Half-Blood

CHAPTER 17

BESIDES BEING ABNORMALLY PALE, KAIN

LOOKED like … Kain. It explained how none of the other half-bloods had sensed it in him. Nothing about him gave off a warning that something was horribly wrong. Wel …

except the pile of dead bodies behind the curtain.

I reached for what looked like a heart monitor machine, hurling it at his head. Not surprisingly, he knocked it aside.

He laughed that sick laugh again. “Can’t you do better than that? Remember our training sessions? How easily I got the best of you?”

I ignored that painful reminder, figuring it was best to keep him talking until I had a better option. “How is this possible? You’re a half-blood.”

He nodded, switching the blade to his other hand.

“Weren’t you paying attention? I already told you. They drain our kind slowly, and gods, did it hurt like hel . I wanted to die a thousand times, but I didn’t. And now? I’m better than I ever was. Faster. Stronger. You can’t fight me. None of you can.” He lifted the dagger and wiggled it back and forth.

“The feeding part is messy, but it works.”

I glanced over his shoulder. There was a smal chance I could make it to the doorway. I was stil fast and not badly hurt. “That… has to suck.”

He shrugged, seeming like the old Kain—so much so it stole my breath. “You get used to it when you’re hungry.”

That was reassuring. I inched to my left.

“I saw your mother.”

Every instinct in me screamed not to listen to him. “Did you… talk to her?”

“She was frenzied, kil ing and taking great pleasure in it, too. She was the one who turned me.” He licked his lips.

“She’s coming for you, did you know that?”

“Where is she?” I didn’t expect him to answer, but he did.

“You leave the safety of the Covenant and you’l find her… or she’l find you. But that’s not going to happen.”

“Oh?” I whispered, but I already knew. I wasn’t stupid.

Mom wasn’t going to get a chance at my aether, because Kain was going to cut me and drain me.

“You know the one thing that sucks about being a daimon? I’m always so damn hungry. But you? I’m certain you’l feel like nothing else. It’s a good thing you came to me. Trusted me.” His blue eyes dropped to my neck—to where my frantic pulse beat. “She’l keep kil ing ‘til she finds you or ‘til you’re dead. And you are going to die.”

That was my cue to make my move. I pushed with al my strength, but it was no use. Kain blocked my only route of escape. With no other option but to fight him, I squared off, weaponless and out-skil ed.

His too-red lips quirked. “Do you real y want to try that?”

I forced as much boldness in my voice as possible. “Do you?”

This time, when he grabbed for me, I kicked out and caught the hand holding the dagger. It flew from his grasp, clattering against the floor. Before I could celebrate the smal victory, his meaty fist lashed out, and it appeared he remembered how poor my blocking skil s were. The punch got me in the stomach, doubling me over.

A rush of air stirred my hair, giving me only a second to straighten myself. I was a goner—no doubt about it. But as I lifted my head, it wasn’t Kain standing in front of me.

It was Aiden.

He didn’t say anything to Kain. Somehow, he just knew as he forced me backwards, away from the daimon half-blood. Kain turned his attention on Aiden. He let out a howl, eerily similar to the one the daimon had made in Georgia.

They circled one another, and with Kain weaponless, Aiden had the upper hand. They exchanged vicious blows—no longer partners, but enemies to the core. Then Aiden made his move. He thrust the titanium dagger deep into Kain’s stomach.

The impossible happened—Kain didn’t fal .

Aiden stepped back, revealing Kain’s startled face. He looked down at the gaping wound and started to laugh. It should’ve been a kil shot, but as cold understanding set in, I realized we had more to learn about daimon half-bloods.

They were immune to titanium.

Aiden kicked out at Kain, who blocked and whirled to deliver a kick of his own. A medical machine crashed against the wal . I gaped at them, frozen in place. I couldn’t just stand here. I went for the dagger on the floor.

“Get back!” Aiden yel ed as my fingers wrapped around the cool titanium.

I looked up, seeing the reinforcements—and the Apol yon.

“Move back!” Seth’s voice thundered through the chaos.

Aiden jumped forward, pushing me against the wal and shielding me with his body. My hands fel to his chest. I turned my head as Seth stepped in front of the Sentinels, one arm stretched out in front of him.

Seconds later, something I could only describe as a lightning bolt erupted from his hand. The flash of blue light—

so intense and bril iant—obscured everything in the room.

Akasha—the fifth and final element: only the gods and the Apol yon could harness it.

“Don’t look,” Aiden whispered.

I pressed my face into his chest as the air fil ed with the crackling sound of the most powerful element known to the Hematoi. Kain’s horrific screams rose above it as akasha crashed into him. I shuddered, pushing further into Aiden.

The screams—I would never forget those screams.

Aiden’s hold tightened around me until the agonized screeching stopped and Kain’s body thumped to the floor.

Aiden pul ed back then, the tips of his fingers brushed over my split and swol en lip. For the briefest second, his eyes latched onto mine. In one look, there was so much. Pain.

Relief. Fury.

Everyone rushed into the room at once. In the chaos, Aiden quickly checked me over before handing me off to Seth. “Get her out of here.”

Seth pul ed me past the Sentinels as Aiden turned his attention to the crumpled body. In the hal way, we passed Marcus and several more Guards. He spared us a brief glance. Seth led me down the hal way, silent until he shoved me into another room at the end.

He closed the door behind him and then slowly approached me. “Are you al right?”

I backed up until I pressed against the wal furthest from him, breathing heavily.

“Alex?” His eyes narrowed.

In a matter of hours, everything had changed. Our world

— my world—was no longer the same. It was too much.

Mom, the crazy stuff with Seth, last night with Aiden, and now this? I cracked wide open. Sliding down the wal , I sat with my knees pressed against my chest. I laughed.

“Alex, get up.” His voice carried that musical lilt, but it sounded strained. “This is a lot, I know this. But you have to pul yourself together. They are going to come in here—

soon. They wil want answers. Last night, Kain was normal

—as normal as Kain could be. Now he was a daimon.

They’re going to want to know what happened.”

Kain had been a daimon then, but no one knew that. No one could have known last night. I stared at Seth blankly.

What did he want me to say? That I was fine?

He tried again, crouching down in front of me. “Alex, you can’t let them see you like this. Do you understand me? You cannot let the other Sentinels or your uncle see you like this.”

Did it matter? The rules had changed. Seth couldn’t be everywhere. We would go out there and die. Worse yet, we could be turned. I could be turned. Just like Mom. That thought brought forth a flicker of sanity. If I lost it, what good would I be? What about Mom? Who would fix this—fix what she’d become?

Seth glanced back over his shoulder at the door. “Alex, you’re starting to worry me. Insult me… or something.”

A weak smile stretched my lips. “You’re a bigger freak than I could’ve ever possibly imagined.”

He laughed, and my ears must’ve been fooling me, because he sounded relieved. “You’re just as big as a freak as I am. What do you have to say about that?”

I cringed, my fingers tightening around my knees. “I hate you.”

“You can’t hate me, Alex. You don’t even know me.”

“It doesn’t matter. I hate what you mean to me. I hate not having control. I hate that everyone has lied to me.” On a rol now, I straightened my legs. “And I hate what this means.

The Sentinels wil die out there, one after another. I hate that I stil think of my mother… as my mother.”

Seth leaned forward and grasped my chin. The shock of his touch wasn’t as shattering as before, but the bizarre transfer of energy stil shimmied through me. “Then take the hate and do something about it, Alex. Use the hate. Don’t sit here like there is no hope for them—for us.”

For us? Did he mean for our kind or for him and me?

“You saw what I can do. You wil able to do that. Together, we can stop them. Without you, we cannot. And damn it, I need you to be strong. What good are you if you end up a damn servant because you cannot deal?”

Wel … I guess that answered my question. I smacked his hand away. “Get out of my face.”

He leaned in closer. “What exactly are you going to do about it?”

I shot him a warning look. “I don’t care if you can shoot lightning from your hand. I wil kick you in the face.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me? Could it do with the fact you know I wil not hurt you—that I cannot?”

“Probably.” I real y wasn’t sure about that. Twenty-four hours ago he’d dragged me clear across an island.

“That doesn’t sound particularly fair, does it?”

“This whole stuff with you isn’t fair.” I poked his chest with my finger. “You have the control in this.”

Seth made an exasperated sound. He reached out and clasped the sides of my head. “You have al the control.

Don’t you get it?”

Annoyed, I grabbed his wrists. “Let go.”

He twisted his hands and grasped mine. Those amber eyes flared, like he was up for the chal enge. After a few terse moments, he broke away and stood. “There’s the attitude I have come to know and loathe.”

I flipped him off, but the bad thing was, his general annoyingness had somehow reached me. Not that I’d admit it. Ever.

He grabbed a towel off the shelf. After dampening it, he tossed it to me. “Clean yourself up.” He sent a devilish grin my way. “I can’t have my little Apol yon-in-training looking like a mess.”

My fingers clenched around the towel. “If you ever say something that stupid again, I wil smother you in your sleep.”

His golden brows rose. “Little Alex, are you suggesting that we sleep together?”

Stunned by how he came to that conclusion, I lowered the towel. “What? No!”

“Then how could you smother me in my sleep unless you were in bed with me?” He gave a sly grin. “Think about it.”

“Oh, shut up.”

He shrugged and glanced at the door. “They’re coming.”

I was only half-curious to know how he knew that, but as I dabbed the cloth under my swol en lip, the door swung open. Marcus entered first, and Aiden appeared behind him. His gaze swept to me, checking me over once more.

The look on his face said he wanted to come to me, but with Marcus and half a dozen Sentinels present, it was impossible. I fought down the need to be in his arms and turned my attention to my uncle.

Marcus met my eyes. “I need to know exactly what happened.”

So I told them everything I remembered. Marcus remained impassive through al of it. He asked the appropriate questions and when it was over, I wanted to stumble back to my room. Reliving what’d happened to Kain had drained my soul.

Marcus gave me permission to leave, and I climbed to my feet while he gave orders to Leon and Aiden. “Notify the other Covenants. I’l take care of the Council.”

Aiden had fol owed me out into the hal . “Didn’t I ask you to not do something stupid?”

I winced. “Yes, but I didn’t know—didn’t think Kain would be like that.”

Aiden shook his head, running a hand through his hair.

Then he asked the one question no one else had thought to ask. “Did he say anything about your mother?”

“He said she kil ed them.” I inhaled sharply. “That she took great pleasure in it.”

Sympathy shone in those cool eyes. “Alex, I’m sorry. I know you hoped that wasn’t the case. Are you okay?”

Not real y, but I wanted to be strong for him. “Yes.”

He pressed his lips together. “We’l … talk later, okay? I’l let you know when we’l have practice again. Things wil be chaotic the next couple of days.”

“Aiden… Kain said she was looking for me. That she was coming for me.”

There must’ve been something in my voice, because he was in front of me so quickly. He reached out and cupped my cheek, his voice so unyielding I didn’t doubt a word he said. “I won’t al ow that to happen. Ever. You wil never face her.”

I swal owed. His closeness, his touch, evoked so many memories; it took me a moment to respond. “But if I did, I could do it.”

“Did Kain say anything else to you about your mother?”

She’ll keep killing ‘til she finds you—

“No.” I shook my head as the guilt ate a hole in my soul.

His hand dropped to his chest, where he rubbed a spot above his heart. “You’re going to do something stupid again.”

I smiled weakly. “Wel , usual y I do about once a day.”

Aiden raised a brow, his bright eyes amused for a moment. “No, that’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

He shook his head. “It’s nothing. We’l talk soon.” He passed Seth on the way back to the room. For a moment, both of their expressions hardened to stone. There may’ve been mutual respect in their faces, but there was definitely mutual dislike, as wel .

I left before Seth could stop me. By the time I made it back to the girls’ dorm, several of the students were on the porch. News traveled fast even though it was stil early, but the most shocking part was Lea stood among them.

Seeing her caused my heart to clench. She looked terrible by Lea standards—meaning she looked like the rest of us on a good day. I wasn’t sure what to say to her.

We weren’t friends, but what she was going through was unimaginable.

What could I say? No amount of apologies or words of condolence would make anything better for her, but as I got closer to her, I saw the red look to her eyes, the tight line of her normal y plump lips, and the overal air of desolation surrounding her. It provoked a memory of how I’d felt when I’d thought my mom had died. Now, take that and multiply it by two; that was how Lea felt.

Our gazes locked and my lame apology rol ed out of my mouth. “I’m sorry… for everything.”

Surprisingly, Lea nodded as she passed me on the way in. I trailed behind her, wishing she’d cal ed me a bitch or made fun of my face. That was better than this. Weary and sore, I pushed down the hal way and passed a group of girls. There were whispers, and they were right. My mother was a murderous daimon.

In my room, I crashed. Stil dressed in my clothes, I slept the kind of sleep people only got after facing something so vast and life-changing. Somewhere, in that half-lucid state before I was completely out of it, I realized that when Seth and I had touched in the medical room, there’d been no blue cord.

***

Aiden sent a note the fol owing day saying practice was stil cancel ed. He didn’t mention when he’d contact me again. Over the hours, a nagging worry developed. Did Aiden regret what’d happened between us? Did he stil want me? Were we ever going to talk again?

My priorities were pretty messed up, but I couldn’t help it.

Since I’d woken up, al I could think about was what’d almost happened between the two of us. And when I did, I felt hot and embarrassed.

I stared at the mammoth book he’d loaned me. I’d left it on the floor next to the couch. An idea popped in my head. I could return the book to him—innocent enough reason to seek him out. My mind was made up before I knew it.

Grabbing the book, I yanked open the door.

Caleb stood there, one hand raised as if he was about to knock and the other holding a pizza box. “Oh!” He stepped back, startled.

“Hey.” I couldn’t meet his eyes.

He lowered his hand. Our almost-fight lingered between us like bad blood. “So you’re reading Greek fables now?”

“Um… ” I glanced down at the damn thing. “Yeah… I guess.”

Caleb sucked his lower lip in, a nervous habit carried over from childhood. “I know what happened. I mean… your face kinda says it al .”

Absently, my fingers went to my cut lip.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

I nodded. “I am.”

“Look. I brought food.” He held up the box with a grin.

“And I’m gonna get caught if you don’t let me in or go outside.”

“Al right.” I dropped the book on the floor and fol owed him out.

On the way to the courtyard, I opted for a safe topic. “I saw Lea yesterday morning.”

He nodded. “She came back late the night before. She’s been pretty low-key. Even though she’s a complete bitch, I feel sorry for her.”

“Have you talked to her?”

Caleb nodded. “She’s hanging in there. I’m not sure if it’s real y hit her, you know?”

I understood more than he probably could. We found a shady spot under some large olive trees and sat. I picked at the pizza, arranging my pepperoni slices into a gross-looking smiley face.

“Alex, what real y happened to Kain?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Everyone’s saying he was a daimon, but that can’t be possible, right?”

I looked up from my food. “He was a daimon.”

The sun peeked through the branches, catching the strands of Caleb’s hair and turning them a bright gold color.

“How did the Sentinels not know that?”

“He looked just like he always did. His eyes were fine, his teeth normal.” I leaned back against the tree and crossed my legs at the ankles. “There was no way to tel . I didn’t know until… I saw the pures.” An image I could never erase.

He swal owed, staring down at his pizza. “More funerals,”

he murmured. Then louder, “I can’t believe this. Al this time and there’s never been a daimon half. How is it even possible?”

I told him what Kain had said, figuring there was no reason to keep it a secret. His reaction was typical: heavy and deep. Fal ing in battle meant death for us, and we’d never had to consider anything else.

Caleb frowned. “What if Kain wasn’t the first? What if other daimons figured it out and we just didn’t know?”

We looked at one another. Swal owing, I dropped my pizza back onto the plate. “Then we picked a hel of a time to be graduating in the spring, huh?”

The two of us laughed… nervously. Then I returned to rearranging my pizza, thinking about everything else that had happened. Images of shirtless Aiden flashed before me. The way he’d looked at me and kissed me. The touch of Aiden’s fingertips was slowly replaced by the touch of Seth’s and the blue cord.

“What are you thinking?” Caleb inched closer and continued when I didn’t answer. “What do you know? You have that look on your face! The one you got when we were thirteen and you walked in on Instructor Lethos and Michaels total y making out in the storage room!”

“Ew!” My face scrunched up at the memory. Damn him for remembering the grossest things. “It’s nothing. I’m just thinking… about everything. It’s been a long couple of days.”

“Everything’s changed.”

I glanced over at Caleb, feeling for him. “Yes.”

“They’re going to have to change the way we’re trained, you know?” He continued in possibly the softest voice I’d ever heard him use. “Daimons always had the strength and speed, but now we’l be fighting half-bloods trained just like us. They’l know our techniques, moves—everything.”

“A lot of us are going to die out there. More than ever before.”

“But we have the Apol yon.” He reached over and squeezed my hand. “Now you’ve got to like him. He’s going to save our butts out there.”

The need to tel him everything almost overwhelmed me, but I looked away, training my eyes on the bushy, bitter-smel ing flowers. I couldn’t remember what they were cal ed. Nightsoot or something? What had Grandma Piperi said about them? Like the kisses from those who walk among the gods…

I turned back to Caleb and realized we weren’t alone anymore. Olivia stood beside him, arms wrapped tightly around her waist. He told her what happened, and he didn’t act like a love-struck idiot, which was good. Final y, she sat down and sent me a sympathetic look. I guessed my face was pretty messed up, but I hadn’t real y looked at it.

Caleb said something funny and Olivia laughed. I laughed, too, but Caleb glanced at me, catching the false tone of it. I tried to pul myself into their conversation, but I couldn’t. Each of us spent the rest of the day trying to forget one thing or another. Caleb and Olivia focused on anything besides the cold reality of halfs being turned into daimons.

And me? Wel , I tried to forget everything.

When dusk settled around us, we headed back to our dorms, making plans to meet up for lunch tomorrow. Alone, Caleb stopped me before I headed up the porch steps.

“Alex, I know you’ve been going through a lot. On top of everything else, school is going to be starting in two weeks.

You’ve got a lot of stress on you. And I’m sorry about what happened the night at Zarak’s.”

School was starting in two weeks? Holy crap, I didn’t even realize. “I should be the one apologizing.” I meant it.

“I’m sorry for being such a bitch.”

He laughed and gave me a quick hug. Pul ing back, his smile faded. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” I watched him start to turn around. “Caleb?”

He stopped, waiting.

“Mom… did kil those people at Lake Lure. She was the one who turned Kain.”

“I… I’m sorry.” He took a step forward, his hands coming up and then fal ing to his sides. “She’s not your mother anymore. It’s not her doing this.”

“I know.” The mother I’d known wouldn’t take pleasure in kil ing bugs. She never would’ve harmed another living, breathing person. “Kain said she’d keep kil ing until she finds me.”

He looked like he didn’t know what to say. “Alex, she’d keep kil ing no matter what. I know this is going to sound terrible, but the Sentinels wil find her. They’l stop her.”

I nodded, toying with the edge of my shirt. “It should be me who stops her. She’s my mother.”

Caleb frowned. “It should be anyone but you since she was your mother. I—” The frown faded from his face as he stared at me. “Alex, you wouldn’t go after her, would you?”

“No!” I forced a laugh. “I’m not crazy.”

He continued to stare at me.

“Look. I wouldn’t even know where to find her,” I told him, but Kain’s words came right back at me. You leave the safety of the Covenant and you’ll find her or she’ll find you.

“Why don’t you sneak back with me? We can download a crap ton of il egal movies and watch them. We can even break into the cafeteria and steal a bunch of food. How about that? Sounds like fun, right?”

It kind of did, but… “No. I’m real y tired, Caleb. The last couple of days have… ”

“Sucked?”

“Yeah, you can say that.” I backed off then. “I’l see you for breakfast? I doubt I’l have practice.”

“Okay.” He stil looked worried. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

I nodded and headed inside the dorm. There was another white envelope shoved in the little crack. When I saw Lucian’s sprawling handwriting, there was a weird sinking feeling in my chest. Nothing from Aiden.

“Gods.” I opened it up and quickly discarded it without reading it. Although, I was col ecting a rather large sum of money. This one contained three hundred, and I stashed it with the rest of the cash. Once things calmed down, I was going to do some serious shopping.

After changing into a pair of cotton pajama bottoms and a tank, I picked up the book of Greek legends and brought it back to the bed, thumbing to the section about the Apol yon. I read the passage over and over again, looking for something that could tel me what was going to happen when I turned eighteen, but the book told me nothing I didn’t already know.

Which wasn’t much of anything.

I must’ve fal en asleep, because the next thing I knew I was staring at the ceiling in my dark bedroom. I sat up and pushed back the tangled mess of hair. Disoriented and stil half asleep, I tried to remember what I’d dreamed.

Mom.

We’d been at the zoo in my dream. It was just like when I was a kid, but I was older and Mom… Mom had been kil ing al the animals, ripping their throats out and laughing.

The whole time, I’d just stood by and watched her. Never once did I try to stop her.

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and sat there as my stomach twisted. She’ll keep killing ‘til she finds you. I stood, my legs feeling strangely weak. Was that why Kain had come back here? Had Mom somehow known I would seek him out and he would relay this message?

No. It wasn’t possible. Kain came back to the Covenant, because he was…

Why had he come back to a place ful of people ready to kil him?

Another memory stood out, brighter than the rest. It was of Aiden and me standing in front of the dummies in the training room. I’d asked him what he would do if his parents had been turned.

“I would’ve hunted them down. They wouldn’t have wanted that kind of life.”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Mom would have rather been kil ed than become a monster preying on every living creature. And right now, she was out there, kil ing and hunting—waiting. Somehow, I ended up in front of my closet, my fingers drifting over the Covenant uniform.

Then I’d find her and kill her myself. My own words burned in my mind. There was no doubt what needed to be done. It was crazy and reckless—stupid even—but the plan took form. Cold, steely determination settled over me, and I stopped thinking.

I started acting.

It was early—way too early for anyone to be roaming the grounds of the Covenant. Only the shadows of the patrol ing Guards moved under the moonlight. Getting to the secure warehouse behind the training arenas wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be. The Guards were more concerned with possible weaknesses in the perimeter. Once inside, I found my way to where they kept the uniforms. My hands snatched one that fit and my heart raced as I quickly changed into it. I didn’t need a mirror to tel me how I looked

—I’d always known I’d look damn good in a Sentinel uniform. Black was a very flattering color for me.

The Hematoi used the earth element to glamour the uniforms so the mortal world wouldn’t suspect we were some paramilitary organization. To a mortal, the uniform looked like plain old jeans and a shirt, but to a half-blood, it was a sign of the highest position a half-blood could obtain.

Only the best wore this uniform.

There was a good chance this was the first and the last time I’d ever wear it. If I made it back… I’d probably be expel ed. If I didn’t make it back, wel , that was something I couldn’t think about.

You’re going to do something stupid. My feet tripped up when I remembered what Aiden had said. Yeah. This was pretty stupid. How had he known? My heart turned over.

Aiden always knew what I was thinking. He didn’t need a blue cord or a crazy oracle’s word to know me. He just did.

I couldn’t think about him right now or what he’d do if he found out what I was up to. I grabbed a cap off the top shelf, twisted my hair up under it, and pul ed it down so it shadowed most of my face.

Then I turned my attention to the weapons room—one-stop shopping for just about any deadly knife, gun, and almost anything that stabbed and decapitated. As sick as it was, I was kind of excited to be in here. I wasn’t sure what that said about me as a person, but then again, kil ing was part of being a half-blood, just like it was to a daimon.

Neither of our kinds could escape that—only the pures could.

I opted for two daggers. One hooked onto the side of my right thigh, and the other col apsed from six inches to two with a mere touch of a button on the handle. I put that one in my pocket along the seam of my pants. I grabbed a gun and made sure it was loaded.

Titanium encased bul ets. Deadly stuff in here.

With one last look at the room of death and dismemberment, I gave a little sigh and did what both Caleb and Aiden probably had feared. I left the safety of the Covenant.