Dane took a step on his own. He had to make this body work. Already, they’d caught the attention of a Hound feeding on a scientist under a broken table.
That. He looked over his shoulder at Jonas pressed up against the bars of his cage, reaching out, but not to Dane. Reaching for Noah.
Noah flicked a ball of fire at the Hound under the table and the fire swallowed it whole. A twist of Noah’s hand and the ball collapsed into a white-hot star shedding the ashes of his prey.
“Up to you.” Dane wasn’t in charge here, and he wasn’t going to pretend to be. They’d had to come for him this time.
“It’s your choice, ” Lindsay whispered in Noah’s mind. “Jonas was a favored pet. I’m surprised to see him in a cage like the others.”
Jonas. The man he’d decapitated in the elevator, then tried to incinerate. Minutes later, he’d been burning to death in his own fire.
“Don’t leave me.” Jonas was surprisingly coherent for a man who looked completely mad. “Kill me before you go.”
Noah didn’t need to guess as to the purpose of the collars. Jonas wasn’t a Hound and wasn’t a threat right now. If they left him, Moore would use him further. Noah ripped through the bolts and lock on the cage with white fire.
They had both come close to death in Noah’s fire. Noah had his second life. He wasn’t going to deny someone else a chance at the same.
“Do what I say, or I will kill you,” Noah warned. “Completely.” He grabbed Jonas by the wrist and dragged him out of the cage.
“We need to go.” Dane kicked apart a broken desk and picked up the leg. He was right, they had the attention of nearly a dozen Hounds now. They were cowardly things, yelping and cringing even as hunger and instinct pushed them to try to bring Noah down. “The door behind us goes deeper in. To get out, we have to get across the room.”
The lab was devastated and Noah could easily make out numerous Hounds stalking and fighting each other, beyond those creeping closer. They were too mad or too stupid to know what was happening out of sight, where Noah could hear the soldiers fighting to contain the revolt, even as more Hounds turned savage. He wasn’t leaving without wiping the place clean.
“When I tell you to go, you both go.” Noah pointed at the door across the lab. Lindsay could see it and would know where they’d be emerging. “I’ll make sure you get there.” He incinerated the nearest Hound, and the next. Stepping back, he nearly tripped over Jonas.
“Don’t go.” Jonas grabbed at his leg and Noah got him by the collar, pulling him to his feet.
“You’re going. I’m not.” Noah all but threw Jonas at Dane. “Get him out of here. Go on.”
“Happy to.” Dane pushed Jonas ahead of him as Noah blew a path clear with a knot of fire that tore the far door off the hinges. Noah walled the black path off with fire, closing it behind them as they went.
Now, he could work.
The Hounds came at him as though they were eager to die once he’d started killing them. Until Noah felt Dane pass beyond the reach of his fire wall, he kept his destruction to a minimum, killing them by ones and twos. Sometimes, they turned on each other, but his magic drew them in.
Once he knew that he’d done what he came to do—that Dane was free—he gathered his magic in as he had back in the school, when Lindsay was letting him play.
“You should go now. ” He didn’t want Lindsay to feel this the way he knew he would.
“Noah.” Lindsay didn’t have to articulate a protest, Noah could feel his fear and resistance like a weight. Lindsay’s presence twined more tightly around his mind, clinging like a vine.
“I’ll be there soon. I promise. ”
The rose on his wrist began to fade. “Be careful, ” Lindsay said, and then he was gone.
As Noah sent out the first wave of fire, he was sorry for it. He was angry that it fell to him to do it.
But the fire had no such emotions, only joy and hunger and lust. As Noah fed it with magic, it fed him in
turn, filling him up with malicious glee. That was what Lindsay didn’t need to feel, the euphoria of feeding on flesh.
The second wave of fire ripped through the lab, hotter than the first. It overflowed through the burning, melting doors and roared through the halls. The facility was huge, and though the alarms had sounded, there were still people here and there. Sometimes, Noah could feel them just before the fire caught them.
The fire followed the air through every crack, into every hiding place. Plastic had a terrible, acrid taste, but Noah devoured it all anyway—he didn’t want anything left for Moore to use. In a crypt full of cold so deep it burned his fire in return, he knew he’d found things she wanted to keep, and he pushed magic through the fire to make it strong enough to erase her treasures.
Time to go. Noah’s rational mind knew he was endangering the others if he stayed. He followed the same path Dane and Jonas had taken, drawing the fire from it and pushing the heat and flame aside. He saw daylight through the shimmering, burning air. Daylight and the green of living things. Part of him wanted to stay and hunt down every last Hound and those who made them, but Lindsay was waiting.
Outside, the van waited at the edge of the trees. There was nothing but chaos around the buildings.
Some of the half-finished Hounds had escaped before Noah had managed to destroy the lab, and were running amok. He felt more than heard the distant thud of helicopter blades. That explained why he didn’t see any soldiers—they were waiting for backup. A shadow passed over him and Ylli dropped to the ground a moment later.
“You’re all right?” Ylli looked well enough, if rattled. He spooked easily, but it would take more than that to make him flee.
“I’m fine.” Noah didn’t know how he was, but he was in one piece. “We’re ready to go?”
“Kristan has Zoey. She was watching Lindsay, but she sent me for you, as soon as...” Ylli gestured and now Noah could make out the tall figure that was Dane, and the small person who was almost hidden in his embrace. For a moment, Noah was sure he’d stopped breathing, but he inhaled and nodded at Ylli.
“The other one that came out is in the van already.”
“Jonas.”
“You want to hurry up?” Kristan’s voice cut through the chaos. She had Zoey by the wrist and was all but dragging her to the van. Zoey had her open laptop cradled in her other arm, eyes on the screen. “We can kiss and cry later.”
Zoey looked up as Kristan caught up with them, her eyes huge. “This stuff,” she said excitedly. “You wouldn’t believe it. These people are evil. And insane. But really smart.” She snapped her computer closed and shoved it at Ylli as she broke into a run. “I have to tell Lindsay.”
“No.” The single word came from all three of them at once—Noah, Ylli and Kristan—and stopped Zoey in her tracks.
“It can wait.” Noah reached out to take her arm. “You can tell him later. A lot later.”
“I...okay.” Zoey fell in line, keeping pace with them. “You’re naked,” she said, as soon as she realized. Noah let her go as she pulled away, and she stumbled into Ylli.
“Geeks.” Kristan snorted irritably. “I’m driving. Noah, that other guy keeps asking for you, so I told him to sit in the van.”
They reached the grass and Noah’s hot feet stung with the cool damp of it. The van door was open and a figure huddled behind the driver’s seat. He had no idea what to do with Jonas, but he’d have to manage.
“Why is everyone naked?” Zoey sounded distressed.
“Sit in front and you don’t have to look,” Ylli said soothingly. Kristan ran ahead to jump into the driver’s seat and Ylli hurried Zoey after her.