The Scent (The Bryn and Sinjin Series Book 2) (10 page)

“Sinjin is the protector of the queen, anyway; he isn’t your protector,” I scolded myself while shaking my head. I was annoyed that I’d allowed myself to succumb to such wishful thinking. “And he owes you nothing,” I continued while half wondering if talking to myself was the first sign that I was really going crazy. But there was no one else to talk to, so I continued. “He’s probably already forgotten about you,” I finished. Angrily, I shoved any other thoughts of Sinjin back into the furthest recesses of my mind. All they did was depress me.

I will never see him again,
I told myself, and couldn’t deny the instant depression that overcame me.

I heard the sound of the front door opening and my heart started to pound as I immediately stood up. An overwhelming sense of dread settled over me as soon as I wondered who my visitor might be. When I recognized Betta, I was beyond relieved.

With a quick smile, she closed the door behind her and hurried to the kitchen counter. She unloaded a brown box from under her arm, as well as a tray with my dinner on it. She picked up the brown box and approached me, holding it out. “Put this somewhere safe,” she said.

My eyebrows furrowed as I glanced down at the nondescript box and flipped the lid open. It was a pair of sneakers. Looking back up at her, I was about to ask why she’d brought me running shoes, when I couldn’t ever leave my prison, but she immediately shook her head. She obviously didn’t want to discuss it. I figured she must’ve known that Luce’s magic was everywhere, and, therefore, any conversations between us would probably be overheard.

I just nodded, unsure what she was up to, but also not interested enough to further inquire. I opened one of the lower kitchen cabinets and pushed the box of sneakers into it. When I stood up again, I found Betta looking at me with a large smile.

“Tonight, I brought you lasagna!”

“Lasagna?” I replied while watching her place the white ceramic plate on the kitchen table. Then she handed me a fork and knife. My stomach instantly started to gurgle because I hadn’t been able to eat my breakfast or my lunch, owing to my permanent sense of dread and anxiety. Generally speaking, I found it difficult to eat.

“I made it myself,” Betta continued. Then she studied me for a few seconds with an expression of eager anticipation on her face. Once I realized she wanted me to taste the lasagna so I could report back to her, I immediately dove into it.

“Mmm, it’s good,” I said with a counterfeit smile, my voice sounding heavy because, even though I could tell Betta hoped to improve my spirits with her offering, there was nothing she could give me that would relieve my depression.

“I hoped you’d like it,” she said with a sweet smile.

Then I started to feel bad because it wasn’t Betta’s fault that my life had turned out so completely horrible. In fact, she was the only person I actually looked forward to seeing every day because she was the only person who was nice to me.

“I do,” I offered, wishing I could say more but the words wouldn’t form on my tongue.

“Glad you like it,” she said, before starting for the front door again.

As soon as she turned her back on me, it felt like my stomach plummeted all the way to my toes and I was overcome with sadness at the prospect of being left alone again. I’d never had an issue with my solitude before, but now I was actually scared to watch her leave. I felt like the impending weightiness of the quiet within my room would suffocate me, that it would force every ounce of life right out of my body.

“Do you have to leave so soon?” I barked, my voice sounding hysterical.

Betta dropped her gaze to the floor and nodded solemnly. “I’ve still got lots to accomplish before the day is through,” she said as she reached for the doorknob.

“Okay,” I said, dropping my gaze to my toes as I forced the loneliness back from wherever it had come. I had to remind myself that there was no way the silence in the room was going to suffocate me to death.

“I wish I could stay,” she offered in a soft voice.

“Thank you,” I replied, and feeling a stinging behind my eyes, I had to force the tears back. “For everything.”

She glanced back just once before nodding and opening the door. Then she disappeared into the dark night.

***

If I’d thought my life couldn’t get any worse, it did.

After three weeks of being the most available whore on the compound, I found myself in a new situation which was just as humiliating. No, I wasn’t pregnant. Luckily, no matter how many men Luce sent to me, it seemed pregnancy just wasn’t in the cards for me. And I certainly didn’t intend to spill any tears over that fact. The idea of a baby growing inside of me was almost as horrible as the thought of having sex again.

But returning to the newest shocker … this time it came in the form of a new visitor, Adam Elliott. Adam really wasn’t all that different to any of the other men that exploited my body except he was a Daywalker.

All my life, it had been drilled into me that Daywalkers and Elementals were considered equal, but separate. Consequently, it was deemed a cardinal sin for Daywalkers and Elementals to even suggest cross-breeding. Why? Because Luce and Nairn worried that joining the two would pollute the gene pool of each species’ magic.

“Why are you here?” I demanded while I took a few steps away from Adam. He, too, seemed stunned to be standing in the threshold of my kitchen.

“For the same reason every other man comes here,” he answered snidely. But judging by his wide eyes, I could tell he was nervous. He was also incredibly young—maybe only eighteen. Although that seemed young to me, it wasn’t so young where male Daywalkers were concerned. Most only lived until their twenty-first birthdays (well, with the exception of one male Daywalker, but he was definitely the exception rather than the rule). After that, their bodies began to shut down and die. Once the decomposition process started, they were lucky to last a week, or two at the most.

No one knew what was killing the Daywalker males, although Luce and Nairn had gained some insight when they started performing blood transfusions on the dying victims using vampire blood. Well, that was until my sister and her people blew up the compound where the experiments were being carried out. At the time, I’d thought it was an absolute travesty, but I didn’t feel the same way now.

“Does Luce know you’re here?” I inquired, spearing Adam with an expression that said I expected his answer to be a resounding
no.

“Of course,” Adam replied as he nodded. “He ordered me to come here.”

I just studied him for a few more seconds as I tried to ascertain whether or not he was telling me the truth. Seeing the earnest expression in his eyes, though, I concluded he was. “How is that possible?” I asked. I figured I could push my luck with Adam because he seemed just as uncomfortable with the prospect of having sex with me as I was with him.

“Luce and Nairn recently held an assembly to announce that we will no longer keep the two lines or species separate and distinct,” Adam started while glancing down at his hands apprehensively. “So they ordered all Daywalker males to visit the female breeders.” He eyed me for a split second before his gaze fell down on his lap again. “And you.”

“Are you saying Luce wants Elemental women to get pregnant by Daywalker men?” I asked, shaking my head because this was so unlike everything I’d had ingrained into me from the time I was a small child.

“And Daywalker women will become impregnated by Elemental men,” Adam answered with a brief nod.

“Why?” I asked, still completely shocked that we were even having this conversation.

“Because Luce and Nairn plan to create the ultimate powerful beings,” Adam answered with a shrug that said he was still pretty surprised by this news. As for me, I was amazed he was even opening up to me about it. Of course, with the way he continued to fidget while standing in front of me, I figured that maybe this was just a way for him to buy himself some more time.

“The ultimate powerful beings?” I repeated, an image of Frankenstein dropping into my head like a hydrogen bomb.

Adam nodded. “Yes. Luce believes a crossbred Elemental and Daywalker will take the best features from both races.”

I shook my head because all of this was so completely foreign to me. I was overcome with the feeling that Luce was becoming desperate. He’d lost my sister and now, me; so he was growing anxious to find a way to even out the odds between our people and the creatures of the Underworld. So he’d resorted to this …

“What proof do they have that crossbreeding our species will equate to a super creature?” I asked, spearing Adam with a cold, narrowed gaze.

He shrugged. “They have no proof yet, as far as I know,” he started. “It just seems like all Luce can talk about lately is supreme propagation of the tribe.”

I shook my head at the parts of his explanation that didn’t make sense to me. “But he must realize that an Elemental-Daywalker baby needs at least sixteen years before she or he can be ready to fight?”

Adam shook his head. “He found a way to speed up the process.”

“What?” I barked while throwing my hands on my hips and shaking my head because I couldn’t understand how that could be. “How is that even possible?”

“With Luce’s magic, anything is possible,” Adam answered. I couldn’t argue with him.

“So he’s trying to create a new species,” I repeated, mostly to myself, shaking my head as I sighed with the weight of this news. Glancing back at Adam, I found his attention riveted on the ground and in the impending silence, I was reminded of the reason he was here in the first place. A reason that neither of us believed in, obviously. “You know, we don’t have to do this.”

He looked back up at me and I saw hope in his eyes. Hope which died mere seconds later. “Of course we do. Luce ordered me to.”

“How would he know if you did?” I asked with a shrug. “It’s not like I’m going to rat you out.”

Adam nodded while he contemplated it. “But if I get caught,” he started, his eyes growing wide as his voice trailed and I could tell he wanted me to find the solution.

“Luce will just send you right back here,” I answered, hopeful that I could talk him out of his mission to have sex with me. The last thing I wanted to do was have sex with anyone … ever again. But I was more than aware that thoughts like that were basically useless, since Luce wouldn’t stop sending me visitors until I got pregnant. But just the idea of having a respite for now was enough to placate me. “Just go find something to do by yourself for, oh, ten minutes, and then report back to him,” I advised.

Adam didn’t say anything, but nodded as he turned on his toes and jogged off. My front door automatically closed and locked behind him.

SEVEN

Adam’s visit gave me cause for pause because it was crystal clear that Luce was on a mission to strengthen the tribe, no matter the cost. His belief that the tribe could be made more powerful by increasing the population, along with creating super creatures with Daywalker and Elemental DNA, concerned me, to say the least. It was pretty obvious that Luce was getting desperate. And I was well aware that desperate people posed a danger to everyone around them.

Even though Adam’s visit hadn’t translated into anything physical, I wasn’t fooled. It was simply a matter of time before more Daywalker men would come calling. Luce probably figured that if men from my own species couldn’t impregnate me, then maybe the Daywalkers might have a better chance. As for me, I could only hope that neither would succeed—that I was just barren. I had to laugh when the thought occurred to me that maybe I just wasn’t capable of procreating, so no matter what Luce tried, nothing would work. Now that was irony at its best.

The very idea of being used by a Daywalker turned my stomach even more than the dour reality of what was already happening to me. I’d always considered Daywalkers beneath the Elementals—they were no more than bloodsuckers who could walk in the daylight hours. I wasn’t the only one who felt that way either—all the Elementals did, even though our opinions were in direct correlation to Luce’s teachings. But even though Luce taught us that Daywalkers and Elementals were separate, but equal, those were just empty words. The underlying message we’d all received, loud and clear, was that those with natural magic were superior to those with fantastic strength and speed.

Knowing Luce’s and my feelings towards the Daywalkers, Adam’s visit equated to a cruel slap in my face. What was worse, according to Betta, I was to be the first Elemental woman to receive a Daywalker male, which only added further insult to my injury. Luce was doing a great job of making it abundantly clear to me that I was basically worthless to him now. I wasn’t even worthy of being treated like a human, let alone a vessel of magic.

Luckily for me, or maybe unluckily, depending on how you looked at it, the numbness that had overtaken me when Gus and Will raped me was still in play. The nothingness that absorbed my body and mind had never left. Although it seemed to dissipate sometimes when Betta visited me, as soon as I saw the next man hovering over me, it resumed its full effect. I seemed to go from day to day in an oblivious cloud that didn’t allow me to feel any pain or anger or sorrow. It prevented me from feeling anything at all.

That was until I got a visit from Jack Jeffers, the one person on the compound whom I detested. I always had. Jack was a Daywalker and the only male Daywalker to survive his twenty-first birthday, which made him … a valuable asset to the tribe. As far as I knew, he was probably now in his late twenties. Despite having gotten the sickness that killed all the other Daywalkers, he somehow had managed to survive it. No one knew why, including Jack. He swore up and down that it was because he transfused himself weekly with vampire blood, but he couldn’t convince me. Why? Because vampire blood had never healed the other sick Daywalkers. If anything, Jack was simply an enigma—an oddity that didn’t fit. Nonetheless, as the only surviving male Daywalker, Jack had soon become cocky and proud. Combined with his innate superhuman strength and power, cockiness and pride weren’t the best bedmates.

“Jack,” I managed between clenched teeth as soon as I spotted him walking through my front door. His stride was purposeful, like he belonged here. The deadness inside of me immediately faded away and I was suddenly consumed by a raw anger that seemed to be alive in its own right, thrumming inside my veins.

“I have to admit that I’ve been looking forward to this,” he seethed as he raked my body from head to toe before frowning. “Although you look like a frickin’ inmate in that outfit,” he spat, motioning with his chin at my hospital-issue pants and baggy T-shirt.

“And that’s exactly what I am,” I answered with an acidic laugh, wanting to let him know I didn’t give a shit if he liked my outfit or not. “Let’s not sugarcoat anything.”

“No, let’s not,” he sneered before slamming the door shut behind him. When he took a few steps closer, I took a few back, until I felt the wall right behind me. The sun had begun to set outside, and the retiring glow bathed the room in an orange-red that seemed to mirror the hot colors of fiery anger inside me.

“Why are you here?” I asked, knowing it was a stupid question, but I couldn’t help it. I found it very hard to accept the fate that lay in store for me, so I had to delay the inevitable.

“Why am I here?” he scoffed at me, shaking his head. “I dunno why you were ever considered such a worthy soldier, ’cause you’re stupid as shit.”

“Now isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?” I forced a smile because I didn’t want him to think he could get under my skin. He couldn’t. No matter what happened.

“You know what I think we shoulda done with you?”

“No, but I’m dying to know,” I replied. My body had instinctively adopted a fighting stance with my legs shoulder-width apart and my knees slightly bent. It was a bizarre reaction because I’d already made the decision to accept my fate rather than waste any energy trying to fight it. Fighting would only delay the inevitable and result in making the situation even harder on me. Besides, the numbness was a gift. It allowed me to detach my mind from my body.

Jack walked right up to me until less than four inches of air separated us. My breath hitched as my stomach soured and my heart started racing. We glared at each other for a few seconds. Then he grabbed a handful of my hair, looping it around his fingers. He yanked my head up, making it impossible to look away from him. Even though Jack wasn’t unattractive and had a nicely tanned complexion, dark green eyes, and sun-kissed brown hair, the cruelty in his eyes made him nothing but.

“I think we shoulda torn you up into little pieces and fed you to the hogs,” he answered with a sneer. His eyes narrowed and he tightened his hold on my hair.

“Poetic,” I managed to reply. My focus was centered on trying to convince myself he wasn’t hurting me … physically that, is. I couldn’t have cared less about the empty threats he decided to throw at me. Words were meaningless.

“But not before I’ve felt you … from the inside out,” he whispered. He leaned into me and his rotten breath nearly made me sick. “And now look, I’m about to get what I want. That makes me wonder if you’re gonna get what you deserve too.”

“What? Being fed to the pigs?” I asked with a facetious laugh. He didn’t respond. Instead, he pulled away from me until we were both looking one another in the face. I held his harsh gaze and forced myself not to release it. Despite my gratitude for the numbness that allowed me to make it through the anguish of what was happening to me, I was also grateful to know I still harbored rage and anger.

“If you think you’re gonna fight me,” Jack started with a snicker, “go ahead. You know how much I like a good fight.”

I could see as much in his eyes. In fact, I wasn’t sure if the prospect of having sex with me or beating me up excited him more. They were probably tied.

“So, tell me, Jack,” I started, fury continuing to billow inside me. I was fully cognizant that fighting him would have been pointless because I couldn’t rely on my magic. He was much stronger and more physically capable than I was, but I also couldn’t talk myself down. I knew if I tried to fight him off, he would just end up hurting me worse than he already intended, yet I couldn’t allow myself to give in. “Why did Luce send Adam here before you?” I continued. “Maybe he thought a kid could get the job done better than you could?”

Jack laughed, but it was completely devoid of humor. It was a cold, eerie sound. Before I had any chance to respond, he pulled his arm back and launched his fist right into my stomach. I immediately doubled over, the pain almost indescribable. But Jack didn’t back off. Instead, he pushed me against the wall and wrapped his hand around my throat. After getting the wind completely knocked out of me, I couldn’t catch my breath for a few seconds. The pain of the sucker punch ricocheted through my entire body.

“You got anything else to say?” he asked with a revolting smile.

He gripped my face and clamped his hideous lips on mine. His kiss was rough and he forced his tongue inside my mouth while I shook my head back and forth, trying to get away from him—mostly just so I could breathe again. Suddenly, one of his hands crept beneath my shirt, pawing at my right breast while the other one slid between my legs, and thankfully stayed on the outside of my pants.

Rearing back, I managed to separate my mouth from his although I could feel the slimy snail trail of his kiss all over my lips and even my cheeks. I tried not to consider the disgust that nearly overcame me and instead just reminded myself to inhale and exhale. I was starting to feel light-headed from his unprovoked attack. When I finally could breathe again, I looked Jack right in the eyes. He smiled at me and made a big show of squeezing my breast, while his other hand continued to palm my mound over my pants.

I ignored the molestation of my body. Instead, my attention was riveted on Jack’s eyes and the hollowness I glimpsed inside them. I didn’t know or understand what happened to me then, but it felt like a flame suddenly ignited from deep within my body. I felt a current of heat start burning through my core, spreading to my arms and legs, driving its fiery anger all the way to my fingers and my toes. Jack smirked down at me and released both of his hands so he could battle with the drawstring ties on the waistband of my pants.

Silently, my internal fires continued to burn. I wasn’t sure what triggered them to double in their intensity—whether it was the scratching of Jack’s calloused fingers between my already-sore thighs, or the stupid grin that never left his face. But something happened to me. Something that had never happened to me before. It was almost as if someone sprayed lighter fluid on the fire that was already burning inside me. The resulting flames of rage consumed me. The heat became overbearing, so much so that I could feel beads of perspiration breaking out along my forehead and the small of my back. When I glanced down at the skin on my arms, I noticed it, too, was bright red. The heat radiating off me was so sudden and so intense that Jack even paused in his attack to look at me, dumbfounded.

But it was too late. Flames of orange, yellow and red danced before my eyes in a vibrant display. The fire continued to build, fueling itself with the memories of everything I’d had to endure over the last few weeks. When I pictured Gus and Will and the countless others using my worn-out body, the flames grew even higher, stronger, hotter, and more out of control.

“Shit!” Jack yelled. Jumping back from me, he glanced down at his hands in shock. “You just … burned me!”

But I couldn’t say I was paying attention. Instead, my body suddenly ignited into flames, the incendiary anger burning from the inside out. I lifted my hand and looked down at it, only to find my skin bright red as fire danced along it. Even though I knew I was being consumed by the flames, it didn’t feel like I was burning. I experienced no pain. The blistering fire felt like nothing more than thousands of ants marching across my skin.

I reached forward and gripped Jack around the wrist when he started heading for the front door. As soon as I touched him, his sleeve combusted into flames.

I wasn’t sure why, but I immediately released him. As soon as I did, he ran for the kitchen and threw the faucet on, slamming his arm underneath it in order to put the flames out. Once his shirt sleeve was no longer on fire, he looked back at me in horror and rage. “You’re no Elemental!” he exclaimed with alarm. “That’s black magic! You’re a fuckin’ witch!” he yelled before throwing the door open and slamming it behind him.

As soon as he disappeared, I felt the angry conflagration inside me suddenly cease. I glanced down at my arms and my hands. Although I could still see the flames, they were much smaller now than they had been. And strangely enough, they weren’t orange or red any longer. They were blue.

As the flames continued to die down, I became light-headed. I had to lean against the wall before I could make my way to the couch. Moments later, the dizziness completely claimed me, and all I could see was the inside of my eyelids.

***

“Bryn, wake up,” a voice whispered.

I thought it was Betta. I cracked one of my eyes open and realized it was still dark inside my prison accommodations, so I figured I was just dreaming. I was folded up in a fetal position on the couch, which now served as my bed ever since I’d locked myself out of the bedroom. Not that I would have slept on that bed again. In my mind, it signified the beginning of the end …