“Who’s Spence?”
“Your new favourite person,” Tanner chuckled in front of us, his previous death persona nowhere to be seen, washed away by a silent tide.
Who the fuck are these people?
My steps lightened as we trailed towards the exit. Satisfaction hummed in my chest, accompanied with the irrefutable echo of steel grinding against bone.
Chapter 25Psycho
We arrived at the staff side entrance and Emerson laid a hand on Tanner’s shoulder. They both spared me an expectant glance, gesturing for me to do the same. I lifted a brow in question.
Tanner tsked. “Grab onto me, fool.”
As soon as my fingers wrapped around his arm, he led us through the open doorway. The security barrier whirred with energy, my skin tingling with mini barbs of static, attempting to hold me captive. Tanner’s muscles tensed, a weightless void pushing against the barrier, releasing us from its hold.
For the first time in one year, I was released from Oakview Asylum.
Relief was short-lived as my Variant remained inaccessible, despite escaping my prison. I was an empty shell, a phantom of my former self, staring down at my trembling hands as my brain filtered through the shock. The barrier had no effect on me anymore. Instead, that endless space of nothingness grew stagnant in the air surrounding Tanner. A vortex of fathomless oblivion.
He smirked at my panic. “Humbled?”
“What are you?”
He winked before disappearing around a sharp corner, his words resonating after him. “I make you human.” Whatever the fuck that means.
“How boring, right?” Emerson snickered before following after him.
I rounded the bend to find an auburn-haired female leaning against one of three motorbikes. She turned down her nose, piercing green eyes lasered over my frame, all while chewing on bright pink bubblegum.
She was all sharp angles with the attentiveness to match, her keen gaze never wavering. Man-eater. That’s the term that came to mind. Not in a sexual sense. More the literal sense, like she’d eat you alive and pick your flesh from her teeth with your own bones.
She popped a huge bubble with her gum. “From the way Micah went on about him, I was expecting something…more.”
Tanner geared for the bike next to hers, releasing a snort. “He killed two people on the way out. Is that the ‘more’ you were looking for, Spencer?”
Her smile turned serpentine and Tanner straddled his ride. “Let’s go before they find the bodie—" His words were cut off by a high, screeching alarm.
Emerson followed suit, revving the engine of her bike, the vibrations lost in the echoing alarm and police sirens in the distance. She beckoned me forward with an impatient wave. Before I could reach her or process what happened, I was bodychecked by the redhead. I found myself staring down the barrel of her gun, aimed directly between my eyes.
“Hold it there, Goliath. You’re going to tell us where to find our sister. Now.”
I arched a sarcastic brow in reply, which definitely pissed her off. Her green eyes ignited with the challenge, as if she was trying to restrain herself from pulling the trigger. “Now listen here, Psycho. I know your pea-sized brain rattles around in that oversized head of yours.” She lurched forward, the pistol digging into my skin. “But let me explain this real simple for you, okay? You. Will. Tell. U—"
“Cut the shit, Spence,” Emerson interjected. “He’s already had the talk, and we’ll sort it out back at the Temple. We’ve got to get out of here,” she finished, shoving a helmet to my chest. “You ride with me.”
I turned to Tanner with raised brows. Are these girls for real? Throwing out commands as if I’ll automatically obey? He shook his head and chuckled before slipping on his helmet. “Emerson’s the best rider. If anyone can get you out, it’s her.”
Blue and red lights glowed brighter and a crowd was beginning to swarm the surrounding streets. The motorbike dipped under my weight as I grabbed onto Emerson’s hips.
“Cop a feel, big man, and you’ll find yourself without fingers.”
I grunted. “There’s only one woman I willingly want to touch, and trust me little one, that isn’t you.”
“Maybe his brain isn’t so small after all,” she said, humour lacing her words.
I barely had time to slip on my own helmet before she hit the throttle. Shooting out at high speed, my ass nearly fell off the back with the sudden shock.
All three Kings split ways, Tanner and Spencer disappearing into the distance as Emerson rode through the main street, gaining the attention of the police force.
“What the fuck?” I gasped.
Emerson’s voice echoed round my head. “I don’t want them to follow Tan and Spence. I’ll lead them away,” I started, realising that our helmets were linked.
Sure enough, a couple of cops took the bait. The chase was on.
I was pleasantly surprised by Emerson’s skills. She weaved effortlessly through traffic, correcting to my added weight without a care. The bike swerved at impossible angles, whipping through the back streets and alleys of Junction City, losing our assailants along the way.
Emerson slowed, turning at a leisurely pace, when out of nowhere two cops came barrelling towards us. A girlish giggle sounded through my helmet speaker, and I swear I’d never heard a more evil sound.
Emerson accelerated at top speed, heading directly for them. They hesitated at the last second, splitting directions and creating a free path through the centre.
She’s fucking mad.
As we shot off into the night, adrenaline spiked my system and my pulse increased, triggering my Variant. Environmental noise became deafening, smells repugnant and the bright neon glow of city lights blinding.
I am free.
Emerson raced along Florian River, the long stretch of road clogged with traffic, all awaiting passage over Hangman’s Bridge—a double-leafed, movable overpass that was currently raising to accommodate a large boat passing beneath.
