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DAVEN

“Line tight. Weapons up.” The Luminary moved through one of Zephyr’s abandoned towers with practiced silence. Kylix gestured and they followed him through the halls toward the stairs. The place was silent. Too fucking silent.

“All right, listen up,” Daven’s cousin called once they’d all gathered. “Attica has been leaving a trace of death and destruction for months now. And after tonight, that will stop. We are going to take those motherfuckers down.”

Some of the guys snarled. Others gave a silent hell yeah. Daven lifted a fist, which earned him an eye roll from Kylix, who continued, “No one goes anywhere alone. They might still be in the building. If you see anyone in a white mask and white coat, shoot them.”

“What about the prisoners?” someone asked.

“We believe they’re still in cages.” Helianth stepped up beside Kylix, already moving like second-in-command.

Kylix nodded. “That’s right. So the mission is easy. You see any white masks, you shoot. You find any prisoners, rescue them. Now, no questions? One team goes with me. Helianth takes the second team. Let’s go.”

Daven scanned the floor, pulse ticking faster than he liked. He flexed his fingers. This was his first Luminary sweep, and he would not fail in front of his cousins.

They headed forward in a tight formation. Boots struck concrete in even intervals.

Suddenly, Helianth lifted a hand. They all hesitated. “This doesn’t feel right. It’s too quiet. If they were still here, we’d have heard them by now.”

Kylix tapped his multi-slate. “Yure. Status.”

Yure’s voice crackled through the multi-slate. “Helianth’s right. I can’t detect any major presence anymore. It’s like they vanished into thin air.”

“Vanished?” Kylix growled. “When the fuck did that happen?”

“I don’t know. I…wait⁠—”

Daven looked around, as if Yure could see something inside the building change. The thought made his insides jitter. Sector 7 was the poorest quarter of Zephyr, and its abandoned skyscrapers always made his skin prickle.

“There’s still faint movement higher up. It’s not entirely empty. Head up the stairs,” Yure said over the comms.

A cruel smile curved on Kylix’s lips. “Those motherfuckers ran fast, but not fast enough. How the fuck did they get outside in the first place? Mirel, with me. Helianth, take Daven.”

Helianth grinned his way, mouth twitching. “Don’t get sloppy on day one.”

“I can handle my own fights,” he snapped.

They started climbing the stairs.

“There’s movement on the forty-second floor.”

Daven ignored them, his legs already driving him toward the first step. There was something up there pulling at him. He couldn’t explain it, could only feel it, deep enough to make his pulse turn violent.

Whatever it was, it made him break past the second row of guards, surging after Kylix and Helianth.

He wanted everyone to hurry the fuck up.

The buzz under his skin deepened, spreading through his chest and down his spine. It made his incisors throb, made him want to pick a fight with any senior guard who believed they could stare him down just because it was his first time on a mission.

But this was something else. There was something here, inside this building, that drove Daven to the edge.

Kylix’s brows pulled together as he glanced at him.

“What?” Daven held his cousin’s gaze, heat rising under his skin.

“Nothing.”