Sweet Reckoning (9 page)

When you start to live outside yourself,

it’s all dangerous.

—
Ernest Hemingway,
The Garden of Eden

I
drove up the interstate feeling tired of hiding and evading—tired of doing nothing.

Dad was nowhere to be found. The fact that he hadn’t responded or shown his face was bad news. He could be chained in hell for all I knew—a thought that made all my confidence and hope threaten to slip away.

I’d always relied on his advice. His inside knowledge. Now I just felt useless and timid. So, what would Dad want me to do if he were here?

It was time to take the initiative. The first thing that came to mind was Marek, the son of Shax. Was he or was he not an ally? With a sense of resolve, I decided it was time to find out.

He could still be in the U.S., or he could be back in Europe. Was I willing to fly to the Czech Republic to find him?

Yes.

What I needed was more information. An address or phone number to reach him. Who had Neph or Duke contacts that I could trust?

Kopano. His brothers still lived in Africa with Duke Alocer. Maybe they could get their hands on some information for me.

I pulled into a rest area in North Carolina, parking as far as possible from the other people—families traveling on their summer vacations.

Dad had warned me over and over that phone lines weren’t safe, despite his military-grade equipment and all the fancy technology he used. At moments like this, I just had to trust in the precautions he’d made for us, and hope for the best.

I dialed Kope. He answered quickly, sounding worried, probably because I hadn’t called him in ages.

“Are you all right?” It was good to hear his soothing voice.

“Yes. But I need some help.” I took a deep breath and rehashed the story of Marek and Caterina’s visit, and how I wanted to track him down.

“Let me make a call. I will be in touch.”

I hung up, loving his willingness to jump right in without argument. I got back on the road, not wanting to stop for too long. He called back half an hour later.

“I have his number. I will text it to you.”

I smiled. “You freaking rock, Kope.”

“I am flying down to accompany you.”

Oh, no.

“You don’t have to do that. I know after last time you said . . .” He’d said he couldn’t travel on missions with me anymore after what happened between us that winter, and the subsequent jealous rage from Kaidan. But saying it out loud felt too uncomfortable.

“That was a long time ago, Anna. Much has changed.”

“I’m not afraid of Marek. He didn’t seem very threatening—”

“He is with the sons of Thamuz. And the daughter of Jezebet.”

“Oh.” Icy fear slithered up my spine. That changed things. “Do you know where they are?”

“Moving north, as are you, according to the last whisperer who spotted you.”

Creepy-crawly sensations pricked my skin.

“How do you know all this?”

“Father told my brothers they are to be prepared to help search for you, if necessary. The Dukes are using Neph to hunt for suspicious persons. I believe they hope that by putting Neph together they will be able to draw out which ones are guilty and innocent.”

That made sense since Neph were naturally wary of one another. I looked up at the next exit sign.

“I’m at Mooresville, North Carolina, off I-77. I’m going to text Marek and see if he can meet me alone.”

“No!” The alarm in his voice made me wonder how stupid I was being. My gut told me I wasn’t in danger from Marek, but what if I were wrong?

“I promise I won’t do anything crazy. I’ll try to find a hotel with a bottom-floor room that has a sliding door I can exit through if he tries to bring anyone.”

“Anna—”

“Kope, I feel like we’re running out of time. I’ll be careful.”

“I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I, but I have to do something. I’ll call you as soon as I’ve met with him. Promise.”

Kope was quiet for a long while before he asked, “Do you have your knives?”

I patted my pockets. “Yes.”

“Do not let down your guard. Even if he claims to be an ally. The others will be near.”

“Okay.”

We said our good-byes, and I felt bad for stressing him. I drove around Mooresville, which turned out to be NASCAR city, until I found a hotel with what I had in mind. Then I texted Marek.

Can u meet me alone? -Daughter of B.

My heart raced and I doubted my own sanity.

His response came too fast.
Yes. Where are you?

My thumbs hovered over the letters, hesitant.
Where are you?
I countered.

His response this time took longer.
Blythewood, SC.

I did a quick search. They were an hour and a half away.

With a deep breath and a prayer, I texted him my location. Then I headed to the gigantic outdoorsman store. I’d never before considered purchasing a gun, but I was scared enough to do so now. The line at the gun counter was outrageously long, and the background-check stuff would probably be time-consuming as well. Instead, I browsed the knives counter and other weapons until something caught my interest—a stun gun disguised as a flashlight.

It was dark out by the time I left the store with a fully charged stun gun and a slick new pocketknife. Super sharp and quick to open. Then I settled into my hotel room for the wait. I stared out through my sliding glass door at the parking lot with my hands in my pockets, turning my knives over and over. I decided not to wear the hilt on me, because if it came down to a fight, I didn’t want Marek discovering it. I’d stuffed the hilt between the mattresses as far as my arm could stretch.

An hour and a half had passed. They’d be in town by now. I was pacing and listening hard when a text from Marek came.

Cannot meet alone.

Alarms sounded in my brain.

Forget it then
, I responded.

Later tonight?

I thought about it. If he wanted to trap me, he could’ve come straight to the hotel with the others. Maybe he really was an ally, and he couldn’t lose the three Neph. As much as I didn’t want to stay in town knowing that Caterina and the sons of Thamuz were nearby, I was also desperate enough to have another strong Neph on our side.

Fine
, I texted, deleting our messages. And the wait began.

I couldn’t relax. All I could do was stare out the window at the people coming and going from the parking lot. My extended hearing surrounded the hotel’s entrance, and it took complete concentration to keep it there and make sense of what people were saying.

An hour after my texts with Marek, something caught my attention in the lobby. A preteen-sounding girl said, “That creepy guy bumped me and didn’t even say sorry.”

A woman, presumably her mother, responded with a terse whisper. “Stay far away from that man. I don’t like the look of him.”

My heart flew to my throat and I fell to my knees next to the bed. I shoved my arm between the mattresses until I felt the hilt. My instincts were screaming for me to get out of there. Shoving the hilt into my backpack, I ran to the door and stuck my head out. Sure enough, at the end of the hall was a wiry-looking man with black hair pulled back in a ponytail. At his sternum was a black starburst. It grew when he saw me, and he smiled.

I slammed the door and locked it, then ran for the patio door. As soon as I slid it open, a tanned hand gripped the edge. Half a scream escaped my mouth before his hand barreled down in a hard slap. Blood covered my tongue and I stumbled to the side long enough for him to shut the back door. My bookbag fell off, but I had no time to worry about it.

Ignoring the pulsing pain in my mouth, I shoved a hand into my pocket. My reflexes must have been slowed from the slap, but his were fast. He grabbed my wrist and twisted it behind my back, ripping an agonizing screech from my throat, which was quickly muffled by his hand. He did all this while moving us toward the door as I struggled like mad. For a short, slender guy, he was strong. He held me against him as he walked, taking my kicks to his shins like they were nothing, his hand clamped too hard around my mouth for me to open it and bite him.

As he released my mouth to unlock the door, he yanked up on my twisted wrist and I sucked in a breath, ready to shriek again. In a heartbeat he had the door unlocked and his hand was clamped back over my mouth and jaw, muffling my scream. His brother pushed his way in. They moved so fast and fluidly. I went ballistic as a piece of silver tape was slapped across my lips.

In a fit of terror I threw my head back and butted his nose. I heard the crack and he yelled, letting me go long enough for my hand to plunge into my pocket and pull out my knife, since I couldn’t reach the stun gun. My blade came out and my arm began slashing. I felt the steel connecting with flesh over and over, and saw the blood, but they never backed away or gave me an inch to run. Within seconds the knife was extracted from my hand and my arms were pinned behind my back.

One of them chuckled, and that was when hysteria set in. I remembered what Caterina had told me about the sons of Thamuz’s kidnapping involvement. They were pros at this. I never stopped struggling, but it seemed useless and I was tiring. I’d have to do more than physically fight them. I had to use my brain, too.

My self-defense instructors held me tightly, but it was always apparent that they didn’t want to hurt me. The sons of Thamuz had no reservations. I felt their fingers digging, bruising, scratching. When I fought, they fought—punching, smacking, kicking, yanking hair. They took pleasure in my sounds of pain. They never ceased smiling, their eyes shining with zeal.

When my struggling slowed, I was shoved face-first onto the bed, on my stomach, and both men held me down. My body was spent. I was sweating and whimpering, because even in my beat-up, nearly passed-out state, I still had enough sense to be scared for my life.

“What do you want?” I managed to ask between panting breaths.

“We’re taking you on a li’l trip,
chica
,” one of them said close to my ear.

They would bring me to the Dukes. Pharzuph would smell me. My instructors always warned me never to let myself be taken to the second location. My thrashing began anew as my brain flared with panic. All I needed was to get my hand to my other pocket. Just a few inches . . .

One of them grabbed my hair and shoved my face into the mattress so hard I couldn’t breath. The other beat me with a round of punches to my shoulders and back. I screamed into the mattress as his fist connected to my shoulder blade with a crack.

Dear God. I’d never felt anything like it. My whole body tensed with shock as searing pain lanced through my shoulder. I couldn’t take in a breath with my face smothered against the bed. I thought surely I was imagining it when my head was released and the weight from the man behind me suddenly lifted. I rolled, dazed, and pain bolted through my upper back.

For one fleeting moment I thought I was imagining the scene before me through clouded eyes.

A third man was in the room, and he was fighting the two Neph. He wore all black, including a face mask and black gloves. The way he moved, and the shape of his body were familiar to me.

Kopano. My head swam with gratitude.

I’d never seen him fully unleash his wrath until now. The sons of Thamuz stood no chance. He must have managed to sneak in and get the drop on them unexpectedly while they were in their bloodlust over me, because they both seemed disoriented, trying and failing to escape from his fists. Kope threw one of them to the floor and was whaling on him when the other reached into his pocket. I saw the flash of silver, and I was on my feet despite my body’s protests.

I grasped the stun gun protruding from my pocket and shoved it into the guy’s rib cage as I pressed the button. A high-pitched snarl escaped him as the jolt of electricity zapped through his nervous system. He fell to the ground as if paralyzed. I turned to Kope and nearly vomited at the sight of so much blood.