Breath of Air (29 page)

She continued to walk past him, averting her eyes now, trying to act as casual as she could. Just when she thought she had cleared him completely, and that he was going to let her go, she felt his hand close over her arm.

She braced herself to scream, but within seconds his other hand was clamped over her mouth.

Fear bolted through her like lightning, and she saw the shock and disbelief that crossed over Tobias’s face as he watched Balgaire struggle to hold her.

“What the hell are you doing?” Tobias stuttered, his voice shaky and his eyes wild with fear.

“Doing what needs to be done.” Balgaire replied darkly, sneering as he continued to struggle with Capri, who was kicking wildly and clawing at the hand that covered her mouth. He turned to Tobias, looking more than a little mad. “Say anything and I will tell everyone what you have done. They will take my word over yours, and I will see to it that you are banished, or worse. I am the law around here, boy. Don’t forget that.”

Suddenly, he began walking with her, and, despite her struggles, she was no match against his strength. She had never realized just how strong he was, but now that she knew, it only made her more afraid. He was going to kill her, all because she knew his secret.

Clinging to some kind of hope of getting away, she opened her mouth and managed to bite down hard onto one of his fingers. She heard him snarl quietly but he didn’t move his hand. All he did was press it against her mouth even harder, to the point where it became hard to breathe.

He continued to drag her quickly down the corridor, and when he stopped in front of the door leading to the Furies chambers, she prayed that Rian would somehow be there, even though she knew he was most likely still outside.

Balgaire opened the door and dragged her inside, shutting the door behind him. She continued to struggle, and this time she managed to kick back with her right foot and hit him hard against the knee. He faltered, releasing her, but as she tried to run past him for the door, he grabbed her and rammed her head hard against the stone wall.

The whole world shot instantly into darkness.

♦ ♦ ♦

The first thing she knew when she came to was the blinding, red hot pain. It pulsated at her left temple, beating in time with the heart she knew still lived in her chest. She wasn’t yet dead, which was a plus. But she certainly didn’t appreciate being alive at that moment, either.

She struggled to open her eyes, wincing against the throbbing pain. Groaning, she blinked to try and clear her vision, hoping to figure out where she was.

Gray stone walls surrounded her on all sides, two torches lighting the tiny room. It was hardly larger than a walk in closet, with one door and no windows.

She was sitting on what looked like a metal chair, her hands tied by thick metal chains behind her. Her mouth was gagged by cloth, and her eyes watered against the heat she felt coming from the door.

When her eyes adjusted to the relative darkness of the room, she saw just what it was that projected so much heat. It prowled and paced in front of the door, its throat grumbling with a menacing growl.

It was a rather large dog looking creature, with jet black fur and glowing red eyes. When it opened its mouth and bared its teeth at her, she saw molten fire burning in its throat.

When she realized it was chained to the wall beside the door, she felt some sort of mild relief course through her. At least it wasn’t going to attack her. Yet.

She tried desperately to slip her hands free of the chains that bound her, only to cut and bruise herself. Tears welled in her eyes as she glanced around for something, anything that would help her get free and escape.

Though even if she could free herself from the chains, she would still have to get past the dog. And she had never been very good with dogs, much less fire breathing ones…

If only she could get the gag away from her mouth, maybe she could scream for help. She tried to scream against the gag, but the sound was muffled and the dog made a loud growling noise so she stopped out of fear. She didn’t want to provoke the dog to attack, despite it being chained near the door.

Helplessness coursed through her then as she realized she had exhausted all of her options. Balgaire was going to come back at some point and kill her, either by setting the dog loose on her or by shooting her with one of the many weapons she knew he had access to. She only prayed it would be quick.

She thought of her mother, and then of her father, and tears began to fall freely down her cheeks. What would her father do when he found out? Would he simply think that she had run away? Or would Balgaire leave her body for them to find, maybe framing Tobias for her murder?

And Rian. She sobbed hard against the gag as she thought of him, and how worried he was going to be. It was all useless now, all of it. She should have never returned to Euphora. All it had done was spark a madman to wreak havoc on those she loved. And now they would suffer further because of him, and in a way, because of her. It would have been better if she had just stayed in Virginia, away from all of this. Then Roarke would still be alive, and those two Enforcers, and Rian would eventually find someone else, someone who would love him. The very thought of it had vicious pain pulsing through her chest, like arrows to the heart. Balgaire would most certainly target Rian next, and then his blood would also be on her hands. It was all because of her.

Gritting her teeth against the gag, she struggled against the chains again, fury pulsing through her now. She had to protect him, and the others, against this madman. Somehow, she had to do something. Anything.

When all she did was hurt her wrists even further, she settled down, trying to breathe deeply to calm herself. She had to clear her head and think.

However, just as she tried hard to concentrate, her breathing became shallow, and her vision blurred. Her head wound pulsed viciously, and after a few moments she felt herself fade back into unconsciousness.

♦ ♦ ♦

“WHAT?” Thea thundered, looking particularly distressed as she immediately stopped pacing. She stood amongst her many exotic plants and animals, her dark hair frazzled and her eyes sharp like poisoned daggers. Beside her, Sebastian looked equally as stressed, his long blonde hair unkempt and shadows under his eyes.

Tobias tried to swallow the lump in his throat as he bit down so hard on his tongue that he could taste blood. He was so scared that he was trembling, and the darkness under his soft eyes spoke of little sleep. When he spoke again, his voice was small and weak.

“I know who took Capri.” He repeated, his eyes fixed to the floor, too worried to see the look on Thea’s face.

It had been nearly twenty four hours since anyone had seen Capri, and the search had been frantic and unsuccessful. The last person to report seeing her was Blythe, who said Capri had left her room around ten in the morning. Past that point, she had quite literally disappeared into thin air.

Until now.

“WELL? WHO DID IT? WHERE IS SHE?” Thea shouted, her temper at full boiling point. She kept the fear and dread she felt at bay by focusing solely on her anger. It was much easier to act when angry then it was when you were scared. And underneath it all, she was downright terrified over what might have happened to her young Air Dryad.

Tobias winced at the fury in her voice, but he forced himself to be strong. Ever since he had seen Balgaire haul Capri away, he had been fighting with himself over whether or not he should say something. He was just young enough to believe Balgaire when he said that no one would believe him. But at the same time, he was scared of what Balgaire might do to Capri, and the only thing he knew was that he didn’t want another person to die because of him.

“Balgaire took her. I saw them go into the Furies chambers, but I don’t know where they went from there.”

Without saying anything, Thea suddenly swept past him and headed for the door, Sebastian in her wake.

“Wait!” Tobias shouted, his face anguished.

Thea whirled around, furious. “Time is of the essence, Tobias; she could be dead as we speak because you waited this long to tell us. We can’t wait any longer.”

“Please, send the others to find her, but I need to speak to you, I need to tell you the whole story…”

Maybe it was the pleading look in his eyes, or her desire to know the truth that had her turning to Sebastian, fighting to keep her voice steady.

“Sebastian, take Rian, Clynn and Lucian with you and go down to the Furies chambers immediately. Have Rohan and Liam locate Balgaire, and when they find him, hold him until I can speak to him.”

Sebastian nodded and raced out of the room.

“Alright, Tobias.” Thea took a deep breath and turned to him, her arms crossing over her chest. “What is it you have to tell me?”

Tobias straightened, biting back against the fear he felt at knowing how much trouble he was in. But he wasn’t a coward, no, and he was going to take responsibility for his actions like a man.

“It all started when Capri came home.” He began, his voice shaky but his eyes clear. “You probably didn’t know this, but I’ve hated her my whole life. I just didn’t think it was fair that she had to disappear and her mother had to die on my birthday. Why couldn’t it have happened on another day? You probably think it’s stupid, and maybe it is, but my whole life I’ve never had a fun birthday because everyone was always moping around about her. I never even knew her or her mother, but I hated them anyways.” His lips pouted slightly, the old feelings resurfacing now despite how the growing adult inside of him tried to beat them away. “So, when she returned, I was unhappy about it. Here she was to steal the attention all over again. Balgaire approached me one day, told me he understood how I felt. He said how he didn’t like her either, and that if I helped him, he could make her go away. He told me that if I used my powers to open her mind, he could let a demon onto the grounds who would possess her, and then force her to leave Euphora. He said he would see to it that she didn’t return. I didn’t really ask what he was planning on doing to her, or why he wanted her gone, I just knew what I wanted, and that was all that mattered.” He paused for a moment, bracing for what was next. “So on the night she was possessed, I went up to her room and slipped inside quietly. She was sleeping, so I stood over her and concentrated on opening her mind. It only took a few minutes; she was already emotionally vulnerable which made it much easier. After I was done, I backed out of the room, and just as I shut the door behind me, Roarke was there doing patrol. He saw me right outside of her room, and I panicked. I ran past him without saying anything, hoping he would just think I was taking a walk or something. But he knew. He didn’t say anything to me for awhile, so I thought I was in the clear. But then after those Enforcers were killed, he must have known that the demon involved was the same demon Balgaire had let in to possess Capri, only he thought that I had let in the demon. He confronted me about it, said how it didn’t matter what the demon had told me, that I wasn’t going to get away with it. I got scared and I told Balgaire, and he suggested that the only thing left to do was to frame Roarke for everything, that way it wouldn’t come back to us. I didn’t see another way out, so I did what he told me to. We went to Richmond, and I hid in the shadows with the demon while Balgaire brought Roarke into the warehouse. Balgaire hit Roarke over the head and knocked him out, and I opened his mind to let the demon in, and then I left. I didn’t know they planned on getting him killed…I just thought he would confess and then that would be it, he’d be banished just like Brock was. I honestly didn’t know he was going to die.”

He choked on a sob, his voice strained and his eyes watering. Thea was watching him with a stone cold look on her face, but he was at least grateful that she wasn’t screaming at him anymore.

“When I found out that Roarke had been killed, I didn’t sleep for days. I thought he was haunting me, blaming me for his death. I felt horrible, but again I was too scared to do anything about it. I hoped it was all over now, and that it would just go away. I didn’t even really care about Capri anymore. I just wanted to forget about everything. But Balgaire wouldn’t let it go. I avoided him for weeks, but then yesterday he came to me and said that we had to get rid of her, that she was on to us. He said he wanted me to open her mind again that night, and he would let the demon in again, and he would lead her away from Euphora, make it look like she ran away. He told me that I should erase her memory so that she would get to live; she would just be lost again. It sounded fine, really, and I was at least happy that she wasn’t going to die. So I agreed. But she caught us. She was right there behind the door, listening to us, and when Balgaire saw her he grabbed her. He told me that if I told anyone anything, that they wouldn’t believe me, and that they would take his word over mine. And so I didn’t say anything. But seeing him at dinner last night, pretending to look worried about her, disgusted me. I don’t know if he’s hurt her…” He grimaced, sick to his stomach. “I’m sorry, Thea. I made a huge mistake.”

Thea pursed her lips, considering him. “I’m torn right now, Tobias.” She began, her eyes meeting his. “Torn between banishing you for being a selfish little crybaby, endangering the life of my Air Dryad, and assisting in the murder of my top Fury, and thanking you for manning up and coming to me, hopefully before it’s too late.”

“I don’t deserve it, but I am asking for your mercy, Thea.” He pleaded, his eyes glassy and huge.

“I will only forgive you if Capri is still alive.” Thea decided. “Now, I have a very important question for you.”

“Anything.”

“Do you know the identity of the demon Balgaire used to possess Capri and Roarke?”

“I never learned his name. But I saw him.”

“Can you describe what he looked like?”

Tobias looked confused for a moment, but he tried to picture the demon in his head anyway. “He was tall, thin, tanned skin, in his thirties, maybe. Dark hair, long, pulled back. Funny looking nose, kind of hooked and broken looking. And he had weird eyes, they were, like, gold, or something.”