FRACTURED (34 page)

I heard the start of Sean's all too familiar battle cry and cringed, fearing what would happen to everyone present if he unleashed the true dark-eyed monster that I both loved and feared. Bodies would drop until he was satisfied, and I wasn't entirely certain that all parties were as guilty as they looked. I feared most for Cooper, who stood just far enough away from me to not look guilty, but surely Sean would question why he was doing nothing.

“Sean!” I cried out. “He's controlling them. It's not―”

A hand clamped down over my mouth, keeping the rest of the secret hidden away. I heard Sean move, but stop almost instantaneously. The blade that I suddenly felt pressed to my throat was the clear reason why.

“I wouldn't press me on this,” Tobias threatened. “I can keep you plenty occupied with the others to get her to the 'copter and take off. And if not, well, I'm not above racking up a body count of my own on my way down.”

The floor creaked when Sean's shadowy form rolled back on his heels ever so slightly.

“That's better. Now Cooper, do come here for a moment and hold this.” In an instant Cooper was behind me, holding that same blade to my throat. “If he moves, I want you to kill her, do you understand me?”

“Absolutely,” Cooper growled. It was oddly comforting having him holding me rather than Tobias, but it didn't change the fact that he would kill me just as easily. I tried to thrust my calming energy his way and have the effect that I used to have on him for healing, but it felt blocked, like I couldn't reach him. Instead, I was met with that same guarded energy that the boys had had on occasion.

“Now, Sean, here's what's going to happen. You and your boys are going to let us walk out and head on our way without any objection or Ruby dies, plain and simple.”

I couldn't see him, but I knew Sean was struggling to find a solution to the problem and quickly. While he did hostage extraction calculations in his mind, I found myself being dragged backward through the house to what I presumed would be the backdoor. Judging by the thunderous sound and whipping winds that came crashing in through the broken windows, the 'copter was waiting out back for us.

“Ruby,” Sean growled, his tone both a question and a warning.

“You can't let them take me,” I cried out, but not because I feared for myself. More than that, I feared for what would happen when Tobias succeeded―what would happen if I was under his control.

I started to panic. Visions of dungeons in Utah―bars, cages―ran fiercely through my mind, peppered with labs and white coats, machines and needles. It promised a long and tortuous path to a mass grave somewhere. Without Scarlet, I was certain to die. The boys had not been overly successful tracking Tobias down, and I was under no delusion that I would live long enough for them, or Sean, to find me.

But what if Scarlet wasn't gone? What if she was still a part of me, somewhere deep within like I had been, tucked away and barely living?

What if their testing was a success and roused her? What if one day she'd stand toe to toe against Sean in battle? My skin prickled at the thought.

He would not kill her if he thought he could save me. Duty or not, I could not take the chance that his love would blind him.

And if it did, what amount of carnage could Scarlet amass while Sean searched for a way to undo what had been done by Tobias? Would she become that which he had hunted so many centuries ago? The mindless killing machine she was labeled to be? There was no easy way out of my predicament. It was a lose-lose either way.

There was only one way to prevent either unthinkable outcome. I would not be caged any more than I would let Scarlet be used as a weapon for a sociopath. For once, I would determine my fate.

With no way of knowing if he could still hear or see me, I looked in the direction I'd last known Sean to be and gave my most pleading face as the tears rolled down my cheeks. I knew what I had to do.

“I'm sorry!” I yelled over top of the helicopter's deafening noise.

Taking a deep breath for courage and clarity, I grabbed hold of Cooper's hand―the one that held the knife to my neck―and with all the force I could put into my body as he hauled me away, I pressed myself against that blade and dragged my throat across it.The world quickly went dark around me as the blood rushed from the gaping wound I had so successfully created. Tobias would not get to keep his prize.

That final thought brought me great comfort.

33

I heard nothing. I barely even felt the pain. What little I could remember was falling to the ground, unaided and unhindered by Cooper. He dropped me like a sack of potatoes and just hovered above me, unmoving.

Then everything went black.

You would think that, with my numerous near-death experiences, I would have known what to expect, but once again, the universe butted in and changed things up. For once, it was a pleasant twist.

Before I could see anything, a voice―sweeter than any I'd ever heard in life―called to me like an angelic lulling melody. My soul begged to drift toward that voice, aching more and more the longer I didn't.

“Ruby...,” she sang. “Open your eyes, Ruby.”

Without hesitation, I did.

I was met with the same glowing orb that I'd seen when I saw my parents. But instead of them, the figure of a female floated before me, bathing in the glorious light surrounding her. The sight of her was breathtaking.

“It's not your time yet,” she said while her hand lightly caressed my throat. “He's sending you back.” Her hand shone with the same white brilliance that permeated whatever realm we were in. The heat it brought to my wound wasn't uncomfortable at all, though I had expected it would be; instead it was warm and comforting. My eyes were having great difficulty adapting to the brightness around me, and I fought hard to see the angel of mercy who sought to heal me.

But I
could
see.

“Sending me back?” I asked, squinting hard.

“Yes. He said it isn't time for you to leave yet,” she replied, leaning closer to shelter me from the light.

“He who?”

“Who do you think?” she chuckled with a smile in her voice. “You have a job to do, Ruby. Yours is not yet done.”

As my eyes adapted in the shade she provided me with, I tried to absorb what she was saying.
You have a job to do....
Part of me feared as to what exactly that job was. The other half was happy to sign on for whatever task was necessary to let me live.

Sensing my initial unease at her words, she pressed forward further until she blocked out the radiance almost completely. I startled at what I saw. Her beauty was ethereal, but more importantly, it was familiar. The dark hair, olive skin, and perfect face were near enough to confirm my suspicions, but the eyes sealed the deal. They sparkled like fresh spring grass, lightly covered in dew. Like glowing emeralds.

She looked at me knowingly as though she could read my thoughts.

“You're good for Sean. You bring out a side of him that hasn't been seen before. Not for a long, long time. He
needs
you, Ruby.” She wrapped her arms around me, pulling me in tightly against her. The unadulterated love and goodness that resonated from her brought tears to my eyes.

Never again would I feel something that pure, that heavenly.“And Scarlet needs you too. The burden you carry is for both of you to bear, and bear it you shall.
Together
.” With those words, I felt an absent but familiar stirring in my mind.

The beast had been awakened.

She pulled away from me just enough so that I could see her face.

“I must leave you now,” she whispered, her expression forlorn. “I have fixed that which you could not mend. The rest is up to you.”

I stared up at her with emotions I could not comprehend. Never in my life had I felt such love and peace. Not even from my parents.

“Are you―”

“Give him your love, Ruby,” she said before pulling away again, floating off quickly to whence she came. “Give him mine too.”

I shot off the ground, gasping for air like someone long submerged under water had just broken the surface. When I opened my eyes, I could see Sean waiting at my side.

“I couldn't get to you,” he said softly, caressing my throat gently.

“The light...there was so much light...”

“An angel,” I whispered, still stunned. “It was an
angel
. She saved me.”

His face went blank.

“An angel?” he asked with the hope and awe of a child. “Are you sure?”

“It was your mother, Sean,” I told him, sitting myself up to look him in his eyes. “Your mother sent me back.”

34

He said nothing after that.

After a few moments of staring at me blankly, he helped me stand, moving to scoop me up in his arms, but I refused to let him carry me.

Although I was slightly weak from the blood loss, it felt good to be able to walk on my own again, and I relished the opportunity to do so. With my sight returned, that burden was lifted off my shoulders.

But another was put upon them. Sight meant Scarlet, and Scarlet meant trouble with Sean. Trouble I wasn't ready to deal with. His mother may have mended that which was broken between Scarlet and myself physically, but she did nothing to restore the trust that was lost―the communication either. Scarlet, though present, was utterly hidden away, and this time it was of her own volition. The growing sense of unease that I felt was hard to contain.

Scarlet feared nothing―or very little, at least. Whatever she was hiding from, consequences or otherwise, could not have been good. I wanted to find out what she had done before Sean could get to her. If damage control was needed, it was in my best interest to be fully prepared.

As Sean and I made our way to the vehicle, he filled me in on the high points of the battle that I had been too busy dying to be an active part of. He'd apparently made short work of Tobias―the
real
one―once his bargaining chip was taken out of the equation. Toby really had been a clever little bugger, organizing everything that had happened to us, from the planned battle in Boston to the ambush at my apartment that led us to believe that all was safe. Sean didn't say much about how he got that information from Tobias before he died, but I'm sure it was both creative and excruciatingly painful. I was sorry I missed that, though I doubted Sean was. He didn't want me to see him in action. He was still sensitive about me seeing what he was capable of.

Who he was capable of being.

To change the subject, I asked how my boys were doing. Sean became slightly guarded at mere mention of them, informing me that Jay and the brothers had rounded them up and taken them back to the first floor of Sean's building. They had to figure out what needed to be done with them. Having been to only the second and third floors of Sean's place, I was a little concerned about what exactly he had set up on the floor I hadn't yet seen.

I wanted to ask him once we got in the car, but I found myself at a loss for words, and, apparently he was too. Nearly the entire drive home was spent in complete silence with only the hum of the BMW's motor to offer some auditory stimulation. I caught him looking at me twice out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't read his expression. Disbelief, jealousy, love―they were all in there somewhere, but changed too rapidly to tell for sure which one dominated, or who they applied to.

As we pulled into town, Sean was the first to break the quiet between us.

“Where do you want to go?” he asked, eyes still focused on the road.

I hesitated slightly before answering. It was a terribly loaded question. Turning to face him, I whispered three simple words that told him everything he could have ever wanted to know.

“Wherever you are.”

His mouth pressed into a thin line in response.

“Then might I suggest not dragging your throat across a blade like that ever again?” he said, with the slightest edge of hostility. “Because I cannot follow you when you are
dead.
” An inky black pervaded his irises, swallowing whatever light was present in the dimly lit vehicle. “Not easily...”

“I'm sorry―”

“I know you are, Ruby,” he said, taking my hand in his. “And I know why you did it, so let me make something very clear to you right now. Never, under any circumstances, are you to do
anything
that sacrifices your well-being for mine or anyone else's. Do you hear me?”

I nodded silently.

“Say it. Out loud.”

“I won't sacrifice myself for you or anyone else I love,” I mumbled, knowing that it wasn't entirely true.

“It will never come to that...” he whispered soberly before quickly composing himself. “Promise me you won't.”

“I promise.”

His black eyes searched mine until he was satisfied with what he saw, then turned back to watch the road as we neared his apartment.

“I have to deal with the boys when I get home. Are you sure you want to go? You may not like what you see,” he said hesitantly. He was inviting me into PC business―something he'd never done before. It was an olive branch of sorts, and I was damn sure I was going to take it. I was worried about what was going to happen to Tobias' pack members―if there were any of them still breathing―especially Janner, Ali, and Becks.

I didn't want to believe Cooper was in trouble, but I just couldn't be sure that he was out of harm's way either. I needed to see for myself.

We parked the car around back and took an entirely different route into the building. I'd never known it existed. It led to a narrow, darkened tunnel that ended in a small staircase. At the end of that was a single door made of thick reinforced steel. The implications were not pleasant for what I would find inside.

Without a word, Sean unlocked the door with a security code and swung it open for me. I froze when I looked inside. Rows of cells fully equipped with metal bars―better described as beams due to their extreme thickness―welcomed me into the room. It was a jail for the supernatural, and occupying those cells were all those who remained from the old Victorian outside of town. By the looks of it, not many made it out alive.