by Avery Duncan
Jamie let out a whimper, and he jerked his eyes to her before loosening his hold. Talon had to physically and mentally force himself to hold her more gently while everything inside of him screamed to stay with her and take care of her, to keep her with him.
He told himself that it was a hero-worship that had him so attached to her, but he knew it was a lie. She was no more of a hero than he was a saint. But then, how did he know what he was if —
Flash.
— “Talon, take them to the cell” — “This is my favorite blade...He’ll become yours, too” — Flash of steel in a darkly lit room — Tortured screams coming from a man — A sick, pleased smile —
— “”My lord, the traitor is waiting” — Hall lit with dim candle light — Statues of men — “Please, spare me!” — Slice of steel against flesh —
“I love you” — A soft smile, adoring eyes — “Forever and always” — The wail of a baby — “Let us get our young” — Soft touches, secretive smiles — Happiness
“You have wronged us, Talon” — Crimson eyes flash — “Take him from his palace of aptitude” — Streak of red — Dark abyss —
Talon jerked, jarring Jamie. He breathed heavily, his tormented mind reeling.
He remembered
Everything.
He could remember their past, their other lives, their —
“I’ll be gone for just a bit,” he informed his friend, grabbing his jacket. The call he had to make wasn’t for others’ ears, and he had no intention to let anyone else hear what he was about to say.
“Alright, but hurry up. You’re missing the commercials!” The complaint was accented with a drink of beer, the TV glaring with the M&M’s in the back. The Super Bowl commercials weren’t something that anyone wanted to miss, and Talon was just as ready to get back to watching them as the next guy was.
He nodded and closed the door, reaching for his phone. Searching through his contacts, he found Luc’s number and hit the “send” button, listening to Linkin Park’s Numb.
“Y’ello.” The sound of his old friends twang and bluntness had a smile on Talon’s face.
“How’s it going?” he asked, leaning against the rail and crossing his arms over his chest, pressing the phone to his face. The air was brisk, Autumn following the heels of Spring. Flowers were already drying out, and the trees were turning a deep red and orange. It was an appealing site, but it wasn’t for Talon. The scenery was too peaceful — kill a man for liking a busy setting, or at least something other than serene.
“It’s going good. Levi and I are going over some papers that the advertisement company we signed with sent us. Did you get the email that Jorel sent you? I tell that boy every day...”
“Nah, don’t worry about it,” he said, thinking of the flooded email he had waited to be answered. The droll look that came into his eyes was unseen by Lucian, who gave a sigh into the phone.
“You comin into work early?”
“That woman from corporate is going to be in. I have a conference that I need to attend, so yeah I’ll be —”
Bam.
Talon wasn’t prepared for the hit that came at him. It was like a gust of wind, but so much more stronger. The malicious stench that came from it wasn’t much better. He slammed against the wall in a burst of pain. “Fuck,” he grunted, bracing his hands against the wall. “The hell...”
A black loafer came into his view. A surprisingly strong kick was dealt to his ribs as the men above him talked in hushed whispers. Talon reached for his phone slowly, an emotion that he rarely felt boiling in his gut — fury.
“You think you can escape us, after all of these years? Fool,” one of them spat. “You are sadly mistaken.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” he said growling, surging to his feet. He felt his body pulse with strength, adrenaline coursing through him.
“You have wronged us, Talon,” the voice hissed, the sound of gravel crunching as he bent down to press his face to Talon’s. He stared up at him, momentarily shocked into silence. Crimson eyes flashed in the dim light of the porch, streetlights barely conveying how much hate was within them.
Another voice from above said in a sneer, “Take him from his palace of aptitude.”
That was the last thing before he saw a flash of silver, red and the undeniable pain that stilled his every movement. There was no time to jump away, no time to attack — before he knew it, everything was black.
He gasped, letting out a breath of air. It felt like he had been drowning. Memories rushed through him, pain accenting the pounding of his heart. Lucian — where was he? Did he know what had happened? The annual Super Bowl from last year had been set for the tenth of...shit...He started cursing, barely stopping himself from shouting with his anger. That long... He had missed the conference, Lucian had been left with to deal with the company alone —
Fuck. Just fuck.
Now he knew why Auro and Lyne had wanted him, why he shouldn’t have had sex with Jamie.
Why he should have just killed the twins in the very beginning. He groaned, feeling another onslaught of something. His head started to pound —
Darkness — pain — ragged groans. Surging, pulsing. Hitting, tearing — shredding. Back bowing, a woman wakening beside him. Glaring white light hitting him — redness. So red, crimson like seeping blood. More convulsing, shudders. Helpless female begging —
Agony — like sharp ice — burning crystals of pure torture — Ragged screams. Frozen, gaping mouth — Pulsing light, flashing. A darkness, a hole. The ending — so much pain, so much torment — fear. What was happening? Death — when? The wait — how much?
It felt — like death. Light — turning dark. The woman — fading into the background. So much torture. The end — near.
Chapter 11
Jamie woke to being thrown off the bed. First, she thought they were going to die and then she realized that Talon...was in pain. He was screaming, shouting, clawing at the bed with corded hands. She jumped to her feet, forgetting about the sheet that had been thrown to the floor with her.
“Talon!” she said, grabbing onto his shoulders. He jerked, and a lengthening claw reached out. It caught on her shoulder, almost knocking her away, but the pain was muted with her fear. When his feet shot out, a ragged shout cutting through the room with a snap, jarring her.
She froze.
Talon was glowing. Like a light. Pulsing through the room, from the center of his body, he seemed to rise from the sheets like a ghost. Her ears rang from how loud he was. Desperate, her hands curled into his leg, jerking. He tried kicking her, but she held tight.
“Wake up, damnit!” she screamed, taking a blow to her shoulder with his knee. An inhuman sound roared through the room and then she was thrown away from him. Her back, for maybe the hundredth time, slammed against the wall. Crumpling, gasping in pain, she braced her hands on her knees and started, fighting the helplessness that she was now feeling.
What could she do? The light wasn’t as bright but the sound he was making sounded... tortuous. Her heart stopped at the sound. His body was still naked, but it was graced with a sheen of sweat that glistened in the lights. His jaw was clenched so tight that it seemed as if every muscle in his neck had popped and he was so tightly strung that he didn’t even move as he shouted and became... demonic.
Jamie covered her face with her hands, terrified. What could she do? Nothing? Her mind rebelled — she had to help him.
Suddenly, the room filled with a booming. Like thunder, but on-going.
And then it was dark.
No lights. No sounds. Nothing except her own ragged breathing.
Slowly, her hands dropped from her face. There was no sun light, not even from the outside. It was as if the world, along with the electricity, had shut down. Her eyes struggled to see through the darkness. It was impossible, with how utterly dark it was. A scent filled her nose. It was as if a fog were seeping through the air, and she could smell it.
Her sto
mach churned. Bile rose in her throat.
It was the scent of death. When she had turned twenty, her life had changed. She knew the scent. Things had become different. Her view on the world had turned around completely, and she had been witness to things that no human being ever should be. Chris had been her distraction, even if that sliver of her life had been almost non-existent, and barely memorable.
“Talon? Hey, where are you?” she asked thinly into the dark, heart thundering in her chest. She put her hands on the floor and tried to search her way through the dark fog, ears straining. She couldn’t hear anything except her own heart. The silence in the room was unsettling, unnatural. Not only had the world paused, but it had stopped completely.
She almost screamed when something latched onto her shoulder -- gently.
“Jamie.” The demonic voice rasped against shoulder with a breath of hot air. A hand clamped over her mouth to stop the scream, but the touch was familiar. Gentle. Hot.
Dark.
She started to jerk away from him, hating that his touch, even when he was close to going insane and probably about to rape her, was hot enough to set her skin on fire. They were both naked, Talon covered in sweet and Jamie trying to understand. “What...happened?”
Her voice came out choked, strained, and not only because his hand was on her mouth.. Chills covered her body at his touch, but this time it wasn’t because of her desire for him. Something in her stomach curled, telling her that he was different. His voice, when he had said her name, had not been his normal facade of emotionless. No, it had sounded of power and confidence, despite the drastic change. His hands, tightening on her arms and jaw, only loosened when she gasped at the lack of breath.
“We need to leave. Now. I have to call Lucian,” he told her, sounding as if he didn’t care if she listened or not. His hands left her body completely, and his body, which had been pressed against hers so closely, pulled back and in the now-light room, she saw his skin glistening.
Her shoulder burned. Jamie didn’t move from her place in the middle of the wall. She was frozen in place, trying to understand what had happened. Talon hadn’t answered her question, and it didn’t seem like he was planning on it. He was now standing near the window, pushing the curtains aside and letting out the black smoke. It was so calmly done, so weirdly serene, that it sent her emotions swirling.
“Tell me what happened,” she said unsteadily, rising to her feet. She covered her hands with her body, freezing. The sheet that had been wrapped around them was on the other side of the room, the side that he was on.
He looked at her, and she gasped.
His eyes.... were silvery. Black. Surrounded with an almost godly ring of gold. Jamie felt the blood in her veins freeze, turning to ice. She knew that he sure as hell wasn’t human. Jamie jerked back, scrambling to the back of the wall. The danger that radiated from him was chilling, the evil and calculating look in his eyes turning her soul to ash.
Talon looked as if he were going to kill her. She had no idea what to think as she stared at him. He was leaning so casually against the wall, and yet she could feel the malice from several feet away. Was he going to kill her? she thought desperately, grabbing the closest thing next to her. It was a shirt -- his shirt. She put it on quickly, feeling stupid and in danger.
“Talon,” she snapped, trying to get a reply.
He merely raised a brow at her. “What.”
“Tell me...what happened. I don’t know what to think, to say....was it because of what we...did? Why are you staring at me like that...” His eyes burned into her. Her chest heaved as they stared at each other, her panic rising even greater than before. Her hands reached for something else as lights turned on gradually in the room.
They came in contact with the soft material of her sweat pants. She pulled them on, flipping her hair over her shoulder because it was getting in her way. Jamie could feel Talon’s eyes on her, could feel the heat searing her.
She stood up to her full height and looked for her jacket, but stopped dead when he said, “Want your bra?”
When she looked at him, her bra dangled from his finger and he had a smirk on his face. Except, it wasn’t a playful smirk. Nothing about him had ever been playful, and he certainly wasn’t going to change now. She marched over and grabbed it from him, giving him the worst look of her life.
“Take off my shirt so I can get dressed. Shower and then we are leaving. I’ll have my squire pay for the room and the transaction will be transferred back to your card. I’ll be on the phone, so don’t interrupt me when you get out.” With that being said, he turned his back on her and faced the window, dismissing her.
For some odd reason, angry tears burned her eyes. She turned on her heel, forcing herself to walk with steady legs to the bathroom. “I should have known,” she whispered, a thin hand reaching to her face. She wiped at the tear and started to get undressed again, turning on the water. Her shoulder stung, but not as much as her wounded heart did.
Hopefully, the rush of the faucets would drown out her sobs.
Talon moved away from the window, closing the curtains. It was time to call Lucian and get a plane sent for them. By the look of the weather outside, it had been close to six months or so and winter was just ending. So much was supposed to be done, and now he had to worry about Auro coming after them.
There was too much happening at once, he thought, picking up the phone. He sat on the edge of the bed, dialing the number that he hadn’t even known only several minutes ago. He hadn’t let Jamie see, but his body was still on fire. Now that he remembered everything, his mind was filled with things that he had been happier not knowing about.
“Hello, this is 4th Street Ally Cat bar. Our times are from four pm to three pm on Monday through Thursday...”
“Put me on the phone with Lucian.” He would have called his partners cell, but it was blocked to any number that wasn’t on the list. A local hotel sure as hell wasn’t going to be on the list, so calling his bar was the easiest thing he could do.
“May I ask who is calling?” came a pleasant reply. Still, though, Talon could hear the fear in it. Not many people knew of Lucian, it wasn’t something that people exploited. Talon was the face of the man, and he was okay with that.
“Talon. Now let me speak to my partner, please,” he said, forcing out the “please”.
There was a pause, and then, “Please hold for one second, sir.” It was more respectful now, as if the woman who answered knew who she was talking to. He scrubbed a hand over his face and listened as water rushed in the bathroom. He could hear every single thing that Jamie was doing, and he had to actually force himself to ignore her.
As J-Cole’s “Work Out” played through the phone, images of her body, naked and glistening, came to his mind. He grabbed the blanket and covered himself, hating the hard-on that was forming. Her breasts were so perfect, so clear in his mind, he could almost taste them as he pictured running his tongue over them, biting and leaving small marks, claiming her as his own.
There was not a doubt in his mind that she wasn’t his. But to keep her?
That was a different story altogether.
J-Cole stopped singing about doing some girl and the sound of his partner's voice, shocked and almost relieved, came through the line. “Talon?”
“Get us a ride, will you? Track the call and find out where I am. We need to leave in less than an hour.” He didn’t bother greeting the man, instead getting straight to business.
“Got it. Alishia...” Lucian trailed off as he talked to someone in the background. Talon waited, rubbing his forehead with one hand, holding his hard-on down with the other, and cupping the phone between his shoulder and ear. It was a minute before he heard his friend come back on the line. “God, man, do you know how long it’s been?”
“About six months.” He sighed, then cursed. “How long till you found out? I knew you were keeping track of me,” he said, skipping the preliminaries once again. “Why didn’t someone co
me get me sooner?” A growl rose in his throat, infuriated. He had been trapped in that fucking hell hole, and no one had come to get him? His mind refused to wrap around the knowledge.
“We only learned last night that you had been...taken. It was those bastards, wasn’t it?”
Before, as a human, he hadn’t known of his past or even what he was. It was why he had been willing to go with Lucian several years back when he had been approached by the man. At the time, Talon had been going to therapy. For years, his mother had been convinced that the devil was within him. He had often woken up in the middle of the night, screaming at the top of his lungs, the pain of fire licking along his flesh so fresh it had been almost real. On good nights, he would dream of other times, when a woman with pale blue eyes would come to him, dressed in medieval garb.
But it had always ended the same.
The two of them in flames.
Now, though, he knew exactly what Lucian was talking about and wondered how he knew of Auro and Lyne.
“Yeah. Want to know what they did to me, Lucian?” he said, fighting the urge to rip the phone from the wall. He would have told him, would have made him feel like absolute shit for not finding Talon before they could begin their major fuck-dandy-hand games on him, but it was too shameful.
“Not...really. Listen, man, I’m so sorry. You aren’t too far from where you had been before. I called the maids in the flat last night and they didn’t say much, only that you hadn’t been there. I hope you don’t mind, but they got fired quick.” A ring of irritation resonated through his deep baritone.
“Good. You knew about Jamie, didn’t you?” he asked, more pissed than betrayed. Why hadn’t Lucian said anything to him? If he had, then he would have found her and he might not have been taken by the Immortal bastards that lived for pain.