by Joshua King
"Jaxxim," I gasped.
Fresh rage hit me like a tidal wave and my body surged forward to slam into his and knock him to the ground.
"Hayden, stop," he growled. A punch to the center of his face didn't stop him. "Hayden, listen to me."
"Traitor," I spat.
"No. I'm not. That's not why I'm here. I am still completely loyal to you and the cause. The only reason I agreed to come on this mission was to reconnect with the group and do whatever I could to keep you safe."
"You knew the Shades were coming for me?"
"We weren't given that detail specifically, but there was enough in the instructions for me to assume that was the only reason we would come out this far."
Part of me said not to believe him. It would have been an easy excuse for a man who knew he was seconds away from me crushing every bone in his body to powder. But there was something in the way he said it that made me trust the former Shade guard. He had already turned on them once. I knew he was back to do it again.
"Go," I said, standing and pulling Jaxxim to his feet.
"What do you mean?"
"Go. Hide somewhere. If any of them saw you drag me in here, they can't see both of us walk out. Stay safe and we'll meet back up after the fight."
He pulled his mask back on and slipped out of the closet, turning away from the fight rather than joining back in. I waited for long enough that anyone watching would have lost interest before throwing myself back out into the train car and into the first body to get in my way.
17
Bex fought his way toward me and I leaned in to hear him.
"We need to get the train moving. The guards are starting fires and blocking passengers in the other cars. If the flames take over while we're still trapped in the tunnel, no one is going to survive."
"Go."
He nodded and rushed to Stephana, who fell into step beside him as they forced their way to the other end of the train car toward the control room. I didn't see them get to the door as something hit me hard in the back of the head and I dropped to my knees, shaking off the impact and straightening my vision, I made myself believe they would make it.
I turned to see what had hit me and another brain-rattling smash jostled my thoughts and scrambled my ability to comprehend what was happening. More shots rained down on me, landing on my arms and chest as I tried to scoot backward and shake the cobwebs out. The person who was causing so much damage was a hulking figure, muscles making his clothes fit awkwardly and seeming to get in the way of his natural movements. Therein lied my opportunity. While he, like the other one I fought before him, had tremendous power, this one suffered from a lack of speed. I rolled to the side of his dominant hand and he swung and missed, crashing his hand into the ground.
Kicking as powerfully as I could into his hip, the masked man fell sideways. I scrambled to my feet and jumped on him, my fists flying into his head as fast and powerfully as possible. I could feel the rage building in me and while the man struggled to block my fists, or move out from under me, the more I hit him, the weaker his movements got. Soon, his arms withered and fell lamely to the floor as I continued to punch until the rage subsided some. As my vision focused on what was actually below me, I saw that I had turned the face below the mask into a bloody mass of broken bone and bruised tissue. I stood, looking around for my group and seeing terrified passengers huddled together against a wall.
The door to the front of the train opened and several Shades came in, no longer bothering with masks. In their hands they carried torches and suddenly I realized the room smelled heavily of gasoline. Without hesitation I reached out to the girls through our mental connection and felt them respond. I focused my vision on the passengers and then the exit sign just a little beyond them. Already part of the car between them and the exit was on fire, and there was no time to waste. Hoping the mental image would transfer, I turned my attention back to the men with the torches. They were lighting the car, seemingly at random, and without regard for themselves. It was as if they were resigned to dying on this car with us, if that was what it took to eliminate us as a threat.
Behind me Aurora was shouting, and I could hear Ashe join her, directing passengers to the exit, and getting them through the flames. I raised my hand instinctively, not really knowing what I was about to do before I did it. A blast of magic shot from my palm and seemed to wrap around the fire, isolating it. I focused on the flames and the Shade who had lit it watched in wonder as I moved it through the air toward the door to the rest of the train. I thrust forward and the flame shot out into the car ahead of us. I wanted to focus on what this meant, but I didn’t have the time, so I just repeated the action, gathering up fires from around the car and pushing them into the car ahead of us. When all the fire in our current car was gone, I let my mind expand them, and there was a sound of an explosion as the car ahead burst into total flame. Now the Shade who were in it were as good as cooked and the ones in our car with us were trapped, their reinforcements also trapped on the other side.
I darted for one of the Shades and slammed his head through the window of the train. The glass cut into his neck deeply and I pulled my sword out from the sheath on my back, sending it careening down on the back of his neck. In one movement, he was beheaded, and the body fell limply back to the ground. Another Shade charged and I sliced into his stomach, leaving my blade in him as he stumbled backward, and I weathered a few fists from someone who was at my side.
I swept my arm hard at whoever was punching me, but they ducked and continued their assault. Suddenly, they connected with an uppercut that sent me backward and into the emergency exit. Aurora and Ashe were otherwise occupied, and Brielle was the only one near me. She ran forward, placing a kick into the back of the Shade who had hurt me, and sent him flying in my direction, out of control. I grabbed him by the waist as he fell forward and slammed him as hard as I could into the metal door, feeling the crunch of his skull against it. He slid down beside me, either unconscious or dead, and I stood quickly.
The flames in the car ahead of us were out of control, and I knew they would engulf everyone if I didn’t do something immediately. I opened the door of the exit, exchanging a glance with Brielle, wishing she could read my thoughts once more, and leapt out. She didn’t follow, and I used my extra speed to run to the front of the enflamed car. I scanned where the cars connected and saw how to uncouple them. I raised the metal bar out of place and pushed on the car as hard as I could. The flames were making the metal itself hot, and fire licked my body as I pushed, my muscles straining and sweat pouring down my brow and into my eyes. The smoke was beginning to fill the tunnel and I knew that I needed to act fast before I suffocated.
Finally, the car began to move, slowly and with a whining noise that seemed to indicate it did not appreciate my efforts. I pushed it a dozen or so yards away and ran to the back. Again, I scanned until I found how to uncouple the cars and raised the metal bar. Inside the flaming car, I could hear the sounds of several of the Shade I had trapped gasping and crying out. I pushed the car full of passengers, Shade, and my women until it was also a few dozen yards away from the flaming car.
Combining my magic and vampire abilities was starting to take a toll on me, but I didn’t want to give into it. My body sank down to a crouch. I just needed to catch my breath for a moment, but the smoke was making it hard to breathe, and I knew I needed to get back in to help my team. I got to my feet again and willed myself to regain strength. The only way I would ever be able to maximize both sets of abilities was pushing through and forcing myself to do it, and now was not the time to take it easy.
"Hayden!"
I spun, looking toward the sound of my name and saw Bex hanging out of a window he’d climbed through.
"Bex, did it work?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. "We tried, but we weren't able to get it going again. I can't tell what they did to it, and we don't have the time to keep trying. We need to get these people safe."
&n
bsp; I nodded and Bex and Stephana hopped out of the car they were in, joining me at the door of the car where everyone else was. We could hear the sounds of fighting inside, and I knew that while I was out more of the reinforcements must have found their way inside. I tried searching for Aurora and Ashe’s minds but they were such a jumble of chaos and rage that I couldn’t get a clear idea of what was happening.
I tore open the door to see Aurora spinning into a kick that landed on another of the Shade’s faces. Behind her, Ashe was backing up toward her, fending off the attacks of several more of the hooded men. Passengers were still scattered everywhere, and the women were inching closer to back to back as men surrounded them.
I blitzed into the room, tearing through two of the masked men before they could sense me, ripping one’s head backwards so hard that I was sure I had snapped his neck. I reached Aurora and turned, seeing Bex and Stephana sneak around the fight, aiming to gather the passengers that were left. At this point, there was no use in hiding my magic, and the only goal left was to kill every Shade that was near us.
My fangs descended on their own, seeming to anticipate the brutality of what I was about to do, and I felt magic well up in my hands. Rather than blasting it out, I swung my fist into a masked man in front of me and felt his entire body go stock-still as life left his body. While it might not have been as visually cool as sending blue-green blasts at people from across the room, a death punch was enough to make me actually crack a small smile.
There was hesitation from the Shade that were next, either from fear of my sudden new technique or from the fact that I now had a smile on my face. Either way, it didn’t last long before they charged ahead anyway. What magic had welled up was going to take a second to regenerate, so I used my vampire strength alone to duck a punch and grab the arm that threw it in midair, hooking it in the crook of my own arm. Spinning quickly, I jammed my other elbow deep into the now exposed shoulder of the Shade and felt the arm break near the collarbone. He cried out in pain as I wrenched back on the arm and pulled him to me. I sunk my teeth down into his neck and ripped out veins leading to his brain. Blood sprayed the room and my eyes caught Aurora’s widening ones for just a moment. I could feel the sudden, uncontrollable arousal burst from her and an intense urge hit me. Now was not the time or place, though, and I had to steer myself away from reading what thoughts had crossed her mind.
More Shades filled in the space left by the others and I tore through them, breaking bones before ripping bodies open with my bare hands. When the magic had fully restored itself, I sent short blasts into the groups of Shade still coming and saw, from the corner of my eye, what looked like the last of the passengers finally exiting the car, Bex leading and Stephana following behind them to keep them safe.
As soon as they were gone, I had an idea that ran through my mind and into my body so fast I didn’t have time to worry if it would work. I raised my arms up and felt the air around myself and the women change. It was almost as if we had entered a bubble, and the sounds from outside of it were suddenly muffled and unintelligible, like they were underwater. I focused my mind on the fire in the car behind us and felt myself direct it toward us, blasting the car with its intense heat. All around us, Shade burned, as if made of paper. When I was sure everyone that wasn’t one of us that was in that car was dead, I let the fire go, and it disappeared into wisps of smoke. The bubble surrounding us faded and I collapsed in exhaustion. I knew that my magic was powerful, but that was the hardest thing I had ever done, and it would take some time before I could try to control it again.
I got to my feet gingerly, and without a word I walked to the emergency exit. Bex came in as I opened the door and we all darted for our rooms in the back. As the rest of the group gathered our things, I searched for Jaxxim, finding nothing. I knew he must have escaped the cars and I tried to think of how. I was about to go back to the car where the fight had been when I noticed a hatch above me, cracked open. I scrambled up and pushed it open. There were only a few feet between the top of the train and the ceiling of the tunnel, but it was enough to move on my knees.
18
We watched carefully to make sure all the passengers who had escaped the train had gone ahead of us so we could follow them out of the tunnel. That way if we were wrong and had left any of the Shade guards alive, they would have to continue their conflict with us rather than going after any of the survivors. The glow of the still flaming train car illuminated enough the tunnel that we were able to move through it without using a torch or flashlight. I wondered how long it would take for anyone to know the train had stopped. I didn't know if Underworld public transportation used any sort of tracking systems or black boxes that might have already transmitted the information that the train was no longer operational or if it would take one of the terrified and battered passengers appearing at the nearest station to let someone know everything had gone wrong.
I had no idea what would happen next. The laws of the Underworld were still fuzzy to me and I didn't know what might be done about such a public attack with victims who had nothing to do with the target.
"Will they know what happened?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Ashe asked. "Will who know what happened?"
"The authorities. Will they find out about the Shades coming onto the train and destroying it?"
"The authorities?"
"Yeah. The people in charge. Police. Sheriffs. Whoever it is that would handle this type of shit. Are they going to figure it out and go after anyone?"
"Hayden?"
Aurora's voice stopped me and I turned to where she had paused.
"Yeah?"
"You are the authorities."
I drew in a breath as we started down the tunnel again.
"Good to know."
Walking along the side of the train felt tight and claustrophobic, and as soon as we made it past the front, I stepped up onto the tracks so I could follow them down the rest of the way out of the tunnel. I could finally see sunlight and though the symbolism was lost on the situation, at least we could get away from the heat and the choking smell of the tunnel. The passengers must not have stopped running once they got out of the train because by the time we stepped out into the sunlight, I couldn't see any of them. Some of the flickers of color and movement in the distance on either side of me might have been a few of them, but none acknowledged us or seemed to be following any particular path in their efforts to get away from the train as fast as they could. My group spread out as well, stretching to one side of the tracks so we were loosely walking alongside each other rather than in a tight cluster like we had been. We were a few feet out of the tunnel when I heard a grinding sound behind us. Before we had a chance to react, the train lurched forward.
Jaxxim was the only one of us who had remained on the tracks. He didn't have the time to get out of the way before the train smashed into him. One of the metal wheels caught his leg, dragging him down. A surge of speed and strength rushed through me and I slammed my hands into the side of the train. The massive vessel groaned and screamed as the force of my hands slowed its progress and knocked it off the tracks. The momentum kept the coiled corpse of the train moving, but Bex yanked Jaxxim out of the path of the oncoming cars. I used the last of my energy to get out of the way of the smashed metal before it could crush me as well. The blast of magic required to stop the train from completely obliterating Jaxxim was more intense than anything I'd had to use before and it exhausted me. The shaky, drained feeling was infuriating. I ignored it as I forced myself over to Jaxxim.
He lay where the train had dropped him, not moving. His body was mangled, but an occasional groan affirmed he wasn't dead. The train hadn't succeeded in removing his head, which meant he was suffering each and every one of the brutal injuries caused by the train.
"Brielle, Jaxxim needs you. Please, hurry."
She ran from where she was a few feet away from us and dropped down beside Jaxxim. One hand slipped under his head and she held it up, l
ooking into his face.
"Are you awake?" she asked.
He didn't respond and she carefully rested his head back down before pressing her hands to his chest and belly the way she had with Erral when he first escaped the fortress. It took a moment longer this time for the golden glow to form under her hands, but when it did, it completely encompassed Jaxxim. I didn't want to watch. He couldn't feel anything, but somehow that was worse. If he had been screaming or thrashing, reacting in some way to the magic trying to bring him back from the brink of death and knit his body back together, it would have been horrible. But it would have been something. It would have been confirmation that Jaxxim was still there. I wasn't fully versed on the concepts of vampire medicine, but I didn't see any reason why it wasn't possible for someone as severely injured as Jaxxim to go into a coma just like anyone else. Simply because his body was immortal didn't mean it could continue to function when that extensively damaged.
Leaving Brielle to do what she could for Jaxxim, I walked away. Only a few steps fully depleted me of my energy and I paused, involuntarily swaying as I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to will myself into feeling stronger and more energetic.
"Hayden?" Aurora's voice floated around me, sounding like it was coming from a distance and that it was directly in my ears at the same moment. "Hayden?" My leg buckled and I landed on one knee, my head sagging. "Hayden!"
The emotion and intensity in her voice were obvious now, but I couldn't see her. I couldn't even muster up the strength to open my eyes, but I felt Aurora close beside me. Her hands clenched in my shirt and she pressed close to me as she dragged me to my feet.
"What's going on? What's wrong?"
"Just worn out," I said, trying to sound as casual and unaffected as I could. "One of these days I'm going to get my shit together and be able to use the magic I was supposedly born the fuck with and not suck the life out of myself."
