by Vivi Anna
Hades smiled and chucked her under the chin. “I love it when you talk dirty.”
Clenching her hand into a tight fist, Kat pulled back her arm to punch Hades in the mouth. Before she could swing, Damian’s voice rang through the air.
“Kat! We got company!”
Both Kat and Hades sprang into action. While Kat did up her pants, Hades tossed her a dry T-shirt from her pack.
He winked at her as he unsheathed his knives from his leg straps. “To be continued.”
“In your dreams.” Kat slid out two of her knives, also strapped to her thighs. She twirled them once into attack position and then followed Hades to their camp. She swore to herself, knowing that her shotgun was sitting on the ground near her tent. It was no good to her there.
Before she could push through the bushes, Hades grabbed her arm and pulled her down to the ground.
“What are you doing?” She tried to pull from his grip.
“Take a look.” He nodded toward a small break in the foliage.
Peering through the bushes, Kat immediately saw two problems. One, Damian and Darquiel were being held at gunpoint by a big, ugly hunter in an ash-gray cloak, and two, there were two more just like him waiting for her and Hades to come out of the trees.
“Damnit,” Kat swore under her breath. “Where did those scumbags get guns?”
“Don’t know. Stole them, is my guess. I’m more worried about how much ammo they have. We have to think before we go running in there or we’ll all end up dead.”
“Yeah, everyone but Darquiel.”
Kat scanned Darquiel through the leaves again. Even from this distance she could see the rage swimming in her pale face. Kat wondered what it would take for the girl to unleash the freakish strength she had growing inside her.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we need to unchain our little weapon of mass destruction,” Kat mused.
“How do you know she’ll do what you think she’ll do?”
“Basic laws of survival.” Kat smiled as she pushed through the bushes a little giving, herself a good view of Darquiel but still hidden from their attackers. “Kill or be killed.”
One of the hunters stepped forward in the general vicinity of where Kat and Hades hid. “You have two minutes to come out or we’ll kill them both.”
Kat pushed back the violent urge to rush out and fight. She supposed if Hades hadn’t stopped her at the bushes, she would have. And, most probably, would have ended up with a few bullets in her, dead before she could reach the assailants. Not only did the man inflame her body, he also made her stop and think. Something her hotheaded impetuousness often kept her from doing on a daily basis. Damn him, if he wasn’t turning out to be a good partner.
She had a plan. She just hoped it worked. If not, they would die. Well, she summarized, they had to go sometime. Why not now?
“Go ahead, kill them. I’ve grown tired of the boy, and the girl, well, I just don’t like her.”
She could see Damian bristle at her comments. But Darquiel looked calm as she sat on the ground next to the gunman. She wondered if the girl knew what she was planning.
The hunter licked his lips nervously. “I should have known you’d sacrifice these two for your own skin, Hell Kat. You’re not known for your generosity.”
“That’s right. You best remember that. Because when you beg me for mercy, you know I won’t give you any.”
Hades leaned into the bushes close to her and whispered, “What are you doing?”
“When I say, ‘Now,’ rush in, knives in the air.”
Patting her on the shoulder, he nodded. “I’ll trust you. But next time I get to decide how we’re going to die, okay?”
Kat grinned. “Deal.”
With a soft chuckle Hades pulled away and positioned himself a few feet from her, ready to go when she said the word. She hoped they got out of this one alive and unscathed. Because if they did, she just might let Hades back into her pants.
Under her breath, she counted to three. On three, she stood and flung one of her knives toward the gunman covering Damian and Darquiel. The knife missed the mark and landed in the ground, directly in front of Darquiel. She ducked back down into the bushes.
Perfect shot.
The gunman laughed. “You missed, bitch.”
Darquiel leaned forward and put her bound hands around the knife. “No, she didn’t.”
With one swipe up, the ropes were sliced through on the blade, and Darquiel was loose.
Before the gunman could swing the barrel down, Darquiel was on him, tearing through his leg with her nails and teeth. He screamed as she ripped open his flesh.
Kat wanted to turn away from the grisly scene, but it was the perfect distraction. The other two hunters turned and swung their guns toward the battle.
“Now!”
Kat leaped out of the bushes and started running. In her peripheral she saw Hades matching her stride for stride. He pulled back his arm and threw one of his knives and then the other. One blade took one of the hunters in the side, and the second knife struck his thigh. As the hunter turned in reaction to the attack, Kat threw her blade and he caught it in the neck. As he went down, he turned his shotgun toward her and pulled the trigger.
The sound was deafening, like the explosive crack of thunder.
As the clatter roared in her head and the bullet sped toward her, two things raced through Kat’s mind. If I jump, can I reach my shotgun, and what if I never get another chance to kiss Hades? Before she could ponder either one of these things too seriously, she was knocked to the ground by a large mass of black leather.
The bullet slammed into the ground one foot from where she had been running.
With a grunt, Hades rolled off her, reached for her weapon, and sprang to his feet. He pumped one round into the hunter still standing trying to load his own chamber.
Kat scrambled to her feet as the final hunter dropped to the ground, the hole in his chest still smoking. Hades turned and winked at her, handing back her shotgun.
She nodded to him with appreciation that he didn’t make a big deal out of saving her life. For only knowing her a few days, the man knew when to push and when not to. It amazed her how in sync they seemed.
She shook off the creeping emotions and turned toward Damian. He stood transfixed, staring at Darquiel kneeling on the ground. Kat went to him and nudged him in the shoulder. “Are you all right?”
He didn’t answer, nor did he indicate he had heard her. Kat examined the spot where he stared. The scene made her gorge rise, but she swallowed down the urge to vomit.
Darquiel was covered in blood. And the dead hunter had been ripped open. She was crouched a foot away from the ravaged body, licking the remaining blood off her fingers.
Turning her head, Darquiel glanced up at Kat and smiled. Kat didn’t like the savage stare in her black eyes.
“Clean up. We need to move the bodies. We don’t want predators showing up searching for a meal.” As Kat said this, she knew she was already looking at one. And this predator was extremely intelligent. More so than she let on.
Turning, Kat glanced at Damian. He still stared, wide-eyed, at Darquiel. Kat nudged him again. This time he looked up at her, his eyes glossy and frightened.
“Get a good look, Damian. You can’t turn back now. This is what you chose. Her. Deal with it.”
Leaving him to deal with his decisions, Kat marched over to where the other bodies lay. She’d check to see if they were still alive and then they needed to dispose of them somewhere away from their camp. Full darkness had set in. Dawn would come before long and they still had a long journey ahead of them.
The Vanquished City was calling, and nothing was going to stop her, not even death itself.
8
A fter another long ride Kat stopped her bike right at the end of the road. It seemed as though the concrete had been cut off with a large, jagged hatchet. Spread out before her in a desolate sweep of rusty dir
t and rock, she saw a place devoid of all life. No trees grew there, not even grass. No small trickle of water carved a path through the ground. A long stretch of ravaged land, the wastelands, divided the Vanquished City from the rest of the plains. It started abruptly, as if some invisible barrier separated it from the trees and grass out of which they had just driven.
Kat had never seen such a barren desert before. The outer rims were desolate and empty, but one could still see remnants of humanity in the crumbled concrete and neglected, burned-out, dilapidated buildings. But here, there was nothing. Just a straight stretch of reddish earth and rock. A few hills of jagged stone stood out obscenely from the scorched ground here and there, but she could still see for miles in either direction.
She turned to look at Hades, finding a mirror image of her shock and awe evident on his face.
“I have heard of it, but I never thought this was possible.”
“Me neither.” She gaped around again, shaking her head in disbelief. “It’s…”
“Scary as hell,” Damian murmured from behind her on the bike.
Kat nodded. Squinting toward the horizon, she could almost make out a few peaks. She hoped they were the remnants of Vanquished City.
“How far do you think this stretches?” she asked Hades.
He shook his head. “Don’t know. From the looks of it, a while.”
She glanced at Darquiel. “Do you know?”
“It’s not more than four hours to the city’s boundaries.”
“Are you sure?”
“No. I haven’t been this way before. But I feel like it’s not far.” Darquiel shivered.
Kat grabbed her canteen and took a swig of water. She wiped the sweat that already beaded on her top lip. “We have about three hours to full noon. If we’re caught out on these plains, we’ll fry.”
“The bikes won’t last either. They’ll overheat for sure,” Hades stated.
“We could wait till dark,” Darquiel suggested.
Kat looked back at her and smirked. “And wait until God knows what comes out to play? No, thank you. I want to see what I’m shooting.”
“If we have a straight stretch, we can make it,” Hades declared.
Kat regarded Hades and nodded in agreement. “Let’s do it.”
“Let’s fill up the bikes first. Don’t want to run out of gas.” Hades booted out the kickstand and turned off the bike. Kat did the same. He unstrapped the gas cans from the back, uncapped his fuel tank, and filled up. Then he did the same on Kat’s bike until the gas can was almost empty. A small amount swished around at the bottom.
“Will we be able to find more gas?” Damian asked, worry furrowing his brow.
Hades shrugged. “Don’t know. Should be able to, but it’s not certain.”
“Then what do we do?”
“Walk.” Hades straddled the bike again and kicked it over. It roared to life. Watching Kat, he grinned. “Race you.”
Kat returned the smile. She couldn’t help it. The man found a good time in everything he did. “You’re on.” She revved the bike. Damian knowingly clutched her around her hips. This wasn’t the first time they had raced with reckless abandon.
Behind Hades, Darquiel squeezed her eyes shut and wrapped her arms around his waist, clutching her hands together to turn her knuckles white.
Kat and Hades both turned their clutches and the bikes jerked forward and jumped off the edge of the road onto the hardened dirt. Creating long, dusty tails, they raced straight toward the horizon, spraying up dirt in their wake.
An hour gone, Kat’s hair and body were soaked with sweat. The wind from the racing gave little relief. She could feel Damian’s sweaty hands on her waist even through the leather. He, too, must be suffering. The wind did not hit him square on.
The leather she wore was stifling, but she wore it for other purposes. It protected her from things other than heat. The leather stopped the UV rays from scorching holes in her skin. She may sweat to death, but she wouldn’t burn. And if she ever took a spill on the bike, the tough material would protect her from road rash.
After racing for a half hour, they both had brought their speed down a little. A silent concession had been made. Neither would win this race, so they slowed to a comfortable speed.
“Take the right handle,” she said to Damian.
He snuggled closer into her and did as instructed. They had performed this maneuver many times before. Kat had no fear of falling.
Kat held the canteen she had hanging around her neck and took a big swallow and then another. The third she slowly let trickle down her chin and down her neck. The water and wind gave some reprieve from the heat.
As she slung the canteen over her shoulder to Damian, Kat took back the handle while he drank. She glanced over at Hades and noticed he also sipped from his flask, but had no need for another hand on his handle. After one last long swig, he swung it over his shoulder to Darquiel. Pressed tightly against his back, eyes squeezed shut, she would not relinquish her hold for a drink.
Kat shook her head. She shouldn’t care. The girl was as good as dead in her mind. Before long the sun would fry her. It was rising quickly in the brilliant blue of the sky. It would not be long before it was at its zenith and its deathly rays would bake them all into pieces of crispy bacon.
Inching the bike closer to Hades, Kat yelled over the roar of the engines. “What do you think?”
“Doesn’t feel like we’re even moving. All I can see in every direction is desert.”
Kat nodded. She had noticed that, too, but she did think that the peaks on the horizon were getting larger.
“What about those?” She gestured to the dark shapes taking form in the distance.
“Could be rocks.”
“Could be scrapers.”
“Let’s hope they are.” Hades smiled and then turned his head. His grin suddenly faded as he reached out with his hand and grabbed her handlebar. “Stop!”
Kat turned her hand down on the grip to initiate the brakes. The tires spun on the loose dirt and gravel. She stomped down on the emergency brake on the foot pedals. She turned the bike and skidded onto the side, sliding across the sand. The bike came to a stop right on the edge of a deep chasm; the rear wheel hung over the edge, sending rocks and gravel tumbling down the ravine.
Swearing, Kat eyed Hades. He had also brought his bike down on the side to stop, but he was not as dangerously close to the edge as she was.
He pushed himself out from under the machine and had to pull Darquiel out. She was weak and looked very near to fainting.
He rushed over to where they were teetering, cowed under the weight of the steel.
“Damian, can you move without pushing on the bike?”
“I think so.” Damian relinquished his hold on Kat and scooted up. The bike moved forward. As she felt the weight of the machine begin to reel it over the edge, Kat squeezed her eyes shut. She held on to the handles tightly and tried to stop its motion, but she feared she was not strong enough.
As Damian scooted out, Hades grabbed onto Kat and pulled back. He tugged with all his strength. Kat opened her eyes as she and the motorcycle, which she held deftly in her hands and between her legs, moved back with her. When she could safely scramble out from the tempered and twisted metal without it falling over the edge and taking her with it, she breathed a deep sigh of relief.
She fell backward onto the ground. “That was close.”
Hades looked down at her, a troubled expression on his face. He touched her gently on the cheek. “Too close.”
The gentle touch on her face disconcerted Kat. Her smile faded as she gazed up into the blue of his eyes. Something flashed there, but it was not lust or anger. A mixture between the two. She felt her stomach flip over.
As quickly as he had touched her, he withdrew his hand. Hades stood and studied the ravine they had nearly driven right into.
Kat scrambled to her feet and brushed at her clothes. Dirt was the least of her worries as she s
oon felt a throb and sharp pain in her right leg. She peeked down and noticed a tear in her leather pants. Blood leaked through.
“Shit.”
Hades turned to her and followed her gaze down to where she fingered the wound. “Is it bad?”
“You know how hard it is to mend leather?”
Hades barked out a full, hearty laugh. Kat grinned back. He stepped next to her and put an arm companionably around her shoulders, pulling her into him. She didn’t retreat, but put an arm around his waist in return. They stood like that, gazing across the ravine for a time without words, as if the gaping hole before them said it all.
Breaking the hold, Kat stepped forward to stare into the deep crevice. It appeared that the earth had just cracked open. This was not produced by wind and water, since there was no water for miles. It took thousands of years or a devastating earthquake to produce a canyon like this.
“Can we jump it?” Kat asked.
“Alone maybe. But with two riders on a bike…not likely.”
Kat looked sideways down the ravine. It stretched for miles. “Do you think there’s a bridge?”
“Maybe, but how far is it? We could drive for hours and not find one,” Hades replied.
Kat kicked at the dirt. Rocks tumbled over the edge. She glanced behind her at Damian and Darquiel. Darquiel was lying on Damian’s cloak, cradled in his lap. He stroked her sweaty brow but met Kat’s gaze.
“Ask her if she’s seen this ravine before.”
Leaning close to Darquiel’s ear, Damian spoke to her. He looked up and shook his head. “There wasn’t a ravine when she escaped the city. But she doesn’t know how far along this way that she escaped.”
Kat peered in both ways down the canyon. “Well, we know this way will eventually take us to the ocean. So the ravine can’t go on that way long, or there’d be water rushing at the bottom, and there isn’t. And the other way…”
“Could go on for miles. More miles than we can risk.” Hades glanced at the sky. The sun was moving.
“We could go back,” Damian suggested. “Start again at dark.”
