H.U.M.A.N.S (The Veiled World Book 1) (22 page)

Chapter 32

She
was curled into a ball underneath the cot that I had set up for her. The blanket and pillow remained untouched. I drank a healthy glass of Nocturna blood to start my day and as far as I could tell, that was enough to last me about two days full of enhanced supernatural strength and vitality. I had taken my time, stopping to do other things around my apartment and the bar before heading down to check on her on purpose.

She didn’t even stir when I crossed the small room to sit down on a crate in front of the make-shift cell.

“Morning.” I spoke first anyway.

She remained still and silent.

Was she even breathing? I watched her for a few minutes.

She was.

“I’ve got breakfast coming but how much you get depends on how much information you’re willing to tell.”

Silence.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?”

She stirred slightly but her face still remained covered by her hands. I was beginning to wonder if maybe she was weak from hunger and thirst or something.

The door suddenly opened and footsteps were slowly descending the wooden steps.

I turned and quickly stood up.

Gage’s scent was beginning to become a familiar and pleasing thing to me long before even seeing him appear.

That was fast. He had already changed, fresh, clean, and gorgeous as always.

“The others are about to dock at the pier.” He said to me, heading straight for the pile of crates and grabbing one to sit on.

He gingerly placed it in front of the cell and sat down, watching her for a moment with a callous disregard before speaking.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. The gateway that you came through is still open and we’re setting up to close it as I speak. No one cares why you came or why you’re running away, let alone what you can do, or what shitty family you spawned from. You’ll more than likely be dead before they even figure out where to start looking, so whatever you’re trying to prove or do won’t matter to anyone else but you. You are going to be tossed back through it like last week’s trash and quite frankly, no one gives a damn where the hell you end up. Once you’re through, the gateway will be swiftly closed right behind you, permanently. 

I’m sure you obviously don’t care about what I’m saying but you can hear me, so I’ll offer you a brief run-down on just one of your possible fates —aside from the fact that where you end up will already be a very risky crap shoot as it is. There are many powerful and waiting rogue elementals who could take you down faster than you can even begin to pull together enough energy to invoke your power. They would love nothing more than to strip you of your ability and add you to their sex slave harems.  Now at this point, you can either start talking or you can lay there and play martyr like an idiot. Your bratty silence isn’t hurting anyone but you because you’re more of a useless burden that anything else. And if you don’t think we’ll be able to get you there and follow through with it, let me remind you that you were knocked out cold once before, got it?”

My mouth fell and I was speechless.

Gage was smooth but very hardcore, point-blank, and extremely firm. Nothing about his speech seemed rehearsed and I almost expected him to pull her out and start slapping her around too so she’d know that he meant business.

Yeah, he’s definitely done this many times before.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Did I want to know more about what kind of a ruler Gage was and just why he was so well-known? Well-known for what exactly?

Hearing him curse was shocking because it just seemed so out of place from his normal demeanor and way of speaking. Any other young girl probably would have started crying right off the bat but she didn’t. In fact, she didn’t even look up to see who was talking shit to her at all.

My first instinct had been to stop him because he was being way too harsh but I couldn’t even interject.

Seeing that she still didn’t respond I shoved him on the shoulder and mouthed, ‘
Can I talk to you up there?
’ I thumbed towards the top of the stairs.

He was nonchalant and his expression was calm when he got up and followed me up the stairs.

I crossed my arms over my chest and whispered. “That was not the direction I was trying to go. You were a bit harsh there.”

He arched a brow. “Harsh? I was being nice. I took her youth and being female into consideration.”

I looked at him incredulously.

“If anything, now I know she won’t talk. She wanted to leave anyway. That’s not a threat.”

Gage smirked. “I know the type,” He leaned in close to my ear just in case she was listening. “I wasn’t the only one bluffing. If she had somewhere to go, she wouldn’t have followed you out here. If my assumptions and instincts don’t fail me…and they generally never have in situations like this, you’ll get more than her name out of her in the next ten minutes.”

Gage had a good point. I hadn’t thought of that.

I exhaled through my nose. He was confident about himself that was for sure.

“Cole brought back some blood from the local blood bank. Will you bring back a cup and tell him that I’ll be right up?”

“Sure. And do not let her think that I was bullshitting about anything I said.” He warned softly in my ear.

“So you weren’t?” I joked.

“It’s a convenient and doable option if you don’t plan to kill her.”

I nodded.

Once Gage left the cellar, I paused in thought before stepping silently back down to see if she had at least moved since Gage and I had been out of her line of vision.

She had.

She was sitting up with her legs tucked under her, looking innocent and wide-eyed now.

The shine in her magenta eyes had dulled and her skin looked pallid and paler than normal, coated with a thin sheen of sweat that made her glisten under the soft lighting.

Dark circles rimmed the lower part of her eyes and with my infrared vision, I could see that she was definitely hungry.

I suppose that might be more of a motivation than Gage’s threatening speech.

I didn’t speak, choosing to remain silent when I fixed her with a hard glare.

Her hair was both tousled and matted in some spots and she licked her lips several times. They were dry and crusted either from hunger or the salt water of the ocean. I felt a bit sorry for her, she was still in her briny, damp clothing.

The feel of wet, dirty clothes would have been more than enough torture for me if I had been the one imprisoned.

The hum of the air conditioner filled the silence before she finally looked up at me.

“Nailah is my name. Please, I’ll do anything ... just don’t put me back into the gateway. I may not survive and I don’t want to die.” She whispered with a haunted pleading in her eyes.

I’ll be damned. Gage knew exactly what he was doing and it worked.

I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees.

“No? I figured that wouldn’t be an option for you considering that you want to survive for whoever it was that gave you those charms on your necklace. I’m willing to bet that person was human too.” I nodded at the chain around her neck.

This time her thin brows rose. She didn’t see that one coming.

She stared at me in awe, searching my face for some sort of explanation of how I could have known that. The chains around her wrists clanked as her hand slowly rose and she fingered the small charms with a distant look in her eyes.

“It doesn’t matter, he’s not the only reason why.” She replied slowly. Her eyes turned down and she was staring at the ground in front of her.

Ah. So it’s all making some sort of sense to me now.

Good old fashion women’s intuition. Dramatic actions of this magnitude were almost always over a guy. I was beginning to formulate my own ideas on why she was really running away from her home.

“So tell me the other reasons then.” I straightened and shifted on the crate to get comfortable.

She didn’t answer me right away. Then she looked up and glanced in the direction of the steps before turning her eyes back to mine.

“Was he serious about all of that? Throwing me back into the gateway?”

“They’re all waiting for me to give the word.”

She sighed.

“I can’t go back home. I’d rather die than have to go back.” She whispered, slowly shaking her head no. It seemed as if she had temporarily drifted off into some other thought or memory when she said that.

“Well, you definitely can’t stay here and you owe me a new Quadski.” I was serious about that when I pointed an index finger at her.

She seemed stunned and hurt by my words.

“But…I have nowhere else to go.”

Her fiery, bratty confidence had done a complete three sixty switch and I could see that she was genuinely scared about what lie ahead for her. It was something she hadn’t thought through before escaping or whatever it was she did.

The door opened at the top of the stairs and I turned to see Cole, Isis, and Clee heading down.

Cole held a small cup in his hands, handing it off to me once he came over to stand beside me with his hands on his hips, watching her.

“Well?” he asked.

“We’re making some progress.”

“What’s your plan?”

Nailah pinned a worried gaze on me, begging me to have mercy on her as she anxiously awaited my response.

“Are we about ready to close that portal?” I asked him.

“We’ve got a plan in place but it will require Marq if you can get in touch with him and his sister.” Clee said.

“It’s going to require all of us.” Isis added.

I nodded.

Nailah’s eyes traveled over everyone innocently as if she were trying to figure out what each of their powers were. Then she looked at Cole, alternating her eyes between me and him several times before a slight pleasant smile briefly appeared on her lips.

“Is Gage still here?” I asked Isis.

“He and Erian are engaged in a deep, very scientific discussion full of words that made my head spin and eyes cross about both of your conditions.”

“Okay. Can you guys give me another minute? I’ll be up shortly.”

“Hopefully with a decision, right?” Cole asked me.

I saw Nailah shift and her eyes widened when she looked at me again.

“Yep.” I nodded without giving her any clue or idea as to what my decision would possibly be.

“Cool. Make it quick. We’ve got to get started soon.” Cole said. He and Clee headed back up the steps but Isis lingered a bit longer, studying Nailah.

“Seems like you’ve toned down a bit.”

Nailah simply looked at her.

“Isis, we’ve got morning customers and food and drinks to start serving.” I reminded her quickly, stopping her before she ruined the fact that I had Nailah right where I wanted her.

“I’m going. Noemi has some news too.” She then said quickly as she retreated.

Excellent. I wanted to know a little more about Nailah before ultimately deciding anything.

Once Isis closed the door behind her I held the cup up to my nose. I could tell that Nailah was curious about what was in it too.

Hmm, human blood still did nothing for me.

I stood up and handed her the cup.

“Here. It’s all you’re going to get for now.”

She tilted her head slightly and leaned forward, sniffing the contents, and then she frowned.

“It isn’t as fresh and warm as drinking it straight from a human but it’ll sustain you for now. This isn’t the time to be choosey because I could care less whether you eat or not.”

“I don’t drink human blood.” She replied firmly.

This time I was confused.

“What do you mean, you don’t drink human blood? What, are you one of those new-aged, hippie Nocturna who only drinks animal blood? The feed isn’t something you can help.”

“Yes, it is. Nocturnas need the proteins, iron, and vitamin D components found in both human and animal blood. We need it because we lack that ability to produce and maintain those amino acids in our own systems. It’s one of the main reasons that we can’t withstand ultraviolet light and sun. I used to drink only from animals until I realized that simply drinking organic protein shakes and taking vitamin D and iron supplements gives me what I need and it completely satiates the thirst.”

I was stunned. Was she serious? If so, this was a major revelation.

“Then why do Nocturna still drink from humans and other beings? You can get those nutrients from regular organic foods too.”