“I think we’re looking for a genetics mastermind, and since all the murders are connected to the university, I bet we’ll find our killer there.” Jillian’s inbox blinked with a new message. “Zac just sent me a photo of Peter.” She clicked on the file to load. As the pixels became clearer, a familiar face stared back at Gavin. Maxim. Gavin’s chest contracted. Without a word, he grabbed Jillian’s waist, shoved open the balcony door, and plunged them over the edge. Jillian clung tightly to him as the ground came closer. Not the softest landing, but good enough. He wrenched open the car door, cranked up the engine, and jabbed his foot down on the accelerator.
“I can’t believe it’s Maxim,” Jillian finally whispered as she regained her ability to speak. “What if Sierra…? Is she still dating him?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to her house now. If she’s not there, we’ll go to Maxim’s. Use your phone to find his address.”
“I left it in my bedroom.” Gavin dug in his car door panel and located his cell. He handed it to Jillian, who gulped. “Sierra tried calling you twice. She left no voice mail.” Jillian held the phone to her ear. “She’s not answering.”
Gavin’s chest clenched. Panic pumped adrenaline into his system. He parked in front of the Victorian house and jumped out. He kicked in the door and ran from room to room, not caring if he frightened Whitney or someone else. Their memories could be amended later and the door could be fixed later. All bedrooms were empty. No one was in the kitchen or living room. He didn’t sense Sierra anywhere nearby.
The lapis pendant underneath his shirt was cold to the touch. If Sierra were in deathly danger, it should flare up. The stone’s inactivity should feel reassuring. It didn’t. A dark sensation crawled through him, poisoning his insides with fetid terror. He fought it, promising himself he would find Sierra. Find her alive.
“She’s not here. We need to go to Maxim’s,” Gavin said, storming back to the car. Jillian recited the address. He sped off, going way above the speed limit and running several red lights. The lapis stone remained cold against his chest. The ten minutes it took them to drive to Maxim’s house were torturous. He didn’t think Sierra was in there, but he had to make sure. He kicked in his second door that night and crashed into the living room.
Eerie silence greeted him. Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Despite his gut telling him Sierra wasn’t here, he rushed through the living room and kitchen, surveying both before running upstairs.
Maxim’s bedroom was empty, his bed unmade. Gavin stared at the sheets, wondering if Sierra had laid in them, her skin against Maxim. How far had their relationship progressed? The possibility of Maxim’s paws all over her was too much to bear. Gavin ripped the wooden shelves off the walls, flinging Maxim’s belongings to the ground.
“We need to check out the basement,” Jillian said.
The cellar was filled with boxes, half of them held winter clothes necessary in Ohio yet superfluous in Savannah. The other half contained Joanna’s belongings: makeup, dresses, and heels.
Jillian pointed to a box filled with wine. “It’s radiating with supernatural energy.” She removed a note from the top. “Instructions on how to preserve supernatural blood.” She unscrewed one of the bottles and sniffed. Her face contorted at the smell, as if she was about to gag. “Joanna’s blood.” Jillian’s fingers grasped for an empty bottle. “That used to be filled with her blood. Gavin, he has taken a lot of it. I’m afraid he has completed the activation.” Her voice broke, and she swayed on her feet.
Gavin didn’t allow the panic to seep into him. He had to stay calm and rational. It was the only way if he wanted to save Sierra. “We need to destroy his supplies.”
Jillian unscrewed bottles with trembling hands, pouring the liquid on the ground, while Gavin smashed the glass. The blood spilled everywhere, then disintegrated into nothingness.
Once they were done, Jillian turned to Gavin. “Even without his reserves, I’m sure he won’t run out of Umbra power for a while. He was smart enough to figure out the symbiosis. I bet he has taken a significant amount of Joanna’s blood with him.”
Gavin’s chest heaved. “I don’t care how much he has on him. We need to find Sierra before it’s too late.”
“Yes,” Jillian agreed. “But we have to be careful. He has crossed every imaginable boundary. He’s capable of anything.”
The kiss. Maxim had seen it. Gavin’s heart almost exploded from his chest. Sierra. What had Maxim done to her? “Where do you think he took her?”
Jillian’s eyes darted around the room, searching for clues. “It depends on what he wants from her. If he’s figured out she’s a Fluidus and knows how rare they are, he might try to experiment on her blood.” Jillian’s face blanched. “The campus. His lab.”
Chapter 33
The darkness ebbed, and the fuzziness in Sierra’s vision cleared. She was alive, lying prostrate on the ground. But, where was she? Not Maxim’s basement. The chamber around her was dank, vast, and empty, reminiscent of a medieval fortress.
Her ability to move had returned; she could wiggle her fingers and toes, yet her wrists and ankles were in shackles. The coldness of the floor seeped through her jeans and tee. Her clothes, they were almost dry. How long had she been out for?
Footsteps. She glanced up to see an Umbra approaching and gulped when his face came into the light. It was the one Jillian had showed her, the merciless, sadistic looking one.
“Halbert,” she whispered.
His face twisted into a sinister snarl. Desperate, she sat up, yanking at the restraints on her wrists and ankles. She needed to free herself, but before she could come up with a clear thought, the whip in his hand crashed down upon her shoulders. The impact knocked the air out of her. Pain exploded on her skin, seeping into her bones. Her whole body was on fire. The whip blasted across her again, this time hitting the other shoulder. Liquid trickled down her torso underneath her clothes. Blood. Her blood.
“You’re mine now. You’ll never get away! No one will find you!” Halbert yelled.
Through her screams and tears, a realization tried to break to the surface. Something wasn’t right. Why would Halbert hurt her? The Umbra wanted her alive and in good condition so that she fought on his sides. Halbert’s interest in her was of a professional nature. If he found her, he would deliver her to the head of the Culpatus. Only when he realized she wasn’t willing to cooperate would he torture her.
This felt wrong. With a startle, she realized why. Maxim. Of course, using his Charmer powers, he had pulled her into a vision. One so detailed, it rivaled reality.
He was toying with her subconscious, exploiting her deepest fears. Anger flared within Sierra, slicing through the agonizing throbbing of her body. She focused on her shackles, determined to demolish them. First, she would break out of this nightmare, and then she would deal with Maxim. Her eyes zoomed onto the cuffs. She visualized them breaking open. Nothing happened. She tried again, harder this time. Again nothing. It was as if her powers had never existed. Another side effect of Maxim invading her mind?
Halbert continued his torture. With each hit, her hope diminished. Patches of her skin broke open. The blood no longer trickled, but gushed out of her wounds. Knowing it was just an illusion didn’t matter when it felt so real. She whimpered, curling up into a ball. It’s fake. It’s not real. She willed herself to wake up and failed. The harder she tried to wake up, the more convincing the vision became. Each blow was excruciating, pushing her closer to her limit, pushing her closer to her breaking point. She couldn’t stand this any longer. Her body began convulsing.
What could she do? She had no experience breaking free of a Charmer’s mental restraint. Jeff’s words shot through her dazed mind. A Charmer will dig deep within your subconscious, discover your worst fears and use them against you, creating illusions that rival reality. You need to find a way to stop being afraid.” Maxim was feeding off her fears. To break the illusion, she had to stop being afraid.
She breathed in deeply, trying to find the peace within her. She thought of Gran’s kindness, of Jillian’s warmth, of Gavin’s strength. Sierra might feel like she was alone, but she wasn’t. Dad, Gran, and Jeff were watching over her. Gavin and Jillian were on their way to find her. She was Sierra Reeves, a Fluidus, and she refused to die from some Charmer’s illusion.
Her gaze darted from her shackles up to Halbert and then past him. If Maxim was inducing this nightmare, he had to be here somewhere. She focused and found him in the corner of the chamber, observing. He flinched when their eyes met, as if he hadn’t expected her to figure it out. She had trusted him, had felt guilty about not sleeping with him, had adored and looked up to him. Fury burst from her. She screamed. The shackles on her wrists and ankles crumbled. Halbert exploded into a thousand pieces like a glass figure. Finally, Maxim’s frame faded and everything turned foggy.
Oxygen. She needed oxygen. Her eyes flew open, and she gasped for air, as if she had been submerged under water for minutes.
“You bitch!” Maxim let out a violent stream of curses, clutching his head. Sierra studied him cold-bloodedly. Interesting, how her breaking out of his illusion hurt him.
Her feeling of triumph ended abruptly when Maxim produced a syringe filled with blood and plunged it into the inside of his arm. Color seeped into his face, and his arms relaxed, the juice restoring him. His gray aura thickened. How much reserve did he have? How much longer until she exhausted herself?
She needed to flee. She tried to stand, only to discover how heavy her wrists and ankles were. The shackles had been more than just an illusion. Could she shatter them with her telekinesis? She didn’t know. Either way, she needed a plan first. She turned her head, scanning the room. It looked like a lab. “Where did you bring me?” She managed to keep her voice level.
“You didn’t tell me what you are, so I decided to find out myself.” Maxim pulled out an empty syringe and advanced toward her.
“What are you doing?” Sierra’s stomach contracted, her muscles spasmed.
“You’re not afraid of needles, are you?” Maxim gripped her arm and twisted it. He plunged the syringe into her vein. She let out an involuntary whelp.
With the container full, Maxim released her, and she almost fell back.
“This will just take ten minutes.” He plugged her blood sample into a machine. The screen flashed to life, multicolored lines appearing on it. “I know your sensing is nonexistent, so you’re not a Guardian. Physically, you’re not very strong, so no Dragoon either. It takes significant effort for you to block my mental advances, so no Charmer. That leaves Blurs. But I’ve never seen you teleport. The only thing you ever do is stop things from falling or breaking.” Maxim cocked his head. “Telekinesis. The question is, what does that make you? I’ll find out soon enough.”
“What are you planning to do with me?” She fisted her hands to stop them from trembling. Her skin was rough from the metal cuffs.
Maxim’s lips curled upward. “Haven’t decided yet, but eventually, I’ll run out of my mother’s blood, and it would be nice to have a living blood supply bag.”
Sierra swallowed hard. Her throat was constricting, and tears welled in her eyes. This was so much worse than the nightmare. Why wasn’t Gavin here yet? The lapis pendant, she had taken it off in the car. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She needed to sneak it out of her jeans pocket and put it back around her neck.
Maxim must’ve noticed her reaching into her jeans pocket, because the next moment, he was atop of her. He straddled her legs and shoved her until her back hit the floor, pinning her wrists above her head. “What do we have here?” He retrieved the pendant and examined it. When she didn’t reply, he yelled, “Answer me!”
“It’s nothing!” Her breaths came short and fast.
“Really? I don’t believe you, and unfortunately for you, I can’t analyze this myself. You’ll have to help.” Maxim’s hands travelled roughly from her neck to her hipbones, digging into them. This was bad, real bad, and there was no waking up from it.
“Don’t look so miserable. You brought this on yourself. You played me for a fool, and then you fell for my trap like an idiot. You basically served yourself on a silver platter. If you tell me what this stone is, I might let you live,” he said, his fingers trailing the waistband of her jeans.
She squirmed against his touch, trying to put distance between them. “It was from my Gran. It’s an heirloom. That’s it.”
“Liar!” Maxim lifted Sierra by her shoulders and slammed her against the ground. “Tell me the truth, you dumb, undeserving bitch!”
Sharp pangs shot up her spine. The physical sensation overrode her panic, making her bold. “I might not be as schooled as you are, but at least I’m not a murderer!”
Two slaps. One to her right, one to her left cheek. “Don’t paint me the villain. I was cleansing the world, ridding it of little bastards like you, bringing up the level of the human race.” Still straddling her, he pulled off his shirt, and a fresh wave of alarm spread through her. She squeezed her legs together, prepared to jostle her knee into his groin. But Maxim didn’t try to undress her. Instead, he wrapped his shirt around her head, trapping her in the material. She realized too late what he was planning. He would suffocate her, or at least torture her into submission.
The oxygen supply in her lungs deteriorated rapidly. Lightheadedness enveloped her. Sierra fought it. If she could break out of the vision, she could break out of her shackles. Her inner strength buzzed to life, fortified by the memories of the ones who cared for her. She gathered it in a tight ball within her and then let it out.
With a clank, the metal around her wrists and ankles snapped open. Her fingernails sank into Maxim’s wrists, her legs pushing him off her. He fell back, and she tore his shirt from her face, gasping for air.
The lapis pendant lay discarded on the floor. Quickly, she seized it and stuffed it in her pocket. How could she put enough distance between her and Maxim to fasten the necklace? She glanced around the room: microscopes, refrigerators, cylinders, gloves, and plastic bottles. Could she use any of them?
Before she could decide, Maxim was back on top of her. His hands closed around her throat. She flailed like a fish to no avail, scratching and yanking at him. Black spots danced in front of her vision. Still reeling from his first attack, she was weak.
Maxim slackened his grip, and she wheezed. “I can’t decide what’s more fun: this or using illusions on you. They both make you squirm and your body looks marvelous when it’s convulsing over and over again.” A manic laughter erupted from his throat.
Not wasting time thinking how crazy or awful he was, Sierra channeled every ounce of energy she had into her palms and visualized Maxim flying across the room. The voltage spewed from her, taking him by surprise. He tumbled backward, not as forceful as she had intended, but far enough. She scrambled to her feet and made a run for it, the door only a few feet away from her. She shoved the handle down and dashed through the hallway. Her steps echoed in the deserted space. Somehow, she managed to fasten the necklaces clasp without slowing down.
A second set of footsteps sounded. “I’m going to get you, you dumb bitch.” The corridor came to an end. Door to her right, stairs to her left. Sierra tried the door to find it locked. Stairs it was. She bolted up, Maxim closing in on her.
Only a few more. She tripped and fell on her knees. Maxim grabbed the back of her shirt and whirled her around, smacking her shoulder blades against the staircase. Each of her nerve endings screeched, fogging her mind. When she was capable of a clear thought, she realized Maxim had immobilized her body, yet her hands remained free. She jabbed her fingers into his windpipe.
He gasped, clutching his throat. It was enough for her to scramble up the last few stairs and enter a room filled with lab tables. It didn’t lead anywhere, making her frenzy skyrocket. She couldn’t run down the stairs, couldn’t go anywhere. She hid behind one of the tables, making her body as small as possible, praying Maxim woul
dn’t hear her panting.
“Come out, come out wherever you are,” Maxim called in a raspy voice. The silence hung in the air. No footsteps, meaning he wasn’t moving. Yet. “Fine. Have it your way. We’ll see how long it takes for you to come out.”
At first, Sierra didn’t comprehend what he was implying. Her heart clenched as Umbra clad in black with manic smirks and blades emerged from everywhere. She was trapped. No, this wasn’t real. Maxim was using an illusion to make her crawl out of hiding. She had to fight this and stay strong. A blade went through her leg, and she jerked, barely stifling a scream.
She closed her eyes, repeating in her head that this wasn’t real, focusing on her breath. Gradually, the illusion became less terrifying, less real. Her pulse slowed, and she opened her eyes. It was time to take down Maxim once and for all.
Gavin slammed his shoulder against the entry of the biology building, unhinging the door. The lapis stone flared up. It sent a hard blow to his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs. Even though Gavin knew this was Sierra’s fear and pain, he almost toppled over, as if he were the one experiencing the sensations. “She’s in here,” he growled to Jillian through clenched teeth and bolted down the corridor.
His skin prickled with needle-like sensations, which intensified the closer he got to the staircase. Another sharp stab drove into him. He dashed up the stairs, not waiting for Jillian to keep up. Maxim’s back came into view. Gray aura speckled with purple hovered around him. He didn’t turn, too focused on the illusion he was summoning to notice noises around him.
Gavin tackled Maxim, wrestling him to the ground. “Where is Sierra? What have you done to her?”
“I’m fine. I’m over here.” Sierra rose from behind one of the lab tables. Her skin was pallid, her hair in disarray, but she was alive, and she appeared unharmed. “Gavin, watch out!” she yelled.
Fluidus Rising: A YA Paranormal Novel: (The Ardere Series Book1) Page 21