Across The Divide

by Stacey Marie Brown

  Everything in me wanted to throw his theory back in his face. I thought of every touch, every time our bodies curled around each other, every time her lips met mine. But deep, deep down I felt a seed of doubt burrowing into my gut.

  No. No way.

  I didn’t even realize I was shaking my head until Peter laughed. “You can deny it all you want. Won’t be long till you see the truth, fae.” He tipped his gun in the direction of the doors at the end of the alley. “Matt, tell Rapava we’re coming back with an excellent test subject. I’m sure Zoey will also love to show the Wanderer how she really feels.”

  Matt clicked on the walkie-talkie and mumbled into it. Peter tried to lift my axe but left it where it was when he couldn’t. Instead, he got behind me, shoving the gun in my back. “Move.” Matt jogged to the door, punching his fingers at the keypad by the door. The clink of several bolts releasing rang in my ears.

  I had no idea what lay in front of me. The only thing I was keenly aware of was that this might be the stupidest thing I had ever done.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  We went through several more coded doors before I saw an elevator at the end. A structure, reminding me of an airport security scanner, stood framed about four feet from the elevator. The moment my foot crossed the threshold, the contraption beeped and lit up, a gate dropping over the door behind us.

  Damn. A fae detector.

  The blond prick yanked me into the elevator and pushed a button, closing the doors. We only went a few stories underground when the doors parted, and he led me down an underground concrete tunnel. Lights dotted the wall and guided our way. My eyes stayed alert, trying to take in everything around me.

  The passageway led to another set of security doors, then another elevator, where they both had to insert a special security card. This time the descent went on and on, deep underground. The buttons on the panel were not numbered but were in some code I couldn’t decipher.

  Finally, the doors opened. A hand shoved me out of the elevator. I gritted my jaw, feeling the roar of anger wanting to respond. I could easily disarm him and throw both of them to the ground. The idea of doing it for a bit of fun crossed my mind, but I clenched my fist tighter and walked where they told me to.

  My gaze caught the vast quantities of computers, machines, and lab equipment blinking, beeping, and humming in the open area we moved past. In a city where electricity was still scarce and only came on for a few hours a day, this place had conveniences and technology available to them. Zoey had mentioned they were “off the grid,” which made sense for a secret government agency, especially one fighting against the threat of fae.

  The two idiots forced me down a long corridor. I noticed a feeling of nausea crawling over me, making me lethargic. My anger dissipated. All I wanted to do was sit or maybe take a nap.

  “What the…?” I glanced over my shoulder at Blondie. He only grinned smugly. I could feel the fury stir deep in me, but by the time it got to the surface, I felt more exhausted than upset. It was similar to when I had been sliced lightly with fae metal. Goblin metal could kill us, but in small dosages it caused fae to become tired, queasy, and sluggish. It dulled our magic. It was a perfect thing to have here. It was like castrating us.

  Matt walked in front of me, stopping at a door almost hidden to the eye, and punched in another code. The door beeped and opened. Blondie forced me into a room within a room. The outer room was a cross between a medical lab and viewing room except blinds kept the inner room from being seen.

  Peter hustled me across the room to the door, entered another code, and swung the door open. He pushed me in the smaller room and slammed the door behind me. I glanced around. This room was a lot more frightening. A retractable light hung from the ceiling. It took me a moment to see the room also had a robot arm with a needle. A single hospital bed sat below, and thick chains and cuffs hung from the metal rollers on the side of the bed. My eyes wandered the room, taking in every bit of information. I felt tired and wanted to lie on the bed and sleep, but I fought against the urge. I needed to be ready. Alert.

  Easier said than done.

  Hours passed, bleeding into more hours. My energy evened out after a while, but it leveled on the low to almost nonexistent side. The strength it took to stay alert dwindled and finally caused my legs to give way. I slid down the wall.

  When the blinds along the inside window moved, it startled me awake. My eyes snapped open, and I watched them carefully. I didn’t move off the floor, but I felt my shoulders rise in defense. My body stayed tense, and I felt eyes through the glass watching me like an animal in the zoo. I couldn’t see through the darkened glass, and only my own reflection manifested in the window, but I knew Dr. Rapava was on the other side.

  Examining. Studying.

  I’d seen enough cop shows to know about the double-sided glass. They could see me, but I couldn’t see them unless they turned on the light in their side of the room. With my background it was shocking I had never been inside a police station, but I wasn’t stupid enough to get caught by a human. And they couldn’t keep me even if they had tried. Now it was different. I was sure if I still had the power to jump, I wouldn’t be able to escape from here.

  “I want to see her.” I stared through the glass, past my own likeness, my voice harsh and demanding. After a few beats, the curtains lowered back down.

  Fury rattled in my gut, along with the sensation she was near.

  Killkillkill.

  No, fight it. You are stronger than the desire.

  No, she must die.

  I rubbed my face, dropping my head into my hands, and forced good thoughts of Zoey into my mind. Memories of her and me in bed. In the rain. Rolling on the ground of Machu Picchu. Laughing. Fighting. Fucking. But every recollection turned into me digging my fingers into her soft skin and crushing the life out of her. A deep growl tore from my gut. I wasn’t strong enough to stay away, which would have been the best. I could give myself every excuse in the book for why I was here, under the pretense of wanting to protect her, but the oath was taking over and my desire to track her down and kill her was taking away my memories and my feelings for her.

  I sighed, wrapping my arms around my knees, and blocked the lights above my head from my eyes. I drifted in and out of sleep, dreaming of her—her face, her voice calling my name. My fingers wrapping around her throat, squeezing till I crushed her esophagus.

  A vibrating at the windows startled me from the dream, and I bolted to my feet. A strange zing in my blood purred through my arms, flexing my fists open and closed. Slowly the blinds lifted, retracting into the ceiling.

  This time the intensity of the gazes from the other room slammed into my chest like a cannonball. I took a step back, crossing my arms. My reflection in a blackened window echoed back at me. A crackling noise sounded near my head, jerking my attention to the speaker above.

  “Welcome, Wanderer.” A man’s Russian accented voice came over the speaker, but years of living in America had watered it down. I had come into contact with the doctor only once, at the bank in Bellevue, but I recognized his voice. “We are happy to have you here.”

  I didn’t reciprocate the greeting and only stared back into nothing. The black space pulled me forward, and I stepped closer to the glass.

  “I have to admit I am surprised to see you here,” Rapava said. “The fact you got away and made it here undetected is impressive.”

  His voice continued, but it became background noise to me. The draw to the window drove my feet flush with the wall, and before I realized it, my hand went to the glass. I could feel her. Every fiber in me screamed her name. Two extremely different needs, both violent and consuming.

  “I want to see you,” I commanded at the glass.

  “There is no one here but you and me,” Rapava stated over the sputtering intercom.

  A low growl caught in my throat, but I kept my focus straight ahead. “Don’t. Hide. From. Me.”

  The speaker clicked off, but befo
re it did, I heard low voices arguing. I stood unmoving for a while, staring at the same spot. Then a light flickered on in the next room.

  My chest clenched along with my fists when her face came into view. She stood right where I had been staring.

  Zoey.

  Every time I saw her felt like I was being slammed against a wall by a giant. Emotions, of tremendous yearning and hate, clobbered me. The animosity didn’t scare me like the overpowering knowledge that I was in love with the woman in front of me did. I felt weak and defenseless. I was the guy people feared, not the one who wanted to wrap myself in her arms and disappear from the world.

  Her face held no expression; her jaw was raised in defiance. Cuts and bruises ran along her face, neck and arms, a canvas of purples, yellows, and deep blues.

  Had they beaten her?

  She took a step back, folding her arms over her chest. “You saw me.” The ice in her voice could have cut the glass between us. “I really thought fae were smarter.” Her chin jerked up higher and she swallowed. “You never detected I was playing you, deceiving you? The more I confessed, let you think you saw the real me, the easier it was. Both you and the stupid monkey. You should have stayed where you were. With your own kind.”

  My lids narrowed on her. Her words felt like a goblin dagger to my gut, but I searched her face, looking for something to tell me she was putting on a front for the doctor. I knew her better than anyone, and I could usually sense when she was lying or trying to deceive me. This time I couldn’t. Her walls were impenetrable around her. She stood her ground, staring at me with a cold, unflinching gaze.

  “But your blood might be the exact thing to save my sister’s life.”

  “Sister?” I flinched.

  Zoey’s lips pressed together firmly before she nodded. “Yes, my sister is alive. DMG took her before the fire and brought her here.”

  “Lexie is alive?”

  “Neither she nor I are your concern, Wanderer.”

  The muscles along my shoulders tightened. Was this all an act? Was she being forced into acting this way? Why couldn’t I tell? Because you don’t really care. You need to kill her. I crunched my palms into a fist, trying to shove out this impulse running along my veins.

  Zoey began to turn before she said, “But I guess I should thank you for making me the perfect weapon against fae—a human with seer and fae powers. I will grow more powerful, and you will die.”

  She turned away from me and moved to the door. Dr. Rapava moved closer to the window, so I could see him more clearly. “Because of Zoey, we know much more. We can now create stronger humans, ones who can fight and destroy fae. The playing field is even. And because your powers cured her defect only helps our progress. Sadly, you came too late for the other seer.”

  What? She wasn’t dying?

  Zoey stopped, her hand on the door. She glanced over her shoulder, and an emotion flickered too quickly over her features for me to make it out before she disappeared out the door.

  Rapava kept talking to me, but my eyes were locked on the exit where the girl I promised to kill just left. I regretted the oath the moment it crossed my lips, but now it was too late. It was done. I didn’t care how forceful the pledge drove me to act, I wanted Zoey next to me till the end. I would have fought the urge to kill her no matter how painful it became for me, till her last dying breath.

  Now she wasn’t dying at all. My power was killing me, but it had healed her.

  “I don’t think there is any doubt why you are here.” Rapava’s voice finally broke me away from my thoughts. “But Zoey is not who you thought. Her loyalty lies with me and with her sister. She is a Collector, a hunter, a seer. My warrior,” he stressed, examining me. For several minutes he got caught up in analyzing me. “I’ve dreamed about researching a specimen like you. One of a kind.” He got a faraway look in his eyes, then shook his head. “Vadik will be looking for you also. We are well guarded against fae here, but I will double our security. Now you and Zoey are mine. I do not want to lose either one of you.

  “And I will get the stone as well.”

  ZOEY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Please say this is a nightmare.

  But every time my lids blinked, the figure of the man standing behind the glass didn’t dissolve.

  Ryker. My heart screamed. No. No. This can’t be happening. He shouldn’t be here.

  He stood with his arms folded over his chest, appearing every bit like a ruthless warrior and unfazed by his challenger. The muscles twitched along his jaw and neck, showing he was ready to act at any second. His clothes were smudged with black soot; the top of his hair was singed. Fading bruises and cuts dotted his face and arms. He looked tired, pale, and thinner than I had ever seen him.

  My heart strained against itself. What happened to him? What had he gone through? How did he get away from Vadik? I knew he would have eventually find his way to me. His character and the promise solidified this. Still I stared at him, not wanting to believe.

  He said he would find you and he did.

  Somehow he had broken away from Vadik and come here…for me. The need to reach out for him, to tear through the glass and feel his arms around me froze me in place. I didn’t trust myself to move or speak.

  There was no question of how he found me. I had made him promise to kill me before I died of the weakness in me. This was before I knew where I was headed and what danger he would be in if he came for me.

  Dammit, Zoey.

  “Remember when you said if you had the opportunity to retrieve certain information you would take it? Here is your chance to prove you’re more than empty words.” Rapava’s voice poked at my heart. Rapava had purposely walked me into a trap the other day, called my bluff on Ryker. That’s why he was so smug.

  If I chose Ryker, Lexie was dead. And probably very soon after both Ryker and myself. If I chose DMG, I would be condemning the man I loved to torture, pain, experiments, and death by my hand. There was no way to win here. Whatever I did would hurt someone I cared about.

  “Can you tell me why he simply gave himself over to my men?”

  “I cannot, sir.”

  “Really, Ms. Daniels?” Rapava said with disappointment. “There are only two reasons a man would ever turn himself in: honor or love. Honor is not exactly high on the fae list, and it is certainly not why he is here.”

  I felt myself sinking again.

  “I need to understand what he thinks of your relationship. And don’t insult me. He is not here because you flirted with him.”

  “I cannot tell you why he’s here. As you know, I was forced to do things to survive. I don’t think he is capable of caring, especially for a human.”

  “There is also another option.”

  “What?”

  “He thinks you have something of his…something he wants. Perhaps an artifact?”

  I felt as though I’d just stepped in a deep fryer, sizzling and burning my insides into nothing, while making me crispy and hard on the outside.

  Oh, hell, no, he won’t. But in that instant I knew Ryker had. The strange pull…the silent voice that had been there the entire time, drawing me to it, keeping it close. Why I even slept with my boots on.

  The stone.

  It had been with me the whole time.

  “You wouldn’t have lied to me, Zoey? Failed to mention you hid this item somewhere?”

  “No, sir.” I forced myself not to look at my boots. Ryker crossed his arms, his feet shifting underneath him, his focus on me.

  “Zoey?” Rapava’s voice yanked my attention to him. “Are you feeling all right?”

  Pop quiz.

  “Yes, sir. Perfectly.”

  A knowing glint filled his eyes, but I ignored it and turned back to the window, turning off all emotion.

  “I promise you, sir. I do not know the whereabouts of the stone,” I lied easily, needing Rapava’s doubt of me to ease up. “But I will find out for you.”

  “I know you will.” He
stepped to an intercom on the wall and pushed the button.

  Ryker’s head jerked up.

  “Welcome, Wanderer.” Rapava spoke into the intercom. Ryker tilted his head slightly, recognition fluttered over his face.

  Ryker’s head snapped back to the glass, and I felt his gaze burrow straight into me. He couldn’t see me, but somehow he knew I was there. I could feel it. His eyes pinned directly to mine, taking my breath away again.

  I barely heard the doctor talking to Ryker, my body and senses were captured in the power of his gaze. Ryker walked all the way to the wall, directly in front of me. His outline encased me in darker shadows, his stare piercing me. His hand came up to the window, lying flat against the glass. My heart thumped in my chest, rang in my ears. Heat flushed my body in a reflex of need. It took everything I had to not place my palm against his.

  “Interesting.” Rapava took his finger away from the button, speaking only to me. “He senses exactly where you are. His blood in your system must connect you to each other, no matter if he can see you or not. This is extremely fascinating.” The way he said it turned my stomach. An idea was forming, one I was sure would not be good for either Ryker or me.

  For Lexie’s life you have to play this game.

  “I want to see you,” Ryker’s deep voice was low and demanding.

  The fight to keep my feelings in check was like shoving hot needles down my throat. A sob sat at the base, strangling me.

  “There is no one here but you and me,” Rapava spoke to Ryker. He was testing him, seeing if Ryker’s presence was chance or something more.

  Ryker gritted his teeth, a low growl vibrating in his throat, but his attention stayed on me. “Don’t. Hide. From. Me.” Every syllable exiting Ryker’s mouth was a claim on me. The pull to him was so potent my mind had to retreat to my safe place, where I didn’t think or feel. I couldn’t let him in. If I let my feelings get the better of me, I would tear through every shard of glass separating us. Nothing would be able to separate us. And we would all die.