Reliquary (Reliquary Series Book 1) (22 page)

He stared down at me, then let go of me and walked away. My throat tightened as he headed out the door. But he was back immediately, pulling his duffel and toolbox into the room. He came up with something in his hands, and spent a moment looking at it before turning around.

It was the collar. “Come here,” he said quietly.

I walked toward him on shaky legs.

“Lift your hair.”

I obeyed. “Thank you,” I said as he fastened it.

“Thank you, what?”

“Thank you, sir.” My breathing was already starting to slow.

He looked down at me, his eyes shadowed with something I couldn’t translate. “Good girl, Eve. Now go over to the bed.”

I walked to the bed, a trickle of fear sliding down my spine.
What is he going to—

He pulled the covers back. Then he kicked off his shoes. “Get in there.” He nodded at the mattress.

I paused. Asa arched his eyebrow. “Yes, sir,” I said.

I’d given him control. I’d decided to trust him. I would give what he demanded in return.

I crawled onto the bed and felt the mattress dip with his weight as he joined me. He settled on his back and spread his arm out. “Now come here.”

Hesitantly, I moved closer, edging over next to him as I inhaled his scent. Sometime in the last few hours, he’d taken a shower, even though he’d apparently decided to camp outside my room instead of sleep in his own bed.

He’d been unwilling to leave me alone even when I’d thought that was what I needed.

“Put your head on my shoulder,” he murmured, guiding me with his fingers in my hair, stroking my scalp.

“Yes, sir,” I whispered.

“You let me in,” he said, “and that means it’s just you and me now. Everything else stays outside the door. Every single thing. None of it gets inside, because I’m in here, and I won’t allow it.”

I pressed my face to his shoulder and nodded.

“So you’re not going to think,” he continued. “Not right now. And you’re not going to worry. Or plan. Got it, Eve?”

“Yes, sir.” I snuggled into his side, keenly aware of the rub of the soft leather band around my throat. I was Eve, not Mattie. Mattie had been shed like a snake skin, sick and panicked and twisted up. Eve existed only in this moment, and she was simple. She was worn out and heavy with fatigue. I sighed, so thankful that my heart was no longer in my throat.

“Good girl,” he whispered, reaching over to turn out the light. “That’s my good girl.” His arms tightened around me, and I laid my hand on his chest, where his heart beat strong and steady. “Now get some rest. I’ve got you.”

“Yes, sir.” It came out on a slow breath as I relaxed completely, as my thoughts blanked out and I held on to him, letting him deliver me into dreamless sleep.

Asa shook me awake. “Up, Mattie, get up. Right now.”

“Hmm?”

“Wake the fuck up. We have to get out.” He dragged me up and smacked lightly at my cheek.

My eyes snapped open. “What’s happening?”

“Get your shoes on.” Asa already had his duffel slung across his chest.

I peered toward the window. It was still dark outside. But the look on Asa’s face—glittering eyes, sweaty brow—told me everything I needed to know. “They’ve found us.”

Asa nodded and yanked on my hand, and I quickly slid my shoes onto my feet and followed him to the door. He opened it a crack and paused, then jerked his head to the left. “This way.” He jogged down the hallway toward the outer staircase. I ran after him, listening to the faint rattle of whatever was in his pockets. We stepped into the warm, humid night air and hurried down the staircase, but Asa stuck out his arm as we reached the ground, halting my forward momentum. From around the corner of the building, near the main entrance, came the sound of boots. Lots of them.

“Headsmen?” I whispered.

“Doubtful. Some of them have no juice.” Asa wiped his face on his sleeve. “But most of them are Strikon and Knedas.”

I reached over and grabbed his hand, then pointed to the back of the hotel property, which was adjacent to that dense patch of tropical trees I’d seen on the way in. “Can we sneak through there?”

Someone at the front of the building shouted, and the sound of footsteps headed our way.

Asa answered by sprinting in the direction I’d pointed. He leaped across a muddy ditch, then grabbed my arm as my foot slipped when I landed. He pulled me into the darkness of the stubby, rough-barked trees. “No good, no good,” he muttered, glancing behind him, where there lay nothing but dense blackness. “Fuck, where are they?”

He pulled me along the tree line, then paused and switched directions, whispering curses the whole time. It was clear he could feel danger in every direction. Finally, he stopped and took me by the shoulders. “Mattie, they’re looking for me. They don’t know what you can do. What you are.” He glanced at the collar, still around my neck, and his jaw clenched. “That means you can get out. I want you to—”

“Want her to what?” asked a quiet voice from the darkness.

I turned to see Daeng step from behind a tree, his face shining with sweat in the lights from the parking lot. He had a gun in one hand, aimed at Asa. With the other, he pulled a beaded necklace over his head and quickly tossed it at Asa’s feet.

Asa leaped back and kicked the thing away. “Dirty trick, asshole.”

“Strikon is the easiest way to disguise the presence of other magic. Have you ever noticed that? You just have to be strong enough to bear it.” He took a step closer. “Or perhaps you know that already. Where is the relic?”

“Gone,” said Asa. “Too hot to keep.”

Daeng aimed his gun at my head. “Liar,” he said to Asa before looking at me. “My lovely friend. Mr. Johnson was just saying I didn’t know what you could do.” Daeng smiled, but it wasn’t the polite, slightly sad smile I’d seen earlier tonight. “I very much hope you’ll be willing to tell me, though.”

“She can tie a knot in a cherry stem using just her tongue,” said Asa, his hand inching toward his pocket. “And she’s got a hell of a—”

The blast of the weapon cut the night. Asa fell backward with a strangled groan, clutching at his thigh, which was instantly soaked with blood. I lunged for him, but Daeng threw his arm around my neck. He pulled me against him and spoke right in my ear. “That bullet just tore his femoral artery,
Mattie
. He has about three minutes to live.”

I let out a choked sob, staring at Asa, who was shaking and gasping and cursing as he tried to put pressure on his wound. The rapid pat-pat-pat of blood dripping to the leaves beneath him sounded like rainfall. “Asa,” I mouthed. Horror had stolen my voice.

“I have the magic to heal him right here.” Daeng guided my hand to a hard lump in the pocket of his shirt. “An Ekstazo relic.” He squeezed my hand in his clammy grip. “Tell me where you put the relic you stole, and it’s yours. Otherwise, we will both watch him die.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I turned toward Daeng. “I have it.”

“Mattie, don’t,” Asa said, his voice wretched with pain.

Daeng’s eyes narrowed. “Where?”

“It’s inside me.”

Asa groaned. “Mattie . . .”

“One more word and I’ll shoot you again,” Daeng murmured, but his attention was all reserved for me. “You’re lying. The relic contained the most powerful Strikon magic in the world. I would know if it were near.”

I took a quick step closer to him, and he raised the gun, aiming it at the side of my head as we stood inches apart. My breaths were sharp and shallow. I could hear Asa suffering only feet behind me, and the sound made my heart feel like it had been stuffed with dynamite.

“Touch my chest and focus,” I said to Daeng. “That’s the only way you’ll feel it. And if you shoot me, that magic dies with me, right? You want to risk that?”

Daeng released my hand, looking conflicted.

“I’m telling you exactly where it is, just like you asked,” I hissed. “Why the hell do you think I would be traveling with Mr. Johnson if I weren’t his reliquary?” The seconds were ticking down, each one winding my desperation and hatred tighter.

He lowered the gun to his side and shoved his clammy hand up my shirt. I guided it between my breasts, glancing down to make sure that gun was aimed away from me. “You can feel it,” I said quietly, releasing his hand.

As soon as I did, Daeng’s hand shifted and closed over one of my breasts, squeezing painfully and making my teeth clench. He bowed his head and let out a shuddering breath. “Oh, there it is . . .”

“Yep, there it is.” And then I finally made use of that self-defense class I’d taken as a college freshman. I looped my arms around his neck and slammed my knee into his crotch.

Daeng yelped and pitched against me as I shoved and pushed to keep his gun aimed away from me. His scrabbling hand scraped down my stomach, and I frantically brought my knee up again and again, not sure if the little screams I heard were coming from him or me. The gun fell to the ground, and I kicked blindly until I made contact. It skittered across the leaves and splashed into the ditch. I scratched at Daeng’s eyes and he tripped, falling to the ground. I jammed my fingers into his chest pocket and came up holding a small figurine—the relic Asa needed. Daeng grabbed for me, but I scooted backward, jabbing my foot into his face and landing a lucky shot. He grunted and rolled onto his back, blood gushing from his nose, and I dove for Asa, who was weakly clutching at his thigh.

“What do I do?” I asked.

Asa’s face was white as moonlight, and his entire body was trembling. “No magic no magic no magic,” he whispered, his eyes rolling. “I-I don’t . . . don’t . . .”

I ignored him and pushed the bottom of his shorts up, revealing the hole straight through his inner thigh, still burbling blood like a little fountain. Praying I was doing the right thing, I pressed the relic right over one of the wounds and focused on how much I wanted Asa to be okay. He cried out and arched, every muscle spasming. Terrified that I was damaging him, I pulled my hand away and looked down at the wound.

Even after only a few seconds, it was smaller, and the bleeding had slowed to a trickle. I gritted my teeth and held the now-bloody relic to his skin again, this time against the exit wound on the other side of his leg. Asa’s thigh was like cold iron in my grip as he writhed, and my fingers were slick with his blood. The strangest sensation crept up my arm, slithering up my neck and into my head. Suddenly, I was keenly aware of a slice of Strikon magic lying a few feet away on the muddy bank of the ditch, and the powerful throb of Sensilo magic beneath me and behind me. It felt like a million tiny insect feet pattering along the inside of my skull, and paired with the stab of pain and the pulse of ecstasy in my palm, it was almost unbearable, too much stimulation at once. I shuddered, not sure if I needed to throw up or scream or moan with pleasure, or maybe all three at the same time. My skin tingled as a cold sweat broke out across my forehead and chest and neck.

“Take it off me,” Asa said between ragged breaths, weakly trying to pry my hands from his thigh. “No more . . .”

I twisted away from Asa as I felt a surge of magic at my back and rose to my knees as Daeng barreled into me. The relic fell from my grasp as Daeng’s fingers locked around my throat. His face was twisted into a hideous grimace, and his eyes were bulging. My world turned crimson and spotty as I slapped my bloody hands onto his face, trying to get him off me.

The effect was instantaneous. Daeng released his choke hold and screamed, staggering backward with his arms thrashing. I looked down at my hands.

“The blood,” I whispered. Surface magic, Asa had called it. Asa’s blood was saturated with his Sensilo magic, and I had it all over me. So did Daeng.

The only difference was that Daeng was already full to the brim with the same kind of sensing magic. I’d just given him an overdose. As he landed on his back and scrambled up again, his hands clawed and reaching for me, the most terrible guttural sounds rolling from his throat, I grabbed a handful of wet, bloody earth from between Asa’s legs and lunged for Daeng. Short-circuited by the sensations buzzing inside my brain and along my limbs, rage devouring me, I landed on Daeng’s chest and clamped my hand over his face, forcing the magic-soaked mud into his mouth. Daeng arched and thrashed, struggling like an animal in a trap, but I was relentless and savage. He’d shot Asa. He might have killed him. He had wanted to watch him die.

“How does it feel now?” I asked, baring my teeth as tears streamed from Daeng’s eyes.

Hands looped beneath my arms and pulled me backward. “It’s okay. Let him go,” Asa said.

I struggled to get away from him, but he locked his hands around my chest and wrenched me off Daeng, who had begun to shake all over. I stared at him for a second, reddish mud smeared all over his face, his fingers twitching and flexing as Asa dragged me over to the ditch and pushed me onto my stomach, grabbing my wrists and plunging our hands into the brown rancid water. He lay on top of me as I fought him, overwhelmed and panicking at the unyielding wall of sensing magic crushing me to the ground. He rubbed my hands together underwater and then drew them up, dripping but no longer bloody. The hard tingling feeling inside my skull faded. The feeling of insects crawling on me lifted.

Panting, Asa rolled off me, and my thoughts clicked back on like a lightbulb. I turned to him, realization pounding in my veins. “You’re not dying. The relic worked.”

“For better or worse, you’re still stuck with me.” He was ghastly pale, though, and looked unsteady as he rose from the ground. Sticky blood was crusted all over his shorts and down his leg. He glanced at Daeng, who was flopping in the grass about ten feet away, then toward the motel. “We have to run.”

I looked over my shoulder. A small group of men had emerged from the hotel and were congregating in the parking lot. Asa looped his arm around my waist and pulled me backward just as one of them raised his head and squinted at the tree line.

A shout went up as he spotted us—or maybe Daeng’s thrashing body. Asa plunged into the brush, and I was right behind him. He cursed and stumbled as we wove our way around thick trunks of banana trees, their low leafy fronds thwacking our faces. Behind us, I could hear yelling and pounding footsteps. Ahead of us, though, was the glimmer of passing headlights. We were nearing the road.

Asa went down with a grunt, his chest heaving. He struggled to push himself from the ground. I grabbed his sides and yanked, helping him to rise again. In the darkness, his skin was so pale it was almost glowing. It was cold to the touch, slick with sweat. The relic had healed him, but he’d still lost so much blood, and a horde of naturals was approaching quickly. Now I knew what he must be feeling, the hard tingling, the crawling sensation along his skin. Protectiveness welled up inside me as I coiled my arm around his waist and moved with him, propelling us forward.

A sharp crack made both of us flinch. “Are they shooting at us?” I whispered as I pulled at Asa, who seemed to be having trouble lifting his feet more than a few inches off the ground.

“Yep,” he said with a huff as we reached asphalt. “I’d say it’s time to catch our flight out of here.”

I glanced up the little side street we’d emerged onto. Maybe ten yards ahead, there was a guy parking his car right next to a shabby building that might have been a bar or a convenience store, its sign lit up despite the fact that it must have been around five or six in the morning. With our pursuers still crashing through the thick woods behind us, I let go of Asa and sprinted forward, waving my arms.

The guy who’d just gotten out of his car looked at me with wide eyes as I raced toward him, blood smeared all over my shirt, my hair wild. “I need a ride!” I said, pointing to his car. “To the airport!” I jabbed my finger toward the distant sound of an airplane.

The man looked over my shoulder, and whatever he saw—probably Asa—made him scream and raise his arms up in the air. His keys dangled from one of his fingers, and in my desperation, I thrust my arms out. He yelped and threw the keys at me. They hit my chest and bounced to the ground just as Asa reached my side, looking like a blood-drenched zombie, his movements lurching and unsteady.

“Get in the car,” I shrieked. The man who’d thrown his keys had run into the shabby building, and I could hear yelling inside. And our pursuers were only a few yards from the edge of the trees. I swung the back door open and shoved Asa inside, pushing his long legs as he landed on the backseat in an awkward sprawl. My heart in my throat, I dove into the front.

“Where the hell is the steering wheel?” I screamed. Then I looked over at the passenger seat, and voila. I scooted over, shoved the key in the ignition, and twisted it just as a bullet punctured the windshield.

I slammed the car into reverse and shot backward, yanking the wheel around and sending up a cloud of smoke as the car spun. Then I punched it into drive and sped forward, hunching down and expecting my world to go dark at any moment. I could hear the cracks of gunshots, could feel the hiss of bullets through the car. My breath was bursting from me in little squeaks as I reached the wide road we’d traveled to get to the hotel. I took a quick right turn and screamed again as I saw several sets of headlights streaking toward me.

“They drive on the left,” Asa shouted from the back as I swerved.

“I knew that!” I cranked the wheel and looped around, forcing several oncoming cars to slam on their brakes. Then I stomped on the gas again, and the tires squealed just before we shot forward. A sharp snap made me flinch, and I cast a quick sidelong glance at the new bullet hole in the passenger window as we roared past the side street.

I was weaving in and out, streaking by cars and trucks like they were standing still. I knew the airport was to the right but had no idea how to get over there. “Why are there no freaking street signs?” I wailed, cutting in front of a taxi, whose driver laid on the horn a second later.

I wrenched the wheel to the right and pulled a U-turn under an overpass, then darted across the road toward a little sign with an airplane on it, barely avoiding a collision with a delivery truck. As more horns sounded off, along with a few sirens, I glanced behind me to see Asa lying on the backseat, a bloody phone to his ear. “Got it,” he said. “We’re coming in hot, so be ready.”

He sat up and looked around, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the airport in front of us. “The hangar’s on the southwest—” He grabbed the back of the seat as I swerved around a line of cars, one of the wheels going up on the curb.

“Which way is southwest?” I yelled.

“That way!” He pointed to my left, and I lurched onto a narrow lane, scraping the side of a building as I pulled around a slow-moving airport shuttle.

Behind us, sirens were screaming, and red and white lights were twinkling in my rearview mirror. “Oh God,” I said in a choked voice, clinging to the wheel. “When did my life become a Fast and the Furious movie?”

“Up there! Up there!” Asa made a frantic wave toward a line of hangars up ahead. A sleek jet was taxiing out of the one on the very end. “That’s them!” He cursed and ducked as another bullet dinged into the metal of the car.

The gas pedal was on the freaking floor as I raced toward the jet. I was terrified to slow down for fear our pursuers would catch up, but I knew I had to stop. Those two thoughts warred in my panicked brain until Asa roared my name, and I slammed on the brakes. The wheels locked and the car skidded across the concrete, barreling toward the jet. We jerked to a stop less than twenty feet away. The plane’s door opened, and a set of steps flopped down. Asa had to shout at me to throw the car into park before I got out. The air was filled with the whine of airplane engines and the scream of sirens as Asa and I staggered toward the jet, clawing our way up the steps and throwing ourselves inside.

I had the faintest impression of someone pulling up the stairs and calling to the pilot to get going, but it barely reached my consciousness. I tripped over Asa’s feet and landed on top of him in the aisle. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me against him. His heart was hammering against my chest, and both of us were shaking. As I felt the plane accelerate and glimpsed the outside streaking by, as my stomach swooped with our rise into the sky, I buried my face against his throat and burst into tears.