Chapter Twenty

Echo might have dropped the plant when Vaughan had gotten hurt, but he hadn’t forgotten about it. Henri suspected he’d dropped it and run out of instinct. But it elongated, growing leaves, as it slithered across the floor, following them toward the front door.

Henri hadn’t understood why Echo had taken it with them when they’d hid but the reason became clear. Never once had Henri thought of a houseplant as a weapon, but it was for Echo. Every living botanical thing was another gun in Echo’s arsenal. It took watching the vine follow Echo out of the house as though it were Echo’s version of a venomous snake, to realize it.

When they were outside, it rooted itself into the soil next to Henri’s door. Henri watched it rise, defying gravity and logic. It attached itself to the siding on his house, which also seemed impossible, but he couldn’t deny what he saw.

And then the plant grew, along with the weeds and the few tufts of grass in his yard. The small bush next to his door grew as well, covering most of the stoop. It was the base of what Henri realized was the shield Echo intended to build in front of them.

“Stay behind me.” Echo didn’t take his eyes off the scene unfolding in front of them.

Vaughan hadn’t made it very far. They’d pushed him to the edge of the lake and surrounded him. He was a wolf, not a water shifter. He couldn’t hide underneath the water like Henri could. As a wolf, he was a slow swimmer, which meant someone with good aim could take him out while he was in the water.

Something upset the surface of the water. It lay underneath, ready to strike. As someone who had swum in the lake regularly, he knew there wasn’t anything capable of moving in such a way. Not even the occasional snake. And none of the fish were big enough. In his turtle shifter form, Henri could stay under for several hours depending on his level of activity. Sometimes he would rest near the shallows at the bottom.

It hit him what it was. He turned to Echo and knew he was doing something to manipulate the things living in the water. Maybe it was algae. Or the aquatic plants going up from the bottom. Henri didn’t know what it was, but he knew how Echo would use them. People would die soon, and his lake would never be the same again.

The tops of water celery floated along the surface, growing closer to Vaughan. The long thin blades bypassed Vaughan and slithered up the human’s legs. A couple of people backed away. But others were so mesmerized by what they witnessed, they froze as the plant climbed their bodies. By the time their survival instinct kicked in, it was too late. The plant wrapped around their legs and dragged them into the water.

Vaughan yipped and ran away. As soon as he saw Echo, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. He stayed out of Echo’s way, not putting himself in front of Echo even in a protective position.

One human shot at the long, green blades slithered close to them. Another joined in. Perhaps their logic was more bullets would kill the plant, but it had rooted itself to the bottom of a lake and needed little sunlight. The filtered light was enough to sustain life. It didn’t matter how many bullets they pumped into it. It would continue to grow back.

Henri watched in awe as it reached the two men. It wrapped around their feet just as it had with the other humans, throwing them off balance, and began dragging them toward the lake. They had enough wherewithal to keep shooting, but as they descended into the water, they stopped firing.

One man was smart enough to run in the opposite direction. As soon as he got out of sight, Echo stepped away from the front door, chasing him.

Henri and Vaughan followed him.

Compared to Vaughan and Echo, Henri felt useless. Vaughan fought well and Echo was a little killing machine. What he could do with plants was equal parts amazing and horrifying. It also made him the deadliest person in Saint Lakes. There were humans holding guns, shooting innocent people, so it was quite a realization.

Echo walked at a steady pace, but it was still a walk. He didn’t hurry after the man. And he seemed to search the area as if he were thinking of the next way to kill.

The human ran in a straight line, as if he knew what was ahead.

Vaughan must have said something through their mating bond because Echo said, “There’s a dirt road northwest of here, right?”

Henri answered. “It’s an old service road from when a lumber company took some trees once.”

Before the soldier could get farther away, a tree branch swooped down and hit him in his chest and knocked him off his feet. He flew back toward them. The momentum worked against him. Being enhanced meant he had a lot of velocity. But when the branch hit him, he went flying as if he’d launched himself using a rocket. He hit a tree and tumbled through every branch as he descended, landing on his back. When he landed, he lay so still, Henri wasn’t sure if he was dead or just injured.

Henri suspected something hard was underneath the carpet of dead leaves. Maybe a rock or a small piece of a fallen tree. Whatever it was, caused him to bleed. Henri could smell it even from a few feet away.

He crouched next to the body and touched the man’s wrist. He didn’t feel a pulse, so he felt the carotid artery.

Henri shook his head when he didn’t feel one there either.

Echo cursed. “I wanted to interrogate him.”

Vaughan shifted. “There are a shit ton of guys like him. Pick another one.”

Henri stepped away from the body when Vaughan squatted in front of it. He didn’t know what else he could do.

Vaughan turned the guy’s head to the side. Henri noticed the blood. “Hit his head.”

Echo huffed. “Well, that’s just perfect. How will we know what these guys want?”

Vaughan met Echo’s gaze. He’d never been more serious. “They want you, baby. You and Lucas.”

Echo’s shoulders came up to his ears, and he crossed his arms in front of his body, as if the knowledge made his blood turn to ice.

Henri wrapped an arm around his shoulders and stayed next to him. “We won’t let them get you.”

“I’ll fight to the death. You know that.” Vaughan had proved himself already. He would have died back there had Echo not stepped in.

Echo nodded. “I don’t want anyone to die because of me.”

“It isn’t because of you. It’s someone’s power-hungry agenda. They want to control other people for their own gain. Paranormals are in the way.” Henri gestured to the dead guy. “Them being here, trying to hurt us, proves one of two things. Either someone has convinced the masses we’re expendable or there’s more than one person who wants the same thing.”

“Pretty sure it’s the first one.” Vaughan stood, hugging Echo. “Either way, it’s a bad situation.”

A shot rang through the forest.

Vaughan grunted, cursing as he let go of Echo and fell to the ground. He shifted. And then shifted again. And then back again.

Henri sucked in a breath, wanting to scream when he saw blood pouring from Vaughan’s abdomen. Henri pulled Echo down when he realized what was happening.

Soldiers hurried toward them. There were too many to count.

They seemed to come out of nowhere as if they had been nothing but smoke before solidifying. And they had their guns trained on them.

Henri didn’t know what to do.

Vaughan grabbed Henri by his shirt. He was sweating. He’d turned a burgundy color. “Don’t leave him. Not for any reason.”

Echo lay next to Vaughan. “You can’t die.”

“Bandos is coming, but he won’t get here in time to save both of us.” Vaughan let him go. He met Henri’s gaze, almost pleading with him to save Echo’s life. “Tell Rocky where they take Echo.”

Henri nodded.

He needed to shift, and he needed to do it while Echo had the soldiers distracted. “You can’t get them all, but you can get some. When I shift, hide me on your person somewhere.”

Echo cried, but nodded. He still focused on the soldiers coming at them.

The tree branches swatted at the humans. Weeds grew around their feet, holding them in place. Bushes grew tall enough to enter their ears, scrambling their brains. The fear didn’t leave them when their bodies crumpled.

A couple of soldiers ran past a bush. The bush grabbed their guns as if it had fingers.

Henri shifted without taking off his clothes, so he was stuck in them until Echo freed him. And then Echo picked him up along with Henri’s shirt. He wrapped the shirt around Henri as if creating a bed, wanting to make him comfortable.

Guns went off, hitting trees when the branches pierced a soldier’s heart.

Echo had killed so many they littered the ground, but Henri had been right. He couldn’t get them all before they grabbed Echo.

Echo cried and yelled, “Don’t hurt my turtle!”

It had been a good plan in theory, but the soldiers must have figured out how dangerous Echo was to them because they covered his mouth with a cloth. They’d soaked the cloth in some sort of chemical. It would probably render him unconscious.

Henri tumbled to the ground when Echo passed out. He stayed there until they turned back the way they had come, and then shifted before pulling on his clothing again.

He knew where the access road was and how to get there before them. He left his shirt with Vaughan, pressing it to his wound before taking each one of Vaughan’s hands and placing them on the shirt. “Press and keep shifting.”

“Go after him, damn it!”

Henri took off for the shortcut through the forest, hoping no soldiers were there to slow him down. He’d never run so fast.