Breed of Envy (The Breed Chronicles, #02)

by Jordan, Lanie

  Dale nodded. “Yeah. I’ll make sure it’s ready for both.”

  “Let’s move out, then, Prospects.”

  We walked east for about twenty minutes. Despite our best efforts to be completely quiet, the water under our feet splashed and made squishy sounds. Branches snapped under the mud at our feet. Mosquitoes were out by the hundreds. I wasn’t sure (mainly because I was scared to look) but I was pretty sure I’d heard a snake hiss. I froze for an instant, trying not to groan or make a sound. Linc stopped beside me, gave me a questioning look. I whispered ‘snake’ and he shook his head. Brian and the others had stopped—apparently, they’d heard me—and they all grinned. I glared.

  Stop being a wimp, I ordered myself, and started moving again. I’d fought off a couple of demons, hadn’t I? And okay, so those had mostly been accidents and luck, but still, I’d done it. If I could handle stupid demons that were out to kill me, then I could handle a darn slithering snake. On the bright side, at least I hadn’t made any girly sounds that Linc would hold over me for all of eternity.

  I’d never been out in a swamp-like area before, so I’d had no idea what to expect. Unfortunately, now I did, and most of it wasn’t good. The smell was horrible, like old, standing water and dead things. And trash. I shouldn’t have been surprised. We were surrounded by standing water, things probably had died here, and there was a lot of trash scattered on the ground. Bottles, bags, shoes, a bike tire. Weird things. I was pretty sure I’d even spotted a sink faucet sticking up out of the ground.

  I tried being careful to watch where I stepped, mostly because I didn’t want to A) make any noise, B) trip over any trash (like a sink), and C) because I really just didn’t want to touch anything—especially on accident.

  Forty minutes into our trek, Peter and Adam stopped. Peter took out his tablet and started typing something. After a second, everyone looked down at their own tablet, including me, since it’d vibrated in my hand.

  The screen showed a message bubble with Peter’s name beside it. Ideas on how to contain it, Jade?

  I nodded, and then typed, But it’s not an idea I had for my plan.

  What is it? —Adam

  I grinned. We just need a little distraction.

  Peter and Adam both glanced at me with eyebrows raised.

  Quickly, I typed out my plan. We just need one or two people to distract each demon, then one of us can sneak around, try to catch the demons off guard and use the Knock-Out Gloves on them. It’s low…ish risk and should be pretty straight forward.

  Another message popped up, this one from Adam. If everything goes according to plan.

  Yeah. But any plan we use could have something go wrong.

  Adam and Peter looked at each other, then Adam shrugged. Good point appeared on the screen under his name.

  Peter finally nodded. Okay. Set us up and pass out the gloves.

  I laid out my plan, which was, I hoped, simple. Peter, Adam, and Brian would act as the distractors, and Linc and I would use the gloves. Linc would circle around one direction, I’d circle around in the opposite, and the other three would go on as they were and do whatever they had planned to distract the demons. Someone (read: Brian) mentioned fire.

  After we agreed on the details, Peter reminded us that we needed to contain it and told us not to do anything stupid that we’d need saved over. I had no intention of doing anything stupid, period.

  Silently, I hoped the demons cooperated with the plan, especially since it’d been mine.

  We started moving again and after a while, Brian, who was acting as our lookout, stopped and signaled that he’d found signs of the demons. I moved ahead, scanned the water and the trees. I spotted them in a tall tree up ahead, cuddled together, like they were sleeping. It was almost…sweet.

  My tablet vibrated, so I looked down. I almost laughed. It was from Peter and it read: Get the dreamy look out of your eyes.

  I rolled my eyes and typed out a short message: Spotted them.

  Peter raised an eyebrow. Are you sure? I don’t see them.

  I nodded as I typed. Trust me.

  Then let’s get this done, was Peter’s reply after I gave him the location.

  Peter signaled me and Linc to go. Linc went north, away from the demons, and when he was closer, he’d turn back to come up behind them. I took the longer route—South—so I’d stay out of their line of sight, in case they weren’t sleeping or woke up. Peter and the others would keep going east.

  Linc and I had ten minutes to get to our spots before Peter and the others started their distraction.

  I moved fast but careful, trying to get to my spot before my ten minutes were up. I spotted another snake, this time in the water at my feet, but I just shivered and leapt over it. A branch snapped to my right and I froze to the spot because I knew I hadn’t stepped on anything. I scanned right and left, over and over again, but I didn’t see anything. And then a huge ass bird flew out of a tree and I nearly yelped. Way to go, Jade. First a snake, and now you’re scared of a bird, I thought, rolling my shoulders as I started moving again.

  I slowed my pace to a brisk walk a few minutes later. Sercoon’s had decent hearing, and with everything around me so quiet, even the slightest sound could be loud and startle them. I didn’t want to be the reason the demons got away.

  The closer I got, the slower I moved. When I neared the tree with the demons in it, I saw Linc to the left. He ducked behind another tree, out of sight. I did the same when Brian and Adam came into view. I didn’t know where Peter had gone.

  Brian crept up to the base of the tree. He wrapped some kind of material around it and then backed away. He took his staff from Adam, who moved away from him. One end of the staff looked to be wrapped in the same material Brian’d used on the tree and it had a knife attached to the top. He glanced at Adam who pulled a lighter from his pocket and handed it over. Brian lit the material, and then, using it as a spear, threw it at the base of the tree. Immediately, it went up in flames.

  Up in the tree, the demons started to stir, blinking against the light. They made weird sounds that sounded oddly human, like kneeing sounds you’d hear from someone who was afraid. They shifted position and I realized there weren’t only two of them—there were three.

  The biggest two dropped down, away from the flames, and let out a roar. One waited half a beat, then made quiet clicking sounds that I could barely hear. Brian and Linc ran at it at the same time, from opposite directions, but the demon swept out its arms in a wide motion, knocking them both back like they were flies. As it moved toward them to attack, I snuck up on it and laid my hand on its back. It twisted around angrily, sweeping out in a big motion, but I’d been prepared and ducked. It swayed for another second then collapsed at my feet.

  Adam moved toward the other, holding his arms up, weapon free. The demon swung for him angrily. He dodged out of the way, missing one blow, but the demon swiped at him again and tossed him to the side. He crashed into a tree a few feet away and his eyes went wide as his head bounced off the trunk. He groaned.

  Wincing, I stepped toward the demon but Adam just waved me away, cupping his head. “Get back, Jade. You guys, too,” he said as Linc and Brian got to their feet. “This is too dangerous for you guys. Just stay where you are.”

  I moved back. A twig crunched under my foot and had the demon twisting away from Adam. It made that clicky sound and started for me. I didn’t move, just froze to the spot. Sercoon’s weren’t usually violent unless provoked, so I just held still. The nano-sword was in my left hand, the glove still on the right. If it got close enough, I could, if I had to, use one or the other. Maybe.

  It crept closer.

  “Don’t move, Jade,” Adam demanded.

  The demon was only two feet from me now, close enough that I could feel its breath on my face. Its head tilted to the side as if it didn’t know what to make of me. Its eyes, big and wide, were a deep brown with rings of gold, reminding me of a monkey’s eyes.

  I held up my hand
s. “I’m not trying to hurt you,” I murmured.

  It didn’t attack. It just stared at me. I knew a lot of time hadn’t passed, but it seemed a lot longer than the ten or fifteen seconds that had actually gone by. It didn’t make any other moves toward me or act like it was trying to hurt me. It just seemed…confused. Like me.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Linc creep up behind it. He laid his hand on its shoulder, then moved quickly out of the way. The demon flinched and its legs went wobbly. It turned to look at Linc, shook its head. It dropped to its knees and reached out for me. A second later, its eyes rolled back and it fell face-first to the ground.

  “Holy crap,” Linc breathed.

  Peter crept out from behind some trees. I almost asked where he’d been, but I had a more important question. “There’s a baby. How is there a baby demon? I thought they were all made, not bred or born or…whatever,” I said. “I haven’t read anything about them being born.”

  Peter shrugged a shoulder. “It’s not common, but it’s not unheard of, either.”

  I frowned. “The books don’t say that. Do they? Did I miss something really important?”

  He fought a grin. “Most are C3 and above, and it’s not mentioned in your text until Phase Four. This is why we keep telling you not to worry about the demons so much. The texts cover a lot, but they don’t mention everything. A lot of it is Need-To-Know information. So don’t worry—you haven’t missed anything.”

  “Oh. Okay.” I let out a huff of air. “Good.”

  “We’ve still got one more, kids.” Peter looked at us. “Any ideas for getting the baby down?”

  Brian, rubbing the back of his head, answered with, “Yeah, leave it or just shoot it out of the tree.”

  “What?” I hadn’t been facing him directly, but then I rounded on him. “No. It’s just a baby.”

  “A baby demon,” Brian said.

  “So?” I shot him an angry glare. “It’s still a baby.”

  “What do you have in mind, Jade?” Peter asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe I can climb up and get it.”

  Brian laughed. “What? Are you going to cuddle it and keep it warm? Demon.” He said the word slowly, in syllables, like he thought I might be having problems understanding what it meant. “It’s dangerous.”

  “It’s still a baby.”

  Peter looked to Adam. “What do you think?”

  Adam didn’t answer right away. I was waiting for him to side with Brian. He’d been hit harder than Linc and Brian both. He scrubbed a hand through his hair, wincing when he reached the back of his head. “The other one didn’t attack her, and it had plenty of time and reason to. It acted like it wanted to, but then it just…stopped. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. It was like she was a demon whisperer or something.” He turned to me. “Do you really think you can get it?”

  I nodded. “I want to try.”

  Adam walked over to Peter. They huddled together while Brian and Linc both gave me you’re-crazy stares. “What?” I snapped. “It’s a baby. I don’t care if it’s a demon. Director Greene wanted one, so now he’ll get three. Maybe having a baby will help.” I didn’t really like the idea of them using a baby for research. But I didn’t like the idea of just killing it or leaving it out here alone. What if it couldn’t take care of itself? “And if you just leave it here, it could grow up to be a big demon, remember your sorry butts, and come after you.”

  Okay, I had no idea if that was possible, so that was probably the biggest load of crap I could’ve given them, but the growing up part gave them pause.

  Brian rolled his eyes. “Whatever. But I’m not going up there and risking my neck for it.”

  I set my jaw and crossed my arms over my chest. “No one asked you to.”

  I’d just realized that Linc had stayed quiet and hadn’t offered an opinion one way or another. He just looked away, like he was fascinated by something that wasn’t our conversation.

  I shook my head at him.

  Peter and Adam came back a second later. Peter rubbed his face. “I’ll let you try to get the demon. But if it makes any kind of aggressive move against you, get out of the way and we’ll handle it.”

  “I will.”

  “And whatever you do, don’t get bitten, fall out of the tree, or get yourself killed. There’s way too much paperwork involved when that happens.”

  Linc let out a bark of laughter. I just kinda stared at him in disbelief. “Can’t even pretend to be worried for my life?” I shook my head sadly. “I knew I should’ve gotten half your money.”

  “Be careful,” he added, his tone serious now.

  I nodded and took the Knock-Out Glove off as I turned away. The last thing I needed to do was knock myself out with it. My gaze went up the tree, to the baby demon. It was huddled on a branch, its arms wrapped around the trunk. Its arms were little, so it didn’t even come close to going halfway around.

  I’d never climbed a tree before. Thankfully, there was a large, fallen branch leaning against it that I could probably use. I stepped up to it, gave it a solid kick. It didn’t budge. I muttered, “Here goes nothing,” under my breath and started up.

  The bark dug into my hands as I used them to keep my balance to climb. I slipped once and scraped layers of skin off my palm. If I got some weird, incurable swamp disease because I was trying to rescue a baby demon, I was really going to be pissed. And I’d never hear the end of it—from anyone—which would only make me even more pissed.

  Making clicking sounds, the little demon—ha ha—wiggled closer to the tree trunk as I neared it, so when I might’ve been able to grab it, now I had to get up on the branch with it. “It’s okay,” I said, speaking quietly and hoping no one below could hear me. I held out my hand. “Come on, little…guy/girl/it.”

  Tentatively, as if it didn’t trust me, it craned its head toward me and sniffed my hand.

  Please don’t bite me, please don’t bite me, please don’t bite me!

  When it was done sniffing me, it edged a little closer, and then a little closer again. Its little head—much like what I assumed was its dad—tilted to the side. I’m getting a once over by a demon. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but I kept my hand there, while still silently chanting please don’t bite me.

  How had the plan gone so awry? It’d been so simple. Split up, corner the demons, have Peter and the others cause a distraction, and then just touch the demons and knock ‘em out cold before they knew we were even there.

  So how had a little baby demon changed things so much?

  “Come on. I’m about to fall out of this darn tree.”

  It seemed to consider my words and then pulled away. After a second, it unlatched itself from the tree and wiggled against my chest. Its arms went around my neck. I froze to the spot, my eyes went wide, and my heart did a roller coaster ride of ups and downs.

  Was I getting hugged by a demon?

  And was it…snoring?

  Shaking my head slightly, I carefully turned around. The demon shifted in my grasp and I lost my footing on the tree branch. “Oh, shit,” I said as I started to go over the edge. Baby demon felt the change or sensed my panic, because its grip on me tightened as I started to tip over. I fought to keep my balance, but my hand on the tree came loose. I was going down. I clutched the little guy to my chest as my body tilted to the side. I jumped away, hoping to avoid big branches as my feet met air.

  CHAPTER 18

  I landed on the ground with a thud. I blinked, looked down, and realized I’d somehow landed on my feet. The guys just stared at me. “Shit,” I said again, laughed, and dropped to my butt.

  Peter, Adam, and Linc ran forward. Linc started to kneel down but the demon dug its claws into my shoulder and made a weird sound that I took for a growl. It shifted around and glared at Linc. “Shh, it’s okay,” I crooned. I glanced up at Linc. “Uh, you might want to back away, Flyboy.”

  He did, looking both shocked and…something else. Not quite scared, but he had
this what-the-hell look on his face. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You fell from a tree,” was Adam’s comment.

  Peter shook his head. “And landed on your feet.”

  I shrugged. “You said not to get myself killed, and I didn’t, so…”

  “Jade,” Peter said, “the fall wouldn’t have killed you—probably—but you were at least fifteen feet in the air. How the hell did you land on your feet?”

  “Lucky fall slash jump?”

  He didn’t comment, but his expression said he wasn’t buying it, though I had no idea why.

  What was the big deal? Fifteen feet wasn’t that far up. Sure, the odds were slim that I should’ve landed on my feet, but still. I didn’t disobey his orders and get myself killed, so what was the problem?

  Linc shook his head, his eyebrows scrunched together in amazement, or maybe bafflement. “You’re like a cat with nine lives, Hall. How many do you have left?”

  I almost answered, but then I bit my tongue. If I was actually a cat and did have nine lives, I’d be at the halfway mark about now.

  Brian’s eyes were locked on me. He didn’t quite have a nasty look on his face, but it wasn’t exactly nice either. He was giving me a once over like the baby demon had, only I think the demon had been nicer about it and freaked me out less. When Brian looked at me like that, it was like he was actually wondering what I was made of. Physically or something. Like he wanted x-ray vision to see how I worked on the inside.

  I didn’t squirm, but I did stand up and shift the demon in my arms for cover, like it’d protect me or at least cover more of me. And when Brian kept staring, I turned away.

  Peter had his tablet in hand, rapidly typing on the screen. He paused when he was finished and looked around. There was a minute delay before his eyes went back to the screen and he nodded to himself as he typed again. “Okay,” he said after he’d typed his new message. “Dale is trying to find somewhere to park closer to here, then he’ll be along to help carry the demons back. Jade, you think you can keep that one contained until then?”