Chapter Six
Lying on a cot inside a jail cell, bleeding from multiple different spots, bones broken, also, in different multiple locations, while in silver handcuffs, I had to wonder how the hell this had happened. Only last week, I had been lying on a soft bed, happy and sated and relaxed with Cain, our first moment of a “possibly-not-just-casual”. And now, I was the exact opposite, gritting my teeth through the pain, and trying to stay conscious.
It probably had something to do with the illegal rave party the Prodigies, plus Fi, Kincaid’s mate I had finally—again—met tonight. Or the possibility of the Com police, eventually along with the MIA, had broken it up. There was also the likelihood of me being separated from Nelson during the mad dash of the raid, and when I had seen Kincaid and Venclaire get stunned, then taken down from behind, and silvered, I may have…reacted…on instinct, coming to their rescue. It more than likely, though, was a result of me failing in that attempt as a swarm of Com police and MIA had surrounded me after I took four down. After that, it all got a bit blurry.
I remembered being on the ground at one point staring directly into Venclaire’s eyes as he shouted at them to stop, right before a foot connected with my gut. I was then strategically taken to another less rowdy room as those caught in the rave were beginning to get hauled away. A few of those in Law enforcement I had taken down beat the living shit out of me while I was silvered.
Currently, I could hear Kincaid and Venclaire down the hallway voicing their opinions loudly that I be released. I was really hoping someone took their advice because I was seriously beginning to wonder if I was going to die, breathing becoming an issue while my heart beat erratically from all the blood loss. Someone else was shouting back at them, they had no jurisdiction because I was Elemental, and not Vampire or Shifter. Well…that would be a Law I would definitely nudge the Prodigies shoulders into changing…if I survived.
Then I heard Kincaid chuckling, and he bellowed over the officer’s shout, “You want jurisdiction? You’ve fucking got it. From what I can see through that little window…he’s walking in through the front door right now.”
Venclaire’s reply was steady. “The last guy to upset him over her ended up spending three days in the ground. So, you might want to run…if you think it’ll help.”
“Where is she?” Fergus’s voice bellowed through the entire jail, sounding farther away, but echoing roughly through the silvered bars.
Venclaire muttered, “Yeah, actually, I’m pretty sure it’s too late for you to run.”
“Kincaid? Venclaire?” Fergus shouted loudly. “Where the fuck are you?”
“Back here!” Kincaid called steadily, but loudly.
The jailer must have tried to run because I heard a hard grunt, then Kincaid murmured almost so quietly I couldn’t hear him, “Nope. You’re going to deal with some of this fallout because if she were my kind…and the state she’s in…I would rip everyone’s fucking head off that did this to her.”
A door banged loudly in the direction of their voices, everyone’s heads inside the different cells, all the captured ravers, staring down the hallway where they were, everyone mute to listen to their conversation. Everyone in my cell staying clear of me like the plague after Kincaid and Venclaire, and King Townsend and King Bridges, who had been by their sides, bailing them out of trouble, while all four of them had stood outside my cell, staring, Kincaid and Venclaire, arguing for a good minute on who should call Fergus, neither one of them wanting to do so. Venclaire got that honor by a lost coin toss, his conversation on the phone, apparently, relieved to have reached the King, and not Fergus, asking him to relay the message I was in jail.
That had been around fifteen minutes ago, lots more blood lost.
And, seemingly, Fergus had entered the cell room, along with many more voices, but I still heard his over the rest when he growled, “Where the fuck is she?”
“Down there.” Kincaid’s voice turned quiet and steady. “Third cell on the right.”
A flurry of voices came closer to us, but I saw Fergus first through the one eye I could still see through, the other swollen shut, and he came to a screeching halt, staring into the cell, glowing amber eyes scanning everyone’s faces while jailers followed behind him, along with King White, who was waving them off, watching his Prodigy closely. And I peered back to Fergus, unable to mutter a single word since I was fairly sure my throat had some internal injury from being choked, and I saw when his eyes landed on me. He couldn’t see all of my injuries, hair hanging in my face, and clothes covering the rest, but he completely froze, eyes dipping to the blood dripping slowly below me on the concrete floor, back to my face, and a voice void of all emotion, he asked slowly, “Who did this to you?”
“I don’t think she can talk,” Venclaire stated, voice overly tranquil.
“Alright.” Fergus’s arm snaked out to an air Elemental, voice still void, and in a second, he had the man’s face and body slammed up against the silver, making the guy cry out in pain. “You, get her out of there.” The guard instantly grabbed for the keys on his belt, apparently, the man who oversaw the inmates—which I was thinking was a blessing for him right now—so Fergus released him, slamming another Elemental guards face against the bars, asking him coolly, “Did you do this to her?”
“No,” the guy stammered instantly.
“Kincaid?”
“Truth.”
“Alright.” Fergus shoved the guy away, his eyes never leaving my face. “Get a medic here now.” The guard nodded quickly, starting to walk away, but Fergus stated steadily, “Run, not walk, before I kill you, too, for challenging my order.”
And…he was serious. I could see it in his cold eyes, the icy kind that feeds from the soul as he stared at me. Intelligently, the guard started running.
I heard the door bang again, way before the guard could have gotten there, then Elder Merrick’s voice could be heard, booming, his tone frigid, all business. “King Townsend, Kincaid, what the hell’s going on? I got a call from MIA—”
Fergus’s actions cut him off as he took a step back as the jail cell door opened, conveniently putting him in reaching distance of another Elemental guard, an air, and he shoved his face against the bars, asking him, “Did you do this to her?”
“What the fuck is going on here?” Elder Jacobs’s voice instantly cut in, apparently, having come in with Elder Merrick.