Eternal Refuge

by Annabelle McInnes

  Their embrace was short. But it gave Euan enough time to find his own feet, draw his lagging strength to the fore, and to trap the torrent of dread that twisted with the strength of a tornado inside him.

  ‘Is this all who is left?’ Kira asked as she gripped Knight’s bicep for support.

  Euan shook his head. ‘They hit the hotel along with the house. But there are some that survived. They’re waiting for our signal further up the valley, in case we need them.’

  ‘And Lily?’ Kira’s eyes were wide, her voice high, her blinking rapid.

  Euan knew the surgeon would be Kira’s priority after Nick. He deferred to Knight with a nod.

  ‘Lily is safe,’ the tall man told her.

  Her relief was physical. Kira slumped and Euan took her from Knight’s embrace to encase her in his own. Her chest expanded against his when she asked, ‘How did they know about us?’

  Knight’s dark gaze briefly met Euan’s. He had never asked that question because he had always known the answer.

  ‘Betrayal,’ Knight stated simply as he broke their connection. ‘We were worth much to the right people.’

  ‘The right people being Parker and his men?’

  Knight nodded, his eyes downcast.

  Euan interrupted. ‘I’m going to kill them all.’

  They both turned to him. Blue crystal and black onyx. Kira jerked in his hold. When he gazed down at her, she blinked as her lips pursed, hardened. ‘No.’

  He narrowed his eye. ‘Once Nick is free, I will kill them, Kira. I will destroy everything that motherfucker has built. When I catch him, I will carve him up and burn his bones. I will annihilate every man that dared to follow him. Leave their bodies out in the sun to rot and feed the dogs.’

  Kira shook her head. She pulled away and out of his arms. Her stance was rigid, her skin pale under the grime. ‘No,’ she said again.

  ‘Yes.’

  Beside him, Knight shifted, the gravel under his boots crunched. The wind picked up. Kira wet her lips, bit the inside of her cheek. The dark fabric crackled as it stretched and separated the dried blood as she inhaled. She did not break eye contact. Neither did Euan.

  It was Kira who broke the silence. ‘I won’t let you. I won’t let you do that to them, do that to yourself.’

  His voice was cold when he said, ‘I’m not asking your permission.’

  Her nostrils flared and her cheeks flushed. The glare she sent him sliced through his resolve. He had been determined, but under her scrutiny, her judgement, he questioned himself, his motives and his decision. He held out his hand in placation.

  She bared her teeth at his offering. ‘You don’t get to decide the fate of the human race.’

  Her fury triggered him. What did she know of sacrifice? Of suffering? She judged him when all he did, every move he made, every tactic and plan he put in place was to keep those he loved safe. And she threw it back into his face.

  The sneer was instinctive. ‘You’re right, I don’t.’

  When she blinked in surprise, he continued. ‘But hear me, Kira. I will not have these motherfuckers take from me what is mine. I will no longer fear them. Worry for your safety, for your lives. I want sanctuary, I want hope. I want you to be happy, in a house where you can plant your flowers and where Nick can work on cars and solar panels and whatever he wants.’ He paused, took a step forward until he towered over her and she was forced to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact. ‘I want to put a baby in your belly. I want to see you grow with my child, Nick’s child. And I don’t want to be afraid that it will be taken from me. I want our children to run and play and grow. I cannot have that, any of that, if men like Parker and his hoard are on this earth. Because they will want it, they will steal it, and we will never be free.’

  Kira’s chest rose and fell in time with his. Her eyes shone, her chin trembled. ‘You want a baby?’

  When the soft smile touched his lips, he lifted the hands that had been clenched at his side and cupped her cheeks. He thumbed the bruises, the swelling. Over her head, he caught Knight’s gaze. The man nodded. Euan returned the gestured before he once again focused on Kira. ‘Yeah, sweetheart, I want a baby. But I want Nick safe and you happy more. Feel me?’

  She reached up and wrapped her hands around his wrists. ‘I do. But you can’t kill them all. It’s not the answer.’

  His hands tightened. ‘Then give me one.’

  She held his gaze. Crystal blue turned cobalt. Her trembling jaw turned to granite.

  Euan braced.

  ‘Help me and Lily lead them.’

  He closed his eye. His fingers twitched as he held her face. The draw of air into his lungs was slow. ‘It’s suicide.’

  ‘I’m not asking your permission.’

  His eye snapped open. She was an inferno encased in ice. In her face, there was a determination that would obscure the fissures in even his jaded heart. She could do it, he knew she could. It wasn’t a question of if, it was a question of how.

  He bent, put his nose to hers and asked, ‘Why? They don’t deserve you. They don’t deserve anything.’

  Her breath teased his lips. Her eyes flashed with blue flame. ‘They were once brothers, fathers, sons. They have humanity left inside them. I know that they can be brought back from this hell they have created. They just need the right person to drive them in the right direction.’

  Euan’s voice was laced with disbelief. ‘You’ve seen what loyalty looks like, Kira. I’ve just walked through a blackened forest to get to you. The eco-hotel is destroyed. They blew Mickey-O up. He was once their leader. How do you think you’ll fare?’

  She swallowed. She didn’t implore or beg. In her jaw there was perseverance, her spine straightened with conviction. ‘I don’t know,’ she told him honestly. ‘But I do know that I’ll have you and Nick beside us, protecting us, guiding us. Knight will be there too. Showing us how to be the best women we can be. You always have. I know you always will.’

  At their side, Knight moved into their bubble. ‘It could work, McKay.’ His tone was hopeful, even as his hand was on his gun and his eyes were to their surroundings.

  Euan ignored the plea. He squeezed her cheeks, cupped one hand around her skull and brought her body closer to his. ‘I won’t risk it, Kira. I won’t risk you.’

  Her fingernails were embedded into the skin of his wrists. ‘You just said we were never going to be free of them. We have to do something if we’re ever to be safe. There is nowhere left to run.’

  Euan huffed. His hands pulled free of hers. The muscles in his face were tight. He pushed his sleeves up and set his jaw. ‘Let me kill them.’

  She mirrored everything he had done. ‘Let me lead them.’

  Gazes locked. They tugged and warred. He had once thought that the intrinsic nature of a woman was at the core of what had driven the demons from Nick’s soul. Compassion, empathy, persuasion. A genuine preference for compromise over argument. In Kira, there was determination, kindness, an inherent considerate nature. In Lily, there was a strategic mind and a methodical nature. Nick, Knight and himself behind them, they could form a council worthy of humanity’s future.

  But he wouldn’t risk it. Never would he risk her for the sake of them. He was through. He would do as he had planned.

  Kill every last one of them in a blaze of fire and ash. Pain and blood.

  Surrounded by the remnants of a lost civilisation, Euan turned to Knight. ‘Radio Lily, let her know we have Kira, but they now have Nick. We’ll meet up, drop her off, and then move forward as planned.’

  ‘I’ll never forgive you for this.’

  His back was to her. He scrunched his fists tight at her words, allowed his heart to fracture at the venom, at the truth. He readjusted his eyepatch to his ruined face. The scars pinched from memory alone. ‘For your life, Kira, I’ll take your anger. I’ll even take your hatred. But I won’t risk you. Not ever.’

  ‘You promised.’ Her voice broke.

  His head shook as
he met Knight’s dark eyes. His grisly features were impassive. What the man thought of Euan’s position, he couldn’t read. At that point, he didn’t want to. ‘Radio Lily, now.’

  Chapter 23

  Euan

  The broken pieces of the promises he had made lay scattered about his feet. Every shift of his body pushed them deeper into the asphalt. He had left Kira with Lily and the Valiant. But with her was his compassion, his empathy. The moment their lips had parted in a farewell kiss, he had forced all regrets, apologies and unmet expectations into a crate that he nailed shut with iron. He ignored the steel band around his chest, the thickness in his throat, the small voice that whispered she had told him the truth, that she would never forgive him and he would never see those crystal blue eyes light up with love again.

  But there was no time to dwell on his failures. Nick’s safety was paramount. Once this stealth mission was accomplished, he’d deal with Kira and the consequences. There was no other choice.

  They hid within a construction site. Walls of blockwork were partly built around timber frames that had already begun to decay. Rusted nails easily caught on clothing, the debris at their feet could announce their location if not carefully managed. Euan’s shoulder blades were pressed to one of the few completed walls, and he held his breath as a man shuffled by. His poorly shod feet crunched over the gravel, tripped on the displaced bricks and the unused timber struts. The lack of light hindered him, but the darkness was Euan and Knight’s saviour.

  Their prey paused. There was a stutter to his breathing, and Euan was close enough to be engulfed by the stink of alcohol that surrounded him.

  A shadow emerged from the blackness. Knight was an apparition of destruction. The giant moved with stealth and precision. He had no reservations about what needed to be done, he was simply the bearer of Death’s scythe and did not hesitate to use it. The Lord of the underworld had imparted his magic upon Matthew Knight until the man that Euan knew was nothing more than the promise of demise shrouded in the gloom that surrounded him.

  Euan blinked and Knight had caught the man they hunted in a chokehold. Pale skin flashed white in the weak moonlight as a lean throat was exposed to the air. Their captive’s struggle was short, a sharp burst of energy that gave struggle as thick muscles tightened, and that slither of skin disappeared under a wave of black liquid.

  Euan moved out from the protection of the wall. He had learned that death was never quiet. There was always sound that accompanied the parting of the soul from the body. The patter of the blood as it splashed on the tarmac, the bubble of air that escaped a slit throat, the stretch of fabric as the nerves within a dying body twitched and jerked. His vision was locked on the dance between the two men as memories took hold.

  The heat of blood as it hit his hand when he had performed a similar technique on Lenny. The warmth pressed against him as he had held that thrashing body while he struggled for breath. The gurgle, the wheeze. Euan’s forearm tingled with the recollection of saliva dribbling down his skin when he had held his captive in a chokehold not dissimilar to the one Knight had used on this victim.

  ‘Just the handgun.’ Knight’s words pulled him back from the memories. He was crouched over the body. There was a click as the chamber of a gun opened. ‘One bullet. He’s sending out cattle for slaughter.’

  Euan tongued the hole where his molars were missing. His eye was on their surroundings. So much had happened since he had sent Lenny to the devil. Yet, he found himself in the same predicament. Killing men in an attempt to save Nick’s life, with a hope to find him whole. Like last time, Euan held no reservations on what he would find. They had abused Nick on the timber floor of a rotting hovel for a quick fuck. For the taste of something that they could no longer have.

  This time, Parker would intentionally hurt Nick, would draw his soul into the light only to crush it under the heel of his boots. There would be no swiftness to the cruelty they would bestow on him. It would be slow, it would be terrible.

  He was forced to step back when the puddle of shiny blood swelled towards him. ‘He doesn’t give a shit about them.’

  Knight snapped the chamber closed. He passed his palm over the man’s eyes to close them even as he avoided the blood that he had forced free. He did not veil his anger when he spoke. ‘He should. They’re giving us ammunition.’

  Euan’s focus shifted. Beside them, there was a small hoard of weapons. They had collected both rifles and handguns, but not one of them held more than two bullets in their chamber. Euan’s gut was sour when he answered. ‘Not much.’

  Knight’s boots scraped through the loose stones at his feet as he stood. ‘Our plan rests on how many loaded weapons we can obtain. We’re blind to the numbers they have, to the game the man is playing. Our chances of success are minimal.’ He ran his palm over the grip of the handgun as he spoke, then tipped it towards the midnight sky so Euan could see the maker. ‘He’s taunting us. This is one of mine, taken from the hotel.’

  Euan did not reply. Instead, he moved from out of the perceived safety of the building so he could gaze at the sky. On the horizon in a wasteland of decrepit buildings, a single beacon of gold reached towards the heavens. Parker’s compound was no more than two blocks away. They could hear the raucous laughter, the generators, the music that was played with instruments that were out of tune to the men that sung along. Whatever was there that drew them, Euan didn’t need to guess. Each of their victims had carried the same stink. There were only two things available now that could block out the damage to humanity these men had suffered; alcohol and death.

  They wanted to die, just as Lenny had wanted to depart this life by Euan’s hand. The men that surrounded Parker longed for the same fate. In this, Kira was right. They were fathers, brothers, sons who had suffered the ultimate trauma; to bury those they loved.

  It spoke of Parker’s inconsideration, the misunderstanding of his influence. He wasn’t an inspiration, a herald of hope for a future. He simply promised what they suffered would soon be over.

  Parker wanted the confrontation. He sensed it. Once again Euan would be forced to carry out what everyone else was too chicken-shit to do themselves. Mickey-O had known that this was the mindset of those that were left. He had attempted to dissuade it with more violence and entertainment.

  But that was not what these men needed. They desired hope. They longed for the promise of a future. Lenny’s words came to him on a wisp of memory.

  ‘There’s nothing left for us, any of us. Without women, without a future, we’re just working corpses, bound for hell.’

  When Knight gave the signal, they strapped their newly acquired weapons to their bodies and continued. White pinpricks of light blinked above them as intermittent clouds whisked past on wind unseen. His instincts had been right. The meagre light from a new moon was sucked into concrete, the bricks and the tar. They left their hands free in order to feel their way, and they moved forward as a silent team.

  The blockwork was rough under Euan’s palm. When he closed his eye, the change in what he could see was minimal. His limited vision was of no more disadvantage than Knight’s two eyes. They made their way on instinct. They were phantoms in the dark. Spectres with one simple yet impossible charge.

  Save Nick by whatever means necessary.

  When they emerged between two buildings and the light was enough to see by, Euan pulled out the hand-drawn map Kira had provided, albeit reluctantly. He smoothed it out against a wall slashed in red paint. ‘One more block. If we head out this way, we should have the right angle to shoot the gatekeeper.’

  ‘He’ll be the least of our problems.’ Knight interjected as he pointed to the lead markings that indicated the border of Parker’s compound. ‘If I were Parker, I’d have men lining that fence. He has a fuck-load of gunpowder. Both your stash, mine and whatever else he has found. He’s not wasting a single bullet unless he has to.’

  Euan could only nod in agreement.

  ‘We should have brought
the Valiant.’

  At that, Euan’s instant reply was sharp. ‘There would have been no way we could have prevented both Kira and Lily fighting alongside them.’

  Knight’s silence had Euan looking up. ‘I don’t have a problem with Lily fighting beside me,’ he said.

  Euan jerked. He pulled the map from the wall and leaned back. The light from the moon sucked the colour from the world. Knight’s eyes glinted white. The gruesome scar that cut across his skin was grey. The black blood he wiped on tactical pants reflected silver. He held Euan’s stare.

  In the distance, a guitar played a fiddler’s tune. It came to them on an intermittent wind, colder than the dead air that hung around them. It was a melody that reminded Euan of home. It was a soft, lilting song that carried a sense of finality. Euan held that memory tight as Knight spoke.

  ‘I’d run out of miracles, McKay. When Lily was taken, I had two choices. Save everyone, or save her. I made a choice, a choice that I’ll always regret. But there are no more easy decisions. She was so fucking strong before she’d been taken. She’s only now beginning to get some of that back.’

  Knight’s dark gaze tilted towards the light that beckoned them. ‘I would do anything to see her happy. Anything. If that meant supporting her to rule the new world, or killing everyone because she wanted it done, I’d do it. Your job isn’t to stifle them. If we survive this and save Nick, your job is to protect her while she does whatever the fuck she wants. You do anything else and you’ll lose her. And I don’t mean physically. I mean her light. I’d do anything to get Lily’s back. Don’t take what Kira has for granted.’

  At Knight’s words, there was an uncomfortable brand right where his heart should be. The pulse of his heartbeat was in his fingertips. He knew it to be true. But he couldn’t think further than saving Nick.

  ‘I hear you,’ he said.

  ‘Good, because the end is coming. Soon, you’ll need to make a choice. And it won’t be one that will be easy. Choices like that never are.’