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“It remembered us. That’s not the same thing.”
“Learning is remembering.”
“It remembers what happened. But it doesn’t mean it’slearnedit can be destroyed. It has no concept of living so it can’t.” Isaiah shook free of Tanner’s hold.
“That doesn’t mean it hasn’t figured out that attacking us outright wouldn’t be a challenge.”
“That’s not how the Anubis works. It doesn’t sneak up on its prey while it sleeps.” It took glory in the devastation it rained.
“Not when it can kill you in a single strike. It wants us to think we’ve won. It wants us to believe Luca will give us back our wolves. Then the moment we let Nash in, the Anubis will take it all away. It will kill us, but not before destroying us. And it won’t destroy us with teeth and claws. It will force us to watch while it obliterates our last thread of hope.”
And all their hope lay with Luca.
“It gains nothing from hurting him.”
“It’s not hurting him. It’s using him in another way. No different from what it does now. It’s all about tactile experiences. Touching this world and drinking what it offers. And when Luca’s gone, it can still get what it wants.” Tanner let him go. “It’s toying with us. Especially you. Because there’s no way it doesn’t know who you are and how you felt about Jia.”
“I wasn’t the only one.”
“And as far as we know, none of them made it out of the Cataclysm alive.”
The day the Anubis ended the life of a Cana so brutally in its hunger, it ripped away the wolves of every Varu.
Jelani, Harvey, and Cassie watched Isaiah.
“There was only ever one choice to make,” Tanner said. “You just weren’t ready to believe it.”
Isaiah gritted his teeth.
“And neither was I.” Tanner petted Isaiah’s cheek. “I won’t fail you again no matter how much I want you to be right.”
Isaiah closed his eyes for a moment.
Tanner left Isaiah next to the sink and held his hand out to Jelani. “Give me the vial.”
“No.” Isaiah got between them.
Tanner exhaled a frustrated breath. “For God’s sake—”
“I’ll do it.”
Tanner shook his head. “No, if it realizes—”
“You’ll never get close enough. Not after…” Isaiah jerked his chin at Jelani. “Draw it up.”
“How much?” Jelani said.
“All of it, even the aged. We can’t take a chance.”
“I don’t have a syringe that large.”
Isaiah cursed. “If I do this, it has to work. We’ll need all of it.”
“We have the tranq-guns.” There were tears on Harvey’s face but also a look of resignation. “They’re still loaded with the Rakta.”
Because the original plan had been to take down Nash as soon as it was safe for Luca.
“And there are extra cartridges in the storage cabinet,” Tanner said. “We can load them with everything there is.”
