Malachai Read online

  He couldn’t let her leave this armory with that wounded distress in her eyes. He wanted to fix it. He leaned down to kiss her, but when he did, he found he couldn’t break the seal of her lips. He had to take more and more. He couldn’t stop.

  She collapsed under his kiss. He stumbled forward and she fell against the wall. He propped his arm above her head and she sank back. She would have pulled him down on top of him all over again if the wall didn’t hold her up.

  He drifted in bliss. He needed to leave, to go back up to the war room and deal with his people, but her kiss wouldn’t let him.

  She startled him by touching his stomach. Her delicate little fingers weaseled between his ribs. She would get him going all over again if he didn’t do something pretty quick. Her warm, wet mouth took over his whole world.

  She woke him from his trance by opening her sparkling blue eyes. “You won’t send me north, will you?”

  He straightened up and the moment passed. Her aroma still hovered around his nostrils, but he wasn’t in any danger of falling into her again. She became once again the strong woman on whom he could depend. “I won’t send you north, but I still need the boys protecting you. You’re the only human in this building. Everyone else has some way to defend themselves. You need them. Promise me you’ll stick close to them and let them protect you.”

  “All right. I’ll do it for you, but I can take care of myself. I might not be a bear or a dragon or whatever, but I’ve got this.”

  She raised her pistol and released the slide. It slapped into place and she stuffed it into her waistband behind her back. Malachai’s shoulders relaxed. He should have known he could trust her. He did know. He knew all along.

  “Yeah. Come on. Let’s do this.” He hefted his AK onto his shoulder, grabbed another handgun, and hit the door. He picked up several boxes of ammo on his way out and he and Isabelle climb back upstairs to the war room.

  He burst into a packed crowd all bristling with weapons. His arrival produced the same electric effect of the New Breed gathered around. They hushed their excited talk. The clicking and slamming of metal died and everyone turned around to look at him.

  He strode up to the table and set his ammo on top. He shoved a clip into his handgun and positioned it behind his back. Then he picked up his AK. This was his moment, the moment he became real to himself and everyone else.

  “All right, people,” he called. “You should all know where you’re stationed. If you don’t, get upstairs and stand by to defend the main entrance. Whatever you do, don’t set foot outside. We don’t know where Courtney’s crew is laying explosives. Becca and Rooster will be here shortly to detonate them for us. The last thing we want is one of our own getting caught in the crossfire. Has anyone seen Felicia?”

  A small Asian girl spoke up from the back of the room. “I’m right here.”

  “Good girl. I want you to phase from one floor to the next carrying communications. Do you think you can hold it together in all that noise?”

  Felicia weaseled through the throng to appear at his side. “I’ll do my best, Sir.”

  “That’s my good girl. Your best is all you can do. You know Lincoln and Todd and Jackson. All you have to do is give them my messages and report back to me. Phasing around the building should keep you safe from the brunt of the fighting.”

  She nodded up at him with huge eyes. Malachai touched her head and stroked her hair. Then he whipped around and grabbed the clip for his AK. He pushed it into the magazine. “We have no idea when they’re coming for us. We’ll just have to….”

  At that moment, the double doors slammed open and a tiny black boy even smaller than Jules rushed in. “They’re coming down through the Audubon! They’re on the move heading east.”

  Malachai snapped his magazine closed. Now that the word came, deadly calm settled into his being. Nothing could shake him off his foundations. “Good. Better now than later. You folks all know what to do. Good luck out there.”

  Before anyone could move, drumming footsteps drew everyone’s attention to the exit. Malachai turned Victor, Riley, Colonel Weeks, and their whole party tripped down the stairs and walked into the war room full to bursting with armed New Breed.

  Victor cast a scowl around the place. “What the hell is going on around here?”

  Malachai looked up from his gun. He didn’t even blink. Not even this could disturb his glacial calm. “We’re facing military invasion. Grab a gun and stand by to defend the building.”

  Victor stiffened and waved around the room. “What are you talking about? We’re not under invasion.”

  “The situation has changed since you left. We got intelligence from our trackers and now the enemy is on the march. They’ll be here in a few minutes, so if you’re done jacking your jaw, get yourselves armed and get in line ‘cuz we don’t have time to explain everything to you.”

  Victor narrowed his eyes at him. Malachai never stood up to him before and tension crackled between them. “If that’s true, then I’ll take over. You can get in line with the others.”

  The room went deadly quiet. No one dared to breathe. Malachai propped his gun on his hip and rounded on his brother with dangerous slowness. “I don’t think so. I’m in command here. You left Ogru-Kuche in my care and I’ll defend that trust to the death. You don’t know the situation, but we’ll be happy for your help. If you take over now, it will throw the whole operation into confusion. No one will know who’s in command and we can’t afford that. I’ll handle this and pass the Crest back to you when the smoke clears. Until then, I’m in charge exactly the way you told me to be.”

  Victor stared his brother down. Then, very slowly, he surveyed all the New Breed gathered around. Malachai sensed them standing in a semi-circle behind his back. Dozens of guns pointed to the ceiling above their heads. In the vast distance, Courtney’s voice called to her people outside. They were out there right now laying explosives around the fence and the yard. They were doing it at Malachai’s order.

  All these people fell in line behind Malachai. They trusted his authority to command them. Now he had to see this thing through to its conclusion. He owed them that. He wouldn’t put them at a disadvantage for anything, not even his brother.

  Ogru-Kuche would be defenseless without Malachai and everyone in the room knew it. No one moved from behind Malachai. All these New Breed knew who was in charge.

  Victor glanced the other way and nodded. “All right, man. I trust you. Tell me what you want me to do.”

  Malachai stepped forward and clapped him on the shoulder. “Arm up. You and Riley and Colonel Weeks stay down here with Coop and Nolan and Isabelle. We’ll hold ‘em off as best we can, but when the hammer comes down, I want you in here defending her.” He craned back his head and bellowed over the crowd. “Come on, boys. Let’s go to work.”

  20

  Malachai didn’t look back on his way up the stairs. The gun in his hands felt damn good—so much better than he ever expected. He fought to defend Anarock dozens of times, but this was different. This was his command. Everything he did, he did for himself. He planned the defense and he would stand or fall on his own responsibility.

  He left his brother Victor and Colonel Horace Weeks in his dust. He refused to relinquish command at his brother’s order and Victor capitulated. If anyone tried to tell Malachai that would ever happen in a thousand years, he would have called that person crazy.

  Somehow, it didn’t surprise him now. He went through Hell making his decisions about how to conduct Ogru-Kuche’s defense. The third military team caught him off guard, but at least he found out what they were doing before they struck.

  Now he had his people stationed around the building ready to battle for their lives. He wouldn’t stand down from that—not for Victor, not for anybody. This was his battle. It might be his last, but he sure as fuck wouldn’t back down. No way.

  Several sets of boots following him up the stairs. He found the corridor clear on his way to the building ent
rance. At least none of the usual bodies blocked the way. The crews even cleared out most of the trash. That was good. No one needed to trip over broken beer bottles battling the US fucking military.

  He halted at the entrance, but he didn’t go down the steps. Through the gap, he spotted Courtney rounding up the last stragglers. She herded them toward the building unrolling detonator cable as she went. She laid it to the side door. She’d be scrambling in there to get the explosives wired up before the enemy arrived.

  He stuck his head out and scanned up and down the street. He asked over his shoulder, “Has anyone seen Becca and Rooster?”

  An arm shot over his shoulder. “Here they come!”

  “Where’s Jules?” someone else asked.

  At that moment, a young girl and boy came racing up the block. They charged for the gate, but it remained as locked as ever. Not a living soul moved out there.

  In front of Victor’s eyes, Jules snapped into view diving for the gate. He seized the padlock and crammed his key into the slot. He dragged the gate open. Becca and Rooster Phillips slipped inside. They bolted across the yard.

  Malachai cringed hoping to High Heaven they didn’t trip any of the explosives, but he should have known better. Their telepathic powers told them where to step. That was why he got them involved in this fight. They could trip the boobytraps with their minds if anything went wrong with the detonators.

  The two kids charged through the entrance. Rooster trod on Malachai’s foot in his haste to get inside, but Malachai didn’t make a sound. He stared with unblinking intent at a parade of people coming up the street behind the children.

  Malachai saw at one glance they were the same expressionless military operatives that attacked Isabelle in the parking lot. Not one of them wore a stitch of uniform. They might be a bunch of guys from the local baseball team, but Malachai didn’t need to see them up close to know better. They wouldn’t be walking toward Ogru-Kuche with that unswerving intent if they were.

  Someone made a choking sound behind him. It sounded like a sob, but Malachai couldn’t move. He could only stand there and watch Fate advancing down the street. This battle would change his life if nothing else did. If meeting Isabelle and getting put in charge of the Prometheus Crest wasn’t enough to transform him into something unrecognizable, those men would bring it. They would bring him his destiny on a goddamned silver fucking platter.

  Someone behind him snapped their gun slide. That sound echoed to the ends of the Earth. At the same instant, a smattering of gunfire blasted off the roof. Bullets sailed across the neighborhood. One or two of the advancing enemy toppled.

  The next second, Malachai frowned at the sight. Lead whizzed in streaking rays of light toward the group coming up the street, but it didn’t hit anybody. The bullets deflected off an invisible shield arching over them. Those bright flecks sailed away without doing anything.

  The ranks of men strode up the sidewalk under a hail of gunfire, but nothing touched them. They didn’t stop. A shout went up from the roof, but Malachai already understood.

  A voice in his ear murmured, “What the fuck?”

  Malachai didn’t have a chance to answer before a snuff of air hit his cheeks. The breath sucked from his lungs. The next instant, a rocket screamed across the neighborhood. It ripped through the barbed-wire fence. The frail wire did nothing to stop it and it smashed into the building a few yards away from the entrance where Malachai and his people waited.

  The military men reacted in a fraction of a second. A few dropped to their knees. Malachai suffered a swirl of déjà vu when they leveled their rocket launchers at Ogru-Kuche. At the same moment, the rest of the band broke and charged. They rushed around the shooters and rushed the building firing automatic weapons.

  Someone screamed inside the building. Malachai shoved down his rising alarm and roared over his shoulder. “Hold your positions! Wait for ‘em!”

  He didn’t have to wait long. The enemy crossed the fence sagging where the rocket tore it off its posts. They fired on the run targeting the windows and doors. The rocket launchers released another barrage. The shots arched over Ogru-Kuche and plunged for the roof.

  Thunderous bellows boomed from somewhere out of sight. The concrete walls vibrated with bullets striking up and down the sides. Someone bumped into Malachai from behind. He flung out his arm without looking to see who it was. “Hold it!”

  At that moment, a rapid smattering of gunfire scattered across the doorway. Concrete dust sprayed in his eyes. The next thing he knew, something hot and hard hit him in the neck. His scales erupted from under his skin to meet the threat. He didn’t have an instant before the change took over his every reaction.

  The enemy breached the fence. They barreled into the yard leveling their weapons at the Ogru-Kuche. The shooters behind dropped more ordnance down their tubes. In a matter of seconds, they would release another bombardment against the building.

  Malachai arched his spine. He let a yell rip from his throat. “Now!”

  That sound burst from his very soul and it rent him in half. It launched so big and frightening he couldn’t contain his deadly anger. The reaction rippled outward from that bullet drilling into his throat.

  Two of his people raised their guns to return fire. They shot past his shoulders. He caught one glimpse of their bullets bouncing off that invisible barricade surrounding the military guys. Every bullet glanced off somewhere else. Nothing came near them.

  The next thing he knew, all those thoughts vaporized out of his head. He stopped being human enough to think straight. He became a blazing ball of pure hate. He streaked through the doorway. His guns fell away. They didn’t mean a fucking thing right now.

  He rocketed out of the building and his wings pounded out to full extension. He never touched the ground. He vaulted skyward spraying fire everywhere.

  He got ten feet off the ground when a catastrophic boom blasted the yard to the moon. Concrete, dirt, and asphalt spouted out of the ground spewing debris and destruction everywhere. Malachai looked down on an unholy crater yawning under those military men. Bodies sprawled at the bottom of the hole.

  He didn’t stick around to see anymore. He flexed his wings and soared over the neighborhood. He flapped over the roof and gazed down on Lincoln and his people firing a continuous curtain of bullets on the advancing foe. Todd occupied the next floor down. His voice penetrated the noise shouting orders to his party to hold fast.

  Malachai swiveled his head around. The explosives along the fence did some damage, but not enough. He measured his target down to the inch. He took a position directly over Ogru-Kuche and narrowed his eyes at his enemies.

  He couldn’t remember a time when he and his family didn’t live at Ogru-Kuche. In his earliest memories, he ran along the halls playing with his brothers. This was his home. No fucking anybody was going to attack this place, not while he was around.

  He leveled his nose at the men marching across the yard—his yard. He cracked his jaws and unloaded his fire on them, but some hidden corner of his consciousness already knew what would happen. Whatever caused that invisible shield to block bullets deflected his flame, too.

  He bit off the molten spray and glared at them. These guys did their homework. He expected them to bring their firepower. He didn’t expect this, but maybe he should have. Maybe that was why Victor was in charge and not him. Maybe he should have let Victor take over after all.

  That time was long over. He made his choice and he didn’t need fire to defend Ogru-Kuche. He fluttered lower and arched his claws to land in the yard. He touched down between the main flank of attackers and the building entrance. A few guns went off behind him, but when his people saw their weapons produced no effect, they broke off. Everybody must be coming to the same conclusion at the same time.

  He spread his wings to make himself as big as possible. He slithered around to face his enemies and he lowered his head to shriek at them all the rage and wrath in his heart.

  They stum
bled to get away from him and he saw his chance. Their magic or whatever it was might protect them from his fire, but he didn’t need that to kill these fuckers. How dare they attack Ogru-Kuche itself? How dare they?

  He darted out his long neck and snapped. He targeted one man at a time and clapped his jaws every which way. Bone popped and flesh ripped against his fangs. Blood dripped onto his tongue and his fury erupted out of him with unearthly power.

  He flailed his neck from one side to the other. He didn’t have to see his enemies to kill them all. He whipped to his right and snapped at anything that moved.

  The military guys retreated out of his reach and aimed their guns at him. Come on, you fools. Come on with your puny fucking guns. Come on.

  The first bullets pocked across his scales. He hardly felt them. He rotated around and spotted the rocket launchers. The men manning them sighted down their tubes. Rockets woofed from their barrels screwing toward him.

  He leaped up on his hind legs. He arched his wings and spread his arms to take the full brunt of the blast on his chest. He threw back his head and screeched to the heavens. The next instant, the rockets smashed into his sternum. Pain and rage blasted through his mind.

  The instant the noise died, he heard someone calling him from behind. “Malachai! Malachai, help us!”

  He didn’t recognize the voice. Another volley of bullets hit him in the sides, but when he looked behind him, he saw more of those military guys flanking him. They rushed the building from the sides.

  He flashed out with his tail and slapped ten of them out of the way, but more ran up behind him. He couldn’t fight them all. They charged the building’s side doors. Gunfire tore from the roof, but no one could hold them off. Where the hell did they come from all of a sudden?

  Just for a second, the devastating truth hit him full force. What he thought was the third team was just a distraction. The military—or whoever—cooked up this strategy to make the New Breed of Anarock think they knew where the attack was coming from. They probably counted on the leadership of the Prometheus Crest finding out about them.