Holocaust (The Deadwood Hunter Series Book 3) (25 page)

Chapter 32

“There she is,” Caden said over his shoulder.

Lincoln felt his stomach lurch before he saw her. He’d been tracking the wolves since the night before. Standing in the distance, he watched Lexia as she met with Grey, who seemed to lead; though there were many alphas in the group. He’d seen Caleb, too. Even though he very rarely stayed with the wolves, he did look to be working with them.

Lincoln knew he’d been horrible to Caleb. Shutting him out and blaming him for Lexia being taken wasn’t fair, but at the time, he’d needed someone other than himself to blame.

“Something is wrong,” Lincoln observed as he watched her. It took all that he had to stand and observe from a distance. The instinct to protect her was almost impossible to ignore.

The wolves met her on the hilltop. Caleb wasn’t with them, nor were the rest of the shifters who’d been hiding within the forest.

“Caleb’s not there,” Caden said. “We should go find him.”

“I will. Just not now.” Lincoln watched as anger lit her face, followed by frustration and then desperation. He’d taken two steps before Caden stopped him.

“She wants to be left alone.”

“I want to help her,” Lincoln growled.

“Give her time,” Caden answered, just as Lexia answered the phone.

Lincoln stopped breathing as he watched her. Her body tensed, terror washed over her as she stumbled down the hill in blind panic. His eyes followed her as she started running, sliding down the hill. The wolves seemed to fall into chaos; the leader followed Lexia, but the others just stood stunned.

Lincoln stepped from the cover of the trees, Caden following, heading for Lexia. She’d breached the fence line as hunters started to pile out of exits. They seemed to be fighting between themselves. Lexia spotted someone. He watched her cutting her way through the fray, swift and agile, her eyes lit with a fire he’d not seen in a long time. She saved the girl and killed the hunter in one swift blow.

“Linc!” Caden called in warning, but it was too late; his claws had already slid through his fingers, ready to slice through the fence. He’d heard the hum of electricity running through the fence too late; it zapped through him, agony flowing through his muscles. Lincoln landed on the ground, his body twitching and all he could do was watch her.

He’d been wrong. She was a leader and she had changed. The woman he used to know was unsure, struggling with the weight of her power, but the Lexia he saw before him…she fought with a skill, born of the need to protect. Her blades cut through flesh with precision, her eyes glowing with the strength of a warrior. Lincoln forced himself into a sitting position as she disappeared inside.

“Linc, are you okay?” Caden asked, hovering over him.

“Did you see her?” Lincoln asked, his eyes still on the door she’d disappeared through.

“Yes, she doesn’t need protecting, Linc.”

“No, she needs saving,” he ground out, forcing his body to respond.

Lexia didn’t need help saving these people, nor did she need protecting from those opposing her. Yet as he’d watched her, alive and fierce, a force not to be reckoned with, there had been something missing, because underneath all that strength, underneath her desire to save the hunters and her friends, Lexia was tired. She was tired of this life, tired of the fight, and if he didn’t make it to her in time, she’d be forever out of his reach.

Chapter 33

“Lexia!”

Lexia doubled back. “Belinda, Marcus, thank God, are you all right?”

“Yeah, we are, just.” The walls shook as a boom vibrated through the walls, shaking the ground beneath their feet.

Lexia reached out balancing herself as the shock of the explosion travelled past, but no sooner had the ground settled, when another explosion went off.

“Fuck,” Marcus shouted.

“Get out of here, and when you do, find Ross and Zac. They are our bargaining chips. Do not release them to Sarah until every hunter has been given their life back,” Lexia ordered, and in the same instant four hunters, their eyes glazed over, rounded the corner, blocking Belinda and Marcus’s exit.

Marcus fired his gun and Belinda drew her blade. “Go, Lex. We’ve got this. Go find Derrick and Alice.”

She watched as her friends were surrounded and could only hope she’d taught them enough to make it out alive.

Lexia had a feeling she knew exactly where Lucy would be, and as she ran through the twists and turns, feeling as though trapped in a rabbit warren, explosion after explosion quaked the walls of the compound.

Opening the door, Lexia strode inside. Alice and Derrick were bound on the far side of the room. Alice had tears streaming down her face, while Derrick, on the other hand, looked like he’d kill Lucy himself given half the chance. They were also joined by two humans. By the cut of their suits and the air of superiority they held, Lexia could only assume they were the two missing board members. Unmoving beside Lucy were three of the glazed-eyed hunters.

“Maura, so pleased you could join us.”

“I wasn’t aware we were meeting, Mother,” Lexia replied in the same condescending tone Lucy used.

“Well, you are here now. Just a minor issue to clear up before we move on.”

“Do enlighten me.”

“First, I’ll introduce you to these gentleman. Both are members of the board.”

“What has this got to do with my friends?” Lexia cut in. She’d had enough of playing games.

Lucy glared. “I’ve been brought some troubling information, Maura. Information that could not possibly be true, because my daughter couldn’t have known the names of the board members and there is no way of her contacting the outside.”

Lexia listened, not sure what to make of Lucy’s statement. She sounded almost hurt…shocked even.

“This place is surrounded by those bloody wolves. She could have easily leaked information,” spat one of the board.

“Silence,” Lucy boomed. “Maura has been hunting them, not helping them,” she shrieked.

Even Lexia could hear the desperation in Lucy’s tone. She really did want that statement to be true.

“Tell them, Maura. Tell them,” she shouted, her eyes wild. Lucy paced the room with a gun in her hand. She waved it toward Derrick and Alice.

“Mother,” Lexia said sharply, wanting her attention away from Derrick and Alice. “What is this? The hunters have gone mad, attacking each other and we’re in here?”

Lucy’s anger drained, replaced with delight. Lexia swallowed, forcing herself to keep it together as Lucy spoke.

“Oh, darling, don’t you remember? We must
start again,
but first we must cleanse our home. That is what these are for.” She waved dramatically toward the glazed-eyed hunters. “And I have so much more to show you. I made a breakthrough,” she carried on whimsically. “Such glorious things await us, Maura.”

Lexia stepped forward as Lucy’s face hardened. “But first we must get rid of these problems,” she said, lifting her gun.

Lexia’s breath caught, her heart threatening to rip straight through her chest. Gunfire resonated around the room, once, twice, yet as Lexia stared horrified, unable to even scream, it wasn’t Derrick and Alice who slumped down dead, but the board members.

“I don’t need them anymore,” Lucy explained calmly. “And you only need one friend. Choose.” Lucy smiled at Lexia.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Lexia replied, closing the distance.

“Oh, fine. I’ll choose. We’ll keep Derrick. He loves to protect you.”

“No,” Lexia growled, stepping closer.

“Really? This one is quite annoying and is of no use.” Lucy pointed the gun at Alice. “Why not let fate decide?” Lucy squealed in excitement. “Eeny, meeny,” she continued, pointing the gun from Derrick and then back, “miny, moe.”

Lost to her madness, Lucy never noticed Lexia strike out, kicking her away. Lucy fell to the floor and turned to look at Lexia in confusion. Lexia pulled her gun free aiming it at Lucy.

“But…but you’re with me,” Lucy stammered, looking so lost, Lexia almost felt sorry for her.

“I’m sorry, Mother, but I was never with you.”

“Her,” she said, directing an unsteady finger at Alice, “you stood there, and let me turn your best friend into a hunter.”

“I did. I did many terrible things in the name of the game. I schemed and manipulated and in the end, you lost.”

“No,” Lucy said, shaking her head, “United, we stand. Divided, we fall. That’s what you said.”

Lexia’s smile turned cruel and smug. “I’m sorry, Mother. I meant the shifters. I stand with them. I freed Sahara. I ordered the wolves to destroy that building, and I went through your office and found the clues that led to the board. You’ll all be dead soon enough and this program will be, too.”

Hurt. There was no doubt that was the emotion which crossed her face. For the briefest of moments, Lucy Hunter looked broken, though it didn’t last long. Seconds later, her usual cruel smile graced her lips and she was shrieking for the hunters to attack.

In one swift movement, Lexia threw her knife at Lucy, embedding it in her shoulder. Firing a round of bullets into the hunters, she moved swiftly toward Derrick and Alice.

He held out his hands for her to cut the rope. Pulling the ruby knife from her leg-strap, Lexia bent and sliced at his binding. Derrick gasped out her name as something connected with her back. Sprawling forward, the knife fell from her grasp. She rolled over, kicking out as the hunter jumped on top of her. Twice her size and unable to feel fear or pain, the hunter crushed Lexia beneath him. Thankful she’d stocked up on weapons before meeting the wolves, Lexia slid a blade into each hand from the hidden arm sheaths she wore. Given her position, the cuts she inflicted as she thrust up didn’t mortally wound him but gave her a little more room.

It was all she needed.

Arms free enough to move, she slashed horizontally across his chest, spilling his blood onto her. Rearing back with a gargled angry yell, Lexia followed through, scissoring both blades across his neck. He tumbled to the floor as she turned to face the other two.

Derrick broke free of the frayed rope and dove for Lexia’s discarded knife, hurrying to free Alice.

Confident Derrick would keep Alice safe, Lexia focused on the task before her. The hunters were riddled with bullets yet didn’t seem to feel the pain.

“What have you done to them, Mother?” she asked, dancing out of their reach.

“I’ve improved them, until the next step is ready.”

Listening to Lucy’s answer wasn’t hard; fighting was as ingrained as breathing. Training every day until your body moved on instinct, with a skill not many possessed, made finishing the other two off an easy task. Though these new hunters carried on longer, they still died, and could still be injured. Whereas before they’d have collapsed in pain, these carried on until their bodies literally could function no more. It made for a gruesome killing. Severed limbs and blood splattered wounds, created a lot of mess. When Lexia had finally finished them off, she turned, and wiped her brow, smearing blood across her skin. “It seems they’re not as improved as you first thought, Mother.”

“You are and always will be my greatest creation,” Lucy answered.

Her answer wasn’t expected, nor was the bile that filled her mouth. It was becoming clear – somewhere inside Lucy’s sick, twisted mind, she might actually love the daughter she’d created.

She felt the soft vibration of her cell at the same time a large boom reverberated through the compound. Dust and debris from the concrete ceiling above filled the room, temporarily clouding her vision. Coughing as she inhaled dust, Lexia rasped, “Alice, Derrick, time to move.”

“Why are you doing this, Maura?” Lucy pleaded, sounding genuinely hurt.

“Are you really so surprised, Mother. I’ve warned you time and time again. Eventually, they will rise against you.”

Glancing at her cell, she read the message.

Grey – 5 minutes, we can’t wait any longer.

“Why are you still here?” Lexia snapped, glaring briefly at Derrick.

Alice stood by the door looking lost and frightened.

“I’m not leaving you,” Derrick said firmly.

Letting out a frustrated breath, Lexia groaned, “We do not have time to argue.”

“Then don’t,” he growled.

“Watch her,” she spat, pointing a finger at Lucy. “Alice, here, take this.” Lexia pulled the small gun holstered to her thigh.

“W-what, I’ve never used one. Why aren’t you coming?” she asked, in a small voice.

Lexia took the gun and wrapped Alice’s fingers around it. “I can’t, but you need to leave now. You
need
to leave. Go do the things we’ve always talked about. Live the dream I never will.” Stepping behind her, Lexia lifted the arm holding the gun. “Aim, and pull the trigger to fire. Safety is off. Just aim and shoot. Got it?”

“I think so.”

“Follow the signs for the cargo hold. Before you reach it, you’ll see a sign for an emergency exit. It’s the third corridor before the cargo hold. Go, be quick.”

Lexia gave Alice a soft shove to get her moving. When she’d run from sight, Lexia turned back, ready for the game to end.