Ablaze (Indestructible Trilogy Book 2) (25 page)

“The lying son of a bitch,” snarls Cas’s voice. “It was a trap all along. He meant you to die. I was supposed to die too…” I stare helplessly at the body. “I should have guessed… my blood would be the end of you.”

I reach out a blazing hand, and as my fingertips touch the corpse’s, it turns to ashes and dust.

CHAPTER TWENTY

A slap across the face brings me into my own body with a resounding crash. I taste blood at the back of my throat, my legs ache, and it hits me that there’s something restraining them. My arms, too. I’m strapped down to a table. In the lab with the blood-soaked floor. Blood.
My blood will be the end of you.
The words ricochet around my mind as I struggle to lift my head, to see the person standing next to me.

Jared bends over me. I’m not even sure if it’s him or not, but he just slapped me. There doesn’t appear to be anyone else around.

“You’re awake,” he says, almost sighs. “I thought it was over, but it looks like I’ll have to stay here a little longer.”

I try to lift my head again, but even my neck’s restrained. “What the hell… what did you do to me?”

“I didn’t do anything, Leah. I restrained you because your Transcendent powers were out of control. You were slipping, and I feared you’d cause damage you’d regret.”

Everything comes back in a wave, enough to know he’s talking complete bullshit. He’d never worry about me. But— “Cas,” I gasp. “Elle…”

Jared shakes his head. “You should be more concerned with your own life. Every Transcendent in the past was overwhelmed by the memories of their predecessor. They were consumed by madness, and by their own power. I injected you with a suppressant, but it might not be enough. You’re living on borrowed time, Leah. Unfortunately, your well-meaning Pyro companions are still out there, and if you try to go back to them, they’ll undoubtedly end up as collateral damage.”

My heart sinks, bile rising in my throat. “No. It’s not true. You’re lying.”

“You’ve seen the visions, haven’t you? You’ve felt the sensations, lived the past…”

“Yeah, how you betrayed them,” I shoot at him. “You lied to the last Transcendent as well as Cas, didn’t you? You’re the one who activated the tattoo in the middle of a war. You let the Transcendent die.”

The truth is written on his every feature, and I know without a doubt this is the real Jared.

“You bastard,” I say, my arms straining against the restraints. I’m Transcendent, and I’m more than strong enough to break them.

But nothing happens, even as the bonds cut into my wrists.

“I told you, I injected you with a suppressant,” says Jared, shaking his head pityingly. “To save your life, of course, but it also binds
all
your abilities.”

He raps on the bench I’m tied to with his clawed hand, and I recoil. Clenching my teeth together to keep from screaming, I take short quick breaths, determined not to break down in front of him. I’ve faced death in the face too many times to fall apart now.

I lift my head the best I can and glare at him. “So this is it?” I ask. “I’m tied up, I can’t use my powers, and if I do, memories of the last twisted thing you did will take me over and I’ll die. And you get to watch the show. Well, I’ll give you a show, all right.”

I spit at him, but Jared moves back, out of range. He sighs heavily. “I’m here because I wanted to ask your preferences after your demise. Obviously, your blood will be invaluable to either side, and I would prefer the fiends didn’t have a chance to get their hands on it.”

What? He seriously thinks I’d give up my blood to him? “I’d rather die,” I snarl. “I’d rather die than help you in
any
way. You can forget it.”

“You
are
going to die,” he says, matter-of-factly. “According to my notes, you’re at the second stage of Transcendence, which for the last one, meant her regenerative powers came into their own. Unfortunately, for all the other test subjects, this was the stage where they were overwhelmed by Cas’s memories and lost all sense of self. Their powers consumed them, one and all, and they died within a week.”

My heart drums in my chest, cold sweat beading on the back of my neck. “A
week?
You’re lying. I’ve been having visions longer than that.”

“And what of their frequency? Are they not occurring in your waking hours, causing you to lose long stretches of memory?”

I don’t answer. He’s right: it
does
seem to have been getting worse. The visions are more vivid, more consuming, each time. And what about Cas in the last one?
My blood will be the end of you.
His blood. No, fiend blood. That’s what Jared used to kill the last Transcendent.

I’m the same. A bomb. He could activate me at any time, and now he’s suppressed my powers, I can’t fight back.

So why hasn’t he yet?

“Your other Transcendents,” I say slowly. “Are they slipping, too? Or are you losing control of them?”

“That’s quite enough insolence,” Jared says, his expression strained, his claw-hand’s grip tightening on the table. His claws make dents in the metal.

He’s not even in control of himself.

“You,” he snarls, “are notoriously difficult to contain.”

“Wonder why?” I retaliate. “You keep sticking me in labs unsupervised. Did you really think I wouldn’t get out last time? And did you think for a second I’d let you lock Elle up?”

“I’d have thought what happened to your Pyro friends might have given you an incentive to stay put.”

“You mean when you killed them.” But the face that comes to mind is… Cas.

“Tattoos aren’t a reliable method of control for everyone.”

“Is that why you didn’t mark me?”

“I don’t need to,” he says. “You’re no threat to me.”

Now his claw-hand is shaking. I can feel it through the table, and I can’t help but stare at him. His skin is so pale, it’s practically see-through. His clawed hand has turned brittle-white, while I’m positive it was the same red colour as the fiends’ the last time I saw him.

It’s going wrong. His experiment’s going wrong.

Not that he’s any less dangerous. I’m tied down. And dying, apparently.

He might not even be telling the truth.
He’s an accomplished liar. In fact… he avoided the question. Why didn’t he mark me? His answer makes no sense. I
was
a threat to him, from the start. He couldn’t have known I’d cut off his arm, turn the Transcendents against him, set Val free. He’s unhinged, yes, but every time he’s tried to control me, the effect’s only been temporary.

I have Fiordan blood. I’m Transcendent.
Somehow, I know there’s more to this than what I’ve been told. That white light when I used my powers, like when I faced the Fiordan…

“Where are Elle and Cas?” I ask.

A heartbeat passes. Then he shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Leah. I did warn you about the consequences of crossing me.”

My heart plummets. “You’re lying. Cas can’t—he can’t be killed.” I have to say it. It’s the truth. It
is.
“Elle. Why would you torment her? She’s not even a Pyro. And she’s your niece…”

I swallow over the lump in my throat. He
has
to be lying. But he set Elle against Cas using the tattoo. From what I saw, it looked like Cas let her stab him rather than risking her getting hurt. What the hell was the point in that, other than cruelty?

“This link between me and Cas is killing me,” I say. “What harm will telling me the truth do?”

Jared’s eyes narrow. His face is paler than ever, and the table’s shaking under his grip. “Elle’s sedated,” he says. “The tattoo’s effect lifted quicker than I anticipated and she was distraught to wake with Cas’s blood on her. I had no choice but to sedate her for her own safety.”

“And Cas?” I hardly breathe. “He’s… you locked him up? Sedated him?”

Before he can reply, the door crashes open. I twist my head, trying to see who just walked in…

And it’s another Jared. This one, without a clawed hand.

“Tell me I’m not seeing things,” I say. “Did you screw around with their DNA, or is this hallucination part of the Transcendent thing?”

The Jared at the table sighs. “What is it?”

The other Jared says, breathlessly, “There’s a fiend, one of yours, and it’s unlocking the cages.”

Jared stares at Jared, and the absurdity almost makes me laugh. The Jared beside me says, “Impossible. They were locked up. All of them. No fiend’s come in or out since…” His gaze drifts to mine.

No way.
That fiend I brought in here. It vanished.

Could it be freeing its brothers?

Not that it helps
me
in any way. I’m still tied down. And dying, apparently. Damn experiments. I wish Val
had
blown this place up. But then Cas would be buried with him.

There’s no way out.

“Damn,” says Jared, letting go of the table, leaving five claw-shaped dents. “Where are the other Transcendents?”

Wait. They’re talking to one another. That didn’t happen before. Is whatever control serum he used wearing off?
Can I make the Transcendents turn on him again?

I squirm against the restraints. The effect’s temporary, and the power in my Transcendent blood will win out eventually. It has to.

And speaking of blood… is the fiend I used my power on earlier still under my control?

“They’re trying to restrain the fiends, but it’s no use; the sedative won’t work. One of them already got into the tunnel.”

It’s beyond weird to hear two Jareds having a conversation. But
what
did he say? The sedative…

Move, dammit!
I struggle. Neither of them are looking at me anymore.

“You let it escape?” Real Jared stares at his counterpart. “Send at least three into the tunnels.
Now.”

The Transcendent-Jared shakes its head. “We can’t. That other Pyro experiment of yours collapsed the platform.”

Real Jared peers down at me, a perplexed expression on his face.

“Not her. The boy.”

“Cas?” I ask, disbelieving. Collapsed the platform? Does he mean the stairs, the other way out? If so… why?

“We can’t have those fiends reaching the divide,” says Real Jared. “This shouldn’t be happening, especially now.
All
the engineered fiends this side of the divide belong to me.”

“All except one.” There’s no emotion in Transcendent-Jared’s voice, but the other stands upright, his hands shaking with anger.

“I refuse to believe even you allowed that worthless excuse for a Transcendent damage my property, let alone allow one of my servants to walk away free. It’s impossible to break the spell. You of all people know that.”

“Yes, master.” Is there something mocking in Transcendent-Jared’s tone? I have no idea. But suddenly, I want there to be as much chaos as possible. I want all Jared’s sick experiments to collapse around his ears.

“Lock down the whole area.” Real Jared’s face is a furious white. “You know what to do. We can’t survive an attack from the other side.”

Transcendent-Jared nods, and leaves the room.

Real Jared whirls to face me. “Damn… I hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”

“What the hell was that about?” I shoot at him. “So your fiends are disobeying you, and it sounds like you’re having trouble controlling your Transcendents, too. And did Cas wreck your escape route?”

“It was no escape route, Leah.” Jared shakes his head. “It was a direct connection with the other side of the divide. I hoped to wait a little longer… you know the consequences if the breach opens.”

“What, you’re planning to
open
the bridge to the fiends’ world?” I gape at him. “You’ll die, and even if you don’t, every other human on this planet will.”

“I’m no human, Leah, not as long as I share your blood.” Jared’s mouth twists in a smile. “And you forget the power I have over you.”

And he pulls out my weapon. My dagger. I feel the stirring in my blood even though he’s holding it far out of reach.

“What…?”

His hand closes over the blade. And pain ignites in my bones. I cry out, my vision instantly flashing to a familiar battlefield…

And then, just as quickly, it disappears. Before I can do more than gasp, my bonds are severed, my hands fall free. I blink several times, convinced I’m seeing things.

Jared lies limp on the floor, a sword through his back. And Elle stands at my side, my own dagger in her hand. She cut my bonds.

So who…?

“No ‘thanks for saving my ass’?” asks a familiar voice from behind me.

“Cas,” I say, my throat hoarse. “How…?”

He walks into view. It’s him, for sure. Blood stains his combat clothes, which are more than a little worse for wear. But it’s his sword he pulls out of Jared’s back.