Insidious: (The Marked Mage Chronicles, Book 1)

  He rested the back of his hand against my forehead, his jaw setting even tighter. “You’re burning up.”

  My words came out uneven through chattering teeth as I asked, “Where is he?”

  “Reese is at the hospital with Mark and Carly. They’re all okay,” Adam assured.

  It should have given me some sense of relief to hear that, but I just shook my head.

  He understood. “You don’t need to worry. He’s down in the cellar, shackled in silver—”

  “I need to see him.”

  Fear struck those deep blue eyes as they widened, and he involuntarily jerked back as if I might…as if I might bite him.

  “He’s the only one who really knows what’s happening to me. You have to take me to him. I need to know the truth. I need to know…” if Adam should just kill me now. It might be more merciful.

  “I can’t do that—”

  “Then I’ll go on my own.” I flung the blanket off, immediately regretting it. The cold air sliced into me, making me shake even harder. I tried climbing off the mattress, only to have my legs give out on me. Adam was quick to react, catching me before I toppled into the nightstand.

  “You look like shit,” he murmured.

  “Thanks.”

  His eyes were still sharp, but he let out a steadier breath. “You’ll be lucky to get down the hall before passing out. The moment anyone sees you, they’ll know something’s up.”

  “Then help me.”

  Adam bit out another curse as he wrapped his jacket around me. The warm leather fabric swaddled me tightly enough that it actually managed to repress my trembling body from full-on convulsing. His sturdy grip secured me under my arm as he hauled me out of the corridors. Most of the time, my feet didn’t even touch the ground. He only set me down when we crossed an occasional passerby. Adam always nodded, and I made sure to keep my head down. I swiped away the beads of sweat dampening my forehead for the billionth time as he carried me down to the basement level.

  We rounded the bend, and a brawny man, around thirty, immediately pinned a hand to Adam’s chest. “You can’t be down here.”

  “I’m on orders from my father. Leave,” he ordered. “Now.”

  The man hesitated, giving me a wary once-over, but left the way we came and headed upstairs.

  The air was thick and damp, reeking of mold and mildew. Adam guided me past several empty stalls equipped to look like old prison cells. Instead of a door blocking off each small space, thick metal bars rested between us and the inside of the enclosures. The cells were stripped of everything except for steel brackets mounted into the walls.

  We approached the fifth compartment, and I had to stifle the urge to vomit. A part of me thought it would make me feel better to see Blaine like this. But staring at him, staring at the blistering red burns that charred his exposed chest… I staggered back.

  “I was wondering when you’d pay me a visit.” Blaine’s eyes weren’t even open. He sat on the floor, his back resting against the far wall. Chains sat around him, the ends hooked into the thick brackets I now realized were for securing his shackles. They rattled as he moved his hands ever so slightly across the damp cement floor. His wrists… The skin was literally charcoaled black where his wrists were bound, steam simmering off the silver manacles.

  Bile rose in my throat as I finally lifted my gaze to his face, only to find him already staring back.

  His nostrils flared as he surveyed me. “Well, you look rather worse for wear. I take it you haven’t given into your baser instincts yet?”

  “How long do I have?” I gnashed, trying to mask my pain with the bitterness that already coated my lips.

  “How long?” he repeated drolly.

  “How long does this last for? When will I…?”

  “If you resign yourself to it, it’ll be over in a matter of seconds.”

  “And if I keep fighting it?”

  “Then I’d seriously begin doubting your competence.” He rolled his eyes as I grimaced. “Hate to break it to you, love, but you’ve looked better. And no,” Blaine said, cutting Adam off the moment he opened his mouth. “There isn’t a cure. Her body will eventually concede, willing or not. She’s got twelve hours, a day at the most.”

  “What is she going to become?” gritted Adam.

  “She’s an extension of me now. She’ll become faster, stronger, more agile.” A seared hand flicked to my concealed arm. “She’ll finally be able to put that beautiful artwork to real use.”

  “Not a Hellhound?” The words were like poison on my tongue.

  “Those insufferable things? God no. They’re far too aggressive for my palate,” Blaine jeered. His amused grin cast into a vulpine smile as his eyes danced over my body. “I appreciate passion of a different variety. One you’re very familiar with.”

  I glowered at him, shifting away from the bars.

  “Don’t be coy now.” He teased at the chains binding him, even as they seared deeper into his wrists. “I was quite impressed by what you could do without the use of your hands. And I’m particularly aroused at the prospect of seeing the fullest extent of what you could do with them.

  “I’d sooner choke to death on my own vomit.”

  “No need to pretend, Kitten. You know you enjoyed it.” His smile only grew bigger, especially as he turned his attention to Adam. “Hell, Reynolds saw it for himself. Did she really look that disgusted?”

  I looked over at Adam, and sure enough, he was scowling. Did he honestly think I enjoyed that?

  “I’ll take his silence as an endorsement.”

  All he wanted was to get a rise out of Adam, and he was doing just that. My tolerance was nonexistent as I finally barked, “Why me? Why do any of this?”

  “Awww, where would the fun be in telling you that?” Blaine crooned. “Besides, a boy’s allowed to have some secrets, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah, well, those secrets are gonna be following you right into the grave, because that’s where you’ll be by sunrise,” gnashed Adam.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” He haughtily rested his burning wrists on his propped up knees. “Not if you wish to spare Kat from sharing in that same fate.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “She’s my mate now. Our lives are one and the same. Linked for eternity. If you kill me, she’ll die too.”

  I wasn’t breathing, and by the silence beside me, I wasn’t sure if Adam was either.

  That was why he had bitten me. Blaine could have tried making a run for it at the school when Mr. Reynolds had the place surrounded, but he could just as easily been caught—and shot dead on sight. Now, this way, he had a guaranteed ticket to freedom. Adam would have to let him go, and furthermore, do everything he could to make sure his father wouldn’t find Blaine after he did.

  “Bullshit,” Adam spat.

  “Perhaps,” Blaine cooed. “But then again, there’s only one way to find out. Are you really willing to risk it?”

  A heavy iron gate clanked from the other end of the hall, and we all startled. Russell’s voice boomed across the cellar, urging Adam to throw his fresh overshirt at me. He patted the fabric across my face, wiping up the chilled sweat dampening my forehead. I tried steadying myself as best I could as the footsteps came closer. Russell rounded the bend of the corridor, and he stopped short when seeing us.

  “Why is she here?” His eyes shot over to me before settling on Adam. Adam opened his mouth, but Russell didn’t wait for his response. “You know better. We can’t risk her getting too close to that vermin.”

  “I highly doubt he’s strong enough to snatch her through the bars,” said Adam. “He’d be lucky if he could stand.”

  Russell merely scoffed. “Best be on your way. Your father wants to speak with you in his office.”

  Adam stole a look at me out of the corner of his eye before nodding. “Sure, just let me take her back to my room first-”

  “That won’t be necessary,” interrupted Russell. “
We’re heading out to the safe house. Transport just arrived.”

  Before I knew it, Russell’s beefy hand seized me around the arm.

  “Don’t-” Blaine sprang forward, the silver chain wrenching him back to the floor.

  Startled by the outburst, Russell yanked me away from the cell, hurling my body into the cement wall on the other side of the hall. “‘Lucky’ my ass. Go get Jenkins back down here to pay this scum another visit, this time with the full workup.” He kicked a heavy boot at the bars. “Let’s see how he fairs with colloidal silver injections.”

  “You can’t let them take her,” Blaine seethed, his indignant eyes fixed on Adam as Russell pried me away. “Don’t let him take her!”

  “Now,” ordered Russell. Adam paused for a brief moment, as if he might challenge the command. My heart sank though as he mournfully headed in the other direction. I wasn’t sure if it was the darkness taking root in my gut or just good old intuition, but nothing about this felt right.

  Blaine’s deafening screams rang in my ear as Russell dragged me back down the way he’d come. I struggled under the brute’s hold, feeling his firm grip tightening all the more the moment I tried pulling away from him. He shot me a dark look.

  “You don’t have to treat me like a disobedient dog. I can walk myself,” I said, trying to mask my dread as mere annoyance.

  “It’s for your own safety,” he assured, dragging me out through the iron gates. We headed up the steep cement steps, coming to the entrance where four white cargo vans sat parked out front. Russell directed me to the third one, opening up the back door. “The drive shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes. Just stay put, and we’ll be on our way in a few.”

  “What are all these for?” I asked, pointing to the rest of the vehicles.

  “It’s just a precaution. The rest of the crew will be hiding in the backs of the other vans, locked and loaded. So if Hellhounds try to ambush us on the road, they won’t know where you are. And we’ll take them down before they even get close to you.”

  Unless I wanted my shoulder ripped from its socket, I had no choice but to climb up into the empty van as Russell yanked up my arm to hoist me inside. There was a small foldout seat in the back corner, and I strapped myself in. He shut the doors behind me, locking them from the outside.

  This was so not good.

  There weren’t any windows in the cargo bed, sending me into complete darkness. Indistinct voices clamored outside, and not a minute later did the engine roar to life.

  What was I going to do? Adam had abandoned me. Did he have another plan devised? With all the guys coming on this trip to the safe house, it meant that the compound was now lax on security. Was that what he anticipated, setting Blaine free at the opportune time? Every last ounce of hope I had clung to that possibility. If not, Blaine would surely be dead long before I had a prayer of getting back here.

  The cabin jolted as we accelerated, and a strange numbness swept over me.

  Chapter 34

  Until the End

  The darkness dissolved as metal bars formed in front of my face. I was suddenly standing, now looking out into the basement hallway. Chains softly clattered behind me, and I spun around to see none other than Blaine still sitting on the floor. I was in his cell! On the wrong side of the bars!

  I expected him to look up at me with that cocky grin, an innuendo already laced in his words, but he didn’t budge. Didn’t bother to pay any mind to me. I staggered back, expecting to crash into the caged bars. Only, I didn’t stop. I had to catch myself as I fell out into the free side of the hallway. The bars were still intact, but I’d just floated right through them as if they were made of air.

  I hesitantly reached out to touch the bars. My fingers passed clear through them. I waved my hand from side to side, watching my entire arm go through the railing. Was I…a ghost? Had I died in the car ride?

  “Blaine?”

  He didn’t respond.

  I slowly eased myself back into the cell, slipping right through the barrier. I waved my hand in front of his face, calling out his name again. His head lifted, and I stumbled back. Had he heard me? He let out a jagged breath, letting his head fall back against the cement wall. Tremors continually ran through his body, and his eyes pinched shut as he tried adjusting his scorched wrists in the manacles. I couldn’t believe I even considered it, but I knelt down beside him and rested my hand on his shoulder. He had to feel me, right?

  Yet again, my hand fell right through him.

  Footsteps reverberated from the main stairwell, startling me back upright. Blaine sighed, almost laughing, but it was raw.

  “Come to kill me yourself?” He glared up between matted blonde locks of hair at the visitor in question and scoffed. “I thought you only sent out your lapdogs to do your dirty work.”

  Mr. Reynolds grabbed the iron folding chair resting against the far wall and dragged it over in front of the cell, taking a seat. His unflinching gaze homed on the young man. “No, I’ve come to look evil in the face.”

  “Well, that’s ironic.”

  “You nearly killed three of my men just bringing you here.”

  A fiendish grin painted Blaine’s mouth as he chuckled. His body had gone taut, suppressing any signs of the agony he clearly exhibited not a minute ago. “Well, you have me dead to rights there.”

  Reynolds’s features hardened as his teeth ground. “He should have killed you when he had the chance.”

  “Your son?”

  “Your father.”

  Blaine’s mock amusement washed from his face, replaced by incredulity.

  “He deserved the death he got,” Nathan spat, “bringing a monster into this world.”

  “Takes one to know one.”

  “I’m not the monster here.”

  Blaine’s jaw wrenched as resentment heated his eyes. “You honestly believe that, don’t you? After everything you’ve done…and your conscience is still clear.”

  “What exactly are you accusing me of?”

  “Kat told me all about you, about how you were like the father she never had. She doesn’t realize how truly fortunate she really is.” The ire behind his eyes was unmistakable as his brow ticked up, reading Reynolds’s expression. The air grievously heaved from his lungs. “Tell me, will you be the one to kill her, or are you as spineless as I think you are?”

  Mr. Reynolds didn’t say anything, his face now unreadable.

  “Your lackey, then?”

  “Why are you after Kat?”

  Blaine’s knuckles turned white as he balled his hands into fists. “Why are you?”

  “I’m not.”

  “I saw you at the hospital,” Blaine growled.

  Nathan stiffened.

  “You injected something into her I.V. before I so rudely walked in on you. What was it?”

  My stomach turned, and I had to brace a hand against my chest. What was he talking about? The memories snapped back into place. When I first woke up in the hospital, I had heard two distinct male voices. One telling the other that I wasn’t allowed to have visitors. Cinnamon and cigars. Mr. Reynolds had been in my room. But the other… the male nurse in the medical mask and scrub cap. Black hair; he had black hair. And he refused to look at me. “Shhh, you’re okay now,” he had assured.

  Mr. Reynolds seemed to put the pieces together as well. “…You.”

  “She’s a lot stronger than she looks, isn’t she?” A feline smile. “So what was it? Potassium chloride? I can only assume, given her heart slowed, along with her breathing. And she wasn’t exactly light on her feet when she woke up later.”

  Potassium chloride? I’d learned about that in freshman science. It was what they used to kill people through lethal injection!

  “And you still believe I’m the monster.” Blaine glowered.

  “We do what’s necessary.”

  In one swift blur, Blaine lunged at the bars, the silver chains stretched as far as they could go. The shackles weren’t long enough for Blai
ne to make a snatch at him, but the outburst sent Nathan reeling back nevertheless. “She hadn’t been turned, and you fucking knew it!”

  “She was already dead,” Mr. Reynolds finally snapped. “Thanks to you. It’s unnatural, what she became. You’re the one who took her life away.”

  “I brought her back!”

  “Out of selfish need, no doubt. What I did, what needs to be done…that takes sacrifice.”

  “Sacrifice?” Blaine seethed. “You’re a fucking coward! You’re not doing any of this for the greater good. It’s out of fear.” His pale eyes glinted, seeming to soak up all the light in the room. And his jaw. It trembled ever so slightly. “You said it yourself, she’s like a daughter to you.”

  “I killed my own wife!”

  Blaine stilled.

  “Adam’s mother was a Changeling, and just like Kat, she’d been targeted by Hellhounds.” The only time I’d ever seen Mr. Reynolds outright cry was at her funeral, but even now, the very mention of her still brought tears to his eyes as he stared at the wall. “I came home one night to find half a dozen of our friends splayed in the kitchen, their throats torn clear out of their necks. And there was Madeline, sitting at the table, covered in blood, picking bone and flesh from her nails. Whistling. She’d been bitten. And as consequence, she killed all the other members of our pack, just because—as she put it—she ‘got bored.’ The only reason she didn’t kill Adam was because he’d snuck off to see Kat before his mom came home.” His gaze hardened as he looked back at Blaine. “I do what I have to.”

  My body lurched as a high-pitched squeak struck the air. Darkness engulfed me once more, and it took me a moment to remember where I was. What had that been? Astral projection? Even wrapped up in the warmth of Adam’s jacket, my whole body shivered from the unbearable coolness in my core. I slumped against the side of the van, pinching my eyes shut. It didn’t matter what I did; the world kept spinning around me as if I was trapped in a tilt awhirl.