Chapter 25

ARIA

I'll fucking kill Fricks for sending me on a damn chase, but right now, all I can focus on is the Sentinel Sands Desert. Everything I found at all three locations has led me here, but there's nothing. At all.

I know I made Simone go savage. I felt it the second her sanity checked out to make way for the wicked, and I feel her close by, but there's nothing for hundreds and hundreds of—

The ground bursts open, interrupting my thoughts, and Kellan thuds to the ground seconds before my cousin hits hard, her mangled body causing my tears to knot up in my throat. Even though they are hundreds of yards away, I see them as though they're right in front of me, and I run so fast that my jeans begin to catch fire.

Kellan tries to get close to Simone, just as the demon bitch who won't go to hell jumps up and lands on the ground. I'll be damned if she touches them again. Throwing my arms out, I give her a taste of her own medicine, and I strike hard, slicing through the sound barrier and creating a delayed echo of a menacing whistle.

Her eyes go wide in shock as she's flung back, and Kellan looks up to catch my eyes just as I rush by them, following the bitch instead of letting her get back over here. I have to keep them safe. I was hoping Simone's savage could thwart off her attacks until I could find them.

"Make sure she's okay," I say softly, knowing my voice will hit his hybrid ears as I stalk toward the woman of my nightmares.

She snarls like a possessed animal when I step within fifty feet of her, readying myself for round two. She's stronger this time. I caught her by surprise when I showed up, because she was focused on Simone and Kellan.

Now those violet eyes are trained on me, and the hatred oozing from her gaze does nothing but promise the worst. Death scents the air, letting me know Simone did some hellacious damage, but I know Alice has more hybrids in her fleet. And they'll be coming. Soon. I need to take her out before they get here and distract me. One mistake… I can't afford to make a mistake.

Deciding to stay on the offensive side of the line, I lash out, throwing another strike of power—an attack so forceful that it booms loudly and vibrates the ground below us. She doesn't even try to defend against it. She braces herself, digging her feet into the dirt, as the invisible wave strikes her, and she growls loudly, riding it out even as it batters and assaults her leather attire.

When her damn smile kicks up, I glare at her. This is definitely not the start I wanted.

"You were far more impressive when your fucked up savage was ruling you," she taunts, forcing a tick to start in my jaw.

Under the guise of control, I keep my voice steady, knowing I can't show her I'm unsettled by how ineffective my attack was.

"Funny. I was going to say that you were far more impressive when you were the monster without a face. Knowing you're nothing more than a bitter old woman with a pathetic grudge and unimaginative ideology… Well, it just makes you look sad and redundant instead of intimidating."

If you wasn't watching, you wouldn't see the slight change in her eyes, the way they darken for a fleeting second. But I feel the emotions she's not guarding, and I just pissed her off. I'm debating on whether or not that's a wise thing or the stupidest fucking thing I've ever done.

She laughs, masking her fury with mocking laughter, doing all she can to keep her cool fa?ade in place.

"Unimaginative ideology," she repeats, snickering under her breath. "That's funny coming from a puppet like you; a girl so stuck on fitting in that she can't even tell the world who she is for fear of being dejected. You have no aspirations to be anything more than a little speck. But my plans—unimaginative or not—hold a greater future. And no one will ever touch me again."

The anger lacing her words is threaded with something so raw, so real. It's something so suffocating with potency that I can't even name it at first.

But then it hits me, curling around me and naming itself with an unmistakable tag. And I really wish I didn't feel it. Under the fury that lines her to the core, there's pain. Heartbreaking amounts of excruciating pain that forces me to wince when I tap into it too deeply. The torture… Her memories are still fresh, as vivid as the day she received the unseen scars that cut to her soul.

The flawless skin on the surface hides the pain that was forced upon her for so, so long. I've only felt that pain once before, and that was with mom. If my empathic powers hadn't been on the glitch when Aunt Symphony was alive, I would have probably felt from her, too. But even Araya's pain has nothing on what is radiating from Alice. The difference is feral and tame; Mom's torture didn't last as long, and she was able to be saved from the darkness—in more ways than one. Alice spent centuries as a science experiment, and the darkness consumed her before someone pulled her out.

"It doesn't have to be this way," I say with a strained breath, finding sympathy for the monster before me. " You don't have to be this way. Don't rule with an iron fist based on a fraction of the people that make up this world. There is just as much good as there is bad."

She laughs humorlessly at first, and then it turns a few shades of sinister—a skin-crawling pitch that spikes the dread within my blood. Her head drops back, and the songs of her cathartic release become aimed at the dark sky above us, one that is slowly churning with my gift's force.

I want to seize the opportunity to hit her while she's not looking, but at the same time, I'm holding out for hope that I can somehow reason with her. She's not a sociopath if she can feel so much pain. That means somewhere—though it may be buried deep within—there's a person to be saved; a victim that was hardened as a means of survival because it hurt too much to feel.

"You really are your mother's child," she says at last, bringing her head back down to meet my gaze. "And you're just as weak and foolish as she is."

With that, she thrusts her hand forward, and without any warning, my chest is hit hard with a concentrated force I never saw coming. My body lifts into the air as the crushing weight denies me a breath. I've never been so thankful for the fact that I don't actually require air, because it hurts too damn much to breathe right now.

When my body collides with the shifting earth, I mentally curse myself and my surroundings. I should have hit her while I had the chance.

When I stand and dust myself off, she glares at me from a distance. "You should be dead," she hisses.

"Apparently I'm not as weak as you thought," I say dryly, dusting my jeans off, trying to appear bored and not at all surprised that I was able to stand up and recover so quickly.

She starts closing the distance, and I do the same. The time for reasoning and threats has come to an end, and there's nothing left to do but duel until one of us goes down. Considering she more than likely has reinforcements on the way, I need to hurry and try to be the last one standing.

I lash out, this time grunting when the force expelled from me is so magnificently powerful that it painfully leaves my body, and her eyes widen just as a shriek is forced from her lips. She's blown backwards, giving me a small glance in confidence's direction. When she thuds against the earth and leaps back to her feet without seeming fazed, my brush with confidence ends, and I'm left to endure her next assault.

Each time she strikes, I take the full blow, unable to fend off her power with my own, just as she's unable to defend against my attacks. It all seems to be an exact replica of our last encounter. Only there isn't so much blood lost. In fact, neither of us is bleeding. Yet.

Great. We're trading licks again—just like she did with my savage, only this time, my body seems to be less destructible. Oddly enough.

Jase. Of course. It all falls into place, making sense for the first time. My savage knew she wasn't strong enough while detached, but denying my counter when he was clearly alive and willing made it impossible for my two halves to become whole. But then… she stripped me of Kellan, and somehow she gave me Jase.

I'm not strong enough. She needs her counter.

I'm stronger. Alice is stronger, too, though. And it feels like we're slowly reaching an impasse with each and every unsuccessful blow.

"Enough," she growls when she stands up from her latest attack.

Her eyes start to dilate, and my heart patters in response. No. Shit, no. Not her savage. Emergents aren't supposed to have savages. I don't think.

"Don't," I plead, not knowing the devil that will arise.

"You know," she hisses, staring at me as her eyes pulse, slowly promising a world of destruction. "The first time I went savage, it shocked the hell out of the Scorpions. They fucked with me for so long… Then I tore them apart, and I enjoyed every single bit of it. But I couldn't control it. Couldn't pull it forth when I needed it. I haven't tried this since your mother's blood was so graciously gifted to us, but now is as good a time as any."

She needed to be stronger. She needed to be that strong monster that shredded the people in all of those facilities. So she stole from her daughter and her granddaughter to give herself the strength to destroy us.

"Fucked up world," I say to myself, ignoring the sounds of cars approaching and gunshots ringing out.

At least I try to ignore them. Until I hear the one voice that breaks my heart and tears my soul to pieces.

Jase. No! Get out of here now!

I turn just as the unseen force lashes through me, pushing me back farther than ever, and this time, it takes a little longer to get up. Her eyes are almost black with dilation, proving she's lost her motherfucking mind, and her roars take place of her words as she hands herself over to a beast that will destroy us all.

I glance down just in time to see the blood dripping from my mouth. So much for that stalemate I thought we had.

All my thoughts go to Jase as I start trying to dodge the deadlier attacks. Alice's reinforcements are coming in, colliding with the army Jase has assembled. It's now or never.

JASE

"Aria!" I keep yelling, but her answers are always the same. She keeps trying to push me away, but I'll be damned if I leave her here to die. Not without me.

"Get everyone back!" I yell. "Flank to the right and take out their grenade launchers!"

"Doesn't fucking matter about the grenade launchers if they have indestructible hybrids every-damn-where," Rex growls, barely dodging a parade of bullets as they fly our way.

We roll and dive for cover, taking out as many of the normal hybrids as possible, but there are so many violet eyes staring back at us that it's not a promising start.

"Sleep," Araya commands, and several do drop, but nowhere nearly as many as we need to drop.

"I'm going to run blood over to Kellan and Simone," Mel says close to my ear.

Before I can say no, she's darting, diving, and weaving through the chaos, racing her way toward the defenseless pair that are curled up in each other's arms on the ground.

"Aria! Get back!" I yell again, praying my fucking wife finds her sanity and helps me save mine. I can't reach her, and it's like a madhouse on crack out here.

"Alice can't be stopped if she's in her savage form," Fricks says, sounding as hopeless and defeated as any one man can.

"I don't have time to coddle you, Fricks. Tell us how to beat these sick fucks so I can try to save Aria."

There's no getting by them, and we're barely managing to ward off their attacks. Each hit is getting stronger, and Araya is crying out as they focus on her, doing all they can to eliminate the biggest threat.

My blood starts simmering wildly in my veins, something stirring like a primal calling that won't be ignored. Rex roars, dropping to his feet, and from there, it just continues. Everyone around me starts going wild in the eyes, pupils dilating as they lose themselves to the beasts within.

Brazen drags Araya back just as Angelica claps out a power, tangling with Grayson who went savage immediately after we got here—the only one of us who has a power-based savage instead of an emotionally tied savage.

But it's not enough. My body keeps boiling to life, growing wilder by the second, and every time someone falls, the burning in my veins just intensifies. It's Aria. I can feel her doing this to us, trying to make us stronger, even though I don't know how in the hell she's doing it.

Then I realize something that scares and liberates me in the same breath. I'm savage and sane.

The power pummels out of me, blazing into everyone in my path when I hear Aria's cries again. Eyes from the opposing go wild when my gift incinerates the front line with flames hotter than I've ever carried. Holy fucking shit.

"Christ," Brazen whispers, just as astonished as I am when the men continue to fall.

But there's so damn many, and it's hard to—

A feminine roar blankets the battle cries, and I look up just as blood starts driving out of the mouths of so many in front of us. Their bodies so start shriveling up to nothing, dropping as Simone steps out, fully healed and fully savage.

"Go to Aria. I've got this."

I don't question that, because her power starts working once again, drowning out cries by stealing their voices with too much pain. And I leave them behind to save the one girl who never lets anyone fucking help her.

ARIA

Simone's roar of dominance rings through my ears, and I sigh in relief. She'll save them. She's strong enough. And Jase's savage is stronger; I can feel it from here.

Peeling myself up off the ground, I wipe my mouth, staggering in front of the bitch who has loved how distracted I've been.

"Weak," she repeats. "So trained on the ones you love that you can't even attempt to save yourself."

"That's not weakness, Alice. Weakness is refusing to feel anything other than anger because you're afraid of being hurt."

The second she hits me with another crushing force, sending me flying backwards, I make a mental note to stop pissing her off.

Cries ring out in unison, giving me hope that Simone is saving lives, and Jase—

Shit. Jase is calling my name and running right for me.

"No!" I scream stupidly, making the bitch look right at him.

The twisted grin that curls up on her lips gives me the strength to push up from the ground once again, and I throw out a shot so powerful that it feels like it's crushing me on its way out. With her distracted, she doesn't brace. Her hand is drawn back, ready to take down the mesmerizing creature that is rushing toward us with intent blazing in his glowing blue eyes.

When my strike hits her this time, the bitch is launched backwards, and the smell of her blood hits me, letting me know I've cut into her flesh. Finally. I watch as she hits the ground, and I sag into the arms that wrap around me and pull me to a firm body.

"You're in so much fucking trouble when we get out of here," Jase scolds, trying to tug me away from the fight. He's in control? What the hell?

Alice's growl vibrates the ground beneath us, and Jase curses just as we're both thrown back, landing with a thud . I'm really sick of fighting on my damn back.

"Not this time," Alice hisses, stepping back out of the shadows with her black eyes daring us to try and retreat.

I'm supposed to be strong enough to beat her, damn it. It's not supposed to be this way. Not after all I've gone through.

Jase scrambles back to me, covering me with his body as I weakly push him back. He doesn't stand a chance, and I need to make him get out of here before she targets him instead of me.

Purple streaks of electricity surge down to where we are, slicing their way into the fight, and Alice is knocked back once again, forcing my eyes to widen in surprise. But the streaks barely make her stagger, which only pisses her off as she glares up at my former counter who is walking toward us with our army of savage hybrids.

Simone takes her place by his side, but Alice doesn't seem at all rattled by the new faces gathered around her.

"It's really sad that you continue to fight a battle you can't win," she drawls, snapping her fingers to release effortless power.

Cries of my family resound in my ears like serrated knives stabbing me. They all fall to the ground as the monster in front of me tries to rip them apart, and I stagger and fall several times as the blood pours from my body.

Jase lashes out with his fire, striking and inflicting pain on the bitch, and she snarls while turning toward him. Blood falls from her side as the last of the fire is extinguished. Jase was strong enough to hurt her?

His fearless blue eyes meet her demonic black pits, and this time, she doesn't hold back.

"No!" I scream helplessly as he's dropped to the ground to writhe in pain like the others.

As I crawl to him, I hear Mom's ragged voice raining around us. "You want me, not them!" Mom shouts. "So come and get me, bitch!"

Alice turns to see the woman behind her as the skies part and thunder. Red lightning zips from the sky, falling down to slice at Alice, but to my amazement, the lightning deflects off her stubborn, almost impenetrable body.

Fricks said she would be invincible. Alice thought she'd be invincible. But Jase and I both brought blood from her.

"Is that any way to talk to your mother?" Alice taunts.

Mom winces, but then she shakes her head. "Blood doesn't make you family," Mom says just as she strikes again, but the force is too weak in comparison to the monster in front of her.

The fight roars to life, but my attention falls on my counter. Jase raises his head, and then he takes a deep steadying breath as Mom's cries infect my ears.

"You have to go savage. If you can force us to go savage, you can force yourself."

"I can't. My savage is—"

"Going to be different," he promises. "You have me now. You're whole, baby."

I look up just as Fricks comes running down, firing wildly at a woman whose body can't be touched by the feeble bullets he's feeding her. But it's enough to distract her from my mother. I gasp when I see Mom lying on the ground, her head barely raising as Uncle Brazen joins Captain Fricks.

The United army follows them, everyone taking their shots at the indestructible woman who merely laughs at their attempts.

My body is barely hanging together. I feel as weak as she has accused me of being, but then I look around at my family, everyone fighting and not giving up, no matter how outmatched they are, and something stirs within me.

I look into the savage eyes of the man I've loved for what feels like forever, and another stir vibrates through my veins, a burning inside me growing. When my eyes shift to the woman whose breathing is labored, I see her for who she really is. My mother who would face down her own mother in an attempt to save the ones who've loved her. She stood without fear, and I'm of her flesh. I can do the same.

As I wobble to my feet, Alice gets prepared to strike, and my blood pumps faster, hotter—an inferno growing in my core as my clothes start to singe. The wind stirs with untapped power, gracing my fingertips as the dark sky starts to swirl. May God save us all if this doesn't work.

In a moment of pure abandon, I release myself to the beast within, letting the burn take me over, transform me, meld me with the power just out of reach, and my deadly wounds turn superficial in almost a blink, most of them sealing within an instant.

Jase sucks in a breath as he watches from beside me, unmoving and unafraid. My head swims as the power rumbles within me, giving me a piece of hope I've never before touched. My head falls back and I stare at the churning skies that represent the churning within my own body—the storm that matches my inner one. Then that dark smile curls up on my lips as my head lowers from the sky to find the woman who is seconds away from ending the army in front of her.

With one rush of adrenaline-fueled savage power, I push my hand out, and Alice is forced to the ground after a hammer of an attack drills into her. Without waiting, my power slices her arms with my second strike. She screams out, digging deep, and Jase yells to our army to get back.

Uncle Brazen rushes behind Alice to grab Mom and pull her to safety, and I meet the violet, worried eyes of a true mother; a real heroine.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" she hisses, glaring at me as she stands once again. "You're weak, pathetic, and undeserving of your power."

Instead of letting her continue to stall, I throw my arms out just as Jase throws forth his fire, standing at my side like a true counter, fueling my power with his presence. Our strikes connect despite her frantic attempt to deflect them, and again she's brought to the ground.

More reinforcements arrive, both with us and against our army, and her falsely created hybrids race toward us, ready to defend their queen with blind and unprecedented loyalty. She doesn't care if they die or not.

"Can you take her?" Jase asks as he builds a wall of fire, separating us from the hybrids.

"I know I can."

"Then go. I'll deal with them. I'm strong enough, too."

I grab him by the head just as Alice tries to hobble away in retreat, and I kiss him as hard as I can while he grabs me at the waist. Just when I think he's going to deepen the untimely kiss, he shoves me back.

"Don't kiss me like you're saying goodbye. Go. Kill that bitch so we can have a honeymoon."

With a deep breath and unshed tears, my body dissolves from sight, shifting into atoms and sweeping through the wind. The world around me becomes a shadow of its formal self as I become an element no different from the natural earth.

As I rematerialize, I'm met face to face with the monster who thought she could escape. Her lips curl back in defiance as a nasty growl escapes her mouth. She's controlling her savage, probably from using Mom's blood, but I'm a true hybrid.

"You're not supposed to be able to hurt me!" she yells just as she lunges at me, tackling me to the ground.

Gifts become replaced by fists, both of us cracking bones with every furious hit that connects. But my body heals almost instantly, whereas hers continues to grow weaker with every blow. We roll around until I land on top of her, angling myself for the dominant strikes. The sickening sound of bone crunching continues to echo my ears, but I don't hold back, knowing she'll kill anyone and everyone around me.

She finally manages to hit me with a spurt of power that launches me off her and slices through me unexpectedly. I fall at least twelve feet away from her, and I haul myself to my knees as she gasps for air, also heaving herself up into a crawling position.

Humbled and furious, she glares at me. "You're not supposed to be stronger than me!" she yells again, repeating her words from earlier. "You're weak. You've yielded to the world and allowed yourself to be tethered to emotions that only offer suffering, not strength!"

I'm not sure if she's ranting to herself or to me, but we both steadily rise to our feet, two separate generations of blood-tied family. But there's no heart left inside her, and as much as I want to spare her, I know I can't. She'll never stop. Innocent people's lives depend on this, and I refuse to lose someone else to her hands.

"Emotions don't make us weak," I bite out, fighting back a wince of pain as the wound on my side slowly starts to heal. "They empower us and give us a stronger reason to fight."

She laughs, mocking me. "Who the hell do you think you are? You're nobody. Nothing. You're barely a shadow of the being I am. You cannot defeat me!"

Again, I'm not sure if she's talking to me or herself, trying her best to convince one of us that she's stronger.

"I'm the daughter of Araya Crush—the woman who will stand in front of anyone to keep the ones she loves safe."

I strike, knocking her backwards and forcing her to once again stagger to her feet.

"I'm the daughter of Hale Banner—the man who sacrificed all he had for his nation and his family."

I hit again, slicing her through the waist and forcing her to cry out as I summon all my strength. When she flings forth her own power, I manage to deflect it. The sky crackles and thunders, making way for the rain to fall and cleanse the ground of her tainted blood as I spill it.

"I'm the counter of Jason Ericson—the man who overcame the bitterness he should have had after the life dealt to him. The man who loved me instead of giving up, and who would die for me."

When my next blow hits, she slaps the ground, and this time she doesn't move. She stares at me, gritting her teeth as her blood continues to drip from her not-so-indestructible body. I stop when I'm standing above her, looking down on her the way she has looked down on all of us.

"I'm Aria Banner, the one you underestimated because you thought loving people made me weak. I'd rather suffer pain than to die cold."

She waits, not bothering to strike again because she's too weak to fight me. I raise my hand, but nothing happens, because I can't do it. Despite all the pain she's caused, I can't kill a victim. And truly that's what she is. She never asked for this to be done to her. She never would have become a monster if she had been saved sooner.

"And I'm the one who is going to show mercy when you've been nothing but merciless. Prison instead of death. That's what you'll get."

I don't know how we'll fortify anything strong enough to hold her, but there has to be a way. I turn away, leaving her bleeding out, and see the fight around me. Simone and Jase are a sight to behold, and Kellan is so much stronger in savage form. He's as strong as Simone which makes Jase as strong as—

"You stupid bitch. You dare to pity me?" Alice hisses from behind me just as a wave of pain slices through my back.

I grimace while turning around, ignoring the searing pain she's left. And I glare at her while she clutches her bleeding side, stumbling toward me in a drunken rage.

"I do. Don't make me do something I don't want to, Alice. I'm giving you a chance at redemption."

"Redemption," she scoffs, shaking her head, and then she tries to punish me for my mercy by launching another attack, a force so strong coming at me that it ripples the air and vibrates the ground.

But when it reaches me, I force it to curve around my body and cease to exist, drawing her eyes to me. She doesn't stop. In a blur, she sends out attack after attack at me, but I don't waver, holding strong and reminding her she's weaker.

When she scowls at me, she's panting, and her eyes shift to gaze at those behind me. I feel it before she makes her move. If she can't hurt me, she'll hurt everyone else. One by one she sends out a new forceful attack, slicing the air with fury, but I keep intercepting them, drowning them out with my growing power, but then I hear the unmistakable cry of Simone when something connects, and my stomach lurches.

Kellan roars with anger, promising me he's about to charge in and do something stupid, and I'm left with no choice when Alice turns her attention on Jase. She wants me to kill her. She'd rather die than be a captive again, and those are our only two choices.

His back is turned as he handles the last hybrid in his path, and he has no line of defense—besides me.

Tears cloud my eyes as my hand becomes forced, and the power rips out of me, cutting through her own power and sending her to the ground as her agonizing screams fill the air. Blood flows from her eyes and nose as I focus all my strength on her, dropping to my knees when it becomes almost unbearable to keep up. She writhes as her bloodcurdling screams turn to gargled breaths.

I push harder, barely managing to keep my own head from exploding from the exerted force, my chest pounding so hard from the furious beat of my heart. The weight of the release is too heavy, and I drop to balance myself on one hand, keeping my other outstretched as a means of guiding and focusing the power onto her, not letting one speck escape its target. And I watch with blurry, tearstained vision as the writhing slowly stops and the breaths cease.

A sob breaks out of my chest as I drop to the ground completely, giving up the endeavor to stay upright, and I turn my eyes away from the dead body of the woman who never chose this life for herself. The victim became the abuser, and my decision to save her was taken away by her own hands.

I glance around just as several of our people hobble closer, looking on in awe and shock. Savage eyes slowly begin to drop as I release my empathic hold on their emotions. Uncle Grayson steals Aunt Angelica, and I vaguely notice her breaking a bottle of olophine to bring him down.

Kellan tucks Simone into his side when she wearily joins him, and Uncle Brazen helps my much more healed mother toward me. She collapses at my side and cradles me in the same embrace she always gave me as a child, and I hold onto her while keeping my back on the tragic scene left in my wake.

"Aria," Jase whispers, his body covered in bloodstains that aren't his own.

He drops to be beside me, and I touch his bare chest, feeling the proof of his survival. His wounds have healed, just like mine. The ones on the surface, anyway.

"We did it," I say breathlessly, amazed and relieved that we survived, while saddened by the cost.

"We did," Jase says as he pulls me to him and lifts me from the ground. Everyone suddenly jerks to attention, saluting in unison like the militant army they are, and Jase smiles down at me.

"They love their commander," I murmur, trying not to wince as my body tries to heal itself from my last attack.

I almost ripped myself apart trying to kill Alice. But we're alive. We made it. Against all odds, we survived.

"They're not saluting me, baby," he says softly, standing me upright. When he salutes me as well, I start feeling a little stupid and on display. Fortunately, my mother just beams at me instead of saluting me. Unfortunately, Uncle Brazen does salute.

Rex comes barreling through the madness, his body freshly healed from the injuries he's sustained, and he almost tramples over me in an attempt to wrap me in his arms, holding me so tight that it hurts.

"Don't ever make me go savage again," he says in my ear, confusing me. "I feel violated."

When I realize he's joking, I can't help but laugh, and I hug him back just before he releases me. Jase twirls me up against him, and his lips press to mine just as the battlefield starts to be serenaded by United war song, announcing a war to be over. And it is. It's finally over.