sunfall (21 page)

“Yes, love. Yes. It’s me. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Val, my God, I can’t believe I’m—we’ve been out of our minds with—where are you?”

“In a truck two hundred miles northeast of Fairbanks. I’m driving back to the safe house as we speak. Did everyone…make it back? From the hangar?”

“Yes. We’ve been combing the area around that airfield since you were taken, but every lead has been a dead-end.” She paused to take a deep breath. “Val, did Brenner…succeed?”

“He did. He infected Tian, but it didn’t work on me. Tian is dead, love. She died during our escape.”

For several seconds, she didn’t speak. “This is insane. God, Val, I was so scared. So, so damn scared.”

“I know. Me, too. I thought I’d never see you again.” I swiped at my eyes, letting the sound of her rhythmic breaths comfort me. “How long has it been since that night?”

“Five days.”

My mind struggled to assimilate the news that I had only been in captivity for less than a week. “It felt like a year.”

I heard her swallow hard. “How badly did he hurt you?”

“Nothing that won’t heal. But I need you.”

“Do you want us to meet you half way?”

I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me. “No. You’re going to be needed there. Have Malcolm pull surveillance data from the Alaska interior. The closest town to my position is called Central. Brenner’s base is about twenty miles to the north.”

“You don’t want us to just meet you there?” she asked.

“No. It’s too close. He’ll catch wind of us. Right now, I’m ninety percent certain he thinks I’m dead, which gives us some time to formulate a concrete plan.”

“Okay.” When she spoke again, her voice was thick with unshed tears. “I still can’t believe I’m talking to you, Val. This whole week has felt like a nightmare.”

The distraught tone of her voice made my heart ache. “I know, baby, I know. But it’s all going to be okay. I promise.”

For a few moments, neither of us said a word, content simply to listen to the sound of the other breathing. But finally, Alexa sighed.

“I should go. This place is about to turn into even more of a madhouse.”

“I know. I love you.”

“And I love you,” she said. “More than anything.”

When the call disconnected, I couldn’t help feeling bereft. But that was ridiculous. Within a few hours, we would be reunited. Until then, all I had to do was stay alert and guide the truck safely to Fairbanks. Glancing in the rearview mirror, I caught sight of my face. I was deathly pale and my eyes looked like dark bruises. I had clearly lost weight. Exhaustion thrummed behind my eyes, but I refused to acknowledge its pull. Rest would have to wait until I reached the city.

It was late in the afternoon by the time I pulled onto the shoulder of the road just outside the entrance to the estate and cut the engine. The last hour of the drive had been a constant battle to keep my eyes open, and I wanted to collapse. Malnourished and dehydrated in two different ways, my energy stores were in serious need of replenishing.

Within moments, a semicircle of armed guards was ringed around the cab of the truck. Unsure of how to respond, I raised my hands into the air. I didn’t recognize any familiar faces, and while I was certain they’d been told to expect me, they were also right to be suspicious. One of the men opened the driver’s side door.

“Who are you?”

“Valentine Darrow, Missionary and Blood Prime.”

The one who seemed to be in charge extended the same kind of portable fingerprint reader Tian’s servants had used.

“For verification.”

When I pressed my thumb to the screen, I noticed my hand was shaking. Frowning, I concentrated on steadying my grip until the tremor had disappeared. When the device chirped, the man nodded.

“Thank you, Missionary. Welcome. Our orders are to escort you to the command center. A car awaits you just inside the gate.”

“This truck and its driver need to be dealt with,” I said as I climbed down from the cab. My legs screamed in protest, and as I hobbled through the gate, I finally gave up trying not to betray any weakness. “Humanely, please. I want him to have all of his assets intact. Just not his memories of the last several hours.”

“I understand, Missionary.”

As I slid my aching muscles into the backseat of the waiting Range Rover, a strong fatigue swept over me, rendering me dizzy. I focused on taking deep, steady breaths, but the sensation of vertigo never completely dissipated. Had I reached the limits of my superhuman body? Brenner had withheld food and water for days, but that deprivation was only exacerbating my condition, not causing it. I needed Alexa’s blood—my greatest strength and my greatest weakness. Soon. Leaning my head against the window, I watched the tops of the bare trees dance to the beat of a chill wind as the car drew steadily closer to the safe house.

We parked directly in front of the entrance and I got out of the car on unsteady legs, feeling like an octogenarian. Suddenly, the front door was being thrown open and Alexa—too thin, too pale, and dressed in black camo—was flying down the stairs. She skidded to a halt in front of me, her face a kaleidoscope of emotions. Love, anger, fear, worry—they lashed at her like gale force winds. I tried to smile, but my face didn’t seem to be working properly. I tried to walk into her arms, but suddenly my legs wouldn’t bear my own weight.

Without any warning, I finally succumbed to the tidal wave of my exhaustion. As it pulled me under, I collapsed into her embrace.

*

Gentle hands stroked my back as loving words filled my ears. I breathed in deeply, smiling as I filled my lungs with her scent. Alexa. Home. Safe.

“Val, love, I know you’re so tired. But can you wake up for me, just for a little while? Please?”

I wanted to make her happy, but my limbs wouldn’t work properly. They were impossibly heavy. Even my eyelids had been immobilized by tiny weights.

“Can’t,” I murmured, already on the verge of falling back to sleep.

“Did you catch that?” Alexa said. She sounded far away.

“I think she said, ‘can’t.’” A familiar voice. Karma.

“I’ve never seen her virtually unresponsive like this.”

Alexa sounded frightened. I wanted to tell her that everything was going to be just fine, but my lips wouldn’t form the words.

“What do you think is wrong?” asked Karma.

“I know exactly what she needs. I’ve just never seen her too weak to take it for herself.”

I heard the rustling of cloth, and then the mattress moved beneath me as someone else added their weight to the bed. Alexa or Karma? I wanted to open my eyes to see. When I tried and failed, irritation seeped through my lethargy. A frustrated groan caught at the back of my throat.

“What was that?” said Karma.

“I think she’s trying,” said Alexa. “Hand me that knife, please. I’ll meet you downstairs as soon as I can.”

“You’re sure you don’t want me to stay?”

“She’s been through hell and she’s starving in more ways than one. I need to remind her of us. She won’t hurt me, Karma.”

Alexa sounded so confident—so sure of herself, and of our relationship. She was my champion. She fought so hard. Wasn’t she tired? I wanted to tug her down next to me on the bed and wrap my arms around her and bury my face in her hair and sleep for years.

“I understand. Be safe.”

The door shut. Alexa’s hands were gentle as she turned me onto my back. I wanted to see her face, but my eyes refused to open.

“I love you, Valentine.” As she spoke the words, the air became redolent with the aroma of heaven—rich and fragrant and pure. She grasped the back of my head and pressed her skin to my lips. “Drink. Come back to me.”

The first taste unlocked my frozen body. As the gift of her blood trickled into my parched throat, my eyes flew open to the sight of her face, fierce and loving, above me. She had opened her wrist for me, and I reached up to clutch at her arm.

“Yes, Val,” she gasped as I pulled deeply from her vein, filling myself with the heat and brightness of her. She flowed into me, pouring her strength into my aching muscles, knitting together my broken skin, soothing my bruised soul.

“I love you,” she whispered, eyes locked on mine. “I love you.”

I drank and drank, losing myself in her intoxicating taste, glorying in the vitality that returned to my body and mind. I never wanted to stop, but as my lucidity returned so did my sense of priority. Gentling my mouth against her, I licked the small wounds until I felt her skin close beneath my tongue.

When I rolled onto my side and pulled her down to face me, she traced the lines of my face with tender strokes of her fingertips. I had despaired of ever seeing her again, and every loving touch was bliss.

“Thank you,” I said, leaning in to press my lips to her tremulous smile. Her mouth opened to me like a flower, soft and delicate, and despite the demands weighing down on us I let myself luxuriate in the kiss.

Finally, we parted. She rubbed her thumb across my mouth and I let my fingers sift through her hair, marveling at the crispness of the world. As I pushed myself into sitting position, I realized that already, I was experiencing far less pain than I had hours ago.

“How do you feel?” she asked, mimicking my position on the bed.

“You’re a miracle,” I told her. “I was near comatose, wasn’t I?”

“It did seem that way.” She wouldn’t meet my eyes. “You didn’t feed at all, while we were apart?”

Her insecurity pierced me, and I cradled her hands in mine. “I think Brenner wanted to keep me hungry. I had a close moment with the truck driver, but then I thought of you and how I never wanted to betray you again, and I was able to stay in control. Whatever the flower did to my blood, I think it’s helped me with that.”

My declaration only seemed to agitate her. She stood and began to pace. “Damn it, your body just shut down. I don’t ever want to stand in the way of what you need to survive.”

I blocked her path, grasped her shoulders, and pulled her into my embrace. “Alexa,
you
are what I need to survive. Only you. I made it. We’re together, and thanks to you I’m already healing.” I cupped her face, compelling her to meet my gaze. “Now it’s time to finish what Brenner started—to take the opportunity to be rid of him so we can live in peace.”

She swallowed hard, then nodded. “You’re right.”

“Are the others downstairs? I want to tell them everything I know. Maybe some of it will help as we formulate a plan.”

“Yes. When I left them, they were planning to review intelligence reports of the area you clued us into.”

I reached for her hand, twining our fingers together. “Then let’s go.”

But she resisted. “You didn’t take very much from me. There’s no way you’re even close to full strength, after what you’ve just been through.”

I leaned in to kiss her all too briefly. “You’re right. Which is why once I’ve finished briefing everyone, I’m going to drag you back up here.” I smoothed a finger over the dark smudges beneath her eyes. “You need to rest, too.”

We found the remainder of the team gathered in the mansion’s spacious living room. Foster was hunched over a laptop, speaking with someone—presumably at Headquarters—in hushed tones. Karma, Constantine, and Malcolm were poring over maps spread out across the coffee table and floor. They all looked up as I entered, and Foster ended her call.

Karma jumped up to embrace me, and Foster stood to give me a one-armed hug. As Alexa and I sat on the couch, Constantine reached over to squeeze my hand, and even Malcolm smiled.

“Any luck?” I asked, indicating the maps.

“We’ve identified a few possibilities,” said Constantine. “Nothing definite yet.”

“Any information you can share would be helpful,” Malcolm said, surprising me with his almost deferential tone. Perhaps the fact that I’d managed to escape from Brenner’s clutches trumped the distaste he’d felt for me ever since learning that Alexa had chosen to become a wereshifter in order to sustain me forever.

But just as I was about to recount what had happened in Brenner’s lair, a surge of anxiety made it difficult to speak. My heartbeat accelerated as the panic rolled over my brain like a dark fog, and suddenly, I was back in that white room, bound to the steel table, spread open and helpless—

The warm pressure of Alexa’s hand on my leg pulled me back from the darkness. The room was silent, save for my labored breaths. Ashamed, I stared at my fists, clenched white-knuckled on my knees.

Alexa kissed my jaw. “You’re all right, my love. I’m here. You’re among friends.”

I calmed my breathing and cleared my throat. Alexa was right. I didn’t have to look into the void alone, and that made all the difference.

Between their questions and several interruptions from Headquarters and Malcolm’s scouts, it took me almost two hours to tell the full story. By the time I had finished, exhaustion had crept back into my every cell.

“We have to assume that he is manufacturing the cannibal parasite as fast as possible for widespread distribution.” Malcolm’s large hands balled into fists on the table.