Blood Deep (Blackthorn Book 4) (41 page)

She closed her eyes before reopening them. Though he swayed in her vision, she could see Eden had done as she’d asked, had braced himself on both arms above Pummel’s unconscious body.

The pain started to ease, the invisible hurricane dying down.

Pummel was still alive.

She looked across at him. He was still wearing the necklace.

The necklace Eden reached for.

‘Don’t touch it!’ Jessie said, her hand held up.

He looked across at her. Held her gaze.

And took the vial anyway.

‘
W
e have to go
,’ Eden said, helping her up from the floor as he shoved the necklace in the front pocket of his jeans.

He had to be caught up in the moment. Or he hadn’t understood what she was saying. Or the urgency to get out of the building was too great for him to care. In the fleeting seconds that passed between him catching her wrist and her allowing him to guide her back down the stairs, she struggled for every excuse to justify why he hadn’t done as she’d asked.

But now was not the time for an argument, not that she could do anything about it even if she did. She’d challenge him about it later, once they’d got out of there – once they’d got the lycan young out of there. They were bound to be targeted – the Night Children indiscriminate with species differences, seeking only youth.

‘What the fuck are those things?’ Eden demanded as they skimmed down the stairs, Jessie’s recovery quickening with every step.

‘Fourth species,’ she said. ‘Night Children is one name for them but as you’ve seen they’re anything but kids. They pick people off in order of age because they feed off life forces – drain you until there is nothing left in order to sustain themselves. All the fourth species are parasitic on some level.’

‘So it’s true – they exist? And there’s more than one kind?’

‘More than you’d want to think about.’

They passed the newel post as they headed down to the kitchen. ‘I’ve heard of individual cases but that was a full-blown attack. Why appear now?’

She yanked hard on the larder door, splitting it from its lock, no longer needing to cover her tracks from Pummel.

‘I think it’s to do with my visions starting again.’ She chucked him a couple of canisters of salt from the shelves. ‘It was only a few nights ago that all my drawings on the wall vanished. That only happens when there’s a major upheaval with what destiny had planned. I think they changed the path.’

‘Who did?’

‘The vampire leader and the serryn. One of them was supposed to kill the other. Instead they both survived. That’s not how it should be. You can’t divert destiny’s path without consequence.’ She got to her knees and ripped off the first padlock before ripping off the second just as swiftly. ‘Whatever they have done has caused a jolt between dimensions, a fissure – like a shift in tectonic plates letting lava through, only it’s the fourth species seeping in. The gap is forged and it’s leaking. They messed with destiny and now we’re all being punished.’

‘You’re saying the fourth species are leaking into our world? As we speak?’

‘And there’s more,’ she said, ‘many more to come. Many different types. Those that prey on humans, those that prey on the third species, even those that prey on both. What you saw tonight was just one small fraction of what lays in the fourth dimension. The bad news is, the parasites are the weaker ones. What you see here is just a tiny part, Eden. Some may say child’s play for what else lurks in the fourth dimension – some that have never been able to get here before but will now. And the more that gap widens, the bigger and the more deadly the fourth species that can get through. It
will
increase.’

‘The fourth species can get anywhere, right? I mean they’re not contained by our boundaries? It’s not just Blackthorn – they can invade other districts?’

‘And probably are right now.’ She yanked off the third and final padlock. ‘This is just the beginning,’ she said, meeting his gaze in the shadows.

He crouched down so he was at eye level with her. ‘How the fuck do you stop it?’

‘You don’t. You can’t. Only they can – the ones responsible for creating this. For the ball to have started rolling, he must have bitten her, but something prevented him seeing it through. It was the worst possible scenario. Now that snowball is just going to keep gathering momentum until they stop it. And the only way to stop it is for the job to be finished. One of those two must die – but only by either of
their
hands. Then the fissure will be closed.’ She wrapped her hand around the handle of the trapdoor. ‘Hold on to those,’ she said, indicating the canisters. ‘The Night Children despise salt.’

Jessie led the way, Eden following close behind her. Remaining vigilant, she scanned the dark corners as her eyes adjusted. She’d see anything long before he would. More to the point, she’d feel it; she’d hear the thrumming and she’d sense the change in the air.

She found the light switch and pulled it on for Eden’s benefit.

The lycan young were recoiled into the corner of the cage, but Tuly promptly took her place in front of them. The young lycan eyed Eden apprehensively as he approached, her watchful eyes glancing between him and Jessie – Jessie’s presence being the only thing that seemed to reassure her.

Eden instantly crouched at the bars so he was below eye level with Tuly. ‘Hey,’ he said, the tone as tender as his stance. ‘My friend here tells me you’re from Jask’s pack.’

Tuly nodded warily.

‘Good,’ he said. ‘That means you’re the bravest lycan young out there, which is exactly what we need right now. I’m guessing you’re Corbin Saylen’s little one,’ he added. ‘And that’s even better. If you’re anything like your father, there’s more fight than fear in you, am I right?’

Jessie’s heart pounded at his clever handling of Tuly, the strength he was bestowing on the little girl who now moved from her cowering position to edge closer towards him. And her chest warmed at watching him, at watching the way he captured and held Tuly’s attention.

‘I’m guessing you’re smart like your father too,’ he added. ‘So you’ve already worked out that we’re not here to hurt you; we’re here to get you out.’

Tuly turned slightly side-on to him in a stance that was typically lycan as she still assessed him warily.

‘I need you to know there’s something in this house,’ he said. ‘Something that might appear.’

Tuly took an anxious step back, her grey eyes darting around the shadows.

‘But it’s okay,’ he said, capturing her attention again. He handed her a canister of salt through the bars.

He looked across his shoulder at Jessie. ‘Can you get that door open?’ he asked, indicating across to the metal door that led into the alley.

But Jessie had already had the same idea. Staying attentive to the shadows around her, she headed over. ‘Two padlocks,’ she called out. ‘Four bolts,’ she added, yanking them back. She looked over her shoulder. ‘The deadlock I’ll have to leave to you. I could end up snapping the handle with the force.’

‘Not a problem,’ Eden said, reaching into the back of his jeans for his pins. He slid them into the lock. ‘Anything comes at you,’ he said, glancing back up at Tuly. ‘And you lob that salt at it – yes?’

She nodded.

‘We’re heading straight over to that door where Jessie is,’ he added.

Jessie pulled the first padlock off and then the second, the force of it creating indentations in her fingers.

‘Once that door is open,’ he added, ‘we’re going to run. But we stick together.’

Jessie’s jaw tightened. She looked warily around the shadows as she sensed the change in the atmosphere, the thrumming low and monotonous in her ears. She hurried forward into the darkness, just as Eden unlocked the cage, saving her the time of ripping it open.

‘Move it, Eden,’ she said, capturing his gaze across her shoulder as she kept her back to Eden and the young. ‘Now,’ she added, keeping her tone as low and calm as she could so as not to startle the latter.

The figure appeared less than ten feet away. It was stood in the same position the others had been with the same lethargic stance. But as they now knew, it was anything but lethargic. It was building up to the attack – making its selection.

There were a couple of gasps and squeals from the lycan young, yelps that she guessed had been quickly muted by others in the group who clearly knew silence was going to be integral. She heard the scampering of feet, felt the wave of motion behind her as they escaped the cage.

‘Jess?’ Eden asked.

‘Just get that deadlock open,’ she said firmly, not daring to take her eyes off the Night Child. ‘It can sense them but all it can see right now is a bright light. I’m like a torch in the face to it.’ She reached her hand back. ‘The salt,’ she said. ‘Give it to me. I’ll use it until the last second. Get Tuly to use hers to create a line of salt between it and them – it’ll buy us all some time once we get out.’

Each time the creature moved, Jessie sidestepped in front of it, blocking its view again. This time it looked up through its hair as if sensing where her eyes were, the vacuous holes staring back at her.

‘That’s right,’ Jessie said quietly. ‘You
fucking
try it.’

The creature started to sway as if realising the extent of the opposition, as if building its attack.

‘Eden,’ Jessie called out. ‘Tell me you’re almost there.’

‘Almost there,’ he called out.

Then she heard a clunk.

‘We’re out!’ she heard him say.

There was another scamper of feet behind her, the lycan young no doubt exiting one by one.

The creature snapped in its impatience, its feet lifting from the ground. It pelted forward only for Jessie to unleash the full canister of salt at it. With a shriek it evaporated.

Jessie instantly dropped the canister as she felt Eden’s arm wrapped around her waist, tugging her towards the door.

‘Let’s go,’ he said, his voice soft, warm, comforting against her ear.

He shoved Jessie through the door before him.

The lycan young had waited for them, their wide eyes and impatient feet telling her they were ready to run as instructed. She grabbed the hands of two, Eden sweeping one of the smallest up in his arms, encouraging another onto his back.

They ran down the back alleys, both of them intermittently checking over their shoulders to see if they were being followed.

‘Pummel won’t let us go that easily,’ she called out to Eden. ‘We should have finished the job. The minute he’s conscious again…’

‘I know,’ Eden said. ‘Just keep moving.’

Because he knew as well as she did that they weren’t talking about being pursued on foot. They knew they were talking about whatever remained of Pummel’s crew pursuing them on the bikes – pursuing them
and
the young.

Jessie tightened her grip on the tiny hands as she followed Eden through back alley after back alley, early light casting an ethereal grey glow on the horizon.

They’d find somewhere to hide out. Somewhere to talk. Somewhere to forge their plan.

They turned left and right, cutting across the street. They took another sharp right.

Jessie flinched the same time as Eden did, Eden almost stumbling back with the force.

The creature held the con to the floor, almost engulfing him with its body twice the size of the helpless male beneath it. With limbs that resembled those of a preying mantis, the four thorn-like hooks that protruded from them were rammed into the fleshy parts of the con’s arms and legs as it pinned him to the floor. At first it looked locked in a kiss, but Jessie quickly realised it was working its way through his tongue.

Worse, it looked almost done.

It turned its head to look at them – a head that almost looked human had it not been so contorted. A couple of the lycan young instantly screamed.

It ripped its hooks out of the con, its rubbery limbs slapping against concrete as it turned to face them.

Eden released the child he was holding to the floor, lowered slowly to his haunches let the other down off his back. ‘Run,’ he said softly to Jessie.

‘I’m not leaving you.’

‘Get the children away from here,’ he said, his gaze locked on the creature that was carefully weighing him up.

But as she glanced over her shoulder, four were already backing away, two younger ones led by two older ones, their instincts kicking in over their fear.

‘Move,’ she said quietly to them. ‘Hide. We’ll find you.’

She looked back the second the creature lunged at Eden. He drew his knife from his pocket as he fell onto his back.

There were screams behind them as the young ran.

Eden stabbed the creature clean in the throat, but even that didn’t stop it, the knife sucked into the folds of its flesh. It seemed to be absorbing every ounce of his now superhuman strength as Eden struggled to keep its head away, its tongue leaving a mucus trail along his cheek as he punched and punched it again.

Jessie was instantly behind it, yanking it off him, its slimy, rubbery flesh making it difficult to keep a hold of as she struggled to pin it to the wall. Its tongue lashed at her face as it struggled beneath her grip, as she strained to hold it there, giving Eden time to get back to his feet.

Jessie grimaced and cried out as it hooked its lower limb into her leg, tearing through her flesh in an attempt to unbalance her and gain the advantage.

But Eden was immediately next to her, pinning its upper left limb against the wall as Jessie did the same with the right. She braced herself despite the pain ripping through her leg as Eden plunged the knife into its side again and again.

As she looked down, she saw Tuly had wrapped herself around the limb that had attached itself to Jessie. She fearlessly worked on the hook embedded in Jessie’s flesh, finally freeing it before falling back with the force.

Jessie flashed her a grateful smile. ‘Go!’ she yelled at her.

‘I remember,’ Tuly declared, struggling back to her feet, ‘the name they mentioned. It was Throme. “Make sure Throme comes good”, that’s what I heard one of them say.’

Eden faltered beside her, the creature nearly tearing itself from the wall.
‘What?’ he said, staring at the young lycan. ‘What did you say?’

‘I’m good with names,’ Tuly shouted over the creature’s gruff protests. ‘I listen – a lot. I just forgot.’

‘Good girl, now go!’ Jessie said, slamming the creature back against the wall.

Eden ploughed the knife back into its side, only now with a renewed fervency, a glaze of anger in his eyes, until eventually it stilled, fell lax in their arms, the weight of it forcing them to let it go.

They both stumbled backwards.