by Dany Stone
“Naturally, it was my elective.” I straighten to bring the chipping gun to her ear, one finger trailing up her leg. I’m pleased to feel her flinch. “I already had a good start from dealing with you.”
Her narrowed gaze seethes across me. “I was honest about our relationship, Ki.”
“Always?” Even when your want-to-be boyfriend invited you into the Undone? The wanna-be who has already abandoned her. Already the rumors about Aiden Caravel are spreading and the look in Lux’s eyes holds more pain than I want to see. She may be tough, but under the exterior, there’s a scared little girl who protects herself with an armor of magic.
It’s too bad she won’t have that armor inside HAVOC.
Look me in the eyes, I whisper to her consciousness. Tell me you’ll be able to resist me.
Her thoughts buck away my intended intrusion, amusingly strong for someone in her situation.
She shifts her gaze away abruptly and my grab for her thoughts snaps away. as if she read my thoughts. “Just get it over with.”
I take my time trailing my finger up her leg, gentle and slow like I have nowhere else to be. She hisses under her breath. Her hands tight under the restraints.
Distracted for the moment it takes for me to place the gun against the top of her left hand. Poised to release the tracker that will permanently disable her magic and leave her helpless.
Exposed.
Vulnerable.
I pull the trigger.
Twelve
LUX
Chaos beats at the gates of HAVOC Penitentiary. The corridor heaves with an overflow of bodies, newly processed inmates everywhere we look.
Supernaturals like me.
I curl my arms around my middle.
Every intake of breath a frantic reach for normalcy.
Something to stabilize me awhile I am lost, trapped in the mass of bodies.
None of us want this experience. We are sheep being escorted by bloodthirsty shepherds, hemmed in for crimes that should not be crimes at all.
The crime of existing.
“Move it! Faster!” Batons slam into flesh, guards pushing the bodies tighter together. Arms, sides, knees slam into me and I tilt precariously. Push my manacled wrists upward, only to find my fall caught by a fellow prisoner’s body. He shoves me away with his elbows and a curse.
His curses grow louder when he turns and looks into my face.
I lower my head. Stare down at the blue light pacing around my wrists.
I was wrong. One of us does deserve this fate.
I look behind me for some sign of Ki or the reaper. Frantic enough not to care which one comes to my rescue.
I spot them at the fringe of the crowd, arguing heavily.
Before they disappear into a side doorway.
Without even a glance in my direction.
You can’t be alone
You can’t
You can’t
The line moves forward again. The faces I see are leftover shards of humanity: all of humanity’s fear, ugliness, rebellion.
Everything that it means to be outcast, supernatural.
I’ve never seen more beautiful people.
Batons slam against concrete. Guards yell louder than the thwack of metal on flesh. I find myself moving in a daze, feet heavy, without feeling. It is their yells that propel me, and not my own will.
The high walls of the HAVOC Penitentiary form a blockade against the moonlight. The only light to serve us is harsh, unnatural, allows us no contact with nature.
The only magic that had been left to us.
Aiden’s voice echoes in my head, feeding somewhere in the back of my mind. A conversation from so long ago, I had nearly forgotten it. “What would you choose if you could have one thing in the world?”
Right now?
The freedom to walk away.
To be me again.
The gates open into an underground podway, bodies pressed down the slope to the entrance at a relentless pace. The opening doors release steam that seethes against my skin.
Then we’re moving into the podways.
Fighting to balance against the constant battle of bodies and guards. I should push myself forward, demand a stop to this, make the first step to rebellion.
I should.
But instead I let them push me deep into the car, deep into the mass of bodies.
I am nothing more than the sheep.
An automated voice drones out commands above us. “You will obey all orders from your mortal officers. Resistance is futile beyond this point.”
I need to shift.
Need the escape of hiding in someone else’s form, someone else’s existence.
Instead of being trapped in my own.
The podcar sways beneath us, prepared for departure. My head strikes the glass wall behind me. Spots of black puncture my vision. Nausea clawing sticky fingers down my throat. I reach for a strap, anything to hold me up, only to feel my bonds tighten. A reminder of my own helplessness.
Aiden, did you know how this would be?
When you left me?
They push in the remaining prisoners, the batons always seeking out new victims. Then the doors hiss shut and the podway lurches into movement, burrowing into the underbelly of the penitentiary. It picks up speed without warning, lurching on the tracks, and I’m slammed back again and again. Unable to catch myself. Forever falling.
And yet suspended in air.
Never hitting ground because there are too many bodies and not enough room to fall. I choke on the taste of nausea. On my own fear.
You know what they’ll do to you.
Once you’re in your cell.
What matters now is playing it easy. Pretending to cooperate so no one is hurt.
How hard can it be? My entire life has been a pretense.
I don’t need to practice.
Without warning, the podcar trundles to a stop, slamming me up against a pole. I squeeze my eyes shut. Wake up in your own bed wake up in your own bed—
“Move, beast.” A baton slams against my rib cage, provoking a painful surge of fire inside me. I catch at the pole with tightly restricted hands. Glance defiantly back, but the guard has already moved forward, shoving the line of prisoners ahead of me into movement.
For one wild moment, the beast inside me rages out of control.
Growls to break free from the restraints and shift into full form and destroy every last fucking guard.
Dominate the cowards beside me.
Take full control.
But instead I move submissively forward.
As cowardly as the rest of them.
My head down as we’re led out of the underground transport and up into the heart of HAVOC Pen.
Out of the corner of my eye I see Ki moving in the line of guard that surround us. His gaze whips across me before shifting away.
Checking on me.
And everything in his expression betrays just how much he hates it.
I turn my head away so he won’t know I saw him.
A gate cuts off our progress at the end of the corridor, silver woven around iron bars, an effectual bar against magic that makes my veins ache. I clench my hands against my restraints.
Force myself to breathe in.
Breathe out.
You are Lux Nightshade.
You fear nothing.
No one.
All the lies that have been my fuel for so long.
And now – it’s not enough.
Thirteen
Greyson
HAVOC PENITENTIARY
BACK OFFICE
She was carrying a decoy.
Even when under arrest, they were playing us.
Fire burns red-hot in my stomach. I lean forward, hands on the desk, staring down at the Shroud I retrieved from Nightshade’s vest.
Twenty-four symbols burned into the vestment.
The holy bloodstain.
All like the original.
But the beast mark i
n the far-left corner is non-existent. A bland stretch of material that holds no enchantment.
Which means that Aiden Caravel is still in possession of the original Shroud. And seeing that he disappeared by magic –
Find him? Oh certainly. Won’t be a problem at all. I slam my palm against the desk and pull myself up, cursing.
I should have known the recovery was too easy.
Should have expected a setup the second I saw Lux Nightshade’s face.
No matter how many steps we take, she is always one move ahead of us.
Well, not anymore.
I hope you’re ready, Nightshade.
Because this game is about to take a bloody twist.
A hand rattles the door and I turn, bark out a question. A hesitant voice answers and Judah Alcatraz enters without waiting for my reply.
I just love the respect I get around here.
“Sir. It’s the reaper.” He compresses his mouth in a thin line, dark features drawn together in a maelstrom of irritation. “He’s demanding to speak with you.”
“And of course we must bow before him.” I don’t bother hiding my eye roll. By the heavens, reapers are an ax in the cycle of life. Do nothing but tear down and destroy and shit all over existence.
“Tell him I would be pleased to see him.”
Judah’s thick eyebrows knot, but at least he doesn’t question me. Just stares back over his shoulder at me the entire time he’s backing out the door.
I know vampires are suspicious, but this guy takes it to a new level.
Another irritation to deal with.
I have the false Shroud folded up and placed back in my breastplate before Judah re-enters, this time with the reaper in tow. Good god, did no one think to relieve him of his scythe before entering the penitentiary? Is there no security in this place? Surely I can’t be the only one who’d like to get through the day with my soul intact.
“Reaper.” I lean back against the desk. No sense in pretending to greet him.
For god’s sake, I can’t even remember the prick’s name.
“Damien Bone.” He extends his hand with a flash of white teeth. “And you really shouldn’t think so loud.”
“Privacy right number 460, section H4,” I say. “It is illegal to invade a citizen’s thoughts for personal or business reasons.”
His smile doesn’t dim. “For citizens, yes. I’m well aware of that rule.”
Why are you even wasting your time? The sooner I get him out of here, the sooner I can get back to the search for Aiden Caravel.
And for the Shroud I’ve already reported I’ve recovered.
I fold my arms and stare through Damien. “You have a problem? Speak. Or I would be all too glad to have you removed.”
“Actually, removal is why I’m here.” He scrolls through his phone without any awareness of how much of a douchebag he is. Finally he catches my glower and looks up. “Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I kinda left my little brother in a – situation, and I can’t get a hold of him.”
“Not interested in your entire life story.”
“I’m not – OK, I get that you hate me. I just need to reach him before—”
“You might as well forget it. Your phone is no good here.”
“Not allowed? I thought that since I’m not an inmate—”
“We have spells in place to prevent any cellular use.” Thanks to several near escapes by inmates orchestrated via stolen phones. No reception once you’re through the main gates.
He could use some common sense and figure that out for himself, but apparently he’s too busy being a prick.
It is a full-time job after all.
. “Corpse shit.” He shoves his phone into his cloak. “Is there no other way—”
“Look, I have limited time and even more limited patience. If there’s something you need, spill it.”
Don’t give me an excuse to spill your blood.
“Nightshade,” he says and pauses. I have a feeling what’s coming next, but I keep up the silence ploy, pulling out all the stops to make him as uncomfortable as possible. I fold my arms tighter. And wait.
“I don’t need to explain again what I need. I’ve promised Death I’d bring her in and I won’t leave HAVOC unless I have her with me.”
I raise an eyebrow. “I hope you enjoy your life sentence.”
“Really, angel. Is everything you say actual shit?”
“You’re catching on.” I lower myself onto the edge of the desk to glower at him. “You do know that there’s no guarantee the head warden will hear your case, never mind consider it.” My one consolation in this fucked-up mess.
But Damien is nodding like I told him something entirely different, eager enough to tell me just how new he is to this. And how much he has to prove. “I can guarantee it the moment he sees me. I have papers from Death himself and to be honest, things never should have gone this far in the first—”
“You can kill the histories. Still not interested. Look.” I pin him with my stare until he finally quits jabbering. “The only way to get you in is to tag you as her handler. You would remain with her twenty-four hours a day, no matter where she’s assigned in the pen. Twenty-four-hour supervision. And any deal on her end will result in you losing your claim, leaving her open for the taking.”
I expect him to see what I’m really offering, see it and back out like any normal person would. Realize that there’s no fucking around with angels and no way to win.
But instead he’s nodding.
Confident. Prepared.
“I accept.”
And I hope you fail.
Because Lux Nightshade is mine.
To punish.
Claim.
And conquer.
LUX
The immense interior gates close behind us, the silver-lined bars nothing more than a cage to hold us in. High up on the fifth floor, guards watch us from countless stations, weapons primed for – I don’t know, an uprising, maybe? What do they expect us to do when our magic has been suppressed and our every move is bound? Challenge them with a staring contest?
Sorry, guys. I have much more important shit to worry about.
Starting with Ki.
I search the line of guards escorting us into the cafeteria.
Ki still walks on the outskirts. An outcast even though he doesn’t seem to realize it.
Do they know he was once with a supernatural?
You never should have let it go as far as you did.
Should have remembered just how susesptible humans can be.
The line tightens, guards beating the inmates into single-line formation. I tear my gaze away from Ki.
Lock my gaze ahead of me.
All my senses screaming in high alert as I notice the stares from the inmates in the cafeteria.
Focus sharpening on me.
Awareness.
And then recognition.
The whispers are quiet at first, then they grow in intensity. Rising. My name passing from lip to lip, changing from curse to awe and back again. The inmates begin to crowd our procession in, hands extended to reach me, the whispers becoming shouts. The guards scramble to block them, but they’re already spread too thin.
No one to stop them as a group of inmates surround me.
“Now why don’t you just slow down, sista.” A rough hand closes around my arm. Jerking me away from the wall and toward him. The acrid smell of the inmate’s breath blasts across my face from between blackened teeth. “Tell us why you’re in such a hurry.”
Beyond him is a moving blur of dirtied, grinning faces.
Closing in around me.
I try to keep my head down. Twisting away so that my face is close to the wall, in frantic attempt to shield my identity.
His grip pins my arms back.
“Maybe she don’t wanna talk to you, man.” An arm as dry and tan as old leather moves in front of my vision. Clenches lightly around my neck, pushed in just far enough to strangle my labored breathing.
“Let me have my say.”
The first set of hands don’t release me. Simply tighten. “Nah, my boss has a few things he needs to say. Because this bitch done screwed him over for one last time.”
Get free. Now. Emergency alarms in my head as the guards still fail to reach us and the arm around my neck tightens.
“She don’t look so high and mighty.” A third voice crowds into the raucous laughter. “Now we’ve got her away from her KAO boyfriend.”
What in the—Were they waiting to get me away from Ki?
Waited to attack until they knew he wouldn’t be able to see me.
Or save me.
How the hell did they know?
I slam my foot back at both of my captors, only to find that the struggle simply hardens their grips to iron.
The arm around my neck tightens until my every attempt to inhale is choked away in the base of my throat.
An inmate ducks down into my face, and his appreciative whistle sets the laughter to an even louder pitch. I glare at him from under the hoodie and he raises himself back out of my line of sight.
The laughter is so loud it sets my head buzzing.
“Back off, Record.” Leather Arms loosens his grip slightly. Stale, tainted air slips down my throat. “Tigo had some messages for me to give. I don’t need you getting in my way.”
Tigo?
But Aiden had the real Shroud, should have delivered it by now. No reason for Tigo to have an agenda against me unless—
Unless you both were double-crossed.
No. Aiden would never do that. He would never—
Just leave you to be arrested?
I wrench my head to the side, trying to slide out of the inmate’s choke-hold while it’s loosened. He purposely leaves his grip slack—and yet just tight enough I can’t get free.
Why haven’t any of the guards reached us?
“Tigo has a few ways of teaching loyalty, bitch. But I don’t think you’ll like the way they’re taught.” A foot connects with the back of my knee, slamming me forward. Hard enough to send my head bashing against the wall.
The dizziness is as intense as the pain. An intermingled shudder that leaves my head throbbing, vision momentarily blinded. Unable to move as the hands abruptly release me.
