DarkRevenge (33 page)

Tory?
She opened her mind to him, following the
thread between them. They connected, touching, and she spun the thoughts toward
him. She ignored the rage on the surface about Foche and Kyler’s plan to have
her raped. She pushed aside all the heavy emotion and pain hanging over him.
She needed his rational mind.

Speed was essential. She poured her thoughts toward him. The
way they had practiced their wall, their blocking with each other, might come
in handy now.

The two of us, Tory. Together, we might be able to fight
him. Free Foche or get Foche to free us.

What’s your plan?

To use our Adarsian blood against him. It’s our one
chance.

We don’t know what that will do to us.
He wasn’t
afraid for himself, she saw, but for her. What would it do to her?

It doesn’t matter. We can’t lose here.

Connected, they worked together to strengthen her wall, the
ability to push back, which she’d developed in her bridge with Tory. Vast
reserves of power were flooding her mind. Tory shoved everything he had at her,
fueled by his anger.

Kyler had given Foche the order to attack her. The huge man
grabbed her breast in a painful squeeze, his brown eyes dead and lifeless.
Tesia cried out the man’s name but he didn’t hear her.

She had nowhere to hide—Alex was spread-eagle and her
position was set up perfectly for what Foche intended to do. Alex fought the
fear and brought her mental fist up to push at Foche’s mind. The man’s dick
pressed against her naked thigh, inches from his intended goal, and she
swallowed. Focus. She made herself focus. She pushed harder, all her mental
pressure brought to bear on Foche.

What she found was a mass of resentment and violence. Kyler
wasn’t using anything that wasn’t already there. Normally, Foche kept all these
horrendous impulses under control, but the plague stripped him of that control.
Part of Foche recoiled in despair at what he was being forced to do. Alex
discovered his feelings for Tesia, intense love, almost obsession, were being
amplified and twisted by Kyler’s mental control.

Determined to break it, Alex dove at the lines the connected
Foche and Kyler. One hard shove and she severed the connection between Foche
and Kyler. The answering attack almost crumbled the wall, but Tory was there
with her, doubling the power. Together, they repelled Kyler from Foche’s mind.

Foche dropped to his knees, his stricken expression matching
the horror in his mind. Alex, still in the driver’s seat of Foche’s mind,
forced him to lurch to his feet and unlock Tory’s restraints first. One press
of the button and Tory was free.

Kyler screamed in rage, the Dav shooting out to connect not
with Foche’s body, but Tesia’s. Foche, in the agony at seeing the woman he
loved in pain, sent a wave of emotion over Alex, weakening the wall. She
fumbled for a moment and her control over Foche slipped.

What Kyler hadn’t anticipated was Foche’s ability to respond
on his own. The man flung his body at Kyler, completely disregarding wisdom and
safety.

Kyler deflected the huge man easily. Alex sought control
again, shoring up the wall in Foche’s mind, but also dealing with the huge
amount of energy from the man’s rage.

Suddenly, someone helped—something helped her control over
Foche’s mind and held back the wave of emotion from him so she could hold the
wall.

Jezar.

Tory! Jezar is conscious.

She sent the thought along their bridge but it was all she
could do.

Tory stumbled to his feet, his body still reeling from the
Dav torture earlier, but he reached Jezar. Tory tore at the restraints.

Meanwhile, Kyler grappled with Foche mentally and
physically. Kyler lost his physical hold on Foche and the Dav slammed into
Foche’s ribs. The pain was so intense, Alex cried out even as she forced her
mind to hold the wall between Kyler and Foche.

Foche writhed on the ground, his body in convulsions, Kyler
standing over him.

Then, Tory plowed into Kyler. The Dav flew from Kyler’s hand
and skittered across the floor. Jezar hadn’t moved, but he and Alex both held
Kyler at bay in Foche’s mind.

But when Kyler gripped Tory’s throat, Alex lost focus.
Suddenly, an anger, a killing emotion, ripped through her. Without thinking,
she combined with Tory’s mind, experiencing the way Kyler squeezed his Adam’s
apple, the way Tory’s remaining air slowly faded. She lashed out, her mind
strengthened by the bridge, and attacked Kyler directly.

Kyler’s grip loosened. She whipped out again, flinging her
mental fist against his mind. Then, she discovered a fact in Kyler’s mind that
made her blood run cold.

The man had a mental grip on thousands of Teran One humans.
Thousands upon thousands. The only reason she’d been able to wrest away control
of Foche was because he was holding the minds of so many others. One mental
command from Kyler and the horrific vision she feared would come to pass.

And he was calling for reinforcements. More of his zombies
were on their way. She couldn’t stop them all.

Jezar’s voice was in her head, faint but there.
We have
to stop him. Now. Ignore Foche. Combine with me and Tory. You are half Ardasian
and more gifted than you know.

The way she gathered power from Tory and Jezar was almost
too easy. Oddly, two other minds connected as well. Tesia and Johan were both
there, their latent power adding to hers. It was similar to a bridge, but one
built out of necessity and less a meeting of minds than a combining of power.
Still, she glimpsed thoughts and feelings in each person that discomfited her.
She just wasn’t going to deal with that shit now.

Now she was going to crush Kyler.

“No!” Kyler’s scream didn’t even faze her and Alex pressed
on his mind, bringing everything to bear on him.

Kyler staggered to his feet. Tory gasped for air on his
knees. But Kyler gripped a disintegrator and aimed for the nearest target.

Tesia.

Harder, Alex pushed to stop him, but it was too late.

The weapon sizzled, its buzz electrifying the air.

And hit Foche, who had covered Tesia’s body with his own. In
horror, Alex watched the slow disintegration of Foche’s body as it crumbled
into dust particles. Tesia’s agonized scream and her responding mental anguish
increased her power and pushed against Kyler harder.

The door burst open and their window of opportunity seemed
lost. The zombies, controlled by Kyler, would swarm in and kill them all.
Still, she kept the attack up, determined to damage if not win. Scorched Earth
mentality.

She was distracted by the figure that burst into the room.

Celeste.

Her red hair was flying, her blue eyes flaming. She was
pissed off. She faced Kyler. “Kyler, look at me, you fucking son of a bitch.”

The Ardasian jerked his head toward her and the
disintegrator aimed at Celeste but lowered when he saw it was her. Apparently,
he missed that she was one enraged woman looking for his blood.

“She’s dead. So is he. They’re both dead. Ena and Pulzer.
What did you do to them?”

Kyler’s gaze narrowed on Celeste’s face. A standoff. They
both had fully charged weapons aimed at the other. The Ardasian fought off Alex
and the others in his mind trying to send his kill order.

“I freed them. They were subhuman anyway. Ena, so convinced
she had the gene that would make her immune to the plague, begged me to release
it.” He smiled. “She wanted to know which of the rebels would be infected. She
had no idea she’d be one of them. So much pride. She didn’t even check. And
Pulzer? He died doing what he really wanted to do. Killing Teran One humans.”

“They were my
friends
. They saved my life. Die, you
motherfucker.” Celeste’s weapon whined as she prepared to fire.

Kyler’s hand swerved and the disintegrator aimed directly at
Alex. “I wouldn’t. If you fire, I’ll discharge my disintegrator on your
sister.”

Celeste shot a glance at Alex. Harder, Alex pressed against
Kyler’s hold. Celeste, who clearly hadn’t noticed Alex until that moment,
hesitated.

Kyler smiled, confident he would win, that his mindless
zombies would come and he’d kill them all. His thoughts were clear to Alex.

Then, Jezar somehow managed to slam into Kyler’s body. The
disintegrator was caught between them and Alex held her breath.

The two Ardasians struggled, their death grips both physical
and mental as Jezar still supported Alex and the others to hold Kyler back from
the hordes of infected humans.

The disintegrator discharged, the sizzle echoing against the
walls of the dark room.

Kyler’s surprised expression slowly crumbled away, the dust
of his body dropping to the floor like dead leaves.

With his death, Kyler’s mental wall against all of them
disappeared and Alex collapsed, her mind suddenly alone, tired and strained.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Alexandra, honey, please! Wake up!” The voice came from a
long way down a dark tunnel. Alex didn’t want to go. She was warm, safe,
comfortable. Of course, she seemed to be falling…somewhere. It hurt to think.
But that voice kept calling her.

Tory.

She snapped back, her eyes flew open and met Tory’s frantic
gaze. “I’m okay,” she managed though her throat was sore.

“
Saria,”
he murmured and touched his forehead to
hers. She was still fuzzy, but she realized her hands and feet were unbound.
Tory held her in his arms and rocked her back and forth.

Her arms were heavy but she forced them around his neck and
buried her face in his chest. It was over. Wasn’t it?

“Honey, you have to wake up. We’ve got to move.” Though
Tory’s voice was gentle, she caught the urgency from him. What was going on?

Shouts penetrated her mental fog. Fighting, screaming,
something awful was happening outside the door. “Tory?”

“Kyler released the kill command before he died.” He
answered her unspoken question.

She lurched to her feet and stared around her. Wrapped in a
blanket, Tesia clutched the material around her naked body. Johan was supporting
Jezar, who still seemed weak. Tory’s arm was around her waist. Celeste stood in
the doorway fighting off a crowd of mindless killers.

“Weapons?” she croaked out.

“Two. Celeste’s and the one Kyler had.”

“The Dav.”

“Right. I forgot about that.”

They were trapped. Too many of the infected humans were
outside the door.

Suddenly, Johan moved across the room and gripped Tory’s
arm. His gaze slid up toward the ceiling. A vent.

“Up you go, honey.” Tory bent down and ducked between her
legs to lift her onto his shoulders. Still naked, she scrambled up to stand on
his shoulders and slammed her hand into the cover on the vent. It gave way and
she gripped the edge, hauling her body up into the air duct. Tory found a
blanket on a chair in the corner, tossed it up and she caught it.

Tesia was next. Alex gripped her hand and hauled her up to
the vent. “Which way do we go?”

Alex pointed. “That way slopes up, which probably heads
toward the surface. Hurry. And look before you come out of the duct.”

Tesia started scrabbling up the duct. Jezar followed, easily
levering himself on Tory’s shoulders and into the duct and quickly followed
Tesia.

Johan was next. He followed Tesia and Jezar. She wasn’t
leaving the opening until her mate was there with her. And Celeste. Shit. How
were they going to do this?

Celeste’s bloody face appeared and Alex grabbed her hand to
pull her up. Apparently, she and Tory had gotten the door blocked, but Alex
could hear them pounding on it.

“Hold my feet, Celeste.”

Her sister nodded and gripped Alex’s calves as she leaned
down to pull her mate up. He faced the door, resigned to his death. “Tory! Damn
it! Grab my hand.”

“Go, Alex. I can’t make it.”

“Don’t you fucking leave me!” she screamed at him. “Grab it!
Now!”
I’ll jump down there with you, Tory. I’d rather die with you than live
without you. Grab my hand!

Tory reached up and she gripped his wrist as he clutched
hers. Her muscles strained, her heart pounded and she reached her other hand to
grab his other wrist. Entirely dependent on Celeste’s strength to hold her, she
caught Tory’s other hand. “Pull!” she shouted to Celeste.

Slowly, Celeste yanked her backward, Alex’s skin scraping
off as the ducts bloodied her. The pain didn’t matter. All that mattered was
Tory. She kept her gaze on him, her arms feeling like they were going to tear
out of the socket.

The edge of the duct was in his reach and Tory grabbed it.
He pulled. She pulled. Celeste pulled. And then, he was there. In the duct. She
threw her arms around him and kissed him brutally. “Don’t you ever fucking do
that to me again!”

Tory grinned and slid the cover over the duct just as the
mindless hoard burst into the room in a scream of frustration.

The three of them scrambled through the duct.

Celeste let them lead since she and Tory remembered the
blueprints of the underground tunnels that Johan had shown them. Up and north.

The sounds of screaming and fighting seemed to be
everywhere. Tears pricked Alex’s eyes. She’d failed. Her planet was going to be
ripped apart.

You think you failed, but you didn’t. Kyler’s plan did
not succeed. He was only able to infect some of the population. What he wanted
was the location of the vials Darius stole from him.
Jezar’s mental contact
reached her
.

How bad is it? Can you tell?

Saladen is infected.

She didn’t want to know how Jezar could tell. She wanted to
know which way to go for safety.
Where do we go?

The shuttle bay. The immune humans have barricaded
themselves there.