Frost Fire (Tortured Elements) (26 page)

Drake backed up a few steps, so that his back was to the flipped hood of the truck. Something warm trickled over his knuckle, and he glanced down to find his black blood seeping out of his tightly clenched fist. He must have punctured his palm with his fingernails. Or at least that was his best guess, because he felt no pain to confirm it.

He glanced around, taking in the ruined truck and the red Hummer rammed into its side. The Hummer’s door was still open, and Drake could picture Dad leaping out of the vehicle right before it impacted his truck. Because Dad was brave enough to do something like that. Or maybe he was crazy enough.

“Drake.”

Drake whirled around at the sound of his name. Dad stood there, just feet in front of him. He looked the way he always did: a carbon-copy of Drake, only he appeared about twenty years older. Or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe Drake was the carbon-copy of Dad.

Drake tried to extend his claws, but nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. Drake gasped in a breath, but it just made him dizzy. He’d forgotten to shape-shift. He was still in his human form and facing Dad. He was as good as dead.

And the girl was, too.

Dad laughed and slowly shook his head. “Are you really going to try to fight me in that form, Drake?”

Drake stumbled back a step. He took a deep breath and prepared to shape-shift. But then Dad made a tsking noise, and Drake froze. He knew that noise all too well. It meant he was doing something wrong. Something stupid.

“Think for a moment, Drake,” Dad said. “It’ll take you at least four seconds to completely shift.” He nodded to the truck. “That’s plenty of time for me to hurt your little friend in there.”

Drake shook his head. Some of his hair flew into his eyes, and he brushed it away. But not without remembering that Dad didn’t like it when he kept his hair shaggy like this.

“Well?” Dad said. He spread his arms wide, in a questioning gesture. “Aren’t you going to say something to me? You haven’t seen me in years, you know.”

“Don’t hurt her,” Drake whispered. He winced, hating how weak he sounded. But he couldn’t bring himself to speak any louder.

Dad chuckled. “Hurt her? No, I won’t do that. Not if you listen closely to me.”

“You just crashed a Hummer into her!” Drake said, his voice a little stronger.

Dad shrugged. “I wanted your truck out of commission. And she’ll just heal if she was injured. She’s a Caedes.”

Drake swallowed hard, but couldn’t protest. Dad was right; she would heal. That deep gash on her palm had healed within hours after the gas-station incident. Any injuries she’d received from Dad’s vehicle wouldn’t be long-term.

That didn’t make him any less angry.

Dad smirked. “Don’t look at me like that, Drake. I’m here for your own good.” He took a step toward Drake, and then another. Drake was frozen, his legs shaking and too heavy to move. Dad roughly grabbed Drake’s chin and forced it up, so that their eyes met. That was the one other thing that made them look different: Dad was taller.

There was nothing in Dad’s eyes. Brutal cunning, maybe. But, other than that, they were empty.

Drake tried to looked down as that relentless question struck him again. It was the question he’d wondered about since he was little, the one that hadn’t stopped haunting him since he’d first thought about it: Were those empty eyes the ones Allai saw when she looked at him? Did he have Dad’s eyes, and just lack the emotions to see it?

“Look at me, Drake,” Dad said.

His breath was hot on Drake’s face, and he flinched away from it. But he did what Dad said to do; he looked back up until their eyes met.

“Shieldak has spread a warning about that girl,” Dad said, nodding toward the truck. “She’s an Empath.”

“She hasn’t done anything wrong,” Drake replied.

“I’m not here to discuss morals, Drake,” Dad said. “I’m here to give you a choice.”

Drake tried to jerk out of his grip, but Dad refused to let go. His fingers dug deeper into Drake’s flesh until he stopped struggling. “What kind of choice are you talking about?” Drake demanded between gritted teeth.

“It’s not a simple one,” Dad said. “But I suppose I’ll sum it up simply. Your first option is to give me that girl and let me dispose of her. Maybe I’ll even let you do it. You’d probably kill her in a less painful way than I would.”

Drake swung his fist up at Dad. He aimed right for the jaw—the perfect uppercut, just like Dad had taught him. But Dad simply snatched his fist out of the air and twisted Drake’s arm behind his back. Pain tore through Drake’s shoulder, and he knew his joint would dislocate with just a little more pressure. But he was almost glad for the sensation. Because, with his arm twisted back like that, he couldn’t look up into Dad’s eyes anymore.

“Your other option,” Dad continued, “is to let that girl go to Flacks. He’ll take her back in, of course. He’ll probably even claim that he loves her. And then he’ll abuse her powers so that she’ll be nothing but a pawn, a murderer, and a mere shell of herself.”

Drake closed his eyes for a moment and pictured that scenario playing out. All he could see was Allai staring at him with Dad’s empty gaze. “That’s not true,” Drake hissed. “That wouldn’t happen.”

“Flacks has been waiting for centuries for an Empath to be born. He wants the power of one. He thinks he
needs
it. Why do you think I stole that girl away from him? Even before I knew she was an Empath, I knew she was too powerful for Flacks’s own good. He would have destroyed himself and everything surrounding him if he had full access to her powers.”

“You only stole her because
you
wanted her powers,” Drake spat.

Dad chuckled. “I’ll admit, I wanted them. I didn’t know what she was at the time, but I knew she was powerful. I thought I could use her. But now I know that I can’t, Drake. She’s an Empath. She’s simply too powerful, and she needs to be destroyed before she does irreversible damage.”

Drake couldn’t feel the pain in his shoulder anymore. At first he thought he’d just lost circulation, but then he realized he couldn’t feel his entire body. Everything was numb. “I won’t let you hurt her,” Drake whispered.

“Like I said, I didn’t come here to hurt her. Not unless you ask me to. Because you’d never forgive me for killing her, would you? And, you see, I need you to forgive me. You’re nearly as powerful as she is, Drake. You might even be more powerful, in a few years. But you’re a type of power I can control.”

“I’m not that powerful,” Drake said.

Dad twisted around Drake’s wrist, so he had to stare at his palm and the bloody fingernail marks there. “Your blood is black,” Dad said. “You’re destined to be one of the most powerful Demons ever to live. And I know about your Mage abilities. You didn’t hide them well enough, Drake. You can do so much more than you say.”

Drake took a shuddering breath and closed his eyes. “You’re never going to control me.”

“I already have, and I will again. That’s why I won’t kill the girl until you ask. I’ll give you some more time with her and let you watch Flacks destroy her soul. I’ll give you the time you need to forgive me and need me again. And when you realize I’ve been right all along, and that the girl is in misery, you’ll come running to me to make me put an end to it. You won’t be strong enough to do it yourself. I know you well enough to be sure of that.”

Dad was right about that: Drake would never be able to harm Allai. Maybe all the rest of what Dad said was crazy, but that one thing was right. Drake wouldn’t hurt her. He
couldn’t
hurt her.

And he wasn’t sure if he could stand to watch someone else harm her.

Dad let go of Drake’s arm and patted him on the shoulder. “I may despise you, Drake, but I still need you to need me. And you will, someday. If you chose not to let me kill that girl now, you’ll need me to do it later.”

Drake straightened and looked right at Dad. “Her name is Allai,” he said. “Not ‘that girl’. And I won’t let you touch her. Ever.”

“I take it you’ve decided on the second option, then.” Dad slowly shook his head, and a smirk formed on his lips. “You’ll regret it soon, Drake. Flacks won’t wait long before he destroys her.”

Footsteps came from behind him. Drake’s heart raced, and his hand clenched into an even tighter fist. Dad had brought back up? He swallowed back a growl at the unfairness of it all.

Then he realized how unsteady the footsteps were. And how light. He whirled around, not caring that he was exposing his back to Dad.

Allai stood in front of him, but she wasn’t looking at Drake. She was looking at Dad, her eyes trailing over him and taking him in. She stopped when she reached Dad’s face, and their eyes met. Allai stared for a long moment, and Dad stared back. Drake held his breath and braced himself, waiting for Dad to make a move.

But he didn’t. Dad just slowly shook his head back and forth, a small smirk forming on his lips. Allai didn’t flinch. She just kept staring right at him, her knees shaking with fatigue and her chest heaving as she struggled to breath.

Drake turned back toward Dad to watch him more closely. He’d strike soon. He had to. Dad had a lot of things, but patience wasn’t one of them. And his target was right in front of him.

Drake edged toward Allai. He nearly tripped over his own legs, but he righted himself just as he reached her side, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, and he could feel her icy skin and the shivers wracking her body. But she never broke eye contact with Dad.

“You’re Rhaize,” Allai said. Her voice was hoarse and scratchy, but somehow it still sounded strong.

Dad gave her an ice-cold smile. “Yes. That’s me.”

She took a shuddering breath and straightened a little. “Get away from us. Now. Or else.”

Dad chuckled. “Or else? Or else what?”

“She’s a Caedes,” Drake said quietly. Then he looked up so that his eyes also met Dad’s. “And I have black blood. It’s a fair fight.
That’s
the or else.”

Dad raised his eyebrows in vague amusement. “You’re saying you’d kill me? Me, your father?”

Drake took a deep breath. “A real father would never have killed the mother of his son.”

“You know her death wasn’t my fault. I had no choice,” Dad said. He gestured toward Drake. “And you know who the
real
killer is.”

Drake’s stomach did a flip. His heart beat faster, and he could feel it all threatening to come back, to overwhelm him. The memory of the blood, the body, the tears and the running. But closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed back the emotions. Then he said, “Of course I know who the killer is. It’s you.”

“Go,” Allai said to Dad. She pointed with a shaking hand off toward where the fog met the road. “Get out of here.”

Dad smiled at them both and let out a short laugh. “You both think you’re quite brave, don’t you?” He shook his head. “But you’re just stupid.”

Before Drake could react, Dad lunged toward Allai. Drake yelled something. Or maybe it was closer to a scream. Whatever it was, it didn’t do anything to help. Allai collapsed, and Dad stood over her crumpled body, his hand clenched into a fist.

“What did you do?” Drake whispered. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t think.

“Nothing,” Dad replied. He stared down at Allai with an appraising look. “You should probably get her some help soon, if you really want her to live. She doesn’t have long.”

Drake kneeled down next to Allai. His instincts screamed at him not to; it was a vulnerable position, and he was practically asking for death. But he didn’t care. He needed to see if she was okay.

Allai lay on the ground, her breaths shallow and her body limp. She was struggling to look at him, her eyelids fluttering open and closed. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

What would she be sorry for? She hadn’t done anything wrong. She’d
never
done anything wrong.

He took a few desperate moments to look Allai over, to brush the back of his hand across her cheek. But he found no injuries on her. Dad wasn’t lying; he hadn’t done anything to her. She must have fallen out of pure exhaustion.

So then why had Dad lunged at her? And why was Allai apologizing?

He looked up at Dad, the questions threatening to burst from him. Then he saw Dad’s hand, still balled into a tight fist. Dangling from his clenched fingers was Allai’s lockgem, the chain broken and the stone swaying back and forth.

Dad must have torn the lockgem away from Allai. That’s what she was apologizing for. Because now Dad held Drake’s life.

Dad lifted the lockgem so that its polished surface was level with his eyes. He examined it for a long moment, his lip curling into a smirk. “Someone bound you to her,” he said.

Drake opened his mouth to deny it, but then he felt the weight of his own lockgem hanging around his neck. He couldn’t lie to Dad. The truth was already obvious.

“A lockgem,” Dad said, slowly shaking his head. “Whoever bound the two of you should have known better. They’re such…
fickle
devices.” He let the stone turn slightly, until its red veins of color caught the faded light of the sun.

“Jog my memory Drake,” Dad continued. His voice grew more mocking with each word. “How do these lockgems work? The matching stones can be used by anyone, can’t they? So all I have to do is crush this stone…” His other hand moved to close around the lockgem. Drake flinched. “…and you die. Right?”

Drake nodded. He couldn’t help it; when Dad asked a question, he answered. Period. Especially when Dad was holding the lockgem that could kill him in an instant.

Dad chuckled at Drake’s reaction, and then slipped the matching lockgem into his pocket. Just like that. It happened so unceremoniously that Drake almost didn’t believe it was happening. His life was in Dad’s hands now. Or rather, his pocket.

“In that case, I’ll keep this lockgem,” Dad said. “And I’ll give you three months to make up your mind. You either decide that girl is better off dead and come back to work for me.” Dad patted his pocket and smiled. “Or you die.”

Dad didn’t wait for a response, and Drake didn’t bother giving one. He didn’t think he could have if he tried. He was frozen.