King Cave (2 page)

I imagined he would try. You never messed with a Vampire’s fangs. My own, even if small because of my hidden hybrid nature, were extremely sensitive. Ezra knew I understood. Retribution was definitely in my foreseeable future as long as we lived through this.

“Ezra, dear, I agree with Elder Farrar,” Vivian — Ezra’s mom — murmured from her hidden space under the desk, her voice dry. “You should quit rolling on the floor with a Shifter.”

Ezra stilled on top of me, just as I froze under him.

We had forgotten about her. It wasn’t the first time we had done that. Ezra’s mom was just too quiet. She watched, then spoke only when her mood suited. Her mood obviously suited now, since Mysticals of different factions didn’t ‘roll on the floor’ together.

“Right,” Ezra stated loudly, his carefully blank face lifting in her direction. His fangs retracted, leaving perfectly white, straight teeth showing between his partially opened red, wide lips. “I was only telling her—”

“Ezra,” Vivian interjected, “just get off her.”

“Of course,” he mumbled, rising and yanking me to my feet, only to quickly tug me away from the window.

Ezra and I stared at our other besties, the Mage and water Elemental, Pearl Cooper and Jack Collins, who were lying on the floor where we had gently and safely placed them after they had passed out when their mates, Gideon and Nikki, had died. Ezra and I glanced at each other, and it was obvious neither of us wanted to wake them. When they awoke…

I shook my head and turned my attention to Antonio. “They won’t be able to focus. All they’ll think of is Gideon or Nikki.” Their sorrow was going to be unquestionably horrendous when they roused. “They’ll get themselves killed.”

Antonio nodded. “That’s why I’m going spell them.” He brushed a strand of golden hair, which had escaped his hair tie, behind his ear as his eyes darted to Vivian. “Do you have lipstick or lip gloss that I may use?”

Vivian didn’t even bat an eye at the odd request while another round of gunfire echoed outside. She rummaged through her purse and tossed a black cylinder to him, not moving from the security of being underneath the desk.

Catching it deftly, Antonio handed my gun to me. “Just keep shooting while I handle what needs to be done.” I aimed the gun at the window, listening to him move toward Pearl and Jack. “This will make them forget. When you get to your destination, all you have to do is finish the ‘X’, and they’ll remember. Their memories will be fully restored.”

From the corner of my eye I saw Ezra grab Antonio’s forearm. “This won’t harm them?”

Antonio shook his head. “No. I’ll make it so they remember everything except any memory of their deceased mates until the spell is completed.” He paused, rolling his shoulders. “They will be in pain when they remember, but not from anything I’ve done.”

Ezra released him, nodding.

I knew this. Ezra knew this. Both of our mates had died. Pearl and Jack would need us more than they ever had until their lives untwisted from the ache of loss. The feeling of loss for my late mate had never really diminished until I had opened myself to their friendship.

Antonio squatted over them and began to murmur his spell.

Ezra watched for a moment before he stepped over Mrs Jonas’s corpse on the floor, not even giving her body a second glance, and maneuvered to the bags Antonio had brought.

More than curious, I probed, “What
things
were you talking about?”

Kneeling, Ezra lifted a handheld gun from the depths of one of the bags and set it aside before continuing his search. “I don’t know what they were. Not Com. Not Mys.” My body stilled at the implication, even as he pulled a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt from the bag, which appeared remarkably like the clothes Ezra owned. He grunted, studying them. “I’ll explain later.”

A Com head poked inside the room via the broken window, and I fired instantly. The head no longer poked. Nor did it do anything else, since half of it lay on the floor while the rest of the body lay outside the window.

“Not Com or Mys? How is that possible?” Seeing Ezra raise his hands to yank the blood-drenched robe over his head, I kept my focus directly on the Coms’ access point, giving him privacy. None of the Prodigies — him, me, Pearl, or Jack — had on anything under our robes.

“It’s possible,” he grumbled, to my left. “But I’ll explain it when we have more time.” I could hear him pulling the jeans on, the rustling of fabric. He grunted again. “This is handy, but I think Antonio stole my damn clothes.”

“Or he purposely had them for this exact reason,” I murmured, most definitely beginning to suspect that Antonio knew more in advance than the average individual.

After a moment, Ezra hummed in agreement. “I think he also has your clothes, and Pearl’s and Jack’s, in here.” I heard him rummaging through the bag. “And wipes. Perfect.”

“Ezra, hurry up,” Vivian ordered, definitely using a mother’s tone. “Elder Farrar appears to be finishing.”

Ezra stalked in my direction. “Get changed. I’ll watch the window.” He tugged the black shirt over his head with one hand, holding the opened packet of wipes in the other. When he was finished dressing, I placed my gun in his waiting hand, and he began cleaning his face and arms one-handed with the wipes while keeping my gun aimed at the window.

I darted to the bag of clothes and found inside black cargos and a yellow shirt, which were absolutely mine. I pulled them out and hastily returned to Ezra, hiding behind him — he was the perfect screen so no one could see me — and beginning to change. Just as I had zipped my cargos and begun yanking my t-shirt over my head, I heard Pearl and Jack moan. I flinched, praying the spell Antonio was placing on them held true. If it didn’t, I would have to knock their asses out and cart them over my shoulder to get them out of here alive.

A particularly loud explosion woke them fully as I was pulling my hair out of the collar of my shirt. It rocked the building, and I teetered, falling against Ezra’s solid back. We rested against each other for support as the floor trembled under our feet, but the room we were in stayed intact. Earlier, Vivian had rambled that the room may have been spelled, and I was beginning to think she was correct. Especially when I heard parts of the upper floors crumble and bang against the ceiling but not crash through.

“What the fuck?” Jack shouted over the resounding noise, sounding shaken…but not wretched, which he should have with Nikki dead.

“We’re under attack,” Antonio explained calmly. “You and Pearl need to get changed. You four have a job to do to move Mysticals to safety.”

“Were we injured?” Pearl asked, sounding muddled…but not screaming in agony from Gideon’s death. “I don’t remember anything but the initial blast.”

“That’s not important.” Antonio jumped to his feet, moving toward his bags. “What is vital is that you two are fine.” He tossed clothes in their direction. “Listen to my directives while you two change your clothes.”

Feeling confident in my blank expression, I turned my attention in their direction. They appeared confused to the extreme, but no desperation lurked in their expressions and no hurt was visible. In fact, the only perceptible evidence of anything abnormal, other than their bewilderment, was a diagonal streak of pink lipstick across each of their foreheads. Half of an ‘X’. And bizarrely, neither one of my besties seemed to notice the other’s half ‘X’ when they glanced at each other before turning their backs to one another so they could strip down in semi-privacy, doing as the Elder bid them.

Hastily averting my gaze, I slipped from behind Ezra so he could see me. A quick glance at him, and his eyes met mine. I nodded slightly, letting him know the spell had worked. His chest heaved once in relief, but his regard swiftly altered as he fired at and killed a Com trying to climb inside. From the corner of my eye I noted that Pearl jerked at the report, but Antonio snagged all of our attentions a moment later.

Zipping his bags closed, Antonio questioned swiftly, “Jack, do you remember how to use the pond for shelter by funneling your combined wills?”

Hearing him put his jeans on, I only listened as Jack directly affirmed, “Yes.”

“Good.” Antonio stood, slinging his bags over his shoulders. “You’re going to do it again. Mysticals will be traveling with you under your combined protection, so don’t falter. Don’t stop for anything. Or anyone. A single break in any of your concentrations will result in your deaths.” He explained this all matter-of-factly. “The roads are blocked. Right now, there’s only one way to Connecticut and to King Cave.” Absently, he tossed me a circular item.

Catching it, I saw it was a compass.

“Connecticut?” Jack’s blue eyebrows furrowed, and sounding incredulous over the erupting gunfire outside, he shouted, “You mean
through the Sound
?” He shook his head roughly, his blue hair rustling with the sharp movement. “I thought King Cave was a myth!”

Antonio pointed to me, ignoring Jack’s outburst. “Go north. Once you hit land, there will be vehicles waiting for you, keys in the ignitions.” Rubbing his hand agitatedly over his face, he grumbled, “That’s what took me so long to get here.” A weighty sigh, and then a shake of his head. “Go east along the beachfront. Don’t stop. You’ll see a golden protection barrier. Head for it. When you pass through, there will be an Elder waiting for you. He’ll lead you the rest of the way.”

We all stilled at the uproar of jets flying far overhead. The noise was unmistakable.

Antonio rolled his shoulders. “That’s my cue.” A slow, feral sneer crept across his handsome face, and without a doubt, I knew why he had been named one of the most malicious Mysticals in history. “Bombs can be incredibly pleasurable to misguide.” Racing toward the window, he chucked the tube of lipstick to me and barked, “The Kings, Elders, and I will be there soon. Don’t forget to keep your focus steady.”

My jaw was gaping. Gawking. That wouldn’t do, so I quickly snapped it shut, pocketing the lipstick and compass and watching as Antonio dove out the window, his body beginning to shimmer golden. I couldn’t help my tone, my voice a bit flat as I said, “We’re going to Connecticut.” A deep inhale. “Via a pond dome.” I blinked bit by bit. “Through the Sound.” I rolled my shoulders. “I think I should have paid better attention when Mom took me to Sunday school classes.”

Pearl snorted, swiftly walking to stand beside me while I tried hard not to stare at the slash of lipstick on her forehead; Antonio’s spell was the only thing keeping her together right now. “Bloody hell, Lily, at least you went to church and know how to pray properly.”

“He’s crazy,” Jack muttered, grabbing from the floor two of the guns Antonio had left behind. “Do you know how many hours of intense concentration that will take?”

“Probably more than what he trained us for.” Ezra handed my gun back to me, pulling another gun out of the back of his waistband, which he had taken from Antonio’s arsenal bag earlier. “But it’s doable.” He jerked his head at his mom. “Time to go.”

Vivian stuffed Antonio’s glowing, brown leather book inside her purse and zipped it tight before readjusting the strap over her head so it wouldn’t fall from her shoulder. Crawling from under the desk, she, too, kept her eyes averted from the lipstick marks on Jack’s and Pearl’s foreheads. “How are we going to get to this pond?”

“By force,” I muttered quietly, and my jaw hardened as I took a deep breath. Using my Shifter strength, I bent at the knees and launched myself across the room and out the window headfirst. No time like the present to get into the action. I ducked, flying over the pile of Com carcasses, and rolled as I hit the grass. I let my body continue with the motion and ended in a kneeling position. Wasting no time, I immediately opened fire and shot any and all Coms near our window, my gifted spelled gun never running out of silver bullets.

Wind whipped around me as Ezra arrived in a blur. He fired his gun while standing directly behind me with his legs straddling mine. He secured the right side, and I safeguarded the left. Pearl exited next, aiming one of the guns Jack had previously been holding. She targeted the Coms in the middle, squeezing her gun’s trigger at will. Jack dove through the window, as agile as the rest of us, and motioned for Vivian to get her ass moving as he fired at the Coms dwelling on top of the rubble that used to be the administration building; their vantage point had been chosen because it was better to pick off Mysticals.

And yes, only the room we had been in was still standing; the rest of the building was a mere pile of stone, wood, and bricks. Mrs Jonas’s room had most definitely been spelled. At the very least she had been smart on that account. It had saved our lives.

Another rush of wind rustled my distinctive red hair, and Vivian was suddenly in front of us, sinking her descended fangs deep into the neck of a Com and brutally ripping out his throat.

I actually stopped shooting for a second, merely blinking. I wasn’t sure what shocked me more: seeing Vivian, the woman who had raised Ezra, his mother, rip out someone’s throat, or witnessing a — albeit scary — school teacher rip out someone’s throat. Either way, it shocked me for a second. But reality swiftly intruded my mind’s numbness when I saw a Com taking aim at a Mys child, who was barely old enough to walk but was standing in the masses, her bitty mouth opened wide, screaming from fear.

My heart stalled. I may have a crazy dislike for brats, but I’m not completely heartless like the Com bitch that was about to murder the tiny air Elemental. My wolf growled instinctively, and I sprang at the Com. Falling on her rapidly, I viciously twisted her neck, damn near pulling her head clean off. The goddamned sadistic Com had it coming. Throwing her body aside, I swiftly lifted the air Elemental and held the whimpering munchkin close.