Emergence (The Primogenitor Chronicles Book 1) (39 page)

Without thought, he grabbed Ian’s wrist as he held an instrument toward his face. “What?”

Ian’s sharp gaze pinned his. “The pills didn’t just block your talents; they actually halted their natural development. All the symptoms, all the behaviors you experienced, will come back to haunt you, Nicky.”

The truth of the situation stared into his soul. With an exclamation, he recoiled. The chair smashed to the ground and he ripped the pads from his chest. Breath labored, his wings fanned and he backed away from everyone in the room.

“Jays?” Ian picked up the chair but kept an eye on him.

“It was long enough. We got what we needed.”

“Good. Nick, try and stay with me. It’ll be harder for you than for any of the others.”

Shaking his head, he desperately tried to get his thoughts and feelings under control. The memories of what Ian could do to him…

He shuddered and his back slammed into the wall. His gaze roamed the room, but he didn’t see. All he saw was his cell fifteen years ago.

Alone. So alone.

“Nickolas.”

His mind snapped back, and he stared at the concern on Ian’s face. Then his head swiveled to the bank of screens, and like a rope thrown to him, he was pulled over. He barely noticed the other fledglings in their cells. Only Jessica. She paced the small confines. The sight of her settled the beast that had been set free inside.

“I need to see her.”

“I’m sorry, Nick, but now is not a good time. You’re in no condition to. You’ll feel better tomorrow. Trust me.”

Another flip in his equilibrium, and sudden rage poured through his system. He gasped at the pain that followed and his knees buckled. He caught himself on the edge of the desks with shaking arms. It took a moment but then he raised his head back to the screen. “I’ll feel better if I see her.”

“No.”

He pushed away; a frustrated snarl tore from him, and he stalked around the island of screens to pace the length of doors. At her number, he pushed against the steel. No give. He started running his fingers along the seams.

“I will not unlock it, Nickolas.”

He slammed his shoulder into it. A dull whump echoed through the Hub. But, not surprising, the door held firm. He rested his forehead against the cold metal. Not sure what Ian’s plans were, besides not letting him out of the Hub yet, he closed his eyes and ground his teeth then spun away to stalk the perimeter of the room. If he couldn’t get in…

I’ll get out.

The clanging of the food trolley rumbled through the door. He tracked the sound then stared at the entrance.

They have to open it.

He loosened his wings and crouched in preparation for an extended leap across the large room.

Jays preempted his move by casually walking over to back up his brother, a trank gun in his hand and a second handed to Chris. Both sets of eyes trained on him. Fear of what Jays held twined with acute frustration. Unable to withhold a howl, he rose and backed away.

And if Jays hadn’t been holding the trank gun, he would have attacked Ian in that instant for the slight smile he didn’t bother to hide when he gestured to Chris to unlock the door and bring the cart in.

“Chris, Jays, let me know when you have the food ready.” A challenging look in his eye, Ian moved away, walking over to the monitors, and picked up some paper work.

Getting out the door didn’t look to be an option. At least not until Ian allowed it. Clenching his fists, he followed the doctor over to the desks.

“Either let me in or let me out, Ian. I can’t take this.”

A soft sigh passed the doctor’s lips. “I can’t, Nicky. Can you see yourself? Do you see what you’re doing?”

“I…” He swallowed. “There’s so much pain.”

“I know. And it’s only going to get worse for a while.”

“She makes it better.”

“I’m sorry.”

He stared at Jessica through the glass of the machine. She kept casting expectant looks at the door. Almost like she knew he was near.
She’s right. We need to get out. How do I get her out?
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Ian nod slightly, and his focus shifted. Suspicious, he trained a look on each of them, but Ian flicked her screen off, which drew his attention back, along with a growl. He reached out to turn it back on.

“Don’t touch it.”

His hand froze at the tone. Anger simmered, but he couldn’t force it to obey. Ian hadn’t even looked up from his paper work.

“We’re done, Ian,” Jays said. He set a plate with a burger on it in front of Nickolas then turned and walked back over to Christoff and the trolley.

“We’ll take David his in a moment, Jays. I need to finish this first. Eat, Nicky; you’re hungry, even if you don’t believe it.”

The smell hit him and his stomach cramped. He licked his lips, staring at the food. Ian still ignored him in favor of the paper work he continued to fill out. The other two had relaxed slightly and held a quiet conversation at the door.

He looked under the bun. Cheese stretched and a drop of blood ran down to drip onto the plate. Everything else in the room faded from sight. His hands reached out and lifted it, so he took a bite. Warmth exploded on his tongue, along with the salty metallic taste of the rare meat. He bolted the meal in half a dozen bites.

As he finished off the last bite, his mind returned from the impulse it had fallen into; he caught Ian studying him out of the corner of his eye. He sought Jays and Chris, both watching and waiting. He snapped his attention back to Ian.

“You didn’t.”

“I’m sorry, Nicky, but you needed the food and the sleep. Your control is beyond shaky tonight, we can’t risk it. You’ll feel much better tomorrow.”

“You know how much I hate tranks.” He shoved away from the table and stalked around the room, pushing his body, trying to avoid the inevitable. “Why?”

“Nickolas, you’re becoming a danger to yourself and others around you.”

Flaring his wings for balance, he reached out to steady himself on the wall as he felt the drug start to kick in; shaking his head, he surged away, glaring at his brother as he passed. “Thanks a lot, Chris.”

“It’s for the best, Nick.”

“I’ve heard that before.” He turned away from his brother’s concern. Rage made him want to lash out at them for what they had done, but they all wisely stayed out of his reach. A continuous low growl rumbled in his throat as he paced more and more unsteadily, frantic in his fear of being locked back up in one of the cells of the Hub. He shook his head to try and clear it but lost his balance and hit the computer desk with his hip. He managed to catch himself before he fell.

Across the desk, he met Ian’s eyes. So many emotions skated across the green. He latched on to the understanding and he reached his hand out, hoping for help or comfort; he wasn’t sure. Trapped in Ian’s eyes, he heard the doctor’s voice from a distance. “Chris, catch him, he’s going down.”

Floating, he barely registered Christoff’s touch as his body gave in.

Ian’s face swam into his view above. “Let’s get him into the MRI. I need to see what’s going on.”

His vision continued to tunnel until it faded into the dark.

Christoff sat up and raked the hair out of his eyes. He looked blearily around, then heard the knocking again. Pulling the sheet off the bed, he wrapped it around himself before he stumbled in the dark through his bedroom doorway and across his living room. His stiff fingers fumbled with the knob, and he yanked the door open. The bright glare of the hallway lights made his eyes squint, and the silhouette in front of him laughed, brushing past.

“What the hell, Donald. You couldn’t just open the damn unlocked door and come in?” He shoved it closed and turned back to his visitor, who walked the room turning on lights.

“Well your note did say to come and wake you up.”

“You couldn’t have done that from in here?”

“Did you really want that?”

Chris flopped into his chair, yawning, and tried to focus on Donald, who took a seat on the couch across from him. “I’ll see
you
later in the ring.”

Donald laughed, then sobered. “So what’s up? It’s important enough to have me wake you, but not important enough for you to wake me. Did something go wrong with the recovery yesterday?”

Ambushed by another yawn, he wrapped the sheet a little more securely. “Not exactly. That went smooth enough. It was after we got back that the difficulties started. Nickolas turned feral. Fortunately it was here, in a controlled environment, with Ian watching. He’s sleeping off a strong dose of sedative right now. Ian doesn’t expect him to wake until late morning.”

Donald went still. “Any injuries?”

“It could have been worse.” He lifted his chin to show the darkening fingerprints about his throat. “Nick almost didn’t stop; it was close. He slept most of yesterday, and when awake, well you saw him when we left. He felt like a stretched spring about to snap.”

He leaned his head back, clenching his fist on the arm of the chair. “It was my fault. I should have made sure he ate.”

“Chris, look at me.”

Opening his eyes, he looked wearily over at Donald.

“You know as well as I that he was building like a volcano; if not yesterday, then it would have been today or tomorrow. It sounds like the timing for his breakdown couldn’t have been better planned. It wasn’t in too public a place and the best individuals to handle it were available. You kept him in one piece, that’s all that matters, Chris.”

The sincerity in his Second’s eyes helped. “Thanks, Donald. I need to hear that. It’s just hard to see him like this. It reminds me too much of fifteen years ago. Anyway, Ian says we need to tighten the watch on him now. After we tranked him, Ian took the opportunity to get an MRI. His brain is ripping itself to shreds.”

“Wha…what?”

“Yeah, fun, huh? Looks like we miscalculated. Turns out the ‘anti-aggresion,’” he used his fingers to put air quotes around that, “pills are actually a different type of inhibitor. None of us have been allowed to complete our changes. So that’s what we’re up against. Ian expects Nick to continue to deteriorate for a couple more weeks before he’s over the worst of it.”

“You said Ian knew; why didn’t he stop us?”

“I have no idea. He hasn’t seen fit to fill us in yet. I am assured, though, that Nick’s experience will be the worst. The rest of us won’t be so bad. Those of us who are Hunters will get off the easiest. Anyone who turns out to be in one of the other castes will have a tougher time. Roughly, it can be judged on how difficult your original change was for you.”

“Kieran.”

“Ian is already making plans for him. He won’t be as difficult to handle as Nick, but it’ll be hard on him.”

Donald pursed his lips in a soundless whistle. “So, what now?”

“Ian gave me a couple of trank pistols. We just need to keep them hidden from the Facility personnel. We’ll set up a layered guard, two on his heels and two at a distance. And you and I will spend nights with him. Ian hopes we can keep him from needing to be placed under observation. You can guess what that would do to Nick.”

“Fuck him right up.”

“To put it mildly. Not to mention the attention it would draw to have him there. So we have to be the bars to his cage.”

“Is there anything we can do to help him?”

“No. There’s no way to relieve any of the effects. The best help we can give him is to try and make sure Ian doesn’t have to confine him to a cell in the Hub.” Resting his head on the side of the chair back, Chris closed his eyes. “Your first task is to get everyone up and to the gym within the hour. Ian assures me we can meet there en masse without causing too much notice among the rest of the Facility’s staff. We need to get our plans in place before Nickolas wakes.”

“What about Jessica?”

“At the moment, she’s pretty safe under Ian’s care. But Gabriel’s already expressed interest in her.”

“That’s not good.”

“No. For either of them. And unlike us, he’s completely uninhibited. He’ll be able to tell from a distance that Nick is off the drugs.”

“But…”