9. The Protector
“Is… that… all… you… got?” I mumble through a mouthful of blood, some trickling out of the sides of my lips, and making its way down my chin. I have no idea how long I have been here confined to this cell, but it no longer matters. Nothing matters anymore now that she’s gone. Dinah’s gone, and I am still here.
My last hope is to provoke one of these Brotherhood parasites into finally killing me in a fit of rage, so that I can join my Nightstar in the afterlife. There is nothing left for me here, now that she is gone. I have been parted from her for too long already.
“You want some more!” The asshole swings his fists at my battered body, and laughs like a damn hyena before slamming one of his hands into my gut. If my wrists weren’t shackled to this wall above my head, forcing me to remain standing, I would have fallen over by now. I’m not sure how much longer my body can keep taking this punishment. I hope it won’t be long now. Just a few more moments, Nightstar, and I will be at your side. We can be together forever, baby. I’m coming to join you, Dinah.
“STOP!” A voice booms from across the room. My head is too heavy to lift, and both my eyes are swollen shut, so there is no way to determine who it belongs to. “We don’t want him dead, at least not yet.”
“Fuck… you,” I spit.
A hand digs into my scalp, yanking on my hair and forcing my head to lift on my weary neck. “What a disrespectful cunt you are, especially when I am trying my best to prolong your life.”
Now that the asshole is closer, I recognize the voice, and it belongs to a traitor. “I’m… going… to… kii… ll… you,” I mumble, my jaw aching with each syllable.
“How exactly are you going to accomplish that, huh? You think you’ll be able to kill me while chained to a fucking wall, dying bit by bit?” He leans closer until his breath slides across my face. “How disappointed she would be to see you giving in to your fate.”
A small burst of energy bolsters me as I’m filled with rage, and my body rattles the chains holding me at his words. How fucking dare this traitor even mention her? He’s the fucking reason she’s gone. He took her from me. He must die.
“Leave us, all of you,” his words are filled with superiority, but why wouldn’t they be? He’s a high-ranking Brotherhood scum. The son of a power-hungry psycho, who knows no limits in getting what he wants. Like father, like son.
“Sir, we’ve been ordered…” Whoever it was who was speaking never finishes their sentence, but the sound of flesh slamming into flesh greets my ears.
“Get the fuck out of here, before I rip out your fucking heart!” Ezekiel roars. I hope the cunt turns that pent-up rage on himself. He deserves a good beating.
I hear footsteps racing away, and the door to the room opening and then slamming shut. Minutes go by, the silence daunting. Knowing that he is just standing there, observing me like a fucking creeper, is making my skin crawl. “Come… to do… your… daddy’s… dirty… work?”
“You would think that, wouldn’t you? If I wanted you dead, Sammy, you would be. I certainly wouldn’t be spending my fucking time trying to keep you alive, and putting my own freedom on the line to save yours.”
“Spare… me your… lies, traitor.”
A strong hand grasps my chin and forces my head to stay upright, and even as I try to rip myself from its grip, it tightens further. “You have no idea the sacrifice I made. You have no fucking idea what I have lost. You think you are the only one who lost her!” He leans closer, his head leaning against mine, temple to temple. “I lost both of them. I lost everything I have ever cared about.”
“You. Betrayed. Her.”
“She would have died anyway. He was never going to let her go, fucker. He would have had her raped over and over by all of his men. All I did was save her from that fate.“ He pulls away, and my head topples forward once again against my chest. “He has Gabriel’s son, Sammy. He was going to murder the child, and Abe. I made an impossible choice, so hate me if you must, but know I loved her too.”
His footsteps sound on the floor, moving away from me. I hear the door to the room open, and then there’s a pause. “I will do whatever I can to save you; I owe her that.” The door slams in his wake, and I am left with only my thoughts for company.
Noah has Gabriel’s son? Noah’s going to murder Gabriel’s son? Wait, what fucking son?It’s the last thought I think before my body gives in to the abuse, and I allow oblivion to take me.
“Sir, your father would not approve.” The frantic whispered words pull me from the nightmare I was reliving of watching my Nightstar take her last breath.
“Good thing he’s not here, isn’t it? Do what you’re fucking told. I will deal with the consequences.” Ezekiel’s voice vibrates near my ear. I hear the rattling of chains, and then moments later, my suspended body is released, and I start to collapse forward with a pained cry, but before I can become reacquainted with the hard ground, an arm braces me with a grunt, and a shoulder slips underneath me to stabilize me.
“Heavy motherfucker,” the words are panted as they take on more of my weight. “Help… me get him to the bed.”
Another shoulder slips beneath my other shoulder, and an arm tightens around my chest, forcing a scream from my lips when it comes into contact with an injury. “Dammit, his shoulder is dislocated, I will have to pop it back into place, and I’m positive he has a few broken ribs.” Just a few? Based on the pain scorching through my abdomen at the moment, I would be surprised if it wasn’t all of them.
They struggle with my weight, moving at a snail’s pace until my knees make contact with a hard surface, and I’m dropped unceremoniously on a bed. I bounce with the impact, and every part of my body screams in vicious pain. “He needs a hospital, Ezekiel. I don’t have the necessary equipment here to fix everything that is wrong with him.”
Good. I don’t want to live anyway. Why don’t they just let me die and save themselves the trouble?
A grunt meets the statements as two hands struggle to turn me back over, causing me even more pain. “Do what you can; half alive is better than all the way dead.”
“What… are… you… doing?” I question between labored breaths, willing the energy to come back into my body so I can break his pretty boy face. He might be handsome, but his soul is pitch black and filled with evil.
“Trying to save your ungrateful fucking life, asshole.”
No more words are exchanged as I open one of my blurry, swollen eyes and meet two dark brown pupils filled with fear. The man before me is not familiar to me, but as he moves about, checking my body carefully for all my injuries and grimacing with distaste, I get the impression he might know what he’s doing.
Looks like the cunt has found someone to help him prolong my misery in captivity. Fucking great. All of a sudden, Ezekiel Rothesay has developed a conscience. Where was it when he was murdering my Nightstar?
“He has so many injuries, I don’t even know where to properly start. Hand me that bag, will you? I am going to do what I can, and at least give him something for the pain.”
“No! Nothing.” The words sound garbled to my ears, but I don’t want them to give me anything that could make me compliant, and that they could use to force information out of me. I would rather suffer, and know that I am aware of my surroundings and what is being done to me.
“Sir?” The beady-eyed man questions, staring at Ezekiel for confirmation.
“You heard him, nothing. Let the fucker suffer through you putting him back together.” Even though his words are crass and uttered with disdain, I see the respect and understanding in his eyes. I also see the pain of his actions plain to see. He is filled with regrets. Fuck him and his regrets. Regrets mean that it is too late. She’s gone.
“Fine. You both are lunatics. Give him something to bite down on while I put his shoulder back into place, unless you want his scream to be heard across this house?”
A thick cloth is shoved between my teeth, my jaw tensing and burning with the intrusion as they both lift me up. Ezekiel braces my body against his chest, and the other man positions himself at my side. Without any warning, he shoves my shoulder back into place with an audible pop, and I scream into the fabric.
“One injury down; about a dozen more await us,” he snarks, but I don’t hear any more words, as my head spins, and darkness claims me once again.
The next time I open my eyes, the pain still assails me, but it’s not as harsh. I try to move my arms, only to realize one is in a sling strapped across my chest, and the other has a cast molded to my hand and wrist. Well, what the fuck? They really are trying to put me back together and keep me alive. Idiots.
“I wouldn’t try to move around too much. You’ll just undo what the fucker spent hours fixing and complaining the whole time about.” Ezekiel’s rough voice greets my ears, and my eyes strain to find him in the dark room. A beam of moonlight lights a portion of his battered face as he sits in a chair at the foot of the bed. “He gave you something to help fight off the inflammation and infection. When it wears off, you’re going to feel like hell.”
“Why are you helping me?” I raise my casted hand to stop the flow of his words. “Don’t say it’s because you owe her. You’re a fucking psycho who feels little or no remorse, I’ve seen you in action. Tell me the truth.” I force my eyes to narrow so I can see the expression on his face, and determine if he’s telling me the truth or feeding me more lies.
He leans forward in the chair, his tattooed, muscled forearms on display in his tight, dark t-shirt as he rests them on his legs. Bandages wrap most of his fingers and one of his wrists, at least the parts that I can see. “Abe is out there somewhere with the rebels. They took him hostage when they stole Dinah’s body. I want him fucking back, and you are going to help me get him.”
Abe, of course. The man he loves. The man he would do anything to protect, even sacrifice my Nightstar for. I’m not surprised one bit that his goal is to get him back. Even if his other half might be inclined to murder him once he does.
“Why would I do that?” I question with curiosity.
“Because I am going to help you kill my father and take down the Brotherhood.” He answers so nonchalantly, as if we weren’t talking about murdering his parent, and taking on an organization that currently controls the world.
“Gabriel’s son?”
“We will save him too, and make sure that they can never get their filthy hands on the boy again,” he says with conviction.
He almost sounds convincing, as if he genuinely believes that the two of us can accomplish what he’s saying. Do I trust him not to save himself and leave me to die, or rot in some Order prison if something goes wrong? Not even a little. I have no choice but to make a bargain with this devil, though, do I? I want my vengeance on those who dared to take my Nightstar, and if I can help him free the last remaining member of Dinah’s family, and the other man who fought to save her, I will. Dinah would want me to do that, and then she would tell me to put a blade in his heart once they were free.
“Fine, but once Abe and the boy are free, I am going to slit your throat for what you did to Dinah,” I grunt, closing my eyes again and hoping darkness takes me quickly, and doesn’t give me any more nightmares of her dying before my eyes.
“I’ll welcome it. That way, I’ll be with her again before you.”
Motherfucker, always has to have the last word.Good fucking luck, he’s going straight down to hell, even I have to be the one to escort him to the devil’s door. He will never get near my Nightstar again.