Forbidden

Better than the Enemy

Luca

Luca knew what Van planned to do as soon as Abe told her to bring the bottle to him. Knew as surely as she'd known Isaiah was sneaking up behind him, a mystery he intended to solve as soon as they escaped this forsaken place.

They would escape. Livy was safe, and so was her mother. How Rosita ended up in Slayer custody after being taken in by Xandra's people, he didn't know. Another question to add to his growing list.

While Abe contemplated Van's offer, Luca pulled on the clothes Hailey tossed his way. There was a chance he would need to shift again, but standing naked among a room full of strangers left him feeling exposed. It would have been better to remain as a panther, but watching Van hit the wall so hard had drawn out his need to touch her. For his hands to confirm what his eyes saw. A rising chest. Warmth in her skin.

There was also the minor fact that he wanted to use his hands to throttle the girl for putting herself in this position. The site of bruises blossoming on her neck tempered the urge, but he felt no less frantic as Abe pushed Xandra down and grasped for Van.

Tensing, he prepared to lunge, but Van used her father's trick against him, moving so fast she was a blur. Xandra shifted into a falcon, using her lethal talons to wrench the blade from Abe's hand. Luca watched her fly up to the beams overhead and wondered why she waited so long to shift. She could have saved Van from drinking whatever had been in that bottle.

"Stop," he shouted when Nancy's team unleashed the first round of gunfire. "You could hit her."

Nancy hesitated to call off the attack. Hailey pointed her gun at her mother. "Do as Luca tells you."

The mother-daughter pair glared at one another until finally Nancy signaled her team to stop. "You're making a mistake. My team is skilled. We can end this."

"If you wouldn't risk Xandra, then you shouldn't risk Van," Luca admonished, his eyes tracking the figures zipping through the room. Not being able to help caused a physical ache in his chest, but even with his advanced speed and strength, he was no match for the Helsings. All Abe would have to do is catch him, and he would use Luca against Van.

"We couldn't get a clean shot while he had Xandra," Nancy argued.

Hailey gestured at the spot her eyes had last been able to lock onto Van and the Supreme. "And you're telling me you can get a clear shot on that?"

A pew exploded as Abe crashed into it, tumbling across the tiled floor. Van came into focus, her leg stretched out in front of her. She lowered it slowly. Cheeks pink and her red hair tangled, she remained in a fighting stance as she watched her father.

"Had enough old man?"

He held his stomach and spit blood. It hit the floor with a wet splatter. A front tooth followed. When he looked at his offspring, his lips curved in a smile, the gap in his grin adding to lunacy burning in his eyes.

"Why don't you shift?" he asked. "Use your devil powers for victory."

Van scoffed. "That's rich, coming from you."

"Is it because you can't shift? The Helsing blood is too strong in your veins. I can see it. You're fighting for the wrong side, Van." His voice took on a keening note, and Luca wondered if beneath everything there was a part of Abe that cared for his daughter. If the man Xandra had loved once still existed. When he moved his hand, Luca saw the shard of wood protruding from his abdomen.

"Take the shot," Nancy whispered.

"No," Xandra screamed, dropping from the rafters. She had shifted into a creature somewhere between falcon and human. Dark brown wings sprouted from her back and assisted in a softer landing. She folded the wings around Abe.