by Hati Bell
The light turned green and she took off. At this time during the night, the streets were abandoned. Ten minutes later she parked in front of Ian’s apartment, ready to ring the bell. She remembered just in time that he shared his place with Seth Croft. His roommate probably wouldn’t appreciate getting woken up in the middle of the night.
She sent Ian a message that she was waiting downstairs. When she sat on the hood of the car, fatigue came over her like a heavy coat. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to keep it together.
She heard footsteps approaching and was just about to turn around when hands wrapped around her throat. Before she could make a move, her head was bashed against the hood of the car. Black dots filled her vision, and then there was darkness.
Amber woke up with a splitting headache. She tried to move but found her arms were tied above her head. Her knee hit concrete, and her back felt icy cold, as if it was plastered against a cooler.
Oh, God… no…
No… no… no…
All she could see was darkness. Her heart was beating out of her chest, while her worst nightmare flashed through her head. In an attempt to calm down, she closed her eyes.
It didn’t work. Her senses were all over the place. She smelled mold, heard water dripping, and felt surrounded by unyielding concrete.
Matteo!
Complete silence.
Not even an annoyed remark about why she was disturbing him.
Matteo, I need you. Someone tied me down and locked me up.
Utter silence.
Chills went down her spine when she slowly realized that she was truly and completely alone. At the mercy of someone who wanted to harm her. Someone who wanted to make her suffer.
A scraping sound made her eyes shot open. A switch was flicked and light filled the space. She could finally see her whereabouts, which were between two walls. The cold wall in her back, and a knee-high, newly built wall before her. The space was nothing more than four grey walls lined with shelves. At the right there was a pile of bricks, a bucket, and a cement mill. Next to it was a table with her knife on it.
Her titanium knife! She swallowed when, once again, she realized someone had designed this place specifically for her.
“Finally,” a voice sounded.
A dark figure stepped from the shadows out into the light.
“Seth?” Her mind had a hard time keeping up with her eyes. She had expected to find Ravi, or perhaps one of the phoenixes who had attacked her before, but not Ian’s roommate, a dryad.
“Don’t you dare look betrayed, Amber. You don’t have the right.”
She begged to differ. “I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?”
Seth took off his jacked and draped it over the table. “It’s quite simple, actually. You killed my mother, so now I’m going to bury you. This is just plain old revenge.” There was not a hint of emotion in his voice.
Amber shook her head in denial. Nurse Croft had been her rock, helping her through her migraine attacks back when she hadn’t inflamed yet. She was the most gentle person Amber had known. It had been the nurse who had discovered that Amber was a phoenix. The only mistake Croft had made was entrusting that knowledge to Kincaid. “I didn’t kill your mother, Seth.”
In an instant he grabbed a brick and threw it at her.
She yelled when it hit her thigh, the impact making a wave of pain radiate through her leg. Apparently he wasn’t so cut off from his emotions as it seemed.
“You may not have been the one to tear her into pieces yourself, but you are the reason she was murdered.”
She gave him a pained look, not sure how to react. Kincaid had had the nurse killed so he could use the information on Amber when he deemed fit. Then he had tried to make Logan take the fall on the nurse’s murder, in an attempt to isolate Drake from his brother. It sounded like Seth already knew about this. “I’m sorry your mother got involved in something she had nothing to do with. I am truly sorry.”
Her words didn’t have the effect she was going for, hoping against hope. In fact, it had the opposite effect.
Eyes blazing, he stepped in her space, backhanding her. “Shut your filthy mouth.”
Her cheek burned, at the same time unlocking a memory. “It was you. The one at the Oasis. Attacking me.”
He snarled and took a step back. “When I saw you there, all vulnerable and drunk as a skunk, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass.” He took out his phone from his pocket and took her picture. “Did you think I actually liked living with your brother? Listening to his continuous whining? I had to make my way into his life so as to keep updated on your well-being. See, I knew that one day you would wake from your coma. I prayed it would be during my lifetime. That I would be the one to take you out. It’s nothing more than you deserve. You, Drake, and of course that piece-of-shit alpha dragon, Alec Kincaid. No worries; they will all get what they have coming.” He looked at the bricks and cement mill and her heart started beating like a drum.
“Seth, please don’t do this.”
He put his phone back into his pocket. “A lovely reminder,” he said. “Do you know what it’s like to have to tell your brothers that they will never see their mother again? One day they will ask me, and then I’ll be able to show them your picture. Show and tell them that our mother was avenged.” He walked back to the table and grabbed her knife.
Amber desperately pulled at the ropes holding her arms. She wished she were as strong as Faey, confident to take any threat on. Or as optimistic as Benedict. However, all she felt was fear. “Someone will come looking for me, Seth. They will see the message I sent Ian. They will find out it was you who texted me back. It’s not too late to stop this.” Oh, God, she sounded like any cliche kidnapped victim from a TV show.
He took her phone from his inner pocket. “You mean this phone?” he asked as he threw it into the cement mill and put down her knife. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to stab you through the heart. That would be too quick a death. Also, a near-death experience would possibly make your promesi show up. We can’t have that, now can we?”
Matteo, where are you?!
Her fear turned into rage when her call went unanswered. When Seth pulled up his sleeves and grabbed a brick, sweat started to trickle down her spine. “No…”
Seth grabbed tools from the floor and put a brick on the knee-high wall before her. “I’m not going to kill you, Amber. I’m not even sure if I can. You may rise from your ashes or something. No, I’m simply going to put you into this wall. No one ever comes here. This part of town has been out of use for years.”
“Please don’t do this.” She felt like any minute she could break down, push aside her pride, and beg him to let her go. With every brick that Seth put on the wall, her tomb grew a little smaller. “Seth! Listen to me. Please, don’t do this. I didn’t kill her. It wasn’t me!”
Deaf to her pleading, he continued building the wall. Brick on brick on brick. She yelled and raged, but to no avail. She was like an insect about to be forever squashed behind a piece of glass. Panic grabbed her by the throat. A fire roared in her veins but couldn’t find an outlet. Desperate, she banged her head back against the wall. Pain radiated through her skull, somehow making everything more clear.
Blood.
Blood and the full name of a phoenix. It was all she needed to summon one. Once again, she banged her head against the wall, this time so hard that for a second her vision turned black. She felt something sticky trickle down her neck and stopped.
Matteo Mundus Leonardo Lancaster!
She watched past Seth’s shoulder, but saw nothing. Didn’t even smell a waft of smoke. Maybe she was supposed to say it out loud for it to work?
Her tormentor’s nearness made her hesitate. Her knife still lay on the table. If Matteo suddenly appeared in the room, Seth could catch him off guard and kill him.
For a moment there she considered just taking the risk, damn the consequences. The wall Seth was building had re
ached her waist by now. But then, she finally caught a break as Seth returned to the table, put his tools on it, and left the room.
Seeing as there were no more bricks with which to build his wall and cement her inside, she knew why he’d left.
“Matteo Mundus Leonardo Lancaster,” she quickly spoke. “I summon you.” The room stayed eerily empty and quiet, except for her panting. However, it was better, anything was better, than the sound of bricks being stacked on bricks.
Maybe something was wrong with Matteo? He hadn’t reacted to her telepathic call either. The numbers two and three on her phoenix hot line had sadly turned into ash, which meant she was quickly running out of options. Desperation even made her consider Crassus. A semi-hysterical laugh bubbled up from inside when she realized that she didn’t know his full name. What a poetic ending to her short existence as a phoenix. Her tombstone would read: ‘Amber Didn’t-know-her-father’s-name O’Neill, cemented into a tomb because she was too stubborn to reach out to her biological father.’
Think, Amber. Think!
Then she had a light-bulb moment. “Namaka Green Oshiro. Namaka Green Oshiro!”
Tears of joy slid down her cheeks when she smelled smoke and saw Namaka appear before her in his signature track suit and bling headphones.
“Cool! You’re the first to call me,” he started, but then his mouth dropped as he saw the predicament she was in.
“I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you,” she panted.
He traced onto the wall before her. “What is going on here?” he asked as he untied her hands. “First, I can’t find Faey anywhere, which is rare on PlayStation Night. Then, Benedict is completely off the grid. And now this.” He jumped off the lower wall, giving her space. “Where’s Matteo? There’s no way you called me first.”
I’ve been wondering that myself. When her hands were finally free, she pulled herself up on the wall, and swung her legs over it. She dropped on the floor and untied the rope around her ankles. “We have to get out of here. Is there a car outside?”
Namaka gave her a look. “Um, I can trace now, remember?”
Amber looked up, wanting to thank him, when the light left his eyes.
She yelled at the sight of a knife lodged into his heart. Throwing away the last pieces of rope around her ankles, she shot back on her feet.
Seth stood behind Namaka, and reached at her, his face a mask of hate.
She punched him in the face, hitting his jaw. For one crazy second she contemplated murdering him. An intense rage bubbled up inside her like a geyser, ready to go off. Then common sense returned to her brain.
Phoenix. Boom!
She hauled ass from the room. And not a second too soon, because the next moment an explosion shook the entire building. The impact smacked her against a wall, hurting her knee, but she managed to stay on her feet. She ran through a dark corridor, biting her lip from the pain her knee caused her, but she pushed through it, barreling through a door with an exit sign. She couldn’t deal with losing someone else she cared about, or, even worse, being responsible for that loss.
When she finally stood outside, she saw the full moon was still up in the air, as if it were mocking her. She looked around for a car, but the parking lot, in front of what appeared to be a run-down warehouse, was empty. She recognized this place as one on the outskirts of Somerset.
She didn’t hear any footsteps, but she couldn’t afford to stand still to catch her breath. Opposite of the building was a dirt road leading into the woods, which would give her some cover. She ran as if she were chased by hellhounds. The chances of encountering someone passing by, at this time of night, in this abandoned part of town, were practically nil. There weren’t any shops around, so the woods were her best option, in case Seth made it out of the explosion.
Her knee started shaking and she knew she couldn’t keep up this grueling pace for much longer. She had to hide somewhere. The Oasis! Of course. Logan’s club was somewhere on this terrain. Now that she had a goal in mind she picked up her pace, following the woods, until she had reached the back entrance of the popular club.
The building was hardly lit, so it must have been hours after closing time. She sat at the curb, catching her breath, when she heard the back door open. The sound was followed by the voice of the last person she wanted to see right now.
“What are you doing here, tree-hugger?” Jade snarled. The dragon was carrying the trash outside.
Amber slowly rose to her feet, winced, and tried to go inside, but Jade blocked her path. “Step aside. You have no idea about the shitty night I’ve just had. I’m not in the mood to fight with you. I need to speak to Logan.” She also needed a phone. And a new knife. It was time to do the hunting instead of being hunted. Seth might be lying under the rubble of the warehouse, but with her luck he was already on her trail.
“Like I give a crap about your night. Logan’s in his office with Miss Brazil, the boss’s wife. They have shut the door behind them, if you get what I mean. He’s got no time for you. So fuck off.”
Amber blinked. The world had gone mad. Faey and Benedict had literally turned into ash just a few hours ago, and Logan was already on top of another woman as if everything was just peachy. The slow burn that had been plaguing her for the past few hours started to simmer and heat up.
She made one last attempt to pass by Jade, but the dragon blocked her again. “Fine,” she conceded. “Give me your phone and I won’t go inside.”
“Let me guess? You’re going to call Drake and ask him to pick you up? And what do you suppose he’s going to do when he finds you here, like a pathetic little broken bird? How do you think he’s going to avenge you this time?”
Avenge. She was really starting to hate that word. It was the same reason Seth had used while he tried to bury her alive inside a wall. “Shut up, Jade.”
The dragon towered over her. “Everyone keeps silent about what Drake did for you, but we all know what happened at Turnpike. You bring out the worst in him.”
“Turnpike?” Where had she heard that name before? Faey. That day back in the gym she had thrown that word at Drake’s feet.
Jade gave her an incredulous look. “You have no idea, do you? Perhaps you should ask Drake how mental he went at Turnpike.” Because of you, her eyes implied.
“I’m getting really tired of people telling me what to do,” Amber growled.
A mean glint appeared in Jade’s eyes. “Since you won’t ask him, let me enlighten you. Drake has tortured and killed goblins in the old factory at Turnpike. I’ve heard it went on for days. They call it the Slaughter of Turnpike because there were body parts scattered everywhere and Drake literally was up to his ankles in blood.”
No… “You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not. Of course, his grandfather tried to cover it up, but there were witnesses when Drake left the factory covered in blood.”
Fragments of her vision of Drake and Logan swam for her eyes. Had she been wrong? Had Drake been the bad guy there? No, not her Drake. “I don’t believe you.”
Jade stepped into her space, her eyes fierce. “You ended up in a coma because of a goblin attack. Within a week, Drake butchered a bunch of goblins. Do the math. As I said, you bring out the worst in him.”
The dragon gave her a push, and Amber almost stumbled onto her ass. Of course, that wasn’t all Jade did. No. She held up the bag of trash she carried and emptied it over Amber’s head.
Jade snorted. “I don’t even see the difference between the normal you and the you with all the filth on your head, dripping down your chin.”
Something inside Amber snapped. A trail of fire coursed through her body, making her eyes burn and her palms itch with heat. She swung and connected her fist with Jade’s jaw.
Jade’s head snapped back. Amber wasn’t finished yet. She was no longer the old, defenseless dryad Jade could mess around with. She grabbed Jade’s shoulder and planted her knee in her stomach.
A growl was her answer. “You
will bloody pay for this,” Jade hissed.
Amber dodged her claws, and began a dance as Faey had taught her. Kick, punch, balance on your feet, then a right hook, all the while avoiding a direct hit.
When she finally kicked Jade on her ass, she stepped over her, going for the back door. Filth run down her cheek, and she wiped it away, trying not to think about the pile of trash she was basically carrying with her.
She’d barely put her hand on the doorknob when she felt a burning pain in her back.
“I’m not done with you yet!” Jade screamed.
Amber ducked away just in time. A second later and Jade’s claws would have ripped out her throat. She spun around, ending up behind Jade. She jumped on her back, taking her in a headlock.
The fire in her veins heated up by the second, raising up her body heat to a temperature that made her vision go blurry. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead and her shirt plastered against her skin, feeling soaked.
Jade dropped onto her knees. Amber slid off her back and dropped next to her, but didn’t let go of her hold. The fever consuming her body hurt her eyes and pounded in her ears, and she started shaking.
It wasn’t until the night smelled of fire and smoke that she let Jade go. She rolled away from the dragon, ending on her back, panting, and watched the star-filled sky. The heat inside her had washed away, draining her, and she waited for the moment for Jade to pounce on her. When the inevitable didn’t happen, she sat up.
Next to her lay Jade’s scorched body.
Amber threw up when Jade’s smell wafted over her, tickling her nose like the pitchfork of the devil.
TWENTY-NINE
Logan jumped from behind his desk, hauling ass outside his office, as he tucked his shirt back into his pants. He ignored Letitia’s surprised yelp following him, when he pushed her aside.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. He almost broke his golden rule by sleeping with his boss’s wife. Of course, he blamed it all on the red-headed vixen, nail to his coffin, Faey Lancaster. He was stuck with her and felt the breath of her cunning brother in his neck. All he could think of was his impending doom, hovering over him like a dark cloud. By accepting Letitia’s offer, he had hoped for a moment of peace, a few hours of turning off his brain, which was going a million miles an hour. Sadly, all he could think about were Faey’s green eyes, filled with pain and betrayal right before the light was snuffed out of them.