Rex Aftermath (Elei's Chronicles) (21 page)

Alendra pulled on his arm and he followed her, his thoughts jumbled and shot through with Rex’s whispers
.
Rex swept the area again and again —
living, organic, metal, nepheline
— making him dizzy.

Throwing up now would suck, but with Rex messing with his head, blood loss, topped with lack of food and exhaustion, falling on his face in the street could become an embarrassing habit.

Right on cue, Rex screeched in his ears —
killkillkill
— and the scent grew stifling; too close, too many.

He grabbed Alendra around the waist and walked her backward behind the huge trunk of a tree. He put his hands on either side of her uptilted face, a glowing oval, and the bark was rough against his palms. He wished he could see her expression. Her mouth opened, to ask a question perhaps, and he placed a finger on her soft lips.

Another patrol thumped by, three Echoes leading them, marked by their distinctive gold-orange glow. They headed toward the temple.

A sacrifice. Regina’s festival.

Kill them all.

With a shake of his head he stepped back and Alendra pushed away from the tree trunk.

“Are they gone?” she whispered.

“Yeah.” Follow them, Rex purred. Find them and cut them down. “Dammit.”

“What is it?” Alendra took his hand, as if she knew he felt lost.

“Nothing.” He pointed at the tall building. “See the police station?”

She nodded and started walking. He let her lead him, focusing on her small hand in his, her scent, the pale mist of her hair, and with Rex jabbing at his nerves, pulling him toward the temple and death, he could only pray she wouldn’t let go.

***

Hera breathed in and out, trying for calm, but battle lust made her heart boom.

Aircars were approaching, trying in vain to stop them — tiny like children’s toys, easily shoved aside by the machine’s enormous wheels or crunched into pulp.

The steer kicked in Hera’s hands; she tightened her hold, steadied their course. “Strike the gates down, Sacmis,” she rasped, her throat dry.

“Ready to launch missiles,” Sacmis said.

This is it. Nunet help us.

The cockpit vibrated as the launchers rotated and locked onto their target.

Sacmis leaned forward, her face hidden behind her visor, information scrolling over the glass-like surface. “On the count of ten.”

Nine, eight,
Hera counted under her breath as they rolled toward the shiny gates.
Seven, six.

An impact rocked them.

Five, four.

Sacmis muttered something, muffled by the visor.

Two, one.

“Five hells,” Mantis whispered in the hush.

The launchers kicked and boomed. The missiles exploded against the gates, the blast deafening through the smashed windows.

But the gates held, the metal melting into distorted shapes.
Holy Sobek.
The enormous doors did not fall — but they swung inward. Just a crack, like a timid invitation.

“Going in.” Ears ringing, Hera drew a deep breath and pressed on the accelerator. Speed, max. Thrusters, max. Dakron combustion optimal.

The steer quivered in her hands. She let her breath out and sent the war machine rolling faster, on collision course. Mantis crouched between the seats, his dark eyes round. Sacmis held the armrests.

The metal panels of the gates rushed at them, smoking from the hits, looming larger and larger. A violent impact, a feeling of pressure, then release—

The machine lurched forward, jerking Hera in her seat, and the gates shuddered and swung wide, letting them through into the outer city.

Oh gods in the deep.
They rolled among the white buildings, through the wide avenues, heading toward the wall of the inner city.

Hera’s pulse thudded. Was this really happening?

“Hera?” Mantis whispered, grabbing her shoulder. “We made it.”

She nodded, her throat tight, closing up. “We’re inside.”

Chapter Sixteen

Marble pillars.

Elei didn’t remember the grove of them at the entrance of the police station. When he’d stumbled out, he hadn’t paid much attention. Between the confused memories and Rex, it was surprising he didn’t crash into their polished surface now. But Alendra still held his hand, thank all the gods, steering him toward the tall doors.

No.
He resisted her pull.
Not that way.
Memories replayed: he’d exited through a narrow metal door. Maybe that was why he remembered no pillars. A side door. Emergency exit, probably.

“What?” she muttered when he yanked her down the side of the building, between a smooth, tall wall and hedges where moths danced. “Where are we going?”

He wasn’t sure where he was going. Rex fuelled him, powered him, like a core to a machine. He knew when he saw it: a metal door.

Drawing Alendra back, he pressed his ear to it. Female voices, their cloying Gultur scent bleeding through the cracks, and a familiar tingling in his wrists and temples, telling him his scent was again shifting, sweetening. Making the Gultur think he was one of them.

Alendra moved toward him but he put a hand up to stop her. She was downwind, they wouldn’t smell her, but he was positioned so they’d smell him. He resisted the urge to scratch and rub at his itchy skin, waited.

Then he knocked.

Alendra gasped and took a step back as the door cracked open.

“At last. Come in,
senet
,” an irritated voice said. “Did you find the file we requested?”

Elei shoved his shoulder through, bursting inside, drawing the longgun from its holster. He fired, shooting for the legs — not the chest, not the head — no small feat with Rex screaming at him to kill them. Their shouts had to be stopped, so he knocked them out.

Only two of them.

“Elei?” Alendra stood at the opening, hesitant.

Ally
, Rex whispered,
helping us. Kill the others, erase this temple.

He thought he saw Poena, dark eyes peering around Alendra’s leg, and he choked on a breath.

“Hey.” Alendra shook him. When had she entered? It was as if he was skipping time. “We must find Iset and Bestret.”

Traitors, sick dogs that ought to be put down.
His head pounded. He pressed a hand over his eyes, hissing quietly.

Shut up, Rex. Sisters, remember?

“How are we going to find them?” Alendra muttered.

Yeah, good point.
He’d knocked the two Gultur out, so no way to ask. But there should be more where those two stinkers came from, and they’d get what they deserved. He’d cleanse the citadel, erase the contaminated temple and purify the world.

Why...?
Those weren’t his thoughts.
Damn you, Rex, I said shut up.
Elei grimaced, trying to sort through what he knew and decide what to do.

Simple
. Find another Gultur, threaten her until she told him where the two new Gultur were being kept.

And kill her.

No, Rex, no.

Killkillkill.

Pissing hells, he was going nuts. Wasn’t even sure which voice was his and which Rex’s. Or if he was talking to himself.

“Elei.” Alendra’s low voice came near his ear, making him jump. She held a longgun, nicked from one of the unconscious police. “Which way now?”

He opened a door into a huge hall with statues and square pillars. This was the place he remembered. Doors lined it and a portal opened somewhere on Elei’s left — presumably the way to Bone Tower.

They could head that way, hope it was right, steal an aircar and somehow make their way out of the citadel. Return to Artemisia, or go to another town altogether.

And Kalaes? Afia and Jek? Hera and Sacmis? Pelia’s sacrifice? Your promise?

His ears rang.
Erase this temple. Finish what you started. You are what you are. Time to reign.

Dammit. Not so simple.
He’d promised, yes. Had he sworn to die for it? The plan emerging in his mind was scaring the shit out of him.

There had to be another way.

Footsteps. The sound made him look up — and when had he become so absorbed in his thoughts that he wasn’t paying attention to what was happening?

Alendra raised her gun. “Stop,” she said and proceeded to press the gun to the Gultur’s cheek. “Where are Iset and Bestret? The prisoners you took?”

Closing his gaping mouth, Elei drew his gun too, and took aim. Would the Gultur know what they were talking about? He opened his mouth to tell her they were the ones who’d brought Rex to them.

But there was no need. The Gultur directed them in a shaky voice to a room behind a statue of Oceanus, dolphins jumping around him — at least that much Elei guessed from the vague blue shapes Rex showed him. 

“Keys,” Alendra said and took something glowing blue —
metal
— from the Gultur’s hand.

His hearing was going, with Rex droning inside his head. Desecrate their temple, it hissed. Bring it down, burn it, erase it. Kill them all.

Alendra dragged the Gultur with them and he tried to help but jerked back: Poena giggled, peeking from behind the statue, and although all he could see were colors, he knew her small face, her uneven teeth, her large eyes.

“Go get them, Elei,” Poena whispered and the sound echoed inside his skull. “Finish what you started.”

What he’d started?

Shaking his head to stop the whispers, he backed away, and Poena walked toward him, small hands on her hips, her stained yellow dress sparkling.

“Elei?” Alendra came back to him. “What is it?”

Poena put her hand on his arm. “You know you have to do it. You’re here. You came back after all.”

“Leave,” he said and swatted at her, “leave me alone.”

“Hells, Elei.” Alendra released his arm. “I was only trying to help.”

“Not you.”
Please, not you.

But she drew away. “Then who?”

When he didn’t reply, Alendra turned around, pressed her gun to the Gultur’s side and marched her toward the indicated door.

He lurched after her.
Kill them
, Rex keened.
Erase this temple of pestilence and madness. Tear it to the ground.

He hissed and stumbled.
Madness?
Yeah, he was going mad.

“Just raze it to the ground,” Poena said, smiling sweetly. She’d caught up with him again. “You need explosives.”

“I don’t have any.” He pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes, Alendra’s body heat a bright beacon.

“But they do.” She pointed at the door Alendra was unlocking, the Gultur still held by her side. “They brought bombs, to take down the temple. They have explosives in their aircar. The two of them failed in their mission. You won’t.”

“And how do you know this?” Oh right, because he’d known it, and Poena had access to his deepest pit of memories. “I can’t.”
Can’t die for your purpose, for Rex’s purpose.

“You made a promise to the children of Teos. The children of the Seven Worlds. You can’t just back out now.”

“I never signed up for this.” Had he? “Leave me alone.”

Poena only grinned and shook her blond head, which barely reached his waist. For one damn scary moment her face was that of Alendra and he barely contained a gasp.

Dammit, Rex.

Keeping his eyes ahead, trying to ignore her diminutive presence, he hurried across the hall. He’d let Alendra do all the work. He was a burden, jeopardizing her life for whispers inside his head.

Stupid. Dangerous.

“You can’t wish me away,” Poena chirped and he almost stumbled into a pillar. “Finish what you started, Elei.”

Shit.
He jogged past Oceanus’ statue, his heart booming, and entered the room. Two orange-yellow shapes sat on the floor at the far wall. Alendra was unshackling them. The Gultur she’d brought along was fumbling at her waist where a longgun hung, its handle glowing blue.

“Don’t even think about it,” he ground out, drawing his own gun and walking closer. “Move back.”

Kill he
r, Rex hissed, making his muscles tense, his hands tremble.
Pull the trigger.

He groaned, his trigger finger shaking. No. Pissing gods, Rex, leave me in peace.

Kill her. Kill them. Erase this temple
—

—
of pestilence, yeah, I know. Raze it to the ground. He blinked sweat out of his eyes, the gun wavering. Can’t. Won’t. I’m leaving. Got to find Kalaes, make sure he’s okay.

Elei
, Rex whispered, voice silky like a caress, and it was the first time Rex had spoken his name.

He shuddered, his stomach churning.
Get out of my head.

You can’t escape your fate, Elei. You started this. You can’t outrun the regime. You have to
—

“
—
Finish this,” Poena said, standing in front of his gun, the muzzle pressed to her smooth brow. “I’ve told you this before. You’re the King. What will you do now?”

But he’d done what she’d asked, spilled his blood, infected the Gultur.

“Finish what you started,” she pressed forward, the gun cutting into her flesh, “or fail the world.”

***

Hera was driving through the rubble of the outer city ring, keeping an eye on the war machine lumbering after them. Since the first war tower had been put out of commission with their rockets, the other seemed determined to stop them entering the inner ring of Dakru City.

Meanwhile, the inner city was bringing out its own cannons, and although they were not of war machine caliber, Hera was certain they’d cause damage.

No distraction to keep the eyes of the capital away from them.
Damn.
The plan had gone to the hells. She could see the realization in Mantis’ eyes, although he covered it with a scowl. Sacmis’ gaze was hidden behind the visor.

Hera had no doubt Sacmis was ready to die for this cause. Had been for years now.

And what about the others? Had they already sacrificed their lives?

Helicopters circled, gleaming in the searchlights of the city wall’s watchtowers.

Like a show
, Hera thought.
Like a goddamn show
.

She jerked the steering lever, sending the war machine into a slow turn to avoid a missile, giving Sacmis the chance to retaliate.

Military aircars — Silver Bullets — were lining up at the inner city gate with their guns ready.

Sacmis positioned the cannons, took aim. The rockets blasted out and hit with unerring precision. The vehicles exploded, a ball of flame and smoke rising in the night.

Not enough
.

“Seleukids. And drones. Incoming.” Mantis’ breathless voice penetrated the battle fog like a light through murky water.

“Shit.”

“I got them,” Sacmis said.

But the seleukids were damn fast, the drones even faster, and how many could you blast away before new ones came? A whole freaking fleet.

Again
.

Please
, Hera prayed,
please Elei. You have to be okay, you have to get them off our backs
.

“Communication alert,” Sacmis muttered, and Mantis leaned next to her to fling the switch on.

“Surrender,” a harsh female voice said. “You are surrounded and alone. Stop the war machine and come out now.”

“Damn them,” Hera muttered. “We’re not stopping.”

“Of course not,” Mantis said.

“Your friends have been captured,” the voice went on. “Elei Rex has been taken to Bone Tower. Kalaes Ster has been killed.”

Hera stilled. A hush fell inside her head. The words made no sense. This could not be real.