Chapter Thirty-six
“Am I going to die now?” Kat tried to keep her voice even and nonchalant but she couldn’t help the little tremble that crept in as she stared at the poisoned knife in Lock’s hand. “Because I don’t feel any different.”
“The effects of the kusax are not immediate,” Lock said in a low voice. He threw the dagger away with a quick, jerky motion, like a man getting rid of a deadly snake. “But we should not speak of that now. We need to get back to the ship.”
“Lock’s right.” Deep spoke slowly, a stricken expression on his face. “We…we need medical attention. We must go.”
“All right, let’s go then.” Kat got unsteadily to her feet, shaking off the helping hands of both brothers. She wanted to know that she could still get up and move around on her own—wanted to feel that she was still all right, no matter what they said about the stupid Scourge knife that had scratched her. She headed in the direction of the beach and then stopped. “Wait a minute, what about Lauren?”
There was a suddenly muted roaring sound and a rush of wind. From further down the abandoned battlefield a small silver Kindred ship rose into the air. It hovered for a moment and then shot straight up, disappearing into the smoggy sky.
“There’s your answer,” Deep said, pointing. “Xairn has gone and he’s taken Lauren with him.”
“How can you be sure he took her with him?” Kat demanded. “What if she’s still here, wandering around in this horrible place?”
“He would not have left her,” Lock said quietly. “He loves her, my lady—could you not tell?”
“I know that Lauren seemed to be very fond of him…” Kat frowned. “But Xairn’s still a Scourge. And I don’t know if I could tell that he loved her.”
“His heart was given,” Deep said. “It was clear—at least to another male who has given his heart.”
“And how would you know? When did you ever give anything to anyone but pain?” Lock asked but his voice was more weary than angry.
Kat held out her hands. “Don’t start guys, okay? Let’s just do a quick search to make sure Lauren’s not here and then we can assume she went with Xairn. All right?”
“A very quick search.” Lock frowned. “We need to get you home, my lady. To see if there is anything…anything Sylvan can do for you.”
Kat put a hand on her hip. “Do me a favor and stop acting like I have one foot in the grave, okay? For your information I feel perfectly fine. In fact I don’t have a bit of pain and—”
At that moment the alpha guard sat straight up and began laughing. The black knife blade still protruded from the center of its massive chest—there was no way it could still be alive. But somehow it was—or at least it was moving. The high, eerie cackle that came from its dead, lipless mouth froze the blood in Kat’s veins.
“Of course you do not have pain yet, sssweet little human,” the thing said. “That comesss later, after the weaknesss has ssset in. After the green linesss reach your heart and delve deep to find your very sssoul…”
“Oh my God!” Kat gasped as the reanimated Alpha Guard began to get up. “It’s alive. How the hell—?”
“The AllFather is directing it, just as he was before.” Quickly, Lock scooped her into his arms. “Shoot it, Deep, and let’s be on our way. We’ve overstayed our welcome here.”
“I think you’re right.” Pulling his weapon, Deep took careful aim and released a bright red beam of energy.
The deadly laser blast took off the monstrous Alpha guard’s head as easily as a knife slicing through cheese. It fell from the broad shoulders and rolled on the ground at their feet, the eyes still blinking and the lipless mouth still laughing. “Die,” it whispered, so faintly Kat could barely hear it. “Sssoon you ssshall die, little human…sssoon…sssoon…” Then the guard’s body fell to its knees and collapsed slowly, its dead hands still reaching out, the thick fingers grasping the air.
“Crap!” A chill swept over her and Kat felt like she might be sick. “That’s…that’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe it just kept moving and talking like that even after…” She shook her head, unable to finish.
“Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here!” Deep led the way, his hand still pressed to his side.
“But Lauren!” Kat protested. “You promised we’d look for her!”
Lock turned reluctantly and then they saw three more of the massive guards lumbering toward them. “I’m sorry, my lady,” he told her. “But we must go now. You and Deep are both wounded. I cannot protect you both and fight off three more guards on my own.”
They ran through the ships on the battlefield and crossed the polluted beach, the oily brown sand crunching under the twins’ booted feet. The guards behind them were gaining rapidly, probably because none of them was A—wounded or B—carrying a plus-sized woman, Kat thought, staring over Lock’s shoulder as he ran. Deep staggered along beside them, his face white and one hand fisted at his side. There was blood leaking down his leg in a dark rivulet. God, she hoped all this running wasn’t making his wound worse, though she didn’t see how it could possibly be helping any. She still didn’t even know how he could be functioning after receiving such a serious injury—did Twin Kindred have extra special healing ability? Lock had said something about self sealing organs but what did that even mean?
Finally they reached their ship and piled inside. “I’ll pilot,” Lock said, sliding into the driver’s seat. For once, Deep said nothing. He only nodded and settled himself carefully in one of the other seats. Kat did the same and started to buckle herself in. She felt terrible about Lauren but Lock and Deep didn’t seem overly concerned. Maybe they’re right, she comforted herself. Maybe Xairn took her with him and he’s so in love with her that he’ll take care of her no matter what happens.
She hoped so. It was going to be really hard to face Liv and Sophie and tell them that she had found their long-lost cousin…and then lost her again. Then again, it was going to be hard to tell them the other news too.
But surely I won’t die—not of a tiny little scratch! She touched her wounded cheek gingerly with her fingertips and winced at the sting.
“I’m sorry.”
Kat looked up to see Deep watching her with a look of remorse in his black eyes. “What?” she asked.
“I said I’m sorry. All this is my fault. If I hadn’t insisted we come here, none of it would have happened. You wouldn’t have been cut and—”
“That’s true,” Kat interrupted, refusing to discuss her impending doom. “But we were looking for traces of Lauren too, so the mission wasn’t a complete wash.” She frowned. “I still don’t understand what happened in the psychic knife though.”
“I understand,” Lock said grimly as he worked the controls. “The knife is made to cut bonds between people, but it only cuts the bonds the operator stipulates. When Deep set the controls, he didn’t program the machine to cut the soul bond between the two of us and you, my lady. Instead he—”
“Cut the bond between the two of us and himself,” Kat finished, understanding. “So now you and I are bonded but neither one of us has any connection to Deep.”
“That’s true.” Deep nodded. “I thought…I believed that the two of you would be better off together. Without my interference.”
Lock turned to give his brother a fierce look. “That’s not right or natural and you know it, Deep. The Goddess formed Twin Kindred to share a female—I never wanted the lady Kat all to myself. I wanted to share her with you. And now…” His throat worked convulsively and he shook his head. “And now I don’t know what will happen to us. Any of us. Because I cannot live without the two of you and both of you are wounded.”
“It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get through this.” Kat tried to sound a lot more positive than she felt. “Once we get back to the Mother ship, Sylvan will patch us up physically. And as for the bonding and soul stuff, we can always go back to Mother L’rin, right? I mean, I know she was pretty pissed at us last time we saw her but surely she won’t turn us away when we explain what happened.”
“Maybe she can help.” Deep sounded hopeful. “Hasn’t she treated kusax wounds before?”
“I don’t remember.” Lock stared straight ahead at the viewscreen. “But I think it would be best for us to contact her as soon as possible to ask.”
“There, see—all better.” Kat tried to smile at them but neither brother returned her positive expression. She felt a steady wave of worry/fear/helplessness coming from Lock and from Deep she still felt…nothing. God, I never thought I would miss having his feelings in my head! Now I just wish I could tell what was going on behind those black eyes of his. But whatever it was, Deep wasn’t telling.
It will be all right, Kat told herself uneasily. We’ve been through a lot but surely we can fix this, like we fixed everything else. We’re all going to be okay…aren’t we?
She hoped so. Oh God, she certainly hoped so.