Emergence (The Primogenitor Chronicles Book 1) (10 page)

“Nickolas…”

“Later, Hunter.”

Donald’s eyes shuttered, but not before Nickolas saw the concern etch itself deep. The Hunter nodded. “Sorry, Alpha.”

Nickolas sighed at the formality that he’d induced with his clipped comment and climbed out of the truck. He wished he could redirect both of the other Hunters’ concerns, leaving him free to explore this new territory without hindrance.
Ha, not likely. They’ll both be glued to me now.
Disgusted, Nickolas waved in the direction Christoff searched. “Has he found anything, Donald?”

“We think so. He sent me over here to fetch you.”

Nickolas paused to look back into the truck at the spot where she had hidden. Questions floated through his mind, but then he gave himself a shake and followed Donald over to join Christoff. “So what did you find, Chris?”

“Take a look at this and tell me what you think.” His brother led him a few houses down the road. Behind some bushes in a front yard, Christoff pointed to the ground.

Crouching down, Nickolas examined the skid in the dirt. “Yes, this is her. She’s bleeding much more.” He stirred the dirt with a finger. “We need this ended.”

“Nickolas, Christoff, I found a print over here,” Donald called from the fence to the backyard.

Moving to examine the print with Christoff, Nickolas nodded. “Donald, keep the search going at the road. Come on, Chris, let’s track her to ground.”

He stood and stretched his wings then leapt up and grabbed the top of the fence, pulling himself up. He crouched on the top rail for a moment before spreading his wings; he drifted down in the gathering twilight. Christoff flowed over the fence immediately after.

Her eyes wary and on the lookout for more searchers, Jessica slunk from yard to yard like a feral cat, hiding in the fringes, constantly on the alert. For several hours, she’d managed to stay out of sight by going through the network of suburban yards, but her fragmenting mind made coping difficult. Fatigue, pain, and the change itself took their toll. She put her hand to her head as she swayed to a stop. A moment later she sank into a crouch and fisted her hands in her hair.

“Can’t think anymore,” she mumbled, pressing her hands into her temples and scrunching up her eyes. “Gotta think, gotta think, gotta think,” she chanted then scrubbed her hands over her face. They came away wet. “I can’t take much more of this.”

Her hands fell. She looked up and stared unseeing into the distance.
I’m losing. I can’t do this anymore. Even if I get away from them, I can’t escape myself.

The sound and scent of someone nearing snapped her out of her daze, and she jumped up, startled. A young, teenage girl approached her. Jessica backed up, baring her teeth and growling deep in her throat like a feral dog. The vicious sound helped to bring her a little ways back from the brink, and she cut it off abruptly.

The girl held out a hand fearlessly and took a step closer. “Shhh. It’s all right, it’s ok, shh.” Another step. “They’ve already been here.”

Jessica’s eyes flicked from side to side searching for a way out…or for a trap.

“The recovery team has already searched my house. They shouldn’t come back, and my parents work late. My name is Lisa.” The girl took another step. “I want to help you. I don’t like the recovery people. They came and took my brother away, and I haven’t seen him since.”

The girl’s steady progress pushed Jess against a fence as she backed away. Trapped, she started to tremble; the part of her that wanted to defend warred with the sane part. “I’m so tired,” she whispered.

Lisa slowly advanced. “Come inside. I’ll keep watch while you rest. Please, I really do want to help you.”

Confused, she stood there trapped by the teen’s eyes as she drew closer. Finally, Lisa slowly laid a hand on her arm. She flinched violently at the touch, but Lisa firmly took her hand. Pulling lightly, the girl was able to coax her into the house. Numb, with her brain all slow and fuzzy, she allowed Lisa to lead her up a half flight of stairs to a bedroom on the front side of the house. At the sight of the bed, Jessica groaned and pulled her hand free. She stumbled toward it, falling down on the soft mattress.

The girl giggled. “Wait, you need to take your backpack off.” With Lisa’s help, Jessica managed to struggle out of it and her sweatshirt. But that was as far as she could manage with her exhaustion. She fell back over onto her stomach, sighing deeply. The last thing she was aware of was Lisa pulling her shoes off and covering her with a blanket.

Christoff raised his water bottle to his lips and took a long drink, though he didn’t take his eyes off his brother. Nickolas paced the length of a fence, looking for some trace of the fledgling. Christoff felt his temper surge, so he wrapped another line around it in an attempt to keep it contained and focused his attention on Nickolas. Just like him, his brother was showing increased signs of missing yesterday’s dose of the aggression stabilizer. But it was more than that. It wasn’t like this was the first time any of them had been late with their pills, but Nickolas’s responses, and if he wanted to be truthful, his own also, were different. Nickolas was doing his best to hide what was happening but…
I’m too attuned to him for him to be successful in hiding it. And I’m sure Donald noticed as well. At least everyone else still seems unaware.
For the moment, it was up to him to protect Nickolas. Somehow. Twitching his wings, he took another drink.

“We’re missing something, Chris. We’ve spent the last couple of hours looking through half a dozen backyards. It’s dark, and we haven’t seen another trace of her.”

“We know she’s still here somewhere, Nick. We’ve both caught her scent. You don’t think someone would be insane enough to hide her from us, do you?”

Muttering something about some girl, Nickolas launched into the sky. He sailed over the house, leaving Christoff cursing. Slamming the water bottle back into his leg pocket, Christoff followed him, wondering what girl he was talking about. His brother’s silhouette dropped down to land a couple of blocks away, and Chris circled once, watching Nickolas stalk up to Flynn, who stood near the van.

“Flynn, get me the printouts of the houses already searched,” Christoff heard his brother demand as he landed next to the van. After folding his wings, he settled back against it and watched Nickolas start pacing, running his hand through his hair restlessly as he waited for Flynn to bring him the reports. The door to the van opened and Jules handed them out with a flourish. Nickolas grabbed them, flipping through, obviously looking for something specific. Part way through the stack, he stopped and looked at an entry with more detail before he held the whole thing out to him. “What do you think?”

Reading it, Christoff looked back up at Nickolas, nodding his head. “There was a young girl home when we searched. Since her brother fledged, she might not have been afraid of Jessica.”

“Look at the address.”

“That’s not far from where we lost her trail.”

“Bingo. Flynn, I want all teams to converge on this address.” He handed the papers over to their teammate. “I believe Jessica is hiding there.”

A rough shake to her shoulder pulled Jessica out of a deep sleep. “Hurry, get up. The Hunters are coming back.”

Jessica blinked in the sudden light and sat up, shaking her head to clear the cobwebs from her mind. The girl was gone already, and the sound of raised voices in the entryway pushed her into movement. She ignored the stiffness of her overworked body and grabbed her shoes, putting them on. It took a moment for her injured leg to support her when she tried to stand. One labored step and she reached for her sweatshirt thrown over a chair. The moment her hand touched the fabric; a shiver went up her spine and she froze. Her fist clenched in her shirt and she closed her eyes, knowing her worst fear had just been realized. Straightening up, she slowly turned toward the doorway.

Standing there filling the door and blocking her escape was one of the Hunters. The dark one she had heard someone call Nickolas. He was tall, not as broad as the other one, lean with a dancer’s sinuous grace. His dark hair flowed down past his shoulders. He radiated an aura of controlled power that frightened Jessica more than any other Hunter in her memory. Meeting his eyes warily, she waited for him to make the first move.

Nickolas watched her assess him while he did the same. She was favoring her right leg. He could see where the blood had soaked through the material of her jeans, and he was amazed that she could stand on it to face him. Something inside of him started to relax now that he had her cornered. She looked exhausted. He wasn’t sure how the kid had managed to wake her, or how the fledgling was managing to be coherent enough to function.

Her eyes flicked around the room, and he focused on them. They were the key. Nickolas folded his arms across his chest and her body tensed like a deer about to spring. Cocking his head, he realized that he could feel her presence again.
Either she’s not blocking me anymore or it’s the proximity. But it’s more than just her presence…I can feel her emotion.
Waves of fear and pain poured off of her and into Nickolas, splintering his normal control and level of concentration.

Is this her? Or me?
He continued to maintain eye contact as he spoke softly, hoping not to startle her. “Jessica, you need to come with me. It’s all right; we aren’t here to hurt you. We’re here to take you somewhere safe. To help you get through this.”

Her eyes flashed in annoyance and she let out a snort. “Yeah right, bucko. Not a chance. I know who you’re with. Just keep away from me.”