The Brightest Night

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  His gaze searched mine, and then I sent him the message again. I do.

  “Okay.” Luc turned, and the door creaked open.

  Lanterns lined the walls of the basement, casting enough light that we didn’t need to use Luc’s hand like a flashlight. We walked past packed goods, boxed and labeled. I wasn’t paying attention to any of it as the door at the end of the room opened into a space lit the same. I wasn’t thinking of anything, because there was a cell. There were several of them, and all of them glimmered in the low light like they’d been doused with glitter.

  “Onyx,” Luc explained. “The bars are coated with onyx and diamonds to prevent Luxen from escaping.”

  “How did they make them?”

  “I believe the bars already existed. They were moved here by humans,” he said, and I couldn’t help but think of who those bars had held at one time. But I needed to be focused on who the bars held now.

  Blake was in the center cell, alone. He was sitting on a bed, one leg curled up, the other stretched out and resting on the floor. I looked around, seeing that the other cells were empty.

  Chris is being held in the other room, Luc’s voice filtered through my thoughts. They didn’t want them together.

  That made sense.

  Blake lifted his head as we approached. A half-eaten sandwich sat on a plate beside the bed, next to a bottle of water. He didn’t smile or show any emotion. “I’ve been waiting for you two.”

  37

  “Sorry to keep you waiting.” Luc stopped about a foot from the bars. He didn’t sound sorry at all.

  Blake sensed that, because he smirked. “I see you haven’t changed at all.”

  “I think if you have five seconds outside the cell, you’ll find that even more people haven’t changed,” Luc replied.

  The smirk faded. “I guess Daemon knows I’m here.”

  “He does.”

  He focused on the ceiling. That, too, shimmered with chips of onyx. “And Kat?”

  “If I were you, I wouldn’t even think her name, let alone say it.”

  “Yeah.” He exhaled heavily. “They want me dead.”

  “Of course they do,” Luc answered.

  “But that’s not why you’re here.” He lowered his gaze.

  “Nope,” Luc said as I stepped forward. “The story is that you’re alive because Chris healed you.”

  “I did die. More than once. Kat kicked my ass, and I’ve got the scars to prove it.” He gestured to his face. “They don’t stop there. My whole body is covered in them.”

  “Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? If so, spoiler alert, I don’t.”

  “I don’t expect you to feel sorry,” he answered. “Chris healed me. Brought me back, and then I was moved to another location, and if you want to know why they let her think I was dead, I have no idea.”

  “How did Chris heal you if you died?” I asked. “Wouldn’t that have meant he would’ve died?”

  Blake’s gaze slid to me. “Good catch, but Luxen don’t always die immediately when the hybrid they mutated dies. Some linger for a couple of minutes. Luckily—or unluckily—Chris lingered, but it’s not like he didn’t have help. The Daedalus kept restarting my heart and pumping more blood into me.”

  I glanced at Luc.

  “He’s telling the truth,” Luc said.

  “Why would they keep you alive?” I asked. “From what I can remember about the Daedalus, they don’t tolerate failure, and if Kat beat you, you failed.”

  “They thought I was still useful,” he said.

  “And were you?” Luc asked.

  “It took weeks for me to fully heal, and I spent most of the war being held, along with Chris, at Raven Rock.”

  “Raven Rock?” I frowned.

  “A military base in Pennsylvania outfitted with all the things necessary to survive a nuclear war,” Luc explained. “I razed that base to the ground.” He said it as if he were talking about mowing the grass.

  “That’s what I heard, but we were moved out by then.”

  Luc’s shoulders suddenly tensed. “You were moved to Fort Detrick.”

  My lips parted on a shaky inhale, and I knew. I didn’t even have to ask, but I did. “That’s where you saw me.”

  “I saw you before,” Blake reminded me. “At the club. You were dancing.”

  “I should’ve killed you then,” Luc snarled, and the vicious truthfulness in his words sent a shiver down my spine.

  “You should’ve, but you needed me.” Blake folded his arms over his chest. “I saw you again at the fort.”

  My heart started thumping. “I was trained at Fort Detrick? The whole time?”

  Blake nodded. “In the part that’s far underground, beyond their level-four biohazard. You didn’t know about that place, did you, Luc?”

  Luc didn’t have to answer. He hadn’t known that I had been there.

  “What can you tell me about what I did there?” I asked.

  “You did what they wanted you to do.” He shifted, straightening out his bent leg. “Eventually.”

  “Cut the dramatics out, Blake. You know I have very little patience,” warned Luc. “That also hasn’t changed over the years.”

  His jaw worked. “You weren’t down with the program when I first saw you.”

  “I fought back?” I asked.

  “You did.”

  Hearing that made me want to smile. I knew that sounded insane, but the satisfaction learning I hadn’t just gone along with what the Daedalus wanted was enormous.

  “That didn’t last forever,” Blake added.

  Oh. A little of the satisfaction deflated.

  “Are you sure you want to know?” he asked.

  Luc looked to me, and I could read what he’d prefer in his eyes. If he had his way, I wouldn’t be down here. I wouldn’t hear any of this. But I could handle whatever Blake told me.

  “I want to know.”

  Blake shook his head as he let out a heavy sigh. “You pushed back as much as you could, refusing to learn how to fight, and when they forced you, you would refuse to use what they taught you against others.” His eyes closed. “But they always found a way to get what they wanted. I didn’t see you all the time, but when I did see you, you looked like you’d lost a fight with a heavyweight boxer.”

  Luc stretched his neck to the left side and then slowly to the right.

  “They beat me until I caved?” I asked, oddly unaffected by the knowledge. Maybe it was because I wasn’t all that surprised.

  “Food and sleep deprivation. I know they used that, because they used that whenever they weren’t getting their way. I also know they did that because the one time I saw you, you looked like you hadn’t slept in about a week. That was in the beginning. I imagine they used other methods.” He sounded weary and weighed down. “They could get creative.”

  I swallowed, not even daring a look in Luc’s direction. “And then what?”

  Blake looked at Luc before he said, “They broke you.”

  A charge of energy caused the air to thicken. The gas lamps flickered, and Blake unfolded his arms.

  “Luc.” I reached over, placing my hand on his lower back. It’s okay. I’m still here. They didn’t break me.

  It’s not okay. It will never be okay. Another ripple of energy rolled through, and then his chest rose with a deep breath.

  Once I was sure Luc wasn’t going to lose his mind, I asked, “So, I became a mindless minion?”

  A grimace appeared. “I don’t think you ever completely became a minion. You were different from the others.”

  Breath catching, I lowered my hand. “What do you mean?”

  He scooted to the edge of the bed. “I wasn’t around you all the time. It was sporadic, but you had a sense of awareness that the others never had. You tracked things differently, as if you were really seeing them. You thought before you acted, even when you did what they wanted.”

  “They? Do you mean Jason Dasher?”

  “Jason and the
others that worked with you all. He had me in the pen once with one of you.” Blake sent Luc a quick glance. “I never fought her. I swear.”

  Luc gave him a chin lift I guessed signaled that he believed him.

  “What do you mean by pen?”

  “It was a room where they’d pit you guys against one another—”

  “White walls with a drain in the center?”

  He nodded. “Made cleanup easier for them to just hose the room down afterward.”

  Nausea rose as the image of blood circling the drain formed. I pushed past it. “I killed others like me?” When he didn’t speak, I stepped forward. “I want to know.”

  “If I could forget one-tenth of what I’ve done, I’d gladly give it up. Why would you want to know?”

  “I’m not you.”

  “No, I guess not.” His chin rose a notch. “Yes. You killed others like you. You killed others not like you.”

  Shock splashed through me. “Others not like me?”

  “Luxen. Hybrid. An Origin or two,” he said, and the bile was in my throat. “Humans—”

  “Okay,” Luc cut in. “They made sure she could use her abilities to fight and to kill. Got it.”

  I pressed my hand to my stomach.

  “I saw you afterward once. You were with him. You didn’t look proud of yourself. Not like the others when they pleased their maker.”

  That was a relief. I guessed.

  “You were with Dasher a lot,” Blake said. “He treated you differently from the others. Brought you food in from the outside. Let you watch television. Had you sit with him while he worked.”

  That reminded me of Luc’s relationship with Nancy. I think Luc was thinking the same, because his jaw was so hard it was no small wonder that he hadn’t broken a molar.

  “I’d seen them do that with hybrids or Origins throughout my time with them. Used to piss the others off.” Blake lifted his brows. “Didn’t seem to even faze the Trojans, though. Like jealousy was completely programmed out of them, which is strange as hell since they were competitive.”

  “Did you and I talk?” I asked, and when he nodded, I wanted to know what I would’ve said, how I would’ve acted.

  “It was brief. Dasher was talking to my new handler, and he had you in his office. They weren’t really paying attention to us. You looked at me and told me that you remembered me.”

  “And what did you say?” Luc asked.

  “I asked about you.” Blake looked at him. “I couldn’t figure out how they got her. I didn’t know she’d been sick. I heard that through the grapevine later. I knew they didn’t have you. None of them would’ve been talking about anything else for days if that were the case.”

  Some of the old Luc snuck through then, because he smirked, and God, I had never been so relieved to see that.

  “You told me that Luc was free,” Blake said, and a fine shudder rolled through Luc. “And then you told me…” A grin cracked his lips, and he laughed lightly. “That I was on your list.”

  “My list?”

  “Of people you planned to kill.”

  Luc chuckled, but all I could do was stare. “And how did you respond to that?”

  The small smile faded. “I think I said you’d have to get in line.”

  “It is a pretty long line,” I muttered, and I thought I felt a wave of amusement shimmer through my thoughts. “Did Dasher know I was different?”

  “I don’t see how he couldn’t have. It was obvious to me.”

  “And that didn’t upset him?”

  “Didn’t seem like it did.” Blake rose slowly. “I kept thinking, even after you seemed to have disappeared from the fort, why in the hell did they have you? Why would they save you and then train you? It had to have something to do with you.” He focused on Luc. “But that didn’t make sense, either. You may have been big shit to them, but man, if you’ve seen the Trojans in action—and I mean in real action—you’d know they’d have no need for you. So why?”

  “They just can’t quit me,” Luc replied, sounding bored.

  Another faint smile appeared on Blake’s face, but it was brittle, as if he hadn’t smiled a lot.

  “That’s a good question,” I said. “And I’m guessing you don’t know.”

  He stopped in front of the bars. “All I know is that it can’t be something good.” His eyes met mine. “And that they have to have some sort of plan that involves both of you.”

  Eaton had suggested as much, but it still opened up a festering wound of unease.

  “Do you know if Dasher was mutated?” asked Luc.

  The question seemed to surprise Blake. “No. Why?”

  “Sylvia shot him in the chest. Saw it with my own eyes. She would’ve had to heal him,” Luc answered.

  “I don’t think he was. At least not in a way I could tell,” he answered.

  “Sylvia? Did you ever see her? See her with me?”

  “A few times. When you were with Dasher in his office. She would come down.”

  I folded my arms under my chest, fighting not to feel anything in regard to that. “When was the last time you saw me?”

  “I don’t know exactly when, but I never saw you again after we spoke,” he said. “I’d only learned bits and pieces about the Poseidon Project, but I figured you’d become whatever they wanted you to be. I guess that turned out to be Jason Dasher’s daughter. They didn’t tell me anything about you. They never asked if I knew who you were, and even after you left, I knew better than to ask questions.”

  “Are they still using the facilities under the fort?” Luc asked.

  “I was able to escape about a year later, and they were then. I imagine they still are.”

  I opened my mouth and then closed it as I squeezed my eyes shut for a heartbeat before reopening them. If that was true, then my mom had to be still working for the Daedalus when she died. How could she not have if those facilities were still active under her feet? I thought about how she’d warned me the night she’d died and I’d run. How else would she know they were coming if she still didn’t have something to do with them?

  “Good to know,” Luc murmured. “How did you escape?”

  “We were being moved to a new location. I don’t know where. They didn’t tell us, but Chris and I were being moved together. It was our only chance. I don’t think either of us thought we would succeed, but we were ready for the consequences if we failed.”

  “Death?” I said.

  “Certain death,” he confirmed. “But we were on the interstate, somewhere in Ohio, when they stopped to get gas, and then we ran. We’ve been running ever since. It was by some fluke that Chris met a Luxen who introduced him to one of the resource centers. If not, we’d still be running.”

  “And you’d be in a less precarious position,” Luc finished for him. “Anything else of interest you want to share?”

  “If I knew more, I’d tell you.”

  “Then I guess this conversation is over.”

  “Wait,” Blake called out before Luc or I could turn. “I need your help.”

  “I’m sure you need a lot of things, Blake.”

  “I need to get out of here. If I don’t, Chris is going to die, and I’m telling you, he’s been innocent in all of this. You can read my mind and see that is true.”

  “I can, but I don’t see how you think I can help.”

  “You know exactly how you can help.” Blake gripped the bars, wincing as the onyx-and-diamond mixture began to work at the alien DNA in him. “If you don’t help me escape, they’ll kill me. That will kill Chris. He doesn’t deserve it. The blood is on my hands.”

  “That blood can’t be washed off, Blake. Ever.”

  “You of all people know I realize that.” Blake still held on to the bars, the scars lining his face beginning to stand out more. “If I could somehow break this bond that ties Chris’s life to mine, I would. God, I would’ve done it years ago, but I can’t, and he doesn’t deserve to die, Luc. He doesn’t.”

/>   Heart twisting with unwanted sympathy, I looked to Luc.

  “Please,” Blake begged. “You’re not helping me. You’re helping Chris. Please. Daemon is going to kill me. You know he will.”

  “Can you blame him?” Luc asked.

  “Hell no. I don’t blame him at all. If it were just me, I’d welcome it. God, I would. You have no idea what kind of nightmares I have. You escaped, Luc. I didn’t. But if you hadn’t, I’m what you would’ve become.”

  I stiffened.

  “I would’ve never become you.”

  “You sure about that?” Blake nodded at me.

  Luc stepped forward, pressing his hands to the bars above Blake’s. The hybrid jerked his hands off.

  Blake backed away. His gaze darted to mine. “Please—”

  “Don’t.” Luc moved, blocking me from Blake’s view. “Don’t ask that of her. You do, and your life ends here, right now. You know I’ll do it.”

  There was silence and then, “You would.”

  Luc said nothing.

  “I’ll do anything. Anything,” Blake whispered. “Think of all the favors I could owe you—”

  “I can’t help you,” Luc said.

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “Won’t,” Luc answered, and I felt like crying.

  I didn’t want Luc to help Blake. I didn’t want Kat and Daemon to wonder where Blake was, nor did I want the community to live in fear that Blake would betray them—because I knew in my heart, he would if he were ever captured—but this was sad. It was a fucking tragedy, and I hated the Daedalus even more for what they had turned this man into—for putting all the nails in his coffin years ago. If Blake were killed and Chris did die, it may be by Daemon’s hand, but it was the Daedalus that caused it.

  I wanted to close my eyes, but I didn’t. Blake came back into view, only because he was backing up. He sat down on the bed and tipped his head back against the exposed brick. His eyes closed, and he returned to waiting for what was surely coming his way.

  Death.

  And then, without saying a word, Luc took my hand and we walked out.

  * * *

  Luc let go of my hand the moment we reached the main level. That stung, because it felt odd and wrong, as did the fact neither of us had said a word.