chapter 22
Someone was touching me. I tried to shove the hands away. No, I slurred, not sure if I’d spoken it, or thought it. I wanted to go back to the dream. To the place where there was no time, no fear, or pain, to the peaceful solitude of nothing.
“Pandora, can you hear me?”
The words echoed like a steel drum in my skull. I winced.
I can hear you.
“I don’t think she can hear me.”
Luc?
“Who brought her here?”
Another voice. Deeper. More gritty.
Bubba?
“I don’t know, okay. I don’t know.” I could just picture Luc yanking on his hair in frustration.
“Look at her, she’s a wreck.” Soft voice, gentle, soothing. Hands on my forehead. Cool scent of spice and man. Sleepy. So sleepy.
Kemen. I smiled.
Sandman, come cuddle me.
“Can you heal her?” Kemen asked.
“Not like this.” Luc growled, I could picture him scrubbing a hand down his jaw in frustration.
Too loud. I wanted sleep. Needed sleep.
Go away.
“Where’s Vyxyn? I sent her with you guys.” Hands on my shoulder. “Pandora, wake up.” Luc again. I moaned. “Come on, Dora, wake the piss up. You need to heal. Open your eyes. Show me you’re there.”
I cried out when he shook me, my lashes fluttered. Please stop shaking me. Go away.
“Dammit,” he snapped. “I can’t heal her. Kemen, you’re gonna have to put her deep. If she can’t have sex then she’ll need to sleep.”
A warm body pressed to mine. I sighed, and then groaned. Stomach hurt so bad.
“Ssh, I got you.” Kemen rubbed my back. “Sandman’s got you, Dora.”
Ke...men, then I was out again.
~*~
Bright light woke me. I frowned, where was I? I rolled over and grimaced as a sharp pain sluiced through my lower abdomen. A gentle snore sounded in my ear.
Heart beating, I turned. Kemen had his arm draped over his face, mouth agape.
What the hell? I sat up and looked around. I was home. But how? Pulse thundering, I licked my lips as the memory of the night came back with choking clarity.
Molech. The worshippers. Brianna. The knife.
“Oh my God.” I pulled the sheets down. I was naked, there was no blood. Someone had cleaned me off. There was a large, angry welt crossing the length of my abdomen. I traced the wide line, the wound so freshly mended it was almost clear. I could make out the lines of muscle; see the faint bump of organs still shifting back into place.
I winced.
I dropped my head into my hands and tried to remember. It was there, like little flashes of memory but disjointed. A soft breeze fluttered the curtains in my bedroom and a small piece of paper flew off my nightstand. It was gray, rumpled. Odd, because I didn’t remember that sheet of paper.
I stood on rubbery legs, grabbing onto the nightstand for support until the room stopped spinning long enough that I could go grab the paper. I picked it up. There were two lines.
Don’t trust anyone.
~G.M.
I cocked my head. “G.M.?” My eyes widened. The Gray Man. What the hell? How’d he get into my trailer? I ambled to my window and peeked outside. It was a somber October morning, gray, overcast, and promising more rain. But there was neither sight nor sound of the Gray Man.
When had he come? While Kemen and I had slept? Who exactly couldn’t I trust? Everybody? The Gray Man himself? What the hell?
“Pandora?”
I twirled and my abs screamed in protest at the sudden movement. I crumpled the sheet in my hand.
“You’re awake.” Kemen rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned. “You okay?” he asked, voice rough with sleep.
“Kemen, can you please go get Luc?”
He tunneled blunt fingers through his cropped hair and nodded. “Yeah sure.” He grabbed his black ribbed t-shirt and slipped it on.
“Hey,” I said, before he walked out.
“Yeah?”
“You come back too.”
He frowned, looking both curious and confused. “Alright.”
I walked slowly toward my bathroom.
“And, Pandora...”
I glanced at him.
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
I wasn’t sure that was true, but I smiled anyway. “Me too, Kem.”
I showered and ate, taking my time and trying not to move too fast or eat too much, even though I was starving. As I was slipping on a pair of socks there was a knock at my door. “Come in.”
Luc and Kemen entered. Kemen had changed into a flannel sweater and black jeans, his hair looked scrubbed. Luc was in an old pair of tattered jeans and black leather jacket. The hard lines of his jaw more telling than words just how pissed he was.
I sighed.
“You turned off your mic, Pandora.”
“Okay, I deserve that.” I held up my hands and sat on the edge of my couch.
“You could have died.” Luc gripped my shoulders and gave me a hard shake. My stomach burned from the abuse.
I licked my teeth. First insult was free, but now he was starting to anger me.
“That was my business.” I wasn’t even going to admit that in hindsight it was the dumbest thing I’d ever done. I’d slipped, trusted Billy too much when I shouldn’t have. I’d said I wouldn’t, but I had. Which convinced me more than ever that somehow he was thralling me. I was too smart to be so stupid. But I’d die before I admitted it to the glowering neph standing in front of me with balled fists.
Luc’s eyes started to swirl. The room grew heavy, the air thick with the rise of his power. “You could have died and I would never have known.” His words were clipped and terse.
“Luc,” Kemen drawled, clapping him on the shoulder, “ease off, man.”
I shot Kemen a look and wondered what he knew. I’d slept with him the entire night. Had I muttered something in my sleep? Had Luc told him?
I caressed Luc’s cheek. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. He blinked as I continued to pet him and mutter wordless nothings. Finally some of his power began to drain from the room.
“We need to talk, Luc.”
He narrowed his eyes. "You're right we do.”
I glanced at Kemen. “Alone. For just a second.”
He nodded, looked at Luc then back at me. “You gonna be okay?” he asked me, and I knew he worried that Luc might snap.
“She’ll be fine,” he said, never taking his eyes off my face. “Now go,” he all but snarled.
I gave Kemen a weak smile. “Just stand outside for a second, Kem, I’ll call you when I’m ready.”
He did not want to go, I could see it clearly in his face, but he listened and left anyway.
I tugged on Luc’s hand forcing him to sit next to me. He sat, but snatched his hand out of mine and looked to the side.
“I’m sorry, but there were things I needed to do and I couldn’t have you listening.”
“He was there.” It wasn’t a question and I wasn’t going to pretend like it was. “He tried to kill you.”
I couldn’t be sure it had been Billy, but I also couldn’t be sure it hadn’t. Only he had power enough to locate me. Vamps couldn’t draw the necessary amount of magic to be able to track a neph. So it left Billy, or the Rogue.
Luc was visibly shaking. I touched his back and he jerked. “Don’t touch me right now, Pandora. I don’t trust myself,” he growled.
I remembered that voice, that look of hate. I’d seen it the night he’d knifed me. I held up my hands in a placating manner and scooted back on the couch. “Not touching, see.”
He took several deep breaths, swallowing hard. “He could have killed you,” he muttered again. Much as I appreciated the fact that Luc cared, there were bigger issues right now. I was fine. The kids were not.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Luc, how much did you tell the others?”
His nostrils flared. “Nothing.”
I crossed my legs, to keep from bouncing them nervously. “Who did you send after me? I vaguely recall hearing you say something about that last night.”
His jaw popped as he flexed it back and forth. Finally he muttered, “Vyxyn, Bubba, and Kemen.”
I licked my lips, I wasn’t gonna rag on him for putting my safety above Grace’s orders, but it could have seriously compromised us. “And you told them what?”
He stood, pacing back and forth in front of me. “I told them what they needed to know. That you and I were testing the prototype and you got caught.”
His anger prickled my skin. I needed to remain calm to keep him calm. “But, Luc, I doubt they bought that. There’s very little that can bring down a neph unawares.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” he snapped. “What else could I do? Your stupidity put me in a bind.”
I could have reminded him that I’d asked him to tag along, but I doubted he’d appreciate the reminder. I took a calming breath, trying to understand his anger. He was right in some ways. I had been stupid. But there was no point in hashing out the obvious. It couldn’t be changed now, so why bother.
“When did Vyxyn return last night?”
He refused to look at me, or even answer. I gasped. “Where is she, Luc?”
He rubbed his jaw. “She hasn’t come home yet.”
“Okay, so where is she?” When he failed to answer I was overcome by a bad feeling. “Luc, you did see her before you sent her to me, right? They were here when you sent them to come find me? Please tell me you saw them.”
Scrubbing his fist down his face, he muttered, “No. I was watching your monitor all night. By the time you flicked your wire back on and I saw the mass of blue’s and purple’s I called Kemen with orders to find and retrieve you.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, rubbing at the beginnings of a headache. “You need to call Grace. Luc, it’s bad.”
That seemed to take some of the steam out of him. “I heard Molech.”
I nodded. “Yes, but that’s not the half of it.” I recounted what I could remember, the orgies, the blood baths, and the kids. My voice cracked when I mentioned Brianna. He gave me an odd look.
“That’s what nearly got you killed? Rescuing her?”
I shouldn’t have been surprised that he’d ask such an insensitive question. As if because she was only human she wasn’t worth our time. I crossed my arms. “I’m not gonna argue with you about her. I’d do it again.”
He glared at me.
“What about the mic, what happened last night?”
“What?” He frowned.
“The IR detector. When I was stabbed, did you see the person that did it?”
He sat and fiddled with his thumb ring. “No. My monitor went crazy right before it happened. Didn’t see a thing. It happened right after you left Grace’s house too.”
I frowned. So either he’d had technical difficulties or it was all somehow connected. Luc had told me yesterday it was only a prototype, prone to glitches. But then again, it was spot on with other things. “Did it happen before the priest got the jump on me?”
His nostrils flared. “No.”
I bit my bottom lip. Was I being completely na?ve to believe it wasn’t him? It wasn’t adding up, and yet, he had ditched me. I sighed.
I’ve always considered myself a decent judge of character, comes with the territory. I didn’t trust Billy, not really, yet he’d been helpful. He seemed as surprised by what we’d found down there as I had. Either he was the world’s best actor, or he hadn’t done it.
“What about all that purple? Could it have been another glitch?”
He looked at me, running his fingers through his hair. “You mean in Grace’s house?”
I nodded.
He shrugged, throwing his hands up in disgust. “I wish I knew.”
I jerked my chin in the direction of the door. “Then maybe it’s time you get Kemen. We need to find out if anything we learned last night was accurate or nothing but smoke and mirrors.”
The second Luc called out to him, Kemen stuck his head in the door. Made me wonder how close he’d been. “What’s up?” he asked, large frame filling the narrow space of my living room.
He came and sat down next to me. Luc handed him the black box. “Take a look at this,” he said, “last night we got some crazy readings and I’m afraid it might have gone haywire.”
Kemen popped open the black box, pulled a small screwdriver from out his back pocket and started fiddling around with the wires and knobby things inside.
“Well,” he eyed it hard one last time, before turning to look at us, “on the surface everything looks okay. There’s no burn or rust damage, pieces are fitted tight where they should be.” He shrugged. “Won’t know if there’s something really wrong with it ‘til I can get it back to my shop and test the wiring, but right now, I’d say it’s fine. Why?”
I glanced at Luc’s sullen demeanor. I didn’t want to give too much away, but we needed information. I scratched the back of my head. “Yesterday when I was at Grace’s, Luc saw purple everywhere.”
Kemen frowned. “That true? How’d it look?”
Luc walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, pulled out the jug of OJ and poured himself a glass. “Anyone want?” he asked, we both shook our heads no. He took a long swig then finally said, “I don’t know, it was crazy. One second I see Pandora and two red marks, Grace and her assistant. The next this purple fog,” he shook his head, “for lack of a better word, rolled over the entire house, covering everything but Pandora herself.”
“Hmm.” Kemen held up the box, narrowing his eyes into slits as if trying to somehow divine truth from it.
“But that’s not all.” I licked my lips, palms starting to clam up. “Twice, someone got the drop on me...”
Luc growled and poured himself another glass of juice.
“...and there was nothing. Dead space. Black. How’s that possible? Shouldn’t paras transmit?”
“Yes, they should. Unless...”
Luc jogged back into the living room. “Unless what?”
Kemen’s mouth turned down and he gave an embarrassed shrug. “You’re gonna think I’m full of it.”
“Please—” I laid my hand on his arm. “Just tell us.”
He rolled his eyes. “Ah, okay. You know, Luc, I’ve been toying with the idea of I.R. for years, tweaking it until I developed the model I did today.”
“Yes, right.” He nodded, sitting on the recliner with his elbows on his knees. “So what?”
“I was out in the desert, testing out my ocular scopes and was having success, so I know it was working.”
Luc waved him on impatiently.
“I saw Gabriel.”
I pinched my nose. “As in archangel, Gabriel? Wings, flaming sword type?”
He nodded. “One in the same.”
“Flippin' awesome, dude.” I chuckled. It was probably uber blasphemous of me, but I’d always had an extreme fascination for the angels. They’re not your fluffy, pansy caricatures you see on TV, I’m not sure how that lie ever got spread.
Luc gave me a cross look which I ignored.
“How did you get away from him?” I asked.
Kemen grinned. “I high-tailed it out of there before he caught me, but not before I saw that he didn’t transmit on I.R.” He swung his hand. “Zip. Zilch. Black space. Like what you said.”
I thought about Billy and started laughing, which was a bad idea because the pain returned with a vengeance. I wheezed, holding onto my midsection. Luc touched my shoulder. I waved him off. “I’m okay.” I waited for the worst of it to pass before I said, “But seriously what caught me was no angel.”
He shrugged. “Just telling you what I know. Anyway,” he stood, “if you guys don’t have any other questions I’m gonna go check this bad boy out, see if there’s anything wrong with it.”
Luc slouched back in the seat, obviously unhappy.
Kemen clapped the door and glanced over his shoulder. “We still got the night off right, boss? Because I’ll probably be tinkering with this thing well into the evening, see if I can’t work out some of the kinks.”
I looked at Luc.
He saluted him. “Yeah, scram. Let me know if you find out anything.”
“What the hell, Luc?” I said once Kemen left. “Who’d you give the night off to?”
“Everyone.” He gripped the armrests and shoved to his feet. “I closed down the carnival. We’re done here.”
It’s not often that I’m shocked, but I was then. “Excuse me?”
His stare penetrated straight through me, made me shiver with its intensity. “Never again will I go through what happened last night. I’m coming with you. One way or another, this ends tonight. I’m gonna call Grace.” And just as he was set to step out my trailer a thought came to me.
“Luc?”
Foot in mid-step, he turned to look at me. “What?”
“Who exactly found me last night? I want to thank them.”
His jaw clicked once to the side. “I don’t know. We didn’t know where you were, we searched for hours. By the time we got back here you were already in your bed.”
With that, he left.