by JJ Krzemien
I sank to my knees onto the cement floor. Again I was responsible for getting other people hurt—or worse. How could I be so stupid? The entire purpose of the Amigis was to kill hybrids, and I’d thought four vampire hunters would be a match for them. So dumb.
The door, which looked like part of one wall, opened with a series of clicks. Two men in full tactical gear stepped into the room. They each took me by an arm and lifted. I stood, supporting my own weight, and walked with them. I considered getting angry and causing them pain. But if my small cell was equipped with technology to subdue me, then I could only assume the rest of this place was as well.
They guided me through the door and into a long cinderblock and glass corridor. At an elevator we went up thirteen floors. From sub-basement level three up to floor nine. The buttons for one through eight were missing—or had never been there at all.
When the doors slid open to a giant room, one of my captors led the way, the other followed behind me. As soon as I stepped out of the elevator I felt a familiar dampening of my power, it was uncomfortable but it didn’t hurt. Scanning the wide open space, my eyes found Cadoc. He leveled his brown-eyed gaze on me, letting me know he was responsible for what I was feeling. The jeans he wore hugged his hips, accentuating the perfect, muscular V-shape of his upper body.
Behind him the wall was entirely glass. City lights shone through the window in the dimly lit room. The rest of the architecture a mix of modern metal and glass. I frowned at the familiarity of the building’s view as we approached Cadoc. Then it clicked. We were in Montgomery Park. A fine restaurant occupied the eighth floor and I’d eaten there with my parents on several occasions. The rest of the floors were mostly offices. Located at the western edge of downtown Portland, it was a convenient and popular location.
This room however, had no furniture. Stark and open, the space would have seemed even larger without the hulk of Cadoc occupying the middle of it. The two men changed position to stand on either side of me and the three of us halted in front of the cambion.
He stared at me for a long moment, flexing his jaw. Then he stepped aside to reveal a seated woman. She wore a flowing green dress and black heels. Her strawberry blond hair fell in long waves around her shoulders. I guessed her age to be early forties. She appeared so normal in contrast to Cadoc, for a few seconds I gaped at her. Snapping my mouth closed, I waited.
“Well done, Doulos Cadoc.”
Doulos…that was the word for slave, right? He hardly looked like a slave.
The woman rose, all grace, towering over me in her heels. Slowly she circled. Her blue eyes taking in every inch of my nightgown-shrouded form. Those eyes missed nothing; intense and focused. I suppressed a shudder. When she completed her circle, she sat and crossed her legs.
“You’re Lilianna Ross.” It wasn’t a question.
I nodded anyway. “Who are you?” My voice came out strong and steady.
“The savior of this world.” She swept French-tipped fingers through her hair. “You may call me Mitera.”
Her casual manner hid her true feelings—and the true intent of this interview. I couldn’t tell what she wanted, but I knew she was far more dangerous than Cadoc. She was their leader. If I still wore Oscar’s locket it would surely be warning me to get away. Why had he even bothered to give me that, if he knew he was going to betray me?
I swallowed hard. “Where is Oscar? And my friends?”
“I don’t want to talk about them.” Mitera made a dismissive gesture. “I want to talk about you. Li-li-an-na.” She distinctly pronounced the four syllables of my name.
“What about?” I fidgeted. The cold of the concrete floor seeped into my soles. The guards hadn’t put any restraints on me, however I knew it would be foolish to try an escape.
“You’re a nephilim.” She pursed her lips. “Not so bad as akathartos go. I could use someone like you. To fight for me.”
I stared at her. Was she serious? From what I’d remembered of the brief Amigis lesson, she’d just insulted me. “You want me to help you kill other hybrids,” I finally said.
“I appreciate your directness. Yes. That’s exactly what I want you to do. So,” she switched her crossed legs, “what do you say?”
“No. Never.” My hands balled into fists. “You killed my parents and my best friend. How dare you even suggest—.”
She held up a hand. “Actually, I didn’t.”
Liar. This woman liked technicalities. “Okay, fine, not you personally. But your organization, or whatever this is.” I glanced around the high, open space.
“I swear no one in the Amigis killed your loved ones.” Mitera leveled her ice-blue gaze on me. “You have my word.”
“And Sarah’s parents? My mom’s best friend?” The anger in me grew, became palpable.
She shrugged. “I did kill them. Well, my werewolf doulos did the deed, but I did order it.”
“You horrible bi—” I took a step toward her. Cadoc jutted out his palm and I was hit by an invisible force so strong I flew backward several feet before hitting the concrete floor. Winded, I stayed down, writhing as more of my life force was sucked away.
Cadoc made eye contact, concentrating as he leeched energy from me. It felt like a hand gripped my stomach, pining me in place. Slowly, and painfully, he pulled my life essence through my pores. Like a vacuum sucking at my skin. I screamed.
Mitera laid a hand on his arm and the sensation stopped. “You were right, she is dangerous,” Mitera said to him. “Keep her under control.”
The two guards hauled me to my feet. Then supported my weight as I couldn’t stand on my own. They brought me in front of Mitera.
“You should know one thing: I don’t take no for an answer. I will, however, give you some time to think it over.” She snapped her fingers and the guards dragged me to the elevator.
Down to sub-basement three, through the cinder block corridors, and back into my cell. They dropped me onto the floor and left. The humming sound returned. Overhead lights glared down. I felt weak and sick. Curling into a ball on my side, I waited for the nausea to pass. Healing seemed to take longer when the pain was caused by another hybrid.
I closed my eyes. Mitera’s shrug replayed in my mind. How could someone care so little about other people? Be so cold-hearted? I swallowed the lump in my throat. No matter what, I would never join her. I would never kill for her. I’d rather die.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
One moment I was asleep and the next I was drenched in ice cold water. Bolting upright, I leaped up from the floor and moved to a corner. It didn’t help. The water sprayed down from the ceiling over the entire cell. Within moments my hair and nightgown were drenched, plastered to my face and body.
The deluge ceased. Dripping in the corner of the room, I slid down the wall to sit. The water on the floor drained into crevices where the walls met the floor. I gathered the long part of the gown in my hands and wrung it out. Then did the same with my hair.
If they’d been trying to wake me up, it had worked. I sat soaked, my backside going numb, on the wet cement, waiting and listening. After a moment I released my breath. No one was coming to get me.
I drew my knees up to my chest and laid my tired head on my arms. A cold breeze flowed through the room. Gradually is becoming colder, as if someone had turned on the air conditioning. I shivered, smoothed out the nightgown and hid my feet under the hem. The cold, wet material became rigid as the temperature dropped.
Were they trying to freeze me to death? No, only torment me. They knew half-breeds couldn’t die this way—made it no less uncomfortable though. I gritted my teeth to stop their chattering. Cold and exhaustion seeped in bone deep.
∞ ∞ ∞
The door swung open to admit the same two guards from before. They hauled me up from the corner by my bare, icy arms. The warmth of their gloved hands left a searing pain. I bit back a hiss.
Shivering, I was escorted once again to the elevator. They held me firmly between them. Di
d they know I’d fall down if they let go? I wanted to ask them questions. Were they hybrids or humans? Why did they hate me so much? But my frozen lips wouldn’t work.
Sensation came back to my toes, then traveled like needle pricks upward. I was still much weaker than I thought was right. Were the walls of my cell slowly draining energy from me? That would explain a lot. Mitera may have meant for it to keep me subdued, but my intuition told me that if I stayed in there for too much longer I’d die.
The elevator doors opened onto the ninth floor. Mitera, wearing a black evening dress, sat in her throne-like chair near the wall of windows. It was night. A half-moon hung over the distant river.
The guards dragged me to stand in front of Mitera. Cadoc hovered at her right side. Her penetrating blue gaze took me in. I stood shivering as warmth slowly came back to my body. Damp and cold, my hair felt crispy against my cheeks. I glared at her.
Behind me the elevator dinged and I turned to watch Edgar, Rushi, George, and Xiang enter. They were also nearly frozen. Their pale faces had taken on a bluish hue. Unlike me, their hands were cuffed behind them and a gag rendered their fangs harmless. They still wore the same black clothes from the railroad building. Stripped of their weapons, of course, and their shoes.
Edgar met my eyes. I swallowed hard. The nauseating feeling of guilt coursed up my throat. Anything that happened to them was my fault. I’d gotten them into this, I had to find a way to get them out.
I wanted to look away, but couldn’t. His green eyes were filled with misery and pain. My chest tightened. We had to get out of here—soon.
The guards forced Edgar to his knees by my side. They lined up the other three in front of Mitera and made them to kneel.
She surveyed us for a long moment before speaking. “Dhampirs—known for your abilities to find and destroy supernatural beings. Useful. Especially to me.” She paused, pursing her lips. “I’ve brought you all here today to give you a choice. Join me, serve the Amigis, and you will live. Or refuse and die. Yes, it really is that simple.”
Rushi and Edgar tried to speak through their gags. With a nod from Mitera, the guards freed the dhampirs’ mouths.
Rushi got the first word in. “We’ll never—”
“Rushi, stop!” Edgar turned his head away from me to stare at her down the line. She quieted and he returned his attention to Mitera. “I speak for this coven. We will join you.”
I gasped. A sinking feeling spread in my chest. How could he give in like that? Had he been part of the trap, too? My mind replayed our more intimate moments. I swallowed hard. Had he been toying with me? Setting me up all along?
“You coward!” Rushi shrieked. “I will never join.” She spat on the floor at Mitera’s feet.
“Rushi, enough.” Edgar leaned forward. “Listen to me—”
“You don’t speak for me.” Rushi glared at him.
George said in a quiet voice. “Please, Rushi. For me. For us.”
She turned to face George. In a much softer voice, she said, “You know me. You know I can’t.”
He nodded once, his jaw muscles working as he ground his teeth.
Mitera raised a brow. “And you other two?”
George and Xiang remained silent. George stared straight ahead, while Xiang’s gaze remained fixed on the floor.
“I speak for them,” Edgar said, “They’ll join, too.”
Mitera tilted her head and studied them. “We’ll see. They’ll have to say the oath. Then we’ll see.”
“And you, Lilianna?” Mitera’s gaze fell on me. “Have you made a decision?”
“I have.” From where I stood, I saw all of the dhampirs turn their heads toward me. I avoided their eyes, afraid of what I’d see in them.
A satisfied grin spread across Mitera’s lips. “And?” she asked.
I straightened, drawing my shoulders back. “I’d rather die.”
Next to me, Edgar gasped. “Lili, please. Don’t do this. Don’t die today.”
Mitera’s grin turned sour. But satisfaction warmed me, and it was worth everything that was coming.
Her gaze swept across the other four. “Fine. Lilianna, would you like to know how a hybrid dies?”
I shook my head. Was she going to kill me right now?
“That’s okay. I’m going to show you anyway.” She snapped her fingers at the guard standing behind Rushi. “That one.”
Rushi fought, her small frame twisting in the guard’s hands. He took her handcuffed wrists and thrust them upward. She cried out in pain. Her body crumpled to a seated position on the cement.
I’d thought the guards were human. No human would have the strength to hurt a dhampir. What had they been doing to my friends? More than trying to freeze them to death, that was for sure.
Cadoc reached behind Mitera’s chair, pulled out a small rectangular box and handed it to her. She opened it and took out a large syringe filled with black liquid. It looked familiar. Where had I seen that before?
Mitera approached Rushi where the guard held her. George lunged. Before he could make contact with the woman, a searing pain shot through me. George halted, doubling over in agony. The five of us screamed in unison. As quickly as it had come, it ceased.
Mitera stood over Rushi with the syringe in the dhampir’s arm, emptying the content into her weakened body. I made to move toward Rushi. The pain returned, riveting me in place.
“I just want—” I gritted my teeth. But the pain stopped. “Don’t hurt her. She’ll change her mind and join you. Take me instead. Like I said before: I’d rather die. I mean it.” Slowly I took a step forward, shaking from more than the cold. But I had to save Rushi. This was all my fault.
“So noble.” Mitera clapped her hands. “So cliche.” She held her hand out to Cadoc who placed a pistol in it. “You see, Lilianna, the formula in the syringe deactivates the mutant DNA in akathartos—or hybrids, as you call them. Turning this one fully human—and since it’s human.” She raised the gun to Rushi’s head and pulled the trigger.
I clasped my hands over my ears. Squeezed my eyes shut against the thunder of the shot. When I opened them, the guards were pulling George and Xiang away. They struggled, fighting against their bonds.
Mitera held up a hand to Cadoc. “Not you. Let the guards handle them.”
More guards arrived and took hold of George’s and Xiang’s feet to carry them into the elevator.
Edgar still knelt next to me. Facing away, he stared at Rushi’s twitching body. Blood and gore had splattered the floor behind her. The red flowed freely from her, dampening her long purple hair.
I tried to look away. I couldn’t. A part of me wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. A bolder part wanted to remember every detail of this scene, to store it away for later. For however much later I had left.
As I stared, that fiery hatred began to form in my gut. I screamed as I leaped forward, grasping a chunk of Mitera’s strawberry blond hair in my fist. The pain hit me so hard, I dropped to the floor. Then everything went black.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I awoke sprawled on the cement floor. Mitera sat in her chair, gazing down at me. Her face unreadable. She turned her attention to Edgar.
“You will join us?” she asked him.
I sat up to see him better. My insides felt bruised from the repeated attacks.
“I will.” His voice sounded hollow.
I scoffed. “After what she just did? She killed Rushi. See.” I pointed to her corpse beside him.
His eyes turned on me, cold and distant. “Yes, I see. That’s why I’m making this choice.”
“Rushi was right. You are a coward.” I swallowed a sob. And to think I’d actually liked him. I’d planned to go on a date with him. To kiss him. I felt sick.
With a nod from Mitera, the guard behind Edgar uncuffed him. “Take him downstairs to the swearing in.” She dismissed them both with a flick of her fingers.
Edgar followed his new comrade to the elevator. He held my gaze as the doors clos
ed. I glared after him.
“This isn’t a very pretty sight,” Mitera said, wrinkling her nose. “Let’s go into the other room.” She left her chair, heading for a door at the back of the room. Cadoc walked behind her, glancing over his shoulder at me.
I got to my feet, nudged by the guard. Following Cadoc, we entered a room that belonged in an IKEA catalog. The couch and two armchairs were white and sleek. A metal and glass coffee table was centered over an orange patterned rug.
Mitera sat in one of the armchairs with Cadoc standing next to her. The other guard shut the door as he left.
She motioned for me to take a seat on the couch. I sunk into the faux suede, wishing my nightgown was still wet enough to leave a stain.
I spoke first, surprising myself. “Why did you kill her? You turned Rushi human, aren’t you supposed to protect humans?”
She waved my question away. “The serum only lasts for a few hours. She wasn’t really human—at least not for long. If only it was a cure, everything would be so much better. We could end this tiresome war.” She snapped her fingers.
The door we’d entered through opened and Oscar stepped inside. I stared at him. He was in garanth form. The feelings whirling inside me morphed from surprise to anger, then turned into a sadness that became a numb feeling in my chest. He bowed in front of the woman, uttering: “Mitera.”
She greeted him. “Doulos Oscar.”
Then, still ignoring me, he took his place on Mitera’s other side. His stony face showed no emotion. Heartless. He’d have to be to betray me like that.
“It was such luck that Oscar found you,” Mitera said.
I focused my attention on her. “Luck?” I asked. “Wasn’t this all a setup from the start?”
“Oh no, luck from the start. To happen upon a nephilim on the streets like that. Not any nephilim—but you.”
What was she talking about? I wasn’t special. I mean I was half angel, but not anymore special than another nephilim. “If he just stumbled upon me, I wonder why he didn’t turn me over to you sooner.”