Zoey Avenger (Incubatti Series Book 2) (27 page)

Wendy took a sip and frowned. She took another drink and then downed the rest, as if innately knowing the drug she needed was within. “Awful!”

Zoey took the bottle and watched her intently.

Color returned to Wendy’s cheeks, and the glazed look faded from her eyes. She looked around, awareness crossing her features. “Why am I tied down?” 

“How do you feel?” Zoey asked.

“Good. Like … really good.” Wendy appeared confused. “I felt like shit before.” Her eyes went to the bottle in Zoey’s hands. “What is it?”

Zoey loosened the straps tying Wendy down. “It’s what Olivia used to drug Halflings,” she explained grimly. “We need to get this to every Halfling on the team.”

Wendy sat up and rubbed her wrists.

“I’m sending you and V out with enough for everyone,” Zoey said. “Come down to the lab when you’re ready.” Thrilled the simple mix worked, she hurried back to the lab. “Success, Chrissy!”

“Okay, good,” came the distracted response. “This antitoxin is insane. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Meaning …”

“Meaning, I think it’ll only work when released through natural means. Like if you had the right gland or if you absorbed it from an incubus directly.”

“Not the right answer, Chrissy.”

“How do I explain this …” Chrissy paused.

Vikki joined them, arms crossed as she listened.

“The toxin is easy to derive a serum from, which is maybe why Olivia used it,” Chrissy started. “The antitoxin, though, is basically … well, useless. It won’t mix with anything else, at least not in the liquid state. I have a feeling it’ll have to be airborne. We can make it airborne, but the antigen that makes it counteract the toxin is destroyed in the process. It’s super unstable outside of the human body. I’m thinking there’s a secondary gland or chemical secreted that mixes with this or triggers it.”

Dread sank into Zoey’s stomach. “So to stop the blackout, we need an incubus around capable of producing the antitoxin.”

“It looks that way. Same theory behind why you five members of Team Rogue are drawn to the super incubuses. They’d have to produce an unusually large amount of the antitoxin to counter their natural neurotoxin production.”

“I hate incubuses,” Vikki grumbled.

I wish I did, too. Instead, Zoey found her thoughts going once more to Declan and how he’d reacted when she told him the truth, that he destroyed her. The impact of those three words had more of an effect than she expected, and a truth she’d begun to suspect – that he truly did love her – began to grow roots.

What she did about it after his indiscretions was much harder for her to fathom. She’d been as fragile as glass in his hands, and he’d responded with tenderness, restraint and compassion.

Somehow, he always managed to surprise her.

“Earth to Zoey!” Vikki snapped fingers in front of her face. “Movement on the perimeter. Our time’s up.”

Zoey yanked her mind out of the night with Declan. “V, you and Wendy need to take the drugs to as many Halflings as you can. Chrissy, c’mon!” She whirled her finger in the air in a circle, signaling the rest of the Hunters lingering in the lab to head to the rendezvous point.

“I just need another –” Chrissy objected.

Zoey grabbed the samples and pulled Chrissy away, all too aware that a human stood less of a chance than a weak Halfling if they were cornered. “Now, Chrissy!”

Chrissy went. She reached into her pocket and pulled free a triangular shaped hand grenade. “This fries everything I was doing and should scramble their electronics.” She pulled free of Zoey, shook the device, and flung it into the center of the lab, slamming the door closed.

“Going up, Z!” Vikki called from the elevator.

“Stay safe!” Zoey shouted with a wave. “Chrissy, come on!” She tugged at Chrissy’s lab coat.

“Coming!”

Zoey waited with another Halfling for the elevator to return. A familiar sensation went through her and she glanced instinctively at her armband to ensure it was in place. “He wasn’t joking.”

“Who?” Chrissy asked.

“I don’t think the Sucubatti is here.” Zoey looked up, wishing she could see through the ground. “I think the Enforcers are.”

Chrissy paled. “I don’t want to meet more of them.”

“Me neither.”

The lift opened, and they hurried into it. Zoey tapped her foot anxiously, aware that every second Declan had to move closer was one less for her to escape. She turned on her earpiece when they reached the ground level.

“Zoey radio check,” she said and gripped Chrissy’s arm, running towards the entrance of the warehouse.

“Head south,” Vikki directed, sounding out of breath, like she was running. “And for the love of fuck, go out the back.”

Zoey froze, hand on the front entrance. She backed away and spun, signaling the remaining Hunters out the rear exit. Able to feel the sizzle of sex magic in the air, Chrissy ran with her.

A Halfling yanked open the back door to reveal the black van waiting, Lydia in the driver’s seat. She waved them over hurriedly, coiffed blond hair and large blue eyes giving her the appearance of a doll.

They all hopped into the van. Lydia took off before they could close the door, and Zoey tumbled into the back. She grunted as she hit the back and clawed her way forward again to close the door.

“You okay, Z?” Lydia asked.

“Drive.” Zoey climbed into the passenger side seat, smacking against the ceiling as Lydia drove the van through a ditch in the field. “Holy shit, Lyd! Didn’t you take the combat driving course?”

“No!”

Zoey smacked into the passenger side door and pulled the seatbelt free. Once she was safely strapped in, she gave Lydia a glare then turned her attention to their surroundings.

“V, what’s happening?” she asked, situating the earpiece after the jarring start to Lydia’s driving.

“Scattered like roaches. The usual. You clear?”

“Aside from Lyd’s driving, yeah.”

“Listen, Z, back to the conversation I wanted to start when we found the energy bottles.” The guilt in Vikki’s voice was a warning.

“Yeah?” Zoey asked cautiously. “You’ve been hiding something from me because you don’t want me to flip out.”

Lydia glanced at her.

The van smacked into something and launched into the air a foot. Zoey pushed at the ceiling. “Focus, Lyd!”

“It wasn’t my idea,” Vikki said. “Let me say that up front.”

“Can this wait?” Zoey asked impatiently. “Lyd is gonna kill us. I think I need to drive.”

“If you’re this calm with Lyd driving, then I’m good.” Vikki took a deep breath. “First, Chrissy lied to you, Z.”

“What? You’re not blaming me for this!” Chrissy exclaimed from the back, her agitated voice coming across in stereo from the combination of sitting a few feet from her in person and her wearing a communications piece. “This was a mutual decision, Zoey.”

Zoey glanced back at Chrissy, who appeared worried rather than angry. She had a syringe in her hand. “Um, what’s that for?”

“Nothing.” Chrissy covered it with her lab coat.

Zoey eyed her. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not pregnant,” Vikki said.

“Seriously?” Zoey asked. “Do I want to know how that happened?”

“I never really was. We devised this elaborate plan to sort of test the waters.”

“I’ve got the sedative, Vikki,” Chrissy hissed.

“I can hear you, Chrissy!” Zoey snapped. “What the fuck are you guys talking about? Vikki’s pregnant and now she’s not? Chrissy’s ready to stab me with a needle?”

“So …Yeah.” Vikki cleared her throat.

Zoey caught the blur of black from the corner of her eye. “Lydia!” Her cry came a split second before the SUV smashed into the side of the van. There was a sickening crunch, and suddenly, she was flung against the seatbelt, rolling over and over, the world a blur of trees, sky and asphalt visible through the shattered glass of the windshield.

The van groaned as it slid to a stop on its side. Zoey’s ears rang, and the scent of blood was fresh in the air around her. Warmth pooled at her right side and left leg, Bruises forming from the seatbelt, she grimaced and worked on punching the release button with a bloody, trembling hand. It was jammed in place. She pulled out a knife and began sawing at the thick belt.

“Guys?” she croaked. A glance at Lydia revealed that the blond Halfling was unconscious, blood pooling around her head. “Vikki, please be there!”

“What the fuck happened?” Vikki was frantic.

“Got … hit. Lyd is out.” Cambions. Judging by the intensity of the sex magic, there were a ton of them headed her direction. Zoey hacked through the last of the belt and all but fell onto Lydia. She caught herself, shifting to see the Halfling and human in the back. “Chrissy is … I can’t tell. Cambions incoming.”

“That place is a death trap.”

“I’m in the middle.” Zoey felt for Lydia’s pulse, knowing how tough the Team Rogue members were. “Fuck, Vikki. Lyd is alive but won’t be for long if I can’t get her fixed up.”

“Take care of the Cambions. I’m headed your way.”

Zoey climbed through the mangled van back to Chrissy. Their resident mad scientist was trapped between the bench and the floor. The odd position protected her from the damaged side and probably saved her life. She was unconscious and bleeding from an arm and leg that were slashed by metal when the van’s side gashed open. Her pulse was strong, though, and Zoey moved onto the Halfling.

“One down,” she whispered to Vikki, not even bothering to check the Halfling’s pulse. The woman’s eyes were open and blank. Metal pierced her chest and thigh. Zoey lingered, sorrow tugging at her.

Did Declan go through this as a leader? Watching his people die? She’d never considered it before, just like she never wanted to think of how he felt after the incident that drove her away.

Her instincts grew in alarm at the approach of the Cambions. Zoey tore herself away from the gruesome scene in the back of the van and made her way to the front. The cut in her left calf was messy yet superficial, and the flow of blood in her side was already slowing. She tested her body briefly. A bit sluggish, though a good does of sex magic from the Cambions would fix that. She gripped a knife between her lips and stretched upward towards the busted passenger side window.

A shadow crossed above, and she pulled out another knife, tensing for a fight.

Did I get hit harder than I thought? She stared. “Vikki, you weren’t joking about the man in a mask.”

His black clothing was somewhat baggy, and the mask covered every inch of his face, down to the almost sheer eye coverings that hid the hue of his eyes. He wore gloves and sturdy boots, and was crouching over the window, balanced with catlike agility on the edges of the door.

“We think he’s a good-ish guy,” Vikki said. “Hang in there. I’ll be there soon.”

The man in black extended a hand without speaking.

Zoey’s senses picked up nothing about him whatsoever. He read as human, but she doubted he’d last long if he were truly a human.

“Z…zoey?” Chrissy’s voice was weak.

“Stay here, Chrissy,” Zoey called. “I’ve gotta go kill some Cambions.”

Chrissy murmured something in response.

Zoey took the stranger’s hand and let him pull her up. The moment she had her footing, she whipped around, ready to take off his head. As if sensing her intentions, he leapt away, landing on the ground near the van.

She eyed him, and he pointed past her.

Turning, her gaze swept over the dozens of Cambions filling the road and ditches. The van had cut through the younger trees near the road before the thick trunk of an ancient oak stopped its progress twenty feet from the road.

Zoey replaced one of her knives and drew the short sword at her back.

“Zoey,” Chrissy called again. The side of the van slammed open.

“I got this, Chrissy. Stay inside,” Zoey said without turning. She twirled the sword. There was a time she’d take a moment for a quick display of pageantry, a cocky challenge to the Cambions that thought they stood a chance.

Rattled by the thought of her friends being hurt, still raw from her interaction with Declan, Zoey wasn’t able to summon any sort of smartass remark towards the creatures headed towards her.

The man with the mask drew abreast of her, drawing his own weapons.

“I don’t need help,” she said, not at all comfortable with a stranger at her side. “This is easy.”

He offered a small salute with one knife.

“Whatever. Your funeral.” Zoey started away at a jog before breaking into an all out sprint. Opening her senses, she absorbed the magic of her enemies the way she was bred to do, letting it numb her emotional and physical pain and intoxicate her until she wanted to giggle. The more of them there were, the stronger the sensations, the less mortal she felt.

Zoey dove into the middle of the charging Cambions, her lethal dance guided by pure instincts. She relaxed and let the magic take her. The half-incubus creatures fell around her, and she switched out her other knife for the second sword without missing a beat.