Page 63

EON

C y’s eyes were dangerous. They were pulling me in with a force I couldn’t escape. That I didn’t want to escape.

Then, a notification for a call rang on my Vysor.

Taos.

What the fuck?

I fled from Cy’s magnetic gaze and answered the call in Maddox’s room.

“Taos?”

At first, she didn’t respond, and all I heard was the sound of shallow panting through the line.

Then, in a voice so soft I could barely hear her: “E, I fucked up. I need your help.”

“Where are you?”

“The edge of the Blue and Tech Districts. It was supposed to be an easy job…in and out. But they had new POM Security we weren’t expecting, and now…”

“Where, Taos?” I snapped. She hesitated.

“RejuvaLife Pharmaceuticals.”

God fucking damnit, Taos. “Your mom’s—”

“Yeah, okay…Deacon said not to do it. He won’t send help. I need you.”

I should’ve told her to fuck off. But then I heard shots echoing through the call—static fuzzing in as she cut out. She’d done it because I’d taunted her. She was a grown-ass adult and made her own choices, but more gunfire rang out, and I couldn’t stop myself.

“What can I do? I’m not a one-man army.”

“Need you to hack the security system. I’ve got Vex and Marco with me. We’re hidden, but security has the place locked down—no way out. You just need to open the doors for us.”

“Chingada madre. What were you thinking?”

“Please, Eon.”

“I’m on my way.”

I didn’t stop to think. My pinky twitched—that call that never slept inside me rearing its head.

I needed power. My Flux responded, pulsing, and a spark leapt from my hand, striking Maddox’s dresser.

The top drawer slid open just a fraction, but it was enough to see that faint fluorescent green glow.

My body moved without my consent. I ripped open the drawer, and there it was. A few cartridges of Vector. Military grade. Meant for direct injection. A perfect hit.

My pinky stopped twitching as I wrapped my fingers around one.

Just one. Just in case.

I didn’t need it. I didn’t.

I stuffed it in my pocket, closed the drawer, and left the room.

Both Vesper and Akiko were practically in Maddox’s lap now, along with Mercy. Cy was still standing in the kitchen, clearly ignoring the whole scene.

“I’ve got to go,” I said to him, barely glancing his way.

He set his beer down and followed me toward the door.

“You gonna leave me here to be third…fourth…fifth wheel?”

I paused, glancing back into the room to see Akiko’s eyes following Cy. I knew that look. But he wasn’t returning it.

“You a monk now?” I asked.

He finally looked into the living room. Akiko gave him her coy, practiced smile that usually had most men crawling. Cy ignored it.

“Maybe all this church talk has rubbed off on me.” His eyes found mine again. They were always on me. “Let me walk you home.”

“I’m a big girl. I can walk myself home.”

“Don’t I know it? Well, you know I live close. Why don’t you walk me home?” He grinned, leaning in close. Too close.

“Goodnight, Cy. I’ll see you bright and early for the report, okay?”

I didn’t like the look on his face. Disappointment, but not the kind I was used to. Not like some client I’d turned down at the club. This was different. Something softer. Something sharper. It cut straight through me.

I left without another word, the weight of the cartridge in my pocket suddenly immense.

I took a RoboTaxi two blocks away from RejuvaLife Pharmaceuticals and ran the rest. DITA pinged me as I neared, feeding me real-time security data.

POM’s new defenses were no joke—drones, heat sensors, high-frequency scanners that could detect an elevated heart rate.

If Taos and the others were hiding, they wouldn’t last. Luckily, DITA had swiped a few weaknesses while I’d been working for POM.

A message popped up.

Taos: Still locked in. Two guards just passed. We got 10, maybe 15 mins before they sweep again.

I crouched behind a low wall across from the facility. Of course it was raining. I pulled my hood up, slapped on an anti-recognition mask, and peeked over the barricade. The exterior was smooth, sterile white. A wire fence surrounded the entire building.

“DITA, anything from the public cameras? Entry points?”

“Security booth on the west side. Inside the fence parameter. Two guards at the entry gate.”

“Suggestions on how to get in?”

“Distraction? The transformer on the south side could be overloaded.”

Overloaded with Flux. The cartridge in my pocket became a singularity—its gravity inescapable.

I crept around the building to the south side, where thick cables fed into the main transformer.

Rain slicked the pavement, my boots soaking in carbon-infused puddles.

I pressed my back against the cold wall, eyes fixed on the humming transformer.

The Flux in my veins should’ve been enough.

I should’ve been able to reach out, pull from the charged air, from the constant thrum of energy all around me. But when I tried—

Barely a spark.

I shook my hand and tried again. My Flux snaked down into the cables, but it was drowned by the electricity already there. This thing powered the whole facility. I’d need a level of voltage I hadn’t accessed since—

But this wasn’t like the Den. When Cy had been standing too damn close, his presence threading into mine, something in me responding to him without my permission—my Flux resonating to a power level I hadn’t known was possible. No, now it was just me, and that wasn’t enough. I was alone.

My fingers curled around the Vector cartridge in my pocket.

“Eon,” DITA’s voice came softly through my earpiece. “You don’t need it.”

I exhaled sharply. “I do need it.”

“There has to be another way. You’ve worked so hard.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “No other way that’ll work fast enough. I can’t let Taos die in there. Not because of me.” I’d already caused enough harm in this world.

DITA hesitated, and I could almost hear the sadness in her silence.

If AIs could feel sadness. But I’d made her—so maybe what I heard was the part of me that knew, no matter how hard I worked, no matter what problem or job I threw myself into, no matter how much I fought with Cy and how good it felt—the Vector would always win.

I’d always come back to it. Because it felt so damn good.

Because I needed it. The chemicals inside my brain needed it.

And no matter how long it had been, how good I had been, the craving was always there.

Inescapable. A force beyond my human ability to resist—especially not a human as cowardly as me.

I grabbed the cartridge from my pocket and rolled down the shoulder of my jacket. I pressed it to my deltoid, and the microneedles released.

The burn hit first—acrid, electric. And then—

Then the world opened.

The hum of the transformer became a symphony. Every charge, every pulse—an extension of myself. My skin tingled. My body thrummed. The air itself felt alive, buzzing against my fingertips. My vision swam with the neon lights of the city, and for one glorious moment, I was perfect. I was powerful.

I reached out. Flux jumped from my palm to the transformer like a live wire snapping free, a brilliant arc of violet light cutting through the dark. Sparks spat in every direction.

My Flux—my power —snaked up the cables into the transformer, and I basked in the light as it exploded.

It rattled my teeth. Lights blew out in the southern quadrant. Sparks rained from the transformer and kissed my skin, but I didn’t feel any pain.

A voice, far away, echoed in my ear. DITA.

“Guards are on the move.”

I took the long way around the building, sprinting at top speed. My legs and lungs should’ve burned. I didn’t feel it.

Sliding through the darkness, I stayed low, my pulse a concerningly fast drumbeat in my ears as I reached the west side fence and the now-empty entrance gate.

I slipped through, pressing myself against the wall of the building. The security booth was just ahead.

“DITA, how long until backup arrives?”

“Reinforcements already in motion. ETA four minutes.”

Fuck. I had to be fast. But I could do that. I could do anything.

I yanked the booth door open, and one remaining guard spun.

His hand went for a gun, and I ran straight at him, clamping my hand over his face.

I shocked him, and I wasn’t careful. He convulsed beneath me, body twitching.

His pants grew dark as he pissed himself, but I didn’t stop. I swore I heard his heart struggling.

“EON!” DITA screamed in my ear.

I dropped him.

I looked at vid feeds pulled up on the booth’s monitors.

Me: Where are you?

Taos: Storage 3, behind some crates.

I pulled up the feed, sparks flying from my fingers over the system’s controls. They weren’t visible on camera. They’d done at least that much.

The screens flashed red: LOCKDOWN IN PROGRESS . I tried to override it, but the system needed higher clearance.

“Should I—” DITA offered, but I shook my head.

“Work smarter, not harder.” I dragged the unconscious guard to the access panel and slapped his hand down to clear the override.

I let him flop back to the floor. “At least you get to keep it,” I muttered.

The Vector was still riding high in my system, making time feel fluid, slippery. I clenched my fists, ready to throw more Flux at the panel if I had to—

Then the light blinked green.

I didn’t hesitate. I hit the override, unlocking every security door in the building.

Me: You’re clear.

Taos: Copy. Moving.

Me: Front gate clear for two mins.

Shadows slipped out from behind the crates on the screen and disappeared down a now-open corridor.

I slipped back out into the rain, keeping low as I sprinted toward the rendezvous point.

Emergency lighting flickered inside the building, casting everything in an eerie red glow. Then I saw them—Taos, Vex, Marco—bolting toward the exit.

I waved them toward the gate.

Then I felt the world shift. That horrible itching on the back of my neck as my hairs stood on end.

Something bad was about to happen.