by Jasmine Walt
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Fintz’s lower lip wobbled. “Mr. Yantz tells me what to write! He’s my boss!”
“I’m afraid he’s correct, Miss Baine.” The door opened, and Petros Yantz, the Editor-in-Chief of the Herald, strolled in. A tall man with glossy chestnut hair dressed in a sleek, three-piece suit, he was slicker than a puddle of grease, and flashed me a charming smile, ignoring the guard on the floor. “I am the one who ordered those articles. We have to make a living here, and this kind of stuff is pretty sensational.”
“Sensational!” I let go of Fintz and spun toward Yantz. My nose told me that both men were telling the truth… but my gut told me there was still something terribly wrong about all of this. “Your articles are doing more than creating a sensation, Mr. Yantz.”
He arched his brows. “Perhaps instead of terrorizing my poor reporter, you can come with me to my office,” he suggested. “You’re more than welcome to interrogate me all you like.”
I crossed my arms. “Just like that?”
Yantz shrugged. “I’m not aware that printing news is considered a crime.”
Oh, I’ll bet I can dig up something connected to you that is a crime, I thought, but I just gave him a gimlet stare.
“Well? Are you coming?”
I hesitated, feeling this was all way too easy. But I had questions, and he was my best shot at answers. “Fine,” I said, stepping forward. “But no bullshit. I’ll know if you’re lying.”
“Of course not,” he said smoothly. “I assure you I know better than to lie to you.”
“Wait, Miss Baine.”
I turned at the sound of Fintz’s voice. “What is it?” I asked, and that’s when Yantz grabbed my wrist.
I gasped as a needle plunged into my wrist and pain spiked through my arm. I whirled back to face Yantz, yanking my arm away as fast as I could, but not before he’d hit the plunger and sent whatever murky liquid was in there shooting into my veins. A strange, giddy sensation washed over me, and I sank to my knees as the room began to rock. I barely felt the pair of strong, meaty hands that hooked beneath my upper arms, and simply stared at the colors of the room swirling together, until all I could see was blackness.
19
When I came to, the first thing I was aware of was a terrible burning pain, as if someone had pulled irons directly from a forge and clamped them on my wrists. My head throbbed, and my mouth tasted like someone had tried to pour a concoction of vomit and bile down my throat.
What made me open my eyes, however, was the scent of two humans, one of whom I fully expected to be there; the other one, not so much.
I expected to find myself in some dingy basement with a light bulb hovering over my head. Instead, I was sitting in a circle of sofas and chairs in a well-appointed parlor room. Seated across from me, in two separate chairs, were Yantz and Deputy Talcon. The former sat upright, looking grave as if I were a naughty student, and the latter sprawled in his chair, grinning smugly like a schoolyard bully.
“Miss Baine,” Yantz said, leaning forward. He’d draped his suit jacket across the back of his chair, and his cufflinks glinted beneath the chandelier’s light as he rested his hands on his knees. “How nice of you to rejoin us. For a moment I thought I’d given you too much of the drug.”
I gritted my teeth. “What the fuck did you pump into my veins?”
Yantz sat back and waved his hand airily. “Oh, just a hefty dose of liquamine,” he said, referring to an anesthetic that human veterinarians used on their pets. “Nothing your system can’t handle.”
“Yeah, except that you laced it with kalois and silver, didn’t you?” I snarled, leaning forward so I could shove my face into his. But the manacles clamped around my wrists bit into my skin, nearly blinding me with burning pain. I drew back hastily, trying to relieve the agony.
“Ah, yes, those silver manacles do hurt, don’t they?” Yantz arched a dark brow, completely unsympathetic to my plight. “You know, if you didn’t know so much this wouldn’t be necessary. But that you’ve already figured out the compound we’re lacing the drugs with proves you’re far too dangerous to be allowed to run free. Tell me, how did you figure it out?”
“Fuck you.” With no other form of retaliation, I spat in his face.
Yantz recoiled, as I expected, but I didn’t have time to gloat because Talcon rose from his chair and punched me straight in the mouth. Pain exploded through my face as I rocked back, and I cried out as the silver manacles bit into my skin again. The smell of burning flesh laced the air, along with the coppery scent of the blood gushing out of my split lip and down my chin.
“Oh, I knew I was going to have fun when Yantz invited me to this party.” Talcon grinned down at me, and for the first time ever, the sight of his hulking form sent a tremor of fear through me. “I’d suggest you answer his questions, Baine. Or else things are gonna get real painful for you, real fast.”
“Oh yeah, like things are going swell right now.” I glared up at him. “I always knew you were scum, Talcon, but I never expected you to sink this low. You’re an Enforcer, for Magorah’s sake.”
Talcon shrugged. “Yeah, well our boss’s pockets are a lot deeper than the Guild’s,” he said. “The Benefactor pays us well to turn a blind eye.”
“The Benefactor?” I echoed, disbelief flooding through me. “Who the fuck is that?”
“Ah, so you haven’t gotten that far,” Yantz said. His dark eyes glittered coldly as he regarded me.
I bared my fangs at him, trying my best to ignore the pain and sickness ravaging my senses. “I would have, in time.”
Yantz nodded. “I’m well aware of that. Which is why you’re in chains. The Benefactor has big plans for the future of this country, and we can’t allow you to get in the way.”
This country? That sounded a lot bigger than just Solantha. “What kind of plan involves drugging and killing shifters?”
Yantz nodded to Talcon, who delivered another blow to my face. This one I expected, so only my head snapped back. Pain radiated from my cheekbone, and I hoped to Magorah the crack I’d heard was just my neck popping and not a broken bone.
“I ask the questions around here, not you,” Yantz said, his voice soft. “Now tell me, how did you find out about the compound?”
“I paid some Academy student to analyze it,” I half-lied, and spat out a mouthful of blood. Flecks of dark red spattered across Yantz’s shiny black shoes and the thick carpet. “Hope that doesn’t stain.”
Talcon reared back to hit me again, but Yantz held up a hand. “You’ll kill her if you keep hitting her in the head, Garius.”
Talcon’s eyes glittered maliciously down at me, his fist still poised to strike. “I’ve known this bitch for a long time, Petros. She’s pretty hard headed.”
“Nevertheless, stand down for now.” Yantz waited until Talcon reluctantly lowered his arm before turning his gaze back to me. “An Academy student, you say? Which one?”
I lifted my bloody chin. “I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.”
Yantz’s eyes narrowed. “And why would I want to do that?”
I shrugged, and immediately regretted it as more pain lanced through my wrists. “I’m pretty good at putting up with pain, and since you guys are going to kill me anyway, torture isn’t much of an incentive to get me to talk. If you want answers, you’re going to have to give me some first.”
“Let’s just kill her,” Talcon growled, but Yantz leaned back in his chair, stroking his clean-shaven chin with his manicured fingers.
“I can’t imagine any information I’d give you will be much use to you beyond the grave.”
Maybe not, but this conversation was buying me time – time that I was using to heat the shackles around my wrists with tiny flames. I couldn’t use larger flames or they would notice, but if I did this a little bit at a time the silver would eventually melt and fall off.
“Let’s just say it’ll give me closure.” My gaze flickered back a
nd forth between the two of them. “Why don’t you start by telling me why you killed Roanas Tillmore.” I couldn’t die without at least learning that.
Yantz laughed. “Of all the questions you might pick, you ask the most obvious one?” He regarded me with a mixture of amusement and disdain. “I had Tillmore killed for the same reason I’m having you killed now. He was asking too many questions, following the trail of the shifter deaths.”
Rage boiled in my gut at the way he dismissed my mentor’s life so casually. I channeled the fury into my magic, knowing it would do no good to direct it toward Yantz just now.
“Why were you going after those shifters?” I challenged.
“Ah, ah, ah.” Yantz wagged a finger. “It’s my turn to ask the next question. Who is the Academy student who helped you figure out the compound?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but just then the silver around my wrists softened, coming into contact with my skin. I clamped my jaw shut on a shriek as the white-hot metal seared my skin, and blinked my watering eyes.
Yantz’s eyes narrowed. “Why do I smell burning flesh?”
“It’s the silver –” Talcon began, but the cuffs had softened enough to break free, and I wasn’t going to waste time. A surge of adrenaline whipped through me, and I kicked my legs wide. The chair legs snapped from the seat, not quite clearing it, but enough for me to launch myself at Yantz, my claws extended.
“Stop her!” Yantz shrieked, throwing himself back in his chair. He skidded across the room as I landed on my stomach, but before I could scramble to my feet Talcon tackled me. I grunted as the weight of his heavy body crushed me into the carpet.
“I’ve got you now, bitch.” He panted heavily in my ear as I squirmed beneath him. Something hard pressed against my ass, and I gasped. “You’re mine.”
“You sick fuck!” I bucked beneath him, disgust rippling through me. The motion created just enough space for me to bring my knee up and wedge it beneath my torso. He grunted as he tried to squash me back into the ground, but the new position had thrown him off balance, and I was able to twist around beneath him so that my back was on the ground.
“Oh, so you like missionary?” He drew back his arm to punch me again, but I whipped my head to the side and his fist sank into the carpet instead. “Hold still, you bitch, so I can give it to you the way you like it!”
“I’m a feline, not a bitch,” I hissed, and then I reared up and sank my fangs into his neck. A roar echoed from Talcon’s throat, and his fist slammed into my head, over and over, trying to get me to let go. But I held on, my jaws clamped around his neck as firmly as a bulldog’s. He would weaken eventually; he had to, or I was done.
“Sunaya!” A door crashed open, and the sound of running footsteps followed. The Enforcer’s Guild must’ve hired someone new, because whoever it was sounded a hell of a lot like Iannis. Whoever it was though, I would never know, because Talcon’s fist smashed into my head again. The blow was weaker than the last, but it was one hit too many, and I fell into the darkness.
20
The next time I opened my eyes, a pair of shimmering violet irises hovered over me. It took me a moment to remember who they belonged to, and when I did, I shot upright.
“Oww!” Iannis snapped as our skulls collided. He slapped a long-fingered hand over his forehead and glared down at me, the concern and relief I’d glimpsed eclipsed by annoyance. “Miss Baine, do you give no thought toward your actions before making them?”
“Sorry,” I grumbled, rubbing my own forehead. “But you shouldn’t have been hovering over me like that.” I looked around to see that I was back in my room at the palace, sitting up in my green-canopied bed. Heat rose to my cheeks as I realized I wore nothing but a thin tank top and underwear, and that Iannis was alone in the room with me. “Where’s Fenris?”
“Dealing with this disaster, along with Director Chen.” The Chief Mage sat down in a chair that had been pulled up next to my bed, and I wondered just how long he’d been sitting in it, watching me sleep. “He wanted to be here instead, and I don’t blame him. You were quite a mess when we found you.”
The memory of Talcon’s body crushing mine, of his hard-on grinding into me, and of my fangs sunk deep into his neck, made me shudder. “Yeah, I’m not exactly surprised,” I said, quietly.
The Chief Mage’s lips curled downward. “Did he… do anything to you?” he asked, the barest hesitation in his voice.
I arched a brow. “You mean aside from binding my wrists with silver and beating the shit out of me?”
“I...” Iannis’s expression didn’t change, but spots of color appeared high on his cheekbones. “All your clothes were on when we found you, but Captain Galling has reported to me that his Deputy had an interest in you that went beyond professional.”
Yeah, no kidding. I swallowed back the bile rising in my throat. “I’m fine,” I said, not wanting to dwell on it. “What happened to Talcon, though? And Yantz?”
The Chief Mage scowled. “Deputy Talcon bled out before I could heal him, and Petros Yantz was already gone. Fenris found a secret passage that allows escape from his mansion, and from the scent could tell that Yantz used it recently. He’s leading a search party to find him now.”
Hearing that Yantz was missing, and the answers to the questions bouncing around in my head gone with him, galvanized me into action. I swung my legs off the bed. “I need to get out there.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Iannis was suddenly right in front of me, his hands braced on either side of my hips. My bare legs brushed against his blue robes, and I sucked in a sharp breath as heat raced through my limbs and lit a fire in my core. Once again, I was acutely aware of how little clothing I wore.
“I just finished healing you again, and I’m not going to let you run out this door so soon.” His voice was rough now, his violet eyes blazing down at me.
I should have been outraged that he was pushing me around, but my pulse was pounding too hard for me to think straight. “And just how the hell do you think you’re going to stop me?”
A sharp knock at the door interrupted us. Iannis straightened as I hastily shoved myself backwards, annoyance flashing across his sharp features.
“Who is it?” he demanded.
“Garen, sir. I’m one of the guards.”
I let out a sigh of relief as Iannis answered the door. Saved by the guard. I had no idea what would have happened if he hadn’t knocked on the door… but I had a feeling it was something we both would have regretted later.
“Well? What is it?” he demanded of the guard as I belted a robe around my waist.
“I’m sorry to bother you, sir.” The guard bowed hastily. “An important visitor is here to see you.”
“At this time of night? Who is it?”
Garen’s eyes slanted towards me as I joined Iannis at the door, and then back to the Chief Mage.
“It’s Thorgana Mills, the owner of Mills Media and Entertainment. She’s here to see you, and Miss Baine.”
I had to admit, for once it was nice to be standing next to the Chief Mage on his side of the desk instead of traveling towards him down the never-ending blue carpet. But as I watched Thorgana Mills walk through the doors, I reminded myself she was hardly in the situation I’d been when I was first dragged in here. For one, the two huge men who flanked her were her personal bodyguards, and for two, she was here of her own accord. She looked pretty damn good too, with her shoulder-length ice blonde hair curled, her makeup perfectly applied, and her white skirt suit wrinkle and smudge free – something I myself would never be able to accomplish, given my knack for attracting dirt. And blood.
Neither of which a woman like her knew anything about.
“Lord Iannis,” she greeted, bowing, and her bodyguards bowed briefly as well. Her silvery voice was as cultured as the rest of her, and she used it to great effect while hosting her many garden parties. Though Thorgana was the owner of one of the largest news and entertainment companies in the country
– of which the Herald was a mere branch – she’d inherited the company from her father and left most of the management to CEOs and assistants. I had reason to know she was much more comfortable in her role as a socialite, hosting and attending parties and functions and working with charities – she’d hired me as a bodyguard once or twice. While she’d paid well, it had been one of the most boring jobs I’d ever done.
“Lovely to see you again.”
“Mrs. Mills.” The Chief Mage inclined his head. “Welcome back to Solantha.” Thorgana had a summer home here, but she hadn’t been in residence to my knowledge. That, and the fact that she almost never had any dealings with her own paper, made this visit a little strange. “What brings you to my doorstep this late at night?”
Thorgana’s smiling face took on a grave expression. “My husband and I arrived in town this evening, when we heard the news about Petros.” Her lush red mouth curved downwards in a brief expression of regret. “I decided to come here myself, to offer an apology in person. The fact that a serial killer had been hired to run my paper is very embarrassing.”
The Chief Mage arched a brow. “Your embarrassment is the least of our issues, Mrs. Mills. Yantz killed over twenty shifters in the last month, and when we searched his mansion we found a host of illegal bombs and weapons in his basement. We have reason to think that he was allied with a terrorist organization, most likely the Resistance.”
I jolted at this piece of information. Hot anger rushed through me, at the fact that Iannis hadn’t told me, and because he was pointing the finger at the Resistance. But I couldn’t argue with him now, not with Thorgana standing right there, her pretty silver-blue eyes wide with shock.
“Bombs?” Thorgana echoed, placing a dainty hand to her mouth. “Oh my. That is not at all acceptable. And that Petros was going to continue murdering all these shifters…” Tears filled her eyes, and she looked away for a moment. “All this anti-shifter bigotry is very upsetting.” She turned those huge, tear-filled eyes onto me. “That’s the other reason I came here tonight, so that I could apologize to you, Miss Baine. I have heard that you lost your mentor, and nearly lost your own life tonight because of Petros.”