Worth Dying for (A Dying for a Living Novel Book 5)

by Kory M. Shrum

  “We’re a team. We are all you have.”

  Part of me wants to kill Caldwell, wants my revenge on Chaplain—but here’s Brinkley, telling me Chaplain is gone, telling me he’ll never hurt me again.

  And what would I do? If I have all the powers, if everyone is dead—

  I would only be alone.

  No Gideon. No Jesse. No one.

  I don’t want to be alone in the darkness ever again.

  I let go of Gideon’s body and it slumps to the floor.

  “What have I done?”

  “Are you going to cry about it?” Georgia sneers. “Ruin that pretty little face?”

  She taunts me but her eyes are fixed on Jesse. The moment the shield fails, Georgia is going to strike her, kill her, and absorb her power.

  I can’t bring Gideon back. I can’t bring Brinkley back. But there is something I can do.

  Jesse’s purple shield fails.

  In that instance, I leap to my feet and place myself between her and the darkness.

  Chapter 46

  Jesse

  Rachel collapses the moment Georgia’s black ribbons strike her. Dead. And a heartbeat later, Georgia’s body erupts in blue flame. I stand dumb, frozen as Rachel’s body is incinerated to ash. Every last recognizable feature of my best friend gone.

  I crumple to my knees.

  Only Maisie is alive in a sea of bodies. Gideon. Ally. Rachel. Georgia. Caldwell. They’re all dead. The kid wipes tears off her face with the heels of her hands.

  Nikki presses the muzzle of her gun to my head again.

  “I didn’t kill Ally.”

  “You may not have done it yourself, but your arrogance, your reckless regard for her life got her killed.”

  I can’t even argue. Ally is dead. Rachel is dead. Brinkley is dead. And who can be blamed for that except me?

  “It’s not her fault!” Maisie squeals, still cradling her hurt ankle.

  “Calm down,” Gloria says, using her negotiator voice. “Take a breath, Tamsin.”

  “I can bring her back!” Maisie says, desperation straining her words.

  Nikki’s barrel slides along my skull.

  I want her to do it. Part of me wants her to blow my brains out all over the linoleum. Only the smallest voice inside me begs for the alternative. Revive Ally. And take her far, far away from all this.

  “Maisie is partis,” Gloria adds in the same steady tone. “She can save Alice.”

  Nikki doesn’t lower the gun. “You will bring her back.”

  “No, I thought I’d leave her dead forever,” I snap. That part of me that welcomes death, that’s begging for it, wants to provoke her. “Prop her up around the house and dress her according to the holiday. Reindeer antlers at Christmas, turkey feathers at Thanksgiving.”

  “You’re such a smart ass.”

  “Wait until you hear my plan for Easter.” I’m spitting the words at her. “She’ll look like a freaking Playboy bunny!”

  Nikki lowers her weapon.

  “It’s over, Jesse,” Gloria says, turning that frighteningly calm voice on me. Then to Maisie, “Go ahead. Wake them up.”

  Maisie leans over Ally’s body, hiding her face from my view. It looks like they are kissing. A hot-cold wave slides down my spine and all the gooseflesh on my arms rise. Then I feel Ally spark to life and all the air is pulled from my chest.

  Maisie sits back and sucks in a deep breath.

  Is that what it’s like for her? To use her power? It feels like suffocation. Like jumping into an icy lake and the shock of frigid water enveloping my body.

  My suspicions are confirmed as I feel the same sensation again, as she revives Gideon.

  Maisie sits back and puts a hand to her forehead.

  “Are you okay?” Gloria asks, rushing to her.

  “I feel a little woozy.” She rubs her forehead. “I’ve never done…two in a row before.”

  Ally is breathing. Seeing her chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm changes everything. It’s like I’ve broken the surface of an immense ocean. My chest loosens. My mind clears.

  “We need to take care of them before they wake up,” Gloria says.

  For a heartbeat, I think she’s talking about Gideon and Ally. Yes, absolutely. Let’s make them comfortable. Have we got any soup, or warm blankets? Comfy pillows?

  Then I realize she means Georgia and Caldwell. We need to destroy their brains before either can reboot.

  “No!” Maisie wails.

  “We have to,” I say. Strength returns to my voice. I still can’t look directly at the ashy smears, all that’s left of Rachel. But she’s everywhere now. She’s floating through the air before my eyes. She’s settling against my skin. She’s under my nails.

  I was wrong. When I saw Gloria’s drawing, I thought it was Georgia who killed Ally, leaving her so peaceful as if in sleep. It was my own friend. Rachel was right. How could I be so stupid?

  “Hey, are you okay?” Nikki asks.

  I’m crying. “I’m…overwhelmed.” I sound so angry.

  Because…Rachel is dead? Caldwell is dead? Georgia is dead?

  Or is it because I know the time has come?

  I have to absorb all their powers—and then what?

  I am here, Gabriel’s voice flits through my head and the usual scent of rain washes over me. Do not be afraid.

  But I am afraid. Afraid I’ll become a monster like them. Afraid I’ll become someone Ally doesn’t even recognize.

  I kneel down beside Georgia.

  “No,” Maisie begs again. “It’s my mom!”

  “Put their bodies somewhere safe.” I barely recognize my own voice. No one moves. I turn and look into Nikki’s eyes. “Please. You have to put her somewhere safe.”

  “The control room,” Gloria says without missing a beat.

  “No, no, no!” Maisie squeals. She’s near hysterical. She clutches her mother tighter as if we are trying to wrench her away.

  We leave her, focused on moving Gideon and Ally away from the scene. It’s a smart, but sobering move. We’re doing this because we have no idea what’s going to happen. Maybe the power will move smoothly from them to us. Maybe Maisie and I will take all their combined powers—eight, if I’m counting right—as easy as one takes a stroll around the block.

  Or maybe this will go horribly, horribly wrong.

  I am here. Invisible feathers brush my cheeks. Do not be afraid.

  Then Gideon and Ally are tucked away and it’s only the four of us and two bodies—I don’t count Rachel’s ashes.

  My heart aches.

  I remember the first time I met her. Rachel, this elegant creature draped over a fuchsia sofa reading some entertainment magazine. The way she arched her eyebrow coquettishly at Brinkley when he strode in. How comfortable she seemed in her own skin.

  She was beautiful. She was confident.

  And she fed me ice cream.

  Look where we are now.

  “Brinkley would understand,” Gloria says, squeezing my arm hard. I’m forced to look away from the ashes and blink back tears.

  “Let’s get this over with,” I say, dropping onto my knees beside Maisie.

  “No,” she screams. If my mere whimpering is a 3 on the crying scale, Maisie is sobbing furiously at a solid 9.5. “Jesse, she’s my mom.”

  I try to pull her away from Georgia’s body.

  “She’s my mom!” Snot coats her face and she chokes on her own spit. “Please. Please, don’t do this. She’s all I have.”

  “She’s not all you have.” Gloria kneels and puts a hand on Maisie’s back.

  Nikki watches all this in silence, her brow deeply creased.

  Maisie’s eyes search mine. “She’ll work with us. She’ll share the power. I know she will. Please, Jesse, please. Please. Please.” Every please is more hysterical than the last.

  It’s killing me.

  “We will start with Caldwell.” It’s the only compromise I see and because I can’t bear to hear her say please
even one more time.

  Maisie can share Caldwell’s four powers with me. And if I’m not totally batshit crazy when that is over, then maybe I can take on all four of Georgia’s powers on my own. I can’t force Maisie to have a hand in her mother’s death. I already have doubts she’s going to be able to help me with all of Caldwell’s juice, given her hysteria.

  I can only hope that Georgia’s power doesn’t make me crazy enough that I’d hurt Maisie.

  “Okay.” Maisie sniffs and wipes her face on her sleeve. “Okay. Dad first.”

  She shuffles over to Caldwell’s body without protest.

  I place a knee on either side of Caldwell’s head. Maisie places on hand on my knee and the other on Caldwell’s chest. I am about to ignite when Gloria grabs my wrist.

  “Are you sure this won’t hurt her?” Gloria whispers.

  The fact that the all-seeing eye has even asked me such a question stuns me. “How the hell am I supposed to know?”

  “I didn’t see this,” she says. Concern creases her face.

  “That could be a good thing,” I say. “Our ‘winging it’ turned out okay.”

  Still Gloria’s face is furrowed with apprehension, but she lets go of my wrist. Her worried expression fixed on Maisie. “Hurry.”

  My hand ignites and I lower it toward Caldwell’s face.

  For better or worse, I think, hoping Gabriel hasn’t abandoned me. This would be the worst time.

  Caldwell’s face glows blue.

  I suck in a breath and thrust my hand into his body.

  Only my hand doesn’t move.

  It freezes mid-air, suspended like a bizarre ethereal torch above Caldwell’s face. His eyebrows, singed by my fire, start to curl on the ends, and the distinct stench of burnt hair assails me.

  Georgia sits up.

  She pulls herself to standing and not one of us can stop her. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Gloria quivering, her gun only half raised. As she strains to lift it, her whole body shakes. Out of the other corner of my eye, Nikki isn’t doing any better.

  On her feet, Georgia yanks Caldwell’s body away from me. His corpse slides across the floor toward her. Then Maisie is yanked down the hall too.

  I’m paralyzed.

  “No!” Maisie screams. “Mom, no.”

  She lunges at her mother and tugs on her arm.

  Her hold on us wavers and everything happens at once. Nikki starts shooting at Georgia, driving her back. I lunge for Nikki and knock down her gun.

  “That’s my sister you’re shooting at!”

  “I have excellent aim!”

  “She’s sixteen!” I have no idea why I think this is a logical argument.

  Georgia knocks us both back against the wall. For the second time today, I’m sailing through the air. I erect my shield and it buffers my fall. Then I’m up and running.

  Gloria is sawing at Caldwell’s head with his own knife. Blood pools over her lap and pours out over the white linoleum. The crimson stream mixes with the black ash.

  “No!” Georgia screams. She knocks Gloria back and she sails down the hall. She hits the cinder block wall, her skull cracking against the stone with a sickening sound.

  I cast my shield bigger. I can’t cover Maisie or Caldwell, but I do manage to protect Gloria and Nikki from any more attacks.

  Georgia pushes against my shield but it doesn’t give. Her telekinesis is definitely stronger than Rachel’s. It’s probably because Georgia now has four powers instead of Rachel’s two. That’s all I need. A vengeful woman twice as strong and crazy as Rachel out to kill my ass.

  Georgia lifts Caldwell’s body and the head rolls to the side precariously. Gloria almost succeeded in decapitating it. Too bad she didn’t. We needed only a part of him in order to absorb his power.

  Georgia’s black ribbons descend on us. They cloud everything, casting deep shadows. It’s as if night has fallen on the hallway. Nikki raises her gun.

  “Drop your shield.”

  “That’s death,” I tell her. “If I drop the shield we’re all dead.”

  “She’s getting away!”

  I know. But what the hell can I do about it? I hear Maisie’s screams, her pleading as it echoes down the hallways. It grows more and more distant with each passing moment.

  Until the light returns and the black death smoke is gone.

  Maisie, Caldwell, and Georgia are gone.

  “I’m going to need you to stay with them!” I rush to Gloria’s side.

  “You’re going after them?” Nikki asks, keeping pace with me.

  “Georgia is fucked while Caldwell’s dead. She can only escape on foot—”

  “—or car,” Nikki interjects.

  I groan. “I didn’t mean literally on foot. Why are you such a bitch?”

  “Go on,” Nikki says, her face softening. “I’m sure you had a point.”

  I press my fingers to Gloria’s throat. Her heart is beating loud and clear. Thank god. “One of two things is going to happen. Georgia is going to absorb Caldwell’s power or she’s going to try to resurrect him. I don’t think she’ll kill him, which means she’s going to try to put his head back on his body and hope he heals.”

  “He can’t possibly wake up from that.”

  “Wrong.” I lean her forward to inspect the wound on the back of her head. “We didn’t damage his brain. I’ve had my neck vertebrae disintegrated by a shotgun blast and I was almost completely decapitated myself. I’ve probably got two days tops before he wakes up or she’s forced to absorb his power. One or the other is going to happen. So I have to catch them now.”

  Fresh blood coats the back of Gloria’s skull. That can’t be good. I keep my hands on her chest but I don’t feel the pull of death—nothing that calls for me to replace her.

  Gabriel?

  She will live.

  I ease Gloria back into her original position as gently as possible. “Can you get people here to help her? She needs medical attention.”

  “Of course.”

  I rush to the control room and find Gideon and Ally laying side by side on the floor, with Winston sleeping in the crook of Ally’s arms. I’m wasting time, but I had to see that she was okay. I kiss his nose just as Sasquatch skids to a stop at my heels.

  They’re okay, I tell myself. They’re all going to be fine. We don’t have Caldwell and they have Maisie, but we’re all still alive.

  Not all of us, a hateful voice retorts.

  You must hurry, Gabriel whispers. His voice is strong now. He’s closer without the other partis to interfere with our connection.

  I touch Ally’s face, feeling her warm breath on my hand. “I have to trust you not to be a total jerk, Sasquatch. You want the happily ever after?”

  Her lips part, but I wasn’t looking for an actual answer.

  “Prove it. Save Gloria. Keep Ally safe. And it’d be nice if you took care of my dog too.”

  I can hear Gideon’s crisp British voice in my head, and who am I? The pool boy?

  I smile and kneel beside Ally. I kiss her once on the mouth. Her warm breath on my face is such a huge relief that I kiss her a second and third time.

  “You’ll see me again,” I whisper into her ear. I meet Gabriel’s eyes.

  He nods. At least once more.

  Chapter 47

  Jesse

  Somehow I manage to escape the maze of the building and step out into the brilliant desert sun. Fresh bodies of Nikki’s men—or should I say Jeremiah’s soldiers—lay littered alongside the corpses that Caldwell made so long ago.

  An engine sputters to life somewhere beyond the wall.

  “Damn.” I climb over chunks of rock and through the opening I blasted earlier. It feels like a million years ago. A million years since we went inside the building and everyone I loved was murdered. I jump off of a large boulder onto the other side.

  My hands and feet connect with hot sand.

  “Here,” Gabriel says to my right. I run toward him and he disappears, reappe
aring a few feet further away. “This way.”

  I follow him and find a black car tucked behind some rocks out of sight. I jump inside, roll down the windows to let out some heat that collected inside and turn the key kindly left in the ignition. I smash on the gas, and sand spews out the back. I sit up a little higher in my seat and tear across the desert.

  “Which way?” I beg Gabriel. “Which way did they go?”

  I see him in the sky. His big beautiful wings flap around him like a misshapen, grotesquely large crow, raining black feathers down onto me and the black Mustang with each thrust. It’s like I’m driving through some macabre snow storm.

  There, he says and I tear my eyes from the sky to the horizon stretching ahead. The red pickup kicks dust into the air, a thick cloud surrounding the vehicle not unlike a force field.

  My car gains on them and I know it’s only a matter of minutes before I catch up. I can only hope that I have the strength to finish Georgia in front of Maisie. It looks like I won’t have any other choice.

  I feel Gloria’s hand crushing mine. Her earlier desperate plea on Maisie’s behalf. Protect her.

  My car gets so close to the truck that I can see Maisie, turned in her seat, watching my approach. Her eyes are wide and pleading as the truck bounces and lurches through the desert.

  Protect her.

  “I’ll get her back,” I whisper and I’ll kill Georgia, although my sister might not want anything to do with me by the end of this.

  The end.

  Caldwell is dead, but it’s not over.

  Why did I ever believe it would be that easy?

  Keep reading for a special preview of Dying Breath, Book 6 of the Dying for a Living series, coming November 2016

  Maisie

  The truck slides to the right, hooking around a huge boulder. Sand sprays in a swooping arc around us; half of it is spit through my open window into my face and eyes.

  “Slow down!” I cough and fumble for anything to grab ahold of. My tears clear the sand from my eyes as I grope the air. I snatch the seatbelt dangling over my right shoulder. I miss the snap twice before I hear the reassuring click. The belt hugs me against the warm seat.

  Mom doesn’t slow down. She hits another medium-sized rock in the desert and the truck pops up and skids.