by Ashley Nemer
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Closing the door to Adara’s room, Zayn looked at Nasir who extended a cell phone out to him. Zayn looked down at the screen and saw the message.
“Kevin’s dead. You’re next.”
Zayn looked at the message, confused. “I thought at the facility everyone was dead. Who sent this? Is there another one out there?
Nasir shook his head. “I am not sure. We just got this, and I wanted you to see it first. Derrik was dead at the facility, but I am sure Haydar could have had other mercenaries working for him.”
Zayn looked up at Nasir. “Have we checked to verify this is true?”
“I assumed you would want to be there when we go, so I have the men ready to head to the club and some to go to his home. Just waiting on your go,” Nasir explained.
“Let’s go. I don’t want people to know about this, that it’s related. I don’t want them to think that, just because they are associated with us, they are going to die.”
“I understand, Zayn. I haven’t told them what it’s in regard to; I just have them ready to move out. The Ghul are not foolish enough to fall for that propaganda anyway.” Nasir motioned for Zayn to follow him. They moved down the stairs and out to the training grounds. Zayn saw two groups of eight lined up against the cars. He signaled to the men, and they quickly got into their vehicles. Zayn and Nasir got into the last one that headed for the club.
“I really hope it isn’t true. I know him and Nikole were sort of close,” Zayn said. “I want to know what he would want with Kevin. He doesn’t know anything.”
“Well, whoever is doing this doesn’t know that, so they must have thought there was reason to attack him.”
The convoy pulled into the parking lot of Impact. “There are two cars out front. One of those has to be Kevin’s. Let’s take half around back and half through the front.” Nasir nodded to Zayn and radioed in the orders.
“Nasir, let’s take the front. The other team can take the rear.”
They moved to the front door. Nasir tried to turn the handle, but it was locked. “He must have used the back door because there is no sign of a break in here.”
Zayn watched as one of his men burst through the door, opening the club entrance. Walking over the threshold, Zayn led his men inside. Nasir signaled the men to break off and start searching for bodies. Zayn walked around the first level of the club in search for a sign that there had been trouble.
“Sire, come quick,” one of the men called from upstairs. Zayn and Nasir ran up the stairs and stopped when they saw what the Ghul had found. Kevin was tied to a chair, his throat cut and his blood pooled everywhere. Nasir walked around the bar and over to the corner, careful not to step in the blood. He saw Kevin’s arms and legs tied with rope and duct tape. “Maybe he didn’t tell them what they wanted to know and that’s why he is dead” one of the Ghul said.
“Your Highness, you are going to want to see this down here,” Zayn heard one of the lieutenants say. Feeling his gut start to turn, Zayn left the upstairs and headed to the location he was being beckoned to. Zeus was dead on the floor. Nasir came up from behind Zayn, running his hand though his hair, taking in the situation.
“This isn’t good, a lot of our people come here and this is going to scare the ones that were there for the 1777 attacks” Zayn told him.
“I know, Sire; we will get someone on this for damage control. Let’s head back home, because I want you out of the public setting where we can keep you under proper protection.” Zayn nodded to him in agreement while turning and walking for the front door. Zayn stopped at the entrance of Kevin’s office. Opening the door he walked in and flicked the lights on. Just as he thought, security monitors. “Nasir!”
“You okay, Zayn?” Nasir asked as he walked in, seeing what the King had spotted. “I’ll have my guys on this right away.”
Zayn gave his approval then left the room. “Let’s go, Nasir. The Ghul can stay and take care of this.”
Walking out to the car, the two men entered their vehicle and proceeded home in silence. Pulling onto the property, Zayn broke the silence. “You think that’s what is going to happen to Nikole?”
Nasir hesitantly replied, “I don’t think so. I think they still want something or why else move her then come kill a friend of hers. I think she is still alive.”
They walked into the house, uneasy about the events that occurred. Zayn made his way up the stairs. “I’ll be alone for the night, Nasir. Come and get me if you gain any developments.” Nasir watched Zayn climb the stairs at an even pace. He knew the King was torn up inside. He had to find a better way to handle this.
Entering his room, he slammed the door, watching a picture fall off the wall, shattering the frame. He walked over to his chair and slumped in it. Looking to his right, he saw a picture of Nikole and him at his birthday celebration 10 years ago. He felt like the pain was breaking his heart. His omm always told him there is no shame in crying when it’s about ones you love. He loved his okht and wanted her home.
Adara heard the door across the hall slam shut. She wanted to go help him and be there for him. Why did she care so much? It made no sense to her. She decided she had no choice; she had to go check on him and see if he was all right. She left her room and stood in front of his door. She raised her hand, about to knock when she thought she heard something. Leaning against the door, she could hear him; the King was in his room, crying. Backing away from the door, she just stared at it. If he wanted someone to witness this, he would have come to her. She turned and headed back to her room.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Dominic watched from across the street as the Ghul frantically looked for clues outside of the club. He laughed to himself at how easy they were to outsmart. He turned his radio to FM 89.2 so he could listen to the transmitter he’d planted inside Kevin’s club. Hopefully he could pick up on their next plans. Just when he thought he wouldn’t hear anything useful, he heard shouting.
“Nasir!”
“You ok, Zayn?”
“I’ll have my guys on this right away.”
“Let’s go, Nasir. The Ghul can stay and take care of this.”
He wondered what it was that made the King yell for his Ghul guard. He turned the radio off; the recording device would pick up anything else. He watched as Zayn and Nasir got into their car and drove off. Putting his car in gear, he pulled out and decided to follow them.
Passing the streets of Colorado Springs, he started to recognize some of the names. The chick from the bar lived two streets over. Deciding on a detour, he turned down her street and drove to the end of the cul-de-sac. Grabbing his black bag, he got out of his car and headed to her back door. Looking around her house and inside the window of the bathroom, he noticed no alarm indicators on the windowpanes. Hopefully she didn’t have a system installed. Setting his bag down and getting out his lock-picking set, he opened her back door.
Walking in through the kitchen undetected, he noticed that all the lights were off except for the bedroom. Slipping his leather gloves on, he grabbed his knife and made his way to the front of the house. Looking around the doorframe to the bedroom, he saw a camouflage jacket sitting on the chair. Thinking to himself that is an odd style for a girl with class to wear, he tried to listen for movement. He heard the steps of what sounded like boots. On full alert now, he backed into the shadows and waited for the person in bathroom to appear.
Dominic heard the toilet flush and saw a shadow being cast on the ground. He noticed that the figure was different from what he remembered Adara’s being. Peeking around the door, he recognized the Ghul uniform. With the Ghul’s back turned to him, he was able to sneak up behind him. Taking the butt of the knife, he hit the Ghul in the back of the head, right over the spinal cord. The brunt of the force sent the Ghul to the ground as he lost consciousness.
Dominic picked the unconscious body up from the ground and carried him over to the table in the dining room; here he secured the body so there was no
room for escape as he reached for his knife. Dominic felt the twinge of hunger set in as he realized it had been a while since he last ate. Walking into the kitchen, he saw an apple on the counter and grabbed it. Walking back into the dining room, he pulled up a chair and began to cut slices of the apple to feed himself. He watched intently, waiting for the Ghul to awaken so he could begin his torture. The Ghul started to stir, letting out a small moan before pulling against the rope trying to get free. “Hello, my name is Dominic, and you and I need to chat.”
The Ghul’s eyes opened, and for a split second he was confused, before he realized he was tied to the table. His eyes shot over to Dominic, and he watched him as the smile crossed Dominic’s face. The Ghul growled, anticipating the next moments to come. Dominic sat up from the chair and ran the tip of the knife over the Ghuls calf, up his thigh, down the middle of his stomach and across his throat. “You should know this is going to hurt, and it might get a bit messy.”
Dominic laughed while stabbing the knife in the left arch of the Ghuls foot and slowly worked up his leg. The sound of the victim’s muffled screams through the gag soothed Dominic as he dragged the knife up his body. The blood started dripping on the table, running down the end and spilling onto the white floor. Dominic cut the Ghul up limb by limb; he wanted the King to know no one was safe.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The sun shone through the cracks of the blinds, waking Nikole from her dream state. Her eyes weak and sore from crying all night, she tried to turn her head to the right to see if he was still there. Surprisingly her body did what she wanted. The sunlight gleamed off his golden blonde hair; his smooth, white skin appeared to shimmer in the light. His cheekbones, his arms, his chest, rose and fell with each breath.
“Excuse me?” she whispered, trying to get his attention. “Hello…” He didn’t even move because her voice was so soft. Turning her head to the left, she looked around the room, trying to take in all of the surroundings. She moved her fingers; she felt the sheet next to her leg move. Her fingers were working today. This was good. Feeling the sheet start to bunch in her hands, she cracked a small smile. She could do this; she could sit herself up. She tried to move her arms. Her muscles ached and screamed at her as she bent them at the elbow and started to apply pressure on them. She winced at the pain. Maybe she was trying to do too much too soon.
Feeling the need to keep trying, she wiggled her toes and she watched the sheet move at the end of the bed. She wasn’t paralyzed by fear; she could do this. She needed to be able to get up; it was more important than anything else. She focused on her right leg, mentally telling it to bend, letting out a tiny scream at the pain soaring through her body. She was determined to sit up. Planting her right heel in the bed and bracing her palms on either side of her ribs, she pushed on all three limbs, even as the pain seared her insides. She screamed even as she felt her body moving.
She sat up two inches and lost control, dropping her body back on the bed. “Damn it!” She let out a long deep breath. There had to be a way to get his attention. Turning her head to the side, she looked at him again. She looked at him again, trying to recall if she had seen him before. Did he know who she was? Surely not, if he had he would have called Zayn, wouldn’t he? She let out another breath and heard a small noise. “That’s IT!” she thought. Puckering her lips together and blowing, she heard it, a whistle. Her spirits soared as she licked her lips two times, took a deep breath, and whistled as loud as she could.
Alec shot up in the seat on full alert. Looking around for danger, he realized she was awake.
“You’re awake. Well, how are you feeling?”
She smiled at him, relieved that she could communicate this time and she wouldn’t have to stay in bed forever. “I am feeling better,” she softly said.
“You can talk.” Alec smiled down at her. “That’s great; I am Alec by the way.” He dropped his hand to Nikole’s and gave it a small squeeze.
“I am Nikole.” She breathed in deeply; relieved she could actually be heard.
“Nikole, you have been severely injured. Do you remember us talking about it yesterday?”
She shook her head. “Not really, only something about me being really hurt and in bad shape. The whole thing is a blur.”
Alec looked over her dressings, inspecting the wounds to see how much they had healed. Going to the bathroom and bringing out materials to place new dressings on her arms, he pulled up the chair close to her bedside and started to work. “Well, I am a former EMT for the military. When I retired I bought this land from the King. I have installed security monitors all over the mountain, and when I saw someone in my building, I went to investigate.”
She quietly listened and watched his methodic attention to detail as he cleaned her cuts and burns. “You bought all this from King Zayn? Did you tell him someone was using the building?”
He shook his head at her as he put more ointment on her arm over the stitches to reduce the possibility of a scar. “No, I didn’t call him; I didn’t think I had to. Do you have family looking for you?”
She turned away, tears starting to swell in her eyes. “I do, and Zayn is my akh.”
Alec froze as he heard that. He glanced up from his work and met her eyes. The King’s okht? “You are the Princess Nikole?” She nodded slowly looking at his reactions. She tried to speak but he cut her off. “I need to get you home right now. I am sure they are looking everywhere for you.”
She wanted to speak but stopped her thoughts more clear today than yesterday when she woke for the first time. She went against Zayn’s orders and wound up in trouble, captured, tortured. Nikole wasn’t entirely ready to face the hard ramifications of her actions. “No, no, Alec not yet.”
He looked at her confused. “Why don’t you want me to call and get you home?”
Sucking in a breath she whispered, “I am not ready to go back to my akh. This is entirely my fault, and I can’t face him. Not yet.”
Nikole felt her face flush and her emotions started to take over. Her tears ran down her face and she fisted her hands. The pain in her heart was far worse than her body. “I never should have gone after Derrik alone. I went against my akh’s wishes. He….He was right. I was foolish, and now look what I have done. I almost died, and Zayn would have been all alone forever because of me. I can’t see him, not yet. What, what did they do to me?”
Alec took his thumb, wiped away her tears, and calmly started to describe what he saw. “You were strapped to the metal table with metal cuffs. Your legs were seared with something, leaving burns across them. Your arms were cut open; some bone was showing. You have a cut across your body and your face is severely bruised. When I noticed what was going on, it looked like two of your captors were fighting. By the time I got there, one man was gone and one man was dead. A third man looked like he was going to kill you, so I took him out.”
Nikole looked up at him, gratitude and amazement in her eyes. “Thank you for saving my life.”
“If you are the royal family, how did they get you? Rumour has it you can teleport. I never saw Zayn teleport when I fought in his military.”
“I can teleport, and I tried, but somehow something was stopping me. The only thing I thought of at the time was they had someone who had mind control and was blocking me from leaving. Eventually I was just in too much pain to even attempt it.”
He listened to her talk about what happened. The way she looked speaking of the event and her akh, the tears in her eyes, her tragic event. He couldn’t help but admire her spirit and fight. “You can stay here for a bit. We don’t have to call your akh just yet. Do you want to sit up, try a new position? I am sure your body must be stiff from lying like that for two days straight.”
“Yes, that would be great. I tried earlier and hurt myself.” He stood and pulled the covers down just a bit from her shoulders. He slipped his arm behind her body and his hand under her right arm. Slowly lifting her up, he heard her whimper in pain. She tried to hold it in, not wanti
ng him to see her cry anymore. He adjusted her pillow and moved her hair from her face. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he repositioned the covers around her lower half.
“Is that better?”
“Yes thank you. may I have some water? My throat hurts and I think I should rest it.”
He nodded and headed to get her some water from the kitchen. Bringing her back the drink, he sat down in the chair. “Would you like me to give you some privacy or would you like anything else?”
“Can you stay? Maybe we could watch some television or listen to music. I want to try and walk, but I’m tired. Maybe later we can see if I can move.”
He went to his dresser and turned on the radio. The sound of Beethoven floated through the room. He then came to the other side of the bed and sat on top of the covers. Leaning back against the headboard, they both sat there, listening to the music. Nikole closed her eyes and tried to let the music soothe her soul and the pain she was feeling. She angled her body until she found his shoulder, she laid her head down letting it rest on him, finally feeling some comfort. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he took his hand and grasped Nikole’s. They sat like that until they both fell asleep.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Zayn woke up on the floor of his room. He had drunk himself into a stupor over the idea of never seeing Nikole again. He grabbed his head; he felt the pounding, and he could hear his heart beating loud, the sounds echoing in his mind. Rolling over slowly, he started to pull himself up on the edge of the bed. The walls were spinning and his body was aching. He still wasn’t sure what happened last night. He positioned himself on the bed, propped himself against the bedpost, and noticed all of his pictures were broken.
