EVREN: Enter the Dragonette (27 page)

“Lucian.”

“Deli?”

“Look,”
I urged and shared what I saw with him.

There was one moment of silence before Lucian sighed. 
“What have you gotten yourself into?”

“This is my fault?”

“Do you know where you are?”

“No.  I think I was drugged.  I can’t remember getting here.”

I gauged my location based on my hunger pangs. 
“But I’m pretty sure we’re still in New York.  How did they know where to find me, Lucian?”

“Our enemy’s cleverer than I believed him to be.  I’ve underestimated him.  I’m sorry, Deli.  I won’t make the same mistake—”

“It’s not your fault.  We really have to talk about this guilt and inferiority complex of yours one day.  But right now I want to know how they could have possibly known I’d be in Central Park.”

“I think they had all your favorite places guarded.  They knew if you came back to New York, you were sure to visit places dear to you.”

Drat.  I wanted to kick myself for falling for their trap.

“You’re not to blame.  I’m the one—”

“Who has a million things to worry about while I have only myself to take care of and I still failed.”

“If it’s any consolation, I still love you.” 
Although Lucian’s voice was light, it was also underlined by sincerity, something I tried my best to ignore.  Things were
not
going to be okay just because he was telling me stupid stuff.

“No, it’s not,”
I told him even as my face heated and I became warm all over.  I hoped he didn’t see how his words affected me.

“Actually, Deli, our minds are still connected—”

I dropped my head, closed my eyes, and tried not to groan in embarrassment.

“Our little prisoner is awake, I see.”

“Company,”
I told him as my stomach churned in fear.

“Deli.” 
Lucian’s anxious growl was so loud it took all my power not to wince.  “
What’s happening?”

Knowing Lucian would see whatever I saw, I slowly lifted my head, then gagged right after when I beheld the monster before me.

Lucian cursed in my mind.  “
I know him.  He’s one of the top officials of the Zekans.  Stay calm and don’t provoke him.  I’m on my way.  I’ve an idea.”

“No, don’t come—” 
A violent slap to my cheek cut off my thoughts, and my head snapped to the side.  The left side of my face immediately stung, but I was grateful for the chance not to look at him.

He was of average height and slightly balding.  He, too, wore the black uniform as all the other Zekans in the place, but there was more bling pinned to his shoulder patch, prompting me to wonder how many people he had killed to earn those medals.  Physically, there was nothing grotesque about him.  Sure, his eyes were bigger than most, almost bulging out of their sockets, but other than that, he would have only been remarkably unattractive and nothing else.

What sickened me was the total absence of humanity in him.  The foul smell emanating from him perfectly defined his character.  It reminded me of rotten carcasses.  I remembered the Zekan who had attacked me and knew I had been silly.  That one would have been an angel compared to the creature before me.

He grinned, showing bloodstained teeth, and I gagged again as bile rose to my throat.  He yanked my head back by the hair, forcing me to stare directly at the bottomless well of evil in his eyes.  I tried to breathe through my mouth.  One whiff of him when we were this close would have my puke all over us both.

His tongue shot out.  I should have been prepared for that—it seemed the all-time favorite trick of Zekans—but I still cringed at the slimy slap of his tongue against my cheek.  He licked the side of my face, starting just below my eyelid until his tongue touched my chin.

“Who turned you,
Delilah
?”

I closed my eyes tightly, holding back the scream of disgust threatening to burst from my throat.  His tongue folded back with a slight swishing sound, and he began sniffing all over my face.

“Nothing smells as good as Evren once you’ve tasted it.”  He twisted my hair painfully, pulling my head back once more as he commanded, “Look at me!”

A smile broke out on his face, when my eyes snapped open, serving to make him look more grotesque.  “That’s better.  Now, where were we?”  He let go of my hair and tapped his chin thoughtfully.  After a few seconds, he exclaimed, “Ah.”

He took a lock of my hair between his fingers.  “So, smooth,” he murmured.  “But useless.  I’d rather have you all bald.  It makes the preparation easier.  Your flesh fetches a high price in our markets.  Do you know that?”

“No.”  I was proud of the steadiness of my voice.

“You know now.”  He laughed a little, sounding secretive, and I had a bad feeling he was psychotic, close to being insane.

Fear should have been coursing through me now.  Tears should have been leaking past my lashes but strangely enough, I didn’t feel like crying.  If anything, I was in the mood for…cutting off snake heads?  Crushing the brains out of them with my stiletto?  Deep-frying them and chopping them into pieces?

“But your blood.”  He sighed, his eyes closing dreamily, and he patted his lean stomach.  I guess his human diet wasn’t particularly fattening.

“It’s better than the oldest vintage wine, sweet nectar, or ice cold beer.”  He kicked the legs of my chair and I screamed, feeling myself falling.

But he was suddenly there, holding the back of my chair just a few inches off the ground.  If he had been a second late, I would have crashed to the floor, my head cracking against the back of the chair.

His maniacal laughter made the hair on my skin stand up.  “Did I scare you, little Evren?”

I stayed silent, hoping he’d just leave me alone.

“I’m not allowed to kill you.  Our prince has taken a liking to your sister.  He’d like to use you as, shall we say, a means of persuasion.”

He sounded so…
sane. 
Smart and professional, like a lawyer or a college professor.  Were eloquence and articulateness taught in Murder 101?

“But he didn’t tell me I couldn’t play with you.  What do you think?”

I made myself look at him, searching for a clue as to how he preferred to play this through.  I was tired of talking to him.  I just wanted to give him whatever he wanted so he would leave me alone.

Was he a bully, preferring me to fight so he could have the satisfaction of beating me into submission?  Or was he the practical sort, preferring cowering victims because they presented less trouble?

Bully,
I decided.

So, I took a deep breath and snapped, “No.  Someone like you can’t scare me.”  For good measure, I added, “And I think you’re the ugliest—”

“Deli.” 
Lucian snapped in my mind just as my captor threw me across the room.  I felt my head smash against the frozen wall. 
I think I overdid it
was my last thought just before pain exploded in my skull.

Lucian was muttering something like
“you little idiot”
but I wasn’t sure.  Ugly Zekan there was still roaring obscenities at me, then I lost consciousness.

~~~

I woke up aching all over.

It took me much longer this time to open my eyes.  If they were planning to take my life by having me freeze to death, I could only be thankful they didn’t want me to suffer.

My vision cleared and this time, my bound feet were dangling in the air and my arms, also tied, were stretched above my head.  I was hanging from a huge, rusty hook attached to the ceiling.

On second thought, maybe I’m not so thankful.

I guess I angered my captor too much.

“Lucian?”

“I know where you are already.  Stay calm and don’t dare bait Aurelius again—”

“You really know him then?”

“Let’s just say we know each other from way back.  Now, listen.  I want you to conserve your energy.  Dyvian and I are close—”

I jerked against my bond, realizing belatedly what his words signified. 
“You can’t come here!  It’s too dangerous if there’s only the two of you.”

“I have a plan—”

“It’s not going to work.”

“Do you trust me that little?”

I love you that much—
I bit back the words, smart and wary enough not to share them with him. 
“I have my own plan,”
I lied.
 “So, you don’t need to come here.”

“Really now?  Good.  Tell me what it is.”

“Well—”

“I rest my case.”

“You just can’t come here.  I forbid you and Dyvian to come here.”

“Deli—”

“No.” 
I gazed at the icy reflection before me and everything about it promised their deaths.  Lucian and Dyvian were more powerful than most Evren, more experienced in battling Zekans, but there were just the two of them.  How could they ever survive against a regiment of armed and poisonous half-snakes in a freaking ice factory?

“Please tell me you’re at least using some modern gadgets, electronic whatchamacallits to even the odds.”

“Nope, sorry.” 
Lucian actually sounded cheerful.

I wanted to strangle him.
 “Be serious.”

“I am serious.  I’m going to save the girl I love.”

“Lucian,”
I wailed.

“Don’t burst into tears.”

“Then don’t tell me you love me.”

Lucian was silent. 
“Can you tell me something?”

I didn’t say anything, not sure if I wanted to hear his question.

But he asked anyway,
“You used to want me to say I love you all the time.  But now you hate hearing it.  Can you tell me why?  Is it because you hate me?  You can’t forgive me?  Do you love someone else?  Does it make you feel awkward?”

I knew how much it had cost him to ask.  The door to his mind was also open, and his feelings shone through.  He loved me.  He really did love me.

But I could never be sure, could I?

He could still be hiding some of his thoughts, thoughts that might let me know he just
believed
he loved me or that his love was born from guilt.  And there was always a chance his feelings would change.  Even if I loathed Angelica with all my heart, I couldn’t deny she suited Lucian better as a girlfriend.

“Was my question so hard to answer?”

My eyes drooped closed.  Too much thinking had zapped most of my strength.  But I had one last thing to do before losing consciousness.

“I don’t think I love you anymore,”
I lied. 
“I don’t want to see you again, so much that I’d rather stay here than be saved by you.” 
It wasn’t much, but it was the only thing I could think of to prevent him from his suicidal mission.

I’m sorry, Lucian, but I’m selfish and weak.  I’d rather die than see you die.

Chapter Seventeen

When I was human, silly, and oh-so-killable, no one had attempted to murder me until that fateful day my parents had been taken away from me.  But now that I was Evren, supposedly immortal, and not-so-silly, everyone seemed to be after my blood.  Could an early grave be the price I had to pay for getting rid—mostly—of my silliness?  It made me wonder how I’d die.  A knife in the back?  A poisonous bite on the neck?  A gunshot to the head?  But of all my worst imaginings, none of them included giving up my life for the guy I loved.

“Wake up,” someone whispered in my ear.  “Wake up, Deli.”

I did my best to ignore it and sink deeper into sleep.

“Wake up,” it insisted and shook me a little.

“I don’t want—” I started to mumble in protest but the rest of my words were cut off as someone pressed a hand to my mouth.

My brain cells reluctantly began to work.  The first thing I focused on was waking up.  It took long minutes to shake myself from the warm, clinging arms of sleep.  My mind was fuzzy, my body heavy, and my heart exhausted, beating at an absurdly slow rate, making every breath I took a challenge.

“Wake up, Deli,” the voice said again.

I recognized it this time. 
Lucian. 
And the memories flooded back.  I was still tied up, hanging in the air from a stupid hook.  If I had still been human, my arms would have been torn out of their sockets by now.  But I wasn’t and, by some miracle, Lucian was also here next to me.

“What are you doing here?  Didn’t I tell you I never wanted to see you again?”

“And you won’t,”
he assured me,
“just as soon as I get you out of here.”

I fell silent because I hadn’t expected him to answer like that.  Memory brought back his earlier words but even now, I still couldn’t make myself believe him.  I wasn’t even certain if I still loved him, if we still had a chance…  There were so many things to wonder about, but I told myself to stop.  Right now, I had to focus on both of us surviving this ordeal alive with every limb intact.