Chapter 33 Villain
VILLAIN
He put me in an ambulance and called medics over to look at my arm while he went back to check on Trix.
I was mostly fine, but the after-effects of so much adrenaline left me weak, dehydrated, and shaky.
I’d probably need an IV and some protein bars.
Had I really lifted up that truck? It seemed unlikely, but so did everything about that end trip.
“Here, I’ll just give you a little shot to help with the pain,” a man with a twangy accent and a mustache said, before sticking a needle in my arm. The pain did fade away almost immediately, but other things happened too, mainly paralysis.
The man pushed back his too-long hair, and Philippe’s eyes were burning back at me. No. This wasn’t real. This was a dream from the concussion I must have gotten in the explosion and car roll.
He didn’t stop with the needle. He started rubbing ointment on my arm that smelled like death and misery. It was my grandfather’s favorite. That meant that this was awfully, terribly real.
“You weren’t supposed to be riding with the dragon, mon cherie. It would be devastating if you were permanently damaged during the race.”
He’d been responsible for that explosion? I couldn’t say anything, or I’d be screaming. My voice was paralyzed, like the rest of me.
He smiled pleasantly while other medics came and went, apparently trusting him to know what he was doing.
“I was starting to wonder if you weren’t like me, but you are.
” He made a frowny face. “Too bad your power is triggered by saving someone instead of destroying, but I’m sure that grandfather will make it work.
You will be such an asset to the family.
You were always the jewel, but now you’ll be my true partner.
” His hand ran up and down my arm in the most revolting way, but I couldn’t feel it.
“You’re fighting against the agent I used on you.
It will wear off in a few minutes. Don’t worry, my dearest cousin, I will not leave you vulnerable for long.
Nothing could, not with the serum burning in your blood, your very DNA.
I’m not alone. You are just like me.” His eyes burned with a madness that I didn’t want to see, not now, not ever again.
He pulled out a phone and showed me the screen.
“Grandfather is letting you keep your Dagger if you can get him to play nicely with the family. Isn’t that generous of him?
I would object, but you deserve whatever you desire.
If a pretty plaything like Prescott is what you want, then that is what you will have.
” He made it sound like a great concession.
He showed me a list of names, assets, products or companies; I couldn’t be sure.
He closed the screen. “You’ll have to use your perfect recall to remember the list. If he gives Grandfather what he wants, you can keep him.
” He pursed his soft lips. They looked so normal, but looks were deceptive.
“I should tell you, since we are the same, and I did put you at a disadvantage.” He smiled charmingly.
“I killed his sister, torturing her in the most enjoyable manner until she broke and killed herself. He hates me for that, and you, and grandfather, and everyone we’re allied with.
I’m sure that you’ll manage to bring him to his knees in spite of that.
The serum runs in your blood as strongly as it does mine.
Finally. We will share the family, Daniela. We will be one.”
He brushed his hair down over his eyes, turned around and walked away, leaving me with tatters of what was left of my beautiful day.
What serum was he talking about? Was it just his normal madness, or was there something else to it?
I had lifted up a massive vehicle, and I had driven with Nitro.
Maybe it wasn’t ghosts; maybe it was the perfect recall he’d mentioned.
Did Philippe truly kill Dirk’s sister? It was possible.
Philippe was capable of anything and everything, reveling in breaking someone, particularly someone beautiful, someone loved by someone he hated.
What had Dirk done to get on my cousin’s bad side, not that he had any other sides?
Had he insulted him in passing, or was it more, was it me?
Philippe had always considered me part of the Haversham estate, property that was his inheritance, however many times I stabbed him, or however many times Grandfather reminded him otherwise.
I’d kissed Dirk for the world to see. I’d liked it even more than playing Straw.
My cousin would consider that a betrayal, like he’d considered me making friends with Toni a betrayal.
It was very possible that he had found out who Dirk was and made him suffer in every way he could, without actually touching him.
Why hadn’t he finished the final blow? Maybe Grandfather had stepped in.
Maybe my situation with Clint had made Dirk a less essential issue.
Was Clint in danger, or would grandfather’s protection continue, even after Clint betrayed the family?
My head pounded until finally I was able to shake my head and move my hand. It took a long time, but slowly, I could sit up and move my legs.
“Daniela, are you all right?” Dirk came and helped me sit up, his warm hands feeling like daggers to my heart.
That’s why he hadn’t wanted to sleep with me.
That’s why he wanted a marriage in word only.
Of course he hated me and my family, because we were villains, and he was not.
He was just an enemy of the family, who I had to bend to my will or destroy.
The realization didn’t hurt, because I’d stopped feeling as soon as I accepted the truth. There were no daggers in my heart, because I had no heart. I couldn’t have one, not when it put other people at risk.
I licked my lips and met his soft eyes. “You said that other people joined the battle. Who were they? Where did they come from? Was it another team adding dramatic flair, or was it outside interference?”
His smile was a lie. Funny how it took me so long to realize that when it was so obvious once I knew about his sister.
His perfectly chiseled jaw was always angry.
His voice was smooth, concerned, without showing his rage.
“Nix is looking into it. It seems like there were two groups, one that was focusing their attack on Death-Hammer and Horse’s Demons, and another that came in and pushed them back.
Did we get involved with the mob when I wasn’t paying attention? Maybe Jezebel knows something.”
“Jezebel knows that she’s going to make a gang war look like a walk in the park when she finds out who shot Mike,” Jezebel snarled, coming around the back of the ambulance to scowl at me. “Look at you, covered in blood like an Apache going to war, but the spark’s gone out of your eyes.”
“I’m perfectly willing to go to war,” I said, adding a polite smile. Just not against Dirk. I had to save him even if he hated me. Could I seduce him into working with the family? No, so they’d kill him.
I started shaking.
She turned to Dirk. “Do you know what’s going on?
I was asking Nix, and he was vague, vague in a way that says that he knows what’s going on but isn’t going to tell me, because he thinks that I’m going to shoot the wrong people.
I’m of the opinion that very few people don’t deserve being shot, but that might be because someone shot my camel! ”
“They shot a rocket at Trix, and dropped a ninja army on us,” Dirk said, wrapping an arm around me, like he could protect me.
He had to know that it was my family. He had to know that touching me would only make it worse for him and everyone he cared about.
Why was he touching me? Did he feel like he had nothing left to lose?
There was always something to lose, no matter how hard you tried to distance yourself from feelings and attachments.
Things crept up on you until you were attached to random camels in Las Vegas.
I sniffed, and the feelings broke loose with wild abandon.
I wrapped my arms around Dirk and held him too tight, particularly after I’d choked him last night, but I couldn’t let him go.
Philippe had come here, walked right into the place I’d thought would be the safest, and touched me.
My arms. I needed to burn my arms to get his touch off.
I hated him so much. I hated everything about him and whatever he represented.
Maybe I could hate him as much as Dirk hated him, and then we’d have a common enemy and he wouldn’t hate me quite as much.
Probably not, but a girl could hope. Could I?
Could I hope for something I wanted that much?
I wanted to be safe, but I wanted to keep these people I loved safe even more.
How could I protect them? Grandfather wouldn’t hurt Dirk if I got him to play along with Haversham’s business goals, but how could I ask him to do that?
If he was careless with his life before he lost his team, his family, how would he care now?
Who were the players who fought against what must have been Philippe’s hired guns?
Who were they working for, and was there anything I could do to get more of them on board?
Dirk held me gently and smoothed his warm hand over my hair. “It’s okay, Pinkie. Be careful with your arm. They said that it was probably broken.”
Jezebel bent over to sniff my arm, then she poked it. “Not broken. Someone used very good stuff on it that I haven’t seen for a long time. Trix got hit by a rocket? How’s she holding up, as good as Dani here?”
“She’s being carefully examined by a team of fine professionals that Horse let us borrow.”
“Insisted on us borrowing,” Jezebel corrected. “She’s in good hands then. Strong, big, powerful hands that have been waiting for her to be damsel enough to leap into the fray on her behalf. That means that she’ll be here any minute.”