Iron Inheritance (33 page)

I opened my eyes, blinked, and rose to my feet—red anger controlling my every move. It was a small room with plaster falling off the walls. A man dressed in black lay crumpled in the corner. Before I could raise my arms, Josh pulled me into a hug.

He laughed. “I knew you were thick headed, but this is ridiculous.”

I leaned in to him and saw every wave of red essence evaporate off his skin into the gray air, not even needing to concentrate to see it anymore.

I let go of Josh and looked at the unconscious man in the corner, my head throbbing. The center of his chest was muted black, and when I exhaled, the world opened up more than it ever had before. The walls disappeared, and I saw five more patches of inky darkness float like shapeless sentinels, each in a different room. I could still see the house, the world around me, but it was like a hazy outline. The spiritual world had come to the forefront.

I kept my eyes on the five patches of darkness. Why weren’t they moving? Coming toward us? They had to have heard us come in.

I searched the rest of the house with a single, penetrating glance. There weren’t any blues, greens, or reds at all. Had they killed them? Nate? Brody? Who had screamed?

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Josh whispered. “I can’t believe you’re still standing.”

I nodded absentmindedly, the floorboards creaking as I opened the door and stepped into the deserted hallway, my gaze fixed on the bedroom at the end, padlocks at top, middle, and bottom. I refocused my eyes and the door became a vague outline. There was a particularly dark essence in there, not shapeless like the others, but defined, jagged, and writhing with electric current.

This was it. I didn’t look back at Josh but ran at the door and kicked it so hard that it snapped off its hinges and broke in half.

Dust floated transfixed above the wooden desk and canopy bed as I stepped inside, the air so thick that I didn’t see him right away. He didn’t even stand but kept sitting on the edge of the mattress, one leg crossed over the other.

“Glad you came.” Kovac smiled and tossed the silver necklace at my feet.

My eyes flicked from the broken pendant to the woman lying next to him. Why wasn’t she moving?

He reached out and stroked her hair. I stepped forward and exhaled a snarl, my lips pulled back from my teeth. He stroked her hair again, gripping it between his fingers.

Then he pulled her head off.

A breathless squeak of unexpected terror rushed into my throat and clamped it shut. I swallowed, and tears blurred my vision as my one hope cracked in half—unrepairable.

Kovac stood and pulled the covers back from the headless manikin.

Mom’s not here…She never was.

I blinked away the tears, my whole body shaking.

He shook his head. “Very sorry about that. Had to find some way to get you here.”

“Where is she?” I whispered.

“Oh, you know, it’s difficult to say.” He paused. “Everlasting pit of torment or fluffy clouds of white seem to be the audience’s top two choices.”

I clenched my fists to steady the shaking.
She can’t be dead. She can’t be.
“You’re lying.”

“Oh, not at all.” He shook his head with pouty lips. “I did kidnap her initially. That much was true, but then I got bored with her. Slit her throat in the end. Quite the twist, eh?” He flashed his bleached-white, game-show grin.

My arms shook as I pushed down denial. My mom hadn’t survived all these years; she was dead, and Kovac had lured me here to kill me, too.

Rage coursed through my veins with more strength than I had ever felt in my life.

I rushed at him.

No more thinking. No more feeling. No more talking.

I screamed and pulled my fist back to punch a hole through his chest.

But he was too fast.

My knuckles careened through the air and met nothing but empty space. When I straightened again, he was standing in front of me lazily with his jagged black saber pointed at my throat.

My eyes twitched to the side and saw Josh at the room’s entrance, surrounded by five men who had suddenly materialized in the room. His gaze darted back and forth from me to them, his cheeks puffing in and out.

A high-pitched scream rattled through the floor boards and sent a shiver up my neck. I started to step to the side.

“Ah, Ah,” Kovac whispered, coming closer, the length of his blade reducing with each small step. “I would dislike having to make a mess,” he added, the point of his blade digging into my skin, through it, but not drawing blood. Instead, a bolt of sadness shot through me. Painful, powerful sorrow spread like a virus through my skin and into my veins.

Grandpa’s body jumping over mine to save me.

Nate convulsing in the backseat.

My mom crying out in pain.

“What do you want with us?” Josh said loudly, his voice not shaking like I’d expected it to.

“Us?” Kovac smiled, not looking away from me. “No us, Johnny Boy. Her.” He twisted the saber a centimeter deeper, and then pulled it out. “We want her.”

He guided me toward the bed with the point of his blade. The bed posts were scratched and clawed into barely standing pieces. He flicked the blade for me to sit down, but I stayed standing, unblinking.

“You know, I’m surprised by the gullible quality of today’s youth. They’re so easily deceived.” He smiled to the whole room. Several of his minions chuckled.

“You were the one who sent the vision when I projected—the one of my mom,” I said flatly. If he wanted to talk, I’d talk. It just meant longer for me to figure out how to get out of here so I could crush his skull to powder.

“Oh, very good. A thousand points.” He smiled.

“And the vision from the dog-catcher. Is the word ‘iron’ a fetish of yours, or something?”

“You’ve had another vision?” His eyes widened. “You’re quite a bit further along than I expected.”

I narrowed my eyes and held his gaze. Why would he lie about sending it? It meant nothing to him, unless…he didn’t send it. That meant Meg and he weren’t working together—at least not yet. But then how had her vision led me here tonight, right when he—

Kovac snapped his fingers in front of my eyes and smiled. “Oh, yes. What fun.” He laughed. “In truth, I had my reservations about you, Evelyn, but I’m so glad you got my message tonight. I’ve been sending it out all week in the hopes that you’d see it. It tells me so much about you. But, I’m sorry, go on. What did your other vision tell you?”

I leaned forward so the blade’s black point cut into me and Grandpa’s death flashed before my eyes again. “It told me you’d die before the sun rose.”

He grinned and flicked the blade away so I could see the jagged black edges.

I wrapped my fingers around the wooden banister behind me and squeezed until the wood compressed like soft honeycomb.

“No, I say we start that fun with your friends downstairs.” He walked toward the crowd of men surrounding Josh. “Or we can start with this strapping young fellow here. What do you say? He looks healthy. Have you told him how you feel about him yet? Might not get another chance. What about you, Johnny? Have you told her you wuv her?”

Josh disappeared in a split-second and knocked two of the men into the wall. In the next moment, in a flash of black, he was instantly pinned to the floor by the three other faceless cowards. Black swords and clubs beat him again and again until the color drained out of his skin. He kept his eyes on me the whole time, not sad or even hurt with each slash into his soul. Instead, they pleaded with me to run, to leave him behind.

I reached forward, and Kovac appeared in front of me again.

“Why? Tell me why!” I screamed.

He smiled sinisterly and twisted the point of the blade into my skin like an auger. Blood pumped pressure to every one of my veins. I didn’t want to breathe because that would just slow it down. I didn’t have to look down to see the blue light lapping off my skin like an over-excited flame, like a herd of solar flares announcing a star’s transition to supernova.

“I’m a fan of history’s greats, aren’t you?” Kovac said, stretching out each syllable.“Tonight I’m going to—”

I looked down at Josh and pressed my lips together in a thin line of decision.

I stepped straight into the point of Kovac’s blade and jabbed him in the Adam’s apple with my free hand. The serrated saber went through the back of my neck and sliced through my spine without breaking my skin. Dark essence coursed through every nerve and flooded my mind with the worst memories I’d tried to forget. Disappointment and shame and despair.

But I forced my eyes to stay open, and reality pulled me back to the present where Kovac was on his knees gasping for breath.

I have to kill him. I can’t let him live after what he’s—

The faceless minions abandoned Josh and launched themselves at me, the first one digging his fingernails into my already bloody hand.

I yelled, eyes wide, and knocked him into the plaster ceiling. White cement chunks rained down on the other two. I swung my arms in wide hooks as they came at me—no technique, just rage. My fists connected with chests and jaws and eye sockets until they crumpled.

My ears rang, and my chest heaved as Kovac scampered into the corner. I stomped toward him, and Josh stepped between us, hands stretched out toward me cautiously, his lip bleeding. “Eve, we have to get out of here.”

My eyelids fluttered surprise. Why was he stopping me right when—

“Eve.” Josh slipped his hand over mine, his warm calluses pressing against my knuckles. Calm seeped up my arm and into my head as his deep voice continued. “Eve, we need to—”

More men ran into the room with pulsating spiritual swords, knives, and axes raised above their heads.

Kovac lay crumpled in a heap behind them, wheezing and coughing up blood. The outer edges of his group of men started to move around the sides of the room very slowly, trying to surround us.

I breathed in deeply, not to calm down, but to focus.

These men had killed my family. These men had taken everything.

I looked from side to side and felt a tingle run up my spine into the base of my neck.

“Eve!” Josh yelled.

I ducked just as an axe spun through the air, narrowly missing my left shoulder. I slid on my knees and punched through kneecaps like clay bricks. The axe thrower collapsed to the ground, screaming in pain. Two more came at me with swords drawn. Their bodies seemed to move in slow motion, and I knew where they’d strike before they did. I spun around and twisted each of their arms back, snapping their forearms into pieces. Their eyes bulged in surprise and pain.

Josh finished off two more with a slow sleeper hold, his biceps bulging. The last one stood in front of Kovac. He cowered back a step when I locked my gaze on him. Kovac kicked him from behind, and he charged with a bloodcurdling scream. I stepped to the side at the last moment and grabbed his arm so tight he released his knife and sank to the ground.

I smiled and turned him back around to face his master as I twisted his arm up and popped his shoulder out of its socket. He cried and tried to scuttle away, his whole body vibrating with super speed, but I clasped my other hand on his throat and squeezed.

He deserved this. They all deserved this.

“Eve!” Josh grabbed my shoulder.

I blinked as if coming out of another projection, something inside telling me not to stop, to keep this feeling, this power.

But the longer I looked at Josh the more it receded.

“Eve,” Josh repeated, his blue eyes soft against mine, inching closer.

Everything started to clear again. Warm blood ran down my fingernails from the man’s throat, and I let go with a gasp. He collapsed onto the floor and breathed in and out slowly, unconscious but alive. I looked around at all of them and saw my reflection in a mirror split in half on the wall. The crack tore my face in two.

High-pitched laughter echoed off the French doors as Kovac, no longer in the corner, swung them open and hobbled onto the balcony. “Not going to kill them? Broken bones and scars won’t keep them there for long.”

The ones who hadn’t passed out continued to whimper and grunt. One man’s scowl told me Kovac’s words were true. They would never stop.

“You’re more powerful than any of them. You will be the one to turn the tide of this war.” Kovac continued with more confidence now, gingerly leaning against the balcony railing. “You will—”

A red blur rocketed past me, and the balcony exploded with wood splinters. Kovac flew backward, flailing his arms. Josh stood at the edge, his essence a bright flame.

I ran forward in time to hear the
thud
as he hit the ground.

“We need to get the others and get out of here,” Josh said. “The more he talks, the more lies he’ll tell.”

My lips opened in disbelieving confusion. “You call me back from the brink so I don’t kill them, and then you go and do that?” I leaned forward and looked down. “He killed my mom, my grandpa…” I said slowly, my mind working like a heavy gear in need of grease. “And he just said…Why did he say that?”

Several voices called out from below. “Josh? Eve?”

I jumped down first and found Nate and the three Tercets in the courtyard, surprise overshadowing their injuries, but only just. Their skin was pale and their faces swollen; a thin line of black encircled each of their exposed arms.

“So, we owe you two for taking away our guards?” said Nate, his voice dropping off when he looked at me. “Eve, what—”

“There are ten Babylonians in that bedroom.” Josh pointed. “They’re not bound.”

Jody flexed her arms, the thin black lines like tattoos. “I think we can fix that problem,” she said, nodding to Nate.

They sped into the root cellar and threw out what looked like tar-soaked ropes. Brody jumped up to the top room and threw one Babylonian after another down into his brother’s arms. They cinched them all together in one big circle. The ones on the outside woke from unconsciousness with a painful groan the moment the black rope touched their skin.

“It may not drain you like it did me, but something tells me you’re not a fan of this stuff either,” Jody said, inches away from one of the men’s faces.