by Aliya DalRae
“Piper,” Raven interrupted. Damn, that girl could ramble. “What are you talking about?”
“…okay and I—what?”
“What do you mean is Jessica still with me? I haven’t seen her since she slammed the door in my face.” Raven’s heart was in his stomach, and suddenly these long days of Jessica’s silence took on a more sinister feel.
“Noooo,” Piper drawled, “you picked her up from Chuck’s. We were out dancing and you came in and said something to her, and she left with you. That was Tuesday, and she…”
“Piper, think carefully. You’re sure it was me?” Raven’s mind was spinning, and all the blood previously pumping through his veins was suddenly draining to his feet leaving him lightheaded, dizzy.
“Raven, you’re scaring me,” Piper said, and she sounded it. “Of course it was you. She wouldn’t have left with a stranger. And she’s not at home, and she’s not answering her phone. Please,” she begged, “tell me she’s with you. Tell me you and Jessica made up and she’s standing with you right now. Raven? Raven!”
Raven had fallen to his knees, the phone laying forgotten on the Club’s floor mat. How could he have been so stupid? Jessica might have decided she didn’t want anything to do with the Vampires, but that didn’t mean his enemies would want nothing to do with her.
And now she was in trouble. Nox had abducted her, or worse.
No, he couldn’t think like that. She had to be alive. He would know if it were otherwise. Somewhere out there his brother was holding her hostage, using her as bait, and here Raven was, holed up at the Compound, licking his romantic wounds.
He grabbed his phone without checking to see if Piper was still on the line, and ran out of the Club, back to his suite. This was between Raven and Nox. If his twin wanted a fight, he was going to get one. For that to happen, Raven had to show himself, and he knew exactly where he needed to go to be found.
Changed and armed, he headed to the garage, jumped into his Vette, tore up the ramp, and was off the Compound property before anyone could stop him. Nox had held her for four days, and Raven would be damned if his brother would have her a minute longer. He’d almost lost her twice now. There was no way in hell he would lose her to that cheap imitation of himself.
Tonight, Nox was going to die.
Chapter
One Hundred Four
I lay on the mattress, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about the last few days. Thanks to Nox, I knew today was Halloween, my favorite holiday. But instead of dressing up like a slutty pirate and boozing it up with my friends, I was being held captive in a cement box. Nothing to do but wait for Nox’s boss to fill me in on his plans for me.
And I was sure there was a plan. Having figured out what was going on between us mentally, Nox got pretty good at shielding his thoughts. I wished I had even a fraction of his skills in this area, because he always seemed to know what I was thinking.
Occasionally, though, something of his hidden thoughts would slip through, and what I saw didn’t make me feel any better. Was I scared? Of course, but after four days of nothing but fast food and conversations with Nox, quite frankly, I was getting bored. It was to the point where I wished they would get on with it, whatever “it” was, so I could be out of this dank place one way or the other.
And again, I was thinking about Nox. I was coming to terms with our new found abilities. When I managed to calm down I was capable of seeing another side to this development. Being able to communicate with him telepathically might be the difference between life and death for me. This connection had created a bond between us, shaky though it was, and when things did come to a head, I intended to use it however I could.
After Nox whammied me out of my freak out, we spent hours talking mind to mind. Once I got used to the idea of hearing someone else’s thoughts, it wasn’t so bad. Plus, I could talk to him about things I might have been hesitant to say out loud. Nox and his boss weren’t the only ones down here. The first day I was conscious I could hear footsteps, multiple sets, passing by the door throughout the day—night. Whatever.
And let’s not even talk about the poor bastard tasked with taking out my potty bucket. Being held prisoner was embarrassingly icky.
I asked Nox how many of them were down here, and was surprised when he answered. He said they had a whole crew of ferals, his brood as it were. He said they were taking shifts watching my house and various other places around Fallen Cross that I was known to frequent.
I assumed they were waiting for Raven to show up looking for me. After all, he was the one they were ultimately screwing with, but that was never confirmed nor denied.
The same night as our little discovery, Nox came in with an extra-large Perky’s Pizza, extra pepperoni, and a six pack of light beer. My favorite. I had been thinking about pizza during our initial conversations, and voila.
I could get used to this, inevitable death notwithstanding.
And so, it was over a slice and a beer that Nox, through our new silent connection, told me about his past and the centuries he’d spent captive in the Primeval’s gilded cage. He talked about his escape, how he ran away to the States and all that entailed.
Of course, whenever the subject of the boss came up, Nox would work extra hard at shielding any details about the man. It irritated the piss out of me, but I hoped that if we kept talking like this, he might slip up. If nothing else, I would know who I was dealing with.
Is Nox your given name? I asked him the same night as the pizza, and when he nodded I thought, Where in the world did that come from?
He was sitting on the mattress with me, keeping his distance, as had become his habit. He leaned against the wall, his long, denim clad legs stretched out in front of him, and I was curled up in my corner.
I believe it was short for “Noxious,” he sent back.
Seriously? I thought, and he nodded.
He shrugged. They considered me a poison, a destructive component detrimental to the race. I was a noxious thing. That’s what the Primeval called me. ‘Get that noxious thing away from me’—like that—and I guess it kind of stuck. My nurses took to calling me Nox for short. One nurse took pity on me, tried to give me a proper name, but the first time the Primeval heard her call me something other than Nox, well. Let’s just say I never saw her again.
“What was the name?” I asked aloud, but Nox just stared at his boots hanging off the far side of the mattress.
What does it matter?
Chapter
One Hundred Five
T ired of staring at the ceiling so long, my memories getting me nowhere, I got up and went through my karate forms, trying to limber up. Being cooped up in this dungeon had left me feeling stiff and cramped, in spite of my efforts to stay loose and ready. My movements were rote, and as I walked through each motion, I considered my last conversation with Nox.
Last night, he’d blown in with two foot-long subs and a large bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. This was becoming our routine, dinner and conversation, and I looked forward to it all day not only to break up the monotony, but to continue working my plan. The more we talked, the more it seemed he was softening toward me.
And I suppose I was sort of softening toward him as well. I couldn’t help but see Raven every time Nox walked in the door. It was Raven’s face, his body, his eyes. Except the person inside was so radically not Raven. If only their lives had been different, perhaps neither of them would be where they were now. I wasn’t sure if Stockholm syndrome could develop in only a few days, but whatever the reason, I couldn’t help but think, “what if?”
He was edgy when he came in, though, not relaxed as he had been the previous two nights, and I asked him if he was okay.
Mentally, he whispered into my mind, tapping his forehead to remind me, and I glanced at the door wondering if someone was listening. No, I don’t think so, he reassured me, but I was careful not to speak again. I dragged the little table closer to the mattress, and he pulled up the chair. We
sat and munched on cold cuts and potato chips, both of our minds fairly empty beyond what we were stuffing into our mouths.
Does he really hate his brother? It was a random thought. I wasn’t trying to start a conversation, but he heard me anyway.
Wouldn’t you? He sounded nasty in my head and I looked across the table at him considering.
Maybe, I thought, but you don’t really know him. You were babies when all this happened. Shouldn’t you be mad at the people who did this? Like your parents? The Primeval?
Nox took a huge bite of his cheese steak, and wiped his hands on a paper napkin, avoiding eye contact.
His thoughts were firmly on the tastiness of his sandwich, which told me I’d get no significant response.
Raven was as innocent as you were, I sent. You were both newborns. How could he be responsible for what happened to you? It could just as easily have gone the other way, with you being left with your parents and with Raven being locked away.
Nox grabbed his pop and took a long pull through the straw, then looked at me and thought, Well, if they had done, they would have gotten it right then, wouldn’t they?
I had no reply to that. Raven had turned out to be the bad seed. Of course, Nox wasn’t much better. He’d had no trouble imitating Raven’s crimes the past couple of weeks. And who’s to say, given the same circumstances, Nox wouldn’t have reacted the same as Raven had?
Hearing my thoughts, Nox stood and walked the length of the room, raked his hand through is hair and stood with his back to me. He was shielding to beat the band, and try as I might, I wasn’t going to break through.
Tell me about him, he sent, still facing the wall.
Sandwich gone, I scooched back into my corner, thinking. What was there to tell? As far as looks, Nox already knew they were identical. But as a person? Raven was still recovering from his past as much as Nox was. Nox scoffed hearing my scattered thoughts, but I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me.
You have to understand, I sent. Raven may have had a few years of normalcy with your parents, but in the end he was still a small boy when they died. He grew up hating, just as you did, only he was free to act on that hate. He channeled all of that anger and rage, and turned himself into a creature that no one in the world would want to get close to.
So in a way, I continued, he was just as isolated as you were. Only his was a prison of his own making. If you think about it, that’s almost worse.
When I met him he was all snarly, I smiled, and I was totally taken off guard by him. He was honest with me to a fault, and he showed me a gentle side that no one knew existed, not even him. He has proven time and again how much he cares about me, and I know without a doubt that he would die for me, as sure as I would for him.
I hadn’t noticed that Nox had turned toward me, so wrapped up in my thoughts I had forgotten that I was sharing them. When I looked up, he was studying me, his eyes so much like Raven’s when I did something that surprised him. Hell, I’d surprised myself.
You truly love my brother, he thought, in spite of all the evil he has wrought. Still, you care for him. How can this be?
I didn’t know what to say to that, and studied my fingers as I considered my response. As tangled up as my feelings about Raven had been lately, I supposed when it came down to it, the love was still there. Would always be there.
I really hoped I would get the chance to tell him. To apologize for everything and to trust that we would be able to work through it all. Sometimes love really was all you needed. Maybe it would be for us.
Unless, of course, we both died, in which case it would be a moot point.
When I looked up again, Nox was pacing. Of course, he was privy to that whole train of thought, and I’d probably over-shared, but it was too late to take any of it back now. I needed something to do with my hands, so I got up to gather the trash from our meal, wadding up the wrappers and stuffing them into the plastic bag. One minute I was alone at the table, and the next Nox was right in front of me, grabbing my hands to stop my cleaning up. I jumped a little, and only just stopped myself from squealing.
I jerked up my chin, catching Nox’s eyes, and what I found there was so intense, so severe, I tried to step away from him. He tightened his grip on my hands, effectively halting my retreat, his irises swirling with amethyst fire. I hadn’t seen this side to Nox since the night he abducted me, and I was reminded that this was no game.
My heart was beating against my ribs, and something in my eyes, or maybe my thoughts, told him he was freaking me the hell out. He loosened his grip, but didn’t let go, just closed his eyes, and let his head fall back in a cascade of black silk.
Gods, I want to bite her, taste her.
I jerked my hands away, and scampered back to my corner.
Get out of here, I screamed into his mind, and he jerked his head up to look at me. “Now!” I yelled out loud.
“What?”
“I will never, never let you bite me,” I roared.
“Jessica, how did you…you weren’t supposed to…”
“I don’t care,” I said through clenched teeth. “Get out!”
Trust had been a shaky thing between us from the beginning. Now it was a veritable earthquake. And the look of shock on Nox’s face melted into something more sinister.
“I see,” he growled, forgetting to use his in-my-head voice. “It’s okay for my twin to sink his murder-tainted fangs into your neck, but I think about it, and it has you revolted. So all of this, kindness or what have you; it was all a ploy, was it? All of it. The compassion. The understanding. All an effort to distract me, make me forget about exacting revenge. He’s my brother after all. Lies upon lies, all to protect your beloved monster.”
Nox was pacing like a rabid wolf, back and forth, fury rolling off of him in amethyst waves. When he stopped before me, I shrunk in my corner but defiantly held his gaze.
“You can forgive that monster for all his sins, but recoil from me at one unseemly thought? Compared to him, I’m too evil, am I? Too bloody damaged? Have to wonder about your fucking moral standards,” he growled, spun on his heel, and headed toward the door.
“Nox,” I hollered, and he turned back, hand on the doorknob, waiting. “You forgot the goddamned trash,” I snarled, and threw the bag of soiled wrappers at him, hitting him in the chest.
Nox let the bag fall to the floor, glanced at it and returned his eyes to me. He blinked once, then turned his back and walked out the door without another word.
Chapter
One Hundred Six
G ravel flew when Raven hit the Corvette’s brakes in Jessica’s drive, spinning the car in the dust until it was facing the white picket fence. In less than a second, he was out of the car and storming up the sidewalk. He let himself into Jessica’s place and on a thin string of hope, called her name.
“Jessica?” he shouted. “Are you home?”
He didn’t know what he expected. From the moment he heard Piper’s voice on the phone, he knew that she wouldn’t be here. He had to check, though, and still grasping to that shrinking shred of hope, he ran through the house in search of her.
She had definitely been here; there were signs of it everywhere. The light proof curtains had been removed from all the windows, and in their place were the frilly window sheers the heavier drapes had replaced. Everything back in its original place, as it had been before Raven.
His heart clenched as he checked the bathroom and found his toothbrush was no longer nestled next to hers in the holder by the sink. The space in the medicine cabinet, where his razor had rested next to her bottle of vitamins, was now empty. Even the t-shirt he’d left in the laundry room was missing.
Raven returned to the porch where he tripped over the pair of shitkickers he’d left there for emergencies. When he reached to move them out of the way, he discovered the cardboard box stuffed full of all of his belongings. He knew she had been upset, but this?
This hurt worse than any physical injury he had
ever sustained, but he would not be leaving her to that devil of a twin of his.
Raven ran out into the yard, screaming like a madman.
“Where are you, you son of a bitch? I know you’re out here. Show yourself Nox, you fucking coward!”
He held his breath as he waited for a response, but was met with chilling silence. “Come on,” he bellowed. Nothing.
“Raven.” A masculine whisper floated from the shadows. Raven turned to find Malcolm standing near the corner of the porch, sky clad.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Raven snarled at Malcolm, convinced that the Shifter was responsible for setting off this entire chain of events.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Malcolm said, stepping out of the shadows in all his glory.
“Have you seen Jessica?” Raven asked, pushing thoughts of her meeting Malcolm the Man from his mind. “Piper’s been looking for her, and she’s not answering her phone.”
“I thought it was me she was avoiding,” Malcolm said, grimacing. “She told you?” he asked, looking everywhere but at Raven.
“What, that you outed yourself as a Shifter, and blew her goddamnedmind? Not to mention our relationship—she dumped me, but I’m sure you already knew that.”
Malcolm winced. “I didn’t know. I thought…but, that doesn’t matter now. I’ve been trying to call her, to apologize again, but she wasn’t taking my calls. I decided I would come out and check on her, make sure she’s okay. You know how she is.”
“Yeah, I do know, and no, I don’t think she’s okay,” Raven said, eying the shadows around the trees, the barn and out buildings—anywhere a feral could be hiding.
“Piper called me a little while ago. Wanted to know if Jessica was still with me. She said we left Chuck’s together on Tuesday night, only I haven’t seen her since she tore my head off earlier that day. Because of you, I might add.”