Loving the Enemy (Seven Forbidden Arts Book 0)

by Charmaine Pauls

  He smiled slowly. “Quite the contrary. He didn’t sell you. He bought you.”

  Suddenly, Lily had to sit down. She flopped onto the chair nearest to her. “What do you mean, he bought me?”

  “Didn’t he tell you? He paid off your father’s assassins–double the price your dad had on your head. Now, he owns you. Your life belongs to him. Anyone who dares touch you, will have his vengeance. They’ll become his and his alliances’ hunted. That’s how it works in our business. Because of Jacob, I am now your protector.”

  “But you’re my enemy.”

  He tilted his head. “It all depends on how you look at it.”

  “What do you hope to achieve?”

  “To save the world. I know you know about the seven forbidden arts, and about what your father intends to do, because Jacob already told me. It’s my job to stop Godfrey.” His gaze turned cold, the warmth evaporating from his eyes. “And I’ll do whatever it takes.” He leaned forward. “Now, are you ready to cooperate?”

  She was done cooperating. She didn’t believe Cain. She trusted no one but herself. She had trusted Jacob and look where that had gotten her. She stared at Cain, her silence her answer.

  He sighed, and there was real regret in the sound. “So be it.” He got to his feet again, this time slower, as if the task weighed heavy on him, and nodded at Pierre, who had to have entered quietly behind Lily.

  When Pierre took her arm and dragged her down the hall, she fought him with everything she had. She wasn’t going down without a fight. The old man was surprisingly strong. Her fists and nails had no effect on him as he shoved her into a dark room with no light. For a second she was off balance, disorientated, and before she could get her bearings, a hard, cold object slammed around her wrists. She jerked her arms. Metal clanged. She was chained to a wall. Panic rushed through her.

  “Wait!” She rushed toward the sliver of light that shone through the crack of the door, the chains jingling from the exertion, but Pierre retreated and the door shut in her face.

  She slid to the floor. One sob broke free, and then another. They were going to torture her. She hadn’t considered a slow death. A shot in the head, maybe. Or a slit of the throat. She pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her chained arms around her legs. Right now, she wanted her dad like never before. She buried her head in her knees and cried.

  Hours, minutes, or a day could have passed. Lily had dosed off on the cool floor. She jerked awake as someone fiddled with the door. A key turned. She was thirsty, hungry and in desperate need of the bathroom. Her wrists burned where the metal restraints had chaffed her skin.

  The bright sunlight that fell through the door momentarily blinded her, and the spotlight that was switched on and aimed at her face even more so. She blinked several times and lifted her arms to shield her eyes against the painful glare. Footsteps echoed on the concrete. They stopped a short distance from her.

  “Ready to talk?” Cain’s voice said. “A warm meal awaits you.”

  “Go away.”

  He sighed. Without another word, he turned and the dark shape of his body disappeared through the door. She was both relieved and anxious. The door didn’t shut behind him as she had expected. Instead, Pierre entered and unlocked one handcuff.

  “You can use the bathroom,” he said gruffly, turning the spotlight to the corner to reveal a toilet and basin she hadn’t noticed in the dark.

  He was scarcely gone, the door locked behind him again, when Lily moved forward. She tested the boundary of her restraint and found that she could just reach the corner of the room with only her left arm in the chain. She fell over the basin and opened the single faucet. Cold water ran from the tap. Cupping her free hand, she drank until her stomach ached and then splashed her face. She used the toilet and drank some more. Only when she felt like bursting did she stop to walk around the room.

  It was a big space. Because of the chain, she couldn’t reach the other side, but she could see in the light. As if someone out there could read her mind, the light went out. Lily rushed to it, feeling her way through the dark. She burned her fingers on the hot bulb and pulled back with a cry. She searched down the base, but couldn’t find a switch. She followed the electric cord for as far as her chain would go. It had to be running through the wall, or maybe up the ceiling, with a switch on the other side.

  For the next stretch of time she walked around the room in a circle, counting her steps and listening to the echo of it on the floor. When she was too tired to carry on, she sat down again and rested her head against the wall. She sang all the songs she could remember, and then she counted until she couldn’t keep track any longer. Finally, she lay down on the floor and fell into the blissful release of sleep.

  There was no way of telling time. Lily only knew she hadn’t yet slept enough when the noise of the door opening woke her again. She sat up quickly and rubbed at her burning eyes, waiting for the sharp light to flick on, but the darkness remained. A sliver of artificial light fell through the door. It was night.

  “Ready to talk?” Cain’s voice said.

  “I don’t know more than what I’ve already told Jacob.”

  The door shut again. She sighed and lay down. She tried to go back to sleep, but this time she couldn’t escape into her subconscious mind, no matter how long she counted. She lay awake in the dark, staring at nothing, until she couldn’t take it anymore. She got up and walked around. She washed her hands. She tried to see how many different sounds she could make with the chain. And then she sat down again. If anyone had told her a person could go crazy from doing nothing, she wouldn’t have believed them. Now, removed from all stimulation, she was going out of her mind. She desired someone’s presence almost as much as a meal. Her body was growing weak from hunger. Dizziness seized her. It always happened when her blood sugar levels dropped too low. A long time later, her body thankfully went numb. The hunger was only a distant ache now, instead of the earlier tormenting nausea.

  Blackness was all that existed. Panic was too exhausting, so Lily retreated to her memories, happy ones of her, a girl of five or six, running through the garden while Daddy chased her. She sat on his lap as he sipped his morning coffee, his big hand on her head, cradling her to his chest.

  ‘Don’t switch off the light, Daddy. I’m scared,’ she whispered as he tucked her into the bed with the frilly pink bedspread.

  ‘It’s only the dark,’ he replied, kissing the top of her head. ‘I won’t let anything happen to you.’

  Warm tears trickled down her cheeks as he kissed the cut on her knee the first time she had fallen off her bike. The chains jingled when she touched her face and felt the wetness.

  “This isn’t real,” she whispered, trying to believe herself. “It’s just a bad dream, Lily.” But the tears on her cheeks were very real.

  For the longest time ever, Lily existed between the basin and her place on the floor, until she was too tired to even walk around the room. Curling into a ball against the wall, her face away from the door, she recalled one memory after another.

  She wasn’t sure of where she existed, any longer. Maybe she wanted to escape into the past so badly that her mind was rejecting the present. Maybe she had gone crazy. She fell in and out of slumbers, disappointed each time she woke, because then the torture continued. It was a never-ending cycle. She closed her eyes and listened to her breathing. It was labored, strange, as if it was coming from someone else. Was she dying? Already? How long did it take to die of hunger? Hunger wasn’t a physical pain any longer. It had become a mental torment. She forced herself not to think, only to count, until she dozed off.

  She shot up, awake, in a strange bed. She looked around. She was in Jacob’s room. Shots rang out from the hallway. They were coming for her. She tried to get up but her body was too heavy. She pushed herself out of the bed with an effort and tripped over something. Staring up from the floor was the face of her nana, blood a dark pool around her on the wood. She slipped in the blood as she
sprinted for the bathroom, but all she did was run in place while Jacob walked through the door with a gun in his hand.

  She jerked awake, her shoulders lifting from the ground and hitting the hard concrete with a thump. Her brow was covered with sweat. Not far away, was water. She could walk to the basin and wash her face, but instead, she curled back up.

  “It’s just the dark,” she said to herself.

  Sometime later, Lily became aware of someone sitting next to her on a chair. Her gaze fixed on white pants and the end of a wooden cane.

  “Please, Lily,” a voice said, “stop torturing yourself. Tell me where your father is. You can walk out of here the minute you tell me what I want to know.”

  She laughed but it came out as a cough. Her throat felt raw. Her words were as scratchy as sandpaper. “Like I believe you.”

  “Who is Lupien?”

  Lily didn’t answer. No matter what she did, they were going to kill her.

  After a long silence, Cain got to his feet, picked up the chair and a second later she was alone again. Time continued to stretch into eternity, for as long as she could count, and for as long as the darkness continued.

  Chapter Seventeen

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  Jacob woke up with a headache from hell. His first thought came crystal clear–Lily. Suppressing the urge to jump to his feet, he slowly opened his eyes and took stock of the situation. A woman with short, dark hair in a white overcoat sat on the edge of the bed.

  “There you are.” Her accent was French. She smiled. “Welcome back.”

  They were alone in a handsomely furnished room with a bed, a dressing table, a chair, and an armoire. He was shirtless, wearing only his boxer shorts.

  He grabbed her wrist. “Where am I? Who are you? Where’s Lily?”

  She looked at where his fingers were locked around her arm and lifted her brow. Slowly, he let go.

  “I’m Eve, Cain’s doctor. Whoever stitched you up, did a nasty job. Going to leave an ugly scar. But it saved you from bleeding to death.”

  He sat up and winced at how his muscles ached. A drip was attached to his arm. “Yeah, well, considering the poor guy was only a fifth-year vet and he was forced to do it with a gun pointed at his head, what can you expect?” He grimaced at the painful memory of Lily trying to save his life. “Where is she?”

  Eve lifted her hands. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you need to take it easy. You’ve been out for a couple of days.”

  “Days?” He swung his legs off the bed, nearly knocking Eve down.

  “Induced sleep. Two days, to be exact.”

  Rage consumed him. “Two fucking days?”

  “Your body needed to recover. Your wound was infected.” She took a bottle of pills from her pocket and shook it. “The antibiotic we found on you was more suited to a hamster than a human being. I’ve given you a tetanus shot, too.”

  He pulled the needle from his arm, ignoring Eve’s big eyes and the small pool of blood that formed on his skin.

  “You need that,” she said. “Intravenous nutrients.”

  “Where’s Cain?”

  “In the lounge. I’ll go get him.”

  He got to his feet. “Better yet, I’ll go get him.”

  He noticed his T-shirt and jeans on the chair, and pulled them on. He stalked down the hallway. Feeling dizzy, he braced himself with his hands on the wall as he went. He had no idea where he was headed, but recognized the foyer. It was the same flat where he had brought Lily.

  Barging through the door at the end, he had to steady himself again to not keel over. Cain sat at the dining room table with a laptop open in front of him and a cellphone pressed to his ear.

  “Where the fuck is she?” Jacob said, making his way to the table and knocking down chairs in the process.

  Cain didn’t seem alarmed as he looked up. “Jacob’s awake. Come over.” He ended the call and assessed Jacob. “You’re less pale, but you don’t have your strength back yet.”

  Jacob clutched the chair in front of him. “Answer me, damn you.”

  “All in good time.” Cain got to his feet. “I thank you for honoring our agreement, for bringing Miss Reid here.”

  “You said you’d protect her if I did.”

  “And I haven’t lied. She has my protection, for as long as I’m able to give it.”

  “What have you done with her?”

  Cain seemed remorseful, and that emotion on the powerful man’s face scared the shit out of Jacob. He started shaking. And it wasn’t with physical weakness. “Answer me.”

  “She didn’t break as easily as I hoped. But I had to be sure she doesn’t know more.” He shook his head. “Her dedication to her family is commendable.”

  “Take me to her. Now.”

  “That’s the plan. But we were going to prepare her first. You woke up too soon.”

  Jacob reached across the table for Cain, wanting to wring his neck. “You tricked me.”

  “Careful,” Cain said without flinching or retreating. “You don’t want me as an enemy.”

  He clenched his fists. “Just take me to her.”

  Eve stepped into the room, looking between the two men. “Is everything all right, Cain?”

  “Yes.” Cain didn’t remove his eyes from Jacob. “I’m facing a man in love, that’s all. You can go.”

  She seemed to hesitate. “Are you sure?”

  “Josselin and Maya are arriving shortly. Do tell Pierre on your way out.”

  “I left a prescription for him in the room. Antibiotics.” She pulled off her overcoat and draped it over her arm. “And try to keep still, Jacob. You shouldn’t be moving about as you’re doing.”

  Jacob ignored the doctor. His gaze remained fixed on the only man who could give him what he wanted.

  When the doctor was gone, Cain said, “Sit down. Save your strength. You’ll get your Lily soon enough.”

  Jacob obeyed grudgingly. “What are we waiting for?”

  “For my team.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I need to be sure Lily has told us everything she knows before she leads us to her father.”

  Jacob raked his hands through his hair. “You’re not suggesting using her as bait?”

  “My team will be there to protect her.”

  “No.” He got to his feet again and started pacing. “No. Her life has been risked enough. The fact that she got away the first time was damn lucky. I almost lost her twice. Luck only lasts that long.”

  “You underestimate her. Not so much luck, as a will to survive.”

  “I’m pretty sure she would have been dead had I not been around the last two times. She didn’t stand a chance. Not against the army and neither against the assassin who was sent to deal with her.”

  “Well, then you seem to be her luck.”

  Jacob scoffed. He bristled. “This wasn’t the deal.”

  “Had I told you my intention, would you have brought her to me?”

  “No.”

  “Exactly.”

  Jacob knew he needed Cain’s help. Cain was as powerful as Godfrey. And he had a team. Alone, Jacob couldn’t protect Lily forever.

  Pierre walked into the room. “They’re here.”

  Cain nodded. “Bring them through.”

  A moment later two men and a woman entered the room. The one leading the way was tall and broad, his harsh face lined by long black hair streaked with white. His silver eyes seemed haunted. There was danger in that cold, hard gaze. A man with nothing to lose, with dead, hopeless eyes, was the most dangerous of all. The second one was tall too, but more slender, with a blond braid hanging down his back. He had an exotic, elf-like appearance. Jacob measured the yellowish, intelligent eyes as they sized him up in turn. He fixed his attention on the woman last. She was strikingly beautiful with a mocha skin and green, lively eyes. Her dreadlock beads rattled as she shook them over her shoulder.

  “This is Jacob,” Cain said. “Jacob, meet my team.”

  T
he guy with the dead eyes shook his hand first. “Josselin.” His accent was distinctly French.

  “Lann,” the man with the strangely shaped ears said. His grip was firm. “Please to meet you.” Russian, no doubt.

  The woman didn’t touch him. She only inclined her head and smiled. “Maya. I wish I could say it’s a pleasure, but I’m sure you disagree.”

  Her accent he couldn’t place. He only knew it was neither British, nor American or Australian.

  “Drinks?” Cain said, motioning at Pierre who busied himself with retrieving glasses from the liquor tray by the window.

  Jacob looked at the street below. Judging by the position of the sun, it was around midday. He didn’t see an army pulled up in front of the building, or vehicles lining the street. The thing was, after the stunt Cain had pulled on him, he didn’t know if he could trust him, and he certainly didn’t trust the people facing him. He had the weirdest feeling that they were watching him as if he was going to put on some show. Pierre stood on attention behind the drinks tray, but nobody ordered anything. They were all tense and alert.

  “Time to bring out the girl,” Cain said.

  Jacob’s heart jerked. She was here? Lily was in this goddamned flat, right under his nose? He would have torn the place apart had he known. That was the last thing he anticipated.

  “Follow me.” Cain made his way down the hallway.

  Jacob wasn’t going to let himself be invited twice. Impatience and anxiety ate like acid into his gut.

  They stopped in front of a door secured by bolts and a key. With each slide of a metal bar Jacob’s heart beat faster, threatening to jump from his chest. When Cain pulled the door open, the sight that greeted him wasn’t what he had expected. Lily lay in a dark room, on a bare floor, one arm chained to a wall. She was very still. Her body didn’t even flinch at the sound or movement of the door. His heart stopped and then started beating more furiously than before. His rage made him see dark spots.

  “What did you do to her?” he gritted out, rushing forward.

  “Nothing,” Cain said. “Absolutely nothing.”