by Lola StVil
Now I might have lost all of that. Because of a stupid kiss and because of a pause. I always thought we could get through anything together. I have fought so hard, and I will not let him run. Not this time.
Kane has always believed in me, and the one chance I had of showing him that it went both ways, I screwed up. I tried to explain, to make him understand that I do believe he isn’t a traitor, and that I only paused because I thought he would respond. But he doesn’t believe me. I know he would never sell us out. Why can’t he see that?
I have no intention of sharing any of these thoughts, but as soon as I’m close enough to Perry to talk without shouting, it all pours out of me.
“God, why do men have to be so damn frustrating? Kane thinks I believe he would betray us. I have to make him see that’s not true. I have to fight for him, show him how much I love him and that he’s worthy of being loved.”
Perry looks at me awkwardly.
“Yeah. Sorry if I kind of made that worse,” he says.
I shrug.
“You didn’t. Even if no one else believes in Kane, I do. And he should know that. Yeah, he should. I shouldn’t have to fight to prove that to him. He’s so used to pushing everyone away and running that he doesn’t know how to stay. He knows me, and he should know I would never think that of him. Right?”
“Right,” Perry says.
I’m pretty sure he’d agree with anything I said right now considering the way I’m ranting like a lunatic, but I can’t seem to stop myself.
“Like I don’t have enough going on right now other than dealing with his issues. Oh, screw it, if he wants to end things, fine. It’ll make everything simpler. He’s such a dick. I risked so much for him, but I know he risked a lot for me too. And I get that he’s scared that somehow I’ll change my mind about him, but I won’t. I haven’t. Maybe he was bad once, but that’s in the past. I don’t want anyone else.”
I run out of steam and stop talking. I feel better for getting it all out.
“Sometimes two people just aren’t meant to be. But sometimes they are, and that doesn’t mean it’ll always be easy,” Perry says.
“Yeah, but it shouldn’t be this hard,” I say.
“Exactly. I mean, why would you kiss someone and then run away when they try to talk to you?”
Oh great. We’re back to Regal again. But I didn’t run away. I shut him down. Perry sees the frown on my face as I try to work out how to respond without biting his head off.
“Oh, not you,” he quickly assures me.
“Who did you kiss this time?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
He shakes his head. We’re almost with the others now. They stand to wait for us at the door to the loft.
“Someone who will be the damn death of me,” Perry says just when I figure he isn’t going to tell me.
His eyes flit to Langston, and I raise my eyebrow again. I didn’t see that one coming, but in a way, it makes perfect sense. They might bicker, but they always have each other’s backs when it comes down to it.
Langston glares at Perry. He sticks his tongue out at her, and she looks away quickly. I stand there, shaking my head.
“Come on, we’re wasting time here,” Regal says as we come together. “Let’s get moving.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “There was just something I had to do first.”
“Whatever,” Regal snaps.
The anger and hurt in his eyes are clear to see as he looks at me. It bothers me a little. Regal has been a good friend to me, but that’s all I see him as, and I can’t change that. He’ll have to find a way to move on from his feelings for me. I hope it doesn’t ruin our friendship.
Even if that doesn’t, I think the whole Quinn thing will. I promised Regal we’d deal with her, and we will, but not in the way he wants to. He’s made it clear he won’t rest until she’s dead, and I wonder how he’ll react when he finds out I’m not planning to kill her, I’m planning to save her. I hope I can make him understand.
As we enter the warehouse, the first thing I see is a frail looking old man lying on the ground. He’s bleeding profusely, and his face is so pale it’s almost gray. He moans in pain.
“Please, help me,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper as we enter.
Regal runs across to his side and kneels down beside him.
“Scope the place out. It looks like Quinn’s been here,” I say to the others, and I go to join Regal.
The team split up and begin searching behind the shelving units, pallets, and boxes that line the warehouse.
“Are you Loom?” Regal asks as he works on healing the old man.
“Yes,” the old man replies.
He looks at me.
“And you must be the Seeker,” he adds.
I nod, shocked that he knows who I am.
“What happened to you?” I ask.
I have a suspicion Quinn happened to him.
“I got a message from someone claiming to be the Seeker and explaining that they needed my help with Vulture Valley. I came here expecting to meet you, but instead, I got the Keysu. She tried to convince me to work with her, but I refused. She wanted information about the time I was in Vulture Valley. When I refused to give her the information she wanted, she tortured me.”
He points to his almost fixed wound, a large gaping wound in his stomach that would have killed him if he’d been alone for much longer.
“She did this, and she told me that was just a taste of what she could do to me. I think she would have killed me, but then she was disturbed. She told me she’d be back, and I’d better be willing to talk, and then she was gone. That’s when you guys showed up. I guess she heard you coming,” Loom says.
His wound is healed now, and Regal helps him into a sitting position.
“She’s absolute poison. Who could do something like this to a defenseless old man?”
I am thinking about what to do next when the others come back from their search.
“All clear,” Perry says as they come to stand beside us.
“Loom, are you willing to help us?” I ask.
He shakes his head.
“I want to be left alone,” he says in a shaky voice.
I crouch down beside him, and he shrinks away from me. I stand back up, not wanting him to be afraid of me.
“Look, we’re not going to hurt you,” I assure him.
He sits back up straight, but he looks wary. He’s going to take a lot of convincing, and I feel horrible scaring him.
“Please. You know what’s at stake here. If you give us the information, we’ll protect you from Quinn,” I say.
I hope I’m not making a promise I can’t keep, but as I say it, I mean it. I’m not just going to stand back and let her do this to people.
“Come closer,” Loom whispers to the others.
He gets to his feet and glances around, looking nervous. The others gather in tighter.
“You never know who or what might be hiding in plain sight where magic is concerned,” Loom says.
Loom snaps his fingers, an evil looking smile spreading across his face as he says it. Suddenly, a cage forms around us. Loom takes a step backward and slams the cage closed before any of us have time to react.
As the cage appears, the illusion falls away from Loom. He is no longer a frail old man. He looks to be around forty, and he has straggly blond hair and a rat-like face. He rubs his hands together and smirks at us.
We are all trying to get out of the cage, desperately shaking at the bars and getting nowhere. No matter how hard I pull, there is no give at all.
“Stand back,” I say.
I raise my hands to fire at the door to the cage, but nothing happens. Perry tries to fire through the bars at Loom, but again, nothing happens.
Loom grins.
“What the hell, man? Let us out,” Saudia snaps.
Loom shakes his head, a gleeful look on his ugly face.
“You can all stop wasting your time trying to escape. Th
e cage is enchanted, and your powers have all been neutralized,” he says.
I feel myself getting angry.
“You’re working with Quinn?” Langston says.
I think that’s fairly obvious.
Loom nods and straightens up, pulling himself up to his not very tall height and rearranging his dirty looking black cloak.
“Yes. You will be delivered to her as she requested, and I will get to live the charmed life I deserve. I get to rule my own little piece of Hell, and I can’t wait to come up with new ways to cause havoc and torture the damned. That’s the deal,” he says.
“What did you do with Loom? What did he do to deserve being attacked?”
Loom looks confused for a moment, and then his smile falls back into place.
“Ah, I see where your confusion is coming from. I am Loom. Among my many talents is shapeshifting. The old man you saw was merely a figment of my imagination. As if the mighty Loom could ever be one so frail,” he says.
“You can’t do this,” Regal snaps at him.
“Really? Because it seems like I already have,” Loom says.
“Look, you don’t have to do this. If Quinn is threatening you, we can help you. Just let us out,” Langston tries to reason with him.
Loom throws his head back and laughs.
“Even when you’re told the truth you want to believe that people are good, don’t you? She’s not threatening me. She’s giving me everything I’ve ever wanted,” he says.
“You’re a disgrace to sorcerers everywhere,” Tracey snaps.
“If that’s the best insult you lot can come up with, then I’d quit now if I were you,” Loom says.
“You won’t get away with this. People know where we are. They’ll come for you.”
Loom shrugs.
“By which point you’ll be dead and if they want me, then they’re welcome to pop on down to Hell and find me. Now stop your whining. I’ve chosen my side,” he says.
Perry and Regal are whispering to each other, and I desperately hope they’re coming up with a plan. I have to try and keep Loom distracted so that they can figure it out.
“How did you make that wound look so real?” I ask.
Anything to distract him. Plus, I’m genuinely curious as to what sort of enchantment he could have used that actually faded and made it look like Regal was healing him.
“Oh, that was real,” Loom says. “Quinn told me you would be only too happy to do the right thing and try and heal me. I rolled the dice and bet on you.”
So he’s evil and a little nuts.
Suddenly, Loom looks towards the door and grins.
“Looks like we have company,” he says.
I don’t hear anything, but it’s clear he does. He clicks his fingers, and six demons appear seemingly from nowhere.
“Our last guest is approaching. Keep him busy for a while, but don’t kill him.”
What’s he talking about? Who else even knows he’s here? It’s too soon for Sadie to be sending a search party to find us.
Loom turns back to us with a flourish.
“I told the Keysu she should kill Kane along with the rest of you,” he says.
Kane’s here? I feel a confusing swirl of relief that he can save us and panic that he could end up in here with us.
Loom goes on.
“But she still has a bit of a soft spot for him it seems.”
“Because he’s on her side,” I think I hear Regal mutter, but I can’t be sure, so I don’t say anything.
“I decided to put on a little show for her. Either I’ll make her see he has no loyalty to her whatsoever and then she’ll kill him too, or I’ll convince him to join her. Either way, I’ll get some major brownie points from her,” Loom continues.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I demand.
“Oh, of course, you don’t know the plan, do you? I’m going to convince Kane his whole world has just imploded. He’ll either choose to work with Quinn or work against her. If he chooses to work with her, she’ll allow it. Otherwise, she’ll kill him,” Loom says.
I realize I can hear Kane’s voice. And another voice. Pest’s.
“Now, we can’t have him knowing you’re all still alive, can we?” Loom says.
He waves his hands, and a shimmer appears all around the cage. The warehouse floor is suddenly doused in blood, and splatters of it coat the walls.
Loom closes his eyes, and when he opens them again, he’s Quinn. That is one hell of a dirty trick.
“Guys, what’s this shimmery stuff?” I ask.
It’s obviously meant to keep us here, but if we can somehow get past it, we can at least try to find a way to get out.
“It’s a special shield. We’ll see and hear everything, but no one on the other side will be able to see or hear us.”
I don’t have time to ponder anything else as the door bursts open, and Kane and Pest appear. It’s clear they’ve been in some sort of battle, but the demons have followed Loom’s instructions, and they’re not badly hurt.
“Where are they?” Kane demands.
“You’re too late, dear brother. They’re all dead,” Loom says, appearing to Kane as Quinn.
“Bullshit, they could take you. You’re nowhere near as powerful as you think you are. Now, I’ll ask you again. Where are they?”
Loom throws his head back and laughs. The sound is so Quinn-like even I’m starting to believe it’s her.
“Look at all this blood. Don’t tell me you’re naïve enough to believe they survived this?”
“It’s a trick, Quinn. You can’t play the player,” Kane snaps.
I start to feel a ray of hope. Kane isn’t falling for Loom’s act as easily as he hoped.
“I killed them, and you know it. But I didn’t just kill them. I tortured them first. I made them beg for death, just like Remy,” Loom says.
Kane shakes his head, but I can see he’s starting to believe it’s true.
“I saved Atlas for last so that I could see her break as I killed her team one by one. I planned to keep her alive until you got here so that I could watch the last piece of her die as I killed you. But you know what? She didn’t love you, Kane. She never did. But the look on her face when I killed Regal. That was true pain.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Kane yells.
“Her heart shattered the second he took his last breath,” Loom continues.
I can’t breathe. Loom knows just what buttons to press to enrage Kane, and it’s working. Quinn must have filled him in on what happened between Regal and me. That damn kiss is going to haunt me forever.
If Loom continues down this path, all logic will leave Kane in moments and he’ll go into a blind rage. I can’t watch, and I tear my eyes away from him. They come to land on Pest.
He’s looking towards a small window with a broken pane of glass where a bird has just flown in. Pest watches the bird as it floats towards us, whistling.
I get it. He can’t bear to watch what’s going to happen next either.
The bird flies towards the cage, and abruptly, it stops whistling and turns in midair and flies back out the window. It seems even the bird doesn’t want to see what’s coming. Pest frowns slightly as it leaves.
“You know what her last words were?” Looms says, a sick note of humor in his voice. “I should have chosen Regal.”
That does it. Loom has pushed Kane over the edge, and he roars in anger and steps towards Loom, his hands rising to grab him.
“Kane, no!” I scream, even though I know he can’t hear me. “I would never choose Regal over you.”
I hear Regal’s intake of breath beside me. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t exactly tactful, but I couldn’t help it. It just burst out of me as the truth tends to do when you’re feeling pressure like this.
As Kane reaches Loom, Loom waves his hand and a force field springs up, encasing Kane and Pest. I watch as the anger drains from Kane, replaced by a level of despair I’ve never seen in him before. His shou
lders slump, and he falls to his knees. Loom has done it. He’s convinced him that we’re all dead.
Pest steps closer to Kane and crouches down beside him. He whispers to him, something to try and make him feel better I suspect. Kane nods slightly.
“I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you that, Kane, but I thought you deserved to know the truth. This whole time, Atlas and Regal have wanted each other, laughing together behind our backs. It hurts, but I got revenge. For both of us. Because whether we like it or not, we’re family, Kane. And family sticks together,” Loom says.
Kane gets back to his feet.
“Right. You’ve had your fun, Quinn. Isn’t it time you killed us and got this whole thing over with?” Kane says.
“You still don’t get it, do you? I don’t want to kill you, brother. I want you to stand by my side. I know you were blinded by that bitch, Atlas, as I was by Regal, but I reclaimed myself, and I’m offering you the chance to do the same. Join me, Kane, and together, we can rule everything,” Loom says.
“Don’t do it,” I whisper.
Behind me, I hear Saudia.
“Come on, Kane; you know this is bullshit,” she says.
Kane looks at Pest, who frantically shakes his head.
“She’s lying, Kane,” Pest says. “Don’t do this. You were changing. For Atlas. She saw the good in you. Don’t let her down now.”
“Atlas betrayed me, Pest. She was using me to take Quinn down, and after that was done, she would have dumped me and been with the one she really wanted,” Kane rages.
Loom smiles.
“That’s not true,” Pest insists.
“Sure it is. And if you don’t stop talking, I’ll kill you next,” he addresses Pest.
“Leave him out of it,” Kane snaps.
Loom holds his hands up in mock surrender.
“Fine. He’s not important. What’s important is our revenge.”
“How can you get revenge on someone who is already dead?” Pest says.
“I can’t,” Kane says.
He turns back to Loom. “But I can stop pretending to be something I’m not. Let’s do this…sister, as a family.”
I feel as though the bottom has just dropped out of my world. I’m spinning, plummeting. I can’t speak, can’t think. I can only watch as Kane smiles and holds out his arms to Loom.