Violet kept her eyes glued to the back of Sagan’s headrest, although she was highly aware of Thane in her periphery. Anxiety started to make her stomach churn.
A couple of metallic twangs from Thane’s direction made her glance to the side. He’d removed the teal and magenta daggers from his door and was flipping them over in his hands, examining each of them.
“These are some decent blades. I meant it when I said you’re good at this.”
“Thanks.” Violet started to turn toward the window, but then a hand appeared in front of her. Both the throwing knives rested in Thane’s open palm.
“Keep them,” she said with an indifferent wave. “I can always make more.”
Thane hesitated for a few seconds before he withdrew his hand.
Violet’s cheeks grew warm. What is wrong with me? Why didn’t I just take the knives? After all, I was the one who sent them flying at him in the first place!
And now that she’d said he could keep them, what did he think that meant? Did he consider it a gift—a sign she was thawing toward him? Or did he think she was an arrogant light forger who could “always make more” whenever she felt like it?
She squeezed her eyes shut to stop her mind from over analyzing every detail of the last few minutes. The fact that Sagan and Va’atuu had probably been listening in as well made her stomach twist with embarrassment.
“So, you still have an affinity for daggers, huh?” Thane asked.
“Yeah, I suppose.” Violet frowned. Affinity for daggers? What did he mean by that?
“Do you still have that star-blade?”
She turned to him. “Star-blade?”
“Yeah, the one you stabbed me with before . . .” Thane cleared his throat. “When you left my place that day.”
A rush of emotions hurtled through Violet’s insides along with the memories of “that day.” The day she saw his scorpion neck tattoo he’d been hiding from her with concealer. The day all her memories from her kidnapping and Lyla’s murder returned. The day she realized Thane was one of her kidnappers. She’d stabbed him with her switchblade, and his agonized roar had followed her as she ran out of his apartment building.
“Yeah, I still have it.” Her switchblade suddenly felt heavy in her pocket.
“Can I see it?”
“Um . . . sure.” She dug out the knife and handed it to him, although she wasn’t sure how much he could see it in the darkness; as far as she knew, Veniri didn’t have enhanced night vision.
A second later, she heard the subtle shnik of the blade being released.
“Wow, this is cool,” said Thane.
“Why did you call it a star-blade?” Violet asked.
“Nathan didn’t tell you when he gave it to you?”
“No.”
“Oh, that’s right. You didn’t know anything about shifters at the time.” He paused for a few seconds. “I’m not exactly sure why they’re called star-blades, but I do know they all have two things in common.”
“And what’s that?”
“The first is this.” He held up the switchblade. For a second, Violet wasn’t sure what he was referring to in the darkness, but when he repositioned the dagger in his hand, Violet’s eyes grew wide.
Along the handle of her switchblade were ten black gems, three of them now glowing. One was teal, one magenta, and the third was orange.
“A star-blade lets you know what kind of shifters are close by,” Thane explained.
“Say what?” Violet exclaimed, but then a memory struck her. “Actually, come to think of it, I do remember a time at college when there was a teal light coming from it. The night Bessie died.”
“Yeah, about that . . .” Thane’s tone had taken on a cautious edge. “That might have been me.”
“You?” Violet’s jaw dropped. She’d been scared out of her mind when she realized someone had been following her back to her dorm.
“There was a strong scent of cinnamon in the air that night. You were up late, studying at the library, and, well . . . I wanted to make sure you were all right.” Thane’s words came out in a rush.
Violet blinked, taking a moment to allow his statement to sink in. “You knew Bessie was going to die that night?”
“No,” Thane blurted. “Not at all. I thought you were the one in danger. And from what Autumn said, the killer was in fact after you. So I kept an eye on you, I followed you from the library back to your dorm—”
“Can I have it back?” Violet held out her hand.
“What?”
“I want my switchblade back.”
“Oh.” He passed it to her handle first.
Violet snatched it off him, then turned her body to face her window. It was too dark to see anything outside, but the glowing light of her switchblade cast her reflection against the glass, as well as illuminated Thane’s forlorn posture behind her.
Violet couldn’t deal with the information Thane had just dropped on her. Not now. Not on the brink of getting her daughter back. Why was it that every time one of her friends had been murdered, Thane was around?
The rest of the car trip passed in somber silence. When they finally came to the bridge that connected the city to Rivermyre, adrenaline began to surge through Violet’s veins. She stared up at the looming ghost city in front of them, her fists clenching at her sides.
Sagan pulled up next to the van at the end of the bridge’s exit ramp. Once everyone had exited the vehicles, Autumn handed each of them an earpiece.
“Can you hear me?” Autumn’s voice buzzed in Violet’s ear.
When everyone confirmed they could hear her loud and clear, Autumn took a deep breath. “Let’s go get Solace.”
22
Corpse Diving
Nathan almost gagged. The vile stench was unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
“Oh, wow, it’s still here” came Violet’s muffled voice as the group approached the massive corpse in the middle of one of Rivermyre’s abandoned streets.
Nathan had seen the footage of the man-turned-worm experiment, but the monster on Autumn’s screen hadn’t even come close to the reality. The actual thing was much more hideous and much, much bigger. Bile bit at the back of his tongue, closely followed by shame. This creature had once been a man. Nathan’s detective instincts were fighting to take over. Whatever was going on in the facility beneath his feet, it was clear the experiments Xabat Biogenetics carried out were criminal, devoid of any moral compass. No wonder they were hiding under an abandoned city.
Sagan and Violet pointed out the remains of the leopard mutants that still littered the ground.
“They look a lot more mangled than when we were here last,” said Sagan.
Upon closer inspection, the mutants had hunks of flesh missing from their bodies. A few bones were exposed and looked as though they’d been gnawed on.
“You guys better keep your eyes open,” Tio’s voice crackled through the earpiece. Before the team entered Rivermyre, Tio had pinned a small camera on the front of all their shirts so he, Autumn, and Gus could have eyes on the group even from the safety of the van.
“I vote we get this over with quickly.” Nathan slid his arms into the backpack Autumn had given him.
“Agreed,” said Violet, putting on her own backpack.
The group skirted around the giant worm, then stopped at the edge of one of its tunnels—a giant hole in the road. The ominous void was surrounded by a mixture of dirt and rubble, but the rich earthy aroma did nothing to abate the stench of death. Thankfully, Autumn had acquired some disposable hazmat suits to protect Violet, Nathan, Thane, and En’gorr from whatever filth they might find in the tunnel’s depths. Sagan and the other Jiovis warriors would remain on the surface to guard the entrance.
Violet peered down the hole. “I’m not sure I like this idea anymore.”
“This is the best way in,” said Autumn. “Unless you want to face off with the electric fences, razor wire, and armed security guards. Also, based on the facili
ty’s schematics, that worm thingy escaped from near the experimental labs, so one of its tunnels should lead you straight there.”
“Just don’t forget to turn on the ultrasonic seismic displacement sensor when you get in so we can map the tunnels and tell you which one to take,” added Tio.
Sagan cracked several glow sticks, which all illuminated green, then threw the lot down the hole. They landed with a soft thud several feet down.
Thane gestured to Violet. “Ladies first.”
Violet scowled. “Why? So you can just follow me again? How about you go first?”
Thane visibly bit back his response by sucking in a breath, then stepped to the edge of the hole and jumped in. Violet quickly followed.
Nathan turned to Sagan. “Do I want to know what that was about?”
Sagan shook his head.
“That’s what I figured,” said Nathan and leaped into the worm hole.
“Is everyone okay?” Nathan asked when all went quiet in his ear.
“Yeah,” came Sagan’s voice through the earpiece. “That was the last mutant. For now.”
Nathan almost sighed with relief. Based on the raucous snarling, howls, and bellows that had streamed through his earpiece not long after he and the others dropped into the tunnels, he’d expected the worst. Over the commotion, Sagan had managed to yell that a pack of mutant animals had found them.
“What’s the damage?” asked Gus.
“Minimal for us. Can’t say the same for the mutants. Umbra showed up and helped us finish off the last few.”
Nathan frowned. “Umbra?”
“Yeah, you remember that samurai chick I told you about?” cut in Tio’s voice. “The one who killed the worm and saved all our asses last time?”
“Oh, right.” Nathan turned to his immediate companions. “We better hustle. Who knows how many more mutants are up there.” Or down here. But he thought it best not to verbalize that thought.
The four of them picked their speed up, following Autumn and Tio’s directions through the grimy passageway. Every now and then, one of their flashlights would illuminate a rotting animal carcass or other putrid reminder of the creatures that resided in the tunnels.
“Hopefully, there’s not another one of those Godzilla worms down here,” said Violet.
As they rounded another corner, Nathan stopped short. The stench slammed into him first, then every cell in his body recoiled at the sight before him.
“What the . . .” breathed Thane.
“Ugh, I think I’m going to be sick.” Violet leaned over and hugged her stomach at the same time Autumn’s, Gus’s, and Tio’s cries of disgust erupted through the earpiece.
Nathan panned his flashlight beam over the hundreds of slime-covered animal carcasses piled almost as high as his waist. He glanced at his companions; their faces were either screwed up or covered with an arm in an attempt to block out the smell. For a second, no one moved.
“What is it?” Sagan asked. While Autumn, Tio, and Gus had access to the camera screens back in the van, Sagan and the other three Jiovis shifters were still blind to the tunnel group’s progress.
“It looks like we’ve found the Godzilla worm’s . . . garbage pile,” said Nathan. “Autumn, I think you’ve given us a wrong turn.”
“Bad news,” Autumn answered. “I haven’t. The most direct route to the lab is straight ahead.”
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Violet’s head whipped violently from side to side. “There has to be another way. There has to be!”
“Not that we can find” came Tio’s voice through the earpiece. “Sorry, guys, it looks like you’re going corpse diving.”
Nathan’s pulse quickened, and his eyes flew to Violet. Flashbacks to her panic attacks and PTSD episodes rained down on his consciousness as he watched her heave in one deep breath after another of the putrid tunnel air.
But she didn’t freeze—didn’t crumble.
During her high school years, working to move past her traumas had been an upward battle. In the last few weeks, Violet had been knocked down in more ways than one—cruelly, brutally—and yet she’d managed to find the courage to get back up and continue fighting her demons.
Nathan couldn’t have been more proud of her.
“Ready?” said Thane. There was no impatience in his tone, no pressure to hurry up. If Violet wasn’t ready, Thane would wait until she was—Nathan was sure of it. Despite the young Veniri’s mistakes, he always looked out for Violet, no matter what.
A few moments passed before Violet raised her chin and rolled her shoulders back. Looking straight ahead at the pile of corpses, she gave one firm nod. “I’m ready.”
En’gorr grunted and trudged to the front of the group to take the first few steps through the carnage.
Nathan swallowed the lump in his throat. “Let’s just try not to think about it.”
But not thinking about it was next to impossible. The path ahead was slick—Nathan didn’t want to know with what. Almost every step squelched or popped as something gave out under his weight, driving him almost thigh deep. White bones gleamed in the light of his flashlight—leg bones, rib bones, skulls—far too many of them still covered with meat in varying stages of decay. Shredded fur, feathers, reptilian hide, and who knows what else hung from the corpses in clumps and scraps.
Is that a human hand? A shudder rolled down his spine. A surprising amount of the carnage resembled human features. Try not to think about it.
He paused and glanced back. “How’re you guys doing?”
Violet moaned through tight lips, her arms held out to the sides like a tightrope walker.
“I’ll just be glad when this is over,” came Thane’s tense tone a few steps behind her.
“Mmm-hmm,” agreed Violet. With her next step, she lost her footing and began to windmill.
Thane hustled up to her and wrapped an arm around her waist, bracing himself against the slimy wall. “I got ya.” The two wobbled until Violet regained her balance.
“Ugh, that could’ve been much worse if—” Violet cut herself off with a blood-curdling scream. Eyes wide, she pointed at the carcasses near Nathan.
For a second, Nathan had no idea what had brought on her reaction—until something latched on to his leg.
Cold terror shivered down his spine.
He yanked his leg back, but the more he yanked, the more the creature who clung to him began to surface. Within seconds, a skeletal form had risen from the fetid mound up to its waist.
In a blur, Thane stumbled over to Nathan’s side, and with their combined efforts, they finally managed to shake the creature off. Nathan couldn’t believe the strength of something so emaciated. It was humanoid in appearance, but so much about it wasn’t even remotely human. Its skin was a mismatched patchwork of either scars or animal hide. Chunks of hair—or was it fur?—were missing, leaving the majority of its skull bald. The disfigured lips resembled a beak, and both its arms were not only covered in grime but also speckled with needles that reminded Nathan of pin feathers on a baby bird.
What the hell is this?
“Help.” It dragged the word out on a raspy wheeze. One spindly arm reached out to where Nathan and Thane sat in a paralyzed heap against the tunnel wall. The creature had its back to Violet, who was still a few feet away. Both her hands were clamped over her mouth, and the whites of her eyes shone under the collective beams of their flashlights.
The creature slumped forward, as if holding its body up was an excruciating effort. For several agonizing moments, the only movement was the creature’s chest rising and falling with each wet breath. Then it reached out again. “Please . . .”
Something was clutched in the creature’s scraggy fist. Slowly, the bony fingers uncurled until the item rested freely in its flat palm.
Driven either by blatant curiosity or by the desperate expression in the creature’s eyes, Nathan took a step closer.
Thane clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t.”
“It’s okay,” Nathan reassured him, then took another step. Despite his own warning, Thane kept close to his side.
An arm’s length away, Nathan leaned down. The creature had slumped even farther against the mound of muck, its head resting on the shoulder of its outstretched arm.
Nathan shone the flashlight on the object in its hand. It was a photograph. A wedding photograph of a smiling bride and groom—the groom’s eyes eerily similar to the creature’s.
“Tell my wife I’m sorry.” It—he—heaved a laborious breath. “I tried . . . to come home . . . Tell her . . . I’ll always love her.” He lifted his hand, offering the photo to Nathan.
After a slight hesitation, Nathan took it.
Fast as lightning, the deformed man latched on to Nathan’s arm and yanked it down into his own wasted chest. It wasn’t until the life in the man’s eyes grew dim that Nathan realized his elbow blades were unsheathed.
“What just happened?” said Sagan’s voice through the earpiece.
Nathan couldn’t answer. Nobody answered. The shock that engulfed everyone devoured several long, stretching seconds.
The Xabat Biogenetics logo was visible on the ragged material hanging limply off the man’s collapsed figure. Nathan looked down at the wedding photo again. This man was another of Xabat’s abominable experiments. What had Xabat done to him?
“We must go.” En’gorr’s rich baritone rumbled toward them from a few feet away.
Nathan hung his head. As much as he hated leaving the man in the fetid carcass mound, they needed to focus on getting Solace out of this godforsaken laboratory.
Nathan and his three companions continued in silence. Tio kept giving them directions while Autumn did a search on the wedding photo. Apparently, the man had been having a rough time with their finances and applied to a too-good-to-be-true job advertisement, only to end up in a missing persons file.
After what seemed like an eternity, Nathan’s flashlight illuminated a concrete wall. “I think we found the facility,” he said into his mic.
Flames of Mars (Celestial Shifters Book 2) Page 24
