Summon Lyght (31 page)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Damn, this was stupid. Tyler hovered next to the cement wall feeling like a ball rolling along on a string, constantly falling off. Why was it so difficult to navigate out here? When he exited his body, the pull from the monster vortex all around him became extra strong, telling him this was a stupid idea. There was a component to this trick he wasn
't aware of. He'd just be extra careful. No way could he chicken out if he was going to be any damn use besides giving warriors somebody to babysit.

He
'd extracted the coordinates to Abigail's apartment from Peggy quite nonchalantly and easily. He hated to do it with the intentions he had. Especially after she'd been so sweet. Even gave him a present. A white leather wallet with the gang's symbol on it. A way to belong without advertising it to the bad guys she said. The lettering was metallic and when he asked about it, she said she'd done it with her mercury. Because he was
hers.
She said it in a jokingly possessive way, but Tyler had grinned with an "Okay." He hoped she realized he was more than good with being hers. He loved that she thought about his feelings. She was very intuitive about that kind of stuff for a new human girl. She'd done her homework well.

Guilt plagued him. He
'd lied so much to her in that one damn date. Not out-right lies, all lies of omission pretty much. But they stung his conscience like the sin of murder where she was concerned. She'd gotten the 911 text from Max, and he told his last lie,
'I'll be fine here. Go.
"

And really, he wouldn
't have followed had it not been for the look in her eyes. She was afraid. What if they got in trouble? What if they needed help? Not that he could do anything, but he could report what was going on. At least. Or be decoy. Distraction. Something. And maybe find out as much info as he could while he was at it. He wasn't going to be foolish about it. He'd hidden his body well beneath the stairwell in a rundown building. Then he went projecting. Nothing to it. Like going hunting. Or fishing. Only, going projecting. Fishing for details. Catching some wild game.

He finally made it to the building leading to Abigail
's apartment. Gunpowder hung in the air and he tensed. He remained still, listening. Low chatter rose out of the night from his right. He listened closer.
An explosion…red light….screams….gunfire….

Shit. What had happened? Whatever it was, it was over.

Pain shot through his back and Tyler gasped, zapping his spirit back to his body. He grabbed his head while being dragged. "What do we have here?"

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

They jerked him around and shoved him to the floor then he bit back a scream when a knee crushed his spine between his shoulder blades. They dug through his pockets. "Let's see what kind of goodies our little trespasser is carrying." Tyler didn't struggle. He'd learned in training to wait for his moment to escape in situations like this. A thousand times he'd mentally replay how they'd managed to snag him the first time around and he'd devise a plan to not let that happen again. He needed to just wait for the opportunity. It would come.

"
Fancy wallet you got here." Heavy breathing. "Check what he's got for us Burger."

Tyler waited for him to find it empty.

"Pfft," preceded a hard kick in his ribs. The crack came with Tyler's choked scream. He fought to stay completely aware, not to miss his escape window. They were too brief, sometimes only a second. Gasping for air, he moaned and squirmed through the agony that seemed to only spread like fire in his body. "Pretty wallet ain't got shit in it. Figgers."

He was yanked to his feet by his hair and the dude before him grinned, flashing a row of
gold upper teeth. "Time to pay up. You ain't got no money. But 's all good," he rapped, tilting his head side to side, "cuz we accept blood."

Tyler focused on details. Black cap. Latino maybe. Young. Early twenties.

The hold on his hair abruptly let go, throwing him off balance even as the dude's fist barreled toward his face. Tyler ducked and ran. Three steps. That's all he got before his body slammed to the ground. The side of his face hit the asphalt hard. The explosion of pain was brief before it went numb. 

"
Cracka don't run, bitch."

"
What the fuck is going on?"

He was yanked to his feet again.
"We found this little fucker hiding under the stairs."

Tyler focused on the tall dude before him with coal black eyes. Warm blood streamed steadily down the side of his face. He blinked, trying to clear the blur from the vision of his damaged eye.

"He had him a fancy wallet and no money." Black hat held his wallet out.

Tall dude took it and smiled, looking it over. The smile vanished and he glared at Tyler.

Shit.

Tall dude shoved the wallet in Tyler
's face and leaned to put his own face just inches from Tyler's. "You know dese crackas motherfucka? Huh?"

Tyler grunted and struggled under the cold fingers suddenly crushing his throat. The guy holding him from behind was like an iron straitjacket.

"I'm going to choke the fucking life out of you right here unless you tell me where I can find that red motherfucker running this lawless outfit." The cultured tones of a man with education and money surprised Tyler. Whoever held him from behind wasn't like the other bangers there.

He jerked and thrashed, vision turning dark. His spirit began to slip out of his skin and he fought to hold it in. Shit. Why was it doing that?

The pressure left his throat and he fell to his knees to gasp and gulp cold night air into his fiery lungs.

The guy paced exactly before Tyler, only his expensive leather shoes and the bottoms of dress pants visible.
"You have two seconds to talk."

Tyler nodded. He knew the rules. No negotiating, only buying minutes to live and think of another plan.
"I can take you…" he coughed and gagged, "…can take you. To him."

Leather shoes guy bent and brought his face close to Tyler
's, flashing his denture-perfect, brilliant white teeth. "That's more like it." He looked at Tall Dude standing next to him. "Take him to the house. Tie him up and beat that sweet cooperation out of him. Then beat the location out of him." Another pretty grin with a crushing hold on Tyler's face. "And if he's lying?" His shoulder twitched several times with a deranged excitement. "Beat him the fuck to death."

****

Kassie focused on the fear in Tyler. It was embedded into her psyche from the day she'd met him. She could taste it. Bitter and gagging. She looked around the city streets, following the scent. She was close. What would he be doing at a place like this? This was a very bad area. She could sense the evil everywhere. Something she seemed to have picked up from Lyght since….

Pain sliced through her chest at just the thought of him. Every time she tried to miss him, the crush of guilt chased it off until she had to stop and breathe through the avalanche. What was wrong with her? It was too much. What she was feeling wasn
't normal. She figured out the second she landed in the city that something was wrong with her. How long had it been wrong and what exactly was it? Was she sick somehow and didn't know it?

She needed to get back to Lyght. At least let him explain these things to her so she
'd know. If she had inherited some of his power, she needed to deal with it, not be a stupid whining bitch. Maybe she could use it to pay for this horrific crime she'd committed.

Kassie made her way into a building, following the sick smell. After several flights of stairs, she ventured down a hallway that was fit for a horror movie. One light bulb for a fifty foot stretch made it eerie as hell.

A heavy smacking sound came through a slightly open door just ahead. She half crouched and scooted to the wall and put her ear against the moldy cracked and peeling plaster. 

"
That's enough. Don't kill him yet. He'll be pissed if we don't get what he wants before the kid kicks it." The tough sounding voice reminded her of something from one of the cop shows Bill had enjoyed, with violent gangs and corrupt cops and a single good guy.

Another smacking sound, light this time. Kassie jerked away, heart slamming her chest. Someone was being beaten.

Tyler was very near. She could feel him. She looked all around, searching for a spot he could be hidden. There was nothing but his fear permeating the air.

God, please don
't let it be him.

How could she find out?

Again she looked around, searching for something usable. A corroded looking sprinkler hung on the hall ceiling. A fire. She could light one, set the alarms and sprinklers off. They might leave the room long enough for her to get to their victim.

Damn it. She had nothing to light a fire with. She went several doors down and knocked.

As locks clicked and snicked, and the door opened up to a huge black dude in baggy jeans and a white wifebeater shirt, it hit Kassie. What a stupid idea.

The guy stared at her like she
'd interrupted his last meal.

"
Uh, hi. I was hoping you might have a cigarette." Dear God what was she
thinking?
Every instinct sounded major alarms in that second warning she had both feet ankle deep in a heaping pile of dumb shit. "You know what? Never mind." She waved a hand with a flirty airhead giggle. "Weak moment, trying to quit. I'm on my way to visit my mother." She pointed down the hall. "She lives here. I better get going before she gets pissed."

She turned and pain flashed through the top of her head as he yanked her back by her hair.

"Ain't no old ladies staying here last I checked." He dragged her inside.

Screaming, she fought to get her footing, but he went too fast. Down a hall and through several doors, he hauled her like a weightless doll.

"Look what I found snooping outside." He threw her and she hit the floor with her right knee and the hot streaks of pain shot through her. She hated screaming, but couldn't help it. A scared whimper reached her ears and she looked up and met the legs of a person tied to a chair. Dread filled her as she raised her gaze higher.
Oh God. Tyler
. Tyler bloodied and beaten till his face was swollen so she hardly recognized him.

Anger and fury welled up inside her like a giant wave she couldn
't keep in. "What have you
done!"
Her entire body quivered with the force of her anger and the effort to hold it. "What have you done to him?"

Their laughter boomed as though she were hilarious.
"Must be baby-momma." One elbowed the other.

"
What I done? You mean this?" A guy struck Tyler in the face and blood flew, his head flopping lifelessly. "Or this?" He struck him again.

Horror gripped her and she drew a huge breath and screamed his name as hard and loud as she could.
"Lyyyyyght!" She screamed it over and over until her throat was shredded.

The fists came for her then. But she didn
't stop. They beat her and she screamed his name with every hit.

She deserved this.

****

Dare woke, feeling like she
'd been blown to pieces and put back together again.

"
You were, dear."

She jumped and turned to the voice behind her. An old man stood, busying himself with something she couldn
't see. She looked around at the strange room. Nearly white. "Where the fuck am I? Am I dead?"

"
Not any more. I revived you. I'll tell the Ruby Prince he can come see you now."

"
The what?" Did he just say ruby prince?

She watched Francis, her secret hero who
'd almost been killed because of her, rush to her. She gasped when he pulled her in his arms. God, he felt so amazing. She held him tight, no longer wanting to deny how perfect he felt, how right. "Where am I? What is this place? He said something about a ruby prince."

"
Shhh, don't worry about any of that. You nearly died and I brought you here where I live."

She shook her head, looking into his deep red eyes. She suddenly remembered the last moment they just before…

She bolted up. "Antoine! Shit! They must have him. It was a fucking ambush." She struggled in Francis' embrace but he only tightened it.

"
Shh, stop. They'll find him."

"
They, who?"

"
My brothers and sister."

The door burst open and in walked the woman from the first night. Danger rolling off of the angelic looking form, blue eyes cold and locked on. Dare
's muscle locked in dread. This bitch was B-A-D.

"
Where is Tyler?" She stopped by the chair.

Francis spun to her.
"What? What do you mean where's Tyler? He's with
you."

She looked at Francis, silvery light bolting from those cold eyes.
"He was until her people ambushed you."