Dark Horizons (The Red Sector Chronicles) (32 page)

Up close, Aden’s blue irises looked dull compared to the vivid network of red veins spiderwebbed over the whites of his eyes.

It started as a hitch in my breath, a slow, painful twisting of my heart as I realized the
stone-
cold
, bitter truth.

“You’re dying, aren’t you?” I whispered, unable to blink. I was afraid if I closed my eyes for even a fraction of a second, he would disappear.

His eyes turned grim, and his mouth pressed into a hard line. His fingers dug into my arms as he began shaking while tears pooled in his eyes.

I did what came natural. I hugged him, clinging to him like if I squeezed hard enough, he would never leave me. “You’re not going anywhere, you hear me?” I said, my voice choked on
emotion
. “I’m on Orion’s trail. I know I am. I just saw him –”

Aden immediately pulled back, looking at
me
shrewdly. “You saw Orion?”

I nodded. “
Yesterday
.” I reached up, stroking his cheekbone with my thumb. “
Please, try to hang in there until I can…”

My voice trailed away as I saw the bright red smudge across Aden’s face. I pulled my hand back, examining my palm. It was covered in what appeared to be red paint. My eyes trailed down the front of Aden’s white shirt. He followed my gaze, touching the wet fabric and smelling it.

It dawned on us at the same time what the substance was.

“Blood,” I breathed.

Aden looked back at me and his eyes widened. “Sloane!”

Sensing his fear, I looked down. Blood completely covered the white dress I had on, nearly soaking it through to the point
that
it was almos
t solid red. “What the – oh, my G
od, Aden!”

“What?” he said, then reached up to his chest. A hole had appeared there, gushing a waterfall of blood down his body.

I froze, my mouth dropped open in horror.
With my gaze locked on Aden, I
hadn’t noticed how dark it had gotten.

The sky was nearly black, writhing with deep gray clouds. Lightning crackled in the distance, and I turned as a sudden gale ripped through the meadow, bringing with it an icy chill as snarls and clucking sounds took to the air.

I squinted. Something was moving toward us, an enormous herd of
silhouetted bodies and red
demonic eyes.

I gasped, grabbing Aden by the arm. “Rogues! Aden, run!”

Blood spurted from his mouth as he keeled over, falling limp in my arms.

Tears ran down my face as I screamed his name over and over again, shaking him.

A red blob lay in the grass beside him. Confused and trembling, I reached out and grasped it.

My mind went numb with shock.

It was his heart – still pulsing in my hand, which had started to run red with blood. With sinking dread, I turned back to the hole in his chest.

Did I do this?

My reflection stared back at me from within the glassy depths of his dead eyes. It was a mirror image at first, and then it began to shift.

I squinted.

The reflection’s eyes were red.

And she was smiling.

***

“Aden!” I screamed, flying upright.

Something sharp cracked again
st my forehead
and someone swore.

“Jesus, Sloane,” Rook said, wincing as he clasped his nose.

I blinked several times, panting hard as I frantically looked around. It took a few seconds because my mind was still trapped inside the nightmare, but then it slowly dawned on me as my eyes roved over dirty clothes and rusty washing machines
that I was back at the
Laundromat
.

“I – Aden – that is –” I said, my tongue stumbling over the words. My brain wouldn’t slow down long enough for me to form a coherent
sentence
.

Rook was in front of me in an instant, gripping my shoulders. “Breathe. Just take a few deep breaths and close your eyes.”

Doing as he said, I forced myself to inhale slowl
y, closing my eyes. The devil version of me
flashed before my eyes, her bloodstained white dress lit up against the inky darkness. She smiled at me, blood dripping from her fangs.

My eyes flew open with a gasp.

“What is it? Did you have a nightmare?” Rook asked.

I thought about it. Did I? Aden
had
felt so real.

So
did
the blood.

I didn’t know what
worried me more: if I was dream-
sharing with Aden and he really was dying, or if my overactive imagination kicked into overdrive and dropped me right in the middle of a horror movie. Blinking sev
eral times to clear the demon
girl
from my mind, I swallowed against the knot in my throat and said, “Sort of.”

I c
ouldn’t bring myself to say any
more, to tell Rook I had been meeting up with Aden in our hidden dream world.

Rook searched my eyes, his features tense with worry.

Feeling guilty, I smirked and said, “Sorry to wake you up. I’m surprised you could get away from Deyzre long enough to come check on me.”

He cringed, but my casual remark seemed to relax him. “Yeah, well, it’s easy to just brush past her when I’m a good foot taller.”

Knowing there was no way I could go back to sleep now, I stood and stretched my arms above my head. My muscles were sore, but not as bad as I expected them to be. “Where are the others?” I asked, looking around. Bright white light shone from behind the boards, meaning it must still be daytime.

“Dezyre said Arika and Leo went to go check out the lead on the lab,” Rook said, placing his hands on his hips. “Dezyre’s probably freaking out that I’m up and moving around. It’s weird. I don’t know why she’s so worried about it. I mean, I know she’s a doctor and all, and it’s kind of her job, but still. She needs to calm down.”

I carefully masked my expression, not letting on that I knew more than I should. “Well, you know Dezyre. Queen of the drama queens.”

He chuckled, then winced.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, glancing at his chest. The skin was still raw, but it looked a hell of a lot better than when I left him.

“Sore as hell, but I’ll manage,” he said, smiling.

“There you are.”

We both turned. Deyzre stood a few feet away. Her arms were crossed, and she had her hip cocked to one side, giving Rook a pointed glare. “And just what exactly are you doing here, when I gave you explicit instructions to stay lying down?”

The twinkle in his eyes sparked as he met her glare head-on. “I didn’t listen to you back at the base when I got nicked up. Why should that be any different here?”

“You also never had a gigantic hole
in your chest back at the base,
either,”
she said, walking up to him. She looked tired. Her eyes had
a
droopy look to them, and her ha
ir was actually somewhat out of
place.

Rook rolled his eyes as she began examining his chest. “Lay off it already. I’m fine.”

“You should rest,” she muttered, crossing her arms with a pout.

“What time is it?” I said, trying to change the subject to
alleviate
the growing tension in the room.

“A little after 3
p
.
m
.
,” Rook said. “Why?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Just curious.
” A trickle of worry turned my stomach.
“
When do you think Arika and Leo will be back?”
Provided they don’t get caught by the S.I.A., the Scarlet Guard, or the Black Cross Guild.

“Probably before nightfall,” Rook said. “Leo seemed to be pretty confiden
t he could locate the other lab
so we could infiltrate it tonight.”

My pulse quickened
at that proposition
, and a thought crossed my mind. “Hey, if you’re up for it, would you like to go over some defensive moves? I’m sure that lab will be crawling with guards, especially since the last one went up in flames.”

I caught the excited gleam in Rook’s eyes before he could hide it. “Sure.”

“Absolutely not!” Dezyre said. “He needs to rest!”

“If I rest, I’ll just get sorer than I already am,” Rook said. “Relax. Sloane and I will go easy. Right?” he added, looking at me.

I nodded. “Of course. He won’t even break a sweat. I promise.” I winked at Dezyre, and she pursed her lips, weighing this.

“Fine,” she barked, stalking away. “See if I care when you rip your chest open again.”

I smiled.
They
sounded so much like Orion and I had when we were little, constantly picking at each other, but in a way that showed we genuinely cared for one another.

An unexpected wave of sadness flowed through me, knowing things could never go back to being the way they were
between my brother and me
.

“You ready?”

I looked up, blinking away the memory of my
twin
, and smiled. “Yeah. Let’s get this rolling.”

We moved into the front lobby, where it was a little more open. After pushing some of the machines around to clear a circle of floor space, we took up positions across from one another.

“What should we start with first? Did you have anything in particular in mind?” Rook asked.

“Uh, how about some basic arm
holds?”

We practiced a few moves, alternating being the attacker and the victim. I was extra careful not to apply too much pressure, since I didn’t want to put him in any more pain than he was already in. Something told me he was hurting a lot more than he was letting on.

For the most part, we rehearsed our deadly dance, going over pointers and textbook self-defense moves.

Finally, I decided to ask
one of the multitude of questions
that had been nagging me at the back of my mind.
“Have you or Dezyre, you know,
fed
since you’ve been up here?”

Rook didn’t seemed bothered by my question. I still felt weird asking it, but I guess since he’d been a vampire longer than me, it didn’t bother him anym
ore. “Nah. Neither of us needs
to.” He winced, parrying my fake punch and locking up my arm
against his chest. “Although it
probably wouldn’t hurt me to feed now,
since I lost
all that blood.”

My face flushed
. That made me feel even guiltier for feeding off Leo.

I decided to change the subject.
“Do vampires get stronger the longer
they’re
, you know, infected or whatever?”

“Typically,” Rook said,
“though you don’t really notice it until after a
t least a year.” He looked at me
strangely. “W
hy? You experiencing some super-
strength or something?”

“Well,” I said, my voice hitching
as I thought about how I’d lifted Leo’s Rogue dad by the throat with one hand
. Chewing on my lip, I finally said, “Watch this.”

Rook eyed me quizzically as I walked over to a washing machine, placing my feet shoulder width apart as I stood in front of it and let out a slow breath. I had no idea if this would work, but the energy humming in my veins refused to subside.
I’d noticed it ever since drinking Leo’s blood, like swallowing electricity.
Raising my fist in the air, I brought my arm down as hard as I could. The metal groaned as it bent inward, creating a dent about an inch or two deep.

Rook whistled as his brows shot up. “Wow. Easy there, She-rah. That washing machine didn’t do anything to deserve that.”

“Ha
ha,” I said dryly, turning back around to face him. “
I haven’t been a vampire for very long. Why do you think I’m getting so much stronger so
fast
?”

Rook studied me for a few seconds, thinking. “I don’t know.” His eyes focused on my collarbone. “Maybe it has something to do with your heritage.”

I followed his gaze to the forget-me-not shaped birthmark on my skin. “I still don’t know what it means, this symbol, my past. Any of it.”
And I definitely
didn’t
know why
it was
being used as a symbol by a top secret government lab.

Rook smiled sadly. “You’ll figure it out someday, I’m sure.”

We stood there for a few moments, each lost in thought. I made a mental note to do some serious genealogy research as soon as this whole ordeal with Orion was over.

I looked up. Rook’s gaze was distant. And very sad.