The compound has lights on, but just barely. There’s not the slightest stirring inside to show evidence of life - no voices, no shuffling of feet, and no worried breaths tainting the air the breeze carries to me.
I worry Ty has realized Rex has seen him coming. A tugging at my gut makes me worry he was ready for them to run to the tunnels. Then I hear the distant roar of vicious engines being abused as they rush toward me. I steady my heartbeat while pulling up my invincibility. I’ll have to be prepared for energy guns. I’ll have to watch every angle they could attack from to make sure they never get close enough to strike me until I go crazy savage. I pray I don’t have to.
“Unbelievable,” Ty’s voice sounds out from behind me with an ominous laugh in the back of his throat.
I whip around, gun drawn, and I aim directly at his forehead.
“Well, Araya. I suppose you’re not as bright as I’ve credited you for being all these years. I fear I’ve placed you far too high on a pedestal you didn’t deserve to be atop.”
“Actually, Ty, I think you’ve been far too dismissive of me actually,” I counter with a touch of eerie dangling from my own lips.
“Hmm… That’s cute, Araya.”
The humming of the vehicles near as the ground vibrates beneath me, and I know it’s about to be war whether I want it to be or not.
“You can’t have him, Ty. He’s a forgotten child who has had to endure far too much as it is.”
He starts laughing almost wildly while shaking his head. He walks around without fear in front of me as his hands cross casually behind his back.
“That, my dear, is why I’ve given you too much credit. You think I’m here for the child, when really, I’m here for you.” My eyes widen a little as his smile turns up more, reaching his eyes. “You see, I knew he’d call you, and given the fact you’re nothing less than a self-proclaimed savior of the forgotten, you’d come… alone. You wouldn’t risk the men you love, the woman you stole from me, your sister and her lover, or the man you’ve deemed your best friend for centuries. I had to draw you out somehow, and here you are falling into my lap.”
Bastard.
“That’s not a very nice thought, Araya,” he says with a darker grin as his eyes cloud over to a black hue.
Oh no. He can read minds. No. No. That can’t be.
“It is. It’s amazing how very unprepared you were for me this whole time, huh?” he laughs out. “That means as long as you’re there and I’m here, I can hear everything you’re going to do before you do it. It has been you who has been far too dismissive of me, Araya.”
The cars behind us skid to a halt, and I hear the wind rushing behind their abrupt stops. Ty smirks while holding his hand up toward the new hybrid army - all of them sleek, eyes glossy, and completely under his control - just like Symphony.
“Go find the boy. I’ll handle Araya. By now they’ve taken the tunnels to the city,” Ty says without falter.
My gut sinks. I can’t let them do this.
“You have no choice, Araya.”
“Yes I do,” I growl, and then my bullets start firing before I even realize I’ve pulled the trigger the first time.
No one fires back, and the bullets bounce off everyone. There’s not a graze, a dent, or a single drop of blood. They stand unfazed by my hailing parade of bullets, and no one feels it necessary to fire back.
Laughter erupts again - most prominently from Ty - and they all cast their smug grins toward my astonished face. Full savage. They’re full savage. In control savage… like…
“That’s right, Araya. We’re in control of our savages, unlike you. That power, that wonderfully merciless force stays reigned in our bodies, giving us the ability to do so much more damage. We’re stronger, faster, smarter, and far more gifted than you could ever be.”
“They’re puppets, Ty. Puppets. That’s all they will ever be because of you and your damn blood control. Do you have any idea what will happen if you keep this up? Eventually they’ll destroy everything. The power you’ve gifted them with is too much for them, and they’ll destroy the world you once fought to save. Think of all the innocent. You used to be on the same crusade as me, Ty. It’s not possible you’ve strayed that far.”
“I haven’t!” he screams. “I haven’t strayed at all, Araya. You have. You think kissing the scrapes and cuts makes it all better? It doesn’t! The scars we can’t bear on the surface hide under the skin, reminding us how incomplete we really are. They did this. They will pay. And you, dear, will be my queen.”
“Like hell I will.”
“Oh you don’t have a choice. If you break someone’s toy, it’s only proper you replace it. You broke my girl, took her from me, and severed our connection. I need a new queen for my empire, and your child will become mine. There’s no telling what power it will possess.”
Oh no. My baby. He knows about my baby.
“Of course I know. It’s amazing how inclined my hearing has become. There are two heartbeats exuding from your tantalizing body. I have to confess, motherhood is very becoming on you.”
Fear strikes, and I can’t hide it from this mind-reading son of a bitch. His lips twitch up in a smile as my confidence dissolves in front of his eyes. Suddenly I feel a strike launching into the core of the mass, and I look up to see the revolving lights from the cavalry I never called in.
