The Warrior

by Rebecca Royce

  For a second, my brain stuttered. How had he gotten past the guards?

  “Chad?” Tia’s oldest brother stared back at me.

  His grin was priceless, mostly because it had been such a long time since I’d seen him really smile. Years, maybe. Chad had gotten serious even before he’d started going Upwards.

  “Rachel, I can’t tell you how good it is to see you.”

  He carried the keys to the cell and in less than two seconds, he had unlocked my cage.

  How did he get a hold of those? “Chad? I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

  He pulled me into his arms and held me close, pushed up against his body. I stayed stiff for a second. It wasn’t every day that Chad gave me a hug—actually it had never happened before—but I did eventually wrap my arms around him.

  As we stood there, Chad holding me in the tightest embrace of my life, I felt him start to shake in my arms.

  “Chad?” I wasn’t sure at all what was going on. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”

  I felt like a parrot, but he hadn’t answered my question so what else was I supposed to do?

  He moved back to look at me. “Yes, now I am okay. I didn’t believe Keith when he said he saw you. I thought, no way, he’s lying to me. She’s still dead. This is all one big mistake. Don’t let your heart unthaw.”

  I smiled, unsure of what to say. “I’m sorry I made everyone upset. I didn’t mean to get kidnapped.”

  He laughed, running his thumb over my cheek. Everyone was doing that. I might have to make a no-touching-Rachel on the scar rule.

  “You survived a Vampire scratch?”

  “As I am still standing here talking to you, I obviously did.”

  “Ha!” His laugh made me jump. “And you found your sarcasm. You’ve had quite a week.” His smile disappeared fast. “You look fierce, Rachel. Beautiful and fierce.”

  I had thought that same word earlier in the week when I’d seen Micah come back beat up from a trip Upwards. It was strange to hear Chad use it on me now.

  “What’s going on?”

  “We’re revolting. Icahn is on the run. The Warriors are after him. All his supporters are trying to get away. It’s chaos out there.”

  I blinked as I tried to digest what he told me. “They’re revolting? The Warriors?”

  “Yes.” He grinned again. “No one is killing you to cover up his involvement in Armageddon. No way.”

  “And you got sent to be with me?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I volunteered. Come on.” He took my hand and walked me back in the cage. “My father’s instructions were very clear. I am to stay here with you and keep you safe. Anyone who is not with us gets killed if they come through the door.”

  “You’re going to kill someone for me?”

  He stared into my eyes in a way I’d never seen Chad do before, and I have to say I had no idea how to handle it. He was touching me, laughing at me, hugging me. Now he stared in my eyes. What the heck was going on here?

  “I would kill an army of people for you.”

  “What?”

  He pulled me down on the bed, the only place to sit in the room, and we sat side-by-side.

  “Look, there’s no easy way to say this but I thought you were dead and that I’d missed my chance so now that I have you alone I have to say it right now.”

  “Say what?” Although I had a pretty good idea I knew what he was going to say, and maybe I should stop him from doing so…

  “I know you’ve always had a thing for Micah, so I stayed away. Besides, you’re two years younger than me. Two-and-a-half, really.”

  I groaned. The whole world did know about my previous fascination with Micah.

  “And listen,” he patted my leg, “I know that the girls all like Micah and, you’re going to have to trust me on this, Micah likes the girls.”

  I didn’t want to know that. “Chad…”

  “Please let me finish.”

  I cleared my throat. Wow, I was uncomfortable. “Okay.”

  “But I’m a really nice guy. I guess you know that. You’ve practically lived with my family. I’ll be good to you and, wow, Rachel, say something, won’t you?”

  He stroked my cheek with his hand again, and I should have stopped him. Only I didn’t, because I was thinking too much on what he had said. Nice wasn’t the word I would have used to describe Chad. Intense, yes. Capable, yes. Scary, sometimes. Nice? Well, I guess he was nice.

  “I have to ask you something, Chad.”

  He took my hand. “Anything.”

  Oh man. “Did Keith put you up to this?”

  He blinked a few times. “Why would he do that?”

  Okay, so now I was seeing conspiracies, but really this was too odd for words. Chad? I’d never even considered the possibility. He was cute. Brown hair with hazel eyes, lean and strong. A small cleft graced his chin and always made him look responsible and charming. He had high cheekbones and long eyelashes. Truthfully, he was too good looking for me. As was Jason. And for that matter, so was Deacon who had hit on me the last time I’d seen him.

  Had all the boys gone crazy?

  “Answer me. Why would you ask me about Keith?”

  I swallowed. “Because I thought he put you up to this so I wouldn’t be interested in Jason.”

  “Jason?” He scrunched up his nose. “Who’s Jason?”

  “He’s a guy that I’m involved with.”

  He stood up and walked to the bars. “Since when? I don’t even know a Jason, and I know all the Warriors.” He tapped the bars before he whirled around. “Is he one of the new humans that you rescued?”

  “No.” I stood up. I had to put a stop to this.

  “Did you meet him up there?” He pointed skyward.

  I nodded. “Yes, listen…”

  “Rachel, are there humans running around up there totally unprotected?”

  “No.” I walked to him. “Chad, I need to explain.”

  I saw the second realization dawned on him. “Is he a wolf?”

  He said wolf as more of a whisper. Every person who heard my news had a way of saying it. Chad’s was less angry than Keith’s, but it wasn’t a rousing endorsement either.

  “He is. He is a wolf who is not with the bad wolves. That’s the best I can explain it.”

  “Ah, hell.” He kicked the bars, hard. “One week. In one week you’d turn sixteen, finally old enough to consider approaching, you die, you come back to life, and fall in love with a monster. Seriously? I have to compete with a wolf?”

  “He is not a monster.” Why was I defending him? They’d never believe me.

  “I would think he was a monster even if he was a human, because he stepped in where I was supposed to be.”

  I shook my head. “Chad, listen…”

  “I’m going to compete with him. End of story. I will win this battle. In the end, you’ll choose me.”

  “Okay, now, that’s enough.” I wasn’t going to put up with this anymore. “I’m in love with Jason and he’s in love with me. End of story.”

  He nodded, his eyes hard. “We’ll see.”

  “Chad!” I wanted to stomp my foot but I didn’t want to seem like a five year old.

  A bang sounded outside the room, and Chad turned around. He pulled a knife out of his sleeve as he stepped forward. I watched as he put a finger over his mouth to indicate I should be quiet.

  Maybe another girl would be startled to know the guy confessing his love to her was armed. Not me. I was relieved. Because I was not armed. Not even a little bit. And, frankly, I’d have been surprised if he hadn’t been. That was one thing you could count on with Chad—he was always prepared.

  The door burst open, and Liam Icahn sauntered into the room. He was cut, bleeding from his left cheek, and he walked with a limp.

  “Oh look.” He laughed. “One of the Lyons. Why am I not surprised you have one of your protectors with you?”

  “Liam, I’m going to give you two seconds to lea
ve, or I’ll cut you open.”

  “Oh he-hum.” Liam shook his head. “You are so your father’s son. Always so hot and angry, always so sure of your own superiority. You think you’re so sure of what is going on?”

  I’d had enough. “I have no idea what’s going on. All I know is that you sent me out there to die and I didn’t die.” I stepped forward. “I lived and I saw things you didn’t want me to see. So sorry to have screwed up your plans.”

  “If my father falls, humanity falls. He is the only one keeping us all afloat.”

  In two seconds, Liam hit the floor. Chad and I both gasped. Neither of us had seen Keith come in, but he had taken Liam down to the floor. Keith looked like a man possessed. His fists pounded into him one after another as Chad and I watched in shock.

  I’d never seen someone I care about go so completely insane before. Right at the moment, the man pounding on Liam Icahn wasn’t my calm, reserved teacher. He was a man bent on beating the hell out of someone.

  Chad finally moved. “Okay, enough, Keith. Stop.”

  He grabbed Keith by the shoulders. “Enough.”

  Chad wrenched Keith away from the now completely still Liam. Keith was breathing hard as Chad dragged him into the hall. I didn’t know what they were discussing. I mean, really? He was mad at Keith for using his fists?

  This was a guy moment, and I couldn’t follow it. Instead, I inched my way to Liam Icahn and stared down at him. I didn’t need to touch him to know he was dead. People’s necks aren’t supposed to be turned like that. His eyes were lifeless. I looked away. I was tired of staring down at dead bodies, and I’d only been doing it for a week.

  No. No more today. I turned away.

  Chad’s arms pulled me against him. “Rachel, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  He spoke in my ear. “You can’t possibly be.”

  I jerked out of his embrace. It wasn’t his right, no matter what his feelings were. I didn’t share them. I cared about him as a friend, and as my best friend’s brother. That was it.

  “I lived above ground for a week without any of you. I’ve seen lots of things now. I’m still standing.”

  Deliberately not looking at Chad, I focused on Keith. If I’d caused Chad pain, I couldn’t deal with it right now. Maybe that made me a bad person. I was pretty sure most of the decisions I made lately would label me as ‘not good’ and I had to be okay with it or I couldn’t continue.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I couldn’t let him at you, kids.” Keith shook his head. “I’m sorry if I lost my mind.”

  Either we were old enough to go out into the world and kill monsters or we weren’t. My head throbbed. I was old enough to cause a revolution inside Genesis, but had I needed his help to take down Liam?

  This was not the time to deal with it. Truth is I didn’t know if it could be dealt with at all.

  Too much had happened for me to spend any more time in this room and right now, Chad clearly wanted to continue his conversation. I desired that about as much as I wanted Keith to start pounding on me.

  It bothered me that I was this bothered by Chad’s affections. Why was that? Deacon’s feelings hadn’t brought up this much conflict. I needed to get out of this room.

  “There’s a revolution going on out there. You just killed Liam Icahn, which I’m grateful for since it meant Chad and I didn’t have to do it.”

  I swallowed as Chad spoke. “You weren’t going to kill anyone.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes, which I knew was childish, but I wanted out of this room more so I opted to act like an adult. I had a clock, a deadline. It had taken me one day to get here. Two days more were lost in this cell. That meant I had four days to get to Jason.

  “I think Chad and I could help more if we weren’t in here.”

  “Patrick and I want you safe, Rachel. You’ve been through enough.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I’m a trained, experienced Warrior. I can help. Either I am old enough to be here or I’m not.”

  Keith exhaled. “All right, but you two stick to the fringes. The non-Warriors are terrified; they’ve all taken to their homes. It’s best that way. The Warriors loyal to Icahn are fighting back. I had no idea he had so many people in his pocket. But then, there are apparently a lot of things I don’t know.”

  The truth was that Keith could have been in his pocket. Icahn had brought him here, taken him over an ocean to be here. No one would ever believe it of Keith. He was too much his own man. Too much of a maverick. I wondered if Isaac Icahn had known who and what he was getting when he hired Keith. Probably not. He was probably cursing that decision right now.

  “Icahn has gotten out. Turns out there is another entrance and exit from here. We need to find it.”

  Chad nodded. “That sounds like what Rachel and I should do. What do you say, Rachel? Wanna find the secret entrance?”

  “In a word. Yes.”

  ***

  Chad and I walked fast together. When he took a step, I took a step. It was like we were dance partners who had practiced together a million times. I couldn’t help but wonder if this is what it would have been like if I’d gone Upwards with the One and Twos instead of by myself. Camaraderie, an ease in movements.

  We stopped as we stood outside Icahn’s office. I had heard it technically wasn’t simply an office, but a suite of rooms. I was fairly certain that he had escaped from inside one of these rooms.

  Chad grinned. The color of his skin was bright and his eyes practical glowed. He was enjoying this.

  So was I.

  It felt great to be out of that cell, great to be moving around, great to be working with Chad in this way.

  “Ready?” His voice caught my attention and I knew he’d seen me staring.

  “Are you going to knock?”

  We hadn’t really discussed our approach.

  “Are you kidding?”

  He raised his foot and kicked the door—hard. A loud bang sounded around us as the door gave away.

  He stepped back, his eyebrows raised, a smirk on his face.

  “It might have been unlocked.”

  He shrugged and stepped forward through the broken door. I followed in his wake. The lights were off in the hallway, and I felt around on the wall until I found the switch.

  As I turned it, the light in the hallway came on. From where I stood, I couldn’t see the end of it.

  Chad cursed. Yeah, he hadn’t known it was such an immense space either.

  “This is going to take all night.”

  I nodded. “Did you have somewhere else to be?”

  Because I did.

  Chapter Eighteen

  As it turned out, it didn’t take us very long to locate the hidden elevator. The bookshelf that had likely disguised the entrance in Icahn’s study was overturned. But the man himself, as Keith had told us, as well as his son Noah and his most staunch supporters had vanished. Now we knew how.

  This didn’t fill me with a great deal of confidence in the future. Well, in the future of humanity since I was leaving to go spend my life with the wolves. Of course, when I put it like that, it sounded like some sort of wilderness adventure.

  I smiled at my own stupid joke.

  Chad hopped up next to me to sit on Icahn’s desk where I had taken up residence.

  “What are you smiling about?”

  “I made a stupid joke in my head. I’m not going to share it. I’m sure it’s only amusing to me.”

  He shrugged. “I like jokes.”

  “You do?”

  “I do.”

  I couldn’t help my smirk. “I never knew you liked jokes. You seem pretty serious to me.”

  He rubbed his hand over my scarred cheek. I thought I was getting used to him doing that, because I didn’t bat his hand away.

  “I guess you haven’t been paying enough attention to me.”

  Maybe not, considering he claimed to have a thing for me, and I wouldn’t have seen that coming in a mi
llion years.

  Keith and Patrick burst through the doorway. Keith led the way but Patrick was right behind him.

  “You were right,” Patrick spoke on a sigh. “They’re here.”

  “I told you. They didn’t want to stay put in the jail cell, so I moved them here.”

  Patrick shook his head as he looked at Chad. “Not real good at following orders lately.”

  “I think it’s my fault, Mr. Lyons. I kind of insisted.” I didn’t want Chad in trouble because I’d had to get out of that room. “Is the revolution done?”

  Patrick pulled me in for a hug and stumbled forward. The Lyons men were being very touchy with me. I couldn’t remember Tia’s father ever holding me before. He quickly let me go.

  “I can’t tell you the utter relief and happiness my whole family feels at your return.”

  I noticed that he spared a quick glance at Chad before looking back at me. The subtlety was not lost on me. They all knew I’d had a thing, well in their minds a current thing, for Micah, and apparently they all knew about Chad’s little crush on me.

  “Don’t get too attached, Dad, she’s leaving us to go live with her Werewolf boyfriend.”

  Patrick sighed. “Keith mentioned something about that.”

  I turned to Keith. “You discussed this with people?”

  Keith didn’t look upset at all as he shrugged and sat back on a chair across the room. “Just Patrick, Carol, and Tiffani.”

  “Great.” That was wonderful. Soon the whole habitat would know and before I could make it up the elevator shaft and out into the world, I’d have to answer a million questions about the wolf. Fine! It was simply going to mean that I had to leave right now.

  Except I couldn’t leave until I saw Tia.

  “No one answered my question. Is the fighting over?”

  Patrick nodded. “For now. But we have so much ahead of us I can hardly see straight. We need to locate the other places they’re keeping humans, we need to move the whole population Upwards and keep them safe because I don’t trust Icahn not to have rigged the place to blow. We have to tell the other habitats about his betrayal.”

  “I know of one other place where the Vampires are underground. I can help with that. I’ll show it to you on a map.”