"How many times must I tell you not to drag me like that, you stupid punk?" I shove Eli's hand off my arm.
He only grins. That stupid, infuriating grin that makes me want to break every perfect tooth in his mouth. Without warning he jabs his finger straight into my wound, pushing the silver bullet deeper into the side of my back, just off the spine.
White-hot pain explodes through me. It burns its way down my veins, scorching everything in its path. My vision tilts. I feel my eyes shift color but the agony is too much to control. My bones snap. My muscles twist. A deep, guttural growl tears out of me as my legs buckle and the world sways.
My hand shoots out before I even think. My fingers clamp around Eli's throat. I squeeze. Hard.
"Let. Go." The words scrape out of me, more beast than man, my voice rolling like a snarl, corrupted by the amber glow taking over my eye.
He doesn't release me. He doesn't flinch.
My nails elongate, slicing clean through the skin of his neck as I rake my hand across him. Blood spills down his collar. Eli only smirks wider, flashing the perfect teeth I hate more than anything.
"Careful, brother. You almost smell like fear."
His voice vibrates with amusement as he shoves his finger deeper into the wound. Blood pours out of me like a broken pipe. My regeneration is gone—choked out by the silver burning through my blood. And the pain only feels like molten metal grinding through my flesh, a heat that doesn't fade, only climbs.
Eli laughs. "You are as weak as a sheep, brother." His wounds knit together instantly despite the claw marks I left on him.
I swing at him again. He dodges and elbows me in the ribs, but I manage to slam my fist into his collarbone.
Before we can tear each other apart, a sharp voice slices through the air.
"Enough. Both of you, cut it out."
Kira.
Eli finally releases my wound. But my body refuses to obey me. I'm shaking so violently I can barely breathe. The world tilts. My knees hit the ground. A howl rips out of me, raw and broken. I have never howled from pain outside a full moon before. Not once.
I clutch my side as the burning intensifies again. I swear to myself I will kill that human hunter who shot me earlier, and then I will kill Eli for good measure.
Kira kneels beside me with a sigh. Her hands hover before touching my wound. I hate being touched. I always have. She is not an exception. But when her fingers press gently against the torn flesh, the pain drops, just a little, i wonder why.
I growl. "Don't touch me woman."
"Will I ever hear you call me 'mother'?" she asks softly.
I don't respond. Out of the corner of my eye, through the haze of pain, I see her set down one of her antique lamps... It is 2025 but she still carries lamps from the 1500s. And her clothes? Even worse.
She opens a toolbox I hadn't seen her carrying.
"You are not my mother," I grit out.
Another wave of pain rips through me and forces another howl from my throat. I make a second mental note: Eli dies after the human. Slowly.
Kira pulls out a cloth that actually sparkles. Maybe it is the pain or the silver poisoning my senses, but the damn thing shines. She rinses my wound with water from a small crystal vial.
The moment the cloth touches my skin the sound that comes out of me is inhuman.
"AAAAAAHHHH—"
Was that me? That was me.
Another sound escapes as she dabs again with a second shimmering cloth. I feel like some ridiculous fairy suffering holy torture. But after a full minute the pain drops. My breathing steadies. I glance over and see the bullet on the tiled ground, blood-stained and ugly.
I am still bleeding, but Kira pulls out a tiny container of yarrow. She presses it onto the wound, then sprinkles powdered plantain across it and just like that the bleeding stops.
"Regardless. I hope one day you'll see me as your mother," she says quietly.
"I see you as a mother," Eli interrupts, sniffing a daisy he plucked from somewhere.
In a blink, I'm on him, my arm locked around his throat. My healing isn't complete but it's enough. "I'm going to rip you in shreds."
"Aw, little brother. Your words wound me," he teases, then drives a punch into my gut hard enough to threaten my ribs. It is a miracle they stay intact.
""Behave yourself, pathetic Beta," he sneers. "Don't forget who I am."
I clench my fists so tightly my nails pierce my palms. Father named him successor and now his ego is too big to fit in this realm.
He throws another punch but I catch it and slam my fist into his jaw. I hear the crack.
"Enough, both of you," Kira says, her voice low. Then she coughs into a tissue.
Eli and I glare at each other. My wound is finally sealed but I'm exhausted. Drained. Barely standing.
"Dennis wanted to see you both. Come along," she says.
She leads the way. Eli strolls past me with a grin.
"Remember, little brother. You are weak. You will always be weak."
It takes every thread of control not to tear his lungs out.
"Eli!" Kira snaps without turning. He smirks but walks faster.
We follow her into the basement. She sits next to Dad. They exchange that eye look, the one that makes me want to vomit.
Kelvin enters a second later, my second brother, or rather... problem number two.
"I think we might have a problem."
"Yeah," I mutter, my gaze returining to the scene unfolding between Kira and Dad. "They're being disgusting again."
"Oh come on Kade. You don't know how it feels to be in love. I'm sure you're still a virgin," Eli says and his twin, Kelvin, laughs.
I shift my gaze to the stupid son of a bitch, glaring hard.
"If you—" I began but Kelvin interrupted the chain of colourful words I planned to spew as he lifted a hand between us. "Don't start. We have bigger problems."
Dennis frowns. "What is it?"
"Ava." Kelvin exhales. "I found her snooping around the Null Chamber. I don't know how much she heard but… she was listening. Ear pressed to the door. Focused. Intent."
"She's human," I say. "She shouldn't be able to hear anything from inside that room."
"Then explain why she looked like she was concentrating," Kelvin fires back. He runs a hand through his hair. "And she looks almost identical to Elizabeth." He paused, turning his gaze to Kira… "if there is anything you need to tell us about you and your daughter, now is the time. Because if what I'm thinking is true… we're all doomed."
Eli chuckles under his breath.
"Interesting."