It made Lucas wonder if there were any resisters. Where had all the Shifters gone? Some must have escaped out of the city – surely? They couldn’t all be dead. He struggled, trying to remember what lay beyond the city limits. Wasn’t it just water? Weren’t all the realms just versions of the human world crossed with an environmental disaster? The Shadowlands a lunar wasteland, the Shifter realm covered ninety-nine percent in water, the Thirster world sunk in as much darkness and cloud as a nuclear winter, the Mixen and Scorpio realms competing for position of fewest natural resources. Only the Sybll had a realm worth living in. The only reason the Originals had chosen the human realm to move into next was the food source. It helped when your prey couldn’t see you coming. But that realm too would succumb eventually.
‘It’s just up ahead,’ Issa said as they rounded a street corner.
Things here were familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. The sidewalks were almost identical to sidewalks in LA – cracked paving slabs, weeds sprouting in the gaps – but when you stopped to look more closely, you noticed something was off with the picture, like one of those spot-the-difference quizzes that appeared in trashy magazines and kid’s colouring books. It took a while before you saw it. The sidewalks were wider and the roads were narrower. There were no cars in this realm – people shifted into faster-moving animals or birds if they wanted to get somewhere. And there were signs everywhere along the street but not the usual traffic signs or pedestrian crossing signs. These signs had pictures of animals on them and were designed to show where shifting was permitted and where it wasn’t. All across the city were warning signs forbidding shifts into any animal deemed a danger to the public, or at least that’s what Lucas figured the picture of a lion with a red line bluntly crossed through it meant.
Issa ducked into the shadow of an apartment building, pulling him with her. They stared across a wide, empty plaza at a building that looked a little like a courthouse – sandstone-coloured bricks, Grecian-style columns and well-worn stone steps leading to an ornate double door. It was the only building on the street still in one piece, without boarded-up windows or broken glass or scorched patches of sidewalk outside it.
‘That’s where the gateway opens up?’ Lucas asked, frowning at the incongruity of it.
‘Yes,’ Issa answered.
‘How many inside?’ Lucas asked, his gaze taking in the windows and roof, trying to figure out the best way in.
Issa’s eyes whited over. Lucas waited.
‘Three Mixen and a Shadow Warrior.’
‘And on the other side of the gateway?’
He waited while Issa read the situation. A frown line deepened between her eyes and then they suddenly flashed open, filled with horror. She gasped as though surfacing from freezing water, her hands clawing desperately at his arm.
‘What is it? Issa? What?’ Lucas asked, grabbing her by the shoulders, feeling her panic invading his own body.
‘It’s Flic. And Jamieson,’ Issa choked, her voice a ragged whisper. ‘They’re right on the other side. You need to go. Now!’ Her face was a mask of terror.
Lucas didn’t stop for a moment to think. He just ran, leaving Issa standing there.
He faded as he sprinted across the open square in front of the building, drawing his blade as he ran, ignoring the sharp throbbing in his side from his stab wound and the blood pounding against his skull like an anvil. All his focus was on the building up ahead.
He leapt up the steps and threw his weight against the door, smashing through it with a splintering crash. Straight away he found himself in a high-ceilinged lobby. The three Mixen on sentry duty flew to their feet in panic, spinning in wild, confused circles as they tried to see him. They jabbed at the air in front of them with their blades.
Lucas moved fast. He slid on his knees beneath the whirling arms of the first Mixen and sliced him pelvis to throat, before leaping to his feet to finish off the second with a single slash across the jugular. She went down in a spray of red. Droplets landed on Lucas’s hands and he felt the sting as the acid burrowed through the flesh. He ignored it, kept going, his eyes on the third Mixen who was standing in front of a doorway, his head flying from left to right, a whimper bursting from his throat.
Lucas materialised in front of him without warning. The Mixen let out a yelp and cowered backwards against the door. ‘Please, don’t kill me,’ he cried.
‘You’re in the way,’ Lucas hissed through gritted teeth.
The Mixen squealed as Lucas touched the tip of the blade to his chest.
‘Move,’ Lucas said.
The Mixen blinked at Lucas in surprise, then gathered himself, sprinting for the front door and darting down the steps towards the plaza.
Lucas put his hand on the door. Already his gut was twisting in anticipation, his blood pulsing with the knowledge that a Shadow Warrior stood on the other side. He had only one shot at this. And he had to be fast. He threw open the door, readying himself for an attack. But it didn’t come.
Lucas stood on the threshold, his eyes adjusting to the scorching white light, blazing bright as a prison floodlight.
Suddenly his senses reeled sharply and he spun. A shadow flew across the light and came barrelling towards him at speed. Lucas threw up his blade reflexively. It caught and clanged against another shadow blade, showering him in blue sparks. The vibration shook him to the core. He grunted and strained against his attacker, trying to push him back and break his hold, and it was only then, with his face pressed so close to his attacker’s he could smell his sweat, that Lucas realised who it was that he was fighting.
‘Tristan,’ he stammered, staggering backwards, staring in shock at the man who had once upon a time led the Brotherhood. The man who had trained him to be a killer. The man he’d once respected, whose orders he’d followed without question.
The man he had ultimately betrayed.
Tristan seemed just as surprised to see him. He took a step back, panting heavily. The two of them eyed each other, their blades still half raised, poised and uncertain.
The blood drained instantly from Tristan’s face. ‘You’re alive,’ was all he said.
‘So are you,’ Lucas answered. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘What does it look like I’m doing here,’ Tristan spat, his expression dark as thunder. ‘I’m guarding the way through.’
Before Lucas could ask anything else, Tristan took a darting step forward, slashing his blade in a savage thrust at Lucas’s face. Lucas darted back but not quite fast enough. The edge of the blade nicked his chin and a warm trickle of blood ran down his neck.
Lucas swiped at the cut with his cuff as the two of them began circling each other.
‘You betrayed the Brotherhood, Lucas,’ Tristan spat. ‘For a Hunter.’ Lucas saw the rage rippling beneath the surface of his skin, contorting his face. There would be no point in trying to explain anything to Tristan, Lucas realised. And besides that, he was never going to apologise for choosing Evie over the Brotherhood.
Tristan stepped quickly forward, hissing through his teeth. ‘You should have stayed dead.’
Lucas locked eyes with him. He needed to make a move. Either way, he needed to do something and fast before something happened to Flic. The thought of his sister seeded another wave of panic through him. His gaze flickered towards the gateway. Tristan saw and stepped in front of it.
Lucas switched his attention back to Tristan. Could he kill him? Is that what he was going to have to do in order to get past him? Could he kill the man he’d already betrayed once? The answer was simple. Yes. If the choice was between Tristan and Flic, there was no choice. His eyes skipped over Tristan’s shoulder to the gateway once again. If only he could get past the man, it wouldn’t need to come to that. The wave of panic was rising. Flic was in trouble. He could feel it now.
‘Why are you fighting on their side?’ he asked Tristan.
‘Their side?’ Tristan sneered. ‘You think there are sides in this? There are no sides, Lu
cas, in this battle. It’s been decided. The Originals have won.’ Spittle had appeared at the corner of his mouth; he was so angry his whole body was shaking.
‘Nothing’s been decided,’ Lucas answered.
Tristan laughed, a harsh braying sound. ‘You think that Hunter you so willingly betrayed us for and what’s left of the rest of them stand any chance against what’s on the other side of this gateway?’
Lucas didn’t answer.
‘The human realm is as finished as this one. It’s over, Lucas.’
‘No, it’s not.’
‘I’m not going to let you walk through there.’
‘Why not?’ Lucas shrugged, circling Tristan, inching himself closer to the light. ‘According to you it’s instant death anyway. There’s no hope. So why not let me go?’ He took another step, dropping his voice to an intimate whisper. ‘Or is it that you want to make me pay for what happened to the others? For what happened to you?’
Tristan’s yellow eyes darkened.
Lucas took another step towards Tristan. ‘Or do you want to let me go through there and try to put a stop to this?’
‘You can’t put a stop to it,’ said Tristan, sidestepping and blocking Lucas’s path one more time.
‘I’m going to try,’ Lucas said softly, squaring his shoulders.
And if it meant killing Tristan, then so be it.
He lifted his blade and swung.
Chapter 34
Evie watched Cyrus, Flic and Jamieson climb the wall into the adjacent garden. For several endless seconds fear completely paralysed her. She couldn’t seem to move or breathe or even hold a thought in her head. She just kept staring at the wall.
Behind her she could hear Selena and RJ bickering. She tried to block them out so that she could focus and think. All her senses were screaming. Her nerves felt raw and exposed as though the skin had been stripped clean off her body. She glanced up the street. Everything was so quiet but there was an undercurrent, a low-level humming that felt like someone strumming chords on her bloodied nerves.
Cyrus had told her to stay put, but she couldn’t just stand here and wait, not knowing what was going on. Should she ditch these two and follow him? What if he needed her help?
‘Goddamn it, shut up. I’m trying to think,’ she hissed.
RJ and Selena stared at her as if she’d slapped them.
‘What are you even doing here?’ Evie asked them, exasperation causing her to snap. If they couldn’t feel the gnawing buzz in the pit of their stomachs that signalled trouble, if they couldn’t sense the danger that was so thick in the air it was making it hard to breathe, then they were going to be picked off as easily as cherries from an overhanging branch.
‘We’re here to fight,’ Selena answered back coolly.
‘We’re Hunters,’ RJ said quietly. ‘Same as you. We read the papers, you know. We can see what’s coming. Someone’s got to try to stop them.’
When Evie didn’t respond he carried on. ‘You think I’m just going to walk away, hang out with my buddies, order a pizza and get baked, now I know what’s really going on out here?’
Evie clenched her jaw. She didn’t know what to say. Yes? Yes, do that. Pretend its not happening. Hide. Get baked. But she couldn’t because she knew he was right. At some point this had become a fight that she too had no choice but to get involved in because, just as RJ said, the alternative – doing nothing – was even more terrifying to contemplate.
‘What’s your beef with Victor anyway?’
Evie pondered her answer but RJ was clearly oblivious to the look she was giving him because he carried on. ‘He seems like a cool guy.’
‘What’s my beef with him?’ she spat. ‘Try he killed my parents and my boyfriend.’
RJ’s mouth flapped open and then shut.
‘And you’re like partners with him now?’ Selena asked, incredulous.
Heat rushed up Evie’s neck and bloomed across her cheeks. ‘It’s none of your business,’ she growled, turning away.
‘Someone did that to my man, to my family, you best believe I’d be putting a bullet in him. What you waiting for?’
Evie took a deep breath, bristling dangerously, trying to rein in her anger and guilt and self-loathing before she took it out on Selena, when a loud shot shattered the heavy silence on the street.
‘What the hell was that?’ asked RJ, alarmed, spinning around.
‘It was Ash,’ said Evie, fully focused now. ‘That’s the diversion.’
‘I think we should follow Cyrus. What if he’s in trouble?’ Selena piped up.
‘I think we should do what the guy said and stay put,’ RJ said, looking to Evie for backup.
‘He’s not in charge. Victor didn’t tell us to stay put,’ Selena argued. ‘So I’m going to find out what’s going on.’ And before Evie could stop her she was off, jogging up the street.
By the time Evie caught up with her, Selena was standing in front of the wall Cyrus, Flic and Jamieson had just climbed.
‘Give me a boost,’ Selena said without even looking in Evie’s direction.
Evie swore under her breath, glancing back at RJ who was still standing on the sidewalk looking terrified. The wailing rise and fall of sirens could be heard in the distance.
‘If you don’t, we’re gonna get arrested,’ Selena taunted, dangling her gun in Evie’s face.
Evie frowned at the weapon. Victor had armed them with guns? Oh, dear god. She glanced once more over her shoulder. RJ was now jogging towards them. The sirens were getting closer, and Selena was right. The police would take one look at the three of them and pull them over for questioning, and then they’d find the guns and Evie would be screwed.
Swearing some more, she put her hands together and boosted Selena up and over the wall. Then she pushed RJ to the ground and stood on his knee to pull herself up and over.
‘Hide in those bushes,’ she hissed down to RJ, pointing to some rhododendron bushes further down the street, ‘and if you see an unhuman, run and don’t look back.’
RJ nodded, looking only too pleased to obey.
Evie dropped to a crouch on the other side of the wall beside Selena. They were in the grounds of some mega-mansion that seemed abandoned judging by the toppled garden furniture, overgrown grass and dirty windows. Could be the recession had forced the owners into foreclosure. Could be they’d been eaten. She didn’t want to think about it.
‘Stay behind me,’ she ordered Selena as they began skirting the perimeter wall. Her pulse was racing, every sound amplified, including her own breathing. She felt dizzy and nauseous. The fresh injection of adrenaline pounding through her bloodstream was making her body shake.
There were unhumans – lots of them – close by. She could feel them. That’s what her body was reacting to.
She wiped the sweat from her palms as she ducked through undergrowth and came up on the side wall that divided the property from the house where the Originals were hiding out. Footprints in the soil showed her where Cyrus and Flic had stopped to climb the wall.
Selena took hold of a thick low-hanging branch and hoisted herself up into a tree that brushed against the wall. Evie followed behind, not wanting Selena to get too far ahead. She was just swinging her way onto a second, higher branch when she heard Selena draw in a breath and gasp ‘Carajo!’
Chapter 35
White noise roared in Lucas’s ears. Static shocks needled his skin. He swayed on the edge of the gateway beneath a shower of light. One step was all it had taken to walk from one realm into the next but it felt like he’d just taken a plunge off a thousand-foot cliff.
He blinked, squinting against the light, registering two things simultaneously: that he was standing in a garden and that a wolf was baring its teeth not fifty metres away from where he stood.
Behind the wolf he saw Flic, blade out, in a fighting stance. The wolf was Jamieson, no doubt about it. He was slunk low to the ground in a defensive posture, ears flat to his head and teeth bared, growli
ng at three figures standing unmoving as statues before them. They had their backs to him, but Lucas knew what they were.
From behind they looked like humans. Two men and a girl. All tall, powerfully built, wearing clothes that wouldn’t have been out of place on any street in LA – the girl in a pair of cut-off denim shorts and a cropped T-shirt, the one on her left wearing jeans and a shirt, and the one on her right looking only slightly strange in a suit. The three of them were unnaturally still, not even the breeze seemed to ruffle a hair on their heads. They seemed to be waiting for some kind of signal to move.
Lucas took a silent step forward. Flic hadn’t seen him. Her focus was locked on the Originals, her hand shaking slightly as she readied her blade and raised it to chest height. Lucas could see the fierce determination on her face barely masking the fear. He forced himself to bite his tongue, keep quiet, when all he wanted to do was yell at her to get the hell out of there. What was she thinking trying to fight these things? He felt suddenly furious at her for being there. For putting herself in so much danger.
Just then the girl in the shorts – the Original in the shorts – twitched. Her chin jerked upwards and her head turned fractionally in his direction. She’d sensed him. Damn. He needed to distract them and draw them away before it was too late – give Flic and Jamieson a chance to get out but there wasn’t time to figure out a plan. He opened his mouth to yell, to distract them, but Jamieson moved at exactly that moment – lunging at the one in the suit with snapping jaws.
Everything blurred. Lucas registered only the sound – a deadening thump, a crack of bones; and then he saw Jamieson flying through the air – a ball of fur. He smacked into the far fence and it splintered under the force. With a whimper the wolf dissolved in a ball of shimmer and Jamieson appeared – his body crumpled at an odd angle, his face pressed to the dirt. A trickle of blood oozed down his temple.
Flic let out a guttural scream – not of fear but of anger and rage – and threw herself forward, her blade dicing and swinging, her face a snarl.