“You’re right, I don’t know you, but someone here does.” My eyes widen. Who the hell would know me here?
“No,” I shake my head. “You’re wrong. I don’t know anyone here.” He tilts his head to the side.
“Are you sure?” This knowing grin washes across his face, like he knows something that I don’t.
“Wh-who is it?” I stammer. The two-faced man turns and I’m staring at the second face.
“Wouldn’t you like to know? You can; you just have to follow me.”
I look around trying to spot one of my guys in the crowd, but I don’t see any of them. I know better than to follow this guy anywhere. My arm starts to shake from holding the blade out. I let it drop to my side. I need one of the guys with me, they would know what to do. They would go with me so that I’m not alone. They probably wouldn’t let me go at all. Who would be here that I know? Then I freeze. It can’t be. It can’t be one person that having been working so hard to forget.
“No-no-no,” I say frantically shaking my head. Tears start welling up in my eyes, and my heart starts to pound. The sound thundering in my ears. The two-faced man takes a step closer, then another. I hold my hand out. “Stop.” He doesn’t listen and takes another step. “I said stop!” I yell. The hand I’m holding out starts to shake.
“Don’t you want to make what you did right?” He starts to walk around me in a circle. He leans down and whispers in my ear. “Don’t you want to beg for forgiveness?” He circles me again. “You know what you did was wrong. You know you’re going to end up here. Don’t you want to change that?”
“Stop,” I whisper. “Please, just stop.” He stops in front of me and I see that the blackness in his veins has reached his neck.
“You know you want to apologize.”
I nod, because I do. I’m sorry for what I did, and I know it’s the only reason why I’m alive right now. I should do this. Maybe I can finally be at peace.
“Finley!” a voice yells through the crowd. “Finley,” it calls out again.
I turn toward the sound of the voice. Obsidian is running right for me. The moment he’s close enough, he sweeps me up in his arms. I cling to him, gripping him as tight as I can, wrapping my legs around him, trying to get as close as possible. He has a hand on the back of my head, and an arm wrapped around my waist. I bury my face in his neck, inhaling the comfortable smell of woods and earth. A scent that is all him.
“Finley, doll,” he says between the kisses he’s placing on the side of my head. “Are you alright? What happened? Where’s Stolas and Verkor?” I don’t say anything because I don’t think I can. “Finley, please. Tell me you’re alright. Tell me anything, just say something.”
“I’m fine,” I choke out. When I have myself together a little more, I pull back, gazing into those amber colored eyes I love so much.
“What happened, doll?” His eyes bounce back and forth between mine.
“I-I,” I shake my head. “A lot.”
Obsidian gives me a quick, chaste kiss, before setting me down on my feet. He cups my face, rubbing his thumbs across my cheeks.
“Why are you alone? Where are the others?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know.” I reach out, placing my hands on his chest. The steady beat of Obsidian’s heart under my palm is keeping me grounded, and calming the anxiety raging through me. I focus on that rhythm while I talk. “I was with Stolas and we got yanked apart. I looked behind me for you and Verkor, but you weren’t there.” I back away from him. “Some two-faced man comes up to me, asking to talk to me. The things he said.” I look away, unable to meet his eyes. I hug myself.
“Where is he?” Obsidian growls.
I turn around to point him out and I don’t see him. “He was just here.” I frantically sweep the crowd trying to spot him, and then I do. He’s yards in front us laying on the ground. “There,” I point to the prone body. “That’s him.”
Obsidian grabs my hand and tugs me behind him. We walk over to the body. Obsidian uses his booted foot to push the guy over on his back. His lifeless eyes stare up at us. The blackness traveled all the way through his face.
“Oh my God. All I did was cut him to get him to let me go. What the hell happened?”
“It looks like his veins were infected by the blades and it slowly killed him.”
“Holy shit,” I say softly.
“I can’t say that I’m sad about this,” Obsidian states. I whip my gaze up to look at him. He turns to face me. “I’m not. He was trying to take you somewhere and who knows what would have happened to you when you got there. I’ve never been happier that you have those blades. You will always come before anyone else.” He cups my face looking intently into my eyes. “You and this baby mean everything to me. I’m so damn glad that you’re both safe.” He leans down and places a kiss to my lips, and I let him even though he’s still covered in blood. “What did he say to you?” he asks when he pulls back.
“He said there was someone here that I know. That I should go and apologize and ask for forgiveness. That I should follow him, and I could do just that,” I say softy. “I almost did. I was going to go. I was going to follow him.” I look away from him.
“Finley, there is no one here you know.” Obsidian says softly.
“There is only one person I can think of,” I whisper. Obsidian lifts my chin. I don’t have to explain further because he knows.
“You did what you had to do. You need to stop beating yourself up over it. Personally, I'd rather it be him than you. What was one thing that we told you about this level?” I frown, not understanding. “We told you to not believe anyone. This level is full of backstabbers and liars. You can’t trust anything that anyone says.”
He’s right. They did tell me that. I stare at Obsidian wide-eyed. I almost got myself kidnapped or killed because I let that man get into my head. Obsidian grabs my hand and tugs me away from the body.
“Shouldn’t we do something about that?” I ask indicating over my shoulder toward the body we’re leaving behind.
“No, someone else will clean it up.”
“Okay,” I say drawing out the word. “Where will he go?”
“Probably to Abaddon. It’s fine, trust me. Beings down here die all the time. Someone else will take care of it. Right now we need to find Stolas and Verkor and get the hell out of this level.”
That is something I can get behind.
Chapter 14
Verkor
One second, I’m following behind Stolas and Finley, and the next, they’re nowhere in sight.
“Finley!” I shout, but there’s no answer. I try Stolas’ name next. “Stolas!” Still nothing. Where the hell did they go? “Hey, Obsidian,” I say turning to my left where he was just standing, to find the space empty. How did I end up alone? I was just surrounded by them.
Panic starts to creep up my spine. I turn in a full circle, scanning my surroundings, trying to see a flash of pastel pink hair. There’s nothing. How could they have disappeared so fast? I adjust the straps on the shoulders from the bags that I’m carrying. Looking left and right, I try to decide which way I should go. What direction they could have gone in? Finley and Stolas were right in front of me. If Finely was lured away, the only direction she could have gone in is to the right, because Stolas was standing on her left. That was a mistake that I’ll make sure never happens again. Finley was left out in the open, making her an easily accessible target, since there are buildings on the left. Anyone could have walked right up to her. How could we have been so stupid?
I turn right and start walking. Soon enough I’m lost in the crowd of two-faced people. Moving from my spot was definitely a dumb move. I should have stayed right where I was hoping that the others would find their way back. Too late now.
“Finley!” I yell again. “Stolas! ...Obsidian!” No answer. I sigh and push my way through the crowd, stopping every few feet to look around, hoping to spot one of them. But so far, no luck.
“Sorry, excuse me,” a two-faced woman says standing in front of me. “I don’t mean to pry, but I heard you shouting for your friends. One of them wouldn’t happen to have pink hair, would they?”
“Yes, why?” I say narrowing my eyes at her. Could she have seen Finley?
“Well, I just passed by a woman with pink hair not that long ago, and she seemed okay. She was following some man.” Some man? Who the hell could Finley be following? It better be Stolas or Obsidian.
“Where was she? What did the man look like?” I say, trying to keep my voice neutral. What I really want to do is demand the answers from her, but I don’t want to frighten her away.
“She was over there,” the woman points in the direction which she came from. “The man was tall, brown hair. I didn’t get a really good look at him,” she says, shrugging her shoulders. Neither, Stolas nor Obsidian, have brown hair. What the hell is she doing? She should know better than to follow some random person around.
“Can you show me?” She smiles and nods her head. Maybe I shouldn’t be the one to lecture her on going with strangers, since I’m about to do the same thing. She turns and starts walking, and I follow right behind her.
No matter how many times I’ve come to this level, it still creeps me out. I try not to stare at the second face as we were walking, but I can’t help it. The second face winks at me when I meet her eyes. I immediately look away, focusing on my boots. I don’t know how long I’ve followed behind her, but it feels like we should have already made it to where she last saw Finley.
“Are you sure you saw her?” I narrow my eyes at the face staring at me, as she continues to walk. I feel like I’m wasting time with this, when I could be searching for her.
The woman's head turns and I’m now looking at the other face. “I’m sure. Pink hair isn’t something you see every day,” she giggles before the head turns back around and I’m presented with the second again. I’ll follow her a little longer before telling her I changed my mind. It’s not like yelling for any of them was working. Then I see it, a flash of pink several yards in front of me.
“Finley!” I yell but she doesn't look back. “Finley!” I scream as I take off after her. I push my way through the crowd. Shoving people out of my way, as I run. “Finley!” I shout again. This time she pauses for a second but continues on her way. “Finley!” This time I know she heard me because I’m only a few feet behind her. Why won’t she stop? I push myself harder when I see that she has walked around the corner of the building. I know I’m hitting people with the bags on my back, but I don’t care. I need to get to her.
I stop when I round the corner. I’m panting from the exertion. Frantically, I look around, but I don’t see her.
“Verkor!” I hear my name being yelled. Through the crowd, Stolas jogs in my direction. He stops directly in front of me.
“Have you seen Finley? I was following her pink hair and she turned down this way, but I lost sight of her,” I say, not giving him any time to ask me anything.
“How can you be following her when I was following her this way? I looked away for a second and she was gone. I searched the crowd for her and spotted…”
“There,” I point, cutting him off, catching a glimpse of pink hair. I take off running, Stolas right on my heels. “Finley!” I shout as I watch her walk into a dark building.
“What the hell is she doing?” Stolas questions.
“I have no clue, but we need to hurry up,” I respond.
It doesn’t take us long to get to the building. I reach out, swinging open the glass door. Stolas moves around me to enter first. He pauses a few feet inside the door.
“Why the hell is it so dark in here?” I ask.
“I don’t know, and I don’t like it,” he replies. “Follow me,” he says looking over his shoulder. His eyes are glowing red. His hellhound is close to the surface. I nod, because he has better vision in the dark than I do. Obsidian has the best out of all of us.
I reach out grabbing onto one of the bags on his back. Stolas starts to walk forward, before making a sharp turn to the left. We walk straight a few feet before turning right. Over and over we do this until Stolas makes a dead stop.
“Do you hear that?” he whispers.
I strain to listen, not picking up on anything other than our breathing. As a fae, I do have enhanced hearing and eyesight, but it’s barely above normal human range. Whatever Stolas is hearing is beyond the range I can hear. He lets out a low growl. Clearly, he doesn’t like what he hears. He moves, picking up the pace. A few more turns and a couple of narrow hallways later, before Stolas stops. There’s a faint glow coming from the bottom of the door, accompanied by the sounds of moaning. My grip tightens on the bag, before I let it go. She wouldn’t. There’s no way she would do that to us. It would kill us all. Stolas reaches out, wrapping his hand around the doorknob, before turning and shoving it open.
I was expecting to see Finley in a precarious position, but I don’t. There’s a record player on a stand in the center of the room, with a light shining down it. Stolas quickly walks over, moving the needle, and turning it off.
“What the hell is going on?” he asks.
I don’t get to say anything because the door behind us is slammed shut, causing both me and Stolas to jump. I whirl around facing the door, but I don’t see anyone or anything. The sound of a lock being engaged is deafening in the room.
“Fuck,” Stolas exclaims before making his way back to the door. He jiggles the handle, but the door remains closed. “We’re so stupid.” I can’t argue with that. He begins to pace, running his fingers through his hair. “How the hell are we going to get out of here?” A deep chuckle vibrates through the air. I turn in a circle, not seeing where it came from.
“Who are you? Did you do this to us? What do you want? Let us out of here,” I snarl. Stolas walks over, standing at my side.
“I will, but first you need to listen to what I have to say.” A figure dressed in a white, hooded robe steps forward out of the shadows. The robe is so long that it dusts the floor. His arms rest over his stomach; his hands hidden by the billowy sleeves.
“Answer my questions,” I seethe. I glare at the man, waiting for him to answer my questions. I don’t know if he can see that, since his face is hidden by the overly large hood on the robe.
“You don’t need to know who I am, at this time.” He takes a few steps toward us. “Eventually, you will. What you need to know now is that they are aware you hunt for the pieces of the map. The closer you get to assembling the pieces, the more danger will come your way. You must protect Finley. She is everything. She is the key to righting all of this.”
“You know who and what she is,” Stolas says softly. “Tell us,” his voice coming out harsher.
“I can’t.”
“Why not? If she’s the key to all of this, how can we protect her if we don't know what she is?” I want to scream.
“The longer she doesn’t know the safer she’ll be,” the figure responds.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” I say frustrated with this whole turn of events. “Who knows we’re looking for the map? Do they know who Finley is?”
“The ones who don’t want the prophecy fulfilled. Yes, they do.”
“So, how does her not knowing who she is help keep her safe when the ones who are going to try and stop us know?” I question.
“I’ve spent too much time already. I must return before anyone gets suspicious.” He walks back into the shadows.
“Wait! At least answer my question.” My plea falls on deaf ears. The sound of the door being unlocked is loud in the quiet of the room.
“Let’s get out of here,” Stolas says. I sigh and nod. The halls are still dark when Stolas opens the door. I grab onto the bag, as he leads me through the building and back outside.
“There you two are.” Finley says walking up to us, tugging Obsidian along behind her.
She lets go off Obsidian’s hand before throwing her arms around
me the best she can with the bags in the way. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her tight. She lifts her head, and there is worry and concern in her beautiful gray eyes. I lean down and kiss her. She moans against my mouth. I don’t get to do much more because Stolas is clearing his throat.
“I missed her too.” I sigh as Finley giggles. I release her and let her go and hug Stolas. I watch as he sniffs her hair and seems to run his hands over inch of her body he can. He places a palm against her belly, rubbing it.
“We’re fine, I promise,” she says and smiles. I’ll feel better about that once she looked over by a doctor.
“What happened? How did we all get separated?” Obsidian questions.
Now, that is the real question.
Stolas
“Can we walk and talk, because I don’t want to linger here more than necessary and you two,” I point to Obsidian and Finley, “are not going to believe what happened,” I say. Hell, did it happen? I look over at Verkor who meets my eyes. There is a silent communication in the look that he gives me. We didn’t imagine it. It really happened.
“I’m not going to argue with that,” Finley states. Everyone else nods in agreement.
I take Finley’s hand, gripping it a little more tightly than usual. I can’t lose her again. I can’t believe I let her get ripped away from me. I know better. I should have protected her better. How could I have been so stupid? Finley squeezes my hand, comforting me when I don’t deserve it.
“Finley you go first,” Obsidian says. He increases his pace until she is sandwiched between me and him. Verkor walks on the other side of me.
“What happened? One minute I’m walking behind you and the next you were gone. All of you were,” Verkor says.
“I was approached by a two-faced man saying that he needed to talk to me. I wondered how he got so close knowing that you and Verkor were behind me, but when I checked you were both gone. I was pulled from Stolas’ grip. The two-faced man kept pulling me away from you guys. He only stopped when I retrieved one of my daggers from my belt and sliced his arm. He then proceeded to tell me that I know someone here. He was tempting me to follow him and apologize, to beg for forgiveness, to make right my wrong.” She pauses for a moment before continuing.
Stolen Fire Page 18
