Clipped (The Clipped Saga, 1) by Devon McCormack (27 page)

“I did what I had to do.”

His response bewildered Kinzer. That was it?

“What you had to do?” Kinzer asked. “You were willing to

sacrifice Donna and Krimson and Fie and Dedrus and

Treycore...and me, rather than yourself?”

“I’m not proud!” he barked, a pink shade washing over his

immortal y pale flesh.

“But you still did it.”

“Kinzer, I—”

The fire in Kinzer’s chest exploded, as if Janka’s words had

just fanned its flames. “And you never thought you could come to me for help?”

“You were too committed to the cause. I couldn’t trust you.”

Those words were like a sword through Kinzer’s heart.

“Committed to the cause?” he asked. “The only reason I was

a part of the cause was because of you. Because I loved you. Because I wanted to be with you.”

“I’m sorry, but—”

“I don’t think you understand how many shits I don’t give.

How could you side with them? After al that they’ve done? After al

259 Devon McCormack
that The Almighty’s done?”

“Because at the end of the day,” Veylo said, stroking his

finger across the baby, “Janka has, and always will be, a coward who doesn’t want to lose the luxurious life he has in Heaven...just like the rest of us.”

A tear formed in Kinzer’s eye. His mind reeled through the

past few days.

A horrifying realization hit him.

“It was you,” he said. “You were the Tracker...you tracked

me to get to Dedrus and Treycore...to get to Maggie.”

The guilty look in Janka’s eyes was the only confirmation

Kinzer needed.

Janka reached out and touched Kinzer’s shoulder. Kinzer

yanked it out of his grasp. “Don’t you fucking touch me!” he

shouted. “I don’t know who I thought you were, but you’re not the Janka I fel in love with.”

“I am. I promise. I just couldn’t—”

“No! The Janka I loved never could have done something

like this to his friends...to me.”

“Kinzer, please!”

“You watched them clip me. They took my wings. My gift.

Veylo tried to make me a sex-slave. Did you know that?”

Janka hesitated. He nodded.

“And you were okay with me being raped and fucked to

death?”

A loud cry echoed from the hal . Kinzer knew who it was.

CLIPPED 260

He didn’t know how he’d gotten there, but hearing him tore him up inside.

“Do you hear that?” he asked. “That’s a helpless mortal. He

doesn’t have anything to do with this, never hurt anyone, and you let your sick friends terrorize him.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

The tear in Kinzer’s eye rushed down his cheek. “I don’t

want you to say anything. I just want you to take a moment and

acknowledge the terrible immortal that you real y are and the

horrible things that you’ve done.”

“Don’t be so hard on him,” Veylo said. “I think it’s safe to

say that we’ve come around.”

“What?”

“Kinzer,” Janka said, “you’re so much stronger than we

realized. Stronger than
I
realized. Even without your wings...without your powers...you destroyed a Morarke. Do you have any idea how

miraculous that is? We never imagined that you would have been

able to do that by yourself, but you have. Join us, and we can restore not only your wings and gift, but also your place in Heaven.”

Kinzer couldn’t believe what he was hearing. After al he’d

just said, how could Janka ever believe that he’d side with him?

“Are you out of your mind?” he asked. “What makes you

think I’d ever want to be in Heaven?”

“Kinzer,” Janka said. “I know you can’t possibly forgive me

right now, but give it time, and we can have al the love that we had before. Come to Heaven, and be with me.”

261 Devon McCormack
The rage that fueled Kinzer dissipated as it was steadily

replaced with wild confusion.

“After al I’ve seen you go through,” Janka continued, “after

al I’ve seen you endure, I know now that you are the one I want to spend an eternity with.”

Kinzer’s eyes glazed over, as if he was trapped in Janka’s spel

al over again.

“Help us. With the Christ—”

“The Christ?” Kinzer asked. He was even more confused

than before.

“Yes. Before we faked my death, I told Dedrus that this

child was the Antichrist. I had to. The Council was too close to discovering the truth. If they believed it was the Antichrist, The Almighty would never be implicated, and The Council would come

after The Leader. But I hadn’t realized that Dedrus would take

matters into his own hands. That’s how this whole mess began. If he would have just let The Council take care of it, The Leader would have been punished, and we would have taken the Christ to a safe place to be born.”

“That’s the Christ?”

“Yes,” Janka said.

“
Fuuuucckkkk
,” the half-conscious Maggie moaned.

“And now that he’s here,” Janka continued, “soon The

Almighty’s work will be carried out, and al that wil be left is Heaven...where we can be together forever. Don’t you want that?”

Kinzer looked away from Janka as he contemplated al that

CLIPPED 262

he was saying.

“See,” Janka continued. “You’re thinking about it. It means

that a part of you still loves me. You still want to be with me.”

Tears slid down Kinzer’s face. His hands rushed to conceal

his vulnerability.

Janka grabbed his wrist and pul ed him close. Kinzer

dropped Dedrus’s sword, but clung desperately to his own.

“Look in these eyes, Kinzer. I love you, and I can see that

you love me. You know there’s only one thing you can do.”

They glared into each other’s eyes, as they had done so many

times before. Kinzer’s face twitched, his muscles spasming, reflecting the emotional war that waged within him. But the war was easily

won. He knew what he had to do if he ever stood a chance at being happy.

“I’l be with you,” Kinzer said, his eyes stil lost in Janka’s.

Janka smiled. He wrapped his arm around Kinzer and pul ed

him close. Their lips locked. Kinzer lost himself in their embrace.

He felt his palms across Janka’s rigid back, recal ing many nights of pleasure and pain. He caressed his fingertips through Janka’s

feathers. He bathed in Janka’s hot breath, delighted in how the tip of Janka’s nose felt on his face. What he would have given to spend eternity in that moment...a moment where he al owed himself to

forget al that Janka had done...a moment where he could pretend that he and Janka were still together and in love and that everything was just as it should be.

Kinzer relished in the fantasy...the lie. And then he let his

263 Devon McCormack
mind and body be overtaken by what he knew he had to do.

“Ah!”

Janka pul ed out of their embrace, reared his head back, and

unleashed a blood-curdling cry. Blood sprayed across his feathers as Kinzer’s sword slipped through the bone in his wing.

With his free hand, Kinzer snatched the wing. He shoved

Janka against the wal .

Janka continued screaming out. Kinzer pressed his lips

against his ear and whispered, “Go to Heaven, you evil fuck!”

He pressed an ever-so-gentle kiss on his cheek and flipped

around just as Veylo was approaching him, sword-first, from

behind.Kinzer dropped Janka’s wing and clashed his sword against Veylo’s.

Veylo eyed the baby Christ in his arm.

“You’re at quite a disadvantage,” Kinzer observed.

“You haven’t won,” Veylo said. “Not even close.”

Veylo struck Kinzer’s sword with an intensity that knocked

him back. As Kinzer recovered from the blow, Veylo whipped

around and raced toward a wal -sized window stretched across the side of the room.

Kinzer chased behind.

Coming to the window, Veylo’s wings wrapped around his

body, surrounding he and the baby in a bal of feathers, as Dedrus had done for he and Maggie.

CRASH!

CLIPPED 264

Shards of glass filled the air.

“Fuck!” Kinzer exclaimed, halting at the edge of the

window.Veylo’s wings stretched out, glistening in the sunlight as he soared between two neighboring buildings.

Kinzer knew he couldn’t get to Veylo, but he still had to deal

with the now-wounded Janka. He whipped back around.

Janka was gone!

A path of blood led to the door, which was now swinging

back and forth.

Kinzer rushed out. He fol owed a trail of blood down the

hal till he heard an ear-piercing cry.

Kid!

~

Treycore wiggled in Craetis’s grip. He had to get free. He had to save Kid.

“Daddy, stop!” Kid screamed, his voice cracking. “Daddy,

please. It hurts!”

Sweat and tears rushed down his face, which was locked in a

horrified expression, one that left Treycore wondering what sort horrors from Kid’s past were tormenting him, raping his soul.

The blaggovite coiled its tail around Kid’s arm.

Drool rushed from the corner of his mouth. His tears

turned red.

265 Devon McCormack

“Kid!” Treycore cal ed.

Kid’s scream faded. His eyelids flitted open. A film of blood

laced the whites around his pupils.

Impossible
, Treycore thought. No immortal had ever been

able to retain consciousness or slip from a blaggovite’s control. So surely Kid wouldn’t be able to.

Mika gasped. “How is he—”

“There must be something wrong with the blaggovite,”

Craetis insisted.

Kid stared into Treycore’s eyes.

Tears curved through Treycore’s dimples. He couldn’t lose

him. Not like that. He wanted to spend Kid’s life with him. He

wanted to spend an eternity with him. And yet, time was being

cruel y ripped from them by that fucking cunt.

“I love you,” Treycore said.

If he was going to lose him, he at least wanted him to know

how he felt.

Kid gritted his teeth, as if enduring immense pain.

“I...love...”

Vera snatched the blaggovite’s tail, digging her nails into its

flesh.

Kid’s eyes sealed shut. He squealed and leapt onto the desk.

His arms flailed about, like he was trying to crawl across it, but he fel face-forward, his cheek sliding across his own vomit.

The door to the office burst open.

A sword sliced through Craetis's neck. Flurries of red rushed

CLIPPED 266

across Treycore’s back, painting the floor, as his flat-face went soaring through the air and landed beside Vera on the desk.

Kinzer stood in the doorway, a sword in hand. Blood

streamed down his face and drenched his shirt.

Deter and Mika rushed for the door. Another quick swing of

Kinzer’s sword, and Mika's and Deter's heads dropped to Kinzer’s feet, bathing the floor in amber.

“It's over, bitch,” Kinzer said, staring Vera down.

“So it is,” she said, arching her eyebrow and taking a step

toward Kid.

“Get away from him!” Treycore shouted, scrambling to his

feet, his wrists still bound behind him.

He knew what she was going to do—what she felt she had

to do. And he wasn’t going to lose his Kid. Not like that.

“Stop her!”

“I guess I'l just take this with me,” she said, stroking the

back of her palm across Kid’s cheek.

“No!” Treycore charged at her.

She winked. “See you in Hel .”

And with that, she and Kid vanished.

Treycore froze, paralyzed by the terror of having lost the

only thing in the universe that ever truly mattered to him.

~

“Hey,” Kinzer said.

267 Devon McCormack
Maggie started to come to. She didn’t look much better than

she had when he’d found her in the hospital. Her red, swol en eyes were like rubies in her shriveled-up skul . Her hair looked as if it’d just been pried from a garbage disposal.

It‘d been several hours since she’d birthed the Christ. Kinzer

and Treycore had tended to her injuries, stitched her rips, and taken her to the nearest hotel. Kinzer had been waiting attentively for her to stir, and she final y had.

“Feeling better?” Kinzer asked, a pleasant smile spread across

his face. “I feel like a wolf chewed its way out of my vagina!” she barked.Kinzer’s smile widened.

“I don’t know what you’re fucking cheery about! I just had a

baby that’s gonna wipe out humanity.”

“Just happy to see that you’re okay.”

“
Okay
?” she asked. “I may never walk again, but other than that, I guess you can cal it okay.”

“Anything I can get for you?”

“I don’t think you immortals real y get this concept, but I’l

tel you exactly what you better fucking get me...right now! You ready? You need to write this down?”

Kinzer listened careful y, awaiting specific instructions.

“Pain...killers!”

He giggled.

“I don’t know why you’re laughing. Get the fuck out of here