She stayed on her toes to quiet her steps. "What if they were planted here? What if the call to the Hunter’s Hotline wasn’t the only setup?"
"We can find another way to play their game and make it so there are no questions of appearances, Hunter. I do not like putting you in danger like this."
A metallic banging sound echoed down the stairwell. Rin stalled, one foot poised in the air, as it happened again.
Her watch beeped chaotically.
And again, the banging echoed, sounding just like footsteps thundering down the stairs.
A roar. Then another.
Rin’s entire body tensed. She waited for the Nova to claim her, for her heart to go haywire. But it didn’t.
The steps on the floor above them were shaking. Auren grabbed her arm and hauled her up the last few steps onto the landing. She spied the hint of the Rogue’s rock-like form, just as Auren threw open the door and pulled her in, slamming his body against it to keep it barricaded.
Atlas kept her safe.The Celestial always would, through whatever means necessary.
He touched her with his shadowed form, imbuing her with strength. He felt her give a ghost of a shiver. Did she feel him? The thought was pleasing to him. He wanted to be felt by her.
Rin braced herself,calling for Auren, "Get away from the door!"
Auren swept back gracefully, shielding her as two lowlevel Rogues crashed through the door. Rin’s back brushed the side of a cubicle desk.
Rin’s heart tripped. The dim lighting on the low ceilings flickered. She winced as the beats of her heart steadied.
"What do you wish to do, Hunter?"
She took a small step forward, to Auren’s side, ignoring his huff of indignation. A low power thrummed in her veins, scorching her blood.
The Rogues snarled, pawing at the carpet.
"I’ll take the one on the left. You get the one on the right." Without further preamble, Rin surged forward, body twisting in a perfectly choreographed dance. She swept down, knee hitting the carpet, as her sword arced out, the blade finding its home at the delicate joint at the monster’s front leg. It roared, and she surged to her feet, lithely jumping back to miss as it swiped at her. But why wasn’t it coming any closer? It seemed afraid of her.
Rin didn’t have time to question it further. She heard the other Rogue screech as Auren slashed at it with his scythe. The lights on the ceiling flickered, darkening the shadows. Rin spun out, jumping as she did so, then angled her Echosword down, plunging the blade right into the Rogue’s mouth.
Hot blood sprayed at her. She turned her head away with a grimace.
She wobbled slightly as she pulled the Echosword away, and the Rogue collapsed.
Exhilaration filled her. "That’s two down," she panted, turning to find Auren staring at her with an overt expression of awe.
"You enjoy this," he observed.
"It reminds me of what I’m fighting for." Rin realized now she had much more to fight for than avenging her parents. Five Soulbonds.
She was so out of breath, she leaned forward and braced her hands on her knees. Auren’s blue eyes were filled with worry as he stared at her.
"I’m okay—" she started, but her gaze locked on a larger figure further in the shadows. The midlevel. Her watch hadn’t beeped.
Her pulse surged, but this time, from fear.
Auren held up a hand to keep her back, but she didn’t obey, trailing after him as he stalked toward the shadowed form of the Rogue. It lay crumpled in a heap. No blood. No wounds.
"It is dead," Auren said quietly, eyes scanning the shadows.
"Just like in Lunar City. Does that mean—whatever it was that ended this Rogue followed us here?"
Atlas watchedas Vesperin and the Soul Searcher left the building. She stumbled and coughed faintly, sweat on her temples. Her body was growing weaker; there was only so much she could endure with his Nova coursing within her. Only when she was safely back inside her cramped apartment did the Celestial let himself dissolve into nothingness, taking form somewhere else entirely—on another planet.
