Fourth Debt

by Pepper Winters

  “One day, you’ll end up belonging to someone you love. But for now, you belong to me. I’m the one who’s come to rescue you. I’m the one who holds your life in my hands. And I’m the one who says you’ll do what I ask.”

  My shoulders hunched. “Probably not the best way to make him help you.”

  She glared at me.

  I shrugged.

  I’d been on the receiving end of Jasmine’s willpower—her perfect deception. She could spin any tale—give life to any lie. She’d completely fooled me at the meeting, and I’d never underestimate her again. I still couldn’t shake the hatred I’d felt. But she didn’t know my brother or how pig-headed he could be when told to do something.

  V turned to me. “Threads…is that true? You fell in love with that bastard?” His face fell. “Is that why you slept with him?”

  Jaz sucked in a breath, watching us like some soap opera.

  I moved to stand in front of my brother. “What she says is true. I love him, V. And he doesn’t have much time. Jasmine needs your help.” Laying a hand on his chest, I murmured, “I want you to help her. For me. Please…”

  His heart thundered under my touch; his eyes dove into mine. “This is for real? You love the bastard who’s going to kill you?” His face contorted. “Could you be any more stupid?”

  “He would never have been able to do it.” Jasmine rolled forward. “He fell for her before she fell for him. I knew even when he didn’t.”

  She locked her brakes, staring up at V. “If you won’t help me because I’m telling you to, help me because I’m asking. Don’t let him die. Don’t destroy your sister or condemn my brother when he’s the only one who can stop all of this for good.”

  For the longest moment, we all held our breaths, waiting for V to accept defeat and agree to help. But then his shoulders stiffened, and he shook his head. “I don’t believe either of you. I think you’re both fucked in the head, and we need to get the hell out of this shithole.”

  Snatching my wrist, he jerked me toward the door.

  For someone who’d been in a fight and locked in a chiller, he moved quickly.

  “V! Let me go.” I stumbled after him, vertigo teasing with the outskirts of my vision.

  “Vaughn, listen to her.” Jaz spun around, her knuckles white on her wheels. “You can’t leave.”

  V ignored her and reached for the door. “Oh, really? Funny, this is me leaving.”

  I breathed hard. “Vaughn, I’m not going anywhere with you. If you won’t help us, fine. But I’m not going to leave him—”

  “Yes, you are. Because I’m doing something he never did.” His nose almost brushed mine as he yanked me close. “Saving your arse.”

  “You don’t understand!”

  “No, Threads. You don’t understand. They’ve kept you here, treating you fucking awful for months. They’ve twisted your thoughts and made you suffer that Stockholm shit. Well, it’s over. We’re going home.”

  His hand landed on the doorknob, wrenching it side to side.

  Locked.

  He whirled on Jaz, carting me back like a prisoner. Shoving his hand beneath her nose, he growled, “Key. Now.”

  Her chin rose. “No. Not until you agree to help me.”

  “Never. Give me the key.” He bent down, crazed with rage. “I won’t ask again.”

  “And I won’t ask for your help again. I’ll just make you.”

  Vaughn raised his hand.

  “Wait!” I jumped forward, barricading him from slapping her. “Don’t!”

  V’s mouth popped wide. “You’re seriously defending her, Threads? After every-fucking-thing her family has done to you?”

  I couldn’t believe it, either. If V had been there after the meeting with the lawyers, I would’ve willingly given him a gun and loaded the bullet myself. But that was before I started listening—truly listening. Jaz was on our side.

  He’s alive.

  But for how much longer?

  Waving my arms, I whisper-shouted, “Enough! Yes, I’m defending her. Yes, I’m in love with Jethro. And no, I won’t go anywhere with you until he’s safe.” Trembling, I looked over my shoulder at Jasmine.

  She sat unruffled, her hand curled around a black gun that’d appeared from under her blanket.

  I knew it! I knew she’d have an arsenal hidden in there.

  Our eyes met.

  I could make a big deal out of the weapon or I could focus on the task at hand.

  Jethro and Kes…

  Ignoring the pistol, I asked, “What’s your plan? Why do you need my brother to help?”

  “Mr. Weaver here is going to carry me where I need to go and do everything I tell him.”

  “Like fuck I am.” Vaughn paced in front of us.

  “V!” I scowled. “Just…listen, okay?”

  A small glisten of emotion showed before Jaz added, “I can’t do this on my own and, Nila, you have to go back to your room.”

  I shook my head. “I’ll come with you. I don’t want to go back—”

  “It’s not a matter of what you want. It’s a matter of necessity. We’ll be gone a while. I need you to lie for me if it comes to that.”

  “Lie for you?”

  “You need to take my chair and tell them that I spent the night with you.” She eyed up V as he paced like a feral animal. “While he’ll be my legs and strength, you’ll be my safeguard. I need you to come up with any tale you need to in order to keep the truth about my brothers’ lives a secret. I don’t care what you say. Just keep it hidden.”

  My mind swam. I had no idea how I would achieve that if Daniel or Cut came knocking.

  “And why do you need me, exactly?” Vaughn asked, his voice laced with animosity. “Why should I put my life on the line?”

  Jaz took in his bruised face and blood-stained t-shirt. “Do you want children, Mr. Weaver?”

  V’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. “What? What the fuck does that—”

  “Answer the question. Yes or no.”

  My heart raced, waiting for him to reply. I’d grown up with V, but we’d never talked about what we wanted in the future. Never discussed the idea of raising our own families—too caught up in designing and promoting and working tirelessly for a company that was more parent than we’d ever needed.

  V breathed out heavily. “I don’t know…before, I might’ve entertained the idea, but now never. Not after what they did to Nila.” His eyes fell on me. “Or our mum.”

  “Exactly. My family has cast a shadow over yours for far too long. You should have the right to have children if you want, knowing they are safe to grow old.” She inched closer, her voice filling with passion and truth. “I need your help to make that a reality.”

  I tensed, waiting for another argument, for more curses.

  But V’s black eyes met mine, mirroring my unspoken begging for his help. He had the power to save, not only the man I loved, but both our futures, too.

  Finally, he slouched. “If I help you, you’ll keep my sister safe? You’ll make sure this ends?”

  Jaz held a fist over her heart. “You have my ultimate word. Keep my brothers alive and I swear to you this will all be in the past.”

  Vaughn closed the distance between them, his eyes lingering on Jasmine’s chair. With slight hesitation, he held out his hand. “In that case. We have a deal.”

  Jaz blinked back tears as she dropped the gun and placed her hand in his. “Thank you. A thousand times, thank you.”

  I didn’t want to interrupt the sudden tender moment, but my heartbeat was a clock, striking the passing minutes with terror.

  He’s alive.

  He’s alive.

  It’s time to go.

  “What next?” I whispered.

  Jaz smiled softly. “Vaughn and I have a date in the crypt.”

  V looked at her blankly.

  Jaz held up the key, rolling herself toward the door. “This is our last chance.”

  “What is?” I ghosted
forward, drawn by the anticipation of hope and righteousness.

  She slipped the key into the lock. “Our last chance to rescue Kestrel and Jethro and get them to the hospital before they die.”

  “NO. NOT LIKE that, dammit.”

  “Hush it, woman. I think I know how to work a cutting torch.”

  “No, you obviously don’t. You don’t have the valve open for the acetylene.”

  A curse, a scrape, then a loud hiss.

  Images of writhing snakes and striking cobras filled my cloud-riddled mind. What the fuck? Had I finally left Earth and plummeted to hell where reptiles and dragons waited for my demise?

  Something bright and fierce sliced through the darkness.

  I flinched.

  Yep, definitely hell.

  They’re waiting for me.

  Heat from their fire-breathing mouths battled away the penetrating cold.

  “Now you have too much. Mix it with the oxygen, you moron.”

  “Moron? Keep name-calling to a minimum. Otherwise, you’ll have to find another donkey to help.”

  “Just—let me.” Shuffling sounded, followed by another gust of heat and light.

  The voices echoed as if they drifted through chasms of water and rubble. Female and male—husk and lilt.

  Since when do dragons talk?

  “How the fuck did you get this thing down here, anyway?” The hissing grew louder, sparks lighting up the dimness behind my eyes.

  “A friend put it here. The only thing we had on the estate that would open the lock.”

  “Never heard of a fucking key?”

  More light. More hissing.

  “He made a mistake. He closed the door to keep them safe, not realising there was only one key.”

  “And you didn’t feel like using it? Too easy? Wanted to go the James Bond route?”

  A curse followed by a rain of sparks brighter than any firework.

  “Shut it. For your information, it wasn’t possible to get it.”

  “Why? Dear ole dad has it?”

  A squeaking, followed by another blast of heat. The girl growled, “Yes.”

  “I’ve never known anyone so under the thumb of their old man.”

  A pause followed by a loud curse. “That’s what you get for talking about things you don’t understand. Now, shut up. Get the mixture right. And get my brothers out of there before I hit you again.”

  “Anyone ever tell you that you’re evil?”

  “All the time. Now do what I say.”

  Their talking ceased, replaced with the lullaby of fire and burning.

  I lost track of reality and life. I wasn’t human anymore. I wasn’t pain or death.

  I was just…time.

  No sensation or memories. No hardships or heartaches. Only time ticking past unwanted and unseen.

  I was nothing, no one…gone.

  “God’s sake. Pick me up again. I’ll freaking do it.”

  “I’m doing it, woman! How many fucking times do I need to tell you that?”

  “You’re not going fast enough.”

  The yellow light turned white with power, beckoning me forward, promising a better existence than the one I endured.

  I wanted to reach for it, squinting in my mind as the light grew larger, brighter, inhaling me into its orb.

  I’d never seen something so pure—as if I stared at the nucleus of the sun or the entrance to heaven.

  Am I worthy of paradise, after all?

  “Hurry. We need to leave.”

  “Woman, give me a damn moment, okay?”

  The light supernovaed. Hissing increased in decibels until it echoed in my teeth. Electricity sparked in my muscles, slowly bringing me back to life. I tried to move, to see what beast hissed so loudly, but my body was no longer mine to command. It was weak and broken and past listening to such requests.

  My foggy mind wouldn’t focus; wisps of thoughts and flickers of images all faded with every failing heartbeat.

  I didn’t know why I continued to cling to whatever semblance of life I had.

  This was no life.

  This was just damnation.

  “Shit, it’s not cutting.”

  “I know it’s not freaking cutting. You’ve got the ratio wrong!”

  “If you’re such a fucking know-it-all, you fix it.”

  My ears rang with bickering.

  I didn’t know the man, but the girl reminded me of my sister. A little girl who I’d loved since childhood but also drove me nuts. She’d constantly pinch my favourite toys and hide them where I could never find them.

  She ran circles around Kes and me. Driving us mad, proving that love wasn’t enough to protect an infuriating sister from retaliation—usually in the form of frogs in her bed or beetles on her cereal.

  I attempted a smile, thinking of happier times.

  The light went out, followed by a scraping noise.

  “Now, turn that gauge to the left and that to the right. See those two lines…that’s the ideal ratio.”

  “Fine. Done. Now what?”

  “Now, I want to work the wand.”

  “What? No way.”

  Something clanged off the earthen walls. My ears twitched, reminding me they still worked, even when other parts of me didn’t. I’d long since stopped feeling the soft splash of internment droplets on my forehead or tensing when a fresh wash of agony bathed my skin with fever.

  “Pick me up and then give me the wand. Got it?”

  “God, you’re such an arse.”

  “Kind of you to notice. Now…pick me up.”

  “But it should be me who—”

  “Why? Because you’re male and playing with power tools is a man’s job?”

  A heavy sigh. “No…because it’s—”

  “Look, the original plan was for me to use the torch. If you hadn’t gone all ‘He-man’ on me, they’d be free and halfway to London by now.”

  Silence again.

  For a while, minutes swept me away, granting that odd sensation of no time passing but hours slipping anyway.

  “They’re probably already dead. They haven’t moved since we started this.”

  A livid curse littered the rank air. “If they don’t make it, our bargain is over. I promised Nila would be safe if you helped me rescue my brothers. If they die…why should I honour that?”

  Nila…

  The name…

  Like an angel.

  Nila…

  My heart suddenly woke up. Shedding death, sending lethargic blood through my veins.

  Nila.

  Mine.

  The woman I want but failed.

  “Threads is walking out of here—regardless if they don’t.”

  “Guess the only way to know for sure is to bust my brothers out of here before it’s too late.”

  I sucked in a useless breath—it was like breathing cremated ash.

  Before, the void I existed in had no emotion, no feeling to suck me dry. But these two people? Fuck. They had so much to say and no correct words in which to say it. The woman wept with helplessness and despair, hiding it beneath bluster and rage. The man…he was just as helpless and lost; only he wrapped his in confusion and disbelief.

  “Alright, alright, I get your point.” Boots thudded on the dirt floor. “How should I do it again?”

  A derisive laugh trilled, chasing back ghouls and monsters. “I told you how. Arms under my knees and around my shoulders. You can’t break me.”

  “No, but I’ve heard about people like you—”

  “People like me?”

  “Shit, I just meant people with your—”

  “My disability—is that what you were going to say? People like ‘me’ who can’t feel anything below their waist?”

  An awkward cough. “I just meant, I know you can bruise easily and it’s not so simple to heal like a normal—”

  “Wow, this just gets better and better. You’re saying I’m not normal?!”

  “Whoa, fucking chill—”


  “You know what? I don’t have time for this. Pick me up, give me the damn torch, and shut the hell up. When they’re safe in the hospital then we can discuss the politically appropriate ways to discuss my condition. Got it?”

  A deep sigh. “Fine.”

  I couldn’t make sense of anything.

  What the hell did this mean?

  Was my brain playing tricks? Giving me an angst-loaded argument, all for what? To keep me strained enough to stay lucid? Or were there truly two people trying to save me?

  “There. You okay?”

  “I’ll be okay once we get them out of here. Right, hand me the wand.”

  A pause.

  “Good. Take me closer.”

  A few seconds later, the hissing began. I wanted to raise my head and see. But all I could do was bask in the meagre happiness the sound gave and slip again.

  The brightness suddenly flared, cutting past my eyelids, imprinting on my retinas. No talking, no bickering, only the licking of flames against whatever enemy it destroyed.

  Time skipped again—like a faulty record, jumping ahead, screeching backward, never playing the track in order.

  “You’re almost there,” the man said.

  Almost on cue, a snapping sounded, followed by a skeletonish groan.

  “Ah, see. How little you trust me.”

  More shuffling. “I take it back. You’re a girl, and you know how to use power tools.”

  “Damn right, I do.”

  Silence fell except for the occasional footfall and clang of metal on metal.

  I sighed as the tempers eddying around me faded as companionship and victory stole their frustration. Inner peace settled, and I gave up trying to hold on.

  The excitement disappeared, giving me a body that was cold, hungry, and riddled with pain.

  I’m ready to go now. I’m ready to leave.

  But then another sense came back to life.

  The sense of touch.

  “Kite…can you hear me?”

  The softest warmth flittered over my cheek and forehead.

  I wanted to moan with sheer pleasure. To answer their question and prove I hadn’t given up, no matter how much I craved sanctuary.

  “You’re okay. You’ll be fine.” Warmth darted over my chest, my arm.

  Then the sweetest voice whispered in my ear. “I’ve got you, Jet. You’re safe now. Just hang on.”