He met my glare once more. “Did you? You’re sure? Because… from what you’ve told me in the past… the images can be difficult to define. Blurry. Inconsistent.”
No, he wasn’t going to do this. I knew what I’d seen. I had felt the sword plunge through Sam’s chest. It was real. “Why?” I hissed through gritted teeth.
“Put the gun down, Muse.” The growl beneath his words offered a clear warning.
Stefan stood beside me. He reached up and closed his hand around the top of the gun, bringing the weapon down so it pointed toward the floor in front of Akil. “You don’t want to do that.”
He eased the gun from my hand and flicked the safety back on. Frowning, I watched him toss the gun onto the couch and then hand the sword to Akil. Unease crawled across my skin as Akil lifted the katana in his right hand, his heated gaze admiring the blade. “A fine weapon, don’t you agree, Muse?”
Stefan stood to Akil’s left, hand tucked casually into his jeans pocket.
I frowned, eyes narrowing on Stefan. What was going on here? I searched his face for any sign to indicate this was wrong, but he just stood there, cold.
Akil ran a hand down the flat plane of the blade. “Your little stunt earlier, drawing your element from beyond the veil… that was... astonishing. I knew the moment you called the heat to you. Even in Boston, I felt the shift in power. It’s how I found you.”
My hands clenched into fists. “I’m not the pathetic half-human girl you think I am.”
“I know that. Why do you think I’ve kept you all these years? I even had Stefan test you to see whether you were capable.”
I clamped my teeth together. Anger trembled through my muscles. My demon twisted, eager to break free but unable to do so. Stefan didn’t deny Akil’s words. Even under the weight of my stare, he didn’t flinch. He just met my gaze as though none of this mattered to him.
Akil’s lips hitched up at the corner as he glanced from Stefan to me. “Stefan’s working for me, Muse. Always was.”
I knew that, well sort of, but was I meant to know it? If I revealed I knew, would that put Stefan in danger? “What—what do you mean?” Was Stefan still working for him? Even now?
Akil closed the distance between us in a few strides. I stumbled back, bumping against the wall as he invaded my personal space. “You don’t get to walk away from me, Muse. Ever,” he said with a snarl.
I sneered up at him. “I got that when you tried to kill me at the marina.”
He slid a hand over my shoulder and laced his fingers around my throat, but the tightening of his grip didn’t come. His thumb rubbed lightly against my neck. “That was…a mistake.”
“A mistake? I nearly died, Akil.”
“That was not my intention…” He bowed his head, bumping his forehead against mine as he brought his hand higher, cupping my face. “I just meant to… I wanted you to react. To see your demon. She’s quite remarkable.”
I turned my head away, fighting to breathe beneath his overbearing presence.
“That’s what this has all been about,” he whispered in my ear.
Hands on his chest, I pushed against him, trying to force him back, but I might as well have been pushing against stone.
He breathed in through my hair, his chin brushing my forehead. “It’s her I want. Not your weak human shell.”
“Akil… Please.” I shoved again, pushing hard enough to force him back a step, but that only gave him the room he needed to bring the sword up between us and press the blade against my throat.
The sharp edge nicked my skin. A warm trickle of blood dribbled down my neck. I pleaded with wide eyes, snatching breaths where I could without worsening the dig of the sword against my flesh.
“Your previous owner had no notion of the creature he kept in chains.” Akil slid his left hand over my hip.
I couldn’t stop the shivering. As the demon thrashed inside me, my human body had become riddled with fear. My heart galloped, thudding in my ears. “You don’t own me,” I growled.
“No?” He leaned into me, pushing the blade against my neck, forcing my head back. “I beg to differ.”
I heard the metallic chink-chink of a gun slide being pulled back. “Step away from her.” Stefan had pressed the gun against the back of Akil’s head. From my awkward angle, I peered down my nose and over Akil’s shoulder at Stefan. His element swirled in his arctic eyes, their intense blue fracturing deep, revealing his ice-bound soul.
Akil chuckled. The lurid ripples of his laughter rode over me. My head was light and my legs weak. Fear robbed me of my will. “I’ll cut her throat,” he snarled.
“Do it. But know I’ll blow your skull apart. Immortal or not, that’s gotta hurt.”
Akil raked his gaze across me, almost as though his glare alone could slice through me. He measured his options. Indecision narrowed his eyes, and then, reluctantly, he pulled back. Stefan countered behind him. Only when Akil withdrew the sword from my throat did I slump against the wall, able to breathe again. After dabbing at my neck, my trembling hand came away slick with blood.
I looked up at Akil in time to catch a twisted smile lashing across his lips. He didn’t resemble the man I could have loved, didn’t even look like the demon that inhabited his body. He was a stranger to me. The darkness had corrupted him, creating a monster, or had he always been that way?
“You fell for her, didn’t you?” I noticed Akil’s fingers flexing around the sword’s grip. “I killed the last man who touched her.”
Stefan couldn’t help looking at me. I may have seen some acknowledgement in his eyes, right before Akil twisted around, knocking Stefan’s gun arm up before plunging the katana deep into Stefan’s left shoulder, driving him to his knees.
Instinct lurched me forward as Stefan cried out. He fought to bring the gun around, but Akil twisted the sword deeper into his flesh, wrenching a strangled cry from Stefan’s lips.
“Stop!” I yelled.
Akil swung his head around, yanking the blade free from Stefan’s flesh. He rounded on me, bringing the bloodied sword around to point the tip at me. “You are mine,” he growled. “And I’m taking you home.”
“No!” He didn’t mean home to Boston, he meant the netherworld, and the thought flushed my veins with white-hot terror, wrenching my strength out from under me. I dropped to my knees. “No, please.” I shook my head from side to side, and tears blurred my vision. Panic tightened my chest. I clenched my fist over my heart. I couldn’t go back home.
Akil’s face twisted into a hideous mask of disgust. “I will tear that demon from your human flesh if I have to peel your skin off piece by piece.” The venom behind those words severed the last vestiges of hope I might have had that, somewhere deep inside, he still cared for me.
A gunshot cracked through the air.
Blinking rapidly, I watched the curious bloom of blood spread across Akil’s white shirt. He looked down, as though wondering where the blood had come from. Another shot, and his torso jerked. Another, and I felt a warm spray of blood mist across my face. The forth gunshot rang out, its deafening retort causing me to flinch. Akil sank to his knees, his face white with shock, and then he collapsed forward, motionless.
Stefan had propped himself up on an elbow, gun quivering in his right hand. His aim wavered with his labored breathing. He gritted his teeth as he pulled himself up onto his knees. “Go,” he grunted. “He won’t stay down… for long.”
Adrenaline ousted my fear. Self-preservation kicked in. I rushed to Stefan and hooked an arm under his, helping him to his feet. I staggered as he fell against me. “Can we kill him? While he’s out?”
“No. He’ll come back no matter what we do.”
I glanced back at Akil’s motionless body, expecting him to twitch awake at any moment.
“Go. Take my car. Just go, Muse.”
I felt Stefan’s element stirring, its chilling touch snapping at my flesh, lashing out protectively. “Where exactly?”
Stefan pried h
imself from my grip and stumbled toward the door. “Ryder.”
“Ryder?” He was the least likely go-to guy to get me out of this. I stole one last fleeting look at Akil’s body, tremors rattling my bones, then followed Stefan outside. The bitterly cold night air nipped at my face. My trembling intensified. If I could hold myself together a little while longer, just long enough to get away…
Stefan had slumped against the driver’s door, his left arm limp at his side. Blood dripped from his fingers, creating bright red rivulets down the car’s paint until it pooled along the door seal.
“Stefan, please. Let me help you.”
“I’m okay.” He forced every word through clenched teeth. “Ryder will know what to do. Go.”
“I’m not leaving you here.”
“Just go.” He grimaced, pain racking his body. He tucked the gun into his waistband and pressed his right hand against the wound in his shoulder, struggling to hide how his fingers shook. It didn’t take long for the blood to swell and spill over the back of his hand.
I placed my hand over his. His shivering seemed all the worse now that I could feel it. He allowed me to ease his hand away, then dropped his head back as I stripped his shirt away from the wound. He snatched breaths between spasms of pain. Akil had stabbed him low in the shoulder. The blade had passed right through. The jagged wound oozed dark blood and showed no sign of stopping. “Get in the car. I’m taking you to a hospital.”
“No, Muse.” He sighed, eyelids flickering closed.
“Stop being stubborn and do as I say.” I opened the rear passenger door and gave him a warning look. “Get in, or we both stay here.”
“You’re impossible,” he muttered, clutching the open door and moving gingerly to climb inside.
I drove us out of there as fast as the rental car could bump along the dirt track to the main route. Stefan sat slumped in the back seat, teeth clenched. I glanced in the mirror, watching him battle the pain. Every pothole, even the slightest ridge in the road, tugged a restrained groan from him.
“No hospitals,” he said when we hit the smooth main route, and I planted the throttle to the floor. “Get to Ryder.”
Chapter 19
I screeched the car to a halt outside Ryder’s premises, bumping it up the curb as close to the door as I could get. Early morning air wrapped around me as soon as I stepped from the car, stealing the warmth from my bones. The brilliant blue sky only made the desperate situation feel all the more dire. I banged on Ryder’s door. The car’s engine ticked behind me as it cooled.
Stefan was sprawled across the back seat, asleep or unconscious. The milky pallor of his skin was pale enough to frighten me.
“C’mon, Ryder.” I hammered a fist against the door. “Open up!” My shout echoed down the empty street.
What if he wasn’t home? Where was I supposed to go?
The door finally opened. Ryder rubbed his eyes, yawning. Wearing the same clothes I’d seen him in days before, he scowled at me. “What the…”
His wide-eyed stare took in my blood-soaked shirt, bare legs, and blood-splattered face. Then he noticed Stefan’s motionless body in the back of the car. “What happened?” Ryder shoved by me and flung open the car door. Climbing inside, he pressed his fingers against Stefan’s neck, checking for a pulse.
“Akil.” The tremor in my voice barely registered against the swirl of dark thoughts in my head.
Ryder climbed out and nodded. “Get in. I’ll drive.”
I climbed into the back, with Stefan’s head resting in my lap as Ryder took control. I was grateful for it. The hours it had taken us to get back to Boston, constantly checking the mirrors for any sign of being followed, my worry that Stefan would die in the backseat—it had left me beyond drained, numbed. I rarely felt properly cold, but I felt it then, a deep, soul-weary chill. I had no idea what Ryder was going to do, but he seemed to have a plan, because he swung the car around and sped out of there as quickly as I’d screeched in.
Stefan breathed lightly. The rise and fall of his chest reassured me a little. He felt cold, but I chose to take that as a good sign. However, the pool of congealed blood on the back seat told another story. “Akil will be after us,” I warned Ryder.
“Okay. It’ll be okay,” Ryder assured, and, bizarrely, I believed him. “Where we’re going, Akil can’t follow.”
After no more than ten minutes, Ryder pulled the rental car into a narrow industrial street dominated by a vast warehouse at its end. Graffiti plastered every inch of the red brick walls. Scrawling letters and gang symbols wound their way around a steel door.
“Ryder?” I peered out of the car windows, not seeing anything in the street that could possibly help. If anything, we were in a worse neighborhood than the one we’d just left.
He rolled the car to a halt outside the steel door and cut the engine. Twisting in the driver’s seat, he said, “When inside, do as they say.”
“What?” I hadn’t heard him right. What did he mean? My thoughts dragged through molasses. Exhaustion wrapped me in a woolly cocoon.
Ryder climbed out. I followed suit, too tired to argue. We managed to pull Stefan from the car, hitching his arms over our shoulders. Stefan barely registered us at all. He was just dead weight against me. As we shuffled Stefan to the door, I noticed the huge scorpion spray-painted over the doorway, its pincers embracing the top of the doorframe. “What is this place?” I grunted, heaving Stefan’s limp arm into a better position behind my neck.
The door rumbled sideways, and we were met by an armed guard. He ushered us into an antechamber and closed the door behind us. The small room couldn’t have been more different to the exterior of the warehouse. White walls gleamed beneath harsh fluorescent lights. A second steel door had a small reinforced glass window, revealing hints of a white corridor beyond.
The guard buzzed a button beside the door, which opened with a whoosh of antiseptic-scented air. Two guards bore down on us, one female, the other a stocky male with a scar below his right eye, both armed with assault rifles.
“We’ll take him from here.” The guard beside me said, extracting Stefan’s arm from around my neck. He handed him over to two waiting white coat-clad men. I managed to catch sight of a gurney, but as I stepped forward to follow, the scarred guard shot his hand out, shoving me. “Stay back,” he warned.
“Hey.” I instinctively lifted my hands. I wasn’t a threat to them; couldn’t they see that?
His scarred face held a determined grimace as he shoved me again. “Against the wall,” he barked.
“What?”
He grabbed my upper arm and twisted me around, slamming me face first against the wall, then proceeded to frisk me. His female companion stood back, rifle clutched across her chest, face empty.
“Get off me. I came here to help.” I winced as his hands rode roughly over my bruised skin. “Get your hands off me,” I snarled, summoning enough of my element to cause him a nasty burn. My demon woke eagerly, answering my call. An alarm sounded. The rapid chirps accompanied the sound of locks automatically bolting.
“She’s demon.” The female guard declared matter-of-factly.
Scarface drove an elbow into my back. The impact wrenched a cry from me. I snarled and twisted, balling my hand into a fist and driving it into his cheek. Considering all the crap I’d had to deal with in the last few days, he was lucky I didn’t incinerate him where he stood.
My fist cracked across his jaw just as the female guard strode forward, clutched my right arm, and stamped a branding of some sort on the back of my hand. A jagged dart of pain thrust up my arm and struck me in the chest. I fell forward, doubling over against the ball of agony in my gut. My demon suddenly fell back from me, as though something had tugged her out of reach. Her rapid retreat arched my back, jerking the air from my lungs. She didn’t go easily and sunk her claws into my metaphysical insides, but it was no use. I felt her tear from within me, and then there was silence, a quiet like I’d never known. An empty pit had opene
d inside of me, a void where my demon had existed. She was gone.
“What have you done?” I wheezed before collapsing.
Chapter 20
I woke in a bright white room. A fresh pile of clothes sat neatly beside the door. The bed beneath me was bare but surprisingly comfortable. I couldn’t hear anything outside the room, just the buzz of the lights above and my own raspy breathing. The air smelled of disinfectant, the scent so strong it tickled my nose and scratched my throat.
I shivered and collected the clothes before peeling off Stefan’s ruined shirt and dressing in a gray jump suit. I did all of this without thought, my mind peculiarly numb. Once dressed, I tried to run my hands through my hair, but found it in desperate need of a shower to wash out the blood. Akil’s blood. I couldn’t think about him, about the threat he’d cast at me. I’m taking you home.
Standing on tiptoes at the door, I peeked through the glass. A single empty chair sat against the opposite wall, but otherwise, the place was empty. Shivers rippled up and down my back. Why was I so cold? I hugged my arms across my chest and noticed the mark on the back of my hand. An angry red welt indicated exactly where the female guard had stabbed me with something. Whatever it had been, the effects had chased away my demon. She’d gone. I couldn’t call her, couldn’t feel her. There was nothing of her left inside of me, only a cavernous void.
I began to pace from one side of the tiny room to the other, flexing my hands into fists. What was this place? They’d known I was part demon as soon as I’d tried to summon my element. They’d been prepared. The scorpion over the door couldn’t be a coincidence. Ryder had breezed in, while they’d abruptly stopped me. Were these the Enforcers Stefan had spoken of? He’d said there were others. The guards, though, they’d looked like military. They hadn’t hesitated when dealing with me, although I had managed to swing at one. I had the bruises on my knuckles to vouch for that.
The door rattled and opened. Another armed guard regarded me coolly. “Come with me.”
[The Veil 01.0] Beyond the Veil Page 16