Missing Pieces (The Pieces Series Book 1) (12 page)

I
t’s ten and Neeko hasn’t showed up yet. Derrick knocks on the door and steps in. “Neeko told me to take you to the cruise ship and check in. He will be a little late. He will flash in later.”

“What is he doing? He has been spending a lot of time away from me,” I whine.

“He is the leader of a lot of Immortals. That takes a lot of work.”  He looks at me like it’s common knowledge.

“Oh, ok. I was just wondering if I did anything wrong.”

He shakes his head and picks up my bags, grabs my hand, and flashes us to an alley by the ship. He hands me my ticket and starts walking toward the ship. “What are you doing?”

“I have to pretend to be Neeko. He will flash in when he is done.”

I follow him to the boat and we check in. Apparently, he has a passport with his picture, but Neeko’s info. He leads me to our huge room with a tiny window.

“You have a massage scheduled for an hour.” Neeko must have scheduled it to say he is sorry for being late.

“Ok, Mr Dressel. You want to party with me before you have to go?” I say, sarcastically.

“You’re going to get me in trouble if Neeko ever hears you talk to me like that.” He winks.

I laugh. “Well, maybe you need to be spanked every now and then.”

“Ok, well...on that note, I am leaving.” He chuckles and flashes out.

Neeko

––––––––

I
have been spending too much time on levels 4 and 5, but I have to find out why they are so active. I get great pleasure out of torturing demons. I get to hear them scream just like I heard my family scream. I can still remember the way my mom’s screams sent chills to my bones on that awful day.

W
e were at our summer house. We always went there to get away as a family. We only had a few guards to protect us because there was really no need for any protection. We had a truce with the demons. My father thought there had been enough killing. We were eating lunch when one of the guards came running in. “Sir, we must get you out of here. The demons are attacking.”

“What? You must be mistaken. We have a truce with Damon.”

Suddenly, we hear a big bang and then screams. My father was too big of a man to run, and my mother wouldn’t leave him. She scoops me up and hides me in a big vent, telling my sister to run and hide. My sister runs upstairs. My mother turns to me and says, “Do not make a sound, no matter what you see or hear. Stay there and don’t move.” She kisses my forehead and closes the vent.

I can’t really see well out of the small slits in the vent. I hear my father say, “You’re not Damon. Who are you?” Then I hear my mother scream and this horrible laugh before my mom’s scream is cut off. I hear shuffling around, then my sister’s scream. Tears fall down my face, but I make no sound because I want my mom to be proud of me. I am so scared. I don’t move at all. I must have fallen asleep in the vent because when I wake up, everything is quiet...no screams or footsteps, nothing. I wait for a little longer. When I start to lift the vent, I hear someone call my name. It’s a sweet woman’s voice. I have heard it before...

I
t was Derrick’s mother. We were always back on time so when they discovered that we weren’t back yet, they came looking for us. Derrick’s mom covered my face so I didn’t see anything. I don’t know why my father didn’t fight back. I guess it was to save my mother, but it didn’t help. I was only six so I wasn’t strong enough. I hid like my mother told me to. They thought they were strong enough to take them, but there were just too many demons, I guess. If it wasn’t for Derrick and his family, I would have been killed trying to get revenge. His mom taught me to reign in my anger and apply it to things that I could change. They have killed so many Immortals that I knew and loved. I didn’t go to my parents’ and sister’s funerals because I was mad at my father for not protecting them. I lost everything that day. I will kill every demon or half-demon I can find. I despise all of them. They are vile creatures and none of them are worth saving. They will pay for what they did. I will crush them and make them wish they were never born. Damon came and gave his condolences at their funeral. He said it was
not
him who ordered it. I don’t know if I believe that or not, though.

I strap a demon down to the bed and fix his IV, which is used so that he can’t use his powers. The mixture of meds in the IV keeps them hazy. They can’t focus to use their powers, but they feel every ounce of pain I enjoy giving them. I shock him awake.

“Why are you demons so active? What does Lash have planned?” I demand.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He grins at me.

“Wrong answer.” I stare down at him, clenching my teeth.

I electroshock him again. Still no good answers. I begin to peel his skin off and rub salt in the wounds to keep them from healing too fast. Then I shock his wounds. “I’ll give you one more chance to answer, then I am going to torture you until I can’t anymore.”

Nothing. I grab my saw and begin sawing off fingers. The demon’s screams echo off the walls, sending me excessive amounts of pleasure. After I finish sawing off all the fingers on one hand, I take a hot poker and cauterize the wounds. I don’t want him to bleed out. Not yet, anyway. I start doing the same on the other hand. By the time I am done with him, he is nothing but a torso and head. However, he didn’t give me any answers and this is the tenth demon this week. Gabby is going to think I am avoiding her again, but she can’t know about the sub levels. She can’t know about my dark side. She wouldn’t understand.

The next demon is strapped and ready for me when I walk in. I carve a cross onto his chest to wake him. “Why are the demons so active? What does Lash have planned?”

“You have something we want,” his scratchy voice belts out.

Finally an answer, even though it’s vague. It’s a start, at least. “What do I have that he wants?”

“The missing piece!”

I don’t have anything like that. He must be speaking in code. “What does that mean?”

The demon just laughs. “He will get what he wants. The Oracle has told him so. You might as well just give it to him.”

“The Oracle? What is it he wants?” I am starting to get annoyed.

“By the time you find out, it will be too late.”

“What does that mean?!” I am getting angry and my face is becoming hot. I’ve had enough of this riddle. “Tell me something other than your stupid riddle, or I will torture you extra slow!”

“Torture me all you want. I was sent here to tell you what I did and nothing else. All you can do is torture me and kill me. Lash can do worse.”

Demons
can
be killed, but they just go back to hell if you don’t do it the right way. You have to burn a demon for it to stay dead; otherwise, they will just pick a new body. We have a big furnace that we throw the bodies into after we are done torturing them. I think I will enjoy burning this demon a little more than usual but, for now, I will torture him...maybe for days. He will be begging me to stop by the time I am done. I hang him on the rack...a slab with a thousand spikes coming off of it that you hang up. Gravity pulls down on the body, making the spikes cut and maim the flesh. I will hang him like this for three days before I take him down to torture him some more.

A
fter three days, he has lost a large amount of blood. We have to give him a little to keep him alive, but we mix it with salt, which burns like hell. He screams and screams, which turns me on. I may have to find Gabby after this and take care of myself. I love Gabby and my feelings are real. She is my mate and my soul’s other half, but I can never show her the pleasure I get out of torture because she would probably leave me. I can’t have that.

After we give him all the blood, I start to torture him again. We shackle him to the wall and burn the bottom of his feet. The tender flesh quickly burns and bubbles. That’s when I start to cut limbs off and cauterize them. He passes out several times. Each time, I shock him awake. When I am done with him, and seeing as he didn’t give me any answers, we burn the pieces. I have to take a shower before Gabby sees me covered in blood. 

I clean up and leave the lower level, going up to our room. I climb into bed with Gabby, who is already fast asleep. I wonder what I have that they want. What could be the missing piece? Has my team found an artifact I don’t know about? I lay there for hours, but I can’t fall asleep so I get back up and head to the sub-level. I have to find out what they are looking for.

I have spent all night down here and haven’t found anything new. It’s our cruise day and I lost track of time. I am lucky Derrick knew to fill in because I had forgotten about the whole thing. These demons are driving me insane and taking me away from Gabby when all I’m trying to do is protect her.