23. Bruticus

CHAPTER 23

brUTICUS

T he pain hits like a plasma bolt to the chest. Maryse. My jalshagar bond screams danger, her fear a metallic taste on my tongue.

"No." I surge from my hiding spot in the shadows of the Royal Garden Hotel.

The bond tugs me forward, a compass pointing true north. She's inside. Upper floors. The fear spikes, sharp and acrid.

Two guards flank the entrance, pulse rifles at ready. Security cameras sweep the perimeter. Daniels expects me.

"Come on in," a guard calls out. "Commander's got a special welcome planned."

My bone spurs extend with a satisfying click. "Perfect. I brought party favors."

The first guard's shot goes wide. My claws find his throat before he can correct his aim. The second guard manages to fire twice - both rounds deflect off my armored hide.

"Amateur." I snap his neck and appropriate his security card.

The hotel's pristine lobby reeks of blood and ozone. More guards will come. Let them. The elevator requires a code I don't have, but the emergency stairs beckon.

I take them three at a time, following the pull of our bond. Fifth floor. Eighth. Twelfth. The fear spikes again, mixing with pain.

"Hold on, Maryse." My voice echoes in the stairwell. "I'm coming."

Footsteps thunder below - reinforcements arriving. Above, a door slams. They're trying to box me in.

But they don't understand. Nothing will keep me from her. Not guards, not Daniels, not even death itself.

I bare my teeth in what humans mistake for a smile. Time to show them why Reapers earned their name.

A guard bursts through the door above. My claws open his chest before his finger finds the trigger. Blood sprays the pristine walls as I vault over the railing, catching the next landing with one hand.

"He's coming up!" Someone shouts from below.

"Really? I thought I was going down." I drop onto a cluster of guards, bone spurs first.

Bones crack. Screams echo. A pulse round grazes my shoulder - the wound closes before the next step.

"Demon!"

"Close enough." My claws find another throat.

The stairwell fills with the copper tang of blood and the acrid stench of fear. These aren't soldiers - just thugs with fancy weapons. They bunch together, making it easy to tear through their ranks.

A lucky shot catches my thigh. I grab the shooter and use him as a shield against his friends. Their loyalty proves selective - they riddle him with holes trying to get to me.

Floor after floor, guard after guard. None of them last more than seconds. My healing factor keeps me fresh while they tire and stumble.

The top floor door looms ahead. One last guard blocks my path, trembling so hard he can barely aim.

"Please... I have a family."

"Should have thought of that before working for Daniels."

His head hits the floor before his body. The security card in his pocket gets me through the door.

The hallway beyond stretches empty and silent. Too silent. The plush carpet muffles my footsteps as I advance, following the pull of our bond.

Maryse is close. The fear in our connection spikes again, drawing me forward like a beacon in the dark.

The hallway stretches before me, each door a potential threat. Maryse's scent lingers - jasmine and sunshine - but it's stale. Hours old.

Pain lances through my skull. The bond between us flares white-hot and -

Cold metal against bare skin. Leather straps bite into wrists and ankles. Electrodes press against temples.

"This is for your own good, sweetheart." Daniels's voice echoes through Maryse's consciousness into mine. "You'll thank me when it's done."

Terror. Betrayal. The sharp sting of tears.

"No!" The vision breaks. My claws extend, scoring deep gouges in the wall. She's in the basement. That monster has her in the basement.

I sprint toward the elevator, bone spurs clicking against marble floor. The doors slide open at my approach. Empty. Perfect.

Inside, I slam my palm against the basement button. Again. Nothing. Every button I press remains dark and lifeless.

A chuckle crackles through hidden speakers. "In a hurry, Reaper?"

Daniels. His voice drips with smug satisfaction.

"I designed this building's security systems myself," he continues. "Did you really think I'd make it that easy?"

The elevator doors slide shut with a final-sounding thunk.

"Now then. Let's have a chat about what happens to aliens who touch my daughter."

My claws dig into the seam between the doors. Metal shrieks as I force them apart inch by precious inch. A sliver of light appears.

"Going up?" Daniels's voice carries a sing-song quality that makes my blood run cold.

Up? But we're already at the-

The floor drops from under me as the elevator rockets upward. Metal screams. Wind howls through the gap I created. The ceiling tears away like tissue paper.

My body slams into the floor, then the walls, then the ceiling as the elevator spins through open space. Stars wheel past the jagged hole above. The artificial gravity field ends a hundred feet up - and we've passed it.

For one weightless moment, I float. Then the station's gravity reclaims us.

The elevator plummets. I crash into every surface, bone spurs tearing through metal. Pain explodes through my left arm as it snaps. My skull cracks against a wall. The world goes dark in one eye.

Impact.

Metal shrieks. Sparks fly. The elevator crumples like a tin can around me.

Blood fills my mouth. Every breath sends daggers through my chest. My left arm hangs useless, bone jutting through skin.

But Maryse's fear still pulses through our bond. She needs me.

I drag myself toward the twisted doors with my good arm. Metal groans as I force my way through the wreckage.

The lobby spins around me, but I plant my feet. Draw breath into broken lungs. Let loose a roar that shakes dust from the ceiling.

"I'm coming for her, Daniels! Nothing will stop me!"

The lobby doors explode inward. A tide of humanity floods through, armed with everything from pulse rifles to kitchen knives. The hotel staff - every last one of them - converges on my position.

"There's nowhere to run," a security guard shouts.

A chef brandishes his cleaver. "We serve Commander Daniels."

My left arm hangs useless, bone fragments grinding with each movement. Blood drips from a dozen wounds that haven't sealed yet. But Maryse's terror pulses through our bond, driving me forward.

"I don't want to kill civilians." My voice comes out as a wet growl. "Stand aside."

They answer with a hail of gunfire. I dive behind a marble column, chips of stone stinging my face. The housekeepers circle left while security pushes right. Smart tactics. They're well-trained for hotel staff.

A pulse round catches my shoulder. Another grazes my thigh. The wounds seal almost instantly, but the impacts still hurt like hell.

I launch myself at the nearest cluster, my good arm's claws extending. Blood sprays. Bodies fall. But there are so many, and they keep coming.

A maintenance worker swings a wrench at my head. I catch it in my teeth, yank it away, and headbutt him unconscious. A desk clerk tries to garrote me with computer cable. My bone spurs slice through the wire and into her hands.

"He's unstoppable!"

"Keep firing!"

More rounds impact. My healing factor works overtime, but I'm burning through energy reserves fast. My vision blurs. The lobby spins.

Then Maryse's scream echoes through our bond, and everything snaps into crystal clarity.

My roar drowns out their gunfire. My claws find flesh. My bone spurs pierce armor. They fall before me like wheat before a scythe.

Nothing will keep me from her. Not broken bones. Not an army of hotel staff. Not even death itself.

I am a Reaper. And I will reap.

Another wave of hotel staff charges. Their weapons spark off my armor, but I ignore them. Time grows short - I feel Maryse's consciousness dimming through our bond.

I close my eyes, letting muscle memory guide my claws through flesh and bone. The physical fight matters less than the mental one now.

Maryse. I reach through our connection, past the fear and pain clouding her mind. Take my strength.

Her thoughts flutter against mine like a trapped bird. Bruticus?

I'm here. Whatever he's doing, fight it. Use me.

The bond between us pulses. I pour my essence through it - my rage, my power, my unstoppable will. Her mind clutches at the offering like a lifeline.

It hurts. Her mental voice wavers. The machine... trying to make me forget...

Then remember. I send her memories of us together - her smile in the firelight, her fingers tracing my bone spurs, her laughter at my awkward attempts at human customs. Remember us.

Her consciousness steadies, drawing on my strength. The fear in our bond transmutes to determination.

That's it. Fight him.

A security guard's knife finds my ribs. I barely notice. All my focus stays on Maryse, feeding her my power through our connection.

I won't let him win, she promises. Just hurry.

Almost there. Hold on.

The bond thrums between us, growing stronger with each passing second. Where before I felt her slipping away, now her presence blazes in my mind like a star.

My body continues its dance of death through the lobby, but my spirit remains with her. Together, we will endure until I can reach her side.