Bane of My Existence

Chapter 33

"Change of plans."

Victor's voice didn't leave much room for argument, but Carrissa wouldn't be her sister if she didn't bite back.

"I told you, we don't need her. I have enough samples from her to make Serum Five."

Victor peered down at Kinsey, his grip tightening on her wrist. "She's a valuable asset. If we can-"

Carissa scoffed and threw her hands up in frustration. "Valuable? She can barely stand by herself. She's bleeding all over the ground; I doubt she'll survive the flight."

"She's strong. She'll make it. With the two of you, we can rebuild what the shifters destroyed here."

Carissa's face screwed up in disgust. "The shifters? Victor, she did this to us! Years of my research--down the drain--because you are blinded by her pathetic doe eyes!"

The roof access door burst open. Damon charged for Victor. Swearing, Victor brandished a gun from his waistband and aimed it at Damon.

"No!" Kinsey pushed Victor to the ground--and tripped on his feet. They went down, the gun flying out of his hand.

Two guards leapt out of the helicopter to stop Damon. Victor picked Kinsey up over his shoulder and ran for the cabin. Screaming, she reached around for his face; her claws came out and raked across his jaw and cheek. He dropped her on her shoulder.

Blinding pain flashed before her eyes. In the next second, a gun barrel stared back at her and Carrisa was the one who held it.

Tears lain in her blue eyes, but they weren't sorrowful. Kinsey had never seen Carissa cry because she was sad, only when she was furious.

"From the day you were born, you've been a curse!" she spat viciously. "'Look at sweet, innocent Kinsey,' they'd say. 'Why can't you be more like your sister? Show a little empathy for a change.' Why would I want to be anything like you? You're weak. Pathetic. I'm brilliant. I'm what everyone should strive for. I don't need to lower myself to your level."

Kinsey didn't know who she was talking about--definitely not their parents. Kinsey had never been good enough in their eyes. They wanted her to be more like Carissa.
And now her own sister was going to kill her.

She had accepted she might not survive freeing all the shifters--her sacrifice was the least she could do for all the horrible things they had endured--but for her sister to be the one to pull the trigger? That hurt.

Survival of the fittest. Evolution 101. Are you prey or are you a hunter?

She was tired of being preyed upon. Of people using her for their own gain. She was more--better--than that.

With her new sight, she caught the slightest movement in Carissa's finger before she pulled the trigger. In that fraction of a second, Kinsey hurled herself at her.

Remembering the last time she put all her strength into one movement, she restrained herself just enough to knock Carissa out with a swift punch and leave her skull intact.

"Kinsey!"

She lifted her head up in time to see the pilot aim his gun at her. She wasn't fast enough this time.

But Damon was. He leapt, caught her in his arms, and rolled them away from the gunfire. He eased his grip on her enough to look her over. "You okay?"

Being pressed into the concrete floor by his weight didn't help the blaring pain in her shoulder in the slightest, but she didn't have any new wounds thanks to him, so she nodded.

Over his shoulder, she saw Victor, mangled face and all, lift Carissa into his arms and fold into the helicopter cabin. "They're getting away."

Damon didn't move an inch, eyes on her even as thr helicopter flew away. "I don't care. You're not with them, that's all that matters."