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“Hm, tickles. Do it again.”
It hadn’t worked. Why hadn’t it worked? Even Mikalis had buckled under his persuasion… That meant Raiden was more powerful than Mikalis? No, it wasn’t possible.
“I see your thoughts all over your face.” He laughed again, and between one step and the next, he began to change. Shadows poured in, and his outline blurred, swelling outward,consuming. “Did you think I was just thescience guy?” His voice twisted, deepened, simmered with a growl. “Forget Saint. You should have asked Mikalisabout me.”
Octavius wasn’t waiting to learn what Raiden was about to become. He sprang off his back foot and plunged forward while casting aside his human guise. He slammed into Raiden’s chest, knocking him back, then drew back his right fist and punched Raiden’s indistinct form where his face should be. He hit some solid part of him, and Raiden roared. Hands crushed around Octavius’s middle. Blazing silver eyes bored into his mind, then Raiden—as his true nyktelios form—slammed Octavius down into the ground.
Pain scorched up his spine, but pain was temporary. As Raiden drew back to examine his work, Octavius thrust back with his wings, launching himself forward, and slammed his forehead into Raiden’s.
Raiden reeled. Octavius grabbed him, swung, and threw Raiden toward the great lake’s inky black waters. He skimmed on the surface, then sank some, wings flapping in an effort to gain height.
He wasn’t getting away. Not this time. He was the real traitor.
“Your limbs are lead, your wings, broken.”
Raiden roared and thrashed in the water, no longer so smug now he struggled to guard against Octavius’s mental invasion.
Octavius waded in waist deep, grabbed him, and shoved him under the surface. He thrashed, grasping at him, then snagged on to Octavius’s hair and yanked. Water slammed over Octavius’s face, into his mouth, blurred his eyes, filled his ears. He struck the soft bottom of the lake, then kicked up and grabbed Raiden’s leg treading water.
Water surged down Octavius’s throat, into his lungs, but he pulled down, dragging Raiden with him. Drowning wouldn’t kill Octavius, but it would weaken him. As it would Raiden. They thrashed in the water, beneath the surface, wings and claws. Fangs flashed, silver eyes shone. It was brutal and vicious and fast, and Raiden was monstrous, in a world where Octavius knew monsters. He saw his opening, bared his fangs, and bit down into Raiden’s shoulder, missing the neck and the main artery. Venom pumped, and Raiden screeched and tore away, kicking upward.
His wings spread above, blocking light from the moon, and then he was gone, lifting from the lake with impossible strength. Octavius broke the lake’s surface, gasped and gulped, but he was still alive, still breathing, and not envenomed. Raiden, however, had gotten away.
A low thumping sound drew his gaze, and low on the horizon, incoming over the trees, a chopper made its approach.
Brotherhood.
They were here to kill them all.
He had to get to Saint.
CHAPTER28
Jay
I don’t wantto die, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die…He hadn’t yet lived. He wasn’t done. He loved them, loved them both. They were his miracle monsters.
It felt like falling.
Cold. So cold.
But Saint was there. He could feel him, hear him. Saint would keep him safe. Octavius too. Nothing could stop them. They’d save him.
If he could just hold on…
CHAPTER29
Saint
Jay was dying.
And it was all Saint’s fault.
He’d sent Octavius away, knowing the ex-Brotherhood member would never allow Jay to be turned. What other choice was there? Have Jay bleed out in Saint’s arms? But when it came to it, as Jay’s eyes fluttered closed and Saint held him, he couldn’t do it. Jay was never meant to be like them. They were monsters, all of them. Jay was sunshine and ice cream. Jay was better and brighter.
Just a small amount of Saint’s blood could turn him, and Octavius’s blood too, since he’d already healed him once before.
“I’m sorry.” Saint stroked his golden bangs from his face, where the strands clung to Jay’s clammy skin.
