‘I’ve got mine,’ Flic answered, patting her side. ‘Try the glove compartment.’
Evie leant forward and opened it. A gun tumbled straight into her lap.
‘Who keeps a gun in their glove box?’ she asked, staring at Flic in amazement.
Flic shrugged, spinning the wheel and tearing around a corner. ‘Me. I got held up six months ago. By a human. Next time it happens I plan to blow their head off.’
Evie checked the chamber. ‘Eight rounds.’
Flic glanced at her. ‘Well, you’d better make them all count, then.’
Chapter 46
Vero felt them first. She spun away from Ash, her hand moving straight for her blade.
Cyrus felt them next. He ran to the window and yanked back the curtain.
Ash was at his side in the next second. ‘How many?’ he asked, scanning the yard over Cyrus’s shoulder.
‘Enough,’ Cyrus murmured, spying a flash of movement in the bushes at the front of the house. A pathway led up to the house from the sidewalk, bushes providing a screen of cover between the house and the street.
‘What? What is it?’ Selena asked, raising herself unsteadily from the ground. ‘Is it them? Have they found us?’
‘Mixen and Scorpio,’ Cyrus said turning to face the others. ‘Let’s go.’ He took hold of Selena by the arm and whisked her towards the door. ‘Now!’
Victor had beaten them to it. He was in the hallway already loading up on weapons. He threw a sword to Cyrus. He caught it and passed it to Selena, then reached for the second sword Victor tossed at him.
At a sign from Cyrus, Ash pulled open the door, only to slam it shut straight away. ‘We’re surrounded,’ he announced.
‘Damn,’ Cyrus kicked the stair.
How had he let this happen? He should have known they would track them here eventually. He stared at the sword in his hand, trying to assess options.
‘We’re sitting ducks in here. We have to fight our way out.’
It was Victor speaking. He was the only one of them who didn’t seem nonplussed by the situation. He was standing casually by the door, testing the keenness of his blade against his thumb. He looked up at Cyrus and their eyes met.
Cyrus nodded at him almost imperceptibly.
‘Are there any Originals out there?’ Selena stammered.
‘No,’ Cyrus answered. He would have felt them if there were.
‘They’ll leave this to their army of unhumans,’ Victor added. ‘They’re more interested in guarding the gateway.’
A sudden scream made them all jump. It cut off unexpectedly, replaced by a wet gurgling noise.
‘We need to get out there,’ Cyrus said, elbowing Ash aside.
He threw open the door and bounded down the steps onto the lawn. Something flew at him. He jerked hard to the left, diving to the ground, bringing his sword up as he fell, feeling it slice easily through flesh and jar against bone. A scream and a hot spatter of blood sprayed his face. He rolled and was on his feet, thrusting and cutting at the next unhuman in his way.
He was yelling, the battle raging inside him as well as all around. The others had joined in. Cyrus caught sight of Ash, grunting as he landed blow after blow on a Scorpio’s tail. Victor was fighting three Mixen at once. Cyrus paused an instant before going to help him, coming up behind and running his sword through the neck of the nearest one. It vanished with a little shriek of outrage. Victor finished the second with a short thrust up through the rib cage. The third one backed out onto the sidewalk, her head twisting left to right in panic as she tried to figure where to run to.
A car screeched to a sudden stop in front of her. The door flew open with a bang and the head of the Mixen exploded like a detonating mine.
Cyrus ducked, shielding his face, feeling the burn as acid blood spattered over his forearms and the backs of his hands. He hissed through his teeth at the pain, lifting his eyes and squinting through the red mist that hung in the air.
Evie was standing in front of him, holding a gun. She strode past him, still firing.
He stared after her, grinning in wonder. A girl who could shoot. And look fiercely hot while she did it. And then he felt the cut. His arm was suddenly on fire, hot liquid sluicing down his sleeve, soaking his T-shirt and the waistband of his jeans. He glanced at his left shoulder and saw the blood pouring in waves down his arm, and then out of the corner of his eye he saw a tail arching above him.
He dropped to his knees and rolled instinctively, his head smacking the concrete path, his hand losing a grip of his blade. He looked straight up, seeing the dark coiling shape of a Scorpio tail lashing down, heading straight for his face, the razor-sharp edge glinting, and then he heard a whooshing sound and the Scorpio, a guy in a long trench coat and a Clash T-shirt, went spinning backwards, a dark stain spreading over the Clash, his mouth a gaping pit.
He disappeared a second after he hit the ground and Cyrus stayed staring up at the sky, blinking at the clouds. Someone had saved him. He rolled to his knees, his hand going to his shoulder, feeling the flesh flapping free, his fingers soaked in warm wetness. He had a brief moment of dizziness when he staggered to his feet and looked around.
There were piles of bloodstained clothing, discarded shoes, a few swords lying glinting in the grass. They had to have killed three dozen or more of the things. How had they managed to survive this?
Ash and Vero were standing back to back, their weapons still raised, breathing hard and fast. Vero was covered head to toe in blood, like she’d taken a shower in the stuff, though the fact she was still standing told Cyrus it wasn’t her own.
Selena was on her knees, panting. There was no sign of the Mixen she’d been fighting off. Victor was grunting as he tried to tug his sword out of the writhing body of another Mixen. He pulled it free with a shout and rammed it through the its chest, finishing it off.
Flic stood on the other side of the garden, wiping sweat from her brow as Evie fired her last bullet into the head of a Scorpio lying on the ground still groaning. For a brief moment, as he watched them both, Cyrus pondered the sheer luck that the two of them had shown up just when they had.
He was distracted from the thought by the sight of Evie’s legs. She was wearing a dress and her legs were all he could focus on – the lithe, pale length of them, the point where they disappeared under the skirt … but then little black dots started to dance in front of his eyes.
Evie turned just then, bringing the gun slowly down to her side. For a second he saw the worry in her face.
And then he pitched forward and fell into blackness.
Chapter 47
Evie dropped to her knees in front of him, catching him before he could land face flat.
‘Cyrus!’ she called, her hands immediately coated in blood from his shoulder wound.
He groaned in response, mumbled her name. She took the corner of his T-shirt in her hands and ripped it clean off his back.
‘If you want me naked, you only need to ask,’ he hissed between gritted teeth.
‘Ha ha,’ she answered as she started binding the scrap of material tight around his arm.
When she was done she looked up at him. He was staring at her. His face was drawn, his jaw clenched, but his eyes were still glimmering with amusement.
‘It’s going to need stitches,’ she said.
‘It’ll be fine,’ he answered, his gaze holding hers. ‘Thanks,’ he added.
She stood up and held out a hand to help him up. He staggered to his feet with a grunt, trying not to show just how much his arm hurt.
Victor was helping Selena off the ground. She shrugged off Victor’s hand though and tossed her chin in the air, her eyes darting to the pile of clothing in front of her. She grinned as Victor slapped her on the back.
She must have made her first kill, Evie thought. That changed things ,she supposed, evened things out a little. She watched Victor disappear inside the house.
Ash was holding onto Vero. She was completely drenched in
blood and for a moment Evie’s legs threatened to give way until she realised, from the way Vero was smiling and had started kissing Ash, that it wasn’t either of theirs.
Flic was busy scanning the garden, checking there were no more unhumans around.
The sound of a zipper made Evie whip around. Cyrus was fumbling with his one good hand inside his boxer shorts.
‘What are you doing?’ she shrieked.
‘You got any better suggestions?’ Cyrus asked, taking hold of himself. ‘These burns are stinging like – well, like acid rain. I either piss on them or you can.’
‘Here. Use this.’
It was Victor. He handed Cyrus a jar of bicarbonate of soda mixed with water. Evie smiled as Cyrus did up his zipper.
‘That got you off the hook,’ he grinned at Evie as he took the jar from Victor and started pouring it liberally over his arms and hands.
Evie winced in sympathy. She knew exactly how Mixen burns felt.
In the distance the high-pitched wail of sirens brought her reeling back to the moment.
‘Let’s go.’
It was Victor. He tipped his head at Selena who was still standing on the veranda staring at the spot where the Mixen had vanished. ‘Come on.’
‘Where to?’ Cyrus asked.
Victor paused, thinking it through. ‘The Getty.’
‘Yeah,’ Cyrus scoffed, ‘because a visit to an art gallery is just what we need right now.’
‘It’s open air, in direct sunlight and we can find somewhere to talk that’s out of the way. And, besides, it’s the last place any Mixen or Scorpio would think of going.’
Cyrus pulled a face at him.
‘He’s right. They won’t follow you there.’
They all spun around to stare at Issa who had climbed out of the car and silently appeared between them. Evie had almost forgotten she’d been with them.
‘Who are you?’ Cyrus demanded.
‘I’m Issa,’ Issa answered. ‘We have met but you don’t remember.’ She nodded curtly at Cyrus’s arm. ‘You need stitches and antibiotics; otherwise that arm’s going to get infected.’
Cyrus glared at her. ‘You’re a Sybll?’
Issa nodded.
‘And we really know each other?’ He looked to Evie for confirmation. She nodded.
‘How well do we know each other?’ he asked, cocking his chin and giving Issa a once-over.
Evie let out an exasperated sigh.
‘What?’ Cyrus asked, shrugging at her. ‘I’m only asking.’
‘You didn’t know her like that. She helped us break into the Bradbury building before.’
Cyrus turned and studied Issa. ‘Well, this is great timing. Where have you been the last couple of months though? We could have used your help.’
‘Look, are we going to get out of here or what?’ Flic suddenly demanded.
The sirens were getting louder.
‘Come on, she’s right. Let’s go,’ Vero said, running to one of the bikes.
Evie strode to the car and threw open the door. ‘Cyrus, get in,’ she ordered.
Chapter 48
‘We should all have guns.’
Evie stared around at the almost deserted space they were gathered in. It was a wide, open-air terrace with fountains, surrounded on all sides by futuristic-looking white buildings that apparently housed a world-famous art collection. Not that they’d checked out any of the art.
Close by, a toddler was shrieking and running in and out of a fountain while its mother sat on a nearby bench, smiling and cooing, as if this wasn’t a city where the murder rate was topping over forty people a day and where sightings of creatures with tails and green skin weren’t all over the news.
Here in this world, looking out over the smog-choked city, people wandered as if in happy exile, arm in arm, enjoying the warm October sunshine, laughing and joking, taking photos of the view, posing by the fountain, stopping occasionally to check their guide books before heading off to see more art.
Evie edged into the sunlight and glanced over at the table where the others were sitting. Vero had been to the bathroom and rinsed her face and hair and was wearing Ash’s jacket over her dress to hide the worst of the bloodstains. Issa was beside Cyrus, and the two of them were locked in close conversation. He was wearing a T-shirt they’d bought him in the gift shop. It had a Klimt print of two people kissing on the front, though Cyrus had taken one look at it and turned it inside out, protesting at its girliness. Blood had seeped through the makeshift bandage and stained the arm of it. That needed seeing to. Cyrus hadn’t said anything but she could tell by the tension around his eyes that he was in pain.
‘I repeat, cabron, we should all have guns.’
It was Selena talking. Since the fight her feistiness and aggressive tendencies had trebled.
‘Guns are no use for fighting in close combat,’ Victor answered her. ‘You’d probably shoot one of us by accident.’
Selena scowled at him.
‘Guns won’t work on Thirsters or Originals either,’ Ash added quietly, picking at the remains of a sandwich.
‘Well, what are we going to do?’
Evie marched over. ‘We’re going to get Cyrus to the hospital and get his wound stitched up before we do anything.’
‘It can wait,’ Cyrus said quickly.
‘That’s not what Issa says.’
‘OK, boss,’ he said, squinting at her through the bright sunlight, ‘but first we need to strategise.’
Evie sighed, and looked over at Flic, sitting apart from the others on a neighbouring table. Her feet were up on the chair in front and she was resting her elbows on her knees. She hadn’t said a word since they’d got there. She hadn’t taken her eyes off Victor either. She’d just sat there, her eyes glittering, fixing him with a predator stare.
‘We retaliate before nightfall,’ Evie said.
‘How?’ Vero asked. ‘You’re not up to full strength. Cyrus is wounded. We’re all tired. How are we going to fight more of these things?’
‘Why do they want to protect this thing so much anyway?’ Selena asked. ‘This way through thing you keep talking about? What is it anyway? A door? Where does it lead?’
‘Shhh!’ Cyrus yelled, trying to drown her out.
It was too late though. Evie had already heard. ‘What?’ she asked, hearing the tremor in her voice.
No one looked at her. Instead everyone seemed to be sharing an oh shit moment. Even Flic had taken her eyes off Victor and was biting her bottom lip.
‘What is she talking about?’ Evie stammered. ‘The way through? What about it?’
‘It’s open.’
Evie glanced at Victor. ‘What do you mean, it’s open?’ she asked. ‘How can it be open? We checked. We went to the Bradbury. It’s shut.’
‘No,’ said Cyrus, eyeing her warily as he took a careful step towards her. ‘It reopened. That’s what they’re guarding.’
The world tipped and spun beneath Evie’s feet. Thunder filled her ears and her heart bounded into her mouth making her want to gag.
She looked around the group for some kind of sign that Cyrus was joking. Ash and Vero glanced at her guiltily before quickly looking away. Flic was staring at the ground. Selena was looking to Victor, who was shrugging at her. Cyrus was the only one who met her gaze unflinching.
‘Why didn’t you tell me? You all knew? And you didn’t say anything? Even you, Flic?’
Flic bowed her head. ‘I was asked not to tell you.’
‘Evie, we didn’t want to worry you until we were certain.’
Her mouth fell open but no words would come out. It was open. How was it still open?
Cyrus grabbed her suddenly by the arm and hauled her away from the others.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said once they were out of earshot. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kept it from you, but I wasn’t sure what you would do if you knew. I know last time you got it into your head to try to close it.’
The world slung it
self to a grinding halt. Evie swayed on her feet. It felt like she was teetering on the edge of a bottomless abyss. Oh god. What did it mean? Why was it still open? She shook her head, a laugh bubbling on her lips. She remembered the Mixen outside the Bradbury who’d called her the White Light and then run off.
She looked up at Cyrus, everything falling into place with dizzying clarity. ‘It’s me, isn’t it? It’s me. That’s why it’s still open. You tried to shut it and it didn’t work. Which must mean I’m still the White Light. Goddamn it.’
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or scream.
‘Evie,’ Cyrus said calmly, resting his hands on her shoulders and forcing her to look at him, ‘you are not the White Light. Do you hear me?’
He shook her, and with a start Evie realised that he was afraid. His voice gave him away, as did the force of his fingers, squeezing her arms.
‘I mean it, Evie. It’s not you. I swear to you. And if you get any idea into your head to try and close the way through I’m going to kick your ass. You gotta swear to me on Lucas’s memory, or your mum’s life, on whatever is sacred to you, you gotta swear you won’t get it into your head to be a hero. Because it won’t close. You’ll only end up walking around naked in Malibu or somewhere without a clue how you got there.’ He paused, smiled. ‘Not that I’d complain. About the naked part at least.’
Evie stared at him, trying to take it all in. He’d tried telling her before that she wasn’t the White Light. But what did he know that she didn’t? How could he be so sure?
She closed her eyes so that she wouldn’t have to see the expression on his face, the fear, the hope, the doubt all waging war there. What if he was lying to her because he simply didn’t want it to be true?
‘How do you know for sure that it isn’t me?’ she finally asked.
He drew in a long, unsteady breath. ‘Do you trust me?’ he asked.
She opened her eyes and nodded. ‘Yes.’ Because the truth was, she did. Somewhere along the way Cyrus had gone from being a really annoying Hunter who was far too full of himself to being someone she would trust with her life.