by Kresley Cole
“Now, where’s our infamous sister?” Lilica walked toward the cages, amazed by Trinity’s capacity for evil. She’d taken men, women, even children. The children were scared and sobbing, the women doing their best to remain strong and unaffected, calming influences. The men—those who weren’t cowering in back—were murmuring about ways to escape.
Two half-naked men—guards?—strode from behind a series of boulders. Those boulders were a block to another room in the cavern, she realized. The two men carried a naked male between them, who didn’t have the strength to hold himself up, his legs dragging behind him. The scent of the Schön accompanied all three, a mix of sweet, salty, and rot. Each of the three sported at least one open, oozing wound.
“I hate this,” Jade said, a tremor in the words. “I hate the woman Trinity has become.”
“I know.”
The trio stopped at the last cage, the only empty one, and placed the man inside. The guards turned their attention to the cage with the most women, licking their lips as if they were starved.
Brave Bride marched to the forefront and smiled a cold, hard smile. “I’m going to enjoy killing you.”
“We’re already dead.” The guard reached through the bars to pinch a lock of her hair. “Soon you’ll join us.”
She yanked the strands from his grip. “How sad for you. You just guaranteed you’re going to lose your hand.”
“Quiet.” Trinity strode out from around the boulders, tightening the belt at her waist to cinch her robe in place. Her pale hair was tousled, her skin pink with health, her eyes glittering with far more power than yesterday.
Lilica pressed her heels into the ground, stifling the urge to leap across the cavern and smack her sister silly.
Trinity stopped before the cages. Searching the masses for her next victim? Then her shoulders squared, her spine as straight as steel. Slowly, so slowly, she turned, her gaze roving here . . . there . . . everywhere. Had she sensed her invisible audience?
“Welcome, sisters. I’m so glad you’ve arrived.” She smiled just as slowly, though her gaze never locked on Lilica or Jade. “I expected you earlier. No matter. Let me tell you how this is going to work.”
Oh, yes. She’d sensed her audience.
“Jade, you’re going to pull me into the spirit realm. If you fail to return me within five minutes—and trust me, my men will be counting down—everyone in the cages will be decapitated. If I return and my prisoners are gone, I will infect the entire city. I’ve found a way. . . .”
No. A lie! If she’d found a way, she would have done it already.
—Dallas, you there? Trinity is threatening to infect the city if we don’t do what she wants.—
No response. As if the bond was already gone.
Her gut tightened in fear, and her fingers curled into fists. For the first time, she knew she could kill her sister.
She had to try one more time. —Dallas?—
Again, silence.
“What should I do?” Jade asked her.
Split-second decision. “Exactly what Trinity demanded. Pull her into the spirit realm.”
Jade closed her eyes before nodding. She approached Trinity . . . reached through the girl’s body and yanked out her spirit. Suddenly there were two versions of her: the body and the spirit. One unmoving, the other gloating.
“How can you be so cruel?” Jade took a step back.
Trinity flicked her long mane over her shoulder. “I told you. I’ve learned I can only ever rely on myself. You would do well to learn the lesson yourself. Now. You’re going to give me your abilities, strengthening my own. And you,” she said to Lilica. “You’ll do the same.”
Voice voodoo. Bride’s voice voodoo. No, Trinity didn’t know her blood relations were immune.
Trinity had done many terrible things, but this might be the worst. Planning to steal her sisters’ powers, leaving them helpless in an unforgiving world.
Jade played along, holding out her hands, as if complying helplessly with Trinity’s command. Trinity linked their fingers, initiating skin-to-skin contact. Sensing what Jade wanted her to do, Lilica clasped her forearm. A second later, Jade whisked the three of them to a new location, preventing Trinity from reentering her body.
A thicker cloud of mist surrounded them, nothing else visible.
With a screech of fury, Trinity ripped free of Jade’s hold. “Take me back. Take me back, or you will suffer in ways you can’t even imagine.”
“Lilica?” Jade asked, unsure now.
“No,” she said. To Trinity, she added, “You should have done your homework. Compulsion doesn’t work on family.”
“You aren’t my family!”
The words cut at her. “I suppose we aren’t. Not anymore.”
Trinity wasn’t done. “This is your fault! You should have used your gifts to free us from the institute rather than sentencing Walsh to death. After that day, they kept us so drugged we couldn’t even think straight. If I’d been free, I never would’ve had a worse doctor see to my care. I never would’ve been forced to absorb the Schön. I never would’ve done any of this.”
So much resentment . . . Am I truly at fault? “Is that why you wanted me dead?” Lilica whispered.
“Wanted?” Trinity laughed without humor. “I want you dead, and I want to see it happen.”
Cutting deeper, making her bleed inside. “Surely you don’t hate me so violently because of something I did as a child.”
Trinity hissed, “You’re the ugly one. The one they didn’t want. And yet here you are, the one bonded to Dallas. The object of his fascination. But he’s mine. I have plans for him.”
Her sister was . . . jealous? Trinity wanted Dallas to be her man.
Rage . . . “Your plans just got canceled.” Her sense of possession flared. “He’s mine, and I’m keeping him.”
With a screech, Trinity launched at Lilica and knocked her to the ground. A bundle of fury, Trinity punched, scratched, and kicked her, and Lilica let her do it, accepting the abuse as her due. Punishment for her sins. Trinity was right. At least in one regard. Lilica should have worked on escape rather than retribution.
But the next thing she knew, Jade was there, pulling Trinity off her and . . . not letting go.
Trinity began to tremble. “No. No! Stop.” A scream parted her lips. “Noooo!”
“You don’t get to hurt my sister.” Jade finally released her, and Trinity went limp.
“No,” Lilica said, shaking her head. “Jade! Tell me you didn’t—”
“I did.” The green-skinned beauty eyed her with a devastating mix of determination and remorse before grabbing her hand and yanking her to her feet. “I stole the Schön life force. Took what I could, anyway. She’s weakened, and we . . . we have to act fast.”
14
Lilica woke up crying, and it broke something inside Dallas. Resistance, maybe. Or a link to a past he would rather forget, where a little boy feared losing the people he loved and did his best to remain detached.
This beautiful, strong woman should only ever laugh . . . or moan with pleasure.
When more than twenty Schön had swarmed the apartment building, Dallas had remained by Lilica’s side. He and the agents positioned nearby had put their SS guns to good use, bagging and tagging every soldier. Trinity had planned ahead, but so had he. No one had reached Lilica’s vulnerable body. He would have died first.
Now he gathered her in his arms, needing contact the way he needed air. She buried her face in the hollow of his neck and wrapped her arms around him, clinging to him as she sobbed, her hot tears trickling over his skin.
He combed his fingers through her hair. “Trinity’s men had orders to hide her body the moment her spirit left it. AIR was able to free her prisoners, but not capture her. Not at first. John followed her and was able to lead us straight to her. She’s now in custody and on her way to a holding cell.”
“Good. I’m glad. But Jade . . .” Shudders racked Lilica. “She stole a po
rtion of the disease, as well as a portion of the otherworld abilities Trinity acquired.”
Silence. Such oppressive silence.
“She’s going to be all right,” she said. “Yes? She’s never kept what she’s stolen. Ever. She’s never been strong enough. The abilities have always returned to their owners.”
“I don’t know. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
“I want to see her. I need to see her.”
“She’ll have to be locked away. For her own good,” he added before she could protest. “For yours too. For everyone in New Chicago.”
Her nails dug into his shoulders. “I don’t care. I love her, and I have to know she’s being treated well.”
“Yeah. I thought you’d say that.”
He made some calls before driving her to the facility in No Man’s Land, where AIR had also locked away the rest of Trinity’s victims. Lilica stared out the window, her features blank. The worst part? He couldn’t feel her emotions through the bond.
Why couldn’t he feel her emotions?
As soon as he was parked in front of the warehouse, he gave her a mask and gloves to cover every area of exposed skin. The filters in the nostril holes would prevent her from breathing in the acidic air.
“I used to live out here, you know,” she said, her voice soft and yet heavy. “The institute is only a few miles away. From one prison to the other.”
Wind whistled as it swept over the car, and sand pelted the doors. Ping, ping, ping. An eerie soundtrack. The only one audible within the thirty-mile stretch of desolation and ruin. This was no place for a child.
“Your life is better now,” he said, squeezing her hand.
“Is it, though? Both of my sisters are suffering.”
The words haunted him as they raced inside the building. Armed guards were hidden throughout the terrain, and the number of ID scans had tripled. After decontamination, Dallas and Lilica stripped off the extra gear. He took her hand, holding on tight. Too tight. But he couldn’t help himself. He felt as if he would lose her. As if he was already losing her.
Mia was there, staring into Trinity’s cell. “I can’t believe we have her.”
Trinity huddled on the floor, despite the cot in the corner. Her pale hair was tangled, her skin smeared with dirt, but she bore no sores.
Dallas said nothing, following Lilica.
“Lilica,” Trinity called. “Lilica!”
Lilica paid her eldest sister no heed, moving past her cell to stop in front of Jade’s. John was there, silent but not stoic as he watched her pace from one side to the other. Fury pulsed from him.
Lilica trembled as she flattened her hand on the glass. The room had all the comforts of home. A soft bed with even softer covers. A toilet hidden by a privacy screen. A minifridge. Even a holoscreen TV.
Jade noticed her and rushed over, pressing her palm against Lilica’s. Unlike Trinity, she was covered with open sores. Her once silky hair was now limp and dull.
“Why did you do it?” Lilica demanded.
Tears welled in Jade’s red-rimmed eyes. “It was the only way.”
“It wasn’t. The disease is going to return to her, but part of it may stay inside you, your own personal infection. You might have done it for nothing. Nothing!”
The hurt Lilica projected, the pain . . . as if she’d finally been crushed. The doctors who’d raised and tortured her hadn’t been able to break her, but her sisters had managed to do so. Tears burned the backs of Dallas’s eyes, and he had to blink them away.
—Everything could work out for the best. Let’s not give up hope.—
He pushed the thought into her mind, but seconds passed . . . a minute . . . and there was no response. Could she not hear him anymore?
Frowning, he dug through her memories, the ones the bond had stored in hidden corners of his mind. Determined to find the reason, and the solution. To his consternation, many of the memories were no longer as clear, as if the corners they’d been stored in had been flooded, the boxes ruined. Even so, he found the answer he sought.
He and Lilica hadn’t had sex, and the bond was fading. Soon he would have no tie to her at all.
Every cell in his body shouted a denial. He wasn’t sure when he’d stopped resenting the bond, or when he’d come to rely on it, expect and need it, but he had. It had happened, and he didn’t want to go a single day without a tie to her. She meant something to him. More than he’d ever thought possible. But . . . did she mean enough for him to make things permanent?
How did she feel about him?
“What are we going to do if you remain sick?” Lilica whispered.
Jade offered her a sad smile. “We’re going to say good-bye. The Schön will die one way or another—because you’re going to kill it.”
“Kill you, you mean.” Lilica slammed her fist into the wall. The glass was bullet-, pyre-, and shatterproof, and she hissed, her knuckles crunching, her skin splitting.
A wound he didn’t acquire. He bit the inside of his cheek.
She glared at her sister. “You would leave me on my own? To endure this terrible world without you?”
She would never again be on her own. She would always have Dallas.
The thought jolted him, because suddenly he knew. Yes. She meant enough to him to make things permanent. She meant everything to him, and right now she was breaking what was left of his heart.
“I’m sorry,” Jade said, her tears continuing to rain. “I’m so sorry. But now you have a chance to help Trinity. The one you wanted.”
“I don’t want it anymore.” A screech from the depths of her soul.
Jade bowed her head. “I’m sorry,” she repeated.
Dallas wound an arm around Lilica’s waist. “We won’t know if the disease is going to return to Trinity until tomorrow morning, or how Jade will be affected afterward. Let’s go home and wait there.”
Her shoulders rolled in, and she allowed him to lead her away from the cell without protest . . . down the hall, where she once again ignored Trinity.
“Lilica! Please,” Trinity called. “I’m sorry too. I never meant—”
Lilica missed a footstep. “Begging,” she whispered. “But it’s too little too late.”
As they entered the decontamination room, she swallowed what looked to be a sob. Together they reapplied the safety masks and gloves, and Dallas ached for her all the while. For the girl she’d been and the woman she was.
Lilica remained silent the entire drive home. He reached for her hand, but she drew back, and he didn’t need the bond to tell him why. She was preparing herself for their separation, arming herself against him.
He gnashed his teeth, but kept silent. She was hurting right now, and he wouldn’t add to her problems.
He hustled her inside the apartment; as soon as the door was locked, a laser bar engaged, and he kissed her temple and said, “Wait here.” He strode to his bedroom, where he dug inside his dresser.
If he was going to do this, he was going to do it right.
He held the small gold ring to the light. Worth more in sentiment than cash, but all the best things were.
It had first belonged to his grandmother. A thousand times over, his mother could have sold it. She should have sold it. They’d desperately needed every penny for food. Instead, she’d saved it, as if her parents’ love and affection were the only ray of hope in the doom and gloom of her life.
Lilica had missed out on so many human experiences, but no more. Not on his watch. More than that, she needed as many ties to him as he could give her. Hell, he needed those ties.
He needed a bond . . . in body and in soul. Marriage could protect her—the sister of a predatory otherworlder—in ways humans would respect.
He strode out of the bedroom, but skidded to a stop when he spotted Lilica. She sat in the recliner, gloriously naked and partially hidden by shadows. One hand held a glass of iced whiskey while the other clutched the arm of the chair.
“Look how p
retty,” she said, and a bolt of sizzling lust struck him. Just like in the vision. She cupped her mouthwatering breasts. “We can pretend. You like to pretend, yes? You are a man, and I am a woman. Nothing more, nothing less.”
This. This was the vision coming to life.
He shot hard as a rock. “Sex?”
“No. It’ll be like before.” She set the glass on the side table and stood, the light falling over her, revealing small but pert breasts, nipples like diamonds, the scrolls etched into her skin glowing. “In the shower.”
Her delectable scent hit him, arousal in its purest form, and he nearly fell to his knees. “I want more,” he croaked. “I want sex.”
She frowned at him. “But . . . the bond.”
“I know. I want the bond too.”
Her eyes widened, the pulse at the base of her neck fluttering wildly.
“I want the bond. And I want marriage, want us legally bound in front of witnesses. I want you to become my permanent inconvenience.”
“Marriage?” she gasped out, as if the notion were preposterous. “Permanence?”
He didn’t back down. He couldn’t. Somehow, she’d become the most important part of his life. It had happened too quickly. Fine. Whatever. But the simple fact was, it had happened. He could have lost her today. He wasn’t prepared to lose her.
“I want you, all of you. I want everything you have to give.” He closed the distance and held out the ring. “I want you to bear my name. I want to be your partner. A legal pain in your ass. I want you with me, always and forever.”
Her hand fluttered over her mouth. “Dallas . . . I don’t . . . I can’t believe . . .”
“We’ll never be alone again. No matter what happens, we’ll have each other.”
“But . . . why do you want me? I’ll never be your type, and my situation is—”
“You are my type,” he interjected. “You are my only type. And we’ll deal with your situation the way we’ll deal with all our problems. Together.”
She trembled as he slid the ring on her finger. She looked at the band, then at Dallas, then at the band again.
“I know it’s not much. I’ll get you something better. Just say yes.”
