Dark Matter (29 page)

I recognized a few of the girls from
earlier, but I couldn’t tell if they were as crazy as the majority
who were now on their feet.

Mr. Lambert took his place at the
podium and grinned. I could only see his profile, but he was giving
these women his charming smile. He had used it on me a few times
after I turned eighteen and even though I would never admit this to
Cassie, it had made my knees a little weak and my stomach churn at
the thought of being attracted to my best friend’s dad.

No amount of schmooze filled grins
could make me feel that way again. He was corrupt and the worst
sort of man, hiding his evilness deep inside him.

Every eye was trained on his movements
as if he was Elvis reincarnated. What was wrong with these
people?

Ainessa took the chair next to me. When
she sat, her leg brushed mine. I snapped my gaze up to meet hers.
She gave me a content expression and then rested her gaze on Mr.
Lambert.

He raised his hand high in the air and
a hush filled the auditorium. “Today marks the first great stride
the Order has made in the war to claim our planet.” He looked over
his shoulder at me, and I flinched when his gaze rested on mine. He
smiled, big and sure. “Come here, Rayla.”

I stayed where I was until the two
guards leaned toward me. I slunk from my chair and stood three feet
away from him.

He laughed, reaching out to pull me
closer. He side hugged my shoulders as if he and I were besties
then laughed. “She is a little shy. Has been since the day I met
her.”

The crowd gave an obligatory laugh, but
not one mouth twitched into a real smile. I might as well have been
standing in front of a lion filled arena. They all looked as if I
was going to be their next meal. He let go of me, and I made a
hasty retreat to my chair.

“
Sisters, this is indeed a
glorious day. Soon you will not have to bear the burden of
slavery.” He glanced at Ainessa. “With the help of our new friend,
we will all be free to live the way God intended.”

Blasphemy was all I could think. That
man didn’t know a thing about God.

I swear I had to listen to
that rubbish for three hours. Mr. Lambert didn’t actually say
anything important. He just went on and on about how the Elementals
would soon be free all thanks to our new
friend
.

Ainessa gave me a nod before Frick and
Frack came to escort me to my cell. I tried to ignore them
completely, but just about lost it when Frack slid a hand down my
arm. I glared at him until I realized there was nothing stopping
these men from assaulting me.

Frick shoved me through my door then
slammed it shut. If I had known what would happen next, I would
have begged him to kill me.

I was on my cot, staring at the ceiling
imagining the water-spots were clouds. I hadn’t been outside in
over ten days, and I was beginning to really feel it.

Keys jangled in the hall. I knew who it
was before she peeked through the door. Lacey was the only one that
gave me any warning that she was coming.

I smiled at her. I had hoped she would
be the one to come get me today. I had given up trying to escape
weeks ago. Every time I had, I had been punished. At first it was
small things like refusing to feed me for a day but it soon morphed
into a horrible beating.

I would have been fine if I had been
the one to feel the sting of the whip, but they didn’t want to
disrupt my fragile state. Instead, they picked a random girl to
beat within an inch of her life. She had faced it bravely. I
watched her the entire time flinching with every blow. To make
matters worse, it was an Elemental that inflicted the
punishment.

Her name was May. Even if she hadn’t
told me in no uncertain terms that she wished I was dead, I would
have known she hated me. It wasn’t the outright glaring that she
did whenever she saw me. It was more in the way her fingers would
curl at the sight of me as if she was just counting the days until
she could get them around my throat.

It had only taken one beating for me to
do as I was told. I couldn’t bear to think I was the cause of
someone else’s pain.

Lacey set my tray on the side table and
watched amusedly as I dug in. I was beginning to wonder if Gibbit’s
cure for being fae-nipped was only temporary. I couldn’t get enough
to eat lately.

“
Better slow down. You’re
going to make yourself sick.”

I smiled. “Maybe this time I’ll get
lucky and hit my target.”

She didn’t laugh. She never did. I
could see the light of amusement in her eyes, but if I hadn’t been
directly in front of her I would have never known. I had begun
wondering if the room was bugged.

“
We have a few minutes. Good
luck today, by the way.”

Her tone belied her expression. She had
said it like she meant it, but looking at her now, she was
worried.

“
Thanks,” I said to play
along.

I had listened to Mr. Lambert’s
rhetoric without so much as one eye-roll even though I was aching
for a good one. I had pretended to consider everything I was told
when in reality I was seething inside.

Luke had been right. The Order had been
stealing the strongest Elementals for decades. The experiments
never stopped like Zach thought they had either. Ten girls at the
compound were pregnant with enhanced embryos. I’d been told they
had more at other facilities. They never kept all the Elementals in
one place just in case the fae found one of the compounds. They had
developed a small army of soldiers. Progress was slow though
because most often the fetus would die at around six months. They
were hoping to make a true male Elemental and not just a super
human now that they had me to use as a guinea pig.

I had been astounded to learn that
Roger was one of them. He was impervious to illness and most
injuries. The only way to kill a hybrid—my term—was decapitation.
Even an armor-piercing bullet through the heart wouldn’t stop him.
His tissues would regenerate before any real damage could be done.
At this point they were guessing that his kind would live thousands
of years, no problem. They also would never look old.

Hybrid cells didn’t degenerate. I was
beginning to wonder if they had managed to create an immortal, but
I would likely never know.

“
Hey,” said Lacey, bringing
me out of my contemplation. “Roger said you’d be released tonight
if it didn’t take.”

My heart fluttered at the thought. Even
being able to walk around the compound sounded great after having
been locked up for so long. I was moments away from finding out if
I was pregnant. I still couldn’t believe it was possible. I hadn’t
been conscious during any of the procedures so it didn’t exactly
seem real. I was determined to keep a good attitude. “Will you come
find me and show me around after…?” I couldn’t make myself finish
the sentence.

Frick poked his head through the
doorway. I still didn’t know his name because I had never cared to
ask. He gave a glare to Lacey who scurried out of the room with a
“Later,” shot over her shoulder. So much for having her
support.

Chapter Twenty

I rose to my feet and followed him down
the hall. I stepped to the side of him because I couldn’t stand
smelling his BO. I was convinced he had never even heard of
deodorant.

Although, to be honest, I probably
didn’t smell much better. They hadn’t given me anything but soap to
wash with. And all I had was the little sink in my cell. I’d done
the best with what I had to work with, but I couldn’t really get
all that clean. They were trying to break me, but it hadn’t worked
yet.

My muscles were stiff and I had a hard
time keeping up with him, but I managed. He wasn’t much of a
talker. He mostly just did his job. I couldn’t say the same thing
about Frack. He was horrible. More than once I had had to deal with
him accidentally touching me in places he shouldn’t. I had
complained to Ainessa who only laughed at me.

The more I thought about her, the more
anger stalled in my throat. I couldn’t believe how evil that woman
was. Forget about what she was doing to me. I meant nothing to her,
but she was letting some faceless monster devour Zach’s energy on a
regular basis and seemed more than happy to do it.

The only thing roaming around my mind
right now was a big fat—why. Zach had told me that he refused to do
something she wanted him to do, but that hardly seemed to justify
this sort of punishment. Even if Gibbit was right and Zach threw
away a chance at the fae throne, it was no reason to torture him
like that. I had only been exposed to that creature for a few
minutes at most, and I felt as though my body had been beaten
afterward.

When it had touched me, my first
response had been to fight. Was there a way to fight something like
that? I had to find out if I was going to get Zach and Luke out of
here. I still had no idea what they had done with Luke. I hadn’t
seen him and no one would tell me where he was. Not so with Zach. I
got regular reports from Ainessa about how badly he was faring. I
took it all without comment trying to make her think she had beaten
me, but I wasn’t about to give up now. I hadn’t come here to be
defeated.

Knowing they were on the island with me
strangely gave me a semblance of peace. I hadn’t been able to
contact either of them through my dreams. I felt as if my power was
behind a locked door that had no key. I could still feel the
elements. A time or two, I had even imagined that I saw the
pinpricks of light swirling around me, but the reality was I
couldn’t access them. Something was blocking me.

Frick opened the door as if he were a
gentleman and waited for me to walk through. I had this room
memorized by now. Over in the far corner was where they kept the
sharp instruments. Most everything was locked up, but that cabinet
wasn’t. I wondered why. It would have been so easy for me to slip a
scalpel into my pants or to use one on my wrists.

Who was I kidding? They knew me better
than I thought they should.

Mr. Lambert probably told them that I
hated the sight of blood. I get woozy and nearly puke just thinking
about it. I hated that he knew so much about me. He’d had years to
study me to find out what motivated me and what made me depressed.
He had been the father I never had and now I was paying for
it.

How could he think I would be fine with
this? He probably didn’t care.

No. He cared about me. I knew he did.
It was why he had disappeared when they did the procedure. He
couldn’t stand to watch me go through this. I was sure it was
easier for him to get a progress report than to have to face me
every day.

Then there was Roger. I had thought him
a sadist back at school, but if that were really the case, he would
be here now gloating over all the power the Order held over me. I
had been told that they were going to inseminate me twice and if it
didn’t take, they would try the old-fashioned route.

I didn’t care what Roger thought was
going to happen. I was not marrying him. I was not going to sleep
with him. Period. Death would be preferable. I just wished I had
that specific out as an option with him.

I needed to work on a plan, but what
could I do in a ten by ten cell that had no windows. The more time
I spent in that small room, the smaller it seemed. Every time the
door shut I began to panic a little bit. Exactly how long did they
plan on leaving me in that horrible cell?

Sophia stepped through the door grim
faced. I just wished I knew if it was because she was about to give
me the worst news of my life or if I would be in it for another
round.

Grace had once told me that the fun of
sex wasn’t worth the responsibility of having a baby. I wouldn’t
know much about that. All I knew was I didn’t feel ready to be a
mother.

Sophia pulled up a chair and took one
of my hands into hers. “I had hoped to make this a relatively
painless experience for you. I’m sorry to have to tell you I
failed.”

“
You mean I’m not…” I
couldn’t even say the word. Luckily I didn’t have to.

She shook her head gravely and walked
out the door. I hadn’t even been able to ask her when the next
round would start.

Frick came into the room, and I
obediently followed him through the corridors with a new lightness
in my step. I stopped at my room, but he just kept going. I glanced
at the tidy cot. It could really use some new linen.

What was I doing? I sped up to catch
him. I wasn’t used to physical exertion anymore so my lungs hurt
with the effort.

He opened the outside door and paused
for me to step through. I glanced at him as I walked past. He had
an odd expression on his face as if he knew something that would
make me the most miserable person alive. I shrugged it off and
jumped when the door thudded closed behind me.

I glanced around, but I was alone. Were
they testing me? Was someone waiting in the shadows to jump me the
moment I made for the exit? I felt like a caged animal that had
just been set free.