Collector: City In Embers Part 4

A faraway flap of consciousness tickled at my brain. Gradually it sharpened as pain rippled through my sleep, searing and throbbing. Every muscle burned and ached. My stomach felt as if I had been shot with a machine gun, like rounds and rounds had been torn into my lining, leaving my guts on the ground next to me. My entire body was locked with trauma, unable to move.

My lids slowly blinked, taking several times to commit to staying open. It was pitch black. I could not see anything except for a vague outline.

s.h.i.+t! I was blind.

Then I noticed warm breath fluttering over my cheek. My brain started to understand the object obscuring my vision was a body. I squinted at the form on me. I was not blind or paralyzed but had a six-three solid man with a Mohawk on top of me. I tried to s.h.i.+ft, but he didn't budge, still out cold. His torso curled protectively over mine. Wreckage laid in heavy clumps around us and on his back. I was sure he had crashed into me facing the other way. When had he turned around? Sheltering my body with his?

"Hey. Wake up." My voice came out weak and cracked. I choked and coughed on the dirty debris thick in the air. With all my might, I rolled him off me. He groaned when his back met with a pile of rubble. Air ballooned in my lungs as I took greedy gulps, but I cringed instantly, pain erupting through my chest and stomach. I lay locked in agony, staring at the brightly lit sky. Red and orange reflected off the clouds, declaring fire was burning hot in the city.

The man, Ryker, stirred beside me. His lids fluttered open, and he stared silently above. His expression was severe, etched with an underlying fury. We lay next to each other in silence, edging back into reality. Distant sirens, cries for help, and the steady roar of flames consuming its prey reached us.

Ryker sat up, an animal-like cry launching from his throat. He clutched at his chest, feeling around frantically. Rising hysteria showed in his movements, and he vaulted to his feet. Blood dripped from his back where pieces of metal, rock, and cement had landed. The axe hanging across his back protected him a little, but from his head to his ankles he was cut and b.l.o.o.d.y. Given the circ.u.mstances he could have been worse. And fae healed quickly.

"No," his deep voice muttered. His unsettling white eyes moved around with desperation, which sent a lump of ice to form in my lungs. He had been terrifying before, and now he was even more so. He looked like a cornered animal, ready to strike.

I sat up. Fear wrapped my gut, prompting me to find a way to escape. My instincts channeled all thoughts to nothing else than getting away from him.

"What happened? Where did they go?" The Viking's actions were more and more agitated.

Night consumed the demolished pa.s.sage and rendered it nearly impossible to grasp a way out. Clouds of dirt billowed in the air, settling on us. I squinted and searched for an exit. Climbing to my feet, I noticed the entire alleyway was filled with at least two feet of wreckage, except for where we had been. It was as if a force field encased us, defending us from most of the falling fragments. Another thing I noticed was we were alone in the alley. All the other fae either ran or were buried.

My heart stopped beating.

"Daniel!" I screamed, forgetting about everything else, including my self-preservation. I tripped and fell on my knees as I climbed over the piles of rubble, trying to get to the spot where Daniel's body had fallen. I felt no pain as my fingers dug into the rubble, the skin tearing from the tips of my fingers.

"Daniel." A choked sob clogged my throat. Fragments rolled down the mound. Like a dog searching for bone, I dug at the pile. I knew he was dead, but it didn't stop me. The desperate desire to see him, to touch him, to not leave him buried under the debris by himself pushed me through my pain. My eyes blurred with smoke and tears. Even against all logic, I still held hope I was wrong, and if I reached him, he would be alive.

Hope could be an unforgivable b.i.t.c.h.

I pulled a block away and gasped. A hand. His hand. My b.l.o.o.d.y fingers stretched to touch his cold, dead ones. My heart seized in my chest and a lump crawled into my throat.

Then I was off the ground and being pulled back. One muscular arm clamped around my waist, the other slithered up to my throat, locking at the base of my jaw. "How did this happen? How do you have them?" Ryker growled into my ear. My shock kept me mute. He shook me, compressing down harder on my vocals. "Tell me, human!"

"I-I... don't... know... what... you're... talking... about." It burned as I forced out each word.

He dropped me, and I landed hard on my kneecaps. I scrambled up and faced him.

His pale eyes drove angrily into me, his nostrils flaring, his muscles twitching and flexing with wrath. "I am no fool. Now give them back before I crush your windpipe into dust and stuff your body in with your boyfriend's."

There was not one ounce of falseness in his voice. He would kill me without a thought. Actually, he'd probably enjoy it. My hand inched up to my stomach. My pistol was long gone in a grave of rubble, but my dart gun was still hooked to my waist. I swallowed. "I don't have anything of yours."

His arm jetted straight, his hand going for my throat. With my reflexes ready for his attack, I yanked the dart gun and aimed at his neck. And shot. The dart burrowed under his jaw. He didn't even flinch, but his arm stopped its progression to me. He blinked once, and I saw ire growing in his eyes. His rage seemed so palpable my skin could almost feel it coming off him.

It was now or never.

He lunged for me. I scrambled back, managing to keep my feet underneath me. I turned and ran. The feel of his hand through my hair sent my muscles into full throttle. Like water through fingers, I slipped from his grasp. Adrenaline pushed me over the uneven mounds, my gaze locked on my goal: the ladder on the side of the wall leading to the roof. It was my only way out of here. The sound of tumbling debris came from behind me. The Viking roared a frustrated, crazed cry. My head swiveled over my shoulder to see him collapse in a heap. He struggled to get back up, but the drug was rendering his limbs useless. His lids lowered halfway, but he kept his eyes on me. Revenge echoed deep in them. If he ever found me-I looked away, continuing with my escape. I could not think about it right now. I pulled myself up the rungs of the ladder and onto the roof. I gave one last look at the one who wanted me dead and to the man who was. I clenched my teeth together, turned, and ran for my life.

SIX.

From the rooftop, I could see the destruction of the city was greater than I imagined. My brain could not take in what stretched in front of me. Half the s.p.a.ce Needle was gone. The iconic structure lay in heaps all the way through downtown, cremating whatever was in its wake. Jagged ends of metal from the bottom half of the structure stuck up at different levels like a mountain range, as if someone came along and broke it off like a toffee bar, crumbling it in their hands and spreading bits around the base.

Fires dotted the city landscape like cl.u.s.ter of stars, igniting the sky and billowing into clouds of smoke. Seattle was gone. Most of the new apartment buildings which had sprung up daily in lower Queen Anne and Belltown were no more than kindling.

I searched for the landmark that should be near my house. All I saw was smoke mushrooming up into the atmosphere, creating a wall.

I grabbed for my phone. The screen was cracked, but it lit when I pushed the b.u.t.ton. It was the only thing I had. Everything else was in my bag in the car, the car which was now under an office building. There was probably no cell service, but I desperately needed to know if Lexie was all right. I was about to punch in her number when a blast sprouted from the area I was watching. My gut twisted and my feet took me off the roof into the street, fear pumping my legs.

Lexie!

She was my only thought as I ran for the house. Seattle was on fire, buildings and bodies were scattered as far as I could see. It looked like someone had bombed us-ground zero in a war. My stomach heaved as I ran around bodies lying in the streets, chunks of building crus.h.i.+ng the fragile bones to dust. Broken lines shot water into the sky, raining down on us. Flames lapped the buildings, consuming them with ferocity.

My determination to get to my sister was the only thing keeping my legs moving. The wails of people and sirens looped in my brain, settling in as white noise. Lexie. I had to make sure she was all right.

My leg muscles strained, but I pushed harder, curving down the road that took me home. A whimper splintered from my lips. The street was ablaze with rows of houses of neighbors I had known for years. Homes burned-from residences of drug dealers to a granny who struggled to live on her retirement. Even when I saw our house at the end of the court, I didn't stop. My mind wouldn't accept what was in front of me. Jo's beat-up Camaro was parked in the driveway where flames soared high in the sky. Crackle. Pop. My house was the tinder for the larger campfire. A few neighbors stood outside, watching their homes glow.

My gaze searched the people. "Lexie?" I screamed, wedging through the people. "Jo?"

No one answered.

"Lexie!" I wailed.

"Zoey." A hand came down on my arm. "We tried to get to them." My next-door neighbor, George, spoke softly. His eyes were full of sorrow and apologies. "I am so sorry."

"No." I shook my head, turning back to the burning remains of our house.

"I could see Jo pa.s.sed out in her chair, but I couldn't get to her. The flames were already too high. I called to her, but she wouldn't wake up." George choked, shaking the memories from his mind. He had worked fifteen years for a road repair company. When he had gotten hurt, they found a way to "let him go" so they wouldn't have to pay for workers' comp. His knee and back would never let him work a physical job again. His wife barely made enough to get them by. He hobbled closer to me. "I'm very sorry, Zoey."

"Lexie?"

He shook his head, his neck bobbing lower in grief. He didn't need to say anything. I understood.

A strangled cry tore from my throat. I ripped my arm away from his and moved closer to the house. The heat of the fire singed my face. An outline of a wheelchair could be seen through the flames in the kitchen.

I cried as I sank to my knees. I was supposed to protect her. Keep her safe. I failed. Tears, which had yet to surface for Daniel, broke through. Everything I had fought for. Everyone I had loved. Gone.

I curled my legs, my wails growing fiercer-a possessed madwoman in the streets. Sadly, I knew I was seeing only a hint of the destruction this electrical storm caused. I wasn't the only one to lose everything.

I sobbed, and my body shook with grief. My sister had needed me. The thought of her screaming my name, trying to get her wheelchair out of the house in time, and other horrific images filled my head. And the person I needed most, the arms I craved to hold me, would never be again. After Daniel, she was the only reason I would have carried on. Now there was nothing.

Daniel.

Lexie.

I should have let the fae kill me when I had the chance.

I didn't know how long I sat, but when the flames scorched my skin, hands wrapped underneath my arms, pulling me up and away from the encroaching fire.

"You want to get burned as well?" A deep voice spoke into my ear. "Do it after I get my abilities back."

My stomach dropped. I whirled to face the looming figure. The refection of the flames flickered off Ryker's harsh features. Dread dropped over me. "Get away from me." I took a step back from the creature, wiping harshly at the dried tears lining my face. "Leave me alone. I don't have anything of yours."

"Whether you want to admit it or not, you know you do. You somehow took them," he sneered. His heavy boots. .h.i.t the road as he stepped closer to me. My neck had to tilt my head to look at him. Man, he was big. "Believe me. I would love to leave you alone." He paused, his face moving closer to mine. "Actually, I would like to kill you... revenge for all the fae you captured and murdered. Or for shooting me earlier."

"I haven't killed anyone."

"Stop lying to me. I know d.a.m.n well what you are and what you do."

Air blew out my nose as I forced my head to stay up. Lie? Our organization did not murder fae. We might collect them to test, and some may die in the process, but far fewer than how many humans they killed. I had seen firsthand a fae murder one of us. Not counting Daniel. It was our last group hunt, the fae ripped out a collector's throat in front of me before going for his partner. They didn't care for human life; they thought of us as insects. Beneath them.

"I've heard of your group. You are a bunch of sick f.u.c.ks, but unfortunately I can't kill you... yet." His white blue eyes looked me up and down with disgust. "When I get my powers back, human, that will change."

I swallowed back the lump of fear clogging my throat. Think this out, Zoey. He thinks you have something of his. You live as long as he believes you have what he wants. "Not a very good incentive. If I give you back this object, I die."

His intense eyes wandered over my face. "You have no idea what you are holding, do you?" This realization seemed to surprise him. "You think it's something you can simply hand over to me?"

"I don't care what it is," I screamed. "And I love how you call me a sick f.u.c.k and a killer when you are the ones who slaughter us. You murdered Daniel."

"I didn't touch your boyfriend."

"Your kind did."

"Oh, I see. We are all alike, huh?"

"Aren't we to you?" My voice stabbed into him. He blinked, not responding. Exactly. I had tripped him up in his own game. Any patience I struggled to find was gone. I had enough of this guy. My heart had curled in on itself and was slowly dying, and it felt like he was poking a stick into the dying carca.s.s. "I don't have this stone or whatever you were talking about, so go away."

"You think it's the stone I'm aft-"

I cut him off. "Look around. The world has fallen around our ankles."

"It's not my world," he mumbled, but I ignored him.

"I just lost my partner, my sister, and the woman who has raised me since I was thirteen." I shoved at his chest with no result. "Stay away from me." Before he could grab for me, I swung and tore off at a run.

There was only one place I could go. Only one place I was safe. The business building we used to enter the DMG was probably gone, but the structure below the earth was built to withstand attacks of all kinds, from humans or from "aliens."

Two alternative routes led into the headquarters. The closest one was more than two miles from here and ran alongside the underground sewer system. It was my best chance.

My feet slapped against the pavement as I sprinted away from the only house I ever considered home. Not because of the bricks and mortar or even Joanna. Lexie had made it a home.

My home was burning into embers and ash.

Along with my heart.

Adrenaline only rallied my system briefly before sorrow took over, almost crippling my muscles. My beautiful, brash-mouthed little sister, whom I adored more than life, was dead. Wasn't it enough she was born crippled and unloved by her mother, but to die so brutally at the age of twelve?

Stumbling to a stop, I leaned over, throwing up in the street. Daniel and Lexie were both taken from me in a blink of an eye. All my dreams vanished with them. Bile came up again, emptying my stomach. It was so hard not to curl up in the middle of the road, but the idea of the enormous fae finding me kept me moving.

People were in the streets, crying and screaming for help. The devastation was so great the fire departments, police, and ambulances couldn't help with all the damage. From what I had seen, most roads near the center had been destroyed. And even if a fire station or hospital survived, there wasn't enough electricity to get to all the places needing aid. The strange storm had blown out all power, creating an eerie isolation in the outskirts of town. The closer I got to the city, the more the sky glowed but not with city lights. Fire raged, keeping the downtown area bright.

I reached the tunnel with no Viking attack and heaved a sigh of relief when I got to the entrance of DMG. Electricity was still working here. The DMG worked off the grid, on its own power supply, and never had to worry about outages affecting them from above. I punched in my code, and the doors slid open, allowing me entrance.

Visually, every inch of HQ seemed unchanged. But to me nothing was the same. My shoes shuffled down the hallway leading to Dr. Rapava's office.

"Zoey!" Kate's voice came down the hall, her head poking from the conference room. "Oh my G.o.d. I am so happy to see you. You look awful. Are you all right?" She didn't give me a chance to respond. "I'm so glad you are safe. We were worried about you." Kate gave me a quick hug before shepherding me through the door. "Come, we're all in here."

No, I thought. We're not all in here.

I stepped into the conference room filled with collectors and scientists. Every head swung in my direction. Dr. Rapava's eyes widened as if I were an illusion.

b.l.o.o.d.y, dirty, my hair and clothes singed, cuts and bruises all over-I must have looked a sight.

"Ms. Daniels, you are alive." He seemed very surprised I was standing in front of him. "But your monitor..." He stopped, then mumbled to himself.

Kate put her arm around me. "What he means to say is we were very worried about you. We thought something happened to you. Both you and Daniel..." She glanced behind me, suddenly realizing I was alone. "Where is he?"

Pain grabbed my lungs and squeezed them with force. Only a cracked gasp made it out. Being alone, I did what I needed to do to get here. Now I was safe. I felt my walls, which had kept me functioning, come down. My body bowed forward, a guttural wheeze broke through.

"Oh no," Kate whispered before pulling me back into her arms. My pain went past tears. I grappled for air, and my heart ripped into pieces.

Not counting an hour ago, the last time I cried in front of people was when I was ten. A girl had punched me to get the bike I was riding. It was a hand-me-down, but it had rainbow ta.s.sels hanging off the bars, and it was mine. I loved it. It came from one of the nicer foster mothers. When the older girl took the bike, I cried because I didn't want to lose the precious item. Then I cried because I was afraid the foster mother would get mad at me for losing it and send me away. My tears turned to anger. I tore after the girl and pushed her off the bike. I punched, kicked, and bit until someone pulled me off. The girl was taken to the emergency room. The ironic thing was the foster mother did get rid of me... because she feared my temper and violent outburst. I had only been with for her a month before being carted off to another house. The very thing I was afraid of happened. I learned people didn't really want me to be myself, and I learned to adapt and play whatever role I needed to survive. Still, there were times when the violent nature, the dark side of me, would boil to the surface. It was a side I even tried to hide from Daniel.

Not a tear fell now, but a surging, choking sound heaved deep from my gut and up my throat. I planted my hands on the cool tiles, keeping myself from toppling over. I didn't remember when I actually collapsed to the floor, but I found myself curled over my knees. Kate sat next to me, her arms wrapped around my shoulder, rocking me. "Shhh..." She stroked my hair. "I'm so sorry."

I blinked, soot from the fires outside still blurring my vision. I caught the group staring at me with sadness, shock, and unease. Losing Daniel along with Seattle getting destroyed by some freak storm was a lot for them to absorb.

"How?" Peter choked out. He had been an old military comrade of Daniel's. They had been through a lot together. His face showed the agony of another fallen soldier.

"Fae. A fae named Maxen killed him. A lackey of someone called Garrett." I was surprised they could hear me. My voice sounded weak and wobbly.

Dr. Rapava jerked at my declaration. "Garrett?"

"Yes." I wiped my face and stood. "Why?" Kate used my arm to pull herself from the floor with a grunt. Her bones cracked as she straightened.

The doctor looked down, shaking his head. "I have heard the name come up quite a bit when talking to our test subjects. He seems to be a front-runner in the underground fae community."

"I'm going to kill him and his whole group." Rage tore up my esophagus. Daniel would be avenged.

"Zoey, you need to stay focused." The doctor took off his gla.s.ses and cleaned them on his lab coat before replacing them on his nose. "This has been a very long emotional night for all of us. Unfortunately, things are only going to get worse. This storm was not natural. The fae magic responsible was unfathomable. It almost broke our equipment."

I wasn't crazy. I knew I felt something odd about the storm.