Rage (Scarlet Dawson Book 3)

by Nicola Chadwick

  I struggle against my captor as I shout, “What the hell is going on?”

  As soon as the words leave my lips, light starts to flood the chamber. I watch as the cavernous room is suddenly displayed when a fire ignites at the centre of the room. Once the flames of the fire reach the domed ceiling they die down and torches around the circular room flare to life.

  I begin to struggle against my captor again when I watch as my team begins to disappear before my eyes. Aylesbury, Adam, Lykos, Jared, Trenton, Jackson, and Phoenix all disintegrate slowly in front of me. It's only when Bastian begins to morph into Vex that I truly understand what’s happening.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  My arms are released as I’m hit over the head. The blow is hard and my head swims as I sink in what feels like slow motion to the ground. I don’t pass out but as my vision zooms in and out of focus, I begin to panic.

  I brace my hands on the ground and concentrate on the dust and sand floor. As I breathe in and out my thoughts race. Bastian wasn’t Vex, surely, I’d know. I was brought straight back to my last time captured by Vex when I could no longer tell what was real.

  I take another breath and steady my thoughts. I trust my instincts and I know it was Bastian that had held me last night. I know he couldn’t be dead because I’d have felt it but if I’d trusted my instincts, I’d have noticed something was wrong the second we entered that tunnel.

  Silas.

  I look up quickly, my head spinning slightly. Once my vision recentres I see her standing, watching me from the corner of her eye. Her back is stiff and straight as Vex approaches me, his eyes on something behind me.

  I try to stand so I can get a better look behind me. I plant my feet firmly and push up from the floor. I manage to stand with only a hint of the dizziness affecting me, so I turn and come face to face with Bronwyn.

  She laughs in my face. “Thank you,” she says in a mocking tone. “You actually thought I was being sincere! You killed my brother, you little bitch. I loved him, was in love with him. As if I would thank you,” she spits the words in my face as I take a step back.

  “I may have killed him, you sick fuck, but I only did it because he gave me no choice,” I say, pointing to Vex.

  “Enough,” Vex says, silencing whatever Bronwyn is about to say in retort.

  I try to ignore him, but he comes to stand directly in front of me a manic smile plastered on his face.

  “I have lots of surprises in store for you, my lovely Scarlet,” Vex says to me, his grin never fading.

  I roll my eyes at him and feign indifference when inside I’m afraid of what he’s done to my brothers, my friends, and especially Bastian. Hell, I’m even worried about Lykos and that guy’s a giant asshole.

  Bronwyn looks like she’s moving around to my back again, so I quickly call Neria to my hand. The minute I do she is dragged away from my hand, spins in the air above me, and lands in Vex’s outstretched hand.

  I can’t believe I’ve forgotten that he could do that.

  Vex holds my sword now in both hands, gripping the sharp blade in his left hand and ignoring the blood trickling down his arm as he squeezes tight. His arms bend and Neria snaps under the pressure, a wisp of light escapes from the broken metal and dissipates.

  I stare at my broken sword as Vex says, “We can’t have you calling for your enchanted sword every time your mouth opens.”

  Bronwyn grabs my arms again violently and begins to bind them with rope. When she’s finished, she pushes me forward so that I stumble. Vex begins to walk around the fire burning in the centre of the chamber, Silas follows, and Bronwyn once more pushes me forward until I begin walking in the same direction.

  I take in as much of my surroundings as I can while I walk around the circular stone pit that encircles the fire. Embedded in the walls are the bones of what can only be thousands of Fae, the domed ceiling is made up of their skulls and the walls made up of their other larger bones. As we round the fire, I see the only thing the fire blocked from view is another door, one that matches the one we had just entered through.

  Vex walks through the door with Silas following close behind, her movements are the only thing that betrays the person I had grown to like. She no longer moves with grace and purpose. Instead, she trails behind Vex as if she’s attached to him by a tether.

  I move through the heavy metal door and into another tunnel lined with bones. As the glow from the fire fades a ball of light ignites in Vex’s hand and rises to float in front of him. The bright white glow better than that of any quantum torch.

  I suddenly feel a hand brush against my arm. I turn and see that Bronwyn is at least three or four paces behind me and would have been unable to make the connection. I frown and face forward as I feel the gentle touch again.

  “Don’t react,” a familiar voice whispers at my side.

  Another hand holds my opposite arm, “I told you we would be with you until the end,” the whispered voice so faint, I barely catch the words.

  The twins were here with me, my twins, my friends. I almost breathe a sigh of relief.

  “We’re using Bronwyn’s illusion against Vex. None of them can see us.”

  The hands touching my arms release me and I continue walking in silence, while my heart beats wildly in my chest knowing that Trenton and Jackson are keeping pace by my side.

  The tunnel we are in twists and turns, heading further underground. The walls and bones become damp, then as we step further the tunnel becomes wet. At one point, I focus on the water that drips from the walls and remember what Silas once told me about damp walls. These walls were wetter than the walls where Vex had kept us almost like we were surrounded by water and it was leaking through.

  Vex glances behind him and pins me with a look that says he knows I’m thinking hard about something. I return his stare with a glare and continue to trail behind him and Silas.

  After walking for what can only be a considerable amount of time, the tunnel begins to curve upwards. The walls and bones dry off as we reach a set of stone stairs nestled under an archway. The stairs curve upwards and I watch as Vex disappears around the corner, Silas follows. With a shove in the back from Bronwyn, I ascend the stairs. The curves continue until I’ve taken that many turns on the enclosed spiral staircase that my head is spinning again.

  As I reach the top, Vex extinguishes his ball of light and two torches flare to life unveiling another door. This door is a smaller version of the other two, a mixture of ornate metal adorned with bones.

  Vex pushes it open and the dark night sky is unveiled. Instead of walking out the door he moves past Silas towards me and grasps my arm, propelling me to walk with him. He practically drags me through the doorway to the night beyond. Once my eyes adjust to the darkness, I can see a massive white domed building in front of me.

  I look to the sides and see the shimmer of water as it bobs up and down, behind the water in the distance are the jagged remains of a crumbling Luin.

  “Don’t get any ideas, Scarlet, the island we are on is surrounded by water and the Sirenians that live in there make the Formorians look like docile puppies.”

  Vex’s grasp on my arm becomes tighter as we reach the steps up to a gigantic set of doors made entirely from skulls. My eyes narrow as the skulls come into focus and I see they aren’t Fae or Human. Each skull as an elongated face and horns sweeping back from their heads. They could possibly be Formorians.

  Vex stands in front of the doors and waves his hands, the doors creak followed by the squeak of metal against brick as the doors slowly open inwards on their own. Vex pushes me forward again and I enter the dark room before him.

  The light cast from the moon only illuminates a foot in front of the door. I stumble over something on the floor hidden in the dark as Vex pushes me forward again. Once I right myself the doors clang shut behind us, sealing us in the dark.

  The darkness lasts for only a few more seconds before flames ignite in fire pits in each corner of the room. The room
is like the chamber we just left except on a far grander scale. At the back of the massive room is an ‘X’ made from gleaming metal. In the centre of the room is an altar made of stone and held up by legs made from skulls.

  Vex moves in front of me then motioning with his arm he says, “Welcome to The Temple of Necros.”

  Fuck!

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  This wasn’t what was meant to happen.

  I’d got it all wrong.

  “I’m guessing from that shocked look on your face you’re wondering what is happening?” Vex says as he walks over to me and tips my head up using a finger under my chin. “You’re not the only one that I had leverage with. My precious Silence told me all about your plans.”

  My eyes flick to Silas’s and I can see the guilt reflected there in the light of the fire. I wrench my chin away from Vex and say to Silas, “He’s lying to you, Silas; he hasn’t had your sisters for years.”

  Vex laughs and says, “She’s right, Silence, I sold them.” He motions to Bronwyn who waves her hand and two young girls run up to Silas, both exact copies of the girls I had seen in a newspaper clipping.

  Silas gasps then frowns as the girls before her morph into older versions of themselves before vanishing in an instant.

  “I’m not entirely sure I had their faces right once they matured to adults,” Bronwyn says as she manifests another version of the girls and caresses their faces, one then the other. “In fact, they might not look anything like the illusions I’ve made.”

  Vex laughs again as Silas doubles over, grasping her stomach. “How does it feel, Silence, to know that you betrayed the only friends you’ll ever have for a family you’ll never find.”

  “Silas, don’t you dare listen to him,” I shout over to her as she grabs her head and sobs loudly.

  I should have told her the truth the minute I learned it, maybe then she would have admitted her betrayal. No matter what Vex says, she’s my friend and I will always be there to help her.

  Vex stalks over to her and pulls her upright, grabbing her face in his hands so that she has no choice but to look him in the eyes.

  “Silence, no matter how many times you try to escape me, no matter what happens in the future, you will always be mine,” Vex says to her, her hands moving up to grasp his forearms as he speaks. “After all, I’m the only male you’ve allowed in your bed.”

  Her cheeks are tear-stained and her eyes glisten with unshed tears. At that moment I fear that Vex has truly broken her, then I see a flicker of something cross her face. Her eyes lock onto Vex’s, widen, then narrow as if she’s just become privy to some of his deepest darkest secrets.

  “You have no power over me.” Her voice carries the weight of the words and they echo in the domed roof.

  Vex frowns at her as she throws her head back and laughs.

  Through her laugh she says, “I’m no longer your puppet.”

  I take a step towards them, anticipating Vex’s reaction, but before I take a second step, anger flashes in his eyes and he picks her up, throwing her against the wall. Something crunches as her body crashes against the bones and drops to the floor limp and unmoving. The bones where she hit the wall fall from the wall to land around her.

  I feel a brush of arms dart past me and hope that one of the twins can help her.

  “Now, Scarlet,” Vex says, moving towards me. “Did you really think your pathetic display earlier would make me believe that you’ve turned against your friends and family? Did you think killing that wolf and raising him from the dead would spare you from my plans?

  “You’ve been so mixed up in what you believe is going to happen that you didn’t realise that nothing was real.”

  He laughs at me and grabs my upper arm, moving me across the expanse of the hall to stand in front of the altar. He places me at one end of the rectangular table and motions Bronwyn forward.

  “Are you ready to see your brothers again, Bronwyn?” Vex says as she reaches his side.

  Bronwyn nods, then places her at the far end of the altar. Reaching underneath the table he pulls out at large black cloth that seems to be covering something else. He places it gently on the table and begins to uncover something that glows brightly, so brightly that I have to squint to see it.

  Once its uncovered and my eyes have adjusted to the bright white light that burns at its core, I see shards of crystal jutting out from every angle, forming a sharp mass around a centre that swirls with bright light. How had he gotten to the star? It was meant to be shielded so that only the winner could retrieve it from where it fell.

  “Do you know how many years I have waited for the right set of circumstances that would allow this moment to happen.” Vex’s hand hovers over the star as he speaks.

  I feel something brush against my hands as the rope begins to loosen around my wrists, once it is pulled away, I keep my hands where they are hoping that Vex doesn’t know I’m no longer tied up.

  Vex stills my thoughts about when to strike when he looks at me and says, “You think I need the star to raise my army from the dead, but you're wrong.”

  His hands connect to the star and he says, “Return Tera to her original body.”

  I gasp as she materialises at his side, the light in the star dimming until it becomes nothing more than a dull lifeless crystal.

  “My precious grandson. I knew I could rely on you,” Tera says, stroking his cheek, she then turns her head to me and says, “You’re very gullible aren’t you, you even believed that pathetic vision I gave you.”

  I frown at her when I realise she played me the same way Vex has.

  I begin to feel the anger bubbling up inside me, so I raise my hand towards them. Vex just laughs as I reach out and begin to feel the threads of Tera’s power inside me.

  “Drop the illusion, Bronwyn,” Vex says, never once taking his eyes off me.

  Bronwyn smiles and the room changes, I spin around to where the ‘X’ is and see Bastian chained to it, his arms and legs spread wide. Chains wind around his body, tethering him. His eyes flash with pure fury as he struggles against the bindings. A metal mask covers the lower half of his face silencing his voice so all I can hear is muffled grunts.

  At each side of Bastian, Aylesbury and Jared are suspended from the ceiling by chains. Their hands wrenched up as their wrists take the full weight of their bodies. Their mouths are also covered by metal masks. All three are bloody and sweaty as if they fought before they were taken.

  To the right Phoenix, Adam, and Lykos are all chained to the wall. Lykos is unconscious, Phoenix stands perfectly still, but Adam thrashes around in his chains, straining to get to the opposite side of the room where Silas lays fallen.

  Near Silas lays a pile of bodies, all looking like they’ve been tossed there without a care. I flinch when I recognise the glassy eyes of Feather and Envy. One Seelie, one Unseelie both lying in a pile of their murdered brethren.

  “I wouldn’t suggest using that power just yet. If you do, you’ll kill them all,” Vex says with glee. “And don’t expect any of them to escape. The metal that binds them also binds their magic, whether it’s Lycan or Fae.”

  I lower my hand but then begin to doubt myself. Would I kill them? I know the twins had said I’d been draining the others’ lives but was that all just something Tera had programmed into me when she touched me? But could I risk killing them?

  Tera walks around the altar to Bronwyn’s side, she unfurls the fingers she holds at her side and I see the sharp metal claw that is attached to her index finger. In a blink that finger is slicing over Bronwyn’s neck. Bronwyn’s eyes widen as Tera grabs her hair and pulls her head back, widening the slice in Bronwyn’s throat until blood coats her entire chest.

  “You're no longer useful,” Tera whispers in her ear before she leans down to lap at the blood on Bronwyn’s neck. When she lifts her head, her mouth and chin are smeared with blood.

  She licks her lips and yanks hard on Bronwyn’s head. It doesn’t sever fully but
the resounding tear of flesh makes me look away until I hear Bronwyn’s body fall to the floor.

  I look back at her as Vex looks on in fascination.

  “I think it’s time you returned my soul,” Tera says to Vex while sucking the blood from the metal claw.

  “Not just yet,” Vex says which makes Tera frown.

  “There’s still the matter of those two wolves, Frick and Frack,” Vex says as he leans over the altar and grabs me by the neck. “Where are they?”

  My eyes budge but I don’t answer. His hand tightens so that I can’t breathe, the force of his hold crushing my throat. He releases me, and I drop my upper body to the altar holding my throat as I try to draw in air.

  It takes a few moments for my throat to start to heal and the pain to fade, when it does, I straighten and say, “I have no idea.”

  “I thought you’d say that,” he replies as he begins to walk over to Phoenix.

  “Wait,” I scream. “I’m telling the truth, I haven’t seen them since everyone disappeared as we entered the first chamber filled with bones. I don’t even know when your illusion started, to know when I actually did see them last.”

  “It started the minute Bronwyn stopped you to say thank you,” he replies, then advances on Phoenix again.

  That had given him enough time to subdue everyone and get them here, with only Silas and Bronwyn’s help. I knew he was powerful, but I think I’ve truly underestimated just what he can accomplish.

  I don’t see Tera slip behind me until I feel the cold metal finger when her hand grabs my neck. “I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of helping him,” she whispers in my ear.

  “Where are they?” Vex says to Phoenix. With a wave of his hand, the metal mask floats away from Phoenix’s face.

  Phoenix doesn’t say a word. Instead, he pins Vex with a look that says he’s imagining all the ways he can kill him.