Burn For Me

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Eve was twisting and fighting in his hands, but Cain wasn’t letting her go. Didn’t she understand? If Wyatt survived, he’d just continue to torture. To kill. They couldn’t let that happen.

He had to be stopped.

Eve’s nails dug into Cain’s skin. “You’re killing Trace!”

The werewolf was already dead. Cain had known that with one look. The beast had taken over. “The man is gone. Only his animal remains.”

“And when you come back from the fire, only the phoenix remains in you!”

Her words had him tensing, mostly because he knew how true they were. But, so far after his risings, he’d still managed to cling to the barest edges of his sanity.

Because of her.

She was looking at him with desperation in her gaze. “I haven’t given up on you when you stare at me with a stranger’s eyes, and I won’t give up on him!”

An alarm was sounding in the distance. A shrill beep that wouldn’t stop. Help would be coming for Wyatt, too late. The flames had burned so bright, Cain knew there was no chance of survival for Wyatt.

“When I stare into the eyes of the phoenix”—Eve snarled and her fist slammed into his chest—“I don’t give up on you. I fight to get you back. I fight for you.”

And he was fighting to protect her. Wyatt would use her. Abuse her. Lock her in a lab and slice her open. Cain wasn’t going to let that happen. Even if she hated him for what he had to do.

Better her alive, free, and full of rage than having her stone cold dead.

She pressed the barrel of her gun against his heart. “Stop it,” she ordered, voice trembling.

He didn’t stop the fire. It was too late. Didn’t she see that? “Shoot me if you must.”

“Damn you.” Eve jerked free of his arms, and spun to face the flames.

Then she jumped into the fire.

Instinctively, he killed the flames. He knew the fire wouldn’t hurt her, of course, but … he stopped the flames before he could even think.

He heard the low rasp of breathing. The fire had savaged Wyatt’s body, but the guy—he was still alive? How in the hell?

Hurt, in agony no doubt, but still breathing.

Eve glanced up at Cain with tears in her eyes. “He’s an experiment, too,” she whispered.

Cain had thought nothing else could surprise him. “He experimented on his own damn self?”

Eve’s hand hovered over Wyatt’s burned flesh. Flesh that was slowly starting to heal as Cain watched. “I don’t know.”

The alarm was louder. Shriller. But no guards had stormed inside yet to rescue Wyatt. Why the hell not? Wyatt had to be their first priority in this place, but no one was coming to save his ass.

Cain stared at Eve. Wyatt wasn’t a threat. Not then. But he still said, “If he comes at you, shoot him.”

With the gun cradled in her hands, Eve nodded.

But would a bullet stop him? Bullets hadn’t slowed Wyatt down before.

The guy’s breath rasped out as his body shuddered.

Cain heard a scream echoing up from the hallway, a long, pain-filled cry. He rushed out of the room. Looked to the left, the right—

A woman stood in the middle of the hallway. Flames danced around her. Her long, blond hair twisted around her shoulders, and her eyes were as red as the flames that surrounded her.

Phoenix.

He’d found Ryder’s lost lady, and she sure looked pissed.

She stared at him, not advancing, just watching. “Am I supposed to kill you, too?” Her voice was soft, barely rising over the fire, and completely without emotion.

Cain shook his head. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

She laughed at that. “Of course, you are. They’re all here to do that. To kill me, again and again.” Her chin lifted. “I’m tired of dying. Maybe it’s your turn now.” She sent a line of flames right at him.

Cain lifted his hand. The fire stopped. He knew the red flames had filled his eyes when the woman staggered back. “You’re not the only one who’s tired of dying.”

Her lips trembled. Then she turned and ran from him. More screams echoed up the hallway. Yells. Growls. Snarls.

Wyatt’s “subjects” were loose. And from the sound of things, they were tearing down the place. Good. He hoped they ripped it all apart, brick by freaking brick.

As he watched the phoenix flee, Cain saw a dark shadow step away from the wall. Ryder. The vampire lunged forward and grabbed the woman, pulling her against him.

He got blasted with fire for that little move. Before Ryder could grab her again, a roar shook the hallway.

Trace burst from the stairwell. His claws slashed across Ryder’s neck and the vampire’s blood flowed.

Hell. Cain hadn’t wanted to kill that werewolf. He knew Eve wouldn’t forgive his death easily, even though the bastard had hurt her.

Trace turned to look at Cain. Bared his fangs and rushed toward him.

No, he hadn’t wanted to kill him …

But it looks like I don’t have a choice.

“ In … jection …”

Eve frowned down at Wyatt. His chest was wheezing, his breath barely choking out. It looked like his body was trying to heal, but she wasn’t sure if he was strong enough to come back from … this.

The sight of his body had nausea rolling in her stomach. Even after all he’d done, she hated to see him suffering like this. She hated to see anyone suffer.

“Wasn’t … always …” Wyatt’s eyes squeezed closed. “Like … this …”

She heard screams from outside.

Wyatt’s breath whispered out. “They’re … free …”

Who was? The supernaturals he’d caged and then played God with?

“Father … changed … me …”

Eve had to lean close to hear his words. But she wasn’t stupid. She kept that gun pressed to his temple.

“Only … six. He made me …”

More burns and blisters faded. The savaged skin lightened.

She realized that Wyatt was part of the Genesis experiments, too. Another lab rat, one who’d been brought into the program by his own father.

“I hope that bastard’s rotting in a grave somewhere.” The words burst from her. To experiment on his own child? Talk about being a monster.

“He’s … not. Wants the world to think so … just pulling the damn strings …”

Eve’s blood iced.

Wyatt’s cracked lips formed a twisted smile. “Who do you … think … funded … Genesis?” Blood bubbled from his lips.

Eve frowned at him. His skin might be healing, but the guy sure seemed to be close to death.

“Need … injection!” His body shuddered. “Give it … to me …” He tried to point behind her, to his desk, but his hand fell back limply to the floor.

“I’m supposed to help you?” Eve asked, throat desert dry. But the truth was … hadn’t she already? She’d stopped Cain. “After everything you’ve done?”

Wyatt couldn’t talk any longer. It looked like he was having a seizure. Blood dripped from his lips. His eyes had rolled back into his head, and he shuddered, jerking convulsively.

“Dammit!” Eve jumped to her feet. “If I do this, you’d better tell me how to save Trace, got that? You’d better—”

She spun away and started searching through the desk drawers. Just paperwork in the top drawers. Files in the second. In the third …

Two syringes. One with a green label. One with a red. “Which one?” she demanded.

Eve swung back around and saw that Wyatt was on his feet. Not convulsing any longer. Not bleeding from the mouth.

An act. A very, very good one.

She dropped the syringes and lifted her gun. “Nice try, asshole.”

A roar echoed through the room. Eve tensed. There were more screams. More yells.

“Sounds like Trace is here,” Wyatt said with a little nod. Was he weaving on his feet? Maybe he hadn’t been acting after all. “Now we’ll have a real bloodbath.”

“Is that what you want?” she demanded. “More death? For more people to suffer?”

He stared back at her.

“Weren’t you ever human?” Eve threw at him.

He shook his head. “That part of me died a long time ago … when a boy was tossed into a pit of vampires and left alone in the dark.”

He’d been tossed into that pit? The same way he’d dropped her and Cain into that hell? Her fingers wanted to tremble, but she tried to keep her grip steady on the gun. “Yeah, well, every part of you is about to die unless you tell me how to fix Trace.” Fire hadn’t worked—but it had sure come close to killing Wyatt. Another few minutes, and the guy would have been ash. The bullets had made him bleed when they’d hit his chest. He’d just healed too fast for the bullet wounds to slow him down. But maybe if she just aimed somewhere else, a more vulnerable spot …

Eve lifted the gun and aimed at his forehead. Wyatt tensed, and she saw the fear flash across his face. “Tell me how to fix him.”

More roars. Eve swallowed. “Tell me!”

“There is no fixing him. He’s only beast now. Not man. He knows only hunting and killing. There’s nothing more for him. To him. He’s a failed experiment.”

“So are you,” she whispered.

His body stiffened. “I’m not a failure. I’m the best experiment my father ever created.”

Did the guy even hear what he was saying?

Wyatt kept talking. “I’m human, with the strength of a shifter, the healing ability of a demon, and the speed”—he moved in a blur, coming right in front of her—“of a fucking vampire.”

He reached for her. But Eve had her gun dead center against his forehead. “Unfortunately for you,” she whispered, “I know how to kill them all.”

He grabbed for the gun.

I’m sorry, Trace.

Eve pulled the trigger.

The thunder of the gun froze Cain. He tossed the werewolf aside and raced back down the hallway. “Eve!”

He couldn’t hear anything from Wyatt’s office. Just silence. Thick and dark and total.

He shoved aside the remains of the door. Saw Eve and breathed again. She was standing near Wyatt’s desk, holding a gun. Wyatt was on the ground with a giant hole in his forehead. A pool of blood was forming around his body.

“Want to hand me a piece of that wood?” Eve asked, inclining her head toward Cain and the smashed chair near his feet. “As a precaution, I really think we need to stake this bastard.”

He grabbed the wood and tossed it lightly in his hand. Rushing forward, he shoved the stake into Wyatt’s chest. The not-so-good doctor didn’t move.

“And that’s how you die,” Eve whispered as she pushed back her hair. “Even if you are the best experiment out there.”

Cain grabbed her hand. “Time to go.” The mad scientist was dead, and they needed to get to safety.

But Eve shook her head. “It doesn’t end with him, don’t you see that? More scientists will just come along. They’ll use his research. Genesis will continue.”

He knew that. There were always monsters out there. Some of those monsters just happened to wear the bodies of men and white lab coats.

Eve pulled away from him. “I’m taking proof.” She snatched up what looked like syringes from the desk and grabbed a black briefcase. She shoved the syringes in the case and yanked files from Wyatt’s desk. “I am blowing this story wide open.” She grabbed for a flash drive—

The howl from the hallway froze them both. Eve’s shoulders stiffened. “Trace,” she whispered.

What was left of him.

“Stay here,” Cain told her. He actually thought Trace was trying to get to Eve. The beast had been fighting viciously to get down that hallway.

To Eve?

Not on his watch.

He ran back into the hallway. Trace was facing off against the other phoenix. His claws were up. He leaped forward.

Ryder grabbed his feet and sent the werewolf tumbling to the ground.

The phoenix let her fire out. Ryder jumped back and the flames circled Trace, closing in. He howled and swiped out, seeming to be confused. Lost.

“No,” Eve’s shout came from beside Cain. “You can’t do this to him!”

She tried to shove by Cain, but he grabbed her arm, holding her back. “It’s not my fire.”

Trace’s head jerked toward them. His face was human, but the eyes that locked on them were pure beast. He snarled and charged at the fire.

Leaped over the fire.

The werewolf was coming right at them.

Ryder screamed for the other female—the phoenix—to get out of the way. Trace kept charging, rushing with his claws up and his fangs bared.

Cain shoved Eve behind his back, then put up a wall of flames in front of them. He hadn’t wanted to do this, not with Eve watching, but there wasn’t a choice… .

The werewolf wasn’t stopping, so Cain had to stop him. He pushed out with his fire. The flames bit into Trace’s arm. Another howl. More cries and … the werewolf turned away. He ran toward the far end of the hallway and jumped through the window. Glass shattered.

Eve shoved Cain aside as she tried to race toward that window. But Cain was with her every step of the way. He knew they’d find the werewolf ’s broken body below, and he hated for her to witness that sight.

She beat him to the window. There was no shielding her.

There was also no werewolf below.

Just broken glass. Guards swarming. No, guards fighting for their lives. The supernaturals were definitely out. Someone had opened the cages and let the monsters out.

Cain glanced back over his shoulder and tensed. The female phoenix had been cut by the werewolf ’s claws. He could see the dark blood staining her shirt and the wounds that ripped into her stomach. Ryder had her in his arms, holding her tight.

But Cain could tell she wouldn’t survive those wounds. Death would come for her, then a rising. “Can you handle her?” he demanded.

He knew how dangerous a rising could be.

Ryder simply turned away and began carrying his phoenix toward the stairs. “Always.”

The vampire shouldn’t be so certain of that, but the guy had his own choices to make. Your funeral, vamp.

Cain had his priorities. Priority one—getting Eve to safety. The paranormals were wild, some could be on their side, some … could just be like the vampires they’d had to slaughter in the basement. Out of control. Rabid.

“Everyone’s out,” Eve said as if realizing how dangerous that situation was. “How?”

He glanced back down the hallway. Ryder was gone. Ryder. “I think they had a little vamp help.” The vampire had wanted his phoenix, and Cain was betting he’d freed everyone in order to get to her.

“Cain …” Eve’s gaze was on the madness below. “What happens to them now?”

Below them, a demon had just broken a guard’s neck. Another guard fired and shot the demon in the back. Eve flinched.

“They get the hell out of here,” Cain said. It was what most of the supernaturals were doing. Running into the forest. Fighting only when they were pursued. They wanted freedom. He understood that. It was what he wanted, too. “Come on.” He grabbed her right hand. She had the briefcase in her left. The files, her proof.

It looked as if they’d both gotten what they wanted. All they had to do was live long enough to get away from the remains of Genesis.

And back to the lives they’d known.

The subjects were gone. The rooms remained empty and hollow. The guards had scattered. They’d been running for their fucking lives.

Jeremiah Wyatt leaned heavily on his cane as he made his way down the long hallway that led to his son’s office. He knew Richard still had to be at the facility. His son hadn’t contacted him, so …

You have to be here.

But unlike the guards and some of the supernaturals that he’d found left behind, Jeremiah knew that his son would still be alive. He’d made sure of it.

His experiments had paid off. Sure, Richard had begged and pleaded, crying for him to stop the pain, but his son had been just a child then.

The boy hadn’t understood just what sort of gift he was being given.

I made him strong.

No, Richard hadn’t understood, not until Jeremiah had tossed him into the hole with the vampires. His son had been screaming, so sure that he was going to die.

He hadn’t died.

I made you stronger.

His son’s blood was poison to vampires. The fools had realized that soon enough. They’d stayed away from him. Poison blood. Fast-healing skin. Super strength. And his own God-given intelligence.

Richard was perfect. His best creation, by far.

He had to find him… .

His cane thudded lightly over the floor. Blood stained the tiles. Ash. Lights swayed drunkenly from overhead. It had taken him almost a full day to reach the facility. He’d been in Washington when he’d gotten the call from one of the fleeing guards, and he’d come to Beaumont as quickly as he could.

When you were already supposed to be dead, it was hard to move fast.

His men crowded in behind him, and when he reached Richard’s office, one of them actually tried to go in first.

Fool. Jeremiah shoved his cane into the guy’s gut. He could handle this scene on his own. If Richard wasn’t there, trying to salvage their research, then his son would have left some sign showing where he’d—

Richard was there.

Jeremiah frowned and his cane hit against the floor.

Thud.

Thud.

Richard’s eyes were closed and his arms were spread wide, looking almost like an angel’s wings.

There was a giant bullet hole in his son’s forehead.

And a wooden stake had been shoved into his heart.

Thud.

Thud.

Jeremiah’s eyes burned. No, no, not his experiment. It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

He bent, his knees creaking, and his hand closed around that stake. His fingers were slippery with sweat and twisted with arthritis, but he grabbed that stake and yanked it from his son’s chest.

Maybe he’ll come back. The boy could heal so well, maybe…

He wasn’t healing. Richard wasn’t breathing. His body was icy to the touch.

Please, Daddy, don’t!

The boy had cried so much when the experiments started. So damn much. But the pain had been necessary. He’d transformed the boy. Made sure that he could survive anything that came his way.

Please, Daddy …

He hadn’t survived. “Someone knew his weakness.” A weakness that only Richard himself could have revealed. Jeremiah’s hand tightened around the cane as he levered himself up. He hated to see his son like this. Such a pitiful waste. All of that time. All of that research.

Now I have nothing.

Jeremiah’s gaze swept the room, rising to the tall bookcase on the right. The office had once been his, so he knew exactly where all the video surveillance equipment was hidden. “Get the feed,” he said, pointing one finger at the camera he knew was there. “I want to know who killed my boy.”

He’d make that person pay. His legacy had just been destroyed. His best experiment.

His son.

The cane slammed into the floor as he turned away.

He’d find his son’s killer, and make him pay.