Rebecka arrived with her news.
“They survived?” Salvatore said after she told Rathbone and him about finding Jack and Aiden.
“Where are they?” Rathbone asked. He was as surprised as Salvatore, but he was determined to remain the crusty, no-nonsense boss.
“They’ll catch up,” she replied.
Rathbone frowned. “What do you mean, they’ll catch up?”
“The doctor—he survived, but not exactly intact.”
“What do you mean?” Salvatore asked.
She looked quickly at Rathbone, then at Salvatore. “The doctor died and was brought back to life.”
Rathbone’s face went ashen. “No. Don’t say it.”
She said it anyway. “Nocturnals.”
Rathbone stared at her. “How did you and your crew make it out alive?”
“Wait, what are nocturnals?” Salvatore asked.
“Every mother’s nightmare,” Rathbone said. “An abomination, like the ferals, an almost human creature with black eyes and gray skin. A creature that can ride on the wind and steal your children and bite them and turn them into nocturnals, too.”
“They sound like something out of an old vampire tale,” Salvatore said.
Rathbone nodded. “Anyone who’s wandered into a known area of nocturnals has never returned—except, apparently, for Rebecka here.”
“I’m as shocked as you are,” she said. “The doctor told us to leave, said he would catch up, that he had to travel at night because he—because he’s now a nocturnal. Aiden stayed behind to protect him.”
“As if a nocturnal would need protection,” Rathbone said. “I guess we’ll have to leave some men behind to wait for them. We can’t waste any more time here, we have to get to the next safehold. They’re under attack.”
“You don’t need to leave anyone behind. Jack and Aiden will find us.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because the doctor and Aiden are leading dozens of nocturnals toward us at this very moment.”
Rathbone glared at her, but his eyes betrayed a hint of confusion as well.
“You know I couldn’t stop them,” Rebecka said. “And if we had tried, we might’ve killed the doctor. They’re coming to help us get the girls back, and to protect the doctor so he can find the cure.”
“If they don’t kill us all first,” Rathbone said.
“Jack won’t kill us,” Rebecka said. “He’s still … he’s still Jack.”
“You sure about that?”
But Rebecka had already turned away to gather her troops and head out.
Aiden ran like a bolt of lightning slashing through the sky, keeping pace with Dr. Tanner and his family of nocturnals. After several hours of nonstop running, his body was as full of energy as when he started. He realized that the three beings must have released something within him, something that allowed him to conquer his cat and reptilian sides, a feat he didn’t believe he could have accomplished by himself.
Soon he detected a familiar scent—Pippa and Abby. He ran faster. The nocturnals kept pace. He looked up and found Jack’s perfect black eyes, knew that Jack had also picked up the scent. Pippa and Abby were still alive, and they were going to find them.
Aiden was shocked when he realized that the doctor could communicate with him mentally, just as the three beings had. The link between them could span distances, enabling Aiden to better protect the doctor if they were separated.
The group of winged beings arrived at the deserted site of what looked like a recent bloody battle. Dead ferals littered the ground around a large pit. Aiden ran to it, and the doctor hovered over it and then lowered himself down. Jack dipped a finger into a small puddle of blood and licked it. “They’re still alive,” he said.
Aiden sniffed at the air. “They’ve gone northwest.”
The nocturnals were hovering nervously, anxious to continue the search. Jack rose out of the pit and headed out to follow the scents of Pippa and Abby. The nocturnals followed, and Aiden took off in the same direction. This time he took the lead.
Salvatore rode in the back of a tarp-covered truck with Abby and Pippa. Abby was chained to a metal ring and was shrieking at the five men who sat on metal seats just out of her reach. Pippa lay unconscious on the floor, and Salvatore knelt beside her and took her hand. Dark bruises covered her face and arms, and blood was seeping through her bandages.
When Abby saw him next to Pippa, she began to scream profanities at him, claiming he had left her for Pippa. She stopped once and turned her head to converse with the empty air beside her. She was acting as Pippa had weeks earlier, speaking nonsense, speaking to people who weren’t there.
Salvatore crawled toward Abby, and her cries grew louder. As the guards looked on impassively, he reached out and touched her face. “Until I found you, I didn’t know love existed.”
A hint of recognition mixed with confusion crossed her face. “Salvatore?”
He smiled and nodded. “I love you, Abby. I need you. Pippa needs you.”
He crawled forward and kissed her. As he wrapped his arms around her, she kissed him back. Love and hope filled his heart as she reached her chained arms toward him.
A guard called out as Abby morphed and dug her claws into his neck. Three guards began to strike her as the other two pulled him away from her. Blood trickled down his neck.
He locked eyes with Abby, who was sneering at him. “You’re right, Uncle Alex,” she said to the air. “He is a fool.”
“You try that again, I’ll choke you myself,” Rathbone told Salvatore.
Salvatore knew the big man was right.
“Now pay attention,” Rathbone said to Salvatore, Rebecka, and a few other officers. “We’re less than five miles from the city, which is why I halted the convoy. But even when we reach it, we’ve got many more miles to go to reach the safehold. Everyone needs to understand that this safehold is extremely important. It’s where we get our tar for some of our feral traps. The Pits have been fully blockaded by a high wall that was put up more than twenty years ago. But if what they say is true, and the whole city is overrun now, it’s gonna be a beast to make it there alive.”
A commander named Perkins spoke up. “I worry about these two girls. If they’re as important as you say, shouldn’t they stay behind? If they get caught in the middle of the attack, it could prove fatal in more ways than one.”
“Perkins has a point,” Rathbone said. “Tell you what, Perkins, you come with me. Rebecka, you take another dozen men and stay behind with the truck that’s carrying the girls. Salvatore, you should stay, too, in case they need your special services.”
“I can’t just sit here, Rathbone, you know better than that,” Rebecka said.
“You’re right,” Rathbone replied. “So on second thought, head to the coast and take Highway 1 all the way to Highway 101. We’ll stay in touch via radio. If you haven’t heard from me in an hour, head north and work your way to the Olympic Mountains. Get those girls to the safehaven. And take these.” Rathbone reached into his Jeep and removed a small box that contained Jack’s blood samples and microscope. “It’s up to your team now, so don’t screw it up!”
Rebecka nodded and they shook hands, then she was on her way.
Rathbone looked at Salvatore. “Do you think Jack will find us?”
Salvatore sniffed the air. “He already has.”