Shattered Skies - Night Waves (7 page)

       “I am not running with anyone, it’s just me and her,” I snapped, my breath in his face. I was as good as dead anyway. I didn't have to be pleasant. “If I go with you and I find out that you killed her later, I swear to God my face will be the last face you see before you die.”

       I didn't sound like my usual self. I knew I was backed into a corner and I was scared. If he recognized my threat as an idle one, he didn't let on.

              “I am a man of my word Cat. I will not harm a hair on her head as long as you are a good little girl.” Before I had time to respond, I felt the air from his fist coming towards me. I tried to dodge, but you can't out run a freight train. His hand crashed into my jaw and I felt myself fall backwards and then he caught me. “Get me that needle now,” was the last thing I heard. Well at least I wouldn't have to feel the needle. I hate needles. There was a sharp prick of pain and then my world consisted of Drake's arms around me and nothing more.

             
I woke up with a headache in a dark room. The important thing was, I woke up. That is the first step in getting away, right?

             
“Kitty Cat, I was starting to think that I gave you too much sleepy medicine.” Argh, that rasping voice again!

             
“God Drake, why couldn't you just be a bad dream, like you used to be?” My throat was so dry, I am sure I mumbled.

             
“Oh, have you been dreaming of me beautiful? I am really flattered.” Drake was standing in front of me with a cup of water. He really was a handsome creature, beautiful and deadly and very, very, twisted.

      “There is no way in hell I am going to drink or eat anything that you give me Drake.” I had seen enough movies to know that the bad guy always uses a captive’s trust and basic needs to take them down.

      “So cautious, I guess that is how you have managed to stay alive so long, huh? I mean, there must be something really wrong with you if you are hiding from the King instead of shacking up with his dumb ass. You know what I think Kitty Cat? I think that you are a human.”

      I tried so hard not to let my face show it, but my entire body went cold. I
had suspected all along that Drake had figured me out, but he hadn't said it out loud, so I had been hoping I was wrong.

       Drake went on. “I have to admit I am really not 100 percent sure you’re human, but you have no need to worry about that. I have some very exciting ways planned to find out for sure.” I didn't know what he was talking about, but I was almost positive that I didn't want anything to do with his plans.

   When he handed me the water again, I shook my head and looked away. “Look,” he said graciously. He took a drink from the cup, “Nothing at all in there to hurt you.” He looked about as sincere as a murderous beast could look.

  
I was so thirsty I gave in and swallowed a big gulp, quelling the feeling that my throat was on fire.

 
“Now Kitty Cat, there are some questions that I need answered fast. I can tell by the look on your face that you are going to be a stubborn little bitch. But hey, if you want to play that way, remember I know where lover girl and that pathetic excuse for a Vampire that raised you all live, and I won’t hesitate to give the order to execute both of them.”

  
He had known all along I was bluffing. This was way worse than I thought. I just had to hope that Walker had been smart enough to make all of them pack up and leave in time. I guess that something changed in my face. He had me and he knew it. I could accept any torture and painful punishment that he might hand me, but I was not going to let him hurt any of the people in my life that had tried to keep me safe.

             
“Fine, what do you want to know?” I said. I did the best that I could to get my voice down to a civil tone.

             
“Now that is much better little girl. I thought the promise of harm to the morons that you love might help you be more cooperative. First things first. How did you manage to fool Akia into thinking that you are one of us?  I hate to admit it, but the first couple times I saw you, I fell for it too. But he is supposed to be the leader of the damn planet and yet he let you in to the kingdom and let you have free run of the place.” Darien hated Akia for giving me the freedoms that he did. I hated Drake more than anything in this world, but he was right. Akia was stupid.

   “You have no idea what I am Drake. But I am not human.” I wished that he would believe me more than I have ever wished for anything in my life.

       Making Drake think that I was something new would get me killed just the same, but more than likely, he would have to try to figure out what I was and that would buy me more time, and more time meant more of a chance to escape.

    “You know Kitty Cat, there are ways for me to test you, and I promise you that you aren't going to like any of them very much.” Damn
it! It had been worth a try. Time to go with plan B, C, or D, but I couldn’t remember which plan I was on anymore, nothing like making it up as you go along.

   “It was simple. It is easy to trick the moronic, present company included of course.” I really think that it is some disease that I have that causes me to give in to the urges I get to insult monsters that can kill me. But at least it is an amusing aliment. I couldn't keep the smirk off my face.

   
“I hope you find this just as funny when I bring the heartbroken Akia here and show him you are nothing more than rotting food. He has been pining over his perfect woman that died since you’ve been gone. How do you think he is going to handle things now Cat?” I would have given anything to shoot laser death rays out of my eyes and evaporate the incredibly cocky ass sitting in front of me.

  
“Dr. Walker raised me to look and act just like you guys,” I said simply. I was really good at it, or maybe really lucky. It’s nothing but smoke and mirrors, Drake.” He probably wouldn't believe that either but why not try the truth? It was something new for me.

  
“Good Girl! Now why didn't you just kill Akia? I mean even a moron like me knows that you were trained to kill us, am I right in assuming that?” Hmm, a logical Drake. What a surprise.

  
“Yes that is what I am trained to do Drake, and I don't know why I didn't kill him. I should have, but like any good solider knows, if you take out the head guy, the army of fighters below might revolt and then chaos ensues and things could get worse.” I believed that right? No, I didn't believe it but I was hoping that he did. The truth would get me killed twice as fast and I planned on breathing for as long as I could.

  
“So what your plan Cat? I mean, what can you possibly hope to gain? Knocking us off one at time would go nowhere fast. I mean, for every ten of us you killed, 100 more are born.” There was no way I was going to give him even a peek into Walker’s master plan even though it probably would never happen now anyway.

  
“We hoped to gain nothing; every one of you monsters we killed was just another mark on the bed post Drake. I guess you could call it our own little game of Cat and mouse.” The laugh that escaped his lips sent a chill up my spine and turned me cold from the inside out.

  
“Seriously Cat, how long did you think you could get away with it? You should have left well enough alone. But you had to go hook up with Akia, and whatever mind game you played on him put a target on your back. It would have been the same, even if you were one of us. I was going to kill you anyway, you were clouding his judgment, and a leader with clouded judgment is the most dangerous thing in the universe.” My blood ran cold. I should have felt better that he wasn't going to kill me just because I was human, but I didn't. Dead was dead either way.

  
“You know what Drake? Every monster I killed felt great! I would never change the way I’ve lived my life. Mark my words, you cocky bastard, you are going to die by my hand. I am going to be the last thing you see, the last thought that you have, and I will be there to hear the last sorry sob escape from your lips.”

  I barely got to finish the sentence before he grabbed my hair and yanked my mouth to his. His tongue thrust hard, penetrating my lips. The surprise caused me to gasp, which he quickly took advantage of. He kissed me like he was trying to steal my breath. And it was working because I couldn't breathe. When he let me go I choked a little, as I took my hand and tried to wipe the taste of him off my mouth.

  “There is something about you, Cat. Something evil that controls the innocence you try so desperately to project, something darker and more far reaching than the men that you’ve killed. The sad thing is, if you had just come to me first, I could have promised you a lot of fun. A lot of evil, evil, fun. I can almost see how Akia fell for you. Only problem is, I am not an idiot. I am going to prove just what you are and then I am going to prove to the Elders that Akia's judgment is too muddled to lead. Because he fell for you, he needs to step down. He lost his edge when he met you. It’s me that is going to rule the Dominus Cat. Then everything will turn out just as it should.”

  
I knew that if I didn't take steps to kill this arrogant bastard, he was going to turn his words into more than hollow promises. He was going to ruin Akia and I would be the first to die, so I would have no way to warn him. Akia had suffered enough by my hand and I was determined that he’d suffer no more because of me.

  
“Now get some sleep Miss Kitty, you have a surprise coming soon. Trust me Cat, it’s going to be a good one and you are going to need all the rest that you can get.” When he got up off the bed my world started to spin again. Drake looked like he was studying me from somewhere inside a tunnel.

  
“What the hell is going on?” I could hear my voice, so far away, as if across the room. For half a second I believed I was really in a dream, that my body was fighting to wake up, and that was why the room was spinning and spiraling out of control.

       “You know Cat, for someone who has managed to live so long, you sure are stupid! Never take a drink from the enemy, you stupid bitch!
he barked. “Especially when you aren't smart enough to make sure your enemy put some water in their mouth to begin with. You just keep disappointing me Cat. Go ahead; make it easier for me to do what I have to do next. I know if Akia could see you now he would be thanking me for getting rid of his trash.” I was going to kill him. I didn't know how or when, but I knew that I was going to spill Drake’s blood.

I woke up to Drake's voice shouting orders. I tried to sit up but then realized that I couldn't move my arms or my legs. What the hell had he given me? I struggled a little more but there was nothing, no way to move. I was awake but paralyzed. I felt like my body weighed a thousand pounds. The harder I tried to move, the more aggravated I became. What was going on? I tried to talk but no one could hear me. I tried to scream but it is hard to scream when it feels like your lips are super-glued shut. If this was one of the plans that Drake had made for me, I was pretty sure I didn't want to know what the other ones were.

  “I don't care how you feel about this. I am your superior and I am telling you to fuck her! We have to know if she is human.” 

       “If she is human, I turn to dust goddamn it! You fuck her Drake. I will follow any order that you give me, but not this one. You are asking me to commit suicide. This is bullshit.”

              Panic rushed through me and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. If the monster didn't die, they would know that there was something wrong with me. If he did, then I had no bargaining chips left and I was dead anyway. I didn't think Drake was smart enough or sordid enough to actually pull the trigger and test me this way. I figured there was going to be a lot of interrogations, a lot of threats, and if it did come to a sex test, I thought it would be much, much, later.

  
Drake’s underling was still protesting. “I am not going to do it. She doesn't matter enough for me to chance it. Let’s just kill the crazy bitch and be done with her. You are going to take down Akia either way. I say we just kill him and forget going to the Elders. Think about it Drake, there is no reason to get this involved. He already thinks she is dead, so kill her.” The monster was afraid of me, and I liked it. I couldn't fight. I couldn't tell them that I was awake, but I could at least enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that this monster was scared to come near me. 

  
              The next few minutes were even hazier than the ones before them. There was a lot of bickering back and forth between Drake and his man and then Drake said something that threw me off.

             
“Get your ass over there and do as I have ordered you or I will kill her and make you watch.” I didn't understand at first, Drake wanted him to kill me anyway, so why would Drake’s soldier care if Drake made him watch me die? Then the underling replied.

   
“Don't fucking touch her. I mean it. I will do whatever you want but don't fucking touch her.” I was so confused. Why was he trying to protect me from Drake all of a sudden? Was he someone that I knew?

  
I remember feeling the weight of Drake’s monster climbing on the bed. I remember hearing him pleading for his life. It was just like listening to a movie when the TV was in another room. Then I heard
her
, there was another female in the room. I didn't even know that she was there. She had been so quiet up to that point, keeping silent and letting the men fight it out. But suddenly she was all I could hear. My world quickly shrunk to nothing more than the sound of the soldier’s girl sobbing. Even with everything else that was going on around me and what was about to happen to me, the only thing I could focus on was the sorry way she sounded. The wordless pleas and wracking sobs that were coming from her direction made me sick to my stomach. These beings,
these monsters
, were supposed to be cold. They were supposed to be self-centered and they were supposed to be self-serving. This woman sounded like she was scared to death. I needed to make myself believe that there was more to this story. That maybe she was a human. That maybe Drake was punishing his soldier because he fell in love with a human. That had to be it, right? I knew that wasn't the case, but it made me feel better to see her as human.

             
Did these monsters really feel love? How was it even possible that she cared enough about the beast that was now in my bed that she was willing to cry in front of everyone? I would have never let them see me cry. Crying meant that you weren't as strong as those around you. Every good soldier knows that the minute the tears fall you lose your power.

  
But she didn't care. She let her weakness come out in every sob that she uttered, in every begging word that she spilled. Was it really because she loved the man in my bed that much? If that was the case, was she something special or were they all like that? Could they all love the way the humans used to?

       Walker had taught us from day one that these beings were no different than a Vampire that could rip you apart. They were wild and untamed. I
knew that throughout Dominus history there had been a handful of Dominus and humans that were killed because they fell in love, but I always thought that was a chance event. I didn’t think love was an emotion that the typical Dominus could feel. If they were all like this couple, willing to die for each other, then were they really monsters?

             
The thought entered my head and I pushed it away. Of course they were monsters. They were coldhearted killing machines that craved power and blood and they would do anything to gain more of both. If they weren't monsters, then why I was tied to the bed being forced to have sex right now? A testier question was this: How was it that what was happening to me had completely escaped my mind? I couldn't feel the soldier’s skin against mine yet, my skin was still deadened, but I could feel the motion of the bed. There had to be something wrong with me because the sounds coming from her, the pain filled sobs across the room, were the only things that mattered to me, and that wasn’t right.

       I was numb from the neck down. I couldn't even force my eyes open to show these beasts that I was awake and that I knew what was going on. I had to stop this. I wanted to tell her to shut the hell up, tell her that he might not die. God I hoped he did, but I wasn't sure if he would. The more
the bed moved, the more she screamed. I should have been screaming louder than her but nothing came when I tried. I hated her for being able to scream when all I could do was lay there unmoving under this beast.

             
Suddenly the motion stopped. The bed was still. I knew by the screams coming from the girl in the corner, that the man was done. Good bitch I thought, now watch him burn; know how it feels to lose the person that has your heart. If I could have smiled I would have. I waited for her screams to get louder. I waited for the dust to hit the air. The way her screams had changed earlier, I was sure he was doomed. I loved her screams. Her screams meant that I was back! I knew the not being able to kill them anymore was just temporary. Then it grew quiet and her screams stopped. They just stopped.

     
All of a sudden the air in the room changed. Even though I couldn't see it, I could feel it. I knew when the screaming stopped, she ran to him. He was off the bed, he was in shock, waiting for the pain to start, waiting to be dead, crucified with wait. But when his death didn't come he started crying too. What the hell was going on? The screaming female beast collapsed in his arms and the two of them sat there sobbing like babies, just a pile of spent bodies, sobbing in a heap on the floor.

             
“Get them the fuck out of here!” Drake bellowed with a voice that would have made me shiver, had I been able to move. 

     “You two are the most pathetic creatures I have ever seen! You are lucky I don't rip her throat out and make you watch soldier. The weakness you’ve shown makes me sick. You are done here,” he bellowed.  “You are off the team and when I take over, you will be killed with the rest of Akia's followers.”

      I heard them gather themselves. I could feel them glancing back at me like I was the monster as they ran out the door. Was I a monster? Was I worse than anything that we were trying to fight?

       Drake started ranting again. “I know you are awake kitty Cat. I have to admit I was really rooting for you. I thought for sure that you were human. I thought for sure that that pathetic idiot would burst into flames. Hell, I was banking on the fact that I would be able to comfort my way into his bitch's bed. You ruined that for me. When someone starts ruining my fun, that’s the sign it’s time for them to go.” I could feel him tugging at my hair.

       “I have a little game to play with you Cat. See, it’s my job to make sure Akia keeps his head in the game. I mean, I don't want him to know that I plan on dethroning him, not yet. But since he can’t rule with strength, I have to remove him from his position. The way I see it, I have to kill either you or him. I hate to say it, because frankly I think the man is a joke, but right now you seem way more fun to keep alive to play with.”

I wanted nothing more than to lift my leg and kick him in the balls, but I couldn't move a muscle and in the background Drake was droning on. “It seems like such a shame to waste such a sweet little piece of ass like you. Now that I know you aren't going to kill me with sex, I might as well partake, don’t you think? Mind you, I am usually not the type for sloppy seconds but hey, this time I think that I can live with it.”

       I felt him put his mouth to my lips, I felt him pry them apart with his tongue. All I wanted to do was bite down but there was no way. I would have given anything to make him bleed. I felt the bed moving again.

  
“Oh Cat, I have to tell you, I am going to take great pleasure in telling Akia how wet you get. I’ll tell him that you seduced me! I’ll say you begged me to take you. Then I’ll tell him that you killed yourself afterwards, that I watched you die for real this time. Oh, how about this? Maybe we will even write him a nice note telling him you couldn't stand the thought of seeing the look in his eyes when he realized that you were still alive? How you couldn’t live after letting him go through hell, thinking you were dead?” Drake licked my lips and then kept on talking. “As for me, I had to tell him the truth right? Because I am his friend and he needed to know the truth. Yeah, that will do.”

       This was one sick son of a bitch. I wondered h
ow long he had thought about his plan and how to play out it out?

       Drake couldn’t stop gloating. “The idea that you killed yourself to spare him pain will be enough to drive Akia mad. He’ll never recover. Whatever pull you have over him, it’s ruined him. He almost died when he thought you were dead. That made me want to find you Cat. It made me want to find you and abuse you and hurt you, for taking my friend from me. But then I thought, why not use this to my advantage? I would be a much better King
anyway. I would make the Dominus the ruling class over everyone; fucking kill all the Vampires too. Why not? We don't need them. They’ve done their job, they created us, but now they are of no use to us, not any more. It was bound to happen eventually. One of the Dominus is bound to take their race down sooner or later. Why not me? I’m the one that can do it.”

             
His words were coming out in grunts and mumbles. I knew by the sound of his voice that each thrust he made was more powerful than the last. I let my mind wander to that dark place that everyone has, but no one likes to visit. That place was telling me tauntingly, that this was probably the best sex of my life and I was missing it. The fact that I was thinking about how good the man that was raping me was, must have meant I was further out of my mind and out of touch with reality than even I thought possible.

  
Drake was close. I didn't need to be able to feel my body to know that. Maybe I was just out of whack because of all of the Dominus blood in me. I wasn't going to die from having sex with him, but I knew that he was going to kill me. There was nothing that I could do about it, nothing but hope. I bargained. I didn't know what I believed in or even who I was bargaining with, but I begged just once to let something work for me. I talked to no one or maybe everyone, I don't know. I reasoned and pleaded. I made my peace by trying to cut deals with every breath I had left.

  
If I am a monster fine, then take me, but take Drake with me too. Take my life if you have to but please, let this asshole burn to dust. I had never bargained before, but I guess it can be forgiven to use harsh words in the heat of the moment, right? I hoped my harsh words wouldn’t cancel out all the pleading I had been doing, or maybe I would screw this up to.

   
I felt a tear slip out from beneath my closed eye. I felt Drake’s breath, hot on my cheek. I felt the tip of his tongue catch the little drop of weakness that was running down my face. I knew that the taste of my tear brought him closer to release. He was so hungry for power. I had given him more power over me than he deserved. He had made me cry and I let him see and that was enough to propel him over the edge.

  
He collapsed on top of me, but he wasn't dying. He wasn't burning from the inside out, instead he was basking in the afterglow of the most amazing sex he had ever had. I was pissed and jealous at the same time. More than anything though, I was scared because my prayers had gone unanswered. Prayers were just a stupid human hope that I had clutched at in desperation and I hadn’t even realized how stupid they were till that very moment.