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The distant sirens stopped. Not faded away.Stopped. And the flapping plastic froze.
The small hairs on the back of Octavius’s neck lifted. Someone was watching. Someone who could stop time in a bubble of reality, with a snap of his fingers.
Mikalis.
Shit.
He wasn’t ready.
Even if Octavius wanted nothing more than to look him in the eyes and stand his ground, Mikalis would gut him where he stood.
He quickened his pace and crossed the street. Mikalis could be anywhere. They’d all seen how he stepped from his self-made shadows, as though he controlled darkness itself. But he hadn’t emerged yet, which meant he was watching.
Octavius was being hunted.
Fear rarely touched him. A long life riddled with torture had numbed him. But he felt it now, like ice-cold fingers skimming down his spine.Memento Mori, remember you must die. But he never, ever expected his death to come via the hands of the one man he’d devoted his life to, the only soul on this earth Octavius had relied on. The betrayal stung again, scorching acid in his mouth.
Lane signals blinked over an intersection ahead, where time continued as normal. Late-night traffic rumbled through. If he could just reach the busier road, he might have a chance of losing Mikalis among the mortals. He didn’t like to cause unnecessary damage, as it might draw attention to the existence of the Brotherhood.
Octavius broke into a run. The busier street came up fast. Just a few more strides, and he’d dash across the intersection, then use a mental demand to hijack a human in their car. Get the hell out of St. Louis.
The sideswipe hit him like a truck, snatching him clean off his feet. Briefly weightless, he had less than a second to react, then slammed into a wall. Cold fingers clamped around his neck. Brick dust and blood burned his tongue. His fangs dropped on reflex, but as he bared them, it was already too late.
Mikalis’s eyes burned red in the dark. “Your last words had better be begging for forgiveness,traitor.”
Octavius slammed his forehead against Mikalis’s with enough force to kill a man. Mikalis flinched, then lifted his gaze and peered through black lashes with a growl.
Release me!Octavius pushed the desperate demand into Mikalis’s mind. But it slid right off, as though there was no normal mind there to influence.
“I know youdid nottry and influence me. You are not that foolish,” Mikalis snarled. His fingers tightened. He lifted Octavius into the air, holding him aloft like a prize trophy.
This was it. Octavius’s last moments on this earth. He kicked and tried to claw Mikalis’s fingers off. Octavius had seen the rise and fall of the Roman empire. He’d seen wars decimate populations, seen humans evolve and fuck up over and over, and now he’d never see how it ended. Even after all this time, all the pain, all the centuries, he didn’t want to die.
He grasped at Mikalis’s arm, rendered weak by his impossible strength. Ripples of unseen energy rolled off the Brotherhood leader, warping space and time, hiding their fight from the real world. Octavius would die here, and nobody would know it, but worse? Nobody would care.
I… did not… betray you…He pushed that thought at Mikalis, desperate to be heard. But Mikalis wasn’t listening. He opened his mouth, making room for the twin pairs of savage fangs that would plunge into Octavius’s neck in the next few seconds.
Headlights swept over them. A truck engine roared, and its horn blasted.
Mikalis turned his head, squinting into the high beam.
A moment’s distraction, that was all Octavius needed. He bucked, thrust his leg out, and by some miracle, wedged his boot between them. He kicked, dislodging Mikalis’s hold, and dropped to a knee on the sidewalk. Mikalis reeled. The semi honked again. Octavius lifted his head. If he lunged, he could tackle Mikalis into the path of that truck—
A liquid black blur shot from down the street, slammed into Mikalis, picked him up, and flew with him into the path of the truck. Brakes screeched, the semitrailer unit jackknifed, and the big rig’s monster front grille slammed into Mikalis, exploding the inky black liquid blur. Glass shattered, metal screamed, and the entire truck buckled around Mikalis and thethingthat had thrown him into its path.
The fuel tank ruptured. Fire boiled, and the explosion came next, blasting over Octavius, driving him backward against the cracked wall. He turned his face away from the heat and noise, weathering the blast, and dared look at the wreck still unfolding in front of him. Ripples of orange flame boiled skyward, dousing the street in firelight.
As quickly as it happened, it was over. Mangled bits of metal rained onto the street and the twisted wreck groaned. Could Mikalis survive that? He’d probably survived worse, but he wouldn’t be happy about it.
Whatever had knocked Mikalis into that semi’s path clearly had a death wish. Octavius wasn’t hanging around to wait for Mikalis to wake up and wipe the entire block off the map.
He turned away, seeking the cool shadows, but movement among the flames caught his eye. A man walked from the fire, or he seemed to be male. But he couldn’t be human. Embers zigzagged like fireflies across his black suit and the fire he’d started reflected in silver nyk eyes. He adjusted his shirt cuffs, as though he wasn’t half ablaze, then flicked his eyes up.
Saint.
The name burst into Octavius’s head.
Octavius bared his fangs.
