Bonds That Break (The Havoc Chronicles Book 3) (7 page)

This was one type of greeting that I had only partially gotten used to. It was easier when girls did it. Having men pull me in that closely was still a little out of my comfort zone.

The next Berserker was Tezcacoatl, but everyone called him Tez. He was rumored to be an actual Aztec. Not a descendent or some wannabe, but the actual thing. Of course, he didn’t quite fit my stereotype – no long ponytail or jaguar tooth jewelry. He had buzzed his dark hair short with a single streak of blue dyed in it. He looked to be a little bit younger than Yul, but according to my information was actually quite a bit older.

The last of the new Berserkers was Miguel Ortega. He was from Mexico and looked to be about my age. He had only become a Berserker thirteen years earlier at the age of fifteen, so physically he was younger than I was, even though he had lived almost twice as long as I had.

After I had met the last of the Berserkers, Nakai came up to me and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. Rhys and Dad were both talking with other Berserkers, so I was essentially alone.

“Now that you’ve met the brawn,” Nakai said, “it’s time to introduce you to the brains behind everything here.”

Nakai gently, but firmly enough that I got the idea following her wasn’t optional, escorted me across the room to where a group of four Binders stood talking together. They stopped their conversation as we approached and looked at me with undisguised curiosity.

“I would like you all to meet Madison Montgomery,” Nakai said. “She is the newest Binder... and Berserker.”

The looks I got made me want to check a mirror and make sure I hadn’t sprouted horns or a second head.

“Uh, hi,” I said. I looked over to where Rhys and my dad were, but they were trapped in their own conversations. I wasn’t going to get any help from them to escape my awkward situation. 

“My, my,” said a pretty brunette woman with a melodic French accent. “A Berserker and a Binder. How... unusual.” She gave me an appraising look that made me even more uncomfortable than I already was.

Nakai nodded in the direction of the French woman. “Madison, this is Yvette,” she said.

Yvette gave me what had to be the coldest smile I had ever seen. “A pleasure to meet you, Madison,” she said, but the tone in which she said it clearly told a different story.

Much to my relief, the awkwardness was quickly interrupted by another Binder. “I’m Onaona,” said the other women. She had long dark hair pulled back on one side with a large flower tucked behind her ear. Her perfect skin, flawlessly white teeth, and gorgeous figure made me think of some sort of Hawaiian swimsuit model rather than a Binder. She was by far the youngest of the women here – besides me, of course.

“Onaona,” I said, making sure I repeated her name correctly. “That’s a beautiful name.”

Onaona wrinkled her nose, obviously disagreeing. “As long as you don’t speak Hawaiian,” she said. “It means sweet smell.” She made a pretend gagging motion and smiled.

I liked her already.

Nakai then introduced me to Dagmar, a very tall Swedish woman with long blonde hair and Kamiko, an older Japanese woman who was one of the tiniest women I had ever seen. Standing between them gave me the very strange feeling of being both short and tall at the same time.

By this time Rhys had broken away from his conversations and had come over to see me, which made me feel much more relaxed. We made semi-awkward chitchat for the next few minutes until Sunee began circulating through the crowd asking everyone to take their seats as the meeting was about to begin.

We all wandered over to the pods situated in front of the stage. Rhys showed me mine in the second row, next to the aisle. Apparently each Berserker-Binder pair was assigned a separate pod and during these meetings would sit together – a reminder that they were tied to each other. Even the Berserkers of the seven were connected to a single Binder each and when they died, that Binder would die with them.

In some ways, the pods reminded me of the private boxes at sporting events. They were designed for viewing, but they also had all the amenities you needed right there with you. Granted I hadn’t ever been in one before, but we had once sat close enough at a Blazers game that I had been able to peek in.

Inside the pod was a desk with a large monitor and a laptop connected to the internet. Atop the monitor was a high-end webcam, presumably for when they didn’t have everyone here and needed to do some sort of video conference.

In the back of the pod was a small table set with a pitcher of water, glasses, and various fruits and snacks – all mild and designed to appeal to a Berserker’s over-sensitive pallet.

There were also two doors in the back of each pod – one leading to a small restroom, and the other to a small room with two twin beds.

Apparently these meetings were not short.

A loud thud followed by a mechanical whirring, signaled that the main security door had closed and we were now completely secure.

Or trapped, if the threat were inside.

Dad and I each sat down in large leather chairs, and Rhys went into the pod directly in front of ours. Technically, since I was his Binder now, he should be sitting with me. But since we hadn’t told the Binders yet, we needed to wait for the moment.

Despite the fact that the pods were sunken, I realized that the stair-step structure was set up so that I could see each of the occupants of the other pods without leaving my seat.

I didn’t like having Rhys and Shing in separate pods away from me – especially Rhys – but I felt better knowing that my dad was with me so I wasn’t completely alone.

Once everyone had been seated and had a chance to settle in, Nakai climbed the stairs to the stage and stood at the podium.

“I will dispense with the formalities and move directly to the reason we are all here today,” she said. “As you are all aware of, we received report from our sources in Mexico that the binding for Thuanar appears to be weakening.”

The screen behind Nakai lit up, showing a photo of the imposing Puebla cathedral and the text of an email from Araceli explaining what she had observed. Our corresponding personal monitors also showed the images.

“This news is disturbing for many reasons,” Nakai said. “Not the least of which is that we have yet to find any trace of the new Berserker and Binder for Thuanar. It has been several months since Aata has passed from our company and there has been no sign of a replacement. Sunee has been searching with the Sarolt stone, but up to now it has been silent.”

A murmur ran through the audience. Apparently not everyone had realized the extent of the issue.

The sad part was that they didn’t even know the half of it. They were worried about one set – Aata and Christine. What they didn’t know was that I had the powers of three Berserkers and four binders – Aata, his Binder Christine, Mallika, Eric, and Kara. Not to mention that I was still the Berserker and Binder for Pravicus.

I looked to my Dad. If we were going to come clean about this, we needed to do it soon.

Dad met my gaze and held it for a moment, seeming to search for something in my eyes. He nodded then held up a finger for me to wait.

“So what are we going to do about it?” said a loud voice with a distinctly American accent. I turned around to see the speaker was a middle-aged African-American woman sitting in the pod behind me by herself. I hadn’t met her yet, but by virtue of the fact she was sitting by herself she had to be Jacinda, the Binder to Nanti who was currently in hiding. She had a reputation for being rather outspoken among the other Binders.

Nakai didn’t seem the slightest bit disturbed. She opened her arms out wide. “That is the very reason we are here,” she said.

Jacinda held up her index finger. “No. I don’t mean talk. There has been enough talk lately. What are we going to
do
?”

I had to hand it to Jacinda, she knew how to keep things lively. Immediately there was an uproar as several of the Berserkers and Binders started talking at once. The volume gradually rose to the point where anyone who was simply talking could no longer be heard and they started yelling.

I hated people arguing, especially when it was about me, or if I had the ability to fix it. I took a deep breath and stood up. Dad reached out a hand and placed it on my arm, clearly wanting me to sit down, but also not gripping my arm and trying to pull me back. I shrugged my shoulders and gave my dad my best apologetic look, but then climbed the stairs out of my pod and began walking toward the stage.

The arguing immediately died off.

I walked to the stage in complete silence, not daring to look back in case I saw a look of disapproval from my dad or Rhys. When I got to the stage, Nakai moved to the side and gestured for me to take her place at the podium. I paused and looked out over the audience. Every eye was focused on me, but there were a wide range of reactions.

Dad sat completely still, a look of apprehension on his face. Shing looked as serene and impassive as always. Rhys smiled at me, clearly wanting to be supportive, but his concern was still visible.

For the most part, the other Berserkers looked merely curious. They watched me with expectant expressions, clearly wanting to hear what I had to say. But several of the Binders looked openly hostile. Yvette and Dagmar were staring daggers at me and Jacinda had her arms folded, giving me a look that said I better have a really good reason for going up there.

“I have some information that I think you all need to know before we continue this conversation.” My statement was greeted with a silence so complete it was almost comical. Any second I expected to hear the sound of chirping crickets.

“As many of you already know, I am both a Binder and a Berserker. Sunee and Nakai have already used the Sarolt stone to verify this.”

I saw several nods from both Binders and Berserkers. I had figured the rumors had made their way to everyone by now since Mallika had taken the matter to the Binder council.

“But what you don’t know is that I am not just the Binder and Berserker for Pravicus. I am also the Binder and Berserker for Thuanar.”

If I thought things had been loud before I got to the podium, it was nothing compared to the uproar
that
comment caused. Everyone began speaking at once and in the resulting noise, nothing was understandable.

Nakai raised her hands in a pacifying gesture. “Everyone please calm down!” she yelled above the din, but it had little effect.

Josiah stood up and let out a piercing whistle that cut through the noise and got everyone’s attention. “If ya’ll would just shut your yaps and let the lady speak, we’ll find out what’s going on that much faster.”

He looked around, staring everyone down until it was silent once again. Then Josiah gave me a smile and wink and motioned for me to continue. 

Nakai stepped away from the podium, and I moved back to where I had been.

“That’s not all,” I said. I was ready to get this entire thing out in the open. If we were going to make plans on how to move forward, we needed everyone to know the facts. “I’m also the Binder for Osadyn.”

“Where’s the proof?” asked Jacinda. “We’re just supposed to take your word? I don’t think so.”

“She bound Osadyn,” said Rhys, turning around to face Jacinda. “And she used my blood to do it.”

“Is this true?” asked Nakai.

I nodded. A buzz of excitement filled the air as Binders and Berserkers conferred together in their pods. Which in my mind was infinitely preferable to them shouting across the room at each other.

“I also bound Margil a few days ago – at least I think it was a few days ago. We were in Hong Kong so maybe it was yesterday, or even today. The whole international dateline thing’s got me completely messed up.”

The buzz died away as I spoke. Everyone stared at me, and I felt very uncomfortable. Over time, I had gotten used to the idea of having multiple Berserker and Binder powers but seeing everyone’s reaction made me feel insecure about it once again.

Nakai broke the silence. “You bound Margil?” she asked. “With whose blood?” The confidence and control that had been there earlier were gone, replaced by an expression of anxiety and fear.

“My own,” I answered.

Nakai closed her eyes for a moment and said nothing. When she opened them again her confidence seemed to have returned. “I think we need to hear the whole story, from the beginning.”

Telling the events of the past several months was no easy feat, and not just from a quantity-of-things-to-say perspective. The basic facts were easy enough to tell, but when it came time to talk about all the deaths, I had a hard time keeping the emotion out of my voice. Of course I didn’t go into the details of what I thought had caused Eric to go feral, but I did have to tell about getting his memories – and Kara’s as well. I also told them about Aata and the confusing images I saw when Aata and Christine had died.

I then told them how Mallika figured out that I was inheriting the powers of Berserkers and Binders that died and explained about Osadyn attacking while Rhys and I were together. I did leave out the part about it being Prom and that we were on a date.

When I told them how Mallika had taken her own life so that I could have the opportunity to bind Osadyn, I risked a glance down at Rhys and saw the tears in his eyes.

Big mistake.

Of course, seeing Rhys cry pushed me over the edge and triggered my own waterworks. I hated crying in front of people – it was horrifically embarrassing. Some people actually managed to look good while crying. Not me. I got all red and splotchy and my nose ran. Trust me, mucus is never a pretty sight. So when Nakai offered me a tissue, I took it gratefully and cleaned myself up as best I could.

Once I composed myself, I managed to finish by telling them how we tracked Margil to Hong Kong and bound him there. After I finished, I stepped away from the podium so that Nakai could once again use the microphone.

It felt good to have everything out in the open. I hadn’t realized just how much pressure all the secrecy had been placing on me. I looked over at Dad and he smiled back at me. I knew he didn’t agree with sharing everything with the Binder council, but I could also see he was proud of how I handled myself.