She let go and dropped into a ball, hoping he’d trip over her. Bone splintered as the backs of his boots hit her side, but before he could turn or lift a leg to kick her—
‘I think that’s quite enough,’ came Callum’s dark drawl.
The assassin turned to where the other Empyreal stalked down the alley, then surged forward.
Where Kyan fought rough yet economically, Callum was elegant, with an undercurrent of lethal power. There was a speed and fluidity to his movements that revealed he was far more experienced than Kyan. Here, Callum’s usually concealed danger gleamed like a painting beneath varnish.
He was the most incredible fighter she’d ever seen. For some reason, he must hide it. Whether to make people drop their guard or because he knew he’d have no problem in any type of fight.
Though a smile almost flickered on Callum’s face, unease rippled across his features at the brutality the stranger fought with.
While the assassin was busy and Remi had run to her mother,Nicole reached Dylan, wincing at the sharp pain in her ribs. He was dazed, his eyes red and his throat quickly bruising.
Nicole searched for something to help.
Lawna’s knife had skidded off somewhere, but on the shadowed wall were a series of pipes. Nicole brought her leg up to kick the edge of one and rip it off, the metal tearing with a shriek as Callum slammed the stranger into the wall.
‘What the fuck did they do to you, hm?’ Callum asked, inches from the assassin’s face.
But the assassin wrenched himself free, crashing Callum into the wall instead, so Nicole dived. She’d realised the gear was practically armoured when Lawna’s knife had done no damage, so brought the metal pipe up under the assassin’s outstretched arm.
She would have winced at the wet sound if the sight of her brother and Lawna’s half-crumpled form weren’t burned in her mind like the Empyrean itself.
The assassin stilled and she was hit by a crush of relief.
It wasover.
‘Nicole!’
Dylan got up and shoved her aside just as the Empyreal jerked his elbow back, resulting in a crunch as it met Dylan’s face.
Nicole staggered backwards, reeling as Callum shoved the Empyreal away and followed it with a hard, bone-cracking punch and strong kick that sent the assassin blasting back out into the street and falling right onto the pipe still jammed beneath their arm.
It shot upwards through the Empyreal’s underarm and speared out at the collarbone like a savage stalk of blood and metal.
Callum prowled over and crouched before the stranger.
‘You won’tremember us,’he began, Influence limning his words with power that, even from several feet away, Nicole could feel. ‘You fought off some people protecting the Siren girl, but they got away because you were surprised.’
Nicole moved closer warily, as Callum asked, ‘Who made you?’
But the Empyreal didn’t answer, and a flicker of worry danced in her stomach. Was the Influence not working? Callum must have thought the same, because he reached for the Empyreal’s mask to rip it off, but the Empyreal jerked away, tearing out the bloody pipe with a grunt and spatter of blood on the pavement. He flung it free, before shoving up, and running.
‘What the fuck was that?’ Dylan rasped, clamping his nose tightly against a rush of blood.
‘That, was likely what the Wake have been up to,’ Callum said.
‘The Empyreal they experimented on?’ Nicole asked, pressing her tender side.
‘Now, I have no doubt,’ Callum said, wiping his face and seeming surprised to find blood on his mouth. Fury razored the light in his eyes. ‘I didn’t recognise his scent. And I certainly haven’t seen anyone his size in a long time. Come on.’ He reached down to help Dylan up. ‘You think I’d let you get killed?’
Dylan’s breath was heaving. He winced as his cheek bloomed with a dark bruise. ‘I don’t know what to think,’ he said, honestly.
‘Then you’re an idiot.’ There was no real barb in Callum’s eyes, his words.
Only an offering. He held his hand out, and Dylan took it.
Nicole rushed over to Remi. Lawna clutched her head, still slumped with Remi’s arms around her.
