Shadowed (Fated) (30 page)

‘No,’ Cyrus repeated, even more firmly. ‘I’m not
going to be responsible for another untrained Hunter dying.’

‘I’m not asking you to be. And I’m not asking you
for permission either.’

Cyrus took a deep breath, meeting her dark eyes for
a full ten seconds before looking away with an exasperated sigh.

‘There’s seven of them left, not to mention the
Mixen and Scorpio on the streets,’ Ash interrupted. ‘And we forfeited the
surprise element. So they’re expecting us.

‘What about all the Thirsters they’ve turned?’ Vero
asked, looking between Cyrus and Victor.

‘They can’t go out in daylight. So we attack in
daytime,’ Cyrus said.

‘Isn’t it going to be suspicious having a fight
with seven supernatural bloodsucking monsters in broad daylight?’

‘Have you seen the papers? I don’t think this would
even make the front page any more. But, if you’re worried, we can always rig up
a camera and some lights and pretend we’re filming a
Twilight
remake.’

‘The police are crawling all over the area as
well,’ Victor said, crossing to the map strewn with red pins.

‘Aren’t they too busy with all the other homicides
they’re having to deal with?’

Everyone fell quiet for a moment, as they all
contemplated which of the red pins that Victor had stuck in the wall
represented RJ.

Selena was the first to break the silence. ‘What
about that great big patch of bling in the garden. What was it?’

Victor turned to her quickly, his eyes narrowing.
‘What are you talking about?’

‘Nothing,’ Cyrus interrupted quickly, clearing his
throat. ‘Must have been a sword, catching the light.’

‘No,’ Selena said, insistent now. ‘There was a
great big wall of light. I saw it, I’m not blind. I saw a wolf too. Are you
going to tell me I hallucinated that as well? You were there – all of
you!’ She pointed at Cyrus. ‘You must have seen it.’

‘The wolf was Jamieson.’

‘The way through. It sounds like you’re describing
the way through.’

Damn
it.
Cyrus spun towards
Victor.

‘It’s open,’ Victor said. ‘That must be what
they’re guarding.’ He shook his head in amazement, then his eyes flashed to
Cyrus. ‘Did you see it?’

Cyrus was aware of Vero and Ash eyeballing him as
well.

He shook his head, held the guy’s bad-cop stare.
‘Nope.’

Victor didn’t buy it. ‘Where’s Evie?’ he demanded.

‘She didn’t see it either.’ He moved to block the
doorway.

‘So you did see something?’ Victor smiled
victoriously.

Cyrus cursed himself. ‘She’s not the White Light.
If that’s what you’re thinking.’

Victor’s eyebrows shot up. ‘How are you so sure? If
it’s still open that certainly explains a few things. Like you being alive.’

‘I know she’s not it,’ Cyrus growled, feeling anger
swirling electric in his bloodstream. ‘And you can either take my word on it
and back the hell off or we can go outside right now and I can kick your ass
until you back off.’

He could practically feel Victor’s eyes drilling
through his skull and right into his frontal lobe, digging for information. He
kept his face blank – trying not to think about what his mum had said
about the White Light being his and Evie’s child.

‘They’re looking for her still.’ Victor exhaled,
his eyes taking on a maniacal gleam, as if little fires had been lit all along
his optical nerves.

‘Let me be clear,’ Cyrus said, stepping right up
into Victor’s face. ‘She’s not it. And if you get any idea into that psychotic
Hannibal Lecter head of yours of trying something, say something that involves
kidnapping Evie again and dragging her off like some lamb to be slaughtered, I
will kill you myself.’ He lowered his voice. ‘And I will make what Flic and
Evie have planned for you look like a teddy bear’s picnic. Do you hear me?’

Victor made no sign of having heard him.

‘We need to destroy these things,’ Cyrus said,
turning away from Victor, ‘before they can do any more damage.’
And before they find Evie.
Even if the
prophecy was right, he didn’t want to unnecessarily tempt fate.

‘How are we going to destroy them?’ Selena asked.
‘They’re invincible.’

Her defiance seemed to have vanished. She was
collapsed on the floor again, leaning up against the wall.

‘No. They’re not invincible. They can die. We got
four of them already.’ He twisted to Ash and Vero: ‘Thanks to you guys.’

They stared at him blankly. ‘It wasn’t us. We
weren’t even there.’

‘What?’

‘You told us to create a diversion, then get the
hell out, so we did.’ Ash pulled a sorry face.

‘But Flic and I only killed one. Someone else took
out the other two in the garden. I turned around and they were on fire.’ Cyrus
cast around the room, looking for an explanation, but Ash and Vero were just
shaking their heads at him, looking just as confused as he was.

Victor frowned. ‘What are you saying?’

‘They spontaneously combusted?’ Vero suggested.

Cyrus shook his head, ‘No. I saw one of you –
I saw someone – fighting them …’ He paused, trying to recall what exactly
he’d seen but he couldn’t seem to dredge the image from his memory.

Story of his life.

Evie felt a little more together after showering and eating the food
Flic had forced on her. She’d carefully removed the gauze covering the two
puncture wounds on her neck. The stitched-up holes had scabbed over already,
but there was a livid purple bruise running up her throat, yellowing at the
edges, making it look as if someone had tried to strangle her. She had washed
her hair and then left it down, to cover both the bruise and her ripped ear.

Flic had lent her some clothes – a sweater
dress to be precise, which on Flic was probably just a sweater. As it was, it
fell to mid-thigh on Evie and she kept having to hitch it down as she walked to
stop it riding up over her underwear, which, silver lining, was no longer the
paper kind.

A headache was threatening to break like a storm
cloud over her but she’d refused the drugs Flic had offered, not wanting her
instincts any more dulled than they were. The sugar and caffeine high from the
coffee and the food was spinning her out enough as it was. When they hit the
street she felt a rush of light-headedness, and almost ran smack into Flic’s
back.

She heard Flic exclaim and her hand went straight
for her weapon before she realised she was weaponless.

‘Issa!’ Flic shrieked.

Evie stepped out from behind Flic. Issa was
standing there on the sidewalk, wearing a hooded sweater and panting hard, as
if she’d just run several blocks.

‘Is he here? Am I in time?’ she gasped.

‘Jamieson’s upstairs,’ Flic said in an overly loud
voice, squeezing Issa’s arm in a vicious-looking grip. ‘And no, you’re not in
time, he’s got a fractured rib and a broken arm.’

Issa shook her head, barely even glancing in Evie’s
direction. ‘Come on, we need to go!’ she shouted, and started pulling at Flic’s
arm.

‘What? Why?’ Flic started to ask, but Issa was
already striding ahead.

‘We need to get to Victor’s. Now!’ she shouted over
her shoulder.

‘Why?’ Evie asked, the sluggishness in her veins
swept away instantly.

Issa didn’t even glance at her. She spoke to Flic,
‘They’re in trouble.’

She didn’t have time to finish her sentence. Flic
was already running towards a beaten-up Ford Cortina parked up the street.

‘Come on!’ she yelled at them both.

Evie threw open the passenger door and slid in
beside Flic as she revved the engine and swerved out into oncoming traffic.

‘What did you see?’ Evie asked, leaning over the
seat to look at Issa, who was still catching her breath in the back.

‘Mixen and Scorpio – attacking the house
– he’s walking right into it.’

‘Who?’ Evie asked. Was she talking about Cyrus?

‘Are we going to make it?’ Flic demanded, cutting
Evie off.

Issa’s eyes clouded over. ‘I don’t know. It’s
happening too fast. Too many variables.’

Evie almost kicked the dash in frustration. What
use were the damn Sybll? She turned to Flic instead. ‘We don’t have any
weapons. I don’t have my blade.’

‘I’ve got mine,’ Flic answered, patting her side.
‘Try the glove compartment.’

Evie leant forward and opened it. A gun tumbled
straight into her lap.

‘Who keeps a gun in their glove box?’ she asked,
staring at Flic in amazement.

Flic shrugged, spinning the wheel and tearing
around a corner. ‘Me. I got held up six months ago. By a human. Next time it
happens I plan to blow their head off.’

Evie checked the chamber. ‘Eight rounds.’

Flic glanced at her. ‘Well, you’d better make them
all count, then.’

Vero felt them first. She spun away from Ash, her hand moving straight
for her blade.

Cyrus felt them next. He ran to the window and
yanked back the curtain.

Ash was at his side in the next second. ‘How many?’
he asked, scanning the yard over Cyrus’s shoulder.

‘Enough,’ Cyrus murmured, spying a flash of
movement in the bushes at the front of the house. A pathway led up to the house
from the sidewalk, bushes providing a screen of cover between the house and the
street.

‘What? What is it?’ Selena asked, raising herself
unsteadily from the ground. ‘Is it them? Have they found us?’

‘Mixen and Scorpio,’ Cyrus said turning to face the
others. ‘Let’s go.’ He took hold of Selena by the arm and whisked her towards
the door. ‘Now!’

Victor had beaten them to it. He was in the hallway
already loading up on weapons. He threw a sword to Cyrus. He caught it and
passed it to Selena, then reached for the second sword Victor tossed at him.

At a sign from Cyrus, Ash pulled open the door,
only to slam it shut straight away. ‘We’re surrounded,’ he announced.

‘Damn,’ Cyrus kicked the stair.

How had he let this happen? He should have known
they would track them here eventually. He stared at the sword in his hand,
trying to assess options.

‘We’re sitting ducks in here. We have to fight our
way out.’

It was Victor speaking. He was the only one of them
who didn’t seem nonplussed by the situation. He was standing casually by the
door, testing the keenness of his blade against his thumb. He looked up at
Cyrus and their eyes met.

Cyrus nodded at him almost imperceptibly.

‘Are there any Originals out there?’ Selena
stammered.

‘No,’ Cyrus answered. He would have felt them if
there were.

‘They’ll leave this to their army of unhumans,’
Victor added. ‘They’re more interested in guarding the gateway.’

A sudden scream made them all jump. It cut off
unexpectedly, replaced by a wet gurgling noise.

‘We need to get out there,’ Cyrus said, elbowing
Ash aside.

He threw open the door and bounded down the steps
onto the lawn. Something flew at him. He jerked hard to the left, diving to the
ground, bringing his sword up as he fell, feeling it slice easily through flesh
and jar against bone. A scream and a hot spatter of blood sprayed his face. He
rolled and was on his feet, thrusting and cutting at the next unhuman in his
way.

He was yelling, the battle raging inside him as
well as all around. The others had joined in. Cyrus caught sight of Ash,
grunting as he landed blow after blow on a Scorpio’s tail. Victor was fighting
three Mixen at once. Cyrus paused an instant before going to help him, coming
up behind and running his sword through the neck of the nearest one. It
vanished with a little shriek of outrage. Victor finished the second with a
short thrust up through the rib cage. The third one backed out onto the
sidewalk, her head twisting left to right in panic as she tried to figure where
to run to.

A car screeched to a sudden stop in front of her.
The door flew open with a bang and the head of the Mixen exploded like a detonating
mine.

Cyrus ducked, shielding his face, feeling the burn
as acid blood spattered over his forearms and the backs of his hands. He hissed
through his teeth at the pain, lifting his eyes and squinting through the red
mist that hung in the air.

Evie was standing in front of him, holding a gun.
She strode past him, still firing.

He stared after her, grinning in wonder. A girl who
could shoot. And look fiercely hot while she did it. And then he felt the cut.
His arm was suddenly on fire, hot liquid sluicing down his sleeve, soaking his
T-shirt and the waistband of his jeans. He glanced at his left shoulder and saw
the blood pouring in waves down his arm, and then out of the corner of his eye
he saw a tail arching above him.