Kai Langford - October 2120
The blood spear whistles through the air.
It spins toward Daniel with deadly precision, the crimson tip sharpening as it flies. My shadows surge forward in a desperate attempt to intercept, but even I can see it.
It's too fast.
Then the barn trembles.
At first it's only a low vibration beneath my feet, subtle enough that I almost think it's another shockwave from the fight. But the shaking grows stronger, rattling the beams above us.
The roof groans and a loud crack splits the air.
Wood splinters overhead as several planks break loose from the rafters. They crash downward in a shower of dust and debris, slamming directly into the path of the incoming spear. The blood weapon shatters against the falling timber, bursting apart in a spray of dark crimson.
More wood follows.
Heavy beams tear loose and collapse inward, smashing into the floor with thunderous force. One massive chunk slams down beside the lantern.
The impact knocks it clean off the table it was resting on.
The lantern hits the ground and the flame snuffs out instantly.
Darkness swallows the barn.
For a moment I can't see anything except thin shafts of moonlight pouring through the gaping hole now ripped through the roof. Dust floats through the pale silver light, turning the air hazy.
I steady myself, shadows instinctively pooling around my feet as my eyes adjust.
Then I see him.
A new figure stands in the center of the barn. Tall and broad-shouldered.
The man who had been manipulating blood is no longer standing on his own. His feet hang several inches off the ground as a large hand clamps tightly around his throat, lifting him like he weighs nothing.
Even in the dim moonlight I recognise the build immediately.
It can only be Ray.
His hand is locked straight as iron, his grip crushing the man's neck. The blood-manipulator claws at Ray's arm, his legs kicking uselessly in the air.
"Ray!" I shout, stepping forward. "Don't kill him. We need him for information."
But he doesn't answer back.
He just stands there silently, staring at the man in his grasp as if studying an insect pinned beneath glass. The blood-user's crimson power flickers weakly around his hands, but whatever strength he had during the fight is fading fast.
His movements are frantic now, desperate to break free.
Seeing Ray ignore me, I turn away and hurry toward Daniel.
Daniel is sitting on the ground near one of the collapsed beams, trying to shove pieces of debris off his legs. Moonlight spills down through the broken roof above him, barely illuminating his face.
"Are you okay?" I ask, crouching beside him.
It's hard to see clearly, but I notice immediately the way he's clutching his chest. Beneath his hand is a dark, spreading patch soaking through the fabric of his jacket.
"Shit," Daniel mutters through clenched teeth. "I'm fine. It's just a cut."
"Let me see it."
He tries to brush me off, but I grab his wrist and gently pull his hand away from the wound.
The gash is long and deeper than he wants to admit.
Blood seeps steadily from the tear in his jacket where the blood whip struck him earlier. It's not immediately life-threatening, but it's bad enough that leaving it untreated would cause problems.
Daniel slaps my hand away.
"I said I'm fine."
I sigh quietly and straighten back up.
Some things never change.
When I glance back toward Ray, the blood-manipulator is still dangling in his grip, gasping for breath as Ray's fingers dig deeper into his throat.
"You're going to kill him if you don't loosen your grip," I warn.
Ray's eyes flick toward me briefly.
"If I loosen it," he says flatly, "he'll just attack again."
I shift my focus back to the man dangling helplessly in Ray's grip.
Ray's hand is still wrapped firmly around his throat, holding him several inches off the ground. The man's boots scrape uselessly against the floor as he tries to find footing, his fingers clawing desperately at Ray's wrist.
I step closer, keeping my voice calm.
"Who gave you the vial?"
The man bares his teeth at me, rage flashing in his eyes as he continues to pull at Ray's hand.
"Fuck… you," he manages to rasp.
Ray's fingers tighten.
Not enough to snap his neck, but enough to make the man choke on the rest of his breath. His eyes widen as the pressure cuts off his air.
"Answer the question," I say evenly.
The man gasps, his hands shaking now as he struggles to breathe.
"Chris!" he blurts suddenly. "Someone called Chris!"
Ray and I exchange a quick glance. The name hangs in the air between us.
I turn back to the man.
"As in Christopher Oswald?" I ask.
The man shakes his head weakly, still clawing at Ray's hand.
"I don't know!" he wheezes. "He was just called Chris!"
He suddenly lashes out in frustration, kicking Ray hard in the stomach.
The impact echoes through the barn, but Ray doesn't even move.
He stands there like a wall of stone, his grip unchanging, his expression completely unreadable.
The man stares at him for a moment, realising the kick did absolutely nothing.
Then panic flickers across his face.
"You fuckers," he spits hoarsely, struggling harder now. "Let me go!"
"We don't need him awake," I turn my attention to Ray. "Just knock him out."
Ray doesn't respond.
While he deals with that, I move toward the other man who had been thrown earlier during the fight.
He lies half-buried beneath a fallen beam near the wall.
I send a thin strand of shadow beneath the wood and lift the beam just enough to slide it aside. As soon as the moonlight hits his face, I know.
He's dead.
The angle of his neck is wrong, and a large section of the fallen timber has crushed part of his skull. Blood has already pooled beneath him, dark against the floorboards.
Great.
I drag a hand back through my hair, frustration tightening my chest. All of this chaos, all the risk… and one of the two leads is already gone.
Maybe the other one will still...
A sharp snapping sound cuts through the barn and my head whips around.
The struggling man in Ray's grip has gone completely still. His neck hangs at a crooked angle.
Ray's hand slowly opens and the body drops to the floor with a dull thud.
For a second no one says anything.
Then Daniel explodes.
"What the fuck, Ray?" he shouts, forcing himself up from the ground despite the pain. "He was our only lead! Why the hell did you kill him?"
Ray frowns down at the body.
"I didn't mean to," he says, his voice defensive. "He wouldn't stop struggling."
Anger flares hot in my chest as I step toward him.
"That's exactly why I told you to knock him out!" I snap.
All that work. The fight, the risk, Daniel getting hurt.
And now both of them are dead.
Ray spreads his hands slightly, irritation flashing across his face.
"I tried to knock him out" he insists. "He kept fighting back."
"Then you should have said something," I shoot back. "I could've handled it."
Ray's jaw tightens.
"Then why didn't you?"
The question hits like a spark to dry tinder.
I take a step closer to him, ready to fire back, the shadows at my feet stirring restlessly with my rising temper.
But halfway through the step, I stop myself.
There's no point... The damage is already done. But the frustration remains, heavy and sharp, but arguing now won't fix anything.
"This is such bullshit," Daniel mutters behind me. Apparently he hasn't decided to let it go.
He takes a step toward Ray, clearly ready to continue the argument. But as he moves, his balance falters.
He sways and then drops heavily to one knee, his hand flying back to his chest.
"Daniel."
I'm beside him immediately.
"Come on," I say quietly, pulling his arm over my shoulders and helping him stand. "We need to get you to Sophie."
Daniel looks like he wants to protest. I can see it in the stubborn set of his jaw.
But the pain wins. He turns his head away instead, letting me support most of his weight.
As we start moving toward the barn exit, I glance back at Ray.
"Bring his body," I say, nodding toward the blood-manipulator lying on the floor. "He might still be useful."
Ray stares down at the corpse for a moment, then he silently bends to pick it up.
Behind us, the broken barn creaks in the night wind, moonlight spilling through the shattered roof onto the wreckage of the fight we barely survived.
____________________
The drive back to Trinity passes in heavy silence.
The car hums along the dark road, headlights cutting through the night, but no one feels like speaking. The adrenaline from the fight has faded, leaving behind only exhaustion and the metallic scent of blood.
Most of the noise comes from the back seat.
Daniel's breathing has grown rough and uneven, each inhale a little heavier than the last. The wound across his chest has soaked through the fabric of his jacket, the dark stain spreading slowly as the minutes pass.
I keep glancing back at him, every few seconds just to make sure he's still conscious. Daniel notices eventually and gives me a weak glare.
"I told you," he mutters through clenched teeth. "I'm fine."
"You're bleeding all over the seat," I reply quietly.
He doesn't answer after that.
The rest of the journey passes with the same strained quiet until the familiar gates of Trinity finally come into view.
The car rolls to a stop outside the main building and I'm out of the vehicle before the engine fully dies.
Moving around to the back door, I pull it open and offer Daniel my arm. This time he doesn't argue. His usual stubbornness has faded under the weight of blood loss and fatigue.
He grips my shoulder as I help him out of the car. He's noticeably weaker now.
The front doors suddenly swing open... Right on cue. Ethan Knox comes rushing towards us, his usual bright smile already forming as he jogs across the courtyard.
Behind him, Tessa follows at a quick pace.
Ethan lifts a hand in greeting, but then he sees Daniel and the smile disappears instantly.
Tessa notices a second later and immediately breaks into a run.
She reaches us first, moving straight to Daniel's other side. Her hands rise to his face, gently but urgently turning his head so she can look at him properly.
"What happened?" she demands.
It's the first time I've ever heard panic slip into her voice.
Daniel tries to give her a reassuring smile, though it comes out strained.
"I'm fine," he says.
His hand lifts weakly to rest over hers, squeezing it, but the gesture only seems to worry her more.
Ethan arrives beside us a moment later, his eyes scanning Daniel's injury with sharp focus.
"We need to get him inside," Ethan says immediately. "Now."
Tessa doesn't waste another second.
She carefully shifts Daniel's arm over her shoulders, taking most of his weight as she begins guiding him toward the entrance.
Daniel tries to protest, but the words die before they leave his mouth They disappear through the doors together.
Ethan lingers behind and his attention turns toward me.
His eyes move slowly over my shoulders, my arms, my face, searching for injuries. I can almost see the checklist running through his mind.
When he finds nothing worse than a few scratches and torn fabric, some of the tension drains from his expression.
Without warning, he steps forward and pulls me into a tight embrace and I wrap my arms around him automatically.
I rest my forehead gently against the top of his head, breathing in slowly.
The frustration that's been coiled in my chest since the fight begins to loosen almost immediately. The anger, the exhaustion, the weight of everything that went wrong tonight.
It all dulls slightly in the quiet moment between us.
For a few seconds, the chaos of the night fades away.
And I just stand there holding him.