Skin Deep (A DarkWorld Novel - Book 1) (The DarkWorld Series)

by Ayer, T. G.

  I remained in the corner of my cell, feigning unconsciousness, and getting mighty fed-up of lying low to protect myself. I felt naked without my bow, but thankfully the bracelet was still on my arm. Niko and his goons had been unable to pry it off.

  Its weight was solid and warm along my arm, and I wondered again what reason Grams had for giving me the talisman. Its runic carvings and heavy gold-like metal both strange and comforting at the same time. The look on Tara's face, when she ran the tips of her fingers along its smooth glowing surface, had been enough to satisfy me. I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. It was protection. But what was it supposed to protect me from? It could hardly free me from a cell.

  A grunt of pain. Anjelo was regaining his faculties next door. Cracking an eye open, I watched as he dropped his weight onto an arm, while massaging his skull with the other. The next second his body stiffened. He recognized Lily's prone form beneath his legs.

  Anjelo looked around. His eyes paused briefly over me and the slow deliberate blink he performed confirmed to me at least one person in the room knew I was fully conscious and faking it. He turned Lily over in his arms, as gently as if he were handling a newborn. Brushing hair from her face he placed his next to hers and whispered into her ear.

  Sniggers and low laughter drifted to me and I could only assume Niko and his team found the tender sight amusing.

  "Anjelo?" I heard the whisper she returned. She uttered his name again, her voice was so filled with remorse and regret that I found it supremely difficult to maintain my charade. Her eyes filled with tears as she gazed into his eyes, droplets spilling as fast as they gathered.

  I felt guilty, to be able to hear this private exchange. But since Niko and Greer and all their awful henchmen were also privy to the lover’s conversation, it somehow felt right for me to be their positive support.

  "I'm so s-sorry." She stumbled on the words, so hasty was she to voice them. "I shouldn't have fought with you. I was being so selfish."

  "Shhhh. You don't have to say anything right now, Lil." Anjelo, wanting to spare her from baring her soul in full view of their evil captor, tried to silence her.

  "All I wanted was a score. I couldn't think about anything else until I got my next fix." Tears fell from her eyes and ran down the side of her face, disappearing into the hair above her ears, as she lay in his arms. "I lied to you, Anjelo. And I'm so sorry."

  Anjelo shook his head, and was about to speak when she cut him off. Now she had the chance she was going to say her peace. "I hid my addiction from you. Because I was ashamed. Of needing the drugs. Of being what I am."

  Lily had been forced to keep the deepest nastiness of her life bottled up inside for so long, that now the opportunity was here, the words began to tumble out in a torrent, an avalanche of confessions and apologies which stunned her audience.

  I could tell from the way Anjelo's jaw moved - up and down - like a jackhammer, only slowed down to one-tenth speed. The news hit him hard, and I knew he was deeply hurt by all the lies.

  "Anjelo, I'm...I'm Pariah."

  He looked at her, confusion clouding the thousand emotions warring in his eyes.

  "I can't change. Never been able to."

  "I thought you didn't change because you disliked your creature?"

  "I lied to you. I'm a freak, and I was so afraid you would turn me away." Lily met his eyes, fearless in the face of a final rejection. She must have felt like she had nothing to lose.

  The silence that followed was pain filled, gut-wrenching. Had I not still been feigning unconsciousness I would certainly have been biting my fingernails like a chipmunk with a peanut.

  But Anjelo always had his heart in the right place. It was the reason he had followed my trail right out of our colony, the reason he'd banded with Storm to form a protective group for people like him needing a home away from home. The reason he trailed both Lily and myself through the school halls making sure we were safe and unharmed.

  "You don't need to say any more. I understand. You did what you had to do to protect yourself." He began to rock the crying girl, which only seemed to wring greater sobs from her. I knew she hadn't expected understanding and consideration from him. And I wondered then, about her family and how they had dealt with her defect. Did they hide it like my father had hidden Greer's and Niko’s condition, even from family? Did they manipulate her, use her, abuse her?

  Whatever they'd done had made her leave her home and everything she knew. Probably, in her case, she was better off with the Devil she didn't know.

  Finally she quieted. Lily looked up at Anjelo and smiled through a curtain of sleek tears. At least they were together.

  Niko sneered as he watched the young couple. The muscles in his arms tensed, and he gripped them in a macabre hug. He seemed unable to control his aggravation as he stormed to the cell, keying in the code to open the door. Lily and Anjelo, startled by the sudden interruption, stared at him. Lily began to quiver again, and grabbed for Anjelo, sensing as I did, that she would be parted from him again. All I could do was watch from my glass prison, helpless. Useless.

  Niko stepped into the cell and hit Anjelo at the back of his head, knocking him out. Niko caught him by the arm before he slid to the ground, lifting him with a superhuman strength. He ripped the young Walker from Lily, who tried to grab at Anjelo's arm, before stepping out of the cell. Niko sneered as he locked the glass door.

  "No. No." Lily slammed her palm on the glass over and over again. "What are you doing with him?" She screamed at him so loud that she began to cough.

  I rose and followed suit, shouting at my uncle, needing to know he wouldn't harm my friend. Niko spared me a glance. For the briefest moment I saw regret in those dark eyes. Then they iced over, cold and remote again. He tossed Anjelo's battered body at the halitosis-plagued guard, who stepped back to allow the unconscious boy to fall at his feet. The guard lifted Anjelo and dumped him onto the nearest gurney.

  Niko chose the gurney deliberately. Lily and I had the best view in the house. I never pegged my uncle for a sadistic bastard, but it looked like he'd become one. Soon Niko had the drip set up and was feeding a clear drug into Anjelo's veins. My heart hammered in my throat and I banged on the glass again, but he paid me no mind at all.

  Niko readied the defibrillator, absently massaging the handles of the paddles with his thumbs while the machine beeped its way to readiness.

  Niko placed the paddles onto the young Panther's bared chest. Anjelo's body bucked with the force of the electricity which charged through him. Niko waited, watching Anjelo's vitals on a monitor at his side. I watched, tears blurring my vision and moistening my cheeks. Anjelo's eyes rolled erratically, as if deep in REM sleep, but the force of the drug seemed to have total control over him. When his body ceased its intermittent shivering, Niko repeated the shock treatment. I felt the energy surge through my own body as I watched the poor boy tortured by a man who would’ve been an elder in our clan. Someone who should’ve been protector and not persecutor.

  The second charge of power triggered Anjelo's change. His skin rippled, darkened. His limbs thinned and lengthened. The garish light bared Anjelo's profile, and I watched as the ridge of his forehead rose, his nostrils widened and flattened, and his jaw lengthened. I'd seen Anjelo change only a handful of times but never in such crude clarity.

  It was infinitely painful to watch this abuse of my friend and not be able to put an end to his suffering. Then Anjelo lay on his side, tremors coursed through his feline body and he gazed at me through wide, black, liquid eyes. It must have been fate that ensured the boy now faced Lily and myself.

  Cruel fate, to allow him to watch the agony and grief splayed across our faces.

  Lily lay on the floor, her tears still not spent, as she shared in his agony. Anjelo's paw twitched, pulled against the leather straps which held him down. Inevitably they were much looser on his feline limbs. But he was within the thrall of the drug, it did not occur to him to try to escape, that the bindin
gs were loose enough and all he had to do was shift his body and he would be free.

  Niko laughed.

  The harsh bark echoed around the tiled room, although the glass walls of my prison served to dull the sound. It did not detract from the stab of pain I felt.

  The sound was ominous in its freedom from conscience. As if now that Anjelo was in animal form, Niko had no reason to care what he subjected the boy to. Anjelo was not as meek as Niko assumed.

  Life flickered in his eyes as the drug wore off. Niko couldn’t have given him a strong enough dose. Anjelo tilted his head to get a better look at his captors placement and as my uncle moved to the side of the gurney, filled with an arrogant surety his plan was going his way, Anjelo took the opportunity afforded him.

  He flew at Niko, snarling and growling and snapping at his persecutors face and hands. Anjelo meant business, teeth meeting over and over again. Blood dripped from Niko's wounds as he tried in vain to defend himself. In a blink, Anjelo had Niko flat on his back, staring up at bare and hungry teeth.

  Niko lay on the floor, quivers of fear running through him. He stared up at the furious Panther, with beseeching eyes. Anjelo sniffed at Niko. If I were free from my glass cage I would’ve smelled the odor of raw fear mixed with feral anger. Hatred pooled in the saliva dripping from Anjelo's jaw.

  I watched as Anjelo fought his innermost desire was to sink his teeth into this man and wreak his vengeance. Being so close to Niko's blood would stir the fire inside him. I glanced over at Lily, worried what this might do to her if she survived this ordeal. How would she deal with the memory of her lover killing another in front of her eyes? He swiped a heavy paw at Niko's head and knocked him unconscious.

  Anjelo's teeth closed over Niko's neck, he seemed driven, controlled by his fury. Greer screamed something at the guards and they both rushed forward, grabbing Anjelo by the head and body, pulling him off Niko. Anjelo struggled but one guard had his head in a vice grip.

  They threw him off Niko. In an instant Anjelo changed again, lying on the cold white tiles, naked, skin moist and glistening.

  The loud shout of the gun broke our concentration and my shocked gaze flew to Anjelo. And the dart sticking out of his neck, swaying in an invisible wind.

  ***

  Chapter 37

  Logan rose from the screen of bushes and readied himself, while Jess waited behind him, ready to attack. He focused the energy within his core, strengthened it, tighter and tighter, until the point where he was unable to hold onto it any longer. Then he let go.

  Holding the burgeoning force in check worked very much like a sling, the energy so tightly coiled that when released it flew like a missile. Logan hadn't taken long to perfect his talent. It was only his guilt and grief which hampered the progress in the very beginning. But that was a long time ago and he refused to consider the possibility that he would lose Kailin like he lost his mother.

  The orb of energy didn't glow or shimmer. A good thing considering the darkened backyard. The brick wall simply exploded. The parts of the wall which did not disintegrate were shaken so much as to loosen the bricks from the mortar so all that was needed was a slight shove to topple what was left.

  The lab was still lit brightly by the overhead fluorescent tubing, but Iain, Logan and the rest of the operatives slipped in under cover of the raised dust and the disorganized mayhem.

  ***

  The explosion rocked the room and spurred us straight to our feet, faces pressed against the glass, eager to see some progress to our escape. We had instinctively drawn closer to each other in spite of being sealed in our respective cells. Lily looked at me at. Her eyes, rimmed with red from the tears she'd shed for Anjelo, now held a faint glow of hope. My heart ached for her. Her behavior of the past was forgotten. How could I hold onto snipey comments made by an angry teenager toward a sister she was jealous of and didn't understand?

  I watched the mayhem outside. Saw figures slip into the room. Watched the dust settle slowly, Niko's goons batting it away, hoping to see what caused the commotion. It only stirred the concrete and mortar powder more.

  My full attention was on the mayhem outside my cell, and I barely registered the lack of air within the cell. Only when I keeled over, did I feel the pressure of lack of oxygen pulling me down. I fell to my knees, hitting the windows with my palms. A vain attempt, I was sure nobody would hear me.

  I keened for breath, rasping, wheezing. My lungs compressed and hurt like the blazes. When I raised heavy eyelids hoping to see someone on their way to help, I caught Niko watching me. My uncle gazed at me the way a kid would watch an insect die. Morbid fascination and not a shadow of pity or regret.

  Next to him, Greer watched in horror. Torn between her allegiance to my uncle and the shock of watching her sibling die. At least I knew that some form of affection existed for me.

  I slumped, my head propped against the glass between the cells as I slid to the ground. I must have slipped into the first stages of unconsciousness. The bright blinking spots of light in my eyes faded into blackness. Just as suddenly, my lungs filled with oxygen again. Oxygen and dust, which sent me into a fit of uncontrollable coughing.

  The side of my face and my arm stung like crazy. I tried to rub the irritation away, and my fingers came away bloody. A glance around me revealed I sat in a puddle of shattered glass. Someone had destroyed the walls of the cells, allowing Lily and myself to breathe again, giving us back our lives.

  "There, by the wall. Kill them." Niko's voice broke on the hysterical shriek, slurred on the spittle which flew from his bruised lips as he aimed a shattered claw at the intruders.

  He was nearly apoplectic when he watched his two goons simply crumple to the ground.

  While Niko had his attention and anger focused on his unconscious employees, I rolled onto my knees and stood on shaky legs, dusting myself off, heedless of the glass shards slicing little jags into my skin. I'd seen a gun spin and slide under one of the lab tables near. And I needed a weapon.

  Whatever happened to the guards, it seemed couldn't be duplicated on Niko or Greer, as both were still standing. I looked around for my insane uncle and for a second had no idea where he was. Until his fingers grabbed onto my hair, and pull me against him.

  "Put your weapons down."

  It seemed a strange thing to yell just because he had me caught. That was what I thought until I felt the prick of a needle on the soft flesh of my neck. Damn. The needle he held to my neck was attached to a rather large syringe filled with an ominous green liquid. I assumed it was not Happiness Serum. I felt a sickening fear embed it claws in my gut. Niko was crazy, liable to do anything. He could kill me to get off on it.

  "If you want the girl alive, put your weapons down. Now."

  I stared at the three figures in front of me. None of them were armed.

  "If you co-operate with us, things will look much better for you in court," Logan's voice rang out.

  Finally. He'd certainly taken his time. But what in Ailuros' name was he up to? Buying time?

  Niko must have thought Logan's offer was as hilarious as it sounded to me. He laughed so hard that the point of the needle pierced my skin just enough for a trickle of blood to slide slowly down my neck.

  Logan, taking stock of the blood edging its way along my neck, stepped forward.

  "Stop. You're hurting her."

  My uncle sniggered as he pressed the syringe deeper into the soft skin of my neck. Pain arced at the point where insidiously sharp metal speared sensitive flesh. For all the pain it was still only a threat. The point had only broken skin so far.

  "You had better keep your distance boy. I don't care who she is - I will kill her if you don't listen."

  Logan scowled, not certain how to make sense of Niko's comment. Until Iain stepped into the light.

  I was so relieved to see my brother that my knees sagged and I fell against Niko for a moment. Only until I felt the needle poke against my skin again, my movement pressing the sharp point against
my neck. I stood up straight immediately almost uncaring of the needle as I stared at Iain. Tears filmed my eyes.

  "Iain? Now what is my all-important nephew doing mixing with the common people?" Niko's voice was harsh, his words ice.

  "What are you trying to do, Niko?"

  Logan's expression went from scowl to confusion and then astonished realization when he processed the nephew tidbit. He met my eyes and I gave the tiniest of nods still very much aware of the deadly sharp needle pressed against my neck. While Niko's attention was focused on my brother, I sagged lower in my uncles arms, until his grip loosed somewhat. It helped that Iain decided to step closer to us. I dropped lower as soon as I was sure the sharper edge of the needle pointed away from me. Niko, surprised by the sudden loss of control over his captive, overcompensated and swung his arms around me to grab better hold. I side-stepped the grab and swung my fist straight up, into his throat.

  I rolled away, keeping an eye on Greer as I went. Her face bloomed scarlet. What in Ailuros's name was her friggin problem? First, she was upset when she thought I was about to keel over and die, and now she's pissed because I got away from Niko. Perhaps it was the reminder that I could fight, way better than she could.

  I couldn't think further on it. The air in the room grew dense and metallic. Almost suffocating but filled with a bright white light. I scanned for the source of the light and found a shining white pillar spanning the room from floor to ceiling.

  Logan and half his backup team charged. He went straight for Niko, while Iain and the rest attacked Niko's guards. Jess rounded the room and helped Lily to her feet. A sigh of relief escaped me. At least she was safe. She had a lot to do before accepting who she was; trying to convince herself she was not responsible for Anjelo's death would be the hardest part.

  The room, now filled with the grunting sounds of contacting blows and groans of pain, blurred around me. The pressure of the air bore down on me. I turned to check how Jess was doing getting Lily away. Greer slammed into me, dropping me to the ground. We both fell hard, Greer on top, squishing me with all the force she could muster. She was as slight as I was, as Alpha strong too.