by Murray, Dean
Kaleb was moving around more now, seeking to use his greater reach and speed to create holes in Agony's defense. Agony was fully on the defense now, slowly backing away from Kaleb's blurring strikes.
Agony's retreat took him over rougher ground, and he misstepped slightly. It was a small thing, invisible to most, but it put him just enough off balance to create an opening. Kaleb seized the opportunity, absorbing a deep gash on his right arm as he darted in and clinched.
It wasn't a clean hold. Rather than being completely behind Agony, Kaleb was off to one side. Muscles rippled up and down Kaleb's back as he pulled Agony's arm back, seeking to break the one obstacle preventing him from getting the death hold he was looking for.
Agony's free hand flailed away, cutting long ribbons of blood in Kaleb's right arm and leg. The moonborn on both sides of the fight tensed up as they sensed the critical nature of the next few seconds. Agony's arm was bent back nearly to the breaking point, but blood loss would quickly come into play if Kaleb wasn't able to finish him off.
Even with my enhanced senses I almost missed the turning point. Agony finally got a good grip on Kaleb's leg and started pulling. Kaleb tried to change up his grip, tried for a better hold and Agony slipped away.
Both hybrids renewed their attack but I could feel the initiative slipping back away from Alec's dad. Exhaustion and weakness were robbing him of the advantages he'd been relying on. Agony ducked an overhand slash and scored another set of furrows on Kaleb's ribs.
With a fresh surge of tingling power, Kaleb went back on the offensive, landing three separate blows to Agony's arms. There was no opening this time, but Kaleb lunged forward in a second bid to end the fight. Agony seemed to have been anticipating the move. Rather than backing away, Agony moved into the attack, sticking the talons on his right foot into Kaleb's leg, using it as a platform as he brought his left leg up into Kaleb's chin.
The unimaginable force involved in the blow would've snapped the neck of an elephant but somehow Kaleb rode it out. For a second I thought Kaleb was going to manage to roll away but Agony was already there. Between one heartbeat and the next Agony locked onto Kaleb's back. Once again it wasn't a clean hold but it left one of Agony's hands free to rake his opponent.
My body settled closer to the ground, relaxing like this was a scene I'd seen a hundred times. I saw the same motion repeated over and over as Agony's people came to the conclusion the fight was over.
The blur of motion from the other pack's midst caught everyone by surprise, but the rest of Kaleb's people were only a split second behind.
Donovan hit Agony a split second before Mallory did. Donovan's jaws locked on the back of Agony's throat only to slip off as Mallory knocked Agony off of Kaleb.
My body exploded forward, my perspective shrinking down as I too morphed forms. It was harder to see now. The wolf I'd become focused solely on its next target, gathering its legs underneath it and then launching itself at a brown hybrid.
I sailed past outstretched claws, taking a gash on my right side but I connected with the hybrid's throat, latching on and shaking powerfully. The sensations were almost too much for me. I pulled back, trying to disassociate myself from what I was seeing and feeling. The effort was futile, the experiences kept pulling at me in an emotionless onslaught that refused to be denied.
I caught glimpses of the action in between kills. Mallory fighting Agony as Kaleb struggled to his feet. A group of scared-looking wolves huddled back several yards away from the fighting.
An enemy hybrid sank claws into both my flanks and started ripping at me before a friendly hybrid knocked me free.
I caught more flashes as I flipped through the air. A bloody heap I was sure was Mallory. Kaleb on his knees, Agony tearing at his throat.
I landed and streaked back into the fray. One of Kaleb's wolves intercepted me. We circled for a moment, and then we sprang at each other. As her pulse weakened I caught another glimpse of the combatants.
There was a pool of blood where Mallory had been lying, but her body was gone. The rest of Kaleb's pack had dispersed, leaving Agony's people victorious. My eyes took one last pass across the valley, cataloging corpses and noticing the blood trails indicating where Kaleb's people had fled.
I had a second to wonder at the sheer scope of the violence and then I was back in darkness and the voices were back.
"Much…Later."
I was in a room now: rock walls, empty but for the stone table in the center and the shape shifters watching Agony. I edged slightly closer as if trying to figure out what was on the table but stopped well before I could make sense of the splashes of color.
The longer I stared at the table the more I got the feeling my mind was trying to protect me by refusing to recognize what my eyes were telling me. The object on the table moved and suddenly I found myself staring at Donovan's pain-racked features.
The ghastly sight before me suddenly made sense. I wasn't seeing splashes of color, I was seeing two colors, pale skin and crimson.
After several more seconds I finally pulled myself back far enough to listen to what Agony was saying.
"I do believe you, Donovan. I've believed you for more than an hour now. Mallory died while you were trying to carry her to safety. What you're experiencing now isn't part of the quest for truth. I'm now instructing you regarding the consequences of your actions."
Agony did something to the ruin of Donovan's leg and Donovan screamed.
"You see, I'm very aware that you'll be raising the next generation of Graves children. I want you to think very carefully regarding the course you will lead them on."
The darkness was back. The voices imparted a final set of commands.
"Act…Scared…Say…Nothing."
As soon as the last voice had faded away I found myself back standing against Jasmin's Mercedes. Marco crowed when he saw my eyes flicker back open.
"Bet your tune is going to change now. How does it feel to have a huge hole in your memories?"
I opened my mouth to respond and Oblivion slammed me against the car.
Marco leaned down and whispered into my ear. "How about you and I get a little more friendly? I can show you things Graves hasn't even thought of yet."
My voice came out even and strong. "If you touch me I'll do my absolute best to kill you. I'll probably fail, but you're going to have to kill me to stop me. Trust me, you don't want to be the guy who kills me. Alec will tear you apart regardless of what else it might cost him."
Marco blinked. It wasn't something I saw, more like something I felt. Somehow I knew I'd just made him stop and consider the cost of what he wanted to do. Oblivion had let me go when Marco leaned in. There was nothing stopping me from leaving.
I turned my back on both shape shifters, got into the car and drove away.
Chapter 19
The Jeep was in the driveway when I pulled up to our house. I felt my stomach sink as I realized how mad she was going to be. I didn't even have a decent story yet to try and pass off as the truth. The only thing I had going for me was the fact that I'd found a first-aid kit in the car and bandaged myself up in such a way that my sleeve covered everything. It had hurt like crazy when Marco had put his claw into my arm, but it didn't seem as bad now that I'd wrapped it in gauze.
I got ambushed before I was even through the door. Luckily I was able to keep the side of my face that wasn't bruised towards Mom.
"Adriana Paige! Where have you been?"
"Sorry, Mom. I should have left a note but I wasn't thinking."
"A note? Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in? I specifically told you not to go anywhere."
Mom's pacing brought her to the window. Her eyes got really wide when she saw the Mercedes.
"Where did that car come from?"
"It's not what you think, Mom."
"You haven't answered any of my questions yet."
I took a deep breath and hoped whatever was about to come out of my mouth wouldn't have any gaping ho
les in it.
"When Ben got hurt Jasmin rode in the ambulance with him. Her car's been sitting at the Funcade all night and she was really worried. She asked me to go get it and bring it back here so nothing happened to it."
Mom wasn't stupid, but she normally spent so much time thinking about her art that I could get away with everything short of murder. When that wasn't the case, when she really started focusing on the here and now, it was almost impossible to get anything past her.
"And how did you get to the Funcade to retrieve it for her?"
I could feel the pieces start to unravel. The more truth I used the more believable things tended to be, but I wasn't sure exactly how much truth I could afford to share.
"Ben came and picked me up."
"Ben who was in the hospital getting his leg operated on less than twenty-four hours ago?"
"Um, yeah. I don't think he was supposed to be out yet but he left the hospital anyways."
"Isn't Jasmin interested in Ben?"
"Yeah, that's why we were at the Funcade in the first place."
"Then why didn't Jasmin just ask Ben to get her car?"
"He lives a ways out of town." I was praying that was true. If it wasn't I'd be in even deeper trouble once Mom got to a phone book. "He had a car though so he told her he could come get me and between the two of us we'd take care of things."
"Why exactly couldn't Jasmin get her own car?"
"I'm not sure. It sounded like she was out of town though. She travels some to help Alec with the family business. I'm really sorry, Mom. I should have left a note, or better yet told Jasmin that I couldn't help her until you got back and I could ask permission. I just wasn't thinking."
Mom had been pacing back and forth on the one side of the living room and I'd been very careful to keep the left side of my face out of her line of sight.
She stopped and looked at me for a moment. "Look at me, Adri."
"I am, Mom."
Moving faster than I'd realized she could, Mom reached forward and captured my face between her hands. As her eyes traced the massive bruise Marco had given me, she gasped.
"Adri, what happened?"
I reached out for an explanation but came up blank. "I…I can't tell you."
Mom pulled me towards the couch, more concerned than angry now.
"Sweetie, you need to tell me what happened."
"It's not important. I'm fine."
"It was Alec, wasn't it?"
I felt my mouth drop open that she would even think such a thing. It was pure surprise but she interpreted it as surprise that she'd been right.
I tried to explain. "No!"
"Listen, Adri. I don't care what he's told you, he doesn't love you, especially not since he's doing that to you."
"It's not like that!"
Mom talked right over me. "Boys like Alec can't be trusted. He's got way too much money. It's not healthy for a child to grow up without limits like that. Now he's hitting you. He can't be trusted."
"Mom, Alec didn't hit me."
"I know you're trying to protect him, but he's not worth protecting. You're grounded. I don't want you seeing him anymore."
"He's never hurt me. Why can't you see that?"
"Adri, sweetie, it's not just this. I've started hearing rumors since I got back into town. Why didn't you tell me Brandon and all of his friends had disappeared?"
Somehow I'd never expected my mom to hear the gossip. I'd practiced my story a hundred times in preparation for the police but never expected to need it on my mom.
"They didn't all disappear. Alison, Sam and Jack are all still around. As for why I never told you…I don't know. It just didn't seem that important."
Mom put her head in her hands for a moment. "I really do wish you were caught up stealing cars. That would be better than the truth. I know you're feeling trapped right now, but there's a way out."
"Mom. I'm not trapped. Alec's one of the best guys I've ever met and he hasn't done anything wrong."
"Fine. When you're ready to tell me the truth I'll be here waiting to listen. Until then, you're grounded."
**
Mom had never stuck with a grounding for more than a few hours. This had already blown the previous record completely out of the water. School was a nightmare. Mom dropped me off in the morning and was there promptly after my shift ended to pick me up.
In between I suffered from a complete lack of social interaction. None of the pack was in school. Neither was Ben or Albert. I sent Alec a text between classes.
Is everything okay? Have news.
Almost two whole hours later Alec finally responded.
Can't really talk. Swing by with news after school?
Grounded. Can't even return Jasmin's car.
She'll be by tomorrow morning.
I broached Jasmin's impending visit on the way home. "Mom, I know I'm grounded, but Jasmin is going to stop by tomorrow morning for her car."
"Back from her trip, huh? Awfully quick even for business, isn't it?"
I didn't bother dignifying the comment with a response. Once we got home I managed to endure Mom's knowing looks for an hour and a half before retreating into my room. All of my usual escapes totally failed me. I finally ended up putting ear buds in and thumbing to a selection of the kind of stuff my mom hated.
The snarling guitars and heavy distortion finally took me away from a world where the boy I loved was in mortal danger and my mom was forbidding me from being there to help. Mom interrupted towards the end of the album to check on me.
I finished the last song and then listened to Mom rattle around the bathroom getting ready for bed. I tried to escape into another album but Mom had ruined the feeling. I was well and truly brought back down to the suckiness of real life.
I sat on the floor for another half an hour and then finally got up to get ready for bed. I had just returned to my room when I heard the light chime of something hitting glass. I ran to my window hoping to see Alec and instead found Ben looking up at me. I shushed him and then crept downstairs. He met me on our porch.
"This totally better be important. I'm already grounded. If my mom catches me down here, I'll be twenty-five before I get out of the house again." My half-serious attempt at humor evaporated away when I saw Ben's face. His eyes were black and bloodshot, like he hadn't slept in days, and his features had taken on a gaunt cast.
"I want to see Jasmin."
"I think she probably wants to see you too, but right now isn't the greatest time."
"You don't understand. I need to see her. Tonight."
There was an urgency to his voice that made me uncomfortable.
"I do understand, Ben. You're going through withdrawal, but there isn't anything I can do to help you. Jasmin, Alec, they're all in trouble right now."
"I know. I tried to drive to their place earlier tonight. Two big guys stopped me at the gate. Told me I had to leave."
I seemed to spend all of my time lately trying to figure out how much I could tell someone versus how much I had to lie to them.
"It's okay. If you can just wait a little bit longer those guys will be gone and you and Jasmin can be together."
"Do you really believe that?"
I tried to lie, but nothing would come out. I temporized. "I believe that Jasmin wants to be with you, I just don't know if things are that simple anymore."
"Because I'm addicted to her. She always hated it when I was using. She said when I was high it wasn't really me looking out at her."
I reached over and put a hand on Ben's shoulder. "It doesn't have to be like that. I mean if you can make it a few days, sort of get her out of your system then there won't be anything standing between the two of you."
Ben shook his head violently. "Right, and then what, never touch? You don't understand. I've never had anything hit me like this. She's all I can think about. Those guys. When they touched me, I mean I don't even like guys, but when they touched me it was like I feel when I'm with her."
"Jasmin isn't trying to string you along. I can promise you that. She wants to see you again."
Ben looked up at me again and there was a new steel to his gaze. "She has a choice. She can either keep me addicted or she can ignore me. I'm not going through detox twice on this one. She's got twenty-four hours before I leave and never come back."
**
I tried to talk Ben down, tried to convince him to give Jasmin more time, but it was useless. He was positive he would be through the worst of the withdrawals in the next day or so and didn't want to continue to be tempted.
I even tried to chase him down when he left but I didn't make it very far without shoes. I crept back upstairs about midnight and fell into a fitful sleep.
Mom woke me up the next morning yelling for me to get the door. I stumbled out of bed and found Jasmin and Donovan at the door.
"Oh, right. Sorry guys, I just got up. Let me go get your key, Jas."
"Don't worry about it, I brought a spare and we don't have much time."
I blinked enough of the sleep out of my eyes to finally take in Jasmin's appearance. She looked like she'd been through a war. There were bandages visible peeking out from her clothes in a number of random spots and she had a huge bruise across her face.
Donovan wasn't quite as visibly banged up, but he was moving more stiffly than usual. I wondered if they'd purposefully gone after his good leg. The thought of proper, kind Donovan back on that stone table nearly brought tears to my eyes.
"Are you guys okay? Those weren't Agony's, were they?"
Jasmin tried for nonchalance but couldn't quite pull it off. "No, that's just the natural result of him bringing six other dominants to visit and throwing our power dynamic all to hell. We're pretty much all being treated like submissives right now. The only one they're leaving mostly alone is Alec and they're getting pretty bold even with him lately."