Then I feel a ping of plastic and my hands are free. Gripping the scalpel tightly in my sweaty palm, I glance at Jude and surreptitiously show her the blade. She gives the briefest of nods. We both know what must be done to end this.

  I steel myself for our desperate do-or-die attack.

  On Jude’s next nod, I dash forward as she twists herself free of Thug and elbows him hard in the face. Before anyone can stop her, Jude snatches the Taser from Spider’s grasp and fires the weapon at Tanas. At the same time, drawing on all my anger and grief, I rush to plunge the scalpel into his dark heart.

  But Knuckleduster is quick to react. She seizes me by my hair and yanks me back before I can land the mortal blow. Crashing into the gurney, I wrestle with the powerful Hunter for control of the blade. She twists my wrist, forcing me to let go. Meanwhile Tanas has shaken off the shock of the Taser and is raising his own gun to shoot Jude. But Jude, fending off Spider with a kick, manages to deliver another long burst from the Taser. This time, despite his colossal size and strength, Tanas succumbs to the fifty-thousand-volt shock. Convulsing, he drops his gun, topples forward and lands heavily across Phoenix on the gurney.

  I notice Damien doesn’t rush to his master’s aid. No doubt content to let his Hunters subdue us first, he watches with a detached, almost amused expression as Knuckleduster rotates my arm almost to breaking point. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I try to resist –

  ‘Aarush, the bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists,’ counsels my guru as she wraps me in yet another excruciating armlock. Once more her strength defies her age and, however hard I struggle, I’m unable to break out of her hold.

  With my face pressed against the dirt floor of the kalari, I splutter my complaint: ‘But you’ve tied me up in knots!’

  ‘So? What do you think all the stretching and jumping exercises are for?’ she chides, applying more pressure to the lock. ‘Become supple like a reed, flow like water, roll like a wave –’

  Heeding my guru’s advice from centuries ago, I call on Aarush’s Kalari skills and roll out of the armlock, flipping myself over and free of Knuckleduster’s grip. Then I strike a marma point at the base of her throat. She chokes and I front-kick her into the surrounding mob of black-eyed patients baying for our blood.

  I realize that our best chance of survival is to kill Tanas in order to break his hold over his followers. As I’m searching desperately for the dropped scalpel, which has to be here somewhere in the darkness, the stunned Tanas suddenly slides off the gurney on to the floor. The room goes still. The Incarnate leader’s black eyes are blank and unblinking … fresh blood blossoms on his shirt … the green handle of the jade knife protruding from his mortally wounded chest.

  Phoenix gives me a groggy smile. One of his restraints is cut through and his hand free. ‘Did I get him?’ he asks weakly.

  I nod, numb with astonishment that my Protector was even able to hold the knife in his drugged state.

  The gathering of Watchers and Hunters stand motionless, watching their leader bleed to death before their eyes.

  As Tanas’s life ebbs away, I feel no remorse, no pleasure, no satisfaction, merely relief that this evil soul will be banished yet again from this lifetime. That some form of justice has been delivered as penance for the murder of my parents. When he splutters his last breath, I turn to Jude with a hopeful expression. Once more we have defeated Tanas –

  But Jude isn’t celebrating. She’s looking round apprehensively at the congregation of patients. It’s only then that I notice that none of them is turning back to their former self. Every eye remains as black and fathomless as ever. Damien and his Hunters haven’t reverted either.

  Stepping forward, Agent Lin tugs the jade knife from Agent Haze’s chest. ‘That was a bold attempt, Genna. But you got the wrong man – or perhaps I should say … woman.’

  31

  I look Agent Lin up and down, taking in her tailored blue suit, her sheen of arrow-straight black hair and her angular jawline and cheekbones. She’s the epitome of the high-achieving, law-abiding enforcement officer.

  ‘You’re Tanas?’ I splutter, as she lays the jade knife carefully down upon the altar.

  With a scythe-like smile, Agent Lin takes off her glasses to reveal two pools of swirling darkness for eyes. I flinch away in horror.

  ‘You seem surprised,’ she says, laughing at my shock. ‘Admittedly, in the past I’ve favoured being male simply for the advantage of strength. But, as poor Agent Haze has just proven, a man makes for a more obvious target. Besides –’ Tanas glances down, admiring her own athletic physique – ‘I couldn’t have wished for a more capable body to incarnate into. Apart from the bullet wound that almost killed her, Agent Alex Lin kept herself in good shape. And being an FBI agent to boot has even greater advantages. I’ve access to all sorts of people, places and resources I could only have dreamed of as a priest. Turns out that you and your Protector did me a favour by killing me the first time.’

  ‘Then let me do you another favour!’ says Jude, snatching up Agent Haze’s dropped gun.

  But before she can pull the trigger, Damien has seized her arm, pulling the gun off target. A deafening blast echoes round the basement and a bullet ricochets off the wall. I duck as shards of brick go flying in all directions. Jude tries to get in a second shot, but, with military precision, Damien disarms her of the weapon and turns the barrel on her.

  ‘Nice try, Spiky,’ he sneers. ‘Have you forgotten I trained in Krav Maga martial arts in a former life?’

  Faced with getting her head blown off, Jude reluctantly surrenders and submits to the brutal grip of Thug behind her. She winces as he puts her into an excruciating armlock. Knuckleduster grabs me too, ensuring I can’t attempt any more surprise attacks either.

  Tanas brushes a speck of brick dust from her shoulder. ‘You’ve just redeemed yourself, Damien,’ she says, offering him a cold thin smile that appears more threatening than thankful. ‘While your hunger for the Darkness is understandable, do not overstep the mark again. I need not remind you of the pact you made for your soul.’

  ‘How can I forget?’ replies Damien, bowing his head. ‘You are my lord and master.’

  Tanas narrows her eyes. ‘I’m pleased you know your place. Now, since Agent Haze will no longer be joining us, you may take his place at my side.’

  Damien glances up sharply, a grin on his lips. ‘An honour indeed, O Great One,’ he murmurs. Slipping the gun into his waistband, he steps over the agent’s corpse and joins Tanas at the altar.

  ‘Haze’s death is regrettable, yet a mere inconvenience,’ Tanas goes on, waving to two patients to take the body away. ‘We can more than make up for his loss by extinguishing Genna’s Light. But first, let us finish what you started.’

  As Tanas approaches the gurney, I exchange a desperate look with Jude. Reflected in her eyes is the same resignation, the same burden of defeat, but also a flash of anger at me. I don’t blame her for resenting me for our failed mission. It’s my fault. I was the one who brought her here; I was the one who wouldn’t listen to Caleb and Goggins. I realize now – too late, of course – that they were right. The risk I made us take to rescue my Protector has proven too great and costly. Not only will Phoenix’s soul be obliterated forever, but Jude, myself and my Light will be destroyed too.

  Blinking away tears of shame and regret, I gaze at Phoenix lying helpless on the gurney and curse my deluded overconfidence. I’m no Protector! I should never have pretended I could be. Yet, despite everything, I know that if I was faced with the same choice again, I’d make the same decision. Phoenix is my Soul Protector. He’s saved my life over and over. I owed it to him to try and save his.

  None of that matters now, though. With Tanas preparing to complete the ritual sacrifice, I know that Phoenix and I have reached the end of our souls’ journey together. The thought of being separated forever fills me with dread, almost as much as the terror of what lies ahead for my own soul when it too is torn apart and destroyed by the Darkness.

  Leaning over the gurney, Tanas runs a hand through Phoenix’s locks of chestnut-brown hair, almost caressing him as a mother might a sick son. ‘Ah, Phoenix. You thought you could destroy me once with an obsidian blade,’ she says in an ominously soothing tone. ‘How wrong you were!’

  Seizing a clump of hair, she wrenches Phoenix’s head back, causing his eyes to flare in pain. Phoenix’s free arm shoots up to throttle Tanas, but Damien quickly pins him down.

  ‘You have blighted me in too many lives,’ spits Tanas, her upper lip curling into an ugly snarl. ‘But I assure you, Phoenix, this is your very last.’

  On her command, the host of Incarnate patients rise to their feet and resume their low, hypnotic chant of ‘Ra-Ka! Ra-Ka! Ra-Ka!’

  Letting Phoenix’s head drop, Tanas picks up the jade knife, still wet with Agent Haze’s blood, and recommences the ritual incantation: ‘Rura, rkumaa, raar ard ruhrd …’

  With each line uttered, the last vestiges of hope are stripped from my heart. Then from nowhere I suddenly remember Tarek. In all the confusion and conflict, I’d forgotten he was watching our backs. Surely he’s witnessed what’s happened to us on the centre’s security cameras, heard our shouts and cries over the earpiece?

  ‘Tarek?’ I whisper. But I get no reply. Just static. The basement is no better for signal than the corridor above. Yet even as I try to get in contact, I question what one Warrior can do against a whole host of Incarnates. Even if Tarek did manage to alert Haven, any back-up would be hours away. Still, he may have the resources to –

  The basement door opens again and I look up expectantly, praying for a last-minute rescue. Forced to stop mid-incantation, Tanas glares at the new arrivals. But her anger at the untimely interruption soon dissipates as the blond-haired Hunter roughly shoves a sorry-looking Tarek into the room.

  ‘Ah! A latecomer to the party,’ smirks Tanas, gloating over yet another capture.

  On seeing Tarek bruised and bloodied, all the fight goes out of Jude and she stops resisting Thug’s armlock. My own hopes dashed, I sag, defeated, in Knuckleduster’s talon-like grip. My mission to save Phoenix is not only a failure; it’s a tragic failure for which I blame only myself.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Tarek,’ I mumble as he’s dragged over beside me. His glasses are cracked and his shirt ripped; his right cheek is swollen and blood oozes from a badly split lip.

  ‘No, don’t apologize,’ Tarek replies, wincing from his injuries. ‘He jumped me in the car. I was so focused on the laptop I didn’t see him coming.’

  ‘It’s all my fault,’ I say, almost too ashamed to look at him. ‘I should’ve listened to you. You were right – this was a trap.’

  ‘Yes, and you fell into it!’ Tanas cries with a gleeful laugh. She licks her lips, her tongue flicking out like a serpent’s. ‘Two Warriors, a Protector and an Ascendant. This promises to be a long, dark night of sacrifice.’

  Tarek glances up at her, a crafty look in his eyes. ‘Are you so sure about that?’

  Tanas frowns, then her dark eyes widen in alarm as Tarek pulls a slim metal tube from his pocket. I recognize the device straight away. The Light grenade clatters to the floor and rolls until it stops at Tanas’s feet. She dives for cover behind the altar, as does Damien; the patients all cower in fright. The Hunters grab Tarek, Jude and me and use us as impromptu shields.

  Several tense seconds pass … and nothing happens.

  Tarek curses. ‘Damn! It didn’t work –’

  Damien starts laughing and gets back to his feet. Tanas emerges too, her face like thunder. ‘No one makes me look like a foo–’

  There’s a sudden deafening blast as the Light grenade explodes, blazing as brightly as the sun. The Incarnates howl in terror and agony as the Light burns into their retinas. Flooded with a dazzling radiance, the basement turns from night to day in an instant. Yet the intense glare doesn’t seem to hurt my own eyes – in fact, I see more clearly than ever.

  ‘Quick!’ urges Tarek. ‘The grenade won’t last long.’

  As the Incarnates reel from the extended flash, I rush over to the gurney and rip off the restraints. Phoenix, revived by the burst of concentrated Light, sits up.

  ‘Can you walk?’ I ask, slinging his arm over my shoulder.

  ‘I’ll crawl if I have to,’ he replies as the grenade begins to fizzle out like a spent firework.

  ‘Get him out of here! I’ll get Tanas!’ orders Jude. On the floor, glinting bright, is the scalpel. She snatches it up.

  ‘Save your master!’ shouts Damien to the cowering throng, his eyes screwed shut against the Light.

  Still dazzled, the Hunters lash out wildly, striking anything in range. The Incarnate patients surge forward like blind rats, swarming over us and shielding Tanas with their bodies. Knocked over in the chaos, Jude loses her grip of the scalpel and has to abandon her attempt to assassinate Tanas. She joins me and Tarek as we struggle to keep Phoenix on his feet. Together we battle our way through the remaining horde of patients, their fingers clawing at us and their teeth snapping. Pushing ahead, Jude punches and kicks a path through them to the door.

  ‘GO!’ orders Jude as we enter the stairwell. ‘I’ll hold them off.’

  The sightless Incarnates lurch after us. Jude grabs a janitor’s mop and breaks off the end. Spinning it like a staff, she beats back the tide of patients. Her skills as a Shaolin monk prove their worth as she jabs, thrusts and strikes at each advancing Incarnate in turn.

  Bearing Phoenix’s weight between us, Tarek and I help him up the stairs. But on reaching the ground-floor landing, we’re confronted by a locked fire door. ‘How are we going to get out?’ Tarek cries, pulling futilely on the handle.

  ‘Keep going up,’ I say.

  ‘But that’ll only lead to the roof, and we’ll be trap–’

  We flinch as a gunshot echoes up the stairwell, followed by a pained scream.

  ‘Jude?’ I call out fearfully.

  From below, the sound of pounding footsteps grows louder. Jude appears, blood seeping from a flesh wound to her arm. ‘Damien’s taking pot-shots!’ she yells. ‘No time to hang around.’

  Swiping the guard’s key card through the lock, she kicks open the door and we dash along the corridor towards the main reception. Behind us Damien and his Hunters stumble half-blind and disorientated from the stairwell. As Jude swipes the key card for the exit, Damien takes another wild shot. The bullet hits the door frame and splinters fly everywhere. Even in his doped state, Phoenix instinctively tries to shield me.

  ‘I’m the one saving you this time, remember?’ I say as I hustle him through the doorway after the others.

  Ignoring the startled security guard at the reception desk, we stagger out into the car park and over to the main gates. Jude inserts the key card again and the gates start to slowly open. Too slowly. Before we’ve been able to squeeze through, Damien and his Hunters have burst from the building like a pack of attack dogs. They chase after us as we push ourselves through the gap and sprint over to the waiting Tesla. The doors open automatically and Jude jumps into the driving seat while I help Phoenix into the back. As Tarek clambers into the passenger seat next to Jude, Damien charges out through the gates, gun in hand. He fires off several rounds, the thud of bullets peppering the car’s bodywork. Jude floors the accelerator. The rear window shatters, but we’re already speeding away into the night.

  32

  We’re driving along the empty desert highway under a canopy of stars when Phoenix leans his head out of the window and sticks two fingers down his throat. He vomits up black bile, emptying his stomach of the ritual potion.

  I gently put a hand on his back as he heaves again. ‘Are you OK?’ I ask softly.

  ‘Better for getting rid of that poison,’ he sighs, pulling his head back in. ‘But how about you?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ I reply, handing him some water.

  He drains the bottle. The combination of the Light grenade and the purging of the potion seems to have re-energized him a little, and the starlit gleam to his eyes is slowly returning. Relieved, I smile warmly at my Protector. ‘I’m so glad we found you in time,’ I say, and go to embrace him.

  But Phoenix holds me at arm’s length. ‘What the hell do you think you were doing, Genna?’ he scolds, looking me in the eyes as if I’m crazy.

  ‘I-I-I came to save you,’ I stammer, confounded by his reaction.

  ‘That was stupid!’ he says, shaking me in barely restrained fury. ‘You could’ve been killed!’

  I flinch, his harsh words stinging me to my very core. He begins checking my body over for injuries.

  ‘Hey! I said I’m fine!’ I snap, brushing him off. I glare at him. ‘I can’t believe I’ve come all this way, risked my life for you, only to be told off like a little child!’

  ‘That’s because you’re acting like a child,’ he replies testily. ‘I would’ve thought after what we’ve already been through in this life, you’d have more sense than to walk straight into a trap!’ Before I can respond, Phoenix turns his temper on Jude in the front seat. ‘And what were you thinking, risking Genna’s soul like that?’

  ‘She was determined to come find you,’ Jude replies stiffly, as Tarek tries to bandage the wound on her arm while she drives. ‘I had no choice –’

  ‘Pah, course you did!’ Phoenix retorts scornfully. ‘You know the rules!’

  Jude glares at him in the rear-view mirror. ‘Yeah? Who are you to talk about the rules?’

  ‘OK, but at least my Ascendant’s still alive!’ he shoots back.

  Jude goes tight-lipped and stares fixedly on the road ahead, her eyes glassy. Phoenix appears to regret this last comment and for several long minutes no one speaks. There’s just the sound of the desert wind whistling through the shattered rear windscreen.

  ‘What were we supposed to do?’ says Tarek eventually, tying off Jude’s bandage and looking sourly over his shoulder at Phoenix. ‘Let Genna go off alone? Imprison her in Haven?’