Blood Lands (Savage Lands #5)(32)

Spirits zinged around me, death at my beck and call. My own soldiers. They needed no direct order; they could feel what I wanted.

To take out all threats to my family.

“Mine...” I growled, my gaze on Warwick, my energy commanding the ghosts which came in by the dozens, this land a graveyard of wars past and present.

Crack!

Multiple bolts of lightning zapped down on the pit, and thunder boomed, tossing me back on my ass into the dirt. As if a switch turned off, everything went quiet. Still.

The fire from the pits lit the room until the backup generators kicked on, lighting the stadium in dim light.

My head spun as I pushed myself to sit up, feeling energy still crackle under my skin. Warwick was a few feet away, the bear lying motionless next to him.

Blinking, my gaze wandered over the quiet space. No roars of animals, no screams of fear and death. Not a whisper. They were all scattered across the arena. I could see some of my friends moving, stirring from their haze.

But not one animal twitched.

They were all dead.

My invisible soldiers had killed for their queen.

Tension hung in the room like daggers. Shock. Confusion.

“Warwick...” I crawled over to him, my hands and eyes scouring his body in the dim light, noticing he was still in one piece and breathing.

“Sotet démonom.” His lids lifted with a groan, his mouth barely moving, his eyes darting around seeing the lifeless animals around us. “Saved my ass again...” He coughed, his breath wheezing in his lungs. He yanked my face a breath from his. “Still doesn’t get you out of giving me blowjobs.”

A chuckled curled me over him, my lips grazing his. “Tit for tat, Farkas.”

“Gladly, Kovacs,” he rumbled against my mouth.

Movement around me jerked my head to see my friends sitting up, their expressions struck with bewilderment and touches of fear.

They all roused except one.

“Maddox...” I whispered out, scrambling over Warwick to the gutted body covered in blood, his eyes staring absently into the void. “Oh, please, no.” I skirted up next to him, my hands on his body.

“Noooo!” Scorpion bellowed, racing over, falling down on the other side of him. “Maddox, you asshole, you can’t die.” Scorpion turned to me with wild terror. “Do something! Help him!”

I had nothing left. I had used it all up. I couldn’t even feel Warwick or Scorpion, our link dulled, but I still tried to dig deep. “Come on...” I grunted, trying to force energy up. But it was like twisting a dry rag, hoping for a drip of water. Panic and grief spiraled tears down my face. “Please,” I begged, trying again, but nothing was there. I could sense he was already gone.

I was too late. Maddox was past my help.

“No, no, no!” Scorpion barked, his anger flashing over his face seeing my grief-stricken expression. “Try again!”

“I’m sorry...” I croaked, my shoulders sagging. Scorpion’s anger turned to utter pain, his attention going down to his friend. The agony at seeing his comrade—a brother—dead shattered through him, causing my own. “I’m so sorry.” I felt useless, guilty I couldn’t save him and even more so because they were all here because of me. From the day I walked onto their base, all they knew was death, loss, and pain.

Scorpion leaned over Maddox, his grief silent, which made it even more palpable to me. Birdie and Wesley, the remaining two of their group, came around Scorpion, mourning another loss. Another fallen comrade.

The cold prickles of eyes scratched at the back of my neck, popping the little bubble I was in. A wave of fear rushed in, awareness that every single thing I had done had been observed.

Twisting my head back, my attention landed on Istvan. The general’s penetrating gaze burned into me, his jaw locked, his shoulders tight.

Fuck.

Slowly, I stood up, facing the party up on the balcony. They had seen and experienced everything. And there was no explanation for why all the animals were dead while most of my friends dusted themselves off, getting to their feet. Battle worn, but alive and unhurt.

Leon, Sonya, Iain, and Olena’s expressions were struck with terror.

Caden looked confused, almost hurt, as if I betrayed him.

Istvan stared at me, no emotion telling me either way how he felt, which was worse than the others’ fear. Fear was a normal response. But he examined, studied, and assessed me like an experiment.

I could see his mind whirling as he took in the information of what he observed, putting it together. Then he did something which iced every bone in my body. He laughed. Istvan’s head fell back, though you could hear no real joy in the sound. It was calculated—controlled.

His blue eyes found mine, his face suddenly serious. “My dear, you keep surprising me at every turn.” He studied me for a few beats, showing no hint as to what he was really thinking. “Maybe I should have listened more when Dr. Karl said you were different, that you changed when you returned home, and you were no longer human.”

The memory of Dr. Karl’s note attached to the files left for Istvan I found in his office months ago came back to me. “No human can sustain even half of these levels. Ms. Kovacs should be dead. She is not even showing signs of organ failure. If anything, she seems stronger and healthier. We must discuss these results in private. There seems to be just one explanation.”