Severed(28)

‘They guard this place like they're guarding the Ark of the Covenant,' Cyrus answered. ‘At least two Shadow Warriors, a handful of Thirsters, one or two Scorpio and several Mixen are down there at any one time.'

‘Let me get this straight,' Evie snorted. ‘You're saying that, right now, just hanging out in the basement of the Bradbury building, there's a band of unhumans guarding the way through? And the LA Police Department is right above them?'

‘Yeah,' Cyrus answered, slurping a mouthful of milkshake.

‘We could take them,' Ash said quietly from behind.

Evie felt the panic numbing her, then realised that it was just the Coke wedged between her thighs.

‘What's the point? We don't know how to shut the thing anyway,' Cyrus muttered.

‘You just don't want it shut, Cyrus,' Ash cut in.

‘That's not true.'

‘Why wouldn't he want it shut?' Evie asked, looking over her shoulder at Ash and then back at Cyrus. ‘Why don't you want it shut?'

‘What's he going to do for fun when there are no unhumans to slay?' Vero answered, a bitter edge to her voice.

‘Um, get a job maybe? Live a normal life?' Even as she said it Evie felt the strand of hope she'd been desperately clinging to snap under the weight of her desperation.

‘OK, people, enough about me,' Cyrus said. ‘Tonight is not about fulfilling any prophecy or getting eaten. Tonight we're just going to have a therapeutic killing spree.'

The brown bag sitting on Evie's lap went flying, Coke drenching the dashboard and Cyrus's leg. He turned and glared at her.

‘I thought we were going to find someone to question,' Evie spluttered.

‘Yes, that's what I said,' Cyrus answered, grabbing a paper towel and trying to mop up the mess.

‘No you didn't.'

‘There's movement.' Vero's whisper cut through their argument. ‘What are they?'

Evie turned her head at the same time as Cyrus. A hush descended in the car as they watched two people leave the building. One was in a full-length gold-coloured ball gown complete with a white fur wrap. The unhuman she was with was wearing a black tuxedo.

‘Shapeshifters I think,' Cyrus said after a few seconds. ‘Let's leave them.'

Evie felt her shoulders drop a fraction of an inch. ‘Why are they dressed like that?' she asked.

‘They don't know what to wear to blend in, so they take their cue from whatever glossy magazines they have lying around. Most of the time they shift into z-list celebrities.'

‘Two more,' Ash called from the back.

Evie leant forward. Two people were standing on the top of the steps by the door. One was wearing a luminous-yellow minidress and metallic silver boots that made Evie's eyes water and the other was wearing a sailor suit. What kind of a fancy-dress shop was this place?

‘Mixen,' she heard Vero whisper behind her.

‘God, they're so obvious,' Cyrus said, sucking the last of his milkshake up through his straw. ‘Isn't there some corrective foundation they could use?'

‘Want to go for them?' Vero asked.

‘Tempting. If only to stop them walking the streets in those outfits. Ash, what do you think?' Cyrus asked.

‘Wait  –  behind them  –  look,' Ash answered.

Three more people had left the building, their heads jerking left and right as they took in the darkened street. One threw back the hood of the sweater she was wearing and Evie inhaled loud enough to make Cyrus turn and smirk. The girl had long dark hair, but it was the paleness of her skin and the red rims of her eyes that made Evie's stomach flip over.

Thirsters. The other two were wearing caps, their faces buried in shadow but their hands were in view; blue veined and white skinned. Evie's own hands had started to turn clammy. She wiped them on the seat.

‘Thirsters,' Vero said.

‘OK,' Cyrus said softly, ‘we have a target.'

‘Wait,' Evie said, grasping his arm. ‘What if someone sees?' she asked. It was late but there were still people  –  humans  –  out walking around.

‘We'll call it performance art and I'll hold out my hat for small change,' Cyrus answered.






     
 

      Chapter 26



By the time Evie had fumbled with the door and climbed out, the others were already by the trunk loading up with weapons. She hurried around to them.

‘What's the plan?' she asked, watching Cyrus pass the crossbow to Vero, who took it and then, with delicate fingers sheathed in some gloves, prised three arrows out of their plastic shield and lined them up in the ridges of the bow. Ash stood behind her, flexing his shoulders.

‘What's the plan, Vero?' Cyrus asked, slamming the trunk shut.

Vero barely raised her focus from the bow. ‘Ash will take them down, I'll fire these through them and, Cyrus, you can light the match.'

Evie held onto the car to steady herself.

‘Sound OK?' Cyrus said, glancing at her. ‘You can sit this one out if you want.'

‘What about questioning them? I thought we were going to question them?'

‘Oh, yeah, good point. I'll hold fire on the fire while you ask the questions.'

He didn't wait for her to agree. He strode across the lot, sticking to the areas of ground where the light didn't reach. The unhumans over on the other side of the street hadn't noticed them. They were stopping at every shopfront to stare.

‘First time through, you can tell,' Ash said under his breath. ‘And not just by the fashion.'

‘How?' Evie asked.

‘They're moving too fast  –  haven't learnt to slow their pace to look more human.'

‘How do you know so much about them?' Evie asked.

Cyrus grinned at her over his shoulder. ‘We sometimes have Q & A sessions with obliging unhumans.'

‘Q & A sessions? You mean you beat them up until they tell you what you want to know?'

Cyrus shrugged. ‘Something like that.'

‘OK, let's move before they hit the subway,' Ash interrupted. ‘Ready V?'

‘Oh yeah,' Vero answered, unslinging the crossbow and sliding like vapour into the shadows running up the side of the street.

Evie turned back to Ash but he was already gone. The street was deserted. Cyrus took hold of her arm and pulled her quickly across the road. They were about a hundred metres behind the Thirsters, who were walking faster now  –  so fast Evie and Cyrus had to jog to keep up.

‘Where are we  … ?' Evie started to ask, but Cyrus put a finger to his lips and yanked her towards a fire escape at the side of a building. She started climbing, Cyrus hot on her heels, his eyes level with her butt  –  a deliberate move on his part, she thought. She climbed faster until she was able to swing her leg over a low wall and pull herself onto the flat roof of the building. Cyrus jumped the wall in the next instant and took her hand, pulling her at a sprint to the far side of the roof. She noticed how much faster she could run now. They'd covered fifty metres in less than two seconds. Ducking down, they peered over the edge. They'd overtaken the Thirsters, who were now just drawing parallel beneath them.

Cyrus pointed silently across the street. There, tucked into the shadows between two parked cars, crouched down on one knee with the crossbow resting on her shoulder, was Vero.

Cyrus nudged Evie's arm, directing her attention to another person walking along the sidewalk, heading straight towards the Thirsters. It was Ash. He'd circled around the Thirsters to come at them from the front. Evie wondered at how fast he must have run to outpace them all and double back like that, but then her attention swung back to the scene below.

Ash had drawn up in front of the three Thirsters. Evie leant further out over the parapet so she could see, but from this height she couldn't hear the question that stopped the Thirsters in their tracks. She heard a cackling laugh in response though and her hands tightened instinctively around the hilt of Lucas's blade. She hadn't even realised she had drawn it from its sheath, and the sight of it gleaming in the moonlight was somehow reassuring. Her body was vibrating with adrenaline. She was sure she must be shaking the foundations of the building. Cyrus must have felt it too because his hand closed around her forearm, stilling her. He shook his head slightly, warning her to not make a sound or a move.

The thunking sound came next. It was a sound so shockingly familiar and so horrific that Evie almost screamed. She clamped her balled fist to her mouth and stared. The three Thirsters had been shot simultaneously by Vero. Two had been hit in the chest and one in the neck.

The one who'd been hit through the neck had been carried several metres and was impaled against the wall, her feet dangling several feet off the ground.

The second was lying spreadeagled on the sidewalk, shrieking loud enough to rattle the metal fire escape. Ash cut the scream off with a kick to the solar plexus.

The third Thirster was collapsed on the ground, his mouth opening and shutting repeatedly, like a fish gasping for water, as he tried to pull the arrow shaft out from between his ribs.

Cyrus stood up swiftly, swung a leg over the parapet and disappeared. Evie watched him slide effortlessly down the drainpipe and drop to the ground below. He looked up at Evie and beckoned her to follow.

Evie sheathed her knife, climbed over the parapet and shimmied down, her hands burning against the plastic as she picked up speed. Cyrus caught her as she landed, pulling her out of the way of one of the Thirsters who lunged across the sidewalk, fingers grasping for her foot.