I kept that path in my head and focused on driving a vehicle I’d never driven, and had never wanted to drive, through rough terrain that I went over too fast, considering my inexperience, but I had to get Trix to safety before we all blew up. Again.
I giggled and went faster. If Nitro could see me now, would she be proud? I almost felt her with me, telling me to take that dirt ramp and hit the boost when we got to the top so we soared before coming down on the other side of the ramp. Had that actually happened? No sense worrying about that when I had a race to win. No, I wasn’t winning a race, just getting Trix to safety, but Nitro’s ghost had other ideas. I’d felt my father sometimes guiding my fingers when I was playing cello, and this was like that, but more intense, maybe because Nitro was a more intense life force.
I cranked that engine and raced like Nitro, taking that vehicle into the home stretch with two vehicles coming in from the side as I raced the last flat part. The stands were visible along with the banner stretched over the line.
I changed gear, going for more power as I tried to outpace the surrounding vehicles, but then I recognized them, Nix to my right, Dirk to my left, Jezebel his passenger. The team. I should stop so they could take over, but my foot had other ideas. We were going to finish this hot, like Trix would do it.
The screams of the crowd were overwhelming as I slid across the finish line. I roared to the end where the medics would be,then turned the wheel, coming to a sliding stop in a cloud of dust. I should be more gentle with my passenger. I turned to look at her for the first time on that last leg, and she was calmly looking back at me, a quirky smile on her blood-stained, swollen face.
“You are a crazy driver,” she said roughly. “You do her proud.”
I blinked sudden pricking tears out of my eyes as the world got blurry. She knew I’d been driving with Nitro. My lips trembled, and my hands shook so hard they couldn’t grip the steering wheel. The pain from my arm rushed through me, making me so tired, so dead, but I needed to get someone to look at Trix.
I fumbled until I got the driver’s door open, and when I finally did, I fell out, and into Dirk’s arms.
“Daniela, that was you driving? Someone get a stretcher!”
“For Trix,” I said, trying to straighten up. “She’s hurt.”
He ran his hands over my arms, and I flinched. “You’re hurt. Two stretchers!”
I smiled up at him because he hated me getting hurt. I loved him so much. How could I ever hurt him, no matter if I could pull the trigger or not? “There’s a gas leak, and the car is probably going to explode.”
He kissed me. There were fireworks, but probably not the literal kind, and then he swooped me into his arms and carried me to the waiting ambulance.
“You didn’t wait for a stretcher,” I said, looping my arm around him, the good one that still functioned.
“What happened?” he growled. “The feed was disrupted when our fight turned into a war. Dozens of extras dropped in from nowhere, so all of us fighters had to work together, which Nix didn’t appreciate, not when Horse is his favorite opponent.Still, it added a new dynamic to the race. What happened? It looks like Trix’s beastie got hit by a torpedo.”
“It was something like that. Exploded us and rolled us a bunch of times.”
“You’re lucky it landed upright.”
I pressed my face into his neck and breathed in his warmth and strength. He did smell like dirt and sweat, but still clean, still right, and mine. I was lucky for a lot of reasons, but not that. That was a mystery I’d worry about later.
33
VILLAIN
He put me in an ambulance and called medics over to look at my arm while he went back to check on Trix. I was mostly fine, but the after-effects of so much adrenaline left me weak, dehydrated, and shaky. I’d probably need an IV and some protein bars. Had I really lifted up that truck? It seemed unlikely, but so did everything about that end trip.
“Here, I’ll just give you a little shot to help with the pain,” a man with a twangy accent and a mustache said, before sticking a needle in my arm. The pain did fade away almost immediately, but other things happened too, mainly paralysis.
The man pushed back his too-long hair, and Philippe’s eyes were burning back at me. No. This wasn’t real. This was a dream from the concussion I must have gotten in the explosion and car roll.
He didn’t stop with the needle. He started rubbing ointment on my arm that smelled like death and misery. It was my grandfather’s favorite. That meant that this was awfully, terribly real.
“You weren’t supposed to be riding with the dragon, mon cherie. It would be devastating if you were permanently damaged during the race.”
He’d been responsible for that explosion? I couldn’t say anything, or I’d be screaming. My voice was paralyzed, like the rest of me.
He smiled pleasantly while other medics came and went, apparently trusting him to know what he was doing. “I was starting to wonder if you weren’t like me, but you are.” He made a frowny face. “Too bad your power is triggered by saving someone instead of destroying, but I’m sure that grandfather will make it work. You will be such an asset to the family. You were always the jewel, but now you’ll be my true partner.” His hand ran up and down my arm in the most revolting way, but I couldn’t feel it. “You’re fighting against the agent I used on you. It will wear off in a few minutes. Don’t worry, my dearest cousin, I will not leave you vulnerable for long. Nothing could, not with the serum burning in your blood, your very DNA. I’m not alone. You are just like me.” His eyes burned with a madness that I didn’t want to see, not now, not ever again.
He pulled out a phone and showed me the screen. “Grandfather is letting you keep your Dagger if you can get him to play nicely with the family. Isn’t that generous of him? I would object, but you deserve whatever you desire. If a pretty plaything like Prescott is what you want, then that is what you will have.” He made it sound like a great concession. He showed me a list of names, assets, products or companies; I couldn’t be sure.
He closed the screen. “You’ll have to use your perfect recall to remember the list. If he gives Grandfather what he wants, you can keep him.” He pursed his soft lips. They looked so normal, but looks were deceptive. “I should tell you, since we are the same, and I did put you at a disadvantage.” He smiled charmingly. “I killed his sister, torturing her in the mostenjoyable manner until she broke and killed herself. He hates me for that, and you, and grandfather, and everyone we’re allied with. I’m sure that you’ll manage to bring him to his knees in spite of that. The serum runs in your blood as strongly as it does mine. Finally. We will share the family, Daniela. We will be one.”
He brushed his hair down over his eyes, turned around and walked away, leaving me with tatters of what was left of my beautiful day. What serum was he talking about? Was it just his normal madness, or was there something else to it? I had lifted up a massive vehicle, and I had driven with Nitro. Maybe it wasn’t ghosts; maybe it was the perfect recall he’d mentioned. Did Philippe truly kill Dirk’s sister? It was possible. Philippe was capable of anything and everything, reveling in breaking someone, particularly someone beautiful, someone loved by someone he hated.
