Severed (8 page)
But Evie wasn’t moving. Instead she was throwing back her shoulders and arguing with Flic.
Damn it
. Lucas pushed past a crowd of Scorpio, ignoring their flicking tails and grabbed the banister. They needed to leave. Now. Before someone spotted her. The fight could wait. He was about to launch himself up the stairs three at a time when he finally saw Evie nodding in agreement and Jamieson taking her quickly by the arm. Lucas froze, waiting for them to turn and leave. But instead Jamieson was pulling her towards the stairs, heading in his direction, down into the club. What was going on? Why weren’t they leaving? He looked up at Flic and Issa, wondering if maybe Issa had seen something coming. And, as if on cue, the door behind them exploded open and a swarm of Mixen burst through screeching with laughter, their green skin pulsing a toxic warning under the strobe lights. Lucas thanked Issa silently for the heads up.
He let Jamieson and Evie pass him by, resisting the urge he had to reach out and take Evie by the arm and pull her towards him. Instead his fingers trailed the air behind her. He didn’t want her distracted. He wanted her to keep walking and get the hell out of this place. If he let her know that he was there, right next to her, shadowing her every move, she might change her mind. Knowing Evie, she
would
change her mind. So he stayed invisible, following them as they made their way across the dance floor towards the rear exit.
Jamieson skirted wide of the Thirsters and the Mixen, pulling Evie through a group of Shifters whose wall of shimmer offered some cover. Finally they broke free of the crowd and he could see them heading towards the green glowing exit sign up ahead. He was wondering whether it was now safe to leave them and head back into the club to start this fight when a curtain of shimmer erupted suddenly out of nowhere blocking their path. Evie stumbled backwards, almost banging into him. The shimmer faded almost instantly and two Shapeshifter girls appeared. Lucas was already beside Jamieson and Evie, standing there invisible, sword raised.
‘Oh my God!’ shrieked the first girl. ‘You’re so that girl! You’re so her. Aren’t you?’
‘Aren’t you?’ squealed the other in unison, jumping up and down.
‘Er – what girl?’ Evie tried.
‘That girl,’ the first one said, pointing one arm at the pixelating picture on the wall behind them. ‘The one who Lucas Gray is going to die for!’
Lucas was holding his knife at chest height, pointing it at just the right angle to slide between the ribs and into the left chamber of the girl’s heart. They were completely unaware that the person they were talking about was at that moment standing right in front of them, ready not just to die, but also to kill for
that girl
.
‘Girls,’ Jamieson suddenly burst out laughing, ‘do you really think an on-the-run Hunter would come to a place populated by demons who want to rip her to shreds and scatter her body parts to all corners of the realms?’
The girls stared blankly at Jamieson and then frowned at Evie.
‘But you look just like her,’ the one with the knife against her ribs said unhappily.
Lucas didn’t want to kill them. It would be like killing puppies. He took a breath, calculating whether he could knock them out instead and drag them somewhere without anyone noticing. Maybe it could look like they’d had too much tequila – be a lesson in under-age drinking. But before he could sheath his knife and bring his hands up to squeeze the nerve at the back of their necks, he caught sight of a ball of shimmer just to his left.
For half a second Lucas wondered what the hell Jamieson was doing and then he started praying that his sister’s boyfriend was shifting into something good – a lion or a three-metre tall bear, anything that would send them running, screaming, in the other direction.
But Jamieson went one better.
Evie turned to look at Jamieson but he had vanished. There was just the mirror on the wall opposite and her own reflection smiling back at her. It took her a good five seconds to register that she wasn’t staring into a mirror at all, but at Jamieson. He had shifted. Into her. He’d copied every detail, from the camisole strap that had slipped down her arm, to her mussed-up hair, which she’d swept over to one side in an attempt to obscure her face. The only visible difference between them was that he looked a whole lot calmer than she knew she did. And he was smiling. She was fairly certain she wasn’t smiling.
‘It’s like totally our thing,’ Jamieson said, turning to the two girls. Evie’s jaw dropped. Was that what she sounded like?
‘So don’t copy us, OK?’ Jamieson said, planting one hand on his hip. That was so drag queen. She’d have to talk to him about that. She never stood like that.
The first girl’s mouth fell open like a dead fish. ‘OH, MY …’
‘GOD!’ the second girl chorused.
They both started shimmering wildly, like faulty Christmas lights, and in the next instant Evie was surrounded and staring back at two more reflections of herself. She felt dizzy, as if she’d been led unexpectedly into a hall of mirrors after a wild turn on a teacup ride. The two Shifters standing opposite were now admiring their arms and legs –
her
arms and legs – and groping each other’s butts –
her
butt. Then, once they were done groping her body, they turned to each other and started admiring each other’s eyes and eyelashes.
‘I am so totally hot like this,’ declared the first.
‘I call dibs on the first Shadow Warrior.’
‘Do you think we’ll be able to bag someone as hot as him though?’ the first one shrieked, grabbing hold of the other Evie’s hands and pointing up at the photo of Lucas, which had appeared once again on the wall behind them.
‘Ahhhhh!’ they both squealed, before running off into the whooping crowd.
Evie turned to Jamieson. ‘Please tell me I do not sound like that,’ she said.
Jamieson gave her a lopsided grin. ‘Freaking you out?’
‘Yes. But thanks,’ Evie said, still blinking in amazement at him. ‘I think you saved my ass.’
‘It’s a cute ass,’ Jamieson said, groping his own behind admiringly. ‘Definitely worth saving.’ He took her hand and started off towards the fire exit. ‘Now, let’s get out of here.’
‘No. Let’s stay,’ Evie said, pulling her hand free. ‘Come on, you created a great cover.’
Jamieson grimaced at her and she made a mental note to never grimace. It wasn’t a good look.
‘What about Flic?’ she tried. ‘She might need our help. Look, there she is!’ Evie pointed at Flic who she’d spied wading through the crowd in their direction. Jamieson spun to look just as Flic hit the edge of the dance floor and vanished.
‘Where’d she go?’ Evie asked, craning her neck to see over the crowd.
‘Over there,’ Jamieson said, pointing.
Flic had reappeared on the other side of the dance floor. She was standing in front of the group of Thirsters, hands on her hips, smiling flirtatiously. The skinny one with auburn hair gave her a crooked smile and flashed his fangs at her. Flic smiled back – a long, seductive smile that elicited a few loud whistles from the group of Thirsters.
‘What’s she doing?’ Evie asked, clutching Jamieson’s arm.
‘Oh, she’s starting a fight. She claimed Lucas was good at it, but let me tell you, Flic’s a pro. Normally they have her work the door at this place.’
‘Seriously?’ Evie asked, looking up at him in astonishment.
‘Just watch,’ Jamieson said, nodding his head back at Flic.
‘But she’s unarmed,’ Evie whispered. She’d seen Lucas fighting a Thirster and it had been violent, brutal and bloody. She’d tried to kill one herself. Three crossbow arrows, including one through the brain, still hadn’t been enough to finish off Joshua. She glanced at Jamieson, but he didn’t look at all worried.
The auburn-haired Thirster was swaggering towards Flic now, his fangs fully out. What was that? Some kind of Thirster mating ritual? Display teeth and impress the ladies? Next he started to gyrate his pelvis in Flic’s direction. She didn’t look all that impressed by his moves. Evie heard Jamieson snort as Flic gave the Thirster a bored stare, raised one eyebrow, and turned swiftly on her heel.
The Thirster’s friends all collapsed laughing at the brush-off Flic had given him, but the auburn-haired one hissed through his teeth, rounded his shoulders and sprung like a cat at Flic’s back. Somehow though, Flic anticipated it and moved in a blur, spinning fast and delivering a kick to the Thirster’s head that for certain, Evie thought, would have decapitated any human.
As it was, the Thirster flew backwards, his head snapping viciously to one side and lolling there for a second until he grabbed it in both hands and cracked it back into place.
Lucas had watched Flic fade and cross the dance floor. He had hesitated before following her, not wanting to leave Evie. But then he’d seen what Flic planned to do, and he dived instantly through the crowd trying to head her off. By the time he’d made it to her side, Flic was aiming a perfect roundhouse kick at the red-haired one. Lucas heard the sickening crunch of bone as her foot made contact with the Thirster’s face and watched him fly backwards, his head cranked at an unnatural angle. The dance floor immediately erupted around them as people started screaming and trying to get away from the fight. Lucas forced his way through the crowd, stepping in front of the Thirster, who had wrenched his head back into position and was marching towards Flic with murder in his eyes.
Lucas didn’t hesitate for even a second. His blade was out of his hand before he could even think. It flew silently, slicing through the marble flesh of the Thirster’s throat as if it was no more solid than air, embedding itself up to the hilt in the concrete pillar on the edge of the dance floor.
Jamieson was tugging Evie through the crowd, his fingers wrapped tight around her arm. Someone bowled into her, and she felt a stinging pain as something sharp scratched her above her left eye. She and Jamieson shoved a path through the screaming people. The crowd was thinning as it streamed towards the exits and they were finally able to push their way free, when suddenly a shadow fell over them. Evie glanced up, remembering Issa’s words almost too late.
‘Duck!’ she yelled, reaching a hand out and grabbing Jamieson, pulling him down just as something hard smashed to the ground by their feet, making a crater in the concrete floor and sending a cloud of dust up into the air.
Evie opened her eyes slowly, almost too afraid to look. It took her several seconds to piece together what she was seeing. The Thirster with the auburn hair was staring back at her unblinking. His mouth was frozen in a silent shriek, his blackened tongue lolling out of his torn-out throat. She was still staring at the frayed edge of skin and the white rope of spinal cord that was visible when someone lit the place up in a blaze of UV. She curled into a ball and closed her eyes, sealing out the light as well as what was in front of her.
When she opened her eyes again, the head was still there, the mouth still open in a rictus of terror, the teeth still glinting moistly with saliva while the skin turned slowly black and fizzled.
In the next second Evie was on her feet, stumbling backwards, away from the head. She’d made the mistake before of thinking a Thirster was dead when it hadn’t been and it had come back quite literally to bite them. Even a decapitated head that was slowly cooking wasn’t something she was going to get too close to.
She glanced around, blinking away the harsh lights that were making her eyes water. The warehouse had emptied in the few seconds it had taken her to open her eyes and stand. A few stragglers were dragging unconscious friends who’d been trampled in the stampede through the exit at the top of the stairs. Six Thirsters lay in heaps around the dance floor, steam rising from their bodies as if they were drying themselves over heating vents.
A hand on the back of her neck made Evie jump.
Lucas steadied her, his hands coming to rest on her shoulders. His eyes were searching hers frantically, as if he was looking for something in them. Evie realised that he was probably just checking that she was the right Evie and not a Shapeshifter. She took hold of his hands and realised he was shaking. No. That was
her
shaking.
‘Are you OK?’ Lucas asked, his hands suddenly cupping her face, pushing back her hair. Ouch. She let out a yelp and put a hand up to her forehead, which was suddenly stinging like crazy. She pulled it away and stared at the blood on her fingertips.
‘It’s OK, you’ll live,’ Lucas said, as he checked her carefully for other bruises and cuts, his hands running the length of her body. She wanted to stay like that for ever, feeling the gentle pressure of his fingers, letting them anaesthetise her body and her mind. But Flic was suddenly looming between them, tugging at Lucas, pulling him away. She was handing him something. Lucas took whatever it was and followed Flic across the dance floor. The two of them started dropping things onto the heaps of hissing Thirsters and Evie frowned for a moment, not understanding, until the flames started whooshing and she realised they were dropping matches. Jamieson kicked the Thirster’s head towards Lucas who caught it with the edge of his foot and then dropped a lit match into its open mouth. The head burst into a ball of flame.
Through the black smoke that had started billowing over them, Evie saw Issa reaching for something stuck in one of the far pillars. She was tugging at it, trying to get it free, and when she did and turned back towards the light, Evie saw that it was Lucas’s blade. She kept staring at it, glinting blue, as Issa walked towards her.
‘Are they coming?’ Evie asked her when she got near. ‘The rogue Hunters? Are they coming?’
‘Yes,’ Issa nodded, handing Evie the blade before turning on her heel.
Evie stared down at the blade in her hand, wondering why Issa had given it to her and not to Lucas.
‘Incoming,’ Issa suddenly shouted.
The door at the top of the stairs flew open. Evie had been expecting the rogue Hunters, but it wasn’t them. It was the two Scorpio doormen. They came bursting through the door, coats swinging, tails lashing behind them, as if they’d only just figured out that the screaming exodus from the club might require investigation. They skidded to a stop at the top of the stairs, staring down at Evie and Lucas, their mouths making odd gurning shapes, which Evie read as surprise.
