Millennial Prince (Jaxon Prayer Trilogy Book 2)

by Rachel West

  The automatons prowl down the hallway. Arrogant now that they have caught their prey. Blades shiver down the lengths of their spines, the tips flashing with blue-white light before disappearing. Death lives in their eyes.

  “I’ve got the left,” Red says. I nod, with no breath left in me to waste on words.

  The two creatures come bounding down the hallway at us. I swing my synthblade at the one on the right. The automaton leaps into the air, bounding off the wall. I spin to face it swinging my synthblade blindly.

  A shower of sparks as my weapon meets the blade on its tail. I push hard but the automaton is stronger than me. My arms shake and I slide backwards. The automaton lunges in. Sharp teeth inches from my stomach. I jump back bringing my blade up just in time to stop another swing from its tail. It lunges again, driving me backwards. I slam my synthblade into the creature’s leg. A whirring sound pitches high then goes dead. The automaton stumbles a step forward, favoring the injured leg.

  I grin. Come and get me, I dare the monster with my eyes. I taunt the automaton wielding my synthblade more like a hot poker than the sophisticated weapon it is.

  I duck low as I catch something swinging at me from the corner of my eye. The automaton has driven me towards where Red and Vertigo fight the second enemy I look up, meeting Red’s eyes. His teeth are bared through a bloodstained grin but the look in his eye is more exhilaration than fear.

  I stab my weapon into the haunch of the automaton Red fights. Little damage is done but it’s enough to distract the creature long enough for Red to land a blow against its head. Vertigo does the same from the opposite side and the automaton is well on its way to death.

  I have to jump back suddenly as the automaton in front of me leaps at my legs. Teeth land a score against my shin, ripping through clothing and shredding flesh. I cry out, falling forward. I bring my synthblade up just in time to stop the automaton from taking my head off. My weapon cuts horizontally through the automatons mouth, gripped tightly between teeth.

  I stare into its eyes. The whites gone red with endless rage and hate. The creature huffs; hot, moist breath that smells of carrion and chemicals blows my hair back.

  Vertigo comes to my rescue. He cracks a blow against the automatons head, sending the creature reeling backwards with a roar as it rears up on hind legs. I stab forward, catching the automaton in the stomach and my synthblade is ripped from my hands. The creature leaps over me and lands a good ten feet away with claws throwing up sparks as it slides to a halt next to the unconscious Ki.

  “Dammit,” I shout. I scramble for the small dagger I keep tucked into my boots knowing that the weapon will be next to worthless against the powerful creature. I try to climb to my feet but slip in the blood that drains from my leg.

  “Red!” I scream. He is the only one who can save the unconscious.

  Red reacts immediately. “No!” he shouts. He dives at the automaton just as the other creature leaps for Ki. The two of them collide in midair in a flash of sharp weapons and tangled limbs. They slam into the wall then slide to the ground, Red’s crumpled body landing underneath. The automaton scrambles for purchase on the slippery tile with teeth bared at Red.

  Blood drips from the back of Reds head, forming a small, sticky pool around his hair. The automaton bites into Reds shoulder and the sound of tearing flesh stops time. Red cries out as his back arches in a spasm of pain.

  The second automaton seems confused at the sudden disappearance of his enemy. He spins in a circle then crouches low as he sees Red pinned to the ground on top of a steadily growing pool of blood. “No,” I shout. No no no, I plead. Not Red. Please not Red.

  Vertigo tosses his cane to me, the synthblade at the end dulled and blackened from the fight. I charge at the automaton closest to me bringing the cane straight down through the creatures head with such force that a chip of stone flies through the air as it meets the ground. The automaton doesn’t make a sound as its body goes limp and collapse to the ground. Flashing lights slow then come to a stop as the creature dies.

  “Red!” I scream and my best friend, my brother, my family, turns for one last look at me. The world flashes in his eyes. A thousand words said and unsaid. I scramble across the ground slipping through blood and broken bits of metal but I am too slow.

  I am too late.

  With a roar Red grabs the synthblade that is still embedded in the automatons stomach. He rips it forward tearing through stomach and chest and neck. The automaton roars in pain, drowning out Reds defiant cry.

  The hallway falls silent.

  The blood from Red’s shoulder pules once more then trickles to a stop. I crawl across the floor knowing I am too late but praying with every part of me that I’m not.

  I grab Red under the arms and try to pull out from under the automaton. “Don’t be dead, don’t be dead” I repeat the words over and over as if I can somehow make them true with just one more iteration. “Please, Red. Please.”

  My arms tremble with exhaustion. He’s too heavy. I’m too tired. I lean forward, resting my forehead against his. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” I tell him and his grin is fierce and defiant even in death. My tears drip onto his cheeks and I then I am choking on my sobs and I can’t breathe and all I can do is tell Red over and over again how sorry I am.

  Someone grabs me from the shoulders and pulls me off of Red.

  “Let go of me,” I scream at Vertigo. I scramble back to Red, holding his head in my arms. I won’t leave him here. I won’t leave him alone here.

  “It’s too late,” Vertigo says harshly. “He’s gone.”

  “No,” I whisper helplessly.

  “Don’t waste his death by making it yours too.”

  I hear the click, click, click of approaching Praetors. We are out of time. I lean forward, laying one last kiss on Red’s forward then I grab my fallen synthblade and use the wall to leverage myself to my feet.

  Vertigo crouches down, picking up Ki then shoving him into my arms. I stumble with the added weight, my injured leg crying out with agony. “Go,” Vertigo says. “I’ll hold them off. Protect my boy. Protect my people.”

  CHAPTER 31

  I limp down the hallway, cradling Ki in my arms. Endless tears drip down my cheeks and every part of me wants to collapse to the ground. To give up. An aching fissure forms in my heart and I know that I will never be whole again.

  In the distance I hear Vertigo shout. The clang of bullets followed by more screams. Soon he will be just as dead as the rest.

  I look around me, trying to get my bearings when I realize I’ve reached the oldest part of the Hollows. Shadows reach up as I move though less travelled pathways searching for the secret entrance that I know is here somewhere. The entrance that Red showed me so many years ago when we both lived down here. I find the discolored diamond shaped stones with the secret path hidden behind them. I prop Ki half against the wall to free up a hand so I can press the small stone that will release the catch.

  The door grinds open. I look once behind me but there is nothing left but ghosts. I step through the doorway into the pitch-black tunnel beyond. Cursing, I realize I have no lightsource. I duck my head low as the walls close in around me.

  I let the darkness envelope me. With one shoulder pressed against the wall I follow the path. Cobwebs reach down, brushing across my skin and cheeks and hands and I imagine they are the hands of the dead trying to keep me with them. There’s a knot in my throat and I wonder if I’ll ever speak again.

  The tunnel winds through the darkness and eventually I come to a flat wall that must be the exit. I run my hands along the hard stone, searching for the trigger to release the catch. I feel nothing but smooth, endless stone. Frustrated, I bang my fist against the wall crying out before collapsing to the ground cradling Ki in my arms. My head spins and everything is darkness and I wonder how much blood the human body can lose before it fails.

  I imagine years from now, someone seeking shelter in this very tunnel and find nothing but bones and
ghosts.

  I imagine Kalia, never knowing what happened to her brother and that is enough to bring me back to my feet. I set Ki down gently and use the tips of my fingers to feel every divot, every bump, and every change in texture, knowing that there has to be a way out.

  I hear a click as my hands brush over what feels like nothing more than flat stone. I push down and dust explodes into my face causing a coughing fit as grit fills my lungs and eyes. Light outlines a small square close to the ground, hardly large enough for me to fit through. I crouch down and push the stone out and get my first breath of fresh air.

  I crawl through, ensuring its safe before turning around and dragging Ki out. We exit into a small alleyway between two apartment buildings that soar into the sky. The city is lit up, seeming bright as day although I know it can’t yet be sunrise. I recognize the area, the safe house where we are supposed to meet is only a few blocks away.

  Somehow, even though there is no strength left in me, I manage to pull Ki into my arms and stumble to my feet. The wound in my leg is crusted with blackened blood and dirt. Pain suddenly flares up and I gag against the nausea that comes with it. Not far, I tell myself. Soon I can rest.

  The streets feel strangely subdued. I turn each corner expecting to come face to face with the Praetors or their monstrous automatons. But there is nothing except for silence. The vibrant lights of the floating zeppelins guide my path to safety.

  The warehouse bulges up in front of me. It’s a funny, misshapen heap of a building. Like someone had tried adding a dozen different additions and could never quite agree on what they wanted. It’s large though, plenty large for our purposes. Mostly we kept supplies hidden here. Stores of food and any mismatch of items we find ourselves without a place for.

  My feet pick up speed as we make our final approach. There is a dim reflection of light and a flurry of movement from within. Survivors. There must be survivors.

  A large man guards the door. His mustache curls unevenly around his lips. His face knotted and knarred like old wood. He takes one look at me and the small boy in my arms and lets me pass without a word.

  The warehouse is full of people. Soot stained and covered in blood but alive. That’s all that matters. I don’t know how many people were in the Hollows this night, thousands, perhaps. The numbers here are less, half of what they should be.

  I spot Kalia by the entryway. I feebly call out for her, knowing there is no way for her to hear me over the cries of the injured. But somehow she does, she turns and shouts joyously, crying my name and then her brother’s as she sees Ki in my arms.

  “You found him!” She pulls him from my arms, cradling his small body with hers. “We searched and searched but there were too many of them. And the automatons…” she trails of weakly. She looks up at me, tears in her eyes. “Thank you.”

  “It’s over,” I say to her. “We lost.”

  “No,” Ezzor comes up behind Kalia. “This just means we are a threat to them.”

  “Red?” Kalia asks, peering over my shoulder as if looking for his ever-present presence.

  I look away, unable to meet her eyes. “He’s dead,” I say harshly and somehow saying it aloud makes it true and I don’t know how anything will ever be right again. “I need to find Jaxon. Where is he?” I look around, searching the crowd for his familiar face.

  Kalia looks up from the ground, sympathy painted in every line of her face. “Where is he?” I repeat through the sickening dread in my heart.

  “Evie…”

  Darren comes forward and stands just out of reach. “They took him,” he whispers, the words a broken cry of misery. Tracks of tears glimmer on Darren’s face. His blue hair, usually so wild and untamed, is pasted close to his skull by blood and sweat. “The Praetors took him.”

  The world spins and collapses out beneath me. I fall to the ground. A small crowd gathers around me and I think I am crying but I can’t feel it. I can’t feel anything at all except the giant wound in my heart. I look at the faces around me and none of them are who they should be. Annie. Red. Jaxon. All of them taken from me. My whole world, ripped from my arms piece by piece and now there is nothing left.

  I breathe shallow, frantic breaths. My heart beat slows but the fear doesn’t leave me. The taste of coppery blood stains my mouth. I spit on the ground, staring at the red spatter that colors the floor.

  “Was anywhere else hit?” I ask. I crawl to my feet, steeling myself for what’s left to come.

  “No, only the Hollows,” Ezzor says. “They were after something very specific.”

  Jaxon. They were after Jaxon and my sister is the one who gave him up. The one who gave us all up. I look over the crowd of bloodied and broken people. I see Kalia’s tearstained cheeks as she clutches her brother’s hands. Ezzor, his clothes charred and shiny with blood while Darren stands next to him, looking fragile and lost.

  I look at what’s been done to us and rage burns in my blood. The Millennials. The Praetors. They did this.

  I will not allow this to be the end. We’ve taken their immortality from them but that is not enough. I will take everything from them like they took from me. I will tear the city to the ground until there is nothing left but ash. I will find Jaxon and then I will kill Jaxon’s father.

  I will kill the man who orchestrated all of this.

  I will kill the Great Uniter.

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you for reading Millennial Prince! I hope you enjoyed the story. As an indie author, our readers are the key to success. If you’ve enjoyed Jaxon Prayer trilogy thus far, please take a moment to rate the novel or even leave a review.

  Follow me on twitter @iamrachelwest for updates about the final novel in the Jaxon Prayer trilogy: The Great Uniter

  Many thanks to Michelle Gayowski, for her excellent job designing the covers for the trilogy. Check out her other work here: http://www.michelleagayowski.com/