Emergence (The Primogenitor Chronicles Book 1) (47 page)

A week later, Chris yawned and sat up, leaning against Nickolas’s door. Donald swung his legs over the side of the couch, exhaustion still plain on his face. He looked around the destruction in the room.

“Hear anything, Chris?” his Second asked him quietly.

Chris shook his head and started to fold up his blankets. “Not anymore. I think he finally fell asleep. The first night of weaning him off the tranks is down. I hadn’t anticipated the withdrawals to be so devastating. I expect we’re up for more lost sleep. His nightmares are brutal.”

He set the blankets down on the back of the couch then slumped into the armchair and met Donald’s eyes. “You all right?”

His Second grunted and leaned over to cradle his head in his hands. “I think so. I feel like a bruised melon inside though. We need to tell Ian that he’s getting stronger. I’m really glad you were able to stop his mental attack Chris, it was most unpleasant.”

“Good thing he has a hard head. I didn’t really care for bashing it in with a lamp. Best I could think of at the time to get him to let you go, since Ian ordered not to trank him.”

“And he’d been doing so well the last few days.”

“I don’t think he would have attacked you, if he hadn’t had the added stress of the drug withdrawal pushing him. He’s been able to bring himself under control several times in the last couple of days.”

Movement came from the other room and he shared a glance with his Second. “I had hoped he would sleep a little longer. Why don’t you call Kieran and get us all some breakfast up here.”

Donald nodded and reached for the phone as a shadow-filled Nickolas edged into the room. Christoff studied his brother. Nickolas looked haunted and exhausted as he paced around the room, running his hands through his tangled dark hair, righting objects but otherwise ignoring them.

“You should have tried to sleep more, Nick,” Chris said.

His brother shot a sharp glance at him and said resentfully, “I’d like to see you try, I really would.”

“You have to try. Only you can beat this thing.”

“Fuck you, Chris. Let me out to fly or trank me so I can sleep. And not that shit in the gun, the actual sedative.”

He sighed. “That’s up to Ian. You know that.”

Still pacing, Nick looked at Donald. “How’s your head?”

“It has certainly felt better.”

“Yeah mine too. You guys should have just let me go.”

Tired of the constant battle with his brother, Chris snapped, “Don’t give me that, Nick. I’m not in the mood.”

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I’m not giving the Facility the chance to send Gabriel after you for going feral while you’re still at a disadvantage mentally. Look, brother, whether you like it or not, we’re doing this Ian’s way, so learn to cope.”

Growling, Nick kicked him halfheartedly. “Get out of my chair.”

He flashed a grin and shifted over to the couch. There were any number of responses his brother could have had to last night. This was the best of them. A knock sounded at the door, and rising, Donald admitted Kieran pushing a trolley. He paused in the doorway; his eyebrows rose at the state of the room.

“Don’t start, Kieran. I don’t want to hear it,” Nickolas stated flatly.

“Uh huh, fine.” And he pushed the cart fully into the room. After setting the breakfast plates out, he sat down and took his own share. “Chris, Ian told me to tell you that he wants Nickolas in the Hub today after breakfast for an exam.”

He shot a look at Donald then turned back to Kieran. “Is that wise?”

Kieran shrugged and finished chewing before he answered. “He understands and wants him there anyway.”

Very quietly Nickolas interjected, “I want to see Jessica.”

“No,” snapped simultaneously from three throats. Glaring, Nick continued to eat.

Kieran took a drink before he elaborated. “Ian isn’t going to allow you to, you know that, Nick. If it helps any, Ian has had me in to see her regularly since the last time you saw her. She’s doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances.”

Kieran’s voice rumbled around the room, sharing his time spent with Jessica over the last week as they finished breakfast. Nickolas soaked in every word, and Chris dreaded the next hour they’d spend in the Hub. His mood swings were worse than any teenager he’d ever heard of, and the potential danger was deadly.

Nick finally pushed his plate aside, and Chris shared a glance with the other two Hunters. They both nodded. “Ok, Nick. Let’s get you to the Hub.”

Nick’s wings fidgeted as they left his suite, thankfully the only sign of his irritation, as he marched in the center of their guard. Chris led the group through the halls; when they had almost reached the Hub, Kieran cleared his throat nervously.

“By the way, Nick, you’d better behave. Ian says he won’t put up with you losing it again. He’s already got enough trouble to deal with. He’ll slap you in a room so fast it’ll make your head spin.”

Nickolas stumbled a step behind him, and he cast a glance over his shoulder at his brother’s pale face.
Please hold it together, Nicky. I’ll never forgive myself if I have to help force you back into that nightmare. This has been hard enough.

They reached the doors, and he held them for the group to pass. He met Ian’s gaze but remained by the door as guard. Nickolas made a beeline straight for Jessica’s monitor. Chris’s lips quirked up slightly as the doctor rolled his eyes at him before he walked over to meet Nickolas at the monitors. “So, Nicky, are we going to do the usual?”

“Just let me in, Ian, for a little bit. Please.” His brother leaned over the desk, his head bowed over the monitor. “Please.”

“Do you remember what happened to Jillian?”

“As if I could forget,” he whispered.

“Are you sure that won’t happen to Jessica? I’m not, so I will not take the risk. Please, sit down so we can get started.” Nick slumped down into a chair in defeat and turned to face Ian. The doctor reached over to the tray placed next to the desk and got ready to draw Nick’s blood. “So, Nickolas, how did you sleep last night?”

“Terribly, as I’m sure you know. Why wouldn’t you send Jays over? I’m so tired.”

“Nick, you’ve become addicted to the tranquilizer. You need to go off it.”

“I would rather that than the dreams.”

“Tell me about your dreams,” Ian asked as he inserted the needle into Nick’s vein. Nick ground his teeth, and Christoff wondered if he would talk about them or not. Anytime that he’d asked Nickolas about the details of his dreams, his brother just brushed him aside. Ian placed the vials aside then opened Nick’s shirt and attached monitors to several places on Nick’s chest, abdomen, and head then turned to look and see if the machine scrolled properly. “Would you really rather trade one drug dependency for another, instead of trying to come to terms with your subconscious?”

“They are worse than they used to be, Ian. It’s not just replays of my time in the Hub, it’s horrible images of deprivations committed on others. Some are on people I know and care about. They all get mixed up with my memories and I don’t know what’s real. I don’t trust myself. Am I going to do something else like what I did fifteen years ago?” Nickolas asked uncertainly.

“Fifteen years ago was not your fault, Nick. And I don’t think you’re on your way to becoming a monster now. I do think you’re having clairvoyant dreams though, but how much of what you see coming true will depend on the choices the different individuals involved make. But before we worry about refining and controlling that talent, let’s get you stabilized, which means I can’t allow you to develop a dependency on the tranquilizer. So, what other talents have you been exhibiting?”

Nickolas fidgeted in his seat. Chris narrowed his eyes waiting for him to mention his increasing strength.

“Nick,” he warned.

His brother turned a glare on him then glanced at Donald and Kieran, who lounged against the opposite wall. “You don’t have to.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Chris turned to look at Ian’s waiting face. “Last night he attacked Donald mentally, some form of coercion. He had almost succeeded in forcing Donald to let him out of the suite while I was occupied in the other room. You told us no tranks, so my only recourse was to brain him with the table lamp, which had the desired effect of getting him to release Donald. I’ve been on the receiving end of one of Nickolas’s compulsions, and I think he’s gaining strength.”

Nickolas reached up to rip off the sensors glued to his body, but Ian grabbed his hand.

“Leave them; we’re not done,” he said evenly.

“I need to move around, Ian.”

“I don’t care. Sit.” The doctor pressed a couple of the sensors back down and checked the others. “What did you think you were doing last night?”

“I just want to fly, Ian. I need out.”

“And you don’t think Jessica doesn’t want that too?”

A soft sigh escaped Nickolas, and the fear and pain rang clear in his words. “I don’t want to hurt anyone else, Ian. I just wanted to go away so I could keep everyone else safe from me.”

Chris closed his eyes at his brother’s admission. Ian’s voice gentled, “One week, Nicky. You only have one more week, then you should be fine. One week.”

Ian had almost finished going over Nickolas’s test results when he felt Jays enter the empty Hub.

“What are you going over there, boss?”

He turned his chair to face his protégé before answering. “I had Chris bring Nick in for some tests this morning. You were right, he has become dependent on the tranquilizer. When you didn’t show up last night, he attacked Donald. Fortunately, he doesn’t have a concussion from Christoff bashing him in the head with a lamp.”

“A lamp?” Jays exclaimed as he walked over to the coffee pot by the wall.

“Did you expect him to be reasonable?” he replied absentmindedly.

“No, I suppose not.”

Ian looked back down at the papers while Jays grabbed a cup, and after filling it with coffee, he wandered back over to Ian. “How bad is the dependency? You know he won’t get enough rest without it.”

“We’ll have to play it by ear. If his chemistry gets way out of balance again like it was last week, we may need to chance using the tranquilizer again, no matter his level of addiction, but not before then. Except for this setback, he’s showing marked improvement. I think our original estimate of two weeks is really close. With one down, hopefully we can hold Gabriel off for another week.” He looked up at the concern etched on Jays’s face.

“And if we can’t?”

“Then they fly free.”

“Will Marcus get his people into place with Dustin in time?”

“I hope so. He should have gotten my message a couple of days ago. With any luck, they’re already there.” He flipped a page and studied the graph again. “Nickolas is showing strong talents in clairvoyance, coercion, and telepathy so far. If there is anything else, he’s not talking about it. Trying to get him to talk about the talents we have identified is like pulling teeth. One positive sign of his improving condition though, he was much less obsessive while he was here, that was encouraging.”

“Wish we could say the same for Jess.” Jays sighed.

“She’s tolerated Kieran’s presence for the last week. And he’s at least gotten her to eat. Has she asked you more questions?”