Misfits, Inc. (19 page)

She felt her cheeks redden even more than they had
from his first comment.  She gently cleared her throat and turned away from
him, hiding her embarrassment.

“I guess there’s no keeping secrets from you.”

“Not the big ones.”  He poured some coffee into a
mug and glanced at her several times.  “Something’s on your mind.”

She approached the counter and casually leaned on
it.  “Rafe and I met in a dream.”

“I know,” Skyler replied while sipping his coffee. 
He immediately grimaced and looked at the dark liquid.  “Where did he learn to
make coffee?  This sucks.”

“No, Skyler,” Hailey announced firmly while
straightening.  “Rafe and I--”  She hesitated.  “I dreamt I had sex with a man
in a pond by a tropical waterfall.  That man was Rafe.  He had the same dream. 
How is that possible?”

Skyler stared at her with surprise on his face. 
“It’s not.  Only your Numinous can visit you in your dreams.  The only time
you’d ever met the others was through me.  I bridged your dreams.”

“Could you have bridged the dream I had with Rafe?”

He frowned and vigorously shook his head.  “I’d
never do that.  You knew how I felt about him.  I certainly wouldn’t arrange a
hook-up between the two of you.”

“I’m telling you, Skyler,” she announced firmly and
with some irritation.  “It happened.”

“Well, I disagree,” he replied.  “He’d have to be
your Numinous, and that position has been filled.”

She sank deep into thought and muttered, “Or
someone else’s Numinous.”

“It’s not as if there’s a surplus of Numina,
Hailey,” he informed her and seemed irritated at the suggestion.

Hailey knew she had successfully offended him, but
she couldn’t resist teasing him over his last comment.

“Numina?” she questioned with a giggle.

“What?” he announced boldly.  “It’s a word.”

O
nly a few minutes had
passed before Hailey and Skyler joined Mel and Lucinda in the penthouse suite. 
Having given her boss the shortened version of last night’s events, Lucinda sat
with Mel on the plush sofa and stared at Hailey and Skyler.  She was obviously
stunned by what her assistant was telling her about her trusted head of
security.  It was at that moment that Hailey realized how insane it sounded. 
She was glad she didn’t mention the enormous creatures with claws and fangs
terrorizing the resort.  Lucinda was having a difficult enough time with the
cute and fuzzy version.  Her neatly crossed leg swung back and forth as if
indicating her reaction to the revelation.

“Marcus?  A killer?” Lucinda gasped and was unable
to blink while staring at Hailey.  “Are you sure?”

“He abducted Mel last night and tried to kill us,”
Hailey reminded her.

Mel nodded in agreement.  Lucinda shook her head
until she was finally able to blink after the shock.  She fumbled a moment with
her thoughts and had to force her leg to stop moving by placing her hand on her
own knee.  Once it sank in, her hostility erupted in true Lucinda fashion.

“I’ll have Delaney detain him immediately,” Lucinda
announced and reached for the phone on the end table.

“He’s extremely dangerous,” Hailey offered before
she could reach the phone, verbally stopping Lucinda.  “We thought it best if
Rafe took him down quietly.”

Lucinda stared at her as if not even hearing the
comment at first.  She suddenly appeared enthusiastic and almost relieved by
the suggestion.

“Oh, yes.  Of course.  Rafe,” she chirped.  “That’s
an excellent idea!”  Lucinda finally seemed to relax after her shock and
reverted back into ‘boss mode’.  She casually leaned back on the sofa and
dramatically held her head.  “Once this storm passes, we’re leaving,” she
announced firmly then looked back at Hailey.  “Hailey, would you get my
briefcase in the bedroom?  I don’t want that contract out of my sight.”

Hailey nodded and headed across the suite for the
nearby bedroom.  Skyler suddenly touched his temples as if in pain then looked
at Hailey as she approached the open bedroom doorway.  Skyler’s eyes widened
with alarm.

“Hailey!”

Hailey looked back at Skyler with surprise.  Marcus
appeared in the bedroom doorway and hit Hailey on the head with his gun,
dropping her to the floor.  Skyler lunged forward without a plan.  Marcus
turned toward him with his gun aimed.  The white tiger leaped out of the
bedroom and tackled Marcus.  Marcus fired several rounds at the tiger as they
fell to the floor together.  The tiger took multiple shots, blood streaking its
white coat, and fell limp on top of Marcus.  He pushed the dead tiger off him. 
Skyler grabbed the fire poker and lunged for Marcus as he started to stand. 
Marcus sprang to his feet and aimed the gun at Skyler.  Mel cried out and grabbed
Marcus’s arm as the gun fired and narrowly missed Skyler, who instinctively
ducked.  Marcus shoved Mel backwards and into Lucinda, who had been leaping to
her feet.  Marcus turned for Skyler as he swung the fire poker and caught it in
his bare hand.  He punched Skyler in the face and then kicked him in the
chest.  Skyler flew backwards, fell onto the coffee table, and smashed it
beneath his weight.  Two creatures suddenly leaped from the bedroom, stopped on
cue, and snarled at the women.  Lucinda clung to Mel as both women screamed.

Marcus shook his head with disgust, although he
seemed humored by the situation.  “I don’t know why you people insist on
fighting battles you can’t win,” he announced.

Skyler groaned as he slowly rolled onto his back
alongside the broken coffee table.  Marcus approached Hailey, who remained
unconscious on the floor, and then casually eyed the frightened women.

“Fortunately for you two, I’m more interested in
this one,” he remarked.

Skyler slowly sat up while holding his bleeding
temple and glared at Marcus several feet away.  Skyler’s fixated look was
hateful despite his obvious pain.

“You stay away from her,” he growled lowly as he
weakly moved onto his knees.

“Don’t worry about your little friend,” Marcus
announced and then flashed a devious smile.  “I need her alive.  You, on the
other hand--”

Marcus motioned the creatures to attack Skyler. 
The beasts snarled and lunged for him.  Mel and Lucinda screamed while clinging
to each other.  The room suddenly vibrated.  Skyler cast his bloody hand toward
the lunging beasts.  Both creatures were violently hurled backwards and crashed
through the glass balcony doors.  All eyes were on Skyler.  He slowly stood,
transfixed on Marcus, as the room continued to vibrate with his rising anger.

“I
said
stay away from her!”

Marcus showed concern for the first time.  His
arrogance quickly returned as he aimed his gun at Skyler.  The gun trembled in
his hand, alarming the intimidating man.  A vase suddenly shattered over
Skyler’s head, and he dropped to the floor.  The room instantly became still. 
Mel screamed and looked at Lucinda, who casually tossed a small piece of the
broken vase aside.

“Enough games, Marcus,” Lucinda growled with a
sneer on her face.  “Deal with him!”

Marcus aimed his gun at Skyler on the floor.  Mel
screamed, lunged for Skyler, and shielded him as she clung to his head.  She
pinched her eyes shut as if anticipating the gunshot that was about to follow. 
Instead, there was pounding on the door, causing everyone to jump.  Lucinda and
Marcus looked at the door.

“Hailey!  Skyler!  Open up!” Logan yelled from
outside the door.

“Rafe, hurry,” Vance shouted.  “We heard gunshots
and no one’s answering!”

“Shoot them now,” Lucinda ordered in a harsh
whisper.  “We have to get out of here!”

The dead mass of white tiger twitched, concerning
both, almost as if they knew what was about to follow. 

“Get out of the way,” Rafe was heard yelling just
outside the door.

“We have what we need,” Marcus informed her.

He swiftly picked up Hailey then hurried Lucinda to
the bedroom.  As the bedroom door slammed shut, the suite door was violently
kicked open, cracking the frame.  Rafe charged into the room with his samurai
sword prepared to decapitate the first thing that moved.  Logan and Vance entered
behind him and saw Mel holding Skyler’s head to her chest from her position on
the floor.  She frantically pointed to the bedroom.

“Marcus and Lucinda took Hailey!”

Vance and Logan ran for the closed bedroom door and
attempted to bust through.  Rafe ran for the balcony, scaled the half wall, and
dropped over it.  Mel cried out with horror while clinging to Skyler’s head and
stared at the dark skies beyond the balcony.

“My God!  He jumped!”

Vance and Logan turned with surprise and hurried
for the balcony beyond the shattered glass doors.  Mounds of broken glass
crunched beneath their feet as they hurried to the half wall.  Both looked over
the balcony for signs of Rafe.  A mountain lion suddenly ran past them and
gracefully leaped over the half wall.  Vance and Logan were surprised as they
watched the massive cat jump the wall.  They hurried back inside.  Both looked
at the injured, unconscious man in Mel’s arms.

“Is he okay?” Logan asked her.

“He’s out cold, but he has a pulse, and he’s still breathing,”
she announced while fighting her tears.

“Stay with him,” Logan ordered.

Logan and Vance ran from the room as Talbert and
Brody entered through the broken door.  Both stared after the two men then
looked at Mel with the unconscious Skyler alongside the broken coffee table.

“What happened?” Talbert gasped with concern.

“He needs a doctor,” Mel quickly replied.

“The doctor is in the banquet hall with the
others,” Talbert announced as he hurried toward her.  “We’re using it as a
storm shelter until the hurricane passes.  The banquet hall is reinforced with
shatterproof windows.”

“Can we risk moving him?” Brody asked.

“He can’t stay here,” Talbert informed him.  “With
that hurricane coming, it’s too dangerous.”

The two men picked up Skyler, removing him from
Mel’s lap.  As the men carried him toward the broken door, Mel looked around
the room with concern while gently rubbing her shoulders.  She groaned with
frustration and hurried after them.

H
ailey couldn’t understand why she felt so cold, almost damp. 
Her head was pounding in rhythm with the aching in her back.  She kept hearing
Skyler’s voice talking over her, but his words made little sense.  Hailey
slowly opened her eyes and saw dozens of candles burning in the dim lighting of
the sacrificial chamber.  She then realized where she was.  Although she still
heard Skyler’s voice, she knew he wasn’t with her.  He talked as if he were
confused himself.  She then realized that something had happened to him in
Lucinda’s suite, but she wasn’t sure what became of him or Mel.  Hailey
thrashed against the newly replaced iron shackles that firmly held her wrists
and ankles to the stone altar.

Candles lined the altar, surrounding her in some
ritualistic fashion.  Hailey was almost certain she was about to find out what
happened to the men and women who had been mummified to the mineshaft walls. 
She then saw Lucinda standing alongside her.  Lucinda leaned over her with a
sympathetic smile and gently brushed the hair from her face.

“Are you okay, dear?” Lucinda softly asked.

Hailey again pulled on the shackles and felt panic
sweeping through her cold, damp body.

“We have to get out of here!”

“The door is locked,” Lucinda replied.  “I checked
already.”  She then looked around and appeared concerned.  “What is this
place?  Are we still at the resort?”

“It’s a long story,” Hailey announced and attempted
to look around.  “You have to find the keys and unlock the shackles.  We’re in
terrible danger.”

Lucinda nodded, acknowledging the danger they were
in, reassuringly patted Hailey’s arm, and then searched the dimly lit room.  As
she searched the room with one of the candles in her hand, she cast a look back
at Hailey.

“What’s going on?” Lucinda asked.  “There were
these horrible creatures--”

The events of the morning were quickly returning to
Hailey.  She remembered seeing Marcus and realized he must have knocked her
out.  She glanced at Lucinda and felt an enormous amount of concern for her
friends.

“Are Mel and Skyler okay?”

“I’m not sure,” Lucinda replied from across the
room.  “Those things brought us here.  I don’t know what happened to Mel and
Skyler.”

Hailey looked around the large chamber while
following Lucinda’s voice and the tiny glow from her candle.  Skyler was
alive.  He was still talking to her, but he didn’t know where he was and seemed
to ramble.  She was almost certain he was unconscious.  Several spirits
materialized and floated near her with Amy, Penny, and Desi among them.  She
stared at the three familiar, ghostly faces.  They whispered words that she
couldn’t understand and appeared frightened for her.  Hailey glanced across the
chamber to Lucinda’s back.  She had no signs of dirt or abrasions after
claiming she was dragged by the creatures.  Hailey looked back at the spirits
hovering around her.  They continued to whisper their concerns.  She could
still hear Skyler’s voice as he spoke incoherently.

“You should have seen the teeth on those things,”
Lucinda dramatically gasped from a far corner.

“Trust me,” Hailey muttered while tensing from the
ghostly voices, “I have.”

Hailey stared at the candles and put her effort
into concentrating.  The flames rose higher then bent toward the shackles on
her wrists and ankles.  Within seconds, the keyholes glowed bright red.  The
spirits whispered and collected around her.  Their concerns were rising, and
they appeared to be shielding her.  Within the corridor, she heard the faint
snarl of several beasts followed by sharp, shrill wails.  The corridor was
suddenly quiet.  Lucinda stared at the chamber door almost frozen then turned
toward Hailey.  Her concerned look turned back to sympathetic.  The candles
surrounding the altar were burnt down to waxy nubs.  Hailey remained shackled
and watched as Lucinda approached with a thin dagger in her hand.  A strange
smile twisted across her face.

“No keys, but I found this--” she announced and
revealed the knife.

“Is that how you killed them?”

Lucinda appeared surprised by the question then
smiled and played with the dagger almost lovingly.  She caressed the blade in a
sensual manner.

“Pity you had to be the one sent to destroy me,”
she announced with a dreary sigh.

“How do you know that?” Hailey asked with surprise
while attempting to read her expression in the dim lighting.

Lucinda’s statement was bizarre considering Hailey
didn’t even know why she was commanded to the island.  She hated that she was
the last to know everything.

“You weren’t the first,” Lucinda casually replied. 
“Your father, the Emperor, exterminated my people nearly two decades ago.  He
deemed us a threat to your society.”

Hailey stared at her while attempting to put it
together.  Strange stories were flooding her mind.  It was as if her
subconscious had been mysteriously unlocked and small parts of her young life
were returning to her.  She was only a little girl, but she remembered being
told the stories by a man, possibly her uncle.  They were bloody, merciless
stories burned into her mind.

“Your
kind
feasts on humans,” Hailey boldly
announced.  “Your
kind
destroyed my people.”

“Only the small and the weak,” she announced
gleefully in true Lucinda fashion.  Her playful smile turned angry.  “Your
father destroyed my entire family.  Only a few of us escaped.”  Her lips curved
into a scowl.  “We were only children, but he would have killed us too.”

“And with good reason.”

Lucinda became enraged by the comment.  “Enough to
sacrifice his five daughters?”

Hailey’s mind suddenly reeled from what she had
heard.  Was it true?  Did she have sisters?

“Five?” Hailey suddenly gasped.

“You had four sisters,” Lucinda informed her then
appeared humored by the irony of the situation.  “All of them with the same
gifts you have and each of them failed.”  Her twisted smile mocked Hailey. 
“They had years to prepare and develop their gifts.  They were the fail-safe, I
assume, in case his most trusted guards failed at locating us.  Unfortunately,
you just realized you were different a few days ago.  I assume because your
uncle died, you never knew the power you possessed.  If your sisters were no
match for me, how can you possibly expect to defeat me?”

Hailey felt the anger building inside her.  She’d
just found out she had four sisters and that they were dead all at the same
moment, killed by the retched woman before her.

“You killed my sisters?”

“I had to,” Lucinda replied almost innocently. 
“There are quite a few of us living on this island, and your sisters were
getting close to discovering us.  Considering you knew nothing of your powers,
it’s baffling how you and your council were drawn here.  A Numinous doesn’t
have that much power, and considering the one you’d picked, you’re lucky he
didn’t blow his brains out years ago.”  Lucinda seemed particularly pleased
with her assessment of Skyler.  “Had you known your identity, we probably could
have tracked you down around the same time we did your sisters.”

Hailey felt her entire body twitch.  The powers she
contained were rising within her.  Lucinda smiled with false sympathy and
gently brushed the hair from Hailey’s face.

“Oh, you poor thing,” she cooed.  “It was nothing
personal, I assure you.  It was them or me.  You understand.”  Her mocking
smile returned.  “They went quickly, if it’s any consolation.  Two of them met
their demise trying to find this island.  One was involved in a tragic plane
crash, and your other sister’s boat sank a mile from the island.  Your eldest
sister, the first to go, never even made it that far.  She died tragically in a
car accident with her entire council shortly after her high school
graduation.”  She appeared thoughtful.  “Not that killing one’s council really
matters.”  She looked back at Hailey and grinned.  “See, if you die, your
council loses their powers, and, in most cases, their memory of the
experience.  That’s a plus for me.  For you too,” she announced.  “If I kill you
here and now, your council wouldn’t necessarily have to die.  I know you’d take
comfort knowing that.”

“So you expect me to just let you kill me because
you’ll spare my council?”  Hailey shook her head.  “You’re delusional.  You
always have been.”

Lucinda sneered at Hailey’s scathing words.  “Bad
news, Hailey.  We’re beyond all that.  I intend to kill each one of them slowly
and with as much pain as possible.”  Her hostility returned as she paced the
altar.  “The last thing I ever wanted was one of the emperor’s daughters at my
front door.  But you’re here now, so our only option is to exterminate.  You’ve
drawn too much attention to our way of life.”  She casually pointed to the
ceiling with the dagger.  “Everyone is gathering in the banquet hall until the
hurricane passes.  The roof is conveniently going to collapse from the storm,
killing everyone.” 

Hailey’s mind reeled with the new information of a
mass slaughter.  She couldn’t allow Lucinda to get into her head.  She had to
stay focused.

Lucinda’s mood again lightened as she smiled and
became enthusiastic.  “Oh, you’ll be pleased to know that according to the
contract Brody signed, his share of the hotel reverts back to me, his new
partner, in the event of his death.  Between his investment check and the
insurance money, I’ll be back on top.”  She playfully tapped Hailey’s shoulder
with the tip of the dagger.  “Isn’t that wonderful?  I knew you’d be happy to
hear that.” 

Hailey glared at Lucinda and sharply raised her
brows.  “Aren’t you forgetting one thing?”

Lucinda thoughtfully considered the question while
tapping the tip of the dagger to her chin.  “You die, your council loses their
powers, and we crush them like bugs.”  She looked back at Hailey and grinned,
almost unable to contain her enthusiasm.  “Nope, I think I covered everything.”

The cougar suddenly leaped out of the darkness for
Lucinda.  She casually stepped out of its path, as if anticipating the arrival
of her Protector.  As it turned back for her, two beasts scurried out from
under the altar and attacked the cougar.  Lucinda turned toward Hailey and
smiled as the creatures fought with the cougar, their snarls echoing throughout
the room.

She smiled, pleased with herself.  “And that
includes your pesky Protector too.”

They heard the faint wails of creatures being slain
within the corridor.  The sounds were getting closer to the chamber.  Lucinda
seemed annoyed, although she acted as if it was a minor nuisance. 

“Your persistent council of misfits are getting
through my pets,” Lucinda remarked.  “I don’t mean to rush you, but we need to
get on with this.”  Her look turned more serious as she gazed at Hailey with a
slightly seductive look.  Her hand gently caressed her face in an almost loving
manner.  “I’m going to miss you.  I had such high hopes for a more intimate
relationship.”

Lucinda pulled her hand back while sighing
lustfully then raised the dagger above her head.  As she thrust downward with
the dagger, Hailey pulled her hands free from the shackles and caught Lucinda’s
wrists.  Having startled her former boss by freeing herself, Hailey easily
knocked the dagger from Lucinda’s hand.  Lucinda jumped back with more surprise
than anger.

Hailey quickly sat up on the altar and glared at
Lucinda.  “Actually, I never liked you.”

“How did you get free?” Lucinda gasped while
backing away from her.

“You don’t give me enough credit,” Hailey scoffed. 
“Or maybe I’m just more powerful than you’d imagined.”

The cougar grabbed one of the beasts by the throat
and tore through it.  The second beast then attacked the cougar.  It was
difficult to tell who was winning.  There was an urgent pounding against the
crudely fixed chamber door.  Hailey casually jumped off the altar and paced
before Lucinda, almost mimicking her boss’s actions.  Lucinda continued to back
away from her and toward the opposite wall.

“My misfits are knocking on your door,” Hailey
announced boldly as she cocked her head to the side.  “Aren’t you going to
answer?”

The wall suddenly opened near Lucinda and she
darted through.  Hailey cried out as she bolted for the opening, but it closed
before she reached it.  She slammed her hand against the solid stone.  The main
chamber door burst open to reveal Rafe, Logan, and Vance.  Rafe hurried to her
and examined her for injuries.

“Are you okay?” he demanded.

“I’m fine, but Lucinda got away.”

The cougar, although badly beaten, was victorious
while panting over the two dead beasts.  The cougar turned into the black cat
and jumped into Hailey’s arms.  As she held it, its injuries immediately began
to heal.  The little cat purred in response.  Hailey held the cat despite her
alarm to the impending situation. 

“They intend to kill everyone in the banquet hall
and make it look like an accident to keep their secret hidden,” Hailey informed
them.  “Skyler is unconscious, but he’s been in contact with me since he was
knocked out.  We have to get to the banquet hall and stop them.”