Nikon: #16 (Luna Lodge)

by Madison Stevens

  She wasn’t certain how much time had passed since Matt had last seen Nikon, but he couldn’t have gotten far. She hoped he was just outside talking to Cato. Her heart thundered in her chest at the thought of seeing all their friends again and starting a new life with the man she loved.

  Her steps slowed slightly. She hadn’t dared even think the words, but now they seemed to be bursting out of her.

  Leah loved him. She had always loved Nikon, and above all, she never wanted to be apart from him again.

  A large smile slipped on her face. She couldn’t wait to tell him when she saw him.

  Her pace picked back up again at the thought. Large double doors stood ahead near the only real light in the hall. Leah hurried to the front of the huge wooden doors marking the headmaster’s office.

  She knocked, and the sound echoed around her.

  “Yes?” the headmaster called from inside.

  “It’s, um, Leah.”

  There was a pause before he spoke again. “Please come in.”

  Leah opened the doors. They were much heavier than she would have expected. She stepped inside.

  The room was even more magnificent than the rest of the school. Unsurprising considering how the headmaster acted.

  Hundreds of books lined the walls, all freshly dusted and looking just as new as they day they were bought. In one corner, a soft-looking leather couch sat, along with a reading chair the same color nearby.

  The center of the room was dominated by a large desk with a chair both in front and behind it.

  The headmaster motioned toward the chair in front. Leah took the seat.

  Last time she’d been in the room, she had been so nervous that nothing had really stuck in her head. This time she didn’t want that to be the case.

  “Miss Perkins,” he said slowly. “I see you’re hear without your beau.”

  Leah cleared her throat and nodded, trying not to laugh at the very dated term.

  “I believe he’s getting some fresh air.” She smiled.

  The headmaster nodded and glanced through the window outside despite the fact that they were currently at the back of the school. “What can I do for you?”

  Leah frowned. He’d asked her earlier to come by and let him know her answer. Now that she was ready, he didn’t seem to want to hear it.

  “I’ve decided on the position,” she said. The headmaster nodded but didn’t seem to be paying much attention. “Thank you for the offer, but I’m afraid I just can’t accept.”

  “So you can be with your hybrid?” a voice said from behind her.

  Her mouth fell open as she turned and found Matt standing in the doorway. “I, my, what?”

  The teacher chuckled as he stepped into the room, letting the doors close loudly behind him.

  “Be careful,” the headmaster shouted. “That is mahogany!”

  Matt glared at the headmaster. “Shut the fuck up already. Weeks of listening to your constant bitching. If I have to listen to anymore tonight, I might decide that witnesses are a problem.”

  Leah glanced back over as the fat little man turned pale.

  Matt narrowed his eyes on her. “So you’ll just run off with your little hybrid friend?”

  Leah shook her head. None of this was making any sense.

  “I don’t understand,” she said finally. “What are you talking about?”

  A smirk filled Matt’s face. The face of the man she’d once considered handsome was now contorted to something horrible.

  “We know about your hybrid friend,” he said. “At first the deal was just supposed to be the Vestal, but Hendrix figured that we might fetch a better price if we had a mated set. So I had to sit here, pretending to be a teacher.”

  Leah stood, blinking. She shook as she did so, but she needed to find a way to get out of there. Whatever they had planned for her, it wasn’t good.

  “Who’s Hendrix?” she asked. The more she could keep him talking, the better.

  Matt took a step forward, and she backed up against the desk. The way he was looking at her made her feel a little sick, like she was some sort of injured animal.

  “I work for a company called the Phoenix Corps,” he said. “Among other things, we procure people like yourself and your little boyfriend. Then we sell you all to the highest bidder. Currently certain parties in Russia are our best customers.”

  “No,” Leah whispered. “How could you do this?”

  Matt shrugged. “Got to make a living somehow. He laughed. “Teaching doesn’t really pay shit.”

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be like this,” she said. “This isn’t you.”

  Matt’s face contorted momentarily as he stared her down. “You don’t know a fucking thing about me,” he said. “All you know is the fake profile I’ve set up to draw you in. Sometimes you almost made it too easy. You let me control all the conversations, believed all my lies.”

  Now she thought back to all their conversations, all the times she chatted with him. The things he said to her. Now that she thought about it, Matt made sure to always be around her when she was on break. Leah’s head spun.

  Maybe if she’d asked around more, she would have realized she was being played. It didn’t matter. The trap had already been sprung.

  Leah needed to make her escape now.

  Matt nodded behind her.

  Just as she turned, a sharp point sank into her arm, and she sighed as she slumped forward. The headmaster stepped away, a syringe in his hand.

  Matt sprang forward and caught her in his arms. “Just a little something to help you sleep,” he said softly.

  The world spun around her as he sat her back in the chair.

  Leah lulled her head from side to side before shutting her eyes completely and falling unconscious.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The more time that passed, the more nervous Nikon grew. He was glad to have Tycho there with him, but the enemy had already gotten to Leah, it might not be enough.

  He roamed the halls as quickly as he could, avoiding people at every turn. The halls grew darker as he moved to the back of the school. One lone light at the end of the hall led the way.

  Nikon breathed in deeply. The faint scent of vanilla filled the air. Leah had to be close, and he was betting she was behind the giant ass doors at the end of the hall. He raced down the hall and threw open the doors with a growl.

  The heavy scent of Leah and two men filled the air.

  Nikon frowned. One scent smelled like the headmaster he had met earlier. If that son of a bitch had done anything to Leah, the hybrid would rip his fucking throat out with his bare hands.

  A sound behind him made him turn, and he readied himself for the attack. Instead he found Tycho there staring at him.

  “She was here,” Nikon said.

  Tycho frowned. “They must be moving her to a vehicle for transportation to the facility where the process them. We need to find her before that happens. Once she’s there, there’s nothing I can do.”

  Nikon nodded.

  Tycho pulled out a gun from his shoulder holster and handed it to Nikon. “Shoot first. We don’t have time to play this quietly.”

  It wasn’t ideal considering where they were and how fast the police would be called, but in this situation, there really wasn’t much choice. He nodded at the other man.

  They quietly made their way back into the hall, following Leah’s scent.

  * * *

  Her head throbbed as Leah awakened. Whatever they had injected her with left her feeling slightly groggy and sick to her stomach. She leaned over to the side and vomited.

  “Watch the shoes,” said a familiar voice. She could almost hear the sneer.

  Leah looked up from where she sat and found the headmaster standing next to her. His disapproving stare bore into her.

  Her first instinct was to tell him sorry until she remembered just why she even felt ill in the first place. She wished that she’d vomited right on him.

 
They were outside now. The air was chilly, and her lovely velvet dress was likely ruined by sitting on the ground. This was not at all how she had planned to spend the evening.

  “What are we doing?” Leah asked after a few moments of trying to pull out the words that were jumbled in her head.

  “You are waiting on your transportation out of here,” he said.

  Leah frowned. He said it as if this wasn’t kidnapping. As if she were just waiting for her ride after getting drunk. To anyone nearby, that was likely exactly what it would look like. The lush of a new teacher got loaded and her male co-worker was just taking her home like a gentleman.

  She snorted loudly. “So what’s in it for you? You’re not a fake, I’m presuming, unlike Matt.”

  The headmaster’s face twitched, and he seemed a little distraught by her question, as if it were beneath him to resort to something like this. Leah might have laughed if the sound wouldn’t hurt her head.

  “Sometimes these things just happen,” he said.

  Leah raised a brow. “So sometimes kidnapping a woman just happens when you’re around?”

  The man puffed up his chest. “It’s my duty to make ensure the survival of this school,” he said loudly. “I was bestowed a duty to ensure the well being of this school. I know some people can’t understand the honor that entails, but that would require a higher class of person I guess.” He sniffed disdainfully.

  Leah struggled to her feet, but the effects of the drug kept her knees weak and destroyed her sense of balance.

  “Seriously?” she said. “You’ve drugged me and are waiting to send me off to God knows where, and you have the balls to talk to me about class? Fuck you, you asshole.”

  The headmaster gasped at her use of language. His face pinched in rage.

  “I shouldn’t be surprised you’d act this way,” he said, “considering the type of animal you chose to associate with regularly.”

  Anger pulsed through her at the small-minded man in front of her. Leah did the only thing she could think of, she hauled back and punched him right in his smug face.

  The blow landed squarely on the nose, releasing a spray of blood. Her hand hurt like hell, but she was glad to see him stumbling backward, holding his face, his face scrunched in pain.

  “Oh, you cunt,” he shouted. “I think you broke my nose.”

  Leah struggled to her feet. She was able to brace herself against a side wall, but taking steps was going to be more than a challenge.

  “Good!” she shouted. “I hope I did break your nose!”

  The headmaster pulled out a handkerchief from his coat pocket and held it over the gushing blood. Clear bruising was forming around his eyes and the bridge of his nose. Not to mention that his glasses looked like they would never be the same shape again.

  He reached out and gripped her tightly. She could already feel the marks starting to form as he twisted her arm.

  “You think you’re so smart,” he said. “Well, I’m not the whore who’s being sold down river. I’m the one who’s going to be sitting on a fat pile of cash in all this while they experiment on you in some godforsaken country.”

  “So it was all about the money after all,” Leah spat out. “For as much as you try to act all superior, you don’t have a penny to your name.” She smiled smugly at him.

  He shook he hard as he stepped closer to where she was. He shoved his bloody face in front of her own.

  “Of course it’s about the money,” the man said. “This school is just the start. With the money they are paying, there’s no limit to where I could go.”

  Leah laughed loudly this time and only stopped when he shook her so hard her teeth rattled.

  “You’ll always just be the headmaster of this shitty school in their eyes and nothing more,” she said with venom. “And you won’t even be that for much longer.”

  A couple made their way through the parking lot not far away. The headmaster had been so concerned with showing her up, he hadn’t been doing his job of keeping an eye out.

  “Help!” Leah shouted, her head spinning. “Rape! The headmaster is holding me against my will!”

  His head snapped over to where she was looking. They watched as the couple turned to stare at them.

  “Please!” Leah screamed. “Call the police! The headmaster is hurting me!”

  “You little cunt,” he said while twisting her arm. “Shut your damned mouth.”

  “No.”

  She looked him dead in the eye. It was better to end up with a broken arm than to be taken away. Not to mention that the more commotion she made, the more likely it was that Nikon would find her.

  “Help! Please!” she shouted again.

  The man from the couple ran toward, a deep frown on his face. A loud pop echoed through the air. The man fell instantly. A scream could be heard before two more pops rang through the air, and the woman fell.

  “What are you doing?” the headmaster shouted.

  Headmaster Williams let go of her arm and raced over to where the couple now lay crumpled on the ground, blood spreading from their chests. The man stared up from the ground, eyes open and not breathing.

  She looked over toward the source of the noise. Matt stood next to the now familiar black car, gun still in hand.

  “I’m completing the mission,” he said coldly.

  Williams shook as he tried to search for a pulse on the man. Leah sank to the ground. Her legs finally giving out on her.

  “They’re dead,” the headmaster said. “Do you know what you’ve done, you fool? They were Grayson and Anita Babcock.”

  Matt shrugged. “They were a problem,” he said coolly. “I took care of them.”

  Bile rose in her throat as she listened to him. How could this be the same man she’d joked with during break? The two personalities just didn’t mesh into one in her head.

  Matt stared directly at her as he bypassed the two dead bodies on the ground. “Now we just need to finish the mission before more annoyances happen.”

  “Annoyances?” the headmaster nearly shrieked. “They were some of the biggest donors to the school. How am I supposed to explain this?”

  Matt shrugged as he continued toward Leah. “Not my fucking problem,” he said as he stepped in front of her. “Let’s go, princess.”

  Leah shook her head as she scooted away from the man. “Please,” she whispered. “Please don’t do this.”

  Matt squatted down in front of her. “Look,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed our time together, and if these Russian pricks weren’t paying a fortune, I would have had other things in mind for us.” Her stomach heaved at the idea of being with this monster. That he even thought it would have been a possibility was beyond her. “But I can’t turn down money like this, so stand up.”

  Leah shook her head again. She wasn’t going to just go because he asked.

  Matt sighed loudly. “Look, I don’t want to have to damage the goods, so get up on your own, and I won’t.”

  Leah pressed herself hard against the wall. The rough surface of the brick scrapped against her back.

  Matt stood and frowned down at her. “Funny,” he said after a moment. “I thought you’d be more compliant than this. Maybe we would have had more fun together than I thought.”

  His hand shot out to her arm, and he yanked her hard to her feet. Leah let out a yelp as her shoulder popped loudly. Pain coursed through her as her arm now dangled at her side.

  “Learned that move from a buddy.” Matt laughed. “Pops it right out of the socket. Hurts like hell but still easily fixable.”

  Tears trailed down her face as she looked up to him. His face was cold and unfeeling.

  “Now move,” he said firmly.

  Leah put one foot in front of the other as she made her way over to the car. Her whole body throbbed with each step.

  “One more step, and I blow your leg off.”

  She knew that voice. Leah let out a cry of relief as she turned and found Nikon standing over Willi
ams. His body lay slumped down on the ground near the dead couple, but he still seemed to be breathing.

  Her relief was quickly replaced by fear as Matt shoved her to the ground and raised his gun.

  The blast rang in her ears as she fell to the ground.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Nikon jerked to the side as Leah fell to the ground, distracting him. The bullet whizzed right by his head.

  “I’ve been waiting for you to show up,” Matt said.

  He knew the man standing across the way. Although he had only seen Matt the once, it was easy to recognize the piece of shit.

  Nikon considering returning fire, but it was too risky with Leah there. He ducked behind a nearby brick wall. Bullets pelted the wall near him.

  When he’d stopped, Nikon heard Leah cry out in pain. His heart pounded in his chest as he looked around the corner.

  Matt was holding her by her arm as her other arm dangled next to her in an unnatural way. His gun was pointed straight at her head.

  “Don’t make me hurt her,” the man called out. “And don’t think I won’t do it.”

  Leah was crying next to him but shook her head. “Get away from here,” she said quietly.

  Nikon ground his teeth together. In the distance, he spotted Tycho getting into position. The plan was to get Leah out of there, and then lay waste to anyone standing. He was particularly looking forward to watching the lights go out in the son of a bitch’s eyes. The important immediate thing was to protect Leah.

  The hybrid stepped out from behind the wall, hands held up, gun still in hand.

  Matt kept his gun pointed at Leah’s head, making sure the hybrid wouldn’t try anything funny with her there. “Toss it forward.”

  Nikon watched as his gun landed to the side away from Matt.

  “I knew you’d come for her.” Matt grinned. “Who wouldn’t over an sweet piece of ass like this?”

  Matt leaned down and nuzzled Leah.

  Leah jerked her head away but stopped when he shook her other arm.

  “Stay still,” he said sternly. “You know what I can do.”