No One (Element Preservers, #3.5) (4 page)

"She's exactly what I want." I wasn't about to elaborate that Ria's and my relationship didn't develop in twenty-five seconds. We'd bonded during all those months we'd spent together because she had the first symptoms of the disease and I was the only one who could help.

"And what do you want, Adrian?" Alan smiled half-heartedly. Well, wouldn't he love to know? The only reason he was so interested in my love life was because he thought that he could have Ria and me in his grip if he found out what had brought us together. And the biggest problem with all of it was that, yes, he'd have us in his grip if he knew Ria had the disease.

"I want to know what you did to Vanessa Harlowe to force her to date me." The air in the car suddenly went cold. Ever since I found out that it was Alan who had persuaded my first girlfriend to date me and spread the news that I wasn't dangerous so people would accept me, I wanted to ask him what exactly he had done to her.

"I hope you understand that was necessary," he said, licking his lips. "No one wanted to talk to you, and you weren't exactly sociable. The scientists let us both go to the university because I convinced them you were the only carrier who could be tested and observed in the society and not in the lab."

"You could have told me the truth! I believed the whole time that they let me go only because you requested a transfer."

"You should have known it wasn't that simple."

"I trusted you." Honestly, at that time the only thing I cared about was that I would no longer live in the lab and suffer through the tortures. But Alan's secret plan to find me a girlfriend was a fail because I wondered way too often why I didn't truly feel anything for any of them. I'd started dating any girl who smiled at me just to see if I would feel the same like with Vanessa. Alan might not have coerced all of my ex-girlfriends into dating me, but he indirectly forced me to try to find a girl who would make me feel something, who wouldn't flinch when I touched her, who wouldn't go all rigid when I kissed her, who wouldn't have to hold back with me.

 "I know you, Adrian. If I had told you everything from the first day, you would have refused."

"Maybe." I looked through the window, allowing myself to feel the elements a couple of miles away. "Will you ever tell me what you did to Vanessa?

"We threatened her family. Let's just say I knew something about her father that she desperately wanted to hide."

"Did you talk my ex-girlfriends into sleeping with me?" I held my breath for his answer because my sanity depended on it. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I knew Alan had forced my girlfriends to have sex with me too.

"No, of course not. Normal social contact was enough to appease the scientists. Your girlfriends slept with you because they wanted to. I did talk to them about protection, but only after they approached me about the topic."

"It's fascinating." I turned on him. "You wouldn't kill me, but you'd still throw me to the wolves to get what you want."

"You should try to see things from my point of view. You're a carrier, and even though you have a sub-element, you may go off the deep end at any moment. If you stayed in a controlled environment, you'd have less chance to kill someone."

"Right," I said coldly. "So, it's perfectly fine with you that your scientists torture me every day."

"At least you'd be alive." Alan took a turn to one narrow street, and I knew we were close to the lab from my nightmares. I'd seen this street enough times to make me sick.

"Living like that is pointless." Queasiness filled my stomach when a big, white building came into view, but I shut off all of my emotions and wiped them off my face. I'd never give Alan the satisfaction to see how this little visit affected me.

Alan eased the car into the empty parking spot and killed the engine. Then he turned his head to face me. "As long as you're alive, there is hope you will be cured."

"There's no cure." I got out of the car and slammed the door, which caused Alan to roll his eyes at me. As I faced the building I hated the most in my life, I couldn't help but wonder whether my mission would be successful.

Chapter 12

4 years ago

"We're going to stay here," Alan said, his brown eyes gleaming with determination. "Your disease has gotten worse and I don't think I can keep an eye on you without help."

I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. Wasn't it enough that they did their stupid tests on me every day?

"I'm not too happy about it either," Alan continued, a frown line creasing his forehead. "But Harper is adamant that we both stay here."

"Aren't they afraid that I'm going to kill them all?" Anger replaced shock, and I wasn't thinking rationally. How could they do this to me? What the fuck did they want to do with me that they hadn't done already?

"No. There are many scientists here, so even if you managed to somehow incapacitate one, they'd send another. Besides, you'll be restrained for most of the time and will only have access to one part of the lab."

"I'm not an animal!" If my hands weren't bound behind my back, I'd have tried to take a swing at Alan. No wonder he hadn't asked anyone to untie me. Alan simply shrugged and walked out of the room. I slumped to the ground, banging my head on the white wall. My life had just taken a completely wrong direction. How could I ever escape this well-protected building? Would I ever see the sun again? Breathe in the fresh air? Alan had signed my death sentence when he agreed to stay here.

"Did you hear the good news?" A man's voice startled me from my thoughts. I hadn't even seen Quinn come in. He was a middle-aged man with grayish hair and piercing green eyes. As he approached me, I could see he was rummaging through the right pocket of his long white coat.

"Fuck you," I mumbled as he crouched in front of me, taking out a round white pill out his pocket and twirling it between his fingertips right in front of my nose. Why couldn't I snap the damn chain that held my cuffs attached to the wall? I doubted it Quinn would feel so brave then.

"Open your mouth," he commanded, and I turned my head away, intent on never allowing him to force the pill past my lips. "You really like to make things hard for yourself, don't you? Why don't you cooperate?"

"Why don't you tell me what the pill's for?" I said quickly, keeping my head low.

"Can't tell you that." He chuckled. "It wouldn't be fun then, and it would ruin the testing. You mustn't know what to expect. Now be a good boy and open your mouth."

I didn't move, and I could feel Quinn's element intensifying, which meant that he was getting impatient and angry. His fist connected with the side of my head, nearly knocking me unconscious. It didn't help that my ribs were already bruised, so the pain shot up my chest like lightning. Gritting my teeth, I braced myself for another hit, but Quinn got a tight grip on my hair and pulled so hard that I thought he was going to tear my hair out.

"Open!" He yelled, forcing my head up. Tears welled up in my eyes as I tried to block out the pain, but I didn't want to give in so easily. Quinn abruptly released me, and it was a surprise he didn't hold strands of my hair in his hand. Just as I thought he'd give up, a ball of fire appeared only inches away from my face, making me gasp.

"If you don't open your mouth now, I'm going to burn that pretty face of yours. What do you say?" Quinn's lips spread into a sickening smile. "I can give you third-degree burns without blinking."

My heart started thudding loudly in my chest. Would Alan allow Quinn to do this to me? Of course he would. I was supposed to stay in the lab for indefinite time. They could do to me whatever they wanted. It seemed like my world was starting to crumble bit by bit. Stone walls of hope that I'd built around me were crashing to the ground and turning into powder.

I opened my mouth and the fire disappeared. Quinn tossed in the pill, and clamped his hand over my lips. "Swallow it." I did. Quinn backed off and observed me, getting a hold of a small notebook and a pen. What did he expect to happen? What kind of pill worked so fast? My stomach contracted so hard that I nearly doubled over. The pain was barely tolerable, and I wondered how I didn't pass out from it. Quinn only watched me and didn't say a word, scribbling from time to time into his notebook. After what seemed like an eternity, he got out of the room and left me alone to fight strong waves of nausea. That was the first, but not the last time someone tried to test unknown pills on me.

Chapter 13

Now

It seemed unreal to walk down the white halls and see familiar doors and faces. Everyone was immersed in their tasks, so they barely glanced at Alan and me, no visible signs of recognition in their eyes. How easy it was to forget people you hadn't seen for two years? Alan knocked on the silver door, which indicated that the room behind it was an office of an important scientist. Maybe people here had forgotten me, but I'd never forget any detail of this lab. Never.

A voice I knew way too well told us to come in, and Alan pushed the door open. Quinn was seated in a huge leather chair, his eyes focused on the computer screen.

"Quinn," Alan said cordially. Quinn's eyes shot up, and his smile faltered when he saw me.

"Alan." As usual, Quinn chose to ignore my presence. "How can I help you? I didn't think I'd see you here again."

"I came for that favor you owe me."

Judging by the pinched look on Quinn's face, he hadn't expected that. I had no clue what Alan had done for Quinn, but it had to be something major.

"I need your help with something. I have a new carrier who is having trouble controlling herself," Alan said. Awesome, now he was ignoring me too. I supposed I could have sent Alan to get the necessary information alone, but I couldn't trust him to tell me the full truth.

"Why don't you bring her here?"

"I can't. Her family is very influential."

"Do they have the disease?" Quinn's voice was spiked with curiosity.

"No. The girl hung out with wrong people."

"How serious is her condition? Maybe she'll be fine. Especially now that the new president of the Element Preservers revealed some crucial information. Does the girl have an element?"

"Yes, she does," I said, stepping forward. I was done with being ignored.

"What's the problem then?" Quinn raked his eyes over me.

"She's losing the control over the element and the disease because she was in contact with another carrier every time she felt weak."

"Ah, that's interesting, but even though I owe Alan a favor, I don't owe you anything, carrier." Quinn curled his lip, watching me with contempt. "I knew you were hiding something, but a sub-element..." So Quinn was pissed off that he hadn't managed to break me completely. That miserable son of a bitch!

"Look, Quinn." Alan spread his arms. "I'm sure you can give us something."

"Bring the girl here." Quinn didn't want to give up on an opportunity to experiment on another carrier. "No one will find out. I can promise you that much."

"That is not possible." I wanted to rip Quinn to shreds, or make him a new home in a block of ice. "Tell me how she can be in control of herself again or I won't respond for my actions."

"Adrian," Alan said, a warning heavy in his voice, but he couldn't force me to back down this time. A ball of fire flew toward me, but I enveloped it in ice and left a puddle on the floor. Quinn's eyes widened, and he straightened his coat, clearly surprised.

"I was merely testing your abilities," he stated, but I didn't believe him for a second. The man wasn't as stupid as he looked, so he realized I was stronger than him. I trained with my element more than he did.

"Sure you were." I smirked. "Now tell me what I want to know."

"Isolate her from people for a while. Don't let her touch carriers at all." Quinn's face was deadly serious, which meant that he wasn't happy about the situation he was in.

"For how long?" I already knew Ria shouldn't be touching me.

"For as long as necessary. Maybe she should stay away from carriers for good."

Fuck. No one knew anything, not even this bastard. I wished I could send him away from this world, but then everyone would be after me.

"Is Carmen here?" Alan asked.

"She got transferred to another lab a couple of months ago," Quinn said. I had no idea who Carmen was, which was surprising, but not everyone had visited me daily when I was a
resident
here. Before I decided to take out my frustrations on Quinn, I walked out of the office. My eyes fell on the door which led to the toilets.

Chapter 14

5 years ago
.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror, supporting myself on the sink. There were dark circles around my eyes and my hair was mussed up. I looked way too pale and tired, but that wasn't a surprise. I couldn't remember the last time they gave me something decent to eat. The longer I looked, the stronger I felt all the elements in the building. I'd attacked one of the scientists who tried to keep me down because I was so thirsty for her element that I couldn't think about anything except of getting in the possession of her element. I wasn't sure for how long I could stand their tests. There were way too many elements around me and I couldn't block them out of my mind. Unfortunately, Alan was bringing me here every fucking day.

A sudden wave of cold air brought me back to reality, and I looked around to find its source. Was I going crazy? It wouldn't surprise me if I started seeing and feeling things that weren't there. Just as I decided to ignore the coldness and goose bumps rising on my arms, a thin layer of ice started spreading all over the mirror. I jumped back, observing the ice. How the fuck did that happen? A moment later, it began to melt, and drops of water glided down the shiny surface. Was this one of the tests? I didn't see the point of it except to drive me insane, but they hardly needed ice on a mirror to achieve that.

The strangest thing of all was that I didn't feel elements as intensely as before. Tentatively I grazed the surface of the mirror with my fingertips. It felt cold, but I couldn't find the device that could have created the ice. Someone banged on the door, startling me.