“Difficult to kill a Halfling.” His breaths were heavy, labored. She listened to him inhale, exhale. There was a gurgling sound with each intake of air. “Have you read about the death and resurrection? Will gave you a Bible, right?”
She frowned. She didn’t want to hear Zero talk about death.
His lips cracked and bled as he continued. “It says that the Son gave up the ghost. The essence of heaven had kept him alive beyond what any normal man could endure. I think he finally asked death to take him. I never understood it. Until now.” Zero’s eyes closed. “It was a beautiful sacrifice, wasn’t it?”
She nodded, though with his eyes closed, he couldn’t see. But Nikki didn’t trust her voice to speak. Zero would hear her uncertainty. She needed to stay strong for him, and a broken voice wasn’t an act of strength.
He pulled a few more breaths. “Hey, I liked your hair with the Jinsu pencils.”
“I learned that from Raven.”
“I’ve never known Raven to wear pencils in his hair.”
Nikki grasped the edge of his T-shirt and gently tugged the material away from one of the cuts on his throat. “No. He taught me to drive through. I should have spent more time working on it. But after I almost planted the pencils in Raven’s chest, I didn’t really want to try it again.”
“Until now,” Zero croaked.
“Until now.”
“Remind me not to make you angry, ‘kay?”
She pressed her hand gently to his head and smoothed his hair again. “I’d never do that to you, Zero.” More tears followed, and they dropped from her onto him.
“Enough with the water works,” he whispered. “You’re getting me all wet.”
“This is completely my fault. If I hadn’t come to ask you about my past and what Vessler was planning, you wouldn’t be here.” Hopelessness stole through her system, followed quickly by anger. “Everyone warned me to stop poking into my past. To leave it alone, concentrate on who I am now, but I wouldn’t listen.”
“Yeah, you’re stubborn that way.”
Nikki nodded. Her stubbornness may have killed Zero. But then his upper body tightened and his hand rose to grasp hers. His bloody fingers trembled so much Nikki slid her hand into his to help steady him.
He took a moment to inspect the room beyond the cage. Two scientists were clicking away on computers and one of Vessler’s bodyguards hovered nearby the men. The room beyond the cage was fairly large, but Zero leaned closer as if to keep anyone out there from hearing.
“Listen to me, Nikki.” His voice was slightly stronger. “Stop blaming yourself for everything. You tried to take my place. I’ll never forget that as long as I live … however long that might be.” He grimaced, then gestured above them. “There’s an air vent in the ceiling.”
Nikki glanced into the rest of the room to make sure no one was watching them. The adjacent room off to the right — visible through a window behind the scientists — held Vessler. Nikki’s eyes followed Zero’s gaze. Across the ceiling, the bars were spaced farther apart. In the right corner a vent took the place of a small section of ceiling.
“You’re thin, Nikki. You can fit through. When the chance comes, I want you to run.”
“If I can fit, so can you.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. Good luck getting me up there.”
She considered the vent for a few seconds. That was all it took to know she’d never take the coward’s way out. Of course she could go for help. But she knew Vessler. If she left, even through a skinny air vent, he’d kill Zero. That, she’d never allow. “No. I just need some time to think. Time to pray. When we go, we go together. There’s no way I’ll leave you here.”
He squeezed her hand. “They can’t hurt me anymore. Run, Nikki. Run.” He passed out on her lap just in time to miss the creaking of the cage door.
Vessler’s men dragged her out. She caught a glimpse of an exam room adjacent to her cage, where a doctor stitched the wound in Vessler’s chest. When they took her from the cage, she saw Vessler smile.
She’d assaulted their boss, and in doing so had assaulted their livelihood and manhood. If they beat her, so what? At least they weren’t focusing their attention on Zero anymore. The first few blows were to her face, causing spikes of pain from her head down through her body. With the wingcuff secured to her midsection, keeping her from bracing herself in any way, each strike was unlike anything she’d experienced since tapping into her Halfling power. But Nikki’d been in karate tournaments where the abuse was nearly this bad. She could take it. She had to. She needed to protect Zero.
Vine shut off the barbeque grill for Will while the other Lost Boys — and Girls — shared what information they had. Nikki’d been gone for nearly two hours. Vegan had just told them Nikki had also snuck out earlier in the day to visit Zero, who now wasn’t returning her calls or texts. Vine ran inside the house and tried to log on to the network. Zero was always reachable there.
He tapped his foot while the computer booted up. Something wasn’t right — about any of it. When the computer screen flashed on, he sprang into action, tapping in his personal access code.
Vine swallowed the thick ball of apprehension when a blank screen appeared. He tried again, slowly this time, making sure he entered every letter accurately. Again, a black screen. The network was down. That had never happened. He ran outside, sliding through the patio doorway.
He started to tell Will and the Halflings what he’d discovered, but his words stopped in the moment he reached the backyard. Everyone was looking at the sky. Vine looked up as well, but the sun shot straight into his eyes. He slammed them shut for a few seconds, and when he reopened them it was darker, and a sound much like a tornado became louder as moments ticked past. He realized the sky was filled with wings, enough to block the setting sun. There had to be twenty Halflings, all descending on the backyard like a great flock of birds.
Vine searched out Will on the back porch. “Who are they? What are they doing here?”
Will didn’t answer, just stared at this new group as they sailed toward the house.
As they neared, the wind smacked with such force, it blew over the patio table. Chair cushions swirled into the violent current of air. Winter and Vegan’s hair flew in all directions, while Raven, Mace, and Glimmer seemed to be bracing themselves against the onslaught.
Vine’s gaze shot around the patio, then back to the sky. They were outnumbered by more than two to one. Mace stepped forward and stood a little in front of Will. Mace always took the lead now, and if these Halflings were here for a war, he was ready. Unlike the rest, who were still shell-shocked, with their clothing plastered to their bodies like they were all trapped in a wind tunnel.
Vegan and Winter finally began to move, and both girls worked to cluster and hold their long hair away from their faces. Vine’s heart kicked up and adrenaline sluiced through his system.
As the twenty-some Halflings touched down in the backyard, one took center stage. His flock of giant, graceful winged creatures all fell into place behind him.
Vine instantly disliked the guy. And after a quick sizing up of the Halflings on the porch, the strange leader’s gaze lingered a moment on Vine. The dude’s face said the feeling was mutual.
For a short stretch of time after they returned her to the cage, the room was blessedly quiet, giving Nikki time to examine Zero’s wounds, hold him while he rested, and pray. “Please, see Zero safely out of this. I don’t really want to die either, but if dying will protect him, I will. No matter what my future after that holds. I don’t want to live on this earth as a dark creature. Whatever Vessler has planned for me, please, give me a way out. Even if it means drawing no more breath.” She prayed all of this silently, not wanting Zero to hear and be tempted to give up hope. Nikki wasn’t giving up, though she reasoned it could sound like it. She was a fighter. And right now, this was the only way she knew to fight.
The exam room door opened and Nikki stood. When Vessler came closer with the
short baseball bat in his hand, she placed herself between the door and Zero.
“Your spirit is good, but your aim is faulty. You didn’t pierce my heart, only my flesh.”
Nikki spread her stance. “You’re supposed to be my teacher, so why don’t you give me one more shot?” The strength of her voice surprised her, and the contempt it held for the man who’d once been her guardian made her proud. She wished she could think of something more cutting and clever to say.
“There’s no edge to gain, Nikki. You can’t win. That is, until you join me.”
She leaned forward. “I’ll never join you.”
He laughed. “Of course you will. You’ve already secured that future by coming here. Now, it’s just a matter of time. And, sadly, torture. Disobedient children have to be punished.”
Vessler’s men opened the door and dragged her out onto the floor, where Zero’s blood had already dried and stained the concrete. Vessler took the first few blows, using the bat to pummel her thighs and shoulder. When she could no longer stand, he had his men hold her up. After several strikes, they thrust her to the ground.
Boots stepped into her peripheral vision, the wooden bat swinging to and fro like a pendulum above them. She buried her head between her arms and whimpered in anticipation. The blow made a thud as it landed across her back. She screamed, the nerve endings beneath her skin erupting on impact then radiating outward. Her muscles bunched violently beneath her damaged flesh. She cried out again, the sudden stiffness tearing her bruises apart. Then Vessler yanked a light toward her face to inspect her eyes. He did this over and over while Nikki silently prayed for God to help her. Please, please don’t let me turn. And over and over again she knew Vessler was angered by the fact that her eyes remained filled with the light of heaven.
He finally tossed her back into the cage. Once he was gone, Nikki rose onto her knees and bent forward in a prayer posture. “Give me grace,” she whispered. “I can’t do this without you.”
Chapter 24
They continued to remove her from the cage and batter her. Her stamina had waned over the prior beatings, making her easy to knock to the floor. Each time she dropped to her knees, she staggered back to her feet in agony, in defiance. Her bruised knees became a constant reminder from her foe to stay down, to submit to the torture he offered. To succumb to the dark.
But she fought him. She fought him until she no longer could.
She opened her hands. Splayed them flat on the floor. Ten bloody fingers, ten shards of pain. She swallowed, the metallic taste of blood coating her lips and throat.
Streams of hair hampered her vision as she struggled to lift her head. Her gaze shifted, left then right, but her enemy wasn’t nearby. Her head sagged, and her eyes filled, forcing her to blink them clear. Tears of blood fell to her hand, raining her life onto the floor. Releasing her from his cruelty. But not soon enough.
A noise. Behind her. To the right. The sound of her tormentor stepping back preceded the strike, soon paired with a crunch as the impact of his boot to her ribs buckled the bones. She gasped, bolts of pain exploding through her as lung and fractured bone made contact.
For a few moments, all was dark.
Inside, something stirred … some fierce entity that wasn’t her yet was somehow a part of her. She’d felt its presence before. When she stood in the park ready to kill the man named Keagan Townsend. When she’d nearly killed Vessler on the plane loaded with titanium. The presence fought for control inside her, prodding her to seek vengeance for her parents, to never walk away without knowing her past.
She rolled to her other side just as one of Vessler’s men grabbed an examination tray from a nearby table and used it to land a powerful blow to the side of her head. She felt a rush of anger disperse through her body, cradled by pain from the hit.
They’d removed her wingcuff long ago, but her prone state proved it hardly mattered. She flexed her shoulders and felt the tingle that came before her wings emerged. It comforted her — reminded her who she was. But there was no strength to snap her pinions open and escape. Reassurance that she was still a Halfling was the only comfort she’d receive. But it was enough.
She wished she’d listened to Mace. If she had, she wouldn’t have gone to Zero, wouldn’t be in this lab, and wouldn’t be fighting the darkness that was threatening to overtake her. She knew the darkness’s methods. When the seeker slashed her collarbone — no doubt aiming for her throat — she’d felt the poison spreading through her being, the same clawing urgency she felt now. It was life and death rolled into a seductive package.
A thought struck her that she hadn’t considered before: maybe she could control it. If she gave into the darkness, perhaps she could possess the strength to control it.
Just then, Vessler dragged her by the hair, dragged her into the cage and shoved her to the ground.
“I’ll be back soon, my lady. I thought I would give you some time to think.”
Nikki reached through the bars after he’d gone and dragged the dented exam tray to her face. Her eyes had darkened, but not completely. She squeezed them closed. Control evil? No, there was no controlling the darkness. It was all-encompassing. It devoured everything it contacted.
Nikki clasped her hands together and rested on knees that screamed in response. “God, please, don’t let me turn. I can’t turn. Now that I know who you are, I can’t walk this earth separate from you. I want to live my life fulfilling the purpose you have for me.” The lab around her dimmed and blurred, forcing her to prop herself against the cage bars. “Take anything you want, but please don’t take your light from me. Take anything else. Take my life. Take …”
But what did she have to offer? “Take … my wings.” It was all she had, and the one thing she possessed that held worth. Pain pierced her heart. She let out a sob. “Take them, God. But please don’t let me turn.”
A short time later, Vessler returned. But rather than fear his arrival — and the abuse he was sure to give — Nikki felt strong. The poison in her system was gone, and the desire for vengeance replaced by the strangest peace, even though he beat her with such vigor she started to wonder if he was even human.
As the blows layered pain atop excruciating agony, the only thing she didn’t feel was her wings. As he beat her, she sobbed for them. They had still been as new and fresh to her as Christmas morning gifts, yet they had become so much a part of her — and now they were no more. The pain of the loss was unbearable, and as time dragged on, she began weakening, not to the darkness but to life itself. Everything dulled around her, and it seemed the only comfort would be in closing her eyes to never awaken again.
More than once, Nikki prayed for death to take her.
He was average height for a Halfling, probably around six foot three. But nothing else about him met Halfling standards. Long black hair graced his shoulders, falling in smooth sheets around his face like a cloak. His blue eyes were too dark — and penetrating when he spoke. “The network is down.”
Vine allowed himself a few moments to inspect this new Halfling and the twenty-some who’d just landed in the yard. Dark-haired guy was definitely in charge. When one of the others stepped forward to say something, he quelled him with a look.
“Zero’s been abducted.”
Vine’s heart dropped. “What makes you think so?” He’d already known the network was down. But Zero abducted? He hadn’t even considered that.
Vegan’s hands flew to her face. Vine knew she’d been trying to get in touch with Zero for a couple hours. He hadn’t returned any calls, but, hey, that was normal.
She shook her head. “No one other than us knows the way to the underground. And I know for sure Zero was there. Nikki went to see him this morning, and …” Her face clouded, and she didn’t seem able to finish her thought.
Vine watched as Vegan put the pieces together, then said, “Someone could have followed Nikki.”
Mace clenched his fists. The smell of battle rose around him, practically wa
fting into the air. “Then whoever has Zero probably has Nikki too.”
The black-haired Halfling spoke up. “I don’t think so.”
Mace’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”
In almost a whisper, Vine heard Will say, “I recognize this young man. I can’t access the memory, but something dark … very dark about his past.”
“Because we found tracks at the underground bunker. Gunshots in the door.” He paused when Vegan grabbed the railing to keep from collapsing. “Two sets of footprints leaving. Zero must have been dragged part of the way, by the looks of the tracks.”
“Then where’s Nikki?”
The guy shrugged. “I don’t know who that is. All I know is that if she went to see Zero, she compromised his cover. Now he’s gone. Or dead.”
Vegan moaned, and Glimmer and Winter ran to her side.
“What kind of car tracks were outside?” Mace demanded.
The dark Halfling glanced at him sharply.
“If you could determine Zero was dragged, and it looks like he was taken by force, then you must have seen some vehicle tracks too.”
The leader sniffed. “Looked like the freshest tracks were made by a Hummer.”
Mace slammed his fist on the railing. “Vessler.” He turned to the group. “I’m going up to Nikki’s room to see if there’s any clue about where she may have gone. If Vessler has her, they could be anywhere.”
The fact that Nikki and Zero might be in Vessler’s clutches heightened the already tense atmosphere. Once Mace disappeared into the house, Will stepped forward and addressed the group of Halflings on the yard. “How’d you know to come here?”
The dark one shot a piercing glance at Vegan. “She’s Zero’s match.”
Vegan blushed.
“I petitioned our caregiver to help us find her. Heaven whispered, and here we are.”
Will crossed his arms and regarded the newcomer thoughtfully. “You’re Viper, aren’t you?”
Avenger Page 20
