Chapter 7 #2
She’d found brief reprieve in his touch, but without it, her stomach roiled again from the thick air in the room.
Death was not the end, but Nessen had faced agony until his last moments. She mourned for what he’d been forced to endure alone.
Auren crouched, gloved fingertips drifting over the broken glass. Beneath his hood, his blonde hair curled around his temples, casting shadows on his soft cheeks. "The blood sample Nessen took from you. This is where the glass came from. He brought the vial into this room. But why?"
"Nessen knew something. I saw his eyes earlier, when he stared at my blood. It wasn’t malicious. I’d know. I’m used to doctors and scientists looking at me like—" Rin bit her lower lip. Hard. "No, this was something else. Like awe."
"Bleeding heart, wife," Rhyden grumbled. "I’ve known Nessen for almost fifty years, but anyone can betray anyone."
Her eyes found Lucien, crouched beside the Rogue, lifting its scaly eyelid to reveal bottomless black eyes. The sight made her shiver.
"Whatever Nessen assumed—it was enough to make him take a risk like this." Lucien finished his assessment of the Rogue, standing slowly. "It didn’t die by force. Nessen didn’t kill this Rogue."
"Who did, then?" Rin countered.
Lucien licked his lips. "I don’t know."
"Something is transpiring. Beyond us all. The Nova within you, the cosmic interferences"—Auren’s lips tipped into a soft, strange smile—"and your memories returning."
Rin drew in a sharp breath. They’d all been dancing around it. Even she had willfully chosen to ignore the fact that her past life memories had slowly been coming back to her. She wasn’t sure why. Fear or something greater.
Regardless, her voice dropped to a whisper as she said, "Not all of them. I can’t remember everything.
It’s like a really strange dream. Every time I try to remember, my head—it hurts so badly I feel like I could die.
I don’t know if I’ll ever have my memories back the way they were meant to be. I’m too damaged."
Cyrus’s hand tightened on hers, withdrawn, as he said, "You’re not damaged, doll. You’re a victim, and if you never remember, I’ll tell you about our past for days on end, until I lose my voice."
Rin swallowed. "Thank you, Cy."
Rhyden paced away from her, the muscles in his bare back rippling as he swept a hand through his hair and grabbed his phone from the pocket of his sweats, putting it to his ear.
"Yeah, Daryk. Take care of Nessen’s—the body.
Bleach. Maybe something stronger. I don’t want to see this mess come morning.
" He ended the call, pointing a pale finger at Lucien. "You, mad scientist, are going to take another sample of her blood in the morning and compare it to the Rogue’s. We’re getting to the bottom of this shit. "
Rin’s gaze lingered on the Rogue’s body. Whatever had killed it was still out there, but, strangely, she felt no fear.
Lucien withdrew the needle from Vesperin’s elbow, letting his fingers graze her delicate, pale flesh. She was quiet. They all were.
After seeing Nessen’s body, he hadn’t been able to fall back asleep. The vampiric doctor had been a fool for what he’d done. But Lucien knew what it was like to be driven by the desire for knowledge. That desire nipped at him now, an itch that needed to be scratched.
The hum of lab equipment echoed off the high ceilings. Though exhausted, Lucien’s hands were steady as he prepared the microscope, drawing a thin sample of Vesperin’s blood into the pipette; the red was dark and rich against the clear glass.
The Rogue’s blood was already prepared.
It turned out that Nessen had more than one captive, a fact that infuriated Rhyden.
The sample had been easy to draw, as they’d used small holes in the ceiling to disperse a sedative.
With that thought in mind, Lucien wondered why Nessen hadn’t done the same—what had made him so desperate to have the Rogue be alert?
Nevertheless, Lucien dispensed a singular droplet of Vesperin’s blood onto the slide, watching it spread out. Then, he carefully introduced the Rogue’s blood.
Lucien slid the plate into the microscope and placed his eye at the eyepiece, adjusting the focus knob until the field of view sharpened.
Everything went still.
At first, both were nonreactive, but slowly, they shook, as if they were two magnets drawn to each other, but no—that wasn’t quite right.
They were opposite forces. One repelling, one seeking.
Vesperin’s blood trembled, branching out, aggressive and purposeful as it collided with the recoiling sample of the Rogue.
When they touched, the Rogue’s blood destabilized, breaking apart as if corroded. It was as though the Rogue’s blood had been eaten from the inside out. It disappeared beneath the small tide of Vesperin’s blood. Gone.
Lucien pulled back, the right lens on his glasses slightly foggy from being pressed against the microscope. He worked to control his breath as he turned, finding the others staring at him.
His eyes fell to Vesperin. She wore a too-large sweatshirt, and her hand was held captive by Cyrus’s, while Auren stood at her back.
"Well?" Vesperin’s voice pierced through the silence.
Lucien swallowed. "It seems we were correct in our observations about Nessen wanting to see what your blood would do in the presence of an active, conscious Rogue. Your blood, it—it consumed the Rogue’s."
"No," Lucien said flatly, the others echoing their agreement. "If I knew you were going to push this—something so foolish as purposefully putting yourself in harm’s way to observe what a Rogue would do to you—I never would have shared the findings with you, Vesperin."
"You’re not listening to me," Vesperin snapped, pacing. "This could be the answer. Nessen knew—that’s why he brought my blood to the Rogue—"
"And Nessen’s now buried in the woods," Rhyden cut in. "Your point, wife?"
Vesperin was a ticking bomb. Her eyes narrowed on Rhyden.
Finally, she exploded. "Like you fucking care, Valkar! You should want me dead. You do, don’t you?
That’s all you’ve been able to say since you fucking found me at that motel.
You want your revenge, you want me to pay for what I did—for what I don’t even remember! "
Her chest rose and fell rapidly. Lucien found himself wanting to jump forward, take her into his arms, and force her to still. But he found his hands flexing at his sides as he watched.
"Your heart, Vesperin. It is still delicate," Auren reminded gently.
"I managed pretty well on my own for years, Auren. I know my limits. We need answers. I’m so sick of—" Vesperin’s voice dropped.
"I’m so sick of the not knowing. You remember it, don’t you?
In Nova Zone 21, the Rogues attacked us, and I—you saved me by taking me to the hospital, Auren.
There was a Rogue on top of me, and it didn’t touch me.
When my parents died, I was the sole survivor in my entire neighborhood.
All those Rogues, and not one hurt me. I walked away relatively unscathed—physically.
If we test it again, this time it will be even safer, because you’ll all be there.
I won’t be harmed. I’d bet my life on it. "
"It’s not yours to bet," Lucien said.
She gave a rueful smile. "If there’s anything that’s mine, it’s my Soul. I think that’s the only thing I own."
The words cut deeper than Lucien expected. But he wouldn’t let her put herself in danger. "There are other ways we can test this. Without risking you."
Vesperin just shook her head. "Cyrus? What do you think?"
The incubus broke away from staring at the floor, deep shadows under his eyes—Lucien could sympathize. Ever since his nightmares had started, he’d not been sleeping well.
"I agree with your doctor, doll. It’s not safe."
Vesperin jerked her hand away from Cyrus’s and stepped back. "Right. Of course you do. I’ll be upstairs."
Atlas wanted to step out of the shadows and take her face in his hands and tell her that even her Soul was not hers.
Her Soul belonged to him.
Days later, Rin woke to a hand pressed against her mouth, stifling her breath, bruising in its force.
She tried to speak, but it was muffled.
"Get up," Rhyden whispered harshly, looming over her with one knee on the mattress. In the darkness, his red eyes glowed. He pulled his hand away.
Rin sat up. "Rhyden, why are you here?" She was on guard. Was this it—his revenge?
Rin’s voice was husky with sleep. Her mouth was dry. She licked her lips, and there was no mistaking the fact his eyes dropped to watch. The walls felt like they were closing in around her. It was just the two of them. In the dark. In the quiet. He had come for her.
Her hand slid beneath her pillow, curling around the grip of her Echogun.
Rhyden caught her wrist, fingers encircling it completely. Her bones trembled from his grip.
"Leave it. If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t have woken you up. I could’ve smothered you in your sleep." He leaned forward, and she tried not to lean back—he was so imposing, menacing. "And you’d only know when you opened your eyes in the Stars."
Rin jerked her hand away, feeling her skin tingle from the remnants of his touch. "What do you want?"
"You want answers? Come with me. We force them."
The cryptic words caught her attention. Against her better judgment, she obeyed.
She left her Echogun tucked beneath her pillow, feeling goosebumps on her exposed flesh as she stood, beginning to tug on a sweatshirt. Rhyden stopped her with a hand on her elbow, red eyes raking over her raised arms and the slip of pale skin exposed at her stomach.
"Leave it," he ordered.
Her curiosity grew. "Okay."
Rin followed Rhyden into the dark halls, wearing only her sleep pants and the thin shirt she’d stolen from Cyrus. It smelled like the incubus. Berries and something heady.
The carpet on the stone floor warmed her bare feet pleasantly, and the low-burning flames in the sconces flickered.