by Abby James
Thank god I had refused to take off my clothes for the sacrifice other wise I would be sitting here naked right now for all these assholes to see.
Too many corners and I was confused. I’d tried to count the lefts and rights while listening for sounds other than the smacking shoes and squeaking wheels, then was suddenly pitched forward when the wheelchair halted. A firm pressure punched into my chest, sending me back into the seat. Then it spun on its axis, jerking me to the right, but the armrest held me in place.
Off again, a handful of wheel rotations and the chair smacked into something solid. Once again I pitched forward in my seat. This time the resistant force hit hard, slamming me back against the chair.
“Jesus, Seb, you’re a dick,” said the guy on the left with the twang.
“These things weren’t made to be easily maneuvered,” Seb replied.
A few jerky corrections of the chair and I was moving again. I’d passed through a doorway, would be my guess. Not much farther and the wheelchair came to a smooth stop, no rough jerks this time. Hands rather than telekinetic energy untied my blindfold. I ducked my head, blinking in the bright light, until my eyes were strong enough.
There was a chair in front of me, in the chair sat a man. The horror of his face and I blanked. Scullion leaned against the wall to my right because there was no other furniture for him to occupy. Behind the man sitting in the chair was the guy I had met in the diner bathrooms centuries ago, but I couldn’t remember his name. I think it started with an R.
“It’s been a long time, Samara, too long.”
Who the hell was this guy to know my name? I didn’t much like the way his one good eye roamed over me like he wanted to gobble me up, not in a leery, sexy way, more in a greedy, possessive way.
I glanced across to Scullion, smirking by the wall. My hand itched to punch that smirk off his face. He responded to my attention by peeling himself forward.
“This is a treat,” he said, clasping his hands together. “You have been a very hard girl to get a hold of. After that debacle at the temple.”
“How many of your men got out?”
He smacked his lips together and rested his hands in front of him. “Yes, that was unfortunate.” He waved a finger at me like a school teacher berating a naughty child. “You owe me some good men. Do you have any idea how horrible it is to die inside of glamor.”
He came over to stand in front of me, blocking my sight from the guy sitting in the chair. Scullion leaned down, moving closer to my face as if what he was about to say next needed clear enunciation to ensure I understood. Any closer and I could spit in his face.
“You are locked in your mind forever. Your mind is comatosed but your body lives on. You’re locked within the cage of your skin unable to escape, running on repeat the event that led to your death. Forever suspended. Wouldn’t you rather be dead?”
He huffed a laugh at my solid stare. “She’s a tough one.” The remark directed to everyone else in the room.
Released from his uncompromising eyes, I flicked a look to the other guy, Rosta; that was his name. A telekinetic who I’d slammed into the cubicle door and knocked unconscious. He’d be more wary this time.
“They were some of my best men, but I’m willing to forgive your transgression. Only because I have succeeded. I have you and you will replace those you took from me.”
“You’ll be waiting a long time for that to happen,” I said.
“Is that so? Tell me child, how many of faculty know about you?”
I’d not been ready for that question, so stumbled to reply.
“None would be my guess. What has McGilus told them? The fact you have not been hauled in front of the council tells me you are his dirty little secret. Don’t you see, my child, no one wants someone like you because they are afraid, afraid of losing their control, their power. If they knew you existed, you’d be strapped into the seat tomorrow, no trial.”
His rhetoric sent him pacing back and forth in front of me. “But we want to help you, nurture your gift, teach you how to be strong, rather than be afraid. At Darkwells you will be forced to pretend you are not what you are. Your life will be filled with lies, hiding, isolation. Here with us you will be accepted as our equal and respected for your ability.”
“I’m not interested.”
The corner of Scullions mouth tightened, drawing a twitch in his jawline.
“What do you think?” The question was directed at Rosta.
“Tough, but breakable. You just need to know where the weak spots are.”
“Oh, I already know all of those,” Scullion said returning his attention to me. “I have so much in store for you. You will be treated well, if you do well. I am a reasonable man, not a monster.”
“How do you propose to keep me on your leash?”
“I love that spirit.” Again he did not address his remark to me. “Never underestimate me, Samara. I have seen much. I have done much. I know more than you think. Handling a child will not be as hard.”
“Perhaps you would permit me to speak,” said the man sitting in the chair.
Why had I been slow to realize who he was? During Scullion’s verbiage I’d snuck glimpses of his face, the scar tissue stretched like ropey fibers covering half his face. His right eye was gone, the hollow of the socket partially buried under layers of leathery mottled skin, the ridge of his nose now melded with the top of his lip, the right side stitched closed by more thick, leathery, ropey skin. He wore a beanie pulled low over his right ear, covering the damage. Without it on, I would likely see the same scar tissue robbing him of hair. A walking stick rested beside his chair.
“I’ve dreamed of this moment for a long time.” The words wheezed and rasped their way out. His next inbreath sounded as though it was sucked through a straw. His mouth, sown on one side by scar tissue, struggled to form the words into coherency, though I understood enough.
“You know who I am?”
“Yes.” My yes was as strained as his voice, but not due to sucking in lungfuls of heat and smoke. I’d walled myself up. Did he hear it in my voice? Did he care?
I knew this man. I hated this man. There was nothing he could say I would be willing to hear.
“I know who you are.”
He nodded, the movement stiff. And I could only feel gratitude for the fire. Without it McManus would’ve sought me out long ago. And perhaps had the strength to win.
“I wasn’t sure McGilus knew.”
“He didn’t. Nathan told me.”
He nodded again. Stretched tight across his face, the skin veiled any expression he would make.
“Of course.” He whistled and wheezed in another breath. The talk was taxing. Good, it meant he would not say a lot.
“My old friend.”
“He doesn’t see it like that.”
McManus sunk his head, not very far. The skin on the back of his neck had to be ruined as well for he only managed a partial head droop. “That is fair.”
“Enough conversation for now,” Scullion interrupted.
McManus raised a hand, “I wish more time.”
“Time is not our friend at the moment. We need to keep moving. I do not trust the Darkwells scum.”
McManus ignored Scullion, keeping his one eye on me. “I wanted you. Your mother and you.”
“Not because you loved me.”
He slowly shook his head. “You are wrong.”
“I read mum’s journal.”
That caught his attention.
“That’s right. Mum wrote a journal. The only thing of hers not destroyed in the fire because she gave it to Nathan before hand, just like she did me. She never loved you. You should know that. She was vulnerable, emotionally shredded when she turned to you. It wasn’t love that made her sleep with you. It was desperation.”
If only I could read his expression. I wanted to know if any of what I said hurt him as much as he had hurt my mother.
“Come now,’ Scullion moved between us. “
This reunion was supposed to be civil.” He looked to the ceiling with a sigh. “Families. Too much tension. You’re far better off without them.”
“You are because of me,” McManus said, ignoring Scullion in a sudden forceful rasp.
“Are there others like me? How many times did you try?”
“There are no others,” McManus said.
“It seems that supernatural DNA does not like to be tampered with,” Scullion said. “It’s ironic that we should be so powerful compared to the wissend, and yet our DNA so fragile. One tamper and it all falls apart. It is rigorous in its exclusion of everything accept the ability it was born with. It makes you a miracle.”
“A mutant you mean.”
“My point exactly,” Scullion said. “Darkwells propaganda. You, my child, are a marvel not a mutant. And don’t let any one convince you otherwise. One day you will know your true worth. One day when you stand beside us, strong and proud, you will understand how far the council will go to undermine you, how much they will despise you. That is when you will know your friends, the people you can trust.”
“I already have friends. People who care for me as I am.”
“Don’t be a fool. There is not one person in this world that doesn’t want something for themselves. Love is a fickle emotion, which lasts as long as there is something to gain. Even the simple reflection of your love is a gain. Without it you would not give so freely. It saddens me to hear your naivety, Samara. This world is a cruel place. To live with such innocence. You are sure to be crushed. Your father knows this. As I do. That is why we wish to hone you, sharpen you, hardened you. It is the only way to survive.”
“I will fight you.” I looked to my father. “Both of you.”
“I would’ve been disappointed if you didn’t,” Scullion said.
“My friends will find me.” I wanted neither of them to hear Luca’s name.
“We have plans for their arrival.”
No doubt, but if Luca and I could work together again, maybe we could be enough to overcome anything they threw our way. That’s if Luca came after me, which he would. I believed he would. I had to believe in him.
23
Muffled talking woke me. At first I thought I was back at Nylph house and the voices were from some of my house members. Staring at a gray wall when I opened my eyes was like a rude slap into reality. No Nylph, just a stark dull room devoid of any furniture but the metal bed I lay on.
They’d drugged me again, after our conversation. They didn’t want me knowing my way around in case I found a way out of this place. There was no point trying the door handle, but I did anyway, once I managed to stay standing without a dizzy spell, which took a good ten minutes to clear my head. As I suspected the door was locked, mechanically, not magically. Cunning lot, they would know locking me up with spells and incantations wouldn’t work as I could take that magic and use it. I think. I wasn’t sure how, but magic was my friend. No matter what energy was thrown my way, I could manipulate it somehow and make it my own, even if it was a random ejection of what I took in.
I crossed to the narrow window and looked out onto the gray day. It was already daytime. They’d shifted me elsewhere while I was unconscious, into what appeared like an old industrial park, desolate if the broken windows and graffitied walls of the building next door were any indication. The snow banked up knee deep on this side and there were tracks wandering in a crooked line down between the two buildings. Whatever made them walked on two legs. And I say whatever because I’d seen some interesting things over the last twenty-four hours to kill any assumption two tracks meant human.
The voices receded from when I had first woke, but now they grew louder again. Whoever were having the conversation headed this way. Their talking was followed by the sound of their footsteps, ambling down the hall.
My first reaction was to hide, but in a room with a metal bed and no bedlinen I had scant choice. I could use the door as my cover and pounce out once they entered the room. All I needed was one touch and I’d gain control of their power. In fact that sounded like a great idea. No way would I remain passive in this predicament. My father was about to learn a thing or two about his daughter. I hoped to make him regret colluding with Scullion. In the process, I hoped to teach Scullion a lesson as well.
I pressed my ear to the door once the footsteps were close. Two men, and neither of them sounded like they were in agreement with each other. The door was thick enough their voices were muffled. Dammit. It would be good to know if either of them was Rosta or Scullion, since those two had some kick ass power I could use. I was no stranger to telekinetics and sorcery, even an air elemental would be handy, since I had the most experience with that ability.
I inhaled deep and held my breath, pressing my ear flat to the door and a few of the words strained through.
“…if not for our help….” Was a snippet I heard before the rest of the sentence faded away.
“You will be rewarded soon enough.” Whoever spoke those words had a deeper, gruff voice, which traveled through the thick wood clear enough.
“…expect some time with the girl…”
Sounded like I was being traded back and forth. McGilus had long suspected there was a leak in Darkwells, feeding the skurks information about the newbies. It seemed the leak stood on the other side of the door, but it was not a voice I recognized, not that I knew every teacher or student at Darkwells.
And what were these people expecting of me? That they would share me back and forth, all hoping to tap into my ability and use it for their own gain?
They came toward the door, their voices growing clearer.
“We expect her to arrive in a reasonable time, healthy,” came the softer voice.
“You’re not in the position to make demands,” said the gruffer voice.
The closer they came to my door, the further my pulse jacked until the thrash of my blood drowned anything else they said. I pressed myself against the wall. This was a stupid plan, my only plan. It wasn’t going to work. But I had no choice. I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my palms to remind myself I was still alive and to force myself to concentrate. Although, at the moment, my anxiety worked just as well at harnessing my mind. Luca would be proud of me if he could creep into my mind at this moment and learn how every thread of my concentration focused on each step the two men made, how I slowed my breath to keep myself from flipping into panic and doing something silly. Stay open. Suck as much of the energy in.
All I had to do was grab the closest to me and wing it from there. Top notch plan that was bound not to work.
The lock clanked and clunked for seconds before it was finally free, a deadbolt by the sounds of things, plus the extra jangling of chains. Anyone would think they were containing a shifter like Barish. What I wouldn’t do for some of his juice right now.
As the door opened I calculated my best chance to pounce, which was once they had moved into the room. And seeing a bare room would hopefully suck them in to investigate.
“Looks like you lost someone,” said the gentler voice upon seeing I wasn’t there.
“Fuck, it can’t be. Check the window.”
When I saw the hand and sleeve of the closest guy around the door, I leaped forward, latching onto his arm.
He grunted, jerking his arm away, but I’d grabbed hold with both hands in anticipation of his fight. I shunted a big breath out, my means of forcing myself to stay open. And the energy that rushed up my arm felt like a violent invasion. This was nothing like Luca and McGilus. This energy came from a cruel soul, tainted by his ugly deeds. It felt filthy and black.
“Get the bitch off me,” he yelled.
I didn’t even bother to look at the other guy. My eyes locked on the guy whose arm I held. A foot taller than me, with a solid frame carrying plenty of extra pounds, his face looked ready for a fight, but his body said otherwise. Supes didn’t need to be in shape to be able to defend themselves and this guy had enough of an energetic loa
d to do some damage.
It was in me, his ability was raging in through our touch, but it was no good me draining, draining, draining. I had to do something useful with what I stole. Luca’s power had been too great for me to close the gate, not to mention I wanted the guy inside of me anyway possible, physically or energetically. Not this asshole. The filth of him was making me feel sick, plus the mark shot a wake up call into my thigh. It was loving this extra boost. I had to pull the plug on his energy ASAP.
The guy clenched his teeth, his face screwing up in disgust as he looked at me. I stared into his eyes, wanting him to see his expression reflected in my own, then I scrunched my eyes and pressed my tongue between my teeth as I tried to eject his energy out of me, into him, with as much force as I could muster. With a growl in rage, he yanked his arm from my grasp. I felt it go at the same time as I felt myself airborne. Flung backward across the room, I smashed into the bed, took it with me in my backward momentum with the scraping screech of metal legs across the floor until we both crashed into the wall. A loud, hollow clang like metal hitting concrete rang out as I flopped like a rag doll down onto the mattress.
Too many places hurt on my body, and I dared not move. Helpless in front of my captives was not a good time to get precious about my injuries. I pushed up from the bed to see the telekinetic crumpled in a heap in the hall having been ejected out the door. The backwash. Shit. I’d succeeded in shifting him, but I was not in the position to capitalize on my success. A metal pole from the head of the metal bedhead had broken away from the impact of hitting the wall and had rolled across the floor. A possible weapon, but against two big guys, unlikely.
“Impressive,” said the guy with the soft voice.
Only now did I look at him and was instantly swept away by his beauty. A angelic face, sandy blond hair, perfect cheekbones and lips like the guy had been sculptured from the greek gods. His denims sat low on his hips, the first few buttons of his shirt undone, giving me a sneak peek of his smooth chest and the shadow of a glorious pec.
Bloody hell. A fae. If not for our help. They had been his very words. I’d heard at least that part clear enough. Emrol the bastard. No I didn’t want to believe he was also behind this, but I could no more believe there were separatists within the fae realm than I could believe a pig would fly through this door any moment. Their loyalty was absolute to the queen and each other. If a fae was here it was because their queen was in on my kidnapping. The only reason she’d not kept me in her realm on Christmas day was because she did not want the suspicion to fall to her or any of her fae.