Synnergy, Chaos Time Book 3 (13 page)

“Stop, Slayde.” Sable grabbed his hand. “You’ll
collapse the cave in on us. Do it from outside.”

The thing needed to be destroyed. It was too much
power. Too much. But Hunter wanted it. Wanted that feeling of power
to engulf him again. His nostrils flared. He needed to touch it.
Just once more. A little taste. A small caress.

He reached out his hand, fingers inches from it when
a flood of intense fear engulfed him, ripping the breath from his
lungs.

Synnergy
.

“Finish the source,” he yelled, swiping open a
portal. “I have to get to her!”

“Who?” Sable cried.

But he didn’t have time to answer. He stepped inside
the swirling vortex and followed Synn’s energy traces. People left
traces of themselves wherever they went. If you were angry, the
traces were red. And if you were searching for something, they were
white. But if you were hopeless, if you were lost, they were a mix
of the two.

Synn’s essence was a shimmering veil of pink so thick
it bathed the woods in a frothy foam.

He followed the trace; until it was so bright it
almost blinded him. Hunter stepped through his portal, eyes
searching frantic for her. He heard a grunt and then smelled blood.
It was everywhere. Something was slithering beside her making faint
wuffing sounds. Like it was licking something.

He roared. Shadow moved.

His vision blanketed. Went red. He felt his muscle
ripping, felt himself growing. Getting taller. Growing bigger.
Bigger. Bigger. Couldn’t stop it.

“Synn!” Her name came out slurred from a face
distorted, no longer human. No longer normal.

Blood rushed hot through his veins. Pumping him full
of madness. Then he couldn’t think anymore. But he could smell.

A growl ripped from his throat just as the horns tore
from his skull. He howled. In pain. In madness. He no longer
knew.

An answering snarl came from his left.

He leaped after it. The shadow ran. Which only made
him hungrier, only increased his excitement. His legs chewed up the
turf. Anything in his path was razed. He tore. He ripped things
up.

Something soft crunched underfoot. For a second he
thought maybe that wasn’t good. Maybe it was something he shouldn’t
have done. But then he forgot that as the shadow danced away.

He ran. He jumped. Then tackled it to the ground. It
snapped at him. Jaws wide, fangs extended and reaching for his
throat.

A sound tore from his face. It might have been a
laugh, but it was deep and hollow. He had fangs too. Bigger ones.
Better ones.

They curled around the thick throat of the shadow.
The shadows claws sank into his back. He grunted, but forced his
teeth in deeper. The shadow shoved at him. Pushed. Rolled. Tried to
get out from under him. The strength was incredible and whipped his
blood into a frenzy.

Want. So much want.

The blood. It was everywhere. Smelled so good.

Hunger ripped through him. He needed it. Wanted it.
He shook his head. Blood squirted hot and rich onto his tongue. He
shook harder. Meat started to tear.

Hungry. So hungry. Hadn’t eaten in days. He started
to eat even before it breathed its last.

Slayde nodded. “It’s done.”

The rubble fall out looked like a mini nuke had been
detonated. Dust floated in a constant gray sheet around her.

Sable coughed. But there was no escaping it,
repeatedly forced to inhale it and then coughing to clear her lungs
of it. It was amazing the sheer amount of red plasma Slayde had
shot out to finally get the cave to collapse in on itself.

If Dragden somehow had some way of coming back and
clearing the rubble out it might still be there. But even if he
did, this was a task that would take years. If not decades. She
could only hope it was enough.

“Where do you think Hunter’s gone?” she asked, taking
short choppy breaths. Her lungs rattled, she felt like she was
doing nothing but sucking the dust up worse.

Slayde had a hand over his nose and mouth, his eyes
were blood shot. He reached for her hand, his skin was clammy and
she worried that he’d drained himself too much trying to destroy
the vein.

“Let’s go find them,” he said. “Get us out of here,
Nix.”

That was all the prompting she needed. Sable called
her fire and felt an immediate flood of relief as the flames singed
the dust around them.

But the relief was short lived. When the flames died
and she was her bird, she started sneezing even worse. But these
sneezes were more like high-pitched whistles through the slits in
her beak.

Slayde snorted.

She squawked at him. He cringed and plugged his ears
with his fingers.

Sable wrapped her wings around him, drawing him into
her. He gripped onto her feathers and she lifted off the ground.
Her powerful wings caused a downdraft. Soaring, she was finally
able to take a breath free of dust.

They were high in the sky when Slayde pointed to a
muted green glow. “There,” he said.

Sable flew gently to the ground. When they landed,
Slayde released her and ran to a very wounded Ari. The glow
shimmered off her still form, like the gentle current of a tide
drawing onto the beach. He yanked her up to his ear. There wasn’t a
spot on her that wasn’t coated in blood.

She was gouged and sliced everywhere. Her neck lolled
and Sable bit her lip, hoping it wasn’t snapped. What had happened
here? When did she even leave them? She’d thought Ari was outside
waiting on them.

“She’s alive,” he said, “barely. Her pulse is really
weak.”

Where was Hunter? Why had he left her? Had he even
found her? But how could he not? The sickly sweet stench of blood
was everywhere.

“I don’t know what to do, Nix,” Slayde looked as
helpless as she felt. She called her fire to her, and shifted,
ready to go find Hunter when she sensed a presence.

She screamed into the darkness. Slayde groaned,
dropping Arianna as he covered his ears. She had only seconds.
Sable jumped in front of them, extending her wings and then
something slammed into her and this power was unlike anything she’d
ever felt in her life.

Sable had no more time to think about Slayde or
Arianna. Whatever had rammed into her was turning on nimble feet.
It gripped her at the base of her body squeezing with arms that
felt like bands of serrated steel sawing her in half.

She pounded her beak into the hands repeatedly. Over
and over she dove at the fingers that were squeezing the life from
her body. Black dots swam in her vision. She had to get this thing
away from them.

But the harder she fought, the harder it
squeezed.

“Sable!” Slayde cried, helplessness rang in his
tone.

Sable fought to free her wings and sank her talons
into the meat of its thigh. Freed, she lifted off the ground. Fire
ripped through her shoulder as the thing began to tear at her. She
couldn’t sustain them, it was too heavy. She knew they were going
to come crashing down hard. But the point was to get it away from
Ari and Slayde. With every last ounce of strength she possessed she
threw her body a few feet over. But at the last moment the beast
flipped around, its momentum tossing her like she weighed no more
than a feather back to where they’d started.

She was going to die. Its hands were on her neck,
squeezing and she heard voices. But they were so small. So far
away. Searing pain in her lungs.

Legs wrapped around her body and clutched harder and
something snapped. She would have screamed, except it had clamped
her beak shut.

She could barely see. Her nose was filled with the
scent of blood. Hers? Maybe. She’d wounded it. But not enough. Not
enough.

Just as she thought it was over, a burst of green
light exploded in the woods, lighting up the night. The light
healed. The light was beautiful. And lovely. Perfect. Warm and
safe.

It rolled over her, massaging, protecting, saving.
She closed her eyes, it felt so good. So wonderful. Like a million
tiny fingers mending and stitching her back together again.

The hands gripping her neck, stealing the life from
her body, inexplicably fell away. Something thudded to the ground
beside her.

Sweet air rushed into her lungs. It was delicious and
cool. Wonderful.

Hands grabbed her. Caressed her.

“Nix? Nix? Can you hear me?”

She called her fire, expecting it to hurt. But it
didn’t. It covered her in a blanket of flame before returning her
to her alter form.

Sleepy. So sleepy.

“Nix, wake up.” Slayde slapped her hard on the cheek
and the sting had her eyes flying open. His eyes were fully opaque,
his hair the reddest she’d ever seen and he wrapped her in his
arms. Gripping her so tight to him that she almost couldn’t breathe
because her nose was pinned against his chest.

She clutched his back.

“Are you hurt? God, he looked like he was going to
kill you.”

Who was he talking about? She should be injured. She
knew that. She’d felt stuff break, heard the sick crunch of bone
popping and snapping. Remembering vividly the rip of her flesh and
the blood everywhere. But there was nothing now.

Exhaustion had her in a vice grip, but that was it.
Like she’d jogged a marathon and could use twenty hours of
uninterrupted sleep, but there was no pain.

“Who was that? Another Lord?” she croaked with a grit
filled voice.

Slayde pointed to the spot next to her.

And her jaw dropped. It was Hunter. He was totally
nude, curled in on himself. Dirt smudged him from head to toe and
he was covered in what looked like blood and gore.

“Hunter?”

She tried to look for something to cover him with.
But there was nothing. She touched his waist; it was hot to the
touch. He was breathing softly, as if asleep. But he also wasn’t
injured. She’d hurt him. She’d torn her beak through his flesh, had
felt his blood on her tongue.

“What is he?” She looked at Slayde. Her heart raced.
“What is he, Slayde?”

“I don’t know, Nix.”

“Where’s Ari?” she asked, looking all around for the
healer. Her brain was a mass of confusion, what was going on here?
Nothing was making sense.

He looked over his shoulder and pointed. “There was a
green light and then she disappeared.”

Sable rubbed her nose. Her head started to pound.
“What do you mean she vanished?”

“I mean the ground opened up and swallowed her,
Sable.”

She waited for him to laugh, to roll his eyes, to do
something other than stare at her with a helpless look in his
eyes.

Hunter’s foot twitched a second before he shot to his
feet. “Where is she?” he asked, panic gleamed in the crystal blue
depths of his eyes. “Did I?”

Slayde nodded. “Whatever the hell you are, Hunter
Gray, you’d better tell us now. Because I swear—”

Sable grabbed his wrist just as Slayde made to lunge
for the still very naked Hunter. His skin was honey smooth with
roped muscles of perfection except for the distended belly. A
macabre reminder of what he’d been doing what they caught him.

“Fighting solves nothing. Hunter,” she looked at him
hard, “I don’t know who you are, or what you are, but I think we
need to talk.”

“Where’s Synn?” He turned. “I smelled her and then,”
he shuddered, his back spasmed so hard she thought he might tear a
muscle, “where is she?”

Sable pointed to the lump of overturned earth.
“Slayde says she was swallowed.”

Relief, not the emotion she’d expected to see,
overcame Hunter and his shoulders slumped. “Thank God,” he groaned,
“thank God.”

“How can you say that?” Slayde snapped.

Hunter’s nostrils flared and Sable sensed he was on a
knife’s edge of going completely unhinged. She pulled him into her,
snuggling against his chest and felt his trembling’s immediately
ease. He rubbed her back in a soothing up and down motion.

“That means she wasn’t dead. She’s healing. From the
earth she was created and to the earth she will return.” His words
were cryptic and not very enlightening. “She’ll come back,” he said
after a moment, his conviction ringing true.

They grew silent. Each thinking their own thoughts.
Each wondering about the other.

“What now?” Slayde asked after what felt like an
eternity.

“We wait for Synn to come back. Then we rest.” He
looked at Sable. “You need to find the location of another
source.”

He was acting like nothing had happened. Ignoring
their question completely. But Sable read the fear still lingering
in his eyes. Hunter was haunted; they needed to get him to talk. To
tell the truth finally, or they’d never be able to move past
this.

Slayde snorted. “Hell no. I’m done with this crap.
You almost killed her tonight.” He shook his head. “I didn’t sign
up for this.” His hand continued to rub up and down her spine. The
touch seemed as much for him as it was for her.

Sable was tempted to agree with him.

Hunter looked sad, his mouth turned down in a frown
before he said, “I wish we could walk away. Believe me I do. But we
cannot escape our destiny. Slayde, you’re bound to protect her, and
Sable,” he pinned her with that eagle eye stare that saw
everything, “your destiny is to find and destroy Dragden. You know
that as well as I do.”

She wished she could deny it. Wish she could laugh
and say it wasn’t true. Destiny be damned. She grabbed Slayde’s
hand and the second their hands intertwined she knew he knew. He
shook his head.

“No, Nix. Please,” he whispered, “next time he might
kill you. Let’s go. Let’s leave. Please.”

She doubted he’d ever beg anyone the way he’d just
done her. She knew her desire to stay would be like a betrayal to
him, but Hunter was right. The Phoenix had to destroy Dragden,
there was no other choice. Because if she didn’t,
he
would
destroy her.