Broken Wings (Cruel and Beautiful World, Book One 1) (19 page)

Xander reached for her. Deryn took his hand again, letting him lead her out of the basement and back up the stairs. Bronson followed closely behind them, still staring at their interlaced hands with a captivated skepticism.

Back in the apartment, Xander changed quickly and headed out the door without so much as a goodbye to Deryn. Bronson left at the same time, since he still had a late shift to get to. A side job he had cooking food at a bar.

"Hey, Ruby."

"What?" asked Xander, pulling out a cigarette and smoking it on his way down the stairs.

"Why haven't you gotten Deryn any clothes?"

"What?" he repeated, only with more irritation.

"Well, all she seems to have is pajamas and sweaters of yours. And don't even get me started on those remnants of what I assume were once shoes."

Xander grunted. "I don't really have time for this. Just tell me what you're getting at."

"It's not fucking physics."

"What isn't fucking phys -"

"Buy-her-some-clothes! And shoes while you're at it!" Bronson reached his front door and opened it. "Make her feel like a person again!" He stepped inside and slammed the door.

Xander stared at it, dumbfounded for a moment before continuing down the stairs. Somewhere between the second and first floor, he found himself getting angry and ended up hitting the wall. Why the hell did he never think of these things? It was so fucking obvious, but not once had it even crossed his mind to get her clothes.

"Fuck!" Xander shook out his hand. He would be feeling that in the morning.

When Xander got home later, he had his typical random female guest with him. After a quick go on his floor - since they couldn't even make it to the bed before she was plunging onto him - he used his usual tricks to get her out the door.

Once that was done, he took a quick shower, grabbed his cigarettes and headed for Deryn's room. He walked right in.

"Balcony, Leon," he said, the same way he always did.

Only, this time he was not met with her usual rustling of sheets, but a whimper instead.

"Leon?"

Xander turned on the lights and stepped farther into the room. She was lying in the fetal position with the covers tangled around her. The small radio Bronson had given her was currently switched on and set on the nightstand.

"Leon, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head.

Xander went over and sat on the bed beside her. "Obviously you're lying."

"No, really, I'm fine. It's just ..." She looked at the radio and whimpered again. "The song."

"What?"

"I turned on the frequency my dad always used to broadcast messages to me and my brother, and there were voices. It was Talon and Dakota, and they spoke to me. They said my name and then they dedicated a song to me. Can you believe it?"

Actually, he could. Xander had, of course, listened to the various radio stations before. Orders from the president to see if the Resistance would ever reveal Godfrey Leon's location by accident. They never did. But there was one station that was always active. On a loop every hour, with the voices of Talon and Dakota speaking to the girl they loved and dedicating a song to her. Always the same one.

"It's an old song from our ancestors called
Blackbird
, and my favorite." She chuckled softly. "I've never appreciated its meaning so much before." With a heavy sigh, she looked at him and said, "I used to play it every night, and now it seems like they play it every hour. I know the message has to be old, but it was still so great to hear their voices."

Unsure of what to say, Xander reached down and stroked his fingers through her hair. More tears poured down Deryn's cheeks as she moved her hand so it was on top of his.

"Will you stay and listen with me? Just until their voices come on again."

Xander nodded. He moved so he was lying down beside her, pulled her body tightly against his, and hugged her from behind while static emitted from the radio.

And then the voices were there again, speaking to the girl they'd lost so many years ago.

"
Deryn, I love you
," said the voice of Dakota, making her tremble in Xander's arms. "
I'll be waiting for you for as long as it takes, at our place."

Then the song began.

Then ended.

Then static.

But Xander didn't move. He knew the moment he lay down that he was not going to leave. He wanted to stay. And just knowing that was killing him inside.

"AHHH!"

The old woman screamed in agony as Finley Scout whipped her with the a blue streak of light coming from her Element, her body writhing in unnatural shapes while everyone watched, cold and detached.

"Where ..." Finley gulped. "Where was Deryn Leon going?"

"I know nothing!" shouted the old woman. "I admitted to giving her the knife, but that's all I did!"

Finley lowered her hand.

"And even if I did know, I would never tell you!" she hissed. "That poor girl deserved her freedom!"

"Hit her again, Ms. Scout," said a dark, male voice behind her.

"But I don't think she's lying -"

"I'm sorry, were you under the impression that someone asked you to think?" spat Elvira, stepping forward. "Do as your president says. Hit her again."

Finley glanced sideways at Xander, who was propped on a windowsill while Luka leaned against the wall beside him. He gave her a shallow nod.

Finley turned back to the woman, releasing a quiet sigh before whipping her again.

While the old woman thrashed and screamed on the floor, Elvira went up to her and slashed her with her knife. The same one she had taken from Kara Triggs all those years ago. "How do you like it, bitch? Can you imagine the pain my husband must have felt?"

"Is this all really necessary?" asked Luka in an almost bored voice. "She makes the best cottage pie. That's why my father and I always take her in. A world without it just seems so ... blah."

Xander glanced at him and successfully fought off an eye roll. Luka had a natural coldness about him that rivaled even Atticus's, and it was only getting worse with age. He hated to admit it, seeing as Luka was his oldest friend and all, but he really was a true Guardian. Not like him or Finley. She hated it, only ever becoming one to please her father.

"She's done evil," said President Saevus, turning his back on the old woman and walking towards the center of the room. "I show no compassion for criminals. You know this." He stopped. "Finish this, Elvie. We won't waste our time here a moment longer."

Elvira looked down at their next victim and smiled. "Xander, get over here."

Xander stood up from the windowsill and obeyed.

"Finish her," she demanded.

He began to take his Element out of its holster, but Elvira held out a hand to stop him.

"Not with that. With this." She slipped her knife into his hand. "Let her know what it feels like to have a knife rip her apart. And just a reminder," she said, falling to her knees and pulling the woman up to a seated position by her gray hair, "we will be doing this exact same thing to my precious cousin the moment we find her."

The old woman spat at her. Elvira flinched and smacked her hard across the face.

"Toxic bitch! You will regret trying to contaminate me!"

The woman sneered. "I regret nothing."

Xander's hand shook slightly as he tried hard not to let his mind wander to visions of Deryn being captured. He needed to make sure Elvira never got close enough to lay a hand on her.

The old woman's eyes moved to his trembling hand. He steadied it quickly.

Elvira stepped back and joined her father in the center of the room. Xander crouched beside the woman.

"Your soul ... it's different," she whispered, reaching out to grab his coat.

"What?" asked Xander, not moving quick enough to avoid her grasp.

Even in her weak state, she still lifted her head and met his gaze. Her hand came forward and gripped his chin.

"I read souls and yours is good." Her eyes stared through him, like she was entering the depths of his mind.

Xander pushed her off of him and fell back on his heels. When his eyes focused again, she was still sitting there. Only now she was smiling.

"It's alright," she said softly. "Do what you must. I'm not afraid."

Xander gulped. If only so many people weren't watching him, he could give her a tonic or something to take away the pain. But there was no way. The best he could do was make it as quick as possible.

Xander clenched his eyes shut and discreetly mouthed, "I'm sorry," before plunging the knife into her neck. The jugular vein. It only seemed appropriate.

"What the hell are you doing? Slice her fucking throat open!" shouted Elvira from behind him. But it was too late. The woman was gone, her death made quicker by her own will to leave this world.

"Well, I suppose it would be rude of me not to offer you all a piece of her very last cottage pie," said Luka with a frown. "Fucking waste."

"I'll pass," said Xander, walking over to Elvira and handing her back the knife.

"Me too," said Finley.

"Mmm ..." Elvira moaned, letting a tiny bit of blood drip on her finger and licking it off. "Don't you just relish in it, Xander?" She smiled wickedly as she smeared one side of the blood-covered knife on his cheek, and then flipped it and smeared the remaining side on the other.

"You're fucking twisted," said Xander, wiping his face. He turned to leave.

"I don't know what you see in him, Father. The boy is weak."

Xander stopped and tightened his fists. "Don't test me, Elvira."

"Xander, please, call me Elvie." Another infuriating smile. "I don't know why you keep him so close, Father. He's not -"

. In one swift movement, Xander had his Element out and aimed at her. He pricked his finger, turned on the wind, and sent her flying backwards with such force she smashed through a window and continued into the garden.

"Now, Xander, was that really necessary?" asked President Saevus, looking quite pleased.

"It always is," said Xander, putting his Element away. "I'm not weak and I will punish anyone who says otherwise. Never let her put a doubt in your mind about me. My loyalty is here."

"I know where your loyalty lies," said the president, displaying a faint smile that had always greatly disturbed Xander. "Now, young Voclain, about that cottage pie."

"It's this way," said Luka, taking one last glance at the old woman's still figure before leading the president out of the room.

Xander headed for the front door with Finley following closely at his heels. He had barely walked a block when he realized she was still behind him. "Did you want something, Finley?" he asked, turning around.

"I was just wondering what you're doing tonight."

"Going home to wipe this shit off me," he said, looking down at the blood that had already dried in his fingernails.

"And after?"

"I don't fucking know. Why?"

"I wanted to know if maybe you'd like come over. You know, spend the night? It's been a while since -"

"No."

Finley looked at him sadly. "Why not?"

"It's not a good idea."

"But I don't understand. Luka says you're with random girls all the time. Why will you go home with them but not me?"

"It's not personal."

And that was exactly how Xander liked it. Random meant it was never personal. It meant detachment, and detachment meant never caring.

Xander could care less about himself, and he could never get truly hurt as long as he felt that same way towards everyone else. He and Finley had history. They had dated off and on when they were teenagers. She was his first everything.

And then his mother died and it was all put in perspective. He had ended it with her for good shortly after. Sure, they had shared a few lonely nights since, but the deeper Xander fell into President Saevus's inner circle, the more he realized it was a bad idea.

"Goodnight, Finley," he said, and continued on his way home.

~

Deryn was lying in her bed with the radio on her stomach. Over the past week she had become accustomed to listening to it, flipping through the stations for any sign of life between the time
Blackbird
ended and Talon and Dakota's voices began. Just in case something important was to happen.

Upon hearing the front door slam, she put the radio on the nightstand, got up and walked out of her room. Xander's bedroom door slammed next. She went over and knocked.

"Ruby, are you alright?"

There was no answer.

Deryn slowly opened the door and poked her head into his bedroom. "Ruby?"

Nothing.