Vex (Regenerate #4)

Chapter 7

It's embarrassing how easy it is to track Siryn. Lorna doesn't have Mark's hacking skills, but she is able to track Mark's phone. And unfortunately, where Mark is, Siryn is.

And unfortunately, where Mark is is the team headquarters.

"You still think he's not being mind controlled?" Lorna asks. "No way would he take her there otherwise."

"Not with how paranoid he is," I agree. Part of me doesn't want to believe that our team is yet again under attack from a telepath. Part of me knows that there's nothing else that could explain Anthony's behavior, and that's somehow relieving.

That would mean he didn't hate me so much that he decided to leave me for Siryn.

Lorna and I rush over to headquarters, knowing nothing good can come from Siryn being there.

"Just a thought," I say before we land. "If she can mind control people, why didn't she try mind controlling us?"

"Maybe she can only control one person at a time," Lorna say.

"That would be ideal," I say.

We hurry down to the conference room. As soon as we're there it becomes pretty clear that she can control more than one person. We've barely stepped through the door when Derek, Loa, and Mark (now in his Mantis suit) all turn to look at us. And not in a friendly way.

Siryn is there too, in the middle of them all. After noticing us, they turn back to her. She nods.

Lorna and I barely have a chance to dodge before Derek launches a fireball toward us. By the time we're back on our feet, Anthony has already blocked our chance to get to the door. I glance behind me at the large windows.

I use all my force when I slam into the window. It doesn't break, though. It only cracks.

That is until Loa swings for my head. I dodge, and his first goes straight through the glass. Enough for me to leap to the ground.

As I start my fall, I notice that Lorna seems to be involved in some sort of fist fight with Mantis. She must disable him long enough to jump out the window after me, because she catches me before I hit the ground.

"Let me go," I yell.

"What?"

"We have to split up. Anthony's the only one who can catch up to us. If we split one of us can warn Mia and the girls."

Sure enough, I glance behind us and Anthony is already coming after us.

"Fine," Lorna says. "Meet at Redondo."

And suddenly I'm falling again. This time I do hit the pavement. Hard, though Lorna didn't drop me from quite as far as I would have fallen from the building.

Normally, my body would snap all my bones right back into place, but I'm still suffering the effects of that lightning blast. I can feel them slowly moving back into position, and it hurts so much that I almost don't notice Mark landing next to me.

I want to keep him distracted long enough to give Lorna a good head start. But it's hard when I can barely move. He looms over me.

"Careful," I say. "Chasing after other girls. Your girlfriend is going to get jealous."

"You know a thing or two about jealousy, don't you?"

I blink back, trying to focus through the pain of the fall. I need to keep him talking. Give Lorna time. And myself a little time to heal up, if possible.

"Yeah," I say. "Maybe I am jealous. Maybe you should dump Siryn for me."

He snorts. "Sorry. That ship has sailed."

"Really? Because last week you were pretty into me."

Anthony leans down. "I know you're trying to distract me. Your body isn't healing as fast as it should. You're trying to buy time. Go ahead. It won't matter. Even when you're fully healthy you can't beat me in a fight."

"There's a first time for everything," I say.

He shakes his head. "You're useful for some things. But you can't take me on one on one. You aren't strong enough. Or clever enough."

Anthony grabs my arm and the pain that shoots through my body makes me want to pass out. I don't though. As he lifts me into the air, I struggle, hoping he'll drop me again. Anything to buy more time.

He doesn't drop me, though. He takes me back to his demon girlfriend.

Once we land back at headquarters, he dumps me on the floor. "I should go after Lorna," he says.

"You won't catch her," I say. "She has too much of a head start. And we both know she could beat you in a fist fight."

She should at least have time to catch up with the girls. Or Mia. And then she'd have back up.

"I think it would be pretty easy to lure her here if we use you as bait," Siryn says.

"She wouldn't fall for that," I say. "You can't kill me. She knows that."

"She's probably headed back to her house to get the girls," Anthony says. "The ones from the party."

"Lorna will already have them by the time you get to her, even if you fly top speed," I say. "You really want to fight her and Mikayla?"

Siryn scowls. "You should have gone after Lorna. This one isn't as much of a threat."

"This one has super powers," Anthony says. "Lorna doesn't."

No, but she does have a suit that can fly. She can warn Mia and the girls faster than I ever could.

I look over at Siryn. "You know, I used to date Derek. You must really have a thing for my leftovers."

Siryn glares at me. But then she turns back to Anthony. "Lorna has a cell phone doesn't she? Track her."

"Right," Anthony says. He actually sounds a little sheepish. Like he's annoyed at himself for not thinking of that sooner.

He goes over to the computer. It only takes him a minute. "The metro. They're riding the blue line."

I try to look disappointed. But inside I'm thrilled. Lorna must have dumped her phone on the metro. Because it isn't headed in the direction of the pier. Good for her. She may not be the super genius her brother is. But she's smart enough not to let him track her cell phone.

Anthony moves to fly after her, but Siryn stops him.

"Let the other two go."

"They won't get there as fast," Anthony says.

"I don't want you facing her one on one," Siryn says. "Besides, if she has the girls with her she won't be moving as fast."

Siryn might be a little smarter than I originally gave her credit for. Which is unfortunate.

"Besides," Siryn says. "You wouldn't want to leave me here alone would you? You'd like to be my bodyguard, wouldn't you?"

"Yes," Mantis says. Ugh. Lorna was definitely right about the mind control.

"Good," Siryn says. "Because I'm going to need your help taking care of her as well."

They turn to look at me. It sends shivers down my spine.

They may not be able to kill me. Suddenly, though, dying seems like the least of my concerns.

Sorry to be so slow updating! As a gift to my lovely, patient readers, I made a pic with images of the characters. I hope you can see it (I've never put pictures on Wattpad before). Let me know in the comments what you think!