Unnaturals (39 page)

Her claws bit deep under his scales. He twisted and saw smoke rising up from the house.
Ruth.
Nikki. The baby he still did not know enough about. His child.

`Go to them.'
Renee released her hold, slipping back.
`Leave me to look after these few. I won't let anything happen to Wilson. Go!'

He slowed and dropped, letting Renee slingshot off him towards Wilson, then lifted upwards on powerful wings.

The house. He cursed silently, pushing his body. Flames flickered through the smoke.

Panic began to feed his fear.

Hunter snarled, pushing all aside. Folding his wings, he dropped.

 

Wilson spun around, pushing Sally behind. He could sense them, moving in fast. He needed a weapon.

`Here!' Lilly threw him one of his knives. He snatched it out of the air. `Found it in your room,' she said, circling to stand between him and the approaching Bloodells. `Thought it might be nice to hang onto.'

`Thanks,' he said, balancing the knife. It had been built for him, for combat. It was heavy, sharp and strong. But it was only one blade, and he could see how many Bloodells waited at the base of the slope and feel how many moved through the trees thinking to outflank them.

`Wil,' Sally's voice was barely a whisper behind him. `They're everywhere.'

`Get ready to run,' he whispered, understanding that if they rushed him, Sally wouldn't stand a chance. He couldn't allow that. Not Sally.

Lilly crouched. A low sound began. The Bloodells below them stopped. They knew about Lilly, and Wilson realised they would target her first. Alone, she was the most dangerous of them all.

It didn't matter that he was sure she couldn't use her sound gift without killing him and Sally, too. The Bloodells probably counted on her using it as they would, without concern for human life. Either way, Lilly would die first.

No. The realisation shuddered through him. He couldn't save both. Lilly would put up a good fight. She had her own skills, he knew, but there were so many of them. A fog of confusion fell over him. Anger swirled in it, adding to his indecision.

`Getting angry won't help,' he muttered, staring back at the cold faces of the Bloodells.

`It helps your father,' Sally whispered from behind.

`Come to us!' the closest Bloodells yelled, reaching out to them.

Wilson moved closer to Lilly, feeling Sally staying close behind. `What will happen if we do as he says?'

`We will die,' Lilly growled back.

`Lilith. It is you we seek. Do you not remember me, sweet Lilith?'

Wilson edged closer. Lilly had frozen, staring at the man; vulnerable.

The Bloodells moved up beside them. `Lilly?'

`You—' Lilly choked out. `You bastard. You fucking bastard.'

Wilson reached for Sally.

`It was him!' Lilly screamed, pointing at the bemused man waiting at the bottom of the slope. `He tried to make me one of them. I remember you.'

`Little one. Hush now,' he said. `You were to be mine. You are mine. If you come with me now, I'll let you bring the boy.'

Lilly spat on the ground. `Fuck you!'

Wilson tried to breathe. They had come for Lilly? He tried to think, but found only anger. Frustrated, he tried harder to understand. Who was Lilly that they would go to all this trouble? Send helicopters and men? His skin itched.

`Wil?'

He felt Sal's hand on his back, deliciously cool. He had to save her. He felt so hot he was panting, gulping air to stay upright.

The big man tilted his head and Wilson could actually feel the malice seeping out of him.

`That's the spirit, Lilly. Let's see that vicious streak. Oh, yes, you are your mother's daughter. Let your boy see what you really are. Come back to us.'

Wilson grabbed her arm. The Bloodells were all around them. Sally was at his back, trying to be brave. He could hear the sounds she was trying to swallow. He needed to stall them. Hope that Renee, or his father, would come soon. `Lies, Lilly. Lies. It's all they know.'

`You're so wrong, Butcher's Boy,' the big man spat. He altered his stance, ready to move. `She is one of us.'

Wilson didn't speak. He felt the heartbeats surrounding them change. Soil squeaked as the weight of bodies shifted.

Lilly sang.

What was she doing? Wilson felt the pain build for a second, then just as quickly it vanished. A lance of sound speared from her into the big man. His eyes widened for a moment, then his head split and his body exploded into a spray of gore.

Sally yelped as a mist of blood covered them. Then she screamed. Wilson spun around, lashing out with the knife, but he had been too late.

They had taken Sally.

He seemed to see her through a red mist. They had Sally down. Hands covered her face and breasts. Others pulled at her clothes. He had seen that look the night they had come for him at the hospital. She was no more than fun to them. Sweet, innocent blood to be tasted. He would not let it happen again. Suddenly his decision was made clear.

He grabbed Lilly by the throat. She didn't struggle, her hands resting lightly on his arms. Slowly he pressed his fingers into the soft flesh of her throat until her instincts kicked in and her nails dug into his skin. `Let the girl go or I will kill this one.' Wilson felt his strength building while Lilly wilted under his grip.

`Liar.'

They had stopped to watch. One of them continued to hold Sally, his hand under her shirt, squeezing her breast.

Wilson began to crush Lilly's throat; blood flowed from her mouth in a rich stream.

`Believe me. Let her go,' he growled, willing himself to maintain a grip on Lilly. Hurting her cut at him, but he could not let anything happen to Sally. Guilt faded. Lilly thrashed about, gurgling. `You're running out of time.'

Sally's captor narrowed his eyes. `Wait!'

Wilson continued to squeeze.

`We just want the girl, alive.'

`Let Sally go. Move back.' His voice was harsh and cold, almost something he didn't recognise, but the Bloodells moved, edging back. `Sally, come here. To me.'

She stood, eyes wet with tears, looking at his hands on Lilly's throat. `What are you?'

A Bloodells laughed. `Human girl, your lover is his father's son — a murderer. A human who uses his own claim to humanity to hide the darkness in his heart.'

Wilson heard movement around him as Sally approached. He looked at her, her eyes wide and hands clenched, her fear so strong it stung his senses. Heat itched at his skin. He tried to shrug it off but an acrid scent edged past Sally's fear.

`Give us the girl,' the Bloodells said, stepping closer. Arrogant.

`Get everybody where I can see them.' He waited while they edged into his line of sight. Gradually the presence behind him faded. Bloodells men stood in front of him, contempt clear in their smiles. They were going to kill him if they got the chance.

Wilson slipped his fingers out of the wound but kept his hands around Lilly's throat. She hung limply in his hands but under them he felt her flesh move, healing.

`Enough of this! Give us the girl!'

Lilly moved, trying to stand.

`You can have her. I wish we had never met!' He helped her up. `All this you brought to my home.'

`Wil!' she sobbed, hoarse, her throat still healing. She trembled in his hands. `Please, no.'

`You're one of them. A Bloodells. An Unnatural!' Grabbing her hair he pulled her in close, staring into her wide and frightened eyes. The Bloodells watched, oozing excitement. `Freak.'

`Wil, no,' Sally moved closer.

`You shut up.' He grabbed her arm, so hard she cried out.

The Bloodells didn't move. He had them interested, entertained. They thrived on other people's pain, Mason had told him that.

`Stop whining and just shut up. Look around. This isn't the mall, Sally. This is real. Lilly is one of them. She used me to get close to Mum and Dad and that's why they're all here. They want us dead.'

`At last. He sees the truth. It's over, boy. Give her to me.'

`She's all yours,' Wilson said pulling Lilly's head back so she was forced to look right into his eyes. `Take a look, Lilly. See what is in me. They're right. I'm just like my father.'

Her eyes widened.

Lilly had understood at last, heard his message.

He had let the anger grow until it showed in his eyes. Anger had banished all his confusion. Noise surged inside his head.

Something was coming and he welcomed it.

`Such melodrama and quite unexpected. But your time is up, boy.'

`Kill him,' Lilly said, her voice growing louder. She broke free of Wilson's grip. `He's a fucking monster.'

`Oh, yes, my pleasure.' The Bloodells raised a hand.

Lilly grabbed it. `I wasn't talking to you.'

Wilson pushed Sally away, hearing her cry as she fell. Lilly's captor was reefed forward and, as Lilly screamed, his head became a red and grey spray.

Bloodells rushed them. Lilly somersaulted over him, to Sally. He understood the noise inside. It was him, the sound of his anger trapped, waiting to be released as living energy.

He was its master.

`Burn!'

 

Renee clung to an upper branch.

Something had told her to wait. She had watched Wil strangle Lilly and yell at Sally, and known it for a lie. But when the Bloodells rushed him her instincts had seemed to betray her. He is the danger, they'd said. The real danger. She had forced herself to stay, watch, ready to help him.

But Huntress had been right. Her instincts sound. The boy had found his gift. Wondrous. Dangerous.

She sniffed ash floating around her. The forest had been ashed in a huge vee projected from Wilson's position. White fire covered him. None of the Bloodells remained. Sally and Lilly stood safe at his back.

She moved off silently. Wilson was a boy no longer. His father would be so proud. She reached for him.

Cold, mindless rage answered.

 

Wrongness pervaded the house. It lapped at him as he stood outside, wings folded away.

Caution had tempered his fear for Ruth. Hunter faded, but Mason kept his scaled armour. An Unnatural odour mixed with the smoke. Fingers of cold energy flickered inside. Death announced its presence with the harsh tang of scorched flesh riding on the back of the Unnatural stench.

`Ruth?'
Bile churned in him as silence answered. In the unsettling quiet, he could not feel her at all.

Inside, the kitchen and dining area remained unmarked, security monitors active, screens snowy white. Ruth had stood in the kitchen a short time ago; her lingering scent said as much.

He found no blood or sign of a struggle as he scanned the room. Soot smeared the wall at the top of the staircase. The stench filtered down the stairs. He paused, hand on the rail.

`I can't feel Nikki,'
Renee 'pathed. He could hear her, heart pounding, running.

`Nor Ruth.'

He moved cautiously up the stairs. Traces of dark energy clung to the walls, writhing as he passed, following him like slugs through the soot and ash. He ignored them. A charred shape curled in the corner of the burnt-out room made his stomach churn. He slowed, his feet heavy.

`What is it?'
Renee's connection wavered.
`Tell me!'

He didn't answer. Words would not satisfy. He couldn't put what he saw into words. Not alone. He needed Renee.

`Mason?' she whispered, lurching up the stairs. `Ma—'

He couldn't move. He didn't feel real. She walked past and knelt beside the charred remains.
Not Ruth,
he thought.
Please, not
—

`Sis?' Her hand hovered over the melted face.

Mason dry heaved as Renee keened a death note. He fell to his knees, paralysed by a grief he didn't know he had.

Not Ruth. But Nikki — and their child. Gone. So fast. All that could have been. Burnt away.

`She was
pregnant
?' Renee whispered, looking at him with eyes full of his pain and hers. `You?'

`No,' he said, trying to breathe; his chest felt so tight. `I think Ruth and her, when we were at the lake house. I never…' He looked up to see that Renee believed him.

`Oh, Nik,' she whispered and touched the charred body. `What did you—'

`Heal.'
The word whispered, childlike, into their 'path connection.
`Help us. Heal us. We live.'

 

Sally tried to not cry. Everything had happened so fast. Men touching her all over, blood, fire, Wilson yelling at her and Lilly no longer the sad, depressed girl she had met. Death all around her.

She bit her lip, holding onto Wilson as he carried her. Even that was unreal — the forest flashed past too fast. Over Wilson's shoulder she glimpsed the cold blue eyes of Lilly. Fixed on Wilson. Or was it her?

A sob threatened to escape. I am not that girl, she thought, not the whiny sobbing mess in a crisis. That is not me!

`I'm sorry,' Wilson muttered as he slowed, not looking at her.

Sally swallowed. Was he angry at her? Why? `I—'

`Sorry for bringing you into this,' he said, letting her down, but still holding her tightly. She stood and found her legs strong, as they should be.

`Back there,' she touched his face quickly, unsure of the anger still tainting him, `you did what was needed. Don't be sorry.'

Lilly moved past without looking at them. `Let's get inside.'

`Sal, inside.' He looked away and back to her, the anger fading in his eyes. `It may not be easy for you.'

`Go,' she said to him, realising there was smoke rising from the house. Where was Ruth?

Wilson moved so fast he seemed to vanish.

`Right. Move, girl,' she ordered herself, heading inside. She'd stopped shaking. The tears were gone. She was back.

Wilson voice came from upstairs. Shadows on the walls seemed to move as she followed him up the stairs. Soot and ash filled her senses.

Any questions she might have had evaporated as she saw Mason glowing. Light seeped out between the weird black scales covering his body. Shadows hovered above him on the ceiling. Everything she had ever wondered about the Douglas family had finally been confirmed.