by Lola StVil
“Calm down and listen to me,” I say, my voice calm but full of command.
Saudia raises an eyebrow but she stops struggling, and I release her, keeping her in place with my stare alone.
“Let’s get one thing clear here. I don’t give a fuck whether Tracey lives or dies after what she’s done, and if you want to be the one to do the honors, then be my guest, but first, I want answers. I want to question her and find out how deep her loyalty to Talon runs and where exactly he’s taken Atlas. And why we can no longer locate her. Understood?”
Saudia gives me a tight nod and blows out a long breath.
“Yeah. I get it.”
She seems to deflate then, the anger leaving her in a rush.
“How could she do this to us, Kane?” she says in a quiet whisper.
I can see the pain all over her face and I reach out and squeeze her shoulder.
“I guess Talon offered her something she was desperate for,” I say gently. “And for what it’s worth, I don’t think for a moment she wanted to hurt you.”
This isn’t me letting Tracey off the hook or trying to make her feel better. It’s me trying to make Saudia feel better. I don’t think it’s working.
“Well, she did hurt me,” Saudia says. “More than anyone has ever hurt me. You know? Perry always said she’d choose drugs over me if given a choice, and I always defended her. I always thought love could conquer anything. I was a fool.”
She turns to Perry.
“Get it over with then. The I told you so.”
I glare at Perry, and he shakes his head.
“By the end, she had us all fooled,” he says.
“Someone get her off the ground and clean her up a bit. And then she talks,” I say.
I can’t bear to touch her. Even looking at her disgusts me. I have done some pretty fucking awful stuff in my time, but she’s done something far worse. She found someone who saw past her faults and loved her anyway. And then she spat in her face.
Sadie goes to the kitchen and Regal and Langston drag Tracey to her feet. The second they let go of her, her knees buckle, and Regal just stops her from falling on her ass. He keeps a grip on her arm, and I know by the whiteness of his knuckles that he’s hurting her arm. She makes no complaint. He shoves her roughly into a chair.
“Sit there and don’t move,” he commands.
She makes no move to get back up or argue with him. She just sits there limply, her shoulders slumped and her head down. Sadie comes back in with a bowl of warm water and a couple of cloths. She kneels down in front of Tracey and begins wiping her face clean of blood. She isn’t rougher than she needs to be, but I wouldn’t call her touch gentle. Tracey winces several times and even hisses in a sharp breath at one point, but she isn’t stupid enough to complain.
“Everyone, sit down,” I say.
I expect Saudia to argue, but she doesn’t. She sits next to me, across from Tracey. I guess I’m not the only one who wants answers. Sadie finishes cleaning Tracey up. Her face is a mess of cuts and bruises, but I’m pretty sure it’s only superficial damage, and the water seems to have brought her back to full alertness.
I want to ask her what the fuck she was thinking, but I’m not here to listen to her groveling for forgiveness and sniveling out excuses. I just want the cold hard facts.
“How long have you been working with Talon?” I ask.
Tracey looks down into her lap, her hands clenched tightly together. She rocks back and forth in her chair.
“I’m not messing around here, Tracey. I want answers, and I want them now,” I say.
Tracey looks up, and I see the first flash of anger on her face.
“Or what? You’ll let Saudia kill me? Just do it if that’s what you want to do,” she says.
I smile a cold smile that sends a shiver through Tracey.
“Oh no, Tracey, I won’t do that. See, Saudia will work herself up into a frenzy and kill you quickly. Me, on the other hand? I’ll savor it. I’ll torture you until you beg for mercy, cutting bits off of you and inflicting the wounds that will cause you the most pain, indescribable pain, but I won’t kill you. And when you do beg for mercy, I’ll leave you to heal. And then it’ll start again. And believe me, I can do that for a long time,” I say coldly.
Tracey isn’t the only one who is looking at me in horror. I can feel the eyes of the team on me, but I ignore them and focus on Tracey, and only Tracey.
“So I’ll ask you again, Tracey. How long have you been working with Talon?”
Something in my voice tells Tracey that what I’m saying is no idle threat. She knows I have the stomach for it, and she knows I’m not bluffing when I tell her I can keep her alive for a long time. I see the tiny flare of anger leave her again, and she just looks tired.
“Since he took over as Keysu. I was working with Quinn before that,” she says.
I raise an eyebrow.
“It started before she was the Keysu. She was helping me form a potion. I wanted to get off drugs for good but the pull was so strong. I fought so hard for Saudia, but she could see the signs that I was slipping and offered to help. The problem was the treatment took more than one dose to fully work. I still needed three more when she became the Keysu, and she knew it.
“Then right after she took Remy, she contacted me. Remember when we were all looking for her lair? Well, I found it. I went there to try and persuade her to release Remy and give me the potions. I thought she might listen to me because I was an outsider, and we had grown close making the mixtures. But instead, she offered me a deal. A deal I couldn’t refuse. I’m sorry.”
I ignore her apology.
“So it was you who gave Quinn one of Regal’s hairs?” I ask.
She nods.
“And it was you who fed her information so she stayed one step ahead of us? You’re the reason she was able to free Loom?”
She nods again.
“And the Staff? You knew what would happen when we touched it?”
She shakes her head this time.
“No. I had no idea that was going to happen,” she says.
I’m inclined to believe her. At this point, she stands to gain nothing from lying. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m only asking about this stuff to put off the part where I have to ask her about Atlas. I’m suddenly afraid of the answers she’ll give me. But I have to know.
“Where’s Atlas?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she says.
“Don’t fuck with me, Tracey,” I caution her.
She shakes her head animatedly.
“Honestly, I don’t know. All I know is Talon took her. I didn’t ask where he was taking her and he didn’t tell me. He gave me the potion and he left. He said I was free of him.”
“Tell me everything you do know about that night,” I demand. “And leave nothing out.”
“Talon told me he needed me to give Atlas Yorkshire mixture. It would knock her unconscious and temporarily dampen her powers. But it wouldn’t hurt her, he said. He gave me a time and told me to let him in. I did everything he said, and that’s honestly all I know.”
“So if Atlas was unconscious and her powers were tempered, why was a button off her clothes found in her room? You’re lying,” I shout.
Tracey shakes her head again.
“I’m not. I swear. I gave her the mixture, and by the time I showed Talon to her room, she was unconscious.”
So why the button? I feel sick at the thought that suddenly forms in my mind. Atlas, a gorgeous woman, unconscious in Talon’s hands. Had he? No, he wouldn’t have. Would he?
I shake my head slightly to remove the awful image that hangs there. I think I’ve gotten everything I can from Tracey, but there’s one more thing I have to know.
“Was it worth it, Tracey? Was it worth losing Saudia and everyone else for a cheap high?”
“It wasn’t like that,” Tracey insists. “I wasn’t getting drugs.”
Saudia stiffens beside me.
“So
what was it? What were you getting from Quinn and Talon that was more important to you than me?”
“I told you, I needed to get away from the drugs for us, for good.”
“Why couldn’t you just ask us for help?” Langston asks.
“I thought about that, but after the first time, Quinn wasn’t stupid. She recorded everything. She kept pulling me in deeper and deeper. The funny thing is she never recorded giving me the vial, only the things I did for her.”
“So you’re stupid as well as a traitor,” Perry says, shaking his head in wonder. “I can’t believe you trusted Quinn to stick to her end of the deal.”
“I guess deep down I didn’t, but I was desperate enough to get off the drugs that I had to try it. Talon finally gave me the mixture the night he took Atlas. I’m finally clean for the first time in so long.”
“Are you expecting some sort of congratulations?” Langston asks her, incredulous. “Save it for your therapy group or whatever.”
I turn to Saudia.
“I think we’ve gotten everything useful out of her. What do you want to do?”
Saudia seems calmer now. Heartbroken, but calm.
“Let her go. Killing her is too good an ending. She needs to live with this every single day of her life. Every day she needs to wake up and remember that she was too weak to beat her addiction herself. Every day she needs to remember that she sold out the only people in the world who gave a fuck about her.”
“Saudia, please. I’m so sorry. You have to forgive me. I…I love you,” Tracey says.
She goes to stand up, but one glare from me and she falls back into the chair.
“I love you,” she says again.
“You don’t know the meaning of the word,” Saudia says. “Don’t call me. Don’t come near me. I never want to see you again.”
“But…” Tracey starts.
Saudia ignores her and turns to me. Tracey’s voice trails off.
“I’m sorry to put this on you; I know you have enough going on, but can you get her out of here?”
I have to go and find Talon and find out what his game is, but I can’t let Saudia down now. She was one of the first people on the team to really accept me, and loyalty goes both ways. Perry saves me from having to choose.
“Kane needs to go find Talon. We’ll deal with Tracey,” he says.
“Thank you,” she says.
She gets up and starts for the hallway.
“I need some time alone, guys,” she says.
“Saudia, wait,” Tracey says.
This time she ignores my warning look and gets to her feet anyway. I jump up as she makes her way to Saudia. Saudia catches my eye and shakes her head slightly, and I hang back.
“You’re right. I was weak. The drugs had a deeper hold on me than I could ever hope to fight. But I wanted to fight it. I wanted to get clean. For you. Because I love you. I know I’ve made mistakes, but you have to forgive me. Because what I did, I did for love. I did it for you, for us, Saudia,” Tracey says.
Her pleading makes me feel sick, and it seems to have the same effect on Saudia. She eyes Tracey coldly in the same way someone might eye a cockroach before they stand on it. She slaps Tracey once, hard enough to make her head snap to the side.
“Stay the fuck away from me,” Saudia snaps coldly.
She turns and walks away, not even looking back. Tracey presses one hand to her cheek. Her knees buckle, and she falls, landing heavily on her knees. She is sobbing uncontrollably.
“Saudia. Saudia, I love you,” she screams after the girl.
“Kane? Go. We can take care of this,” Sadie says.
I pull my eyes away from Tracey and nod.
“I’m going to find Talon,” I announce.
Regal gets up and grabs his jacket. I raise a questioning eyebrow at him.
“What? You think you’re doing this alone?” he says.
I nod.
“Kane, you’re one of us now. We got your back.”
“I know, but I have to do this alone. Talon will be more likely to open up if it’s just him and me.”
Regal makes no move to leave my side as I reach the door.
“Regal, you have to trust me on this, please? I’m not rejecting your help because of some bullshit male ego or anything like that. I know Talon, and I know if I turn up there with you or anyone else from the team, he won’t talk. Alone, I think I can get him to tell me where she is.”
Regal nods.
“Okay. I guess that makes sense. We’re only a call away if you need us though.”
I reach out and slap him on the shoulder.
“Thanks, man,” I say.
It doesn’t take me long to find Talon. It never really did take us long to find each other until I found Atlas instead. He’s at one of our old haunts. He has a small group of women around him in various states of torture, and he doesn’t hear me approach.
“Even as the all-powerful Keysu, it’s the little things that bring the most pleasure huh?” I say.
He turns to look at me, and I nod towards the women. He gives me an evil grin and nods.
“Get rid of them, Talon. We need to talk,” I say.
“Are you sure? I mean, I’m happy to share,” Talon says.
“Now,” I shout.
My voice leaves no room for argument. It’s taking all of my willpower not to just kill him here and now but that won’t help. I need to know where Atlas is, and it seems he’s the only one who knows.
“It looks like it’s your lucky day, ladies,” Talon says. “Go on, fuck off.”
The women don’t need to be told twice, although they seem scared, as though they think it’s a trap. They hurry away as fast as their wounds will allow. I turn my attention back to Talon.
“Where is she?” I say.
“Who?” Talon says.
I sigh.
“Don’t play games with me, Talon. You know who I mean, and you knew I’d come here. So tell me what you want and then tell me where I’ll find her.”
Talon sits down on a bench and gestures for me to sit beside him. I remain standing. I’m afraid if I get too close, I won’t be able to stop myself from just snapping his neck. Talon shrugs and then grins.
“I knew you’d come. I knew I could make you see that we’re still brothers.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I snap. “I’m here to find out where you took Atlas and that’s it.”
Talon’s face falls, and then he grins mischievously.
“What makes you think I know?”
“Because Tracey told me everything.”
“Oh. Well, then I might as well tell you why then. I knew I had to do the darkest thing possible. You know, to remind you of how much fun it is.”
His grin hasn’t wavered, and I suddenly can’t contain the anger any longer. I step forward and grab Talon and drag him to his feet.
“You sick fuck,” I scream into his face.
Still, he grins.
“There was a time you admired that about me,” he says.
It’s true, but now I feel nothing but contempt for him. I think I have finally let go of my best friend. There’s no way I can forgive him for what he’s done to Atlas. I pull back my fist and smash it into Talon’s face. The look of surprise and hurt would be comical if he weren’t holding the woman I love prisoner.
I shove him away from me.
“Where is she?”
I fire at him, and he dodges to the side. I fire again, and he jumps, narrowly missing being killed. I remind myself again that I need him alive. For now.
He fires back at me, and I easily evade his shot. I run at him, an angry growl tearing from my throat as I move. He fires again, and because I’m blinded by my anger, I don’t move quickly enough. It grazes my shoulder, cutting out a white-hot path of pain. I ignore it and throw myself on Talon, knocking him to the ground.
I punch him again. And again. I rain down blows on him, one after the other. He tries to break free but the
adrenaline coursing through me makes me too strong for him.
“I’m sorry, Kane. Okay? I only fired at you because you started it,” he shouts.
“Tell me where she is,” I bellow.
I punch him again. The image of him ripping her clothes off her unconscious body comes back to me, and I feel disgusted even touching him. I get to my feet.
“Did you touch her, Talon?” I ask quietly.
He pushes himself up onto his elbows.
“After everything we went through, Kane, you really think I would stoop so low?”
Honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t put it past him, but I shake my head. No, surely he wouldn’t go that far.
“But the button…” I start.
Am I reading too much into the button? Was it there for days and I just never noticed it? Maybe I tore it off her clothes myself when we made love.
“The button was just part of an enchantment. A Damler mask, to be precise,” Talon says.
“Is she alive?” I ask.
Talon nods and gets warily to his feet.
“Yes,” he says simply.
“Why?” I ask. “You’re the Keysu. Your mission is simple enough. Kill the last Seeker, and you win. Why drug her and then not kill her?”
“Because I had to, Kane. I had to do the darkest thing possible so that you could remember. So that you could see how much more fun being dark is. So that you could see this is who you’re meant to be. You really think your destiny is to play happy families with Atlas and her team of do-gooders? You know better than that, and you just needed reminding.”
I shake my head. I don’t even know how to process this level of denial. How does Talon still think I am the same person as the one he knew?
“I just wanted my brother back,” he says quietly.
“And you thought the way to do that was to take the one person I love?”
“You were never meant to love her,” he screams.
“How would you know? You don’t know the first thing about love,” I shout back.
“And now you’ll forget too,” he says.
That does it. I fire at him, catching him in the ribs. He presses his hand to his ribs and looks at me. His expression is so hurt I almost feel sorry for him, and then I remind myself what he’s done. He was so ready to bring me back to the darkness that he took Atlas.