loss of energy. “Please, let me see my family again. One more time. Please.”
The fragile devil keeps a candle lit for one moment. His eyes shine bright red with golden sparkles reflecting from the statue. “We lose them to time,” he says. “Think of me as a preacher. I will help you get through the terror of death. It will be painless.”
He blows out the candle. His image, reduced to smoke and darkness. He walks back to the statue and prays,
“It’s the end of day, but it feels like dawn...”
Killian
A salty mist sprays the front of Killian’s beard.
Glancing back at the blinded cabin windows, a dread cree
ps into his heart. Vash hasn’t stepped foot on deck for hours.
It’s like he’s choosing to vanish.
To vanish like her. It would be too easy. The temptation to give up is dangling like a ripe piece of fruit; there will never be a second life for them. Never be a second fucking chance.
Rae was that second life. If she’s gone, they can’t start over. It is an impossible dilemma.
Lucas left. Vash baited him until he couldn’t take any more of it. The pack is slowly disintegrating.
Just like her...
Killian’s reaction is the opposite of the others. He keeps himself out in the open, where others can depend on him. He places himself where he’s needed.
Work and fight until you die.
He has nowhere to hide. Right after he killed his own father, he watched Rae disappear into the planet’s core. It’s impossible to square with. He will always wonder why she did it, why she plugged herself into that thing.
It felt like she was choosing death over a life with them. As fucked up as the world is, Killian was ready to dive into it.
He turns away from the cabin windows. Vash will be all right. He just needs a few days to get back to baseline. Alphas rise above defeat.
On the other end of the dock, Ruby leans against the barricade. Killian fights the urge to say something, but when she notices him, she waves.
“You doing okay?” she asks.
Tenderly, he clears his throat and says, “I’m holding up. Just looking for the next gig. You ever been to this Carabaro place before?”
If they’re coming up on it by water, it’ll be a port town. Lots of jobs there. Things to do. Places to hide.
Ruby presses her lips together and nods. “The only city to beat the New Republic’s naval units. It’s an industrial wasteland.”
Chuckling, Killian grabs the metal barricade and relaxes with the rocky rhythm of the boat. “Then they’re good people.”
She laughs. “The best kind. Fighters.”
They can only smile for so long. The truth and memory of what happened always creeps back. When silence takes over, a smile, and a nod are all he can muster.
Killian stares at the black water. Its body moves like a snake. “There’s nothing out here. For miles upon miles, it’s empty. The sea goes on forever,” he says.
Ruby stands beside him. “Spooky stuff.”
“For me, it’s comforting,” he says. “When you have nothing left to gain, the sea feels like home.”
She faces him, a bemused expression. “You still have something to gain in this. We all still do,” she says.
Killian doesn’t need to be sold an idea. He needs proof that something good can come from years of unrelenting fight.
He asks, “You think she’s still alive? During our first searches with her, I heard rumors from other alphas. Lots of rumors.”
Ruby’s eyes do not waiver. She looks as honest as honest can be. “Yes,” she says. “She’s still alive. Plugged in, maybe. But alive, nonetheless.”
Thunder cracks in the black sky above, bringing forth a few drops of rain. Killian’s demeanor changes. He can’t rely on optimism. “I’d like to believe that, darling. But I saw something different. That night, I watched her kill herself. She drowned. I’ll go with you to the Iron Eye, and I’ll sure as hell fight whoever wants to stand in our way. But I don’t have the same faith as you. When people leave, they leave for good.”
The rain intensifies. Violent gusts of wind force against his body and face. The ocean builds around them. Ruby’s eyes widen. “Maybe now’s not the time. Get Vash.”
A wave smacks against the side of the vessel, flooding the deck.
Killian turns to head down to the cabin, but Vash is already soaked in the rain. His eyes crease, and his body is stiff. The turn of weather must have abruptly woke him.
“Systems control,” Vash shouts. “Get to the downstairs control panel!”
Ruby slides across the deck as a wave brings the vessel sideways. Swinging her feet around the base of the knee rail, she balances and stretches her arms to open the downstairs control center.
The boat stabilizes, and she swings herself down, hitting her ass on every slick step. Killian follows and braces as he rolls headfirst into a rising pool of water.
The downstairs systems control is wrecked. The ocean soaks through the chip units. The display screen floats by his chest.
“Auto-pilot is shot,” Killian says. “We must run the ship manually on deck.”
“Okay. Good plan—”
Another wave hits, shattering the glass of the control center. The tide takes Ruby. She holds on to Killian and the edge of the window as the tide pulls her with the strength of a hundred arms.
The water is rising inside. She lets go.
Killian gulps in air and ducks underwater. Opening his eyes doesn’t do him many favors, but he sees her red hair, illuminated by a bright light. Is his mind playing tricks on him? There’s no time to gauge. But for that one second, he doesn’t see Ruby. He sees Rae’s body, floating endlessly away from him.
It’s horrible.
“No...” he growls.
He pulls her back inside, bringing her back to safety on the deck. Another wave smashes the side, but he’s got her steady.
Ruby coughs out a lungful of water. “We will die out here,” she gasps. “Won’t we?”
Vash is already manually maneuvering the boat away from the giant crests of water. “We’re not going to fucking die,” he says, clenching his mouth tightly as he arches the wheel.
Killian saw something. The light behind Ruby’s head. It wasn’t his imagination. It was an intruder.
He struggles to get a breath in. “Under water,” he coughs.
“Take a second to breathe,” Vash says.
Killian stumbles forward, grabs Vash’s chin, and turns his head for him. “We don’t have a second.”
Rising from the black sea is a shiny submarine. Like a serpent, it disappears back into the depths. For a second, there is no sound. Even the weather seems to pause for what’s coming.
Vash and Killian share glances, both swallowing hard.
The sound of water swaying and slapping from the movement underneath.
Vash runs to get the children.
Silence. Silence. Get ready...
It hits them from the center. The submarine’s nose crushes the bottom of the boat.
They’re sent flying across the deck. Metal beams fall and thrash against the waves that follow.
The boat floods with water.
The boat is capsizing.
They sink into the cold water.
Killian’s bleeding, but he can’t be sure what hit him. He’s dazed and tense from the near-freezing temperature. “Vash!” he shouts against the raging night.
“I’m here,” he says. “Might’ve messed up a rib or two, but I’m here.”
Behind him, Vash clings to a floating piece of the deck. Wrapped and seated on the wood are the children, a little wet but safe.
With a curious look of pride, Vash points ahead. Through the fog and rocky waves is the city of Carabaro. The building lights are warm and inviting.
“We made it,” he says. “It’s close. Maybe only five miles until we hit the coast.”
Killian swims to another piece of the boat. Exhausted, he collapses onto it and exhales loudly.
“Where’s Ruby?” he asks.
The submarine rises once more, bringing Ruby to the top. The round and menacing craft hovers above the water, and a door lifts open. A group of authorities exit with rifles.
One man parts through the center. “Carabaro customs.”
From the water, Vash reaches to grab onto the ladder. “You nearly killed us.”
“You are sailing in closed waters in an enemy vessel,” he says.
Vash steps onto the platform to negotiate while Killian gets the children to safety.
The man steps forward with a metal stick. Quickly, he uses it to flash a
red beam in their eyes. A screen appears in front of them with all of their history. “We maintained all the New Republic’s records,” he says.
“Great. So you know who we are. Can we go?” Vash asks, stubbornly.
“Vash,” he says. “Brother of Cassian. Leader of the Ouroboros. Your father is not honored here any longer.”
Killian looks back at the endless waters. Next to the lights on the shore, the sea looks terrifying and empty. He can’t believe he ever thought it comforting. “Let us buy a boat. We’ll be out of here by morning,” he says.
The man steps toward Killian. But before he can react to his suggestion, something else takes his attention.
One soldier pushes Ruby toward the commander. “Sir, don’t let them out of your sight. They’re on behalf of the New Republic.”
A time and place that shouldn’t have existed.
The commander turns back to analyze every one of them. Then he sees the small children, ducking and holding Killian’s knees tightly.
He wags his rifle at them. “What operation are you running?” he asks.
Killian watches Vash struggle to come up with an answer. “Look, we’re not with the New Republic. We’re just passing--”
Ruby interrupts him. “They came here on my accord,” she says. “I was the Prime Minister of the New Republic.”
The man swallows loudly. He slowly raises the barrel to her nose. “Then I’ll ask you again. Why are you crossing my sea?”
A tear drags down her left eye. “Because I owe my sister something. Something big.”
“Our allegiance lies with no country,” Vash says. “Fuck you and your army.”
Frustrated, the commander bucks the back of his rifle against Vash’s temple. The blow knocks him to the floor. “Arrest them. We will hear what they have to say on land.”
Killian mean-mugs Ruby. “Bad people,” he says.
Ruby wipes her tear away. “The worst kind.”
Rae
She dreams of them.
Hidden within every hour of sleep is a vast landscape she can search endlessly for them. She calls out, but she can’t hear them. She just knows they’re there.
Broken Angel: The Complete Collection: A Dark Omegaverse Romance Page 37
