Chapter 19
When I came to, the first thing I was aware of was a terrible burning pain, as if someone had pulled irons directly from a forge and clamped them on my wrists. My head throbbed, and my mouth tasted like someone had tried to pour a concoction of vomit and bile down my throat.
What made me open my eyes, however, was the scent of two humans, one of whom I fully expected to be there; the other one, not so much.
I expected to find myself in some dingy basement with a light bulb hovering over my head.
Instead, I was sitting in a circle of sofas and chairs in a well-appointed parlor room.
Seated across from me, in two separate chairs, were Yantz and Deputy Talcon.
The former sat upright, looking grave as if I were a naughty student, and the latter sprawled in his chair, grinning smugly like a schoolyard bully.
“Miss Baine,” Yantz said, leaning forward. He’d draped his suit jacket across the back of his chair, and his cufflinks glinted beneath the chandelier’s light as he rested his hands on his knees. “How nice of you to rejoin us. For a moment I thought I’d given you too much of the drug.”
I gritted my teeth. “What the fuck did you pump into my veins?”
Yantz sat back and waved his hand airily. “Oh, just a hefty dose of liquamine,” he said, referring to an anesthetic that human veterinarians used on their pets. “Nothing your system can’t handle.”
“Yeah, except that you laced it with kalois and silver, didn’t you?” I snarled, leaning forward so I could shove my face into his. But the manacles clamped around my wrists bit into my skin, nearly blinding me with burning pain. I drew back hastily, trying to relieve the agony.
“Ah, yes, those silver manacles do hurt, don’t they?
” Yantz arched a dark brow, completely unsympathetic to my plight.
“You know, if you didn’t know so much this wouldn’t be necessary.
But that you’ve already figured out the compound we’re lacing the drugs with proves you’re far too dangerous to be allowed to run free. Tell me, how did you figure it out?”
“Fuck you.” With no other form of retaliation, I spat in his face.
Yantz recoiled, as I expected, but I didn’t have time to gloat because Talcon rose from his chair and punched me straight in the mouth.
Pain exploded through my face as I rocked back, and I cried out as the silver manacles bit into my skin again.
The smell of burning flesh laced the air, along with the coppery scent of the blood gushing out of my split lip and down my chin.
“Oh, I knew I was going to have fun when Yantz invited me to this party.” Talcon grinned down at me, and for the first time ever, the sight of his hulking form sent a tremor of fear through me.
“I’d suggest you answer his questions, Baine.
Or else things are gonna get real painful for you, real fast.”
“Oh yeah, like things are going swell right now.” I glared up at him. “I always knew you were scum, Talcon, but I never expected you to sink this low. You’re an Enforcer, for Magorah’s sake.”
Talcon shrugged. “Yeah, well our boss’s pockets are a lot deeper than the Guild’s,” he said. “The Benefactor pays us well to turn a blind eye.”
“The Benefactor?” I echoed, disbelief flooding through me. “Who the fuck is that?”
“Ah, so you haven’t gotten that far,” Yantz said. His dark eyes glittered coldly as he regarded me.
I bared my fangs at him, trying my best to ignore the pain and sickness ravaging my senses. “I would have, in time.”
Yantz nodded. “I’m well aware of that. Which is why you’re in chains. The Benefactor has big plans for the future of this country, and we can’t allow you to get in the way.”
This country? That sounded a lot bigger than just Solantha. “What kind of plan involves drugging and killing shifters?”
Yantz nodded to Talcon, who delivered another blow to my face. This one I expected, so only my head snapped back. Pain radiated from my cheekbone, and I hoped to Magorah the crack I’d heard was just my neck popping and not a broken bone.
“I ask the questions around here, not you,” Yantz said, his voice soft. “Now tell me, how did you find out about the compound?”
“I paid some Academy student to analyze it,” I half-lied, and spat out a mouthful of blood. Flecks of dark red spattered across Yantz’s shiny black shoes and the thick carpet. “Hope that doesn’t stain.”
Talcon reared back to hit me again, but Yantz held up a hand. “You’ll kill her if you keep hitting her in the head, Garius.”
Talcon’s eyes glittered maliciously down at me, his fist still poised to strike. “I’ve known this bitch for a long time, Petros. She’s pretty hard headed.”
“Nevertheless, stand down for now.” Yantz waited until Talcon reluctantly lowered his arm before turning his gaze back to me. “An Academy student, you say? Which one?”
I lifted my bloody chin. “I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.”
Yantz’s eyes narrowed. “And why would I want to do that?”
I shrugged, and immediately regretted it as more pain lanced through my wrists. “I’m pretty good at putting up with pain, and since you guys are going to kill me anyway, torture isn’t much of an incentive to get me to talk. If you want answers, you’re going to have to give me some first.”
“Let’s just kill her,” Talcon growled, but Yantz leaned back in his chair, stroking his clean-shaven chin with his manicured fingers.
“I can’t imagine any information I’d give you will be much use to you beyond the grave.”
Maybe not, but this conversation was buying me time – time that I was using to heat the shackles around my wrists with tiny flames. I couldn’t use larger flames or they would notice, but if I did this a little bit at a time the silver would eventually melt and fall off.
“Let’s just say it’ll give me closure.” My gaze flickered back and forth between the two of them. “Why don’t you start by telling me why you killed Roanas Tillmore.” I couldn’t die without at least learning that.
Yantz laughed. “Of all the questions you might pick, you ask the most obvious one?” He regarded me with a mixture of amusement and disdain. “I had Tillmore killed for the same reason I’m having you killed now. He was asking too many questions, following the trail of the shifter deaths.”
Rage boiled in my gut at the way he dismissed my mentor’s life so casually. I channeled the fury into my magic, knowing it would do no good to direct it toward Yantz just now.
“Why were you going after those shifters?” I challenged.
“Ah, ah, ah.” Yantz wagged a finger. “It’s my turn to ask the next question. Who is the Academy student who helped you figure out the compound?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but just then the silver around my wrists softened, coming into contact with my skin. I clamped my jaw shut on a shriek as the white-hot metal seared my skin, and blinked my watering eyes.
Yantz’s eyes narrowed. “Why do I smell burning flesh?”
“It’s the silver –” Talcon began, but the cuffs had softened enough to break free, and I wasn’t going to waste time.
A surge of adrenaline whipped through me, and I kicked my legs wide.
The chair legs snapped from the seat, not quite clearing it, but enough for me to launch myself at Yantz, my claws extended.
“Stop her!” Yantz shrieked, throwing himself back in his chair. He skidded across the room as I landed on my stomach, but before I could scramble to my feet Talcon tackled me. I grunted as the weight of his heavy body crushed me into the carpet.
“I’ve got you now, bitch.” He panted heavily in my ear as I squirmed beneath him. Something hard pressed against my ass, and I gasped. “You’re mine.”
“You sick fuck!” I bucked beneath him, disgust rippling through me.
The motion created just enough space for me to bring my knee up and wedge it beneath my torso.
He grunted as he tried to squash me back into the ground, but the new position had thrown him off balance, and I was able to twist around beneath him so that my back was on the ground.
“Oh, so you like missionary?” He drew back his arm to punch me again, but I whipped my head to the side and his fist sank into the carpet instead. “Hold still, you bitch, so I can give it to you the way you like it!”
“I’m a feline, not a bitch,” I hissed, and then I reared up and sank my fangs into his neck.
A roar echoed from Talcon’s throat, and his fist slammed into my head, over and over, trying to get me to let go.
But I held on, my jaws clamped around his neck as firmly as a bulldog’s.
He would weaken eventually; he had to, or I was done.
“Sunaya!” A door crashed open, and the sound of running footsteps followed.
The Enforcer’s Guild must’ve hired someone new, because whoever it was sounded a hell of a lot like Iannis.
Whoever it was though, I would never know, because Talcon’s fist smashed into my head again.
The blow was weaker than the last, but it was one hit too many, and I fell into the darkness.