Daniel Arenson: The Heirs of Earth (Children of Earthrise Book 1)

Emet fired his railgun.

His bullets hit a fiery demon, but the creature still laughed. The demon advanced toward him, ablaze, arms outstretched. Emet fired bullet after bullet. The other Inheritors were firing on the flaming beast too, doing no harm.

"Hello, Emet!" she cried, emerging from the fire.

A woman with glimmering alabaster skin—skin like a scorpion's exoskeleton. With implants on her head. The fire had burned her clothes and hair away, but Emet recognized her.

"Jade," he said.

The Inheritors charged toward her with blades and clubs.

Jade laughed and leaped into the air.

She moved like lightning. She rebounded off the ceiling, off the walls, her claws lashing. She dodged every blade, every electric prod. Her claws tore through Inheritors, severing limbs and heads, ripping torsos open.

Warriors screamed.

Some tried to flee into the burnt-out boarding vessels, others onto the bridge.

Jade reached them all, ripping them apart, laughing as their blood splattered.

"For Earth!" they cried as they died.

Jade bit out a man's throat, then spat out flesh. She looked up at Emet, licked the blood off her lips, and smiled.

There is nowhere to hide, Emet knew. If I die, I die fighting.

He roared and lunged toward her.

He swung Thunder into her head. The blow knocked Jade's head back; it should have cracked her skull. But Jade merely straightened her neck with a creak and smiled.

Emet swung the rifle again, slamming the wooden stock into her temple. The wood shattered. Jade laughed.

Emet sneered, aimed the muzzle at her face, and pulled the trigger.

She yanked the barrel aside and the bullet flew and slammed into the bulkhead.

"Naughty human," she hissed, then slammed her palm into his chest.

Emet flew through the hull, hit into a bulkhead, and slumped to the floor. He lay, gasping for breath, finding no air. Corpses spread around him.

Jade walked toward him, smiling crookedly. She placed a foot on his chest, pinning him down.

Emet looked up into her green eyes.

"Who are you?" he whispered.

"Your nemesis," she said. "Your death. The death of humanity."

Jade knelt, grabbed his throat, and began to squeeze.

As Emet lay on the floor, slowly dying, he realized that the ship's cannons had stopped firing. The hull was eerily quiet.

A voice, high and timid, pierced the silence.

"Jade?"

Jade looked up, then released Emet's throat and took a step back. Eyes fluttering, barely clinging to consciousness, Emet tilted his head back and saw Rowan step into the hold.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Her breath trembled. Leaving the cockpit, Rowan stepped into the Jerusalem 's hold.

Before her spread the devastation.

Fifty dead Inheritors, their corpses torn apart, limbs and heads and entrails scattered. A pool of blood. Smoking dead scorpions. And in the center of the slaughter—Emet lying on the floor, wounded, maybe dying, and Jade kneeling above him, drenched in the blood of her enemies.

"Jade?" Rowan whispered. Her voice shook. "Is that really you?"

Jade whipped her head toward her, hissing, blood on her teeth. She seemed less than human. A demon. A creature half flesh, half machine. Her skin shone, unnaturally white and hard. The fire had burned away her blue hair, but her implants still whirred and shone on the side of her head. Claws extended from her fingertips. The creature grinned, eyes mad.

Rowan took another step closer. Every instinct in her body screamed to run. But she advanced toward the demon.

Because I see something in her green eyes, Rowan thought. Something buried under the madness.

"Sister," Rowan whispered, reaching out a shaking hand.

Jade screamed. The sound was deafening, echoing in the ship, nearly knocking Rowan back.

"What did you call me?" Jade shouted, voice like a thousand shrieking demons of hell.

Beneath her, Emet was trying to move, to crawl away. But he was badly wounded. Maybe dying. And Jade was still gripping him with one hand, her claws in his flesh. Without anyone manning the cannons, the Jerusalem was taking a pounding. The ship kept jolting as blasts slammed into their shields. Outside, the battle was still raging across space.

"Rowan!" Duncan cried from the cockpit. "Rowan, I need you back here, lass!"

Rowan blinked tears out of her eyes. She stepped closer to Jade, her boots sloshing through blood.

"Do you remember?" Rowan whispered. "Do you remember me?"

Jade sneered. "You are vermin."

Rowan took a step closer. "I'm your sister."

Jade howled. Beneath her, Emet stretched out a shaky arm, trying to reach a control panel on the bulkhead. But he was too far. He tried to crawl, but Jade kept him pinned down, her claws bleeding him.

"You are a liar!" Jade howled. "A filthy pest! I will not let you back into my skull. I will not! I am a scorpion!"

Rowan shook her head. "You are human."

"Liar!" Jade laughed maniacally. "I will no longer let you deceive me. I will take you back to my master, girl. He himself will skin you. And I will watch and laugh!"

Rowan wept. She stood before her sister, trembling. "What did he do to you?" she whispered. "How did the scorpion emperor hurt you? I'm so sorry, Jade. I'm so sorry we let you go. Come back to me. Come back now. He can no longer hurt you."

But Jade only laughed, head tossed back. "Sin Kra, the great emperor of Skra-Shen, hurts me to make me stronger. And I am strong. You will never know true strength, humans. But you will witness it before you die. You will see our empire rise before your wretched race falls."

Rowan lowered her head, tears falling.

"They broke you," Rowan whispered. "But you can come back. Come back to us."

Heavy footsteps sounded behind her. Duncan came racing off the bridge. He must have left the Jerusalem on autopilot.

"Rowan, lass, step away from her!" Duncan said. "Come to me, lass. Come back into the cockpit. We'll lock the door; it's reinforced steel. Come, Rowan. Come back to me, and stay away from that she-demon."

Jade leaned down, fished a fallen bullet out of the gore, then screamed and hurled it.

The bullet whizzed through the air and slammed into Duncan's forehead.

The bullet drove clean through his head. It clattered into the cockpit behind him.

Duncan stared for a moment, blood gushing from the hole in his forehead, then crashed down dead.

"Duncan!" Emet cried, still pinned to the floor. "No! Duncan!"

Jade laughed, eyes mad. "How frail the flesh of men. This old fool piloted your flagship? This starship will be mine. I will command it myself, firing its cannons to slay your own people. But you will live longer, Emet and Rowan. You will suffer in the hall of the emperor."

The horror wrapped around Rowan like claws. She had not known Duncan for long, but he had become dear to her. She forced a deep breath.

Do not panic. Do not abandon her. She's still your sister. She's broken and needs healing.

Rowan took another step closer. She stood so close now she could have reached out and touched Jade.

"Jade." Rowan's voice was barely a whisper. "Do you remember the glittering cave?"

"Lies!" Jade was shaking now, eyes mad, lips peeled back in a rabid snarl.

"Do you remember Mom and Dad?" Rowan blinked tears out of her eyes. "They loved you so much. And I love you."

And now tears were flowing from Jade's eyes too, falling onto Emet who lay wounded beneath her.

"You are a liar!" Jade cried, but now her voice was torn with grief. Her body shook with sobs. "The emperor told me. That you can do this. That you can hack into my mind. That you can plant these memories." Her voice rose to a torn howl. "Get out of my head!"