by Jen L. Grey
“First off,” he said as he glared at Knox, “we don’t need to be discussing it with him. And secondly, this wasn’t something I initiated.”
“Great.” This wasn’t going to be good.
“Can’t you tell him she’s not feeling well or something?” Knox still had my hand in his.
It was the oddest thing. It felt good holding his hand, but at the same time, it felt like I was doing something wrong in front of Aaron.
“I already tried that.” Aaron’s voice got lower. “He didn’t care, just said, ‘Then carry her to me.’”
“The longer we take, the worse it’ll be.” The last thing I wanted to do was go there again, but if I didn’t, there was going to be a world of hurt for both Aaron and me. I’d have bet money on it after having to deal with my shot last night. There was no telling what he had put inside me.
Chapter Fifteen
Aaron and I were making our way to the big building. With every step I took closer, more dread filled me. I had no clue what we were walking into, but something told me that it wasn’t going to be good.
“Do you have any sort of idea?” This was probably the fifth time I’d asked him.
“No, I don’t.” He glanced around and leaned slightly toward me. “But when this is all done, I’m going to let you call your mom.”
“You brought it?” I was afraid to say the word phone.
“Yeah, it’s in my pocket.” He nodded at Dennis as we made our way past him.
From here on out, there were going to be more guards in closer quarters, so I wasn’t able to ask any other questions.
“Hey, Aaron.” Dennis smiled at me. “She sure seems to be visiting up here a lot.”
“Well, Doug said he wanted to see her again, so here we are.” He yanked my arm now that we were close to the door.
“Make sure you keep a good hold on her.” Dennis’s eyes flickered to me. “You may wanna cuff her too.”
“I can’t.” Aaron flinched. “He said he needed more of her blood. I’d have to undo her anyway.”
Ugh, that asshole hadn’t told me that. He was going to get his ass kicked when this was all said and done.
Dennis arched an eyebrow and chuckled. “I’ve heard she’s turned some heads around here.”
“Not for the reasons I’d like.” This place was a torture chamber.
“And I’ve heard she’s mouthy too.” Dennis grinned.
For once, someone didn’t talk to me as if I was a piece of trash. Maybe he wasn’t an awful person, but I wouldn’t be trusting him any time soon. Hell, I didn’t fully trust Aaron yet. For all I knew, he could have been tricking me, so I wasn’t getting my hopes up or anything.
“Yeah, she is.” Aaron closed his eyes and looked at the ground.
Asshole. Even if it was the truth, he didn’t have to admit to it so quickly.
“As great as it is to be insulted, can we get this over with?” I wanted to be back in my cabin.
Aaron jerked my arm forward. “Let’s get you there so you can shut up.”
He was awfully good at acting as if he couldn’t stand me. I’d be all pissed off if his touch didn’t feel so great.
He badged in the door, and soon we were in the cool air-conditioned hallway. Granted the weather outside wasn’t awful now that it was later in the year, but how I missed real air conditioning.
The guy … oh, what was his name … Mac. He was standing in front of the badging office, leaning against the wall and talking all sweet to the redhead. For them to hate half-breeds so badly, you’d think he wouldn’t be chancing that relationship.
“And there she is.” Mac turned away, and his eyes landed on me. “You look exactly the same.” He laughed. “I guess you weren’t scared. Either that, or you're just that pale. I can’t tell.”
“Hey,” Marsha called from the office, “I’m pale too.”
“Yeah, but you don’t look similar to a meth addict.” He smirked at me. “I’m surprised she’s still holding up.”
“It’s interesting that you know what a meth addict looks like.” I hated that man with a passion. “Probably from an old girlfriend. That’s how she had to make it through her relationship with you.”
“What did you say?” He growled, and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
“Oh, you didn’t hear me?” I hoped karma kicked his ass. All these people deserved to rot. “Let me …”
“Listen, we gotta hurry.” Aaron pointed down the hallway. “Doug is waiting on her.”
“The doc?” His eyes lit up, and an evil grin spread across his face. “Then she’ll be adequately punished. Tell him if he needs any help getting her under control, I’m available.”
“We’re good.” Aaron tugged me again as if I was his captive. “He told me to stay with them.”
“Aw.” Mac took a step toward me. “You better watch it. I could slit your throat and no one would care.”
I wanted to spit in his face. I had to restrain myself from doing that. He was the worst kind of arrogant jerk, and I promised myself that I would get my revenge. “Don’t sleep too soundly at night.” I had never hated someone as much as him. Honestly, until being here, I had never hated anyone. Just greatly disliked them. This was so much worse. They tore at your self-confidence and clawed their way into your mind.
He laughed in my face. “Don’t worry. I’m not scared of you. What’s the worst thing you can do? Pop up in my dreams?”
“That is an awful thought.” I would never want him thinking about me.
“I agree.” He lifted his chin at me and wrinkled his nose as if I was disgusting.
“Come on.” Aaron’s voice got a little deeper.
Yeah, I had better get going before I pissed the doctor off.
“If you can’t handle her, I’ll be right here.” There was something cruel in his eyes. Something that hinted he could be unhinged.
Now, I wasn’t one to back away from a fight, but a crazy person is just that … wild, unpredictable, and insane. I had enough battles I was dealing with at this time, and this one would be the one I wouldn’t choose … for now, I’d walk away.
Aaron pulled on me harder, and I relented, shuffling my feet. If I stayed here any longer, Mac and I would have been in a full knock-down-drag-out in the hallways. Even though I knew I’d have won, all the other guards would have jumped in, and that wouldn’t have been fair. Okay, maybe I wouldn’t have won, period, but still I would never know for sure, so I was sticking with my confidence.
When we turned down the hallway, Aaron leaned his face in toward my ear. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Being myself.” I wasn’t sure what to tell him. This was me in all my glory.
“Can you be someone else for a while?” He breathed the words as if he was praying.
“No, sorry.” I should’ve been upset that he asked, but under the circumstances … I wasn’t sure if I had the right. “I’ve tried before, and it turned out more disastrous.”
The door opened, and the doctor stood there. He wobbled and held onto the door handle to support his weight. He stared at me with dark, giddy eyes. “What’s taking so long? I was about to come hunting for you,” he whined, already out of breath though he probably had only moved about ten feet.
“Sorry, I had a hard time finding her.” Aaron pulled me through the door, causing me to brush up against the gross doctor.
I stumbled toward Aaron, wanting to get away from him.
“Hmmm … You don’t look any different at all.” Still staring, his wide grin revealed his decaying teeth. “Put the specimen in the chair.” He shuffled back to his rolling chair and then sat to rummage through a drawer. He pulled out some more needles and three vials for blood. “Let me see.”
Great, I was going to be his voodoo doll again.
Aaron led me to the chair, and I was ready for this to be over. At least he hadn’t made me lay down like that one day. Even the thought made my stomach twist. I heard the snap of rubber as
the doctor donned his gloves.
“Was I supposed to look bad?” I tried not to make my tone accusatory, but damn, the struggle was hard.
“With all the stuff I pumped into you, yeah.” He chuckled before rolling over to me and grabbed my arm. Not wasting a second, he jammed the needle into my arm. He twisted it and dug into my flesh.
I couldn’t hold back the groan. “It would be nice if you took a little more time with that.”
“Don’t care.” He smiled, got into my face, and then shrugged as one of the vials filled with blood. “You guys are already healed by the time you step out of here, so why bother.”
“It gets you back to your food quicker.” That had to be the only reason.
Aaron’s eyes widened, and he shook his head.
“Say all the things you want. I’ve heard them all before.” He changed out the tube. “But at the end of the day, you’re the one whose life is living hell. I’m free to do as I want and study specimens.”
He had a valid point. “You got me there.”
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for the vials to be filled.
“So I take her back now?” Aaron tugged at his ear and took an uncertain step toward me.
“No, not yet.” He ran over to a medical contraption I hadn’t noticed before that must read what’s in the blood. He dumped one vial in some type of solution and began mixing it up. It started out black, but soon it turned back to the original red shade of my blood. “Oh, yes. I found it.” He laughed maniacally, and it was kind of dark and evil.
“What exactly did you find?” His cackle was more than a little nerve-wracking.
“You.” The doctor turned toward me, his eyes bulging, and began to breathe rapidly. “I can’t believe this.” He reached into his white lab coat pocket and pulled out his phone. He hit a few buttons and held the phone to his ear. After a moment, he laughed again. “It is her. We found the missing piece.”
There was a pause on his end, and then he laughed some more. “Yes, George. This was the missing piece.”
I glanced over at Aaron, and he shrugged.
There was no telling what they were talking about, but it was definitely about me.
“Okay, so you’ll be here in three days with the necessary equipment.” He began nodding his head, and after another second said, “Yes, I’ll find a way. When you get here, we’ll get it all going. I’ll get another round of her blood, and we’ll be set.”
My stomach could’ve hit the ground. They were going to drain me dry again, and from the sounds of it, this time they might not stop.
He hung the phone up and placed it back in his pocket. “Take her back, but she doesn’t work today or tomorrow. Let her rest. She’ll need all her energy for what’s to come.”
“What’s going on?” Aaron walked over and took a hold of my arm, pulling me to my feet.
“Nothing that concerns you.” He went back to his microscope and lab work. There was an eagerness to him that hadn’t been there before. “Tell your father that George will be back in three days. Stay close, and make sure there isn’t any funny business.”
“Sure.” He tugged me toward the door. “Anything special we’ll need to get prepared for?”
“Tell him we found the first perfect split. Phase one is ready to begin.” He laughed again and waved us away. “I’ve got a lot of prep work to do. Leave.”
Aaron opened the door, and we exited together.
I wanted to start talking, but now wasn’t the time. All I knew was that in three days, I could wind up dead because apparently, I was an even split between vampire and fae.
Luckily, Mac wasn’t in the hallway as we passed, but Marsha stuck her nose up at me as I walked by.
My hope of getting out of here was quickly fading from my mind. There was no way to get out in two days. It was impossible.
When we strolled back outside, Dennis was busy talking to another guard who had a prisoner in tow. He couldn’t be more than fifteen, and there were tears running down his face.
“What …”
“Sh …” Aaron hissed at me. “Do not draw attention right now.”
He was right. We didn’t have time to intervene. I had my own shit to deal with, but I took another glance at the kid’s face. He had dark mocha skin and a tattoo on his arm. It seemed to be in the design of a phoenix.
“We need to get back to your cabin and fast.” As usual, his words were a whisper.
Every time Aaron and I were together, he was always talking in a hushed whisper. That alone should have told me something. At least with Knox, we could sit together and talk, but that wasn’t an option for Aaron and me.
Surprisingly, I kept my mouth shut the entire way back to the cabin. As we approached the door, Aaron nodded at the guard.
“Don’t worry. I got the call.” Pete held up his walkie talkie. “Guess you have to keep an eye on her. Sorry.”
“Doug said she needed to rest, so I’m taking her in.” Aaron wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “Times like these make us wish there was a female guard on duty.”
“Right. But at least we don’t have to handle their emotions.” Pete leaned back in his chair. “So it’s probably better this way. Maybe you can play a game on your phone or something.”
“I won’t be in here too long.” Aaron groaned and pushed in the cabin door. “There’s actual work I have to do, you know.”
“Hell, yeah. I hear ya.” Pete saluted him. “Holler if you need anything.”
“Yeah, man.” Aaron opened the door and shoved me through the threshold. “Get in there and don’t say another damn word.”
Once I was hidden from Pete’s sight, I arched an eyebrow. “You want to do that?”
He shut the door and pivoted toward me. “Of course not, but damn, Lexy. Shit is getting real.”
“Shit’s always been real here.” It was as if he was damn clueless. “Maybe you’re finally seeing it.”
“Yeah, let’s get this over with.” He pulled my cell phone from his pocket. “Make your call before someone comes and takes my place. Mac was determined that I’d go on a job with him today.”
This day kept getting better and better. At least he brought my phone.
He placed it in my hand. “Be quiet.”
My heart raced. “Okay.” I turned on my cell phone, and I had over one thousand text messages from both mom and Jess. I hated that my mother was so upset, but she couldn’t help me at the moment. So I pulled up the only number that could give me hope and pressed send. Just like the last time, she answered within seconds.
“Lexy, is that you?” Jess’s voice was filled with angst. “Please, God, let it be you.”
“Yeah, it’s me.” I nodded my head at Aaron. “I don’t have long though.”
“Where are you?” Jess's voice was loud in my ear.
“Some weird prison.” I didn’t have the time to discuss it. “Look, something is about to go down.”
“Okay, what?” Her voice went from panic to planning mode. “Tell me all you can.”
“Apparently, I’m the only half-breed they’ve found that is a true fifty-fifty split. They're going to drain me of more blood.” My voice cracked on the last word. The memories of the last time were still vivid.
“More?” Her voice sounded broken. There was some shuffling, and it sounded as if she put me on speakerphone.
“Yeah, more. Look, the details aren’t important, but I’m scared.” I had to be honest. These were the only people I could count on.
“How are you calling us now?” The voice I’d learned to be Cole spoke.
“A guard snuck my phone to me.” I wouldn’t give him Aaron’s name, but I could tell them that much.
“Is he there?” Cole’s voice got closer to the phone as if he was entering the same room.
“Yeah.”
“Ask him how we can find you?” Jess’s voice sounded hopeful.
“Where is this place?” The thing was, I wasn’t sure he’d answer.
> “Uh …” Something seemed to dawn on him. “It’s in Abita Springs.”
“It’s …”
“We heard him.” Cole cut me off. “And that matches the intel we’ve received. Leave your cell phone on for the next few minutes while we get someone to track your location. But, let’s see if the guard can be trusted. Ask him for the address.”
“We’ll text the address to you. I’ve got to go.”
“Hurry so we can do it before someone gets here.” Aaron glanced at the door as if he was expecting it to open any second.
“Are you sure?” Yes, I wanted to live. Regardless, I didn’t want him to die because of it.
“Yeah, but I need to come with you.” He sighed and kicked his foot at the ground. “My Dad won’t forgive my betrayal, so I need to be part of the plan.”
“Tell him, of course. We’ll do anything.” Jess paused. “Is he trustworthy?”
That was the million-dollar question. This could all be a trap, but damn ... I didn’t think it was. “I think so.”
“Good enough for me,” Cole said. “Text us the address, and call us back tomorrow. We’ll plan on getting you out two days from now during the night. It’ll let us get as many resources rounded up as possible so that we can rescue you.”
“I’ve got friends that I want to bring too.” There was no way I could leave here without Deissy, Sol, and freaking Knox.
“Of course you do.” Jess’s words sounded proud. “You’re our daughter. Call us back tomorrow, and we can discuss logistics.”
“I’ll try.” I wasn’t sure whether Aaron was going to allow me to keep my phone. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able too.”
Aaron let out a deep breath and looked in my eyes. “I’ll let you keep your damn phone, but you better keep it hidden.”
“Okay. He’s letting me keep my phone.” This had to prove his loyalty. At least, that was what I was banking on.
“Alright, we’ll text you soon.” The phone line went dead, and it took me a full minute to register it.
“Here, they’re going to be here any second.” He snagged the phone from my hand and opened up a text message. “I’m assuming it’s the number unnamed?”