City of Souls

meant unconditional safety-still, I was missing something. “But we’ve never worn protection while training before.”

“Because we’ve never done a live-fire exercise before.” He gestured to Micah and smiled. “Suit up.”

The others lined up to be sprayed like bugs, but I just stood there. Live fire. That meant full force. And that meant training with the intent to kill.

Friendly fire, live fire, playing with fire…I couldn’t afford any of it. So while everyone else crowded Micah like they were being crop-dusted, I slipped behind the plastic partitions and joined Warren. “I don’t have a conduit.”

He shrugged as he busied himself with what looked like a brand new iPhone. He hadn’t missed a beat in dropping his hobo cover. For some reason, it made me want to iSmack him. “Then work on your defense.”

Sure, no big deal to him. Throwing walls up into the air, like Tekla had when covering my retreat in Chinatown, was as important as remembering to hold your breath underwater. But if I missed? If I threw something up even a nanosecond late? Bye-bye defense, and bye-bye Jo.

“Jo! C’mon, it’s your turn!”

Warren turned his back to make a call, effectively shutting me out. So I trudged over to Micah, still searching for a way out of this without letting on that I wasn’t much more than a fast, bitchy mortal. “How protective is this coating?” I asked, as he sprayed my skin, clothing and hair. It felt like roll-on antiperspirant gliding over my entire body. I sniffed, expecting to smell powdery.

“It’ll deflect any conduit once, no matter how hard the impact. Don’t worry.”

“Can I have two layers?”

He gazed down at me from his seven-foot height, and gave a fatherly sigh. “Now that’d be cheating, wouldn’t it?”

“But I’m the only one without a conduit,” I argued. “Two layers will even the playing field…and it’ll be better for my partner, too.”

“Nice try. But your partner can take care of him- or herself.”

He looked less sure of this when Warren named him as my partner, but it was too late. The preservative was back on the other side of the partitions. Meanwhile, Gregor and Jewell had paired up-a senior agent with a junior-as had Tekla and Riddick. Hunter was paired with Felix…two senior agents, and the strongest team here.

Warren, as usual, took the center spot in our huddle. “I want full force contact here, kids. Don’t hold back. These are Shadow agents. They’re trying to kill you, weaken your troop, and overtake your city.” He made eye contact with each of us before turning away. “Tekla will run the drill.”

“Wait,” I said, stepping forward. “Where will you be?”

“Back in the panic room.”

“Why?” Hunter asked, sounding wary.

Warren’s answer was a flat look. Without another word, he turned and walked away.

Riddick twirled his conduit, a pencil-thin steel rod with hooks on the end, and everybody cringed. Dental tools. Fuck, they were scary. “So, um…once the protective layer’s breached, stop attacking?”

Tekla smirked, as she pulled out a weapon similar to my crossbow, though with a retracting chain and anchor. I’d seen her remove hearts with that, leaving behind a warm body, still standing. “We’re battling Shadow agents for the welfare of our city. A little reminder of what a conduit can do under controlled conditions won’t hurt anyone. Just be sure to pull that punch.”

A pulled punch, I thought with a sigh. Just a little something that could maim me. I dropped my head to my hands as I thought about battling my allies…for my life.

“What’s wrong with you?” Hunter asked, coming up behind me as I tried to decide if I was going to center myself so that I could fight effectively…or run for my life.

“Nothing. Why?”

“You’re tense all of a sudden.” He dropped a hand to my shoulder and I flinched, underlining his point. “You look worried about something.”

I glanced around. “No one else seems to think so.”

He leaned so close his breath stirred my hair. “No one else was living inside you a few hours ago.”

I swallowed hard, and looked away. Not just my body. My bloodstream and marrow. My heart and soul. We could all intuit moods more easily than mortals-with most people it was as simple as reading a magazine. Flip a page and the emotion was simply revealed there. Agents had the ability to disguise their emotions more easily too, synthetic compounds and strong wills helped with that-but he was right. I could still feel his warmth inside me, and I didn’t doubt it was the same for him.

“That’s why I wanted to be partnered with you.”

“Micah will have your back.”

Micah didn’t know my life was in his hands. Hunter felt my anxiety spike again at the thought.

“Why are you suddenly so afraid?”

Just tell him.

Tell him that I could now be injured and killed? And then he’d report it to Warren, who’d lock me away and treat me as shittily as he did Kimber. Like a nuisance, something that gave drag, deadweight to be discarded at the first given opportunity. And in spite of my wishes and the soft feelings Hunter had for me-perhaps even because of them-he’d support it. No, thank you.

I shrugged, but the movement was too jerky. “I just wish I had a conduit, you know?”

“The best offense is a good defense,” he said, unfurling a black, barbed whip. It was as wicked looking as the other conduits, though it gave Hunter a reach they didn’t have. Great. Now I had to keep from getting killed by my lover.

“Then a good offense,” I muttered, as he left to confer with Felix, “is massive artillery.”

We paired up, taking on cross-angles in the giant room, and I worked on settling myself. I could do this. This was training. Not remotely as difficult or dangerous as the battles I’d survived over the past year. I’d fight, deflect, and gain ground for Micah, and if it looked like I was going to be hit or overpowered, I’d either duck behind the giant man, or call the match. None of my allies was going to keep pounding at me if I called a truce, right?

We turned our back to the others, and Micah stretched, lifting his arms over his head. I looked straight up at ten feet of agent of Light. And Hunter thought he had reach.

“You’ve just gotta cover me,” Micah reassured, as if I didn’t know.

I gave him an obvious once over, from head to toe. “That’s a big fucking wall.”

We turned, looking at Tekla, as did the others. She remained supremely still, waiting until everyone was steeled in their stances, conduits palmed.

“Make the walls invisible,” Micah muttered from the side of his mouth. “That should buy us some time, and an advantage.”

Tekla jerked her head, a short nod, and we were off. Suddenly bodies whipped through the air, sticking in pairs as Warren decreed, individual strength doubled. As the weakest team, Micah and I were the biggest targets but this surprisingly worked to our advantage. Two of the three teams collided on their way to beat me down, which left Gregor and Jewell for us. I timed my first invisible wall perfectly and Gregor face-planted like a cartoon character. Micah actually laughed before lunging at the junior agent.

You had to give it to Jewell. Seven feet of big, mean motherfucker coming at her, and she only flinched a little. She had to wait until he got in close; her cover in the mortal world was that of a schoolteacher…and a party girl. In both instances, a set of fisted keys were not out of place…but Jewell’s keys locked around her knuckles once laced together, and each was honed to a lethal point. It still wasn’t an even match, not with Micah’s experience making his blade work extra dangerous, but she was fortunate enough to also be considered paranoid in the mortal world. So she had two sets of keys, one for each fist, in contrast to Micah’s sole weapon. In his mind, this clearly made them even. He swiped.

But by this time Gregor had ducked my wall, and his eyes flicked from Micah to me, first assessing…then knowing. Knock me out, and Micah would be his. Fortunately, Riddick came from nowhere to cut Gregor off with a leap and an agile slash of his hooked blade, which connected…and pulled Gregor’s web of protection free. It