by Steve McHugh
“That’s all you’ve gotten from your life? All you’ve seen are those things?”
Terhal thought for a second. “No, I’ve seen kindness and I’ve seen mercy, but none of those things have been directed at me, so why should I care? I told you, my kind doesn’t care about anything but surviving. Mercy is a weakness, and kindness is more than likely to get you killed. Drenik have to be strong, have to be ready to fight at a moment’s notice. The only drenik I ever respected were those that bettered me in combat. All others were to be held in contempt.”
“I’m sorry that’s all you’ve known.”
“I don’t want friendship, Layla. I don’t need it, and I’m happier without it, but I need my host to be strong. So far, only Rosa has come close, and she was still afraid of me.”
“I’m afraid of what you can do. Of what you could do if you ever managed to take control of my mind.”
“We are not naturally good or evil, Layla. We are drenik. The only way to survive is to be the best, to be the strongest for the battles that come. There is glory in the hunt and the fight. It’s something we revel in. But we are not a cruel or sadistic species. Not naturally. But your kind, you label me with words like evil and monster, and none of those are true. Why shouldn’t I become the thing you people think I am? Why shouldn’t I torment and break those too weak to ever be my equal? If I am your better, why should I allow you to control me?
“I’ve saved lives that needed saving; pregnant animals, animals that would draw danger. Even other drenik on the rare occasions we needed to work together. This world was harsh, but it always seemed fair. And most importantly, it was my world.”
“You say you respect the host only for its strength, and that I don’t appear to be strong enough for your respect. But Chloe’s drenik was easy to bond with, according to her. She said she beat it before it beat her. She made it submit to her will.”
Terhal laughed. “You’re not strong enough to make me.”
Layla punched Terhal in the face with everything she had, knocking the demon to the ground. “You want me to show you I’m worthy of your respect through survival of the fittest. I’m betting I can beat you.”
Terhal’s eyes flared with anger. “Is this really how you want to do this? Trial by combat?”
“I brought you here, so I don’t think your control over my mind is as great as you think it is. What’s wrong, Terhal? Can’t fight without tricks?”
Terhal got back to her feet. “You will regret that.” She darted forward and threw a right hand that Layla blocked, pushing the arm away and kicking out Terhal’s knee. The drenik quickly rolled away, putting distance between the two of them.
“Where are all the burning fires and dead friends, Terhal? Did you use up your good stuff a little bit too early?”
Terhal screamed in rage, charging forward, moving much faster than Layla had anticipated. She grabbed hold of Layla around the waist and took her off her feet, planting her on the dirt. She tried to get enough leverage to throw a powerful punch, but Layla kept hold of the drenik, never allowing her to gain any sort of advantage.
Terhal soon changed tactic and struck Layla in the kidney, which caused her to gasp in pain. It gave the drenik the opportunity to put her hands around Layla’s throat, squeezing as hard as she could.
Layla fought against the grip, but it was too strong. She punched Terhal in the face, but the drenik just smiled, even as blood dripped from the cut on her lip.
“I wonder, if you die here, can I just take control forever?” Terhal asked with a bloody grin. “You’re lying in the dirt beneath me. It’s where your kind belong.”
Layla wasn’t about to die in her own mind, and reached up above her head, taking hold of whatever was there and smashing it into the side of Terhal’s skull. The drenik was knocked aside, and Layla coughed and spluttered as she rolled onto all fours.
She looked at the fist-sized rock in her hand, which was smattered with Terhal’s red blood, and got to her feet. “You know something, Terhal? All my life I’ve had this little voice in my head that says I should hurt people. That says fighting is good, and that I’m good at it. It always wants me to go a step further than I know I should. And I’ve fought against that voice for years. Every now and again it creeps through, and you are just like that voice.”
Terhal was up on her knees, blood pouring from an open wound on her scalp. “You can’t beat me, girl. I am better than you.”
Layla walked over to Terhal, holding the rock so tightly in her hand that her knuckles were white. “You need to accept me as your host. You need to accept me so that I can accept you and don’t have to worry about you trying to murder my friends.”
Terhal laughed.
Layla smashed the rock into her face, knocking her to the ground. “The thing is, Terhal, this is my mind. That means my rules. You’re just a parasite living here.”
“How dare you!” Terhal began, before Layla hit her with the rock again.
“I can lose control here. I can beat you like a goddamn drum all over this place if I choose.” Terhal tried to get up, and Layla hit her again. “I don’t think I can kill you. I think no matter what I do, you’ll always be here. You’ve been wronged for centuries, and I’m giving you a chance to do something better. You want survival of the fittest, then help me become the best damn umbra who ever lived.”
Terhal giggled and spat blood onto the floor. “This is my world.”
Layla dropped the rock. “No. It really isn’t. You see, Chloe told me something that didn’t quite sink in at the time.”
Terhal spat more blood onto the ground. “And what’s that?”
“This is my mind.”
Terhal screamed in agony as Layla took hold of the iron compounds in Terhal’s blood and began the process of dragging it out of her, lifting her off the ground at the same time.
“I know we’re only in my mind, but I can make this feel real for you, Terhal. My power here is unlimited. With enough strength and practice, I’ll be able to do this, be able to manipulate the metal deposits inside a person.”
“Stop it!” Terhal screamed.
Layla released her grip and Terhal fell to the floor. For the first time, Layla saw fear in her eyes.
“Don’t make me hurt you again. You’ve been hurt enough over your life. Work with me, fear me, love me, I don’t care. But if you ever threaten those I love again, I will bring you back here and see how long it takes you to put yourself back together. I don’t want to cage you, Terhal.” Metal tore out of the rock around where Terhal sat, forming a cage over her.
“Enough,” Terhal said. “I have one request.”
“Name it.”
“Can I stay here? I know it’s not real, but I’d like to live here, not in some cage somewhere. None of the others did this. None of them fought me. I didn’t know you could.”
“Me neither. And yes, you can stay here.”
A second later, Gyda, Servius, and Rosa appeared beside Layla.
“You can’t just let her free like this,” Gyda shouted. “She’ll take control.”
Terhal shook her head as she remained on the ground. “Still afraid. Still learned nothing.”
“I didn’t call you here for opinions,” Layla said. She walked over and stood in front of Gyda. “I understand your fear and reluctance to allow Terhal any sort of freedom. I would rather work with you all than be afraid of any of you. I accept you, Gyda.”
Gyda nodded once and vanished.
“Servius,” Layla said moving in front of him. “You are a great warrior and a man I’m sure I can learn much from. I accept you.”
Servius winked and he too vanished.
Layla turned to Rosa. “I understand you most of all, I think. I’m not a killer, but I know parts of the life you led, and why you decided to become one. It was the best option in a trove of bad options. Since all of this happened, you’re the one person I’ve grown closest to, and I accept you.”
“About bloody time to
o.” Rosa hugged Layla, before vanishing.
Layla turned to Terhal and walked toward her, crouching within arm’s reach. She wanted to show Terhal she wasn’t afraid, that no matter the drenik’s power in her mind, she, Layla, was the only thing that mattered. “If you ever misplace my trust, I’ll take all of this from you and place you in a small cage underground, in a place where only my fears live. You think I’m bad, wait until you meet my father.”
Terhal nodded.
Layla reached out and placed a hand on either side of Terhal’s head. She moved forward and kissed the drenik’s forehead. “I accept you, Terhal. I accept you for who you are and what you’re capable of.”
Terhal exhaled slightly, a look of shock on her face as she vanished. All four spirits had merged with Layla, their memories and personalities pushing their way into her own as the surroundings melted back into the cabin.
Layla found herself on her knees on the wooden floor, the loud music blaring all around her. She was drenched in sweat and could taste blood. She placed her forehead on the floor and allowed the spirits to fully merge with her. The sensation was something she wasn’t sure she could manage if she was upright.
When it was done, she got to her feet and tried to block out the music, while inside her all she could feel was power. Pure, dangerous power. Layla looked around; she couldn’t flee right now, and she couldn’t fight without getting Chloe killed. While the music boomed around her, she could barely think. She wanted to send a message to Elias that she wouldn’t be broken, that he couldn’t do anything to beat her.
Layla looked up at the camera and smiled. And then she started to dance, allowing the rhythm of the music to aid her in her rebellion.
32
Elias had been on a call to Nergal, updating him on exactly what had happened and how they’d managed to catch Layla, when he heard a stifled laugh from a nearby room.
He ignored it and continued talking. “We’ll be ready to go within the day, although I’d appreciate it if I could go back to my home and recharge. I’m sure that once on a jet, there would be nowhere for her to go.”
“Do you have a plan to stop her from using her abilities? Thirty thousand feet is a high place to be if she decides to take the jet apart.”
“Once we’re certain she’ll help us, we’re going to tranquillize her. We just need her to make the initial contact.”
“What convinces you she won’t try to stall or get out of her agreement?”
“We used her friend as a way to gain her cooperation.”
“Will you be bringing this girl with you?”
“No need. Once we have contact with her father, we can use Layla as leverage to get her father to help, but Layla’s role will be over. We just need her to get through to her father so we can pinpoint his location. It might take several attempts to do this, but we knew that might be the case. She’ll convince him to help us, and we’ll have his location in a few days, max.”
Nergal smiled. “Excellent. Please feel free to take some time to recharge. The next phase of our plan will require a lot of traveling, and I’d hate to not have you at full capacity.”
Nergal ended the call, and Elias went to the room where the rest of the team were looking at one of the screens showing Layla.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“I think you should see this,” Shane told him, and he moved aside to give Elias a better view of the screen.
Elias watched for several seconds as Layla danced around the room, seemingly oblivious to the torment the loud music was meant to be causing her.
“What is she doing?”
“She’s dancing,” Masako said.
Anger began to flood through Elias. “Turn the music up.”
“This is as loud as it goes,” Reyes told him.
Elias watched as Layla stopped dancing and stood on the bed, looking directly at the camera. She mouthed something.
“What is she saying?” Shane asked. “‘Can you . . .’ I can’t make out the rest.”
“‘Can you put some Prince on?’” Masako translated. “She’s making requests. Looks like your prison is actually a club.”
Elias thought he saw a slight smirk on Masako’s otherwise emotionless face, but when he turned to confirm it, her expression of neutrality had returned.
“So, Layla thinks this is all a big joke?” Elias snapped, his voice rising with every word. “She thinks this is a damn game? I’ll show her a game. Shane, take Chloe back to our guest. Show her what happens to people who play games with us.”
“You want me to kill her?”
Elias shook his head. “Just make her watch while you make an example of her. Screw it, I’ll come with you—it looks like Layla could use a talking to at the same time. You wearing anything metal?”
Shane emptied his pockets of his phone and wallet, dumping them both on a nearby table.
The pair of them went to Chloe’s cell and unlocked the door. Chloe sat on the bed in the corner, a model prisoner. Jack’s body had been removed. The manacles were no longer needed; Chloe wouldn’t escape with innocent people’s lives at stake.
“You’re coming with us,” Elias told her. “Apparently your friend still thinks this is playtime.”
Chloe got up and walked over. “I wonder, why didn’t you just use your power on me, Shane?” she asked as she walked through the house to the outside. “This would all have been much easier if you could have just made me go with you.”
There was silence for several seconds, before Chloe chuckled and shook her head. “I get it: your power doesn’t work on other umbra. That has to be really embarrassing.”
Shane ignored her, giving Chloe a hard shove to get walking. They reached the rear door, and Chloe opened it, stepping through without holding it open for anyone else. “I know if my power didn’t work on a whole group of people, I’d be pretty embarrassed.”
Shane balled his hands into fists, and Elias placed a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “She’ll get what’s coming to her,” he told him. “Be patient.”
Shane nodded once and continued on without comment, stopping outside of Layla’s small prison cottage, the music inside barely audible to the three of them.
Elias opened the door, feeling thankful that neither Reyes nor Masako had turned the music down, and found Layla standing in the center of the cabin.
Anger bubbled up inside him. “You don’t seem to be grasping the seriousness of the situation.”
“I think you’re a pathetic idiot who believes he has something he doesn’t,” Layla told him.
“We brought Chloe for you to talk to,” Elias told her, stepping aside as Chloe was shoved into the cabin.
“You okay?” Layla asked her.
“Peachy.”
Elias nodded to Shane, who punched Chloe in the stomach. She stepped back, but didn’t fall to her knees like he’d intended. “Again.”
The second blow was harder and caused Chloe to exhale all at once as she dropped to all fours, coughing and spluttering.
“Do you understand what your role is here?” Elias asked Layla, whose expression had darkened. He wondered if he’d finally get her full cooperation, or if he’d have to get Shane to break some of Chloe’s fingers.
“My role is to give you everything you want, everything you need, and everything you deserve. The drenik inside of me took over for a while there, but I have it back under control. Please stop hurting my friend.”
Elias nodded toward Shane, who took Chloe by the arm and dragged her out of the cabin.
“Thank you. If you get me a phone, I’ll contact the prison. I know it’ll be early there, but I’m sure I can get hold of someone. I want to try.”
Elias wasn’t convinced and wondered exactly what the plan was, but even if Layla did manage to escape, where would she go? There were miles of nothing all around them, and it wouldn’t take long for the blood elves or the ogre to track her down. Besides, she wasn’t about to put Chloe at risk, and Elias on
ly needed a reason to finally kill her and gain vengeance for Dara. He glanced out of the open door at Chloe and clenched his fists. He could feel his blood boil inside, feel the need to give Chloe everything she deserved, to kill her slowly and painfully. But he pushed it aside. He could not allow those baser instincts to drive him forward.
“Stay here,” he told Layla, closing and locking the door. He turned to Shane. “You keep her occupied. I don’t want Chloe and Layla to communicate. At all. Understand?”
Shane nodded. “Won’t be a problem.”
Elias left them alone and went back into the house, grabbing a phone from his bedroom. He’d just stepped back into the hallway when there was an explosion downstairs, followed by shouting, as all hell broke loose.
33
Layla had waited until Elias had closed the door and walked away before setting her plan in motion. Originally, she’d hoped that Elias would have just sent Reyes or some other crony to come and quiet her, but then she realized that if she’d used that moment to escape, she’d have no idea where Chloe actually was, and by the time she got to her, it might already be too late.
But they’d brought Chloe to her. Okay, it had been to use as a punch bag so that Layla behaved, but still, Chloe was right outside the door with Shane. If Layla could only get the door open, she’d have a good shot at stopping Shane and keeping Chloe safe. It had made her furious that Chloe had been hit, that she’d been attacked and humiliated. Layla wasn’t going to do anything in Chloe’s name; she was going to help Chloe get free so that she could do it in her own name.
“You bonded with us all, now what?” Rosa asked after appearing on the bed. “You don’t have long.”
“There are no lights in this cabin, no electric cables either, but there are speakers in the ceiling. They contain metal. I can feel it.” She concentrated and began to pull small wires out of the ceiling, snaking them down toward her, then wrapping them around her hands and wrists. She didn’t care about the camera because by the time she was done, it would be too late for anyone watching to do anything. She hoped.