Whispers of Darkness (The Deadwood Hunter Series) (28 page)

“Go away, Derrick,” Lexia moaned, pulling her pillow over her head.

“No, get up! We leave in five,” he growled, pulling the pillow off her head and ripping the duvet off her, sending a billow of cold air over her half-naked body.

“Jeez, Derrick, do you have no morals? You’re practically old enough to be my father, I don’t think you should be eyeing me up.”

“Please! I’d have had to be sixteen years old when I’d had you, now get up!”

Groaning Lexia rolled off the bed noting the time.
5 am.
Dressing, she glanced at him in his usual spot by the door, back to her. “What makes you think I won’t pummel you for waking me so early?”

He laughed at her, his shoulders bobbing up and down. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“And here I thought you were smart.”

“Just full of insults this morning, aren’t you.”

Lexia stomped out of the bathroom. “Ready.”

After being blindfolded and led to the car, Lexia sat and listened to Derrick trying to have a quiet argument with whoever manned the gates but after 2 minutes the SUV started to move and soon Lexia was pulling off her blindfold, looking at the white world around her.

“What month is it?”

“December, the twentieth, I believe.”

“Really?” she slumped in her seat. “Five days until Christmas,” she whispered.

Derrick glanced at her but said nothing. Lexia could feel the gnawing ache start in her stomach, making her feel sick, making her feel like her head may just explode at any moment.

“So what are we doing?” she asked, grasping at anything to take her mind off her feelings.

“Just picking up some supplies.”

“So I didn’t need to come along at all?”

“I needed company, plus there may be heavy boxes.”

“Derrick! You disobeyed Lucy so I could lift boxes?”

He glanced at her briefly and his eyes filled with sadness. “No, I disobeyed her because you needed to get out the compound before you went mad.”

“I’m fine! I’ve done nothing wrong, I follow every instruction, what more do you want?”

“What more do I want?! I want the old Lexia back, the one with a fire so bright, people can’t help but stand and stare! I want you to stop walking around the compound living a half- life. You’re right, you follow every order, every rule, but I hate it. I hate watching you barely get by, I hate that you’re slowly dying on the inside the longer you’re with us.”

Derrick slammed the SUV to a stop. The tires locked and skidded until they bumped to a stop in the deep snow bank on the side of the roads.

“What are you doing?” Lexia snapped, her hand braced on the dash board.

“Go!”

“What?”

“Go on, get out, GO LEXIA, GO!”

Lexia’s hand went to the handle, her heart started to hammer in her ears, blood rushing so fast through her brain, she felt dizzy. The door handle clicked, a gust of cold air and snowflakes whipped into the car and an image tumbled through Lexia’s confused mind.

A young recruit, just seventeen years old with a timid smile that lit her freckled face when Lexia gave her praise…

“No!” she screamed, slamming the door closed.

“What?” he asked, stunned.

“If I go, you’ll die.”

“So?”

“So? So what about your family, the reason you stay here and put up with my mother!”

“It doesn’t matter. Just go, Lexia, go and get far away from here. So far away she can never find you. Don’t let her destroy you as well.”

“She won’t, I’m strong! I have already destroyed enough lives, I won’t damn anyone else’s.”

“She’ll find a way, Lexia; somehow she’ll find a way.”

“Then I’ll kill her.”

“Do you really think it would be that easy? If that’s all it took, to simply kill her, I’d have done it a long time ago! It takes more than one person to do what Lucy’s done.”

“Then who do I need to kill? Who?”

“I don’t know, Lucy trusts no one.”

“I’m her daughter; I’ll make her trust me.”

“Lexia, she’ll never trust you, not while you walk around full of feeling and humanity.”

“Then I’ll stop caring. I can pretend to be heartless if that’s what it takes.”

“You can pretend all you want, honey, but all she has to do is look into your eyes and see everything she is not.”

Lexia slammed her head back against the seat. He was right and she fucking hated it.

“Just go,” he whispered.

“No, Derrick, I’ll find a way.”

“Will you? How will you do that when you have distanced yourself from anyone who cares? You are a ghost, Lex. I gave you the chance and it was working, the recruits follow you.”

“So that was your goal all along? To create an army loyal to me and not Lucy?”

“Maybe... I’m not sure, I just... I saw you and thought maybe we had a chance of finally being free.”

He started the SUV again and they drove on in silence. Lexia said nothing to him on the two hour round trip to fetch supplies. Her head spun with all the things he’d said to her and she had no idea what to tell him. Was she the Hunters’ freedom? Could she really save them?

As Derrick pulled the SUV to a stop she fought past the crawling feeling to escape and let him slip the blindfold over her head.

“Thank you for giving me a few hours freedom,” she whispered softly as the vehicle pulled away.

The next morning she sat with him for breakfast and said nothing about his swollen battered face. She locked the anger away inside of her and made a promise that one day Lucy would suffer. She wouldn’t just die; first Lexia would ruin her carefully laid plans and watch as the life left her eyes.

Lexia woke screaming, her sheets twisted, damp and clinging to her skin. Kicking them off franticly Lexia dragged herself upright, hugging her knees to her chest whilst the last whispers of her nightmare left her mind. She’d been having this nightmare for the last few days; it was Christmas morning and she sat at the kitchen table in her family home, the faces of the people she loved and the people she wished she could save, smiling back at her. But then came the moment when the dream turned into a nightmare, when her mother walked in and slowly murdered everyone and all she could do was sit there and scream, no matter what she did, Lexia couldn’t save them.

Jumping from her bed she glanced at the time, 2 am. “Well Merry Christmas, Lex,” she whispered to herself. The dead empty feeling she’d been trying so hard to keep at bay, started to churn and expand. She looked down at her shaking hands and stuck them quickly under her armpits.

I need to get out of here!

She stood there slowing crumbling, coming apart at the seams. She had a desperate clawing need to escape, to just feel air on her face, to run and feel the pounding earth beneath her feet. She opened her wardrobe and started to sling on clothes not even noticing what she picked up. As she slid on her leather boots, she noticed she’d put on the tight black trousers Derrick had given her. Slinging her jacket over the tank top she’d put on she paused for a second and slipped her ruby knife down the edge of her boot. With the cool silver against her calf she felt oddly calm. The little things that Derrick had saved - her necklace, boots, and knives, these things kept her going, gave her a reminder of what she fought for.

Testing the lock she was pleased to find it still open. Had Derrick left it open on purpose? Or had he simply forgot? No, she thought, Derrick had disobeyed Lucy again, he’d left it open for her so she felt less like a prisoner.

Walking silently through the dark corridors Lexia planned to go find Derrick. She needed to talk, she just needed a distraction from the things in her mind. Maybe he could convince Lucy to let her go running, not that the weather was any good for running, but at least she could breathe fresh air.

Lexia paused, intending to search for Derrick’s unique aura, but found herself in an unknown part of the compound. Taking a few steps she looked around realizing she had been here before. She’d been here in her first few weeks, weeks she’d like to block from her mind. ‘Medical and Science’ Derrick had called it, her feet kept moving as if they knew the direction they wanted to go and the further Lexia went, the quieter she became. Like the time she’d caught her father talking to a strange woman, she became a shadow, barely breathing as she crept closer to a door. The door was ajar, warm light spilling out into the dark corridor and muffled angry voices drifted to Lexia’s ears.

“What do you mean they lost them?” Lucy said, her voice quivering in anger.

“They just radioed in ma’am, the team are heading in,” responded a quiet man’s voice.

“Absolutely not! They will not return until they’ve found them!”

“I’m sorry but I am struggling to reach them, the weather is messing up the signal.”

“What exactly did they say? Every word Alex, or I may lose my temper.”

“Tanner said that the shifter pair took to the forests a few weeks ago. They are searching for the girl but the team cannot keep up with them, they are travelling as panther and leopard.”

Lexia’s heart was hammering so hard she thought it was a miracle they couldn’t hear it from inside the room.

“And the rest of the family? How about the shifters family? That girl, Lexia’s friend, Amy was it?”

“The family has gone underground, ma’am and we lost track of her friend months ago.”

Lucy’s next words shook with the effort to stay in control, “So let me get this straight; the team lost track of the shifters weeks ago and decided it wasn’t prudent to inform me, they have been unsuccessfully tracking them through the forests because they are incapable of outsmarting animals, and not only that, anyone else I had left to threaten my daughter with has disappeared. I have no means at all to keep her in line and to top it off we have two cats out in the forests somewhere capable of surviving the winter and quite possibly finding the compound?”

“Ye-yes ma’am,” Alex stammered.

Lexia’s hand slammed the door open before she’d even realized what she was doing. Lucy startled and spun to face her, visibly shrinking back when she saw Lexia, eyes shining bright gold, rage barely contained.

“I told you to leave them! I told you if you touched them I’d kill you! Is it not enough that I’m here? That you had my father killed, that you destroyed my friend’s life, my life! You’ve taken everything from me and still it’s not enough! YOU WILL NEVER STOP WILL YOU? YOU WILL NEVER BE HAPPY!” Lexia screamed at her mother, her chest heaving and her hands clenched into tights fists, fists that wanted to connect with Lucy’s face.

Lexia turned to leave she’d had enough, she needed to get out, she needed to breathe. It was as if the concrete walls were pressing down on her, closing in, slowly crushing the life from her. She needed trees, she needed fresh air, she needed home.

“Maura, don’t you dare walk away from me!” Lucy snapped, following her.

“Or what, Mother? What will you possibly do?”

“I’ll, I’ll torture Derrick! You have an unhealthy relationship with him!”

Lexia turned, her blade pulling from her boot with a swipe, she walked slowly back towards her mother, her boots clicking and echoing off the walls. “How will you torture anyone Mother when I cut out your tongue? Or maybe I should take off your fingers, and then maybe your arms, maybe I’ll hang you from the wall and slowly break you like you did to me. Do you think you will last as long as me, Mother? Will you beg for me to stop? Or will you contain your pain as I have learned to do?”

The sharp point was inches from Lucy’s neck, steady and strong, just a simple flick of her wrist and she’d be dead, she wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone anymore. But feet were pounding nearer, her time was running out, and would killing Lucy really benefit her?

“Called reinforcements, Mother? What’s the matter, are you frightened of your own daughter? Maybe if you had actually acted like a mother we wouldn’t be here... How weak you become when stripped of your threats and bodyguards.”

Lucy pulled a gun from her belt and aimed it at her but Lexia just laughed. Her laugh was high pitched and mad.
I’ve finally gone insane,
she thought.

“Do it, Mother, shoot me, but ma
ke sure it’s through my head, because a simple bullet doesn’t slow me down. That’s how you made me, remember? How does it feel having a plan back fire on you?”

“Lexia!” Derrick’s voice echoed behind her.

“Derrick, how nice of you to join us... Your pet’s here, Mother, do you feel better now?”

Lucy said nothing; she stood frozen, staring at her daughter with hatred and outrage like fire in her eyes.

“Lexia, there are soldiers coming, stop this before you get hurt,” Derrick said.

“Oh I’m sure I could get past them, Derrick and as my mother knows, she’s run out of people to use against me.”

For a split second Lexia let the darkness to the surface, she imagined driving the knife into her neck and watching her mother’s blood coat the blade in ruby red; just a simple thrust and she’d be gone...

But what would be left of me?

With a flick of her wrist, the sharp point of her blade sliced into the soft delicate skin on Lucy’s neck; Lucy’s eyes widened, her hand going to her throat.

“Don’t look so surprised, Mother, it’s just a scratch.”

Turning she ran before she gave into her dark desires.

Lucy’s ice cold words shouted behind her, “Get her!”

Her feet pounded against concrete, Derrick’s becoming closer with each passing second. Lexia easily passed through the soldiers, most simply stood aside as she past, others received a slice across the knees making them drop to the floor.

She reached the area Derrick always brought her to before blindfolding her. She started to count the steps she’d take with him, soon she pushed through a door and into a large hanger full of Jeeps and dark SUV’s, crates of boxes, and Hunters manning the exits.

“Maura!” Lucy screamed.

“Lexia, please” Derrick begged.

Freedom.

Freedom was within her grasp, trees and wildlife, fresh air; she leaped over the barrier, knocking out the Hunter who rushed at her. Racing up a steep road, Lexia finally made it outside. It was dark out, the sound of an owl hooted in the distance. As her feet moved her further, sinking into the now rapidly thickening snow, she saw a large fence with barbed wire curled over and over sitting on top, reminding her she was a prisoner.

A man came walking up to her, the light from his little hut casting onto his confused face.

             
“What’s going on?” he asked.

Lexia brought up her knife, pressing the point into his throat. “Let me out, please just let me out. I can’t breathe in here anymore.”

He slowly walked sideways, his finger hovering over a button. “Okay, okay, don’t hurt me.”

“Do not open that gate!” Lucy snapped from behind her.

The man’s eyes widened and he gulped, looking at the sharp knife. “B-but but…” he stammered.

“But nothing, you will give up your life to keep her in here.”

Lexia burst out laughing, “Oh, Mother, you really have no boundaries, do you?”

“Just let her go,” Derrick said.

Lexia smiled and nodded to the man. He pressed the button and Lexia raced to freedom.

“No!” Lucy screamed.

Lexia’s steps faltered, she turned as Lucy started to shout at Derrick. “She’ll come back,” he was saying.

Lucy’s hand slapped his face and Lexia took a step back towards the compound but Derrick met her eyes and with the slightest shakes told her to go.

Their final words whispered towards her and she raced into the dark night, her feet sinking into snow up to her knees.

“Lucy trust me, she will be back. She isn’t like the rest of us, just let her deal with her emotions.”

“Those emotions are the very things I want stamped out of that girl. You best be right Derrick or it will be you and your family that die next... Oh and Derrick, my pet, it will not be a quick death.”

Lexia ran. The earth sloped upwards covered in a foot of snow. She sank to her knees, her hands digging into the snow as she scrambled up and away from the compound. Her hands froze until her fingers burned and her legs ached as she forced them to keep moving; scrambling in the dark, she barely avoided the trees around her but still she didn’t stop. She ran until her body literally passed out, her face in the snow, her aching exhausted body slowly going numb. She welcomed the feeling, welcomed the fog that started to cover her brain.
If I lay here long enough maybe I’ll freeze to death.

A rustle to Lexia’s left made her lift her head. Sitting upright Lexia shook off her morbid thoughts. Her eyes closed as power washed over her, opening her eyes now Lexia saw a more detailed world; right in front of her stood large old tree, its trunk stood straight and proud. Her body moved, hands gripping into bark, feet scaling the tree as if they were the paws of her panther. She reached the large branch that spilt off, crawling along it Lexia stretched her legs out along the branch and leaned back against the trunk.

Closing her eyes she finally allowed herself to breathe and with her breath came the emotions she’d been keeping locked away for too long. Hot tears thawed her cheeks as they tumbled uncontrollably from her eyes.

Lexia wanted to hit herself, she should have never lost her temper with Lucy. She knew her mother well enough now to know that no one crossed Lucy Hunter without feeling her wrath tenfold. Lucy may have lost track of Lincoln and Caden, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t hurt Lexia in another way and Lexia knew after what she’d said to her this morning she would pay. Lucy hadn’t stayed in power for over a decade because she was a pushover. Lexia almost jumped down from her tree and ran. She almost took off for freedom and left the people inside to their fate. She owed Derrick nothing, it wasn’t her responsibility to save everyone, but even as the thought flitted across her mind Lexia knew it was a lie. She owed Derrick, she owed him a lot. He’d saved Caden from the burning car, from the moment she met him surrounded by Hunters in the hallway her father had been murdered in, he’d helped her. He let Alice escape, he let her jump from her window; time and time again he’d let her walk away without any hesitation. She couldn’t leave him, she couldn’t condemn his family to death because she wanted to be free.

More faces appeared in her mind’s eye: the recruits she trained; Belinda, the young girl who looked so lost and frightened; Marcus, whose face lit up whenever she was near. Lexia could pretend all she wanted that she wasn’t like them, that she was biding her time until she could escape. But the reality was there were people inside that compound as trapped as her and the longer she stayed with them, the longer she trained them, the longer she knew them, the harder it became to leave. Lexia wouldn’t be free until she could free the Hunters and bring down the force that trapped them.