Page 1 of The Brotherhood

CHAPTER 1

Sinrik

Spook’s gaze returned to the bowed head of their devastated Seer across from him on the stealth jet. The sight of him caving in on himself felt like that day in the Noctambule War when they’d uncovered a mass grave of trafficked women and children. It had broken something in all of them.

He wanted to tell Seer he wasn’t alone in that dark place. Spook had literally led them to the ambush. Eveque had been right. Everything had gone perfect except the one thing they’d been commissioned to do—bring that woman back. Their only consolation was saving those women and children. But the rest left him in a constant, devastated headshake.

He returned to bracing against the panic in his muscles that demanded he be with his Eveque in that med bay at the back of the jet. He was in the best hands with Harlow and Quantum and the triplets, but it still felt wrong not being there. The occasional squeeze of Maggie’s hand felt wrong too. But he squeezed back every time. This darkness wasn’t touching her more than it already had.

Spook’s habit of surveying his surroundings brought his gaze to Zodak again. Another one in a special kind of hell. To be forced to watch as they took what any of them would die to protect—one of their women—was without a doubt the fucking worst headspace to be in. But Spook had felt Belle Eveque’s power when she’d ordered them to stop for those kids. Felt like his entire genealogy had been knocked on its ass by the universe.And he was pretty sure she had no fucking idea still. It was the sole relief for him as he sat in his own private hell. Yes, she’d been taken. But that terrifying power was traveling with her wherever she went.

But Seer’s agony was different. Somehow deeper and darker. It insisted Spook protect their spiritual brother which brought him to utter uselessness in that regard. He believed in God with every fiber of his being. And up to that second, he was fully content being a foot soldier that never dreamed of taking one step into The King’s courts, but now, he really wanted to just carry his brother directly to the throne and lay him at God’s merciful feet.

Spook forced his gaze to the little girl sitting next to Maggie, her tiny hands clutching his wife’s. She was safe. Like those other women and children. He thanked God again. He had ultimate power. And to forget that at such a time was not a kind of stupid Spook possessed.

The barest muffle of words from the med bay reached him and he tuned his ear. Seer suddenly hurried out of his harness and Spook did too, following him down the narrow hall.

They came up to the small room on the right and Seer paused at the compartment jam-packed with equipment, blinking monitors and the single med-bed holding their Eveque.

Seer’s breath rushed out and Spook put his hand on his shoulder, squeezing. Seer covered his hand, the agony in his grip driving a burning stake through his chest. They both stared at their unbreakable Eveque, face swollen and bruised, gashes from shrapnel dark and clotted now. One of the monitors blasted with his racing, walloping heartbeat, bringing Spook’s pulse to the same tempo.

The triplets stood around his head, each touching his body while Harlow and Quantum moved quickly on either side of the bed.

“His vitals sound strong,” Spook whispered at Seer’s ear, trying not to look at Eveque’s swollen face and the patch covering one of his eyes.

Seer’s breaths shook. “He’s fighting for his life.”

Spook wrapped him in a bear hug from behind at hearing him on a mental ledge. “He’s strong,” he swore at his ear. “He’s got that bat juice and our three amigos helping hold him together. He’s gonna be okay.”

Spook called out quietly after a minute of watching. “How’s he doing?”

Harlow glanced up at the monitors next to the bed. “His cells are rebuilding themselves, which isn’t a surprise. But they’re outpacing what his body can handle and keep fighting to override Fin’s attempt to buffer its speed. The adaptive evolution gene fully understands the damage he’s sustained and wants to rebuild him stronger.”

“And that’s... good, right?” Spook thought.

“It's fucking phenomenal,” he corrected in hushed awe. “But it seems to be forgetting his current body isn’t able to handle very much in this condition but no doubt there’s other emergency protocols in his head overriding that if you know what I’m sayin’.”

He did. His Eveque didn’t give a shit about his own body, he only cared about doing whatever the fuck it took to save his wife, even if that meant razor-edging death to do it.

“We’re nearly there,” Quantum said. “Once we get him to the Neuromancer, it’ll be able to tell us exactly what’s happening and what to do to aid it.”

“These nutrient-rich fluids will give him a little gas till then,” Harlow said, tapping the IV bag next to him. “Emphasis on little.” He glanced back at them, his blue eyes wearied but determined. “His abilities are gobbling it down like a pissed off wildfire.”

Quantum placed a pen-looking device on Eveque’s chest. “This energy suppression unit isn’t much, but hopefully it’ll slow his cells down. Keep them from overloading.”

The jet dipped and jostled the cabin as Quantum braced a hand on the wall next to him, eyeing Bishop’s vitals. “Dammit, he’s fighting it,” he muttered, removing the device from his chest.

“It’s remarkable,” Fin said quietly, his eyes closed. “It’s powerful and relentless. Everything I use to block, it adapts and overrides.”

“Just keep playing power tennis with him,” Harlow urged. “We’re only two minutes out now.”

****

Sinrik didn’t move his eyes from the screen as he pressed the intercom through the explosion of adrenaline rushing through his veins. “Morgue. Explain what I’m looking at on Level Four.”

“The woman requested secure holding, sir. I assessed her as low risk.”

His top soldier’s casual malfunction brought a surge of chaos into the brewing storm in his blood. “Where did she come from?”

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