by Lexi Ostrow
“Do it.”
He nodded, a tight, terse action, but he accepted it. “Let me speak with Dale and if he agrees you will tell Stryder and then we can proceed if all parties accept.” He turned to leave and looked over his shoulder. “I will miss you, but happiness should always come first.” Without another word he stepped through his doorway and closed it.
“Damn, I was hoping to get a peek at where he as from.” She just stood there unmoving. “I have to tell him!” Quickly opening the doorway to his mansion of a house she paused. Damn bathroom. Annoyed at the delay she dashed into the bathroom, without closing the doorway.
She heard a slight noise while she was washing her hands and dismissed it. The walls weren’t the thickest in the apartment and it was most likely her downstairs neighbors again. Staring into the mirror for a moment she took a deep breath and pushed open the bathroom door, anxious to get to the doorway she’d opened and to her mate.
She didn’t see it coming as she smacked into a person waiting outside the door. She didn’t feel anything as the needle slammed into her neck, but her scream echoed in her sparsely furnished room. She vaguely acknowledged that hands wrapped around her before she gave way to the darkness.
Chapter 29
Stryder crushed the tip of his cigarette into the desk. His gaze flicked over the screens that watched the entrance to their home. He'd been alternating between this, pacing and ranting for the past forty-five minutes. "How can she not fucking know? I mean seriously is it a challenging question? I told her I loved her, she said she loved me too. The next Gods be damned step is for her to accept me and come be my bloody wife!" He flicked the cigarette into the trashcan next to him and cleared his throat to get his brother’s attention. The male had been doing nothing but watching him and it was beginning to piss him off. What was the point of having a brother if he was going to be worthless? Demarcus looked at him and stood up.
"You came to me for advice right? So stop the fucking pacing and listen to me." Demarcus punched him in the arm to get his attention when Stryder didn't bother to stop pacing and look at his brother. "Put something on before I'm forced to listen to you freak out about realizing your ass is naked and flabby." He chuckled and Stryder wanted to deck him right there.
“This isn't a joke, man. I have to do this perfect. And perfect didn't include her not saying yes." He ran a hand through his hair. "She's been so fucking patient her whole life waiting for something to finally be real. Then I come crashing in and sweep her off her feet and disappear for weeks after we are summoned. Weeks!" Stalking from the security area he threw the door open to his room and it crashed into the wall and he winced.
Fuck, this is a mess. Just like the beginning. All he'd wanted was to make her his. No Initiative bastards, no demons, just him and her together. He felt Demarcus walk up behind him before the smack to the back of his head. His hand went to his head."What the...?”
"As I was saying. You asked for advice, fucking sit still so I can give it."
Stryder stopped for a split second and then went on to grab a baby blue button down from the closet and slip it on, his fingers fumbling to button it.
"You look like a damned pussy, man. Knock it off! She just needs some time. You just said it. You vanished after saying I love you. Can you blame her?"
He heard the words and couldn't think of anything better than shoving his brother’s own damned hand up his ass. "Too bad you'd fucking like it," he muttered under his breath and just shook his head when Demarcus looked at him. “Remember what it was like to know you had a mate? That you weren't going to be alone, even if this is all just a dumb book? Well that's what this shit feels like. I just want her to know I'm sorry for being such a useless ass." Finally getting the shirt buttoned, he grabbed a white silk Armani suit from the closet and walked back out to Demarcus as he stuck his legs fairly aggressively into the pants and slid his arms into the jacket.
He turned to Demarcus who merely shrugged.
“Damn it where is Fasheem when I need him?" His younger brother had always had an eye for fashion, for assimilating to the world around them. He wanted to be vain, to look so good when he saw her next she drooled. He had overreacted and he needed to talk to her. She'd been trying to tell him something and he'd let his warlike temper get in the way, how she put up with him was nothing short of a miracle. Must be his angelic blood charming her.
Demarcus smirked and sat down on the bed.
Stryder knew he didn't have all night, Demarcus wasn't off patrol tonight and listening to him cry like a teenager probably hadn't been on his list of post patrol plans. They were stuck on a rotation until heaven and hell were done with their current pissing match and a night off was rare until all the damage from the balance shift was erased. He knew that, after all he'd used his last night to propose. "Fuck." He finally stopped pacing around the room when he slipped into white leather loafers and sat on the edge of the bed to lace them up.
"Bout time, man. Now if you're done bitching my ear off like a little girl, I've got shit to do that doesn't include holding your hand while you go to the bathroom."
Stryder stopped lacing his shoes and glared.
"Good now listen. Your female loves you, you're a slick dresser and look fine. Whatever over the top candles and violin playing gesture you did last night is enough. Chill the fuck out." Stryder's eyes flicked black and Demarcus punched him in the nose. "Can I go now?"
A loud laugh burst out and he clapped Demarcus on the shoulder after his brother was done with the rant of his own. "Sorry, man. It's just, she makes me want to be better still.” When Demarcus opened his mouth he held up a hand. “Save it, brother, I already know what you're going to say and that shit just doesn't seem like enough when dealing with your mate.” He stood and grabbed a box out off the nightstand again. "Ok, ok you've done your part now get outta here. I'll just sit here and wait like some pathetic fucking puppy dog for her to answer or pick another damned Guardian."
The thought filled him with terror and he barely noticed Demarcus leave the room as Ciara's scream pierced through his brain. "THE INITIATIVE!" He tore down the hall from his bedroom and jumped over the railing to his living room below. A shimmering doorway, no doubt opened because she was in trouble, showed her bedroom and he raced to pass through to her world, but he was too late. She was gone.
* * *
She heard a groan and it took her a moment to realize it had come from her. Opening her
eyes she felt a wash of pain drift over her and she bolted upright, retched and let her body lay back down on the floor. Eyes closed once more, she did her best to breathe slowly.
What had happened? She'd been on the way to Stryder and then suddenly she was in pain. Her hand ran over the floor under her. It was rough and cold. Like cement and she opened her eyes again. It was dark wherever she was, but there was enough light that she could just make out the rocky walls around her. Where was she?
Forcing herself to sit again, she found that if she leaned back, her body connected with a cold rocky wall and she let herself sag against it. Her breathing was still shallow, but she ran her hands over body. Not feeling any sticky wetness to indicate blood, she sighed in relief.
“Oh, my dear, I wouldn't think you're out of the woods just yet.” The voice pinged in her mind and bile rose in her throat.
“Jonathan.”
“But of course.” A light flicked on and she gasped, realizing she wasn't just in rock, she was in a cell. He was holding a knife and flipping it from hand to hand, the smirk on his face a mask of pure evil that sent a chill through her.
“What do you want?” Even while she was asking him she was trying to calm her panic and focus on the powers she had. When she didn't see a response she cursed.
“Now, now. I didn't even tell you anything and you're cursing.” His laugh echoed off the walls and he walked forward to squat in front of her. She focused on creating a doorway. Maybe she could get herself through it and close it quick enough.
Again nothing but his laughter.
“If you're trying to use those little gifts of yours, Ciara I have some bad news. You see, the rules of this world are that this cell dampens all magic and all demon strength. Guess that means you're just going to have to sit there.”
“He'll find me,” she said the words, but honestly didn't know if he would come.
“Ahh yes, we are counting that. However, I know you think we can't defeat them, but they can die. Painfully too.” Her gasp made his smile grow. “Ahh yes just like in all good lore, Angel's blood is poison to them. So if they cannot get to each other to feed...” He ran a finger across his neck. “So you see, my dear, all it takes is a bit of isolation. And where better to do that than in our own tunnel systems. So I invite you. Call out to him. You're to be killed anyway so the sooner you do it, the better.”
She felt paralyzed. This wasn't one of those call the bad guy's bluff scenarios. She knew from what little she'd read, the man had very little in the way of a soul. Dale had shown her a little on how to block her mind. It wasn't something that was a gift so much as if she focused, no one could get in there. Except maybe that pair of brothers jerking the strings, but she wasn't about to try with the only one she'd met.
“Then just kill me because it's not going to matter.”
“So glad to hear you say that, Miss Miller.” The voice that wrapped around her seemed to suck the air from the room. Coming into view from just behind Jonathan, a man seemed to pop in. A man she knew. The man in the trench coat, but not. The laugh the man let out as she scrutinized him made her skin crawl. “By the look on your face I can tell you've never noticed me watching you. Well that's ok. Just call me brother number two. Or brother number one, but I seem to sense in your book my good for nothing brother takes top spot.”
She was going to be sick. The brother Dale had told her about. Dale was right about the overwhelming evil that flowed off of him. It was a thick presence and she swore his power pressed against her neck, making it harder to breathe. “Ask and you shall receive.”
Both men turned to her and she laughed. Hysteria must have been building as she sat there and it was taking hold quickly. Tears streaked down her face and her body shook.
“Guess you really can't read me when I'm blocking. All powerful my ass.” The streak of pain that shot from head to toe startled her and the laughter died off as quickly as it began, her eyes widened at the man walking toward her as he literally kicked Jonathan out of the way.
“Little Word Speaker, do not insult me. I have no intention of letting my power even drift into your mind. Your are not one of mine and no correction could make it so. However...” His voice trailed off and suddenly she felt like someone was massaging her brain, only she didn't like it. A small yelp escaped her and she bit her lip till it bled and clenched her fists to stop from letting him know he was hurting her.
His grin was the same as the man in the trench coat, beautiful and perfect, but it didn't reach his eyes in quite the same fashion. “What an interesting turn of events. It would seem little miss Miller is without her Guardian's affections. My, my, my. Wouldn't that be such a shame if there was a way to channel all that anger and hurt into something destructive? If there was a way to change everything you've ever thought to be good in that pretty little head of yours?”
His taunts unnerved her, but what was worse, he sounded like Jonathan. Which meant Jonathan wasn't in control anymore. Everything was this man. Had this brother been in charge the whole time? Were they ever following the course of the books or had they been derailed the moment Ciara took interest in Stryder?
“It doesn't matter what is happening between us. I know the score and frankly if you work with people like these incompetent idiots, your side stands no shot anyway.” This time the pain was a physical force as he wrapped his hand around her neck and slammed her head backwards into the wall.
“I've had about enough.” He turned to Jonathan who had stood up, but had made no move to walk closer to the two of them. “Change of plans. You kill her, I kill you. You let her find a way to kill herself, I kill you. Understood?”
“But,-”
“UNDERSTOOD?”
The cell walls vibrated with his shout and she wondered briefly if he wasn't going to be the one to kill her with a cave in.
Jonathan nodded slowly.
“Good. Now you may continue with your plan to bring the Horseman down. Your world means little to me and you are no longer a part of my radar. Unless she dies.”
Just like his brother, the man was gone. “Oh and Miss Miller? Happy Hauntings.”
His voice pierced the cavern, his laughter booming in her ears from her head still ringing after he slammed it. But that wasn't the worst part.
Images began to flood her mind. Stryder on top of her in the kitchen, their bodies slick with sweat, her cries of pleasure filling her own mind so strongly she felt her body respond with desire. Her sitting around crying, wondering where he was. Them on the picnic, them learning her powers. Him throwing the ring box and vanishing. It was on a loop. Over and over. She could barely slip thoughts of her own past the emotions the images brought up.
This was torture. She could feel tears slipping down her cheeks, noticed as the cell plummeted back into darkness and heard the cell door squeak closed, but couldn't do anything to stop it. She was trapped and all she could do was pray that the link between her and Stryder was broken because with each scene his name was on her lips, on her mind and she feared the worst as she tucked her legs to her chest and with her eyes wide open, stared into the darkness of her cell as the images attacked her.
The only thought of her own that she was able to conjure. “I'm sorry, Stryder, but I need you to find me.”
* * *
His fist connected with the head of the demon closest to him on his lawn. The lesser creature went sailing and landed in a heap. He'd been fighting with his control for the past two days. She was missing and he could fucking hear her crying out for help, just crying out. The tones were different. Sometimes she sounded angry, passionate, even scared. But he couldn't sense her. Whatever was going on, her location was blacked out.
“Stryder, chill man. We can't build an army to attack if you keep disabling them.” Jameson's voice was calm, cautious.
“And I don't give a rats ass about a fucking army. I just want to find her!” The muscle cords in his neck were stretched, tension the only thing fueling him. He hadn't eaten, hadn't slept either since this began.
“Dude, chill out, or I'm going to be forced to fucking sucker punch you. I like Ciara and want to get her free just as bad as you. But don't you think it's weird that she's calling for help and you can't find her?”
“No I don't think it's fucking weird. The Initiative has her. They're just torturing her. She probably can't control whatever it is in the link that lets it work. If they spill one drop of her blood I swear to Heaven and Hell I will link to War and start something no one will survive.
“You sound like an idiot. A babbling idiot and if you hit me I swear I'll tap into Pestilence and lay your ass up with some disease for a least a month.”
He growled, but didn't want to test it out. Jameson only used his connection when he really meant business. “Well if you're so smart what is it then?” He heard her shout his name again, passionately this time. Blood surged through his body as he unconsciously thought about what she looked like when she said his name like that.
“Maybe she doesn't want to be found. I mean come on. They've tried to kill her before. Not take her. Why keep her alive now? Maybe she's already dea-”
His fist connected with his brother's chin so fast in an uppercut, Jameson launched backwards. His eyes were a deep black as he stomped forward.
“CHILL. THE. FUCK. OUT.” His eyes returned to their normal color and he continued his theory, ignoring the scene that had just happened. “Since you didn't like that last one. Maybe it's a trap and she can't help but reach out to you becaus
e of that bond you have. But maybe, just maybe she doesn't want you to come and get hurt so she's locking you out.”
He snorted. Fuck. That might make sense. “Doesn't fucking matter, Jameson. She's mine. I don't care what the hell she smelled like, or that she basically turned me down on my ass. She's mine and I will get to her no matter what.”
Demarcus picked that instant to flash back, with at least a hundred demons in his wake. “Reinforcements,” was all he said as he walked by the two of them and into the house.
Stryder was getting ready to tell Jameson off again when out of nowhere the link flared. A cavern. She was in a cell and seemed to be alone. She appeared uninjured, but the look on her face terrified him. She was rocking back and forth against the wall, eyes wide open and her mouth moving slowly, saying his name over and over. Then just like all the other times, a doorway opened.
“I've never been so fucking happy to see shimmering in all my life. DEMARCUS! FASHEEM! I've got her.” He didn't even wait for Jameson to pick his jaw up off the floor. He raced forward and was in her cell just as quickly as he could be.
Closing the distance between them he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her off the floor. Her eyes went wild, her arms shoved him away and he just held her tighter. “Ciara, what's wrong? What's going on?”
She cried out and he turned, the doorway had closed behind them. “Ciara, reopen that. Reopen that now.”
“Yes, yes you need to leave.”
Tears streaked her face and he realized Jameson was right. He'd just barreled headfirst into a trap. He didn't care. His mouth found hers and he tugged her against him. She melted into him and he pushed his tongue into her mouth as he felt her arms slide around his neck and her mouth opened to him. His cock pushed at his zipper and he ground his hips against her as his hand found her breast and began to knead it. She was safe and the scenario around them faded as he let himself just be with her for a moment.
