by Lizzy Ford
“What’re you doing?” he asked.
“Taking a blood sample for the lab.”
“Are you brainwashed, too?”
She said nothing. Caleb snorted.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Chace said. He was quiet as she drew two small vials of blood, placed a band-aid on the droplet of blood that remained when she withdrew the needle, then released the rubber from his arm.
The nurse left.
“They aren’t brainwashed,” Caleb said when she was gone. “They are indoctrinated the same way the slayers are.”
“And you? Are you indoctrinated?” Chace asked.
“I’m a loyal member of the organization. No need for indoctrination.”
Pretty sure that’s the same thing. Chace was quiet, studying Caleb. The middle-aged slayer appeared to be waiting for something, his expectant gaze on Chace.
“This all seems … normal,” Even though I know it’s not. Chace voiced. “Are there any shifters here in the program now?”
“Half a dozen. They’re all almost ready for reintegration.”
“Which consists of …”
“How are you feeling, shifter?”
“Great. Never better.” Except his head was starting to spin and his senses dulling.
“No lightheadedness?”
Chace forced himself to shake his head.
“We’ll continue the tour.” Caleb left the room.
Chace reached up to the lasso, not understanding what was making him suddenly ill. As hard as he tried to grip the golden rope, it seemed to go straight through his fingers. He wasn’t able to move it or grab it. Disturbed by the weird magic of the lasso, he trailed Caleb, not wanting the slayer to know something was affecting him.
He sniffed the air again, unable to smell even the cleaning solutions that had been almost overpowering before. The lights of the waiting room, however, had grown in intensity. They were bright enough for him to shield his eyes from them.
“Problem?” Caleb asked calmly from his spot leaning against the receptionist desk.
“Just … fine.” The world was starting to spin and the ground shift beneath his feet. “Shit.”
Chace hit the ground like a sack of bricks, unable to gauge where the ground was to brace his body. He lay still, the cold floor against one cheek while he focused on not throwing up while his head spun sickeningly. The dark figure of Caleb squatted near him.
“The lassos we give newbie slayers are fake for two reasons: one, because they don’t understand how dangerous it is if it falls into the wrong hands and two, because there are only two real lassos. Can’t have one going missing on a routine mission.”
Chace listened, furious then sleepy. Unable to hang onto his emotions the way he needed to if he was to shift, he lay still, aware of the world around him, even if he couldn’t register everything going on.
He was lifted off the ground onto a stretcher. The movement of the lights overhead made his stomach lurch, so he closed his eyes.
They didn’t take him far, and the glare of the lights disappeared. He didn’t open his eyes again until he was certain they stopped moving. When he did, he found himself in a private exam room. While he wasn’t able to see well, he judged that this was not a normal exam room, if the thick metal door was any indication. It was propped open by an orderly in white.
Resting his head back, he tested his strength.
It was gone. His arms and legs met the resistance of thick straps across his body, bands he would’ve been able to break on a normal day. The lasso had incapacitated his magic in a way far beyond what Skylar’s touch did to him.
Caleb entered, followed by another nurse wheeling two IV towers.
“What is this?” Chace asked, lifting his head to try to motion to the lasso with his chin.
“Containment rope. Its core is the hair of a dragon shifter and it’s coated in radioactive material and poison, among other things, to create a lethal combination that renders a shifter powerless. Can’t take it through the airport, but it’ll incapacitate the biggest shifters alive.”
Shit. Chace had once been warned that brashness and arrogance had a price, a lesson that just didn’t stick. Right now, he wished he’d listened to his instincts and Mr. Nothing about these people.
Distantly, he registered the pain from catheters being placed in both hands. He didn’t feel the first IV but he did the second. It felt like ice was being pumped into him.
He gasped, unable to combat the coldness moving through his body. It went up his arm and shoulder then to his heart. He felt it slow then stop, the way it had been before he met Skylar, before the ice continued through his body. It didn’t just calm his dragon fire, but it felt like it was eating him alive from the inside out.
“You don’t want to know that this is,” Caleb said. He motioned the others out. “Just know it’ll kill you pretty quickly. You’ll be reintegrated into a graveyard with the rest of the dead, no longer able to hurt innocent people.”
“I’ve … never …” Chace wasn’t able to finish. The agony moving through him was too much.
“I’ll take this back,” Caleb said, stretching across him to reclaim the lasso. “One less shifter in the world.” His eyes were hard, as cold as the strange fire in Chace’s veins. “Goodbye, shifter.”
Chace heard the door clang closed behind Caleb. He closed his eyes, unable to move.
I hope Skylar is doing better than me.
Chapter Thirteen
Skylar awoke with a jerk, the world around her solidifying quickly.
“You dozed off.”
She sat, recognizing the shrink’s office on the compound. Vaguely she recalled bringing in Chace then having her wrists checked before coming here.
Pretty sure you knocked me out, she responded silently. The site where he’d inject her felt swollen like a knot had formed. She glanced at it noticed faint bruising.
“You feel okay?” the shrink asked.
Skylar glanced at him, uncertain why his intent gaze bothered her.
“Hungry,” she replied. “How long was I out?”
“Two hours.”
“Ugh. Starving then.”
He smiled. “Go on to the cafeteria. They should be serving lunch.”
She nodded and climbed off the table.
“See you next year.”
Skylar didn’t respond but left his office, her stomach feeling like it was ready to start eating itself. She touched the tender spot on her arm and flinched. Not only did the light touch hurt, but there was a large bump beneath the surface. She’d never left an annual check-up with a lump like this. It had done as he said and helped her relax.
I can address those during the session.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have slept through it.” The memories were more insistent instead of gone. Was she relieved that she hadn’t lost her mother again or upset that she wasn’t able to return to her normal life?
Shaking her head, she went to the cafeteria to grab a sandwich and sat down with her tray at a table, staring at the food on her plate.
Ginger was baking pies. They smelled like heaven, the rich combination of apple, cinnamon and butter drawing Skylar from her room on the top floor of the two-story home they were renting in eastern Ohio. She hopped down the stairs and skipped through the hallway towards the bright kitchen with a yellow ceiling and white walls.
She loved the smell, had missed it since they started running again months before. It was almost Thanksgiving, the time of year when her mother cooked. The simple tradition of a pie managed to alleviate the fear and uncertainty she’d felt since the day they left the farmhouse.
Life was almost normal again.
“Mama, that smells like heaven!” she exclaimed, running down the hallway towards the kitchen. At thirteen, Skylar was tall and lanky and made an effort not to trip over her feet. “Can I please, please, please try a little piece?”
She hurried into the kitchen and the pie sitting on the counter. Her mother
was nowhere around, and Skylar assumed she’d gone to the restroom.
Skylar ventured from the kitchen, listening for sounds of her mother rustling around somewhere in the house. She heard the slam of a car door instead and the sound of someone hurrying up the steps to he front door.
Skylar went to a window overlooking the front. Her mother was nowhere to be found, and Skylar studied a black SUV with windows too dark for her to see who was there. Leaning against the window, she recognized the man at her door.
Caleb.
“You waiting for them to leap into your mouth on their own?” a familiar voice asked.
Skylar shook her head, the scent of apple pie lingering with the weird vision. She waved for Mason to join her.
“Weird day,” she said. “How you doing?”
“Not bad,” he replied. “Here for my yearly. Heard you brought in the dragon.”
“Yeah. He didn’t put up much of a fight.”
“That’s amazing!”
Except it’s not. She rubbed her face with her hands. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I should be psyched.”
“Definitely.”
She toyed with her food, hungry but bothered by the random memory of apple pie.
“You okay?” Mason asked. “Caleb said you were a prisoner. He didn’t hurt you did he?”
“No. I kinda wish he did. I mean, isn’t he supposed to be this horrible monster that eats people?” she asked. “Mason, he’s … not a monster.”
Mason took a bite of his sandwich, listening intently with his dark eyes on her.
“Guess I’m just tired.” She turned her focus to her food, not wanting to think about what was happening to Chace at that moment somewhere on the compound.
“Did you see the shrink?”
“Yeah. Just pumped me full of some shit that is making my arm hurt,” she bent the angry arm.
“You normally leave his office pretty happy.”
Mason’s words added to her sense of something not being quite right.
“Mason, what do you think happens to the shifters when they’re rehabilitated?” she asked quietly enough for only him to hear.
“No idea. Never thought about it.”
“I didn’t either until today. Now I can’t stop and I can’t stop thinking about my mom.”
“Your mom?” he echoed, confused. “But she died soon after you were born, like mine did.”
“I know it doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m not saying that exactly.”
She paused in her chewing to meet his gaze. Mason appeared as troubled as she felt, his large brown eyes distant.
“Did you know I had a sister?” he asked.
“Really?”
“Well, I think I did. I’ve been dreaming about her. That makes no sense, since I was an only child and an orphan.”
“But you remember her.”
“Yeah. Certain events bring back these really just random memories. Like one where we’re racing our bikes down a hill.” He offered a small, affectionate smile at the girl in his mind. “Then nothing for days then like, a totally different random memory.”
“Me, too,” she whispered.
“They started a few months ago. The shrink said he’d address it during my yearly and make sure they stop. I don’t know if I want them to, Skylar,” he admitted. “I kinda like the idea of knowing I had a family.”
“Seems too real not to be.” Skylar toyed with her French fries. “But I mean, it can’t be real. Can it?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’ve been trying to figure it out since the memories started.”
They finished eating in pensive silence. Skylar was trying hard not to think of what the memories meant, if real. What were the chances that she and Mason started having them after being bitten by shifters? Was it as the shrink said – an aftereffect of the magic – or was there more?
“Do you think … ” she started then stopped, not sure she wanted to go down this road.
“… there might be something else going on?” He finished for her.
“Mason, Chace – the dragon – said that there were never slayers before us.”
Mason studied her, weighing her words carefully.
“He surrendered because he wanted me to bring him here, so he could find out what happened to the other shifters.”
“Caleb took him to rehab?”
“Yeah. You ever been back there?”
“No. You’re not thinking of … what are you thinking of doing?”
“I don’t know.” She sighed. “But what if the shifters we slept with – what if their magic opened up memories we’re not supposed to remember?”
“Sounds like a conspiracy.” Mason smiled. “Not saying you’re wrong, but what is the motivation behind doing that to us?”
“That I don’t know.”
“You like the dragon more than you should,” he guessed.
“He’s just not what I expected or what we were told dragons were like,” she replied. “If he’s right about … some things, then it seems like we might’ve been misled. But why mislead us?”
“To get the shifters here. Maybe we really are the only ones who can track them. Don’t ask me why,” he added quickly. “Just theorizing at this point.”
“What was the shifter you slept with like?”
“Nothing like what they said. She was really sweet.”
Skylar sat back, thoughts on Chace. She hadn’t been able to clear her senses of his smoky sweet scent or dismiss the memory of his hands running down her body. His kiss was incredibly good, his soft growl and intelligent gaze snagging her attention even when they weren’t touching.
He’d been genuinely puzzled or dismissive of everything she tried to tell him, everything she’d been told her entire life. He’d been gentle with her. Now that she knew the cabin responded to his magic, she realized he had turned the interior of her bonds into fleece when he saw they were hurting her.
Aside from hanging her over the cliff’s edge to find out why she was trying to hurt the shifters, he hadn’t done anything to hurt her.
Seeing him in his dragon form, however, was enough to make her reconsider anything nice he’d done. He’d been right about everything from the start, but he was a dragon! Why was she considering trying to help him or at least, to make sure rehabilitation wasn’t as grim as he tried to convince her?
“I need access to the rehab wing,” she said softly. “Chace has been almost right about everything. I want to ask him more about dragons and slayers, and I feel like I need to know what really goes on in the rehab center.” I want to learn more about my history. Somehow, Chace’s magic helped jar the memories loose.
“They told us … ah. Right. We can’t really trust what they told us.”
“Exactly. Who has access?”
“Trainers. Caleb. The shrink. Or at least, their hands do,” Mason joked, referring to the palm scanners at the entrance of the rehab center. “We’d need someone to get us access.”
“You’re headed to the shrink, right?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Well then, I’m coming with you. We need someone to open the door, and I think he’ll cooperate.”
“You do?”
“Sorta,” she said. “I mean, if he doesn’t, we just knock him out and take him with us to the door.”
“And then when he wakes up?”
“I don’t know.” She thought back to the serum he’d injected her with. It put her out for two hours. It was enough time for them to find out what was going on and leave, if it came down to it. “Hopefully he’ll just agree to help. If not, then I’ll figure out something.”
“Wait a minute. You’re talking about the possibility of having to walk away. Permanently.”
She said nothing.
“Skylar, you can’t go down this path without realizing there might not be a way back. Is it worth it to save this guy?” Mason asked in a hushed tone.
“It’s worth i
t to learn the truth. I don’t know about him, but these can’t be dreams. I have a mother out there somewhere,” she said. “He scares the shit out of me. But something isn’t right and if this is a dead end, we can grovel and beg for Caleb’s forgiveness and let them brainwash us again, if we’re wrong. I mean, they need us, right?”
“It’s a huge risk, Sky.”
“I know.” She propped her elbows up on the table and cupped her cheeks. “But I mean, I just want to ask Chace some questions. We don’t know that I’ll have to leave.”
He was quiet for a moment then sighed. “Just questions. Okay. But let me get the doc, okay? We play golf together. He’ll probably listen to me more than he would you.”
“You’re so sweet, Mason.” She smiled. “Okay. Go get the doc and I’ll wait for you in the vestibule.”
He stuffed the last of his sandwich in his mouth and stood. She took his tray and watched him walk away.
Skylar dumped their trash and made her way through the compound to the area where she’d led Chace earlier. She paced, waiting nervously for Mason.
Her friend was right – it was a risk, but she couldn’t help the nagging instinct that urged her to find out what was beyond the door where Chace had gone. She wanted to talk to him one more time before he was brainwashed, if that was truly what happened beyond the doors.
Her gaze settled on the palm scanner standing between her and the rehabilitation center beyond. After a moment, she approached it and rested her hand to it, expecting it to light up red, a sign she didn’t have access.
It turned green.
Surprised, Skylar debated waiting for Mason then opened the door.
He’ll catch up. She stepped into the part of the compound where she’d never been before and closed the door behind her. A long, white hall was before her that ended in a T-intersection with a familiar plaque on the wall. The grey plaques were at each intersection and corner of the compound, denoting directions with arrows for what parts of the compound lay in each direction.
She walked to the end of the hallway and read the sign. To the right was the Central Rehab Center while the arrow pointing left was labeled as Dorms. She went right, suspecting Chace’s day wasn’t over yet for him to be in the dorms.