Angels of Darkness

He must’ve jerked her up, because her view changed and suddenly he was directly above her. He barked something, angry. The world shook. He dived down. His lips closed on hers. She felt nothing. He jerked back up and rocked back and forth, screaming again.
    Henry, she read his lips calling. Henry.
    He kissed her again and rocked, his face jerking up and down. His hands pushed on her chest. She saw the muscles on his arms flex, but felt nothing. The red stain on his sweatshirt spread wider. Was he doing CPR? Was she dying?
    Henry.
    The ice cracked. She heard a distant female scream somewhere impossibly far. Warmth flooded into her. Something popped inside her mind and she saw a radiant light, bright and glorious.
    She’s gone now, Henry’s voice said in her mind. She won’t bother you again. You’re free. Breathe, Karina. Breathe.
    The world snapped back to its normal speed, jerking her back into her body. She felt everything at once: pain, the hardness of the stair under her back, and the rhythmic push of Lucas’s hands on her chest. She gasped. He pulled her up, into his arms.
    â€œMind Bender attack,” he told her. “Up. Keep moving.”
    The scent of heated metal rising from Lucas was so thick, she almost choked. He wasn’t just hurt. He had to be close to dying. If he died, she would be free, but in this moment she didn’t care. She just wanted him to survive. “You’ve been shot.”
    â€œWe must move,” he told her and pulled her up to her feet. “Faster!”
    He drove her down the stairs, through the door, and along the narrow hallway. They dashed past a row of offices. Lucas rammed a door head-on and they burst into a small conference room. Henry lay slumped in the corner, his back pressed against a wall that was mirrored floor to ceiling. His cracked glasses sat slightly askew on his blood-smeared face. Emily was curled in the crook of his arm.
    Karina cleared the room in a desperate sprint and dropped to her knees. “Is she okay?”
    â€œShe’s fine,” Henry said softly. “She woke up a little when I had to help you, but now she’s sleeping again.”
    Karina hugged her, cradling Emily’s small body. Finally.
    Lucas shoved the table against the door and landed next to them.
    â€œI see you’re bleeding, too, cousin.” Henry smiled. “Nice of you to join me.”
    â€œWhere are the others?” Lucas growled.
    â€œI don’t know. We were hit two minutes after you went into the vault. It was a concentrated assault. They came prepared. The seventeenth floor fell within ten minutes. We were retreating, when I got cut off. I went into cloak almost immediately. Our people may have evacuated.”
    â€œWithout us?” Karina stared at them.
    â€œArthur probably thought I fed,” Lucas said. “Your blood would give me enough of a boost to either get Henry and me clear or to hide.”
    â€œThey are surrounding us,” Henry said. “What’s the plan?”
    â€œYou and I go. They stay,” Lucas said.
    â€œAh.” Henry nodded. “I thought it might be something like that.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Karina gathered Emily closer.
    â€œWe’re going to open that door,” Lucas said. “Henry and I will take off. Henry will make sure they concentrate on us and I will make sure to keep them busy. They will follow us. You will wait here for three minutes, then you will take Emily, go out into the hallway, and turn right. You will come to an intersection. Turn right again. That will get you to the stairs. Shoot anyone you see. Then you get the hell out. If you make it out of the building, Arthur won’t look for you right away, since I’ll be dead and he won’t need a donor immediately. Don’t use credit cards, don’t stay twice in the same—”
    â€œThey will kill you!” No, that was not how this would go. The spring of tension inside her shivered, compressing.
    â€œIt was never about me surviving,” Lucas said. “I died when we opened the vault.”
    â€œHe’s right,” Henry said.
    God, he pissed her off. “No.” She shook her head, trying to keep a lid on her anger. “We go to the stairs together and fight our way down. Together.”
    Lucas grabbed her, jerking her close. “You will do as you’re told.”
    â€œNo,” she said into his snarl. “I