The Blood In the Beginning (35 page)

The thoughts raced by, a million miles per second. I stood in the middle, eye of the hurricane, until my whole body shook. I had images alright. Dead bodies, torture, wicked evil. Cate chained to the wall. Heat rose. The pressure slammed my head. I sucked in a breath and screamed, punching my fist into the wall. The metal warped, leaving a pocket in the smooth surface. I tried to control the hyperventilating. The elevator hit the bottom floor and I crouched, ready to blast my way to Cate.

Slowly, the doors opened.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust. The lights were dim, the air smoky blue, aromas sickly sweet. Bubbles rose from the giant aquarium, rushing up in force but vanishing before they reached the surface. The giant eels gaped at the mouth of a cave. Rays hovered over the sandy bottom like stalled cars. Sharks circled. I picked up the scents of violence, sex, lust, blood and a hint of remnant longing, but all that was coated in a glutted stupor, a lethargy smothering the room. I stepped out of the elevator.

No heads turned as the doors closed behind me. The music sounded ethereal with a techno beat, like rain pounding on a tin roof, or the sea crashing into a wall. I glanced at the tank. What was that, buoyed up in the bubbles? A boot? Foot? A flash of silver swept by, rolled and engulfed it before I could be sure.

The strobe lights blinked on the empty stage where two workers in grey jumpsuits packed up. There were a dozen people lounging around the dance floor, reclining on couches or sitting at tables lit with glowing oil dishes. The soft light made caricatures of their faces, eyes nearly closed, mouths slack. The walls amplified their profiles to giant, monstrous shadows. A few couples, some same sex, some opposite, leaned against each other, shuffling in the centre of the room, slow-dancing to the ambient drone. The place was dead, coated in molasses, thick, sticky and brown. I straightened and scanned the perimeter, searching for Cate.

Most of the back wall was empty, manacles hanging limp. I blinked at the painting hanging behind the bar. It was Rachel's, the one of Daina and her severed feet, the copycat murderer reflected in her tear. I steeled myself and kept looking. There were four columns set in front of a dais that ran the length of the building. Chains hung off of them as well. Some still held limbs, minus the torso. Vomit rose to my throat. I swallowed it down. I spotted Cate, pinned to the wall, just like the vision. Her head was cocked to the side, leaning on her shoulder, body stripped naked save for a necklace of pearls. One wrist hung free, blood dripping from it into a goblet on the edge of a small round table. I watched for her chest to rise and fall. Didn't see it. Next to her, leaning against the wall, sat Daniel Bane. His eyes were hooded, watching me. My muscles rippled as I rolled my shoulders and pointed my pistol across the room, directly at his face. ‘Bane!'

Heads snapped to attention. His security guards, six at least, converged on me. Three blocked my line of sight, so I let off a few rounds. It didn't drop them, but they stumbled. Bulletproof vests, or Shen Mar? Billy was ten feet away, showing a lot of teeth. I aimed at him and two others jumped me. My gun hand windmilled ninety degrees while my knife came up. I thrust my arms out like a scarecrow as both guards, unable to slow their momentum, connected full force. In the same instant as the knife impaled flesh, I pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the target's neck, snapping it as he flew back. The blade sank into the other's sternum and into the meat of his heart. He fell off the blade, blood gushing out of his chest as he fell to hit the floor. The rest of the guards pulled their guns and aimed.

‘Don't shoot!' Bane commanded.
She's mine.

Too late. I took one in the leg. Must have been a graze. Pain seared through me, but I didn't go down.

Bane held up his hand. ‘Ava, dear.' He drawled out my name. ‘I wasn't expecting you tonight.'

‘What have you done to Cate?' I tilted my head toward the manacles with severed limbs. ‘To them?'

The guards stepped closer. Bane picked up the goblet and took a sip. Cate's blood spattered on the table, no longer captured in the glass. ‘You mean this?' His hand ran up her arm and over her breasts. ‘It's not your concern.'

‘You're wrong, Bane. I know what you're doing. Living on their memories. Feeding bodies to the sharks when you're through.' I waved my knife hand toward the aquarium. ‘Not any more.' I kept my gun pointed at his head and started walking. A step later, I spotted a customer who looked like he'd have to be carried out. ‘Rourke? What the hell?'

‘You shouldn't be here,' he hissed. ‘I can't help you.'

No shit.
I fought down the rage. ‘Get out, and take these people with you.' My voice was so low it shook the table, vibrating the liquid in the half-empty glasses. I turned back to Bane, not waiting for a response. He waved his hand, an absentminded gesture. Billy and the others holstered their guns and ran at me.

I rolled and fired until my clip ran out, then started coldcocking them with the butt of the pistol before finishing them with the knife. Three were down when I felt teeth sink into my shoulder, tearing out flesh like a pit bull. I spun into the pain, arcing my knife over my head and driving it into the attacker's throat. It slid deep between cervical vertebrae. Blood sprayed like a fire hose from the wound. For a moment I couldn't see through the sticky hot fluid running down my face. A wave of nausea hit as I realised it was my blood he was barfing over me.

I scrambled out from the wet gore as a baseball bat swung at my head. My hands came up to protect my face. Searing pain hit me as it cracked my forearm. I screamed and the gun flew from my fingers. Pain curled me into fetal position. Laughter hung over me, and the bat clattered to the floor.

Billy grabbed my face like a basketball, and lifted it until the side of my neck was against his lips. ‘You're mine now, Ava.' He said the words softly. His breath brushed my skin, making hairs rise along my arms. But then he hesitated, glancing back, like he needed permission. Bane said something in the background. It was too muddled to make out. I didn't try. All I could think of was Cate dying on that wall, alone. I couldn't let it happen.

A wave of energy washed over me. I wrenched my knife hand out of Billy's grip and arced it toward him until it sunk into flesh. Billy screamed as I pivoted, my hand still on the knife, and found my feet. I pulled it out and plunged it into his heart. Three more rapid stabs and he wasn't saying a thing. I sheathed the blade, swept up Billy's gun and turned to face Bane.

He lifted the glass of blood in a toast.
Bravo, but Ava, you're making this harder than necessary. You should come join me for a lovely drink of Cate.
He smiled.

It was the same warm expression that had charmed me in the past. More than charmed, it filled me with a feeling of comfort. Home. A sense of rightness.
No!

It's who you are, my dear.

Bane's voice rose over the sound of my pounding heart.

Join me, Ava. There is so much we can share together, so much I can teach you.

The ecstasy of his words warred with reason as pressure built inside me. ‘Get out of my head!' The command burst from my mouth. I threw one arm over my eyes and fired blind. The wineglass full of Cate's blood exploded as I screamed, shattering the spell.

* * *

‘You lied to me!' I fired again but the gun clicked empty. I tossed it aside, rage infusing every fibre of my body. My wounds throbbed, but I was so jacked, they didn't slow me down. I swept up the bat, my grip sticky, eyes on Bane. Two things were going to happen. He was going to die, and I was taking Cate's body home.

She still hung, unmoving, chained to the wall. Bane looked drunk on her blood, cat and the canary as he watched me like I was more of the night's entertainment.
Last act.
I had to get to Cate. They weren't going to keep feeding on her like a piece of prime rib and toss the remains to the sharks. Over my damned dead body.

I charged, howling, bat raised high. Bane's remaining guards were on me. One clamped my upper arm and I swung, lightning fast. His head snapped back, bones cracking. I threw a roundhouse kick in the opposite direction, sending another guard across the room. His body hit the wall and didn't move. Bane's brow furrowed, as he picked glass shards out of his hand. I kept him locked in my gaze as two more men came charging at me. I swung the bat like a propeller. It sent one guy smashing through a row of tables, bowling over a few passed-out customers, scattering them on the floor. The oil lamps toppled and tablecloths caught fire. ‘Get out!' I yelled at the washed-up clubbers. I didn't see Rourke.
Bastard.
I told him to help these people. ‘Go home!'

Ava. That's enough!
Bane's voice sounded in my head.

Not even close
. I roared as I punched another guard to the ground. I dropped the bat, and with an ankle in each hand, I spun him over my head and let loose. He flew through the air and hit the middle of the aquarium, fifteen feet off the ground. The glass split like thick ice. The sharks thrashed, excited by the sounds, or maybe the smell of fresh blood. They bumped the glass with blunt noses, rolling to expose their huge jaws and saw-blade teeth. The fractures deepened. Flames from the tables rose higher, smoke billowing in dark, raging plumes. Bane pushed off the wall and headed toward me. ‘Enough!'

I leapt over a fallen chair and ran straight at him. His last remaining security loomed and before I reached him, I was spear-tackled from the side. The floor hit me hard. Sprawled face down, I pushed up, grabbed onto the shirt and flesh of my assailant and flipped him, slamming him into a table, splitting it in two. I scrambled to my feet, pain shooting through my wounded leg. My head snapped toward Bane. He was still walking my way. Nothing ruffled this man. I cocked my fist, ready to run it through his face.

His hand came up, caught my punch and threw me back. I skidded across the slick floor, hard on my tailbone.

You could have stood by my side, Ava, but you can't stand against me.
Bane was on me. He clamped one hand around my throat and lifted me in the air, walking up the dais to the wall. With his free hand, he cut loose, throwing punches to my head and neck. I tucked my knees and ploughed my heels into his guts. Bane fell backward, but didn't loosen his grip. I tumbled on top of him and pulled my knife, already wet with blood. It flashed between us and I swiped upward, cut the left side of his face, through his eye and into his scalp.

He roared and punched me so hard I flew back twenty feet, landing in the middle of the dance floor. Smoke rose; tables burned. Alarms blared. Some of the customers who could move staggered toward the elevator, but not all. Bane charged at me, his face gushing, one eye milky white. I sidestepped and did a spinning kick, but he blocked my move and smashed me in the face. It stunned me for a moment. I sucked in my breath, shook it off, and barrelled back toward him.

He started to dive to the side, but this time I latched onto his midsection, knocking him off his feet. We sailed back into the wall. I whaled on him, trading punches as he struck back, until a bat came down on my spine. Pain flashed through me like a searing thunderbolt. I was pressed into Bane, but only for a moment. Two guards hauled me up, pushed me against the wall and started throwing gut punches. I doubled over, gagging on my own blood.

Stop!
Daniel stepped in while the guards held me.
I have her. Put those fires out. The sprinkler system should be on. See to it.
He reached out and clamped my throat, lifting me off my feet again. One of the guards handed him the bat. He glanced at the ceiling, as if he could see a hundred feet over his head.
Send a team up there, now!
he barked at his security. He looked over his shoulder to the aquarium.
And open the valves. Pump the tank before that crack widens.
All but one took off. Bane tightened his grip on my throat.
Who the hell let her in?

The guard shrugged.

A smile crept over my face, even though pressure built unbearably in my head.

Bane turned back to me. His wound, a hideous gaping rend, began healing in front of my eyes. The cavernous tear was knitting together, the pale eye darkening, coming back to life.
How …?

I could have shown you, taught you everything. Now you'll never know.

I ground my teeth as a scream rose and caught in my throat, unable to escape his grasp. With my hands free, I grabbed his fingers and thumb, wrenching them back until they snapped. It released my scream, the roar filling my ears. Bane dropped me and staggered back. I wrapped my arms around his legs, pulling his feet out from under him. He hit the dais, me on top. I pile-drove into his guts, pounding him with fists.

He caught one wrist and squeezed so hard I thought it would break.
You don't know who you're dealing with, little Mar.
Then he backhanded me and I flew over a broken table and hit the ground. It was a while before I could move. By then, Bane appeared overhead. He laughed, his broken fingers popping as he straightened them. The sounds mixed with the crackling flames and the roar in my head.

Bane planted his foot on my shoulder, pressing me to the ground.
You're nothing, Ava Sykes. Nothing at all.
The bat followed, crashing down at my head. I rolled into his leg. It missed by a fraction. Next strike I wrenched myself out from under his foot and stopped the bat with both forearms crossed in front of my face. Wood shattered; pain radiating up my limbs. He dropped, healed hands clamping my throat again. I groped for a shard and found one. With the splintered point facing him, I drove it upward, toward his chest. I felt muscles give way as it ripped through his abdominal cavity. Bane rolled to the side, his knees drawn up. Both hands were on his guts, trying to hold them in.

Blood seeped around his fingers, spilling out in pulses. My breath was forced, ragged as I sucked in air. I jumped him, arms swinging, pounding him into the floor. ‘You deceived me. Tricked me into trusting you.' I growled out the words as the overhead sprinkler came on, washing Bane's spattered blood from my face, down my cheek into the corner of my mouth. Without trying, I tasted it.