Vanquished

by Andy Lewter

  * * *

  Love, Olivia

  * * *

  “We have to go after them!” I blurted in panic, crinkling the letter in my grasp.

  Miles started pacing in a contemplative manner. “Maybe we let them do what they have planned,” Miles speculated, raking his hair.

  A quick breath rushed past my lips. “They were cuffed and interrogated in my vision. We cannot leave them like that.”

  “No, he’s right. This can’t hurt anything — we have to let them try,” Athena concluded.

  I frowned deeply. “They could get hurt.”

  Miles bit his lip, his eyes in intense thought. “I still say we wait and see.”

  I flushed. “How long? A day? A week?”

  Athena put her hands on her hips, gauging my anxiety. “Let’s give them three days. On day three, if we haven’t heard from them or they haven’t moved, we’ll go. How does that sound?”

  I huffed. “Three days?”

  Miles’s eyes softened. “You know if we show up it’ll go downhill real quick. Give them some time — they’ve prepared for this.” His voice was soothing, but his handsome features mirrored the worry in mine.

  I shook my head. “They were both exhausted. The government officials remained unfazed, even with their pleas. We can’t wait! I don’t like this.”

  “You don’t have to,” Athena replied sternly. “We need to let them do what they set out to do.”

  Miles stepped closer, his torso barely touching my shoulder. His sweet breath smoothed over my cheek and neck, and his expression was soft as he peered into my eyes. “Abby,” he said, grazing his fingers from my elbow to my fingers that held the crumbled note. “Let me talk to my dad — I need to show him this letter.” He lowered his face to mine, his kind eyes were gentle and perceptive. “Then we can go on that run.”

  As I held his gaze, my nervous apprehensions melted away like butter. Miles was warm and caring. He knows me. Even at my worst, he’s never left my side. I placed the letter into his palm. “See you in fifteen minutes.”

  Turning out of Olivia’s room, we were met in the hallway by Nicholas. His hands were shoved in his pockets, and his mischievous eyes flicked from me to Miles. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and my eyes danced between the two men. I don’t know what he wants with Miles, but this can’t be good.

  “Yeah, one sec,” Miles said as he placed a hand on my back and leaned close, meeting my eyes. “Wait for me by the front door.”

  Nodding, I eyed Nicholas as I walked by. His expression was indifferent, and his eyes met mine before I looked away. Athena walked silently next to me.

  When we stepped into the elevator, I set my eyes on her and crossed my arms. “What’s gotten into you lately?”

  She glowered. “What’s gotten into me?”

  “Why is your charge suddenly unimportant?”

  She set her jaw and her cheeks blazed red-hot. “Do you know why?” she exploded. “Because I grew exhausted of watching you stringing two great men along. After I collected you straight from Miles’ bed in his coma, I was done. Don’t worry sweetheart, your reliance on me outside of this house holds firm.” She stepped close, her furious eyes pierced into mine. “But inside? You’re on your own. I refuse to watch you treat Miles like a plaything. Actually, I’m beginning to think it might be best if you don’t choose anyone.”

  The door opened, and she stormed out, leaving a dark cloud of confusion over my head. What just happened?

  Chewing on my lip, I slowly made my way to the front door. I knew Athena was right, and I couldn’t be mad at her frustration with me. Miles was her best friend, too.

  Stepping outside, the chill from the gloomy drizzle dampened my hair, and I tied it back in a ponytail. I waited there a long time — so long I couldn’t guess how much time had passed.

  Eventually, someone opened the front door. Both Miles and Nicholas treaded out, both wearing the same barren expression. I furrowed my brows and faced them. “What’s going on?” My eyes bounced between the two.

  Miles glanced at Nicholas. “Abbs, how ‘bout you spend some time with Nicholas tonight? We can go on that run tomorrow.”

  My eyes shifted to Nicholas — he remained indifferent and distant. “Why?”

  Miles dipped his head to the side and smiled. “I’ll see you in the morning, alright?”

  My frown grew even deeper as I tried to figure out what was happening. Miles reached his arm out and squeezed my hand comfortingly before stepping away. They both exchanged an unspoken glance before Miles stepped into the house and shut the door.

  I focused my eyes on Nicholas. For the first time since I’d known him, fear set in. Not fear from him, but fear of what he had planned.

  And then he unleashed the most dazzling smile I’d ever seen.

  16

  “Want to go on a walk?” Nicholas asked in a silky tone.

  Swallowing hard, I turned away from him to remain strong. “If you’d like.”

  “Hmm.” A playful grin turned up his lips. “This weather won’t do.” He pulled his hands out of his pockets and molded the clouds with puffs and edges into the cool evening sunset. Brilliant yellows and oranges peeked through the clouds from the west. The gloomy mist was at bay, and the sun dipped further behind the earth’s horizon.

  I started along the path, and Nicholas kept pace next to me. I admired the view above then gave him a side-eye and smiled slightly. “You like sunsets, huh?”

  “The sky is my canvas,” he said, flashing a captivating grin.

  We walked in silence a bit further, following the path we always had on our walks. My body hummed with the magnetic pull, but per usual, I refrained from giving in.

  “I’ve thought about what you said to me,” he said in a deep, attractive tone.

  I stopped walking and gave him my undivided attention, pushing my hands deeper into my pockets.

  “I want you to know…” He treaded closer then paused. Looking like he wanted to take another step, he resisted and let his hands rest by his sides. “Being around your family, Miles’ family — even Brittany and her children, I’m noticing something I never have before: you all care. There is no doubt I know my mother loves me — in her twisted, immoral way, she does. I may be more of a ploy in her eyes; maybe she loves me solely for that reason — but that’s beside the point.” He adjusted his footing and moistened his lips. “She never cared like the families here do. Not really. And I’m starting to see how my family is lacking certain… aspects.”

  My demeanor softened and my heart ached to soothe the broken person who stood in front of me. I wanted to reach out and touch him, but my instincts advised I stay still.

  “But I also wanted to make myself clear,” he went on, his eyes darkening. “In contrast, my mother — my family, is much stronger. They strengthen weaknesses and teach the advances Valens can have against humans. Abby, let’s say you win this war. What’s next? The humans will never accept us because they will never understand us. We are alien to them. Have you thought about that?” he asked, raising his brows as he waited for my answer.

  “Of course I thought about it,” I argued in a rush.

  “You’re so worried about the Valens retaliating against the humans — what if the humans retaliate against us?”

  His worlds hung heavily in the air. I pursed my lips and pulled in a quick breath, shaking my head. My mind was spinning with thoughts, but nothing concrete came into place. “If that happens, then I’m sure we’ll come up with the best solution…”

  He mocked me with a cruel laugh. “That’s your idea of a leader? Deal with it when it gets here?”

  My brows pushed into a severe scowl. “Don’t you dare mock me,” I threatened through my teeth.

  “Believe me, I don’t mean to. It’s just something you need to think about.”

  “Alright then. I will,” I dismissed. I turned my shoulders to continue down the trai
l, but he reached for my hand. A tingling zing of warmth trailed up my arm and into my heart. Taking me off guard, my wall fell like a crushed dream and I became lost.

  “Abby.” My name rolled off his lips like a caress. “You’re mine. Come away with me.”

  Red flags raised in my mind. I blinked my eyes to regain my resolve and yanked my hand away. “I’ll do what I please.”

  Thunder rumbled quietly nearby — I glanced at the clouds and pulled my jacket tighter around my torso. Nicholas’ emotions slowly shifted from admiration to dissatisfaction. Placing my hands on my hips, I matched his look.

  “This has become agonizing, and I cannot stand it any longer. I’ve been patient while you’ve wasted my time teetering back and forth.” He stepped close, his breath coming out in short spurts. “Stop denying what you know is right for you.”

  I narrowed my eyes in a fierce glower. My bottom lip trembled, and my temper started to slip. “The right man would never back me into a corner and guilt-trip me. He would never use his gifts to lower my inhibitions, but most importantly, the right man would never push for me to make a decision.” I shook my head and pressed my lips in a straight line. “Tread carefully, Nicholas. My patience is waning.”

  Nicholas released a frustrated breath, and his face fell. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he stated with frustration.

  I gaped. “’I don’t know what I’m talking about?’ Nicholas! All you’ve been doing since you showed up in Alaska is brood, pine, and push!”

  The clouds above started to twist and turn — they grumbled and crashed as answering lightning flashed across the evening sky. He clenched his jaw, and his features casted dark shadows as his temper drifted south.

  His performance didn’t faze me. I lowered my chin and homed my abilities, reveling in the adrenaline finally flooding my veins. Rolling my head to the side to stretch my neck, I opened my palms and smiled darkly at him.

  I sensed confusion as he furrowed his brows. “What are you doing?”

  “Readying for whatever it is you’re up to.”

  “Well, stop!”

  “This is what you do, isn’t it? Something goes awry, and you react? You kidnapped me from my own home! Remember that?” I stepped closer and placed my face close to his, whispering, “You touch me as a reminder of the connection we share — Nicholas Ludovic, your actions don’t get past me.”

  Clenching his jaw, he peered down into my eyes as he deliberated his next words. “You are my soulmate. You don’t need me to tell you our souls call for one another.”

  I glowered and stepped back again, my piercing eyes remaining on his. I dug into my mind, thinking of the memories we shared, and they flashed in front of me in a rapid stream.

  The first time I laid eyes on him, the first time he held me in his arms. I remembered tasting his lips when we kissed on my front porch, and then I basked in the happiness I felt on our first date. I felt the protection of his arms around me as he guarded me from the grenade in New York, and the kiss we shared when I reached supremacy and on our second date at the diner.

  I felt everything.

  But a single piece of information shined through each recollection — this consuming, mind-numbing connection was present in every last memory.

  My eyes softened and brimmed with tears, and my throat burned with words I didn’t know how to speak. And then a wave of peace overcame me.

  “I finally understand why I’ve been resisting you since acquiring supremacy.” I sniffed and wiped my eyes then met his confused gaze. “I don’t deny what you just said. There can be few other reasons why our bodies unify and physically react the way they do. But I think that’s just what is — physical.”

  “You… what? You think what we have is just physical? You cannot be serious.”

  “Nicholas, we aren’t good together.”

  Steady rain fell an instant later, Nicholas’ expression turning pained. “Abby.”

  “We would destroy each other if we were together. Me consumed with you, you consumed with me — entirely? We would never see the world around us. We’d become the definition of self-centered. Co-dependent, even.” I glanced at him, finally seeing him for the first time. “I’d never be the leader I’m intended to be with this kind of distraction — this bone rattling, ever-consuming connection is exactly that. A distraction.”

  “Don’t do this.” Thunder boomed overhead and the rain began pouring in an icy sheet.

  “I don’t know you, Nicholas. And the same goes for me. You feel me through this intense, physical attraction we’ve experienced since the moment we met. But we don’t know each other. Not really.” I shook my head, unaffected by the weather around me. Meeting his aching eyes with confidence, I spoke with finality. “You may have been my first love, but my heart now lies with someone else.”

  “I cannot — I will not. No. I will not let you leave me.”

  “This isn’t your decision,” I stated calmly.

  “No!” His eyes turned angry. The lightning above flashed and cracked in thick rods, touching every end of the sky.

  I stood unmoving, squaring myself up to him. I could sense his demeanor slipping into a dark, uncontrollable state. “Nothing you do will change my mind, Nicholas.”

  “I refuse, Abby! I will not walk away!” He fell to his knees and gripped handfuls of grass in tight fists, heaving heavy, desperate breaths.

  “This doesn’t have to be goodbye, Nicholas.”

  “There’s no going back…” he murmured to himself.

  Taking a cautious step back, I slipped off my jacket to shield my body as hail assaulted the ground in heavy thuds.

  And then he looked up.

  My stomach twisted painfully as fear thrummed deep to my core.

  A dangerous, unstable man stood before me. His face was shadowed with deep creases and a wicked snarl, and his eyes were entirely enveloped in his onyx pupil. He tilted his chin toward the churning sky, and the frightening shade of his eyes shifted to a blinding white — so alarmingly bright it became difficult to look in his direction, and the clouds groaned furiously into a cyclone above.

  Without hesitation, I turned on my heel and ran.

  But I was too late.

  Nicholas raised his palms to the sky, summoning lightning to his hands.

  The next thing I remembered was hearing my screams as the white-hot electricity buckled my movements and encased my entire body.

  17

  I blankly glanced around my surroundings as I remained hidden behind a tree. The evening had descended into early morning, and a heavy mist hissed and trickled against my cold, shivering skin. My senses told me Nicholas was distant now, but I wanted to stay hidden just in case.

  I considered myself lucky. Thanks to supremacy, my body deflected Nicholas’ lightning bolt — his gift. I started reminiscing about every time supremacy had gotten me out of a bad situation. The day the Russian Valens held me up by the throat and tried to electrocute me, the red-hot Valens girl who tried to burn me, Kayla with her mind games, and now Nicholas.

  Anger and betrayal pulsed through my body like an unforgiving freight train. How dare that man! After the current from the lightning strike broke, I ran without looking back. I’m not even sure he saw me run — my sole intent was to run far and fast.

  My clothes weren’t as fortunate, and they lay tattered and burnt against my skin. I was pinching off a fragment of seared fringe from my pants when I felt the presence of someone getting close.

  Silently standing, I scaled up the tree and hid within the cover of leaves and branches. It was still dark, but an acquired Valens could see well even in the lowest light. Holding my breath, I set my eyes in the direction they were coming from.

  It wasn’t Nicholas — of that I was certain. But after what he’d done to me, I was left conflicted, with a dark cloud of trust issues.

  A tall frame adorned with chestnut brown hair came into sight a moment later. I was so happy that tears sprang to my eyes in
the next instant. Twigs snapped and popped as I loudly dropped from the tree. “Miles,” I choked, nearly inaudible.

  “Abby,” he said like a prayer, barreling toward me the second he saw me. When he reached me, he gripped my shoulders and eyed me with wide, apprehensive eyes. “Are you hurt?” his voice cracked with emotion as he gulped in the sight of my scorched clothes.

  Smiling wide with steady tears falling down my cheeks, I looked into the eyes of my best friend. My love. “I’m okay.”

  Releasing his breath in a quick rush, he scooped me up into his arms and squeezed me flush against his body. The comforting scent of sea and leaves assailed my senses, and I smiled wider as I buried my nose into his broad chest. “I was so worried…” he whispered, then pulled away to meet my eyes.

  The sun was about to come up, and the muted grays in the clouds started to tint with color. “Nicholas is gone. He was an emotional wreck when he turned up. No one could understand him. Said he needed to learn to control himself — that he really messed up. Moui left with him to calm him down more — she was ready for him, actually. Ray left, too. They told us they’d be back as soon as Nicholas could think straight. Nicholas said to come look for you because you may be hurt.” He paused, his features distressed. “We were all worried. He wouldn’t elaborate — he just apologized over and over. Did he hurt you?”

  I swallowed and felt my features drop. “There was an argument, then he got angry. So angry…” I glanced at my charred clothing then met his eyes with an unamused grin. “You can guess the rest.”

  His features shifted dark, and his nose flared in anger. “He did this to you?”

  “Supremacy made it so I wasn’t hurt — but my clothes…” I held up my arm, showing the burn holes sporadically placed up my sleeve. “Not so fortunate.”

  “After what he said last night… I can’t believe…” he trailed off.

  “What did he say?”

  Peering down at me with betrayal, he shook his head. “Not important right now. Are you sure you’re okay?”