My knees hit the floor with bruising force, my fist knocking into Matt’s kidney, bending him over. I sprang up, my elbow ramming down on his gun arm, breaking his hold. The gun listed forward, clattering to the floor. He staggered to the side as I struck the soft part of his throat. He grabbed the injured area, bowing over, struggling to breathe. My knee slammed into his face, the cartilage in his nose shattered, and he screamed in pain. Somewhere down the road I might feel bad for beating Matt to a pulp, but my motto was kill or be killed. And there was no room for sympathy. It only caused hesitation. Hesitation got you killed.
The final two blows dropped him to his knees before my boot cracked into his temple, knocking him out. He would need hospital care, but he would live. Reaching down I snatched Matt’s gun from the floor and whirled around to take in the scene.
The room was a jumbled mess of men. One of the soldiers struggled to get his gun out of Croygen’s grip, the barrel facing the pirate. Croygen remained nowhere near his full strength, sweat shining off his features as he nudged the man back. The gun went off, echoing in the small room like a bomb. Blood soaked into Croygen’s sleeve.
“No!” I screamed, rising from the ground, my finger wrapping around the weapon. Fae bullets killed.
Peter flew across the room, stopping my progression, his head bouncing off the floor. Ryker roared and turned for Croygen.
It was like watching a scene on fast forward. Peter shoved himself up, grabbed his gun, and directed it straight at the Wanderer’s back. The click of the trigger resonated in my ears as his finger clenched down.
My brain shut off, only reacting on primal instinct. Killed or be killed. My hand strangled Matt’s gun. A raw wail thundered from me as my finger yanked back.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Bullets zinged in the room, fear gripping my heart, not knowing if it came from my gun or Peter’s.
My ears rang. My arms were frozen in dread.
Peter fell back against the wall, his body slumping to the side, smearing blood across the eggshell paint.
My eyes darted back to Ryker. His gaze caught mine, full of astonishment and appreciation. Relief flooded me. He was all right. He turned back around, grabbing one of the guards by the throat, and twisted the man’s neck. Between Ryker and Croygen, they quickly dispatched the last guy.
I struggled to move, my gaze back on the form before me. I just killed Peter, Daniel’s old friend and one of my fellow hunters. We didn’t always get along, but I had not felt one ounce of hesitation to kill him. I stared at his body, watching blood leak from the holes in his neck and side. A crimson-drenched bubble formed out of the gap, and he gave one final shudder.
Holy shit. He was still alive.
My eyes lifted from the puncture up to his face. His lids were narrowed on me. He swallowed, causing more blood to gush from the wound.
“Yo-you chose them.” He briefly closed his eyes before trying again. “One. Of. Them…dis-gusting. F-filthy whore.”
Boom.
A gunshot tore through the room, and I cried out as Peter’s brain burst onto the floor.
My heart and breath slammed in my chest, and I stared at Ryker. He stood with a gun in one hand, glaring down at the body. “Fucking asshole.”
“Remind me not to call you a filthy whore,” Croygen quipped, motioning to me.
“Croygen.” I shoved the pistol in my pants and went over to him, reaching for his arm. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it just grazed me.” He looked down at it. “Hurts like a bitch though. And it’s gonna make me feel like utter crap soon. Like I don’t already.”
I inspected his wound, making sure it wasn’t deadly before letting myself exhale.
“We need to get Lexie and get out of here.” Ryker bent over, claiming the weapons on the ground. “But I’m not leaving this time till I find my axe. Hate these things.” He shoved a gun into the back of his pants.
“Especially if you shoot your own ass off.” Croygen took the other one Ryker offered and turned for Lexie, stumbling to the side.
“Whoa.” I grabbed him. He had been unsteady before, but now he had enough goblin metal pumping in his system to make him sick.
“I’m fine.”
“No, you aren’t.” I steadied him. “All I need you to do is hang in long enough to get yourself and Lexie out of here.”
“You’re not coming?”
“No. I need to end this.” I glanced over at my sister. A tip of a fuzzy tail could be seen from underneath her curly hair. Knowing Sprig he was probably fast asleep. “You know that.”
“Yeah, but I thought…” Croygen trailed off.
“That I would forget or let it go?” I jerked my head back and forth. “No, I’m not leaving till I face Rapava.”
“Luke, I am your father,” Croygen spouted.
It was sickly appropriate. Rapava was my creator. He and Dr. Holt had given me life. They were my mother and father. “No saving him from the dark side. He can’t be left alive. That’s why I need you to take Lexie and run. Please, Croygen. I know how much you have already done for her, for me, but I beg you to do this last thing. Then you can get far away from this mess. From us.”
“Zoey, I told you. I’m not going anywhere. And you never have to ask me to protect her.” He nodded to Lexie. My arms flew around him, and he hissed as I hit his bullet wound.
“Sorry.” I stepped back.
“Just warning you. You are going to have to get her out of here through the elevator where death, mayhem, and destruction are at every turn.” Ryker smacked his good shoulder.
Croygen shrugged. “I’ve been in far worse predicaments, but it was usually getting away from a jealous husband. There was a benefit in it for me.”
“Okay, just imagine this being like that,” I replied. “Except without the chance of getting laid before or after.”
“And no alcohol, opium, or treasure.” Ryker smirked.
“Yeah, you guys are really selling this.”
“You will have my undying gratitude.” I winked.
He lifted his lip in a snarl, but I knew it was all for show.
“Can I exchange that for a geisha?”
“No, but I’m sure some girl will take pity on you. Someday,” I teased. It was a complete joke because Croygen could have women lining up just to be near him.
“You could always kiss me again.” Croygen smiled coyly with a wink.
Ryker’s head jerked. “Again?”
“Oh, wow, we really need to get going.”
“What does he mean again?”
“What, Lexie?” I backed up to the bed. “I think she’s waking up.”
Croygen chuckled as he passed, and I punched him lightly in the stomach. He only laughed harder.
Damn pirates.
“Okay, so who’s ready to get stabbed, shot, and possibly tortured? No different from some of my nights out in the Orient.” Croygen clapped his hands, staring down at Lexie’s sleeping form. “You with me, little shark?”
TWENTY-SIX
“Bhean?” Sprig tugged my earlobe. “Have we passed the cafeteria? They have those honey packets there, right?”
“Zip it, furball,” Ryker whispered harshly at my shoulder. Sprig had actually been awake when I went over to Lexie. I found him cuddling his backpack, Pam’s head poking out, and stroking his tail soothingly. Loud noises, especially gunfire, really scared him.
“But it gives me superpowers! Without it, Supersprite is far less super,” he whined. “And my tummy is SUPER cranky.”
“I’m about to stuff that tail in your mouth and thread it through your ass if you don’t shut up,” Croygen snarled.
With Lexie wrapped tightly in Croygen’s arms, I was having serious déjà vu of when we escaped here the first time. Part of me felt like maybe I had never gotten out and life above ground had all been a dream. Maybe I remained locked up in the room, my arms strapped behind me as I rocked in the corner, so deep in my mind I couldn’t tell reality from the
world I created.
If that were true, I’d pick the dream. As long as I could actually feel Ryker, I was happy.
“Okay, you go as far as you can. At least get to level two. There are stairs leading out near the elevator. You lie, steal, cheat, or kill, but you get her out of here. We will follow.” At least I would be sure Ryker and Sprig did.
Croygen nodded. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. I leaned in and swiped the card to access the lower levels. Croygen held Lexie’s sleeping body close as he stepped in, a gun in one of his hands.
“Croygen?” I was at a loss for words. “Thank you.”
“Oh jeez, just say you love me. Make it really dramatic.” The doors started to close.
I grinned. “I love you.”
“Wow! That lacked finesse.” He frowned.
“Stay safe, asshole,” Ryker snarled.
“Kiss my honey muncher,” Sprig added.
“See, now those had flare. I believed them.”
The doors shut.
Please, please, let them get to safety.
Shouts came from down the hallway where I found Croygen. There had to be other ways in and out of these levels, but they were well hidden. I knew we wouldn’t find obvious exit signs or pictures of stairs. Rapava probably only showed those who needed to know how to get out of here. I had never been on that list.
Ryker grabbed my arm, pulling me back the way we came. The building had been designed with an elevator on either end. Our feet quietly treaded over the tile. Ryker fell behind, guarding our backs, while I weaved through the maze. Sprig held tight, deep in my hair. I paused at a corner, peering down the corridor for trouble, and spotted the elevator at the far end.
“Do you know where he’d be?” Ryker whispered behind me. I craned my neck to see him.
“My gut tells me to go down.”
Ryker’s eyebrows lifted.
“Seriously?” I couldn’t fight a small chuckle.
“I’m completely for the idea. But maybe now is not a great time.”
“Might be your last chance.” I meant it as a joke, but his face darkened, his eyes flashing.
“Don’t say that,” he rumbled. “You are going to live through this, human. I want many years ahead of fucking you senseless.”
I almost choked on air. “Well, if anything will keep me fighting, it’ll be that.”
“And honey,” Sprig squeaked in my ear, his backpack hitting my cheek.
Ryker’s heat bounced off my body, and it took everything I had to turn around and focus. I examined the bare hallway and slipped around the corner, Ryker right behind me.
My attention was trained so intently on our destination, I missed the flare of warning teasing the back of my neck. I stepped past an open door, when a click of a gun ticked in my ear. Ryker instantly pointed his firearm at the assailant.
“Drop your weapon or she dies.” Liam jammed the barrel of his gun into my temple. “I’m not kidding. Whatever you think you can do, I will be quicker.” He spoke to Ryker, nodding at his gun.
Ryker’s tattoo and eyes flashed. It would be so easy for him to take down Liam, if it wasn’t for the fact Liam held a fae gun to my head. There was no question I would die. Ryker growled as he placed the weapon on the ground. He stared at Liam, his expression so determined and full of hate. I felt Liam’s hand tremble against my head. Liam walked around, turning my back to the elevator.
“Now you.” He dug the weapon into my skin. I bent over, wiggling my shoulder, hoping Sprig would understand my meaning. We had done this last time.
He did.
Sprig dropped down my back, his soft fur brushing a slip of exposed skin, and the elevator key slipped from my back pocket. He inched down and hid behind my boot. I set down the knife and gun I carried.
“Step back,” Liam ordered.
Ryker and I stepped away from our weapons. Sprig took the opportunity to slip away.
Please don’t see him. Please don’t see him.
My glamour wasn’t really working, and it certainly wouldn’t work down here, but I still sent out the thought with everything I had.
Thankfully Liam was too focused on me to notice. He moved with me, keeping the gun glued to my head, kicking the other weapons a little farther away from us.
He reached for a walkie-talkie on his belt, putting it near his mouth. “I have the targets. Send down a team to the fifth floor,” Liam spoke into the device, keeping us in his sight the entire time. Someone responded on the other end. Liam hooked the walkie-talkie back on his belt, licking his lips nervously as Ryker growled again.
“All fluff and no bite. Not sure if I want to laugh or throw up. A fae in love with a human. But I guess you’re not really human anymore, are you? You two are perfect for each other. I hated Daniel, but at least he was human. This is just foul.”
“Shut up, Liam,” I snarled. I didn’t care to explain to him I was now full fae. It would probably disgust him more.
“Poor little Zoey.” A smug smile twitched at his mouth. “Did you know most of us were on the inside the whole time? Only you and Daniel weren’t. What does that say? Rapava knew even then not to trust you. Looks like he was right. Both you and Holt became traitors.”
Many confusing moments of my past made sense now. Like the night of the storm when Rapava had me locked up down in a level I didn’t know. The rest of them knew about it. There were so many other things to think about then, so my brain didn’t fix on it. But now I realized all the Collectors had been down in the lower levels when I had been a prisoner. Only Daniel and I had never been brought in. Daniel knew more than he let on. Even keeping it from me. It also explained why Sera and Liam always had that smug I’m better and smarter than you vibe. They were in the cool kids club while Daniel and I were blackballed.
“Rapava has been secretly planning this. Training an army to fight. You and your little group are going to die. All this is for nothing. We’ve been waiting for this day for a very long time.”
I wanted to tell him our so-called “little group” included the Unseelie King’s private guards. But of course, I couldn’t.
“You don’t think we weren’t prepared for an attack from fae?” Liam snarled, keeping his weapon directed at my head. “I just never imagined you would be the one leading it.” His gaze rolled over me, his lips hitched up in repulsion. “I’m not sure why I’m surprised. I always sensed there was something wrong about you.”
Fury pushed my shoulders back, and my nails sliced into my closed fists. I would not give him the satisfaction of retaliating. That was what Liam lived for. To get a rise out of me. Or Daniel when he had been alive.
“My eyes have been opened and now I see the truth.” I turned to face him, letting the barrel of the gun hit the middle of my forehead. “You want to hide, little boy, in your closed, sad mind?” I pushed against the gun, letting it dig into my skin. “Even Sera saw the truth at the end. If you really loved her, you would not be able to handle what Rapava did to her.”
“Shut up,” Liam said, his jaw straining. Oh yeah, I picked at a nerve.
“Zoey…” Ryker mumbled my name, but I ignored him.
“You sat there while he tested her and let her die a slow, painful death. Alone. All for research. What kind of man does that make you?”
“Shut. Up!” Liam bellowed, waving his gun around. It was a fine line between him shooting me and him breaking down.
I glanced at Ryker. Without a word spoken, I sensed he picked up on my meaning.
“I held her in my arms when she died, as blood leaked from her eyes and mouth…” I sensed in my gut this would be the last words he’d let me say. “You let her die. And weren’t even man enough to be there for her in the end.”
I watched his finger twitch, pulling the trigger back. In that split second I dropped down.
Bang!
The bullet raced over the top of my head. Ryker drove into Liam, both men colliding hard into the wall. Ryker immediately went for the weapon in L
iam’s hand, but Liam was not a small man or untrained. He wouldn’t go down easy.
I went for my own firearm and knife when the sound of feet and shouting thundered down the hall.
Shit!
The elevator door behind me dinged. Sprig sat on the railing next to it, stabbing at the button repeatedly, and the doors rolled open. “Come on, Bhean!”
“Zoey, go!” Ryker screamed back at me as he struggled with Liam.
A handful of men dressed in fatigues and holding rifles came around the corner, running toward us.
“Go! Now!” Ryker bellowed.
I bobbed on my feet. Hesitating. How could I leave him? Pain sliced my heart. I didn’t want to part from him, leave him here by himself. But I made a promise to a little girl. And a promise to Daniel.
And promises in my world now were not something you could break.
I could feel the seconds between me getting away and being taken by the throng of men coming at us whittling away. I bit down on my lip. With a strangled cry I pivoted away from the man I loved and ran for the elevator.
“Bhean, hurry!” Sprig’s face appeared around the elevator door. As they started to shut, someone yelled behind me. Then gunshots began to ring out. The sound of swishing near my head told me they were shooting at me. Moving targets were not as easy to hit, but with so many coming my way, one of them would find their target.
“Bhean, come on!” Sprig chattered as my exit narrowed. I kicked my legs faster and fell onto the floor. It was a trick Daniel had taught me. Like a baseball player sliding into base, I twisted to my side, using the meatier part of my thigh and butt and skidded across the slick tile. The gun and knife dug into my skin as this final burst of speed slid me over the elevator entrance. I felt the pressure of the doors closing in. I whipped my head to the side, the doors nearly snapping shut on my ponytail.
Holy shit.
“Turtle droppings!” Sprig looked down at me from his perch on the railing around the small space. “That was like from a movie.” The elevator jerked, heading down again.
“Doesn’t feel like it looks in the movies.” I groaned and sat up. No doubt a massive bruise would form along my hip and back. “Damn, that hurt.”
From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) Page 30
