Judgement 8 (Subject Alpha #1) (25 page)

“What am I supposed to say?”

He held up his hands. “It’s not my place, Reid. But you need to tell her before she finds out.”

“Yeah, that’ll be fun.”

He didn’t say anything else and I left, pulling the door shut behind me. I closed my eyes and sighed. He was right, she needed to know. She would hate me, most probably fry me and savour every moment of my death, but she deserved the truth. As much as I knew it would hurt her.

I SWALLOWED BACK THE bile. The building stood tall, its deep grey walls looming above me like the Grim Reaper himself. I started to hyperventilate, the deep pull on my lungs making me lightheaded and dizzy.

Grabbing hold of the railings, I gritted my teeth and encouraged my body to calm down. “Emotions, El, emotions,” I repeated, telling myself not to get emotional and blow the fucking place up before I was even in there.

I sucked in a breath, cursing when the trickle of heat rushed through my head. Closing my eyes, I stopped him, erecting brick after brick, building wall after wall and fortifying them with heat and cement, refusing him access. I couldn’t do this with him in my mind. I needed complete lucidity and to be in control of myself.

It was getting harder, his fierce burn demanding my attention. “Fuck off, Reid!” I growled through the tight clamp of my jaw, his need to get inside becoming painful to bite back.

Grabbing a railing in each hand I squeezed tight, choking on the pain when the energy bore into me from the metal’s natural conductive material. “GET OUT!” I screamed when I felt the flicker of him, my name whispering in his voice through my head.

“Little girl.”
His deep growl echoed around me. He was angry, the tone of his voice firing blasts of red sparks around my mind as his anger seemed to squeeze my brain. Yeah, well, me too, arsehole.

Ignoring him, I sucked in a lungful of oxygen, savouring the clean air for the last time before I picked up the rock I’d found and launched it into the Judgement grounds.

I smirked when sirens blared, red lights flooding the courtyard with a sinister red haze. Such intense protection to stop people getting in. Why? Why the fuck anyone would want to be in there was beyond me.

“Elina,” he whispered. “Don’t do this. You don’t need to do this! Baby, please.”

A lonely tear slid down my face when the main building doors opened and Blaine stared at me with a grin.

“I’m sorry,” I replied. “I’m so sorry.”

“GOD DAMN IT!” I spun around, firing my fist into the wall. “What the fuck is she doing?”

“Reid, calm down.” I stared at my father, the need to hurt him overwhelming. How was I supposed to calm down?

My fists clenched, the lights around us going crazy, flickering on and off as sparks shot from each socket in the room.

“I can’t fucking calm down! She’s gonna get herself killed!”

“Then we need to help her,” he said, grabbing me. His teeth chattered when my energy started to fry him.

Pulling away I tried to hear him, tried to soothe the anger and the fear that raged around me.

I turned on Jonah, slamming his back to the wall with my hand around his throat. “You fucking idiot! Why didn’t you stop her?”

“REID!”

My arms were locked back and my body pulled away from Jonah. The need to kill him was unbearable.

“I’m sorry, Reid. There was nothing I could do to change her mind. She was adamant.”

“YOU SHOULD HAVE STOPPED HER!” I yelled at him. “I love her! I fucking love her!”

Jonah stormed across the room towards me, his face dark and his eyes glinting furiously as my father and Logan each held one of my arms, holding me back. “Then don’t you think you should have told her that instead of hurting her with lies?”

I growled at him when one of his thick fingers prodded my chest. “She gave you all of her, Reid. And what did you do? You spat on her. You lied to her. You threw her love back in her face and watched it destroy her!”

“She . . .”

“Do you have any idea how hard it was for her to trust you after Judgement obliterated her, after her own mother deceived her? After Rowan shattered everything good that was left of her?”

What the fuck? How come everyone but me knew about her relationship with this arsehole?

“Will someone tell me what the hell happened between her and Rowan?”

Jonah slumped, his face weary as he shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “Just calm yourself down, take some responsibility in all this and let’s sort it out.”

My body sagged as low as his. My arms were released when the lights glowed steadily and the sparks in the atmosphere died down. “She can’t do this on her own.”

My father smiled softly, his hand gently clasping my forearm. “That’s why you’re going in to help her.”

I snapped my face to his. “What?”

“The program is ready. Although it’s set up for Elina, it will work with any of you. Elina has the primary code so it’s only her who can reset the system but you’re gonna meet her in there, Reid. She’ll need your guidance. You okay with that?”

Nodding eagerly, I swallowed. “You don’t have to ask. You know that.”

He smiled, his eyes pooling with tears. It hit me then how important this was to him. His decades of work finally coming to fruition. “Okay,” he whispered, his voice tight with his own emotion. “Let’s fire her up.”

IT WAS RATHER SURREAL, drinking tea with my mother. Scones and sandwiches were plated on the table before me. I wasn’t hungry, not for food anyway. I wanted to get on with it; being so close to her made my stomach churn.

She pursed her lips, considering my latest demand. I’d fed her a line about giving her myself if she left the others alone. I couldn’t just turn up out of the blue. She’d have been suspicious about me just walking back in. However, eventually she nodded. “Although Lettie is important to my work, I understand your need to let her have her peace. I’m not completely heartless, El.”

I couldn’t help but release a bitter laugh. “Really?
You,
Mother are the one who has given that sweet little girl a death penalty. It’s you and Judgement who have taken away her hope, her life . . . her soul.”

She shrugged, making my teeth vibrate with the need to burn the bitch. Her disregard over Lettie’s life was making me lose control. I dragged in a breath, desperately trying to dampen my emotions.

I tensed when Blaine walked into the room, closely followed by Heather. My lip curled and I glared at her. “Well, look who it is.”

She sneered at me, her eyes roaming my body. “What Reid sees in you I have no idea.”

“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Heather. Although I’ll let you into a secret.” I leaned towards her, a smug smile filling my face. “He’s fucking amazing in the sack. Proper knows how to please, if you get me.” I gave her a wink when she sank her teeth into her lower lip.

Turning back to my mother, I braced myself. “I suppose you need to know I’ve come into control of my energy.”

Her eyes widened, her jaw dropping with my revelation.

Hook, line and sinker, bitch!

“How?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure. Something hidden in my mind. I think it was always there, just kind of locked up. Now I seem to have found the code to unlock it. I can’t describe it. It’s just kind of like finding its signal and latching on to it.”

She nodded excitedly. “This could be it. If we can find that code then I might be able to write a program around it. This is just . . .”

I remained as casual as I could, her excitement both making me furious and excited. Was it sick to want to finish my mother’s life like I so wanted to? To take what she had created over decades and stamp my foot on it, shattering every single piece of it into smithereens?

“Come on,” she mumbled eagerly, her eyes narrow as her alter-ego started its usual one-to-one. I hated it when she was like that, mumbling to an invisible person. A person as sick and twisted as she was. It meant my tests were going to be as painful as ever, her need to try anything making her reckless and carefree with my body.

However, taking a huge gulp, I stood with her, allowing her once again to lead me into Hell.