Chapter Nineteen
Joran looked around as the blue haze around them faded and then down to the small woman resting in his arms. Nicole was responsible. She’d done something none of them had been able to do or even had a clue how to do. She also held the blue stone in her hand.
A loud roar ripped through the air, and Joran gritted his teeth. With the dome down, the new Glycons must have been waking, and the barn was the last place he wanted to be. He could only hope they would still be groggy from their prolonged sleep until he made it to his car.
Joran moved to the door and peered around the corner. He could already hear their movement and knew he would have to leave the place in a dead run.
He glanced down again at the woman in his arms. She shifted slightly.
“What’s wrong?” Nicole asked.
He shook his head. Making less noise was best.
It would be a hard run with his wounds, but he would just have to make it. If not for his own sake, then for the sake of his Vestal.
Not allowing himself time to think on it longer, Joran took off outside of the room. He sprinted down the small hall and back to the open area where he had just fought Erebus.
Two Glycons near the door stirred. Their eyes barely followed him, and he breathed a small sigh of relief. He could do this. He could escape.
A loud roar tore through the room.
Joran spotted a Glycon in the back. The monster’s sharp red eyes fixed on Joran as he made his way to the door. This one was different from the others he’d dealt with. There was something in the way the Glycon looked at him. Something intelligent, as if he were thinking.
There was no time to analyze the enemy. Joran was already bleeding out and was in no shape to fight again. Today he would run.
The hybrid raced through the door and was surprised to see the darkened sky just as they had left it. It was the only time he had to process anything before continuing the dead run. Behind him, he could hear the new Glycon as it tore through the room to reach him.
“You can’t escape!” the Glycon called out.
Joran glanced behind him, and despite the lead he had, he could see the Glycon was quickly gaining.
“Your weak hybrid body is no match for us. We, the godsons, will destroy your kind.”
A few more seconds passed before Joran’s brain caught up with what had just happened. Thrax was more intelligent than most Glycons, and he could barely string two words together, but this new Glycon was obviously just as intelligent as a hybrid.
Still, Joran didn’t have time to worry about the future. His heart hammered in his chest and already he could feel the fatigue starting to set in. They had just reached the line of the forest when he felt Nicole move.
“There are dozens of them now” Nicole said. “Don’t stop running,”
The loud bang of her gun was the only indication he needed to know what she was doing. Over and over she fired. He only knew she’d hit her targets by the roars that came.
He spotted Alec and Rem as they sprinted toward them.
“Run,” he shouted to his comrades.
Joran could see by their faces that they saw the men hot on their trail, no doubt the new intelligent leader just moments behind.
“Start the car,” Rem shouted ahead.
It wasn’t until Joran made his way up the hill to the road that he saw the old sheriff sitting in the car. The hybrid threw open the door and slipped easily inside, Rem and Alec close behind.
“Just what the hell—” Frank tried to say, but the talking Glycon came bursting into the area, his deep-set red eyes staring at the man from behind the car.
“Drive, Frank!” Nicole shouted. “Or we all die!”
Much to Joran surprise, the old man punched the gas instead of panicking, and they shot forward. The Glycon stopped at the road and stared at them as they sped away.
Joran turned to look at him. The creature had the same knowing look on his face that had been there earlier.
If this had been a test, it was clear who the winner was.
“Jesus, you’re bleeding,” Frank said.
Joran’s eyes had trouble focusing on the man in the front. He’d lost too much blood. He knew that when he’d been fighting, but it hadn’t mattered as long as Nicole was safe.
The hybrid turned and found her concerned face as she stared at him. His breathing was already labored.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Just once he wanted to say it. One time before he couldn’t anymore.
“Don’t say that,” Nicole whispered. “Don’t say it like you’re never going to say it again.”
Already the light was starting to fade. He closed his eyes as she shouted at him.
“Joran, look at me! You can’t go. Just hold on.”
It was warm. So warm. That was the last thought he had as he slipped away.
Joran was going to leave her. After everything they had been through, she was going to lose him just like that.
“No,” Nicole whispered as his eyes closed.
It wasn’t instinct this time that guided her but knowledge. She would use every last drop of power she had if it would save him.
Bright blue light filled the car as she pulled out the stone from her pocket.
“What the fuck is going on?” Frank shouted.
“Interesting.” Rem arched a brow. “Now that I didn’t expect.”
Nicole ignored them both. She shut out everyone but the man slumped against the door holding on just by a thread.
“Please,” she whispered as she placed her palm inside his shirt on the tattoo. “Please save him.”
Warm blinding heat blasted through her, burning her palm on the spot where she touched him but still she held on.
She could feel his heart beat under her fingers. Their two hearts beat as one and pulsed with the stone. They were connected. Not just together but with the energy from the stone.
It was like opening the door to a room she never knew existed. All at once, her world expanded.
“Nicole,” someone called out to her.
She opened her eyes and found it was Joran who had spoken.
“Nicole, you have to stop. You have to move away. Please, for me.”
His words were so simple, and with that, she dropped the stone from her palm and slumped against him.
“I did it,” Nicole whispered.
Joran kissed the top of her head, but already she could feel exhaustion setting in. Within moments, she was deep in sleep.