Haunt (Regenerate #5)

Chapter 17

Mark wasn't joking about getting an early jump on the House of Night. At least he calls us in later than he normally does, likely on account of my keeping him and Lorna up late. Lorna brings a full array of brunch foods to the meeting.

The good thing about Jess hauling his stretchy buddy into our base is that there are only four powered members of the House of Night left. We outnumber them.

Mark goes over the plan, detailing which of us is best suited to take a given member of the House of Night. Loa of course gets to go after their strong guy. Lorna gets their flier. Mia should take care of the girl who can control water. I'll be there to help out with anything else that needs doing.

Mark of course is going after the boss, Nightmare. Nightmare's powers only work if he can make physical contact with the person's skin. With his suit, Mark shouldn't have any trouble avoiding that.

Admittedly, I sort of like Mark's gameplans. They're detailed enough to be effective, but flexible enough to adapt when everything inevitably goes wrong.

We leave Vanessa and Danny in charge of the base. I think Mark would prefer to leave Mikayla behind again, but after the incident with the stretchy guy, there's no arguing her ability to handle herself. Besides, with numbers on our side, this should be a fairly routine operation.

We go out to the van after we suit up. Apparently Mark has decided that it would be easiest to shuttle us around in a black van. The word inconspicuous was used, but I think the van is really only inconspicuous compared to the Mystery Machine or the Batmobile. At any rate, I don't get much of a say since how I can't drive. And I suppose it is nice that we can all be in the same car. It makes parking easier.

Mark has found out the main hideout of the House of Night. Apparently he's actually known where it was for awhile, but hasn't bothered to attack yet because he wanted to wait until numbers were on our side.

Once we're there, he pulls out a tablet and starts streaming their security feed to us.

"Looks like the strong guy and flier are in this room," he points to the second floor window. "The water girl is in the room around back."

"And nightmare is in the basement," I conclude for him.

He nods. "We all know where we're going? Mikayla, you go with Mia. Thalia, you stay with Lorna and Loa."

We all agree, and a moment later we're out of the car. Loa jumps, and is able to slam right through the second story window. Lorna flies me up a moment later.

Loa is soon barrelling toward the other strong man, and the next thing I know they've crashed through the wall on the opposite side of the room. It's nice to know that we're not the only powered organization that has trouble keeping our building in one piece.

Lorna soon is after the flier. They're up in the air in moments and I'm left awkwardly standing there. I peak out the giant hole in the wall, but Lorna and Loa both seem to be handling themselves just fine. Not that I could reach Lorna while she's up in the air anyway. And I don't really fance jumping out a window right now, even if it is only the second story. I had my fill of that while I was fighting Siryn.

I contemplate going to find Mia and Mikayla. Maybe they need my help, but if Mia's using her powers, I might just be in the way.

A moment later Mark's voice comes blaring through my headpiece.

"Knife guy is here. Backup?"

He sounds almost panicked, and a moment later I'm flying out of the room and racing down the stairs, hoping that Mark is still in the basement with Nightmare.

When I get there, I stop in my tracks. Nightmare is there.

So is the knife guy, and he's got Mark on the ropes. Mark is backed into a corner, and while he hasn't lost yet, I can tell this fight is not going well for him. Nightmare must be able to tell as well, because he seems content to sit back and watch.

I run towards our knifey friend, but he seems to anticipate me. In one smooth movement, he slips away from a punch Mark was throwing and slashes his knife across my eyes.

Even once I heal my eyes, it takes a second to blink vision back into them. By the time I do, I see, Mark now fully backed into a corner. His suit is torn, and he's got a nasty looking gash in his abdomen.

I can't quite guess how bad the wound is. The thing about my power is it makes me good at knowing how painful something is and bad at knowing how lethal it is.

That wound will hurt. I just hope that it isn't deadly.

Mark leans back against the wall, pressing his hand against the cut as if he could stop the bloodflow that way.

I lunge for the mercenary, but he easily grabs my arm and twists until I'm pinned against him. Mark moves forward, sort of feebly to try and attack again. The mercenary shoves me into Mark, knocking us both to the ground.

The mercenary looms over us, and for the first time Nightmare seems interested enough to stroll over to where we're at.

Nightmare crouches down so that he's more eye level with me. "You really should have known better than to come after me."

Then he brushes his hand across my cheek and the entire world goes black.