AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ma’am.” Storm stepped up to the desk, squeezing Zaine out. “The person we’re looking for is armed and extremely dangerous. He also has an ability to be very persuasive. You may not even remember meeting him. So has anything happened to you, personally, or any of your staff that seems… off? Anything at all? Waking up somewhere when you don’t remember how you got there, strange dreams, that kind of thing?”
“I mean, there was… something. It was kinda weird.”
Zaine folded his arms. He must be losing his touch if Storm was getting witnesses to talk.
Janice tucked her hair behind her ear and bit into her lip. “A few nights ago, I was in the office here, and I… Well, I mean, it was probably nothing, but it was early in my shift, and then it was late, just like that. Hours gone. And I know I didn’t sleep. I don’t sleep on the job. We had one guy work here who fell asleep and some assholes stole the cash right out the register!”
She waffled some more about the need for security, and how she could use someone big and strong like Storm. Zaine left the lobby, letting her and Storm get acquainted, and questioned a few of the guests gawking at the chopper, but none of them had seen anything. One even offered Zaine five bucks for a selfie of them with the chopper in the background.
“We have a problem,” Storm said, returning a few minutes later.
“A new problem, or more of the same problem?” Zaine asked, leaning against the chopper.
Storm nodded at Zaine to climb in, and as he readied the chopper, he glanced over. “Octavius fed from Janice.”
“He did? Shit.”
That was bad. It meant he was losing control. One step away from nyk, if he wasn’t already too far gone. “Man, I was hoping he wouldn’t make it worse, yah know?”
“How much worse can it get?” Storm pushed on the stick and the chopper lifted into the air with a roar of engine.
“We need Mikalis on this,” Zaine said, raising his voice.
“He’s already on it. Just a little… out of action for a while.”
Out of action? Had something happened to Mikalis? “Meaning?”
The forest shrank beneath them and Storm angled the chopper west, away from the flightpath that would take them back to base. “While Mikalis was tracking Saint, Octavius showed up.”
Zaine’s heart sank. “Oh fuck.”
“Oh fuck, is right. Mikalis didn’t want me mentioning it to the others, but Octavius is not alone. He’s likely with Saint in some way. We don’t know if he’s working with Saint, or if Saint is using him. But he let Saint out before the Atlas building imploded. That’s one hell of a coincidence.”
“You think they’re working together? Shit. Two betrayers, and Octavius is drinking from the vein. I’m just going to say it, are we dealing with two powerful nyktelios, both of whom were Brotherhood?”
Storm didn’t reply.
He didn’t need to.
A bad situation had just gotten a whole lot worse.
CHAPTER13
Saint
They stoppedfor gas near dusk and Octavius did the necessary persuasion on the cashier. Intriguing little trick, that. And a powerful one in a world of suggestible humans.
Jay waited until Octavius was out of sight in the store, then twisted in the driver’s seat to ask, “Is it true, what he said? Am I addicted to you?”
Fucking Octavius and his Brotherhood mantras. “If I were any nyk, then maybe, but I’m not any nyk, so no.” The frown on Jay’s face deepened. They’d been fine together for months and now Octavius was trying to drive a wedge between them. “Do you trust me?” Saint asked.
“Yes.”
“Thentrustme.”
Octavius emerged from the store and crossed the gas station lot, passing by the pumps. He moved with long, deliberate strides, his body like a sheathed blade, poised for violence. Also, like a blade, he would cut indiscriminately. If only he’d see beyond the Brotherhood box and see the world for what it truly was. The Brotherhood stifled him. Smothered him. Restrained him. Like it did all its members.
If he were unleashed, he’d be glorious.
