He stood up, his expression devoid of recognition. His professional smile could have been for anybody. “Hi. Can I help you?”
Words of longing, of love, sprouted barbs and stuck in my throat. No matter how much I fought, I couldn’t get them out. My dad’s gaze grew puzzled, then suspicious. “Did Assistant Director Hennessy send you to check up on me?”
I didn’t get to say another word to him. A hand clamped on my shoulder, and a smooth, female voice said, “No, I didn’t. I’m sorry he bothered you, Mr. Aldritch.”
Hennessy steered me away with an iron grip. I didn’t fight her. There was another agent with her, eyeballing me with a dark glare. He had his hand on his taser, ready to deploy it if his boss gave the signal.
I kept looking back at my dad, but he was busy with the ventilation. When I couldn’t see him anymore, I asked, “What have you done with him?”
She blinked rapidly and pressed her lips together as if holding in the weight of her next words. Her head drooped imperceptibly.
Stopping in front of a metal door with a keypad, she put her fingers on the glass. After an electronic “beep,” she placed her eye against a scanner in the wall.
The door swung open, and the agent pushed me so hard in the back, I stumbled into the room.
A man stood up as we entered. He wore a tailored suit that hugged his body. The fabric looked expensive, a far cry from the omnipresent secret service uniform. His hair was long and wavy, held back by a leather band. His dark glasses prevented me from seeing his eyes, but I felt his gaze on me.
My feline instinct went into full alarm, recognizing him as a predator. He was stunningly handsome, but there was something wild about him, something that set my teeth on edge. And then he took his glasses off and revealed eyes I’d seen before.
Like mist swirling around a bright moon. Cosmic dust, circling a central planet.
His silver-bright irises flowed in never-ending spirals around the pupils. The color was different, but his eyes were twins to our teacher, Mrs. Palmer’s.
I was so mesmerized by the constant movement, I missed what Hennessy was saying. With a superhuman effort, I pulled myself away from the stranger’s gaze and focused on the Assistant Director’s words.
“I’m sorry, Macha. I wouldn’t do this if it weren’t necessary. But you have to understand… My son…”
Then she stepped back, her shoulders drooping in defeat. On the way out, she gestured the agent to follow her, and together they exited, leaving me with the stranger.
What did she mean? She’d been trying to tell me something, yet all she’d done was confuse the hell out of me. Why had she sounded so final?
The man had been regarding me without saying a word. When the door clicked shut, he finally spoke, his deep voice echoing in the bare room. “So you are one of the Quint.”
My eyes widened. “Who are you?”
The corners of his mouth quivered down, and his nostrils extended as if he smelled something bad. His irritation didn’t stop him from spitting out an answer. “I’m Lord Arawn, but there is no need for you to remember my name. You won’t live long enough to use it.”
The air solidified around me, refusing to enter my lungs. As I chocked on his words, a steady buzzing clogged my ears. It took me an eternity to gasp out, “Are you here to kill me?”
Arawn smiled, his mouth widening into a shark’s thin-lipped grin. “No, it won’t be me. But your fate has been decided. I’m here to fetch you.”
My heart beat furiously, pounding against my rib cage. My knees shook, and I backed away until I was pressed against the wall, blindly fumbling for the door latch. But it didn’t budge.
I was stuck in a room, locked from the outside. Hennessy had led me here and abandoned me with this non-human killer.
“Come now, Macha,” the stranger said, his grin flashing across his face as quick and unpredictable as sheet lightning. It made him look insane, accentuating the cruelty hidden behind his whirling irises. “There is no way out for you.”
A groan escaped me, the sound of a trapped animal. My breathing accelerated as my gaze flitted around the room, looking for something to defend myself with.
There were metal chairs with gray fabric seat cushions. An oval table, ready for ten. Some legal pads and plastic pens. Nothing I could use to do damage.
And in the midst of this ordinariness stood a man who’d was going to send me to my death for no reason I could think of.
My mouth opened, but no sound came out. I coughed, clearing the terror long enough to squeeze out one word. “Why?”
With inhuman speed, the Fae crossed the distance between us. I couldn’t even blink before he descended on me. He pressed three fingers to my forehead, and pain like I’d never experienced before shot through my head.
My vision was obliterated by an explosion of brilliant white agony. As I crumpled to the ground, tears streamed from my unseeing eyes. He had lied. My heart stuttered, stumbled, and stopped. He was killing me right here and now.
And yet, my lungs were still drawing air. As I slipped into unconsciousness, he whispered, “Because my King demands it.”
17
JULIAN
There was nowhere to hide in this fucking compound. The cellar was off-limits, now that Hennessy knew about it.
Our room was under constant surveillance, and even though Amber shorted the cameras every night, I couldn’t be sure there weren’t others hidden.
It was hopeless. I just wanted to forget today ever happened. Maybe my reaction had been over-the-top, but how could Hennessy demand that from me?
I’d shouted in her face, “No way. And you can’t make me.”
Then I’d picked up the folder—I might be impulsive, but I wasn’t stupid—and stalked out.
On the way back, I’d kept my head down, ignoring the beasties hovering above me. Once in bed, I’d pulled the covers over me and wished I was somewhere else. That none of this had ever happened.
I had to have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes, I was somewhere else. My bare toes dug into black sand. The sky was slate gray, with no indication where the vapid light originated from. There was no sun, no moon, no stars. Just endless nothingness above.
The black desert stretched to the horizon. The sand was hot, but the air felt frigid. I wrapped my arms around myself to keep warm.
“Well, hello, Pretty. Aren’t you glad we found you?”
One of the Lobhadh Ocrach hovered at the edge of my vision. But when I turned my head, it didn’t disappear. Looking at them hurt my eyes, but I recognized them.
The monster was sooty-black with fuzzy outlines, the size of a basketball. With an eerie tearing sound, its surface bubbled. Tendrils erupted, pulling the black beastie in all directions. I stepped back in alarm. The creature grew rapidly, its mass elongating into arms and legs.
A gust of wind threw black dust from the ground into my eyes. Shit. I blinked several times, my vision momentarily gone. When it cleared, two men stood in front of me. They seemed to be in their mid-twenties, but their eyes had the same black fuzziness as the beasties.
“You’re the Lobhadh Ocrach.”
The taller of the two opened his mouth. His voice reached my ears at the same time as its painful vibrations bounced around the inside of my skull. “Yes. When you returned, we hitched a ride, attached to your aura. You see, you’re not quite alive, Julian. But you aren’t dead, either.”
The other man picked up the thread. “You’re somewhere in between. That’s what necromancers are.”
I swallowed hard. I knew first hand death wasn’t the end for me. There were far worse things out there than dying.
“What do you want?”
“Oh, we want nothing other than play with you.”
The first one grinned, showing pointed teeth. “Play with us.”
“Is this a dream?”
“Not exactly. Right now, you’re in… what do humans call it? Oh, yes. Purgatory.”
Purgatory.
Shivers ran over my arms at the word I hadn’t heard since Sunday school. My knees shook until I was barely able to keep myself upright.
“I don’t believe you.”
The thing shrugged. It wasn’t bad to look at with its lean, muscular build and a shock of white hair. If it had been human, I’d be tempted to look twice.
But its scuttly cockroach eyes crawled over my skin until I wanted to retch with revulsion. Be strong. Don’t let them see the fear.
Forcing a smirk, I asked, “So what should I call you? Is this what you looked like before you became a Lobhadh?”
It cocked its neck, twitching once, like an insect. “In this in-between land, we return to our original form. And so do you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let me show you.” Its outline changed again. It was like looking at an old-fashioned TV when the reception went bad. The creature’s contour lost its definition until my eyes ached.
It only took a few seconds, and when it stopped, I was looking at myself.
I stepped back involuntarily, staring at my hair and the silver crosses in my earlobes. It had even copied my clothes.
Yet it wasn’t me. Its skin was darker than the sky, but not as black as the sand. It was an unnatural color I’d never seen on a human being. Its eyes were the same shape as mine, but the eyeballs were black.
I shook my head in pointless denial. This Julian-creature looked like them, not me. It couldn’t be me.
The other beastie had stepped so close to me, its shoulders brushed mine.
“Julian,” it said in a singsong voice. “Look at your hands.”
I knew I shouldn’t. Every fiber within me struggled against the command, but it was no use. My gaze fell on my fingers, and I gasped. I hid my hand behind my back and emptied my stomach on the sand.
My vomit fizzled and evaporated the moment it touched the hot ground. I retched over and over again as my body tried to rid itself of the poison seeping through my skin.
Because when I looked at my hand, its human form had disappeared. The nails had grown to talons, but the skin was hanging off in shreds. The flesh was desiccated, as if it had been left to wither in the hot desert wind.
I fell to my knees, terrified out of my mind. “What is this?”
The Lobhadh placed its hand on my shoulder. “This is your true form. The body you have in the other world is long gone.”
My mind rebelled against the notion until I squeezed out, “But how--?”
“How did you never notice? That’s part of your power.”
The taller creature squatted in front of me, its voice buzzing with the noise of millions of tiny wings. “We told you before. Soon, your black magic will turn you into us.”
He skittered into a high-pitched giggle. “Oh, we’ll have so much fun, our brother.”
I moaned in sheer terror, pressing my misshapen hands against my ears. And still their voices penetrated my mind, cutting it to shreds as their words swarmed.
18
AMBER
I had lunch with Kiernan and Lance, forcing myself to make conversation. It was only Day Five at the compound, and already, we’d been at each other’s throats several times.
There was a subtext to every word we said to each other. I couldn’t look at Kiernan without seeing him with that female agent. Sure, the camera had shut off, but my imagination carried the movie in my head straight to NC-17.
Afterwards, Kiernan and Lance went to the gym to let off some steam. They’d invited me, but I wasn’t in the mood. There were some new novels set out on the shelf in the cafeteria. I picked a romance to take back with me.
When I entered the room, Julian had burrowed himself under the covers, fast asleep. I chose the other bed, wrapping the blanket around me, and opening the book. Soon, I was so engrossed in the story, it took me a while to notice the noises coming from my troubled boyfriend.
He grunted a few times. Then he tossed his cover off, rolled onto his back, and gasped. Again and again, he wheezed, struggling to get enough air. I slipped off my mattress and rushed to his side.
“Julian,” I called out.
He didn’t respond. Instead, he covered his face with his hands as if to hide from his dream.
“Julian,” I repeated, louder this time. When I shook his shoulder, he lashed out. I jumped back, but not quickly enough. He belted me across the chest so hard, I stumbled.
“Goddammit,” I grumbled under my breath. “That stung.”
Rubbing my sternum, I approached him again.
His eyes were open, and he stared at me. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.”
I waved away his apology. “Don’t worry about it. Did you have a nightmare?”
He pressed his lips together before answering. “Hennessy told me yesterday there’s a Fae prisoner here.”
He hadn’t answered my question, but I let it go. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. But she also told me they tortured him.”
I swore. “Did he give up the portal location?”
“No.” His face shuttered like the slamming of a steel door.
He knows more than he’s letting on. I closed my eyes briefly and took a deep breath. There was a reason why the doors in that hidden corridor were secured with top-of-the-line electronic safety equipment. But I couldn’t tell Julian. Not until I was sure he hadn’t turned me in to Hennessy.
Besides, Julian looked as if he was a hair’s width away from losing his mind. I didn’t like how pale his skin was and how his hands shook. If I found the prisoner, I needed a backup I could rely on.
The second time, it took me only a few minutes to find the hallway. Checking left and right, I made sure no agents were watching. Then I slipped around the corner, making a beeline for the first door.
Once I got there, I still had to break through the high-tech security. Should be easy for a change.
Placing my hand flat on the glass above the keypad, I sent a tiny charge through my skin.
The digital display went crazy. Numbers randomly flashed until they blinked out of existence. The lock disengaged with an audible click.
I pulled the door open and entered a small room with a desk and a PC. Overhead, more fluorescent lighting hummed a headache-inducing tune.
On the far side was a metal door, secured with the same electronic security system. It took me less than five seconds to blow its fuses. When I wrestled the heavy door open, my jaw dropped.
So far, the compound had been set up as a military base. But this cavernous area looked like a sci-fi movie set.
In the wall, eight feet above the lab, light glinted off a glass-enclosed gallery. Observers could see everything that happened below. Under my feet was a stainless-steel floor, crisscrossed with channels leading to a central drain.
Along the walls was an array of futuristic medical equipment. A table stood in the center of the room. And on it, there was a person.
My heart thumped in my throat, and my stomach flipped as I stepped closer. Nobody deserved to be strapped down like a hunk of pork in a cooler.
It was freezing in here. But it wasn’t just the temperature that ran shivers up and down my back. If I was too late, if they’d killed him, I’d puke right here.
There was something familiar about the poor bastard. His face was turned away from me, and his eyes were closed. His hair had been cut off in chunks, revealing pointy ears. Definitely Fae.
I held my breath, waiting for some kind of reaction. But he didn’t move. In the dim light, I couldn’t make out whether his chest was rising and falling.
Get a grip, girl. Only one way to find out if he’s alive. I swallowed hard and touched his skin. It was clammy and cold. Goddammit. I was too late.
But then I pushed my trembling fingers further until I reached his jugular. It jumped faintly against my skin. And again.
I had to grip hold of the table edge to keep my knees from buckling with sheer relief. The Fae might be unconscious, but he was very much aliv
e.
I moved to the other side. Once I got a good look at his face, my misgiving grew. I knew him. I just couldn’t place him.
“Hey,” I whispered, slapping his cheeks lightly.
He groaned, and I slapped him again, harder this time. “Hey, wake up.”
He opened his eyes with great effort, blinking slowly, tiredly. His voice was so quiet, I had to bend down to hear him. “It is you.”
“Do you know me?”
“Yes, I do. You are the girl who was taken prisoner. There was a price on your head. But you escaped with your Quint.”
I still couldn’t place him. There were patches in his dark hair where his torturers had placed electrodes. Glue residue was still stuck in the surrounding hairs.
His lids were half-closed, but I glimpsed eyes the color of wet silver, a luminescent metal sheen. My mind churned over his looks, his expression, his voice, until something drifted to the surface as if released from a whirlpool of memories.
I had seen him before. He was the warrior who’d thrown me into the cell on Farkas’s orders.
My hand flew to my cheek, and my lips pressed together as I fought against a flush of unexpected anger. The bastard had slapped me to shut me up.
He chuckled weakly. “You remember.”
“I do. You hit me. I should leave you here for that.”
“It was necessary. They would have killed you right there and then.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “You did it for my own good. Sure.”
“I am Bleddyn.”
“Is that a Fae name?”
It sounded ancient, foreign. It sang of stone and sea and blood.
Bleddyn chuckled. “It is not. We were not always separated.”
“I don’t understand.”
“If you free me, I will tell you more.”
I remembered something else about him. He’d sworn on his honor. There was something old-fashioned, chivalrous about this man that made me trust him.
“Do you promise on your honor to not attack me?”
He tugged on his restraints as if to raise his hand before relaxing back against the hard surface. “I promise upon my honor.”
Second Chance Doom: a paranormal romance adventure (Second Chance Academy Book 5) Page 8
