by Nikki Landis
Most of his movements are too fast for the naked eye to make out and I struggle to keep up with the motion.
The guns are firing and hitting the demons as they fall from Derek’s dark form, exploding in puffs of ash and black smoke. They disappear as more form to replace the ones destroyed. Derek doesn’t falter or stop his advance. He continues to rush forward, his objective simple. Annihilation. Viktor tosses the guns aside once he’s out of ammo, combines his hands together, and opens his fists, forcing out a burst of air that pulses like a sonic boom. Derek is knocked from his feet but quickly scrambles back up.
They run straight for each other as I hear the men behind us attack the compound. Syndicate fighters are locked in battle with Collective Hunters. I’m momentarily stunned by the chaos and surreal display of power that ripples in the air. Chaos is leading the Syndicate and I watch men fall to his feet, writhing in agony and screaming. Ember is shooting fireballs and throwing walls of crimson fire in front of comrades to block enemy attacks. Dev, my brother, is raining down blue fire from the skies at the same time he’s projecting swirls of blue flame toward targets.
Holy fuck, I’m in the middle of an Avengers movie or some shit.
This is so freaking awesome!
Viktor and Derek are arguing, hurling insults at one another as they continue their deadly assault.
“You killed your own father to take over Blackstone Enterprises,” Derek accuses.
“If that’s what you want to believe, go ahead Onyx,” Viktor sneers, “but your mind has always been weak.”
“We took him down but you were the one who destroyed him!”
“You’re a fool Onyx, as usual you talk out of ignorance.”
Both men look tired but they don’t pause or slow down. Coming to blows, their fists make contact with one another, as the fight takes on a physically violent turn. Soon they’re both bloody.
I’m also under attack but I don’t realize it until I’m flying through the air. In a humiliating and painful splat, I land with a thud on the hard ground. Spinning quickly I look up to see an Asian man go all Karate Kid on me as a kick lands against my rib cage. The wind is knocked from me as I scream, certain I nearly have a broken bone. Breathing, I focus my concentration, and smile at his surprised face.
Pain is a wonderful way to channel your inner bitch.
For the first time I don’t give in to panic but revel in the strength and rage that consumes me. In fact, there’s not been a single panic attack since the asylum and Viktor’s ‘treatments’.
Correction, he’s not really Viktor. He’s the Joker now.
At least, I think so.
My theme music starts playing in my head and I jump up, moving quickly, and launch myself into his thin frame. Our movements are quick, so fast I don’t register the next block, punch, or kick but land them with precision, blocking almost every hit. “Not so confident now, are you?” I taunt.
He must be insulted because his face twists into a snarl as he kicks out, catching me off guard with an astounding roundhouse to my side. The pain is forgotten when I execute a perfect punch that snaps his head to the left. Back and forth we land hits to each other and it’s obvious that we’re close to evenly matched.
Our battle continues alongside Derek and Viktor until the loud whirring of helicopter blades whips up a wind so fierce I’m forced to drop down low and duck for cover. The heavy thud of someone or something landing on the ground, their dangerous aura closing in, grips my own like a vice.
“Stop!”
The voice is one I know from the last few minutes I stood in Graves Sanatorium. His deep and thick speech accompany his sinister laughter, eerily similar to his son’s. I fear him the most, more than any other villain, and he’s standing right in front of me.
Silas Blackstone.
Chapter 23
The first thought in my head is that Silas isn’t dead. The second is that it won’t matter because he’s going to kill us all – probably starting with his son. I didn’t realize who he was at the Sanatorium and never put it together until right this moment. Viktor’s actions make sense now. He was under the compulsion of his deranged father the entire time and he was keeping his promise to protect me that day he let me go, right after I was given the opportunity to seek vengeance on my mugger.
Daring to look in his direction I notice he isn’t crouching down like many of us. Neither is Onyx or Chaos. They’re ready to fight and defeat the man who caused so much destruction in so many lives.
It all comes down to this moment. One fraction of a second in time that will dominate my thoughts and actions for years to come. As I stare down my enemy I realize that my entire life has been in preparation to annihilate the sick and twisted villain before me. He’s taken so much from my family and friends. He’s stolen from each of us – valuable pieces of our black hearts that we’ll never be able to get back.
He has to be stopped. There’s no other choice.
Exhaling slowly I catch Derek’s eye and wink. He shakes his head but he doesn’t know what I have planned.
It’s now or never.
My ruthless decision made, I surge forward and attack. Maybe this is folly. Maybe it’s always been my destiny. Who knows?
As the chaos erupts around me I lock eyes with true evil and recognize the twisted darkness and creeping shadows are a part of me, interwoven, as integral as the blood vessels and tendons that connect throughout my body. Destroying this tortured soul will also destroy a piece of myself. Maybe I won’t walk away. Nothing is certain but I sense my own defeat even as I embrace the knowledge that I’ll pay the cost.
Volatile vixen.
That’s all I am. No more. No less.
With a giggle I rush headfirst into the danger,
And embrace the madness.
“Leigh!” I don’t listen to Devon’s horrified cry but run faster, closing the distance between me and Silas Blackstone. He’s a solid wall of towering muscle, six and a half feet tall, his wide girth a testament to the powerhouse I’m about to engage. I may go down . . . but I’ll do it fighting and on my own terms.
I’m vaguely aware of both Derek and Viktor’s presence joining mine, their auras weaving in and out of my own, latching with desperate fingers but finding no traction. I won’t allow them to stop me. Some buried instinct drives me with a reckless purpose and self-destructive abandon and I have to see this through. I have to destroy Silas. He’s an abomination.
“No!” Derek yells as I reach my enemy and swing upward, a baseball bat materializing out of my hand that’s made out of cold hard steel. What the actual fuck? How did this happen?
There’s no time to stop or analyze even as I nearly freak out but keep the momentum, determined to follow through, and the bat connects with the side of Silas’s skull. There’s a loud crack as the metal meets bone and his head flings backward briefly before snapping back on his neck. Rage contorts his features as he grabs me with thick brutal hands, too quickly for me to land another hit.
His massive grip closes around my throat as I dangle in the air, my feet kicking as I cling to his fist and try to pry his fingers apart. I’m only vaguely aware that the bat is gone and my hands claw at his meaty flesh. I’m choking, sputtering, and fighting the loss of oxygen to my brain.
“Leigh!” Derek’s voice is full of pain and I sense his shadow demons attacking but Silas doesn’t loosen his hold or acknowledge Onyx’s attack.
“Puddin’!” Viktor’s enraged voice echoes in my head.
Blue fire erupts along the ground and singes at Silas’s feet as he roars his displeasure but doesn’t loosen his grip. My brother’s aura joins the other two but they aren’t enough to defeat the powerful man holding me hostage and slowly draining the life from my body. Silas’ power is unlike any I’ve felt before. Viktor is a slightly weaker version but Silas is able to hone in on mine and suck away the life-force contained within. He’ll destroy me.
I’m about to panic and consider that I’ve truly
fucked up this time when I feel a power so strong erupt around us that I end up thrown to the ground. A pulse of energy large enough to knock out the entire city of electricity booms into the stagnant air. The Joker just released his full ability and I’m awestruck. My gaze scatters across the open field and I gasp as every person here is collapsed or unconscious, even Silas. All except for . . . Viktor.
His face is a contorted mask of rage and brutality, a cruel smile widening his mouth in a mocking grin. Our eyes meet and for one brief second I see a flash of fierce longing and scorching passion. A look that consumes and singes even as it releases me from his clutches. I call out his name, horrified as I see him turn back to his father. This is suicide!
Silas is climbing to his feet and rushes for his son.
“Viktor!” I scream. “Don’t!”
I know what he’s planning before he does it, our auras mixing and tangling together intimately, seductively as I feel him penetrate my soul with a mixture of pain, pleasure, and raw visceral need that thrusts orgasmically inside. A vision enters my mind – the stone exterior of a massive structure, hidden in the snowcapped mountains, high on a misty hillside that’s surrounded by thick towering trees and the faces of hundreds of supernatural beings. They’re all protecting the dark palace and the men caged within. The Blackstone fortress.
As I watch Viktor is subdued, his father lashing out in violence against him. Blood spatters the ground as he’s held and beaten without mercy. He never cries out but voices one word, one name, silently on his lips as he grins widely. “Harleigh.” The vision fades . . .
Crying out with horror I shake my head, refusing to acknowledge his plan.
Viktor placed the picture in my head. I’m not sure how but I know he did. Panicked, I know he’ll go through with his actions because the man is ruthless and deranged.
Three words he wishes me to know are pushed through our connection even though they aren’t spoken aloud.
“For you Puddin’.”
A thunderous boom explodes in the air as father and son meet across the field, a pulse that rocks the earth and shatters the wind for a brief second and then it’s over.
Silence.
No Silas. No Viktor. No helicopter. Just emptiness . . .
I feel bereft.
“Leigh!” Dev yells, running for me, the fear evident on his face.
His embrace surrounds me as I lift my eyes and blurt the first thing that comes to my head, “Calm down Blue Fury.”
Relieved laughter hovers around us as Devon frowns. Yeah, he may hate the name but I’m gonna love giving him shit about it.
“I’m glad you’re alright he whispers,” hugging me close.
“I am big brother, love you.”
“Love you more.” I’m almost shocked to hear the words spoken so loudly but hey Mr. Macho has his moments.
I’m pulled into Derek’s arms next and sink into the warmth and love that blankets my entire body. “Leigh,” he croaks, “Don’t ever do something so stupid again.”
Biting my lip I’m certain that to answer in any way would be a lie.
My eyes wander over the field as the injured are assessed and helped while Chaos takes inventory of our losses. I wish Viktor was here so I could thank him. He saved so many of us from his father’s wrath, my life included.
It’s too late. Joker, Viktor, is gone.
If he survives . . . I wonder if he’ll ever return.
“YOU KNOW, IT’S PRETTY sexy the way you were kicking ass out there. Sensei never stood a chance against you.”
“Sensei?”
“The Asian dude you were fighting. He’s actually an amazing martial arts guy. I’ve gone up against him before,” Derek admits and presses a kiss to my neck, his lips beginning a trail that slopes down across my shoulder and sweeps back up again until he’s close to my mouth.
“Mmmm,” I answer, too distracted to say more.
“Moments like this right here . . . that’s when I wish I had another ability altogether.”
“Oh?” I giggle. “What would that be?”
He flips me over on my back while the mattress beneath us bounces and his grin widens, “Stopping time, of course.” His finger brushes the side of my cheek as he leans in and runs his tongue across my bottom lip. “I’d love nothing more than to hold you like this with my cock buried deep inside you as you cry out my name on that sexy tongue.”
“Oh you mean, this tongue?” I open my mouth and roll it the way he says turns him on.
Derek shivers, “Leigh, you better put that tongue to good use now.”
I can’t reply. He’s taking hostage of my lips with his kiss, twisting our tongues together as fire ignites between us instantly. When I can draw a deep breath I whisper seductively in his ear, “I’d like Onyx to come out and play.”
He shivers but I can tell there’s something else on his mind. “Tell me something Leigh. Do you really not remember anything about us when we were kids?”
His question catches me off guard but I lean forward and nuzzle his nose with my own. “I do Derek. Lots of my memories are bits and pieces, fragments but not whole. The only ones that I remember with perfect clarity are the ones . . .” I don’t finish because I don’t want to upset Derek.
“With Viktor. It’s alright Leigh. I’m not angry.”
I can sense the truth but his eyes sparkle with nothing but love which affirms the feeling. “I wish I could remember more.”
“It’s not important. I only ask because it may help you to understand why you mean so much to me. Dev and I used to keep you safe. We watched over you.”
I knew that, but the only one who protected me from Silas was Viktor, at his own peril. “I know Derek.”
“Leigh, I always knew I was the one,” he says with a playful grin.
“The one?”
“The only one who could hold you tight enough that all of your broken pieces fit back together, squeezing you until you’re a solid person again.”
Laughing happily the tears fill my eyes. He is like that. Derek is my other jagged half but together . . .
We’re perfectly whole.
My eyes close as contentment washes over me and I rest in his arms. Derek is asleep almost instantly. The gentle rise and fall of his chest catches my attention for several minutes before I slip from the bed. For some reason I’m restless. The night seems to call to me as I pad toward the open window and gaze up at the bright white moon. She’s nearly full tonight, her silvery white beams cut through the trees and rest lazily on the foggy ground.
Leaning against the cool pane of glass as my gaze wanders over the shadows and thickly huddled trees, I let my mind wander. Just hours ago I was standing in front of a ruthless and sinister man who chooses to corrupt and twist each ‘child’ of his creation. It’s then that I remember how my hand formed the metal bat and my unfazed reaction. Deep inside I know this is more alteration, more control and manipulation that’s been exerted over me so I don’t fight against my nature too much or completely lose my sanity.
I’ve been molded since childhood, since birth to be this specific model of Harley Quinn and her crazy fucked up existence. My instincts kicked in when the bat materialized and I was quick to react, almost as if I had little control or alternative. I’m made for this – chaos, battle, survival. I’ve been created . . . for madness.
Needing answers to the dozens of questions dancing in my head I know I’ll seek them.
This isn’t over.
The familiar dark pull of another presence is swift to overtake me. I know who it is before I can see his tall silhouette hovering on the edge, his flashing emerald eyes light up the night as they roam over me in beautiful and horrific possession.
My heart races in my chest.
I thought he was gone. Forever.
“Viktor,” I whisper, unconsciously raising my hand in his direction.
He steps from the trees and I’m speechless with his transformation. There’s a cruelly promising twis
t to his smile and a jaded look to his green eyes that causes my entire body to tremble, in either fear or excitement I’m not sure. “I’m back Puddin’. Come to daddy.”
I’m aware of nothing but his steady sauntering walk in my direction as I spin, uttering my response with shocked delight.
“Joker,” I answer, “Mr. J.”
Epilogue
Dressed in his newest gray Armani suit, Silas steeples his fingers and leans back while his hard gaze locks on the squirming, fidgeting man before him. The sweat drips from his puffy brow as Silas laughs lightly, enjoying any amount of discomfort he can inflict.
“You know what I want.”
The nervous man clutches his briefcase tighter, bobbing his head, “Yes, Mr. Blackstone. I’ve found a few of them already.”
“And the next one on the list?”
“Some girl who likes plants. A bit of an oddball.”
“Aren’t you all?” Silas asks, his deep voice booming in the quiet room. “Even the ones who think they can escape me?” As if hiding will protect them from his wrath.
“I, I suppose so Mr. Blackstone.”
“Her name? I assume you have it.”
“I do but –”
“You test my patience,” Silas interrupts, fixing him with a cold, hard stare.
The man jumps slightly at the abrupt tone and blurts the name, quick to appease the powerful man before him, “Ivey.”
“Ivy? Interesting. Drop her files on my desk.” The PI (Poison Ivy) experiment wasn’t as successful as he liked. Almost all of them perished except for one and he was yet to obtain her.
The scared man approaches, his fingers plucking a Manilla file from the stack in his stout arms and lays it on the desk in front of Silas, shifting from one foot to the other in nervous agitation. Viktor thought he was slick when he destroyed many of the files or left them to be captured by the Syndicate. Another reason his son was a fool.
“You may leave.”
The little man scurries away, intense relief visible on his round face.
Silas picks up the file and reads the name, his tone amused, “Ivey not Ivy. How original. I wonder if you’re as fun as Harleigh?” He laughs as the sound rattles the large rectangular glass planes of the immaculate high rise office. “Your parents changed the spelling like Harleigh’s. Not that it matters. We’ll find out soon enough how you adjust to life with the Collective.”