Phoenix Fury Box set

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

When Cassie opened her eyes, she was in— a truck ? Some big, jostling vehicle, it almost looked like a moving van, and a man with a knife was sitting beside her, pretty much holding her upright.

She smelled smoke.

Her gaze flew to the left. Dante. He was lying on his back, and there was smoke rising from him. Men in those familiar white, flame retardant suits were all around him.

Keith sold us out.

She didn’t see Keith anywhere. If he’d tried to deal with Jon— if? yeah, right —the man could already be dead.

“He’s rising,” Cassie murmured as her gaze slid back to Dante.

The guy with the knife jerked. He needed to be more careful with that jerking. He’d almost cut her skin.

She warned him, “This is the time when you need to run like hell. Those flames are going to be white-hot, and they’ll kill us all if we don’t get out of here.”

He lifted the knife and pressed the blade to her throat. “The lieutenant colonel said he won’t attack, ma’am, as long as we’ve got you.”

“In case you haven’t noticed…” How could the idiot miss it? “Your lieutenant colonel is crazy. When Dante rises, he won’t even know who I am. You could shove your knife all the way through my throat, and it wouldn’t matter to him.” Cold, brutal words. True words. “He’ll still burn this whole ride down around us.”

The blade trembled and definitely nicked her skin.

Since she had the guard’s attention, she kept pressing. “When he rises, he’s all animal instinct, and his main instinct is to kill.” Her gaze swept the back of that truck. The flames were starting to crackle. They did not have much time. “Why do you think that Jon isn’t back here with us? He knows we’ll all die here.”

“No, no, ma’am. He said—he said as long as we had you—”

The fool needs to listen! “Dante won’t know me! He’ll kill me!”

The man’s eyes got glassy.

Cassie’s heartbeat froze. Wait. She pitched her voice low, trying to use that soothing tone that had worked with Trace. A siren’s power? Hell, it was worth a shot. “ Put down your knife.”

Dante had said that she made him remember his past, that she’d soothed Trace. Maybe she was getting better at channeling her power. She was definitely feeling stressed, so if she could use a siren’s suggestion on the guard… “Put down the knife.”

He lowered the knife.

Her breath rushed out. And she counted—four guards. There were four other guards with them.

“Go to the rear of the truck and open the doors,” Cassie ordered the man near her.

He stood up immediately. Headed to the back of the jostling truck.

It’s working. She sucked in a couple more of those deep breaths. The breaths were starting to taste of smoke.

And the guard was trying to open the back doors. It was insane. It was working.

Dante had been right about her. Now, if she could just save them.

But as the guard hurried to obey her instructions, the others all whirled to face her. Crap. Could she control so many at once? Cassie had no clue. Let’s find out. “Pick him up.” She fought to keep her voice low and soothing when she wanted to shout.

At first, no one moved.

Then the guard who’d nicked her shoved open the back doors, just as flames licked around Dante’s legs.

“Pick him up,” Cassie said again

If Dante’s fire grew in the truck—with the gasoline in the vehicle’s tank—hell, they could all explode.

The remaining guards moved as one and picked up Dante, trying to avoid the flames. Cassie hurried toward the open doors. The dark road stretched behind them. The fire burned hotter. The men—even in their suits—wouldn’t be able to hold him for long.

She hated to do it, but there wasn’t a lot of choice. “Throw him out.”

Dante would recover.

He would—

They threw him.

She saw the flames when he hit the road.

Then she braced herself because she had to jump, too. There was no way she could stay in that death truck and let Jon take her wherever the hell he wanted.

She knew it was Jon taking her. Even as she’d fallen to the floor, her body heavy with numbness, she’d heard his voice. Dante was right about him. It looked like the only way to stop him was to kill him.

Her fingers curled around the edge of the vehicle.

The only way to stop him…

If she jumped, Jon would come and find her. He’d keep searching for her and Dante.

Maybe it was time to end all the hunting. Cassie knew Jon had forced Keith to help him. She remembered what Keith had said. He has my son !

Was that true? Was it even possible that Vaughn was still alive?

If she stayed in that rig, she’d find out, and possibly get to Vaughn. She’d definitely get an up close and personal audience with Jon. Then I’ll see just how well my voice works on him. She had a weapon that Jon didn’t know about. One that he couldn’t fight. Finally, the advantage would be hers.

Behind that truck, the flames were growing brighter in the darkness.

“Goodbye, Dante,” she whispered. When this was over, when she’d finished her battle and stopped the experiments, she’d go to him.

But Genesis—her father—had made one more monster that she had to slay first.

I hope you’re ready for me, Jon. Because she was ready for him.

“Close the doors,” Cassie ordered.

***

The fire burned. Consumed. Dante’s hands pushed against pavement—rough, hard—and he climbed to his feet. The darkness was around him.

Her scent…faint, fading…drifted in the wind.

The fire kept burning.

Her.

He could see a ghost of her image in his mind, but he couldn’t call up her name.

Her scent was so faint.

He took a step forward. She smelled of sin and sweetness. Not fire. He was tired of the smell of ash. He wanted sin. Sweetness.

Another step.

She’d left him.

He’d find her.

Another step. Another.

Then he was running. Rushing as fast as he could. After her.

***

The truck rumbled to a stop. Cassie glanced at the men near her. They looked dazed, and that was the way they should look. She’d told them to forget everything that had happened in the back of that truck.

So far, her command seemed to be working.

She heard voices. Footsteps. Then the doors were being opened once more.

Cassie stood in the middle of the truck. The guards were lined up against the left wall.

Jon frowned at her. “What the hell? Where’s the phoenix?”

She smiled. “Next time, instead of leading your prisoners, maybe you should follow behind them,” she advised him. “That way, you might actually notice when someone escapes.”

He jumped into the truck.

She saw his face. Her breath sucked in. “Dante burned you.” She didn’t remember the fire at Keith’s house.

Jon shook his head. “Where the hell is he?”

“He ditched the ride a while back.” Her chin lifted. “And now you’re left with me.” This was it. The moment she’d waited for. “Take me to Vaughn.”

Jon blinked at her.

“Take me to Vaughn.” Her heart was a drumbeat in her ears.

Jon took her hand. Led her to the back of the truck. They jumped down. And headed toward the long, flat building on the right. Two armed men blocked the door, but Jon waved them aside.

The interior of the building smelled of blood.

“Do your superiors know what you’re doing?” Cassie asked. Just how far-reaching was his madness?

“I don’t have superiors. I do what the hell I want.”

“Do your men know that?” Cassie glanced back to the guards. “Or did you tell them all that you’re still working for the government?”

He stopped. Frowned at her. “Where are we going?”

Crap. “Vaughn. Take me to Vaughn.”

A woman rushed up to them. Cassie recognized her. The blonde—Dr. Shaw—who’d taken all of those samples from her at the ranch. It was hard to forget someone who’d made her bleed.

“The vampire,” Jon blasted at her. “We need him.”

Dr. Shaw’s eyes widened, but she turned on her heels. Jon kept his hold on Cassie and pulled her down the hallway, following the other woman. The scent of blood grew stronger.

“Where’s Keith?” Cassie asked nervously.

“I have a guard at his house in case any of your other friends show up.”

And they would. Jamie. Charles. Eve. Cain. It was just a matter of time until they all walked into the trap.

They’d be taken to Jon, too.

I’ll stop him.

One step at a time. She would do this.

Dr. Shaw pushed open a heavy metal door. An operating room waited inside. Vaughn was…oh, jeez, Vaughn was on the table, and it looked like someone had tried to carve out his heart.

“Vaughn!” Cassie ran toward him.

His eyes opened. “Shouldn’t…be here…Go…”

“You shouldn’t be here, either.” The fact that he was still alive with that kind of injury… he hadn’t returned to a human state. She could see the sharp points of his canines. Fangs.

He was strapped down to that table. She saw the switch for the release button on the straps and lunged toward it.

Only to find her way blocked by Dr. Shaw. “What do you think you’re doing?” the other woman demanded.

It should be obvious. “I’m getting him out of here.”

“Jon!” Dr. Shaw screamed. “What’s happening?”

Jon shook his head, but didn’t advance.

“Get out of my way,” Cassie said, pitching her voice low. “Just step to the side and get—”

Dr. Shaw started to laugh.

That laughter chilled Cassie.

The chill got even worse when Dr. Shaw said, “Really, half-breed? You think you have enough power to tell me what to do?” Then Shaw’s gaze turned to Jon. “Grab her and hold her. ”

Even Cassie could feel the power in the woman’s voice.

Jon immediately grabbed Cassie.

Cassie stared at Dr. Shaw in shock.

“What?” Shaw’s perfectly arched blond brows rose. “Did you seriously think you were the only siren around? How do you think I convinced that crazy bastard”—she pointed at Jon—“to keep me alive?”

Before Cassie could think of a reply, Dr. Shaw leaped forward and shoved a gag into Cassie’s mouth. Cassie tried to fight her, but Jon was holding her too tightly.

Shaw secured the gag then pointed to the second operating table on the right. “Now strap her down.”

Jon followed Dr. Shaw’s instructions with a dazed look in his eyes.

“If you can’t talk, then you don’t have any power.” Dr. Shaw smiled at her. “And I don’t want you to have any power at all.”

Jon had strapped her down, controlling her struggles like they were nothing.

“You let the phoenix go, didn’t you?” Dr. Shaw asked her with narrowed eyes.

Cassie glared at her.

“Love—it makes women do some damn stupid things. But no worries.” Dr. Shaw pulled out a syringe. “I’m sure he’ll follow you here. From what I could tell, he’s mated to you, and he’ll follow his mate anywhere.” She drove that needle into Cassie.

Fire burned through her blood.

“Does this feel familiar?” Dr. Shaw’s voice was mild. “It’s similar to the dosage your father gave you when you were a child, after the first time he accidentally killed you.” She shrugged. “Or maybe it wasn’t so accidental. Who knows?”

The burn…

“Because of your siren blood, your father stumbled onto a serum that would make you nearly immortal. You could heal from any injury. Amazing. Your brother was given something similar, but since a siren’s power is never as strong with a male, the results were different.” Dr. Shaw sighed. “Of course, I didn’t exactly know what was happening until I took all of those wonderful samples from you at the ranch. Then I saw just what you could do.”

When I get loose…

“The drug I just gave you? I’m afraid it’s going to have the reverse effect on you. No more super healing for you.”

It seemed as if Cassie’s heartbeat was slowing down.

“It’s nothing personal. Well, maybe it is.” Dr. Shaw tapped her chin with a white-gloved finger. “You see, I need to hurt Dante because he hurt me. He took something incredibly precious from me a long time ago.”

Cassie’s gaze narrowed.

Jon was standing stock-still.

Vaughn groaned.

“Once upon a time, I loved a man very much. I loved him so much that I wanted to make sure that no one would ever be able to take him from me,” Dr. Shaw said.

There were tears in her eyes.

“So I took steps to protect my Wren. Only Dante didn’t do what he should have done. Instead of dying, he took my Wren’s life.”

Wren. Dante’s brother.

“The way to break a phoenix isn’t just by going through the fire. It’s by taking their hearts. I’m going to kill you, Cassie, and Dante will lose his heart. Then Jon will finish Dante, and maybe then… maybe then, I will sleep for the first time in centuries without hearing the echo of Wren’s last cry—without hearing him scream my name before Dante killed him.”

Oh, shit.

They were so screwed.

***

He knocked out a guard, and, since he didn’t feel like rushing into the building naked, he grabbed the guy’s clothes.

A little tight, but they’d do.

He inhaled. She was in there. Waiting for him. Once he had her safe in his arms, he would burn the whole place down.

He didn’t worry about being subtle. He just rushed toward the main entrance. When another guard turned on him with a gun, he melted the gun.

The guard ran.

Dante went inside.

I am Dante. Dante.

The name had come to him because he remembered her whispering it. Goodbye, Dante. The faint words had seemed to drift in the wind.

It wasn’t goodbye. It would never be, for them.

Inside, more guards came at him. He lifted his hand. His fire made them flee, too. Too easy. Humans were no challenge for him. They never had been.

He followed her scent. Saw the metal door. She waited behind it. He was so close to her. So very close. His fire sent the door crashing in. He surged inside. Found her instantly. On the table. With her head turned toward him, her eyes wild and afraid.

And a…gag in her mouth?

He stepped toward her.

“Stop, Dante.”

The voice seemed to slide inside him, freezing him.

She walked from the shadows. Her blond hair brushed her shoulders. Her face—beautiful, cold—seemed familiar.

“Remember me. Remember everything.”

He went to his knees as the images flooded through his mind. Images. Voices. Death.

“What would be the point of all this if you didn’t remember?” she asked. “You have to remember so that you can suffer.”

Her voice…

I love him, and we will be together. Nothing will ever take me from Wren. Her eyes, that icy blue, had found his. You will die. All of the phoenixes will fight until death, and then only my Wren will remain.

“Zura,” he forced out her name. Dante saw her in a field stained black by ash—the ash that had come from the dying phoenixes. So many dead.

She was screaming.

Wren was dying.

Dante frowned. “You’re…dead.”

“No, I’m not.” She smiled at him. “You won’t be able to say the same soon.” Zura pointed to him. “Don’t move a single muscle.”

His body locked down.

“Did you know that much like a vampire and a phoenix, a siren’s power only increases with age? A mere whisper from me…” She walked next to Jon and whispered in his ear. “A whisper can compel even the strongest of paranormal beings.”

Jon crossed to the nearby table and picked up the gleaming knife that waited there.

“You should know, Dante, that before you arrived, I gave Cassie a little injection.” Zura smiled. “I’m a pretty good doctor, too, you know. When you can live forever, you have the chance to pick up so many skills.”

She shouldn’t be living. She’d been dead. But…he remembered…Wren had been over her. Clinging to her.

Had his brother cried for her?

He must have.

“Once I found the original formula that helped to make your Cassie so indestructible, well, it was easy enough to find a way to undo that little process.”

Jon had taken his knife and was stalking toward Cassie.

Cassie shook her head and desperately tried to speak behind the gag. Her eyes were on Dante.

“She won’t be so quick to heal this time,” Zura promised.

Jon was over Cassie. Staring down at her. His body shuddered, but he lifted the knife. “S-sorry,” he gasped.

“Don’t be sorry,” Zura ordered. “Kill her.”

Dante couldn’t even speak. Couldn’t move even a finger to help her. Cassie was less than ten feet away from him, and he could do nothing.

Jon drove the knife into Cassie’s chest.

No!

“Oh, wait. It gets better.” Zura was nearly purring. “You see, she won’t come back. She won’t heal. She’ll just rot.” Zura smiled at him. “Told you… better. ”

Jon gazed down at Cassie. Then he pulled out the bloody knife. The sound that it made…

Cassie’s eyes were closed.

“Do you feel like the knife just went in you? Do you feel like you’re the one who died, Dante?” Zura demanded.

He couldn’t speak.

“Respond!” she screamed, freeing him from her spell.

Oh, he’d fucking respond all right.

He sent a blast of fire rolling right toward her. You should have been more careful with your damn words, Zura. A siren had to be very, very careful what she said.

The fire rolled over her. The scream she gave was full of pain.

He grabbed out with his hand. Caught the instrument tray. Picked up one scalpel.

Dante jabbed it into his right ear. Then the left ear. And he couldn’t hear her screams anymore. He couldn’t hear anything. Blood poured from his ears, but he didn’t care.

Cassie was all that mattered.

He ran to her, even as Jon pushed Zura to the floor and began to pound out the flames on her body.

Dante yanked the gag from Cassie’s mouth. Broke the straps that held her down. “Cassie?” He couldn’t hear his own voice, but his throat vibrated.

She didn’t stir.

He stared down at her chest. So much blood. Zura had told Jon to kill her, and it looked like the bastard had tried his best to carry out her order.

Would you cry for me, Dante?

“I won’t let you go.” He would cry, he would—

Jon tackled him. They hit the table that Cassie was on, and she fell to the floor. They all fell, tumbling across the hard tile.

Dante attacked Jon. Punched him. Again and again and again. He was the man who’d hurt Cassie. Who’d stabbed her. Killed her?

Not gone yet. I won’t let her be gone. I can save her.

He just had to get to her.

The bloody knife was inches from his hand. He grabbed it—and drove the blade deep into Jon’s heart. Payback.

Jon gaped up at him, eyes wide and lost.

“When you rise,” Dante rasped out, “I will be here. And I will destroy you. You won’t come back ever again.”

The life drained from Jon’s eyes.

Dante lunged for Cassie. His eyes were burning, but not from the fire. From tears that were coming—coming up from the phoenix who would not let his mate vanish. He would not—

A gunshot blasted.

He felt the bullet tunnel through his back, then it ripped from his chest.

Cassie hadn’t opened her eyes.

He was falling…dropping down on top of her because Zura had shot him. Killed him, before he could save Cassie. If he didn’t heal her before he rose, his fire would take her. And there would be nothing left.

His own eyes closed, and he thought, hoped—fucking prayed —that the tear drop would fall before he died.

Then he felt arms yanking on him. Pulling him away from Cassie.

No.

His hands clamped around her, and his face brushed against hers.

She loved him. Screwed up, twisted monster that he was, Cassie loved him. He wasn’t going to give up on her. Never.

He kicked out, and his foot slammed into something soft.

I would cry for you, Cassie. I would bleed, beg, kill, and damn well die for you.

The secret he’d held so long, the one he’d been afraid to reveal—when he feared nothing else—was that he didn’t remember her each time just because they were mates. It wasn’t about biology. About her being a siren and him being a phoenix.

It was about a man and a woman. About love.

He’d loved her for years, and the memory of love—that was the only thing that could always get through the fire.

***

They were both dead.

Cassie. And the big, tough-looking bastard who’d tried to save her. Dead.

Vaughn craned his neck as he fought to see them. They were on the floor. It looked like the one Shaw had called Dante was holding Cassie, even in death. Shaw was attempting to pull Dante’s body off Cassie’s.

Not working. The woman wasn’t physically strong, no matter what crazy mojo she could do with her voice.

Dante had made sure he couldn’t hear her. When he couldn’t hear her, she couldn’t control him. That bastard had played hard when he’d driven the scalpel into his own ears.

Smoke began to rise.

Shaw was standing above Vaughn, and she looked scared.

Why? Everyone else was dead. What did she have to fear? Vaughn was strapped. Weak from blood loss, and, unless he missed his guess, about to join all of the others in death.

“When I free you, do exactly as I order. You don’t attack me.”

He hated her voice, even as it seemed to wrap around him like a dark temptation.

She disengaged the straps. Blisters were on her arms. “Drag Dante away from Cassie. If that fool actually cried for her…No—no, he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t.”

It looked like Dante had died for her.

Vaughn rolled off the table. Hit the floor. His blood splattered everywhere. But he was helpless to refuse her orders.

When she spoke, she controlled.

So I have to stop her from speaking.

He caught Dante’s leg. Pulled him.

Cassie’s eyes were closed. Her chest didn’t rise. And the smoke wasn’t coming from Dante. The smoke was coming from the other guy. Jon. Great.

He dropped Dante.

“Now pick up that stake, and stab it in your heart,” Shaw ordered.

He turned toward the stake, the one the bitch had oh, so conveniently left on the table. The lady had planned well, he’d give her that, but from the sound of things, she’d been planning revenge for one very long time.

His gaze darted to Cassie. Had her chest just moved? It looked like her lips had parted, but maybe he’d imagined that.

Then he heard voices. Shouting. Coming from outside in the hallway.

“I want my son!”

His father’s voice. Breaking with emotion. It had been so long since Vaughn had seen his father.

His last memory of him, the last clear memory was from the night he’d been bitten.

I think I tried to kill him.

“Damn humans,” Shaw muttered. “Time to kill them all. Forget the stake for now. Vampire, let’s have some fun.”

He knew he wasn’t going to like her idea of fun.

“Come with me.”

He turned away from the stake. The room’s doors had been blown away by Dante, and Vaughn followed her outside like a damn sheep to the slaughter.

And there was his father. A guard had a gun shoved into his dad’s back. A boy—maybe around fourteen—stood beside him, and there was another man, with thin blond hair, a guy who was trying to shield the boy.

“Don’t come at him again!” the blond man screamed when he saw Vaughn.

Again? Shame slid through Vaughn even as his gaze swept over the boy. He was familiar. I’m sorry. Vaughn knew he’d hurt the boy. Hurt so many.

His gaze returned to his father. His dad looked as if he’d aged twenty years since the night of Vaughn’s attack.

“Vaughn?” his father whispered. “Are you really back?”

Vaughn nodded.

“Now for the fun,” Shaw murmured. “Vaughn, go rip out their throats, starting with your father.”

Keith’s eyes widened. “No, son . No!”

“Sorry, but he’s not taking orders from you now,” Shaw said. “It’s my voice that he follows. Mine. ”

Helpless, Vaughn started to walk toward his father. “Get away, Dad,” he gritted out. “Get the guard’s gun. Shoot me. Get out of here!”

But his dad seemed frozen. Broken.

“I missed you, Vaughn,” Keith said softly. “Your mother… passed a few weeks back. I lost her. I didn’t want to lose you.”

And Vaughn didn’t want to kill his father.

The boy lunged forward and caught the guard unaware. The kid grabbed the gun and aimed it at Vaughn. “No more!” the kid screamed.

“Drop the gun,” Shaw said, her voice cracking with power.

The gun immediately fell from his hands.

The blond man pushed the boy back behind him.

Vaughn was almost in front of his father. Nearly close enough to kill.

“Make them suffer,” Shaw shouted, her voice feverish and wild. “Make them—ahhh!”

Vaughn’s head whipped around as her words ended. She was…gurgling—Choking. On her own blood.

Cassie had been breathing. She stood there, covered in blood, and her hand was still around the scalpel that she’d shoved into Shaw’s throat.

“I think you’ve done enough talking,” Cassie said. “Now, you can just die.”