Deep swore loudly. “Go now! Run—everyone. We have to get out of here!”
Kat didn’t see how he could take his own advice with a knife sticking out of his side but he grabbed one of her hands and Lock grabbed the other. From the corner of her eye she saw Xairn take Lauren’s hand as well. And then they were running as fast as they could. She knew Deep must be in pain with every step he took, but she felt nothing from him, nothing but Lock’s fear for her and sorrow for his twin.
We’re going to make it, she thought wildly as they neared the double doors at the far end of the lab. We’re really going to—
A horrible, wet, popping noise, like a rotten carcass exploding, interrupted her train of thought. At the same time, a gush of putrid air, worse than anything Kat had ever smelled, suddenly rushed over them. That was followed by a wet, splattering sound and she was hit in the back by a wave of something slimy and cold.
“Oh my God!” Kat gagged in revulsion. The cold, jellied, foul-smelling slime was coating her back and dripping from her hair. Her first instinct was to stop and try to get it off her at once. It was the same way she would have felt if she’d found a spider crawling on her skin. Unclean! Disgusting! Get it off, get it off, get it off! screamed the primitive part of her mind. But there was no time—Deep and Lock were dragging her along faster than ever now, even though both of them were coated in the disgusting substance too.
The three of them hit the doors at a dead run, shoving them open and barreling through. At the last instant, Kat turned her head and saw that Lauren and Xairn were right behind them, both of them absolutely covered in the ghastly, black-red slime. Behind them, the AllFather stood, skeletal arms raised, crimson eyes blazing. His shadowy cloak billowed around him and despite the glistening remains of the dravik, which covered the entire room, he himself was somehow dry. He shook back his hood and opened his lipless mouth to speak—
And then the doors banged shut behind them and they were running down the corridor, heading for safety and home.
But will we all make it there alive? Kat thought, casting a frantic glance at Deep who was holding her hand in one of his, while he grasped the protruding handle of the kusax with the other.
She didn’t know.
* * * * *
“Stop!” the AllFather screeched. His power flowed outward like a tidal wave, engulfing Xairn and Lauren just as they were about to reach the doors the Kindred and their female had just gone through.
Xairn couldn’t help it—he slowed his pace and then skidded to a stop. He felt the drag of the words, the power of his father’s command as he never had before—not even on the day that Sanja had died. His knees wanted to lock, his body wanted to turn so his legs could carry him back to kneel at the AllFather’s feet.
Lauren felt the power too. Xairn felt her freeze beside him. Her hand, already slimy from the noxious remains of the exploded dravik, began to slide from his grip as she turned toward his father.
“Yesss…Come to me, my bride…come…” The AllFather was calling her back, forcing her will to bend to his, luring her back to a living death, an existence of pain and madness and never ending suffering and agony.
“No!” At the thought of the female beside him—his female, being used in such a way, Xairn felt something growing inside him. A rage so fierce it was like a red curtain dropped over his vision, tinting everything a bloody crimson. “No!” he bellowed again, turning to face his father, his hands clenched into fists. “You shall not have her. Lauren is mine!”
The AllFather’s voice dropped to a soft hiss, sounding reasonable and coaxing at the same time. “Come now, Xairn, thisss is asss it must be. The girl is the future of our race, our destiny. You know thisss.”
“Lauren is not your destiny. And she’s not your property to do with as you please.” Xairn glared, his eyes never leaving his father’s. “Here and now, I cut the ties that bind me to you. I never wish to see you again.”
“But you will sssee me. Sssee me now. Come to me, my ssson.” The power was doubled, trebled, the drag of it like lead on Xairn’s limbs. But this time he had more to fight for than just a pet. Rage and a power of his own filled him—something savage that had been sleeping, or had only just started to stir, suddenly woke fully within his chest.
“NO!” Bending, Xairn scooped Lauren into his arms. “I will die before I let you have her. And I will kill you if you threaten her again. I renounce you as my father and I renounce my race. For now and evermore I am no longer Scourge.”
Xairn felt the words of power leave him and gloried in the sense of rightness they gave him. He wasn’t just saying this to hurt the AllFather, he had given his oath to the universe. It had gone out from him with a finality that could not be refuted or ignored. He had cut the ties that had bound him all his life—he truly was no longer Scourge.