Kindred of the Fallen (47 page)

She approached the film star. “Please, place your palm on mine.”

Drawing her face from her lover’s, the woman slapped Serenity’s hand, but held it.

An image ballooned in her mind: a winged dragon, tearing through a nettled husk, enveloped by lush petals. Brilliant streaks of teal, amaranth cerise, orange and pewter formed the dragon’s body.

She dropped the woman’s hand and went to the desk, pulling out her supplies.

Dougie waltzed back in with two drinks. “Scotch as requested.”

Perfect timing.
“Why don’t you show them the gallery of my artwork while I do the sketch? It’ll go faster.”

The couple rose, swigging their drinks, and followed Dougie out of the office.

In forty-five minutes, she had cranked out the sketch and filled in the colors. Not bad.

“Serenity!”

She jumped to her feet at the sound of the familiar voice. Evan?

“Serenity!”

Dougie rushed into the office. “Please get out here. The lawyer is making a scene in front of the clients. Your bodyguard wouldn’t let him through and when I told Evan you were getting hitched today, he lost it,” he said with a snicker.

“It’s not funny.”

“Actually, it really is. You were with that douche bag for how long? And now you’re marrying some guy you’ve only been banging for a month.”

She glared at Dougie on her way out the room.

“Hey,” he said, stopping her with a hand on her shoulder. “You were never meant to be with Evan. Even I know that. You’ve finally met the right guy, and I can’t blame you for not wasting any time. You deserve to be happy. Truly happy.”

She gave his hand a quick squeeze and hurried down the hall. Spero held Evan back with one hand. Clean-shaven, he wore a suit and looked sane, not like the deranged man he’d been on the estate, holding a gun.

“Let him go, Spero.”

Evan walked toward her with Spero right on his heels.

“I had to see you,” he said. “I’m so sorry about what happened that night. I had no idea what that crazy woman was going to do.”

She stepped into the office and packed up her things. “Why were you with them to begin with? You don’t know how dangerous those people are.”

“Artemis approached me when we broke up. Promised she could help me get you back, but she’s insane. I didn’t know she was going to kill anyone. You have to believe me.”

Spero stood in the doorway, gaze locked on Evan.

“I’m finally starting to piece my life back together since I washed my hands of those lunatics,” Evan said. “I needed to see you. When I called the shop to find out when your next appointment would be, Dougie said you were on your way here.”

He looked at Spero and ran his hand over his slicked back hair. A telltale he was nervous.

“Can I walk you out and maybe get a moment alone with you?”

She reminded herself that he was a rational person, a lawyer for goodness sake, and family she loved who had cared for her for sixteen years.

“Please. With everything that happened between us, I didn’t make partner. I could use someone to talk to. I hope we can still be friends,” he said with a pleading smile. “Just a few minutes alone. I don’t want to hold you up. We can talk as I walk you out. Please.”

“Sure, of course.”

They walked to the elevator.

She handed Dougie the sketch for the starlet and the documents giving him full ownership of the studio.

“I’m going to miss you,” he said, hugging her.

She kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry. I’ll call to check up on you.”

The elevator chimed and the doors opened. Dougie hurried off to the movie star.

“I hear you’re getting married,” Evan said. “I take it you’re happy.”

Averting her eyes from his face, she followed him into the elevator. “I am.”

She held out her hand to stop Spero from getting on. After sixteen years and breaking up with Evan in such a public way, she owed him a moment alone.

“Abbadon insisted that I stay glued to your side,” Spero said.

“Abbadon is paranoid. Evan is just going to see me down to the lobby, less than two minutes in the elevator. I’ll wait for you there with Micah.” She and Evan had both made mistakes, but she could give him two minutes to say good-bye in private.

The doors closed and the numbers on the elevator display slowly lowered from twenty.

“I’m glad you still want to be friends. I can’t imagine not having you in my life,” he said.

She smiled and hugged him. His body tensed so she let him go. Probably too soon for touching. Her gaze fell and she caught sight of his shoes.

When did he start wearing steel-toed boots?

The numbers dropped from thirteen to twelve, and Evan hit the button for the tenth floor.

“What’s on ten?” she asked.

His expression shifted into something bitter and hard she didn’t recognize. “I love you. I’ll always love you.”

An eerie feeling prickled her as the elevator chimed and the doors opened. She froze.

Stone, the heartless mercenary, closed in, holding a small, black box the size of a TV remote. He jammed it into her side and a painful jolt of electricity blasted her body.

A scream strangled in her throat. Her body convulsed violently as she fell…elevator buttons, lights, Evan. Everything faded white.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Cyrus’s heart pounded, punching at his chest as Carin drove down the block toward Serenity’s building. One moment he sensed her panic, the next nothing, like she was gone. No emotion, no vague undulations of her energy stream. Nothing at all.

They stopped at a red light.

“I’m going on foot. Meet me there,” he said, flinging the door open.

“What’s wrong?” Carin asked.

He shook his head. “I can’t feel her anymore like she’s… Call Abbadon and the others. Tell them to get here right away.”

He jumped out of the car and bolted down the street. Two men wearing white jumpsuits, sunglasses and painters’ hats came through a service door pushing a white cart toward a van.

Throwing the lobby door open, he collided into Spero. “Where is she?”

“She got in the elevator, but Micah said she never got off.”

Cyrus grabbed him by the collar. “What happened?”

“Evan showed up. Asked to speak to her. She demanded to ride alone with him in the elevator.”

“You left her alone with him?” He slammed Spero into a wall, cracking the tile. Raking his hands through his hair, he wheeled in a circle trying to think. Why couldn’t he feel her?

His chest contracted. Sweat broke over his skin. His mind spun.

The image of the painters pushing the cart flashed in his mind. One had a scar running down his cheek into a mustache.
Fake.

He ran outside and glanced around, searching for the van and the fucking mercs who had his mate. But there was no sign of them.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Serenity’s eyes fluttered open to darkness. Her head was fuzzy, her breathing labored. Something sticky covered her mouth that kept her lips from moving, like tape. A dark hood covered her head, obstructing her sight.

Her mouth was dry, face damp with sweat. Her hands and feet were bound. She was in something moving, a car or van. Voices cut through her groggy haze. Several male, one female.

“We promised you that we’d make her safe,” a woman said in a comforting tone.

“I know, but I don’t understand why this is necessary,” Evan said anxiously. “You didn’t say anything about this.”

“It wasn’t a part of my original plan, but this decision came straight from the top.”

“When will I get to meet Ravich?”

“Once you’ve proven yourself to be loyal.” The woman’s voice was gentle.

“This is more extreme than you led me to believe. I just want her back,” Evan said.

“We’ll give her back to you, but she’s still going to be brainwashed. She’s going to do everything in her power to get back to Cyrus and those denizens of evil. We have to make sure she doesn’t help him propagate. We can’t allow any more spawn of the devil to be brought into this world. Once we get your little kitten fixed, you can take her.”

Serenity listened, but didn’t move, pretending she was unconscious.

“I don’t know,” Evan said.

“I’m not asking you for permission. I’m informing you of the situation. A quick snip, snip, and then she’ll be all yours, or I could just put a bullet in her now. Unfortunately, killing her wasn’t a part of my orders. Ravich wants to handle things like this and allow her to live a long life, rather than dispatch her. But I’d be happy to make an adjustment if you’re going to make things difficult.”

“No, I won’t be difficult. I just don’t want her hurt.”

Silence.

“I think our kitten is awake,” the woman said in a soft voice. “Evan, I’ll let you stay with her until it’s time, but you have to promise to behave.”

“I won’t be a problem,” he reassured.

“We’re here, Artemis,” said a male voice somewhere in front of her.

The vehicle stopped and a door slid open. A cool breeze hit Serenity and she was grateful for it. Someone picked her up and carried her. She considered struggling, but realized how futile her efforts would be.

There were lots of footsteps and it sounded like they walked over broken glass. She heard a gate open and then a creaky door.

Water dripped somewhere as she was carried, and there was a cold draft.

“We’re almost finished setting up on the second floor. It wasn’t easy to create a sterile environment here. Put her in the back room upstairs until we’re done,” said a male voice.

“How long is this going to take? I told you, we don’t have much time,” Artemis said. She continued to speak to the man as someone carried Serenity away.

Another door squeaked open. They went up a long flight of stairs. After several more minutes, a couple of doors opened. Then someone put her on a cold, damp floor and the door closed.

“Are you okay?” Evan asked.

The dark hood, covering her head, was yanked off. She squinted as she opened her eyes. She was in the back corner of a large, dimly lit room with chipped paint, cracked walls and no windows. Wires dangled from a hole in the high ceiling and the floor was covered in grime.

“Do you want some water?” Evan asked in a low voice.

She nodded.

He removed the tape from her mouth slowly, then held a black canteen up to her lips. Her mouth was so dry it felt like it had been stuffed with cotton. She sucked down the water.

“What’s going on? What are you doing?” she asked in a hoarse voice.

“I’m trying to help you. Cyrus is a monster,” he whispered. “He’s brainwashed you. It’s what those things do. They prey on the innocent and convince them to breed. I had to save you.” He spoke so quickly his words ran together.

“Evan, you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I know exactly what I’m doing.” His eyes were wild and glinted with a ferocity she’d never seen in him. He even wore gloves like one of her assailants. “They know all about what kind of monster he is. I won’t let that thing have you.”

“You don’t know who you’re working with. Artemis is a liar. She’s one of us.”

“See, you said
us
. Artemis said you would. You’re not like those beasts. I had to save you before it was too late.”

She glanced at a plastic zip tie secured tightly around her wrists in front of her. “Please free my hands.”

He shook his head.

“Evan, it’s too tight. It hurts. I’m in a lot of pain. Please,” she pleaded.

He looked at her, deliberating.

“What are they going to do to me?”

“They want to give you a hysterectomy to make you infertile.”

Recoiling, she stared at him in horror. “You’d let them do that to me?”

“You never wanted children and it’s the only way to keep him from you, to protect you.”

She felt like she was falling into a dark abyss with nothing to grab on to, nothing to save her, nothing to cushion the impact when she hit the bottom. “Please, help me get out of here.” She tugged his shirt. “You can’t let them do this to me.”

“You’ll just go back to him. This is the only way. Artemis said he won’t take you back if he can’t reproduce with you. Then he’ll have to find somebody else to brainwash.” His voice was sharp with bitterness and pain.

“Get me out of here, and I’ll go with you somewhere, anywhere. Wherever you want to go and we’ll talk this through. Please.” Her chest heaved and she sucked in flutters of breath. “At least untie my feet.”

He probed her face with his eyes, then reached down and removed the tape wrapped around her ankles.

She groped for presence of mind. She wanted to use her gift, but her dim stream of energy sputtered, flowing through her like sludge, crackling beneath her skin as if she had short-circuited. With her ankles free, she stretched her legs and lifted her hands in front of her face, pleading to Evan with her eyes.