At last, I felt it and even saw its trace flash in my mind’s eye. The signature was faint, but it was there. A street away, squeezed between a bank and the Westin Hotel’s entrance, an Elemental retreated, presumably trying to leave the area.
I snapped my eyes open. “Got him.”
Slate and I dashed into a sprint, heading toward a backstreet behind the row of buildings while keeping my hold on the signature.
Finally, the Elemental’s trace was so strong I knew we had found it as we weaved into a narrow alleyway behind a building. It stood vacated. On the ground, at least. I looked up, noticing how the buildings had flat roofs and were close together. I pointed to the sky as rain continued to downpour, signaling to Slate the direction where the Elemental fled.
Slate tipped his head upward in acknowledgment and glanced toward the roof. A dumpster was pressed against the building. We jumped to its lid and scaled the building’s rough exterior to the roof with ease. Once we both made it, we bolted into a sprint. Slate kept up with me, staying by my side, and making the leap from one rooftop to the next.
We flowed in tandem, knowing each other’s smallest ticks and moves. The pair of us made great partners since we grew up and trained together. As I progressed, I passed on my knowledge to him. Now, he was the second highest skilled Kinetic of our age group, exceeding the others by years.
I focused on the Elemental fleeing atop the building ahead. “We’re closing in. They’re tiring,” I said as we leaped to the next building, not slowing down from the jump.
We converged on the Elemental. I could see him ahead, and I pushed harder; our target vaulted to the next roof, but I had him. Slate matched me, and I thanked every god that potentially existed that I’d trained him to be able to keep up with me.
My lungs began to burn, but I pushed through it. The Elemental slowed down as we narrowed the distance, but that only fueled me more, not thinking of anything else but the violence that beat war drums in my veins. With a glance at my cousin, we made the final jump to the next building. TheElemental’s speed waned, sluggishly jogging in a desperate attempt to escape.
My leg muscles blazed from exertion, but I ignored them, rolling the landing and springing to my feet. I broke into another sprint, closing the distance between the Elemental man and me. I wrapped my arms around his chest from behind and fell backward intentionally. He struggled against my front, but I squeezed him tightly against me while I waited for Slate.
Air hurtled from my lungs, but I didn’t care. I’d black out if I had to. After several seconds, Slate arrived, plunging his dagger into the man’s shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain. I shoved him off me before rolling to the side and rising to my feet.
I focused on the iron in his blood and drew it to the surface. Slate snatched his dagger from the man’s shoulder and wrapped his arm around the man’s neck, capturing him in a chokehold with his blade pressed to Elemental’s throat.
I sucked in a sharp breath, stepping toward him until I stood nose to nose with the brunette man, his burgundy eyes begging me to spare him.
“I didn’t deplete that human,” he pleaded.
I chuckled. “Right,” I said, unable to hide the mocking edge in my voice.
The man shook his head, wincing when the move drew blood down his throat from Slate’s blade, who remained stoic. “I didn’t do it,” he heaved. “I was there to stop…what was…was happening.”
A menacing chuckle climbed my throat. “Oh, yeah? Care to explain?”
The man’s mouth opened and closed. “It was you…your people.”
I bit my bottom lip and gazed up at the raining sky, watching the water droplets fall just before they pelted my eyes. “That makes no sense.” I said, not wanting to believe him.
“I’m not lying.”
Slate spoke up, not removing his dagger from the Elemental’s throat. “What happened?”
“I tried to stop him…”
“Who?”
“The guy with black hair…”
“You do realize how many living beings have black hair in this world?” I asked, not even bothering to hide my skepticism.
“I mean it.”
Triggered, any emotions I had shut off like a switch, as an image of Grim striking the princess flashed in my mind. “Fuck off,” I snarled, driving a knife into his stomach. It sunk into his gut, his eyes widening in shock and pain.
I felt nothing but relief from taking his life, as if killing him would give me back a childhood that I’d been robbed of. “Now, why would a Kinetic do something like that?” I asked in a lilting tone.
The Elemental wheezed, only held upright from Slate’s grip around his throat. “Your…” he gasped, a whistle following his breath, “…king…” A choked cough came from his throat, black blood pooling around the corners of his mouth. “…wants a war.”
I stared at him, bored. “With who?”
