Hotbloods 6: Allies

My priority was Lauren.

Stone’s crew members were preoccupied trying to fight their way through the pirates. As we hurried around the back of Stone’s ship and emerged on the other side, the ambaka whipped off his bandana, freezing the battle in mid-action. Everyone in the line of his vision stopped, except for his crew, who seemed unaffected. I wondered if he could pick and choose whom he held in his third eye’s gaze, in much the same way he could freeze and unfreeze people at will. Some of the pirates were fixed in humorous positions, while others seemed trapped in painful combat. However, I couldn’t see any of our people in the crowd.

The Rexombra appeared behind me suddenly. I barely had time to gasp before his muscular arms gripped my shoulders and carried me forward, into Stone’s line of vision. My body seized up in an instant, my muscles no longer under my control. Behind me, the lycan and the Darian held Angie between them, hauling her to the foot of the gangway, to face Stone at my side.

“Never thought I’d see you again. Underestimated the stubbornness of ye, I reckon,” Stone said, not unkindly. “I suppose you’ve come to ‘rescue’ yer friend, eh?”

I struggled to speak, but it just came out as a muffled squeak, as my mouth was sandwiched shut by his third eye.

“Well, let me be the first to tell ye that she don’t need no rescuin’,” he continued, flashing a strange look at Lauren, who still stood a short distance behind him. Her face was oddly blank, showing little in the way of emotion at seeing us again. I wondered if she was angry at us for not doing more to stop Stone from taking her in the first place. But what could we have done? He’d frozen us. Bashrik and Navan did what they could to go after Stone’s ship, but it had all been pointless. Surely, the fact that we’d been searching for her all this time had to count for something?

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Xiphio sneaking under the shadows of the gangway, crouching close to where Stone stood. He wasn’t anywhere near Stone’s line of sight, and his crew were otherwise engaged, moving through the pirate horde, assessing the situation for their boss.

In one swift move, Xiphio launched himself from under the gangway and twisted through the air, throwing a handful of the blinding dust into Stone’s third eye. Immediately, the spell was broken, and everyone was released from his immobilizing power. The pirates seemed confused for no more than a split second, before they started brawling again, lunging for Stone’s crew members, who’d made the mistake of venturing into the throng.

I whirled around and struck the Darian in the neck, watching out for the needle-like teeth that filled her mouth, while Angie lashed out at the lycan, taking him by surprise. All the while, I kept turning my gaze back to Stone and Xiphio, listening and keeping an eye on the merevin in case he needed a helping hand. However, I was having enough trouble with the Darian, who was way stronger than she seemed, and was wriggling from my grasp like a slippery eel.

Xiphio combat-rolled on the ground as he landed, before jumping straight back up and charging at Stone a second time, tackling him to the floor. However, the ambaka was strong, easily overcoming the tangled limbs of the merevin.

“What’re ye playing at, man? Get off me before you embarrass yerself!” Stone shouted, wrestling free of the merevin’s scaly body.

“I will not! You must surrender!” Xiphio cried, trying to grapple for a better grip on his target. I had to hand it to Xiphio: he wasn’t one to give up.

Stone rolled his eyes. “Hey, Scales, we both know how this is gonna end, so why not get up while you’ve still gotta scrap of your dignity left, eh?” he urged. “We’ve been in these scrapes afore, and they’ve never ended well for ye.”

“This time is different, Stone. This time, you won’t get away from me!”

Stone chuckled. “Still bearin’ that grudge, are ye? Can’t we just let bygones be bygones? I did what I had to, and I bought you a risk-free career. Ye should be thankin’ me, not fightin’ me! Come on, man, let’s be pals, not enemies.”

The Darian had wriggled free of my grasp, while the lycan had managed to knock Angie to the ground and run away, the pair of pirates disappearing into the crowd. Breathless, I scrutinized Stone and Xiphio as the latter continued to grasp at Stone’s legs, clawing him back to a place where he could pin him down. However, Stone was unflappable, breaking free of Xiphio’s grip every single time. He didn’t even look fazed, as though he knew he’d get out of this in the end, regardless of what Xiphio tried. I imagined they’d encountered one another like this before, especially after listening to them banter. The only difference this time was, he hadn’t counted on Angie and me.

“You will be punished for your crimes, Stone! You will not evade Lady Justice today!” Xiphio shouted, his cheeks a worrying shade of purple. “You’ve run for too long, and now your bad behavior has caught up with you!”

“It’s been followin’ me my whole life. I don’t think Lady Justice is knockin’ today—sorry to disappoint you,” Stone replied coolly.

“Let’s get him,” I whispered to Angie, who still stood beside me. If we could get through him, with him distracted by everything else, we could get our hands on his ship and, hopefully, the notebook.

Lauren had backed away toward the hatch of the patchwork ship, but the door was closed, blocking her escape. She looked frightened, her eyes scanning the crowd with a worrying blankness. I’d hoped she’d run to us when she saw us, but she was doing everything she could to get away.

“Something’s wrong with her,” Angie hissed. I nodded. “That bastard must have done something to her. He won’t get away with it.”

I plucked out several knives and tucked them against my palms, keeping them hidden but ready for action. As Angie nodded, we hurtled forward, ramming into Stone, knives at the ready. We were mere inches away from him when a shield of blue light knocked us backward, sending us sprawling onto the ground. I hit my head on the bottom of the gangway, feeling the metal connect with my skull, disorienting me. To my left, Xiphio lay in a heap. To my right, Angie was sitting up, a grimace of pain on her face.

“Nothing surprises me no more,” Stone said with a smile. “Can’t be creepin’ up on me.”

I glowered at him, looking at the glowing blue band on his wrist, wondering what the hell it was and how I could get my hands on one. Even without the use of his third eye, Stone was a master at staying one step ahead, proving himself to be quite the escape artist. No wonder he was so confident; he’d foiled us at every turn, and probably did believe he’d get out of this unscathed. I imagine he’d done so a million times before.

Overhead, I heard the pulsing thrum of beating wings. Ezra, Bashrik, and Navan had taken to the skies, and an aerial battle was taking place above us. Their swooping figures dove in and out of the dense cloud cover. It was a terrifying game of hide-and-seek, with Bashrik and Navan trying to coax Ezra out of the rolling fog, chasing him down before he disappeared again. Only, I had no idea who was winning.

Ronad was fighting the two rebel coldbloods single-handedly. He was a skilled fighter, ducking and feinting away from their unyielding blows. But he was clearly starting to tire, his altered physiology no match against the full-coldblood strength of the two rebels. Soon enough, he wouldn’t be able to fight back anymore. He already looked beaten and bloodied, with no medicine to glug, to give him a slice of extra strength.

Mort, meanwhile, was running away from the other shifter, completely unhelpful, as usual.