AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sipped my water and debated on asking something that could be used against me, but I wanted to know badly enough to look weak in front of Goran. “How was Nicky when you dropped him off at the hospital?” The weak part was admitting that anyone meant that much to me, enough that hurting them might make me do what the bad guys wanted.
Goran looked down at me with his reddish-brown bear eyes. I think I’d startled him with my question. “He was alive when we saw the doctors take him into the ER.”
I nodded, my stomach tight. I’d have liked for him to be more reassuring, but he’d been honest and that was better, I guess. “I appreciate that you told me the truth and didn’t try to soften it with things you don’t actually know for certain.”
“I smell that underneath your worry for Nicky you mean that.”
“I thought you sort of liked Nicky.”
“I do.”
“Is it naïve to say, then why betray him, why betray all of us?”
“It is naïve, but you already know why I betrayed you and Nicky.”
“Because Mischa decided to betray us, and you go wherever your vampire master goes,” I said, sipping the water he’d given me, and for the first time I wondered if it could be drugged. It had been sealed and opened in front of me, and in the normal world that would make it safe, but when dealing with spies and assassins there are more options.
I must have done something to let him guess my thoughts, because he said, “The water is safe, Anita.”
“Two days ago, I would have taken your word, because I knew it was good.” I finished the water in the bottle because if there was something in it, too late now. “Now all I can do is hope that you’re not lying to me.”
“I am sorry that my word is no longer good enough to reassure you, truly I am.”
“Me, too, Goran, we’ll miss you at grappling practice next week.”
“Deimos has replaced Jean-Claude’s vampire marks with his own. I will continue to train with Nicky and the others on your security team as usual, though not next week. It will take longer than that to rebuild the stairs.”
I stopped walking and looked at him. “What stairs? What are you talking about?”
Goran stopped and looked down at me. “I thought Jean-Claude would have told you when he contacted you mind-to-mind the last time.”
“Well, he didn’t, so you tell me.”
“When Deimos could not possess your mind as quickly as we had planned, we had to find a way to keep your security and the other Harlequin from finding us before Deimos had possessed you, so we used carefully placed explosives to…”
“What did you blow up?” I actually took a step toward him, without thinking about it, as if I would attack him here and now, because all I could see in my head were images of the people I love blown up, hurt, and dying. My chest was tight, throat closing with the fear of what might have happened. I tried to feed the anger to chase back the dread, but for the first time I couldn’t stay angry. I was so scared that I could taste metal on my tongue.
“They are not hurt, Anita, we used only enough explosives to bring down the stairs. No one can go in or out of the underground until emergency services clear the way. The explosion was designed to do as little damage as possible to the structure while trapping as many of your potential rescuers so that they could not interfere before Deimos possessed you.”
“How do you know that no one was hurt?” I asked.
His eyes flinched like he wanted to look away from my face, but then went back to the serious eye contact we both liked. It was enough of a tell for me to say, “You have someone trapped down there pretending that they’re still loyal to us.”
“Deimos possessed you last night, and all who were tied to Jean-Claude are now tied to him. By the time they clear the debris and free your people, there will be no traitors because we will all be loyal to Deimos. It is done, Anita. You could not hold on to your anger just now because it lost to the sorrow and grief that is Deimos inside you. You will become more his creature every day, as we all are.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“I am sorry that it causes you distress, Anita, truly, but it is done.”
“It’s not done until I say it’s done,” I said, glaring up at him.
Rodina yelled at someone, “You’re hurting him!”
“I thought that was the idea,” Demolition Man said.
“I’ll only hurt him as much as I need to hurt him, because I know what I’m doing. You’re going to hurt him so badly it will take him days to heal.”
“Who are they talking about?” I asked.
