Allie's War Season One (155 page)

“No,” I managed.

But it was too late. He gripped whatever it was in his hand and squeezed, hard. The collar cracked; I felt it break in two, right before I felt the creature inside the device die on my neck. It hadn’t occurred to me that it had been alive before that moment, a kind of animal wrapped around my throat like a parasite.

I felt the creature breathe its last, then Revik was pulling the prongs out of the holes in the back of my neck, gently, his fingers shaking so badly he struggled a few times before he managed to get it off.

It wasn’t dramatic, like I expected.

My light crawled back around my body, like someone turning the sound up on an old radio very slowly. I was staring at a man with Revik’s body, feeling the careful brush of Revik’s fingers, smelling him even, when his light erupted around mine, sliding into me without warning.

Feeling his heart react, I cried out, pushing him away from me.

His arms encircled me though, too strong for me to get away. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t take a breath, but he only crushed me tighter in his arms, caressing my hair back from my face, pulling me into his lap. I noticed, as if from far away, that the tattoo on his arm didn’t show; they’d covered it somehow, just like the scars, just like the upper part of his chest...just like his face. He was slick with sweat, and now that I could feel his light, it was entwined with everyone else’s in the room. I could feel Ullysa on him, the male seer I didn’t know, some human,
Kat—

“Allie.” His voice was thick, full of tears. “Allie, honey...please. Please. Baby, please...” His words broke apart, jumbled almost like they had in the cabin in those mountains.

But I couldn’t think about that, either.

“...only way...the only way I could think of...” His hands tightened on me painfully. “I knew he had you...had to get to him...not get you killed...”

He caressed the hair out of my face, kissing me, sliding his light tentatively into mine. I could tell he wanted to do more. He was afraid. Not only afraid of what I thought of him...or even that I might leave him.

He was afraid of
me.

He kissed my cheek, holding me so tightly I couldn’t move.

“Honey, please...please...I love you so much...”

I couldn’t look at him. It wasn’t even his face, but I couldn’t stand the thought of him seeing me, of him looking through my expression to whatever must lay behind it right then. So I stared into the more dimly lit room, watching the three seers arm up, checking guns and ammunition clips, going through the pockets of the humans, likely looking for organics, any listening devices. I could hear them, their voices crackling through the Barrier, and realized they weren’t alone.

They were communicating with someone else...a whole lot of someones.

This was an operation of some kind. This was an op.

I tried to make it mean something in my head, but couldn’t.

Revik was pulling on my arms, bringing me gently to my feet. I let him, but kept my eyes away from his. He leaned me against the doorframe, and I stood there, watching as he reentered the room. He didn’t look at me as Ullysa handed him a pile of his clothes. He pulled them on, and I couldn’t help but notice he was still hard, or that the others’ light still reacted to his, more than to one another’s.

But they were all dressed now, and heading towards me, but more specifically, towards the door. I watched, unable to look away as Revik pulled on a belt, then his shoes, before donning a vest like the others.

Ullysa paused at the door to touch my face. Her eyes bright, she kissed me on the cheek, squeezing my arm. I didn’t return her gaze, but felt another swell of emotion on her, something I didn’t try to detangle. Kat gave me a wide berth, but I felt Revik watch her do it, his light holding an open threat.

It wasn’t me he was looking at, though.

Or me who’d been about to give him an orgasm when Nenzi opened that door.

I forced my eyes off both of them, biting my lip.

The other male, who I didn’t know, bowed deeply to me, gesturing in respect. He handed me an organic vest, bullet proof, then helped me put it on when my fingers fumbled with the catches, unable to work them. He tugged it around me snugly and coiled the organic fasteners around my waist and ribs, patting it to make sure it was tight. Once he had the vest where he wanted it, he reached into his coat, extracting a gun. He held it out to me, handle-first.

I stared at it, then met his gaze.

He smiled, indicating for me to take it.

But it was Ullysa whose fingers closed over the organic casing, pulling it away from my eyes. When she did, I felt an odd surge of relief.

“Not right now,” she murmured, glancing into the room, at Revik. “Maybe in a little while, all right, Esteemed Bridge?”

I still couldn’t bring myself to speak, but I nodded.

I didn’t look towards where I could feel Kat staring at me.

Revik approached me then. He’d pulled off most of the prosthetics.

He was peeling a final layer off one cheek. He’d already removed the contacts. His narrower face grew visible below, harder than the face he’d been wearing, and more tired than I’d ever seen it. His eyes looked deadened, and I realized I could feel other things in his light too, flavors I recognized, but not from him. He yanked the wig off his head, exposing his darker, shorter hair sweated to his head. He tossed it into the room without looking where it fell, running his fingers through his real hair, and I noticed he was wearing my father’s ring. For some reason, it was that small detail that brought my heart to my throat.

It was he who avoided my eyes now, so I could stare at his face, force myself to take it in.

He was alive.

For a second, I managed to see past what I’d walked in on, long enough to replay what he’d said, to hear his words.

...had to get to him...not get you killed...

He took hold of my arm.

I felt the caution in his fingers, but also his worry, his wanting to get us out of there...and an almost desperate protectiveness that threw me after everything else. I could feel a commotion in the Barrier, getting louder the more I listened to something besides him, the more I tore my attention off the room and the other seers.

The others began walking down the hall.

Revik pulled me to follow and I stumbled to keep up.

I remembered the boy then and turned my head, staring down at the broken body on the carpet. But not entirely broken. The boy had turned his head.

The glazed eyes were staring at me.

They were looking at me and at Revik, and I saw his lips moving, the chest fighting for another breath, his eyes fighting back to life.

The spark in his eyes flickered, began to glow.

Revik must have felt it through me. He turned, and the gun was back in his hand. I hesitated, the barest instant...but it was too long.

“Wait!” I yelled.

I said it right as the gun went off.

The bullet hit the small head between the eyes. At that close of range, no one could have missed, much less Revik. I saw the boy’s head break apart, then slump. I felt him die as much as I saw it.

The end was abrupt, and as soon as it happened...

I felt Revik stumble.

I grabbed his arm. A surge of panic hit me; it quickly overshadowed everything else. His knees buckled. I tried to catch him, but he was too big for me. All I could do was grab hold of his shirt and his waist, fighting to hold him up...and going down with him instead. I ended up kneeling on the carpet next to where he lay on his side, gasping for breath.

I yelled out for the others, bending over him.

“Revik!” I gripped his hair, looking into his face. “Revik, no.
No, no, no...”

His eyes muddied. I watched it happen. I could only kneel there, helpless as he changed in front of me. He fought to breathe, looking up at me, but it was too late. I felt it in his light. I felt it reconfiguring, pooling around and slamming into him.

I knew. I’d known, even before I knew...maybe even in Tarsi’s cave...

“No, baby...no,” I whispered, caressing his face. “No...”

“What the fuck happened?” Kat demanded, standing over us. “What did you do? Did you stab him, Bridge?”

“No,” I said.

“He did it to save you! He did it for
you,
Bridge, you ungrateful bitch—”

“Shut up, Kat.” Ullysa knelt on Revik’s other side. When she reached for him, fury blazed in my light. I shoved her away, harder than I intended.

“Don’t fucking
touch him!”
I snarled.

She stared at me, her eyes nervous.

When I struggled to breathe, I realized that my own eyes were glowing. I could see them reflected in Ullysa’s, tainting her face the palest shade of green. It had been so long it shocked me.

Looking away from her, I focused back on him. I gripped his shirt, fighting to control myself, staring into his face. His eyes were glowing too. He stared up at me, and for an instant, I saw the boy in his eyes.

“Allie,” he said. “What happened?”

I stroked his hair back from his forehead, caressing his face. “You’re all right, baby...we have to get out of here...” I fought to speak, to get past the lump in my throat. “Can you walk?”

I felt it though, snaking around him, and around me.

He stared at me, and the light in his eyes dimmed, then flashed brighter.

“Allie.” I heard fear in his voice, but it was Revik again. “Allie...what happened? What happened...” He turned his head, staring at the broken body of the boy on the carpet. The small corpse didn’t look real to me now.

I realized it never had been. It had been nothing but a vessel...a broken doll.

I saw Revik begin to understand, and somehow that was worse. It was worse than anything I’d ever seen in anyone’s face in my life.

“It’s all right,” I said, helpless. “It’s all right...”

“Allie...” Terror eclipsed his expression. “Allie...”

“Later. We’ll talk about it later...” I fought my voice steady, tugging on his hand. “Revik...please, baby...please. We have to go...”

His expression broke, then seemed to...fragment. I watched him trying to incorporate what he felt, then to push it away. It was like watching two people...or more...vying for the same space.

“What the hell is going on?” Kat muttered.

She sounded afraid now though. When I looked up, still clutching his shirt, she was staring at Revik. I could tell she was looking at him with her light. She was in the Barrier, and her eyes and face held nothing but shock.

“What the
fuck
is wrong with him?” she said.

I stammered, trying to speak, but couldn’t seem to form the words.

“It’s him,” a different voice said.

I turned. Ullysa had spoken that time. She was so pale I didn’t recognize her; her skin was almost gray. She gripped my arm.

“It’s Revi’...the boy. He was Revi’...he was split. Like Terian...”

“Yes,” I managed. “Yes...please, don’t touch him.”

“I won’t.” She took a breath, but her color didn’t come back. “Allie!” Ullysa gripped my arm again, so tightly it hurt.
“D’gaos!
What do we do?”

“What does this mean?” Tobias said, speaking Prexci now. “What is this?” His voice was angry, but I could hear the fear behind it, too. He was staring at Revik’s glowing eyes. “Explain this!” he demanded.

Ullysa still stared at me, though. Like I was a lifeline. Like I could help them all, somehow...or maybe just Revik.

“Is he...” She swallowed. “Who is he, Alyson?”

I debated not answering, then realized it was no use.

“You already know,” I said, clenching my hand in his shirt.

Miserably, I looked at her. Seeing the horror in her eyes, I hardened my jaw against a rush of protectiveness that hit me like a physical force. I was still holding his shirt when he sat up. He stared at my face, and I could feel it suddenly, that he was reading me, reading my light.