walker saga 07 - earth (3 page)

The girls exchanged glances. He could be just talking shit, but there was every chance that they had stumbled their way into a trap. Either way, Eva was sick of listening to the words coming out of his mouth and, using her speed, she dashed forward and allowed Mortem to slice its way through more limbs. The Brawler fell to the ground in a screaming heap.

“Whoops,” Eva said, “although, your screams are more attractive than your words.”

She was just turning away when a loud boom shook the air. Everyone in the vicinity hit the ground as the already cracked and crumbling pavement started to break away even further beneath their feet. The noise continued to resonate in Eva’s head, and with a echoing ‘pop’ blood began pouring from her nostrils and ears. Managing to lift her head about an inch off the pavement, her blurry eyes focused just long enough to see that the gangers around her now wore some sort of weird, aluminum head gear.

Crappity crap. This wasn’t good. The vigiladies weren’t prepared for weapons like that. Something seemed familiar about the sonic boom she’d just heard. Memories sliced at her, warring with the pounding in her brain. She’d heard something like that once before. In her father’s lab, when he’d worked in the city. But his mock experiment had been to demonstrate a theoretical weapon only. Her father had been a complicated man, one of science, martial arts and farming. He had always told her to never let one thing define you.

Of his many successes, the one he was best known for was as the scientist who’d developed the EMP – electromagnetic pulse – back in the early twenty-first century. There had been talk of mutating it into a weapon to be used against humans, and not just in the way of knocking out pacemakers. Nope, they were hoping to interfere with the electric impulses inside the human body, specifically within their brains. Something which could be used to render a human being inert and vulnerable. It was touted as a weapon to end wars. Or stop terrorist attacks. A simple blast of energy could dismantle an entire army.

As far as Eva knew, the weapon had never moved past the theoretical stage. So how the hell had the gangers managed to find it? Technology today was fifty years behind what it used to be. They were practically in the Middle Ages; there should have been no way this could exist.

Eva’s vision wavered again, but she did notice that Lain was right beside her. She focused her blurry vision on the other girl. Those dark eyes were open and blank; there was no one home, but at least her chest still rose and fell.

Eva knew she had to get up; if she didn’t fight they would all die. She had to move. The ghosts were much closer now, warning her with their dead eyes. She had to get up.

Her nails cracked as she scraped her hands across the roughened ground. Blood spilled, but she barely even noticed. Mortem was close. She could feel its energy but not see it. She just had to get her hands on her sword.

At that moment a second boom rocked the world, and as the gangers shifted toward the females sprawled on the ground, Eva lost hold of her final slivers of consciousness. A surge of fear but also relief flooded her. As the darkness closed over her she hoped she didn’t wake in the hands of smugglers. Death meant she would be with her family. Finally free of the pain.

Chapter 2

Abigail

I’d been scared many times over the past twelve months. I’d seen things which made my insides crawl, my heart constrict, and the blood run cold in my veins. Right now, though, this moment had me speechless – and trust me when I say shutting me up was rare. Though not as rare as shutting up Lucy. The pixie wasn’t with me right then. I wondered what she’d think of this room.

The longer I stared, the harder I was hit with bursts of emotion. They were rocking across my soul and digging holes in my gut. I wasn’t even sure what to think. My father was suspended in a tank of a … viscous liquid. His eyes were closed and masses of fiery red hair floated around him. And the other tank – the one which had atomic levels of panic shooting through my body – held Que. Brace’s dad, and all-round evil asshole. The evil Walker had opened his eyes a few minutes ago, but thankfully had closed them again without showing signs of recognition. Surely, he would have reacted if he’d seen his mate and son standing outside his secret cage room.

I started as a hand curved around my own. Its warmth drew some of the ice from my blood. The palm was much larger than my own and it radiated heat. Comfort was instant. Heat slid from my fingertips, along my arm and down into tantalizing tingles along my spine.

Only one person could affect me like this. Brace. My mate. I almost wiggled like a happy little puppy as I shifted closer to him.

What in all freaktastic heck is this, Brace?
I could have spoken out loud, but I quite liked being able to use our bond again. I might have been shamelessly taking advantage of it.

I know a lot of things, Red, but this has me stumped. I’m going to attempt to break the dome, but I want to bring Colt here first.

Brace was the princeps of Abernath, and could have had an army here if needed. Of course, most of his warriors – our warriors actually – were on First World preparing for the battle against the Seventines’ creatures. And since I had a lot of loved ones at the dark mountains, I would hate to pull any of our soldiers back here. So, right now, we would not call for any backup but Colton.

“Don’t worry. I can take Que.” He had switched out of the bond, probably so Lasandra, his mother, could hear.

Brace – and most Walkers in general – did not lack confidence. For good reason, of course; they were totally badass, but still I worried. Plus there was one large fact that we all seemed to be ignoring.

“You might have been able to take Que, but … what about the fact that he seems to have imported himself a few new body parts?”

Lasandra stood off to the side, her eyes locked on the two tanks. She had one hand pressed tightly to her mouth as she shook her head side to side, before lowering her arm to speak. “What’s happened to him, Brace?”

Brace’s beautiful, blond mother was not a big fan of me. In fact, she would probably be happy if I ran away and fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Which, too bad for her, had already happened, and it had brought me straight to First World and Brace. She’d have to have more than the Mad Hatter up her sleeve if she wanted me gone.

Brace ran a hand through his black hair. It was getting longer again, falling across his forehead with the slightest of curls starting to form.

He turned dark eyes toward Lasandra. “I can only guess, but knowing Que, this was a failsafe set up to gather his energy in the event that he was destroyed.”

“So he’s probably been here since that Seventine blasted him apart?” I mused.

“He would have known the risks of housing the Seventine. It was almost as if he wanted this to happen,” Brace said. “What better way to infuse new energy into your DNA than to build your body up from scratch.”

I squinted for a better look at the tank holding the almost rebuilt male. “What other energies is he gathering?”

Brace’s features hardened, the handsome planes firming out into long lines. “No way to know for certain, but … one of the originals had a leg which was made from inorganic material. The history tomes speak of this original as one who liked to experiment with his body, modifying it for strength.”

I swallowed, trying to get past the new lump in my throat. “
Inorganic material
. Sort of like a robot leg?”

Which is exactly what it looked like Que was growing. The limb wasn’t fully formed, but there was clearly metal infused with flesh, like a cyborg.

“Yes,” Brace said. “Shit! He’s been gathering the free energy of the originals.”

The seven half-Walker girls were born of original energy. It was where our elemental powers came from. But we only contained parts of the essence of the originals. The rest of their energy secured the Seventines’ prison. Or used to.

Every time one of the Seventines was freed, some of that originals’ energy was released back into the star system. I’d had a vague hope and plan that I could somehow gather up this extra original energy and use it in our bid to re-imprison the Seventine. That way I could ensure all the half-Walkers survived. The final battle was going to get bloody, and locking the Seventine away would probably take more power than we had. My gut had been telling me for a while that we were going to need more original energy. Seemed Que had the same idea.

Of course, my plan had one tiny little flaw: I had no idea how to gather this energy. I was working on the vague hope that once the seven of us half-Walkers joined together then our path and powers would become clear.

I still had to find one more female, the Earth-born half. No point trying to wrest this original energy from Que until we completed the power of seven. I had to leave shortly. If I didn’t find her before the final Seventine was released – well, we’d be in a world of trouble.

Lasandra made a noise. It came from deep in her chest, part fear and part disgust. “He’s fusing the original energy into his own. Trying to become the most powerful Walker that ever existed.”

Brace took a few beats to answer, as if he was trying to dial down the simmering anger which was streaking black across the chocolate-brown of his eyes. “It was his one aim in this existence: complete control and complete power.”

“He wants to be an original,” I spluttered out.

As horrific as the thought was, it did make sense. Que would crave the powers the seven originals had possessed. The ability to create life, and to sever it. Control over the seven Walker elements. All of the skills the half-Walker females possessed. On a much smaller scale. Plus, if Que contained the original power, when the Seventine severed the ultimate tether during the convergence he would have some control in the rebuilding of the star system. Brace’s father had always considered himself a god, and now he had set everything into motion to guarantee he was one.

“We can’t let that happen!” Lasandra’s tone was frantic, her calm façade shattered. “Brace! We must stop him before he’s fully reformed.”

“Colt’s on his way,” Brace said. I knew him well enough to see the tension in his body, but he was outwardly calm. “We’ll deal with this now, before Que has a chance to gain any more power.”

He shifted his gaze until our eyes met and, as if he couldn’t help himself, he hooked a hand around my waist and pulled me closer.

His voice lowered. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to take your pixie Lucy and leave Abernath for a while.”

I snorted. It was a little ragged, which was simply due to his overwhelming presence. I was drowning a tad in the emotion and love of our melding bond. Plus Brace was hot, really freaking hot. But even devastating hotness was not a good enough reason to let this man dominate me. Over-protective was his middle name, and I was going to halt that right now.

I tilted my head back, letting the moment extend between us. Parting my lips, I exhaled slowly, and of course I noticed the way his eyes followed the movements of my lips. I secretly smiled at that.

“There is not a single thing on this planet or any other which would make me leave you or Josian here with Que.” I spoke sweetly, letting the words trickle from my lips, and I caught the half-grin which tipped up the right side of his mouth.

“You’re lucky I love you, because sometimes I get the very strong feeling I should be taking you over my knee and spanking you.”

His whispered words shot heat through pretty much every part of my body. I was reasonably innocent, but something about the flash of mental image his words evoked was enough to skyrocket my arousal. I had to lick my lips, to moisten them enough to speak.

“Spank me.”
Yep, okay
. Wait, what? I flashed him a grin. “One: in your dreams. Two: who said that would be a punishment?”

A wicked grin crossed his face then, and I almost swooned like a female experiencing her first romance in the Renaissance. I never even knew a man could actually bring a lady to a swoon. Damn Brace and his unnatural hotness. Stupid Walker genetics.

The clearing of a throat broke the spell which had been weaving around us, and I noticed for the first time the golden orb of our aura. It had momentarily filled the space. As we separated the gold eased, and the ancient, unlined, pissed-off face of Brace’s mother came into my line of sight.

“One would think you two didn’t have better things to do than fondle each other. Wasting precious time on … something so unimportant.”

My eyes flicked back to Brace. I mouthed the word ‘fondle’ at him, wrinkling my nose at the same time.
Your mother has a real way with words,
I said through our bond.

Brace gently bopped me on said nose before turning to his insane mother.

The softness in his gaze disappeared as he faced Lasandra. It didn’t take a genius to see the warning in his black eyes. He wouldn’t be tolerating her crap for much longer. Which was completely fine with me. Sure, I didn’t want a huge rift to occur, but Lasandra had been coming at me quite aggressively, and it wasn’t in my nature to just lie down and let someone stomp on me. Even if that someone was my mother-in-law.

“Brace!”

The shout broke the moment; Colton had impeccable timing. For once. It took the wolf-Walker a few minutes to find the secret entrance – Brace was probably guiding him mentally – but soon his very blond hair and icy white-blue eyes made an appearance. He seemed a tad pissed off as he stomped down the darkened stairway, boot steps echoing. Then, when he reached our level, I understood why. Fluttery wings disturbed the still air, and my best friend Lucy popped out from behind her mate. Lucy, the pixie cross faerie.

Colton was as protective as Brace, sometimes worse, and he would be hating that she was here in this unknown and possibly very dangerous situation.

Brace graced his second-in-command with a tense grin. “I see you were as successful as I was in keeping the deadly duo out of it.”