When Silver Moons Rise (Lost Immortals Saga #2) (12 page)

He leans closer to me, and says, “You’re right. And you’re welcome.” These answers throw me. I lose my next thoughts. Seth breaks our gaze, moves his body down to the mattress, making sure to lie on his side, and closes his eyes.

“Aren’t you scared that I’ll kill you?” I ask, wanting to fill the deafening silence. He takes so long to answer that I think he’s already asleep.

“No. You need me for what you’re planning to do,” he says with his eyes closed.

“What? You have no idea where I’m going.”

“Course I do. You’re going to try and rescue my lost baby brother. Why else would you be stupid enough to leave your spoon-fed life behind?” He does open his eyes this time.

“In the morning, I head out. Without you.”

“You won’t last a day,” he says, smirking.

Damn him for being right.

“I can take care of myself. Thanks for saving me and then reminding me of why I hate you so much,” I say and head over to the opposite side of the room. I don’t have anything soft to sleep on. All I have is the cold, hard floor. I’m so angry, and my wrists ache so badly, that the thought of sleeping in filth doesn’t even bother me much.

“Our missions are similar. We need to travel together.”

“Never,” I blurt. “I hate you.”

“Yes, well, I don’t particularly care for the way you smell right now, either. Doesn’t change the fact that, like it or not, you will need me. We leave in the morning. No more questions. I need sleep.”

Curiosity tugs at me, and I’m annoyed because he assumes I’ll be traveling with him. I’m also curious as to whether he killed that Zeke guy or not.

Honestly, what other travel options do you have?

I don’t like that Seth knows where I’m headed. I’m still freaked out by the day’s events, and my body is tired. I fight sleep, because I don’t trust him. I almost feel like he followed me. But that’s crazy. Why would he do that? What happened to Teulah, the demon slayer girl that was traveling with him?

“What mission are you on?” I ask, hoping my voice doesn’t sound as desperate as I feel. Silence. “Listen, if we’re going to travel together, then I want some answers.” More silence. Moments pass, and I hear his breathing even out.

I position my bag on the grimy floor and lay my head down on it. Outside the run-down building, the strange world inside the Dim Cities moves on toward another day. Screams sound out every time I drift off to sleep. Gangs patrol the streets and terrorize innocent citizens. I glance toward the window, suddenly feeling a pang of loss for the comfort of my home like I’ve never felt before.

Chapter Thirteen

The Eclipse (Faris)

“Tell me. Who is the demon slayer leader and where is he hiding out?” Olivia asks in a deceptively sweet voice. She moves closer to my body, grasps my chin, and begins stroking my face.

I’ve been her prisoner for almost three months. The constant cycle of torture, relief, revival, and then more pain wears me down. The massive loss of blood has drained my energy. I can’t believe I once considered marrying this person.

“He’s tough, but not unbreakable, Mistress,” Tank informs her. I hate his voice. When I break free, I’m going to make sure I never have to hear it again.

“True. But he’s valuable to me. He’s not to be touched unless I give the word,” Olivia says to him. “He can lead us to the Caducean safe house. If I catch one handsomely dark piece of hair out of place, then I’ll nail your ass to the wall. Got it?”

“Yes, Mistress Warren,” Tank mutters. Olivia glances at me one last time and then walks out of my cell.

I somehow manage to survive Olivia’s creatively excruciating torture. She can mutilate my body, and drain every drop of my blood. But she’ll never be able to control my mind or my heart. Drifting in and out of consciousness, I once again choose to think of Chela and memories of the time I had with my family to give me strength.

My head throbs, and my body aches. Spasms and shivers shoot up and down my spine. I want to slam my fists against my temples, but the metal rings hold my hands in place. I don’t know how long I can keep it in. The cursed anomaly, the thing inside my body, wants to come out, but the galena metal holding on to my wrists keeps it in.
Think of Chela’s smile.
I try to mentally block out the screams coming from prisoners locked up in other areas outside of this room. No luck.

Chela’s lips are so perfect, tiny but full.

Buried images of my father falling into a bottomless pit flash across my mind, screwing up my visions of the girl I love. I force the images out of my head, and try to return to Chela’s. Somehow, I still feel her lips that were so soft and eager, on mine. She visited me in a dream a few nights ago and promised to come find me. Olivia will rip her to shreds. But then, Chela is the girl of fire and light, an ancestor of the Royal Order of the Seraphim.

Chela.
Even thinking about her name calms the Beast trying to claw its way out of me. This is my family’s curse, part of a blood vengeance created by someone who is loyal to Bernael—Rabia, the only other girl who has the same powers as Chela. What will happen when the two of them face each other again?

Chela took my pain into her body. I felt our connection the day it happened. I’ll make Olivia pay for putting her through that. She also made wind in the Borderlands, the place between this world and mine, for the first time in centuries, and somehow channeled the element through her body, even though Chela denied what she did.

In the end, the land almost claimed the girl controlling its winds. I’m responsible for Chela’s pain, most of her troubles, Asa’s disappearance. I regret my weakness. I was once the son of a great man. Now, I’m a ghost of the person I used to be, the light in my soul eclipsed by darkness. If my sister were here, then she’d tell me what to do.

“Asa, where are you?” I try to connect our minds.

Nothing. I experience an empty void just like this cursed life, a failure. My existence is wretched. Chela deserves better than what I offer.

Memories of loss flood my mind with soul-breaking images—me as a small boy being led around by Asa, sounds of my mother’s laughter, my Caducean initiation ceremony, blood from the sacrificial boar laying dead at my feet.

I made my choice to fight in the war against the Tainteds. I chose the side that believes in life and freedom, and I joined the Caduceans to save my people. But that cursed Bernael still managed to destroy the world I love, and quickly moved on to the human world next. But the people in this world outsmarted his Tainted soldiers, defeating the Angel of Chaos and putting him to shame. Now, he’s found a new weapon, a girl of the Royal Seraphim ancestry. Rabia.

The Tainted have their weapon, and in Chela, both the humans and Caduceans have ours. Together, we can make sure the Tainted never rise again.

Pain slices through my gut. I inhale and hold my breath, hoping to make it stop. No luck. Little fingers, no miniature claws, work their way up my stomach and spine. I hear a growl and realize the sound comes from my own mouth.

“Save your strength for when I come back to rescue you,” Chela said in the dream we shared.

I hold on to that thought. I have to. It’s the only stolen part of her I have at the moment, the only way I’m going to survive this without losing my mind. I gasp through the waves of pain, while I imagine Chela’s lips pressed gently against mine.

Chapter Fourteen

Broken Wings (Chela)

The next morning, I wake up and glance over at Seth’s mattress. It’s empty. Mabry’s rope lies on the floor beside it. I jump to my feet. Every nerve in my body tingles.

“Where is he?” I whisper furiously.

“Behind you,” a smooth voice says in my ear.

Seth stands less than an inch from me. He faked his helplessness last night, and I fell for it like an idiot. I ease my hand down to where I keep Mother’s sword attached to my side and prepare to strike first. Seth makes his move before I can even finish the thought, let alone remove the blade.

Wrapping his hands around my throat, he squeezes. “It would be so easy for me to end this now,” he hisses in my ear. I move my hands up to his and pull. My feeble attempt to free myself turns out to be useless. I try scratching him. I’m weak, and that pitiful gesture only earns me a grumble as his grip tightens. “Know this. If I wanted to kill you, I could easily do so at any time. But I haven’t. Do you understand me?”

I make a choking scowl in response to his question.

Sure, I understand. But I refuse to play the fool again. Time to make him pay for the things he’s done. I think of Faris getting tortured in prison. I recall the way Micah almost withered away as he lay in a coma. And I’ll never forget watching my friend Muriel turn gray as he sucked the life out of her. Closing my eyes, I envision my wings. At once, a gust rushes through the room. Even though I’m choking, I still make a little happy movement inside my body.

“Ah, you want to play like a badass seraph girl, huh?” he says and eases up on his grip. I don’t care that he’s about to let me go. Anger burns inside my body. I need to release it on something. Seth makes the perfect target.

“That’s exactly right,” I gasp out and will my imaginary wings to push us backward. We hurl across the room. This time, Seth’s body crashes into the wall behind us. His hands fall away from my neck, and he slumps to the floor. I whirl around, pull out my blade, and aim the tip at his heart. He starts laughing.

“I cannot believe you actually find anything funny, right now,” I say between coughs. “You’re crazy.”

“Not insane, Lotus. Bleeding to death, maybe. But I’m fully in control of my mind’s processes. I promise.” Seth grunts as he tries to lift his body. He’s hurt more than I realized. “Would you put the blade away? I’m not going to kill you. I could easily have done so by now.”

I lower my sword, but only by a few inches. I don’t trust him, even though he makes a good point.

“I need your help,” he says as though he wasn’t just choking me a few moments ago.

“Really? Why would I want to help you?” I snap.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because I kept your ass from getting gang-raped by a group of sex-starved men pumped up on angel-blood. You tell me.”

Seth needing me to help him gives this situation a twisted, ironic kind of touch. This also makes me think of the girl he used to betray the demon slayers. The trail of girls he has tossed aside like rag dolls would put any man to shame. I vow to keep my distance, the physical and emotional.

“Where’s Teulah? Remember her? The girl you convinced to betray Faris and Nina. I’m sure you have her tucked away somewhere around here. She can help you. You don’t need me.”

“Dead,” Seth says, his face and tone bland. “Feel better?”

“Hearing about someone else’s pain never makes me happy. What happened?” I lower my blade some more. Seth’s face is deathly pale, now. I don’t think he’ll be trying to choke me again anytime soon. Still, I won’t take any more chances the way I did this morning.

“My brother happened. Your lovey little Faris took my ability to fly, remember? Makes it kind of hard to protect yourself from an army of drug-crazed rebels determined to bleed you dry.” He glares at me with an angry face.

“Let me guess. You protected yourself, and not Teulah. You let them take her, right?”

He makes a grumbling noise, and says, “Will you help me, or not?” Seth still hasn’t told me how he found me, or given me an explanation of this secret mission.

“Yeah, I’ll do it. Just so you can see not everybody is full of hate like you. But, I need something too.”

“Everyone does. What do you want?” he asks, scowling.

“It’s not much really. First, I want to know about your secret mission.” I cross my arms and wait for him to clear the disgusted look from his face.

“My mission is simple. To find the person responsible for doing what I need you to help me with here in a minute,” he says, smirking.

I’m not satisfied with his slippery answer. “What?”

He scoffs. “I wonder about you, Chela. I’m looking for someone who is in the prison.”

“Another prisoner?” I ask, wondering if he really means to say this is about Faris.

“Maybe. Be satisfied in knowing it’s not about my baby brother. Now, I need some help here.”

I move on while I still have his attention. “How did you find me?” The tension in the air as I wait for his answer almost suffocates me. I know I’m going to regret asking this.

“You really want to know?” He raises his left eyebrow. Now, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to hear it.

“Yes,” I whisper.

“Our bond.” His grin widens. “Remember the one we created before you blinded me back in Oceania?”

Shaking my head, I reply, “No, you’re lying. I broke that connection. I—”

He chuckles, a demon’s sound, one that knows it has me at a loss for words. “Don’t be looking for answers to questions you can’t handle. Now, time for your part of the bargain.” He shuffles to his feet and strolls over to the mattress.

Moving takes a lot of effort for him. He didn’t seem to be affected like this last night. Plopping down on the floor, he removes his jacket, grunting as he does so. “I need you to take care of this for me,” he says and turns his back to me.

I gasp at the sight. Two lumps of dark leathery skin protrude out the back of his tee-shirt. The hump on the right side even has a large chunk of wing hanging from the nub. It’s like somebody has torn the wings off and left the jagged evidence. I cover my mouth and hold down the nausea rising in me. Being someone who also has a set of fickle wings, I can only imagine how painful this must be for him.

“I need for you to remove the other wing. It won’t go back in, so it has to be cut off. Think of this as your chance to pleasure yourself with my pain.” His gaze bears into me.

“Only Tainteds, like you, have fun hurting other people,” I mutter, my fury slowly turning to horror at what he’s asking me to do. Since I’m not a monster like Seth, I actually feel a small stab of sympathy.