Seraphina's Revenge: A Rebirth In The Apocalypse Novel

Chapter 538: Dibs On The Blood

Psycho leaned forward slightly, chin braced on the seat. "The Wardens, Seelie or Unseelie, also don’t need a commander standing behind them when they do it. They don’t do pep talks like humans do to get them in the mood to kill."

Zubair nodded once. "That means someone set them on her," he said.

"Yes," Aerenyx replied. "I am pretty sure that we are beating a dead horse at this point. But we all agree that someone had to have sent her."

Caerwyn finally spoke from the back, voice calm and contemptuous.

"And someone polluted them," he said. "A Seelie Warden carrying an Unseelie blade is filth. It shouldn’t exist."

Psycho snorted. "I like how you say that like the weapon is the insult, not the fact they tried to split her in two."

Caerwyn’s gaze didn’t shift from Sera. "Both can be true."

Zubair didn’t let them drift into court politics again.

He didn’t have the patience for it and Sera didn’t have the time. "What matters," Zubair snapped, trying to get the conversation back, "is what the sender believes right now."

Aerenyx’s eyes narrowed.

Zubair continued. "From their perspective, Sera is dead."

Psycho’s expression changed slightly, interest sharpening. "Because of the blade," he purred. "They think she is dead because the Warden’s do fail, and any Seelie would die by an Unseelie sword."

"Exactly," agree Zubair.

Aerenyx leaned back in his seat, gaze still forward. "And then the storm erased them."

Zubair’s jaw tightened. "Yes."

He didn’t say Caerwyn’s name. He didn’t need to.

Caerwyn adjusted Sera again as if he’d heard the thought anyway. His hand shifted to support her shoulder more firmly. Zubair watched it in the mirror, then forced himself to look away.

"Which means," Zubair said, "we have a window."

Psycho smiled slowly. "Now we’re talking."

"A short one," Aerenyx added.

Zubair nodded. "Short is still more than what we had."

The truck hit another uneven stretch of road. Zubair took it carefully, steering around broken sections that would bounce the back seat. Sera’s head still didn’t move. Her hair stayed plastered to her cheek where it had dried that way.

Zubair’s throat tightened.

He didn’t touch that feeling.

He couldn’t afford it.

Caerwyn’s voice cut in again, low and flat. "You’re assuming they’ll report success."

Zubair glanced at the mirror. "Why wouldn’t they."

Caerwyn’s eyes lifted, silver-threaded and cold. "Because they died," he said. "And Wardens who fail don’t get mourned. They get replaced."

Aerenyx made a sound of agreement. "That’s true," he said. "No one is going to ride out looking for them as people. They’ll assume they succeeded until it is proven otherwise."

Psycho leaned back, tapping his fingers once against the door. "But someone will eventually notice the sanction didn’t produce a body," he said.

Zubair’s creature surged at the thought, sharp and controlled.

Zubair didn’t speak to it. He didn’t need to. He already knew the timeline was shrinking with every mile.

Still, he adjusted his speed again and kept them moving.

The road widened briefly, then narrowed again, terrain changing as they pushed farther north. Region L was still around them, but it was thinning into something a little more familiar.

Zubair could feel the shift in the way the land rose and fell, the way old roads broke into newer ones, the way the tree line changed.

They were close to the boundary.

"We are entering Fae Territory," Caerwyn said suddenly, his eyes narrowing on the view out of his window. "Even if this isn’t Perdition. Like recognizes like. It will send out a message to any other Fae in the vicinity that we have come. The Seelie will see Psycho and Aerenyx and assume that this is an invasion, that they are declaring war... and they will answer it the only way they know how."

Zubair didn’t answer right away as he continued to stare forward. "I think you have a little misunderstanding about me," he murmured after a moment. "I am not one to shy away from a war. As far as I am concerned, the moment they made Sera a target. The moment they brought a weapon that they believe would kill her...we were at war. And I don’t care if they are Angel, Demon, Seelie, or Unseelie. Anyone who is a threat to Sera will be taken care of."

There was a long stretch of silence in the truck as each man was lost to his own thoughts. But not a single one disagreed with his statement.

At least, if he couldn’t trust the Fairies Without Wings (FWW) to guard his back, he at least knew that they would guard Sera’s. And that was all Zubair cared about.

After a moment, Caerwyn continued. "If you go there carrying her unconscious, you will not be welcomed. I don’t know why they think she is Fae, I don’t know why they think that she is a contender for some Seelie throne. But you need to be prepared for what you might encounter."

Zubair’s jaw tightened. "We’re not going for welcome."

Psycho laughed softly. "Ooh! That’s my favorite kind of visit. Dibs on being the first one to draw blood."

Aerenyx didn’t smile. "We’re going for information," he hissed, narrowing his eyes at Psycho. "Not blood."

"Yes," Zubair agreed. "Whatever Sera did there before... whatever happened with Mae... whatever the Sheriff meant when he told her not to come back... that’s where our only threads are."

"And if it’s a trap," Psycho asked. "Because we all know that this is a trap. And the best way to get information is through blood. Just saying."

Zubair stared at the road ahead. "Then it’s a trap," he said. "But it’s the only direction that isn’t a dead end. And take all the blood you need. Just make sure that Sera’s isn’t shed again."

Aerenyx glanced at him. "You’re deciding this without her."

"I’m deciding it because she can’t," Zubair replied. "And because if we stop, we lose whatever advantage we have."

Caerwyn’s voice was quiet, but it carried. "You are very comfortable giving orders for a human."

Zubair’s hands tightened on the wheel again, but he didn’t rise to the insult.

"Get used to it," Zubair said. "Sera does it all the time and she doesn’t even realize it."

Psycho made a pleased sound. "That’s true," he said. "She does."

The truck crested another rise.

There was no movement on the road. No shapes in the distance. No pursuit. No vehicles. No people. Nothing that looked like organized response.

And while Zubair didn’t find that comforting, he did find it useful.

He checked the mirrors again, then kept driving.

Aerenyx watched him for a long moment. Then he said the part Zubair had been thinking since they left the bodies behind.

"They’re not pursuing," Aerenyx said.

Zubair kept his eyes forward. "No. Like Psycho said, they think it worked," he continued, letting out a long sigh.

Aerenyx nodded once.

Psycho’s smile faded just a fraction, replaced by something colder. "And when they find out it didn’t?" Psycho murmured. "After all, we are bringing her to the very people who might have sent out the Wardens."

Zubair’s grip tightened. "Then at least this time, they won’t have to go so far to find her," he replied.

Aerenyx’s voice was flat. "No. And that is the part that I don’t like."

Psycho exhaled through his nose. "Either way... it’s going to be fun."

"And that’s the part that worries me the most," admitted Zubair.