Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,8

face-plant—it sent me barreling right into Gray, who flew backwards and smacked against the wall.

Our feet touched the ground as the effects of Bubble wore off. All around us, other feet scraped and tapped against the pavement. "Sorry." My apology for whacking Gray came out as a croak, my throat still recovering from the near strangulation.

He shook his head, his eyes not even focused on me, but over my shoulder.

I turned to watch as Andros reached out his huge, muscled, tattooed forearm and grabbed Claude’s neck, just like he had wrapped up mine. Then he smashed Claude into the wall behind him so hard that I could see Claude’s skull crack like an egg.

My vision blurred as the ghosts fled Claude’s form and started to tussle midair. But then Andros reeled back and the hulking man smashed my stepfather’s head again. Then double speed. Then the gory scene repeated in slow motion and I saw every drop of blood that flew from Claude’s head. Andros used his Tock power to reverse time … to make Claude die again and again and again.

“Andros!” Z called to his cousin. “That’s enough!”

I held up a hand to tell Z to leave it alone.

A hundred deaths were the least that bastard deserved.

4

Ginny’s screech rent the air like she was a fucking banshee. But Evan uncurled from his slump, grimacing, and grabbed her without a word. He put her into a headlock and held her, ignoring her kicks and scratches. He ignored the light she tried to burn him with, particularly when I started to counter every light she pulsed with one of my shadows.

Over to my right, several of the guys made for the new hidden door. Malcolm didn’t have a ton of firepower left but Gray watched his six as he struggled to get enough fire going to open it up.

When Ginny had slumped over and Evan had tossed her to the ground, my eyes checked on the ghosts, who were still grappling with one another.

We all tried to tune out Andros and the rhythmic thump of Claude’s body smacking the wall.

We watched the door smolder until Evan went forward and tried to add a tiny flicker of flame to Malcolm’s. Then Gray added a tiny bit of wind.

Zavier, though he’d exhausted himself just minutes before on the vault, raised a shaky tattooed hand toward the door. And I wasn’t certain, but I think he sped up time. Just a fraction. Just a bit. Enough for the flames to take hold and dance across the door, lapping up the wood instead of simply pulsing as embers inside.

As soon as the flames weakened the door enough, Evan used his massive shifter muscles to kick it in.

The wood splintered and half the door fell in broken shards to the ground. He shoved the rest of it so hard that it hit the wall as he barreled through.

Malcolm and Gray followed him.

Z and I were last and we glanced at each other before Z jerked his head toward the door and stepped back. “I’ll get him.”

“Andros!” Z wrenched his huge cousin out of his grisly daze. “Let’s go!”

I clutched my aching ribs as I surged through the door into the unknown.

But the sight on the other side made me gasp in astonishment. I'd expected another long, dark corridor like the one we'd left behind. Or a maze. Or maybe a magical wall of ice. Something. Anything but this.

I stopped short when we entered the room that had hidden Claude and Ginny and served as their entry point to the Pinnacle's vault. Because though the huge room had a cement floor, like the one we'd just left, that was the only similarity. The rest of the long space was set up like a high-tech lab. Metal tables gleamed. There were glassed off experimentation rooms on either side. Test tubes and computers decorated the space like some abstract artist's wet dream. But worst, most shocking, and most heart-wrenching, were the far walls.

Snarling vampires were chained to the walls with thick metal bands that surrounded their torsos. Their arms were pinned to their sides by the dark grey metal that encased their entire upper bodies. Silver chains wrapped around their ankles and clanged together as the vampires saw us and rushed forward as far as their chains would allow, growling, howling, and spitting wildly.

Pity and horror froze me for a second, before I realized that the guys were sprinting through the middle of the room, heedless of the threats