Dentelle (40 page)

Tears rolled down my cheeks. And I mouthed the
words, I love you. He blinked and nodded.

Kieran must have felt the drops splattering on
his arm, because he whipped me around so fast, I felt the effects of whiplash.
Angry beyond belief, he stared at my tear-stricken face and tightened his
fingers around my skin like talons. Shaking his head, he looked ready to
explode or ready to kill someone. No, not someone. Jason. I started trembling
at the thought. He brushed his hand over my face, wiping away the tears. “Oh,
Lexi. Tut, tut, tut,” he said in a condescending tone. “You must learn to hide
your emotions. Ray-pacs don’t give anything away.” His face relaxed and he
actually smiled. “Don’t cry over him or him.” He glanced at Jason, then Ash,
and then back at me. “You know I’m going to kill them both. Seeing you this
emotional hurts me, Lexi. It really does.” He was ludicrous – a freak of
nature. “Don’t worry. I’ll make them pay. I promise. But I’ll wait until after
we’re linked. They won’t want to miss it. That’s the least I can do for you, my
love.”

“Now?”
I asked Ash.
“Can I kill him now? I could
strangle him so easy.”
I could barely contain the need, the desire to
destroy. It scared me. There were parts of me – in that dark side of my nature
– parts I didn’t want to admit to, and they were begging to be released. There
was a beast inside of me, too.

“No! Not
yet. We don’t know who he’s bringing to the third chair. Hold on.”

My blood was boiling, and my breaths were short
and choppy.
“Why is Jason here? This is
my worst nightmare come true.”

“I know,
Lexi. I’m sorry. We’ll figure something out.”

But I knew we wouldn’t. We were doomed. As
Kieran sat me back down, I played out the only likely scenario. I’d kill
Kieran. Ash would kill a few Ray-pacs. And then they’d descend, ripping us to
shreds. Someone, probably Aiden, would step up and become the new leader of the
pack. If I was lucky I’d already be dead. If I wasn’t he’d make me die a slow,
tortuous death.

I wasn’t even paying attention when Kieran had
Milo bring in the last person. My eyes were closed, and I was praying it wasn’t
going to be Ava Rose. Dakota I could deal with. I expected her. But if it was
Ava Rose, I would lose that last ounce of self-control and retaliate regardless
of the consequences or of any plan Ash was concocting. But when Ash came
unhinged and started yelling, I knew, without a doubt, Kieran’s last victim was
Madison. The passion and raw emotion in Ash’s voice matched my feelings for
Jason. I opened my eyes, and sure enough, looking savage, beautiful, pissed
off, and scared all at once, was Madison.

Ash looked like he was about to break through
the ropes that were supposedly holding him down.
“No, Ash!”
I yelled.
“You
wait. You can’t do anything anyways, and I get to take out Kieran before you
make any moves.”
He didn’t respond right away so I said fiercely,
“Do you understand me?”

Because he’d become so violent at Madison’s entrance,
Aiden slapped him around then gagged him. Ash allowed it. But barely. Finally,
he looked away from Madison and stared at me.
“Fine. But we’ll do it together. He’s not walking out of here alive.”

Kieran, standing next to me, motioned with his
hands for the Ray-pacs to settle down. Many of them were out of their seats,
crowding each other, trying to get a good look at the Guardians. Grabbing me by
the hand, Kieran pulled me to my feet. His eyes were wide with excitement, and
he was breathing hard and fast. Rubbing my hands in between his, he could
barely contain himself. He flashed a bright white smile. “Surprise, surprise,
surprise, huh?” he said, tilting his head towards Ash, Jason, and Madison. “I
hope you enjoy getting surprises as much as I like giving them. But right now,”
he said, rocking back and forth on his feet, “it’s time to forget them. You
will focus only on me. On us. It is time for us to link and become one.”

No, I thought. It’s time for you to finally die.

Grabbing my hands eagerly, with his grimy sweaty
ones, Kieran leaned forward and rudely – possessively – shoved his face against
mine. Our foreheads and noses connected, and his lips were painfully close to
mine. I loathed his touch. The feel of his ruddy skin against mine. The smell
of his menthol-stinking breath. The heat gathered around our fingers,
eventually spreading through my wrists and up my arms. Just like it had when
I’d linked with Ash. I’d waited so long for this moment, and now that it was
here, I felt totally unprepared. Anticipation, anxiety, and anger were just a
few of the emotions pulsing through my nervous system.

I thought of Ellen, Kohana, and the countless
Innocents Kieran had killed during his lifetime. I thought of how he was going
to slaughter my friends – most specifically, Jason – and I knew with one
hundred percent certainty, killing Kieran and all Ray-pacs was the right thing
to do. They were soulless monsters, and by ridding the world of them, I was not
taking lives, I was saving them.

Throwing my shoulders back, and lifting my chin
ever so slightly, I said,
“Get ready,
Ash. I’m going to slice through his neck with my hand and take off his head.”

“You’re
gonna do what?”

A split second later, the contact between Kieran
and I was burning hot – barely tolerable. I was about to let go of his hands
and rip through him like a chainsaw, when suddenly, his voice came crashing
into my mind.
“Oh, Lexi, my queen! We’ve
done it. How extraordinary. We are one.”

What? No. This was not happening. I had to be
hallucinating.

“I’m on
fire. I could do that again right now.”
Kieran sounded charged.

I stood frozen. Shocked and appalled. How could
Kieran’s voice be in my mind?

“
Talk to
me. I want to hear you.”
His voice was impatient and imposing.

“What?
What happened?”
I could barely breathe. I pulled away. My face had to be
whiter than snow and my body temperature just as cold.

Frowning, Kieran grabbed my face and sunk his
fingers into my skin.
“We linked. What’s
wrong with you?”
After a moment, he dropped his hands to my waist and
started nodding, like he’d just solved a puzzle.
“It’s the Ray-pac Essence,”
he said knowingly.
“It’s potent but different than Guardian Essence.”

You mean impure and malevolent, I thought.

“It’ll
take some getting used to, but you’ll adapt. We’re together now, Lexi. We’ll be
unstoppable.”
With that, Kieran turned toward the crowd, opened his arms
wide, and raised his palms high, like he was royalty and his loyal subjects
were anxiously awaiting his words. He flashed a brilliant smile and shouted in
a boasting tone, “It is done, and we have successfully linked. You have all
been lucky enough to be here so you could witness this miraculous
history-making ceremony. From this day forward we will…”

 
He
continued addressing his audience, but I was so dazed and unsteady, I heard not
another word. How could this be? What had happened?

“Lexi?
What’s going on? What’s he babbling about? Why didn’t you kill him?”

“Ash?”
I muttered, confused beyond belief. How was he still in my head? How could they
both be in my head at the same time?

“If you’re
too freaked out to kill him, you should have told me. I’ll come do it right
now.”

“No!”
I shouted to Ash.
“No, you can’t. Not
yet. What he said was true; I am linked with him.”

“What the hell
are you talking about? You’re not making sense and neither is he.”

“I’m…I’m
double linked. With you and with him.”

“That’s
not possible,”
Ash said, his voice rising, bordering on hysterical.

“Lexi, are
you listening to me?”
Kieran asked, roughly he pressed his hand into my
waist.

Reaching up, I touched my forehead. “I feel
shaky and dizzy, Kieran. Can I sit down?” I said aloud.

“Fine. Fine,” he said his tone a mix of
irritation and concern.

“Just give me a minute,” I said. I was still so
dumbfounded. I couldn’t manage a single coherent thought. In the meantime,
Kieran continued speaking animatedly to his audience. A few people questioned
why our link wasn’t detectable. To prove we were linked, he decided to
demonstrate his new Flair, which turned out to be the same as Ash’s. Showing
off, he sent a few flying energy spheres dangerously close to my friends.
Meanwhile, I tried to rearrange my thoughts – get a handle on the situation.
That wasn’t easy with Ash going off in my mind, barraging me with questions.
The same ones I had. Only there were no answers.

Together, embroiled in chaos, Ash and I were at
a total loss.

I chanced a glance at Jason, and my thoughts
became even more chaotic. I could tell by his crinkled forehead and tightly set
jaw he was Armageddon-mad, but he also looked confused. Probably trying to
understand how I could be linked with Kieran. Probably thinking I was no longer
linked with Ash. And if he was like me, he was wishing we’d tried linking
before. But we never had. Who knew I could link twice? And what did that mean?
Would one or both links break at the next full moon? Or was I forever-linked
with both of them? Too many unknowns.

That last miniscule bit of hope I’d had, the
unrealistic one that my friends and I might walk out of here alive – well, it
had just been completely obliterated to smithereens. Now that Kieran and I were
linked, and he had an endless supply of Essence, he was even more dangerous
than he’d been before. I would not, and could not, stay linked to him. If
killing him meant killing me, then that’s how it had to be.

“Lexi, stand up now,” Kieran said impatiently,
running his fingers though my hair. “Why don’t you demonstrate your new Flair
for us?”

Flair? I hadn’t even thought about that. Didn’t
I still have the same defensive Flair? Yes, yes I did. I straightened and
looked at Kieran with my mouth wide open. “Umm…”

“Get it
together
,” he said, violating my mind
.
His scratchy, evil voice inside my head, drove me insane. “
You’re acting like a dumb blonde. You’re embarrassing me and yourself.
Now do something impressive. You do know what your Flair is, don’t you?”

“Of course I know,” I said snidely, refusing to
talk telepathically. And as I focused, searching for it, I found it. My new Flair
was there, layered under my first Flair. My heart leapt. The only bright moment
in all this – I was double-flaired. And this time I had something fun to play
with. Wheeling around, I smiled ferociously and then raised my hands in the
air, like I’d seen Madison do so many times before. I concentrated on the
Ray-pacs standing next to my friends, and without warning, lifted Aiden, Zola,
Rose, and Milo off their feet, spun them around like pinwheels, and then
launched them into some steel culverts in the back of the room. For some
reason, Rafe stayed put. My telekinesis hadn’t worked on him.

That brought the Ray-pac spectators to their
feet. Some of them cheered, some of them looked aghast, and others remained
silent, waiting to see what Kieran would do. I wondered the same thing.
Slapping my hands together, I said, “Wow! What a rush!”

Although momentarily stunned, Kieran began
laughing – loud blustery roars. They grew more obnoxious by the second, and
other Ray-pacs joined in. But I could tell Kieran’s laughter was forced – all
for show
.
He was livid.
“That was not a wise decision.”
His
voice rumbled.

“I thought it was impressive,” I said aloud,
angering him even more.

His irises flared, and a low hiss rushed from
his lips. Movement in the back of the room had me preparing for retaliation;
Aiden and the others were on their feet ready to attack. But Kieran placed his
palms outwards like a policeman directing traffic. “Stop!” he yelled as he sent
one bus-sized energy sphere out in front of us. It hovered, as if awaiting his
command to continue. All five of them stopped mid-stride, but that didn’t take
away the resentment in their eyes. “I know you’re angry. And normally,
vengeance would be expected and accepted. But Lexi is unfamiliar with Ray-pac
etiquette. She will need to be taught, but I will be the one to teach her.”

He gripped my arms and trailed his hands down my
bare skin all the way to my hands. Then he took a finger and ran it up my
stomach, over my chest and up to my chin.
“You
belong to me. Every inch of you. I can bring you pleasure but I can also bring
you pain.”
He was toying with me, and I hated that I had to allow it. A
woman should not have to be submissive to a man. But Kieran was no man. Soon, I
would turn the tables on him.

I ground my teeth and braced myself. I knew what
was coming next – a lesson. He needed his audience to see he controlled me.
That he reigned superior. He kissed his fingertips, pulled his hand back behind
his head and then slapped me. My head jerked, but I kept my face deadpan. His
long fingernails had scraped my cheek, but I ignored the sting. Unamused, I
brushed my hair back and stared daggers. He shook a finger at me and said
loudly, “We don’t use our Flairs against each other unless we are attacked or
if we’re involved in the games.”

I shrugged, which didn’t make him very happy.
Turning back to the crowd, he raised a fist in the air and shouted, “You do
have to admire how she’s bold and gutsy. That’s how we like our Ray-pac women.
And telekinesis is a powerful Flair.” He put his arm around me, and I tried to
step away, but he held me firm
. “You’re
more like me than you know. That’s something I would have done.”
Eyes
alight with humor and challenge, he smiled, and I wondered what he was
planning. That’s when he did something totally unexpected and disgusting. He
stuck out his big, flat tongue and licked my cheek all the way from the base of
my chin to my eye, brushing my eyelashes in the process.

“Ugh!” I cried, jerking out of his grasp and
wiping my face. “Don’t you ever do that again,” I yelled. He said something
suggestive, and I considered ripping his tongue out of his mouth. He was so
vulgar, and gross, gross, gross. I clenched my fists.

“Don’t do
it, Lexi. Turn your thoughts. Think about Jason,”
Ash advised.

Following Ash’s advice, I looked at Jason in
hopes of suppressing my temper. But that was the wrong move because it only
enraged me more. Rafe was smacking Jason around, hitting him upside the head. I
wanted to pick Rafe up off his feet and slam him against the floor, but it
hadn’t worked on him before so it probably wouldn’t now. Besides, if I did
anything I’d only make it worse for Jason.

 
Kieran’s
voice boomed again, almost blowing out my eardrum. “Lexi will be invaluable to
us because she also has the Essence of an Amethyst and the ability to heal like
one, too.” That brought a new wave of gasps and a few challenging comments.

“How is that possible?” yelled a tall guy with
an orange mohawk.

“Yeah,” called out another girl.

“You doubt me?” Kieran roared.

“No,” the guy called back nervously. “I’ve just
never heard of such a thing.”

 
“Most
people haven’t. It’s very rare. But I will have Lexi prove it to you.” He will?
I thought. “Bring in the Guardian,” Kieran ordered and pointed to a corner
door.

“What is
he doing?”
Ash asked.

“I have no
idea,”
I responded, watching the door where Aria and Aiden had just exited.
They returned, carrying Dakota. She looked horrible. Weak and fragile like she
hadn’t eaten in days. They laid her down on the floor and stepped away from her
like she had the plague or something. I broke away from Kieran, or he allowed
me to break away from him, and I sprinted to Dakota’s side.

“Don’t touch her, Lexi. Not yet,” he called out
just as I started to reach for her. She was barely conscious.
“I mean it.”
His wicked voice invaded my
mind
. “You wait or I will dismember your
Guardian friends one body part at a time.”
I was so sick of his threats but
did as I was told. I waited anxiously, as he explained to everyone in the room
that Dakota’s partner had been killed and that’s why she’d grown significantly
weaker over the last few days. Aria wanted to link with the Guardian but not
while she was so weak. Kieran declared I would heal Dakota so everyone could
witness my abilities, and after that, Aria would link with the Guardian.

When he finally gave me the go ahead, I noticed
he wasn’t paying close attention because he was too busy at center stage.
Feeling gutsy, I decided to take a chance. If I could double link, why not
triple link? I grabbed Dakota’s hands, interlocked our fingers, and flooded her
with Essence. Her breaths were raspy. I closed my eyes and concentrated, hoping
this would work and praying we didn’t need to be touching foreheads. That would
have been too obvious. Remembering how my mind was infinite and could access
different planes of awareness, I searched for hers. I called out to her,
“Dakota. Can you hear me? Find me. Link with
me. You can do it. Feel the power. Come on, Dakota. I’m right here. Hurry. You
must find me.”

“Lexi?”
It was Dakota’s voice, inside my head. Her eyes shot open.

“You’re
all right. Don’t say a word. We’re linked, but you can’t let anyone know that,”
I warned.
“Aria’s going to try and link
with you, and that’s when she’ll find out you’re already linked. At that point
you can kill her.”

“With
pleasure.”
Dakota smiled. “
But what
happened? I was so sick. So weak. I don’t remember… How did you–”

“I’ll
explain later.”