Sunken Eyes (Cruel and Beautiful World Book 2)

by L. Stoddard Hancock

  Veli's house would be a bit trickier to enter. His wave was very loyal. While she wasn't a sex slave, that didn't stop him from having his way with her frequently, and she was more than willing. It happened sometimes, as twisted as it was.

  He also had a girlfriend who practically lived with him, though he'd never call her that. In fact, Deryn could see her through the front window now. She was in the living room instructing the wave to do something. The wave nodded and wandered through a doorway Deryn knew led to the kitchen. And then his girlfriend was leaving.

  Deryn leaned against the wall she was near and pretended to fiddle with her wristband as the woman walked out of the house, not locking or setting the alarm on the door before hurrying down the street. As soon as she was gone Deryn looked back at the house. This was her chance.

  Without taking a moment to talk herself out of it, Deryn walked to the front door. She opened it quietly and slipped inside, listening to make sure the wave was still in the kitchen. She was.

  Deryn tiptoed to the west end of the house. While Veli had never owned her, she'd been brought here often enough by Soren to know where he might hide things. There was one room in particular that she was never allowed to enter with them. She headed there now.

  When Deryn got to the closed door, she found it was unlocked. She very quietly entered the room and shut the door behind her.

  Looking around, she saw that it was an office. No surprise there. Now, if she were Veli where would she hide things?

  Noticing his chair was slightly turned towards a bookshelf, she headed there, scanning the books until she found one sticking out just a little bit more than the others. Like someone had rushed to stick it back in. She pulled the book out and opened it. A small chip fell to the floor.

  Jackpot.

  It appeared that her friend Veli had been in a hurry. That was a mistake he wouldn't make twice.

  She picked up the chip and put it in her pocket with the four others they'd already acquired. Five down, six to go.

  After putting the book back, Deryn left the office. She could still hear the wave in the kitchen so she went right out the front door, doing her best to look like she belonged to any passersby.

  As she walked down the block, she passed Veli's girlfriend walking back to his house with a grocery bag in hand.

  Gordon Mackey's house was only two blocks away, so she didn't bother with a tram. While Gordon didn't have a wave he did have a wife, but she wasn't exactly faithful. When Deryn was his slave once, almost every day while Gordon was at work she could hear his wife and her lover through the wall of the closet he kept her locked in. They weren't quiet.

  While Deryn didn't condone cheating, she hardly felt sorry for him. Not only did he, on occasion, own sex slaves but his current wife was also a trophy. Much younger and prettier than his first wife, and the product of a very public affair that left his son Wyatt so bitter that he changed his surname to his mother's maiden name, Firman. Perhaps the estrangement - even though Wyatt still lived in the house with him, which was big enough that they never saw each other - was why Gordon was so quick to offer his son as a sacrifice for Xander's cooperation. Or he was just a heartless bastard.

  Looking around and seeing that the street was deserted, she walked up to the front door. It was locked, of course, but there was a key hidden that Xander had told her about. Because Gordon Mackey was an idiot.

  She located it under a not-so-cleverly placed rock and let herself in. Xander also knew the code to turn off the alarm, since he was fairly good friends with Wyatt. She entered it now. Even all the way in the front hallway she could hear Gordon's wife and her lover going at it. She had to admit, they certainly had stamina. Never a dull moment when her husband was out.

  There was a table right near the front door with two small drawers. She opened one, not especially surprised to find the chip casually tossed in there on Gordon's way out. At this rate she would be finished even earlier than expected.

  Deryn left the house and located the closest tram stop. The first one that came by was red. She let it pass. It was a good seven minutes before a blue one arrived. That would cost her some time. But Xander swore by the Inner City blue trams, claiming they moved faster and made less stops. She didn't really notice a difference but she trusted he was right.

  After five stops she got off. Sewick Blum was next on her list. He wasn't a Guardian, just a dubious man the president kept around. If someone needed something sketchy done then he was the one they came to. Which was exactly why Xander and Luka were positive he had a chip.

  Of course, not being a Guardian meant that he wouldn't be at Lona's coronation, and if he wasn't home there was a good chance the chip was with him. Still, it was worth a shot and Deryn was going to take it, despite Xander's request that she just skip him. In fact, he thought she was going to. It was Luka who gave her directions to his house, as well as a bar only blocks away that he often frequented.

  She went there first, ready to go inside and ask if she could use the bathroom just to get a look around. But she didn't have to, because Sewick was standing outside. Granted, she had only ever seen him a handful of times throughout her years as a slave, but there was no mistaking him. He didn't look like he belonged in Inner City - and that was probably because he didn't – with his shifty eyes, five o'clock shadow, dirty hands and worn-down clothes. He always wore pants with plaid patches sewn on the knees. This was something she vividly remembered about him.

  Currently, he was smoking a pipe outside the bar, probably with tobacco despite it being prohibited. Being the president's right-hand conman put him above the law and he knew it. The pretty young girl hanging on his arm probably knew it, too.

  Knowing where he was, Deryn continued on. She made sure not to catch Sewick's eye as he stared at her, trying to get a better look at the hooded woman across the street.

  Since he'd noticed her, she turned in the opposite direction of his house, planning to circle back around. When she got there, she wasn't exactly sure how to enter. She didn't know this house or this man. Not like the others. It was undoubtedly locked. And alarmed. While security wasn't quite as intense in Inner City because it didn't need to be, Sewick didn't get to his position by being an idiot.

  His house was easy to spot. It was as out of place as he was, dirty and simplistic. Nothing lavish like the mansions around it. But there was a side gate she wanted to investigate.

  Looking around, Deryn made sure the street was deserted. It was funny how the main streets in Inner City could get so crowded but the residential streets were so quiet.

  Once she confirmed everything was clear, she went to the side gate. Unfortunately, it was very much locked and the house didn't have any visible windows.

  Well, shit.

  As she stood on the side of the house at a loss, she suddenly heard two people chatting and laughing nearby. She pressed against the wall, not especially shocked that her luck had brought Sewick and his lady friend home early.

  The side of the house was dark and they didn't see her, at least. He scanned his wristband and used a physical key to enter. The door slammed shut behind them.

  After waiting a few seconds, Deryn took a chance and tried the knob. Unlocked. She opened the door slowly, peeking inside through a small crack. The room directly in front of her was empty, laughter coming from farther back in the small house. This was risky, but Deryn knew she needed to take this chance, so she walked in.

  His home was absolutely disgusting. Not only did he never clean, actually living in his own filth, but the place wreaked of something putrid. She had to breathe through her mouth just to stomach the place.

  Deryn decided right then that she wasn't going to be here long. Just for a quick search through the front room. She saw a desk and immediately went over, holding in a groan as she stepped over stacks of garbage, dirty clothes and rotting food, and quietly searched the drawers.

  Nothing. Though she did find a wanted poster for her old friend Nita, the photo
taken from a security camera as she ran out of some building. She sighed and put it back.

  Then she searched all flat surfaces. There really weren't a lot of options.

  The moans had started back in the bedroom. She was getting a lot of that tonight.

  Deryn stood there feeling frustrated. She was here, in his house risking her life. There had to be –

  And then she spotted it. Halfway down the hallway the moans were coming from. The coat he'd been wearing when she saw him outside the bar. She fell to her knees, crawling forward and skeptically looking down the hallway. The door was open and she could see them on the bed, but their backs were to her. She reached out and quickly snatched it, crawling back out of view and into the living room.

  Deryn dug through the pockets, not finding anything. But then she remembered that Xander never put anything of importance in his outside pockets, so she searched the inside. Sure enough, there was a pocket with something small and square inside. She pulled it out, releasing a breath of relief when she saw the chip.

  After pocketing it, Deryn tossed the coat aside. She was just about to stand when she saw something under the couch. She moved to get a better look. Then crawled forward, peeking underneath and dragging out a box. Her eyes widened.

  It was Elements! Lots of them. A few shallow boxes worth, at least, not to mention several Outsider guns and knives. On instinct, she grabbed two of the nicer ones and stuffed them in her bag. She didn't know what she was going to do with them, since it was too risky to go back through the gate with that many Elements in her possession, but this might be their only opportunity to get them.

  As she was shoving the box back under the couch, she noticed a piece of paper squished farther back. She grabbed and un-crumpled it, knitting her brow when she saw it was another wanted poster of Nita. Granted, this one was older with a photo clearly taken from her old home on the outside, but it was still her.

  While she found it strange that Nita's were the only wanted posters he had around, she didn't exactly have time to investigate. Putting the poster back where she found it, Deryn stood and quietly rushed out of the house, not stopping until she was several blocks away.

  When she finally did stop, her heart was racing. That was the worst of it and it was over. But there was no time for pause. There were still four more chips to find.

  Now, more than ever, she believed she could do this.

  Finding the tram stop, she only had to wait two minutes before a blue tram arrived. Her next house belonged to Stuart Scout. This one would be easy since Xander had gotten the code to his front door from Finley - Stuart hated physical keys and scanning a wristband wasn't necessary - and, having been his slave, Deryn knew exactly where he'd hide a chip. Stuart wasn't wealthy enough to own a wave and his wife had died a couple of years earlier - suicide, if she remembered correctly - so she went straight to his bedroom. She wasn't surprised when she found the chip right where she thought it would be, locked in his desk with a key he kept under his pillow. Only three left.

  Xander had already lost the bet. She had definitely found Barath, Gordon and Stuart's chips within five minutes. Veli and Sewick's were the only ones that had taken some time.

  Deryn smiled smugly before heading out the door and walking several blocks to Eamon Graham's house. He had an unlocked window and no wave. She entered quickly, taking a chance by checking the drawers by the front door. The chip was there. Another idiot.

  Maybe she would take her time in the last few places so she wouldn't be lying when she told Xander she was the victor with four chips in less than five minutes.

  As tempting as that was, she knew she was running short on time, and there were still two chips and five Guardians left.

  She tried Mathis Fender's house next and gave it ten minutes. Nothing. He was a long shot anyway.

  Wenton Pace's house was after that. He actually owned two houses, the one she was presently inside of and another in Middle City where he had kept his slaves for the past three years after promising his wife he wouldn't own them anymore.

  The chip wouldn't be in Middle City though. All he had there was a mattress on the floor, enough food to keep his current slave alive, dirty water and various torture mechanisms. He was a sick bastard, and she considered herself blessed that he had only owned her twice, once in each house.

  She searched his house for a good fifteen minutes. Nothing. That actually shocked her. But there were only so many places he could have put the chip, and since it wasn't in any of them she was positive he didn't have one.

  That was two dead ends in a row and Deryn was getting nervous. There were still two chips and three Guardians left.

  The next house on her list was Elvira Tash's. The one she shared with her husband Soren and the house where Deryn had left him for dead.

  She gulped as she stepped off of her latest blue tram, willingly walking to the place where she'd tried to kill a man not even four months earlier.

  When Deryn arrived outside of the house she just stood there, staring up at it and not knowing how to feel.

  She sighed and checked the time on her wristband.

  8:33 p.m.

  Elvira and Soren's wave Fontaine went to the store every evening between eight and nine o'clock, and Soren's personal slave would either be with him or locked in his bedroom. The bedroom he didn't share with his wife. Ever.

  It was easy to enter their house since a window leading to the living room was always open a crack. That was how Soren liked it, wanting a small gust of cool air.

  Deryn went around the side of the house, opened the window a little wider and crept on through. Once inside, she was immediately forced to stare at the spot where she had stabbed Soren in cold blood, a memory that would forever haunt her.

  Shaking off her fears, she wandered towards Elvira's side of the house. She'd often wondered if Elvira and Soren had ever shared a bed.

  Deryn explored this side of the house thoroughly. She hated being there, but refused to leave until she'd searched every corner. Still, she came out empty-handed. Elvira didn't have a chip and Deryn wasn't surprised. But she'd also dreaded it, because there were still two chips left and only two names on her list.

  Atticus had setup his son.

  Deryn scowled. First Barath and now Atticus. Guardians had no respect for family, especially their children, the people they should've loved most in this world.

  Returning to the living room, Deryn took a moment to stare at the spot where she had last stood as a slave. Nothing here had changed but her life was very different. She had someone who cared for her now. Truly cared for her. Not in whatever sick, twisted way Soren did.

  She would do anything for Xander, including protect him from his father. Atticus wouldn't win this. She wouldn't let him.

  With a new burst of confidence Deryn left that house, ready to walk the few blocks to Arron Von's, then take the tram to Atticus Ruby's.

  Atticus lived in the back of Inner City, at just about the farthest point you could get from the gate to Middle City. That was how the Rubys had always liked it. Xander's great-grandfather fought to keep a gate from being built on this side of the city - to keep the toxic scoundrels out. She certainly had to appreciate the family history of the man she cared so deeply for.

  When Deryn arrived at Arron Von's house she immediately walked around the back. Xander had previously asked Lona if she could stop by her father's before her coronation and leave a window open. She'd agreed without question. Deryn wasn't sure how she felt about the girl's blind loyalty to him, but she tried hard to just focus on how the task had been made significantly easier for her.

  She found the window that was open a crack, opened it wider, and stepped through. She was in a bedroom, but the lack of personality in it led her to believe that this was just a guestroom.

  Arron Von had never owned a slave, so she wasn't exactly sure where to go. He did have a wave but, by the clanks and dings Deryn could hear through the door, it was clear the wave was busy in
the kitchen.

  Deryn slowly opened the door, peeking out before walking into the hallway. There was a dining room in front of her, garnished with an elaborate meal. Most likely a congratulatory dinner for Lona after her unwanted coronation.

  A woman walked into view. Her head was shaved, a signifier that she was a wave, and she hummed as she put down a tray of something. Deryn pressed herself against the wall, only then noticing a staircase opposite her. Once the woman was out of view again, she darted for it and hurried upstairs.

  Deryn wandered through the dark, searching doors until she found the master bedroom, which doubled as an office. She went in and shut the door behind her.

  The first thing she noticed upon entering the room was a telescope next to the window, which was odd since nights in Utopia's bubble were rarely clear enough to see any artificial stars.

  Curiosity led Deryn over to that telescope, making sure not to touch it as she stared through the lens, straight into the president's grand hall. She knitted her brow, wondering why Arron would be spying on his president, but more curious about the event currently on display in front of her.

  It was Lona's coronation. All of the Guardians stood in a circle. Lona stood in the center of them with President Saevus, a woman in a lab coat and a strange metal contraption. Her left arm was shaking as she held it out to the woman, glancing nervously at a Guardian who Deryn immediately recognized as Xander. Even with their hoods up there was no mistaking his stance.

  He nodded at her and she looked back at her president, staring into his eyes as the woman grabbed her arm, fitting a wristband around it before sticking it in the nearby machine. Deryn turned a knob and zoomed the telescope as the band must have pressed into Lona's skin inside of that machine.

  She wasn't sure how it worked. What happened to Lona's wrist's bones? Did they squeeze inward? Even watching, she still couldn't figure it out. But there was blood seeping out the sides of the machine. The president used a handkerchief to wipe it clean.