Breed of Havoc (The Breed Chronicles #3)

by Lanie Jordan

  We’d trained with nets before, but not that kind. I’d never seen one before today. “What do I do with it?”

  Instead of Adam or Dale answering, Linc did. “Just press this button—” He pointed to a red latch on the side. “—to activate it, then toss it to the ceiling and it’ll attach by itself.”

  That sounded easy enough. “How do I spring it?”

  “We can use it remotely.”

  Adam and Dale stared at him.

  “What? I hang out with Charlie sometimes and he shows me some of his inventions.” Linc shrugged. “He’s been working on this one for a year.”

  Charlie Monroe—Tasha’s dad—was the head of Research and Development for the CGE. Linc liked to rub it in that he got to see the future CGE weapons before I did (the jerk), and I hadn’t even met him yet. When Linc’d told me Charlie was the head of R&D, he’d neglected to mention Charlie was the head of R&D for all the CGEs in Florida. He didn’t spend much time here because of that, and he only came back some weekends to visit Tasha. Somehow, I’d always missed meeting him.

  I shot Linc a quick smile as I took the Pop ‘n Drop from Adam. “And you call me a nerd.”

  Dale and Adam both grinned before their expressions sobered. “You ready, Jade?” Adam asked.

  I took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “Yup.”

  I could do this, couldn’t I? It wasn’t like I was going after the demons alone. I was only getting a trap ready for them, and then I’d just wait for them to fall into it. Batcoons weren’t too aggressive, so it was little risk, I hoped. If Dr. Cherry’s theory was right, they would be fine around me, like the ones she’d tested from the facility.

  If her theory was right, they wouldn’t try to eat me.

  If.

  Why that bugged me now, I couldn’t say. I’d been the one telling her to add demons to the Friend List, hadn’t I been? So why was I now questioning her theories? Why was I worried she was wrong? Why—

  “Um, Jade?”

  I turned around and found everyone watching me intently. “What?”

  Adam’s eyebrows were drawn together. “You okay to do this?”

  “Going. Just…listening for sounds,” I lied quickly. And then I did listen for sounds. Thankfully—or maybe unthankfully?—I didn’t hear any that seemed out of the ordinary.

  “Stay safe, Hall,” Linc said.

  Wordlessly, I nodded and started up the stairs. My footsteps seemed louder than anything, even though I knew they weren’t. Even though I knew I was being as quiet as possible. I kept my breathing steady, my pace slow, and my ears strained for anything abnormal. Other than my quiet-but-not-so-quiet footsteps, I heard nothing.

  No one had turned on any lights on the second floor, so it was nearly pitch black with only a small amount of light from the first floor. I paused on the stairs long enough to give my eyes time to adjust.

  The attic door was only a few feet away. The string for the ladder dangled from the ceiling. Holding my breath, I took a few steps forward. Above me, the floor creaked. I stopped, still holding my breath, and silently hoped the demons stayed where they were long enough for me to—

  The ladder dropped down, narrowly avoiding my head. Four orange eyes stared down at me. I blinked at them, trying not to let my not-so-sudden fear show.

  Put the bar up and move. It’s three steps. I raised the hand with the Pop ‘n Drop and pressed the button. Metal bars unfolded from it, looking like an oblong, upside down mechanical spider. The demons, still watching me, growled.

  I might’ve been on their friend list, but even friends attacked if you pissed them off, didn’t they?

  Not happening, I thought. Slowly, I set the Pop ‘n Drop on the ground and kicked it behind me. It clattered down the stairs. The demons stopped growling almost immediately.

  “Put it up down there,” I said in a barely audible tone, hoping Adam or Dale would hear me, with or without the coms.

  “Jade!” Linc yelled.

  The demons—three of them now—turned their heads to the side, like they were trying to see around me. I shifted positions to keep the others out of sight even as the demons sniffed the air. They’d smell Linc and the others. If the demons didn’t see them, they’d think the scent was from the people outside. At least I hoped so.

  “Stay out of the way and keep him quiet,” I whispered this time.

  “Don’t get dead,” Dale whispered back. Their footsteps creaked slightly as they moved away from the stairs and Linc’s protests about leaving me behind. The footsteps eased my worries a little, and Linc’s words made my heart feel a little lighter.

  “Alright, demony dudes. Time to go.”

  The Burrower hadn’t moved an inch until I had, and then it’d followed my movements closely, making sure to keep me in its line of sight. As long as it’d seen me, it’d been happy and non-attacking. If that theory held true, all I’d have to do is move back to get the Batcoons to follow me. They’d be curious and try to find me if I moved too far away. I hoped. Otherwise, I had no idea how we were supposed to get them out of the attic without seriously pissing them off.

  “We’re coming down. I think. Hope,” I said.

  I backed away slowly, toward the stairs, and stepped down the first one. Two heads lowered from the attic and the third rested on the others. Three pairs of orange eyes locked on me.

  I took another step down and their heads lowered even more.

  When I hit the fifth step—the first step completely out of sight from them—I heard a big thud.

  Adam, Dale, and Linc’s voices all rang out in my head. I cut off their yelling and panicked voices with an, “I’m okay!”

  I took a step forward to see what the sound had been and found one of the demons on its back, like it’d fallen out of the attic. The others hung out of the doorway, resting on the ladder. The demon at the back moved forward. It bumped into the other one, causing it to fall on top of the first demon.

  I snorted. “They fell.”

  As I said the words, the remaining demon in the attic tilted its head to the side. A second later, it lurched forward and crashed to the floor.

  This time, I laughed. “They’re like dominoes, falling out of the attic. And now they’re a doggie-pile…of demons.” Still laughing, I continued back down the stairs.

  “You’re okay? You’re not hurt?” Linc asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  Above me, I heard the demons moving again. Seconds later, their faces appeared. They stared at me, watching me, so I took another step down. They followed, flapping their wings.

  “You’re not attacking and that’s good. Let’s just keep it that way, shall we?” I moved down a few more steps until my feet hit the bottom. Glancing up, I spotted the Pop ‘n Drop. The demons came down, step by step, until they were directly under the net. “Sorry, guys. Drop it,” I added for Adam and Dale, since one of them had the remote.

  The net dropped over the demons. Surprisingly, they didn’t protest, just continued to watch me. “Yeah, you guys aren’t so bad, are you?”

  Adam, Dale, and Linc walked over. All of them glanced at the now-trapped demons. Linc nodded. “Not bad, Hall. Mighty big dominoes, though.”

  Walking closer to them, I grinned. “Yeah, but they’re not bad ones.”

  Almost the second the words left my mouth, they started making a weird sound, something between a growl and a screech.

  Linc raised his eyebrows. “Not bad, huh? Need to check your definition on that.”

  “Oh, bite—”

  “We’ve got company!” a voice shouted over the coms. “Demon coming in the east ex—” Agent Martinez’s voice broke off with a scream.

  Agent Robinson shouted his name, then yelled, “Another one coming in from the west!”

  Adam pushed Linc toward me. “Move! Tranq guns out now! Set it to maximum strength.” Despite the fear in his voice, his movements were swift and calm. Facing away from us, I heard him whisper something to the driver about checking on A
gent Martinez, and asked Agent Robinson what kind of demons were coming.

  Neither Martinez or Robinson responded.

  Linc and I reached for our guns at the same time and changed their settings from normal strength to maximum. According to Dale, these were one of Charlie’s newest inventions. The maximum strength was supposed to knock out a demon in two seconds flat and keep them out cold for twelve hours. They were designed to work on over ninety percent of the known demon species if used correctly.

  A crashing sound erupted from behind us. A few seconds later, another from the front of the church. Still trapped in the nets, the Batcoons’ growls got louder and louder. When I glanced at them, I noticed they weren’t looking at me like I expected—they were looking toward the back door.

  Adam and Dale shouted at us to stay together and stay out of the way.

  Standing back to back, Linc and I faced opposite directions. I had the Batcoons in my line of sight. One of them—the biggest—looked straight ahead. When its gaze traveled to the right, instinct had me doing the same. I spun around. A large demon barged in from the front. It looked similar to the unnamed hybrid Dr. Cherry had brought in my first meeting with her. It crept forward, snarling, drool or foam dripping from its mouth.

  And blood.

  The demon ran forward—straight at me—but Adam and Dale jumped in the way and started fighting it. They were tossed around like they weighed nothing, but they got back up again and kept fighting.

  A thumping sound had me turning back around. The trapped Batcoons were pounding on the ground. One of them strained against the net, like it was trying to push its way through. I glanced over my shoulder at Adam and Dale.

  Linc grabbed my arm when I took a step forward. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Releasing the Batcoons. We need the net for the others—they’re more of a threat.”

  “Are you insane? Don’t even think about it!”

  “They won’t hurt me.” Something in my gut twisted. I thought it was nerves, but it wasn’t. It was almost the same feeling I had the night the Burrower had escaped and found its way to my room, only this was intensified by about a hundred. Everything in me screamed danger! but it wasn’t just common sense or basic knowledge. It was a feeling I’d never felt before.

  “Don’t be—”

  “Trust me, Linc,” I pleaded, staring at him, hoping I could convey with my eyes what I couldn’t explain with words.

  “Jade…”

  The second hybrid demon crept into the back room. It was only ten feet away and its eyes bored into mine. Like other demons I’d dealt with over the last year, it sniffed the air around it, like it could smell something but couldn’t quite place what it was.

  “They might not hurt me,” I said, pointing to the Batcoons and fighting off a vicious, sudden bout of nausea, “but that one will.” I wanted my gut to be wrong about this, but it wasn’t. As soon as this demon figured out we weren’t friends, it would attack.

  Linc raised his gun, aimed, and fired at the demon. The bullet hit the demon in the chest but only went in partially. He fired again. “These aren’t working!” he shouted, shooting the demon for the third time.

  “Just run!” Adam panted.

  “No!” I shouted. I didn’t recognize the demon but my gut said not to run, that it’d just chase us down if we did. I risked another quick glance over my shoulder. Dale fought one of the demons by himself and Adam was on the ground, trying to push to his feet.

  I glanced at the now-howling Batcoons. They were struggling to get free. Did I release them? Did I really trust my gut when it said they wouldn’t hurt me? Well, if I was wrong, I’d just have to kick my ass later—assuming I lived long enough to.

  I started to tell Linc my plan, but the hybrid demon started forward. I lunged for the Batcoons and pressed the button to release them. The net folded up just as quickly as it’d released. I picked it up and tossed it to Linc. “Get it to Adam!”

  Half his body shifted away, like he was torn between what to do. He shot me one furious look, one that clearly said if I was wrong he would kick my butt, and then he ran out. I went to follow him and found myself surrounded by the three Batcoons. They were facing away from me, blocking me from the hybrid.

  I tried shifting away to check on Linc and the others, but the demons wouldn’t let me by. One of them spread its wings out, trying to block me from leaving.

  All the demons were growling and snarling around me. The hybrid—which was a good foot taller than the others—tried reaching over their heads to get to me. The biggest Batcoon lunged forward and shoved it away like a football player, and a second demon followed.

  The hybrid bit and scratched at the others until all I could see was demon blood. Until all I could hear were demon growls and whimpers. There were too many sounds and I couldn’t tell which demon was making which sound. Too many demons moving too fast that I could barely tell them apart. But I didn’t need to. The hybrid was bigger, stronger, faster, and a whole hell of a lot meaner. The other demons—even two of them together—didn’t stand a chance.

  “Stop!” I shouted, trying to push my way past the remaining demon, but it knocked me aside and ran at the hybrid before I could.

  I wanted to follow, and started to, but Dale and Adam rushed in, dripping with sweat and blood, with their guns raised and aimed at the hybrids.

  I stepped in front of them, listening as the demons fought behind me. “Don’t shoot the Batcoons. Just do something with the damn hybrid before it kills them!”

  “Move aside, Jade,” Dale said, leaning heavily on his right side. The left side of his face was scratched up.

  “Promise me you won’t hurt them.”

  “Then get out of the damn way.”

  I moved to the side, hoping I was doing the right thing. What choice did I have? If I didn’t, the hybrid would kill the Batcoons before Dale and Adam could, and if the sounds were any indication, that could quickly turn into a mercy killing.

  I watched as Dale took aim at one of the Batcoons. He shook his head, muttered, “Goddamnit!” and then shot something at the hybrid. I didn’t know what it was, but it worked almost immediately. The hybrid growled once more, then slumped over on the other demons.

  Slowly, because I didn’t want to scare them, I moved over to the Batcoons. When none made any moves to attack (hopefully because they didn’t see me as a threat and not just because they physically couldn’t), I knelt down.

  Linc glanced at me with an unreadable—but annoying—expression, then looked to Dale. “Is it dead?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How?” he asked.

  “Its own venom.”

  “How’d you know it’d work? What kind—”

  “Can we focus on the dying demons and not worry about the dead ones?” I snapped, cradling a Batcoon’s head in my lap. “And someone toss me some damn bandages!”

  “Jade…”

  I glared at Adam. He stared down at me with an expression I’d never seen before—something between disbelief and horror. “What?” I snapped.

  “You’re trying to save a demon.”

  “And? It—all three—saved me. I repay my debts.” The demons could have attacked me more than once and they hadn’t. On a biological level, because of my DNA, I understood the reason. But protecting me from another demon? Dying to protect me? That I didn’t understand at all. They weren’t necessarily supposed to be heartless or mindless, but neither were they supposed to do things like protect a human. Nothing I’d read hinted at behavior like this, even with the more aware demons, the ones who could plan things.

  Adam didn’t move. No one did.

  “The demons helped save your lives, too. All of you. If I hadn’t released them and gotten the net for you guys, you’d still be fighting the other one. Don’t do it for them, but you’ll do it for me, because you owe me that much.”

  Adam was the first to relent. He ran outside and within two minutes was back with a first-aid kit. He dug
inside for some bandages and handed me a pile. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Nothing.” I wiped my brow with my arm. “I don’t know if they’ll attack you, so just keep handing me bandages.” I looked up at Linc and added, “I’ll do the rest.”

  This was the second time he’d done nothing, only stood by and watched without comment. It shouldn’t have pissed me off, but it did. I didn’t ask, expect, or need him to like demons. But what I did ask, expect, and need was him to support me.

  I did the best I could to help the Batcoons, but before we left, one of them had already died. It bothered me, a lot more than I’d ever admit.

  They were demons. They weren’t the ones who killed my mom and brother, but somewhere down the line, they had likely killed someone else’s mom. Someone else’s brother or sister, friend or loved one. Linc would have called it irrational. Maybe he would’ve been right. Maybe it wasn’t rational, I didn’t know, but I…I had to help. I owed them that much, didn’t I?

  As we loaded the other two into the transport van, Adam, Dale, and Linc all protested when I jumped in the back with the demons.

  “I’m riding with them,” I said.

  “I don’t think they’re going to make it, Jade,” Adam said.

  I shrugged. “Then they won’t die alone, will they?”

  Dale shook his head. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  I shrugged again. The remaining demons wouldn’t kill me, even if they could have, and they couldn’t. I wasn’t even sure they were conscious.

  Linc climbed in beside me, making my jaw drop. I stared at him, then said, “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Riding with you.” He glanced at the demons warily. “Unless you think they’ll attack me.”

  “They won’t, but—”

  “I trust you.”

  “Linc,” I said, my tone exasperated.

  He reached across the van and grabbed my hand. “I trust you.”

  “Nut jobs, the both of ya,” Dale said, shaking his head. “If you die, it’s your own damn fault.”

  “We won’t.”

  Holding the door open, he said, “You better not. It’s too much damn paperwork,” and then slammed it shut.