“You must be hungry, that’s all,” Raj said. “Hurting you has never been our intention. You should realize that. In fact, I apologize for the rough handling you received upon arrival. Given how you blew up a street in Phoenix, your reputation for being difficult preceded you. But I didn’t expect you to be thrown in a cell.” He glared at the Austrian Dom, who didn’t look the least bit apologetic.
I rolled my eyes with so much force it was painful. “I hardly blew up a street in Phoenix, but why let that interfere with your pretty speech? You’re obviously not above cursing or drugging me—or almost killing me in a car accident, for that matter—but throwing me in a cell was too much?”
“I don’t believe we’ve ever cursed you, but I admit the accident was a bit of a risky move. Also, it wasn’t my idea.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Drugging you was necessary after what you did last time. You’re a hard person to make cooperate, although you should know we let you go in Phoenix.”
I laughed, though my throat was so dry it sounded more like a cough. “That was you letting me go?”
Raj shrugged. “We let you go in the sense that we didn’t try very hard to get you back. Now you should eat. Get the remaining drug out of your system. I promise you, the food’s not tainted with anything. We need you healthy.”
Only an idiot would trust a fury’s promises, but Raj wanting me healthy—that I believed. Clearly it wasn’t for my own interest, yet getting my strength up, regardless of their desires, was in my own interest. I couldn’t hope to rescue Lucen and save my own ass if I had trouble walking.
Why the furies wanted me healthy, well, I’d deal with that later. For the moment, Raj’s reasoning was good enough for me. I jabbed my fork into the chicken and tore off a chunk.
Wisely, they hadn’t given me a knife.
“Why is it so important I be healthy?” I asked between bites.
“You’ll find out soon enough. More than that though…” Raj got up, grinning. “You and Mitchell are rare creatures, capable of rare magic. You should be protected. We’ll talk about that later.”
Mitch. Chicken stuck to my throat, and I washed it down with water. It figured he’d be here too. “I assume he’s okay.”
“Perfectly fine. We can take you to him when you’re done.”
I rubbed my head. I had so many questions I wasn’t sure where to start. “If you didn’t care enough to come after me again until now, why did you kidnap me in Phoenix to begin with?”
The Austrian fury seemed to grow bored with the conversation and left, muttering to himself, but the Beijing Dom chuckled. He stared at me as though I were a fascinating toy.
“It was a question of resources and timing,” Raj said. “The Gryphons made their move, and we had to act quickly before they tightened security around you both. It wasn’t the ideal timing though, so once you got away, we figured we’d let you run. That was a gamble, but with our informant able to feed us information on you, it was an acceptable risk. Even better, you led us straight to another Vessel.”
With our informant. The food turned to stones in my stomach. So nice to know I’d been right. Damn it, I’d told Tom. Maybe if he’d taken the possibility more seriously, I wouldn’t be here now. “Who is it?”
Raj grunted. “Can’t tell you that. They might still be useful. But to go back to your question, I promise you, I didn’t want to grab you in Phoenix at all. It wouldn’t have been as much fun.” He loomed over me, a towering nightmare, and I inadvertently pushed my chair back. “We’re going to succeed with our plan. But where would be the sport in crushing your hopes—and the Gryphons’ hopes—so quickly? You’re fun to watch, Jessica, and like in the Matches, we always make sure the people who are fun to watch live to fight another day. Life is nothing without entertainment.”
I darted out from under Raj’s bulk. “You’re as insane as Victor Aubrey was. Now I understand where he got the idea to call us rare creatures the way he did—from you. Speaking of which, if we’re such rare creatures that need preserving, why did you order your furies to kill him in prison? Why not break him out?”
Raj sat on the table, spinning his bottle around. “Victor, yes, I remember his name now. He became a liability, and he was crazy. It’s true. Because of that, he was mostly useless. Even among the rare, the herd needs culling to keep it strong. I’m curious how the one you brought to Boston is faring, but we’ll check her out soon.”
Grace. I winced.
“So.” Raj shoved the bottle away and spread his arms. “Any more questions I can answer, or would you like to clean up and see Mitchell?”
“I want to see Lucen. I want to make sure you’re upholding your end of what I was promised.”
Raj’s face fell, and he dropped his arms. “That won’t be possible.”
“I am not—”
“We don’t have the satyr. We never had him.”
I faltered mid-stride. “What? Your French goon—”
“That was Mitchell.” Raj bounded off the table, his faux-sad face replaced by a delighted smile that I wanted to punch. “Why take the extra risk to capture someone when we could easily put a glamour on Mitchell?”
My breath left me, and I hunched over, head to knees. Relief and rage left me speechless. Lucen was safe. Thank dragons, Lucen was safe. But what the hell—I’d been fooled by a damn fury with a glamour spell? I wanted to kick something. Raj. In the nuts.
I finally pulled myself together with the thought that Raj must be enjoying my silent seething. “Fuck you. You’re lucky you didn’t hurt him.”
Raj and the Beijing Dom were laughing. “Your belief that you could have done anything about it is so…so you. It’s very entertaining. I’ve noticed you haven’t asked anything about Olef yet though.”
I snapped my head toward him. Of course. I’d suspected the furies were behind his murder, but I should have guessed the details. “That was you, wasn’t it? You killed him.”
“Not personally,” Raj said. “I only gave the order, but Olef had to go. He knew too much. Plus, it was such an easy way to disrupt that whole silly alliance you were trying to put together. Murder Olef, point blame at both the magi and the harpies—instant chaos.”
My hands balled into fists. Raj was grinning, proud of himself, and that shit-eating expression was what pulled me over the edge. No one murdered my friends and laughed about it.
I rushed him, blindly, madly, as though caught up in a fury-induced magical frenzy. Blood pounded in my ears. I wanted to make Raj hurt. Make him bleed.
But blind rage was a terrible motivator. Raj could sense it a moment before I sprung, and without coordination on my part, it was simple for him to subdue me. I cursed loudly as Raj pinned me to the cold stone floor.
“Get off me! Fuck you, you dragon-fucking son of a—” Coherence was for losers. Words spilled out of my mouth in nonsensical, unfinished phrases.
Being a fury, Raj’s power did nothing to calm me down. Touching as much of me as he did, I became vulnerable to it, and it engulfed me, turning my thoughts chaotic.
It left off at once as each of my arms was grabbed out from under me. Two fury addicts had taken control of my body. I struggled in their grasp, but I was also partially relieved not to have those fury pheromones clouding my emotions.
“I will make you pay for killing Olef,” I said, getting my breathing under control.
Raj laughed some more. “I look forward to you trying. It should be extremely entertaining. But for now, I think you should go see Mitchell. Get reacquainted and rested. You two have such a big role in what’s in store tonight.”
I fought against the addicts, but they were big guys, much like the furies I’d seen. Fighting would get me nowhere. I needed to clear my head, calm down and come up with something useful to try.
The addicts practically d
ragged me into another area of the castle. Or building. Whatever it was, I no longer cared. Not all of it was so wholly medieval compared to its basement, at least.
The addicts pushed me into a thoroughly modern bathroom and slammed the door. I fumbled into the sink and caught my balance. I used the toilet because I was really starting to need it, and I washed my hands and face, both of which were covered in dirt. That done, I took advantage of the moment alone to search the room for anything I could use as a weapon.
Talk about futile. The medicine cabinet held someone’s toothbrush and toothpaste, and nail clippers. The cabinet under the sink had only extra toilet paper. There wasn’t even a plunger I could swing at people. There was, however, a towel bar and a shower rod.
I tried the bar first, but although I did my best to unscrew the damn thing with my thumbnail, it wasn’t happening. This was what I got for preferring my nails very short. I tried the nail clipper on it next, but the clipper was too thick. The curtain rod was as big a letdown—a cheap plastic thing that would be as good as useless. I briefly considered taking the lid off the toilet, then thought about how far that would get me and opted against it. In my current state, I only had a couple good swings in me.
The nail clippers then. I slid them and the tiny file I found with them in my pocket.
I was just in time because an addict flung the door open. “What are you doing?”
“Grooming.” I pretended to adjust my jeans so he wouldn’t get suspicious about why my hand was in my pocket. “Did you ever hear of privacy?”
“No. Move.”
I rolled my eyes and hurried out of the room before they took my attitude as an excuse to manhandle me again. We didn’t go far. One of them unlocked the next door over and stared at me. My hand started to my pocket as I sensed this might be my best chance to make a run for it, then a familiar voice called out my name.
“Mitch?” I glanced in the room, and that was my mistake.
The addict stuffed me inside. I went tumbling forward, and the door shut. Damn it.
A pair of hands caught me by the arms and steadied me. I straightened, and Mitch released me with a sad smile. “On one hand, it’s nice to see a friendly face. On the other, shit. They finally got you back.”
I laughed once and nodded at the sentiment. “Yeah. How are you? The Gryphons have been searching for you since…”
“I’m all right. The furies are treating me well. And let me tell you, that’s been creeping the hell out of me.”
I scanned Mitch’s cell. The lone window was narrow, like the others I’d seen, but he could have had far worse accommodations. Starting with the ones I’d had when I arrived. He had a bed in the far corner, a tattered chair and a faded rug covering the dusty floor.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
Mitch shook his head. “About a week? I’ve lost track of the days. Where is here?”
“You don’t know? I was hoping you could tell me.”
“All I know is I was in one place, then another, then finally I was here. It’s nice here—” he gestured to the window, “—but I don’t know where here is. It’s got trees.”
I joined Mitch at the window. We were a good two to three stories above the sloping ground. A thin clearing separated the building from a dense, primarily evergreen forest. I’d never been able to tell a spruce from a pine from a fir, and I wasn’t sure it would have helped me narrow down our location if I could. The air smelled lovely though, of needles and wood smoke.
“At least you have a nice view.”
“Yeah, it’s gorgeous.” Mitch plopped on the chair. “And believe me when I say it gets dark at night. Not a hint of light pollution. Wherever this is, it’s far from civilization. I think it’s some old fort, and whoever owns it must also own a huge chunk of land with it.”
Peachy. This situation was getting worse and worse. Even if I fought my way out of this place, it sounded like I’d have one hell of a run to find help. And I was a city girl. Dump me in a dark forest, especially at night, and I was liable to get eaten.
I collapsed to the floor. “Do they ever let you out?”
Mitch rubbed his head and leaned back in the chair. “Yeah. Well, they let me use the bathroom next door, but if you mean out, as in outside, they have on a couple occasions. But I was on a very tight leash both those times. I think they did it because they wanted me to see how hopeless it was.”
“What do you mean?”
“This place is huge, and there’s only one way in or out as far as I could see. Like I said, fort. Or castle, I guess. There’s also lots of cars parked nearby. It’s crawling with furies and addicts. Not a single normal person. They don’t seem too uptight about security either, so I’m thinking they have no reason to expect being found.”
I rested my head against my knees. “Great. Raj likes to have his games. It wouldn’t surprise me at all that he let you out just to get a rise from you.”
“Which one is Raj?”
I gave Mitch a brief description.
“I don’t think I’ve seen him much.” Mitch suddenly darted up. “That’s the weird thing about it. None of these people seem to be in charge. Each time…” Every muscle in his body tensed at once, and he collapsed back to the chair.
I quit picking at stray threads in the rug. “Each time what?”
Mitch made a miserable face and sighed. “They’ve addicted me. On multiple occasions. When I told you they kept me on a tight leash outside? That’s what I meant. It’s always been different ones though, and they’ve never done it for long. Just when I wouldn’t cooperate with whatever they wanted me to do. This way they could make me cooperate. The feeling of one of them inside your head like that…” He closed his eyes. “That’s how they got me to hold still while they turned me into your friend. If that’s how they lured you here, then shit. I’m sorry, Jess.”
“It’s not your fault. I’ve had preds in my head before. I know what it’s like.” I started to say more, but my words evaporated as what he’d told me sank in.
Small wonder Raj had never addicted him. Raj knew what people like us could do, and he wasn’t willing to risk Mitch figuring it out. But if Raj’s friends didn’t know, then maybe, just maybe, we had something we could use.
My excitement rose, and I did my best to bury the feeling while I considered the details. No sense giving anything away.
“What have you been doing while I’ve been stuck here?” Mitch asked. “Did you find the other person?”
I shook off my thoughts, but my mind continued to race. “Yeah, we have her. She’s in Boston, or was. We’ve been hunting down these Vessels of Making. Did I explain—?”
“The things the furies were obsessed with. I’ve heard them talking about filling them.”
“Yeah, exactly. What do you mean were obsessed with?”
Mitch sat up with what appeared to be great mental difficulty. It was hard to tell for sure from where he sat in the shadows, but his face seemed more lined. He also had several fading cuts on his cheeks. “They don’t care about them anymore. I think they filled them all.”
“Not all.”
“Enough then.”
I froze. “Can’t be. Are you sure?”
“Not positive, no. But I’ve overheard bits of conversations. They haven’t exactly tried to hide their plans from me.” He dragged his nails over the chair arms in agitation, digging them into the holes in the fabric. “Whatever they were doing, they’re done with that phase of the plan.”
I let my breath out slowly. As of this morning or yesterday, the furies had only filled three. How could three out of the five be enough? Nothing we’d read had suggested that. And yet… Yet it would explain why the furies grabbed me without a care for the Vessel at World.
But it didn’t explain why they went after the Vessel in Paris. Not unless that was just more ente
rtainment for Raj. After all, they only had to throw a few disposable addicts at us, and we’d think we were getting somewhere. Then, should the addicts have been successful, the furies would have another Vessel. If not, no big deal.
If only I’d seen Tom before I’d been abducted. Had Le Confrérie found out anything by interrogating those addicts we’d caught?
I was starting to feel sick again because it made all too much sense. The furies had tricked me to get me here. Could they have been messing with my mind all along—keeping me distracted? Raj had let me play his game, put together an alliance, chase down another Vessel—all actions that gave the furies the time to gather the power they needed. Then, once they were ready, they came and grabbed me.
No. My hands clenched, and I buried my head against my knees. Though the logic was twisted, so were the furies. I hated to admit it made some sense.
But I refused to let this be the way the game ended. I would get us out of this, and moreover, I would stop them from opening the Pit. I had to. Failure was too scary to contemplate.
“Jess?”
I took a deep breath and lumbered over to the door. Ear pressed against it, I strained to hear any noise out in the hall, but there was none. Mitch had said security wasn’t tight, so I hoped I was right. “Back in Phoenix when I explained what people like us could do, I left something out. Let’s talk about addiction.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I told Mitch everything, from why Gunthra called me an abomination to why preds avoided transforming gifted humans. I told him about both times I’d used my ability to reverse the pred-addict bond and its effect on me and the pred in question. I almost neglected mentioning what happened between me and Claudius, but in the end, I decided I should be completely truthful. Mitch needed to know what we might be dealing with.
He took the information skeptically. Same as me, he’d grown up fearing preds, loathing what their magic did to him. He’d never felt powerful in comparison. Throw in the fact that he’d recently been addicted and hadn’t been able to fight their hold on him, and it was understandable. If Gunthra hadn’t given me enough hints as to what I could do, I doubted I would have figured it out on my own.
Darkest Misery Page 24
