by Kim Faulks
My sister…my sister…my twin sister…
Go alone…Lucifer’s warning filled my mind.
My feet moved on their own, following her as she walked around the desk and out of the room. But my mind had fallen far behind.
I caught movement in the hallway, women dressed like Sister Elouise nodded to her in respect as they went about their day. One by one they glanced at me and stilled, hands mid-flutter, heads stopped cold, mid-nod. Their eyes widened, breath caught. Still, I was too stunned to care.
My pulse sped as Ace stepped up behind me, following one step behind.
“Remi was the most extraordinary young woman. She didn’t waste a second, always in a hurry, that one,” Elouise cut me a glance. “I dare say it’s exactly the same for you?”
I tried to keep up with what the woman was saying, and yet I couldn’t. I could only smile and nod, while my world was shattered in an instant, and pieced back together—in the most unusual way.
I glanced to Ace, who just nodded and kept pace. Sister…a sister that lived here. “How long…how long has she lived here?”
Elouise just glanced at Ace. “Did you want to answer that, Sebastian?”
He flinched at the sound of his name. “All her life, same as me.”
The Sister led us through a passage way that connected one building to the other. If I turned my head, I could see the blue sky, and soft white clouds. My men were out there…waiting.
“I was a baby when they brought me here, and Remi became a big sister to me. She cared for me, helped me as I got older.”
“Helped you get into trouble, more like it,” Sister Elouise muttered. “Although you didn’t need a lot of help on that account, did you?”
The sheepish grin said it all as the Sister stepped into a hallway and headed toward the end. “This wing was mainly kept for the children. It’s the most guarded part of the convent…and the sturdiest, should anything untoward happen.”
Untoward? I glanced at the polished wooden floorboards, and then the cream-colored painted concrete walls. On the outside, the place was pristine, but there was a hum—a quiet throb of something much more powerful within the walls of this place.
Power danced along my skin, and found a home within my bones. “There’s magic here, real, dark, powerful magic.”
Sister Eloise lifted her hand at the last door on the hallway to the right and then met my gaze. “Of course there is, did you think we’d leave the children unguarded?”
With a turn of her wrist and a shove, she pushed open the door to a small bedroom. “This was your sister’s room.”
My sister…there were those words again, and with them, the feeling of abandonment I’d carried my entire life. I stepped across the threshold and into a small, plain bedroom. The neatly made single bed was hard up against the wall, leaving a small wooden desk and a hard-backed chair on the other side in the corner.
There were no pictures here, no photographs, no drawings, or vases or life. It was a carcass, hollowed out, consumed by scavengers. I took a step and my boots hit something soft. A circular rug in an array of different colors was the only warmth in the room.
The walls were perfect, not even a mark. I scanned the room, catching a gouge in the surface near the door…almost head height…and then another. The blemish on an otherwise pristine room caught my attention. I stepped closer, lifting my hand to skim the mark.
They were scratches.
But not gouged, more like someone had clawed the walls. They were painted over, freshly rolled and dry. Panic filled me, the kind that makes you feel so fucking small. “Where is she now…where is my sister?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lorn
I was met with silence, before the sister answered. “That’s hard to say. We haven’t heard from her in quite some time.”
I turned my head, glancing at Elouise as she found my gaze for a second and then turned. There was a hardness in her tone now, one that hadn’t been there before. “Living here isn’t a sentence, and in any case, Remi had…troubles. She was plagued with nightmares, so we didn’t push the issue when one night she just disappeared.”
I stared at her back as she stepped into the doorway. Ace jerked his head toward me, catching my focus before, with one small slide of the foot, he shifted the rug on the floor.
There were more scratches, gouges in a line, as though someone had been dragged. Black burn marks in the wood were in an arc around the claw marks. Something had happened here. Something they’d tried their best to cover, repainting the walls, hiding the floor under coverings.
But I could see it…and I could feel it. Terror leaked from these walls to fill my senses. The hairs on my arms stood on end as I fought to stay in here, the one place where my sister, Remi, had lived.
“I’ll leave you two now,” the Sister murmured. “Sebastian, you know where to find me if you require anything else.”
One parting glance my way, and she forced a smile. “I really did love your sister with all my heart.”
Then she was gone, slipping out of the doorway and leaving behind soft footsteps and a fuckload of questions. I waited until the echo of her steps faded before I turned. “Is she dead?”
Ace winced, lips smashed flat, his jaw bulging. “No…I don’t think so. But I don’t exactly know.”
“You don’t know?” I glared at him and then pointed to the drag marks on the floor. “That isn’t ‘I’m not sure,’ those are the gouges left behind when someone is taken against their will. Who the fuck took her? Who took my damned sister?”
“I wasn’t here,” the choked words were thick and throaty. “I was away, trying to find my birth mother, when I felt something was wrong. I came as fast as I could…” he took a step toward me, blue eyes pleading as he grasped my shoulders. “I came as fast as I could. But I wasn’t fast enough.”
The room seemed to spin out of control.
I turned and stumbled toward the bed as my knees gave way. This was her room, her bed, her floor, her walls.
The bedsprings groaned as they took my weight. I placed my hand beside me on the thin comforter. I had a sister. A sister who’d been taken. Who fought like a fucking wildcat in the process.
My sister…my goddamn sister.
A tiny corner of white peeked out between the mattress and the wall. I reached over, snagged the end, and dragged the paper free. It was a drawing, a child’s drawing of an upside-down triangle, long lines spiraling from one end to the other. Some kind of giraffe’s head hung over the side.
“What’s the earliest memory you can ever remember?”
Ace’s question took me by surprise. I lifted my eyes, skimming the medallion around his neck to meet his gaze. “I don’t know.”
“That,” he nodded to the child’s drawing, “was hers.”
I dropped my gaze once more at the scrawled lines drawn in a five-year-old’s hand. It didn’t look like anything…but the longer I stared, the more it made sense.
My heart hammered, glancing at the long sides, that looked almost like a…pit. The animal-type head stuck out over the side of the pit, but it could just as easily be on top…like it was towering above.
Almost like a dragon’s head.
Almost like The Keep.
It was the Dragon’s Breath. This drawing…this drawing was of Hell. Mrs. Barnaby’s words filled my ears. It’s so nice to see you again, Lorn.
I stared at the drawing and tried to remember. Pain flared across my temple, the ache at the back of my neck turned into a knot. No matter how hard I tried, there was no memory of Hell when I was a child.
And yet the housekeeper of Hell was sure it was me.
It wasn’t…it was Remi.
The drawing trembled in my grasp. “He knew, all this time my father knew and yet he kept her from me.”
“To protect you…to protect both of you, as did Alma.”
I glanced at the gouges on the floor. “Looks like he did a bang-up job.”
I folded the drawing and
rose from the bed. Part of me wanted to put the image back where I found it, but a bigger part of me said, fuck that. So I slipped it into my pocket and took a step toward the doorway.
“Wait,” Ace pleaded and stepped forward.
He reached around the back of his neck, fumbled with the chain, and pulled the medallion free. “I’ve spelled it, been spelling the damn thing for years with every enchantment I could find. It’s supposed to somehow help me find her.”
“That’s why you moved into the building, isn’t it? You thought somehow she’d find me.”
“Or you’d find her. I’d hoped anyway,” he admitted, handing me the medallion. “Maybe you’ll have better luck.”
The metal hit the center of my palm. I stared at the medallion, not really wanting it against my skin. It didn’t work, anyway. If someone as powerful as Ace couldn’t find the right energy, then I sure as hell couldn’t.
I stared at the bedroom of a stranger, and then grabbed the chain. My heart was in the driver’s seat as I grasped the small clasp and hooked it in place.
The medallion sat heavily against my chest, the metal warm against my skin.
“It looks good on you,” he commented, and then stepped away. “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you what you wanted. Family is…family is…”
“Tough,” I answered for him.
He lifted his gaze to mine. “I was going to say important.”
He gave me a soft smile, and then made for the door. “If you have any other questions, I’ll be around, or you can always call on Sister Elouise.”
I doubted I would. She hadn’t been very forthcoming on the important issues. I took one more glance at the freshly painted walls and stopped. “One more, actually. When was she taken?”
“About eight months ago, a month before I met you.”
Eight months. I cast my mind back to the time before I met Titus. When I was broke and hungry and filled with anger. I was still filled with anger. Still caught up in the thick of it all.
Eight months was a long time to feel helpless and desperate, and I imagined that’s exactly what Ace felt like. “Thank you,” I murmured, reaching out to grab his arm. “Thank you for caring, and for being here. Thank you for being a friend to my sister.”
He seemed to pale at the words, and there was that damaged, lonely look of despair. He just looked like a boy…all alone in the world without even a friend. “You know you can call on me, day or night,” I murmured, and made for the door. “You don’t need a reason is all I’m saying.”
The corners of his lips curled, and the shadows were chased from his gaze. “Thanks, I really appreciate that. If I find anything…anything at all about Remi, I’ll let you know.”
It was my turn to smile and nod, before I took a step and left him behind. I needed space. I needed time. Time to process, time to piece it all together.
The drawing in my pocket was all I had to go on. It was the only thing of hers I had. Without it, she felt like a figment of other people’s imagination.
Like I’d been blind my entire life and they were now describing a sunset.
A beautiful, perfect sunset. One I’d never seen.
But one I’d longed for my entire life, even if I didn’t know it.
“See you around, Ace,” I murmured to the empty hallway as I made my way out of the building and into the light.
The sun was dimming. iI we didn’t hurry, it’d be dark by the time we made it home. The thought of one more night, one more waking, in the shadows filled me with dread. I hurried, taking two and three steps at a time as I raced toward the waiting car.
They all stood there, watching me, waiting…wondering how much their lives were going to be changed…this time.
The medallion smacked against my chest as I hit the last stair and strode toward them. Rival’s gaze narrowed, stilling on the chain around my neck. He nodded as I came close. “Nice jewelry, don’t tell me they’ve converted you, made you think abstinence is the way to go.”
“Not damn likely,” I replied as I reached for him, throwing my arms around his neck.
My lips met his, then the next and the next, and the next, until all four were now satisfied I hadn’t spontaneously combusted after stepping inside.
“Okay,” Titus murmured and then inhaled hard. “Hit u with it.”
“I have a twin sister,” the words sounding false.
I dug my fingers into my pocket and dragged the folded drawing free.
Rival stood there stunned, while the others shook their heads, even Gabriel whistled.
“No way,” Rival growled and shook his head. “No way that could happen and no one know.”
I lifted the paper, the child’s sketch pointed at him. “Look at this and tell me what you see.”
He stepped closer, thick, dark brows narrowing as he peered. “Looks like a triangle and a mess.”
“Look again,” I growled. “Look harder. What do you see?”
He tried, goddamn he tried, searching the corners, searching the lines…until he stilled. His face went slack, his eyes dulled. “No…no, it can’t be.”
“It is, it was…that is the Dragon’s Breath, and that, right there,” I pointed to the ‘mess’ as he called it, “is the Keep.”
“Jesus Christ,” Redemption muttered. “You mean there’s two of you? Where is she? I want to see this Hellraiser for myself.”
He looked around the convent grounds.
“She’s not here. Someone took her.”
And in an instant, the darkness returned in Redemption’s gaze. “What do you mean, took her?”
“Someone abducted her from her room, and by the looks of the gouge marks on the wall and the floor, it looks like she put up one helluva fight.”
“If she’s anything like you, she would’ve,” Rival muttered.
“Do they know who took her?” Titus was all cop, his gaze narrowed, focused on me.
“They either don’t know, or won’t say. But they tried to cover it up. The scratches on the walls have been painted over, and they covered the gouges and burn marks with a rug on the floor.”
“How long ago was this?” Gabriel shook his head and turned to pace. For him, it was either walk or fly.
“Eight months, Ace told me. That’s why he moved into the building, to stay close to me in case she decided to find me one day.”
“Makes sense,” Titus nodded.
“Yeah, it would…except she isn’t looking, is she?” Rival snapped. “She’s been taken, probably somewhere drugged and tortured. Hell is, she hasn’t tapped into Lucifer’s power, then she could be anywhere, sold on the black market. Her blood would be considered liquid gold. You know how many Hellhound bangers would like a drop of that blood? They’d bleed her dry.”
I swallowed his words, and the images came to life.
Redemption searched my face and then jerked his gaze toward Rival. “Well-fucking-done, you moron, could you be a little more insensitive?”
Rival stilled, and then turned toward me. “Oh, shit…oh, fuck. Lorn. I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I didn’t even think.”
“It’s okay,” the words seemed to fall from my lips.
But inside my head I was reeling. “If they have her, how will we know?”
“Your father’s new bodyguard will. That sick sonofabitch knows every fucking gang this side of Hell.”
My pulse sped as an image of the brute filled my mind.
“You can bet your ass, if she’s being held captive, he’ll find her. He’ll hunt them down, and he usually leaves them in pieces.”
“What’s his name?” I lifted my gaze to Rival’s, even though he didn’t want to say.
“They call him the Bearer, because when he’s around, it’s usually bad news or death…or both.”
“Jesus,” Redemption. “I’ve heard about him. He’s taken on special cases at the Circle. The ones no one wants to deal with.”
“And no one hears about them again, am I right?” Rival lifted hi
s gaze as Redemption nodded.
I had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling.
“What’s with the chain, then?” Titus motioned toward my beck.
“Ace gave it to me, it’s been spelled, supposed to lead him to her. But it never worked.”
“That’s a shame.” Titus turned toward the Hummer. “Maybe you’ll have better luck, being her twin and all that.”
I doubted it.
Still, I had no intention of taking it off.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lorn
The drive back to the city was quiet…a little too quiet. Nervous glances my way kept me muttering. “For the tenth time, I’m fine.”
But none of them were taking my words as the final answer.
Open fields of apple trees turned to corn, and then to houses as we headed toward the city, and the longer we drove the more I thought about her—what she looked like, what were her dreams and her loves—what she hated more than anything.
Sweat broke out along my brow. I sucked in a hard breath and leaned forward, pouching the air vents toward me and turning the knob, blasting cold air against my face.
“You okay?” Redemption muttered.
“I said I was fine, didn’t I?” I snapped.
“No, I mean physically. You’re practically burning up.”
I closed my eyes and leaned forward. The medallion swung from my chest, and landed on fresh skin. “Ow,” I hissed and looked down.
The thing was glowing, humming like a thousand volts of electricity roared through the metal and into my bones.
A feeling filled me, cutting me to the core. “Pull over.”
Redemption jerked his gaze toward me. “You going to be sick?”
“No, just…pull over now.”
He jerked the wheel and the car behind us blared its horn. But that feeling…that burning feeling was consuming me. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. I gripped the door handle, riding the tilt of the car as we pulled to a stop on the shoulder of the road, then I threw open the door and jumped out
An open field lay before me, and in the distance at my right were the glinting lights of Harbor city. Still I stumbled, finding my feet as I moved down a small embankment and out onto the field.
