Chapter 16
Ash was piling weapons onto the coffee table and Vero was checking their sharpness and firing mechanisms before packing each blade and gun into a canvas duffel. Evie meanwhile was taking out her frustration on the punch bag, imagining it was Victor’s face.
‘I told you we couldn’t trust him,’ she said, whacking the bag so hard her fist almost tore a hole right through it. ‘He’s probably halfway to Panama by now. No way he’s going to stick around now he knows I’m out to kill him.’
‘Victor’s not going anywhere,’ Vero remarked. ‘He might be a total mentalist, but at the end of the day he’s a Hunter all the way. It’s his life. He’s going to stay around until the last unhuman is dusted.’ She zipped up the duffel and walked over to Evie. ‘He said he’d get in touch in a day or two, once he’s found the lair. And besides, we need to hit the streets downtown and do some cleaning up.’
Evie cracked her knuckles. Her shoulders were aching. Sleeping on the sofa hadn’t done her back much good. But punching the bag had eased some of her frustrations.
‘Here,’ Vero said, tossing something at her.
Evie caught it left-handed. It was a bottle of lighter fluid.
‘Let’s go have ourselves a little party,’ Vero said to her with a grim smile.
They drove through the streets of downtown in silence. Evie toyed with the shadow blade on her lap even as her thoughts strayed to her mother back in Riverview. She reached into her pocket and reluctantly pulled out her cell phone. She had had over a dozen messages from her mum so far and several hundred missed calls. Guilt was starting to feel very much like taking a bath in Mixen acid. She tapped out a perfunctory reply saying she was fine and not to worry, hit send and then switched off her phone and put it back in her pocket.
Through the gap in the front seats she watched Ash lean across and kiss Vero’s neck, before resting his hand on her knee. Evie’s stomach twisted and tears burnt hot and unwelcome behind her eyes. She turned her head away and locked eyes with her reflection in the side window. How could she be jealous of Vero? Vero, who had lost her sister and Cyrus? She should be glad that Vero had Ash to take care of her – not jealous because it threw her own loneliness into relief. But god, she missed Lucas in that moment. Missed the feel of his hand curling around the nape of her neck. Missed his lips, feverish and cool at the same time, sending every cell in her body into a state of shock.
Lost in thought, she didn’t at first notice the Bradbury building up ahead. When she did, her knee, which had been bouncing up and down, stilled instantly and all thoughts of Lucas trailed away. She leant forward, her senses buzzing as though she’d been tasered and her heart rate amplifying.
‘Mixen and Thirsters,’ she said, pointing towards the sidewalk in front of the building, where a group of them stood.
‘And a half-naked homeless guy,’ Ash added, pointing to the other side of the street.
Vero screeched to a stop, swerving halfway across the road. Evie flung open her door, a rip tide of adrenaline cranking through her system. She had assessed the entire scenario in the second it took for all four unhumans on the sidewalk to turn their heads towards them.
There were two Mixen demons – obvious because of the green colour of their skin – and two Thirsters. The half-naked homeless guy seemed to have made the sensible decision to scram.
Evie felt Vero and Ash flanking her. She glanced sideways quickly at Ash, who had a flame-thrower on his shoulder like a machine gun, and then at Vero, who was wielding Victor’s shadow blade like an Olympic torch. Evie felt the beautifully light heft of her own shadow blade and smiled. This was going to be fun.
The three of them strode across the road. The unhumans watched them, intrigued, and then moved – spacing themselves out – grins spreading across their faces. Ash was right about the suspension of the revelation law. These guys didn’t care who saw them. Evie caught the wet glint of incisors, still dripping with blood, and a thrill ran through her. She upped her pace till she was almost running to meet them.
On the bright side there was no traffic – thanks to all the murders people were choosing to stay home at night. Which meant no witnesses to the massacre that was about to take place. Evie shifted her focus to the Mixen in front of her.
‘You guys take the Thirsters,’ she murmured to Ash and Vero. ‘Let me handle the acid freaks.’
‘With pleasure,’ Ash answered, peeling away to the right.
Evie stopped a few paces away from the Mixen, rolled her neck to loosen up her muscles and readied herself. She expected them to come straight for her, trying to get an early hit in – it’s what she would do in their position. But as she got closer the one nearest to her faltered, lost her confident stance and went hopping backwards, grabbing her companion by the arm.
‘It’s her – it’s the girl,’ she hissed, her eyes brightening with fear. ‘The White Light.’
Then, without a second’s warning, the Mixen took off, running down the street, heels flapping. Evie paused mid-step. That was unexpected to say the least.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the silver light trail as Vero’s blade sliced through the air and then a high-powered roar as Ash started raking the sidewalk with flames. A hissing pop followed by high-pitched squealing told her all she needed to know about how that fight was going.
Evie turned to focus on the remaining Mixen who was still standing there, staring at her. Evie lunged fast, swinging the blade low, aiming to cut his legs out from under him but the Mixen leapt backwards out of reach just in time. She stalked him, forcing him into a stumbling retreat until she had him boxed into the charred doorway of the Bradbury. He cowered low, holding his hands up, begging for mercy.
Evie hesitated. She was used to unhumans fighting back. What was the protocol when they tried to surrender? Should she just kill it anyway?
In the split second she stood there pondering it, the Mixen dived towards her. His hand closed around her wrist and she let out a scream, feeling the acid sinking through the skin and muscle until it stripped through the nerve.
Without thinking she raised the blade she was holding in her hand and swiped blindly, hearing a yell and a hiss as the Mixen released her wrist and went tumbling to a heap on the ground. His hand flew straight to his shoulder where she’d slashed him through his sweater. Evie stood over him, grimacing as she nursed her wrist. He whimpered up at her pitifully.
‘Go on then,’ she growled. ‘Get out of here, and tell your friends and whoever else that if they come out to play with any humans, if they flout the revelation law, that the rogue Hunters are going to finish them. If I see you again, I swear to God I will kill you.’
The Mixen stared at her wide-eyed and then, gathering his wits, he got to his feet and started edging away from her with his back to the wall.
Evie watched him run and then turned back to the others. Vero had sliced the head clean off one Thirster and its body was now lying in pieces in the middle of the road. The second one she’d backed into a corner. He was limping, and his eyes were wide red oceans as Ash raked him with fire. He went up as if he had gasoline in his veins. Evie staggered backwards, throwing her arm over her face to block the heat.
‘Watch out!’ she heard someone yell right behind her.
She spun around in confusion just as her blade was whipped from her hand. She made out only a greenish blur in front of her face and then in the next second there was a Mixen lying at her feet.
It was the same one she’d given a free pass to. He had sneaked up behind her. Goddamn. What had she been thinking, letting him go? As she watched, the body vanished, leaving only a pile of torn and dirty clothes on the sidewalk.
Evie turned her head in shock towards the person who’d snatched her blade from her hand and saved her life. He was standing with his back to her, still clutching the shadow blade, which was dripping dark spots of blood onto the white paper slippers he was wearing. It was the homeless guy in the green scrub trousers she’d seen earlier.
What the hell? Evie pushed the hair out of her eyes and stepped forward ready to thank him, but the words died instantly on her lips at the sight of the long scar running up his back.
And then he turned slowly towards her and she caught sight of his face, and her heart burst like a storm cloud in her chest.