Page 70 of Never Run from an Immortal

You’re welcome. Now hurry the fuck up and do your thing.She held up a hand as he took a step closer. “I’m fine.” Fine was subjective. Her skin was pale and there was a tremble to her hands she was trying to hide, but there wasn’t time to waste arguing with her. Reed and Evander had killed the remaining hybrid, and Orion moved to stand beside them as Reed shifted back into a male, all awaiting orders.

For Roak, Aidan told Evander. The Vampire gave him a nod as he reached out with his Provident abilities, feeling for the rest of his team, his council, and the humans within the facility, but before he could finish the thought, an explosion shook the walls, part of the antechamber collapsing behind them.

“This place just keeps on fucking giving,” Rae muttered, pushing to her feet.

Aidan felt the new wave of hybrids before he saw them, but with nothing blocking his abilities, he took out every single one of them that approached their location, reaching out for the rest of his team who had been ordered to wait at the perimeter.

They were already inside.

He moved his attention to the humans of Aera next, his eyes fixed on Rae as she watched the others opening cells. The explosion, whatever it was that she’d created, had drained her, and she was doing a shit job of trying to hide it.

By the time the others were finished searching the cells, Aidan’s task was finished; not a single human working for a faction had been left alive. The time for being merciful was over. He’d seen inside their minds, seen what they’d witnessed, and none had raised any objections to the treatment of the prisoners held within the facility walls.

Only three survivors joined his First Unit from the cells; none of them were Nim, all of them weak, and despite herself, Raespoke to each of them, checking in with them, reassuring them. They’d prepared for survivors and had people waiting at the perimeter to take them to Cormac’s warehouse, the top level converted into a temporary hospital at Aidan’s request.

“The rest of the cells are back that way,” Aidan told them all. Past Roak, and Aidan wasn’t about to deny Evander the opportunity to retrieve his brother’s corpse, even if being another Vampire down might cost them.

He stepped up to Rae, fingers curling under her chin to tilt her face up to his.Farren.Her eyes were glazed, her breaths short.Stop being a stubborn Witch. If you want to still be standing by the time we reach Nim, hurry up and take what you need.No response.I can always carry you.That solicited a huff of breath in response.

“You found her?” Rae asked quietly.

A nod of affirmation, and he silently cursed himself for not bringing it up sooner as he took in her face, her dilated pupils.

This might hurt a little.She pressed a hand over the scar she’d given him. Her lips moved but no sound came from her as she held his gaze. Heat flared through him from her touch, heat that bordered on painful, that felt too similar to—

“My lord?” Orion asked, concern etched across his features.

“Everything’s fine.” He looked down at Rae, frowning down at her hand where she’d removed it from his chest. The colour had returned to her cheeks; her breathing had steadied.

Something flickered across her face for a moment, but then she said, “Thanks for the top-up,” and gave him a wink before taking a sickly Fae female from Evander’s arms to allow him to go on ahead to his brother.

Though he was loathe to admit it, Aidan knew he had a limit too. With his mind in so many places with so many others, he knew a mistake was far too great a risk. As they made their way back to the room with Roak’s body, Aidan checked in withBaelin, making sure his Ascendant passed around commands so that he didn’t have to. There were more hybrids in the facility, and something was blocking him from their minds, but it wasn’t another syphon. Something different, like a ward, just as Rae had said.

The lab was a grim sight. The scientists that had taken Roak’s blood, some at their desks or halfway through whatever test they’d been performing all lay dead. Aera faction members, all of them.

The Fae female gasped between Aidan and Rae as she took in the sight, her attention falling to Evander where he’d covered his brother’s body. The time for words and remembrance would come later. Right now, they were running out of time. Vampire minds were snuffing out one after the other at the hands of the hybrids, and the scales were tipping against them.

With a few quick instructions, the three survivors remained with Evander, whilst Rae, Orion, and Reed joined Aidan, armed with whatever weapons they’d poached from the dead hybrids.

Malik and Karina were the first to find them, thanks to Aidan’s direction, followed by a few members of their House, but there was no time for pleasantries. Malik handed over an earpiece for Aidan, connected to Baelin, but Aidan was too busy for a chat with his Ascendant as he hooked the device to his ear.

“More hybrids, closing in on our position,” he told the group, leading the way.

“They’re blocking us,” Karina murmured behind him.

Another syphon?Rae asked.

Something else.

The Witch hesitated for a moment.Nim?

Still alive, Farren, but barely.He didn’t need to glance over his shoulder to know every emotion that flitted across her face; he felt every one of them. Anger, pain. Regret.

Show me. I’ll take Reed.

There wasn’t time to waste; Aidan showed her the way past scores of dead humans and did what he could to follow her and Reed’s path through the facility as he led the others towards the oncoming wave of hybrids. That was his first regret of the night.

A hybrid threw a smoke bomb, and chaos descended. More of the council and their teams had arrived, but fighting close combat was always going to be messy.

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