Blood Bonds (41 page)

Farley’s gaze came up for a second. “I don’t
want
to die, Haley.” He scrubbed a hand through his curls. “But I know what it takes to survive. To make sure
you
survive. You’re not safe yet. It would be stupid to think Nidia is out of tricks.”

“Garrett...” Surely he could do something about this, talk some since into him.

“Two of you are more likely to draw attention. This is for the best, Haley. Let’s go.”

“I can’t believe...” She choked on her words. Had they both planned this?

Farley stepped up to her and wrapped himself around her, pushed his face into her neck and thrummed. “Please, don’t leave angry with me.”

She wanted to. Instead she held him back, inhaled his scent and kissed his temple. “Don’t you dare die on me, do you understand?” A part sob, part laugh broke loose from her throat.
God of Man, please don’t die on me.

It seemed wrong that Farley could laugh, even if it was half-hearted and kind of sad. “I promise you, that is one request I plan on doing my damnedest to follow.”

Outside, the wind froze the tears on Haley’s cheeks as she followed Garrett out to the car.

“I need your cell phone.” He handed it to her. She wiped the tears out of her eyes, off her cheeks, sniffled and tried to compose herself. Crying was such a damn bore. She envied those who never impressed the behavior.

Garrett opened the door for her and she got in. Haley dialed. On the fifth ring Gregory answered, sounding wide awake.

“This is Gregory.”

“Can I please speak to Justice?” Even over the phone she could feel the change in him. Or maybe it was just her imagination.

“I am here.” So strange. It was still Gregory’s voice, but the inflection and accent was all Justice.

“Was it your idea?”

His breath stilled.

“Tell me, damn it. Was it your idea for Farley to go to Medan?”

“No.”

“Then who told him he could be my vessel? Which means what exactly? Because I don’t even know what the hell it means.”

“I told him. He asked me how it could be done. He is your Marked. That means he is an extension of you. He can carry your blood and flesh to Medan so you won’t have to.”

“Why would you do that, Justice? Why?”

“He wants to keep you safe, Haley. It’s his duty as your First Marked.”

Haley pressed her fingers to her temple. “That’s not my point.” God of Man, how could she expect him to understand? He had probably killed his way to survival like every other Kin.

“You are afraid for him.”

“Yes! He’s my friend, Justice. He’s all I’ve had for a century. He was the first Male I
fed
from, the first Male I ever had sex with, the first Male I Rolled. I’ve never known the world without him. Can you understand that? Can you possibly comprehend what that’s like? Survive at all costs? Survive? What the hell is it worth if there’s nothing left to survive for?”

When she stopped screaming there was only the sound of the car engine, the wheels on the road, rain starting to tap on the windshield. Garrett clicked on the wipers.

Haley inhaled. The action made her hearts hurt, but there were no tears.

Finally, she wasn’t crying.

Voice calm, Justice said. “Farley is not as weak as you think he is.”

“I don’t think he’s weak.”

“You do not?”

No. Maybe. Okay, fine, yes.
“Quit trying to change the subject.”

“The subject has not changed. The subject is still about Farley. You fear for him because you see him as weak. You see him as not in control of his temper. You see him as Kin. And you see yourself as something other. The weakness you fault him for is the strength it takes to survive. Farley understands that. Any Kin that has fought his way from the belly of the Hive understands that. It is more than eat or be eaten. It is about a willingness to sacrifice a part of yourself. And that is something that you have not learned to understand.”

Haley dropped the phone, kicking and screaming. Her fist struck the dash and it cracked. Beside her Garrett sat motionless, his eyes straight ahead, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. When the tantrum subsided she picked up the cell and put it to her ear. Her breath rattled over the receiver.

“Better?” Justice’s serenity made her want to gouge his eyes out.

“No. No, I’m not.”

“I see.”

“You won’t let her kill him. Tell me you won’t let her kill him.”

“I will protect Farley.”

“That’s not good enough. I want you to swear to me you will not let her kill him.”

He was quiet for a moment. “I swear to you, I will protect him with my life.”

“Good.”

The highway split, and they passed under a bridge. Up ahead the first exit for air-cargo appeared. They were getting there too fast. Everything was happening too fast.

“Haley?”

“Yeah?” Her reflection stared back at her from the passenger window, highlighted by the dash lights.
I look tired.
She felt worse.

“You will not be lost to her.”

“Yeah, well. We’ll have to see about that, won’t we?”

“Be well, Haley Night.”

Her hand dropped back into her lap, feeling like it weighed a million pounds. The light on the screen blinked out. In the darkness the sun flickered on the horizon. The orange and red glow ate out the stars.

Haley looked at the clock. It wasn’t even six. The sun wouldn’t start to rise for another half hour.

“Oh, dear God, Garrett, stop the car. Stop ... STOP!” Garrett pulled the sedan over into the emergency lane. Haley threw open the door and scrambled out. Fire danced on the horizon.

“Haley, get back in the car!”

She looked at Garrett. His face was a gray mask of fear.

He knows
.
He knows what it is, that’s why he was in such a hurry
.

“What is it?” She asked him.

Garrett shook his head.

“Tell me, Garrett.”

He rubbed his face with his hand then scrubbed the top of his brush cut. “It’s Niles. It came over the wire about ten minutes before I got to Ken’s. He escaped the ADF.”

“All those people...” The flames were huge. She’d never seen anything like it.

“He hasn’t left the prison grounds. He’s leveling the place.”

“How did he get out?” She waited for her boss to answer.

“No one escapes the ADF.” Well, obviously that theory had been blown out of the water. “They’ll dispatch a unit.”

And that meant they’d kill him. Niles Fury, the Male who had watched over her. Kept her safe. Kept her alive. A Male who owed her nothing. A Male she didn’t even know.

“I can stop him.” As the only Female employed by the CFKR, it was her job to stop him.

“No, what you need to do is get in the car, so you can get somewhere safe.”

“And if I leave? Then what happens? When he gets done tearing apart the ADF, where do you think he’ll go?” There were a lot of people in the heart of the city. A lot of Human flesh waiting to be consumed.

“Let the Alchemists deal with it.” Was he serious? This close to people? When the Alchemist teams arrived even more life would be lost. This wasn’t like Garrett, she knew that. He was being a friend and looking out for her. “Get in the car, Haley.”

“I can’t let innocent people die. Not when I can stop him. Not when it’s my duty to stop him.” Human life meant too much to her to turn her back.

She took off up the emergency lane.

“Haley!”

There weren’t many things Haley could do at the speed and agility of her people because of her Human influences, except for the shift. And shifting fast meant the
burn
ran hot.

Metaphysical fire surrounded Haley. Rain boiled away on clouds of steam. Pleasure erupted from her upper
ulysiss
and leached into her muscles, where the firestorm of enzymatic processes began to catalyst. Bones popped, muscles moved and joints realigned.

The rush of cellular division spiked her temperature high enough to warp the air. In response, the lower
ulysiss
released, to keep her from burning up.

Haley’s Human hands became claws, her body reshaped, while mass and form multiplied. Wings unfolded from her back, and scales dark as night fluttered, replacing Human skin. Silver highlights bloomed over blue-black armor and horns sprung from her head. It only took seconds before there was nothing left but a lithe Draconian form.

With one push from her powerful hind legs she was airborne. Her wings pulled taut, cutting the air like a blade. Below her, cars skidded on the highway and veered into the retaining wall.

The roar that erupted from Haley’s throat thundered across the sky as she soared. Her tail snapped, her wings pumped, propelling her forward at breakneck speed. Haley’s body churned with metaphysical power, turning the frigid air into an inferno. There was no doubt why her people lost themselves to moments like this.

Like sex, like
feeding
, the power of the shift was a pleasure all its own.

Haley’s dragon sight turned everything into daylight, and details like texture and color were lost. What replaced them was the innate ability to judge speed, distance, and size.

On a wave of metaphysics, she moved at a speed that defied the physical. Within minutes, the ADF appeared on the horizon. While the prison was located below ground, topside contained dozens of I-O departments that employed hundreds of people. A wide stretch of buildings pinwheeled out from a single thick skyscraper, and clinging to the center piece was Niles Fury.

It was like a script right out of a bad B-movie. Monster vs. Concrete building. Only there was no popcorn or cheesy subtitles. Worst of all, people were really dying.

He spread his wings as she circled. Niles was nothing she’d ever seen. A grand mane of black horns spiraled back from his head and ran a deadly line down the center of his back. He was easily twice the size of Medan.

Terrifying didn’t even cover it.

His wings pumped, fueling the fire he had set loose on the place. Niles opened his jaws and flamed. A liquid heat erupted from his jaws, coating the sides of the building and running rivers to the concrete yard below, eating through everything it touched.

“Niles!”

He raised his thick head and the sound of his roar shook the air, the earth, and the sky. One side of the ADF collapsed.

He went airborne.

In one powerful stroke, Niles swept past Haley, his wake of air almost knocking her from the sky. Moving all that bone, scale and muscle broke the laws of physics, and seriously tested the metaphysical. Propelled on preternatural energy, like an invisible solar flare, he moved faster than the eye could track, and with the grace of something far more delicate.

Below, people exited the buildings in waves. The candy sweet flavor of panic and fear rolled up through the air. True forms burned resources at an alarming rate, and the hunger that came with maintaining one was almost constant. And all those people were easy pickings.

Niles was too fast for Haley to stop him.

He swept over the running and screaming masses. The buildings were too close, but somehow he managed the maneuver. His body skimmed the ground, his head flicked up and to the side. With the kind of agility only seen in the ancient, he plucked Human bodies from the ground and swallowed them whole.

Haley dropped from the air screaming. She extended her
chelae
and caught him right behind his tympanic membrane in the only vulnerable spot on his head. Her smaller, lithe form cleared the oncoming structures. Distracted by the attack, Niles was a second too late. In his attempt to turn, his shoulder caught a concrete structure, snapping one of his wings at an unnatural angle. He rolled, first in the air, then on the ground. Cars around the ADF became crushed aluminum cans under his girth.

But the red giant didn’t stay down. He headed back towards the center building of the ADF.

Haley could hear his breath deepen, smell the acrid burn of his fire mixing. Thick strands of fire gland fluid coated his jaws, ran down the sides of his neck. He dropped his head with precision timing and flamed. The weight of the liquid made it fall fast. As the foundation became a pool of molten fire, the rest of the building collapsed in a heap and Niles dove in and started digging.

What the hell?

“Niles!” Haley landed at what she hoped was a safe distance. When he didn’t acknowledge her, she thundered a roar. His bloody red eyes rolled up. “Stop this, Niles. You’ve done enough killing.”

“So predictable...” His mouth stretched into a nasty grin. He laughed and it just didn’t sound right. That’s when Haley saw the ugly scar on his shoulder.

Niles was
marked
.

His red eyes flashed gold then black, and the scent of honey saturated the air. Haley breathed, tasting Queen dragon.

It could only be one. Nidia. Her hearts jack-hammered in her chest.

Niles tossed his head like he was trying to shake something loose. The darkness in his gaze flickered and was replaced by a second or two of recognition.

“Fight her, Niles.” Was it even possible? Haley had no idea.

Nidia screamed in laughter, using Nile’s voice and his mouth. “It’s just me in here, Haley Night. There is no Niles anymore. I control him, I own him; I have crushed him completely, because without the Fury is he is weak! And now I will use him to rip you limb from limb!”

She didn’t even see him move.

But she sure as hell felt the weight of him as he slammed into her. They rolled across the concrete yard, nothing more than a flurry of teeth and claws. Haley fought to keep Niles’ powerful jaws away from her throat. His teeth hit her shoulder and sank to the bone. He slung his head like a rabid dog tearing loose a mouthful of flesh.

And in true form, healing just didn’t happen beyond a normal biological rate.

Haley managed to struggle free of his grip and go airborne. The reprieve didn’t last long. Older, faster, and powered by the metaphysical energy of an ancient Queen, Niles ate up the sky on wings wide enough to block out the rising sun.

If she could keep him busy long enough, his body would eventually burn out, and he’d have to shift back or risk death. But then, with Nidia in control, maybe she wouldn’t care about things like that. Instinct told Haley to run, her Human ethics made her stay. Whatever Nidia was after, it couldn’t be good.