Clipped (The Clipped Saga, 1) by Devon McCormack (19 page)

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“Like Kinzer’s? But I’ve seen them. You—”

“Not like Kinzer’s. During the war, I was a spy for The

Leader. I col ected intel from The Almighty’s generals and swapped information with my contact. Some of The Leader’s warriors

attacked a camp I was in. Several of us were captured. Back then, it was common to clip the enemy’s wings and take them to POW

camps, where they’d torture us for information. But they couldn’t clip us entirely. If they did, we’d lose our ability to cross between immortal realms and they wouldn’t be able to take us to their

camps. So they clipped us just enough so that we lost our ability to fly. But unlike Kinzer, we retained most of our immortal traits.”

“Wait. The Leader’s men captured you?” Kid asked. “I

thought you worked for The Leader.”

“I did. I was a spy, but the warriors that had attacked our

camp didn’t know that. They assumed I was just another higherling that they could pry information from.”

“Then how did you get out?”

“Eventual y, Vera, who at the time was also part of The

Leader’s underground spy operation, discovered that I’d been

captured. She had The Leader fake an escape for me. They had to

fake it to look like I broke free. Otherwise, The Almighty would have questioned it. Questioned my loyalty, and I would’ve been at even greater risk.”

As Kid looked into Treycore’s eyes, he didn’t see the anger

and hate that he was so accustomed to seeing. He saw pain and

sadness. He saw weakness and vulnerability. He wished that he

177 Devon McCormack
could wrap his arms around Treycore and console him. But he knew how stupid that would look. They’d known each other for such a

short time. And he was just a smel y mortal, as Treycore had

continual y reminded him. As much as he wanted to believe that

Treycore was sharing this because he was having strong feelings, too, he knew that it was more likely that he just wanted someone to

share it with...and Kid just happened to be the only one around.

Treycore’s wince-of-a-look pierced through Kid’s eyes. Kid

felt as if it was prodding for a secret, searching for more. He threw his glance to the side.

There wasn’t anything good in Kid’s past. Nothing worth

sharing.“Why?” Kid asked.

“Why what?”

“Why fight for mortals if you’re at such risk? The way you

talk, it sounds like you hate us. But here you are, working to protect us.”

“You’ve seen what I do,” Treycore said with a smirk. “I don’t

exactly see the best side of you guys.”

Kid knew what he meant. He’d seen how those men looked

at him and the other boys at Dick Dongs. It was so similar to the way Jerry’s clients had looked at him.

“Exactly,” Kid said. “How can you look at those greedy,

selfish bastards—who just see you as an object, who would break

you and rip you apart without another thought about what they’d

done—and think that there’s anything here worth saving?”

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Kid snuck a look to Treycore. He could tel by the way

Treycore glared back at him that he’d said too much.

Treycore looked troubled, as if he was trying to see what in

Kid had evoked his question, and Kid desperately didn’t want him to know. He wasn’t proud of his past, and he would rather Treycore not know about it.

“I’ve seen a lot of that,” he said. “I’ve seen centuries of

torture, bloodthirst, and rape. But every so often, you see some puny mortal do something that surprises you...sacrifice something so precious for the sake of another. For their child. For their lover.

And when you see that, you realize that somewhere inside of these creatures is something beautiful. Something worth saving.”

Kid couldn’t believe what he was hearing. There was so

much more to Treycore than he’d realized. Even with al that rage and anger, there was this optimistic side that was so beautiful. A feeling stirred within Kid that was so powerful that it scared him.

He couldn’t handle this anymore. He had to get away. He couldn’t let Treycore detect it. He wouldn’t let him see the surge of feelings that were raging within him.

“I guess we’d better start back up,” he said, hopping to his

feet.

179 Devon McCormack
Chapter Ten

Dedrus soared through the air.

“Fuckers! Fuckers! Fuckers!” Maggie screamed out as she

hyperventilated, her arms strangling Dedrus. Her face was nearly as white as Kinzer’s.

Dedrus had been flying for some time. He wanted to get as

far from the bookstore as possible, so when Vera discovered that she had the wrong Maggie, she would have a difficult time finding

them. By now, they were flying over industrial warehouses, wel

outside the city perimeter. Dedrus, his energy already waning from carrying Kinzer and the ample-sized Maggie, had begun his descent.

As they neared the ground, Kinzer dropped his sword and

released Dedrus’s chest. Bending his knees as he hit the asphalt, he rol ed across the ground.

Dedrus’s wings reared back, catching the wind so that it

propped he and Maggie upright. Concerned about the landing and

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the safety of Maggie and the unborn Antichrist, he tossed his sword aside.

“Get ready for a little bump,” he warned.

Their feet hit the ground. Maggie’s foot didn’t land right,

and she dragged Dedrus to the ground with her.

She screamed out.

“Fucker! Fucker! Fucker!” she wailed. She kicked him in the

stomach and punched him repeatedly in the arm.

“Ow! What the fuck?!”

She pul ed back and ran her hands up and down her body,

spasming in a fit of shivers.

“Oh my fucking God!” she exclaimed. “Oh my fucking

God!”
Crazy bitch
, Dedrus thought.

He pressed off the asphalt, starting to his feet. A kick from

his side, much stronger than the one Maggie had given him, sent

him rol ing onto his back.

Kinzer’s face was fire-red, his sword at Dedrus’s throat.

“What the fuck?” Dedrus asked.

“What are you doing?” Maggie asked, her eyes vacillating

between them.

“You’re the fucking rat!” Kinzer exclaimed.

“What?”

Dedrus was bewildered. They’d just fought The Raze

together. How could Kinzer possibly think that he was in league

with them?

181 Devon McCormack

“I didn’t tel anyone about where we were, and I’m sure as

fuck that Fie didn’t, considering they’re probably chopping him up as we speak. And we’re the only ones who knew we were gonna be

there, so that narrows it down to you and you.”

Dedrus could see his point. But it didn’t make it hurt any

less.

“
You
came to
me
—remember?”

“That doesn’t mean shit.”

“There are a million ways that they could have found us.

For al we know, they could have a Tracker.”

Kinzer’s sword pressed even tighter against Dedrus’s flesh.

“You know as wel as I do how hard it is to find a Tracker,

especial y now.”

Kinzer was right. Janka was one of the few Trackers to

survive the war. The Leader had sent Morarkes to destroy them first because their gift made it easy for The Almighty to hunt and kil their greatest warriors.

“I don’t know how they found us. Maybe they tapped Fie’s

phone. Maybe they’ve been keeping an eye on him. Fuck if I know.

I get if you want to kil me right now. But Kinzer, I swear to our Leader that I have never sided with The Raze. I’m on your side, and I want to help. You need help. We both do.”

Kinzer stared into his eyes.

Dedrus reared his head back, giving Kinzer permission to

slice his throat if that’s what he thought he needed to do.

Kinzer ground his teeth, groaning as he tossed his sword

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aside. “Fuck!” he exclaimed. He stomped to the side of a nearby

building and smashed his fists against the wal , his sleeve appearing as if it were straining to contain his flexing bicep. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Maggie helped Dedrus to his feet. He made his way to

Kinzer. “Kinzer,” he said, setting his hand on his shoulder. “I would never betray you. Please believe that.”

“I know that,” Kinzer said, his chin quivering as he spoke. “I

don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sorry.”

Dedrus wrapped his arms around him.

They embraced.

“You assholes need to get your shit together!” Maggie fussed.

Dedrus chuckled. “So where we gonna take this bitch?”

“I know a place,” Kinzer replied.

~

Kid pushed through the brush.

Since his last jungle-fuck-session with Treycore, he hadn’t

bothered to put his shirt back on. Sweat flowed like a waterfal

down his rigid rock-wal -of-an-abdomen. His legs convulsed. It still felt as if Treycore was inside him.

“You...think...I’m gonna die out here?” he asked, through

heavy pants.

183 Devon McCormack
Treycore snickered as he pushed a branch out of his path.

“I’m not gonna let you die,” he said. For a moment, Kid imagined that he was saying it because he actual y had feelings for him, but he knew better. It was just because Kinzer had asked him to protect him.

“Wel , it’l be nice when we final y get out of here,” Kid said, exasperated.

Treycore threw a glance over his shoulder.

“It hasn’t been that bad,” he said with a cocked smile.

A rush of excitement wel ed in him. He liked that, despite

being a mortal, Treycore had thought they’d had a good time.

Maybe that meant he did like him.

No. Shut up! That’s ridiculous,
he thought, mental y

chastising himself.

“In fact,” Treycore said, whirling around, picking Kid up,

and slamming him against a nearby tree. “I wouldn’t mind being

stuck out here a little longer.”

Kid’s face went red. His heart skipped a beat.

Treycore moved in to kiss him, when a sound caught their

attention.

A rumbling. Like a car engine.

Just a few yards ahead, what looked like a bus moved

between the cracks in a cluster of fronds.

There must be a road
, Kid thought.

Treycore and Kid broke away from each other and bolted

toward the bus.

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We’re saved!

~

Kinzer hit the gas in a compact car he’d stolen from a garage near where Dedrus had landed.

Branches and saplings slapped against either side of the

windshield as the car bumped and trembled down an overgrown

path that had been overtaken by the neighboring forestation. The car bounced into a clearing, where a cabin emerged from a cluster of woods, as if growing from them.

Trees hung over the roof. Kudzu hooked around the rails

and steps on the front porch. Patches of stray boards and shingles lay at the foot of the cabin.

“Cute,” Maggie muttered facetiously. She sat in the backseat,

her hand on her bel y, as if preventing it from bouncing with the rest of the car.

“We sure those crazies aren't gonna find us?” she asked.

“This was one of Janka's hideaways,” Kinzer replied. “We

always said that if there was an emergency, this is where we'd come.

No one knows about this place. Not even The Council.”

“Hold up,” Maggie said. “I'm not having my baby in some

cabin in the woods! I want to have it in a hospital. Doped up, eating good food, watching soaps.”

Dedrus chuckled. “We'l take care of you, Maggie.”

Kinzer pul ed the car up alongside the cabin, and he,

185 Devon McCormack
Dedrus, and Maggie headed inside.

It was a mess of dust and cobwebs. On a wooden beam just

below the ceiling, a squirrel chewed on an acorn. As Kinzer shut the door, it scurried across the beam and hopped through a crack in the wal . In the opposite corner, a brown bat was affixed to the wal , clearly having decided it’d found the perfect place to take its

daylight rest.

Dedrus flicked a light-switch by the door. “No electricity.”

“Generator's out back,” Kinzer said.

He scanned the debris, recklessly spread across the floor—

newspapers, magazines, table legs, and toppled bookshelves. Shitty as it looked, it only evoked good memories in Kinzer. He and Janka had spent several romantic nights in this cabin, groping each other by the fire, tearing through wal s and furniture during their

lovemaking, penetrating each other til the pain was too great for either to keep going.

They worked to clean up the pigsty, piling the garbage on

the front porch and scavenging anything they could make use of.

Kinzer took the one mattress in the cabin and set it up in a

bedroom for Maggie. Attempting to make the room a little more

homely, he put a side table beside the bed and arranged magazines across it so that she'd at least have something to read. It wasn't going to be easy being in the middle of nowhere, but Kinzer knew it was what they had to do.