Tainted Energy (The Energy Series Book 1)

by Lynn Vroman

  Finally.

  Lena

  Why did steps in scary castles last about a mile? Not that I’ve been in many scary castles, but I’ve sat through plenty of movies.

  I tried to swing around to get a look at Zander, but his limp body, arched where Casimir held his shirt, just bounced and flopped. When I twisted too far the Warden gave a jerk, making my teeth rattle.

  Four flights later, he kicked a solid wooden door open, flinging us in with no effort. The Warden straightened his muslin, button-down shirt, tucking the ends into his pants. He smiled while smoothing back his dull brown hair. “My apologies for not offering a small repast, but I had not expected company so soon.”

  I wanted to claw out his colorless eyes, beat on him until he cried like a baby. But I could only picture it because my frozen toes and no sleep weren’t gonna let me do anything. “You won’t win.”

  I wanted it to sound threatening.

  He laughed.

  My ego stung as much as my feet.

  He shut the door, a click of the key in the lock following. I crawled over to test it, in case I heard wrong. The thing didn’t budge. A look through the antiquated keyhole showed him humming as he sauntered down the stairs. I slumped to the floor and took in the room.

  From what I could see in the dim light, a large bed occupied most of the back wall. Well, it was a mattress on a sleigh frame with strands of decaying straw poking through threadbare cloth. Calling it a bed might be pushing it. The walls and floor were wet stone with puddles in all the edges and corners. The combination of wetness and straw gave the room a musty smell that turned the acid in my stomach. A small window, the sole access to the outside, sat on the far wall, its size like one of those windows in submarines. Portholes, I think they were called.

  I drug my body to Zander’s. My toes stung with every move, so numb I’d probably have to cut them off if I ever made it out of here. Once I crawled to his side, I rolled him onto his back and put my head to his heart. A faint thumping met my ear.

  “Zander,” I said, shaking him. “Wake up. You need to get up.” I had no idea if that’d bring his energy back. Probably not.

  Silence validated my thought.

  His shallow breathing kept me from going crazy. He lived. That was all that mattered at the moment. I pressed my body close to utilize his heat and tangled my feet in his pant legs. We lay like that for a while, my toes feeling like they might break off, and Zander, unconscious and pale.

  Christ, wake the hell up.

  I covered my ears to block out the sounds of water dripping on the floor in soft plinks. Just when I wanted to start screaming, that bright blue light zipped through the window. The effect was strong, but my body was so damn busted, I thankfully didn’t get all crazy in love with it again.

  “Zander?” I leaned in closer. “Wake up. Open your eyes.”

  Hot tears flowed down my cheeks, freezing as soon as they hit my jawline. They went ignored as I kept pleading, cheering on every movement he made. When he moaned, I cried, inching closer to his body.

  He wrapped his arms around me.

  I sunk my face in the crook of his neck.

  He patted my shoulders, his strength at about a two.

  I kept my face smashed against his neck.

  When his hold reached a seven, stingy strands of heat coursed through every part of my body except my blue feet.

  “Lena.” He croaked like a frog.

  “I’m here.” I snuggled closer to his warmth, allowing the pull his presence always had to wash over me.

  “Where,” his hold slackened as he tried to get up, “where are we?”

  I helped him sit. He steadied himself and scooted over to lean against the foot of the bed, eyes hitting every visible corner of the room. “This isn’t good.”

  Give the man a cigar!

  Hysteria bubbled in my throat making my laugh sound more like an angry hyena. He held out a hand, and without hesitation, I burrowed into his side, folding myself as close and as small as I could next to him. “What’re we gonna do?”

  “Give me a minute, okay? I’ll figure something out.”

  I stayed in his arms, allowing the hysteria to overwhelm and dissolve. My breathing returned to normal. The color of my toes didn’t. Desperate, I tucked my feet under his legs, animal instinct taking over. Heat first, think later.

  He jumped. “Your feet!”

  Still unsteady, he bent to cradle what were now popsicles. Trembling hands rubbed them until they stung. Blood started to circulate and a hint of color washed over the tops. After sliding both of my feet in one of his own thick socks, he sat on them. He then curled his bare foot underneath his opposite leg and pulled me close to his side, grunting from the effort.

  Pain shot through my throbbing toes as they steadily became warmer–thanks to the guy who made sure I landed here in the first place. That’d be discussed later; bigger things needed to be fixed now.

  Squeezing my upper arms, I glanced around to the other side of the bed, making out a mound in the dark corner. Words left my mouth right before my feet slid from under Zander’s butt. “What the–”

  Relief and hate didn’t usually hang out together. New feelings for a new place, I guess.

  At least the lump wasn’t my mother.

  I struggled to my feet and hobbled to the corner. He looked so weak and frail. Not anything like the drunk I’d grown up with. His usual yellow-tinged skin was now white, but he didn’t seem to be suffering much. At least he had his shoes.

  “I thought you were dead.” My voice shook. Disappointment didn’t even cover it.

  “What’s goin’ on, girl? Where we at?”

  I calculated the time he’d been here. Six days. Not long enough. “He should’ve killed you.”

  His death was the one positive to come out of this whole mess. I didn’t even get that.

  The coward.

  My father.

  I yanked off his shoes and socks while he kicked at my hands. Six days being here weakened his body, giving me a slight advantage, even with the lack of sleep and freezing feet. The new rush of adrenaline didn’t hurt either. Somewhere in the back of my mind, Zander’s plea to stop registered. His pull didn’t come anywhere near as potent as the hatred for the sniveling piece of shit in front of me.

  “What’re you doing? I’m gonna freeze.” Dad’s whine boiled my temper.

  The bruise he created still marked my cheek, and my body wasn’t as strong as it could have been, thanks to him. I stopped grappling with his feet and smacked his face, finding strength in his pitiful crying. I smacked him again, loving the power–and somewhere deep inside, hating myself for loving it. After the fourth slap, his lip bled.

  By the time I raised my hand for the fifth, Zander caught my arm. “Stop, Lena.” His soft voice screamed loud in my ears.

  My vision cleared enough to see what I’d done. My father, curled even tighter, crying as he held his bleeding face.

  I backed up, still holding his shoes and socks in one hand, until I reached the opposite wall. Sitting to pull the socks on, I threw Zander back his, and shoved my father’s old canvas shoes on my stinging feet. Rage pumped blood faster through my veins. It killed me to admit that for all these years, I let that whining blob huddled in the corner terrorize us.

  Not anymore.

  As I tied his cheap sneakers, Zander lowered beside me. “He makes things a little more complicated.”

  I finished, not bothering to look up. Even the strong dose of Zander heroin didn’t crumble my new resolve. “No, he doesn’t.” I stood. “He stays.”

  “He’ll die here.”

  “Good.” I limped to the window, ignoring the wails coming from the corner. “Oh, what? It’s okay for the son of a bitch to scare me, make me weak? You’re all right with that, but me leaving him here is a no-no? Kiss my ass.”

  “Don’t sink to his level…or mine. I know sorry won’t make up for it, but it’s all I got right now.” Zander put his hands on my sh
oulders.

  I stiffened, shrugging them off. Sorry didn’t even scrape the surface. “He stays.”

  “Please don’t leave me here, peanut.”

  I pushed Zander on the way to the corner. I didn’t move when Dad’s lanky arms wrapped around my legs. He whined, said he loved me. When he stayed at my feet, I kicked him, right in the stomach. “Don’t ever say those words to me again.”

  Zander was right behind me. “Please, Lena.”

  Another shove and I backed away from them both. “He’s your problem. Don’t expect any help.” I pushed both hands through my spiky hair and faced my dad. “And if you do make it back, you’re on your own. Me and Mom are done with you.”

  He nodded, tucking his bare feet under him.

  I glanced back at Zander. “Happy? Christ, maybe if I beat the shit out of first-graders you’d have tried to keep the demons away, huh?” I snorted, looking out the window before meeting his gaze head-on. “You two deserve each other.”

  “You’re better than me. You always were.” His voice shook, right along with his lip.

  Oh, man, I really didn’t want to feel the pity creeping in. “Whatever. Right now all I care about is getting outta here.”

  I waited for an answer for all of five seconds before I cleared my head, calmed my breathing, and started thinking. I checked the door hinges, trying to push the rusted metal stays out of their homes. When that failed, I went back to the window, figuring the odds of making it to the bottom alive. Knowing a hundred-foot drop would kill us, I scrapped that idea for good.

  The entire hour I spent trying to find an out, Zander spent it sitting on the bed watching me.

  “The least you could do is act like you’re trying.”

  He swallowed, anxiety written all over his face, but when he said, “I have a plan,” the elation flowing through my body pushed out any concern. Hope was an even more powerful drug than Zander heroin.

  I sat beside him and grabbed his wrist, squeezing until he winced. “Tell me.”

  His face paled, and he swallowed.

  “Your energy. Right, yeah, good. They took Tarek to, shit, wherever they take your bad guys. Find him first, make sure he’s okay and get to Wilma. You think you can lead her to him?”

  He nodded, his eyes pleading. “I can try.” He hesitated. “I’ll do anything. I meant that. I’m not a monster, Lena.”

  My heart sank. “Prove it.”

  Zander trailed a finger down my cheek before I could find the desire to pull away. “I do love you. From the first time I saw you.”

  I closed my eyes, fighting the old emotions, wanting to believe him–having a hard time doing it. “How long can you leave your body?”

  He took the hint, removing his finger from my face. “A few hours. I can try a couple times, but the longer I’m away, the weaker my body gets.”

  Well, his weakening body was something I was more than willing to sacrifice. “Yeah, okay… do what you can.”

  Hmm. Nope, I wasn’t really the better person. But I was completely okay with that.

  He lay flat on the smelly, wet straw-filled bed. “When I go, my energy is going to affect you. You need to keep your eyes closed, that’ll make it easier.”

  I sat on the edge of the bed. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Seriously, Lena. I can’t have you jumping out the window to follow me.”

  “I won’t go out the window. God, give me a little credit.”

  He laughed a little. “I’m pretty irresistible.”

  There was my Zander. The one I’d miss for the rest of my life after I got over hating the real Zander. Hopefully, said life would last longer than the next few hours.

  Letting him off the hook, I snuggled beside him and closed my eyes. His arms wrapped me up and held tight for a few minutes, his chest hiccupping. Didn’t have to look up to know he cried.

  After one big cleansing sigh moved his chest, his voice grew stronger. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  “I’m not moving.”

  “You don’t have to. Just keep your eyes closed.”

  After my nod, he went silent. In a matter of seconds, his body became warm and then scorching. I stayed close, not feeling the least bit guilty that I absorbed as much of his heat as possible. My lids stayed slammed over my eyes, though. When his energy separated, I had to use every ounce of willpower not to open them. Yes, the urge to follow his light out the window was a tad stronger than I would ever have admitted aloud.

  Before he left, his energy ran over my body until it reached my feet. Through my dad’s old shoes, my toes ignited with succulent heat, taking away any lingering cold.

  The act softened me a little more. “Be careful,” I said, not knowing if he heard me.

  After he left, my heartbeat returned to normal. Dad’s screeching registered as my ears began to work again, too. I opened my eyes to find him huddling in the corner, staring out the window in terror. Moving closer to Zander’s body, I tried to ignore him, but after a few minutes of listening to his whining, anger overrode the need to sleep.

  “Damn it!”

  I leapt onto my newly warmed feet and went to stand over my father. He looked at me with the pleading eyes of a lost puppy.

  I punched him square in the nose.

  The loud crack of my knuckles connecting with his face had me jumping back, a little awed by the sound. Unfortunately, that hit made him cry harder. Balling up my already sore fist, I put all my strength behind another punch, this time to his jaw. His snores clouded the room in seconds.

  That did the job.

  Shaking my hand, I climbed on the smelly bed, letting the warmth and the memory of last night send me to unconsciousness.

  Tarek

  Exemplar…

  Dizziness attacked his brain the moment his eyes opened. Clenching his jaw, he fought the nausea and waited for the world to stop spinning. It was no mystery where he lay–on a bed in a cell under the authority building. Of course, the bed was as soft as a cloud and the room stayed at a perfect seventy-four degrees. They were civilized here, right? No need to make someone uncomfortable right before slaughter.

  Yes, they knew how to be civil.

  Bastards.

  He pulled himself up, careful not to make any sudden moves. A thin layer of sweat made his prison-issued cotton shirt and matching pants stick to his legs and chest.

  One shot. That’s all it took to knock him on his ass for hours–hopefully. Sometimes it lasted for days.

  Here it comes…

  He stumbled to the bathroom in time to save the front of his shirt from being decorated with puke. Side effects of tasing were never fun, especially with a cocktail of paralyzing sedatives laced through the jolt. The toilet received all his affection. Hard tile wasn’t as comfortable as the bed, but he sat on the bathroom floor anyway until the worst of the nausea subsided.

  Cold water to the face helped, rinsing his mouth out felt even better. He half-crawled back to the bed, refusing to lay down and give in to his body’s craving for sleep. Another hour of sitting completely still ticked by before the room stopped moving and his stomach decided to give him a break.

  The execution would be soon, Exemplians didn’t believe in prolonging the inevitable. His energy would read pure, but Lena’s should have, too. No doubt Mateusz would fudge his reading like he did hers.

  Farren better have gone to Wilma, or…

  Damn. He’d be dead within the next couple of hours.

  No sense wasting energy trying to open a portal–the building had a block for guys like him.

  A knock on the door made him tense. It’d only take one good hit to drop whoever walked through. He’d figure out the rest once he made it into the hallway. When the door opened, Tarek’s body coiled, itching to strike. If he had to die, might as well take one or two with him.

  Listen up! Don’t do anything stupid. Just sit through his bullshit, and we’ll get you out.

  Wilma.

  Hiding the smile took a hell of a lot
more effort than keeping the contents of his stomach off his shirt. Who would’ve thought that woman’s craggy voice could relax him?

  Mateusz waltzed in, his head sporting a couple bandages, and sat at the small, metal table in the middle of the room. He gestured for Tarek to sit as though they were about to have dinner.

  Sure, he’d play this game.

  Tarek sat in the cool, low-backed chair and waited as the guy took time to set up his computer. Wilma’s promise was the only thing keeping Mateusz’s teeth in his mouth.

  “Now,” Mateusz cleared his throat and folded his hands on the table, “Tarek Montague, you have been charged with the cycle-interfering of a Tainted.” His voice as calm as ever, continued, “Do you have anything you’d like to say before punishment is carried out?”

  “Is she worth it?”

  The older Protector kept his face placid, saying nothing. He couldn’t hide that little twitch by his right eye, though.

  No, the silent act wouldn’t work today. “Well?”

  The twitch went into overdrive. Mateusz stood, eye going crazy, and went to turn off the corner receptors and video feed before sitting back down. “The boy spilled it, did he? Ah, well, guess I owe you something.”

  “You think?”

  Acting like he hadn’t heard, Mateusz continued, his voice professional. “Kendal went to Arcus, years ago, asking Casimir for help.”

  “And Lena knew.”

  Mateusz nodded. “Lena came to me, told me she’d found a group of Exemplians siphoning energy to him, bringing him…people to experiment with. Kendal’s name topped the list.” Mateusz’s eyes clouded. “Lena thought I could talk sense into her, warned she’d go above my head if the situation wasn’t resolved. Now…why would she think I’d let that go? Would you have, if someone threatened Lena?”

  Don’t do anything stupid.

  Right.

  “I took care of her the next day, gave her a Tainted. She’s lucky Wilma fought for her. I wanted her energy annihilated.”

  Tarek’s fists curled under the table, and keeping his ass on the chair caused sweat to soak his shirt.