From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4)

by Stacey Marie Brown

  All you have is to say yes, Zoey. And all this could be over now, the stone whispered into my head. Just say the word and I am yours. Just give me the power to end this.

  I will. I swallowed. You have my word.

  I felt it vibrating against my thigh, sensing the genuineness in my statement. The magic emanating from my hip could flatten this place in seconds.

  But not yet. Not until the people I cared about were out.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  The double doors beeped, one sliding behind the other. Rapava escorted us through, keeping his gun on me.

  This level had been set up differently. Where the upper floor was a maze of corridors and rooms, this was void of either. A huge main room gave way to one hallway on the far back wall, leading to who knew where.

  My attention locked on the hundreds of cylinders circling the large room, each full of a clear liquid. The cases looked to be made of glass and metal, about seven feet tall and three feet wide. Each and every one of them contained a figure.

  A person.

  I wanted to throw up, horror binding around my throat like weeds.

  “Most were dying of some disease or addiction.” Rapava pushed me to walk forward. “Their lives won’t end fruitlessly. They are doing something for their country, for the greater good.”

  Did he think if he kept saying it out loud I would start to believe it too? All I saw were unwilling victims. The nearer I got, the more details became clear. Faces looked back at me. Some with no arms, others with no legs. Every one of them missing a body part.

  My eyes stopped on one, and like a nightmare, I felt my feet move, unable to stop my forward progress.

  “No.” My chest heaved in and out, taking in the girl behind the glass. Her long brown hair flowed freely around in the liquid, her eyes were closed as if she were sleeping, but I knew better.

  A flash of her wearing a red cape came into my head. A cape that I had seen in a closet down the hall. It was the girl I fought when I had jumped back to Seattle and been caught by Maria. The girl who no longer wanted to fight. I had seen it in her eyes. She had lost hope. Given up.

  The shock at seeing her wasn’t what pulled my shoulders down. It was the truth I had known a long time ago but didn’t want to admit when I saw the super girl tattoo on an ankle.

  She had no legs. Because those legs were attached to my kid sister.

  My neck turned, saliva gathered in my mouth when I caught a glance of a familiar dark-skinned woman across the way. She was missing an arm and leg. Tears burned behind my lids. Jada.

  Girls are disappearing. Annabeth’s voice came into my head. Vadik was selling them to Rapava when they grew too sickly and were no longer useful.

  Sprig tucked tighter into me, hiding his face against my neck. It had to be tearing his soul into pieces, just like when we saw the monkey parts. I touched him softly, wishing I had forced him to stay back. He shouldn’t see this, be a part of this truth. His heart was too big. He couldn’t handle the darkness like I could.

  Rapava had been dissecting what he claimed he wanted to protect. This was not about protecting human life or even revenge. It was all about proving his supremacy over everyone—fae and human alike. He wanted to be the smartest, the cleverest, the one who surpassed everyone.

  I tried to swallow. “Where’s Annabeth?” Fear chilled me to the bone.

  Rapava tilted his head toward the hallway. “See for yourself.”

  I wished I could go back to being ignorant and retreat to the bliss of not knowing what true horrors awaited me in the dark recess of the building—deep in the tarred hole of Dr. Boris Rapava’s soul.

  Because if I knew how far he would truly go, I would never have followed him.

  ####

  We walked down the short corridor to another room. This area appeared to be smaller but filled with even more tanks and cylinders.

  Sprig squeaked softly in my ear and dug into my neck. My knees hit the ground with a bang, but I felt nothing.

  “Oh my god,” I whispered. Acid rose up my throat, sizzling holes in my esophagus. My eyes locked on the chambers.

  A hundred or more incubators filled with what appeared to be a thick syrup lined every free space on the walls, some ten high like cages in a pet store. Only a dozen were in use; the others looked to be waiting for occupancy. A dozen too many.

  Inside the jelly-filled containers were babies. But these weren’t normal human babies. They were of various sizes, from a few inches to a few feet. Air tubes went into each tiny body, keeping them alive as they grew, a horrifying version of a womb. My fist knotted against my abdomen.

  At long last I gazed at my “mother.” This was how they created me, how I was brought into this world.

  “Let me introduce you to Project D.” Rapava walked to my side, motioning to the containers. He no longer pointed the gun at me, but he kept it firm in his grip, watching me carefully. “Sadly, Project C did not do well. But thanks to you and Sera, this bunch is thriving.”

  I slowly rose, and my chest heaved in and out as my feet took me closer to the fetuses.

  “Bhean…” Sprig whined, clearly seeing what I saw.

  They were all horribly deformed.

  “What is wrong with them?” A voice spoke, and it took me a moment to realize it was from me.

  “Nothing. They are perfect. No faults in their DNA, unlike your group.” Rapava stepped up to me, touching the glass to one of the experiments. “With your group, I thought too small, creating top-of-the-line seers. But being a seer alone will not help win the fight against fae. This group has extra abilities like fae.”

  My head jerked to him. “What?”

  “They are hybrids like you.”

  My stomach somersaulted. This seemed all wrong. Not natural. Half-human, half-fae babies were common enough, but this was something else altogether.

  The one in front of me had a tail. It curled up, and triangle-shaped ridges grew out of it like shark’s teeth. Its face looked twisted and distorted.

  This was more chilling than I could have ever imagined.

  Another one of the experiments stirred in a larger vessel close to me. It appeared to be the size of a toddler. A dark-haired boy on the outside, but it opened its mouth enough for me to see the razor-sharp teeth. Hundreds of them filled its mouth like needles.

  “That one is combined with a strighoul,” Rapava replied proudly. “The first human-strighoul hybrid ever. But this one will be on our side.”

  I had hunted strighoul before. They were the lowest, most evil scum in the fae world. They actually preferred to attack their own. There was no bottom they wouldn’t sink to. People liked to associate them with vampires, but they didn’t just suck your blood, they ate you. Like, for dinner. They consumed every part of you, taking your energy and essence that way. They took on the powers or traits of whomever they ingested until it passed through their digestion.

  “What’s wrong, Zoey?” Rapava’s voice sounded even, his eyes watching me expectedly. “Are you not proud of your own children?”

  My head whipped to him. “Wh-what?”

  “These are yours. Yours and Sera’s. They are your children, Ms. Daniels, your offspring.”

  The world tipped on its axis, and I grabbed on to the wall to keep myself upright.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “During those two weeks you were out, you were ovulating, a perfect time to harvest your eggs. Sera as well. I wanted them all to have the seer gene. You and Sera were some of the strongest seers out there.” He pointed to the lower group of mutant fetuses. “These are yours. I wanted to see if you having fae genetic material now would influence them. How would it affect them? Would they live longer? Be more powerful? As you can see, yours are growing at a more rapid rate. They have double the magic and strength.”

  My hand unconsciously went to my abdomen, which suddenly ached as if he had shredded my gut with a razor. I couldn’t speak as I gazed at the handful of organisms along the wa
ll that were supposedly mine. Now I could see some of the experiments had Asian characteristics like Sera. Some had green eyes and brown hair like me.

  My head spun, my muscles locking to keep me upright. I didn’t feel suddenly connected to them or instinctively protective. I felt disgusted. Angry. Violated. He took a piece of me when I was unconscious and vulnerable, and created monsters, things meant to kill and destroy. Only revulsion and hatred burned in my chest.

  I could feel Sprig rubbing my neck softly, and it was then I realized my breath was hitching and twisting around in my chest. I can’t breathe.

  I could no longer look at the grotesque figures and whirled around, trying to gain footing. I bent over my knees and tried to suck in deep breaths. Yet there appeared to be nowhere safe in the room to look. On the other wall, each tank contained one living adult human inside, men and women, ranging in ages, air tubes up their noses. This wasn’t the worst of it: beside them, attached by electrodes to the human subject’s brain, was a sub-fae.

  “You gave me this idea, Zoey. Remember?” Rapava gestured toward them. “Once again, all this is because of you and the underling there.” He pointed to Sprig on my shoulder.

  Our conversation rushed into my memory.

  He knows me, sir. He grew an attachment to me. He listens to me, follows me. At first it bothered me, but now I see it could be useful, I’d said.

  Rapava had replied, I had not thought of that. Both animal and sub-fae seek a master, someone to command them…

  I gave him this idea. The horrors in this whole room existed because of me. My eggs, my ideas.

  “I am trying to link their brains, connect them. The human will dominate and control the other with just a thought.” Rapava nodded toward the farthest tank in the corner. “That is my newest. She is our first experiment with one of my fae-primates.”

  I stepped closer, getting a better look. My eyes locked first on the monkey. It looked to be the one I saw with Croygen down the hall. One of the experiments made of the bits and pieces of different types of primates.

  My eyes followed the wires linking its brain to the girl’s. The earth’s axis tilted, smashing my world into thousands of tiny shards. A cry shattered from my lips. I moved without thought, running for the chamber. I hit the glass, crying out for the fragile blonde girl floating weightlessly in the tank. My hands flailed against the glass.

  “Annabeth!” A sob broke from my lips. Tears stung my eyes. I should have never left her that night at the warehouse. No matter what, I should have fought and gotten her out.

  Annabeth was technically alive, but would she be herself or some monster Rapava created? The burden of so many deaths lay on my shoulders, but Annabeth’s felt like a mountain, one that would bury me, especially if Lexie would soon follow.

  I pressed my head against the window. “I am so sorry.”

  Her eyes popped open. I yelped and jumped back from the glass. “What the hell?”

  “She has not taken to the drug like the others. She fights it and keeps waking up,” Rapava said evenly behind me as if he were talking about the weather.

  Annabeth blinked a few times. Her hand lifted and pressed against the glass. I put my hand against hers. Her eyes squinted and bubbles came out of her mouth. She was crying, but her expression looked relieved.

  My heart broke. I could not let her down again. I couldn’t. My muscles shook, and I had trouble keeping my feet under me. I wanted to curl into a ball and weep, but I would stay standing for the girl on the other side of the glass. I would not quit till she was safe.

  The time had come. This had to end. All of it. This lab would be Rapava’s tomb.

  I gulped and pressed my hand harder into the window and stared deep into her eyes, willing her to understand. I will get you out of there.

  Terror filled her eyes as she watched me step back, her head shaking. My soul felt skinned and quartered. Turning away from her was unbearable. The sheer panic and fear showed on her face as she thought I was walking away. Giving up on her.

  I just wanted Sprig and Annabeth to get out of here safely. I hoped Ryker wouldn’t leave them. He and Croygen could take care of the girls and Sprig. They would do it for me.

  “Let her go.” I strode up to Rapava, my neck straining as I set my chin high. He drew his gun back up to my forehead. “You have me. You have all the experiments you need. Let her go.”

  “Why would I do that?” Rapava’s light blue eyes narrowed. “She is my trial run for this experiment. If this goes how I think it will, the ape will respond to her with just a thought. He will do her bidding, and she will do mine.” He stared at me contemptuously, like my stupidity was an insult. “I have the upper hand, Ms. Daniels. I always do. She stays and so do you and the thing sitting on your shoulder.”

  “Thing?” Sprig spit back with outrage. “I’ll show you—”

  “Really, Boris?” I cut Sprig off and leaned my head to the side, a knowing smirk curling the side of my cheek. “Are you sure you hold all the cards?”

  He stirred, his lids constricting farther.

  “Because I think I might have something you want.” I let a ridiculing smile unfold. “More than you want her, me, or Sprig.”

  “What?” Rapava’s gaze sparked with interest.

  “I have what you most desire.” I grabbed the barrel of the gun and pushed it down, away from my head. “Why you made me torture Ryker.”

  I felt Sprig stiffen. “Bhean?” he whispered, his voice unsure, slicing with fear.

  Ignoring him, I kept my attention locked on the doctor. “What do you most yearn for, sir?”

  “The stone.” Rapava licked his lips. “Do you have it? The Stone of Destiny?”

  “You let her free. It is yours.”

  “Bhean, what are you doing?”

  I took another step toward Rapava, sliding my hand into my pocket. You ready? I pushed the thought toward the object.

  You are mine after, like you promised? the stone’s voice spoke into my head.

  You kill him, you can have me the moment I take you back.

  Say it. Say yes, the stone sang in my head, energy vibrated off it, bouncing off my hip.

  I took a deep breath and wrapped my fingers around the stone.

  Yes.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Magic slammed into my system, and I stumbled to the side, grabbing a table.

  “Bhean!” Sprig’s voice sounded distant, like he was whispering to me from down a long corridor. I gritted my teeth, pushing back the power pumping into me.

  Push through, Zoey. Keep going, I instructed myself.

  Rapava’s head snapped down to my hand, my body shaking violently as I tugged the item from my pants. Power sizzled up my arm into my chest. Muscles flinched and twitched under the intense magic. I took little sips of air, energy so extreme it was blissfully painful.

  “Bhean, have you seriously gone insane?” Sprig squeaked, bobbing up and down nervously. “What are you doing?”

  “Ending this.” I swallowed. My legs wobbled under me, dropping me to my knees with a groan. The stone didn’t knock me out this time. It tried to hold back the influx of magic pounding into my system, but I still wanted to vomit all over the floor as I curled over.

  “That’s it?” Rapava pinched his fingers together greedily, moving closer to me, staring at the small mundane-looking rock in my palm.

  “Get Annabeth out of there,” I demanded, grabbing the table again to keep myself sitting up.

  Rapava looked behind me, then back at the stone, his eyes wide and full of life. His tongue ran over his bottom lip, like he was actually salivating. The stone didn’t look like much, but anyone with a pulse could feel the energy radiating off it, soaking the air, making you desire more. More power, more money, more supremacy. It made you feel alive, filled you with the urge to follow or do whatever it wanted if it only could give you another hit, while it took from you. Your soul, your essence, your choices.

  My head swirled with the idea to use
it, to take all I ever wanted. Do it, Zoey, don’t fight anymore, a voice in my brain said, unnerving me, because I could not decipher if it was me or the stone talking.

  The longer I held it, the more I couldn’t find the line between us. I still tried to fight, to not let it control me. Another asshole stealing away my soul. But my struggle was waning, on the edge of toppling over.

  Rapava reached for it and my hand instinctively wrapped around it, shifting it out of his reach. A snarl filled my mouth.

  “Bhean, don’t do this.” Nothing Sprig said mattered in that moment.

  Let me have you now, Zoey. We can end him together.

  I felt metal tap against the space between my brows. My gaze lifted to a dark hole stretching down the length of the weapon.

  “Give it to me now.” Rapava’s voice was high and scratchy as he stood over me.

  “No.” The words fell from my mouth without thought. “It’s mine.”

  Yes, Zoey, and you are mine.

  “Give it to me!” Rapava slammed the pistol harder against my skin.

  “No.” The word came out again. The stone thumped in my hand. My fight gone. It was taking over, but I didn’t care. I wanted it. I craved the bliss of its power and the euphoric dream of losing myself in the magic: dissolving, falling, seeping, spinning…

  My back slammed onto the floor, snapping my brain out of the coma-like state. A squeal pinged my eardrum as Sprig went flying across the floor, tumbling over, before hitting a table. Rapava pounced on me, his expression wild and vacant.

  “It’s mine,” he screamed, clawing at my hand and arm like a wild animal. The gun banged into my temple.

  The point of this was to let Rapava have it, but my hand wouldn’t open. The need to hold on to it dominated me, took away all rational thought.

  “Ahhh!” Rapava bellowed, his movement growing more frantic. He then stopped, sat back, and clutched the gun. His lips arched up in a snarl. He shoved the end of weapon in my bruised eye socket. “I no longer need you.” His finger tugged back on the trigger, and I heard the sound of the metal coil pushing at the bullet.