Behind them, Rolland was knocked back, flipping in and out of his human form. His head kicked against the road as he bellowed. The glow surrounding him throbbed once, and then there was nothing.
The soldier hadn’t been aiming for Daemon—and Daemon stared, his eyes wide, chest rising and falling sharply.
Dee hesitated, and then she turned, shifting into light and disappearing among the thick pines. Blue light bounced off the tree trunks, following her retreat. Daemon started to twist around, to go after her, but stopped when he saw me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dawson being guided toward where I was still sitting.
“I told you to stay put,” he gritted out without taking his eyes off the soldier with the gun trained on me.
“Looks like that worked out well for you,” I shot back.
The other soldier now had Daemon rounded up, herding him back to where we were. When he reached us, he slowly bent down.
“Stand still,” the soldier barked.
Anger rolled off Daemon as he continued on, shooting the soldier a look that screamed to try to stop him. The finger on the trigger spasmed as Daemon wrapped his hands under my shoulders and hauled me up. He pulled me into the shelter of his arms, angling his body so that very little of me showed.
A muscle thrummed along Dawson’s jaw. “Well, crap.”
Chopper wings beat at the air, and within seconds, another Black Hawk crested the pines, easing down in the middle of the street a couple yards from us, kicking up wind and causing my hair to whip out from underneath Daemon’s arm as I pressed tighter against him.
Exhausted and beat up, drained like a twisted sponge, I knew we were done. The three of us. If they opened fire, it would be over. A sick feeling crawled up my throat. I wanted to close my eyes, but that seemed like a coward’s way out.
There was the sound of metal grinding, and then the door to the helicopter slid open, slowly revealing who was kneeling inside, staring at us. Waiting. Like always.
Nancy Husher.
10
{ Daemon }
There were moments in my life when I seriously couldn’t believe things could get any more fucked up than they already were, especially with Dee running off to join the damn Luxen circus.
But each time, I was proven, yet again, how wrong that thought was.
Nancy stared down at us with dark eyes, her face devoid of any emotion, a total blank slate.
Dawson swore and started to shift, but Nancy spoke before he could do something that would end with a lot of explosions and general mayhem.
“If you want to live,” she said, voice clipped, “you’ll get in this damn helicopter. Now.”
We really didn’t have much of a choice. Either we put up a fight and got taken down with one of their weapons, or we got in the helicopter. Then what? We were out of the frying pan and smack-dab in the middle of the fire. But one option most likely involved dying now, while the other was probably dying later. Later gave us some time to figure a way out of this latest mess.
I shot Dawson a look that said, Simmer it down, and for a moment, I thought he was going to say to hell with it, but his shoulders squared, and then he hoisted himself up into the helicopter.
Turning to Kat, I met her eyes, and the wariness in her gray gaze, the exhaustion and pain, were tinged with fear. It cut me deep seeing that and knowing there wasn’t anything I could do at this moment to change it.
I bent my head and brushed my lips across hers. “It’ll be fine.”
Kat nodded.
“How cute,” Nancy said.
My lip curled as I turned my gaze to her. “Remember how it ended last time you thought you had us under control?”
A flicker of anger crawled across her otherwise stoic face. “Trust me. It’s not something I’ve forgotten.”
“Good,” I growled, hoisting Kat to where Dawson waited just inside. He pulled her toward him as I leaped in, crowding Nancy. The woman backed up, dropping down onto a bench as she met my stare. “But this time will end differently.”
“Will it?”
I got all up in her face and lowered my voice so that only she could hear as the chopper propellers blocked out my words to anyone else. “Yeah, because this time, I will make sure you’re dead.”
Nancy stiffened as I drew back and reached for Kat. My brother handed her to me, and Nancy said nothing. Instead, she tipped her head back and closed her eyes. The woman had bigger balls than I did, all things considered.
I tucked Kat against me as Dawson sat on her other side. Two of the soldiers jumped in, taking the seats beside Nancy. One leaned back, motioning with his arm to the pilot to take us up.
The moment the bird left the ground, Kat squeezed her eyes shut. A shudder rocked her as she balled her fist into my shirt. Her heart was pounding too fast. She wasn’t a huge fan of flying, so being in a copter probably had her one step from full freak-out mode.
Keeping my eyes trained on Nancy and her little minions, I lifted Kat up and sat her in my lap. I wrapped my arms around her, curling one hand against the back of her head, positioning her so that her heart rested against mine.
One of the soldiers propped his gun between his legs and reached up, pulling off his helmet. Shoving a hand through his sandy-brown hair, he worked out a kink in his neck as he opened his eyes.
Amethyst.
Freaking Origin.
Obviously one of Nancy’s successful products, like Archer and Luc. I couldn’t pick up jack shit from the guy, but I hadn’t picked up anything from Archer before he revealed what he was. The same with Luc. I always knew there was something off about the kid but could never put my finger on it. And Sadi had felt like a Luxen to me.
Another Origin talent, I assumed, seamlessly blending into something that they weren’t. There was a lot about them I didn’t know, and right now, didn’t give a crap about.
Lowering my head, I kept a steady watch on the three across from me as I spoke into Kat’s ear. I talked absolute nonsense. The last Ghost Hunters show I’d seen and how I wanted to check out the abandoned asylum one day. I told her about the time I’d convinced Adam that I’d seen the Mothman one night when I’d been out scouting for Arum. Then, I reminded her that with Halloween only a month or so away, we needed to find us Gizmo and gremlin outfits. I talked to her about anything, trying to keep her mind off the fact that we were winging through the air, heading to God knows where. It worked to an extent. Her heart rate slowed a little and she loosened her death grip some.
No one talked during the ride except what I was saying to Kat. Wasn’t like you could really hear anything unless you were right up on someone. The drone of the helicopter traveled through our bodies, making it feel like we were in a steel drum.
I had no idea how long we were in the air. Maybe an hour or so before the copter started to tilt to the side, and I was almost positive Kat started praying under her breath. Any other time I would’ve laughed, but wariness settled into every cell.
What were we about to face now? Being locked up? As I watched Nancy open her eyes and smooth her hands across her black pants, I doubted she wanted to keep us alive. Her obsession with breeding Luxen and hybrids to create the perfect race could only go so far. She had a huge bone to pick with us. After all, we’d broken out, taking down a lot of soldiers; had a hand in destroying an entire city; and had exposed what we were before the Luxen came.
Hell, what we did might’ve had something to do with why the others chose this time to arrive.
Then again, if she wanted us dead, it would’ve been an easy feat to carry out on the road outside of Coeur d’Alene, so I had no clue what she was up to.