Second Chance Doom: a paranormal romance adventure (Second Chance Academy Book 5)

by Ella J. Smyth

  That didn’t sound ominous at all. Once they were gone, our captors pulled us inside the lab and dragged us in the direction of the chairs.

  I struggled as hard as I could, not concerned about the injuries I was sustaining. Pulling on my lightning as hard as I could, I was about to send a deadly shock into the Fae holding me.

  But then the lead scientist flicked a switch, and my power, strong enough to fell a buffalo, drained away.

  Just like that. Poof. One moment, it was sizzling through my hand, the next, there was nothing.

  My captor’s face contorted into an expression of sadistic pleasure. Then he backhanded me so hard, I thought he would tear my head off.

  While I was hanging in his grip, too dizzy to get my feet under me, he pulled my face close to his.

  “Witch, I would kill you now if we did not have bigger plans with you. You will die screaming, and I will laugh at your pain.”

  Then he flung me into a chair next to Kiernan. The manacles snapped shut around my wrists and ankles.

  Lance managed to pull away and land a few hits before he, too, was subdued with a fist to the temple. He was strapped down on Kiernan’s other side. His eyes were closed, and a massive bruise bloomed on the side of his face.

  I called out to him. “Lance. Are you okay?”

  It took him several seconds to come back to consciousness. Julian hadn’t resisted his ordeal and probably came off best of us. As quickly as they’d appeared, the Fae filed out of the room, followed by most of the scientists. Only the man with the glasses and a woman stayed behind.

  “My name is Dr. Winkler. I’m the head scientist of this program.”

  “What program?” I wanted to know.

  He straightened the glasses on his nose. “It’s a top secret operation. Our aim is to secure peace between Faerie and our world while also neutralizing the threat the Fallout has created.”

  There was so much wrong with that statement, I didn’t even know where to start.

  Winkler continued. “I’m sure you have questions. I will answer as many as I can. But first of all, I’m very sorry I have to meet you under these circumstances, Miss Whitman. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  This couldn’t be good. Every time somebody had heard about me, they’d decided I was a menace to society and needed to be taken out.

  There was something so confusing about this man. A young woman had been murdered at his command. Yet he seemed convinced he was doing a good thing.

  Whereas when I looked at him, I saw a killer. A well spoken killer with manicured fingernails and an expensive suit under his lab coat, but a killer nonetheless.

  His brown eyes were guileless and serene. He had bushy eyebrows, and a strong jaw, and the rosy complexion of a man who slept well every night. There was nothing unusual about him.

  And yet, I knew I was looking at the face of evil. The kind of evil that isn’t even aware of itself. The kind of evil that justifies the means to an end.

  The means were our dead bodies. The end, I wasn’t sure about.

  He looked at me with patience and maybe a touch of pity. But there were determined furrows around his mouth that told me he wasn’t going to let us go. Ticking off a few boxes on the clipboard in his hand, he clicked his tongue as if he was a little irritated. Then he shut his pen. “Unfortunately, I have to oversee another experiment.”

  He handed the board to the woman and said, “Please make sure some water is brought to them. I need them well-hydrated, or the extraction won’t be satisfactory.”

  Without another word, he and his assistant left the room. The light stayed on as if our comfort was of no consequence to them.

  Lance shook his head as if to clear it. He groaned. “Ouch. That hurt. Bastard.”

  “Hey, Varga,” Kiernan said. “Did that guy manage to knock some sense into your hard skull?”

  What he really meant to say was, “I’m worried about you.”

  Guys. Jeez. They’d probably break out in hives if they ever had to share their feelings.

  Lance grimaced. When he turned his head, his eyes were unfocused, but he still managed to reply. “Very funny, Hennessy. I want to see how you feel after you get hit by a dump truck.”

  The chains around my chest that had tightened when the huge Fae had punched Lance loosened. If he was well enough to banter, then he couldn’t be seriously hurt.

  The door opened again, and the assistant walked in with four small bottles of water. She unscrewed one and held it against Kiernan’s lips until it was empty.

  When it was my turn, I gratefully took a full sip. She was so close, I smelled her floral perfume. Something fresh, like rosewater and lilac. It seemed so incongruous to the situation we were in.

  “So what’s the deal?” I said before she could give me another sip. “You’re gonna kill us like that poor girl?”

  She didn’t respond. But the way she avoided eye contact was itself an answer.

  She lifted the bottle and poured in more liquid. It filled my mouth and forced itself down my throat. I drank in big, desperate gulps.

  She emptied the water into me until I hung in my seat, gasping for air. Then she moved on to Lance.

  When I got my breath back, I asked, “Are you proud of yourself?”

  I wanted to challenge her, to provoke a reaction. “Is that what you wanted to be when you grew up? A killer?”

  She turned to me, her face distorted with anger. But behind it, I sensed fear. She stank of it. Her eyes were wide instead of narrowed in annoyance. Her fury wasn’t real. It seemed like a performance she put on to survive.

  I pushed even harder, curious to see if I could dig deep enough to reach her humanity. “Face it, lady. You’re a cold-blooded killer. You’re part of a campaign to murder hundreds of human beings. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

  Her expression crumbled, and she dropped the bottle she was about to give to Lance. Then she turned on her heel and ran out, slamming the door behind her.

  “Well done, Whitman. Well fucking done.” Lance licked his lips and stared forlornly at the spilled liquid.

  “Oops,” I said sheepishly and shuffled my butt on the seat, trying to find a more comfortable position.

  Lance murmured, “I suppose it doesn’t matter, anyway. But I sure would have liked not to die of thirst.”

  Julian’s eyes were closed, and he’d stayed silent throughout the altercation.

  I called out to him, “Sorry, Julian. She took your water as well. I wasn’t thinking.”

  He blinked his eyes open slowly and leaned forward as far as he could. “It’s not your fault, Amber. It’s mine.”

  My ears perked up. Maybe now I’d get the answer to why my gorgeous Goth had acted so strangely for the last few weeks. “What do you mean?”

  “I knew this was going to happen. I just didn’t know how to warn you.”

  Okay, I hadn’t expected that. “Come again?”

  Julian avoided my gaze, his body sagging in his restraints. “I never wanted you to find out, but since we’re probably not getting out of here…”

  He took a deep breath, as if steeling himself for his confession. My breathing ratcheted up another notch. What had he done?

  “I brought something back with me.” He hesitated.

  Kiernan was the first to crack. “Come on, for fuck’s sake. What do you mean? What did you bring back with you?”

  Julian’s fists clenched and released as he struggled to continue. Finally, his eyes turned to steel as he came to a decision.

  “So this is the deal. When I was dead, these things started to haunt me. I didn’t know what they were at the time. But basically, they’re corrupted human souls, called Lobhadh Ocrach. They can enter people’s dreams and torture them.”

  Kiernan sat up straight, as if he knew exactly what Julian was talking about.

  Julian glanced quickly at him, then at his hands, before continuing. “When I came back to life, I didn’t see them for a while. But they caught up wit
h me. Every day, they send me hallucinations. They’re so bad, I try everything to avoid them.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. Julian had been struggling by himself all this time? No wonder he’d shut himself off from us. He must have been terrified.

  “Eventually, I realized they weren’t all hallucinations. Some were visions of the future. Not everything has come true, thank God. But I knew humans and Fae were waiting for us in the lab.”

  He sobbed once. “And I tried to warn you, I really did. But I didn’t know how to make you listen.”

  His voice trailed off as his chin rested on his chest. His long hair hung like a curtain, concealing his face.

  I leaned back heavily in the chair. On the one hand, I was relieved Julian wasn’t actually going crazy. On the other, I was devastated on his behalf.

  The door opened again. All four of us straightened up, expecting the assistant to bring more water.

  Instead, the chains around my lungs loosened until I could have cried with relief when Kiernan’s mother entered the room.

  34

  Kiernan did a double take. “Ma? What the hell are you doing here?”

  She laid a finger on her lips and closed the door as quietly as she could. Then she rushed to her son and hugged him hard. “Kiernan. Thank God, I found you.”

  “But how— “

  “There’s no time to explain. I followed you through the portal with a small team. Let’s get you out of here.”

  She didn’t look at anybody else but her son. Sudden hope lit Kiernan’s face and strangled his voice. “Can you help Amber first?”

  Hennessy glanced at me with such hatred, I flinched. “No, I can’t. There isn’t enough time, Kiernan. I need to get you out now.”

  I’d never forgive her for extinguishing the eagerness in his expression. The light in his eyes went out, and his face fell.

  “Are you—,” he said before having to clear his throat. “Are you serious? You really think I’m going to run and leave my friends behind? Who the hell do you think you raised, Mother?”

  Assistant Director Hennessey scrambled on his wrist restraints without finding a release switch.

  She hissed, “Shut up. We don’t have time to argue.”

  She fumbled underneath the armrest and smiled triumphantly. “There it is.”

  The door crashed open, and three tall Fae warriors entered. Hennessy turned to them and said brightly, “Oh, thank goodness you’re here. This man is one of my agents and got caught up in the operation.”

  The leader tilted his head and gave a signal. The two guards seized her arms and pulled her away from her son. Kiernan watched with an expression of utter disbelief. I probably knew what was going to happen before he did.

  My stomach plummeted in record time, and I fought a feeling of intense nausea. My mouth went dry despite the bottle of water I’d drunk not long ago, and my fingers itched with the urge to do something.

  Mrs. Hennessy struggled against the tight hold, her voice becoming louder and more forceful. “Stop this at once. You’re not in charge of this operation. I am.”

  Before she could say anything else, the tall Fae with the empty eyes like cold glass pulled a knife from its sheath. So quick I couldn’t follow his movement, he dragged it across Kiernan’s mom’s throat.

  She gasped in pain, and her pupils exploded like black holes. A red line, stretching from ear to ear, grew on her skin, and then a rush of red liquid erupted from the wound.

  The Fae commander stepped back, wiping his knife on Hennessy’s blouse, while his men held her upright. The smear on the white fabric was obscene. Even worse was the bubbling of her blood staining her pristine collar.

  Kiernan’s lips moved soundlessly. The only other sound in the room was the rattle of Hennessey’s throat as the pulsating fountain of her blood slowed down.

  Kiernan and his mom held each other’s gaze until hers broke. Her head fell forward, and her body went limp as her life ebbed away.

  Kiernan squeezed his eyes shut and took deep, shuddering breaths. I felt his agony through our bond. Searing, aching pain that ripped through my heart like razor wire. My vision tunneled in on Hennessy’s white face, her dead eyes staring across eternity.

  The Fae carried her body out of the room, her heels dragging through the puddle of blood, painting a gory trail along the floor. The commander spat on the ground before following his men.

  “Traitor.”

  Lance was pale, and his eyes hard and cold like obsidian. Julian had his head turned away, crying quietly. Kiernan was the first to recover. He lifted his tear-stained face and said to Julian, “Don’t you dare take the blame for this. This isn’t your fault.”

  I wasn’t sure Julian heard him. But the tension bled out of his shoulders.

  I didn’t know what to say. Sightlessly, I stared ahead of me, rerunning the scene in my mind. The speed with which the Fae bastard had killed Hennessy. How he’d done it like she hadn’t mattered at all.

  We were left alone with a congealing puddle of blood in the middle of the room. The smell made me nauseous. My body felt heavy, laden down with sorrow for my Irish lover.

  But it must have been just as awful for Julian and Lance. Both had lost their mothers to violence at a young age. I was the only one whose parents were still alive. Ironic how I never wanted to see them again.

  The door opened for the last time. A man dressed in a biohazard suit mopped up the blood and left.

  After that began the longest night of my life. As the hours ticked away, we didn’t know exactly what the morning would bring. Except that it was unlikely to be anything good.

  Personally, I expected the scientists to return, turn on the machine, and watch us die in agony. Just like our Fae captor had prophesied.

  At some stage, I must have fallen asleep. I found myself floating, feeling happy and light. There were four ribbons drifting elegantly around me. When I looked down, they were attached to me.

  It had to be the Soul Weave. The black, gold, orange, and red strands weaved in and out in intricate patterns, but always connected to me.

  A ball of vibrant energy burst out of me, feeding power into the ribbons, and they in turn fed the glowing strands back into me. The ball absorbed the bonds until it turned from pure white to a glowing iridescence.

  And suddenly I realized what I had to do. It seemed so simple that I laughed out loud and woke myself up.

  Julian looked at me with a knowing gaze. But there was no way he could know what I was planning, so I ignored him. I had more important things to do. I felt as giddy as if I’d drunk champagne. The lightness burst out of me.

  “Julian. You were the first boy I met when I arrived at the Academy. Without you, I wouldn’t have made it this far. Have I told you how much I love you?”

  He was pleased but confused. It didn’t stop me.

  “Kiernan, wake up. I gotta tell you something.”

  Kiernan’s red-rimmed eyes opened. He hadn’t slept. How could he have, after what he’d had to watch? But what I had to say couldn’t wait.

  “Kiernan. You’ve been my rock from the very first time I met you. You are the person who holds this group together.”

  His face showed a bone-deep exhaustion, but the corners of his mouth lifted.

  Lance piped up. “Since we’re going all buddy-buddy, I just wanted to tell you that you were always a pain in my ass, Amber.”

  That made me laugh. It was as close to a love declaration as Lance usually came.

  “Right back at you, big guy,” I said.

  Lance winked. “And don’t you know it.”

  Then he turned serious. “If this is the end, then I want all of you to know that I wouldn’t have missed this for anything in the world. You’re my family. It sucks it’s gotta end like this.”

  He took a deep breath, as if he needed to brace himself for what he was saying next. “After all the shit went down with my parents, I never thought I would find a group of people I’d love as much as you g
uys.”

  Julian’s chuckle broke into a sob. “I don’t know how you can say that, Lance. Without my fuck-up, you’d never be in this situation.”

  “Shut up,” Lance said calmly. “You said it yourself. You tried to warn us but we didn’t listen.”

  Then he sighed deeply, regret rasping through his throat like a file through metal. “The only thing I’d wish we done was tell Macha how much he meant to us.”

  Kiernan said, “At least he didn’t get dragged into this shit show. I wonder where he is now.”

  And just like that, the heaviness in my chest returned as if somebody had tied an anchor to my feet and thrown me into a storm-whipped ocean.

  I wasn’t sure why they couldn’t feel Macha’s bond as strongly as I did. Maybe because they all connected to me instead of each other. I knew Macha was in Faerie, and he wasn’t doing too well. My Cat Boy’s connection pulsed weakly, as if he were scared or in pain. I felt his suffering like a nagging toothache.

  But telling them would only cause more upset. We were in no position to help him. I said brightly, “I bet he found his dad, and they’re having a blast catching up on family news.”

  Then I closed my eyes and hoped they’d stop talking about our lover, who soon would be alone in this damn world.

  Julian said quietly, “I love you guys, you know that.”

  Lance and Kiernan both responded as one. “Oh, shut up.”

  Nobody came to check on us for the rest of the night. Even though the lights stayed on, I nodded off for minutes at a time. Kiernan and Julian talked in droning murmurs. The sound of their voices followed me into my broken dreams until I woke up with a gasping start.

  We all knew what was waiting for us once this night was over. There was no point talking about it. Everything I wanted to say to my men had been said.

  But I still had a plan. And I hoped like hell it would work.

  In the morning, the door opened, and the man with the horn-rimmed glasses returned.

  35

  JULIAN

  I listened to their words. They told me it wasn’t my fault. They forgave me for putting them in the position we were in.