Breed of Havoc (The Breed Chronicles #3) (41 page)

“I know they must make you think that, even feel that, but it’s not true. Not at all.”

I couldn’t tell what was worse: the fact that she looked sad when she’d said it, or that it seemed like she actually believed every single word she’d said. I’d been confused before, and still was about most things, but now I was just…baffled. No, something stronger than that, because baffled didn’t come close to the level of confusion I’d reached.

The woman was crazy. Not the crazy-for-abducting-me way. But flat out insane.

“Man, your boss—wherever that creep is lurking, and I’m sure he’s around here somewhere—really needs to do a psych eval on you, because you’ve lost it. Seriously lost it. Do you hear yourself? Do you honestly believe what you’re saying? Because I don’t and I won’t. Ever.”

The woman’s eyes went wide. “I’m—”

“Get to work, doctor” a voice said.

At the sound of the now all-too-familiar voice, I laughed again. “See? I told you Creeper was around here somewhere.” I struggled to look over my shoulder. “You know you’ve got some crazy people working for you? Certifiable-crazy, not just stupid-crazy. I mean, she’s obviously both. But seriously, I recommend a psych eval. Stat. And maybe one for yourself while you’re at it, because your marbles aren’t all there, either.”

“Keep quiet,” he said to me. “Do you need assistance, doctor?”

“You’re a doctor? I thought you all took an oath to
do no harm
? Wait, I know! You’re
helping
me. Sorry, I forgot.”

She glanced at me. “I’m—”

“Finish your work,” Creeper said.

“Well, even crazy dogs try to make their masters happy, I guess. Jump, doggy, jump!”

“Will you shut up?”

“Jump!”

“Shut up! Shut up, shut up!” the doctor shouted. “What we’re doing is important. Why don’t you see that?”

I snorted. “Because I have eyes that aren’t clouded by crazy?”

She whirled away from me, stormed back to the tray, and flipped the cover off with a snap of her wrist. It few across the room and fell to the floor at my feet.

I heard the sound of gloves snapping against skin.

And just like that, fear overrode anger. My blood ran cold again, my heart raced. I heard it in my head like a speeding train.

When she stormed over to me, needle in hand, I shook my head. “Don’t even think about it! I swear, when I get out of this chair—and I will, if I have to break my own damn arms to do it—I’ll jab that needle in your eye.” Apparently my truly violent side had been dormant this entire time, because I meant what I said.

Ignoring me, she bent over near my arm. Her coat fell over my hand. I felt the sting of the needle against my skin and yanked on her jacket. As her head dropped, I leaned forward and delivered a head-butt that left me seeing stars.

She clutched her face and tried twisting away, but I didn’t let go of her coat.

“Damnit! Someone get in there!” Creeper yelled.

The doctor sobbed, blood dripping from her hopefully-broken nose. “Let me go!”

“Like you let me go?” I jerked the material again. “Not a chance in hell!”

The doors opened and men ran inside with raised guns aimed at me again.

One man—unarmed—ran up to me and tried pulling the woman free, but he got too close. I grabbed his weapons vest and head-butted him, too.

“Release them, Jade. Now. They will shoot you with more tranqs. You’ve had enough in your system now that I’m afraid another dose would do more harm than good.”

“Well, if you manage to kill me, then your kidnapping scheme will have been for nothing, huh?” Okay, obviously I wasn’t hoping to die, but considering the steps they’d taken to make sure I wasn’t hurt, I didn’t think they’d risk hurting me now. I didn’t know what they really wanted, but it was more than just blood or DNA samples. It had to be.

Creeper walked into view a few seconds later, his expression different than I’d seen it so far. It was darker, scarier. “Don’t try my patience. You won’t like the results if I have to come in there myself. I’m not nearly as friendly as they are.”

I didn’t doubt him for a second and I didn’t want him in the same room with me at all, so I released his people.

The woman, still clutching her face, gasped and sobbed. “She—she attacked me!”

The guy, who was also clutching his face, just glared at me.

I smiled, but it was my most least sincere smile to date. “Karma’s a bitch, isn’t she?”

Creeper spared the doctor a quick glance. “Did you get enough?”

She had a roll of gauze pressed against her nose now and her eyes were getting puffy. “Barely.” Her voice was all nasally.

“Very well. Your other tests can wait for now. Go take care of yourself.” Creeper looked to me and there was a vindictiveness in his eyes and smile. “I’d like to try something else.” He turned his head slightly. “Leave. Have our other…guest…brought in.”

“Guest? You abducted more people?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

I didn’t like his tone. I liked his expression even less. It had chills running down my spine and a shudder going through my entire body.

He stood like a statue, just watching me with those too-calm eyes. Staring at me until I wanted to squirm.

I heard footsteps a few minutes later and then his other ‘guest’ arrived. A demon. Its arms and legs were shackled. A guard stood behind it, shoving it forward and prodding it with some kind of stick when it slowed or stopped. It snarled at him.

The demon wasn’t one I recognized. It was short, maybe only an inch or two taller than me, with pasty, almost translucent, white skin. It kind of looked like a human worm with black eyes. A very unhappy looking demon.

My stomach dropped and my mouth went dry. “What do you think you’re doing?”

The guard poked the demon again. A bright light flashed and made a zapping sound. He shoved the now-snarling demon into the room while Creeper eyed me from behind the glass walls, wearing the same cold smile on his face. He glanced at the guard. “Leave and close the door.”

The demon growled and watched me with wide, empty eyes. Slobber dripped from its mouth. My gaze darted from the demon to Creeper and I fought against my restraints, pulling and yanking until my arms screamed in agony. “It’s going to kill me!”

“It may.” He said it so casually, like he was talking about the weather and not my possible soon-to-be death.

“Well, it better, because if it doesn’t, I’m coming after you.”

He inclined his head and looked at the guard. “Turn off the lights and release their shackles.”

“What?” I screeched.

“You can see in the dark, can’t you? So can the demon.” He signaled the guard.

The guard pulled a small handheld tablet from his pocket and pressed a button. All the lights went out, throwing the room into complete darkness again. I heard locks disengaging and then metal hitting the ground. The demons shackles. My arms were still trapped. Almost as soon as I thought it, my wrists were free. I was out of the chair in a second and felt my way to hide behind it, putting it between me and the demon. For a place to hide, it left a lot to be desired.

C’mon demony senses! Kick in!

I couldn’t see the demon yet, but I heard its breathing, and it sounded angry.

“Go away, demon. Shoo! I don’t taste good. Break the glass and eat them! They’re bigger.”
Please be a friend, please be a friend. Or at least not a foe.
“Back away. I’m a friend. Even if I’m not a real friend, I’m the enemy of your enemy, which makes me a friend. Your real enemy is standing right outside there.” I pointed. “See? Go…go eat them!”

A red glow formed around the demon. It sniffed the air as it stepped toward me, so I moved away. “Come on,” I said, turning to pound on the glass where I knew the exit was. “Let me out of here before it kills me!”

“If I’m right, no harm will come to you.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

He lifted his shoulder in a shrug.

“Asshole,” I muttered. Hearing footsteps, I twisted around. The demon swiped at me, clawing the side of my face when I couldn’t get out of the way. My hand went to my cheek and I felt tiny, bloody welts. Worm demon was definitely
not
a friend.

As it reached for me again over the chair, I grabbed its arms and yanked down. The demon crashed neck-first onto the back of the chair. It bounced back, pissed but seemingly uninjured, and then started for me again. I ran toward the other side of the room with the demon only steps behind me. Still running, I jumped up, pushed off the wall, and landed behind it. Its head moved side to side, like it was trying to find where I went, so I grabbed it around the neck, applying as much pressure to the choke-hold as I could.

The demon reared its head back, missing my face by an inch, and spun around and around, trying to dislodge me. It shoved me against the glass walls, knocking the breath from me, and spun again. This time, I went flying knee-first into the side wall.

My knee screamed in agony and had tears streaking down my face. My breath came out in choppy gasps that made my back and ribs ache. Before I could move, the demon’s arms went around me, lifting me up and clutching my stomach so hard even a breath couldn’t escape the grip. Tighter and tighter, it squeezed until my eyes watered and I thought my ribs would break.

I was
not
going to die like this, trapped in a glass room, being suffocated by a demon. I wasn’t going to be a spectacle for Creeper and whoever else might be watching.

Wiggling, trying to get free, I threw the demon off balance. It fumbled forward. I lifted my legs and, fighting through the pain in my knee and ribs, pushed back with all of my strength. We ended up in the chair and the demon’s grip loosened. I slid from its arms and fell to the ground at its feet, gasping and panting for breath.

The lights flashed on and my gaze locked with Creeper’s even as tears streamed down my cheeks. I barely saw him through the tears, but his expression was the same as it always was: blank. Like he was watching a bland movie he had no interest in seeing.

He made a motion with his hand and I heard the sound of locks being engaged. I glanced behind me and saw the demons arms trapped, the same way mine had been only minutes before.

Creeper cast a glance at me and his shoulders lifted. He made a small sound. “Well, I suppose I was wrong.”

I didn’t say anything—couldn’t, physically or mentally. How could someone just stand there, watching someone else nearly be killed by a demon they’d sicced on them, and stay so calm? So cold and detached. I couldn’t comprehend that. Linc had been right when he said people were worse because they had choices. Some people were definitely worse.

I stayed where I was, glaring at Creeper because it was all I could manage. A lot of words came to mind (most of them were some variation of a particular four letter word), but none left my mouth. The anger was back again, a thousand fold. My knuckles strained against my skin and my nails dug into my palms. I started to shake.

I’d never hated anyone as much as I hated this man. Not Mrs. Gill, not Felecia or Rachel. No one. There was only one thing in the world I hated more and that was the demon that’d killed my family. That was the hardest thing I’d ever gone through, the hardest thing I thought I’d ever have to go through.

This… I honestly couldn’t tell if this was worse or not. Both were the worst experiences I’d had, but in different ways.

“Get the demon out of there,” Creeper told the guard. “Don’t try anything, Jade, or I’ll just have you knocked out again.”

I didn’t move, neither did I want to. Using my good leg, I scooted away to the far corner of the room, my eyes locked on Creeper and his on mine. “You’ll pay for this,” I said quietly, in a cold tone that I barely recognized as my own. “I don’t care how long it takes me, but I’ll make you pay. And I keep my word. Always.”

I didn’t plan the words. They came out before I could stop them, but I meant them all—every word, every syllable. I’d never wanted to cause anyone serious bodily harm before, but I wanted to cause him pain. For Adam, for kidnapping me, for locking me in a room with a demon. For everything.

I’d never felt this kind of hatred before, not for a person, or even a demon, if I was being honest with myself. Dislike, hate, loathing. I’d felt those things. This was different. Rawer. Stronger. Powerful. I’d never felt that cold rage that crept just below the surface, waiting to be unleashed.

Like its own entity.

It was separate from me, but at the same time, it was a part of every cell in my body.

When the demon and guard were out of sight, Creeper stayed behind. Eyes narrowing, I got to my feet and limped up to the glass, standing directly in front of him. My knuckles strained against my skin painfully but I couldn’t unclench them. “I never thought I’d hunt a person, but I’ll hunt you to the ends of the Earth.”

C
HAPTER 19

Sounds pulled me from the darkness. My mind was awake, but I couldn’t move my arms or legs, or open my eyes. The last thing I remembered was threatening Creeper. They must’ve drugged me again, but I didn’t even remember that.