Stravinsky grinned.
I’d heard and seen enough. “General Hamm?” I asked in disbelief. “How can you condone something so evil?”
“Rachel Sambrook?” His eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”
“She and her friend were trespassing. We are detaining them.”
“General, please,” I pleaded. “You have to stop this. Have you seen what this man has created? They are monstrosities!”
He gave me a sympathetic look. “I know. That’s what we’re trying to create. Their appearance is intimidating. This test is to see if they can be trained in the field.”
“But the children!” I protested. “What about the babies?”
“The children can be of use, though I confess the babies are a burden more easily disposed of.”
I gasped in shock, although perhaps this was to be expected. If he could condemn an entire family, what were a few babies?
At that moment, the ceiling caved in and Lea jumped down, landing on her feet. Ivan was right behind her, wearing nothing but a pair of pants. And then there was one more person—a man whose presence filled me with dread.
“Calvin,” I whispered.
Lea cast a quick glance my way and I nodded sharply, letting her know I was happy to see her.
“Lea,” Stravinsky said. “I wondered when you’d show up.”
She gave him a wicked grin. “You know how I like to make an entrance.” She pulled out a silver stake. “Let’s get started.”
CHAPTER 31
LEA
“Lea,” Stravinsky purred my name, “you are so predictable.” He strolled between Rachel and me, but he didn’t touch her. “You always bind the most interesting humans. How do you find them?”
I couldn’t look at Rachel, but I still saw her jerk at her bonds. “What?”
Stravinsky grinned at me and turned to her. “You didn’t know? Lea bound you to her. You are her human servant until one of you dies. Have you not noticed an increase in your speed and stamina? An almost preternatural sense of knowing where she is?”
Rachel glared at him. “Mind games are not nice, you dirty fucker. Don’t make me call—”
“He’s not lying,” I said softly, drawing her eyes and every other eye in the room to me. This wasn’t the way I’d hoped to tell her, but I could use it to our advantage. “I bound you to me the night Louis died, the first night I saved you from dying.” I walked slowly toward her, holding a hand out as if I were pleading. I dipped my eyes ever so swiftly to her hands. If she spun at the right moment, I could cut her bonds and we’d have a chance.
Her jaw ticked and fury rolled off her in waves, but the slightest flicker of her eyelids was enough for me to know she would follow my lead. She took a step toward me, a snarl on her lips, blue eyes flashing like summer lightning. “You bloodsucking whore!”
I bowed my head. “I’m sorry.”
“You’d apologize to her, but not me?” Incredulous, Calvin pushed between us. Fucking idiot.
I shoved him back. “You were a piece of ass at best, Cal. Nothing more. As a servant you were so much less than her, it’s laughable.” My feelings for him were complicated, but it took everything in me to hurt him this way.
He choked but didn’t stumble away as I’d hoped. No, he leapt at me, hands outstretched. I spun on my heel and swung my other leg up, driving it into his solar plexus and throwing him over my head. While he hovered in the air, I shot forward, Rachel spun around, and I slashed through the zip tie.
Chaos exploded around us along with machine gun fire. The engine of a truck roared to life in the other room and Rachel screamed at Antonio. “Stop them!”
“Busy, mi amor!” He backed away from two men, keeping them at bay with well-timed kicks. I flicked a finger at them and Ivan shot forward, tackling them both at the same time. Bullets spilled through the air, but the gunmen were obviously not used to their weapons, and the guns’ recoil sent the muzzles into the air.
I ran toward them, a stake in one hand, and a knife in the other. I ran down the line of men as they struggled with the oversized and overpowered guns, slicing their throats. Bullets zipped through the air; two nicked my left side but the soldiers’ fear made them sloppy. Blood sprayed in my wake as I turned at the end of the line to wipe my weapons on the suit of the final soldier.
“What were you saying about predictability, Stravinsky?” I lifted an eyebrow at him. Rachel was next to Antonio, cutting his bonds. Ivan was with them. We were down one.
Calvin hit me from behind, taking me out at the knees. I snapped forward, catching my weight on my palms and rolling to my back.