Shadowed (Fated) (31 page)

He dropped to his knees and rolled instinctively,
his head smacking the concrete path, his hand losing a grip of his blade. He
looked straight up, seeing the dark coiling shape of a Scorpio tail lashing
down, heading straight for his face, the razor-sharp edge glinting, and then he
heard a whooshing sound and the Scorpio, a guy in a long trench coat and a
Clash T-shirt, went spinning backwards, a dark stain spreading over the Clash,
his mouth a gaping pit.

He disappeared a second after he hit the ground and
Cyrus stayed staring up at the sky, blinking at the clouds. Someone had saved
him. He rolled to his knees, his hand going to his shoulder, feeling the flesh
flapping free, his fingers soaked in warm wetness. He had a brief moment of
dizziness when he staggered to his feet and looked around.

There were piles of bloodstained clothing,
discarded shoes, a few swords lying glinting in the grass. They had to have
killed three dozen or more of the things. How had they managed to survive this?

Ash and Vero were standing back to back, their
weapons still raised, breathing hard and fast. Vero was covered head to toe in
blood, like she’d taken a shower in the stuff, though the fact she was still
standing told Cyrus it wasn’t her own.

Selena was on her knees, panting. There was no sign
of the Mixen she’d been fighting off. Victor was grunting as he tried to tug
his sword out of the writhing body of another Mixen. He pulled it free with a
shout and rammed it through the its chest, finishing it off.

Flic stood on the other side of the garden, wiping
sweat from her brow as Evie fired her last bullet into the head of a Scorpio
lying on the ground still groaning. For a brief moment, as he watched them
both, Cyrus pondered the sheer luck that the two of them had shown up just when
they had.

He was distracted from the thought by the sight of
Evie’s legs. She was wearing a dress and her legs were all he could focus on
– the lithe, pale length of them, the point where they disappeared under
the skirt … but then little black dots started to dance in front of his eyes.

Evie turned just then, bringing the gun slowly down
to her side. For a second he saw the worry in her face.

And then he pitched forward and fell into
blackness.

Evie dropped to her knees in front of him, catching him before he
could land face flat.

‘Cyrus!’ she called, her hands immediately coated
in blood from his shoulder wound.

He groaned in response, mumbled her name. She took
the corner of his T-shirt in her hands and ripped it clean off his back.

‘If you want me naked, you only need to ask,’ he
hissed between gritted teeth.

‘Ha ha,’ she answered as she started binding the
scrap of material tight around his arm.

When she was done she looked up at him. He was
staring at her. His face was drawn, his jaw clenched, but his eyes were still
glimmering with amusement.

‘It’s going to need stitches,’ she said.

‘It’ll be fine,’ he answered, his gaze holding
hers. ‘Thanks,’ he added.

She stood up and held out a hand to help him up. He
staggered to his feet with a grunt, trying not to show just how much his arm
hurt.

Victor was helping Selena off the ground. She
shrugged off Victor’s hand though and tossed her chin in the air, her eyes
darting to the pile of clothing in front of her. She grinned as Victor slapped
her on the back.

She must have made her first kill, Evie thought.
That changed things ,she supposed, evened things out a little. She watched
Victor disappear inside the house.

Ash was holding onto Vero. She was completely
drenched in blood and for a moment Evie’s legs threatened to give way until she
realised, from the way Vero was smiling and had started kissing Ash, that it
wasn’t either of theirs.

Flic was busy scanning the garden, checking there
were no more unhumans around.

The sound of a zipper made Evie whip around. Cyrus
was fumbling with his one good hand inside his boxer shorts.

‘What are you doing?’ she shrieked.

‘You got any better suggestions?’ Cyrus asked,
taking hold of himself. ‘These burns are stinging like – well, like acid
rain. I either piss on them or you can.’

‘Here. Use this.’

It was Victor. He handed Cyrus a jar of bicarbonate
of soda mixed with water. Evie smiled as Cyrus did up his zipper.

‘That got you off the hook,’ he grinned at Evie as
he took the jar from Victor and started pouring it liberally over his arms and
hands.

Evie winced in sympathy. She knew exactly how Mixen
burns felt.

In the distance the high-pitched wail of sirens
brought her reeling back to the moment.

‘Let’s go.’

It was Victor. He tipped his head at Selena who was
still standing on the veranda staring at the spot where the Mixen had vanished.
‘Come on.’

‘Where to?’ Cyrus asked.

Victor paused, thinking it through. ‘The Getty.’

‘Yeah,’ Cyrus scoffed, ‘because a visit to an art
gallery is just what we need right now.’

‘It’s open air, in direct sunlight and we can find
somewhere to talk that’s out of the way. And, besides, it’s the last place any
Mixen or Scorpio would think of going.’

Cyrus pulled a face at him.

‘He’s right. They won’t follow you there.’

They all spun around to stare at Issa who had
climbed out of the car and silently appeared between them. Evie had almost
forgotten she’d been with them.

‘Who are you?’ Cyrus demanded.

‘I’m Issa,’ Issa answered. ‘We have met but you
don’t remember.’ She nodded curtly at Cyrus’s arm. ‘You need stitches and
antibiotics; otherwise that arm’s going to get infected.’

Cyrus glared at her. ‘You’re a Sybll?’

Issa nodded.

‘And we really know each other?’ He looked to Evie
for confirmation. She nodded.

‘How well do we know each other?’ he asked, cocking
his chin and giving Issa a once-over.

Evie let out an exasperated sigh.

‘What?’ Cyrus asked, shrugging at her. ‘I’m only
asking.’

‘You didn’t know her like
that
. She helped us break into the Bradbury building before.’

Cyrus turned and studied Issa. ‘Well, this is great
timing. Where have you been the last couple of months though? We could have
used your help.’

‘Look, are we going to get out of here or what?’
Flic suddenly demanded.

The sirens were getting louder.

‘Come on, she’s right. Let’s go,’ Vero said,
running to one of the bikes.

Evie strode to the car and threw open the door.
‘Cyrus, get in,’ she ordered.

‘We should all have guns.’

Evie stared around at the almost deserted space
they were gathered in. It was a wide, open-air terrace with fountains,
surrounded on all sides by futuristic-looking white buildings that apparently
housed a world-famous art collection. Not that they’d checked out any of the
art.

Close by, a toddler was shrieking and running in
and out of a fountain while its mother sat on a nearby bench, smiling and
cooing, as if this wasn’t a city where the murder rate was topping over forty
people a day and where sightings of creatures with tails and green skin weren’t
all over the news.

Here in this world, looking out over the
smog-choked city, people wandered as if in happy exile, arm in arm, enjoying
the warm October sunshine, laughing and joking, taking photos of the view,
posing by the fountain, stopping occasionally to check their guide books before
heading off to see more art.

Evie edged into the sunlight and glanced over at
the table where the others were sitting. Vero had been to the bathroom and
rinsed her face and hair and was wearing Ash’s jacket over her dress to hide
the worst of the bloodstains. Issa was beside Cyrus, and the two of them were
locked in close conversation. He was wearing a T-shirt they’d bought him in the
gift shop. It had a Klimt print of two people kissing on the front, though
Cyrus had taken one look at it and turned it inside out, protesting at its
girliness. Blood had seeped through the makeshift bandage and stained the arm
of it. That needed seeing to. Cyrus hadn’t said anything but she could tell by
the tension around his eyes that he was in pain.

‘I repeat,
cabron
,
we should all have guns.’

It was Selena talking. Since the fight her
feistiness and aggressive tendencies had trebled.

‘Guns are no use for fighting in close combat,’
Victor answered her. ‘You’d probably shoot one of us by accident.’

Selena scowled at him.

‘Guns won’t work on Thirsters or Originals either,’
Ash added quietly, picking at the remains of a sandwich.

‘Well, what are we going to do?’

Evie marched over. ‘We’re going to get Cyrus to the
hospital and get his wound stitched up before we do anything.’

‘It can wait,’ Cyrus said quickly.

‘That’s not what Issa says.’

‘OK, boss,’ he said, squinting at her through the
bright sunlight, ‘but first we need to strategise.’

Evie sighed, and looked over at Flic, sitting apart
from the others on a neighbouring table. Her feet were up on the chair in front
and she was resting her elbows on her knees. She hadn’t said a word since
they’d got there. She hadn’t taken her eyes off Victor either. She’d just sat
there, her eyes glittering, fixing him with a predator stare.

‘We retaliate before nightfall,’ Evie said.

‘How?’ Vero asked. ‘You’re not up to full strength.
Cyrus is wounded. We’re all tired. How are we going to fight more of these
things?’

‘Why do they want to protect this thing so much
anyway?’ Selena asked. ‘This way through thing you keep talking about? What is
it anyway? A door? Where does it lead?’

‘Shhh!’ Cyrus yelled, trying to drown her out.

It was too late though. Evie had already heard.
‘What?’ she asked, hearing the tremor in her voice.

No one looked at her. Instead everyone seemed to be
sharing an
oh shit
moment. Even Flic
had taken her eyes off Victor and was biting her bottom lip.

‘What is she talking about?’ Evie stammered. ‘The
way through? What about it?’

‘It’s open.’

Evie glanced at Victor. ‘What do you mean,
it’s open
?’ she asked. ‘How can it be
open? We checked. We went to the Bradbury. It’s shut.’

‘No,’ said Cyrus, eyeing her warily as he took a
careful step towards her. ‘It reopened. That’s what they’re guarding.’

The world tipped and spun beneath Evie’s feet.
Thunder filled her ears and her heart bounded into her mouth making her want to
gag.

She looked around the group for some kind of sign
that Cyrus was joking. Ash and Vero glanced at her guiltily before quickly
looking away. Flic was staring at the ground. Selena was looking to Victor, who
was shrugging at her. Cyrus was the only one who met her gaze unflinching.

‘Why didn’t you tell me? You all knew? And you
didn’t say anything? Even you, Flic?’

Flic bowed her head. ‘I was asked not to tell you.’

‘Evie, we didn’t want to worry you until we were
certain.’

Her mouth fell open but no words would come out. It
was open. How was it still open?

Cyrus grabbed her suddenly by the arm and hauled
her away from the others.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said once they were out of earshot.
‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kept it from you, but I wasn’t sure what you would
do if you knew. I know last time you got it into your head to try to close it.’

The world slung itself to a grinding halt. Evie
swayed on her feet. It felt like she was teetering on the edge of a bottomless
abyss. Oh god. What did it mean? Why was it still open? She shook her head, a
laugh bubbling on her lips. She remembered the Mixen outside the Bradbury who’d
called her the White Light and then run off.

She looked up at Cyrus, everything falling into
place with dizzying clarity. ‘It’s me, isn’t it? It’s me. That’s why it’s still
open. You tried to shut it and it didn’t work. Which must mean I’m still the
White Light. Goddamn it.’

She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or scream.

‘Evie,’ Cyrus said calmly, resting his hands on her
shoulders and forcing her to look at him, ‘you are not the White Light. Do you
hear me?’

He shook her, and with a start Evie realised that
he was afraid. His voice gave him away, as did the force of his fingers,
squeezing her arms.

‘I mean it, Evie. It’s not you. I swear to you. And
if you get any idea into your head to try and close the way through I’m going
to kick your ass. You gotta swear to me on Lucas’s memory, or your mum’s life,
on whatever is sacred to you, you gotta swear you won’t get it into your head
to be a hero. Because it won’t close. You’ll only end up walking around naked
in Malibu or somewhere without a clue how you got there.’ He paused, smiled.
‘Not that I’d complain. About the naked part at least.’