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“Denfehlath!” I shouted. After a few seconds a door opened in the wall and she stepped out, ruby eyes blazing with excitement.
“Save the paranormals, starting with the werewolves,” I commanded.
Her smile disappeared. “What?” she hissed.
“Start now. You've got a lot of sleeping bodies to move!”
She glared at me, trembling with fury, but entered the gym. She couldn't disobey. After the gym doors closed behind her, I palmed them, holding my hand there for a full fifteen seconds. The pad turned red and I hit a combination, locking it.
A couple of vamps came out of a side hall, seeing me. “What's going on?” Vlad asked. He was with the guy from before who'd tried to hit on me.
“You need to hide! It's here!”
The end of the hallway filled with light; a figure turned the corner. It was shaped like a person, but made entirely of living gold fire and burning so brightly the image was seared into my retinas. It walked toward us, beautiful and terrible as the sun made living flesh.
“Run!” I shouted to the vamps. They hadn't reacted. How did they not notice the light?
They turned toward the creature just as it got to them. Neither one of them looked frightened. “Run!” I screamed again. The creature cocked its head, turning toward me as it lifted both hands and put one on each vampire's chest. I watched in horror as the vampires stiffened, for a brief moment glowing brightly. Then it was like someone turned off whatever was inside them; they dimmed and fell motionless to the ground, nothing but corpses now.
I couldn't move. The thing turned in my direction. It was only fifteen feet away. My eyes watered. It was too bright, too much.
It glided toward me. A scream, no doubt my last, built in my throat. I couldn't make out any features as it paused a few feet away from me; everything blurred together in the sheer brilliance of its light and heat.
“I love the boots,” a woman's voice said playfully.
I turned and ran, sprinting as fast as I could, waiting for my own life to be sucked dry. I looked back. She was walking after me. At least she hadn't gone in the gym. I turned into a hall and ran straight for a door, palming it open and leaving through a door on the other end. I was almost to Lend's cell. If I could get Lend out, if I could get him to Transport, I could leave. The faeries were at Transport--that was the set evacuation plan.
I nearly ran past his door, skidding to a stop and darting into his room. He was standing there, looking anxious.
“It's here!” I panted. “It's here, in the building--we have to go now. ”
“I can't!” He pointed to his ankle. “Leave without me, go!”
I knelt down next to his leg, grabbing the ankle tracker. This would be my last action as a member of IPCA--what I was about to do qualified me for permanent lockup. I placed my thumb in the middle of his tracker, thanking whatever deities I could think of that I had been the one to put the tracker on Lend. That meant I could take it off, but it would be recorded in the computer systems, marking me as a traitor.
“What are you doing?”
“Don't move. ” I concentrated on holding perfectly still. After twenty seconds, a green light flashed. I leaned down and blew gently on it and the light turned red. There was a small hiss as the sensors retracted. I reached around and unlatched it.
“Come on!” I took his hand and put the tracker in my pocket. “We have to get to Transport now. ” We went into the hall and turned--and there she was, walking toward us. “No, no, no,” I whispered.
“What?” Lend asked, looking over. “Oh, that's weird. ”
“Run!” I shouted, tugging on his hand and running in the opposite direction of the burning woman--and the opposite direction of Transport. I racked my brains, trying to think of alternate routes we could take.
“Who was that
?”
“Who was that? What are you talking about? That was it--the thing--the life sucker!”
“What?”
“Did you miss the whole on fire part?” I panted, turning another corner. Clearly Lend was in shock.
I wasn't thinking straight. We hit a dead end.
“Evie, she wasn't on fire. ”
