Captive (Tainted Elements, Book 4)

by Linwood, Alycia

  “This is getting out of hand.” Lily ran a hand through her hair. “Can’t you two just go after him?”

  “No, we drained a lot of our energy, but we’ll go after him as soon as we can,” I said. “We’ll need to work with your team on this. We need to locate him as soon as possible.”

  “If that liquid gave him more power, then it should be easier to track him if he uses his elements. That amount of energy would show a big spike on our detectors, wouldn’t it?” Lily asked.

  “If he’s using enough of it, then yeah, I guess.” I shrugged.

  “Good. You two go back to the city and watch the detectors. If anything spikes, go check it out.” Lily immediately went to join the rest of her team who were busying themselves with the box and the syringe.

  “Come on,” Jaiden said, placing his hand on my back, and we trudged toward the cars. I just couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong.

  Chapter 20

  “I don’t see anything,” I said, my eyes hurting from staring so long at the computer screen. We were in Lily’s tech room and we were trying to spot anything suspicious, such as a big spike of elemental energy, but all we could see were more or less regular spikes. Some of the larger spikes turned out to be people who were having fun with their elements or stadiums with lots of people and emotions running high.

  Jaiden sighed. “We should be out there.”

  “We’re not ready to face Blake just yet.” I was still feeling as if someone had beaten me up. My elements were just a tiny blip inside of me, and they were pretty content to stay where they were. The door suddenly flew open and Lily came inside, her face pale.

  “The satellite caught something,” she said, going toward one of the computers and the blonde agent who was sitting in front of it. “Wanda, switch to the surveillance cameras. That area has to have them.”

  The woman typed something and blurry footage appeared on the screen, but it cleared eventually. I got up from my chair and went closer to get a better look. A dark figure was bent over another person who was lying on the ground. Then the figure looked up, and Blake’s eyes met the camera. He got to his feet, stumbling, a smile on his face. The person on the ground didn’t move.

  “What’s he doing? Did he just kill someone?” Lily touched her neck. “Quick, send a team to check.”

  Blake suddenly disappeared from view, and he must have turned into air.

  “Try to follow his spike of energy,” Lily said.

  I rushed back to my chair, trying hard to remember which yellowish dot on the screen belonged to Blake. There were so many of those dots that some of them melted together, but Blake’s was slightly brighter than the others were.

  Minutes later, I heard someone burst through the door, yelling for Lily.

  “What?” She turned to look at the woman who had come inside. The woman was wearing a white coat, her black hair tied into a ponytail, her dark eyes wide.

  “You have to see this!” The woman handed a piece of paper to Lily, who frowned at it.

  “Are you sure about this?” Lily asked. “The element is gone? It wasn’t just a magic disease carrier?”

  “No, we’re sure. We have files that can confirm this,” the woman said.

  “Fuck.” Lily worried on her lip

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “My team found the body of that woman we’d seen with Blake on the surveillance footage. Her element is missing,” Lily said.

  “What? But how?” I asked. The only people who could take someone’s element were magic disease carriers. “Did someone with the disease attack her before Blake?”

  “No, Blake was the only one around,” Lily said. “And the woman had her element a couple of hours ago because an element collector had successfully taken a bit of her energy when she’d passed through the door of a bank.”

  “So what you’re saying is that Blake took her element.” I didn’t even want to imagine the possibility that whatever Blake had injected himself with had given him the power to take other people’s elements.

  “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” Lily clutched her arms to her chest. “That means he could be going on a killing spree.”

  “And get more powerful with each kill,” Jaiden said.

  “We’re going after him. Now,” I said to Jaiden, and he nodded.

  “Terrible idea,” Lily said. “You’re still tired, and if you face him, he might kill you both and even take your elements. That would be a disaster.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m afraid it’s going to be a disaster no matter what. Jaiden and I will find a way.” I grabbed my jacket and some weapons. Jaiden did the same.

  “Okay, and I’ll try to gather a team and see if we can guess in which area he’ll be so we can blast him with that element blocker.” She grimaced. “If that will even work on him now. God! I thought I’d lived through the worst years of my life. Apparently not.”

  Jaiden and I started for the door.

  “Do you still have that serum?” I asked Jaiden when were far away from Lily’s agents. If he had the serum, then he could at least recharge his elements. That would certainly improve our chances against Blake.

  “Yeah, and I have an idea.” Jaiden looked around. “I was thinking we could use the serum on you, too.”

  “What?” I frowned.

  “My father had already tried to enhance your elements with something similar.”

  “Yeah, and I was out of control and couldn’t stop myself.” I didn’t want that to happen ever again. If I couldn’t control myself, then instead of taking out Blake, I’d end up hurting innocent people.

  “But my serum is slightly different, and I think it could be compatible with your elements, too,” he said. “Our elements are of the same type; fire and air. The only difference is that you were born with yours.”

  Was it worth the risk? As I thought about how powerful Blake was, especially now that he was taking other people’s elements, I realized that maybe it was. “Okay. We can try. Where’s the serum?”

  “In a secure place,” Jaiden said. “If we go there, we have to make sure that absolutely no one’s following us.”

  I nodded. He immediately turned into air and I followed him. We flew around the city for some time, and then we materialized and slipped into a crowd of people, avoiding any cameras. We finally stopped in front of one hotel, and Jaiden led me to the back door. He opened it for me, and I realized there was a stairwell that led down.

  We found ourselves in a long hallway with dark gray walls. After we passed a couple of doors, we stopped in front of an empty wall. Jaiden placed his hand on the wall, his element surging out, and the wall parted, revealing another hallway. I didn’t know how he’d found this place, but we didn’t have time for questions. As we neared a door that was slightly ajar, Jaiden lifted his hand and we stopped.

  He swore, drawing out his gun. I wanted to ask what was wrong, but instead I got out my gun, too. Kicking the door open, he rushed inside. I followed him into a dark room and nearly bumped into a metal shelf filled with various liquids and objects. Behind the shelf was a single bed and a small table with two vials on it. There was another open door and it led to a bathroom.

  Jaiden slammed his fist against the wall, swearing.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “He’s gone. I can’t believe he fucking escaped.”

  “Who?” I blinked at him. “Wait, you mean your father? Your father was here?”

  “Yeah, I’ve been holding him in here so he’d make more of the serum for me, but... he managed to get away. It’s impossible.” Jaiden put his hands on his head.

  “I don’t care about your father. Do you have the serum?” We’d deal with Jack Maiers later. He couldn’t cause any major problems in such a short time. At least I hoped he couldn’t.

  “He’d taken most of it.” Jaiden went over to the table and picked up the vials. “Only these are left.”

  “Okay then
. You take one of those, and then we can go.”

  “No. You’re taking both of them.” He pushed the vials toward me.

  “What?” I stared at him in surprise. “If we use up both of them, we lose the chance to find someone who can duplicate the serum.”

  “It doesn’t matter. You take them,” he said determinedly.

  “There’s two of them. I’ll take one, and you take the other. We’ll get him together.”

  “No, Moira, you take both. One won’t be enough, and my elements... They don’t have the natural strength that yours have. You saw what happened in the meadow. If he gets even stronger, no one will be able to stop him. You have to take this.” He grasped my arm, placed the vials into my palm, and closed his hand over mine.

  “Jaiden, if we don’t find more of that serum...”

  “I’ll lose my elements...” He took a deep breath, his eyes bright with unshed tears. “I know, but we don’t have a choice. And I’ll feel better knowing that you’re strong enough to face Blake.”

  I stared at him, my eyes pooling with tears. He’d done so many things to protect his elements, and now he’d give them up so I could stop Blake. He’d do it for me. “Are you sure about this?”

  “Yes.” He swallowed. “Yes, I am.”

  “How long do you have until your elements get weaker?” When all of this was over, we could hunt down Jaiden’s father and force him to make more serum.

  “I don’t know. I took the serum recently, but I don’t know how much energy opening that box has sucked out of me. If I don’t use my elements much, maybe they could last for weeks or even a few months.”

  I didn’t know if he was telling the truth or just trying to convince me everything would be all right so I’d take the serum. But maybe it all depended on whether he’d be needing his elements to help me out with Blake.

  “So how do I take this?” I stared at the vials in my hand. Jaiden snatched a pack of syringes off the shelf.

  “With one of these,” he said, and I cringed.

  “Great.”

  “Don’t worry. It won’t hurt. Just burns a little. We can test a smaller amount first to see how you react to it.” He ripped open the package.

  “Yeah, I don’t want to take all of it and then find out I’m allergic.” I attempted a small smile.

  “My father actually tested the serum on others, but it didn’t work at all.”

  “Why do you think it will work on me then?” I arched an eyebrow at him.

  “Because of what Lily said about that drug on the book. Maybe this is similar and works only on enhanced elements.” Jaiden filled one of the syringes and gently took my arm. “Ready?”

  I nodded, and felt a tiny prick as the syringe pierced my skin.

  “You might go through a nasty withdrawal once this passes out of your system,” he said and pulled out the syringe, watching me carefully. Warmth spread through my arm, my skin tingling, but I didn’t feel as if I were about to lose my control.

  “Okay, you can give me more.” I held out my arm again. This time, when the syringe got empty, I started to feel better and better. Stronger. When both vials were empty, I leaned on the wall. “So... you were actually keeping your father here the whole time?”

  Jaiden didn’t look up at me as he threw the syringe and the vials into the trash can. “No, just the last few weeks.”

  “How did you find this place?” I needed to distract myself, because if I became too worried about the effects of the serum, I’d only make things worse for myself.

  “By accident.” A ghost of a smile traced his lips. “I was actually keeping my father upstairs, in one of the hotel rooms. I mind-controlled the staff so they wouldn’t let him out or figure out who he was and alert everybody, but since I was spending more and more time looking for you...” His eyes met mine briefly. “I couldn’t keep an eye on my father, and if the hotel hired new staff, there would be problems. I asked the receptionist if he knew about a safe place to hide important things, and he remembered this room. Said no one was using it and that no one knew about it except him. So I made him forget about it, and put an elemental lock on the door so it would open only for me.”

  I couldn’t even imagine how Jaiden had felt while he’d been searching for me. “Do you think your father found a way to disable the lock?”

  “I don’t know.” He frowned. “He doesn’t have the element I used on the lock, and I don’t think the genetic code of his element would match mine completely. The lock is very specific.”

  “But if he didn’t use his element to open it, then what could he have used?” My fingers were tingling slightly and I curled them into a fist.

  “I don’t know. Maybe someone let him out somehow.”

  “I know your father’s experiments usually didn’t survive, but is it possible that he created elements for someone else? If there was someone with an element with a similar genetic code to yours, they could have opened the lock.” I didn’t know exactly how the whole thing with creating elements worked, but Jaiden’s father couldn’t have just vanished. Or maybe... “Is there an opening somewhere in the wall? A tainted elemental who can turn into air could have slipped through that and gotten him out.”

  Jaiden was quiet for a moment. “If even one of those people had survived, trust me, my father would have gotten rid of me already. As for openings...” He looked around. “I know there’s nothing big enough here for him to go through, but there’s a small vent in the bathroom.”

  “Which means a tainted elemental could have gotten him out.” At least we were closer to solving that mystery.

  “Yeah.” He rubbed his neck. “But how did they find out about this place? I was always very careful when I came here.”

  “Maybe you were distracted.” I gave him a pointed look. “You can’t know who could have been watching you.”

  “Yeah. I just didn’t think he’d escape. And right at the worst possible time.”

  “I know.” My vision was getting slightly blurry, so I closed my eyes for a moment. “Were you waiting for me... at the club?” Right before I’d been taken by Blake, Jaiden and I had agreed to meet at a club.

  “Yeah,” he said, and I opened my eyes. “When you didn’t show up, I knew something was wrong. I thought Lily had found out and wanted to stop you from meeting me... And then I risked getting closer to Lily’s agents, and I heard them talk about you... I went all over the city looking for you, and almost got caught, but I couldn’t find you.”

  “Until that time I saw you looking at me in that alley.”

  “That was the closest I’d gotten to you and there was no recognition in your eyes. You just ran away.” He lowered his head. “I could kill Blake with my bare hands for what he did to you. My skin crawls when I think that he touched you.” His lip twisted in disgust.

  Energy was surging through me, and I knew my elements were getting stronger. “And now you’re helping me make that son of a bitch pay for everything. Thank you for that, and thank you for not giving up on me.”

  “I’d never give up on you.” He was in front of me in a second, placing his hand on my cheek. His mouth closed over mine, his tongue parting my lips. My hand wound up in his hair, and he pressed himself closer to me.

  “I won’t let anyone take you away from me ever again,” he whispered, and I traced my finger across his lips.

  “We have to go,” I said, breathless.

  His brow creased. “It’ll take at least a few more minutes for the serum to start working.”

  “I know.” I gave him a look through my eyelashes. “But Blake is out there doing God knows what, and... I really want to go back to what we’ve just been doing as soon as possible, so...” I winked at him.

  He laughed. “I really like the way you’re thinking.”

  I pushed myself off the wall, a surge of energy rushing through my veins. It seemed as if my whole body had been rejuvenated, and not only my elements. “So what’s our plan? Do we just go outside and try to spot B
lake, or what?”

  Jaiden opened a box that was on the shelf and took out a phone. “Yeah, we can fly around and see if we spot him, but we should call Lily to see if her team found something. I don’t think we can find him on our own. And you should save your energy for Blake.”

  I took a calming breath. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  We turned into air and flew out of there.

  Chapter 21

  “What if he leaves the city?” I asked Jaiden. We were taking a break from flying on top of one of the highest buildings in the city. Life was going on as usual for people who were milling around and going on with their usual business.

  We hadn’t seen any sign of Blake, and Lily hadn’t been able to track down Blake’s energy, which seemed to have faded in one of the most populated areas. No one had seen him, and there were no more deaths or anything suspicious on the surveillance cameras. Lily’s team was looking over the footage from satellite images, but that would take time.

  “I don’t know.” Jaiden paced up and down, his brows drawn together. “Where do you think he would go?”

  “He could go wherever he wants.” If Blake went to another country or continent, we’d never find him. “Now that he got what he wanted, I don’t know if there’s anything here that would cause him to stay.”

  “Lily’s been monitoring all the exits, and the energy levels are easier to detect out there,” he said.

  I chewed on the insides of my mouth. “I hope he hasn’t found a way to block his energy.”

  “But wouldn’t he want to show his power to the city? He’d lived here his whole life. Wouldn’t he want to...?” Jaiden’s eyes met mine. “You said he had been in a lab. Do you know where it was?”