Captive (Tainted Elements, Book 4)

by Linwood, Alycia

  “I can’t believe you jumped off a building,” Raven said.

  “How do you know...?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

  “The videos of your jump were all over the Internet until the government blocked them,” Blake said, his eyes focused on the screen. “You did two great things. You got us the list and you impressed quite a lot of people. Even if Lily sends someone with mind control after them, she won’t be able to find them all and erase the memories of everyone in that area.”

  “We should have planned this better. I didn’t know they could turn off the energy everywhere and that they had toxic clouds to drive out unwanted guests! How could you let me do this?” Anger welled up inside of me. Blake shouldn’t have let me risk my life so easily, and for what? For some stupid list? I’d had to kill people... The world spun around me and I grabbed the desk for support.

  “We have the list,” Blake said, his eyes meeting mine. “Our Strong might be on it. That’s all that matters. Remember? We’ll do anything to complete the ritual. Whatever you had to do in that building was for the greater good.”

  “Yes, the greater good,” I found myself saying. I was still slightly lightheaded, so I took a seat next to Blake and focused on the screen. There was a list of names on it, but it wasn’t long. Maybe twenty or so tainted elementals. What were the chances that one of them was the Strong? I quickly skimmed through the list, but Blake deleted one of the names before I could read it. “Why did you delete that?” I asked.

  “I know that guy. He’s not the one we’re looking for.” Blake turned to me and offered me such a sweet smile that I couldn’t help but smile back.

  “Okay, whatever you say.” I looked at the list again, and something about some of the names made me hesitate. Noah Boine. Kenna Elinders. Nick Elinders. Marissa Wilberg. Ashley Morisen. Sam Aereus. I read the names again and again. There was something about them... Had I heard of them? Seen those names somewhere else?

  “Everything okay?” Blake was observing me carefully, and I leaned away from the screen.

  “Yeah, I’m just wondering how we’re going to check on all those people. That’s a huge list.”

  “Don’t worry about it. We’ll divide the list among us and figure it out. If the elemental proves to be weak or one of us defeats him easily, then he can’t be the Strong. We don’t have to let everyone touch the book to know,” Blake said, and I bit down on my lower lip.

  “We can eliminate some of those names easily,” Raven said, coming to stand behind Blake. “We’ve run into a few of them already.”

  “Baby, maybe you should get some rest. You’ve done your part of the job and you’ve been amazing. Let Raven and me deal with this,” Blake said, reaching out to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Okay?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded, getting to my feet. I needed a little break anyway. It had been a crazy day.

  A light breeze ruffled my hair as I emerged onto the balcony. Blake was leaning on the black railing, his face pensive as he gazed at the waves that were crashing against the shore. We’d sent the others to check on the tainted elementals that were on the list so they could bring us the strongest ones. So far, none of our guys had returned, but it was still early. The sun was high in the sky, its warm rays caressing my skin.

  “What troubles your mind?” I asked, placing my hand on Blake’s shoulder.

  “Nothing.” He turned around and cupped my face, pulling me in for a kiss. When he withdrew, his eyes filled with sadness. “Did I ever tell you who owned this house?”

  I shook my head. When Blake had first brought me to this two-story house outside the city and so close to the coast, I’d been thrilled. The view was magnificent, and there was a nice long beach nearby just for us. For some reason, Blake didn’t want to go swimming or sunbathe with me, but I didn’t want to push him. We had better things to do than have fun.

  “Her name was Alessandra Mongardi,” he said.

  I had no idea why he was telling me that.

  “She was my mother,” he said, his eyes searching mine.

  “Oh.” I touched my throat, my lips parting. “You never talk about your family...” He’d told me his parents were dead, and I assumed the memory of them had to be painful, so I didn’t want to ask him anything about it.

  “She was an element preserver.” He stepped away from me, gazing at the sea.

  “What?” I gaped at him. His mother had been an element preserver? But that meant she’d had magic disease. It was a good thing he hadn’t inherited the disease from her.

  “Yeah. I was lucky and didn’t get the disease. My father...” Blake went quiet for a moment. “My father used genetic manipulation to make sure I would be born healthy.”

  “I’m glad it worked out,” I said softly, then frowned. “Is that why you have three elements? Because your mother had more than one?” People with magic disease craved other people’s elements because they didn’t have their own, but element preservers could actually keep their own element or any elements they might have taken from other people. Once they had all four elements, they were mostly stable and were able to function normally, even if they’d been out of control before.

  “Yeah, I guess.” He shrugged. “I was never much into genetics.”

  “What elements did she have?”

  “Ice and fire. My father had air.” His jaw was clenched, and I had a feeling I was missing a part of the story.

  “So how did she get those two elements?” I wondered if Blake would answer. The only way element preservers could get another element was to take it from a dying person, but maybe she had been one of those who’d received element donations. Some people actually signed up to donate their elements if they were about to die. But donations were done only in extreme cases when an element preserver couldn’t control the disease anymore, and usually all four elements were donated at the same time to achieve stability. If Blake’s mother had had only two elements, that put the donation option in question.

  “She was born with a sub-element. Ice.” He gripped the railing, his knuckles becoming white. “She was forced to take the second element when she was taken to a lab as one of the experiments.”

  “Oh God.” Not so long ago, element preservers had been hunted as we were today. Scientists loved to catch those who were different and subject them to cruel and inhuman experiments.

  “My father was one of the scientists.” Blake laughed nervously. “He was against any kind of experimentation on human beings, and he managed to get my mother out of there. Then he quit and opened a lab to research a cure for the disease. I was born not long after that. And two years later, my sister.”

  “You have a sister?” I asked. He’d never mentioned a sister before, and I wondered where she was.

  “Yeah, I had a sister.” His eyes were cold, a tic starting in his jaw. “Until she was taken from me, like my parents.”

  “What happened?” I placed my hand over his, giving him a gentle squeeze.

  “Men came one day. Broke into our home. I don’t know who they were working for, but I do know it was a governmental organization. I don’t know what they wanted. Maybe they found out what my father had done, and they wanted to take my mother and us to see what happened with the children of element preservers.” His voice cracked a little. “They killed my father on the spot. Put a bullet through his head. They grabbed my sister and my mother. My sister was still so young, and my mom tried to protect her, but... they drugged her with something. I was standing in the doorway when they spotted me, too, and they would have captured me, but I was almost twelve, and somehow, my element surged out and I turned into air. I disappeared right in front of their eyes.”

  “That’s...” I didn’t know what to say because there were no words to describe how horrible that was. The men who’d come for Blake’s family couldn’t have known about tainted elementals so early, I supposed, but what they’d witnessed must have intrigued them even more.

  “I didn’t know what I was doing
and I couldn’t control it, so I just flew out of the house. By the time I managed to stop myself, there was nothing I could do. The men had taken my mother and sister, and they’d left a message for me. They said they would let them go in exchange for me.”

  I pulled him into a hug, running circles down his back. “What happened then?” I couldn’t help but ask.

  “I was just a stupid kid and I believed them, so I went to the address they’d indicated.” He stepped away from me, scratching his head. “When I got there, they captured me.” He was quiet for a moment. “And they didn’t let any of us go. They experimented on us...” His hands clenched into fists, his neck corded. “The things they did to us... Neither my mother nor my sister survived, but I did.”

  “How did you escape?” I couldn’t believe I didn’t know about such an important part of Blake’s life, especially since we’d been together for so long.

  “One day, the scientists became too sure of themselves and enhanced my elements a bit too much.” A slow smile curved his lips. “I killed every single one of them and got myself out.” He finally looked at me, as if searching my face for a reaction. “I let the whole place burn to the ground.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I said, pulling him into my arms.

  “But no matter how many labs we destroy, they’ll keep popping up, and bad people will want to have what they can’t. We have to stop them.” He took my hands in his and placed them on his face. “You and I. Together. We’ll take the power of all elements, and then there won’t be anything anyone can do to hurt us ever again.”

  I looked deep into his eyes, seeing so much determination in them. “What about the Strong? Won’t the power be divided among the three of us? The prophecy says...”

  “Yes, yes. The prophecy says the three of us will suck all elemental energy that exists in the world and take it for ourselves.” He let go of me, frowning. “Don’t you agree with me? Should we let the world be as it is? A world where we’re envied, and hidden, and hunted down?”

  “No, of course not. I know there are bad people out there, but does everyone deserve to lose their element? And what about those like us?”

  Blake’s body went rigid, his lip curling. “You’ve seen how bad this world is, and it looks like you aren’t willing to do anything to change that! Don’t you get it? This is our destiny! We’re supposed to help everyone. If there are no elements, magic disease carriers and element preservers will finally be free because they’ll no longer feel the need to kill healthy elementals to get their element. And they can’t feel ours, so this makes it perfect. Magic disease won’t matter anymore. And I believe we’ll find a way to divide the power among tainted elementals, but only those we choose.”

  I nodded. “But people will be even more envious if we’re the only ones with elements. Don’t you think they’ll try to come after us or recreate elements in some way?”

  “It sounds to me like you’re afraid of power.” Blake tilted his head, tension leaving his shoulders and amusement glistening in his eyes. “When we get the power of all elements, we’ll be unstoppable. No one will be able to come after us. And so many had already tried to create elements so they could cure magic disease or get more than one element, but no one has succeeded for centuries.”

  A slight pulsation went through my head, making me sway on my feet. I leaned on the railing for support. My mind filled with vivid images. People in white coats buzzed around me, laughing and pointing at me. My body was full of pain, feeling as if I were going to burst. Then I saw various people bloody, chained, crying, begging for mercy; a woman dragged down the white hallway screaming. I wanted to stop them all, but I couldn’t, so I closed my eyes. I could swear I heard Blake whispering something, but I didn’t understand a word.

  When I opened my eyes, my mind was clear again.

  The world would change whether it wanted to or not. I would make sure of it.

  Chapter 6

  Raven stormed into the room, her face red, her nostrils flaring. Behind her were Dee and Ulry, two tainted elementals from our group. Blake had saved the two of them from getting caught a couple of years ago.

  “What’s wrong?” Blake got to his feet and faced them, his eyes hard.

  “We checked everyone on the list. None of them are the Strong,” Raven said.

  “Are you sure?” Blake asked, running a hand through his hair. “Maybe they were pretending to be weak.”

  Raven shook her head. “I know because I successfully mind-controlled all of them. And...” Her gaze flitted to me, and then to Blake. “We might have to consider the possibility that the ones we crossed off the list could be...”

  I rose from the couch and came to stand next to Blake. “What do you mean? You said that you were sure the ones you’d met...”

  “It’s not them,” Blake said quickly. “Our Strong was probably too smart to be caught. That’s all. We’ll need to find another way.”

  Raven looked at Blake. “You and I can go on a patrol. See if we spot someone.” There was something in her gaze, as if she were pleading him to agree with her, but I didn’t understand why. Was it possible that Raven had found something but didn’t want me to know?

  “You do that,” I said before Blake could say anything. “I’ll stay here and see if there’s something I can come up with.”

  “Okay,” Blake said, planting a quick kiss on my cheek. “See you later, baby.”

  I gave him my widest smile, but as Blake and the others exited the room, my smile faded. Was Raven trying to take my place? Judging by the angry looks she kept giving me all the time, she didn’t like me one little bit. But being the Murderer was my destiny, not hers. She could only mind control people, not kill them with her mind. Maybe it wasn’t about me. Maybe I was just imagining things.

  I went back to the couch and opened my laptop. There had to be another way to find more tainted elementals. If we just looked for them around the city or asked the others, we might never find the Strong, or it would take ages. By then, the world would be consumed by chaos. I couldn’t let that happen.

  As I opened the list of names we’d stolen from Lily, I couldn’t help but wonder if Blake had made a mistake. Deleting the names before being a hundred percent certain they weren’t the Strong seemed like a stupid thing to do. I tried to find a way to see if I could restore the names he’d deleted. They had to be on the original flash drive, but I had no idea where Blake had put it.

  I circled around the room, checking shelves, drawers, and closets, but I couldn’t find it. Did he get rid of it? But why? It didn’t make sense. I chewed on my nails. I couldn’t just sit here and wait for Blake and Raven to come back. I had to do something. Turning into air, I flew out of the room. Maybe I could take a look around the city by myself... and maybe, just maybe, I’d run into Blake and see what he and Raven were really up to.

  I couldn’t even explain why I doubted them. I never doubted Blake before, but now... Now I couldn’t get rid of that nagging feeling at the back of my mind. As I flew through the air, rushing around the buildings and hoping none of my enemies would spot me, I noticed two shimmering clouds not far from me. Slowing down, I did my best to follow them while flying low enough to stay out of their sight.

  A moment later, the clouds landed on top of one building, and I turned visible in the alley behind it, pressing myself against the wall. The building was old and dilapidated, probably infested by rats and who knew what else, but there were shaky fire escape stairs that led all the way to the roof. Turning my feet invisible so I almost floated above the stairs, I climbed up, hoping to catch the elementals on the roof unaware. Just as I was about to reach the top, I recognized Raven’s and Blake’s voices.

  “We can’t let her see them,” Raven said. “What if it triggers something?”

  “It won’t. I made sure of it yesterday. She won’t know a thing. She’s completely mine now.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Raven said. “But what if someone says something and she...?” />
  “No,” Blake said. “If that happens, we’ll follow the plan.”

  “What if Noah is the Strong? He does have three elements.”

  “We’ll see. I’ll mind control him to get him to touch the book. It’s the only way to know for sure,” Blake said, and I frowned. Why would he let this Noah guy or whoever he was to touch the book if Blake could mind control him? Didn’t that mean that Noah wasn’t strong enough to be the chosen one? Neither Blake nor I could be mind-controlled by anyone, which meant the Strong should be mind control resistant, too. Blake would never let just anyone touch the book, or would he? But why was he lying to me then?

  “What about you know who?” Raven’s voice was so low I could barely hear it. “He’s coming dangerously close to us and he could trigger her. We should get rid of him.”

  Who were they talking about? I considered coming out and confronting them, but I wasn’t sure that was the best idea.

  “We can’t. He’s our replacement for the Murderer if anything happens to Moira. I know he’s not a perfect choice, but he’ll do,” Blake said. I clamped my hand over my mouth, my whole body shaking. What the hell was Blake talking about? Another Murderer? Why would he want to replace me?

  “We have to go!” Blake’s voice was urgent. “I’m sensing something.”

  Could he see the shimmering raising from me because I was upset enough to lose control of my elements? Holding my breath, I waited until I could no longer hear them.

  They wanted to replace me. I couldn’t believe it! My boyfriend. My own boyfriend who I loved and cared about so much. No, I’d never forgive him for this.

  No matter how much I wanted to confront Blake for his betrayal, I had to play this smart. Blake was the Hero and the one I needed for the ritual. And no matter what he thought, he needed me to be the Murderer. The goal was to find the Strong. My revenge on Blake could wait. For now, I had to find a way to get to the Strong. As I sat on the bed and wondered what to do next, the door opened and Blake came in, his shoulders slumped.