Darkening Chaos: Book Three of The Destroyer Trilogy (25 page)

Wiping
blood off his face along the way, Braden makes it back to his feet. My heart
lurches, checking every movement for serious damage. He shakes off any
lingering disorientation and faces Milo. “I have no intention of getting in
your way or forcing my presence on you. I’m here to help Libby bring down the
Guardians, and that’s what I intend to do.”

“I
don’t want your help,” Milo snaps.

“But
she does.”

Milo
shifts, the movement belying his desire to take another swing. If he goes after
him again, Lance won’t be able to hold me back. I don’t know how Braden
withstood the first hint, but I have no intention of watching him cave under a
second. Thankfully, Milo reins in his fury, for the most part.

He
glares at Braden, no hint of wavering in his voice when he speaks. “I can’t
force you to leave, but if you do anything to jeopardize our chances of bringing
an end to the Guardians, nothing Libby can do will stop me from coming after
you.”

It’s
not an empty threat, and Braden knows that, but he nods in understanding. That
simple gesture seems to drain the room of its sizzling tension. Mistrust, anger,
and awkwardness remain, but the cooling is enough to reset the temperature of
the meeting. They both approach the table. Each goes to an opposite side, but
their agreement holds. The discussion resumes, haltingly at first, but the
beginning of a plan to kidnap the most dangerous Guardian in town slowly starts
to form on the back of a crack in my army that has the potential to split wide
and engulf us completely.

Tighter
than ever, I hold onto the secret of the Socius, knowing that everything could
shatter if it ever slips free.

Chapter
20

An Empty Place

“Is Daniel any closer to
being able to completely conceal himself yet?” I ask Lance as we pull up to the
training house.

It’s
been ages since we learned where Drake is hiding. Lance wasn’t joking when he said
it wasn’t going to be easy getting to him. Almost two months later, and we’re
still not ready to go after him. Everyone is on edge about the time it’s taking
us, but Milo can think of little else. I’m not the only one worried about his
growing obsession anymore.

The
hacienda Drake is staying at hasn’t even been the problem as much as getting
everyone trained enough to be able to pull off what we need them to do. Week
after week, we’ve planned, trained, and argued about everything from tactics to
who will be on the abduction team. All of that is moot unless we can get more
than me, and maybe Milo and Lance capable of putting their talents into full
offensive use.

“Not
as of yesterday,” Lance says. “He’s supposed to be working with Hammond today.”

“That’s
good. If Hammond can’t teach him, nobody will be able to. It’s ridiculous how
quickly he’s taken to Concealment. He doesn’t have the power I do, but he can
do as much with it as I can.”

“And
that’s some high praise given that you grew up with your mom and grandpa, who
are scary, top level Concealers.” Lance has had the misfortune of experiencing
both of their power just like I have. It wasn’t pleasant.

Lance
reaches over and taps my leg out of habit, a sign that he’s ready to get
moving. I wince and swat his hand away. “Please don’t do that.”

“Oh,
shoot. Sorry, I forgot.” He shrugs apologetically and gets out without touching
me again.

He
wouldn’t have forgotten if he could see the other side of my face. I don’t push
my dark hair behind my ear like I often do. I need the camouflage. Stiff
muscles make me move a little slower than normal as I get out of the car. Lance
is waiting for me, lonely without Hope, who’s out of town helping her parents
pack up the last of their stuff to bring it down here and make their move
official. I reach him, limping only slightly, and knock his hand away when he
tries to help me. He tries to grab my elbow again, but the sound of feet
bounding down the front stairs stops him.

I
look up too quickly, making my hair fall back, and instantly regret the
movement. Braden’s eyes bulge. He stumbles down the last few steps, still
managing to stay on his feet, amazingly enough.

“What
happened?” he demands. He rushes to my side and brushes my hair back to inspect
the hideous purple bruise covering the lower half of my face.

“It’s
nothing,” I say quickly. “I’ll be fine.”

“This
is not nothing! Who did this?” Braden demands.

Maybe
lying has just become second nature to me, given the constant battle to
investigate reversing Braden’s Serqet without Milo finding out, but when Lance
opens his mouth I beg him to shut it again. He doesn’t. “Blackwood pulled her
out of class today.”

I
brace myself for a shock of anger, but it doesn’t come. Instead, fear and
concern douse me. Braden’s fingers gently probe my skin, his lips kissing my
forehead once he’s sure the damage isn’t too bad. Knowing Milo didn’t do this
makes his response much softer. Braden’s only other chance to respond to me
being injured has involved Milo, so I expected something different. With
Braden, my wellbeing is his first concern. A few times, that has almost led to
fights between him and Milo. For the sake of me not getting injured and Braden
not getting dead, Lance refuses to schedule anymore training session between me
and Milo because of his habit of taking out his anger and frustration on me … and
enjoying it. Braden’s anger and desire to pay back his former boss will come
later, I’m sure, but not yet.

“I
was afraid something like this would happen. I wondered why he hadn’t pulled
you out already. I thought he was planning something,” Braden says. “What
happened? What did he do?”

His
concern makes me smile. I love it. “Calm down, Braden, it wasn’t anything like
you’re thinking. Blackwood didn’t plan anything. I don’t think he’s smart
enough for that.”

“Why
has it taken him so long to grab you, then?”

“Principal
Andrews,” Lance says. “Blackwood was the one who told her to expel Libby, and
after the board reversed her decision she’s taken a lot of flak for it. Word
has been getting around about what Libby told everyone at the hearing, thanks
to Jen. Not to mention the effect of having all the Ciphers get in contact with
their non-Cipher friends and telling them the truth has had. Most people are
scared of Guardians as it is, and Libby’s testimony didn’t help that. Plus,
Andrews would prefer to keep her job. She’s been fighting Blackwood for the
right to pull Libby out since she came back. She refused to let him take her
off campus.”

Braden
just stares at Lance after that spiel. “How do you know all of that?”

“Jen’s
still good for something,” Lance laughs.

Braden
doesn’t laugh. He recognizes the name and frowns. “Jen. The one who took the
pictures?”

I
nod. “She used to be my best friend, remember? She’s a grade younger than me,
and she’s a Concealer. My mom has been grooming her since her Inquest. Taking
pictures isn’t the only thing she knows how to do. She keeps following me
around at school, which is getting really annoying,” I say.

“She’s
your ex-best friend,” Braden says, “so why would she be telling you stuff like
this, and how does Jen even know?”

Lance
looks over at me and shakes his head. “I know we’re not the only two people in
the world who read the school blog. Come one, Braden, you have to know how
valuable gossip is as an intelligence source. Jen is one of the school’s
reporters. She digs up anything and everything that happens at that school and
posts it on the school blog. She’s been ranting about it for weeks.”

“I
haven’t seen any of this in the intel reports,” Braden says with a frown.

“The
web address was in the list I gave you weeks ago. You were supposed to check
them all out.” Lance rolls his eyes when Braden admits he didn’t even look at
the blog, thinking it wasn’t important. “Keep an eye on it from now on. In
fact, Jen will probably have a full account of what happened with Blackwood
posted within the hour if she doesn’t already.”

“Wait,
what? Jen was there, too?” Braden asks.

Yeah,
that made the whole thing twice as fun. Although, I suppose her spreading what
really happened around to a few more people really can’t do anything but help
my case. If she tells the truth. For a second, I worry about what she’ll post.
My mom’s influence on her can’t be anything to be thrilled about, but I have to
hope she hasn’t changed that much. Jen is relentless when it comes to getting
the information she wants, but she’s also honest. She wants the truth even more
than the sensationalism.

“Jen
got released from class by using the excuse that she was covering our training
session for the school paper. She watched the whole thing from the bleachers,”
I say. My leg is starting to ache more from standing up, so I try not to limp
as I walk over to the hood of the car and sit down. I don’t do a good enough
job. Braden doesn’t miss the distinct hint that my face isn’t the only place
Blackwood got me and frowns deeply. The edge of anger I was expecting starts to
creep in.

“What
happened?” he asks.

I
shrug. “Blackwood wanted me to fight him, and I refused. If he wants to know
what else I can do, he’ll have to wait until we meet up off school property.”

“So,
he hit you because you wouldn’t spar with him?” Barden asks. “I wouldn’t think
Blackwood would do something so stupid. This could get him into a lot of
trouble. Especially since there was a witness.”

“Well,”
I say slowly, “it didn’t exactly happen like that. I may have baited him into
hitting me.” Braden scowls at me and waits for an explanation. “Don’t look at
me like that. I knew what I was doing. He’s so eager to get out of the doghouse
with Drake that riling him up a little was too easy. I told him I wouldn’t
fight him, that it would be too easy for me to kill him by accident. I laid it
on pretty thick. He’s really rather weak minded, to be honest. The first time
he hit me, I didn’t try to block him, but I made it look like I was going to
defend myself if he came at me again. He got in a few more hits before he
realized I was playing with him. That’s also when he remembered Jen was there.
He sent me back to class after that, and disappeared. I don’t think he’ll try
to pull me out again anytime soon. Maybe if we’re lucky, Drake will hear about
it.”

Braden’s
grimace doesn’t go away. It does take on a more sullen quality, though, as he
walks over to me and pulls me gently into his arms. “You let him hurt you just
to get rid of him and give Jen something to write about? Libby, you can’t risk
yourself like that. I don’t like seeing you hurt. Please tell me this won’t
happen again.”

“I
do what I have to, Braden.”

He
frowns and turns my face so he can see the bruise again. The lightest touch of
his fingers makes me wince. His lips press against my skin just above the
bruise and linger there, making the pain disappear and replacing it with a
different kind of ache. I catch sight of Lance from the corner of my eye as he
rolls his eyes and bails on us. Poor guy really misses Hope. But I’m not too
concerned about him right now. I turn my head and catch Braden’s lips, sliding
my hand through his hair and pulling him closer. His mouth moves down to my
neck, leaving a burning hot trail in its wake. Forget super-fast healing
abilities, this is all I need to feel brand new. Braden’s hands slide down my back,
to my hips, and then move slowly down the side of my thigh. His hands curve over
the top of my legs and start to make their delicious, enticing way back up, but
halfway there he finds my worst injury and I flinch away in pain.

Braden’s
hand darts back quickly “I’m sorry, Libby. You’re hurt there, too? Are you
okay?”

In
the face of his body-melting concern, the pain recedes rapidly. “I’m fine.”

“No
you’re not. Where else are you hurt?” he asks with a frown.

My
hands slide up his chest, making him close his eyes with pleasure, and making
me smile as well. “I am not showing you where else I’m hurt out here in the
driveway. I’ll check out the rest of my injuries after I work out. I plan on
taking a long, hot bath tonight.”

Braden
groans and pushes my hands away from him. When his eyes open, I can see the
smoldering desire my words have inspired. His voice is rough and low when he
speaks again.

“What
I think is a better idea, would be for you to skip training and go inside to get
some rest.”

I
pull my hands back up to his chest, and I kiss him long and slow. “Will you
come with me? You know I won’t get any rest without you there,” I say when I lean
back. His mouth follows mine and kisses me again.

“No,”
he says seriously, but wavers when I pull him back down to me.

I’m
prepared to argue this, but the sound of the door of the training house closing,
and jogging feet force me to hold my tongue. Hammond pops up next to us before
I finish sighing. Or before Braden can move away from me, for that matter.
Hammond stares at Braden standing between my knees as I sit on the car, his
hands still on my thighs, and mine on his chest. I have no doubt he can sense
every emotion running through us right now by the way his mouth splits into a
grin. I’ve warned him to keep a low level shield up against emotions
twenty-four-seven, but he doesn’t seem to mind the effect. I roll my eyes at
him, which he ignores.