Plants wither as water is lifted into the air, refracting the moonlight as Daemon sneers. Vampires appear, flanking him. Shadows shroud their faces, but each wears a robe with the symbol we found at The Trench.
“Don’t touch him.”
The voice sends a chill down my spine as I recognize it. I glance over my shoulder to see Alyssa, dressed in sweatpants and an oversized, tattered shirt. She beams at me as her hair shifts across her vision. The crescent-shaped scars up her arms glint in the waxing moonlight.
Daemon’s expression flattens. “Alyssa, darling, I suggest—”
“I’m not helpless,” she snaps at her husband. “Besides. He saved my life. I think I should return the favor.”
I swear I hear Daemon’s teeth crack, but he lets the water drop to the ground, giving in to his wife’s wishes. “You’re far too trusting, my love.”
She lowers her chin and sizes me up. “On the contrary, it seems like I’ve trusted the right person a few times.”
Daemon calls the vampires off and tells them to surround the perimeter.
“What are you after?” I ask Alyssa as Daemon strides away, undoubtedly looking for Maverick.
Alyssa gives a grin as equally creepy as the day I saw her in the ring. “Now that you don’t have your counterpart, Daemon’s trying to see if you’ve gone soft.”
I squint. My counterpart? Does she mean Mikey?
“Why?” I exhale heavily, my nerves on high alert.
Her neck twitches as the coldness of her voice creeps into my soul. “He wants to recruit you.”
The strange woman lunges at me, a dagger gripped tightly in her shaking left hand. I block her before she can slice my throat and push her back. In one swift motion, she’s rushing me again, faking me out and slicing my thigh.
“For what?”
A soft chuckle slips from her lips as she shifts her stance, a twin dagger appearing. “All I can say is he wanted both of you, but PnC went against direct orders.”
“PnC as in Paws and Claws?” I ask before she swipes another time, which I nimbly sidestep. Something inside won’t allow me to hurt her, but I could try to knock her out. There’s no way she can defeat me like this.
Paws and Claws, on live television, speared Mikey’s cranium with eight double-sided spikes, mocking the fact she was the Queen of Bleeders.
Alyssa dashes toward me again, but I’m yanked away. My opponent crumples, dazed as her glassy eyeballs stare back at me like an abused porcelain doll. Maverick clamps tightly around my wrist as he lugs me back to the dilapidated skyscraper. I’m not sure how he rendered her useless, but I’m only partially glad he did.
“Get inside,” he instructs, shoving me toward the building as he slams his fist into a vampire launching himself at us. They’re coming at us fast, but I see a shimmer of light as we disappear beneath Maverick’s invisibility. He drags me sideways, out of the way, and we plunge through the front doors. Inside, the creatures that aren’t vampires ready themselves as several people block the elevator and exits. No, not people.
Androids.
The little goblin girl I’d seen playing with the polar bear cubs has a crazed look on her face, lifting her wrapped fists. A lithe, neon-clothed guy with a white mask and two glowing swords gives off a dark aura, like his shadow is alive. There’s a taller blonde man with a huge ax and an intense look on his face. Many other uniquely created androids line up, polar bears stumbling forward to join them. They growl cutely from the floor, metal glinting from those with less fur than others.
Maverick guides me past the ten creatures that forced their way in, some of them elves, and the rest various other creatures, including two werewolves. I think I even smell a human or two in the mix.
Maverick hauls me through the elevator doors as the two sides collide. There’s a bloodcurdling roar as an adult polar bear manifests from Aurora’s tendrils. She releases it, and it surges forward.
The elevator doors shut. We’re shot up faster than normal, Aurora telling us to stay calm, that no one will make it past Ein’s defenses.
The doors open as Ein slips a tube into his gun, readying it in case the fight reaches this level.
Or we’re brought to them.
The building shakes and the walls flicker, the chimes of Aurora’s bells glitching.
Maverick grumbles under his breath as he twists his braid around and secures it at the base of his skull. “If they could track me all along, why did they wait until now?”
“They’re here for you?” Ein asks, two bears sideling up next to him.
“How should I know?” Maverick chastises, his nails extending into claws. “Seems like they’re after Zeke, too.”
“Not the other one?” he questions, sizing me up.
“They think Mikey’s dead,” I reply, running my fingers through my hair as I try to process tonight’s events. I woke up from a week-long sleep less than an hour ago, Mikey is a Mindless Bleeder—who knew that was possible?—and we’re under attack by vampires and elves, of all creatures. I’d expect Paws and Claws, not whoever this motley crew is.
“Think they’re after me, too?” Ein asks, reaching down to pet Kola as the battle rages downstairs. “After all,” his eyes meet Maverick’s, “we’re a package deal.”
Maverick’s nostrils flare as he tells Ein he doesn’t think so. I’ve never seen him lose his cool like this, but then again, I know next to nothing about him.
“Who are they?” I ask, all attention on me. “And what do they want?”
“They’re a part of Mount Rook,” is all Maverick offers. “Don’t get tangled with them.”
I cross my arms. “That doesn’t tell me anything.”
“Well you don’t need to know anything,” Maverick bursts. He exhales and turns back to Ein. “Now what?”
Ein peers at him over his glasses. “We either give them what they want, or we go down fighting.”
The building convulses.
Aurora’s voice trembles. “This place will collapse soon. I advise you evacuate.”
Maverick grimaces and Ein throws his head back, groaning. “This is why we can’t have nice things, Maverick.”
Maverick’s mouth spasms as he turns to his friend, incredulously. “You’re blaming me for this?”
Ein lifts his perfectly angled eyebrows. “You just had to tick off a secret society.”
“You bite yer bloody tongue,” Maverick snarls, getting in his face.
Aurora’s panicked voice cuts through the tension as the ceiling begins to crumble. “You three need to get out. Now.”
Ein presses a few buttons on the wall, and I watch as the stuff lying around disappears, like an invisible monster ate it.
“Pocket dimensions,” he mutters as falling debris piles at our feet. “Thanks to Aurora.”
My brain returns to the situation as a piece of the ceiling collapses, a tiny polar bear made of mostly metal falling through. Ein curses under his breath and demands Aurora to go portable.
Bells chime as she agrees. Tendrils drop from above, winding and braiding together in a flurry of light. Within a few seconds, the ethereal woman I’d seen on the Glub Sub has appeared, but she doesn’t glow as brightly as before. Her long, blonde hair hangs limply at her back, and her ice-blue irises appear almost normal.
Maverick avoids her gaze, his agitation skyrocketing as he shuffles past.
“Bring yer brightness down,” Maverick instructs as he hurls the door open to the stairwell. “We’ll have to sneak out of here, and I really don’t want to compensate for refraction.”
The ceiling continues to crumble, warning us to leave or it’ll crush us.
“What about Mikey and Ari?” I ask as I follow them. Maverick hesitates as Ein barrels through.
“They’ll be fine. They can handle themselves.”
“You don’t understand. I can’t leave Mikey.” I shake my head, trauma flashing across my memory. “If people are using Bleeders as muscle—”
“She’ll forgive you, curly hair,” Ein retorts as a chunk of ceiling barely misses me. “Worry about yourself. They’re secure. No one can get in without our permission.”
I plant my feet. “I’m not leaving her.”
Maverick, frozen, watches me. His anger subsides long enough for him to exhale. Ein calls after him and Maverick whips around to bare his fangs. “The boy’s right. We can’t leave them.”
Ein pops back up. “They’re Bleeders in their peak form. They’ll be fine. You know I wouldn’t leave unless I knew they were safe.”
They maintain eye-contact for what feels like forever as the stairwells tremble.
“My defenses are shutting down, so I suggest we make a decision,” Aurora advises.
“I’m not leaving them.” I move to block the doorway and hold out my hand. “I need the key to unlock them.”
A war rages through him as he sighs sharply and reaches into his pocket. He fishes out a key and lifts his other index finger to his fang and pricks it. The blood dribbles onto the metal, exuding a small hiss as it makes contact.
“I’ll cover you,” he says, relinquishing the key. “Let’s save my girls.”