Resistance (The Variant Series #2) (35 page)

“Quiet, John,” hissed Oisin, turning his back on Alex and the Creeps. “It’s time I gave this dumb yank the drubbing he’s got coming to him.”

The men holding her exchanged a nervous glance. Despite Oisin’s grandstanding, Declan’s unexpected arrival had thoroughly unsettled the Creeps.

Oisin took a step toward Declan and all hell broke loose at once.

When four shadowy figures turned the corner behind Declan, Alex immediately recognized Aiden’s angry shout and Kenzie’s voice crying out her name—sounds that prompted Creeps 1 and 2 to jolt in surprise.

Realizing they were outnumbered, the Creeps dropped Alex’s arms and attempted to make a break for it.

Oisin, meanwhile, took advantage of Declan’s distraction by sucker punching him in the gut.

Her eyes locked with Declan’s as he bent double over the fist Oisin had buried in his stomach.

Without the Creeps to hold her upright, Alex’s legs gave out beneath her own weight. As she tumbled to the ground, Declan retaliated with an uppercut to Oisin’s jaw that sent the man reeling.

Aiden and a dark haired teen Alex had never seen before ran full-tilt past her, in pursuit of the escaping Creeps. As they disappeared around the far side of the building, Kenzie and Cassie rushed to her side.

“My god, Lexie,” said Cassie. “Your
face
! What did they do to you?”

Alex didn’t answer. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the fight unfolding five feet away from them.

Declan’s punches had Oisin swaying on his feet, the ogre’s meaty arms raised in a pathetic attempt to defend himself as he tried to return Declan’s blows.

Alex
called it
a fight but, in truth, the match ended the second Declan began fighting back in earnest. Oisin got in only two good blows during the course of the entire brawl—and one of those only connected because Declan had been distracted.

Blood dripped from Oisin’s brow, his nose, and his lip. The area around his left eye was already starting to swell.

Alex’s attacker was on the ropes, but Declan showed no signs of stopping.

Oisin fell to his knees, defeated.

Declan scooped up a fistful of Oisin’s shirt to hold him in place, then raised his fist high, readying himself for another punch.

Though it pained her to speak, Alex managed to cry out, “Declan,
stop
.”

Declan’s eyes shifted toward Alex where she lay sprawled on the ground beside her friends.  Whatever it was Declan saw when he looked her way caused his expression to twist first into an agonized grimace, then to harden in a mask of silent rage.

Declan’s fist came down on Oisin one last time.

The larger man fell to the ground, knocked senseless by the blow.

Declan staggered backward.

Alex closed her eyes.

It was over.

— 27 —

“N
o, don’t try to move her yet. We don’t know how bad her injuries are.”

“God, there’s so much blood.
Why is there so much blood
?”

“Head wounds. They bleed a lot.”

“I don’t want to know how you know that.”

Alex tried to follow the conversation taking place above her head, but it was difficult to hear their words over the crackling sound of her own breath.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” she managed.

“Shh,” said Cassie. “Quiet, Lexie. You’re going to be fine.”

Alex coughed, then seized up at the blinding pain that spread across her right side at the effort.

Declan stood at Alex’s feet, his face cast in shadow from the street light behind him. She wished she could see his expression.

Kenzie’s hand swam before her and Alex looked away from Declan’s silhouette. The girl carefully lifted each of Alex’s eyelids with her thumb, flashing the camera light from her cell phone into each eye.

Alex blinked tiredly.

She noted with some distraction that she was unusually
sleepy
, despite the amount of discomfort she was in.

“Aiden,” said Kenzie.

“Yeah?”

“Take Cassie and go see what McGinty’s has in the way of a first aid kit,” she ordered.

“You got it.”

“We’ll be right back, Alex,” said Cassie. “I promise.”

Kenzie began to gently examine her injured wrist. Alex hardly noticed. Too many other parts of her were aching.

“It’s almost definitely broken,” she said. “And going from the dilation of her pupils, she probably has a concussion. But what I’m
really
concerned about, is her breathing. I think she might have a punctured lung.”

“We need to get her to hospital,” said the dark haired teen kneeling opposite Kenzie.

His almond-shaped eyes and smooth facial features hinted at an Asian ancestry, but his accent was one-hundred percent Irish.

Kenzie had called him Murphy.

In some foggy corner of her mind, Alex wondered if that was his surname, or his given name.

“No,” said Declan. He was standing at Alex’s feet, staring down at her with his arms crossed. “She needs Holls.”

Who, or
what
, was a Holls?

“My sister?” asked Murphy. He stared up at Declan, incredulous. “And what bloody good’s
she
going to do?”

“No, he’s right,” said Kenzie. “We need to get her to Holly.”

Fifteen feet away, Oisin was struggling to get back on his feet. After a few false starts, he lurched upright.

He eyed the group disdainfully for a long moment, then spat out a mouthful of blood that landed just shy of Alex’s boots. He began staggering back toward the main road.

Declan started after him, but Alex called out his name and brought him up short.

“Let him go, Decks,” she said, flinching as the words left her mouth. A fresh stab of pain punctuated each syllable.

“He ought to be brought up on charges for this,” said Murphy. “We can still call the garda and have him arrested. You’re
sure
you want to let him go?”

Alex didn’t want the pain that came with answering out loud, and she couldn’t shake her head, so she attempted a shrug instead—then grimaced. That had hurt even worse.

They couldn’t press charges.

God. If Aunt Cil ever found out…

Alex laughed, and immediately regretted it.

Who was she kidding? Judging from the way the others were gaping at her, she
looked
nearly as bad as she felt. There would be no hiding any of this from her aunt.

Even more worrisome, Alex was scheduled to take the Agency’s test in less than 48 hours—and right now she couldn’t even stand.

“Where’s your sister, Murphy?” asked Declan, still tracking Oisin’s progress as he disappeared around the corner of the building.

“
She’s at Uni
,” he said. “Up in Dublin. But what does it matter? She’s of no help to us here.”

“Call her,” said Declan. “Find out where she is so I can go pick her up.”

“It’s the middle of exam week and two in the goddamned morning, O’Connell,” said Murphy. “She’ll crucify me if I call her right now. And this girl doesn’t need
Holls
, she needs a
licensed
physician
.”

“Think, Murphy,” said Declan. “Have you seen the inside of Holly’s dorm room before?”

“Well,
yeah
, but—” Murphy cut himself short. His eyes widened. “Don’t even think about it, O’Connell!”

“Too late,” said Kenzie. “
You
already did.”

Murphy groaned.

“Did you get it, Decks?” asked Kenzie.

He jumped without answering.

It took Alex a long moment to work past the haze in her mind and make sense of what had just happened.

When Declan asked Murphy if he’d seen the inside of Holly’s dorm before, the Irishman obviously pictured the location in his mind.

Kenzie
saw
that image, memorized it, and sent it telepathically to Declan. He jumped, only to reappear moments later with a wild-haired, pajama-clad girl, who was screaming an impressive string of obscenities while she beat angrily against the hands encircling her upper arm.

“
Holls!
” Murphy yelled.

At the sound of her name, the girl paused in her struggles to take inventory of her new surroundings.

“Murph?” she said, confused. “The
hell
? What am I doing here?
Where are we
?”

Declan released his hold on Holly’s arm.

“Calm down, Holls,” said Murphy, getting to his feet and gesturing toward the building. “You’re home. Out back of McGinty’s.”

The girl whirled on Declan and thumped him hard on the chest. “You
kidnapped me
in the middle of the bloody night to take me to a
pub
, Decks? I swear to
Christ
, you’re a dead man, O’Connell. I’m going to… to…”

The girl trailed off, finally taking notice of Alex, who sat on the ground at Holly’s feet, her back propped against the side of the building as she watched the exchange through half-lidded eyes.

“What’s going on? Who’s the girl?” asked Holly, moving to kneel beside Kenzie at Alex’s side. “Who did this to her?”

“Oisin Dwyer,” said Murphy.

“
The bastard
. I knew that git weren’t right in the head, but I never expected he’d do something like
this
… You poor thing.”

“Take Alex’s hand, Holly,” said Declan.

“What?” she asked.

At the end of his patience, Declan crouched beside Alex in the space Murphy had just vacated, took a gentle hold of Alex’s good hand and a
not
-so-gentle hold of Holly’s, then quickly joined their two hands together.

For a while, nothing happened.

And then a tingling sensation spread across the right side of Alex’s face as her shattered cheekbone repaired itself. The split skin below her eye mended of its own accord. At the same time, a warmth spread through her wrist, and into her right side where Oisin punched her. The broken bones slid back into position with an odd popping sensation.

Alex pulled in a long breath, one now devoid of the clicking and bubbling.

She could breathe again.

Alex was healed.

She registered, with some distraction, that Cassie and Aiden had just rounded the corner, and that Cassie carried a red first aid kit in her hands.

“You’re okay!” cried Cassie. “How’s that possible?”

“What… What the
hell
just happened?” asked Murphy. “Did she just…?”

Declan’s insistence on finding Murphy’s sister suddenly made sense.

Holly was a Variant.

Alex had absorbed her power of regeneration.

For as long as she retained the ability, Alex would be able to heal herself of any wound, any sickness. She would be as close to
immortal
as it was possible for a Variant to get.

Holly pulled back her hand, staring at Alex in wonder.

Alex sat up, away from the wall, and reached a hand up to feel her face. The blood was still there, slowly caking on her cheek, but the wound itself had vanished without a trace.

“Lex?” said Declan, turning her name into a question.

Alex nodded in reply, a bit shaky, but otherwise back to normal.

“I’m okay,” she said and turned to the girl with the dark eyes and the pixie-like black hair, ablaze with electric blue highlights. “
Thank you
, Holly.”

“You’re welcome, of course, but…
who are you
?” asked Holly, her eyes alight with curiosity. “Better yet,
what
are you?”

Alex was starting to wonder if every Variant she met would be destined to ask her that same question.

“It’s complicated,” said Kenzie. “And for your
own
sake, it’s probably best that you never find out the answer.”

Holly finally seemed to take notice of the girl sitting beside her. Her eyebrows shot toward her hairline as she recognized Kenzie.

“Oh. My.
God
!” Holly pounced on Kenzie and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. “
Mackenzie
! It’s you!”

“Oof!” said Kenzie, looking equally surprised. “Um… hi, Holls. Long time.”

“You’ve gotten so… so
big
, neighbor girl!” Holly let her loose and gave Kenzie what Alex interpreted as a very appreciative once-over, before sending an accusing glare at Declan. “You never told me how
cute
she was, Decks.”

“And with good reason, I’m sure,” said Murphy.

Holly huffed. “Watch it, Murph.”

Declan held out his hands to Alex and helped her back onto her feet.

As Holly verbally lit into her brother, Declan led Alex a few feet away from the group, toward the lone streetlight that lit the back of the building. She could still hear the sounds of laughter and the siblings bickering behind her, but it barely registered.

Declan gingerly inspected her wrist for signs of her former injury.

As he looked her over, Alex took a moment to study the unguarded expression on his face. It was a grim mix of concern and barely suppressed rage. Only once he was certain her wounds had mended did his features begin to soften.

“I’m fine, Declan,” she said. “Honest.”

He shifted his gaze from Alex’s wrist to her face, his brow furrowing as he met her eyes. Reaching up with hesitant fingers, he brushed his thumb across her mended cheekbone.

Alex covered Declan’s hand with her own, pressing his palm against her cheek.

“
I’m fine
.”

But Declan, on the other hand…

Alex raised her free hand to Declan’s brow, her fingers hovering just above his temple. A trickle of blood was slowly drying on his skin. Oisin had gotten in two good punches during their fight—and the second split the skin above his right eye.

Declan reached out and repeated Alex’s earlier motion, covering her hand with his own and pressing down against his cheek.

Closing his eyes, he gently rested his forehead against hers.

Alex sighed. “I’m sorry, Decks,” she said. “I shouldn’t have wandered off.”