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“You think she’s funny?” Steel asks Ellis.
Ellis shrugs. “She’s kind of amusing and I think you’d agree with me if you weren’t all amped up.”
“I’m not amped up,” he insists, cracking his knuckles. “I’m not even halfway there.”
“Really?” I ask with skepticism as I glance at the beaten up guy. “Then what the hell do you do when you’re all the way there?”
Steel’s lips curl into a smirk. “I finish the job.”
I gulp, wondering if he means he kills people. Does that mean West kills people too?
“Steel, knock it off,” Ellis warns. “You don’t need to try to scare her.”
“Yes, I do,” Steel says with his dark eyes trained on me. “This entire time she hasn’t acted scared. Not even when she thought she was kidnapped. But she should be scared. She will be when she finds out what’s going on.” He leans in, crowding my personal space, and lowering his voice. “Don’t worry, though. Like you said, we’re here to protect you.” He presses his hand to the small of my back and drags his teeth along my earlobe, biting at the skin, before pulling away.
I do my best to not let my jaw drop to my knees, but my lips slightly part and a smirk spreads across his face. I fire back a smirk, even though I’m so damn confused. Then I open my mouth, preparing to put him in his place. But West interrupts me.
“So, what’s going on?” he asks Steel as he appears at my side and threads his fingers through mine. “Ellis said we needed to come back here.”
Steel stares at me for a beat or two longer before tearing his gaze off me. “You want to have this conversation in front of her?” he asks West with a questioning arch of his brow.
“Not really,” West says with a sigh. “But she’s a stubborn one.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” Steel rubs his jawline. “Which means she’s going to be a pain in the ass to keep an eye on.”
West rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I highly doubt you’re going to mind.”
Steel stares West down with his arms crossed. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I think you know,” West replies with a challenge in his eyes.
Steel shakes his head, his jaw ticking. “What did I tell you about making assumptions about me.”
West shrugs. “I’m not making assumptions. I’m stating facts.”
As they continue to bicker like two old ladies, Ellis lets out an exhausted sigh.
“Are they always like this?” I ask him.
He nods with zero hesitation. “Steel kind of brings it out in people, though.”
“So do I, I think,” I admit with a frown. “At least with West.”
Ellis’s eyes sparkle mischievously. “Maybe West is the problem then.”
I laugh, which seems odd considering the situation. “Yeah, maybe, but I highly doubt it.”
Ellis grins. “You have a nice laugh.”
“Thanks,” I say. “You have a nice smile.”
He grins at me.
I grin back, my cheeks a bit flushed. I don’t do well with compliments. Never have. Thankfully, I rarely get them.
The chained up guy suddenly lets out a hysterical laugh and just like that, my smile fades. So does Ellis’s. West and Steel grow quiet as they turn toward him.
“And the clock officially starts.” The chained up guy laughs again. And laughs. And laughs, like a mad man losing the last bit of his sanity.
Blood begins to pour from his nose while his body slumps to the floor. He continues to laugh, an eerie, wild, haunting laugh as he rolls back and forth.
“What the fuck.” West releases my hand and strides toward the guy with Steel right at his heels.
Ellis doesn’t follow, instead towing me toward him until my side is pressed up against him. Then he drapes his arm around my shoulder and hugs me against his side. The protective move seems odd since I don’t really know him. At least that’s what I think at first. But then the chained up guy unexpectedly springs to his feet and rushes forward with so much force the chains snap.
What the shit!
Shock waves over me, powerful and potent as the man shoves West and Steel aside as if they weigh nothing. They slam against opposing walls and crash to the concrete floor with a sickening thud.
The guy barrels toward me, growling, “Must destroy! Must destroy!”
Usually, I can handle crazy situations. But this isn’t just a crazy situation. It’s straight out of a sci-fi horror movie or something. I don’t know what to do. Don’t know how to react. So I stupidly stand there as the guy rushes at me. Thankfully, Ellis doesn’t share the same stupidity as me and in one swift movement, he whirls me around while positioning his body in front of mine.
“Stay back,” Ellis orders, then charges at the guy.
The sound of the impact of their bodies crashing together makes my stomach churn.
I slap my hand over my mouth and back away as the guy picks up Ellis by the throat, lifting him so high his feet no longer touch the floor.
“No one gets in the way of the mission.” The guy grips Ellis’s throat as he stares coldly into his eyes.
Ellis gasps for air, kicking at the guy. But the guy isn’t even fazed.
Seriously, can you say steroid freak. Who is this guy?
Or what?
The thought crosses my mind out of the blue but I hastily shove it aside.
This isn’t a fantasy book, Alexis. The dude’s human. He’s just jacked up on something.
As the guy continues to strangle Ellis, I look from West to Steel, who are passed out on the floor. I don’t know how this guy managed to knock them unconscious, but one thing is for sure: it doesn’t look like they’re getting up any time soon.
My gaze flies back to Ellis, whose face is turning blue. I may not know him very well, but I’m not about to run away and let him die. The realization that he could very well die—that the guy choking him could very well be a killer—doesn’t frighten me as much as I thought it would. It pisses me off.
A strange, powerful feeling overcomes me as I make my way around the edge of the room to the broken chains. I pick up a piece of one and then make my way back to the guy and Ellis, a foggy haze glazing through my mind. I feel possessed, controlled by an unseen, unknown force. But the force gives me strength. Gives me power. Guides me straight to the guy, lifts my arms, and wraps the chain around his neck. Then I tug with all my strength—a strength I never knew I had. They guy startles and drops Ellis to the ground as he stumbles back.
“Let me go, you bitch,” he chokes out as I hold the chain around his neck.
My heart is racing in my chest and that heat I felt earlier has altered to a deathly cold chill. I’m so cold I feel as though I’m dying. Maybe I am dead. Maybe I died a while ago and this is all just a dream. Maybe that’s why I feel like I’ve done this before. That I’ve hurt someone. Badly. That I’ve died. A lot.
“You think this will stop everything,” the guy chokes out as he tries to turn around. “But it won’t.”
I make no move to speak, instead kicking his legs out from underneath him. He crashes to the floor with a loud thud, his head cracking against the cement.
I keep the chain around his neck like a leash as I lean over him. “Stop what?”
“You don’t know yet?” He howls with laughter. “Well, it sucks to be you then.”
“Tell me,” I demand as I wind the chain around my hand, causing it to tighten around his neck..
He grabs onto the chain, trying to pry the metal away from his neck while gasping for air. I smile. I don’t even know why. I feel possessed.
His face starts to tint blue as he struggles to breathe. “You’re going to die,” he grits out. “And your death’s going to be slow and painful.”
“Says the man with a chain around his neck,” I growl out.
“Oh, I’m not going to kill you.” He laughs. “The poison is.”
I stop winding the chain around my hand. “What poison?”
He
laughs like a crazed hyena, throwing his head back. “The poison I put in you. It’s going to kill you soon.”
My heart misses a beat. “But I’m okay… I woke up… West said I’d be okay…” None of this is making sense.
“Oh, your guys don’t know about the other drug I put in you.” The crazed smile that possesses his face sends a chill down my spine. “It doesn’t really matter, though. Whether they know or not, no one can save you. No one can ever be saved when the kiss of evil taints their blood.”
I may not be the one with the chain wrapped around my neck, but it sure as hell feels like it. “Why?” I manage to get out.
“Because you escaped and no one is supposed to escape. If they do, they get punished.” He smiles up at me then jerks on the chain, catching me off guard.
I trip forward, about to fall on him, but a pair of arms loop around my waist. West’s scent floods my nostrils and I relax as he picks me up and carries me toward the door.
Right before we walk out, I glance over his shoulder.
Steel has the man pinned down while Ellis hurriedly injects a needle into his arm. The man cackles with laughter. But his laughter soon fades into a dull whimper as the guy’s body goes limp.
“Has anyone ever told you the story of how I got my scars?” Steel whispers to the guy with a dark look in his eyes.
I strain my ears to listen, wanting to hear the story, but West opens the door and carries me out of the room. I keep my eyes trained on Steel as West starts to close the door behind us. Right before he gets the door completely shut, Steel glances up at me. Our eyes meet and that strange feeling overcomes me again, the one that I’ve met him before. For a faltering moment, panic floods Steels silver eyes. Then the door clicks shut and the moment slips away.
And reality crashes over me.
A cloud of death hanging over my head
Alexis
