Page 80 of Resurrection
“You traitor!” Sebastian roars, but I grab his forearm, holding him back.
“But that’s not all, is it Sara?” Her glare turns wary. “You have more secrets, don’t you, my dear friend? How about you tell them about the group that you are part of.” She tries to run, but Andrei grabs her, throwing her back down on the floor. “About the hunters that are planning to kill us all in our sleep.”
Sebastian jumps up, his body shaking in rage. “I will rip you apart!” he roars in her face.
“Where will the fun of that be, tesoro?” Standing up next to him, I give Sara a cold smile. “I have other plans for her. Much, much better than ripping her apart.” My eyes flick to Andrei. “Go get her brother.”
Andrei stumbles midturn, catching himself before he topples down. My arms fling to my sides so I can keep my balance, Sebastian and Marcus taking hold of the crystal thrones to stay standing. The ground under our feet shudders violently, raising everyone to their feet. Confusion clouds my mind. This feels nothing like an earthquake. A niggling thought that we’ve missed something fleetingly passes my mind but the strengthening of the building and the ground under my feet pushes it away.
“The building is going to collapse if it keeps going. We need to get out!” Sebastian reaches for my hand, grasping my fingers tightly.
A hard body tackles me to the floor, wide shoulders digging into my ribs, sandwiching me between it and Sebastian when we hit the ground. Fire bursts all around us and I turn myhead to see Marcus, his face twisted in pain as he shields me and Sebastian with his own body. Everything above him is just flames. Fires lick at his back and hair, and my eyes water from the heat. My lips press firmly to stop me from screaming when I wrap my arms around him to pull him closer and away from the raging inferno. A lump weakly wiggles between me and Marcus, and I realize he has taken mutt along with him before he pushed us out of the trajectory of the flames.
Sebastian holds onto me tightly, rolling us over and away, pulling all four of us behind the crystal throne. My skin feels like it is melting, blisters popping up and oozing down my arms. Marcus groans painfully and slumps unconscious next to me, mutt whimpering, his paws clawing at my leg. Pressing my hand on Marcus’s chest, I assure myself he is still alive before I turn to Sebastian. He is as hurt as me, mutt almost unharmed, but none of us are as bad as Marcus.
Andrei!my mind screams, and I scramble over Sebastian to poke my head out from behind the throne.
The fire has stopped like it was never there. Charred bodies litter the ground, pained groans and screams filling up the room. One is unmoving in the same place where Andrei used to be, and shock makes my heart stop for a second. A stirring at the entrance catches my attention, my eyes jerking there and widening at the sight.
The mage that I removed the limbs from when he tried to blind me is well and whole, his hand holding Sara’s while they focus their hatred-filled eyes on mine. How the fuck did we forget about the mages? I allowed this to happen. Guilt pushes bile up my throat. Sara grins an ugly, twisted smile my way. Squaring my shoulders, my power sends a wave at them, slamming them into the opposite wall. She hurt those that are mine. Staring her down, I make sure she hears me before the mage pulls her away.
“I’m coming for you!”
Part III
RECOGNITION
Chapter Seventy-Five
APRIL
Trust.
Such a fickle thing, yet everything depends on it.
Empires rise and fall based on trust. On loyalty.
How many things need to happen to a girl for her to lose her shit once and for all? The world exploding when you are very young, revealing monsters from your nightmares to rule it? Check. Your parents turning their back on you and dropping you like a hot rock because your blood type means certain death for them? Check. Those same monsters you hate from the bottom of your soul gunning for your head, catching you and turning you into one of them? Check. The only friend you’ve ever had and trusted with your life selling you out? Check, check, and double check.
And the bitch killed Andrei.
Memories flood my mind, taking me back to when I crawled through the underground tunnels of the city, foolishly believing that no one would know where I was. The night I braved the monsters so I could help a friend I loved as family.
The only family I had left.
“I think someone was following me,” I mumble lamely, shrugging a shoulder.
“Maybe someone else needed medication, too? I mean, we are surely not the only ones left hiding.” Her words sound strong, but when I lift my eyes to her face, I can tell Sara doesn’t believe her own reasoning either.
“Maybe ...” Leaning back on the wall, I close my eyes. I’m so tired I can barely keep them open any longer. “Whatever it was, we should stay low for a few days, I think. Just in case.”
“Should we try to find another spot in the tunnels where we’ll be safer?”
“This is the safest place to be if we want to live, Sara. Trust me.”
The words pass my lips more like an unintelligible murmur than anything else. I’m not even sure I said them out loud. Something in me flutters, a whispered worry that I’m crazy thinking anywhere is safe. Why in the world would I tell her this? Optimistic ideas like that have killed many, yet I can’t find enough strength to open my eyes and correct the bullshit that spilled from my lips.
“As crazy as it sounds, April”—I feel Sara’s fingers pushing hair away from my forehead, just like I’ve seen her do to her brother Eddie—“I believe you from the bottom of my soul.”
