Alexa O'Brien, Huntress 09 - Forget About Midnight

by Trina M. Lee

  Chapter Nineteen

  My head felt cloudy when I came to. Gradually the haze began to clear. My anger, however, had not faded, and I sat up with a growl to find that I was no longer in the lab. Briggs had taken advantage of having me unconscious and put me in a room built for containing people like me.

  I was alone, but a guard watched me through a small window in the door. He pulled out his phone, most likely reporting to Briggs that I was awake. My wrists were still cuffed, and I was splayed awkwardly on the bed in the corner of the small room, as if I’d been haphazardly tossed there.

  “That motherfucker,” I seethed as I took in my surroundings.

  The room was not so different from the one Kale had been held in. A bed and a small desk with a lamp accounted for all of the furnishings. The walls were solid stone. Though I couldn’t hear anyone on the other side, I could feel them. Werewolf. But not Juliet. The opposite wall felt like nothing. Nobody was in there or perhaps there was no cell on that side. For, minus the bars, this room was a cell.

  No marks marred my veins, but I knew they’d taken my blood. The knowledge of it left me with a sick sensation. Blood like mine could be more than dangerous in the hands of the government. It could be a weapon. I remembered that Arys had said Briggs wanted me for a weapon. If I could not be made into an FPA weapon, perhaps that was his next best option: creating one from my blood.

  I sat down in the desk chair after turning it to face the door. Then I waited. Briggs came quicker than I’d anticipated. After exchanging words that I couldn’t hear with the guard outside, he let himself in. So they’d done some soundproofing as well.

  The guard stood watch outside the door, ready to enter if I gave him a reason to. I sat there staring at Briggs who rested his hand on his gun.

  “You’re a real piece of shit, you know that?” I greeted him with a snarl. “My sister is way too good for you.”

  “You left me no choice,” he said, remaining near the door. We both knew how fast I could get out of the chair and snap his neck. He was taking a big risk here. Of course, we both also knew that he was supposed to be my way out, so he was safe, for now.

  “No choice? You had no choice but to steal my DNA without my consent? Fuck you, Briggs.”

  He fixed me with his well-practiced, no-nonsense, Fed stare. “I’m not here to discuss our methods with you. I’ve reported your arrest to head office. It’s official. They will be releasing Juliet once the paperwork goes through.”

  “Where is she?”

  “She’s here. Several doors down.”

  “I want to see her,” I demanded.

  “Of course you do. And you will. But not until after I can get you out. If she comes to see you and then you somehow escape, it’s going to look like she had something to do with it.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. “You still plan to let me out?”

  Briggs shifted his gaze just enough to make me suspicious. “I said I would. But I didn’t say when.”

  I was on my feet so fast he took a step back, putting his back against the door. “What the fuck does that mean?”

  He drew his gun but held it at his side rather than pointing it at me. “It means that you may have to stay a while. At least until I can find a way to spring you without causing undue suspicion.”

  “Um, no.” I shook my head and laughed, filling the room with venom. “I’m not going to just hang out here waiting for you to decide it’s a good time while you torture and test me in the fucking meantime.”

  “It won’t be like that. I’ll make sure of it.” Briggs cast a glance at the guard who watched us intently through the window. “You’ll just have to trust me.”

  I clasped my hands together in order to keep from wrapping them around his throat. “I don’t. I never will. If you think keeping me here is going to help you recruit me or brainwash me or whatever you do to get my kind to work with you, then think again. I’d rather be dead than work for you.”

  A muscle twitched in his jaw, an unconscious reaction that confirmed what Arys had said. That was exactly what Briggs wanted. “You know, Alexa, virtually all of the inhuman agents we have here came to us seeking employment. That may be hard for you to believe, but it’s true. In fact, almost everyone here has some kind of paranormal history that led them to this occupation.” He shrugged, leaving it to me to accept or not.

  My curiosity was piqued. I studied him, searching his dark eyes. “Oh yeah? So what was it that brought you here?”

  His expression hardened as Briggs sought to throw a mask of deception over the truth. But it was too late because I’d already seen it in his eyes. Briggs wasn’t just an agent with a hard on for the supernatural. There was something more going on with him. How did I not see it before?

  “I didn’t come to talk about me,” he said. His posture stiffened. I’d made him uncomfortable.

  “So? Tell me anyway. Make yourself relatable, and maybe we’ll get along a lot better. I mean, you’re sleeping with my sister. We could end up being family. Might as well share what it is that makes you more like us than you want to admit.” My smile must have looked as vicious as it felt because Briggs responded with a scowl.

  As we stood there staring at each other, I got the sensation of a ghost-like hand on my arm. Nobody was there, and I did my best to ignore the unseen apparition. The place was filled with them.

  But then it whispered in my ear, so quiet I had to strain to hear. ‘He’s a dreamer. Afraid of himself. Afraid to sleep in the dark. So he works the night away.’

  A dreamer? That could be interpreted a few ways. I didn’t react to the voice. It could have been a long-dead occupant of the hospital or even the evil entity that fed the energy here. Paying attention to it would only encourage it, and I didn’t need that shit getting inside my head.

  “I am nothing like you, O’Brien,” Briggs said, a hard edge to his tone. I’d offended him. “I am not a killer.”

  This again. I was so over it. Rather than argue with him again, I plopped back down in the chair and sighed, bored. “Not a killer. A dreamer.”

  The shock on his face gave me a gleeful sense of victory. Could it be? Dare I even hope?

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, but he wasn’t prepared. He stank with the lie.

  “No?” I crossed my legs and propped an elbow on my knee, my chin in my bound hands as I regarded him with growing excitement. “Tell me, Briggs, do you walk in other people’s dreams? Or is there some other type of dreamer than I’m not yet familiar with?”

  For the first time since I’d met the man, he appeared flustered. His gaze hit the ground as he considered my question.

  “How did you know?” he asked.

  The confirmation was astounding. I didn’t even know how to process it. All this time, my ticket to freedom from Shya had been right here, in this man. Briggs was a fucking dreamwalker. I could have cried with relief and joy.

  “I didn’t,” I said, feeling smug. “Something just whispered it in my ear. Do you have any idea how many disembodied spirits are lurking in this building? They know things, Briggs. Better be careful. That could be dangerous for you.”

  When our eyes met, his tough agent mask was back in place. “I don’t know where you’re going with this, but you better watch yourself, O’Brien. You’re not in a position to do a damn thing to anyone.”

  We both knew what it would take for me to get the demon mark off my arm. While I was in Vegas, Juliet had approached Kale, offered him a job and also the dreamwalker they had in lockup here. Kale had refused, knowing I’d never want him to take that deal for me. I was willing to bet Briggs had been hoping his secret was never revealed. Now things were getting interesting.

  Leaning back against the chair, I held my cuffed hands out, changing the subject. “Any chance you can take these off? Please?”

  “I can,” he said. “But I’m not going to. Sorry, but I’m not an idiot.”

  That was arguable but not worth it. He sq
uared his shoulders and raised a hand to motion for the guard outside to let him out. The asshole was going to leave me here bound.

  “How long do you expect me to sit here, Briggs? You know Arys and I don’t do so well apart. Eventually he’s going to snap, and he will come. And every agent in this building together won’t be able to stop him.” It wasn’t a threat or a promise, just a warning.

  Briggs didn’t need the warning though. He’d seen Arys in action. In fact, he still wore the bandage on his neck that covered the bite he’d received from Arys. Briggs was playing with fire, and he knew it. He just didn’t give a shit.

  “I guess that’s a risk I’ll have to take. I’m not blowing this chance to save Juliet from further trouble. You shouldn’t want to either.” Without another word, he motioned to the guard outside for release and left the room.

  I watched them through the window. They exchanged words. Briggs cast a dismissive glance back at me, and then he was gone. In a sudden fit of temper, I got up and kicked the wooden chair. It hit the stone wall and broke apart into several pieces. They clattered to the floor, also stone. Briefly I wondered where they put the suicidal types. Did they have a padded room for them?

  The guard outside in the hall walked away. When I looked through the window, I could see him doing a slow walk down the hall. He’d likely go up and down until someone came to relieve him.

  Forgetting about him, I turned to survey the room. This time I wasn’t checking out the depressing décor but searching for cameras or other surveillance devices. The FPA wouldn’t leave these rooms unmonitored. There had to be something in here somewhere.

  Most recording devices gave off some kind of high-frequency noise that humans couldn’t hear. In recent years, such things had been improved. They weren’t all noisy, obvious things anymore.

  I scanned the stone walls, up to the ceiling, also stone. The FPA knew better than to throw a vampire into a flimsy room. Fuck.

  ‘Two nights,’ Arys’s voice in my head distracted me, drawing my attention inward. ‘Two nights until I come for you.’

  The first thing I felt at his presence in my mind was confusion and then wistful sorrow. After seeing Shaz outside and sending Kale away, I was ready to be alone. But I never stopped longing for Arys. Maybe some time in lockup would be good for me. I was overdue for some quality alone time.

  ‘Don’t jump the gun. I’ll get out. I think Briggs might be up to something, especially now that I know he’s a dreamwalker.’

  Arys’s shock spilled into me. I felt it like it was my own. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. This is too perfect.’

  ‘It really is.’ I smiled to myself, knowing Arys could feel it. ‘But I think it may have just convinced him to screw me over. He took my blood. And I don’t even know if Juliet’s in here or not.’

  Arys didn’t try to hide his frustration. ‘I told you this was a bad idea.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ I said. ‘But I wouldn’t have found out about Briggs otherwise. It was worth it for that alone.’ For a moment I wrestled with myself, fighting against the need to ask, unable to win. ‘They’re gone, aren’t they? Jenner and Kale.’

  ‘They are. Their flight left just over an hour ago.’

  It made me sad because there was nothing I could do about it. An awkward silence fell between us. There was no hiding my misery over Kale’s departure from Arys. He was in my head, able to access those thoughts without even having to try. Because it worked both ways, I could feel the deep desperation that racked him, the need to fix what he had broken. A wedge had been driven between us. My death.

  ‘It will be ok, Arys,’ I said because I didn’t know what else to say and because his hurt was my hurt. We were never going to stop causing each other some kind of pain. Would we ever learn how to manage the dark side of our bond?

  ‘I’m here if you need me.’

  He was gone, closing that mental door between us, leaving me alone again with my thoughts. I sat heavily on the edge of the bed, staring at my cuffed hands.

  How the hell did I get here? I ran back through the days in my mind. There were now so many versions of me: The one that had been human. The wolf. And now the vampire. Each version of me was constantly changing, leading me to this place where I now sat in an FPA holding cell pondering how I’d gotten there.

  I’d left a trail of bodies on my journey here. Some of them had had it coming. Many of them didn’t. I didn’t doubt that I deserved to be right where I was. However, I knew well that the man who put me here should probably be here as well. Briggs was no saint. There was blood on his hands too.

  Once I got thinking about my many mistakes and poor choices, it was easy to fall down the rabbit hole of guilt and despair. My anger at Briggs faded, replaced by my loathing for myself.

  Lost in memories, I sat there punishing myself, reliving the times I’d really fucked up. I went back to my teen years, to the time I’d fallen in love with Raoul. I hadn’t known then that he was the wolf who’d attacked my family after my mother had driven him into a jealous rage. Looking back on it though, it felt like I should’ve known. Juliet did her best to ensure I never forgot that I’d slept with my mother’s lover.

  Killing Veryl was another one of my great sins. He’d forgiven me for it. I knew that from my time between life and death, though I doubted I’d ever forgive myself for killing one of the few people who’d had my best interests at heart.

  Being unable to save Lena and even Zoey, their lost lives haunted me. Neither death had directly been my fault though they had both happened because of me in some way.

  I wasn’t sure how much time passed while I sat there lost in times long past, regretting them still. It had to be hours. At some point I’d moved onto the bed so my back was pressed against the wall. I clutched a piece of the simple blue comforter between my fingers. It smelled of laundry soap that was too heavily perfumed.

  As I went through the human lives I’d taken just this past week alone, I wanted to cry. The tears never came though. I was already too far beyond them, in a place where raw emotion had faded into detached numbness that spread through me, seeking to devour.

  Becoming a vampire had brought out the worst in me. No. Those things had been growing before the transition. A victim of my own power, I’d fed them, made them grow.

  A small voice of reason spoke up amid my pity party. It told me that it was useless to focus on such things, a waste of energy, and a poor excuse to keep from moving forward. That voice was quickly drowned out by the blood and screams that surged forward to haunt me.

  A cool breeze blew through the small room, an impossibility on its own except for where ghosts and evil entities were concerned. On the wind came the unspoken whisper, ‘Welcome back, lost wolf. Have you still not found your way?’

  I stiffened, feeling very much not alone. “I have nothing to say to you.”

  A cold chill crept over me, causing me to shiver. It was the first time I’d shivered since awaking after my death.

  My rejection did nothing to deter the entity. It pressed harder, testing my resolve. ‘I felt your death,’ it said. ‘I tasted it.’

  I thought of Arys, lost in blissful ecstasy as he drained the blood from me. “Yeah, well, you weren’t the only one.”

  Letting my head fall back against the cold stone wall, I stared at the ceiling and waited for it to get bored and move on to torment someone else. It taunted me a few more times, trying to find my weakness. There were many for it to choose from.

  ‘The Hound of Light likes to play in the dark. You belong to me now.’

  It chattered on like that for some time. Each word stoked the flames of my anger, but it wasn’t like I could bitch slap an invisible entity. So I did my best to ignore it. Then it started to really get personal.

  ‘Look at the vampire queen, all locked up like a miserable human. Where is your power now? Flown away on mechanical wings, leaving you behind. Such a shame. But no, that was your sad heart.’

  Somehow it knew about
Kale. Had it heard my silent communication with Arys? Did it know us all so well? The FPA were fools to house their headquarters in a place with such a thing. Did they even realize what was here with them?

  After my silence continued, it fell quiet, and I felt it slip away. Though it never really left. The energy of it pulsed everywhere, throughout the entire building and the land it was built on. I could feel it like pressure in my head, speaking to my dark side.

  I wasn’t going to last two nights at this rate. Between the boredom, the guilty thoughts, and the evil entity, I was going to lose what little was left of my damn mind.

  I was slipping from sound mind into madness when I felt the air ripple. No way. Tense, I sat up straighter and waited for the unseen newcomer. It could be a few different people. I slumped back in disappointment and relief when Falon appeared in the middle of the room.

  “Don’t look so damn happy to see me,” he said with a scowl. “Please, really, contain your enthusiasm.”

  I’d hoped it was Willow and dreaded it was Shya. With a shrug I mumbled, “If you were expecting some kind of applause or something you have the wrong audience. What are you doing here anyway?”

  He cast a glance down at the shattered remains of the chair and kicked a few pieces aside. “Maybe one day that won’t be the first thing you say when you see me.”

  I didn’t reply, merely regarded him with a raised brow.

  His exasperated sigh was forced and highly exaggerated. “Fuck, Alexa, would it kill you to fake a smile? Or a personality?”

  Along with my best fake smile, I shot him a middle finger. Falon’s presence was suspicious. Until I knew who sent him and what he was doing here, I couldn’t trust him. Well, I wouldn’t trust him anyway.

  Falon perched on the edge of the desk and fixed me with curious silver eyes. “I came to save you, of course. Saving your ass seems to be a thing lately, doesn’t it? I tried to warn you about this nonsense with your sister, but you didn’t listen.”