Revealed

by Zoe Allison

  Vic unsheathed the spear. It appeared identical to any other. She snapped up her gaze and slammed the spear through the chest of a malevolent coming at her. He crumpled to the ground and within seconds had become dust. She picked the spear back up. “Strong stuff,” she muttered. She didn’t have time to think on it any further, because a larger group came at her. One by one, she fended them off and transformed each of them to dust. Picking up her spear again, she could see other agents emerging from the rubble and Zaina running to meet them, giving each of them a spear and a vest from the large hold-all she had managed to keep with her despite the fall of HQ. A pang of sadness shocked through Vic as she scanned the rubble that had once been their building.

  Despite their best efforts, they were still massively outnumbered. Vic hoped that they could keep them away long enough for some sort of miracle to materialize. But what? Amber and Hayden had only just started their journey from Scotland and only one of them could travel at vampire speed. Priyanka had been given instructions to stay put, and even if she did come, she was only one person.

  Vic steeled herself for the next onslaught, preparing to dig in for the long haul. She finished one malevolent after another, sustaining a few hits herself but managing to avoid any tainted spears. She lifted her head, wondering where Lorenzo was hiding. The coward. She couldn’t see Valentino but spotted the others battling on nearby.

  A wall of malevolents formed in front of her. There must have been about ten in all. Victoria blew out a slow breath and raised her spear. Just then something impacted the vampires and they suddenly burst into a ball of fire. Flames erupted, which burned with a deep intensity, and yet Vic could feel no heat. She snapped her head quickly to the side. Hayden was standing a short distance behind her. He gave her a salute. She turned back and, sure enough, Amber was climbing up from the ashes of the malevolents, a smile on her face.

  Vic ran toward her and enveloped her in a hug. “Am I glad to see you guys.”

  Amber gave her a squeeze.

  Vic eased back. “How did you get here so quickly?”

  Amber shrugged. “We were already well on our way by the time we spoke to you two earlier. We knew something big was up way before the US attack.”

  Vic sighed with relief. “Good job you did.”

  Hayden drew level with them. “Where’s Vale?”

  Vic scanned the area, piles of rubble littering between groups of malevolents in combat with agents. “There he is,” she said, pointing toward a cloud of ash where Vale had just speared multiple vampires within a few seconds.

  Hayden took Amber’s hand. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait,” Vic said. “You need to know that Lorenzo is malevolent. He was Harvey in disguise all along.”

  Amber and Hayden froze, shock registering on their faces.

  Vic gestured to Hayden. “And you need to get a vest and a tainted spear from Zaina.”

  Hayden broke out of his stunned stance and eyed Vic’s equipment. “No problem.” He scooped Amber into his side and zipped them both over to Zaina within seconds.

  Victoria took stock of who to engage with next. There was a small group climbing up and over some rubble ahead of her, so she ran at them. She managed to take one out as she vaulted over his head, holding on to the spear so that when his ashes started to fall, she could slam it into the chest of the vampire next to him. She threw her fist into another’s face and ripped at his neck with her teeth before kicking him in the gut then spearing him through the back as he fell forward. She paused to take stock. From the top of rubble pile, she looked down at the battle scene. It was lucky for them Zaina had brought those vests, otherwise there would be more deaths on their side, apart from Gareth. A painful, intolerable sadness gripped her heart at the thought of him.

  There were, however, other casualties, agents who had sustained gashes from the tainted spears in non-lethal body areas. It wouldn’t kill them, but it would impair them enough to weaken their fighting ability against their stronger opponents.

  There were also humans starting to gather at the periphery of the fight. Some were even lifting out their phones to take pictures. The benevolent agents were urging them away while still trying to fight.

  Amber was managing to burn off anyone who got near her, which was good, but the malevolents had clearly worked out that they should stay away from her, because Hayden was resorting to propelling Amber into them. There was a risk that she might be injured from impacting the ground.

  A movement from the corner caught Vic’s eye, and Lorenzo appeared from between two buildings across the area. He made a signal and a stream of malevolents cascaded out from behind him toward Amber and Hayden. The first few burnt up quickly as they made contact with her, but they were shortly followed by a huge group who piled on top of Amber. Vic could see flames burning under the pile, but it was so high that the fire didn’t immediately penetrate all the way through. Vic glanced back to Lorenzo, who was lifting out a spear. He was aiming toward Valentino.

  “Vale!” she shouted, breaking into a run down the incline of the rubble pile.

  Vale snapped his head around from the vampire he was engaged with and managed to bend backward out of the spear’s way, but it caught his cheek before slamming into the chest of the malevolent he had been fighting, converting the other vampire into dust.

  Vic continued to run and was upon Vale within seconds. She took hold of his arms. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” he said, touching the wound on his face.

  Vic glanced around, but Lorenzo had disappeared again. Hayden was fighting off the stragglers from the mound of vampires on top of Amber. Her fire was burning the top of the pile closer and closer toward the ground, but she wasn’t yet visible.

  “We can still hold them off,” she told Vale. “It’s slow going, but we’ve reduced their numbers drastically, especially with Amber’s efforts.”

  “Yes,” he said, holding his face. “We need to keep fighting.”

  “Maybe you should sit this next bit out,” she told him, lifting her hand to cover his.

  He flinched away from her touch. “No, I am fine.”

  A sick feeling settled in the pit of her stomach like a dead weight. He couldn’t even stand for her to touch him.

  A noise drew their attention. They turned to its source—a new group of malevolents was streaming in from between the buildings across the block. Victoria’s heart sank right to her feet. “Where are they all coming from?”

  “He must have held a number back so that we wouldn’t know the extent of what we were up against,” Vale said quietly.

  Vic shifted in front of him. “You’re injured. Stay behind me.”

  He shook his head and drew level with her.

  They both stood, spears raised, waiting for the next impossible-to-win battle.

  Vic turned her head to him, pained at the sight of the wound on his handsome face. “I really am sorry,” she said.

  “I know,” he replied, not looking at her.

  The noise of the massing malevolents grew louder, but there was another noise behind it, one that grew stronger until it was superimposed on top of the din from the vampires.

  “The helicopter,” Vic said.

  Sure enough, it appeared between the tops of the buildings. Some of the malevolents threw rocks and spears at it, and a couple impacted, but not anywhere that caused it to deter from its course.

  Amber appeared in an explosion of ash out of her pile of malevolents and the helicopter swooped overhead. Something fell from it and they were all engulfed in a heatless flame, which burned all around them. Vic reached out to the orange and yellow wind that rushed past but could feel nothing except the movement of air. As quickly as it had burst forth, it retracted, like it was being sucked back into the casing from which it had come. As it disappeared back into the epicenter, huge masses of ash were left in its wake.

  Vic surveyed the area. All that was left were piles of rubble, mounds of ash and stunned benevolent agents.


  She made her way around the debris to wave at Amber and Hayden, who were embracing next to the ash mound that Amber had created shortly before the blast.

  When she turned back, Vale was gone. Where is he? A deep foreboding galvanized her into a run. She sped around the corner of nearest building. Vale was there, pinned to the ground by Lorenzo, who was gripping the neck of Vale’s vest and holding a spear above him. Lorenzo must have hidden from the blast.

  Vic bolted forward, throwing Lorenzo off Vale and down the street. She crouched in front of Valentino, shielding him. She glanced back. There was a gash on his chest, and she realized that Lorenzo had managed to get a blow in with his spear under Vale’s vest. Her heart froze as she tried in vain to visually assess its depth.

  Lorenzo got to his feet. “Well, that was quite a throw, sis.” He dusted himself off. “That’s a problem I have yet to work out. The extra strength and speed after a mass drainage starts to wear off with time. So now I’m nearly the same as the rest of you.” He lifted his fists. “Pretty sure I can still beat the crap out of you, though.”

  Vic growled, baring her teeth in anger. She had searched for him for years and he had been right under her nose for the past few. This is it. He’s not getting away again. Spear in hand, she lifted her arm.

  Lorenzo snarled, his razor-sharp canines on display as he came at her. She didn’t want to fake him out and let him get past her, because Vale was behind her. So she met him head-on and blocked his blows. He lashed out with his spear and caught her arm. White-hot pain seared up it.

  Lorenzo grinned. Vic kicked him in the gut, sending him flying backward.

  He got to his feet. “You can get a few blows in, but you can’t beat me. I was always better than you.”

  He came toward her and she inched forward, keeping herself between him and Vale. He made the first move in the form of a jab, which she dodged. He tried a few more blows, none of which impacted, and he narrowed his eyes in frustration. His next attack was sloppy, and she took the opportunity to grab his arm and kick him in the chest, causing him to stumble back a few steps.

  Vic glanced back to where Vale was trying to get to his feet, holding the wound on his chest. The original cut on his face was gaping. He fell back to the ground. Panic stabbed her in the gut.

  Lorenzo seized the opportunity to catch her off guard. He ran at her, knocking her down and pinning her in place. He gripped his hands around her neck and nodded toward Vale. “After I’ve finished you, I’m going to kill him, and there won’t be anything you can do about it.”

  Vic struggled against Lorenzo’s weight, panic rising in her chest. Vale’s wounds were significant, and Lorenzo would have the upper hand. She tried to gain purchase to knock him off, but pain seared through the gash on her arm, making her gasp.

  A spear impacted the side of Lorenzo’s head, lacerating his scalp, and he lifted his hands from her neck to grab at the wound. Vic seized those few seconds to flip him over and pin him in place. She glanced up quickly to see Vale sitting up, holding his chest after launching that spear at Lorenzo.

  Vic looked back at Lorenzo, narrowing her eyes. Vale’s connection to her may have waned and that was her own fault, but her feelings for him had not. Vale had been weakened and Lorenzo had the advantage over him—but not over her.

  She gritted her teeth, baring her canines at Lorenzo, ignoring the pain in her arm as she hammered her fist repeatedly into his face.

  He growled. “We’ve been here before, in Vale’s office,” he said, his bloodied mouth healing quickly. “I got away then.”

  “This time his life is at stake,” she told him.

  Lorenzo bared his teeth in a sneer, but she didn’t give him chance to say anything else. She brought her spear down forcefully into his chest. His body disintegrated beneath her, his face altering briefly to one that she recognized. The face of her psychopathic brother. Then he was gone.

  Vic got to her feet and turned to where Vale was crouching, holding his face. She moved quickly over to kneel beside him. “How’re your wounds?”

  His face was pale. “I will be okay.” He wobbled slightly and she maneuvered him to sit.

  “I’ll go get help,” she told him and made to stand.

  He took her arm and kept her next to him. “Why?” he asked quietly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Her heart thudded in her chest. “I-I wasn’t sure anyone would understand. I couldn’t let anything get in the way of me finding Harvey and destroying him.”

  His eyes were pained. “You were not sure anyone would understand? Not even me?”

  She met his gaze, the sadness in his eyes intensifying her anguish. “I can explain it all to you if you give me a chance. Just let me get some help for you first.”

  He stared at her for a few seconds, moisture welling in his eyes, then he let go of her arm. “I thought I knew you,” he said, his voice cracking. “I trusted you in a way I had trusted no one else.”

  Her mouth went dry. She didn’t know what to say, because he was right to be upset. “Once you’re healed, I promise I’ll explain it all. We can start over,” she told him.

  He looked away, blinking hard.

  The pain in her arm was intensifying, but it was nothing compared to the searing in her chest. Desperate, she tried one last time. “You do know me, Vale. Better than anyone. This is who I am, Victoria Black. I’m not Victoria Moore any longer.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I’m not sure I can do this.”

  The world tilted under her, and for a moment she thought another one of Lorenzo’s explosives was going off under her feet. But the ground stood still, and it was her who was falling.

  Amber and Hayden appeared at the end of the street and started sprinting toward them.

  Hayden reached them first. “Is he okay?” he asked, crouching next to Vale and holding him.

  Tears welled up in Vic’s eyes as she stood. She had to swallow hard to get her voice out. “Take care of him.”

  She turned and walked away, then broke into a run.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Vale opened his eyes. There was a strange throbbing sensation in his cheek. He lifted his hand to his face and touched gauze.

  “Good, you’re awake.”

  He shifted his gaze toward where Amber was standing at the door. Smiling, she quickly closed the distance between them and threw her arms around him. He embraced her tightly. He couldn’t quite recall why there was an intense pain in his heart, but hugging his sister seemed to take the edge off it, so he held her tightly.

  “Make room for me.”

  Vale looked up. Hayden was grinning at him from the doorway. Vale lifted an arm from Amber and reached toward Hayden, who accepted his place in their three-person hug by practically climbing into bed with Vale. Vale laughed then realized that doing so hurt his face and his chest, so his laugh turned into more of a whimper.

  “Okay,” Amber said, “get off him. We can’t break him when he’s only just healing.”

  Hayden reluctantly pulled away and drew up a chair beside the bed.

  Vale settled back onto his pillows. “Where are we, exactly?” It couldn’t be the medical wing, because he distinctly remembered HQ coming down around their ears.

  “In the hospital,” Amber said.

  “Our part of the hospital,” Hayden added.

  “Ah,” Vale said. They had a section of staff on the payroll at the local hospital who knew about The Organization’s existence, although he had a feeling that many more people would now be aware of them, after Lorenzo’s recent displays.

  “You’re on the mend,” Amber told him. “And once you’re discharged, we’re taking you away with us.”

  He frowned. “Away?”

  “No arguments, bud,” Hayden said. “It’s long overdue.”

  “But there will be a cleanup operation here,” Vale said, his anxiety rising. “A physical and a metaphorical one. We have been exposed to the world and need to wo
rk with governmental bodies to decide how to take that forward.”

  Amber took his hand. “That’s Mr. X’s job…and Priyanka’s.”

  Vale sighed, his anxiety morphing into resignation.

  Hayden leaned in on his other side. “What is it?”

  The internal conflict regarding his secret that had been so important to Vale previously now seemed to melt into insignificance. Victoria finding out had been a relief, and the draw of feeling that way again was powerful. Victoria. The full meaning behind the pain in his chest exploded into the forefront of his mind. It wasn’t his wound. It was a deeper, more emotional pain. She had broken his trust, and now she was gone.

  The agony of it must have registered on his face, because Amber squeezed his hand sympathetically. “Tell us, Vale.”

  He cleared his throat. “I am not really sure where to start.”

  Hayden scooped up Vale’s other hand. “At the beginning.”

  He licked his lips in an attempt to lubricate his dry mouth. “The beginning. Well, that would be the subject of my recurring dream.”

  “Recurring dream?” Amber asked.

  “Yes,” he said, and took a deep breath. “Ever since you guys left, I have had the same dream. It is about getting called up to see Mr. X after I turned down the deputy position.”

  “You saw him?” Hayden asked.

  Vale shook his head. “No. He was behind a screen.”

  “What did he want?” Amber asked.

  Vale decided that being direct was best. “He wanted to hand over the mantle of Mr. X.”

  There was a pause.

  “Over to who?” Hayden asked.

  Amber was watching Vale’s expression. “To Vale,” she said.

  Realization dawned on Hayden’s face. “Wow.”

  “Yes,” Vale said, waiting for some degree of negative onslaught—but there was none.

  Amber seemed thoughtful. “A lot of things make sense now.”

  “They sure do,” Hayden said slowly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Vale glanced at him. “The identity of Mr. X has always been kept secret. It’s a title that gets passed directly from one person to the next.”