Ice Queen (Final Part)

Kai

We found him in the back of the van, chained up like an animal. Ellen broke down the moment she saw him, her hands trembling as she shattered the ice on the locks with a single touch. Elijah was shaken but alive, his wide eyes darting between us. It wasn't until we unchained him that I noticed the faint shimmer in his gaze.

"He's a defekt," Ellen whispered, her voice a mixture of fear and pride.

Elijah nodded hesitantly. "It started when they took me… I can see things. Far away, like they're right in front of me."

Another defekt. Just what we needed—more surprises. Still, he could be useful, and it's not like we were in a position to turn anyone away.

With the gangsters dead and nothing left to tie up here, we grabbed a phone from one of the bodies. No passcode, lucky for us. Vlad called Caden and Luna, arranging a meeting.

Ellen held Elijah close as we left the warehouse, her tears freezing into tiny crystals on her cheeks.

"Let's go," Vlad said, his tone as sharp as ever. "We've got a lot to explain to the others."

… 

We meet up with them just outside the city limits, where the frost-covered streets meet open fields. Luna is sitting on the hood of an abandoned car, looking battered but fine. Her hands are wrapped around her knees, and though she's clearly shaken, there's a spark of resilience in her eyes.

Caden, on the other hand, is another story entirely. He's drenched in blood—not his. His hoodie is torn, his face is a mask of calm intensity, and the coppery scent of death clings to him like a second skin.

"What the hell happened to you?" Vlad asks, eyeing Caden up and down.

Caden shrugs, brushing past us without a word, his movements heavy and deliberate. "Got the job done. That's all that matters."

Elijah clings tightly to Ellen, his wide eyes fixed on Caden as though he's staring at a monster from one of his nightmares.

"Caden…" Luna says softly, her voice barely audible. "You overdid it."

"I did what I had to," Caden replies, his tone sharp enough to cut. Then he notices Ellen and Elijah. His gaze softens—just a fraction—but his expression remains unreadable.

"This them?" he asks.

I nod, stepping aside to let Ellen and Elijah approach. "Yeah. Ellen and her son, Elijah. He's… like us. A defekt."

Caden's piercing eyes shift to the boy, scanning him like he's trying to measure his worth in seconds. "What can you do?"

Elijah hesitates, shrinking into his mother. "I… I can see things. Far away."

Caden studies him for another moment before nodding curtly. "Good. You'll need that."

"Need it for what?" Ellen snaps, stepping in front of her son protectively.

"For survival," Caden says flatly, then turns to Vlad. "We need to move. If we stay here too long, the Blues will catch up."

"Blues?" Ellen asks, looking between us, confused and afraid.

"You'll understand soon enough," Vlad says, stepping forward. "But for now, he's right. We need to keep moving."

I glance at Luna, who offers me a weak smile, then back at Caden, who's already marching ahead without waiting for us.

Everyone is far ahead, not bothering to wait except for me, Ellen and Elijah, they are confused, but so was I when I joined.

"Welcome to the team," I mutter to Ellen and Elijah, offering a small, awkward grin.

I sense something—a presence that makes my skin crawl. Someone's here.

Slick.

Before I can even react, he appears out of thin air, teleporting like a phantom. His movement is so fast it's like he's bending reality itself.

"Too slow, kid," he sneers, driving his foot into my chest with enough force to send me crashing into the side of a building. The impact knocks the wind out of me, leaving me dazed.

Then I hear Ellen scream.

"No!"

I look up just in time to see it—Slick, moving with deadly precision, plunging a blade into Ellen's chest.

Her eyes widen in shock, and for a moment, everything slows. Elijah cries out, his voice breaking with pure terror, as his mother collapses to the ground, clutching at the blade.

"No… no, no, no!" I shout, forcing myself to stand despite the pain radiating through my body.

Slick smirks, his expression as cold and twisted as ever. "Such a shame. You really thought you could protect her?"

Elijah drops to his knees beside Ellen, shaking her desperately. "Mom! Mom, wake up! Please!"

Ellen's breathing is shallow, her hand trembling as she tries to touch her son's face. "E-Elijah…" she whispers, her voice barely audible.

Slick wipes the blood from his blade on his sleeve, turning to face me with that same smug grin. "You think this is bad? Just wait, kid. This is only the beginning."

Rage boils inside me, stronger than anything I've ever felt. "You'll pay for this," I growl, fists clenching. A sphere of energy forms in front of me, twisting violently before turning into a spike that shoots straight toward Slick.

He laughs, the sound cold and mocking, as he vanishes into the shadows just before the spike can reach him.

I run and drop to Ellen's side, my heart pounding in my chest like a drum. "Ellen, stay with us! We'll fix this! We'll—"

But I know. Deep down, I know.

I look around frantically, desperate for help. Vlad is sprinting toward us, his face twisted in a mix of fury and desperation. But Caden… Caden is still on the ground, unmoving, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. He's barely conscious.

"Ellen!" I shout, shaking her lightly, as though that might somehow pull her back from the brink.

Her eyes flutter open for a fleeting moment, locking onto Elijah's tear-streaked face. "You'll… be strong," she whispers, her voice so faint it's almost swallowed by the cold night air. "I… love you."

Elijah clutches her hand tightly, his small fingers trembling. "No, Mom, you can't leave me! You promised!"

Vlad drops down beside us, his hands shaking as he tries to assess her wound. "Stay with me, Ellen," he mutters, his voice gruff yet unsteady. "I can fix this… I can fix this."

But even as he speaks, her breathing slows.

"No, no, no!" Elijah screams, his voice breaking with raw anguish.

The rage inside me bubbles to the surface, overwhelming every other emotion. My fists tremble, my entire body trembling with the unbearable need to act. To fight.

"I swear," I whisper, my voice trembling with barely-contained fury. My eyes lock onto the empty space where Slick disappeared. "I'll kill him. I'll make him pay for this."

But no amount of fury can stop the inevitable.

Ellen's body falls still, her hand slipping lifelessly from Elijah's grasp. Time seems to freeze, the weight of her loss pressing down like a suffocating force.

Elijah cries out, his voice piercing through the night, carrying his pain into the unforgiving cold.

I close my eyes, biting back my own tears, though they burn fiercely behind my lids. I failed. We failed.