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“Get Doc,” Evan clipped, his eyes pinched. He also looked pale.
“What happened?” Mary asked as she rushed over. She gestured to Flint who picked up the phone, presumably to call Grace down.
Evan’s green eyes skated to Daisy. “He gave too much blood. He’s injured. Not healing fast enough.”
“Where is he hurt?” she asked.
“His leg. I cauterized it.” Evan peeled back the fabric on Tony’s thigh. Red messy flesh greeted them. “His fire stopped working.”
Tony winced. “I’m fine.”
Daisy noticed Evan had wounds on his neck. His tattoo was all deformed. That meant the skin had been ruptured but she couldn’t see details. “What’s that from?”
Evan dabbed his neck. His fingers came away red. “Powered replicates. They’ve surrounded Syndicate Tower. Half the Sinners are down. Griffin is—”
The sound of tires skidding echoed through the garage door. Parker. His impatience had won and he’d left to join his mate. Shit.
“I have to go,” Daisy blurted as Grace entered the room with her physician’s kit in tow.
The doctor’s alarmed eyes went to her mate, but Evan forced her to tend Tony. Daisy left them and jogged to the garage. She tried not to think about Evan’s wounded neck. It was still bleeding. She tried even more not to think about what Evan said. Tony’s fire had stopped working.
Had Daisy doomed them all when they’d donated their blood?
* * *
Before Daisy could halther motorcycle at the Syndicate Tower battlefront, something hit her and flung her from the seat. She landed hard on the road and skidded. Friction warmed her side but the suit saved her from burns. Rolling like a cat, she grabbed a dagger from her belt and stabbed the asphalt to slow her trajectory.
Her blade went so deep it dug up rock. Weird.
She had only a moment to think, maybe the workmanship was dodgy and that’s why she was strong enough to gouge it, then she was on her feet, wind blasting her face as she surveyed the scene. A setting sun crested the building, casting glare on a myriad of city windows. Mindless replicates fought the Deadly Seven on all sides—replicates seemed to be everywhere. At least three Sinners joined in. One redhead, two others. Their hoods had fallen back and, too exhausted from the battle, or too busy, they’d not lifted them again. From the way Parker roared as his bionic arm went through a replicate attacking another dark-suited woman, Daisy guessed it was Alice he protected.
Yanking his bloody hand out of the chest cavity, Parker barked something at the woman and pointed to the building, to presumable safety. She flipped him the bird and then dove headfirst back into battle with the other Sinners—none of which had the protection of a bulletproof suit. Definitely Alice. Daisy grinned.
The Sinners moved like synchronized dancers as they twirled and stabbed anything that came their way. It wasn’t just replicates that attacked, but other Syndicate monsters—Daisy only needed to swivel her head and she found dozens more. Rabid animals. Humans with red eyes—drugged up on greed serum. A solitary Faithful piloted a mech suit—his white face mask flashed deep inside the robotic monster as it laid waste to a brick and mortar building.
The robotic arm halted mid air. Then the mech punched itself and fell backward. Daisy located Griffin standing twenty feet away, chasing down the Faithful before using his gift to pry open the cockpit and yanking the pilot out. Two seconds later, the mech suit sizzled as wires were cut.
While he was busy pulling out the mech suit wires, a shadow converged on him. Daisy had a split second to recognize a replicate with beastly claws about to strike down her brother fifty feet away. If she shouted, he might not hear her warning. A wave of instinct built inside her and she followed the need, she let it scorch through her body until she connected with the atoms between her and the beast. Then she squeezed.
As though an invisible rope lassoed around the replicate, he jerked toward Daisy, his feet dragging on the floor. Griffin looked up, saw what had just come after him and where it was now headed—to Daisy. Their eyes met over the distance, then he gave chase. His bo-staff flew from his hand, hit the beastly replicate in the head and took him down before Daisy could drag him more than twenty feet. Their eyes met again and then he nodded before collecting his bo-staff and finishing the job.
Daisy let go of her gift and wondered if maybe she found high ground she could be of better use. But the replicates seemed rabid. Insatiable. Even the one Parker had put his fist through tried to get up and fight. It was that serum. It made them mindless zombies with a taste for sin.
Closer to her, Daisy zeroed in on Wyatt near a hydrant as three replicates jumped him like cubs on a lion. He went down. She pushed effort into her legs and marked how good she felt. Energy crackled from her skin. She buzzed with adrenaline. Alert. Alive.
An arrow whizzed past Daisy’s face and lodged in one of the replicates attacking Wyatt. Daisy unleashed her katana and took the second down. Sliced his head clean off. Wyatt broke the third in half. Blood sprayed Daisy’s face, sinking into her mask.
She yanked it down to breathe. Didn’t really like the mask anyway.
Fury contorted Wyatt’s red-streaked face as he pushed the body parts off him as he got to his feet and yanked his own mask down. Blue eyes looked stark against the macabre war paint. He lifted his chin in greeting, then reached behind Daisy—no, he punched. His fist grazed her cheek but crunched bone behind her. Pivoting, Daisy discovered a replicate had stalked her. Wyatt shared a meeting of the eyes with Daisy and then ran down the street as he no doubt located another threat—probably sensing wrath.
The sense of rightness bloomed in Daisy’s chest. This was her family. They had each other’s backs. This was where she belonged, fighting alongside them.
It was also the doomsday Julius had hoped for. The moment they felled one attacker, another rose in its place. And the people, the poor infected people, were getting hurt.
Sirens blared as local police and SWAT turned up. Parker lifted his head from where he crouched at the ground, dragging an unconscious civilian to the side. His mask had also been torn from his face as he fought. Golden eyes met Daisy’s then continued searching until he sourced Liza, still with her fuchsia face mask up and hiding her identity.
Liza’s ungloved hands covered the mouth of a replicate as they wrestled on the ground. Within seconds her opponent went limp. When she removed her hands, foam bubbled at his mouth. Poisoned.
