Skin Deep (33 page)

"Unhand him."

The voice ringing out from the center of the mayhem was strong, booming and a touch arrogant. As if the speaker knew that though the room was unaware of his presence, all he needed to do was speak and all occupants would bow to his command.

He was infinitely correct in his particular wisdom. Though not about the bowing part.

Everyone paused or slowed their attacks, searching for the commanding voice within the throng of writhing, attacking bodies, while still keeping a solid eye on their opponent. The voice emanated from the middle of the lab, from the same point where the sharp white light rose to touch the ceiling. My eyes told me nothing was there. My bracelet, on the other hand, was vibrating a song against my arm, so much so that my forearm was numbed. I searched though the dust and the light and at last the form of a man took shape.

He took form from nothing, in the spot from which the voice had rung moments previously. It wasn't often I was privy to the sight of someone materializing out of thin air, and my shock at the sight loosened my lock-hold on Greer's arm and tipped the scales in her favor.

She struggled against me, trying to twist free, while most of my attention was focused on the strange addition to the chaos of this room.

I waited, along with everyone else, for the new arrival to speak. But, we were giving the opposition the upper-hand, in exactly the same way the stranger's interruptive entrance had allowed Greer to loosen my hold.

He stepped out of the light and my heart pounded in my throat. Anjelo. The hooded cloak he wore shielded his face from the rest of the room but he looked up and met my eyes. My first thought was for Lily, and I breathed a second sigh of relief on her behalf. At least she was not here to witness this macabre picture. How could it be Anjelo?

My confusion was short-lived. His cloak glowed, easily mistaken as a reflection from the pulsing white light
behind him. But, although it glowed with the same brightness the color was different. A coral tinge to it that sent shivers through my body. A Wraith. Right here among Walkers. That was a first. A walking Human corpse was easy to kill. Anjelo would be much harder.

Logan had Niko in a stranglehold, halfway on his knees. Niko was using his dead-weight to pull Logan down to the ground in the hope of getting free.

The Wraith pointed at Niko and said, "Release him. He is mine." His voice boomed again, sending a dull tingle into my eardrums.

Where did he think he was? The Wraith's lordly attitude wasn't going to get him anywhere today. Who in Ailuros's name was he, and what did he want with my Uncle?

A medallion swung around his neck, and bland fluorescent light reflected against the runic symbols carved into the bronzed medallion so similar to the band on my arm. It seemed both pieces were charged by the presence of the other.

The initial denseness in the air which I'd felt on arrival of the Wraith had dissipated, but now it returned with a vengeance. The bracelet throbbed mercilessly on my arm.

A warning?

The lab seemed to shrink and expand at the same time. The breath struggled in my lungs, as if some invisible heavy hand was trying to deflate it, press all the air out of me.

Strangely too, the walls of the room seemed further away than they looked. I had the feeling if I walked to the wall behind me, I would walk forever without reaching it even though it was less than ten feet away.

I stared at the Wraith, confused and a little afraid. He was unlike every other soul-sucker I'd ever come across. He had power and he even had
Magyk. But worst of all, he had Anjelo.

***

Fury heated my head and dulled my grief so I held onto it as strongly as I could. I stared at Anjelo’s face, my blood running cold for the first time being confronted with a Wraith. How could Niko kill Anjelo and then turn him over to the Wraith?

I drew in a shuddering breath and I glanced at Logan and the rest of the team. Their faces mirrored the shock and dismay I knew was clear on my own. None of them knew what I intended and I hoped they would stay well away. Choking back hot tears I ran full tilt into the Wraith, trying to forget it was Anjelo I was knocking over.

My hands made full contact with his when we impacted. Repulsion rippled through me at his reptilian coldness. My reaction pushed me off high alert as I quivered and stalled the urge to shiver in disgust. The Wraith knocked me back, away and onto my ass. He scrambled to his feet and I followed suit, mirroring his fluid movement.

From beneath the folds of his gray cloak he produced a sword, the beauty of which captivated my attention. The blade gleamed in the bland fluorescent light, its bulk carved from some unrecognizable ebony glass, obsidian or black diamond. It glittered and glinted, totally overcoming its deadly purpose with its sheer beauty. Perhaps he used some form of Magyk to produce the weapon. I was sure it hadn't pressed against my body when I fell on him. He lunged toward me with the obsidian beauty. I swung aside, clearing the vicious arc of the swipe with a mere hairs-breadth to spare.

I heard the rest of Logan's team resume their offense against Niko's little army. They'd soon try to get at the Wraith, come to help me. Minutes went by and I was still dancing around the Wraith, avoiding the vicious point of his sword and trying to figure out how I could possibly defend myself. Help would be great. I glanced around in frustration and had to tear my eyes away from the strange scene I glimpsed in one quick sweep across the room.

The rest of the Omega team had encircled us, trying unsuccessfully to break through an invisible barrier surrounding both myself and the Wraith. Our little battle - one I was successfully losing - was taking place within a Magykal ball of protection created by the demon I fought. Jess was a study in concentration, trying to destroy the barrier.

I was tired, weak and without a weapon. Soon the Wraith had me breathless, with knees almost giving up, ready to cry uncle. The next blow struck me hard. Thank Ailuros my instinctive reaction was to lift and block with my armored hand. The sword struck the armband with a clanging shout, spitting a shower of blue and white sparks. I keeled over again from the force, while my arm ached with the vibrations of the impact. I was certain the bones in my arm were shattered beyond repair, but as the pain faded I tested the hand and found the limb pretty much in good working order.

I was down, but not out. The Wraith moved in on me. He knelt and leaned over my face. He was intent and arrogant, knowing he'd won this battle. His foul black mouth came closer to mine, and as bad as mine might have reeked what with not coming in contact with a toothbrush for over twenty-four hours, I was pretty confident it smelled a helluva lot better than the fetid stink which permeated the hole in his face.

"Now you are mine, Hunter." He laughed, the sound echoing sharp and flat like the crunch of gravel.
"I have been searching for the one who has been destroying my people in the last few years." Then, before I could ask him anything further, he began to breathe in. Air from deep within my lungs deserted me, following the Wraith's pulling breath. My chest was empty, lungs deflated. Darkness edged my vision. As much as I wished I could claim my actions to be the result of considerable forethought, it was only desperation controlling my next moves.

I kicked him full in the groin. Right before I wondered whether Wraiths
were constructed like Humans and Walkers with similar super-sensitive male parts. Even if he did, would the kick have a similar effect on a Wraith anyway? Fortunately, for me he reeled from the impact. Plenty of time to get back onto my feet. I didn't spare any precious seconds to wonder if he would recover quickly.

What I did wonder, though, was how he knew I was a hunter. It’s not as if I had my moonlighting job tattooed on my forehead.

The Wraith recovered quickly and came back with a certain vengeance. "You will not escape me, Hunter." He raised his sword and swung it at me with all the force of his body behind the swipe. "I have been tracking you. But as elusive as you have been, you could not escape me, could you? Imagine my surprise when the thoughts and memories of this body revealed to me who you are."

Puzzled by his strange comment, I watched in slow-motion as his sword closed the distance between
us. Because I lacked a weapon, or any protection whatsoever, I raised my armored hand again to deflect the strike. I hoped the little metal bracelet could withstand a second powerful impact. Hoped my hand would withstand the force of a second blow. I would never have admitted it, even though I knew Logan and his team were watching, but I shut my eyes before the blow hit. I didn't want to watch in case the bracelet disintegrated and I lost my arm.

Again the impact almost loosed my arm within its socket, rippling through the bones of my hand. Pins and needles tingled into my fingertips. It was the repercussion of the impact though, nothing more. My arm was still intact, I was not bleeding, and no bones were shattered beyond repair. Thank Ailuros. The metal of the bracelet had done its job real well - protected my arm from the black sword.

This time the impact also reverberated back to my attacker, sending the sword spinning from his hand and onto the floor in an ominous crack. The Wraith howled his fury and bent to retrieve his weapon. Fed up with the battle he was losing against me, he charged at Niko, and Greer who had sought a dubious refuge beside our uncle. I wondered how wise it had been as I wasn't at all confident in Niko's family fidelity.

"You will not escape me, Hunter. And don’t worry about your Walker friend. I’ll keep him safe with me. I am sure he will prove very useful, for a very long time. His mind is filled with bits of information about you Kailin Odel, Hunter of Wraiths." A column of shimmering blue light grew behind the Wraith, and he stepped backward into the brightness.

Niko screamed, "No, don’t leave me here." He grabbed onto the Wraith’s arm and was pulled through the light, with Greer hanging on, her face twisted in horror. The outlines of their bodies flickered in the gleaming pale light and then disappeared from view. In the next moment the blue pillar simply vanished, and with it the Magykal protection around me.

Logan and Iain were beside me in a flash. Thankfully I was conscious long enough to provide them with a smile of relief before I succumbed to the pain and the welcoming blackness.

***

People bustled around me, voices filtering through my hazy sleep. But it was not the constant bustle of people which woke me. Waves of excruciating, agonizing pain lapped at my arm. Like vicious waves on a treacherous shore, they kept coming, each time deeper and more unbearable than the next. I lifted my body to sit up, resting my weight on the arm that didn't hurt like the fires of Hell.

The world tilted precariously. Vertigo gripped me as I noted the ground below the stretcher. I scrunched my eyes up. Perhaps ending my view of the ground would stop the hurly-burly in my head. But it did nothing. I grunted, disgusted with myself. I needed to be on my feet. Not flat on my back.

The Wraith had confirmed Anjelo was still alive
, and that meant I had to find a way to save him. Anyone close to a Wraith was in some sort of danger. Niko and Greer were in danger too. I found it hard to give a damn about them right now, but my heart ached that Anjelo could be in mortal danger while I lay here, wasting time.

I shivered, a deep roiling movement which made me whimper when my quaking arm quivered too.

"No, Kai, you need to stay down." Iain spoke close to my ear. "You shouldn't be trying to move around."

I shook my head, and swallowed as I felt his supportive hand at my back. My throat was lined with sandpaper.

"Something's wrong..." I breathed the words as speaking hurt too much.

"What? Are you in pain?"

I managed a feeble nod, my eyes leaking hot tears. Iain stared at me in disbelief. It wasn't often I admitted to being in any sort of pain.

"Where?" Already, he was running a keen eye over my body, searching for wounds and not finding any.

"My arm...under the bracelet." I felt like a little kid again. The urged to give vent to a wracking sob was uncontrollable, but all I did was moan.

"We need to get the damned thing off," Iain said. He fiddled with the heavy buckles, then huffed with impatience as the armor refused to budge. At last he stopped, acknowledged his attempts were futile. Logan stood a foot behind Iain, watching, a scowl pulling his perfect brows into a not-so-pretty mess. He made no effort to try his hand at removing the bracelet.

I lay back, morbidly sorry for myself. Even I had no idea how to remove the friggin' armor. As much as I appreciated it had saving my sorry life a few minutes ago, all I wanted now was to get it off. I lifted my throbbing arm and inspected the bracelet closely. I’d thought the armor had gotten through the fight undamaged. I could’ve been wrong, though.

The indentation in the metal was obvious to even a cursory inspection. What wasn't so clear was the thin line of broken armor
running alongside a parallel pattern between a bunch of engraved runes. So easy to miss. I’d done just that.

Something, perhaps a part of the bracelet, now dug deep into my arm sending shards of agony through it. Neither Logan nor Iain had any idea how to help. At the moment
, even a little bit of Niko's drug was a welcome thought. I closed my eyes and slipped into a pained, fitful sleep.