Cloak of Deceit: An Alex Moore Novel

by Gwen Mitchell

  “Do I have a choice?”

  Derek inclined his head, a menacing line to his thin lips. He held up a syringe. “Your options are limited at the moment. Harper is spending some time in your former containment cell.” He tapped his foot on the floor.

  “That’s too bad.” I wouldn’t wish the Lex Press on anyone, but at least it wasn’t me.

  “Isn’t it? Did you enjoy your stay? I designed it. Along with this part of the room.” He gestured to the chains holding me up.

  Being stuck there period sucked pretty bad, but the creep factor jumped considerably knowing a torture chamber from Derek’s demented mind held me captive. I trembled and felt nauseous, but kept my gaze locked on him. He faded in and out of my sight when my shoulder popped back into place, searing me with a white-hot jolt. I hissed and yanked at my chains, to no avail. My next thought was to focus on pulling the hooks out of the wall with my powers.

  Then it hit me like an anvil from the sky: Collar. He’d said collar, right before he blew my brains out. I swallowed and noticed the all too familiar scratching against my neck. I was wearing the fucking inhibitor collar. The only one of its kind. There was only one place in the world he could have gotten it.

  “Monique.”

  “Just putting that together?” Derek grimaced. “She’s been working with us for some time on a way to neutralize the Grigori, though I never thought she would prove quite so useful.”

  My mind raced ahead of me. She’d been working with Derek. That meant Monique had taken us in under false pretenses. She’d welcomed an excuse to put a collar on me, planned it that way. She’d taunted me in the chamber. Maybe she’d even intended for me run to away…

  Where Derek had been waiting for me. It all made perfect sense. And I was a perfect idiot. Only, she’d duped Julian worse.

  Oh, damn it, Julian!

  “Why?” I licked my cracked lips. Why would Monique betray him so badly if she loved him? Why would she help Derek and the Cabal? And why was I so important to them? Why wasn’t I really dead already?

  Derek ignored my question and squinted at me. “You know, the only thing I hate more than Rogues is psychics. And you’re both.”

  “What do you want from me?” A funnel of exhaustion, pain, and outrage whirled on the inside, but my tone came out defeated. Hopeless.

  “I don’t want anything from you,” he spat. “You are nothing. Only a tool to serve a larger purpose. You disgust me.”

  “The feeling is mutual.” My stomach burned furiously, but the aches and pains were lessening enough to allow me to focus on Derek. If I had been in better mental shape, I could have focused on pushing his buttons, or finding a way out of there. But that was too much for me. My thoughts still fuzzy, it was hard enough not to be reeling at all the new information crashing in on my previous assumptions. I shook my head and clamped my eyes shut. The room sloshed about. “Why am I here?”

  “Your situation is unique. Not only are you an Undead, but you are a psychic we could reach before they had the chance to assimilate you into the collective.”

  Too late, I thought. But I didn’t say it. I wasn’t that stupid. “So?”

  “We want you to infiltrate the Grigori on our behalf.”

  “Because we’re such good friends?” I chuckled, and then coughed.

  Derek closed the distance between us in two strides. He lifted me by the throat and pinned me against the wall. My chains yanked tight, and my feet danged uselessly. His grip tightened on my neck as he bared his teeth. “Because if you don’t agree, I will devise a new way for you to experience pain every day, until you’re so lost in it, you’ll beg for more.”

  His voice was low, almost intimate, like he hoped I would take him up on that. I wasn’t planning to. He dropped me, and I sagged between the chains by my wrists. I wouldn’t suffocate from being held like that, but it still hurt like a bitch.

  “And because,” Derek continued, taking the cap off of his syringe and flicking it, “if you don’t cooperate, I will not only hurt you, but everyone you care about. Your mother is a fine example. Julian. Oh yes, and your precious blood donor.”

  My chest froze into a solid block at those words. Tears threatened, but I choked them back. That’s exactly what he wanted. I couldn’t show him how much they meant to me, how much he could hurt me. Instead, I latched on to the way he’d said blood donor and decided to rely on the old movie fall-back for when someone has you shackled in a torture chamber: I stalled for time.

  “What’s the matter? Jealous?”

  Derek sneered. “I would never violate the Code.”

  Which was a lie, and I knew it. I had studied the Code a little bit. Bringing my family into things was already breaking it. I doubted Derek would see it that way. Faith is blind, so they say. Or is that love? Either way, he was delusional. You can’t reason with a crazy person. You can, however, insult them. “Maybe if you loosened up some, you wouldn’t be such an asshole.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you think of me. This is the beginning of a new era, where the Code is honored and truly enforced, where the threats against us are neutralized, and we can live our immortal lives in peace. You will help us bring down the Grigori, and then you will help us hunt down the Rogues. But for now…”

  He lumbered towards me with the needle and unsnapped my collar. I had two brief seconds to reach out, to try and focus, but it wasn’t enough time. The needle sank into my neck before I could tell him where he could shove his precious Code. My muscles went slack and heavy. Even the roiling inferno in my stomach faded to a mild ache.

  “While you consider my offer, I have some things to take care of. Namely, your filthy Rogue boyfriend. I have something special planned for when he comes looking for you.”

  Derek’s laughter rang out around me like the distant tormenting caw of vultures.

  Julian…

  Julian. His image had burned into my retinas, the first thing that filled my mind when I came around again. Julian, who had put everything on the line for me. Julian, who had put up with my fits, my episodes, and my doubt in him. Just to have me turn my back and run out. Julian, who was going to die because of me.

  No, not just me. My knuckles cracked from squeezing my fists so tight. Monique was just as blame-worthy. That’s what I couldn’t figure out: if she loved him, how could she do it? Was it really as simple as “if I can’t have him, no one can”? She didn’t seem that psychotic, but then, I obviously wasn’t the best judge of character. I never should have doubted Julian.

  There I was, dangling from my chains like bait on a hook. I had never thought I would wish for telepathy so badly.

  Don’t come for me.

  I repeated it over and over, knowing it did no good, even though a part of me did want to be rescued. Or at least, I wanted to believe he would come to rescue me. Derek had seemed confident he would. I wasn’t so sure. After everything that had passed between us, I would have cut losses and left me there. But Julian wasn’t me. He had a hero complex.

  Monique was the unknown variable. He still trusted her, as far as I knew. Could she convince him not to go after me? Would she try, or would she just set him up for execution? My headache had eased, but my thoughts were a confusing stew of scenarios, seasoned with a dash of panic. On top of that, my thirst threatened to eclipse all logic.

  One thing cut through it all: Julian.

  I had to get out, not just for me, but for everyone that mattered to me. I had to save Julian, and find a way to protect the others. They were in danger because of me. I owed them that much. I at least had to try. I scanned the dark room: the floor, the chains, the rails and gears operating my restraints, and the control panel on the wall. The collar was really the only problem. If I could get it off, I could break free. My crash course with the collective had given me a glimpse of what I was capable of. It was only a matter of focus.

  Unfortunately, focus was in short supply too.

  Derek’s next visit was perfectly timed. Either he kep
t me under tight surveillance, or the drug he gave me had a set metabolism rate. I wasn’t sure how either of those could help me, but I made a note of it. It felt good to be doing something, even if it wasn’t much. My choices were to give-up, or to try to find a way out.

  I am a lot of things, but a quitter isn’t one of them.

  I flinched when the overhead lights came on, but growled softly when my captor settled his bulk against the far wall, crossing his arms to evaluate me from afar. I hadn’t known I could make that sort of sound, as if the internal fury of my stomach was making itself known through my mouth.

  “Thirsty?” he asked conversationally.

  I didn’t answer.

  “Of course you are.” Derek came towards me, and the growl deepened, rumbling my throat. He reached into an inner pocket of his oversized leather coat and produced a blood bag — the type they use for transfusions.

  Just the thought of it was enough to double me over, which, since I was hanging, meant I just tucked my knees up to my chest and hung there, heaving and drooling like a rabid animal.

  He made a show out of pulling a long tube from another pocket and snapping it onto the bag. He held the other end out to me. I bared my teeth, just shy of a snarl. I had no control over my actions, too fixated on the blood.

  “Try anything, and you’ll go without. Don’t make this too difficult, Miss Moore. I will break you, eventually. How painful I make it is your choice.” He never took his pale, dead gaze from mine as he inserted the tube between my flaky lips. He flipped open a pocketknife and stabbed a hole in the bag. I sucked, and the blood snaked down the clear tube into my mouth.

  It coated like a soothing balm on my physical body, and calmed me, made me feel less like a ravenous beast and more like myself. Derek crumpled the bag in his fist and tossed it to the floor after I’d drained it.

  I stared at him, trying to keep my face as blank as possible.

  He was much better at it. “Have you decided to be reasonable?”

  I said nothing.

  He took my silence as acquiescence and walked over to the control panel on the wall. “Good.”

  I clenched my teeth. This could be it, my one shot.

  “There’s been a change in plans.” Derek read the panel like someone would a menu in a fine restaurant. The grim satisfaction on his face worried me. Was it too late? Was Julian dead? Maybe this wasn’t my chance. Maybe he was just going to play with me.

  “It seems you’re not as dear to your Rogue as I thought you were.”

  “I’m not.” I’m not? My heart sank. He wasn’t coming, then.

  But that was good, right?

  “I thought he would charge in here after you. What a disappointment. He doesn’t live up to his reputation.” He scratched behind his ear, then hit a button on the panel. My chains loosened a few inches, allowing my feet to touch the floor. Thanks to the blood, I even had the strength to stand on them.

  The chains yanked forward and together, keeping my hands stretched up above me, the manacles chafing my skin, which had healed, and then chafed again, over and over. Another press of a button and the whole pulley contraption started to inch towards the center of the room. I followed, dragging my feet as my muscles remembered how to work.

  What now? Nothing could be much worse than recovering from being shot in the head.

  Another chain unraveled from the ceiling. A sharp-pointed meat hook glinted on the end.

  I changed my mind — there could be worse things. I swallowed, looking back at Derek with wide eyes. His were as cold as ever, except for a tiny spark of pleasure that made me nauseous.

  Think fast, Alex. The longer he was talking, the longer he wasn’t torturing me. I’d seen enough of Derek to know he had an ego. Since I didn’t know any of his other weak points, I took a stab at it. “You can’t find him.”

  “I’m not looking for him.” He glared at me as he took off his coat and dropped it to the floor.

  I shook my head. “He’s too smart for you. He’s not going to take the bait.”

  Don’t come for me, Julian.

  “He will.” He sounded certain. “We’ll just have to use something more valuable to him.”

  Andreas.

  Derek smiled as if I’d said it out loud, circling me.

  “That’s a little risky, isn’t it?” I asked, my voice quavering. “I mean, won’t the Cloak be suspicious. First I get reported, then Julian and I both disappear. You don’t think they’ll ask questions when you try to get access to one of their prisoners?”

  He smirked.

  Shit.

  “Maybe they would, if you had ever been reported.”

  “But Julian…”

  “Is a Rogue serving a sentence, not a true Knight,” he spat. “He has no real connections to the organization. We hold the real power, and his other resources are…easily swayed.”

  If I ever saw Monique again, I was going break her perfect little French nose. The whole time we’d been running, I had trusted Julian with my safety, and he’d been operating under false pretenses. We’d flown right into Derek’s net. A net larger and more intricate than Julian possibly could have guessed.

  At least he was still free.

  I bowed my head, praying he had the sense to stay that way, knowing it was in vain. Maybe he would leave me there, but he wouldn’t give up Andreas without a fight. I knew it, and so did the Cabal.

  Derek rattled the chains in front of me. I narrowed a gaze on him, wishing it could inflict physical pain. I could, if it weren’t for the collar. “So, what now?”

  “Now we begin your conditioning.” His eyes flared with sadistic fervor. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees as those words clung to the air. My skin erupted in goose flesh. I shivered. I may have been chained, and wearing an inhibitor collar, but there was nothing wrong with my Undead senses. In his own twisted way, Derek was hunting me.

  A new flood of instincts trampled through me, making my hands shake.

  Escape. Flee.

  I sucked in a breath and held it. Everything slowed down. For a stretched out second, Derek seemed frozen in place, except for in my mind. I saw the briefest flash of what he was going to do, I blinked, and he was doing it. He wrapped his hand around the base of the hook and swung it towards my belly. I was just that extra millisecond too fast.

  I yanked back just as he came up with the hook. He caught the hem of my shirt, but faltered when the hook didn’t hit a fleshy target. He stumbled into me with the hook held out in front of him.

  I only had one chance, so I went for it. If I missed, I would be in a whole new world of pain, but I had to try.

  Escape!

  I leaned into Derek’s swipe as the hook whizzed past my face. One of the barbed ends scored a nasty line along my jaw, and a chunk of my hair ripped out at the root. But something else had gone with it.

  Derek let go, and the hook swung away, my collar dangling from the end.

  He jerked back, drawing his gun.

  Our gazes locked.

  Then I threw him against the wall.

  And the floor.

  And the wall again.

  Until he dropped the gun.

  He fought against me, struggling to move as I wrapped my thoughts around him like invisible rope. He was strong and enraged, but I was fighting for my life. And for Julian’s. I held him there, and breaking my mind into different fragments, I reached out for the collective at the same time.

  With a thought, I yanked the steel pulley off the wall, and the gear contraption from the ceiling. It left a small crater in the cement, but gave me enough movement to reach Derek and take his keys. No victory dance this time — I wouldn’t get cocky. For one thing, I couldn’t feel any connection to the collective. I was on my own. This was my chance to prove I really could take care of myself, that I really was the tough girl Julian thought I was.

  Sweat poured off of Derek, oozing his pungent, oily scent into the air. His aura was a red cloud of fury as I c
almly unchained my wrists. I thought his bloodshot eyes would pop out of his head. I stood there for a second, contemplating what to do with him. The answer was lying in the far corner of the room. I picked up the gun and turned it over in my hands, looking for the safety. I couldn’t find one, so I just pointed it at his head.

  Julian would slice it off, I thought, staring into Derek’s bulging, colorless eyes. I would save that pleasure for him.

  “For the record, you’re a sick fuck,” I said, and shot him between the eyes.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I slinked away from my cell, peering around corners, listening intently before I made each move. Only the buzz of the lights and the hum of the motor in the wall cut the silence. I pulled the steel door closed behind me and locked it with Derek’s keys. With no idea how long it would take him to wake up, the more I slowed him down, the better.

  “Guess it’s door number one.” I tiptoed across the dim outer room. I held the gun loosely against my outer thigh. I wanted it with me, but I didn’t trust it not to go off in my hand. I had no clue what I was doing, but I also didn’t know who or what I would run into along the way.

  The answer was one hundred pounds of black fur and teeth.

  The Rottweiler issued a low growl of warning from my right just as I slid around a corner, intent on going the other way.

  I froze.

  He growled again.

  My hand tightened on the gun, but who was I kidding? I wasn’t going to shoot a dog. He —it had to be a he by the pissed of face he was making— stood up from his haunches, coupling a snarl with the growl.

  I didn’t breathe, didn’t blink. If I’d had a second more to contemplate, I probably could have thrust him away, but I panicked and just turned and ran the other direction as fast as my death-enhanced muscles would carry me.

  The dog skittered behind me, making all sorts of ruckus.

  So much for stealth. I made two un-planned turns, just out of panic. Fido stayed hot on my heels. If I slowed down half a stride, he’d sink his fangs into my calf. I flew through a set of swinging double doors into a storage room lined with racks of boxes. I careened down the nearest aisle, and the dog lost his footing on the slick linoleum, buying me another half-second. I spotted the door at the other end of the room, and yanked it open with my powers before we reached it.