Sabin, A Seven Novel (37 page)

“You become my subject.”

“Your subject?”

His head tilts as his eyes change again. Turquoise and silver grab me and somewhere in my head, I vaguely think that I’m supposed to be doing something, but I can’t remember what it is. Am I supposed to walk the dog? Yeah, I think that’s it. I’m supposed to walk Walter. But my legs won’t work properly.

“You no longer own a dog,” Kor tells me.

“Oh, okay.” A potent surge of sexual need hits me, and I stumble toward him, trying to touch him. I
must
touch him. Compulsion drives me and I’m crazed with it. My arms itch so I rub them frantically. But when I get inches away from him, there’s an invisible barrier that prevents my hand from reaching him. Trying as hard as I can to push through it, the harder I try, the more my hand is pushed back toward me. It’s an eerie feeling that runs down the length of my arm, tingling it, like I’ve been shocked by electricity.

“You are not allowed, ever, to touch me.” The beauty of his voice is gone and now my ears are pierced with pain when he speaks.

My hands cover them, but it only eases when he stops. His beautiful voice has turned into a weapon.

“I … I don’t …”

“No, you don’t. You are mine to command. Mine to master. You obey me.”

The need I felt has wisped away, leaving me feeling embarrassed and chastised. My energy instantly drains, leaving me weakened and barely able to stand. All I want to do is sleep, or lie down somewhere. I scan the room, looking for such a place but Kor says, “There is no rest for you until I give you permission.” His words make me weep. “Weak human.” I fall, my legs unable to support me anymore, but I don’t know why. The ability to reason slips from me, and I don’t understand it. What’s happening to me?

“You are becoming my slave, human. All of your thoughts will soon be my own. Stand.”

It takes effort, but I yield to him. My arms are leaden as are my legs. When I move to touch him again, he speaks in that voice that pierces my brain. I shriek with pain. I stumble backwards and my head slams the floor. Something nags the back of my mind, but I don’t recognize anything, or anyone. Someone helps me stand, but releases me and I fall again. Why won’t they let me sleep? I’m tired. The beautiful man looks at me and my head throbs with pain when he does. How can he make my head hurt? My body burns. I rip my clothes off because I’m feverish. And then I find myself naked and alone in a room, not knowing how I got there.

“Where’s Serena?” I leave the sec center and can’t find her anywhere. I check our chambers and the kitchen and nothing. Walter is barking and no one has taken him out.

“I haven’t seen her,” Rafe answers.

“Edge, can you take this puppy out? And find Serena.” My temper is about to explode. I thought this dog was a good idea, but the little fucker pees over everything. Christ, when will it stop doing this? Edge grabs Walter and takes him out. Verus enters the room and wants to know what the ruckus is all about.

“Walter keeps barking.”

“Where’s Serena? It’s not like her to ignore him. She’s usually glued to him.”

“Oh, fuck.” I realize there are no mental waves rattling my brain. Usually Serena’s are extremely loud and distracting to me.

“What?”

“She’s not here. When’s the last time you saw her? Anyone?”

“I saw her in the kitchen,” Rafe answers. I don’t like his body language and tone.

“And?”

“It was … terse.”

“Explain and don’t be vague, Rafe.”

His eyes tell me more than his mouth does.

“Rafe, if you don’t say the words, I’ll pull them from you, willing or not.”

He walks up to me and stares. He’s telling me to get them from his head. This isn’t good. I look into his eyes and delve into his mind. They’re in the kitchen and she asks him for his help in dealing with me. He treats her like shit. It’s so bad that when I see Serena walk away defeated, I slam my fist in Rafe’s face.

“You fucking asshole.”

“I deserve that.”

“And more.”

“Verus, I need security footage on everything you have on the exterior of this place.”

Verus nods and says, “Sec center, now.”

To say my blood is boiling would be a gross understatement. I could rip everything apart in this building right now, and still have enough anger to do more damage. I am furious with Rafe. Whatever possessed him to treat Serena—kind, beautiful, Serena—that way?

In no time, Verus has everything up that we need. I watch as Serena walks out of the kitchen with her head hanging low, down the hallway, past an excited Walter, and right out of the house. She heads toward the beach in a run and the surveillance loses her when she gets about a quarter mile away from here.

“They have her,” I announce.

“How can you be so sure? We need to send out a search party,” Verus says.

“No, we don’t. They have her. She’s not on Earth any more. I don’t sense her anywhere. Serena is a beacon to me and she’s … gone. Her thoughts don’t just murmur, like ours. They scream. And they’re dead silent now. If I hadn’t been buried in my own shit, I would’ve noticed. What’s the timestamp on your surveillance?”

“Two hours ago,” Verus says.

“She could be dead by now. I can’t sit by and not know. I have to go and look for her.”

Verus shakes his head. “I’m not saying not to look for her. All I’m saying is to investigate and look for trace, before we charge off like fools. If we have an idea of where she is, then we can better plan on how to retrieve her.”

“What if we wait and the time spent could’ve saved her, you know?”

“Sabin, we still need a plan. We already lost one, we don’t need another unnecessary risk.”

Edge runs into the room and yells, “Where is she?”

“Don’t know. But she’s not on Earth.”

“Then we find her.” His hair sticks straight up like he got hit by lightening.

“We’re working up a plan. I know you two are close, Edge.”

“She’s like my sister, Sabin. We have to find her!”

“Tell me.” I rip my hand through my own hair.

Verus digs through all we have and Helios comes in offering his consolation. Dray enters next with Touhurandrun, Druh’ahan, and Hrennuan. The three guards are solemn as they feel it’s their fault she’s gone. I hold up my hand. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s Rafe’s.”

All eyes turn to me for an explanation.

“If you want one, you need to ask him.” My tone is terse, but I say nothing more. When I’m silent, they all turn to Rafe.

“I owe this group an apology. If I hadn’t been such an ass to Serena, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now.”

Edge walks up to him and asks, “What did you do?”

Rafe stands tall and firm and tells what happened. When he’s done, he takes another fist to the face and one to the gut from Edge.

“I accept that,” he says. “Anyone else?” Serena’s guards take their turns as well. Rafe is cradling his side when they finish.

My eyes burn two holes through him as he stands before me. “You’re dismissed from my presence.”

“I offer you my apology before I leave,” Rafe says.

“It will only be accepted upon us finding Serena alive and then you will offer it to her.”

He nods and leaves the room. His behavior unsettles me. This is the second time we’ve been at odds over Serena, but I thought we had mended our differences. I don’t know what his issues are, but for someone who has been my closest friend and ally for years, it seems like he’s trying to sabotage my mission.

Turning to Verus, I ask, “Anything?”

“Shaurok. I’m getting traces from two of them.”

“Any sign of blood?”

“None.”

“That’s a good sign. They took her somewhere. But why? She doesn’t have Judgment Day.” This doesn’t add up.

“No, but she does still carry the imprint. Maybe they …”

It’s not the fact that his voice trails off that disturbs me as much as it is the way his expression has changed.

“What? Tell me.”

“What if they took her to the Mastermind?”

“But why? She’s of no use because she doesn’t have what he needs.”

“Yes, she does. She has you.”

My thoughts race over what Verus said. He’s right. I have access to Paradox. If the Mastermind has Judgment Day, he can use Serena as leverage to get Paradox. We’re all fucked, but mostly Serena. I can’t give him Paradox so we have to come up with some way to get her back.

“You’re right. They must have Judgment Day then. Edge, send an explorer out to the planet where the Shaurok are. Program it for Serena’s DNA. I want to make sure she’s there before we make some sort of blind entry and put ourselves at risk.”

“On it.” He moves faster than I’ve ever seen him before, even when we’re fighting. I hadn’t realized how much Serena means to him.

“Drey, I need a report on the vault back home. What’s the status?”

“I’ll get an update for you.”

“Verus, do we even have a location for the Mastermind?”

“I think so, but I can put another explorer out.”

“No. He’ll expect that. Let’s wait on Edge’s.”

The waiting is killing me. It slices me into little pieces and scatters me all over the place. Edge and Verus keep telling me to get out of the sec center and take a break, but I can’t. Serena’s face—the sadness that was seared into it—tears me apart.

Five days after her disappearance, Rafe approaches me. “Do you want me to remove myself from The Seven?”

My anger at him has passed, but I still want to know why. “Your call, Rafe. But I want to know why you harbor such antagonism toward her. There isn’t a mean bone in her body. What did she ever do to deserve the shitty way you treated her?”

“Nothing. I haven’t been myself since Andros. Poor excuse. I was a prick to her. I guess I’m jealous of you and your relationship with her. Shows you what kind of person that makes me. So again, I’m asking you, do you want me to pull out of the team?”

I’m so damned drained. Drained of everything. Hunting Judgment Day. Keeping Paradox safe. Trying to figure out who murdered my family. And now this.

“I wish I could kick your ass all the way back to Nyan’trua, but right now I need every man I have.”

“Then name it. What can I do?”

“Get in the sec center and help Verus. And Rafe, I won’t be thanking you for this.”

“I don’t expect you to.”

He turns and leaves, his back straight and stiff. A man like Rafe is proud, but I have to admire what he just did. He swallowed it and came to me, asking me what I need. Technically, I could have him banished from here. I’m not sure what will happen when Serena returns or if she returns. That thought sends a bucketful of acid gushing into my guts. What will I do if that happens? Everyone I touch ends up a tragic mess. Maybe I’m the one who needs to step back from this.

Edge taps my arm. I was so enmeshed in my thoughts I didn’t sense his approach. “The explorer’s back. She’s not with the Shaurok in the Andromeda system.”

“Fuck. That means the Mastermind has her.” I march into the sec center. All eyes focus on me.

Verus says, “Edge told you?”

“Yep.”

“Now what?”

“We establish our next move. The Mastermind must have taken her. Sent his minions to get her,” I say. “I want all heads together on this to come up with the best plan, and that includes Touhurandrun, Druh’ahan, and Hrennuan.”

As we wait for all the men to gather, Verus, who stands at one of the complinks, yells, “Sabin, take a look at this. We have something coming in.”

“Put it up on all links.”

Verus’ voice is shaky when he says, “It’s not …”

“I don’t have time for this, Verus,” I clip. I’m more interested in getting this plan to rescue Serena underway.

“No, Sabin, I can’t do that.”

It’s his voice that grabs my attention and takes me to the screen at which he stands.

“Fuck. Fuck. Goddammit!” Serena is on the floor, naked, and filthy. Her hair is matted and splayed behind her. But that’s not what kills me. It’s her vacant eyes. She’s lost somewhere and as I look at her, I question if I’ll ever get her mind and spirit back.