She glared at him, but I could tell she was afraid. “Get away from me,” she seethed in a voice that was cold and calculating, albeit somewhat muffled, given the fact that his hand was wrapped around her throat.
Sinjin just continued to study her intently. Then he licked his lips as if recalling her taste. “You look and taste like Jolie.”
Bryn wrapped her hands around Sinjin’s, trying to loosen his hold around her neck, but it was futile. He finally loosened his grip, apparently to allow her to breathe. She inhaled deeply, relief flooding her face, then focused on him again and frowned. “That’s because I’m her sister, you moron!”
As soon as she said she was my sister, even more surprise flooded Sinjin’s face, followed by that devil’s smile I was so relieved to see again. He still made no move to release her. Instead, he looked at me and raised a brow. “Is this true?”
I nodded. “Yes, Sinjin, it is,” I said, taking a deep breath.
“Poppet’s sister,” Sinjin said and chuckled, shaking his head as he took Bryn in. He apparently liked what he saw because he licked his lips again.
“Stop looking at me like that, dickhead,” Bryn spat out.
Sinjin threw his head back and erupted into a hearty chuckle. “The very same vivacity.”
“Hey,” Bryn said, turning to face me. “Can you tell your ‘friend’ to put me the hell down?”
I glanced at him and shook my head. “Sinjin, she just saved your life.” And although I had to swallow my pride, I looked at Bryn and said, “Thanks for … what you did.”
“She saved my life?” Sinjin asked. His eyes were piercing and deadly when they returned to Bryn. “As I recall, she was attempting to kill me only moments ago.” I assumed he was referring to the sunlight barbecue.
I nodded, but didn’t get the chance to speak. Bryn took it from me. “And I wish I’d succeeded!” she railed at him. She was still kicking out with her legs, trying to get him to release her. He just pushed the weight of his body into her middle, which instantly stopped her.
“Interesting,” he said, eyeing her bust.
Bryn shot daggers at him with her fiery eyes. “Let’s get one thing straight, bloodsucker, the only reason I did what I did was to get my dumb-ass sister out of the building before it blew up around us.” She narrowed her eyes as if zeroing in on her adversary. “And I have no freaking idea what she sees in you.”
I didn’t even flinch at the name-calling. I was grateful to her, because for whatever reason, she had saved Sinjin from dying. As far as I was concerned, that was all that mattered.
“And you allowed me to feed on you?” Sinjin continued. He looked amused now, as if toying with her, playing a game of cat and mouse.
Her lips were tight, her jaw even tighter. “Well, it wasn’t like I could ask her to do it, considering the fact that she’s pregnant.”
I felt my stomach drop as Sinjin’s gaze landed on me. His surprise instantly gave way to hurt as he asked me, “Pregnant?” in a hollow tone.
I sighed, long and hard, but before I could respond, he released his hold on Bryn and she fell to the ground. Righting herself immediately, she pushed away from him and started for the door to the steel cell, rubbing her throat as if it pained her.
“We don’t have time for this crap,” she said, shaking her head at me, careful to ignore Sinjin. It was more than obvious that she was afraid of him. “We need to find out what the hell just happened.”
That was when I realized Bryn had no clue that Rand and my people had come for me, much less that war was on the horizon. The battle was brewing. She apparently hadn’t read my mind as well or as often as I’d guessed. Knowing she was still first and foremost my enemy, I said nothing. I decided to keep that particular bombshell to myself.
Bryn scanned her wrist across the face of the steel door locking mechanism and it responded immediately. She pulled open the sliding lock and pushed the door open. I heard her gasp in horror when she took in the wreckage outside. The lab was gone, and in its place there was a huge pit that went at least five feet into the ground. It was singed black, and all sorts of refuse littered the enormous hollow. Pieces of concrete, furniture, and paper were scattered in the wind. It looked like a meteor had crashed into the earth right in front of us.
“It’s all gone,” Bryn said as she looked around in utter disbelief. She leaned down to use the edge of the steel box as support, and dropped herself into the pit. “Everything we’ve worked for. Gone.”
Suddenly realizing she wasn’t alone, she took a deep breath. Then, facing us both, her expression hardened. Before she could address either of us, however, a huge flare lit up the night sky behind a patch of pine trees that stood about fifty feet away. It was a magic cloud, bathed in all the colors of the rainbow. Somehow, I knew it was Mercedes.
Bryn watched the blaze with surprise, then her eyebrows furrowed and she turned to me with an expression of shock and suspicion. “They’ve come for you,” she said simply.
I just nodded as Sinjin materialized behind Bryn and grabbed her by the arms, pulling her into him. At that moment all three of us knew she was no friend of ours, regardless of the fact that she was my sister. She was a Lurker. And now, since we were at war, she was our prisoner.
She tried to fight Sinjin, attempting to free herself from his hold, and then closed her eyes. I was immediately reminded of the self-defense lessons she’d been giving to people in the camp. She was in the process of metamorphosing or dissolving or something equally bad for Sinjin. And all I knew was that I wasn’t about to let that happen.
I focused on her and imagined all my power roaring into her, sucking her abilities into the center of my being, disarming her, as it were. I could feel her power flowing into me. It was as if I’d been struck by lightning—my entire being seemed to buzz with the intensity of her power. Luce was right; Bryn and I were incredibly potent and, together, I had to imagine we would be almost unstoppable.
“Enough!” she screamed, winded as she drooped forward. “You’re going to freaking well kill me!”
I swallowed hard and opened my eyes. I didn’t say anything, I just watched her glare up at Sinjin as she panted. “I should have killed you when I had the chance,” she seethed.
He chuckled in response. “Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, is it not?”
I hopped down into the pit, since there wasn’t any way around it. Sinjin had already forced Bryn halfway through the crater when she collapsed. “Are you all right?” I asked.
“Yes!” she railed back at me. “I just have no energy left, thanks to you!”
Relieved that she wasn’t seriously injured, I watched Sinjin reach down and heft her over his shoulders as he started forward again. Another blast of light lit up the night sky. The closer we came to the edge of the crater, the louder the sounds of screaming and fighting. Growls of werewolves, the gnashing of teeth, and the squealing of otherworldly creatures provided the soundtrack to the explosions of magic that rained all around us.
Rand! I thought, no longer caring who could hear me. Where are you?
But there was no response. I closed my eyes and concentrated harder, sending out the feelers of my bond to figure out where he was and if he was all right. But I could feel nothing.
Rand, please answer me!
Still no response. It was as if our telepathic bond had been destroyed. I felt my heart drop. Something hollow and panicky started brewing within me.
Is he alive? Is he hurt? Why isn’t he answering me? God, what if something happened to him?
But I refused to dwell on the what-ifs. I had one goal in mind and that was to survive. I had to keep my baby—our baby—safe.
“You will never be one of us,” Bryn said as she eyed me angrily.
I shook my head, shocked that she could even think I wanted to be. “I never wanted to be one of you and I never will want to,” I spat back at her.
She was silent then, perhaps realizing it would be best for her to keep her mouth shut
. As we worked our way through the crater, around the piles of rubble and refuse, the sound of fighting and flashes of light became more frequent and much louder. We reached the end of the pit and found ourselves faced with a wall of dirt and debris. With Bryn held to his shoulder, Sinjin grabbed my hand and pulled me into him. A moment later we materialized on the opposite side of the crater. We were still ensconced in the snug harbor of the forest, hidden from the battle that raged on around us.
I felt my stomach tightening as I witnessed what was happening. We were outside the open pasture that led to the dwellings of the Lurkers—to A, B, C, and D Streets. As I scanned the perimeter, it seemed that almost every house was ablaze. A third of them had already been burnt to the ground. People ran this way and that, screaming as they fought among one another, some falling to the ground as others pressed forward. Chaos reigned supreme, and I didn’t know where to look because there was so much carnage around us.
“I have one favor to ask,” Bryn suddenly said from her position above Sinjin’s shoulders. Her eyes were wide and there was something in them that hinted at a deep sorrow. “Let me save our children.”
I gulped hard. I had forgotten there were children in this compound. Of course there were. There was no way I could deny her that request, not when I was carrying my own child within me.
“How will we find them?” I asked.
“They live in Building 100,” Bryn answered. It struck me as odd that the Lurkers would separate children from their parents. But I was relieved, in a way, because it would make the job of locating them easier.
“I can walk,” she said, glaring at Sinjin. He dropped her on the ground unceremoniously, and after a few seconds of flailing around like a newly born giraffe, she was on her feet, staring daggers at him. Then she faced me. “We need to evacuate them into the storage facility, which is belowground.”
I turned toward Sinjin. “I won’t let any children die, Sinjin,” I said simply.
His expression was hard. “I am your protector. Therefore, wherever you go, I go.”
I just nodded, taking it to mean that he would assist me, us. I nodded at Bryn. “Let’s go.”
She started forward, but before she could take a step, Sinjin gripped her arm, turning her to face him. His face was stony, unreadable. “Let me make something quite clear to you,” he said, his voice icy cold. “If you so much as trip, I will end your existence.”
She glared at him, hands on her hips and fire in her eyes. “Understood.” She turned around, but he gripped her arm again, forcing her to face him again.
“I have not finished,” he continued. “I have no regard for familial ties. As far as I am concerned, I am my Queen’s protector. I view you as nothing less than a threat to her well-being. If I see you so much as look at her askance, you are finished.”
Her hands fisted at her sides. “And as I said before, I understand English.” Then she shook her head as she mumbled, “Fucking vampires.”
Sinjin’s mouth lit up in an amused smile. He nodded, his eyes raking her in a lascivious way. Leave it to Sinjin to find time to ogle a beautiful woman, never mind the circumstances. “Lead the way,” he ordered.
Bryn was silent as she started forward, careful to remain in the shelter of the trees. She ran from one tree to the next, with me and Sinjin trailing behind her. When we reached the point where the line of trees ended, she turned to us both. “We need to get to the Jeeps,” she said. “It’s too far for us to go by foot.”
“Where are the Jeeps?” I asked, but Sinjin shook his head.
“Too risky,” he said.
Bryn glared at him. “Did you hear a word I just said?”
He returned the glare. “I did.” She opened her mouth as if to further lambaste him, but he interrupted her. “Where is the building located?”
She took a deep breath and glanced at the rise of the hill just ahead of us. “It’s about a mile or so beyond that hill. We’d have to get through … that,” she finished, pointing to a throng of people in the middle of the pasture. They were all engaged in battle, and blasts of light continued to brighten the sky.
“Can you materialize that far?” I asked Sinjin, knowing he was wondering the same thing. As a vampire, he could materialize and dematerialize from place to place, but he couldn’t go far, usually maxing out at around twenty feet.
“It will be a stretch,” he said solemnly.
“Where are the damned Daywalkers when you need one?” Bryn said, and glared at him. “They could easily handle that and then some.”
“Yeah, but the trouble with them is that they can’t even survive past drinking age,” I spat back, irritated that she was doubting Sinjin’s abilities.
“Ladies, ladies,” the debonair vampire said with a charming smile. Then he faced Bryn and with a practiced grin reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her into him none too gently.
She pushed away from his chest and frowned up at him. “Watch it,” she muttered.
“I am watching it and then some,” Sinjin responded, seeming to enjoy nothing more than taunting her.
She rolled her eyes. “I can’t wait for the day when you and your kind are extinct!”
“Enough!” I said, and shook my head, not wanting to deal with the two of them. We had much bigger issues at hand. “God, would you both give it a break?!”
Sinjin smiled down at me. “May I?” he asked, offering his other arm. I nodded and accepted it. “Very well, then,” he said, and I felt the wind whip against my face as he swept us through the air. It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like we were flying. When I opened my eyes, the ground was solidly beneath my feet and we were on the other side of the hill.
But our new location also put us in the thick of battle, surrounded by Underworld creatures and Lurkers. Sinjin hadn’t been able to materialize far enough away. He pulled me into him as a were fell backward with a knife in his chest. Beside him, a Daywalker ended a vampire’s life. Bryn had already started clawing and pushing her way forward, pivoting to miss the claws of a werewolf who had ambushed her.
“It’s through here!” she screamed as she continued forward. Sinjin grabbed my arm and forced me on as he took hold of Bryn’s arm too. Then we were flying again—manipulating time as we flashed through the air. When we landed, another nondescript white boxy-looking structure rose up in front of us. I assumed it was Building 100 as soon as my eyes took in the two-story structure. And then I saw a blaze erupt to one side. The firestorm blew out chunks of cement and glass. I covered my head with my hands, and Sinjin threw his body over mine, my guardian to the nth degree.
“Are you all right?” he asked in a breathless voice.
“I’m fine,” I said as I pushed him away from me and stood up, watching Bryn run for the building.
“No!” she screamed as she approached the blasted section, which appeared to be a kitchen area of some sort. A stove was still intact in the far corner of the room. The blast hadn’t been that huge, otherwise the whole building would have disintegrated. All it had done was take out one wall.
“Bryn, no!” I started after her, afraid she might be running toward her death. Granted, she was a Lurker, but she was also my sister and I couldn’t deny my connection to her. I got to her and grabbed her arm as another eruption sounded, this time on the opposite side of the building. She turned to face me, her eyes wide and her face pale. “What’s happening?” I screamed, shielding my ears against the blast.
Bryn shook her head as she pushed away from me. “All of the buildings are self-destructing, but the children could still be in there!”
She started running forward again, and I turned to Sinjin. “I will go,” he said simply. He pushed me toward the crest of a small hill, indicating that I should take cover below it. “You stay put,” he said, his expression warning me not to argue with him.
I watched as he turned in Bryn’s direction and followed her. They both disappeared into the building, and I was struck with the thought that it might e
xplode with both of them inside. And what was more, it was doing absolutely no one any good for me to be hiding there like an idiot. I stood up and took a deep breath, knowing what I needed to do.
I took the ten or so steps separating me from the building and jumped over the rubble of the kitchen wall. Once inside, the cloud of dust and debris from the initial explosion was almost too much for me to bear. I covered my mouth with my upper arm, finding it difficult to breathe.
I heard the cries and screams of children and felt myself go into autopilot as I lurched forward, up a rickety staircase. The previous explosion had compromised the entire structure and now it groaned and creaked under its own weight. At the top of the stairs, I could make out Bryn at the end of the hall. She was surrounded by about eight children of various ages. She was carrying a crying toddler in her arms and ushering all the children toward the staircase I’d just come up. Sinjin suddenly burst through a door directly before me, a child over each of his shoulders and three more holding on to the back of his shirt.
“Are there more in there?” I yelled to him.
Seeing me, he frowned and seemed about to reprimand me, or worse. His focus was entirely on my safety. I shook my head emphatically. I wouldn’t allow him to think of me, not now.
“Are there more in there?” I screamed at him, and he nodded. Not wasting any time, I threw myself past him, into a bedroom. It was so dark, it was almost impossible to see. I closed my eyes and charmed myself into clearer vision—the equivalent of night goggles.
I saw the two small children huddling in the corner of the room. In front of them, a large beam had fallen from the ceiling.
“Come on!” I screamed to them, holding my arms open wide. “I’ll carry you!”
Neither of them moved forward, so I pushed through the debris, stepping over a destroyed desk, only to narrowly avoid walking into another beam that was hanging from the dilapidated ceiling. When I reached them, the look of fear on their faces crushed me. I wanted nothing more than to gather them in my arms and promise that nothing was going to happen to them, that they would be safe.
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