Read Crown of Ash (Blood Skies, Book 4) Online
Authors: Steven Montano
Crown of Ash (Blood Skies, Book 4) (32 page)
Were they going to use him? Extract something from his mind? Turn him into a vampire?
God damn
it
. W
e have to get out of here.
“Dani,” Cole said
from out of the darkness behind her
.
Black
hadn’t heard
her
wake. “Are you okay?”
They hadn’t spoken much
, and m
ost of the words
they’d exchanged
had been
brief and necessary
to their survival
. None of what they’d said
to each other
had anything to do with
them.
“No,” she said. “I’m
not
okay
.”
A fight broke out
between
a dark-haired
couple
and
a
pair
of Vuul savages
. T
he
Vuul’s
near-translucent skin pulsed
with excited purple and black blood as they clawed for the female.
The
conflict
didn’t last long. Black wanted to do something, but
she’d just get herself and Cole killed in the process
. Besides, it would be over soon enough.
“Dani…” Cole said.
“No. We’ll just get killed, too.” She looked away. A crowd soon surrounded the scene. The Vuul were
amped
up with adrenaline and violence. The woman would be dead before she suffered much.
If Danica had access to her spirit, things would have been different, but he was still locked away. Sealed
off
, either by Narcosm their jailors slipped into the water or by some effect of the Fade, Raven.
“This is bullshit,” Cole said. Her dark hair was much shorter than
the last time Danica had seen her
. Black’s
hair, conversely,
was
just
past her shoulde
rs, the longest she’d let it grow
in a
very
long time. “It’s always
like
this, isn’t it?”
Cole asked.
“What do you mean?”
Danica
asked. “Because you’re not talking about
the living
conditions
here in Black Scar, are you?
”
“No,” Cole said
. “I’m not.”
S
he sat up. They
were
side-by-
side in the darkness. The sound of water
coming into the pipes
drowned out the
sound of
murder
taking
place
just
a few yards away. “I’m talking about
you
.”
Danica looked at Cole. She still loved her.
Lara
had a brusque way about her, but something about her had always been so exotic, so intoxicating to Danica. She was a natural beauty, with her olive-colored skin and dark hair,
her
slight European accent and
her
glittering green eyes. And they’d had
fun
together. They drank and played and laughed, had sex deep in
to
the night and
on
in
to
the morning, stayed
out on the town
wreaking havoc and makin
g other people
smile, mov
ed
and dr
a
nk and danc
ed
and kiss
ed
and
liv
ed
more
than Danica had ever
liv
ed
before. S
he’d
n
ever
felt
happier
anywhere
else
in her life
,
or
with
anyone else
. Lara had shown her how to live
again
, and she hadn’t even
really
tried
– just
their
being together had been enough.
At least for me.
“Why did you leave me?” she asked
Cole
.
Lara
was taken aback for a moment. She looked down at the ground. Her tank top was soiled with grime and water, and her tattooed arms were covered in sweat.
“I
don’t know, Danica,” she said with a sad smile. “I just…things were different. You
always
want
ed
to go further
. You wanted t
o
keep partying
,
to
liv
e
fast
…”
“And you didn’t?” Black asked.
“No, Danica,” Lara said.
She took a breath.
“
I don’t know what I wanted…
or what I want.” She looked at Danica, and her eyes welled with tears. “I don’t love you anymore. I’m sorry.”
Danica felt tears
run down her face
.
You bitch
, she wanted to say.
After all
I’ve done for you. I betrayed
T
he Revengers and
got
a ranger killed. I gave up my best friend
to keep you safe
, and
I
m
ay
have screwed over the entire
human race
in the process.
She
tried to stop
her tears, but
she
couldn’t. They flowed
fast down her cheeks
.
That’s on you
, she told herself.
Cole didn’t do that.
You
did. And now
you
have to fix it.
Cole held her in her arms. Danica hadn’t even realized
she’d
come
close
until she felt Lara’s hair on her face, so familiar, so
soft
. She wanted to hate Lara for not loving her anymore, wanted to scream and shout at her, but she knew she wouldn’t. She couldn’t.
“Are you, uh…you girls okay?”
Gath
was an Islander
. He had
dark skin and hair, a thin goatee
,
and large
and
expressive eyes. His cloak
was
soiled brown and black with prison filth, and he had a
n
almost rat-like quality about him
, with
his
darting eyes
and
an expression and stance
that made it look
like he was always
ready
to
run
for cover
. His fingers were long and spindly
and
covered in old rings. He wore leather bracers and dog-tags, but he certainly didn’t come across as Southern Claw. Likely he’d scrounged them somewhere.
“We’re fine,
Gath
,” Danica said.
He gave them
bowls of white-grey gruel from the feeding bins and a large clay bowl
filled with
water
, which he s
loshed around
so they could hear
that
it was
full
.
“So…what are we doing?” he smiled.
“I’m going to puke if I don’t drink some
thing in the next te
n seconds
,” Danica said. “That’ll be sexy, won’t it?”
Gath
sighed and handed her the
bowl
. Lara chuckle
d
beside her.
“Well
, we need to do this thing soon,” Gath said.
“
I’m horny as hell.”
“That’s terrific,
Gath
,” Lara said. “
Not
now
.”
Gath
pursed his lips in frustration
and fiddled with some pebbles on the ground.
“We may not have much time,” he said
off-handedly
.
Danica took a bite of
the
gruel
. It tasted surprisingly good,
like cheese and meat,
even if it
did slide down her throat like a wad of mucus
.
“What do you mean?” she
asked
.
“I heard something…”
Gath
said.
“Heard…
what
?” Cole insisted.
“I’ll tell you…for a kiss,”
Gath
smiled.
Black set down
the
b
owl
, took a breath,
and
as quick as a snake
hooked
her fingers
around
Gath
’s head and rammed it against the floor. Blood spurted
from
his nose and lip
. No one
even
noticed – the
violence
in
the
middle
of the room had died down, but inmates
still
linger
ed
there
, laughing
and
mocking each other
. N
o one seemed to
care about one skinny man getting beat up in the
dark
corner.
“Dani…” Lara said, but Black ignored her.
“Talk, you little shit,” she hissed as she ground
Gath
’s face against the steel.
“What did you hear?
”
“Okay,” he breathed through a
mouth
ful
of blood. Danica eased up enough
for
him to
sit up and talk.
“God, you bitch,” he started, and Danica moved to grab him again. “Okay, okay…Jesus…”
“Talk,” she said. “Now.”
“They’re taking you away, all right?” he said.
“Which one of us?” Cole asked.
Gath
glared at Danica.
“
You,” Gath grinned. “They’re sending you to t
he
Gauntlet.
”
Danica felt her heart sink
.
Shit.
FOURTEEN
ALLIANCES
He walks through a city of the dead.
Black corpses
stand in rows to either side of the wide
road that runs through the necropolis
.
Bloody r
unes
cover
their skin
, and the
bone blades
used to carve those markings
lay at their feet.
The b
uildings are vague
and
dark
,
just
shadows and edges
in the
smoking fog.
The height of the buildings reminds him of
Kalakkaii, the place where he grew up.
He
recognizes
the bodies. They
’
re people he used to know. He has trouble putting names to faces, but he
knows
their statures, their
shapes
.
His
body goes
cold as he walks down the lane.
I
ce ash fall
s
on his shoulders.
Frigid wind
blows in
from the blue horizon.
The sky is a pulsing slate of frost. The gelid sun
hangs
like a stain.
Bones
are piled high
in the streets
.
S
ome
devastating event
has
lanced
its way
through his hometown and turned it to a
smoking
graveyard.
His b
ones ache from
walking for so long
. Kalakkaii
i
s n
ot
this big, and yet
he feels
like
he’
s walked for hours down the same lane,
always
passing the
same
rows of the
dead. He
’
ll never reach the end of that road.
Kane woke
up
coughing. He
lay
on a crude bed. The walls were green steel bolted together with rivets. The clang of furnaces and industrial equipment shook
bits of sediment loose from
the
ceiling
.
He sat up. His back
was twisted
with pain, and sleepy muck covered his eyes. His
was shirtless
, and his tattooed arms
were both
hooked to
IVs
connected
to two different movable mechanical
carts loaded
with vials, bags and whirring engines.
Kane could barely
keep his eyes
open. He’d never felt so tired. He coughed again
. He knew
he should have been dead.
“Good morning,” Jade said from the doorway.
She’d changed out of her traveling armor and now wore
a
loose gray
and brown shirt
that
was far too
bulky
for
her thin frame. Her
cargo pants
ended just below
the
knee, and she wore
long
sandals wrapped around her
well-manicured feet
. Kane
supposed
he’d never realized just how lovely she really was.
“Good morning,” he groaned. “So I guess I’m
not
a vampire?”
“It seems that way,” she smiled. “But
only
barely.”
“Swell.”
Burke stepped into the doorway behind her. Kane stiffened.
Stanislas Burke was a Warden of Black Scar, one of the only Wardens
,
besides
Danica
,
who
Kane had ever been forced to interact with on a fairly regular basis
during his time in prison
.
Burke had been the head of
the
hellish cell block where
Kane
and Ekko
were
held
. A surprisingly personable individual, Burke nevertheless had
a cruel streak a mile long
.
He also had a fresh scar
run
n
ing
down one side of his face that hadn’t been there when Kane had last seen him in
side
the prison.
“Good to see you’re alive, Kane,” Burke said in his thick British accent.
“I’d say it’s good to see you, too, Mr. Firth, but I’d
be lying.
”
Kane cough
ed again
. “Pretty scar you’ve g
ot there. Did o
ne of your pets
get out
?”
Burke smiled grimly.
“I’m afraid ‘my pets’ are no longer mine,” he said.
“Huh?”
“Get dressed, Kane. We have a lot to discuss.”
“Yeah, like why I shouldn’t stand up and beat the shit out of you,” Kane growled.
“Kane…t
hat’s not going to do anyone any good,” Jade said quietly.
“Listen to your lady friend,” Burke smiled. “What’s done is done. Any differences you and I have will need to wait until after we resolve our mutual problem.”
Burke turned to leave
.
Jade
lingered
a moment,
and then
follow
ed
. Kane saw his clothes on a small stand next to the door.
“Wait!” he called out. His throat was raw and sore. “What ‘mutual problem’?”
Burke turned and looked at him.
“We need to determine how we’re going to save your friends
:
Eric Cross
,
and
my old
associate
Danica Black.”
They were still in the Grey Clan complex. Kane was thoroughly disappointed,
but
not at all surprised.
They
walked
through g
reen steel halls and
over
metal
catwalks
. Burke
led
them
past
vats of industrial grease
that stood
beneath
curved domes
made
of iron
and pitted bronze
. G
outs of steam
filled the air, and the grind of massive pistons and gears
drowned out all other sound
. The refinery never
seemed to
stop
. S
caly humanoid workers moved with grim determination, never paus
ing
to rest or socialize.
Kane
and Jade followed Burke
through a complicated network of mesh walkways.
The metal ceiling pulsated with orange and green lights as strange fluids washed back and forth
through
highways of translucent tubing.
The air smelled like burning iron.
“What do they do here?” Kane asked.
He felt fluid in his lungs. They were walking in the strange green goop again, and he hadn’t even realized it.
“Wait…
Burke,
what the hell are
you
doing here?”
Burke pointed to a door
that
led into a small
cub
e
-shaped
building
made
of grey
concrete
.
A number of electrical cables and dangerous-looking
antenna
on top of
the building
flashed
with
pale
electricity.
They
walked through
the door
, and i
t closed
behind them
. T
he sound
of machinery
receded to
a background haze
,
and the gooey murk
they’d been breathing
melted away
to clean air
.
I will never get used to that shit.
The room was large
,
sparse
and riddled with cracks
. Drifts of dust and piles of tools
filled
the corners, and a long pair of benches sat at opposing angles near the center of the room.
Ronan,
Sol
, Maur, a
pair
of Grey
Clan
wearing
gas masks
and
two
Revengers waited in the room.
Most everyone
sat facing a
gigantic and primitive
-looking
monitor
attached to metal beams
running up
to
the ceiling
.
L
oose wires and cables
ran
from the bottom of the screen to a small
but noisy
generator that
leaked smoke
.
The screen displayed a series of black and white maps, sepia quality images that flipped, shifted and realigned. The screen was controlled by
a large control stick
attached to the monitor via another cable. O
ne of t
he Revengers
held the controls
,
the same
tall woman with short brown hair
who’d
earlier
drawn the vampiric para
sites from Kane’s body
. Her partner was an imposing black man with tattoos on his face and thick
musc
les
. B
oth
of them
wore the tell-tale
dark
leather armor of Black Scar.
The
two reptilians
were unquestionably
the same
ones
Kane had
met before:
the brutish giant
and the slimmer
,
human-like creature who’d nearly killed Jade with
its
magic. Despite the fact that Kane had
injured
the big one’s
knee
– it
wore a splint around its leg
– and that the other
one
had threatened to wipe
out
Jade’s mind
, everyone seemed
at ease
. They s
tud
ied
the schematics
on the screen
while the woman
used the
control box
to search
for something.
“What the hell?” Kane said. “Did everyone go nuts?”
“
Hi
, Mike,” Ronan said. “Sleep well?”
“Maur is glad you’re okay,” Maur said.
“Yeah, thrilled to be here, been a long time…what the
crap
is going on?!” He looked at the female Revenger. “You’re name is Turner, right?”
“Charmed,” she said.
“And you’re
Marcus
,” he said to the other.
“Man, shut up,”
Marcus
replied.
Kane looked at Ronan, who just laughed and shrugged.
“
I knew these two from when I was at Black Scar.
Which means
I’m in hell.”
“Not yet,” Ronan said.
“Kane,” Jade said. “Please.
Sit down.
”
Burke
walked
in front of the screens with
his hands clasped behind his back.
Kane had forgotten how tall
the man
wa
s.
Burke
looked more imposing than ever with his scar, and he moved with a certain authority Kane didn’t re
membered
him having in Black Scar.
The Revenger
had never gi
ve
n off
the impression that he enjoyed his job
, but Kane remembered how
good at it
he was
.
