Kindred of the Fallen (40 page)

This was her new life as Kindred. She sucked in a deep breath, holding her stomach. If Cyrus had endured this for more than two hundred years, handling mercenaries and battling monsters without her, surely she could do it with him. All she had to do was plug into that feeling of invincibility she had whenever he held her, ground herself in the sense she could accomplish anything with him at her side. Her chin trembled as she exhaled, calmness returning.

She glanced out the window. The foliage was rich and vibrant. Ripe colors painted the trees: russet, gold, burgundy—sapphire. She blinked once to be sure.

A single battle-guard warrior, already shifted with wings spread, burst through the tree line in broad daylight, headed straight for them.

Her jaw dropped as she screamed, but there wasn’t any time. She caught a glimpse of cold, shimmering blue eyes just before he rammed the vehicle.

The deafening sound of the car tumbling overshadowed her screams. The Hummer bounced, then rolled. Her arms flailed and her head jostled. The seatbelt locked in place, cutting into her chest. The car continued to flip. Her head knocked against the seat, the window.

Acrid bile pooled in her mouth. She pressed her lips firmly together to keep from puking.

The car slammed into something and Beset’s window exploded.

Nauseated and dizzy, she could see the sky and grass through the shattered windshield. Terror kept her senses sharp. The car was upside down.

She depressed the button for the seatbelt, but it didn’t release. She reached out with her left hand and touched the bark of a tree trunk. Her right hand grazed glass below her. Beset’s head moved slowly in front.

Talus was free, turning in the front passenger seat. “Are you all right?”

Blood rushed to her head. “I’m okay, but I’m stuck.”

Talus crawled into the back seat next to her. A midnight blue fist punched through the window. The warrior grabbed Talus by her ankle. She kicked with her other foot but to no avail. He dragged her through glass shards out the window as she reached for Serenity.

Coughing, Beset stirred. A second later she dropped, free of her seatbelt.

The warrior threw Talus to the ground in front of the car. She sprang to her feet, but as she turned, he grabbed her by the neck. Her legs dangled in the air as she tried in vain to pull his hand from her throat.

Beset kicked out the cracked windshield, crawled through the opening and tackled the warrior while he still gripped Talus, strangling the life from her.

As they toppled to the ground, Beset put him in a headlock from behind. Her skin shifted and wings exploded from her back tearing her shirt to shreds.
 

For some reason, she didn’t seem exposed without her shirt. She looked as natural as Abbadon in shifted form.

Talus kicked the warrior and clawed at his face.

Serenity tugged at her seatbelt, unable to get loose. Her temples pounded from hanging upside down. Her heart felt lodged in her throat.

Talus broke free of the warrior’s grip as he thrust his elbow into Beset’s stomach, forcing her to release him.

The warrior spun on one knee and punched Beset in the face. The blow left her dazed for a second, then she flew into the air, kicking him in the head.

Talus ran for the Hummer. Then she skidded to a halt, her face panic-stricken as she looked up.

Something heavy landed on top of the undercarriage. The steel roof of the vehicle screeched and crunched against the ground. Was there a second one? Would it crush the car and her with it?

Beset hurled several shiny pieces of metal in the air at whatever was on top of the car.

The Hummer rocked from weight wobbling side to side. A cobalt warrior fell to the rocky earth twenty feet from the busted window.

Yanking on the jammed seatbelt, Serenity stayed fixed on the warrior who’d fallen, wondering if he’d rise. Her heart punched at her chest. She had to get free.

Talus crawled through the front of the car and ripped the strap of the seatbelt. They climbed out over broken glass together.

In mid-air, Beset fought the other warrior. A sapphire blur of punches, kicks and flapping wings. She slipped something from her utility pocket. A double-sided hammer.

She struck the warrior with ferocious speed. Several blows to the head and torso, and he fell to the ground.

Near the damaged vehicle, the second warrior rolled to his side, pulling serrated stars from his chest. He drew a sword from a scabbard strapped to his back.

Blinding
barenpetium
gleamed in the light.

Beset landed in between them and the warrior. Holding her arms out, she guided them backward, looking around as if searching for something.

Both warriors of Sekhem got to their feet. Brandishing swords, they closed in.

In a blink, Beset ripped a door from the Hummer. Serenity and Talus stayed behind her and maneuvered to keep the tree and the frame of the vehicle to their backs. Holding the door by the handle, Beset hoisted it up like a shield. Talus drew a dagger.

Metal clanged on metal as the warriors struck the door.

“It won’t hold,” Beset said, straining under the weight of the attack. “Find my
kushar
.”

“What?” Serenity asked.

“Looks like a short spear,” Talus said as she crouched low, slicing the Achilles tendon of one of the warriors. Then she drove the blade into the other’s foot.

Grunts and howls erupted over the clanking sound.

Serenity ducked into the husk of the car. Crawling on broken glass, she found a black duffel bag. She stared at a plethora of weapons unable to pick out the right one. Dumping the contents, she sifted through the objects.

Talus snatched a set of one-pronged rods, juttes.

Sunlight bounced off a long blade with etchings. Serenity grabbed the two-foot spear and hurried back to the fighting. Beset dropped the hammer-like weapon in favor of the
kushar
.

A sword sliced through the door, tearing it in half. Talus faced the warrior who had deep cuts in his chest. He lunged, swinging at her head. With skilled moves, she used the juttes to fend off his strike.

Beset smashed the remaining piece of the door into the other warrior and advanced. She raised the spear and lowered the makeshift shield. As the warrior charged, the spear in her hand elongated.
 

With a lightning twirl and a single swipe, she brought him to his knees. His head slipped back and fell from his neck.

Talus grunted as she defended against the relentless attack. The warrior pinned her to the tree, leaving no room for her to maneuver.

Beset took to the air and swooped down on the snarling warrior, saving Talus. He pivoted, meeting her spear with his sword.

As they ascended, their fluid movements were too fast to follow. The spear dropped from her hand, but Beset pulled something from her boot and brought it down hard into his chest.
 

The warrior fell. His sword clanged against rocks off to the side.

Beset floated over him, coming down on the grass beside him.

The warrior wrapped his hand around the black handle of the blade stuck in his chest and yanked it out. With a monstrous roar, he bolted up and flew at Beset.

His hands clamped on to her shoulders and he shoved her backward. Their bodies locked together in a fierce struggle as they mowed down several trees until Beset’s back slammed to the ground. Crouched on top of her, the warrior wedged the blade into her throat.

Serenity sensed ripples of Cyrus’s energy stream, drawing closer. The faint undulations were distant, but deepening. She searched the sky.

The warrior hovered over Beset’s body and pushed the blade through her neck into the soil with his foot. Then he turned and faced Serenity.

Savage ire sprung up in her. She could feel Talus’s energy stream vibrating behind her. Fear fused with rage and Serenity reached out for Talus’s pool of energy. There was no web this time. Her life force latched on to Talus in pulsating tendrils.

A jolt of static electricity clipped her as they connected. She took a deep breath and drew on Talus’s energy, sucking it in and funneling it into her own stream.

Her heart throbbed in her chest and she focused on the white-hot fury burning in her blood. Energy in her core bubbled as she drew in more from Talus. She rooted herself in the feel of her own power and strength.

One day she would die, but it wasn’t going to be today and not at the hands of that monster. The warrior’s face contorted into a look of repugnance and his eyes narrowed. With a flap of his wings, he lifted off the ground. As he flew at them, she held his vicious glare and discharged a brilliant burst of energy from her core.

The wave slapped the warrior and propelled him backwards. He sailed through the air, his body tearing down trees until he slumped to the ground.

She inhaled short gasps, the sound of her ragged breath mingled with the hammering of her heart in her ears. The warrior’s head popped up, followed by his body. His sapphire lips curled back, revealing ivory teeth and he snarled.

He charged forward, ascended in the air, and let out a guttural howl that echoed in her bones.

Electric heat gushed up in her and she dug deep in her core. Her energy stream held steadfast to Talus’s and she channeled the surge into a bristling knot in her stomach.

She didn’t want the warrior to die. She wanted him to suffer as he died.

With everything she had, she projected a burst of energy. The air crackled as a magenta ball of plasma crashed into him, but it didn’t pass through him like one of her waves.

Enmeshed in the middle of the churning ball, he plummeted. He flopped in the dirt, howling.

Bolts of magenta energy lacerated him and blood poured from the wounds in his chest.

The gleaming ball deepened to a bright purple. It pulsed with each breath Serenity took.

Blood seeped from his eyeballs and skin. She held on to her rage as she watched him die, and not until his blood-soaked body stopped twitching did she release her focus.

The plasma ball dimmed and faded.

She put her hands on her knees and inhaled deeply. She was queasy, but wasn’t going to be sick. As she stood upright, she was invigorated.

He was dead…and they were alive.

She turned to hug Talus, but she lay on the ground—unconscious.

“Talus?” She ran to her and pulled Talus into her arms. She checked her pulse and searched for a glimmer of her energy stream. Talus wasn’t breathing.

Rocking her, she stared at her with horror. She couldn’t be dead. She hadn’t taken that much energy. Had she?

“Talus! Wake up!”

She closed her eyes and concentrated on releasing energy. She focused on Talus and how much she loved her. She had to wake up. Serenity pumped energy into her, but Talus’s stream was no longer bright. There was nothing. She touched Talus’s pallid cheek. “Open your eyes.”

Talus lay in her arms limp and cold.

A cloud shaped like an angel blasted through the trees, shifting to the color of bark.

And her
kabashem’s
energy stream pooled into hers.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Cyrus landed beside his mate. His heart thundered in his ears as he scanned the battlefield. Beset lay slain near a cluster of knocked down trees. The Hummer was a battered hunk of metal.

Two other warriors were dead, and by the looks of it one had died a gruesome death. From the tattoo on the decapitated one’s shoulder, they were battle-guard of Sekhem.

“I did something to her!” His mate cried. “I’m not sure…took too much energy.”

He lifted Talus into his arms, holding her close. He detected dim vibrations of energy, growing weaker. She was alive, barely.

Please don’t let me lose another.

Serenity shook, stumbling backward, hyperventilating.

A rush of energy pumped into him from his
kabashem
, flooding him. He gasped from the electrifying charge.
Too much.

He funneled the surge of anima into Talus, steady and slow.

His body hummed from the sudden surge. His limbs quivered as he strained to control it. He tried to hasten the release, but the energy flow of the collective couldn’t be altered. Only his mate had the ability to manipulate the rate and force of energy she shared.

The outpour of anima from his
kabashem
didn’t stop. Soon she’d be depleted and unconscious like Talus.

“Serenity, stop,” he pleaded, struggling to maintain the delicate flow into his daughter.

She throttled back and broke the flow of energy as if turning off a valve. Her knees buckled and she puked.
Too much.

Abbadon descended next to Beset’s body. Amon moved in the direction of the gory dead soldier. Carin ran toward them.

Faint ripples of energy emanated from Talus. Her eyes moved. They didn’t open, but he’d seen it. Her eyelashes had fluttered.

“Abbadon’s right,” Serenity whispered. “I’m a threat. I’m a danger.”