by Sonia Harper
"What the hell?" She shouted, eyes darting between the broken shards of porcelain and Cain's face. The shards remained still and cold on the floor; Cain did not.
His shoulders heaved as he took in large gulps of air, his eyes slightly out of focus as his fists clenched so violently that his arms spasmed. His gaze was focused on her, but Adelyn could tell that he was looking right through her. He had that same look on his face when he had her pressed against the wall, his hand closing around her neck. His powers were taking over control of his body again.
She didn't know exactly how or why his powers worked, or what set him off during those times that he lashed out, but she could tell right now that he was having some sort of internal struggle with himself. She decided to stay very, very still, and she was glad that she was standing just inside the open door. If he lost this struggle for control over himself, she would have access to a quick escape.
It wasn't very long before Cain's eyes slowly cleared, and she could have sworn that she saw a flash of surprise when he suddenly realized who was in the room with him. It was quickly masked by a scowl as he narrowed in on the objects she held against her chest. His fists uncurled and the tension in his body seemed to melt away.
A slow, easy grin crept onto his face, rounding out his full bottom lip as his gaze lifted up to capture her own. His eyes darkened slightly, and Adelyn felt her breath catch in her throat at the intensity of his gaze.
"Good girl," he muttered appreciatively as his eyes drifted down to the objects in her grasp once more.
Her face flushed as her brain forced her body to move, taking a few hesitant steps toward him. She lifted the book and the box, but all thoughts of handing them over to him disappeared as he watched her inch closer with an eager glint in his eye. She hesitantly slowed her approach in case he was losing control again.
"It's still not talking."
Adelyn jumped at the sound of Derion's voice. She jerked her body around to face the door, only slightly surprised to see Pytho follow Derion in the room, dragging an unconscious guardian behind him by the arm. The body was covered in dried blood, and she knew that the lack of wounds on its body was only because of the healing serum that Erik injected the guardian with before battle.
Pytho hurled the unconscious body into the room, and it fell into a crumpled, bloody heap. She felt Cain step away from her, and she glanced over as she did so, surprised to see how close she had been to him.
Pytho and Derion both seemed to notice her at the same time, with surprised and shocked expressions on their faces.
"You're back," Pytho's eyes widened as he took her in, examining her from head to toe. She frowned and noticed that Derion was also staring at her as if he wasn't expecting to see her there.
Well, she had returned earlier than they had anticipated, and completely on her own.
Her eyes fell on the guardian, still lying prone on the floor. "Why?" She asked, pointing a finger at it. She had never seen them attempt to interrogate a guardian before. After all, wasn't the point of allowing her to be captured to get information? What was the point of interrogating a guardian if they knew that she was seeking information for them?
"We were trying to find out where they took you," Pytho explained. "The GPS tracker cut out, something must have happened to it."
Adelyn frowned, her hand flying up to the small device under her shirt. She fished inside her shirt and unclipped it from her bra, pulling it out. Her eyes widened as a few wires dangled out of the side of the device.
"It must have been smashed at some point," Pytho strode forward and took the device from her grasp. He inspected the wires. "Looks like it was crushed."
"I wonder why I didn't feel the wires?" Adelyn looked down her shirt, frowning at the bruise that had formed in the area underneath where the tracker had been hidden. "It must have happened while I was unconscious," she insisted. "I didn't feel it at all," she looked back up at them.
She tried not to think about the fact that had she not escaped and returned to the manor, there would have been no rescue after the twenty-four hours that Donovan had promised.
The watch on her arm caught her eye. "I hope the video worked," she changed the subject as she fumbled with the watch strap on her wrist, her arm still supporting the book and the box as her fingers slid the band free.
"It should have," Pytho assured her as he held out a hand, waiting for her to remove the watch from her wrist. "I don't see anything wrong with it," he inspected the watch once she passed it over to him. His eyes narrowed on the book and the box in her arms, but he said nothing. Instead, he threw a cautious glance at Cain and slowly backed away from Adelyn, inspecting the watch once more.
"So you guys had no idea where I was?" Adelyn's eyes darted between Derion and Pytho.
"None," Derion shook his head, his long blonde hair pulled back into a tie at the nape of his neck. "We were worried you were lost to us," he added softly as his eyes fell to the guardian on the ground. He frowned, clenching his jaw as he glared at it. "Unfortunately, interrogations don't seem to work on guardians, no matter how far they're pushed."
"I pushed pretty damn hard," Pytho added furiously, also glaring at the crumpled heap. His gaze quickly jumped back up to Adelyn. "Are you okay?" He asked, eyes roaming over Adelyn's body with concern. She saw the relief in his eyes when he realized she was unharmed, and she gave him a grateful smile.
"Of course I'm okay," she grinned at him, relieved that all three of them were still here. Other than a few new bandages and a smattering of fresh bruises, they looked like they were in pretty decent shape. Derion's face was littered with bright pink wounds across his face, but they looked shallow and had already been cleaned.
Pytho's shoulder was still bandaged up under his shirt from the last fight, and she could see fresh bruises forming around his temple and down the side of his neck.
Aside from the occasional cut, Cain seemed to be in the best shape out of all three of them. All evidence of his last encounter with the guardians had long since healed.
"Where's Donovan and Gideon?" She asked worriedly, noting their absence from the room. “And Sinatra?” She asked as she whirled on Pytho.
“Sinatra is safe,” Pytho assured her. “Don’t worry, Salien took good care of him – not a single guardian made it inside the room.”
"Donovan and Gideon are fine," Derion assured her before turning to Cain. "What would you like us to do with it?" He jerked his head in the direction of the guardian.
"Scorch it," Cain's voice came from the back of the room. She turned and watched as he rested his forehead against the wall with his back turned to her. His fist came up and he started grinding his knuckles into the wall, the wallpaper in the dining room a much softer surface than the harsh stone in the basement.
"I brought two guards from the palace," Donovan announced softly as he strode into the room. Adelyn's eyes widened as the sight of Donovan shirtless. Gauze and medical tape were wrapped tightly around his belly and across his pale chest. The colour was drained from his face and lips, and she could see a fine sheen of sweat over his face and neck. His black hair was loose from his ponytail, and it was wild, flying in every direction.
He did not look good. Adelyn felt her stomach churn as she examined his pale, clammy face.
"They're guarding the gate on this side," he forced the words out even though it looked as if he was going to pass out at any moment. He swayed slightly, throwing a hand out to steady himself against the wall. "In addition to the usual six guarding the other side."
"Are you going to be okay?" Adelyn watched as Donovan swayed further into the wall, crashing his side into it and closing his eyes to steady himself. She barely flinched as Pytho set the guardian ablaze in the corner of the room.
"M'fine," Donovan slurred, carefully lifting a hand up as if to ward off her concern.
"I need to get you back to my office," Derion walked over and threw Donovan's arm across his shoulders, tucking his neck into the junctur
e of Donovan's arm to steady him against his body. "Something tells me you're not just 'fine'," he stressed the word as Donovan's head fell forward limply.
"Later," Donovan bit the word out forcefully, his hand gripping Derion's shoulder tightly. "'delyn," the syllables fell out of his mouth in a jumble, but Adelyn caught her name nonetheless and realized that he wanted to stay to hear what she had encountered.
"Oh," she quickly looked down at the items in her hands. She was torn between telling them the full story in detail or giving them a quicker version so that Donovan could be persuaded to receive more medical treatment.
"Everything."
She jumped at the sound of Cain's voice, and she looked up to see him staring down at her from only a few feet away. She wondered briefly if he had known about her internal struggle but quickly shook away the thought when Donovan let out a small groan of pain.
She recounted as much as she could. She watched as Pytho's eyes darkened and face twisted into fury as she explained Erik's involvement with the guardians. They hung on her every word as she described the factory, the giant room full of eggs, the council, and the serum that Erik injected the guardians with. She explained how she was able to slip away once Erik was called into a meeting with the council, and showed them the items that she stole from the filing cabinet.
"I wasn't sure if this would be of any help," Adelyn frowned as she picked the book out of her own grasp and held it aloft, the cover facing up as she showed it to them. "Erik asked me if I had seen anything here with these symbols on it. He seemed very interested in it," she glanced up as Cain stepped closer to her, his nostrils flaring slightly as he stared down at the book. Heat suddenly rolled off of him in waves, and she nearly took a step back as the heat turned too intense for her to handle.
Surprisingly, he managed to turn away from her and walked back to the wall, slamming his fist into the wallpaper. "Derion," he ground out the word as he twisted his knuckles harder into the wall.
Derion took a step forward, bringing Donovan with him as he peered at the cover of the book. Adelyn held it up further so he could get a good look at it. His face paled and his hand immediately shot out, tearing the book out from Adelyn's grasp.
"This is-" he trailed off, the book starting to shake as his grasp tightened on the book, his fingers white.
Donovan's head lolled to the side as he examined the book with a confused look on his face.
"The fuck does that say?" He slurred.
Adelyn's eyes widened at Donovan's choice of words. She wasn't sure she had ever heard him swear before. He must have been delirious from the pain, she thought as her eyes flickered over his bandages once more. Dark red spots started to seep through the white gauze; obviously, his wounds were still fresh.
"Okay," Pytho stepped forward, throwing Donovan's arm around his shoulder as he shifted the other daemon's weight away from Derion and onto himself. "Now I know there's something wrong with you," he grunted as Donovan fell against him, the weight of the older daemon surprising him. "You're starting to sound like us common folk."
Derion released Donovan without even sparing them a glance. He reached down and cautiously stroked the cover of the book with shaking fingers, his eyes sweeping from corner to corner as if memorizing the cover.
Adelyn watched as he gently lifted the cover and glanced at the first page, inhaling deeply as he did so. "What is it?" She asked.
"It's my mother's," he murmured as his fingers trailed over the first page in awe.
"How did those assholes get ahold of it?" Pytho frowned, shifting Donovan's weight as the other daemon started to slide down toward the floor, clearly incapable of supporting his own weight.
"I don't know," a sudden frown crossed Derion's face, his eyes never leaving the page. "It wasn't one of the books I was able to grab before I fled the palace. It should have been left in her room after her death."
"Maybe somebody slipped it out?" Pytho offered.
"But how?" Derion's frown deepened. "This is something that should have been under lock and key. This is very dangerous magic," Derion slowly and reluctantly the book, his hand caressing the broken spine reverently. "Her legacy," his low voice trailed off as his eyes suddenly narrowed, all traces of wonder and reverence disappeared from his face in an instant. "And the reason she died," he snapped the book shut angrily.
"Can you read it?" Cain turned from the wall and walked back to the group, his knuckles bright red, but devoid of blood. Adelyn could tell from the tone of his voice and the lack of tension in his body that he had once again gained complete control over himself. He stared down at the book in Derion's hands, his lips pressed together tightly.
"Yes," Derion glanced at the cover of the book, almost hesitant to admit that he could.
"Good," Cain's eyes flickered up to Derion before he turned away abruptly and glared at the scorch mark in the corner of the room where Pytho had disposed of the guardian. "She did pass her gift onto you," he muttered under his breath.
"Yes," Derion's lips twisted as he glanced around the room, clearly not pleased.
Adelyn frowned. Erik had mentioned that some daemons were able to use some kind of magic. That had to be what they were talking about when Cain had mentioned a "gift".
"What's that?" Pytho's question caught her off-guard, and Adelyn followed his pointed finger to the box against her chest.
"Oh, this," She shook herself and lifted up the box, opening it and picking up a syringe. She lifted it for the whole room to see. "I'm pretty sure this is the serum that Erik has been injecting the guardians with to enhance their healing abilities."
She jumped as Cain suddenly turned and came right at her, nostrils flaring and eyes narrowing in on the syringe in her hand. Her eyes widened as he stopped just inches from her side, his hand reaching out to grab the needle before he jerked his arm back down to his side. She watched as he angrily stared at the syringe, his fists starting to clench as his shoulders tensed up.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Pytho exclaimed, nearly dropping Donovan as he took a step forward to examine the syringe for himself.
Derion beat him to it, reaching forward and snatching the syringe from her grasp. "How many of these do you have?" He asked, staring at the clear liquid inside the syringe.
"Ten, I think," she handed him the box. She told them about the note that had been inside the cooler, indicating that the batch was twenty per cent weaker. She watched as Pytho and Derion examined the contents of the box. Donovan leaned forward slightly to try and see the needles for himself.
Cain, however, remained where he was, inches from her side and breathing heavily down on her. She could feel the heat of his body radiating against her arm as she stole a peek up at him. As if waiting for this cue, his arms shot out, and she felt his fingers clench around her shoulders as he yanked her body up against his.
She yelped as his forehead came crashing down on top of hers; his nose was inches from hers. Her eyes widened as his hands came up to grab her face, his sweaty palms completely covering her cheeks. She could feel a slight tremor in his hands as his body tensed, a tight coil ready to spring at any moment. His mouth opened, but no words came out as he stared furiously into her eyes, the heat rolling off of his body in waves and enveloping her in its reach. It was just hot enough to be uncomfortable, and she tensed, waiting for the heat to turn painful at any moment.
The expressions on his face rotated quickly. Anger. Desperation. Relief. Frustration. One expression, in particular, puzzled her. Was he...grateful? She watched as they started to merge into each other, and she had a feeling he was trying to communicate something through his eyes that he couldn't convey through his words.
His hands tightened their grip on her face, but she didn't feel as though she was in any kind of danger. His eyes, though definitely foreign with emotion, were clear and devoid of any indication that his powers were getting the better of him.
Suddenly, he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead harder into hers, her
head shaking with the force of his grasp. His nose pressed into the side of hers, and she was about to cry out in pain when he suddenly released her sharply, thrusting her head away from his. The force of the push nearly toppled her over, but her body reacted faster than her mind could catch up, throwing a leg back to catch her balance.
She watched, bewildered, as Cain grabbed a syringe from Derion's grasp and held it carefully between two fingers, holding it up to his face for inspection. She could only see his profile, but she could see the grin on his face.
His excited grin proved to be infectious, and she smiled as he rolled the syringe between his fingers in wonder.
"What the fuck was that?" Pytho's voice drawled out the words in a higher octave than his usual tone. One eyebrow crept up as he stared at Cain with a perturbed look on his face.
The grin fell from Cain's face as he turned to Pytho and snarled at him, syringe forgotten as his hand fell to his side. "Get him out of here!" He snapped angrily. "I want him healed in four hours. We're going after these pests," he spat, thrusting the syringe out toward Derion, who took it immediately. "I want something to counter that before we go, so get to work," he pointed at the syringe.
"It may take longer than four hours," Derion replied hesitantly, tucking the syringe into the cardboard box as he glanced over at Donovan. "Cain, I'm not certain that Donovan will be able to join us."
Cain snarled, but Adelyn saw his eyes drift over Donovan's bandages, the blood now seeping through and staining the white with dark red.
"Also," she began hesitantly. "They might be heading this way right now."
Four pairs of eyes suddenly focused on her.
"Why? Were they following you?" Pytho rolled his shoulder, shifting Donovan higher once more. His hand left Donovan's arm as he reached around to his back pocket, where Adelyn knew he was keeping some sort of weapon.
"No," she quickly clarified. "Well, at least, I don't think so," she frowned to herself, but quickly continued when she caught sight of Donovan's pained expression. "Um, I might have, well," she fumbled over the words as she tried to spit them out in logical order. "I blew up their incubator," she finally blurted out the words, heart pounding. It suddenly crossed her mind that she may have made a mistake, that blowing up those eggs might have created a bigger problem than the one they faced. Would the Council send every single guardian they had to the Manor in retribution? Had she instigated an all-out war?