The Cure (26 page)

Running water from a fountain alerted my attention, but with my senses in high gear, I knew no one was nearby. I sat on the rock wall border and closed my eyes. Tom. I pictured him as I liked to remember him best—standing with me on the top of a cliff with our bicycles in Kansas, far enough from the edge that my fear of heights wasn’t triggered. We’d made it up the difficult trail, sweat dripping from our bodies, chests heaving. The sunset was glorious, though it meant we still had to set up a tent so we’d have somewhere to spend the night.

Tom’s eyes often changed shades of blue, but that day they were like an inviting lake on a summer day. My favorite.

“Erin, I want to do this every day of my life.”

“What? You’re insane.” It had been fun, but the four-hour assent and three-hour return was far too taxing for every day. “Maybe every month. Except in winter.”

He grinned, smoothing back his brown hair from his tanned face. “I mean you and me. We should get married.”

“Married. Wow.”

He took my hand, spreading heat through my body. “Just think about it.”

All at once I found him. His mind was still dark, though not as dark as in the restaurant. Perhaps he wasn’t expecting someone like me. Or maybe like Jace he was too new to be consistent at blocking. Regardless, he was close by, if I could sense even this much of him.

Rising, I followed the hint of his mind, hoping the link would grow stronger with proximity. Up ahead was another small clearing where a foursome played cards under a weak lantern hanging from a pole. Skirting the light, I continued on.

Someone was with Tom, but that person’s mind was shut tight. Unbounded, probably, or someone like Keene who’d grown up with them. I walked more slowly and carefully. From my previous circuit, I knew the parking lot was up ahead. Maybe he’d just returned from wherever he’d gone. Was he with Justine? My stomach churned, but whether with anticipation or dread, I couldn’t say. If I could follow Justine, I might discover where they planned to take the kidnapped scientist.

Tom stood talking with someone who was hidden from my view behind a blue SUV. I hugged a bush leading into the parking lot, pushing my thoughts out harder. It was definitely Tom, and though I couldn’t sense all his thoughts, I knew he was with Justine. I could see the picture of her foremost in his mind. He thought she was beautiful, this “sister” of his. He still didn’t know she was really his mother.

This surface glimpse was all I could see of his mind, but their meeting in the open like this concerned me. It was almost as if they expected someone to come calling. Not just someone but a sensing Unbounded. Maybe even me in particular. I pulled my mind from Tom and sent it searching again, beginning at my current location and expanding in ever-widening arcs.

I found the dark presence seconds before it hurtled in my direction.

Throwing myself sideways, I tucked into a roll and was up and running before my attacker reached me. He registered on my senses as Unbounded, and he was fast, which likely meant gifted in combat. Justine had always been able to surround herself with useful people. I reached for my gun, but he knocked it from my hand. I whirled to face him.

He stood there, a grin stretching under his large, flat nose. I knew him, at least by first name: Edgel. He looked angrier and more determined than during our last encounter when he’d been under Keene’s command. Everything about him was dark, from his boots and canvas pants to his ebony skin and close-cropped black hair. A black knife jutted wickedly from his hand.

I pulled the machete. In retrospect, it was a dumb thing to do because I hadn’t trained with the weapon. Still, it seemed to fit the occasion. I lunged. He was faster, dancing out of reach and back in, nearly slicing my arm in the process.

I swung again, and this time I hit his knife. It shattered.

Before I had a chance to marvel at my accomplishment or at the craftsmanship of the machete’s blade, Edgel was in motion again, his foot crashing into my arm like a sledge hammer. The machete went flying.

“Edgel, stop!” I commanded.

He blinked, as though surprised I remembered his name. “Why? I owe you for shooting Justine’s brother. Thinking he was dead almost destroyed her. I can’t kill you because Stefan won’t let me, but no one said anything about not hurting you.”

Stefan? This was the second time Emporium agents had indicated that the Triad member had a vested interest in my well-being. Looked like they still wanted me for their breeding program. Whatever the motive, there was probably no use in reminding Edgel that Justine had tried to murder my family.

Edgel lunged, a huge fist coming toward me. I dodged easily but didn’t anticipate his other hand, which caught me on the side of my face. Pain exploded in my head.
Stupid,
I thought. I pushed my hand through a slit in my catwoman suit and whipped out one of my knives from my thigh sheath. For the first time in my life, I managed to sink it deep into my target, though farther above Edgel’s heart than where I’d intended. He grunted and pulled it out, dripping blood and grinning.

Now he had the knife. Not exactly the way I’d take someone’s weapon from them but effective. I wouldn’t be able to outrun it, and he wouldn’t miss.

Unless there was something more I could do mentally. Maybe shock his mind into missing. Desperately, I battered at the dark wall of his mind. If Ritter had sometimes had a hole in his barrier when he was distracted, maybe Edgel did, too. He grinned in anticipation. His arm went back.

There it was. I dived into the hole, at the same time releasing a mental scream. The knife flew past me. Edgel’s face contorted, but he was already in motion, one hand coming toward me in a blow that would knock me off my feet. I ducked and was about to step to the side, when I sensed his foot coming up. No, it wasn’t there yet, but it would be. I knew it. I stepped the other way and lashed out with my own kick. Solid flesh met my blow. Exactly as I expected.

Pivoting, I sent a jab to the wound in his chest. He grunted in pain, but his fists were already coming at me again. No, they
would
come at me. I knew how to avoid them. I also knew it wasn’t my ability that warned me of the coming blow, but Edgel’s own combat gift.

Dimitri was right.
Maybe it was his suggestion that made me aware of what I was doing. Because I’d felt this before when sparring with Jace.

Edgel’s next two punches missed me, but there was no way to avoid the third. I landed two myself. My shoulder ached where he’d hit, and I suspected something had cracked or broken. Even borrowing his ability, I wasn’t going to win. Edgel had too much training—not to mention six inches and forty pounds on me. But I could distract him enough to reach for the Ruger at my ankle.

I threw another knife from the sheath at my thigh, knowing he would dodge. I reached for the gun.

Too late.

A soft sound whizzed toward me and my right arm burst into fire.

“T
HAT’S QUITE ENOUGH
,”
CAME A
silky female voice.

I wanted to curl up and cry at the pain, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. Clenching my jaw, I turned to meet her. “Justine.”

She stood pointing a gleaming silver pistol at my chest, her face mocking. Blue eyes, small nose, high, prominent cheekbones. She looked exactly the same as when we’d been best friends, before I’d heard about Unbounded or the war between the Emporium and Renegades. When I’d thought she cared about me. When I’d thought Tom’s love was real and not engineered by his so-called sister. Only her hair was different. Instead of the dyed blond, it was a rich brown—her natural color, which she’d once hated. Like me, she wore all black, but her jeans ended with pointed, high heeled boots.

Behind her, Tom stood, his face impassive. His eyes appeared dark, so unlike those belonging to the man that day on the cliff that it was like looking at a stranger. The Unbounded certainty made him far more compelling and attractive than when he’d been mortal, average. If he had already Changed when we first met, I guessed I wouldn’t have hesitated to accept his proposal as I did after our bike ride to the cliff.

“What a nice surprise running into you.” Justine gave me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She tossed her head, making the long locks glisten under the lamplight. “No, Edgel,” she said, her eyes going past me. “You had your chance. Don’t feel too bad for losing. Remember her heritage.”

My heritage? Coupled with what Edgel had said, that could only mean she still thought Stefan Carrington was my biological father and that I was gifted in combat. Which in turn meant Tom hadn’t told Justine the truth about my ability or my parentage—and yet he’d known about both.

“You’re looking good. I like the hair,” I told Justine. My arm throbbed and it was all I could do to make my voice sound bored. “How did you know I was here?”

Justine scowled. “We were actually expecting that traitor Keene, but it was very kind of you to show up, too. Once I realized you’d come with him, I knew it was only a matter of time until you tried to follow Tom. So we waited until you did.”

I hated being predictable, especially to Justine. I pushed at her mind, but it was tightly locked. Still, if I could find a hole, maybe I could inflict a little damage that would help me escape. Unfortunately, my head pounded from my previous effort, the customary dull aching, interspersed with searing flashes of lightning that threatened to bring tears to my eyes. Well, I needed to learn what they knew anyway, and it wasn’t like Tom would let me go easily. I could also sense Edgel behind me, ready to use any excuse to make me pay for his humiliation in front of Justine.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” I said, pretending to scan the area. “Keene doesn’t seem to be here. I could give him a message, if you like, the next time I see him.”

Justine chuckled, and this time her eyes showed genuine amusement. “Ah, Erin, I’ve missed you.”

Something caught in my chest, a feeling I didn’t want to experience. I missed Justine, too. Finding her and Tom at that low point in my life after leaving law school had saved me. Or so I’d thought at the time. That was before I knew I was being manipulated.

Justine’s eyes roamed over my outfit. “Edgel, get her weapons and check her for more. Hand them to Tom.” She spied the machete as Edgel retrieved it from the ground. “Wait, what’s that?” She laughed. “Why, Erin, how native of you.”

“It was a gift. I’ll take it back if you don’t mind.”

“Funny.” She handed it to Tom.

Edgel relieved me of the machete’s sheath and found my extra gun and the knife I wore at my ankle. He glared at me the entire time, his hands rough during the search. I ignored him.

“She’s bleeding,” Tom said unnecessarily.

The flow of blood from the bullet hole halfway between my elbow and shoulder was actually slowing a bit, which was good because I was feeling rather dizzy and nauseated, though whether from blood loss or overusing my ability, I couldn’t say. It was hard to think between those flashes of agony in my brain.

“Yes, I can see that.” Justine stepped toward me, carefully avoiding the blood pooling on the ground beside me. “We have something to ease the pain. We call it tonic. Would you like some?”

Similar to our curequick, I was betting, and much more aptly named. Cort and I had an ongoing argument about how stupid curequick sounded. “I’m good,” I said. “That stuff’s addictive, you know.” Another searing pain made me wince, which ruined my show of strength.

 Justine studied me for a full thirty seconds without comment. When she spoke, her voice was silky and compelling. “Who else are you here with? Where are they?”

The words held the promise of untold sexual pleasure and the fulfillment of every wild dream. Well, not the words exactly, but the pheromones accompanying them. She wasn’t a hypnopath like Tenika, compelling people with speech, rather her ability to emit pheromones attracted others and made them want to please her. Pheromones worked on everyone regardless of gender or sexual orientation, but it was a weak ability because once you were aware of the manipulation, you could resist it—if you wanted. Justine hated that aspect, though I’d observed enough people around her to know that many never became immune. Take Edgel, for instance. He was old enough to know better, yet he hung on her every word like a teenage boy with his first crush.

“I’m here alone,” I said, shifting my position so that the pain in my arm increased. Something to focus on instead of the desire to please her. I wouldn’t let her pheromones fool me into thinking I mattered to her as anything other than an incubator for her Unbounded grandchildren. Pheromones might be undetectable to the conscious mind, but I recognized their presence by my reaction to them.

“You’re lying.” Her voice became hard and the pheromones thicker. “We know Keene has an informant at the Emporium. Sweet little mortal receptionist. We fed her information about our intentions toward the senator, knowing Keene wouldn’t be able to resist getting involved. He’s been fouling up quite a few of our operations these past few months. How convenient to bring you along, though. Couldn’t have planned it better myself. Two birds with one stone and all that.” She stepped around me, close enough that our shoulders brushed. I could smell her spicy signature perfume. With her boots, we were about the same height, and she leaned and whispered in my ear. “Tell me where Keene is, Erin. You can trust me. Tom and I care about you.”