Fragmentary

by LeAnn Mason

  “So sorry Nat, I’ve just learned that the woman I’ve been seeing is actually not who I thought. I’m going to have some thoughts.”

  “Can they not be visuals?”

  “Hey! He’s mine,” Ember growled at me, slapping the table for effect.

  “Not sure you’ll keep him if you don’t come clean, Ember. When did you first come on the scene? When did you ‘rise from the smoldering remains,’ as you put it? Why?”

  “I’d had enough of Mother’s… love.” Her mind veered back to being struck, being told she was worthless and that her beauty was only going to make everyone use her, that others would take what they wanted from her.

  This was my ticket. I fished around in my pocket, pushing past my new coin, to pull the com and set it on the table behind my glass so hopefully the glow wouldn't be noticed by – Car… er, Ember – making sure to swipe my finger across the blue shield as I placed it. I didn't know if the commander would pick up the line or if he'd be able to record it, but I had to proceed as though that's exactly what was happening. Easy peasy.

  “Why does that not sound like a good thing? Did your mother not love you?” I threw a commiserating look her way; a show of solidarity. Maybe she'd let her guard down if I played the role of sympathizer. “My mother isn't my biggest fan either, so I can totally understand where you're coming from.” I picked up Holden's glass in silent cheers before taking a sip and returning it in front of him. I couldn't move mine, or she'd see the blue light. If she were intuitive, she might actually catch on to my game.

  Just keep moving forward, Nat. I'm with you. I see it now.

  I snorted. Luckily, I could pull off such a response as though it was in reference to my mother, not Holden's remark. “So, what did you do?”

  A smile, like that of a cat that’d got the canary would’ve donned, spread across Ember’s glorious features, the appearance of dancing flames once again lighting her eyes.

  I don’t like that look. That’s the look of someone who revels in pain.

  I couldn’t agree more. Ember definitely had no qualms about making her presence known now, and she’d not hide or back down. The perfect storm was brewing in those whiskey eyes. When would it come to a head and break the ships caught in her turbulent grasp? Could more casualties be avoided? While we could all see the manic light Ember exuded, we needed more. I needed more confirmation of wrongdoing than crazy eyes.

  Crazy eyes weren’t enough to take away someone’s freedom.

  “What did you do?” Dev asked, getting more urgent. He was kicking himself for not seeing her infirmity before now. He also very much hated that I’d been right. Under different circumstances, I’d totally be gloating, but right now? We needed a confession, something we could actually use to keep her from hurting anyone else.

  Those wild eyes locked on Devlin’s blues while she wondered why no one figured what she meant. “I killed her,” she moved her attention from Devlin to Holden and on to me before settling again on Dev. “At first I didn’t mean to—” She shrugged an elegant shoulder. “But I guess the years of pent up anger needed more. When I grabbed her wrist as she moved to hit me, again, I squeezed so she could feel pain for once. So she could know a bit of what she’d delivered to so many for so long. What she’d done to Cara.”

  “What did she do to Cara?” I asked. I wanted as much information as we could gather.

  “Created me.”

  Devlin was having a hard time holding back his temper now. He felt totally duped, and as he prided himself on being the best enforcer around, he was decidedly feeling like a failure. “What do you mean created you?” he asked, a hint of mocking bite entering his tone, “There’s Cara and there’s you. Different people.”

  “Yes. Different people entirely yet also the same person entirely.”

  “How the hell does that happen? What riddles are you spitting?” Devlin was very close to blowing, and if he did, this whole thing would take a turn. She was being pretty civil but only because of Dev. She considered him hers.

  “Cara and I are the same body though her mind is useless. I’ve been making more time for myself lately.”

  “What does that even mean?” Devlin seethed, his tension mounting. “You’re admitting violence like you were talking about the weather!” Though he'd practically yelled, it sounded like not more than a forceful statement amidst the cacophony we were surrounded by.

  The seductress was back, making bedroom, goo-goo eyes at Devlin. “I know you'll protect me. That's what you do, who you are. You protect those you care for. Me.”

  Devlin’s eyes went round as saucers, “What? You think I'm going to protect you from a murder charge? From two?” He was so shocked there was no hiding his disbelief.

  Uh oh. We'd lose the calm Ember if Dev shot her down now.

  “You know... I probably would have for Cara, but I won't for you,” Devlin said coldly. His eyes were hard as shards of ice as they looked into amber ones becoming alight with fire, with embers, yet again.

  I cursed under my breath and reached across the table, wrapping imploring fingers around Devlin's meaty forearm before he could pull back. Bad move. I opened my mouth to deliver the reprimand just as another hand, a feminine one, with long, slender fingers flew to my wrist.

  Oh shit, Holden breathed a moment before he sprang into action, moving to corral Ember, but that one second of stunned frozenness was enough.

  CHAPTER 27

  PAIN ASSAILED ME IN waves as Ember retracted her arm, mine still in her iron grip. “Mine,” she growled rabidly then twisted my arm much like one would a cap from its bottle.

  My vision flashed white with blinding pain, and I choked on a gasp. Holy crap, I'd never felt pain like that before. My broken foot seemed like a stubbed toe in comparison, and she still had a hold of me. Her grip tightened, sending a fresh wave of agony up my arm and a scream erupting from my lips as chaos erupted amongst our group. The guys tried to talk her down which was almost pointless because we couldn’t hear anything over the DJ’s concoctions, making the tension ratchet up all on its own.

  I tried to breathe through the pain, to stay coherent enough to think, but I was getting lightheaded, a pulsing ache moving its way into my skull with every pump of my heart. The guys were quickly losing their cool, especially Holden, as I flopped around like a fish on a hook. My wrist now useless, I was swept across the table, forcing our drinks to the floor. Not that anyone else noticed. Holden’s eyes flipped to molten mercury the moment she’d touched me, but he knew he couldn't do much physically with my arm still in her grasp.

  “You need to let her go Cara,” Devlin soothed, hands up in a non-threatening manner as he tried to reason with his dual-personality girlfriend. Are they still boyfriend and girlfriend, or is that officially done with now? I apparently had some snark in my mind to help me deflect as tears streamed down my face.

  The com! I quickly snapped it up with my free hand and yelled into it, “Send backup. I'm compromised!”

  “Nat! What happened, are you okay? Dane, Jade and Steve are on the way,” Trent gushed hurriedly.

  Thank God, they’d been on the line. The ruse had worked.

  Devlin used the distraction to tackle Ember, the surprise of the move causing her to release my arm so she could defend herself. I flew to the sticky floor and scooted away as much as possible, Holden following, as fists began to fly. To be fair, Dev was only trying to subdue her. He held a pair of handcuffs aloft. From where I had no clue, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he couldn't pin her down and that she was only getting more lost to her rage.

  This had to be the craziest fight Devlin had been in, right? Sitting in a booth at a club, music blaring and lights pulsing, making the whole scene look like a choreographed piece from some action movie. Hard to believe just a few nights ago, we’d been watching an action flick and laughing about the absurdity of it all. Now we were in our own fight scene, only the stakes, and the pain, were all too real though Holden did hi
s best to soothe me.

  With a feral roar, Ember launched the table away from her and into Holden, who’d placed himself between me and the fight. The vacant spot from the table was enough for her to finally escape the booth where she’d been corralled. She threw out a fist, slamming Devlin in the nose. Red flowed down his face in a torrent of color, distracting him long enough for Ember to get another hit in, this one to his temple.

  I watched in horror as the light blinked from Devlin’s eyes, and he fell like a stack of bricks. The force had knocked him completely unconscious… but she’d held back her full force, still not wanting to inflict true damage to the man she’d come to care about. She wasted no time, just scooped his limp body and threw it over her shoulder like it was nothing.

  I’d sympathize, but the bitch had broken my arm simply for touching him. I get that she’d probably killed in self-defense, but having been in Ember’s presence, I knew that she reveled in the power, the pain and fear she could inflict. She was the exact opposite of her meek and submissive counterpart, Cara. Two sides of the same coin, both extremes with no middle ground.

  I scrambled to my feet as Holden lurched toward her, an object extended in his right hand. Blue arced from the tip. The prod. Well, these guys just had all kinds of things hidden away tonight, didn’t they? All I had was my coin. I needed to up my game. My arm rendered me physically useless, so I needed to figure out another way to help.

  The hit Holden delivered from the prod did nothing to deter Ember. With a swipe of the arm not holding Devlin secure to her body, she sent Holden flying backward, directly into me, sending us both sprawling to the floor though Holden recovered quickly. Me? Not so much.

  “Go after her! We can’t let her take Devlin. I’ll wait for the team. Dane can follow you guys. I won’t be much use right now anyway,” I rushed, trying to hide the extent of my pain.

  Holden’s disguise had dropped the moment Ember had twisted my wrist and those turbulent silver eyes looked at me with such conflict. I can’t leave you.

  “Yes, you can, and you will. Devlin needs you right now. I’m fine. Will be fine. Besides, if I don’t chase after her, then she won’t hurt me, right?”

  With a decisive nod and quick kiss to my lips, Holden spun and charged through the club through the mass of club goers who’d been launched out of the way like leaves in the hot summer wind as Ember had bulldozed toward the rear exit. I hated watching him go, but I would be of no use at the moment. I could, however, direct our tracker and telekinetic in the right direction.

  The moment I cleared the front exit, I saw a big steel van charging toward me, red and blue lights flashing from various places on its hide. As soon as the squad van screeched to a halt, Dane jumped from the driver’s seat and beelined it right for me.

  “What’s wrong? I can scent your adrenaline, and your pupils are dilated.” Dane questioned as he towered over me, pulling my injured arm toward him in a ginger grip.

  “The pain’s already fading,” I gritted. I wasn't totally lying; the pain was now more of a throbbing than the fire that had lit my veins a few minutes ago. “There's nothing we can do right now. yYou should track Dev, see if they need backup. I'll wait for an ambulance maybe. You think it’s too late to call my father? Maybe he's working the ER tonight. That would be convenient,” I babbled.

  “Oh my god, Nat, are you okay?” Jade worried as she pushed past Dane and took her place at my side. “I can feel your pain and worry,” she buzzed, inspecting me much as Holden had minutes before.

  “I’ll be all right. My arm’s broke,” I lifted the offending appendage at her, having to support it with my good hand. “Do we have a way to talk to the guys?” I still couldn’t break my focus from the surrounding area. I scanned the night, the darkened shop faces and the sidewalks lit intermittently with yellow halos of light the streetlamps exuded.

  I was jolted back to myself, to the fact that the rest of the team was here, when my eyes roved over bodies instead of empty streets. “Do we have a com link set up with either Dev or Holden?” No one readily answered me, making me think the answer was no. The longer they were gone, the faster my fingers drummed uneasily against my crippled arm. A sting in my lip clued me into the fact that I was chewing on it worriedly. The more time that went by, the worse I would get. Please be all right.

  “Nat, we need to get you out of here. You need to get your arm looked at, now. We need to know how bad the damage is.”

  I just blinked at Jade. “Leave? I can’t leave them,” I answered slowly. How could they think I’d just leave Holden and Devlin while they chased after some crazy-ass split personality chick? I straightened. “I’m not leaving. They may need even more help. Ember is a force.”

  “Ember? Who’s Ember? Weren’t you guys surveilling Dev’s girl? What’s her name… Cara? Did you find out it was someone else?” Dane questioned, his face scrunched in uncertainty, his mind turning in circles.

  “Dane, can you scent them? Can you and Steve be their backup?” I ignored his question about Ember. We’d have to go into that later, after the guys were back safely. At this point, I didn’t care whether they had Ember in tow or not. We’d find her tomorrow. It wasn’t like she could go anywhere. We were all locked in here together, and we had a Tracker. “I’m fine. Go make sure they are,” I pleaded.

  Without another word, Dane turned away, lifting his nose to – I assume – scent the air. “Steve, you’re with me. We may need to immobilize her.”

  “Bet you hate that,” Steve huffed as he threw me a sideways glance on his way to catch up to Dane as he moved down the street and into the remarkably quiet night.

  The businesses in this area were all daytime operators, so other than the club, the fronts were all dark with slumber. There were a few straggling clubbers heading to or from their partying. The ones on the way in were put together, moving quickly and with sure steps. On the way out? Hair in disarray, clothes askew, makeup running down their faces, and their steps slow and sloppy. Both types seemed to be comparable in noise level: obnoxious.

  Luckily there were only a couple of groups that wandered by as what was left of our group stood, clumped but watchful. Ready to do what was needed… without a weapon and with a busted arm. Crap. We’re screwed if things go sideways. “Jade, do you have any weapons?” I asked as I kept vigil, still scanning the street. Listening with my mind. Coming up blank.

  A quick glance in my bestie’s direction showed me her quick nod. “I’ve got a prod,” she said nervously. “Nat, I’m not sure I’m cut out for this. I may not like people, but I seem to be hard pressed to hurt them too,” She shook her head dejectedly, her thoughts in turmoil. “How about you? You’ve injured yourself, seriously, twice… in a week.”

  I waved her worry off. “I’ll be fine. My dad will get me fixed right up, and the rest will take care of itself.”

  “Yeah, after months in a cast… and on your dominant hand.”

  “Nah, it’ll probably be more like a week. Two tops,” I said distractedly.

  Swiftly I was facing my tiny and now, very shocked, best friend. “What?” I asked, confused at her force.

  “What do you mean only a couple of weeks?” she shrieked at me. “There’s no way. That is at least a compound fracture,” she pointed to my cradled arm. “It’s completely busted, look at that bruising. There's definitely a bit of bleeding under the skin. Are we sure it didn't puncture your skin?”

  I grabbed my hysterical best friend with my good hand and ducked to look into her eyes. “Breathe, Jade. Just breathe.” I made sure to demonstrate what I wanted her to do, probably looking like a Lamaze coach more than a battered enforcer, but eventually she calmed slightly. “I have healing abilities, Jade. I'll be fine. Okay?”

  This was taking too long, and I was getting antsy with the lack of communication we had going on between the team members. Next time, we’d be fitted with coms. I'd make sure of it. This was ridiculous. And nerve-wracking. I could feel my heartbeat raising again, the
rhythm pulsing with my growing worry.

  “You cannot seriously say that to me right now and then expect me to just drop it!” Jade screeched, her mind running a mile a minute with questions and… hurt. There was a definite undercurrent of hurt in her rampant thoughts.

  “Jade, I love you. Dearly. But my dad drilled it into my head from the get go that no one could know. I’ve been trying to tell you for a while now but there’s been a lot going on. I will definitely talk to you about it further, but right now, we need to be on the lookout for our team and the messed up woman who confessed to killing her mother and then broke my arm for touching her man.”

  Jade took the reprimand in stride, pulling in her hurt and straightening her spine. She pulled out the condensed prod and flicked, allowing it to elongate to its full length. “I'm ready,” she gritted, but her mind gave away all of her fears.

  I cringed thinking about how I was the reason she was now disillusioned. Why she had witnessed hurt and death. Jade was strong, but her empathy put her on a different wavelength, one that made her feel so much more.

  I opened my mouth to apologize for everything when I picked up mental signatures on my radar. The cavalry was back, thank God. A moment later Holden and Steve swept past the corner. A bruised and bloodied Devlin a few paces behind with what looked like an unconscious Ember over his shoulder. Dane matched his strides a few feet over.

  “What happened? Dev, are you alright? You guys were gone a while. I was losing my shit,” I breathed, trying to keep the worry from my voice. I was pretty sure I hadn't succeeded.

  Steve, Holden and Dane all stopped by Jade and me while Devlin continued to the van. He tossed Cara, or Ember, whoever, onto the second row seats and proceeded to handcuff her feet to an anchor I'd never noticed at its base, her hands already handcuffed behind her back.