Phoenix

by Jessica Wayne

  I’m in Seattle, in Dakota’s apartment.

  “I’m just going to head across the hall to grab a few things,” Elizabeth told her.

  “Across the hall?”

  Elizabeth smiled. “Yes, we’re neighbors, my son and me.”

  Anastasia nodded. “I’ll go with you.”

  “Oh, honey, that’s not necessary,” Elizabeth said with a warm smile. “Although I would enjoy the company.”

  Anastasia smiled back, and lifted her sword from the table to sheathe it at her back.

  The door splintered, and Elizabeth screamed as three Brutes burst into the room. “Get the cop!” one ordered as he entered the room.

  “Elizabeth, run! Bedroom, now!”

  Anastasia jumped over the couch and dodged a large fist to drive her sword down into the first Brute. Blood dripped down her arm as she ripped her blade out of the abdomen and sliced down to remove the head.

  The second Brute reached for her and managed to knock her back into the wall. She ducked just in time to miss a blow to the face and spun to kick it in the gut. Once it was stunned, she blasted it with magic, and it crumpled to the floor.

  Elizabeth screamed, and Anastasia turned as the last Brute shoved the door to the bedroom open. She slammed the beast with magic, and was satisfied when it fell to the floor.

  “Are you all right?” Anastasia called.

  Elizabeth stepped out, staring in bewilderment at the beast on the ground. She looked back up, and her eyes widened as a sharp pain speared through Anastasia’s abdomen.

  “Anastasia!” Elizabeth screamed, but the sound was a mile away as searing pain spread like fire from her midsection, and her pulse sent blood roaring through her veins, the sound a deafening rhythm in her ears.

  Anastasia looked down. A blood-covered blade protruded from her stomach. She turned around slowly, gasping for breath; a fourth Brute had snuck into the room and attacked from the back.

  She fell to her knees, and the thing smiled at her. “I will be rewarded for killing you. Goodbye, baby witch,” he sneered. The Brute pushed her back and knelt on her chest. Anastasia gasped, and her vision began to waver.

  “Get off of her!” Elizabeth cried.

  Elizabeth charged the beast, but it flung her away with a flick of his hand, sending her flying into the coffee table.

  “No!” Anastasia tried to scream, but the sound came out as whisper. The pain in her abdomen started to fade as her body went numb.

  “What the—?” Dakota stood in the doorway, trying to make sense of what the hell was happening.

  “Dakota. My. Sword,” she choked out as the Brute rose to its feet.

  Dakota dodged a fist, and lunged for her sword on the ground. When he turned around, he drove the blade into the beast’s gut. The Brute sunk to the ground and fell backwards, pinning Anastasia to the floor.

  “Oh my God, Ana!” Dakota dropped to his knees beside her and pressed his hands against the wound on her stomach. She could feel her pulse slowing as blood poured from the wound.

  “I called 9-1-1.” Elizabeth knelt beside her and handed Dakota a clean cloth.

  “No. Hospitals,” she tried to say, but the words were garbled.

  She fought to stay awake, but everything quickly faded to black.

  44

  Dakota

  Dakota stared down at Ana’s sleeping form. The buzzing of machines were the only sound in the room, and with each steady blip of the heart monitor, Dakota felt a piece of his own crumble.

  She was in here because of him. Because he’d been a king-sized douche and left her alone in his apartment, again. This was seriously becoming a habit that he sure as shit needed to break.

  Guess she was stuck with him now, because he had no intention of letting her go again. Seeing her bleeding to death on his floor was enough to snap his ass back to reality. She had not been the driving hand behind his father death, had not purposely left him.

  She’d been abducted by Mitch, and in that moment, her only way out had been a stranger offering her safety.

  He honestly couldn’t blame her. At least she was alive.

  Unlike Harry. Dakota closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as another dizzying wave of grief passed over him.

  Austin had called him in to let him know that his partner was dead, his skull crushed like the other victims. They weren’t even going to let Dakota work the case. It had been passed on to someone else, and he was now on paid leave. Apparently telling his captain there were monster men running through the city had not been an appropriate reaction.

  Harry had been his mentor, someone who he trusted immensely, and now he was gone.

  Head in his hands, Dakota looked up at Ana again. Her eyes fluttered open, and he got to his feet just as her eyes widened with panic. She reached down to pull the IV out of her arm, and Dakota grabbed her wrist.

  “Ana, you’re fine. We’re at my mom’s hospital.”

  “Dakota, we have to go. No one can know I’m here,” she said, her voice shaky as her eyes flicked frantically around the room.

  “No one knows you are. We checked you in under a different name. Breathe.” He moved some hair out of her face. “You almost bled to death. That monster used some sort of triple-edged knife on you. Had we not brought you here, you wouldn’t have made it.”

  “Where’s Elizabeth?” She tried to sit up, so Dakota pushed a button on her bed remote, propping her up slightly.

  “She’s fine. She just went to the cafeteria to get some coffee. I figured she was safe here since there are so many people around.”

  Ana nodded and leaned back against the pillows. “Do you have my stuff?”

  He lowered his voice so no one else could hear him. “The weapons we left in my car, but I brought your bag up.” He handed her the small leather satchel she’d tied to her belt.

  Ana pulled out a vial of orange liquid and lifted her hospital gown. She winced with pain, and he leaned forward.

  “I'm okay. This will help heal it.” She lifted her bandage and poured some of the thick contents on her wound over her stitches.

  The liquid bubbled, and Dakota’s stomach churned.

  “Can you get the one on my back? I'm guessing it went all the way through?”

  He nodded and took the vial from her. She rolled to her side and pulled the hospital blanket to just above her waist. He pushed her gown up to get to the injury, trying like hell to not focus on the additional scars it revealed. He was going to murder Mitch. After lifting the bandage up, Dakota poured the same amount he had seen her use on the entry wound.

  “It’s a phoenix,” she said when his fingers brushed over her tattoo. She rolled back over and tugged the gown back down. “I wanted something that reminded me of strength, and I didn’t think anything else was more fitting. It represents—”

  “Rising from the ashes. Becoming something more than you were,” he finished.

  “Yes,” she said, carefully watching him. He handed her the vial, and she replaced the cap.

  “What is that stuff?” He pointed to the now empty bottle.

  “It’s a healing remedy made with magic.”

  Dakota just nodded, not wanting to hammer her with all the questions floating around in his head. At least not until she was out of the hospital.

  “How long have I been here?”

  “Almost twenty-four hours. You lost a lot of blood, but you got lucky; the blade missed anything vital.”

  “We need to go.” She put her feet on the floor and yanked the IV from her arm.

  He stood quickly. “Ana, you need to rest.”

  “Dakota, we have to go. If Vincent somehow finds out I’m here, it will be bad, very bad. Please, we have to go.”

  “I told you we checked you in under a different name,” he insisted.

  “Dakota, please.”

  “Leaving so soon?”

  The color drained from Ana’s face, and Dakota’s heart sped.

  He turned quickly, placing
himself between Ana and the man in the doorway. “You have no business here, Mitch,” he growled.

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Parker. That’s my daughter there, and seeing as how she has been missing for the last five years, I feel we have a lot to talk about.” He took a step toward the bed, and Dakota stepped forward. He’d be damned if this asshole was getting anywhere near her.

  The alarms on the machines Ana had yet to remove went off as her heart rate skyrocketed.

  Dakota glanced behind him. She was crumpled on the floor and his heart nearly leapt from his chest. He couldn’t go to her until he eliminated the threat. Turning back to Mitch, he reached for his gun, grimacing when he grasped nothing but air at his hip.

  Damn paid leave.

  It didn’t matter. He’d take Mitch Carter down with his hands if he had to. He squared his shoulders and looked the man in the eyes. “Get out of here, Mitch. Now.”

  “Did you not hear me? I'm not leaving until I’ve had the chance to talk to my daughter.”

  Dakota took a step closer. “You can either leave, or I will throw your ass out of here.”

  “And then you would lose your job. I. Am. Not. Going. Anywhere.” Mitch tried to push past Dakota, but he held firm.

  “You are leaving,” Elizabeth said as she entered the room, two security guards by her side. “You are upsetting my patient. A patient, I might add, who is of no blood relation to you.”

  “Then why doesn’t she turn around? Set this whole thing to rest,” he said without turning to look at Elizabeth.

  “She is none of your concern. Now, are you going to leave of your own accord, or am I going to have to have you arrested for harassing one of my patients?”

  He turned to face Elizabeth. “No need for that. Just a misunderstanding, I’m sure.” He headed for the door. “See you soon, Parker.”

  When he was gone, Dakota rushed to Ana’s side, kneeling beside her. Shudders racked her body, and her face had lost nearly all color.

  “Ana, hey, it’s okay. Come back to me.” Dakota cupped her face with his hands. “I'm so sorry. We should have left when you wanted to. It’s okay now, he’s gone, and we will leave before he has the chance to come back.”

  Eyes wide, she looked up at him. Nearly a decade had passed since he’d seen that look of horror on her face, and it gutted him nearly as much now as it did the night Mitch had beat her nearly to death the week before graduation.

  Tears rolled down her cheeks, and Dakota wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs. “It’s going to be okay.” He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her.

  45

  Anastasia

  They drove through the darkening streets of Seattle in silence. Elizabeth and Dakota sat in the front seats of his sedan, while Anastasia sat in the back. Her weapons had been in his car, just as he’d promised, and he’d reluctantly handed them to her before they’d left the parking garage.

  She wondered why he was so afraid of giving them back to her. Did he still not trust her? Even after yesterday’s Brute attack? Was he afraid she was going to bail the second she got a chance? He couldn’t have been more wrong; the Brutes had come to the apartment looking for Dakota—she’d just been a happy accident.

  That meant Vincent knew where he was, and if she left now, Dakota and his mother wouldn’t stand a chance.

  She closed her eyes tightly and swallowed the hard lump of tears burning in the back of her throat. Mitch had caught her completely off guard, and her reaction had been so weak, so completely and utterly helpless, that shame curled around her like an old friend.

  Hadn’t she conquered her fear of that horrible man? Or had she merely just pushed it aside all these years?

  How the hell could she take down a fully grown Brute without hesitation, but the voice of that man transformed her back into the shaking, fearful child she’d left behind all those years ago?

  Dakota witnessed her fear, the way she trembled when Mitch entered the room. Shame gripped her chest again. Dakota, of all people! And it wasn’t like he’d never seen her afraid before—he’d seen that and much, much worse—but this was different. She was different. In that moment, when she should have confronted Mitch, she’d cowered behind her best friend.

  Again.

  “We need to grab some supplies and head out to the cabin,” Dakota said as they drove. “The apartments aren’t safe.”

  “What did you do with the bodies?” Anastasia asked.

  “Bodies?”

  “Of the Brutes.”

  “So that’s what those things are called.” Elizabeth clucked her tongue in disgust.

  “Nothing, yet,” Dakota answered. “Dragging those damn things down the stairs seemed like a bad idea.”

  “They won’t be there tomorrow anyway. Brutes always collect their dead.”

  “Well that solves that problem, I suppose.”

  A few minutes passed, and they pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store Anastasia remembered from other trips they’d made out to the Parker Family Resort, as George had lovingly dubbed the old cabin.

  The fact that he wouldn’t be joining them with his stories and infectious laughter pained her. She hadn’t realized just how much she missed him until she learned he was gone.

  “I’ll be right back.” Dakota climbed out of the car, leaving Anastasia and Elizabeth alone.

  “How are you feeling?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Sore, but okay.”

  “Let me know if that changes.”

  Anastasia offered her a small smile, and looked back out at the entrance to the store.

  Dakota emerged a few moments later, carrying a handful of plastic bags that he put into the trunk. Without a word, he climbed back into the car and pulled out onto the street.

  Anastasia stared out of the window as the city faded from view, and the trees became thicker, reminding her of the home she’d left only a day ago. What was Tony doing right now? Had he, Shane, and Kaley made it back to the other Fighters?

  Were they all all right?

  With a quick shake of her head, she pushed the worries aside—there was nothing she could do at the moment.

  After an hour of driving in silence, Dakota pulled down a familiar gravel road. Both Dakota and Elizabeth had been silent the rest of the drive, and Anastasia wondered if the two of them had visited the cabin since George’s death.

  When Dakota pulled to a stop, Anastasia leaned against the window to get a better look. It was exactly how she remembered it. Trees surrounded the cabin from all sides, the only breaks being from the road and the structure itself. It was composed entirely of logs, much like the way houses in Terrenia were constructed. The windows had deep green shutters on them, and the wraparound porch still held four rocking chairs.

  Four. Sadness pinched her heart. They’d added one for her when she’d started joining their weekend getaways.

  George would never walk through his prized cottage again. He would never kiss Elizabeth in the kitchen like he would when he thought the kids weren’t watching, or hold his future grandkids. No matter what Dakota and Elizabeth told her, she knew that his death was on her shoulders.

  Dakota climbed out and went around to the trunk, retrieving the supplies. He placed them on the porch and disappeared behind the house. Moments later, the flood light illuminated them in the dark.

  Elizabeth stared at the house, her body rigid and eyes wide, as if it were going to sprout legs and run away. Dakota came back around and kissed his mother’s forehead before they stepped inside.

  After taking a deep breath, Anastasia followed them. Dakota moved around the living room, removing sheets from each piece of furniture.

  “Come sit down.” Dakota gestured to the recliner George typically occupied.

  Instead, she moved to the couch. She would not sit in George’s place. Dead or alive, it was his chair.

  “Do you need anything?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “I’m fine, Dakota. The salve helped. In
a few hours, I’ll be good as new.”

  “Ana, you almost died. Even with your magic potion or whatever the hell that is, you’re gonna need time. We’re all lucky the hospital believed our story of a piece of rebar you just so happened to ‘fall on’. Otherwise we all know you’d still be in that bed.”

  She didn’t have the energy to fight with him, so she just leaned back against the couch, closed her eyes, and tried to relax.

  46

  Dakota

  “You okay, Mom?” Dakota asked as he made his way into the kitchen. He’d done a walkthrough of the house, verifying that all windows and doors were locked up before taking a break.

  His mom had busied herself in the kitchen, making the comfort food he’d grown up with. He also knew she’d chosen meatloaf and mashed potatoes because it was a favorite of their guest.

  “I’m just shaken up, is all.” She stopped mixing the ground beef and met his gaze. “Dakota, those things were horrible. All I could think was that we just got her back and now we were going to lose her again.” Tears filled her eyes, and Dakota wrapped his arms around her.

  “We aren’t going to lose her, Mom, I promise.” He meant it, but was this even a promise he could keep? How was he supposed to help Ana in a war he knew nothing about?

  “I hope you’re right.” She used the back of her hand to brush a strand of hair from her face. “Now, leave me be. Grab a shower or something… you stink.”

  Dakota let out a laugh and made his way into the bedroom. He sat on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands.

  In the two days since Dakota learned of the third high-profile homicide, his best friend barreled into him, his partner had been murdered, he’d come home to find a giant beast on top of the aforementioned best friend, his mother knocked nearly unconscious into his broken coffee table, and he’d had a run-in with Mitch Carter.

  The latter alone was enough to shove him into a bottle.

  So how the hell was he supposed to handle everything else?