by C. J. Pinard
“Bravo! You’ve quite the long memory.”
We both flinched and jumped to our feet at the voice that chilled us both to the bone.
Chapter 4
I separated from Kellan and backed further into my cell, for some reason fearful Linden might try to touch me through the bars.
Kellan stood rooted to the spot and folded his arms over his chest. Then he narrowed his eyes at his boss. “Why have you locked us in here?”
Linden made a tsking sound at his question, and then with a smirk, he looked at me, but spoke to Kellan. “Because you refused to bring me what I wanted, so I took it for myself. You’re in here because of your defiance.”
“I thought you said you couldn’t tell him no, or defy him?” I kept my gaze on the creep while I asked Kellan the question.
“I can’t, but I can stall like there’s no tomorrow,” he replied.
I lifted my chin and glared at Linden. I hated him so much. “If you wanted to meet me, all you had to do was ask. You didn’t have to play these bitch-ass games.”
Linden frowned, but quickly recovered, his silvery-gray eyes sparkling at my sass as he put his confident mask back into place. He paced in front of the cell, his long legs carrying him back and forth, his hands clasped behind his back. “From what I’ve heard about you, young wolf, I did not have any inclination that you would come willingly. I hear you are quite headstrong and have an attitude the size of Antarctica.”
“Well, at least that information is accurate. I’m also pretty good in a fight, but since I don’t have my dagger, you’re gonna have to fight me like a man, I guess.”
“And where is your precious weapon?” Linden asked, still pacing. “I didn’t think you went anywhere without it.”
I snorted and mimicked Kellan’s posture, my tattooed arms folded across my chest. “Have you ever tried going into a busy nightclub with a weapon strapped to you in plain sight? This isn’t the eighteen hundreds anymore. People are scared of weapons.”
Linden snorted a laugh. “I’m quite aware.”
“Just roll with what I’m about to say,” Kellan commanded.
I didn’t react at all.
He looked at Linden, his face a storm of anger. “I was about to bring her to you. You didn’t give me enough time,” Kellan gritted out. “You have no right locking us in here like a couple of common criminals. Like wild animals. I could have gotten her to come willingly, but yet again, your impatience—”
Linden rushed to the front of Kellan’s cell and slammed his pale fist against the bars. “You mind your tongue! I don’t know what the bloody hell has gotten into you lately, but I don’t fucking like it. Know your place and shut your mouth unless I say you can speak. You hear me?”
Rage burned in my core.
“Tell him to go fuck himself!” I screamed in my head. “Do it!”
Kellan narrowed his eyes at Linden, but didn’t respond.
I quickly turned around and slid the dagger out of its strap while Linden’s attention was off of me. I walked slowly toward the bars and said, “You are a real piece of work, you know that? I know what you’ve done to him. That whole servitude spell or whatever it is. Pathetic you have to use magic to get people to do what you want. Don’t you know you win more flies with honey?”
Linden made his way over to me and stood in front of the bars, but at arm’s length. “What are you going on about over here?”
I lowered my voice. “If it’s me you want, unlock this door and come in here and get me yourself.” I balled up the fist on my left hand so it would match my right, which was gripping the dagger.
Without breaking eye contact with me, he yelled out, “Maurice, get over here.”
Maurice blitzed to the cell. “Sir?”
Linden pointed at the door. “Unlock this.”
Maurice looked at me, and I could see fear in his chocolate-brown irises. “You sure, sir?”
I think he was afraid for me. Like I was dead meat once Linden got inside the cell.
“He fears Linden will hurt you,” Kellan said, and it felt like we shared a brain at that point.
“I got this.” I kept my staring contest going with Linden.
“It’s okay, do as he says. I’ll be all right.” I smiled reassuringly at Maurice, since he didn’t know about my secret weapon.
“Wait,” Kellan said. “Unlock mine first.”
Linden flicked his gaze away from Kellan and back to me. “No.”
He then looked at Maurice and pointed to the lock. “Now, you useless cretin.”
The dark-skinned man gritted his teeth, pulled keys from his slacks pocket, and pushed the key into the lock. Aside from the jangle of keys, you could hear a pin drop as he turned the lock.
“Be ready. You can do this, love,” Kellan said.
Once the door swung open, I put both fists up in a boxer’s stance, but it was only so I could have the dagger ready to stab this prick in the chest.
Or the face.
I wasn’t picky.
My heart was beating out my chest. I was excited with pent-up rage that I was going to get to put hands on him. I just couldn’t believe this asshole was going to attack a woman. I thought about what he’d done to Austyn and a growl ripped from my throat.
“I hope you rot in hell!” I yelled as I charged toward him with my dagger raised high. Before I could reach him, though, I watched as he raised his arm, and with the flick of his wrist, the dagger was ripped out of my hand with a whoosh of wind and went flying before it clattered on the ground outside the cell. Maurice, Kellan, and now Phil, who had joined us, were staring in awe at it. Linden pushed me to the back of the cell and pinned me against the wall with supernatural speed.
“That pathetic little friend you call a witch has a lot to learn about cloaking spells. I’ve been alive longer than four generations of Burman witches, and they have always been weak, at best.” He reached out with lightning speed and ripped the talisman and its chain off my neck and shoved it into his pants pocket.
“Ow! You bastard!” I yelled and kneed him in the crotch.
“Fuck,” he said, bent double at the waist.
“Throw me the damn knife!” I screamed at Phil and Maurice, but they just stood there like mindless goons.
“You will do no such thing,” Linden said, standing up straight and looking at Phil and Maurice. Then, with his arm out, he pierced me with a frightening stare and began to chant in a pained voice, “obedientiam, servitutem, fide…”
“Stop,” Kellan yelled. “Enough!”
I used Kellan’s distraction to blitz around Linden to get to the dagger myself, but he caught me by the hair and slammed me down onto the bed.
Now face-down and being pinned by his large body, I bucked furiously to get him off me, but he was too heavy.
“Get off of her, Linden. Now,” I heard Kellan growl.
“No! Don’t get yourself into any more trouble. He obviously has Phil and Maurice under his spell now, too, he could easily be trying to replace you. Please… stop,” I begged Kellan.
With his hand still gripping my ponytail-braid, Linden put his mouth to my ear, and my entire body shuddered in revulsion. “I’m gonna have fun playing with you, Ayla St. John. But first, there are some things I’m gonna need you to take care of for me.”
“I will never do anything for you,” I spat, fear and anger making my entire body vibrate with rage. “Get the fuck off me, you vampire-witch freak.”
I could feel my hands turning into claws and I rejoiced inside. I didn’t need the dagger if I had these things.
He yanked my hair harder, and I could hear it ripping from my scalp. I let out a scream. “No, now shut up, and listen—”
Enraged, I mustered enough strength to flip over and get him off of me. He jumped up instead of falling to the ground, but I was also able to leap to my feet. As he reached for me, I reared my head back so he couldn’t grab hold of my hair again. I had the brief thought that I should probably cut it sho
rt, as this was getting old. With supernatural speed, he struck out at me again, this time a stinging pain burning my cheek and mouth as his palm landed a blow.
“You piece of shit!” I growled, lunging at him with my claws.
The look on his face was priceless. He clearly was not expecting the wolf, as the full moon was still under two weeks away.
He ducked a split second before my sharp nails swiped at his face, and then he blitzed out of the cell. I started after him, but hit an invisible wall when he raised his arms up. I was knocked down on my ass and I screamed in frustration.
“I’m gonna kill you, if it’s the last thing I do,” I said through my fangs, wiping blood from my lip with my claw.
I looked over at Kellan, whose eyes had turned black and his fangs had descended. He was looking at Linden, but pointed at me. “You’re gonna pay for that.”
Linden looked surprised, but then his expression turned angry as he stalked to stand directly in front of Kellan, only bars separating them. “You dare to defy me? For a silly little piece of wolf pussy? You’ll be doing no such thing. Now shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down. You’re not getting out of there anytime soon, be assured of that, you lovesick fool.”
Without a word, Kellan sat on the bed as instructed, but said nothing. He just glared at his boss and I could literally feel his emotions radiating off him. He was enraged.
The wolf was gone, and I was me again. “Why don’t you just get to the point, huh? What do you want from me?”
Linden turned his attention on me once again, and I concentrated on his face. It was the same one from my nightmares. He’d killed Austyn and I had been so close to ending him that night. Why hadn’t I gone after him? Why hadn’t Aden? Or Ryder? Or anyone? Because we’d been overcome with the grief that now engulfed me once again, but this time, regret was intertwined in my heart. It was then I suddenly remembered a promise I’d made to Aden that night outside the taco bar.
I sniffled. “I miss his silly ass. I miss him so much.”
He pulled away and looked into my glassy eyes. I swiped away a tear that escaped.
“I miss him, too. We’ll get the bastard, I promise. But I need you to promise me something, too.”
I looked up at him. “What’s that?”
“If you find him—no going rogue and taking off after him without thinking. You call me. I need to make sure you’re safe, and I need to be there when he dies. Promise me, Ayla.”
I nodded and gave him a sad smile. “I promise.”
Well, I hadn’t exactly ‘gone rogue’—I’d been freakin’ kidnapped, but I still had a promise to keep.
After studying my face, Linden looked down at my hands to see they were normal human hands once again. I still had my long, awesome nails, but they were a French manicure now, not sharp, black talons. He must have picked up my dagger as I’d been reminiscing, because he now turned it around in his hands as he stared at me. “This has also been blessed by a Burman witch. He pulled the dagger closer to his face, closed his eyes, and inhaled. When he opened them again, he said, “And an Elven holy man.” He narrowed his eyes at the blade. “What’s this inscription here?” He ran his finger over it and looked up at me. “Who or what is Austyn?”
“None of your damn business is what that is, and stop touching my shit,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “Give it back to me, and I promise I’ll kill you quickly instead of slowly.”
Linden laughed. “You sit behind bars and dare to make threats to me, girl?”
I got up from where I had been leaning against the back wall of the cell, and walked toward the bars. “I don’t make threats. I’m simply giving you a choice. When I put my mind to something, I succeed. I always get what I want. The fact you are even interested in my dagger shows me you fear me in some way. That you believe I am capable of doing what I have already vowed to do.”
Shit. I just said too much. So what came out of Linden’s mouth next wasn’t a surprise.
“Vowed? You vowed to kill me? But why? Do you even know who I am?”
I scrambled for a response until one flew into my brain. Him not knowing I was Austyn’s sister, or who Austyn even was, was the last card I had to play, and I most certainly wasn’t going to fold now.
“Not kill you unless you reverse the curse you put on Kellan. Two hundred years of servitude, really? Get a life, dude. I can find you half a dozen pot-heads who would be at your beck and call for a few bucks a week and some high-quality weed, if being waited on and worshipped is what blows your skirt up.”
His countenance grew murderous, and I bit back a smile. There was nothing more satisfying as delivering the right words to really cause a sting. He reached through the bars and grabbed me by the front of my shirt before I could back up. Yanking me against the cold metal, he got so close to my face that I could smell his breath. Which was ironically very garlicky.
“Kellan was not put under that spell for some self-gratification or narcissistic need. He was put under it as punishment for what he did to my brother. You mind your words before they are unable to save you from losing your head.”
He still had hold of my shirt, so I inclined my head down and bit into his hand as hard as I could. He shrieked in pain and rage and pulled it back. He quickly jumped back and away from my cell, blood flying everywhere and dripping onto the floor. His other hand dropped the dagger in surprise, so I leaned down and snatched it from where is had fallen to the ground.
I quickly retreated to the back of the cell and kept the weapon up, ready to fight.
He instead cradled his injured hand and blitzed out of the prison and up the stairs.
“Punk,” I yelled to his retreating figure with a maniacal laugh.
Chapter 5
I was on high-alert for a few hours until I realized Linden was not coming back anytime soon.
“Give me the dagger,” Phil demanded, the food trap open, his hand waiting.
I sat on the bed, the dagger in my thigh strap. All creatures could see it now that the talisman had been torn from me. I could only hope maybe Sanja could track me using it and get me some damn help.
I narrowed my eyes at Phil. “Not gonna happen.”
“I’ve been instructed to get the dagger from you by any means possible,” he said, running a hand over his pale head.
“Spike, I need to inform you of two things: First, I know you’re only doing as you were told—as you were probably spelled to do. I know you don’t really want to hurt me or your friend Kellan.” I jabbed my thumb in the direction of my boyfriend. “Two, just know that if you come in here after this dagger, I’ll be forced to mortally wound you, and despite how you’re acting, I really don’t want to have to do that, especially since I really like you. Or, I liked you. You’re kind of a dick when you’re cursed.”
He sighed. “Please just give it to me, it’ll make it easier on everyone.”
I looked around my empty, dank cell. “Everyone? I’m sorry, who is ‘everyone’? Do you have a mouse in your pocket?”
“Fine,” he sighed. “I’ll just get it once you’re asleep.”
“No, you won’t, and furthermore, I’m trying to help you, Phil. You and Maury. You can’t be happy being Linden’s little bitches.”
“I’m not… We’re not…” Phil sighed. “Never mind.”
“That’s what I thought.” I smiled in triumph, then sat down on the bed. After Phil walked away, I sat twirling the dagger around a few times between my fingers. I then looked at Kellan, who was pacing his cell.
“I have an idea. We’ll take opposite shifts. You keep the dagger while I sleep, I keep it while you sleep.”
Kellan shook his head. “No, once he sees I have it, Linden will take it from me, and I won’t be able to tell him no.”
I made a face. “God, your curse is like some love potion.”
He sighed. “It really does feel that way, minus the love part. The indebtedness is taxing. But”—he came to the bars separating us and beckoned me o
ver until we were holding hands—“the only love I feel is for you. I promise when we get out of here…”
“You’re right, Ayla,” I heard Phil quietly say, as he was now back and standing in front of my cell. “I suck. I can’t help it, though. Once Kellan had gone, he pulled Maurice and me into his chambers and started chanting in some other language. He made us both look him in the eyes. I thought he was gonna grill us about K’s whereabouts.” He looked at Kellan apologetically. “You know, try allusion on us to tell him where you are. But we didn’t know.”
“It’s not your fault, Spike. Once we get out of here, I’m going to come back for you and Maury, I promise.”
“You’re not getting out of here, it’s impossible.”
I left the dagger on the bed and walked closer to the bars. I looked into his brown eyes. “What is it he wants? Tell me.”
He lifted a massive shoulder and let it fall. “We don’t know. All we know is that he has a slight obsession with you.”
“Slight!” Kellan snapped, shaking his head. “Phil, just try to find out for us, all right? I’m begging you.”
Phil looked at him and nodded once before walking away, back toward the computers where Maurice sat.
Kellan and I looked at each other. “Sit,” he instructed, pointing to the bed.
I had an idea as I looked at the bed. With a tug, I could see that it wasn’t bolted to the floor. I dragged it to the side of the cell closest to Kellan’s. Since his bed was already on the side of his cell closest to mine, I pushed mine next to his, only bars separating them. He lay down on his bed, and I did the same, and we were able to hold hands through the bars.
I tore open a small hole in my pillow and shoved the dagger inside, and then lay down. “Tell me a story,” I said, yawning.
“As you wish,” he replied. “Now where did I leave off before we were so rudely interrupted? Oh yes…
“After we got to America, we decided to settle in New York with the rest of the growing immigrant population…”
My eyes fell shut quicker than I imagined they would, and once I was out, everything was black.
