Page 53

Serena’s voice shakes me out of it and I hurriedly walk to the door. When I pull, though, nothing happens. It’s locked. I try again. It has to be stuck.

Sari suddenly appears on the other side.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Where’s Raph?”

“Trying with Gabe and the others to contain the fire. It reached the back of the house,” he replies, as he inserts the code into the door keypad.

But I don’t hear the clicking sound of the lock. Is this door malfunctioning, as well? I smell trouble. I need to get Sari out of here.

“Why won’t it open?” He tries again to no avail. He looks anxious, pulling at the handle again and again.

“Baby Blue, move aside,” I order him as I lift my gun and shoot four bullets at the door handle. Rague really chose the best materials when he built the bulletproof wall. No cracks.

“Go!” I yell at Sari.

“No!” He replies. I see movement behind him, and I’m surprised to find Ezra coming our way.

“Come with me,” he tells Sari.

“But Uri! We need to get him out of here!” He’s so beautiful when he cries. He raises his hand, pressing his palm over the glass. I cover his with mine, the cold material stops our skin from touching.

“I will. I promise you. But I can’t, knowing you aren’t safe.” I look into his gorgeous light blue eyes before turning to my brother. “Take him out of here, Ezra.” I’ve never begged anyone, and I won’t start now, but if my brother doesn’t take him to safety right this instant, I will maim him.

“I won’t leave you,” Sari sobs.

“He’s ours.”

Ezra smiles at my begrudging words. “Hurry up!” he says before lifting the most precious thing in my life and hauling him away.

I try to pull the door open again, but the fucker won’t budge.

Luckily, I’m surrounded by tools. I quickly find the crowbar Rague likes to use on the donors and wedge the end into the very tight gap between the door and frame.

I push and pull with all my might, using everything I have to get the damn thing to open.

I groan as the bolts begin to give, and using all my weight, I give it a final hard shove.The door finally busts wide. The smell of smoke is filling the air, making my nostrils itch. I’m in the basement of a burning house. I need to get the fuck out.

I make my way to the stairs when a sudden gnawing feeling in my gut makes me turn around. Two loud bangs, and my right leg gives out as pain spreads rapidly up from my thigh.

I grit my teeth as I see the silhouette of someone walking toward me, gun in hand. An oxygen mask is covering their face, and they are wearing a fireman’s uniform.

I dropped Pamela when I fell. I only have my switchblade inside my pocket.

“And then there was one. Or should I say seven? Pity the others fled. Locking the door was timed too late; you were all supposed to be imprisoned inside the basement and to burn into a crisp.” Their voice sounds distorted, but they don’t hide their snigger as they look at me.

“Who are you?” I grit my teeth against the throb in my leg. My hand pressing on the wounds feels wet. The bullets didn’t hit the artery—there would have been much more blood if that was the case—but it still hurts like a motherfucker.

“Ah, still in the dark. How have you all survived? Pathetic. Insignificant nothings.”

“Phoenix,” I spit out. Only they could have planned this circus. Fucking piece of shit.

“Oh, that name. He died before he could tell you…I see.” Who are they talking about? Ezra?

He takes a few steps closer. The air is getting thicker around us.

“What do you want?” I cough; my breaths are becoming labored.

“I just take pleasure in other’s distress and pain. Especially yours. You see, someone’s true nature is always revealed, no matter how much one tries to hide it. Especially if people keep poking at one’s sensitive spot!”

“You started it,” I bark. “And when you excessively hate something, it’s because you recognize that same thing within yourself.” Or some shit like that.

Phoenix’s angry growl makes me smile. Gotcha!

“Me, on the other hand, I just want to tear you to shreds,” I let them know.

“When are you and your pitiful, miserable group of losers going to realize that you’ve been outmatched? I’ve been toying with you this whole time. Directing you like…little insects.”

“You’re lying,” I goad them. If they keep talking until the smoke gets thicker, I can try to reach for my switchblade and stab them with it, preferably in the head.

“Who put that serial killer on One’s path and then told him where to find Two when he was kidnapped? Who pushed Six into that illegal fight ring and kept poking at him until he went berserk?”

They’re using our subject numbers, which suggests that they were part of Project Blood Assassin. Linda assured us that all the scientists and government heads were killed. But how about the guards? Could one have escaped their deserved fate somehow? If that’s the case, I’ll remedy that.

Phoenix keeps going, “Who sent Three and his pathetic AI on a merry quest against a senatorial candidate while I was creating a drug empire? Five got right in the middle of it; I wonder how? And who do you think made Four’s tracker malfunction?”

I’m going to make them bleed from every hole, then create new holes to fill with blood.

“Unfortunately nobody died except Eight. But his death is terribly vexing. I wanted to be the one to cause it.” They sniff.

So they think Ezra is dead. “I’ve been using the people you care about, your own emotions, your own weaknesses against you.

” The wicked pride dripping from their revelations makes my gut twist with anger and excitement.

They have been fucking with us for more than a year, which suggests an indomitable enemy—one I’ll enjoy maiming.

“All your twisted meddling did was push us toward our partners. You are our personal matchmaker.” I snort.

“Your mommy doesn’t seem very happy in that hospital bed.

” I stifle the growl inside my throat. That’s confirmation Phoenix was the one to poison Meg.

“You’ve all been pathetically hunting me down for months like I’m some sort of monster, when in fact, you are the merciless murderers.

Your last kill is right in the next room.

” They point at Trent’s corpse lying on the table.

“We have a code.”

“A code?” They chuckle. “Everything I’ve done, all my actions were caused by you and those other scums of the earth you call brothers. Poisoning that hag was so satisfying.”

“Fuck you!” I hiss. I want to yank that mask off their face and rearrange their features until there’s only blood and goo left.

“You need to suffer for ruining my life,” they spit with so much hate I can almost see it, palpable in the already suffocating air.

“I don’t even know who you fucking are,” I dismiss their anger hoping to make them reveal themselves.

Smoke is slowly coming in. In my seated position, the air is less heavy, but soon I won’t be able to breathe easily. The wall behind me is getting hot, the fire is no doubt spreading inside the house. I don’t have much time.

“You’ll die without knowing who I am. I like that. Burned alive. Seems fitting, don’t you think? Poetic justice.”

Whatever. “Justice is like true selflessness, it doesn’t exist,” I state as they aim the gun at my other leg.

A shot resounds, but not from their gun.

It came from behind me and it forces Phoenix against the opposite wall.

Then another and another. I pull out my switchblade and throw it at Phoenix’s head.

It pierces the oxygen mask right at the center of their skull.

I turn to see Ezra lowering Pamela. He has an axe in his other hand and his bandana over his mouth.

He slides Pamela into his jeans and jogs my way. He crouches down and hands me a damp towel, then wraps his arm under my shoulder to pull me up. I let out a groan into the towel when a sharp, shooting pain hits my leg. Motherfucking shit!

“The thing you said about justice…not entirely true,” Ezra tells me, as he turns us toward the exit. “You good?”

“Do I look good?” I snap, glaring at him. My leg is fucking killing me. “Wait, we need to check Phoenix is dead.” Even though after three bullets and a knife to the head it would be…

“Where the fuck did they go?” I cough out, when I see the place where Phoenix was lying is empty. The blood stain on the wall reassures me that we did hit them. Not enough though. Fuck! The switchblade Sari gave me is on the floor.

“Get that,” I tell Ezra.

“Fuck it, we need to go.” He’s coughing too.

I push against his chest to get to the blade, but Ezra suddenly lets me go to do it himself.

“If we die because of a damn knife, I’ll be really pissed,” he states as we make our way to the stairs.

Gray smoke is filling the area in front of the lab, which tells me that the flames are not far away.

It’s like we are going into the belly of the beast. The further we go, the harder it is to orient ourselves.

I squint through the clouds of smoke. The sounds of burning and of my own breathing the only things I can hear.

I spot the bottom of the stairs that will lead us up into the garage.

Ezra adjusts his arm around me, and then I start my excruciating way up.

It fucking hurts. Beads of sweat are running down my face and back.

I can barely breathe, the towel over my mouth hardly helps.

Somehow we reach the garage. The large roll-up door is open, letting cold, fresh air in, but flames are bright and blazing near the door on the right, which opens to the main house entrance.

That same door suddenly explodes, and a burst of flames billows out from inside, throwing us back into Gabe’s car, knocking the wind out of me as I hit the windshield.

“Fuck!” I hear Ezra shout my exact sentiment as he grabs my arm to steady both of us.

My heart is pounding, blood rushing in my head, and all I can think of is the feeling of Sari’s lean body against mine. Safe.

We slowly continue on until we are outside. I can’t feel the winter cold. Like I conjured him out of thin air, Sari is suddenly in front of me, holding me tight. His sweet honey and apple scent surrounds me, almost erasing the smoky smell inside my nostrils.

“You idiot!” I feel his body trembling as he lets out a sob. “God, why do I have to put up with you?”

“Because you love me,” I simply remind him, as I move us further away from the burning house. I stop only when we reach the others. I try to ignore the searing pain in my leg and back, but it’s getting harder.

I limp to the small wall on the side of the driveway and sit there.

“Oh shit, your leg!” Sari kneels down at my feet. “Bullet holes?”

I nod as he starts to tear my jeans to get a look at the wounds.

“One went through, but the other needs to be removed,” he tells me as his trembling hands tie his scarf around my leg. “An ambulance is coming.”

A groan leaves my lips as he tightens the knot. “What the hell happened? Was it Ezra?” He sits next to me, and I tuck him into my side.

“No.” The sound of the fire trucks speeding down the driveway halts my explanation.

The firemen jump down and start doing their thing.

One goes to talk to Raph and Gabe, both covered in soot.

Michael’s pants are wet as he clings to his husband’s side.

Lori is taking care of a small burn on Ollie’s arm just as Rague’s Jeep stops a few feet from us, and he flies out of it with Rami behind him.

Ezra didn’t leave. He’s looking at the house with a serious expression on his face.

I turn my eyes to the fire now blazing out of control.

The tall orange and red flames illuminate the forest surrounding the three-story building, the top level aglow.

The firemen aim two water streams, one at the second and the other at the first floor, when suddenly an explosion bursts out from the roof, followed by another.

Massive fireballs light up the night sky, sending sparks flying through the air like confetti.

I spot large plumes of smoke billowing out so thick they hide part of the house.

“Jesus,” Rague mutters, for once not excited as he peers at the horrible sight with Ollie in his arms.

“Bloody hell,” Lori echoes his feeling, wrapping himself around Gabe.

I don’t share the sad expressions on most of my brothers—Michael is even shedding tears.

Meg hated this house even though it was her family’s.

Linda always commented how cold and tacky it was.

I don’t feel upset at the loss, but I am fucking furious.

Because Phoenix took yet another thing from me.

From us. And I let them. I had them in front of me, and I didn’t kill them.

An ear-cracking boom ricochets through the night sky. I shield Sari’s face as four windows on the second floor explode, sending debris and embers to the ground far from us.

“You were shot by Phoenix?” I hear Lori’s baffled voice just before more chaos explodes around me.