Dark Horizons (The Red Sector Chronicles) (36 page)

My head swiveled back to
Orion. He started to walk away
but then glanced over his shoulder at me. Our gazes locked for a heartbeat, and then he was gone in a flash of black.

“Sloane!” Leo was standing over me, hauling me up as Rook stumbled to his feet a short distance away. “We have to get out of here!”

Dezyre sat up, rubbing the back of her head. “Come on!” I yelled, extending a hand.

She stared at it
then grabbed hold, and I helped her up. We took off for the way we’d come, tearing down the dark, skinny hallway and up the ladder. Voices bounced off the walls behind us as footsteps pounded down the hall.

“Go! Go!” Rook shouted, from
the rear.

Leo swiped the badge and the door opened. He helped Dezyre out
,
and I climbed up afterward, whirling
back toward the entrance
. Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed the grenade and yanked the stopper out with my teeth. “Get down!” I shouted as I shot it into the hole. Rook scrambled out and we all dove onto the grass. Leo covered my body with his, pressing me to the
earth
with the bulk of his
weight
.

Shouts rang out from the tunnel right before the ground shuddered with a gigantic boom and a column of fire exploded from the tunnel entrance.

Smoke filled the air, stinging my nose and throat
,
and making it even harder to get in a decent breath. My heart beat frantically inside my chest, spurred on by the kick of adrenaline I’d received back in the hall from facing off with Orion.

The weight
on my back let up as Leo rose.
I
pushed myself up, stumbling around for a few seconds, dizzy with nerves.

“Um, guys?” Dezyre said, a sliver of fear in her voice.

Turning around,
my blood pressure dropped.

We were completely surrounded by Scarlet Guard
s
.

CHAPTER 21

There w
ere at least thirty guards, their faces
concealed
by red helmets
. As I took my mental notes, I
noticed
they strangely didn’t seem to have any guns. Tall black shapes rose above their heads, and I paled as the air filled with an odd humming sound. Red electric light blazed along the blades of their massive black scythes, my mother’s weapon of choice for them.
I don’t know why she picked a scythe of all things.
It seemed so archaic
yet badass at the same time. I guess that was the point, to
bring d
eath to people’s thoughts
and remind them who was really in charge.

Gulping, I crouched
in
a defensive position as the first of the guards charged forward.
He immediately tried to take my head off with the scythe, and I dove as it whooshed over my head, the hum of the blade so close it nearly stopped my heart from fear.
The air smelled funny, like it always did after a lightning storm. I came up and punched him right in the ribcage. He had on so much
body
armor
, I wasn’t sure if he even felt it. He didn’t flinch as I followed up with a
n
overhand strike to his bicep, trying to stun the muscles in his arm so he’d drop the scythe, or to at least loosen his grip. He growled and went to kick me, but I sidestepped it, putting me closer to him. I grabbed the helmet and ripped it off.

My eyes went wide.

The creature that stared back at me had definitely been a man at one time. Skin so pale it was translucent stretched over bony facial features. Blue veins popped out along his neck and forehead, making his dark red irises seem that much more alien. His upper lip lifted in a snarl, showing the length of his fangs.

“Screw you, too
,” I snarled, then
head
butted
him. He staggered backward, blinking for a few stunned seconds. I didn’t waste my opportunity. I
grabbed
the scythe and
fell backward
.
T
he gu
ard still had hold of the pole as I went down
, tucking my head in and rolling along my back.
The guard started to lose his grip, and I planted my feet in his chest and kicked. As I righted myself, the scythe now completely in my hands, he went flying overhead, crashing onto the ground a few feet in front of me with a hiss.

Rushing forward, I swung the scythe as he turned around, the electric glare of the blade lighting up his eyes as I severed his head.

Blood flew in an arc through the air, splattering on my face as his head tumbled along the ground. The headless body twitched as it fell over, wriggling around a few seconds with phantom spasms before dying altogether.

My ears were still ringing
with bloodlust, my blood pumping
with the intoxication of adrenaline, that I at first didn’t hear the
sounds of battle
around me.

Dezyre screeched, going down hard on the ground while a guard pressed
against
her neck with
the handle of
his scythe. His helmet was off, and he
snapped
his teeth at her, trying to get a bite. Her gun was the only thing keeping him at bay; she used it to block his attacks, though from the way he was beating against it, she wouldn’t last long.

I ran forward. A
fierce cry ripped from my throat as I brought the scythe down, slicing clear through his backside. He managed to get out one strangled roar before he collapsed on
to
his side,
his
dead eyes staring at nothing.

Dezyre was shaking as I hauled her up. “You okay?” I
asked
.

She nodded, whimpering. “Rook. Leo,” she muttered.

I squeezed her hand. “I’ve got them. You try to get
out
of here.”

She hastily nodded and started r
unning. Another guard came at her, but I made quick work of him too, feeling more and more like a predator with the more blood I spilled.

Once Dezyre was safely in the trees, I whirled back and
charged into the heart of the battle.

Rook emptied
a round of
bullets into a guard, which did about as much good as smacking him
with a
fly
swatter
. I ran at the guard,
gutting him with the electric scythe. He fell forward, a sick gurgling sound coming out of his throat before he fell over.

Rook was covered in sweat, and he had a nasty gash across his cheek. “Thanks,” he breathed.

“Don’t mention it.” I looked around, surveying the damage. Several bodies lay around; it looked like we had managed to take out half the guard. Some retreated, calling for backup, while others were busy with –

My breath caught. “Leo.”

I looked around. Where was he?

“Sloane, look out!” Rook yelled, right before I felt an explosion of pain in the middle of my back. I stumbled forwar
d as
the breath
was
knocked out of me
, losing
my grip on the scythe. By the time I recovered, a Scarlet Guard had
his
boot planted firmly on the back of my throat, pinning me to the ground. I struggled to get up, seeing Rook’s face slam into the dirt a few inches from mine.

The sc
ythe was wrenched from my grasp
and I silently swore.

“Contact Sovereign McAllister and let her know her daughter has been procured,” one of the guard
s
said in a deep voice.

I shuddered, remembering the last time I saw my mother. She had backhanded me for disgracing her by running away to the Red Sector to look for my brother. It made her look like she couldn’t control me, like w
e were anything but the perfect yet tragic
political family she had made us up to be for the press.

Icy fear washed through me, thinking of what she would do to me. Aden’s face flashed through my mind.
I squirmed, trying to break free.

“What do we do with the other one?” one of the
guards asked, kicki
ng Rook in the ribs. He groaned
but showed no indication that he was in pain.

The first paused. “Kill him. He’s not needed.”

“No!” I choked out
.

Rook’s eyes widened as the other guard lifted
his
scythe, angling the blade toward Rook’s neck.

The guard screamed as something slender and red poked through his chest
,
and he
dropped the scythe. The something was jerked back, leaving a gaping hole smoldering with gold
en
flecks as his skin literally began to disintegrate.

“What?” the first guard hissed as his comrade frantically tried to rip open the robe to get to the wound, but the hole was spreading too fast. By the time he got the robe off and had
partially tugged off the bullet
proof vest beneath, his entire chest had caved in, leaving a bloody gob where his heart used to b
e as he fell to the ground
,
already
dead
.

There was a flash of pink
,
and then the first guard
shrieked with fury before pitching forward. I coughed violently as his boot let up and air rushed into my lungs.

Rook
was already on his fee
t
; he sprinted
over and helped me sit up, rubbing my back. “Just breathe, Sloane.”

“What…happened?” I
asked
between coughs.

A tall boot with so many buckles I didn’t see how anyone could pull it on stepped into my line of vision. “I happened.”

My head jerked up. “Arika.”

Her hair was completely pulled back into a small knot, making her face look really thin. She gazed down at me haughtily, silent.

I clumsily found my footing and stood. Not knowing what else to say, I said, “Thank you.”

“I didn’t do it for you,” she said, h
er eyes burning with hatred.

I stared back
at her, understanding dawning.

I blinked. “Leo.”

There was a shout behind us and then someone began shooting. Rushing
forward, the three of us ran fa
rther into the woods. A few lifeless guards lay sprawled on the ground, their throats slit or stabbed in some other part of their bodies. Even though we were tough as nails, vampires weren’t completely immune to mortal wounds.

Ahead, someone covered in blood was squaring off with a circle of guards, wildly slashing at them as they laughed and toyed with him, like a
group of bloodhounds that know
they
have
the fox cornered.

“Leo,” I breathed, picking up speed.

I tackled the first guy I saw, slamming into him with the force of a bull. We both went down, and I grabbed one of the knives tucked inside my boot and swiftly stabbed him through the heart.
Rook and Arika plunged into the fray; she went straight for Leo. I watched her cup his cheek, examining him and saying something I couldn’t quite make out over the noise.

Blinking and getting my brain back into gear, I took down two more guards, adding to the body count.

Someone yanked on my hair and I cried out, a nerve in my neck pi
nching as I went down backward and lost my grip on the knife.
The rest of the world spun away in bl
urs of red a
nd silver as guards – none of which were wearing helmets –
stepped out of the woods, one aiming a gun at a struggling Dezyre’s
head
.

My eyes froze on her, and any fight I had in me died away for a few seconds as th
e guard jerked me up by my hair, making me rise to my knees.
I grabbed for his hands, but that only made him pull
harder
.

“Surrender or she dies,” one of the guards said. Rook and Arika stood by, shifting their weight as five more guards closed in on us, scythes ready.
Arika had an arm looped under Leo’s shoulder, holding him up.

I found Dezyre’s eyes. Her bottom lip was trembling, but her eyes were filled with fire. Discreetly, she shook her head, her eyes darting down. My eyes dropped to the ground, in the direction of her cue.

The
knife
I’d dropped
lay about a foot away.

My heart pounded as I hesitated, weighing our choices, which, admittedly, weren’t very many at this point.

Pa-dum. Pa-dum. Pa-dum.