She felt Talon get to his feet beside
her. Jamie swayed, staring down at Lyne’s lifeless form. In a puff
of dust, he was gone. There was no spilled blood where his form had
been, only a pile of clothing that was floating to the ground.
Light sprung from the floor the second the regal clothing hit the
ground, nothing but a remembrance of the man who had enjoyed
others’ pain.
Something touched her
elbow. Something warm, something
strong
. Jamie turned and stared at
Talon for all of a second before dropping the poker and falling
into his chest. Hard shudders wracked her body as the poker clanged
against the ground. Everything around her seemed to slow down as
Talon’s arms wrapped around her, holding her to him as a sob ripped
from her throat.
Was it over? It was the only thing she
could think as Talon led her from the hall, picking her up. She
didn’t know what he planned to do, and at that point she couldn’t
care less. She had killed a man — a vile, sadistic man whose goal
had been to bring them pain. Jamie’s mind reeled at the thought,
pushed it away as cold air hit her shoulder.
Oh, God
— Talon set her down the minute she started to
gag, held her shoulder with an awkward comfort that didn’t help her
at all. As she heaved up her stomach, he gathered her hair and held
it back in silence. So many things were running through her head,
it was like the wheel was also turning her stomach.
It kept coming, the rancid
taste in her mouth permanent. Jamie had thought about killing Chris
many times. After he was done with her body, she would lay there in
silence and sob softly, wishing that she could just
kill
him.
He listened to her sob
softly, the gagging sounds coming from her throat making his chest
hurt as he watched her bowed back. The pain that came from her was
devastating, and he felt like he could do nothing to stop it. Talon
was heartless, he loved to inflict pain, he loved to make
people
hurt
— but
listening to her cry and hack and grieve over killing someone
almost had him on his knees.
Talon forced himself not to focus on
how soft her hair was and helped her to her feet. Her cheeks had no
color at all, her eyes red and puffy, along with her nose. She
looked absolutely traumatized. Talon pushed aside the feeling in
his chest, the one that screamed at him to take her and run. The
fact that Auro was not avenging his brother was a fact that Talon
was grateful for. Wherever the man was right now, he had a feeling
that whatever he found when he came back was not going to be
good.
Chapter 10
Something was wrong, terribly wrong.
Auro dropped his case and almost fell against one of the stalls.
His heart raced in his ears as he met the confused eyes of the
accountant.
“
Must go,” he said, almost
choking.
Lyne
, his mind shouted.
It was
Lyne
.
Everything was a blur from them on. He
ran to his car, telling his driver to get to the house as soon as
he could. Horns honked, people cursed, red lights were ran, and all
he could think of was the pain in his chest that was slowly seeping
throughout his body.
His eyes watered as he shot from the
car. It had taken only minutes to get to the house, but already the
torment he was feeling was so dangerously high that it felt like
knives were shredding his heart.
The door opened sluggishly.
It felt like his feet wouldn’t pick up fast enough as he ran
through the house, calling for Lyne.
Why
couldn’t he feel him?
It had always come so
naturally to him, so why couldn’t he now?
Auro knew what was wrong a second
before he entered the hall. The door was open. A fire poker lay on
the floor.
A pile of his brother’s clothing lay
in a heap, nothing but a speck of dust to account for the body he
had had.
Auro stared, steps slowing as he came
before the remains.
Auro could have sworn later on that he
had never felt such fury in his life. Rage and grief overcame him,
filled his heart and soul as he fell to his knees. The howl of pain
that came shortly after rang through the room. He would never
forget the feeling that he felt this day.
Tears dripped down his cheeks as his
hands fisted in the clothing that his brother had worn. Life,
without him, was empty. How was Auro to live? His mind rejected the
thought that Lyne was gone, that he had been killed...
His watery gaze snapped to
the fire poker. Who had done it? He stood unsteadily to his feet.
“
Who did this?”
Auro cried, the sound of utter rage bringing forth the stomp
of feet. Power swirled around him, spurred on by fury. A group of
weary men stood before him, one pushing another in front of
them.
“
Who has killed my
brother?
” No one answered, a couple of
coughs and then flinches when he screamed, “
Tell me now!”
An almost demonic wrath
overcame him at the lack of response. He surged forward, maniacal
hand latching onto the neck of a man with a scar running along his
cheek. “
Tell me
,”
he roared.
“
We didn’t see it,” he
growled, pulling against Auro’s hold on his neck. He tightened his
hand, watching with mild pleasure as the veins started to pop on
the man’s face. He saw movement from behind him and turned deadly
eyes on the man. He stopped moving.
“
How could you not have
seen?” he spat, throwing the man against the wall. Rationality left
him then. He stormed forward, his cloak billowing out behind him as
he grasped onto the man closest to him.
The bloodshed that spilled around him
was not enough to stop the torment of his brother’s
death.
No one in that house left
alive.
It was several hours later before
Jamie could even breathe normally. They had gone to a store, but he
hadn’t been allowed in. With nothing but a towel around his hips,
she was sure he made a site. Jamie had him wait outside while she
went into the outlet.
She had been thankfully numb when
handing the cashier a fifty to pay for the dark jeans, black shirt,
a pair of Reeboks and socks, and an overcoat that would at least
keep him partially warm. Now, as she sat on the bed in a hotel,
feeling like a dead weight, she recalled everything that had
happened.
The hundred that she had withdrawn
from the ATM earlier had come in handy on their way back to the
hotel. A bus ride, meal and outfit for Talon, and she was almost
broke. At least he had had enough sense, despite his obvious
astonishment at being free, to lead her to a bank.
He had stood behind her like a dark
enforcer, arms over his chest and legs braced apart as he watched
her talk to the banker. It had been a short and uncomplicated
exchange. She took out five hundred, enough for a ride back and a
little extra in case anything else happened on their
way.
Jamie couldn’t understand Talon,
though. Much of what had happened was a blur, but she could recall
his expression the second they had set foot out of the house. He
had shivered, looked around... and turned completely stony. She
hadn’t been strong enough to ask him anything besides where they
should go.
He had roughly said, “To where you
were before. I would rather not stay here any longer.” Jamie had
blindly led them away.
The plane was most likely gone by now,
and the more she thought about it, the more she realized
how...unsociable Talon was. He stayed out of site as much as he
could. She hadn’t bothered to get any information about his past
from him, had already decided in her mind that he didn’t know much
of the modern world — or at least didn’t remember it.
He had been through a nightmare with
her. She could look at him and remember, clear as day, what it had
been like to kill Lyne. It had been so simple, almost serene to
her. If he was so easily killed, why hadn’t he been dead before?
Talon would not have gone through such torture if it hadn’t been
for an opposing force — either Auro or the collar, she didn’t
know.
Now, as she turned her head to look at
him, she forced the tears to stay inside and not pour down her
cheeks as they desperately wanted to. His scars and wounds were
covered, but not yet healed. He might get better fast — hell, she
had seen it happen before her own eyes — but after what he had
endured... he would also have to heal mentally.
“
Auro will come after us,”
he said from his place in the corner. He had dragged a chair near
the window, the curtains pulled aside with window open.
She looked at him, taking in his
appearance. He had looked so haggard, so thin and weak in the
bright snow, so stark against the whiteness of the cold flakes that
must have chilled him. Jamie herself hadn’t even had shoes to wear
on her way to the store, and she had felt almost frozen to the
bones by the time she entered the building...and he had had to wait
out there while she guessed at his clothes size.
And she might have guessed a little
too small, she thought, turning on her side. She had lain herself
on the bed, splayed out. Room service was on the way — it had been
too hard to watch Talon preciously bring fries to his lips. It had
been a revelation to her, and now she wanted to spoil the daylights
out of him. First, she would start with food.
Jamie jerked when she realized what
he’d said. “That...won’t be good,” she said uneasily, sitting up
slowly.
Talon turned his head from
the window, looking at her. “No shit, Sherlock. If he found us,
you
do
realize
that I wouldn’t be able to do anything. He’s too
furious.”
She swallowed, pushing her
hair out of her face. “Do you know for sure? Can’t he have
died
with
Lyne? I
mean...”
“
No, I get what you’re
trying to say. But I don’t think they were that strongly connected.
I know...” He rubbed his head, then dropped his hand. “I know
something, I just can’t...
remember
.”
Jamie stared at him, thinking. “What
did you do to get... put there?” she asked hesitantly.
For a second, she thought
he wasn’t going to answer her. After all the crap that she had done
for them, that
he
had done for
her
, one would think he might at least trust a
little
...
“
I don’t remember.” His
blunt statement drew her back.
“
How can you not remember?
Do you know what they could...do?” Jamie remembered feeling dizzy
and like she was floating on cloud nine at one point, so they must
have some sort of mind power. She shuddered, thinking of how
pathetic she was to even believe something like that.
Jamie sat up more on the bed, watching
him. He had turned his face back to the window, and the light
caressed him almost lovingly. Her stomach turned as she thought of
facing Chris. After meeting Talon and missing her flight...there
was no way she was getting out now unless he decided to go with
her.
He was so dark,
so...unreadable. She loved it, was attracted by it.
How could she have ever compared him to
Chris?
she thought, her eyes moving slowly
over his form. He was so darkly handsome, almost like a rogue,
something that would take her on the ride of her life. Of course,
he had made no move to stay with her besides that he had followed
her.
“
You said you don’t
remember anything, at all...” Jamie started slowly, a plan forming
in her mind. “Maybe... I could help you. I have enough money to
take you all over the world!” Her heart raced at the thought of
traveling with him, learning with him.
It didn’t occur to her how foolish the
thought was until he shook his head and said, “As soon as I get
enough strength, I’m leaving. Alone.” Jamie didn’t know that he
only planned on leaving her so that Auro wouldn’t come after
her.
Talon leaned into the chair, staring
out at the world beyond the window. Cars honked, the smell of
gasoline and coldness tingling his nose. It was nothing new, he
thought, yet it felt like it. Ever since his foot had touched the
cold ground outside of Auro’s house, it had dawned on him that he
might finally be free. Except for the threat of Auro, Talon was
free — and so was Jamie.
He had his reserves for the
surprisingly strong woman. She had done everything she could to get
them out, even
killed
a man and — “What did you do with Lyne?” he asked, trying to
hide the growl in his voice.
Jamie’s pale blue eyes blinked. “What
do you mean?”
His arms crossed over his chest, a hot
breath steaming out of his mouth. If they had done anything — the
thought of the two together was sickening... “Oh! Auro walked in
right when his hand...his hand was like... He walked in before Lyne
could do anything serious,” she finished, eyes averted.
He raised a brow at her. “Didn’t like
it?” he asked, keeping the satisfied tone out of his voice. It
wouldn’t do to let her know that he already felt some sort of claim
on her. Jamie already wanted him to stay with her — the offer to
help him learn about himself attested enough to that
fact.