Lady Superior (35 page)

Her surge of strength evaporated, and the pieces fell into place. This had been Nenet’s plan all along, she supposed. Nenet had probably gotten her blood at the warehouse that first night. Kristen knew, then, that they’d pitted her against Delphi and taken Emma on such a short timetable to wear her down. She was strong, sure. But she wasn’t strong enough to fight herself after fighting all day already.

Once Nenet killed her, Nenet would get the ring. And then everyone else would die, too.

Kristen laid back in her cradle of steel and waited to die. She heard the crunch of gravel—Nenet’s slow, arrogant steps toward her—and closed her eyes.

Get up. Don’t let her get away with this
.

Kristen jerked at the voice.

Kristen Anderson had resigned herself to her fate. Lady Superior hadn’t.

She heaved herself out of the Kristen-shaped dent in the husk of a car. Wearing her face and clothed in only the black silk robe, Nenet prowled forward. The cat-like grin didn’t look right on that face; Kristen shuddered at the sight of it, a deep revulsion screaming inside of her. That face was never meant to bear that expression. Kristen shoved down her aches, her pains, and her exhaustion, and hopped down to the gravel. Nenet rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. After all of this, you’re still going to bother trying to stop me?”

With a roar, Kristen surged forward. She leapt with a wild swing of her fist, wind whistling with the blow. Nenet raised an arm and blocked it with ease. A cruel smile flashed on the changeling’s lips. She drove a fist into Kristen’s stomach. Kristen gasped at the force of the blow. She stumbled back, then fell into the dirt, the air driven from her. Gasping and sputtering, Kristen used her feet to drive herself away from Nenet.

“Oh, you poor thing,” Nenet taunted. She cracked her knuckles and continued toward Kristen, slow and implacable. “I bet you’ve never been hit like that before. Does it surprise you, knowing what it’s like to be on the other end of your gift? Of course, it isn’t quite the same. You’ll never really know what a monster you are.”

Kristen rolled and scampered down the aisle of scrap. Nenet a sufficient distance away—though still coming—Kristen got to her feet and turned to face her. Was this what it was like? Seeing Maiden Milwaukee come toward you like an avalanche, terrible and inevitable? Kristen shook dust from her head and stole a glance at the garage. The other changelings had yet to emerge. Though briefly thankful for it, she knew that was another ability: the ones who survived her assault would come, and they’d come with guns. How many times had they hit her in that garage, anyway? She touched her stomach, and her hand came away bloody.

Nenet saw the distraction in Kristen’s eyes and charged. Too slowly, Kristen tried to get her arms up like a boxer, trying to replicate Nenet’s block. Instead, Nenet drove her knee into Kristen’s stomach. Kristen doubled over, gasping for air again. Nenet seized upon the opening and punched down. Kristen caught the blow on the head. Her body was driven into the gravel face first. She groaned, groping blindly to grab Nenet’s legs, or do anything at all to slow her down. Nenet peddled away, then surged back in to deliver a solid kick to Kristen’s ribs. The raw strength in the kick sent Kristen rolling across the ground, gravel scraping her flailing limbs.

“Are we quite done?” Nenet called out. Kristen’s head swam as she laid on the ground, but she heard the telltale sign of gravel underfoot. Nenet was still coming. “Believe it or not, I don’t relish the thought of beating you for hours on end until you’re wholly unrecognizable as a living thing. I’d like this to be quick and clean, but as you know, you’re a difficult person to kill. If you would sit still for a moment, I’ll end it.”

Kristen forced herself to her feet and put her arms up once more. She lurched left, caught her footing, and lurched right, stumbling like a drunk. Vision unfocused, ears ringing, she found it impossible to form a coherent thought.

Nenet bore down on her. On instinct, Kristen blocked a blow to the head. Kristen leaned into Nenet’s next swing and wrapped her arms around her neck. Nenet struggled to escape the hold, delivering knee strikes to Kristen's midsection. Kristen was driven back with every blow until the strength left her arms and her grip fell slack. She felt hands on her skull, then. Nenet squeezed with all of the strength in her fresh, stolen body, and Kristen screamed at the pressure. She was sure—absolutely sure—something was going to give and that would be the end.

Instead, her neck jerked. Nenet used both hands to heave her off of the ground by her head and threw her. Kristen soared end over end before her head struck metal, vision filling with motes of color. Her momentum carried her spinning up and over a rusty truck. She stared in a daze, starting briefly only when she caught a blur of motion. Nenet fisted a handful of Kristen’s hair with one hand, then pummeled her face with the other. Each blow landed like a sledgehammer on concrete. Every strike echoed with a resounding crack. Kristen’s face streamed with blood and tears. She threw up her hands to push Nenet away, but it was useless.

A deafening peel of thunder silenced Nenet’s blows, and the changeling fell back into the gravel. Kristen winced, and blood spattered her face.

“Get away from her.”

The telltale click of a hammer being cocked back preceded another deafening explosion. Nenet screamed fury and scrambled for cover. Kristen looked up. Todd stood there, tall and solid, Smith & Wesson held firm in one hand. Kristen tried to speak but could only form whimpers. She grabbed his leg. He stooped down and looped an arm beneath hers, lifting her from the dirt. “Hold on tight,” he whispered. “I’m getting us—”

“Stop running!” a new woman’s voice screamed from behind them. Todd spun to bring his gun around, but Kristen’s dead weight slowed him. A body collided with his, driving him down, tearing him from Kristen. Before he hit the ground, he blinked and disappeared.

Kristen stared at the new arrival. Emma? She glowered back, her eyes full of hate. Though dizzy, Kristen’s mind creaked into motion again, rust crumbling from the gears of thought. Emma wasn’t that fast. Emma wasn’t that strong. Was she? The only reason Nenet could match Kristen’s strength was because she’d stolen her form. She laughed despite her ruined body, the laughter sudden and manic. Pain drained away. “You screwed up.”

Newfound strength surged within. Kristen threw it all into one, solid punch. She struck the false Emma square in the jaw and the changeling’s head twisted a half-circle before the rest of her followed. Kristen spun, dug her fingers into the truck at her back, and lifted it off of the ground. She raised it overhead before pile driving it into the pretender.

Nenet seized the opportunity and came at her like a train. Kristen turned to face her as Nenet threw herself into a full-body tackle. Two bricks walls collided. Neither fell. Nenet roared in anger and threw a lightning punch. Kristen caught the fist in her hand and squeezed. Knuckles popped. Kristen leaned in and down, twisting Nenet’s wrist, driving her to her knees. She spoke through clenched teeth. “You think because you stole my body, you know how to use it?”

Kristen allowed no response. She grabbed Nenet’s throat with her free hand, pulled her upright, and punched her hard enough to send Nenet sliding through the gravel. Kristen followed the wake of pebbles, slow and steady. “I’ve lived my life the way I am. What I can do wasn’t given to me for free. I had to learn how to live in this body. I trained it. I honed it. I know how to use it.”

Nenet spit dust from her mouth and rose to her feet. She shrugged the robe from her shoulders, freeing her legs of its interference. “Kill her.”

Kristen jerked her head toward the garage at the sound of motion. The changelings who’d made it through her initial attack poured from the entrance. Each and every one of them wore Emma’s face. Kristen smiled. Never before had she seen something so beautiful.

 “Behind you,” she called to them.

The changelings whirled. Todd’s Smith & Wesson cracked, dropping a changeling. Arrows followed. From the roof, the archer loosed arrow after arrow. Kristen saw they dug a bit deeper than they had when he’d shot her in the garage, but still failed to stick. That didn’t seem to matter; the changelings he struck screamed in pain, clutching the wounds. Poison?

Then came Nenet. Kristen leaned aside—the archer’s technique—and let a fist soar past. Kristen took a jab at Nenet’s ribs and landed the blow, knocking the changeling off-balance.

Anything you can do, I can do better
.

Kristen grabbed Nenet’s bare shoulders. She pushed her out at arm’s length, then closed the gap with a knee to the changeling’s gut. Nenet, limp and gasping, tried to pull away. Kristen picked her up cross-body, turned, and heaved her into the bed of a truck. Nenet shot to her feet immediately, using the truck’s height as a springboard to strike from above. Kristen caught her, turned with Nenet’s momentum, and slammed her into the ground. “It must be hard, princess. You’re usually so tall and thin and graceful. When you stole my body, you should’ve stolen my clothes, too.”

Nenet growled. In an instant, she caught Kristen around the waist, surged up, and threw her back. Kristen hit the dirt, rolled back over her shoulder, and came up on her feet.

The archer’s mechanical voice cut through the melee. “The toxin is wearing off.”

Kristen shot a glance toward the garage just in time to see the changeling Emmas rush the garage at once. They slammed their shoulders into the brick walls, knocking them inward. The building collapsed, the archer still on the roof. Todd blinked, grabbed him, and blinked again. The two appeared at Kristen’s side.
Emma, you’re strong, you’re fine. You’re okay in there. Promise me.

“Thanks for that, Blinky,” the archer buzzed.

Todd rumbled. “Don’t call me Blinky. We should get out of here. My gun does some damage, but…”

Kristen shook her head. “We can’t leave.”

Nenet stood on shaking legs some twenty feet ahead of them. She raised one hand and signaled her followers to her side. The false Emmas leapt to her and formed ranks. Todd winced. “I know you’re probably pissed off right now. I would be, too. I’m sorry we didn’t save your sister but if we don’t get out of here…”

“Emma’s fine, Todd.” She smiled at him. “I’m not angry. I’m thrilled. But if we let them go, they’re going to be back. When they come back, they are going to be angry. They took your family hostage once. They won’t be so nice about it next time.”

Todd’s jaw hardened. He popped the cylinder on his revolver and dumped shells into the gravel. One bullet at a time, he reloaded. The archer nocked an arrow. “I wish they could keep their clothes on when they shift.”

“Don't be a robo-creep.”

“Apologies. Beep beep boop, overriding male hormone protocols.”

“Don't be a robo-smartass, either.”

“In all seriousness,” he buzzed, “there's three of us and... eight of them.”

A false Emma jerked with a blood spray and toppled. A half-second later, a distant crack rolled over the scrapyard. Nenet screamed in her native tongue—bizarre in Kristen's voice—and she charged, the remaining changelings following in her wake.

Kristen grinned. “Four of us.”

Kristen charged. She brawled with Nenet and the changelings, trading blows and disrupting their lines. Todd blinked in and out of the fray, his revolver like a thunderstorm. The archer wove through the melee. His motions were fluid, retrieving arrows from the battlefield as quickly as he loosed them, seeking out points of vulnerability. As Todd's revolver punched foes off-balance, Kristen put them down hard. She grabbed one by the arm and spun it around, holding it in place from behind. The archer seized the opportunity and loosed an arrow. It sank deep into the changeling's eye, and Kristen dropped it, dead. A spray of blood played herald for a distant crack.

Todd blinked. Nenet was there. Before he could blink again, she caught him with a double-fisted blow. He hit the ground, bleeding from the mouth. “Go!” Kristen screamed, grappling with an Emma. “I've got this!”

In a flash, Todd vanished.

The archer called over the roar of battle. “Back down to three. And I can’t keep this up.”

“You go, too. I’ve got it.”

“You’re sure?”

“Go!” she barked. The archer disengaged, sprinting away. Changelings pursued, but even with their stolen gifts, they couldn’t match his agility. He bounded over cars, slid under trucks, and dove through open windows. His every motion soundless, it wasn’t long before even Kristen couldn’t see him anymore. When the changelings abandoned their pursuit, the battle came to a pause. Nenet and her people regrouped, forming a ring around Kristen. She turned a slow circle, staring them down, getting a new headcount. Six. She thought they’d done better than that.

Nenet hissed. “Do you hate your sister so much?”

“Excuse me?” Kristen asked. “Do you think I’d be here if I hated her?”

“You see her face and your first thought is violence.” Nenet swept an arm across her changelings. Their faces—Emma’s faces—were bruised and bloody messes. “How can you do this to your blood?”

Kristen put up her fists, wary of distraction. “What, you think you can put on a skin-mask and scare me into submission? I picked the triquetra as my symbol for a reason. Body. Mind. Soul. They’re ideals, and for me, they aren’t new. You’re probably well-acquainted with my body at this point. Mind? No, I’m no genius, but I try to use my head. My plan wasn’t perfect, but I had one. Next time, I’ll do better. Soul? I know who’s important to me. I know who makes my life better. I know who to hold close and I know who to throw away. I know when someone needs my help and when someone needs to be stopped. I care about Emma. All of you? You’re not Emma. Pretend all you want. I know the difference. I’m not scared.”

Nenet spread her hands in assent. “Very well. You’re a very interesting woman, Kristen. Keep the ring, then. Acquiring your gift is prize enough for me. Until next time.”

The changelings rippled as they began to shift. Kristen pulled the ring from her top and held out. “Wait.”

Their rippling ceased in an instant. Nenet eyed her with curiosity. “Speak.”