Claimed (4 page)

“I won’t let you hurt her,” Dec shouted, though he knew full well no one was listening. He bowed his head and drew a deep breath through his nose. He needed to calm down and think straight. Before he got back to Galena, his priority was notifying Aislin there was another rogue. He needed to let Eli know, too. One of them would give Moros the news: the Lord of the Kere wasn’t in control of his creatures.
Again.
And only he could put this right.

Too restless to wait for a car or the cops, Dec decided to take a page from Cacy’s playbook and break the rules—by using his Scope as a means of transportation. Well, h
e’d
broken the rules before, too, like the night h
e’d
discovered Galena was the one his father had meant him to protect. H
e’d
sneaked into her apartment, just to make sure she was safe. And then h
e’d
been so ashamed of spying on her that h
e’d
left immediately. Although they were supposed to use their Scopes only to ferry souls, his Scope would take him wherever he most needed to go. He reached for it and pressed his thumb to the raven again, expecting it to open a portal to his apartment.

But when he pulled his Scope open, he gaped in surprise. Lab equipment lined the walls, and a slender transparent figure sat alone in front of the giant computer in the center of the room. Though she was just a shadow in the Veil, Dec could read the tremble in her shoulders and the defeated bow of her head. She was hurting. Scared. Her fingers were closed around her phone. She was waiting to hear from him.

Though he had no right and no good reason, though h
e’d
thought he had other, more important things to do, he stepped through the intra-Veil portal and stood in the in-between, only a few feet behind Galena. Immediately, two Kere appeared, their eyes glowing red and their claws extended, ready to rip him to shreds. Galena’s personal guards, handpicked by Moros himself. Dec held up his hands. But they had already stepped back; they had recognized him.

“Has something happened?” asked Nader. He had a stern face, olive skin, and long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. Dec knew him to be a fierce Ker who tended to kill with sudden bursts of violence.

“I think so,” said Dec. “One of Galena’s research volunteers was murdered. And I believe a Ker was involved. The dead soul said her attacker had red eyes, and no one came to collect the bounty.”

Nader tensed. “You think there’s another rogue.”

“Looks that way,” said Dec. “Stay vigilant.”

“We’re always vigilant,” said Tamasin. She had her dozens of ebony braids tied back at the base of her neck with a colorful scarf, but that was the only thing whimsical about her. Dec had worked with her only a few times, but on those occasions sh
e’d
killed with heart attacks or strokes. Quick. Trevor was like that, too. The guy worked all day as a paramedic so he could balance out the lives he took at night. Dec respected that in a Ker. He hated when they drew it out and savored the suffering.

“I’ll be updating your boss and mine as soon as I talk to Galena,” Dec said.

Tamasin nodded at Galena’s shadowy figure. “She seems fragile. Do you have to tell her?”

Dec had no idea. All he knew was that Galena was waiting. For
him
. Like his fingers were on autopilot, he flipped his Scope and opened a swirling window into the warm, messy real world. He pulled the edges of the Scope wide.

And found himself staring right into Galena’s green eyes.

CHAPTER FIVE

G
alena spun around at the strange slurping noise behind her and found herself staring at the angular gray face of Declan Ferry. With a gasp, she shot back until her chair hit her desk. She had seen the Ferrys use their pendants to open a sort of window into this Veil place, but it was still surreal to behold—especially right here in her lab. Dec lifted the round window up and then lowered it over himself, so that his body was revealed inch by inch, from his head to his boots. He then stepped over the silvery hoop at his feet, picked it up, and pressed at its edges until it shrank back to its normal size. He clipped it to a setting in the platinum chain around his neck.

And then he raised his head and met her eyes again. It took several seconds—during which the silence was broken only by clicks from the malfunctioning DNA sequencer—for either of them to speak.

“Hi,” Dec finally said, his voice hushed. “I need to let the powers-that-be know what’s happened, but I wanted to tell you first.” He eyed her tense posture, her hands gripping the edges of her chair. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Is Luciana in the hospital?”

She knew the truth before he spoke it. It was in his eyes. “Luciana didn’t make it. By the time I got there, it was too late. She’s in Heaven now, Galena. I guided her there myself.”

The laugh burst forth from Galena’s mouth, hysterical and loud. “I’ve never believed in Heaven or Hell.”

“Whether you believe in them or not, we all end up one place or the other in the end.” He tucked his Scope into the collar of his uniform, which looked like a cross between a wet suit and military fatigues. He had some sort of gun holstered at his belt. Galena’s stomach tightened. Dec’s gaze slid from her face to his waist. “It’s a tranq gun, Galena,” he said gently.

Galena bowed her head. “Luciana suffered,” she murmured. “I
heard
her suffering. She called me right after she was attacked. And she said it was because of me.”

“But you know it wasn’t. Someone attacked her. Someone who wants to get to you. I don’t know exactly what’s going on yet, but I’m going to make sure we figure it out. I just wante
d . . .
I wanted to tell you. In person. Luciana’s okay now. She’s not suffering anymore, and she never will again.”

“I couldn’t help her,” Galena whispered. Her agonizing minutes on the phone with Luciana replayed in her head. Sh
e’d
felt so helpless. As if in sympathy, the faulty DNA sequencer across the room made more clicking noises.

“I think I know how you feel,” Dec said. “I feel it every day on the job. But trying to help matters, even if you can’t save someone. I wouldn’t be able to survive being a paramedic if I didn’t believe that. And you tried, Galena. I’m sure Luciana heard your concern. She knew she wasn’t alone.”

Galena swiped stupid tears from her cheeks. She supposed he would know. Like Eli, he was dedicated to helping people, even when it was dangerous to try. He was far braver than she was. Knowing he was with her, helping
her
now, gave her the strength to share the news that had been plaguing her ever since Dec had ended their phone call. “I’ve tried to reach my other volunteers. I haven’t gotten ahold of a single one.”

“How many?” he asked.

“Five in all. Two of them were fine yesterday, and a third checked in this afternoon, but it’s been hours since she left here. The fourth didn’t show up today. I’ve called and messaged all of them several times. I don’t know what else to do.”

Dec pulled a phone from his belt. It had interactive holographic capability, which had been cutting-edge right before their world had collapsed. Since then, phones like Dec’s had become as rare as on-demand hot water. It must have cost him a fortune. He began tapping on its surface, and then held it up to show a projected display like the ones Danny provided. “I’ve got access to Central Dispatch records. Give me your volunteers’ addresses and we’ll see if any of metro Boston’s emergency services were at those locations tonight.”

Galena blinked at him. “Okay.” She gave him one last glance before turning to her computer. His black hair was disheveled, like h
e’d
run his hands through it. When he approached her desk and set his phone down next to her so they could both see what it projected, it was all she could do not to scoot away from him. Dec smelled of some subtle herbal cologne and masculine sweat. A warm, almost
hot
, kind of scent. It was making her heart race. It was overwhelming, and after everything that had happened tonight, all her coping mechanisms had worn away. “U
m . . .
here they are. The addresses,” she said, waving at Danny’s screen.

Dec was silent as he entered the address for V1, a young man named Andrew Bolcher, but then he cursed as a few paragraphs of information scrolled in front of them. “He was DOA at the North Boston Medical Center at sixteen thirty-four,” he said. “Home invasion. Multiple stab wounds.”

Galena shuddered and put her hand over her mouth. “Try that one,” she choked out, pointing to V2’s address. Nadya Odrova. Sh
e’d
been there just the night before, and after Dec had left, the
y’d
talked about how lucky she was, that she hadn’t been home when her apartment had been broken into.

After a manipulation of the data floating in front of him, Dec cursed again. “I’m sorry. She’s gone, too. It was reported about two hours ago. There was an explosion of some kind. It’s not clear yet what happened.”

“Oh God,” whispered Galena as a silent sob made her chest convulse. “This is all my fault.”

Another minute was all it took to determine that V3, Mitch Hanson, was also dead, another stabbing. “Try V5,” she whispered, dread consuming her.

V5. Katsumi Phillips. Galena remembered how the young woman had shyly reported that she was going to use the stipend provided to the volunteers to buy her mother and younger brother bus tickets to join her in Boston, how they currently lived in the lawless swamplands of Mississippi and needed a better life.

“Damn,” muttered Dec as the cold black letters were projected into the air above Galena’s desk. “Katsumi Phillips was DOA at the Central Medical Center at seventeen hundred. This one was an explosion, to
o . . .
corner of Fayette and Jefferson. Shit. Cacy and Eli took that call. The police are thinking it was a bomb.”

Galena didn’t hear whatever he said next. The horror had swamped her, sending her swirling down a deep inky hole. She doubled over, hugging herself tightly, the tears streaking from her eyes. Five innocent people with bright futures ahead of them. Gone. And the only reason: because they had volunteered to help her test her vaccine. “I can’t do this,” she whimpered. “I can’t.”

He caught her as she began to slide to the floor. Galena normally hated uninvited touch, but right now she welcomed the steely warmth of his arms, because she felt like she was about to fly apart. “I’ve got you,” he said quietly.

He didn’t pull her closer to him—he was simply keeping her on her chair, preventing her body from hitting the cold tile. This steadiness made it possible for her to breathe again. “Why would someone do this?” she asked.

“My first guess is because they can’t easily Mark you—you’re too protected—so they’re going after anyone who might help you with your research.”

“Anyone? Dec, what about Jian and Ankita?”

His arms stiffened. “When was the last time you talked to either of them?” He released her as she jerked upright, reaching for her phone.

“Jian was in earlier today, but h
e’d
gone home by the time I came in. And Ankita left maybe half an hour ago.” She hit Ankita’s name and sagged with relief when her lab assistant picked up. “Ankita! Where are you?”

“Home.” Ankita blew a sharp breath into the phone. “Dealing with the usual hassles of living in this town. My apartment was broken into.”

Galena shot up from her chair and put the phone into speaker mode. “Say that again.”

“It’s okay, Dr. M. They didn’t take much. Sure did mess everything up, though.”

Dec’s blue eyes were hard on Galena. He raised his eyebrows as if asking permission to speak, and Galena nodded. “Ankita, this is Chief Declan Ferry of the Boston EMS. Have you contacted the police?”

Ankita let out a frustrated laugh. “Sure, but do you think they’re going to show up anytime soon? They told me—”

With a crack and a whoosh, the line went silent. From somewhere out in the city came a deep
boom
.

Dec’s eyes flew wide. “Ankita?” he asked sharply. Both of them looked at the phone. The connection had been dropped. It was so quiet in the room that a loud click from the DNA sequencer made Galena jump. Dec frowned and looked in the direction of the annoying machine, and then turned to Galena. “Call her back.”

Ankita’s number went straight to voice mail. Dec walked over to his own phone, on Galena’s desk. “Do you know her address?”

Galena closed her eyes, trying to get herself to focus and picture Ankita’s personnel file. “It’
s . . .
u
h . . .
six Berkeley Street.” She couldn’t stop shaking. She couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t hold one single thought in her head. A hard chill raced down her spine. Suddenly, this lab didn’t feel safe.
Nowhere
felt safe.

Dec entered the address, and the words that projected in front of him this time were bright red instead of black. Dec grimaced as he read a bunch of codes and symbols Galena couldn’t decipher. “It’s an active call,” he said in a hollow voice.

“What happened?” Dec gave her a pained look. “Please,” she whispered. “I need to know.”

“Massive explosion. Uncontrolled fire. Fire and EMS requested.”

“Explosion.”

The glitchy DNA sequencer clicked once more, and her questioning thoughts from earlier about the source of the machine’s malfunction came back to her all at once. Mechanical parts, smacking against something. A blockage.

Something inside the machine was keeping its components from moving correctly.

My AC unit went on the fritz, and now it’s making this weird clicking noise,
Nadya had said.

Galena looked into Dec’s eyes and said the only words instinct allowed. “Get me out of here.”

His brow furrowed. “You don’t want to—?”

The sequencer clicked again, and Galena flinched. Dec’s gaze lasered over to the faulty machine, and then he looked once more at the words scrolling through the air between them. His eyes widened. “It
was
a timer,” he whispered.

He grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the exit, pushing her in front of him as they burst through the doors of the lab. As they jogged down the hall, she glanced over her shoulder to see he had his phone to his ear. “Eli,” he barked. “I want you to call me as soon as you—”

The roar of the explosion silenced him. The lights in the hallway went out as the world shook and began to fall apart. Galena was thrown forward and crushed to the unforgiving tiles. As hunks of plaster and ceiling panels rained down, Dec landed on top of her, his arms around her body and his head bent over hers. “Nader! Tamasin!” he shouted. Was he speaking some foreign language?

Deafening cracks and the hiss and crackle of flames filled her ears, and then another, smaller explosion had Dec arching over her, holding her head to his hard chest. “Hang on,” he said, bracing his other palm against the floor.

She gasped as his body lurched, like he had been hit from above.
The building,
she thought,
it’s coming down.
She coughed as dust filled her lungs. Dec held her tighter as his body shuddered, but then collapsed, boneless and relentlessly heavy. For a moment, all she could hear was the stumble and stutter of his heart. It didn’t sound normal at all. “Dec?” she wheezed. “Dec?”

She needed to get him off of her. She couldn’t breathe. The air was stiflingly hot, and his weight was crushing her. In the pitch black, she reached up to touch his face. Her fingers slid through something wet on the firm ridge of his cheekbone. She didn’t have to see it to know what it was. The memory came on hard, her trembling fingers sliding over her own belly, the grinding pain, the slick crimson mess.

But this isn’t you. This is him. He’s hurt.

Slick crimson mess.

Not you. Him. Hurt.

“Galena Margolis,” called an unknown female voice from somewhere nearby. “Help us locate you.” The voice sounded calm and in control. A rescuer? Or her would-be killer?

Galena flattened her palm over Dec’s cheek. “Dec.” He was her only ally now. He couldn’t be gone. “Please.”

He moaned. Her thumb stroked across his jaw, a reflexive gesture of pure relief.

“Declan Ferry,” shouted the female voice. “Confirm your presence.”

“H-here,” wheezed Galena, her thoughts going fuzzy. “Here.”
They can’t see you. They can’t hear you.
She forced herself to let go of Dec and stuck her hand out, digging through debris. They were completely buried. Dec’s weight didn’t allow her chest to expand. Each breath was shallower than the last. Her fingers wouldn’t obey her now. The debris was too thick, too hard, too much. Like trying to swim in an ocean of stones. She drew as much air into her lungs as she could and then forced the word out one more time, with as much volume as she could muster. “Here!”

We all end up one place or the other in the end,
Dec had said. Where would she go when it was her time? She closed her eyes. Dec’s heart was still thumping unsteadily in her ear. She prayed h
e’d
get through this. She liked that idea. He seemed like a nice man. A good man. She would have liked to have gotten to know him better.

Thank you,
she thought as everything faded to black.
Thank you for trying to save me.