Page 44 of Never Run from an Immortal

He knows, Aidan told her.

“Stay out of my head, Vampire,” she snapped, but there was no bite to it. He opened the door to his truck for her to get in, and she caught the way he checked her over as he fastened her seatbelt, as if he were searching for injuries she’d already reassured him weren’t there before he shut the door after her.

Aidan didn’t get in, and Rae didn’t take her eyes off him as she watched him speak with another of his units, a hand to the shoulder of another Vampire as he murmured something. TheVampire nodded, and Aidan returned to the car, turning up the heat as the engine started.

“I’m sorry about your unit,” Rae said once he put the vehicle into reverse, the rain coming down harder. Four fewer Vampires for her cadets to deal with would have felt like an unprecedented success on any other day, but watching the way Aidan had spoken to the other Vampire like he’d been consoling him, even Rae wasn’t that much of a heartless bitch. Or at least she hoped. Maybe she was.

“They knew the risks.” There was no emotion in his voice, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw the way a muscle feathered in his jaw, the tension rolling from him.

“Even so.” The guilt coiled tighter, and she willed herself to keep her feelings neutral so close to Aidan. He’d broken off from the other vehicles; only one followed this time. Another safety precaution, Rae presumed. “I’ll hold a seeking ceremony later,” she told him. She’d conjure up some bullshit, make him believe whatever show she put on for him. Make it look like she truly was searching for his magic. She just needed to buy some time before he grew tired of their arrangement. Needed to keep him on her side until Nim was safe, and almost getting his Ascendant killed wasn’t exactly a mark in her favour.

Rae knew with each day that passed that it was less and less likely they’d find Nim, the memory of those cells and what had occupied them all she saw every time she closed her eyes. But she’d be damned if she was going to give up on her friend before she left. Omnia had their instructions. Rae was almost ready; she just had a few more pieces she needed to slide into place.

A flash of lightning lit up the dash, a dark shadow darting across the road in front of them as thunder boomed. She caught Aidan’s frown, her fingers closing around her switchblade, just in case.

“Shit. Hold on,” Aidan told her, the taste of his magic familiar on her tongue as the command washed over her.

Another flash and the car smashed into something, careening onto its side and rolling and rolling and rolling until Rae didn’t know which way was up, until her vision darkened, and everything went black.

Chapter twenty-two

“Farren.”

The Witch didn’t reply. “Farren.” From his upside-down perspective, Aidan took in the shattered windscreen, the single bullet hole in line with his chest, and released his seatbelt, one arm bracing himself from falling on his head. He lowered himself to the ceiling with a grunt, his Provident abilities probing and pressing at Rae of their own accord as he slid closer. Nothing was broken, but she was bleeding from her head, her arm, her body hanging loose against her seatbelt.

He knew enough about human physiology that moving her might be a mistake, but Witch physiology? He knew even less. “Farren, I need your help here.” Her hair hung across her face, and without thinking, he brushed it away so she could see when she opened her eyes. He reached out to the safety car, to the Vampires who had been inside it. Dead. But there was a presence out in the rain, getting closer, and it had every one of Aidan’s senses screaming at him to move. He tried to call outwith his Provident abilities to Baelin and the other units, but only silence answered him.Fuck.

Whatever was out there, he’d have to draw it away from Rae until she woke up.If she wakes up. He allowed himself a moment to listen to her heartbeat again before hauling himself out of the car, a harder task than he cared to admit. He was too damn big to fit through the shattered window with ease, his jacket snagging on the shattered glass and the wound in his chest protesting at the angle.

The rain still came down thick and fast, the water soaking into his trousers where his knees pressed against the ground. Whoever was out there, Aidan could feel them stoop down beside the upturned safety car. At first, he thought it was a Fae, but as he pulled himself to his feet and put distance between him and Rae, he could see the male.

Horns jutted from his head, claws extended from his fingertips, but there was something off about him, something a little too put together. As Aidan took another step closer and bloodshot eyes met his, he knew. It was one of them, a test subject, and his Provident abilities were useless against it.

Something was blocking his abilities. He clutched at his chest where the bullet had hit, the movement feeling sluggish. The test subject approached slowly, head tipped to one side in a way that reminded Aidan of the Vampires drugged up on xion, the potent narcotic they favoured over weed.

“You’re all they sent?” Aidan called out over the rain.

The male’s shoulders moved in amusement, his mouth quirking up. “I’m all they needed to send.”

Aidan was arrogant, but he wasn’t stupid. He reached for the gun inside his jacket, flicking off the safety and pulling the trigger before the male could come any closer. The test subject held up a hand, and the three bullets Aidan had loosed simply fell to the ground at its feet. The only Order he’d ever knownto have that ability had been Vampires… but the Thaumas, the Vampires who could alter physical reality to their will, had all been killed for their ability long ago.

He fired again, and this time the barrel twisted and crunched in his hand, the metal folding back on itself. Aidan cast the weapon away, not taking his eyes off the creature before him as his canines extended. Hands and teeth would have to be enough, though something told him this fucker had more than just Thaumas abilities.

As soon as the thought struck him, a wave of water snapped up like a rope, whipping in his direction, but Aidan dodged it easily. “You’ll have to do better than that. Do you have a name?” He shook away a wave of drowsiness, his heart beating fast like he’d been the one to take the narcotic.

“So you can utter it when you die?” the male asked, but Aidan waited, undeterred. “Daire.” Another whip of water and again Aidan dodged, using the opportunity to close the space between them.

“Tell me, Daire,” Aidan asked, wiping rainwater out of his eyes, “did they ask for your permission before they did this to you? Or did they pin you down like an animal and take what they felt was theirs?” He swung for Daire on the last word, too aware of those razor-sharp claws when he was already wounded.

The male sidestepped, but too slowly, and Aidan’s fist connected with Daire’s jaw. “They didn’t take anything,” he spat. “They gave.”

Daire lashed out, but Aidan caught his wrist, fingers bone-crushingly tight as he slammed them both into the ground. He had to keep away from those claws, had to keep the male, thehybrid, too occupied to use any augmented abilities, and with any luck, close enough to sink his teeth into him.

They grappled on the road, Daire’s talons raking against Aidan’s jacket, but he grabbed the thing by its horns andslammed its head back into the wet asphalt with a roar, his heart thumping against his chest. He wanted answers, but he wasn’t going to risk his life getting them tonight.

Aidan’s hands closed around the male’s throat, teeth bared, but Daire threw him off, slamming him into the rear end of his car, his breath leaving him in a whoosh of air. The vehicle spun, Rae still inside it, metal scraping and whining against the wet asphalt. The split second Aidan spared trying to feel her heartbeat was a mistake. Daire crashed into him again, and this time Aidan sank his teeth deep into the male’s shoulder until he connected with bone.

The creature bellowed, claws shredding the flesh at his side, but Aidan didn’t let go. They collided again with the side of the car, and for the first time, Daire seemed to notice Rae, a grin splitting his face as he took in Aidan’s reaction. “What do we have here?”

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