Initiation (25 page)

I gasped at the ominous peaks of the mountains, thinking that it was not a sight I’d ever wanted to experience from that angle. The eagle rammed into us from behind, her weight tipping me off Jagger’s back. I stopped breathing as I fell straight down to the cliffs below.

Jagger wore a look of terror when he grabbed for me and missed. He tried to dive down to rescue me, but the eagle flew at him again, its beak tearing a hole in his right wing. And he was falling right above me, flapping his intact wing.

I crashed into the mountain. After the impact, I went into a roll and must have slid and rolled for miles, or so it felt, until I came to a ledge. I desperately tried to hang on to the edge, but my hands slipped, and I fell once again.

The lights went out when I hit the ground.

M
y head felt as though it had been embedded with large kitchen knives, like the big chef knives Mom had in our kitchen at home. When I tried moving my hands and my feet, I couldn’t. I seemed to be tied down on some hard surface. My eyes were covered, and my mouth was gagged. I couldn’t move, see, or shout. Fuck.

But I could smell, and it sure didn’t smell like Mom’s kitchen. Far from it. The air was musky, heavy with rancid… shifter stink. Ugh. The last thing I remembered was falling down the mountainside. Was I dead? In shifter hell? Why?

I was so hungry. Why would I be hungry if I was dead? I wondered what had happened to Jagger. Was he with me? I couldn’t feel him at all. Nor could I smell him. I remembered him falling. He was just a faery, probably not resilient enough to have survived that fall. I felt sick. He couldn’t be dead. If he was, I had to be as well. Surely just one part of a synched couple couldn’t survive on its own. Wouldn’t my heart have stopped along with his?

I could feel mine beating away, though. I listened to it, feeling no signs of Jagger’s beat. I had transformed back into my human form. That wasn’t good. I needed to get back to my demon form and out of… wherever I was.

I transformed. Or tried to. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t change. That had never happened before. What was going on? Was I really dead? Then, I caught the faint aroma of turpentine…
 
hypericum, I guessed. And I tasted salt. Clever. Whoever had tied me down had made sure to disable me with the herbs. Hopefully, that also explained why I couldn’t feel Jagger. The herbs would have totally blocked most of my supernatural senses. That meant that, for all practical purposes, I was a human–completely useless.

My body ached from lying in the same position, and I tried to wriggle a bit, but that hurt even more. So I just lay in the darkness, tears soaking my blindfold. I tried going to sleep, but my head hurt too much. The only silver lining was that I was alive, with all my body parts intact.

I lay for hours, maybe days, just listening to myself breathe in the silence. Who had brought me there? I just couldn’t figure it out. And where was I, exactly?

When I first heard footsteps, I was relieved and excited to finally find out what the heck was going on. But I quickly tensed, getting ready for the worst. The smell of the eagle was unmistakable.

“Cordelia. Still with us?”

Having expected a girl, I was taken aback at the male voice. I guessed she hadn’t come alone. I couldn’t whiff anyone else. I managed a mumble through my gagged mouth.

“I did give you fair warning,” the voice admonished. “You should have left my friends alone. All you had to do was say that you didn’t see anything. You could have said you wanted to drop the case. But no…”

“Mmm, mm.”
Remove my gag, so I can talk
!

“Want me to remove the gag? Maybe I will for a moment. I probably need to re-salt it.”

He yanked out the gag, shocking my mouth into mind-numbing pain. I couldn’t move my lips; they seemed to be stuck in an open position. The inside of my mouth was completely dry, my tongue immobilized. How the hell was I supposed to talk? I needed something to drink. And eat.

“Gross. You look like a blow-up doll. Close your mouth.”

I couldn’t even muster a sound in response.

“Too dry? Well, I have to keep you salted, but here’s some water.” He dripped some into my mouth.

I felt my tongue getting moist enough to move a little, so I tried swirling it around. I needed more. I made a rasping sound from the very back of my throat.

“Last bit.” He dripped some more water. That was enough to moisten the walls of my mouth and my lips. I tried putting them together. It was flipping agony, but I managed.

“Good. I couldn’t stand looking at that ugly tongue anymore.”

“What’re you gonna do with me?” I whispered hoarsely.

“Don’t know yet. I’ll wait and decide after I spring Tad, Jeremy, Andrew, and Hank tonight, with help from your friends.”

“My friends?”

“Yeah. Quinn, Sienna, and Jewel were very cooperative once I told them I had you. They’re going to help me bust out Tad and the others.”

“Who are you?”

“The eagle, of course.”

Jewel had been right. It was a boy. How could I have been so wrong?

“Why did you attack me?”

“We were hoping for some fun, and you were it. It’s personal now, though. You should have left it alone and just been happy you were alive.”

“Where’s Jagger?”

“The faery?”

“Yes.”

“In faery heaven, I’d imagine.”

Could he really be gone? I’d never see him again, never feel him again. The thought made me shiver.

“All right. I have to go. I’m going to gag you again.”

“No! Wait. I won’t survive much longer if you don’t feed me.”

“Why would I care?” He paused. “Let me see if I can find anything.”

I heard him scrambling around, opening and shutting doors. Then he laughed, a long, evil snicker.

“Open your mouth.”

I hesitated. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be a piece of steak, that was for sure. But I needed something. Anything. It was a matter of life and death. So I opened my mouth, blanking my mind of all thought, hoping to swallow whatever in one gulp.

I choked when he dropped the creature in my mouth. I couldn’t tell what it was; I didn’t want to know. I crunched down on it once to kill it, gasping as the juice hit my tongue. I swallowed, tears streaming down my face.

The gag was roughly shoved back in my mouth. The salty water from it made me pass out.

“Cordelia, wake up!” Quinn’s warm breath brushed my ear.

Was it a dream? Was I hallucinating? I could even smell him.

“I’m going to remove your gag first.”

I squirmed with pain as he pulled out the gag. I almost cried with gratitude when I felt drops of beef broth hit my tongue. I swallowed, relishing the feel of it going down my throat. I drank and drank, until my stomach was full, then I closed my mouth. I felt my strength coming back immediately, but I couldn’t transform.

“Babe, I’m going to leave the blindfold on because your eyes will hurt if I take it off. I’ll let Dr. Marks deal with it. I’ll cut your restraints off now, and then carry you to the infirmary. Jagger, can I borrow your knife?”

Jagger? Was he there?

“Yep, here you go.” Jagger’s voice was strong and clear.

“Jagger?” I whispered. “You made it?”

“Yeah. Arm’s broken, but it’ll heal. I’m fine. I’ll tell you all about it later. Let’s get you outta here first.”

Quinn lifted me into his arms. It was sheer agony, and the smell of turpentine made me feel woozy. Quinn felt weird–all plastic, and when I bumped against his face, it was hard. It didn’t feel like Quinn at all, not even Quinn in his demon form. I tensed.

“What’s the matter, Cordelia? I’m being as gentle as I can, but it’s hard in this HazMat suit. I’d put you in one as well, but I’m afraid to break you. You’re all torn up, so I’m just going to get you out of here. Let’s go.”

“HazMat?”

“Yeah, the room’s covered in salt and St. John’s Wort.”

Just the thought of salt and St. John’s Wort made me lightheaded again. I lay back in his arms as he sprinted. He ran up and down staircases and around curved paths. I wanted to cry out in pain, but I swallowed the screams, hoping it would be over soon.

When Quinn finally came to a stop, he put me down on a bed.

“Cordelia. Back again?” Dr. Marks placed something over my nose, and I took a deep breath.

Nice clean-smelling air. I breathed in and out, again and again, until my headache lifted. And then I was fed that wonderful, warm beefy broth.

“Cordelia, I need you to try to transform now. You’ll heal quicker.”

Before he even finished his sentence, I transformed. The fresh air and broth had completely cleaned my system. But Dr. Marks must have put something in the broth because I instantly became very sleepy, feeling myself float out of my body.

When I awoke, I felt totally energized, as if I’d been fed while I slept. I opened my eyes and stared right at Jagger, who was asleep in the chair next to my bed. I thought about letting him sleep, but no one else was there, and I was pumped and needing answers.

“Hey, Jagger! Wake up!”

“Mmmhmph.” He opened his eyes and peered at me sleepily. “How are you doing, demon girl?”

“Good. What about you? Why is your arm in a cast?”

“My wing was torn pretty bad, which translated into a broken arm. Dr. Marks says it’ll take a few more days to heal.”

“Can’t he just give you some vamp blood?”

“Yeah, but I’d prefer not to have that in my system. I’ll take it if it’s not better by tomorrow.”

“Jagger, tell me what happened, and how did you find me?”

“It was actually Quinn who found you, and he helped Sienna and Jewel get me. I had my cell with me, and luckily it still worked after I hit the mountain. I managed to break my fall with my wings somewhat. I searched for you everywhere, but I couldn’t find you. You didn’t leave any tracks. Where did you go?”