Chapter 24

KELLAN

"Kellan!" Simone hisses, forcing my head to snap up and my eyes to dart open, which is something I really regret when my head thunders. I'm almost positive that it's not normal to feel like you've been disemboweled and reassembled. Twice.

"Thank God," Simone groans, sounding close yet so far away as my eyes try to adjust to the dark room. There's barely a glow of light, and when I try to move, I realize I'm fucking chained to the wall.

Bastards.

"Are you okay?" I ask, trying to find her, needing to see her, but my vision is still splotchy from whatever they did to me. My voice sounds weak, and I inwardly curse myself for not coming up with something to keep Simone safe.

"I'm fine. I'm close to… Got it," she says just as a clicking noise catches my attention. The rustle of chains makes me anxious, and I try to search for her, when she's suddenly in my face, scaring the hell out of me.

"Christ," I whisper, relieved to see she looks okay.

Everything happens at the worst possible times for us. After Aria stripped our bond, everything I've been feeling for Simone and fighting was suddenly slamming into me. The thoughts in the back of my head rushed to the forefront of my mind. I finally get what I want, and now we're… here.

"I realize I missed my moment," she says, wringing her hands nervously, "and it's rather cliché to do this during a life threatening situation, but I might not get the chance to do it if I don't do it right now."

The chains rattle again, and the pricks of uranium burn against my veins as I glare at the annoying cuffs holding me back.

"Do what?" I ask as I return my eyes back to her.

She looks up with small tears in her eyes as she reaches for my face. I lean into her warm hand, grateful just to feel her touch.

"I love you, too," she says, kissing me gently on the lips. Before I can register her words, she's pulling back and my heart starts pounding against my chest.

"Thank fuck," I murmur just as her lips meet mine again.

I bend as low as I can, trying to deepen the kiss, but the chains hold me in place. Even on her tiptoes, she can't make herself tall enough for this kiss to be more.

"They didn't chain you down?" I ask when she steps back.

She smirks, looking smug as hell with her short, now dirty hair as she wraps her arms around me, breathing me in as she puts her cheek against my chest.

"They chained me, but they should have sedated me with something stronger if they didn't want us escaping. Story of my life. People underestimate the one they don't think is a threat."

I have no idea what she's talking about.

"People are idiots. And I'd love to tell you all about how I hate the idiotic populace, as well as hug you back, but do you think you could—"

The chained cuffs that have uranium lining the edges and sticking into my skin, weakening me, suddenly fall off and my arms immediately go around her waist the second I shed the unwanted weight.

"How the hell did you do that?" I ask her, brushing my lips across her forehead.

"There's something people overlook when they see me. My gift is blood manipulation. I'm a scientist by profession, but people assume my gift is only for science. It's amazing what you can do with blood and there's always blood on hand."

She holds up her wrist that has punctures from the spiked cuffs, and I growl the second I see them. I really wish I could go savage and destroy this fucking place.

"I was showing you my blood. I picked the locks using it. Like I said—they underestimate me."

That's definitely the sexiest thing I've ever seen. "I won't ever underestimate you again. So go pick the lock to the door and I'll short circuit the electricity to give us cover."

She shakes her head quickly while entwining our fingers. "Don't do that. It'll alert people that we're free. That uranium has been dipping into our systems for a while. You're going to be weaker."

"And so will you."

She smirks like she has a secret I don't know, and I tilt my head as the door to the small cell we're held in opens. We're the only ones on this floor, thankfully. There are no windows anywhere, so we're either underground or in one hell of a fortified building. The air seems to be filled with rich minerals, so I'm assuming it's more than likely an underground facility. Small roots peeking through the cracks of the old structure seems to solidify that theory.

"I ciphered blood from the bags I sensed down the hall when I woke up. That's why you feel like a savage just ripped through you and I don't. Here," she says quietly, and I look up in time to see a stream of blood heading toward us.

"It's diluted. I wouldn't feed you fresh blood."

"I never questioned that," I say before grinning and opening my mouth. I drink it down, and she does the same. It's like having a blood fountain.

"Still don't cut the power. We need to escape under the rada—"

"What the fuck?" a man spews from behind us. I turn just as the first shot is fired, but the blood behind us suddenly turns into a solid form, growing between us like a block of steel instead of a liquid mess.

"It's amazing what compressing the molecules can do," she says with an amused smile, watching the man at the end of the hall panic. His eyes aren't purple, meaning he's a human minion. At least Alice didn't feel as though we warranted high security.

Simone barely offers the guy a wink, and he's suddenly on the ground and strangling for air he can't grasp, gurgling on his own blood as it pours out of his mouth.

"Let's hope they're all that easy," I murmur idly, trying not to sound as impressed as I am.

"The new hybrids are stronger than me, but—" Her words cease as she doubles over and clutches her stomach, breathing heavy and scaring they ever loving hell out of me.

"Shit. What's wrong?" I whisper, watching helplessly as she bites back a cry of pain.

"Aria. I think… I think she's projecting numerous emotions at me at once. She—"

Her words are cut off again as she cries out through tight lips. I shift my weight, unsure what to do, but I finally scoop her up.

"Why the fuck would she be doing this to you?"

After whatever wave of pain that she's feeling seems to ease, she scowls. "I think she's trying to make me go savage by forcing me to feel what she felt when she thought Jase was dead. She's using my feelings for you to make them more potent. Fuck, it's strong as hell, too."

This time when it hits her, she cries out, and I'm forced to put her down and muffle the sound with my hand, silently cursing Aria. When did she get this damn strong?

"Why the hell would she do this?" I ask myself, but at the same time, Simone's eyes darken, her pupils pulsating and dilating at a dangerous pace.

I start to step back just as her voice breaks the silence, chilling me to the bone with its eerie tone.

"Probably because she wants us getting out of here alive."

My eyes widen when I see a fully phase three savage that I'm still holding on to. I start to move, but then she grins up at me, and I'm torn between being terrified and relieved.

"I'm okay. I can't believe she was right, but I'm okay."

Confused. I'm confused.

"How… You're… But how are…"

All of my thoughts collide, and none of them come out fully as I gape at the girl who is slowly standing up, her eyes finding humor in all of this madness. I don't know if there's a thump somewhere around me, or if that's the sound of me swallowing.

"Aria always did assume I'd be just like Araya, considering her savage blood made me this way. All the phases of Araya's savage blood went into altering my mother's code. It altered mine even more. I'm kicking her ass for this later."

The abilities to speak and move have abandoned me, and Simone grins softly while leaning over to kiss me softly on the lips. Now breathing seems to be just as lost among the other failing functions in my body.

"You're safe, Kellan. We have to hurry before—"

Lines of blurry red acid burns between us, and I curse when it slices through my arm. It barely misses Simone, and we dodge the next streak very narrowly. She glares across the room as a smug, violet-eyed man walks toward us. His long, dark hair gives him away, and a dark grin crawls into place. He's the front leading man of our kidnapping.

I buzz the electricity through my fingertips, waiting for the right second to strike as he challenges us with that smug look of superiority.

"Little escapees. I'm impressed," he taunts with thick condescension. "You're lucky we need you for bait. I was just coming down to collect an eye from the counter of the girl we seek."

Apparently they haven't heard the latest news. At lease we have that bit of an edge.

"Then come and get it," Simone dares, her grin actually scaring me a little.

When his eyes darken and dilate, turning into a controlled savage, I take a step forward, trying to get between him and Simone. Son of a bitch!

A loud grunt passes through my lips when she shoves my chest and slams me into the wall, proving her savage is a hell of a lot stronger than I realized.

The second he raises his hand to strike, I lash out, tossing my streaks of electricity, but the fucker easily dodges it, and what little bit does hit him doesn't faze him. But at least his attention is on me.

I accept my fate calmly, hoping Simone is already retreating, as the red acidic liquid starts forming around his hands. But before he can use it, he's suddenly gasping for air. The liquid disappears as he grabs his throat, his eyes wide with panic as he coughs and gargles.

I turn to look at Simone who has a sinister grin on her face as she leisurely walks by me on her way to the struggling man. My jaw falls slack, losing the ability to close as I watch in disbelief. Simone… there's no way.

"Bitch," the guy says through garbled strain, and then he cries out as the blood in his body suddenly bursts through his mouth, his eyes, and his ears and floods the floor. When his useless, drained body collapses, it looks like a mummified corpse—dry and frail.

She turns to me and winks, and my knees buckle, dropping me to the floor. "You're stronger than Araya?" I ask in disbelief.

Araya wasn't able to kill any of them. She almost died instead of making a dent.

The grin she wears is a mixture of confidence and wickedness. She's not quite Simone, but she has enough control to keep herself grounded.

"Apparently," she says at last. "Told you I was unique. Let's get out of here."

She threads her fingers with mine, and I inwardly kick myself. Leave it to me to be with yet another powerful woman. It's a damn good thing my ego was overly inflated to begin with, because it's been plummeting for a while.

"Pouting?" she muses in a whisper, a teasing lilt lying in the undertones.

And she's a hell of a lot more perceptive than I wish she was. Fucking perfect.

"No," I lie, ignoring the way her grin grows. It's amazing to see her so savage, yet so amazingly calm and… normal. Not even Aria has that sort of control.

"Down!" she yells, jerking me out of my reverie and making me look ahead instead of at her just as several shots fire in our direction.

If they're shooting, they're not the new hybrid, and I don't waste time slinging out my power, dodging most of the bullets. The few that rip through my flesh don't slow me down. Dozens pour in, and the powers get stronger, but they're no match for the beauty behind me.

Their blood becomes her toy, and simultaneously, she draws every drop from their bodies. They drop like dead weight, and we rush through the doorway, following the winding, dimly lit corridors as they appear. The labyrinth style of this place reminds me of Seminole, considering it seems like we're running in circles.

New faces emerge, and Simone plows through them, never seeming to falter in her strength. I really hope that means my savage is going to get stronger, because I'd hate to feel like I wasn't fucking good enough. Again.

Simone smiles at me, blood of the fallen cloaking her once clean clothes, and she sighs in relief. We're almost—

"It appears I missed a very important fact," an eerie, skin-crawling voice says, unsettling me and stealing away my hope for a clean getaway.

We both turn to look behind us just as a woman who looks too much like Araya steps out, glaring at us like we're the ones who have crossed her. Motherfucker. So close.

"I never realized there was another gem under my nose. And I don't make mistakes. In fact, I never make mistakes. So how is it I don't know about you?" she asks, her high heels clicking on the floor as she slowly strides toward us, her legs crisscrossing in a strut.

Her body is scantily clad in a seductive leather attire that not even Araya would wear. Her cleavage is exposed and meant for allure. Her boots rise to her knees, and her skin tight leather pants are seamlessly tucked inside, but there are strategic, purposely placed slashes from head to toe. All that's missing is a whip.

I'm going to die at the hand of a dominatrix. Fuck my luck.

Simone acts instead of thinking, throwing her hands out just as she did earlier, and the woman I have to assume is Alice starts choking, grabbing her throat as her eyes widen. Hope resumes, and I join in, throwing out my electricity and watching it surge against her. After all, she's Araya's mother. Maybe they share more than similar looks. I pray they share weaknesses.

Her body begins to writhe and shudder as Simone strains to force more of her power out. My electricity coils around her body, hopefully destroying any shield she has.

But then my skin crawls and chills form when the gurgling sound turns into mocking laughter, and her eyes come to rest on ours as she dusts off my purple streaks, treating them like lint.

Simone continues to strain so hard that her nose starts to bleed, but Alice merely continues laughing as her slow stalk toward us continues without stumble.

"We've got to go," I whisper to Simone, backing up and tugging her arm, keeping my eyes warily on Alice.

"Please. Do. I love a good chase," the demon woman hisses, grinning with menace that almost rolls off her in waves.

Simone strikes at her again, but Alice just laughs, taunting us as we round the corner. Just as I see a door ahead, I feel my bones almost crushing, and the sound of Simone crying out sends me into a near frenzy as my blood burns, begging to go savage, but the searing pain that is shooting through my body only weakens me as my organs cry out in pain.

Black dots speckle my vision, making seeing almost impossible, and Alice's laughter becomes a near echo as she uses my body and Simone's like a child's toy, beating the floor and ceiling with us for fun as she plays a twisted game of death with our lives. I hear a roar as the building around us vibrates, Alice's laughter growing more dark and sadistic with each cry of pain that we release.

My body flings upwards just as the roof splits open, and my crushed body is deposited onto the earth. I clutch the dirt under my hands, doing all I can to rise up and try to find Simone. My heart almost breaks in two when I see her lying limply in an unnatural position, and I try to crawl to her.

Alice surfaces with one jump, landing just a few feet away, and I prepare for the death I know is about to come. Just as she raises her hand, she's thrown backwards, sailing through the air, moving faster and farther than I can see.

My eyes move around, searching for answers, and they find the girl who looks like she's ready to defeat death. Thank fuck.