by Lucy Smoke
With my whole body trembling, Kida leads me to a corner of the room and sits next to me. She pats my hair as I hold onto her, clutching her good arm and trying to breathe through whatever pathetic fear-monster has me held captive.
“It will go away,” Kida is saying. She’s not talking to me. She’s talking to Haze as he moves across from us and sits down with his back against a wall. “It always does. It just needs to work through her system.”
“Do you know why she has such a strong fear of elevators?” I hear him ask. “She’s so wild and reckless, the first time it happened, my team and I were shocked.”
“Reckless?” Kida frowns and looks down at me, her hands freezing on my hair. I grimace, wishing Haze would just fall into a deep, dark hole somewhere—or stop talking. Really either option would work at this point. But as my luck has it, no hole willingly opens up to swallow him and he doesn’t stop talking.
“The first time we met her, she was going under an alias—your name. We thought she was you and we were under strict orders to find you and bring you in. Vincent wanted to talk to you and didn’t understand if you were free somewhere in the city, why you weren’t answering his comm calls or visiting. We caught her the first time and she got away, ran through Steamer Town and then led my team members on a merry chase. She jumped off a building.”
“What?!” Kida swings her gaze down to me. “You did what?”
I sit up and scoot away slightly. “I… uh… well, I was keeping my promise not to look for you and well…I didn’t know who they were or why they…”
“You leapt off a building?!”
“According to two of my teammates, she climbed down the outside of a Hollow Pointe building cage without a harness or safety net,” Haze offers helpfully.
My eyes find his and I narrow my gaze, putting all of my irritation into my glare, hoping he feels the burning rays of my anger. He flicks me an amused smile that makes it clear he’s not phased one bit. I give up and shift my gaze back to Kida who has turned a flushed pink. Her mouth hangs open at this new information.
“You what?!”
“Thanks a lot, Haze,” I mutter.
“My pleasure,” he answers pleasantly.
“Do you know how dangerous that is?!” Kida snaps. “You could have died! Christ, Cassie!”
“I know,” I reply. “But I didn’t.”
“Is this what you’ve been doing while I’ve been locked up here? Climbing buildings and jumping off them?”
I roll my eyes and cross my arms. “It’s not like that, I’ve been looking for you.”
“You found me,” she says icily. “Happy with where you are now? Recklessness is not a good quality to have.”
“Well, it’s served me well so far. I’m still alive, aren’t I?” I snap back.
“How long do you think you can live on luck?”
“Hey,” Haze intervenes. “Cass has been really worried about you. She’s done really good with our team and yes, while I did say she was reckless, she’s been a strong asset. She’s quite intelligent and focused when she wants to be.”
Kida looks away from me. “I didn’t say she was stupid,” Kida growls. “But she knows better than to put herself in explicit danger.”
Haze seems surprised by Kida’s outrage. I’m not. I knew she would be like this. I had hoped to tell her everything after we were out of the Tanks’ pod complex and hopefully back home in our pod. I sigh and reach up to wipe away the dried blood still on my face.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter sulkily.
Gold eyes glare at me for a moment and I keep my gaze downcast. She sighs as well. “I just don’t like hearing about you doing dangerous shit like that, Cassie,” she says, “when I’m not around to help you.”
“I didn’t know what else to do without you around,” I admit.
Kida reaches over and touches my cheek, turning so that I look at her. She leans forward, her long slender fingers dragging down my face until they drop to claim one of my hands. Her fingers intertwine with my own. God, I have missed this girl so much.
Kida’s lips touch mine, soft and hard in the same breath. I savor her skin against me, tears burning at the back of my eyes. I turn my head, tilting until her tongue slides inside and her other hand reaches up, despite her injuries, to cup my cheek. The kiss feels like safety, like coming home after a long time away and I fall into it as easily as I always have.
When I pull away, there’s blood on my mouth. I can see from Haze’s face that we’ve shocked him, that he didn’t expect… well, that. When I look his way, I refuse to be ashamed. Kida is my best friend and she’s my other half. I love her. Haze doesn’t say anything. He even manages to close the surprised gape of his mouth. In his eyes, I can still see that questions remain unanswered, bubbling down under, waiting to rise to the surface and pop free.
“Why didn’t you try to get away?” I ask, focusing back on Kida, and on a question that’s been burning in my mind since I woke up and found her here. “I mean, of course, you tried. It’s not like you wouldn’t try.” I realize I’m babbling as I brush her dark hair away from her sorely bruised face. “Tanks aren’t really known for being kings of rocket science,” I say. “So, why haven’t you gotten away before now? You’ve been here for weeks.”
Kida’s hand remains on my cheek, pulling me closer until our foreheads are touching. The tears from before come rushing back to the surface at her next words. “There are more important things than freedom, Cassie.”
“Like what?” I choke, the tears spilling over onto my cheeks, run over her fingers. She brushes them away. So much fear, I honestly wondered a time or two if she was even still alive.
God, I’m such a mess, I think.
“Like you, Cassie.” Her lips track my tears and chase them away for the split second it takes me to pull away in confusion. Both of her hands pull away, falling into her lap.
“What?”
Kida smiles without humor. “They knew I was living with you. They knew I cared about you. I did try to get away. Several times in fact.” She looks pointedly down at the blood staining her clothes and the bruises along her arms. I suspect beneath her clothes the wounds are even worse. “They threatened to kill you and even promised to keep me alive if I helped them.”
“They would never have kept that promise,” Haze murmurs from across the room.
Kida glances at him. “I know.” She looks back to me. “But…” The way she looks at me with her teeth biting down hard on her bottom lip, I know she’s hiding something. “The Tanks have a new leader, he’s promised to keep you alive if I cooperate.”
“They won’t keep that promise either,” Haze says.
“They will,” Kida says. “They’re planning to sell her, maybe in the District, maybe Basra.”
My head recoils as if I’ve been struck. “You’d let them do that?” I scoot even further away, shocked that she would even consider this. The sharp pain of betrayal lances through me. Kida, almost more than anyone, should understand that I would rather die than be sold like a whore.
Kida’s golden eyes, dulled to a syrupy brown, close as her lips pinch and a distinct expression of pain crosses her features.
“They are going to kill me, Cassie. I know too much. I’m too important. I’ve been feeding them information as slowly as I possibly can. At first, I gave them so much shit. That’s why—combined with my escape attempts—I’m not exactly in the position to get up and walk out of here like it’s nothing. My side aches. My ribs are more than likely fractured. I’ve been knocked out too many times that sometimes I get dizzy just from standing up. There’s too much wrong with me. I had to think of something else. You’re smart, Cassie. So fucking smart, baby.”
Her hand returns to my face as she tries her best to wipe away the remaining tears. “I knew you wouldn’t just stay put like I asked you to. I knew you’d come looking for me eventually. And everything I had hoped for happened. Vincent found you.” Her short laugh echoes in the nearly e
mpty room.
“He threatened to have me arrested if I didn’t cooperate,” I say honestly.
Her lips twitch in amusement, eyes lighting up. “That sounds like him. Bastard.”
“He wouldn’t have really done it,” Haze says.
“Yes, he would have,” Kida says dismissively as if it’s obvious. I guess to her, it is. “He’s ruthless.”
“He didn’t know, then?” Haze asks. “About…” he nods between us.
Kida shakes her head. “No one did.”
“You were ashamed of her?” The question makes me bristle with irritation.
Kida isn’t afraid of our relationship. Neither am I, for that matter. It’s just no one else’s business but our own. The only thing keeping me from voicing that sentiment is the genuine curiosity in his tone. Kida glares at him anyway, small eyes narrowing into the tiniest of slits. Her eyelids are so smooth when she does that, her bow shaped mouth turned down at the corners. I memorize every detail of her face like I haven’t done it millions of times before. No matter how many times I do it, I always find something new. Like the tiny freckle so close to her eye that it’s almost obscured by her lashes.
“I’m not ashamed of anything I do,” Kida snaps at Haze, “least of all Cassie.”
“You’re ready to let her be sold, though, after your death?” Again, an oddly insulting question asked with such honesty. I close my eyes and remain thankful that Kida isn’t at full strength, otherwise she might just strangle him. And he’s asked a good question, one I’m curious to know the answer to as well. I open my eyes.
Kida remains glaring at Haze with her narrowed gaze for several quiet moments before sagging back against the wall. Her eyes slide closed before her brows draw down. Her words are so quiet I have to lean forward to hear them. “You’d be alive, Cassie girl,” she whispers. “You can always do something if you’re alive. You just have to survive long enough.”
I don’t agree, but I know what she’s saying. I can’t stand the idea of her leaving this world. Even if it means she became a prostitute, I think I’d want her to live anyway. I’d want her to live to fight another day.
“None of this is going to happen,” I say. I repeat once more in my head, for myself. “Vincent is outside. He has his teams and even a female commander,” I tell her. Surely, she’ll feel better knowing if there is a woman that is strong and smart enough to be a commander in Enforcement then that means she’s likely hardcore good at these kinds of things.
“I only met her briefly,” I admit. “But with connections like that, we’re bound to be rescued.”
Kida blinks at me. “Tilde’s here?”
“You know her?” I ask.
She nods. “Tilde and I have known each other for years.”
I frown. “You never told me about that.”
Before she can reply, the bolts on the door snap again as the handle yanks down and the door swings in, revealing a dark figure against the bright light of the hallway. I flinch and shield my eyes, not realizing how dark the interior of the cell is until now.
“Bring them,” a gruff voice orders.
Strong hands grab me and yank me to my feet as several Tanks enter the room, cramming in as they move. One punches Haze in the stomach before binding his hands behind his back. The same happens to both Kida and I as we’re hauled out of the room and down a hallway.
Haze tries to catch my eyes as the Tanks hauling Kida and I shove us forward so that he is the one mostly surrounded. I can’t understand what he’s trying to express, but his eyes stare at me as if zooming into a lasered focus and I know one thing, at least: if he doesn’t have a plan, then he must know something else because he doesn’t seem even the tiniest bit worried as we’re marched through the hallways encased in a train of massive, hulking men.
When we reach what must be the main room for the pod complex, a makeshift throne room has been erected. I stare around in shock. I had thought throne rooms only existed in books and movies. Kings and queens had only existed on Earth’s surface over a hundred years ago. It seems as if the new leader Kida had mentioned might fancy himself a new era king of his kind.
A man stands from the antique, wing-backed chair set up on a dais across the tiled room. Two Tanks in blue, military garb, stand on either side of him as he steps off the dais to stand between them. A hard jab to the back of my legs sends me tumbling before him, my knees slamming into the floor, hard enough to make me flinch. The same happens to Haze, who grunts upon landing, and Kida, who grits her teeth and stares down at the floor.
Seeing her so submissive has me rattled. I glance from her to the Tanks in the room—there are dozens of them. Finally, I manage to drag my gaze away, and I look up at the man that has promised to keep me alive and sell me as a whore.
Familiar eyes greet me, and my mouth opens in shock.
“Hello, Cassandra.”
Twelve
A Familiar Face
I stare in horror as blue eyes, the same shade of my own, assess me. Oren grins.
“What the fuck?” It isn’t until Oren laughs that I realize I’ve spoken out loud.
“I haven’t seen you in years, little sister, and yet, I’m not surprised those are the first words out of your mouth,” he says.
“Little sister?” Haze looks between us, likely seeing the similarities. The same eyes, the same skin tone, and the same multicolored hair. That, at least, is where those similarities end. While my face is smaller and rounder, his is long and sharp as though someone stretched canvas over a too large frame. His nose is a long snout of a thing while mine is, again, much smaller, dainty—even for a woman.
Oren smiles revealing sharp canines and flat teeth. It’s such a vicious smile that a shiver rushes down my spine. Kida doesn’t speak. She doesn’t gasp at the knowledge that this man is, in fact, my brother.
She knew.
“Well,” Oren says, clapping his hands. “Now that we’re all here, we’re going to go over some things, shall we?”
Oren leans down and grabs my upper arm, yanking me to my feet and standing me in front of them. “Our lovely guest—Kida darling—has been giving us information on Vincent Diamond’s campaigns as Governor of Tartarus.”
There is a resounding and thunderous boom of boos that echo around the room at the mention of Vincent’s name. Oren quiets and nods his head knowingly. When they fall silent once more, he continues, his hand squeezing my arm tightly.
“Kida darling, has given us everything we need to take control!”
Another echoing roar of excited war cries erupts from the room.
“And this, men,” Oren shoves me forward. “Will be the first of many rewards. Women. Money. Power. That is the Tank way. Tanks are power, and they are control.”
“Power! Control! Power! Control!”
Staring, wide-eyed at the room full of men—all of them massive, stacked with muscle, and many of them tattooed— fear edges its way into my mind. Their chants rise higher and higher in volume. I’ve lost control, I realize. I turn my face to Kida and Haze. Kida’s eyes remain downcast. Haze’s are watching me with unrestrained fury and an edge of darkness that feels as familiar as my own.
“We have been offered this opportunity by our Benefactor and we will not fail him!” Oren cries out, silencing the crowd.
Benefactor? I think as Oren stalks forward. Sliding around me, he grabs Kida by her hair and drags her behind him as he moves. She cries out in pain as her bad arm slams into the ground when he drops her in the middle of the room.
Horror washes over my face as Oren stares down at her, his eyes devoid of any emotion. Even when we were children, he had carried this face with him. The darkness of his expression is not at all unknown to me. It was there when I was thirteen and he had explained my role in the family; bringing in money. Then he had introduced me to several of his “friends” and explained that anything they wanted, they could have. I had left that very night to avoid this.
“Kida darling,” he says.
Her grimacing face looks up at him, bruised, bloody, and in pain. “It’s time.”
“You’ll keep your promise?” she demands.
“The man dies, but little sister will live,” he agrees. His eyes find mine over her head. “And she’ll be where she was always meant to be.”
“Kida!” I scream, shock, horror, outrage, and fear a collection overflowing in my voice. She can’t just let this happen. Vincent is right outside. Why aren’t they here yet?!
“I’m sorry, Cassie. I’m so sorry. But you’ll be alive. You’ll be alive. You’ll be alive.” She repeats the last words over and over again, and I can see that it gives Oren a sick sense of satisfaction to see her like this. I’m shattered to know how broken she is.
I turn my glare to Oren and try to discreetly adjust my hands behind my back. The cuffs—similar to the ones that Thayer, Levi, and Haze used on me the first time—click against my scanner. Keeping my gaze trained straight ahead, back ramrod straight, eyes staring at the man who shares my blood, but isn’t my family. No, my family kneels on the ground at his feet, doing her fucking best to try and keep me alive and it infuriates me.
Oren grins at me, blue eyes like chips of ice, assessing me. “You’re next, little sister.”
I grit my teeth as a shocking animalistic snarl rises from the depths of my throat. I work to flip my scanner over by rubbing the bracelet against my back. “You are going to regret this, Oren.”
“Why?” he asks with a laugh, gesturing around to the men at his disposal that follow him like a twisted cult gathering around an equally twisted leader. “This is the way the human race was meant to be, little sister. Women are inferior, weak in mind and body.”
“You’re wrong!” I snap.
Oren frowns and Kida looks up in surprise as he moves around her, heading straight for me. My hands freeze as he circles me, gripping my wrists and jerking my arms up. I yelp and suck in a pained gasp, bending as he examines the scanner.
“Oh, no, no. This won’t do,” he tsks. “If you wanted to get out, why didn’t you ask, Cassie?”
