Phobia (Interracial Paranormal Romance) (Wisteria) (28 page)

She inched down the corridor in a pointless effort to escape.

“Wisteria, are you okay?” Malcolm wiped the blood off the sword onto his chest. “Did Bach get weird? Did he hurt you?”

“
I’m fine.” Forcing a smile, she kept heading out, but stopped when she felt someone large standing behind her.

“
The Mosroc seems to be adjusting, but the perfection is not completed,” a familiar voice whispered.

Behind was
Lluc.

Like Bach
, his eyes were yellow and his entire demeanor looked nefarious. “He will eventually be able to balance the darkness in him with who he is. He should not have brought you here until that time,” Lluc continued unmoved at the sight of his dying older brother.

“
He will have access to you when he is ready.” Malcolm stepped over Yordi and kicked Bach. “Wake up lazy.”

“
Come, we have somewhere safe for you.” Lluc gestured to her.

“
Wait, whoa. I’m not going anywhere.” She shook her head violently.

“
You do not have a choice. My Drones will take you to safety.” Unemotionally, he pointed to two men who stood at the doorway.
Like most Famila, they were dressed in dark
old-fashioned suits, but they also wore metallic bands over the knuckles of their gloved hands. They reminded her of the brass knuckles from old gangster movies.
Unlike Bach and his brothers, these men still had green eyes.

“
These guys were members of the Family and you trust them not to harm me?” She couldn’t help asking.

“
They are Drones, so they will do whatever I command. Even assassinate their parents if I wanted.” Lluc turned to the closest one. “Slice the palm of your hand, but do it slowly.”

Taking out a danor, t
he Drone stuck it into his palm.

“
Make him stop.” She gasped as the man’s blood dripped onto the floor.

“
Do you believe me now?” Lluc asked.

“
Yes, yes, but make him stop,” she stated passionately.

“
Actually, I want to see if he will reach the bone.” Malcolm simpered.

A bright flash of light filled the room.

The Dy’obeths and the Famila were standing completely still.

The
Drone with the dagger still had it stuck in his palm while the others stood watching him. Lluc stood cross-armed behind her and Malcolm stood laughing at the poor Drone injuring himself. Except they were frozen in these actions and no one moved at all—except her.

Your help is poisonous

Wisteria twirled away from the light. Cautiously, she stepped away from the frozen group toward the door.

Still, n
o one moved.

She then took
another step.

Nothing.

Carefully, she walked up to a Drone and snapped her fingers in front of his open green eyes—he didn’t respond.

Okay, she didn
’t get what was going on
, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Quickly, she darted to the door to see if this phenomenon had affected anyone outside the room. When she looked out, she saw the corridor was empty. Turning back to Bach, she wanted to take him with her, but it wasn’t possible.

He was too heavy and unstable.
Whatever was going on with him made him a danger not just to her, but to Garfield and the others—wherever they were.

Before l
eaving, she dashed over to the Drone with the dagger. The least she was to stop him from hurting himself.

“
You do not want to do that.” Enric said.

Spinning round, she saw him standing at the door
. “Enric—”

“
Touching him will wake him.” He gestured for her to come.

“
You did this?”

“
It is done with an artifact called a cantus. I have suspended them for a while.” He took out a small rusty box and shook it.

“
Why am I still awake?”

“
You were frozen too, but we put in earplugs that block the cantus’ frequency. You will be fine as long as you keep them both in.”

Touching her ears, she felt what seemed like wireless headphones curled
over each ear. “So, they aren’t dead?”

The
Drone who was cutting his hand slumped and fell to the ground and soon the others followed.

“
Is that normal? Will Bach be all right?”

“
It is normal for those affected by the cantus to eventually fall, even Dy’obeths will.” Another guy spoke— someone she knew all too well—Felip.

Wisteria turned to find
him entering behind Enric. “Why are you still here?”

Felip,
Bach’s sociopathic cousin, always had a way of turning up when she was at her lowest. Of all the things he’d done, turning Ollie into a younger, less stable version of him had been the worst. She wasn’t sticking around to find out what he wanted. “Run, Enric.” She bolted past him through the corridor.

In seconds
, Felip was in front of her. “Wisteria, wait.” Holding out his arm, he blocked her path.

Managing to prevent herself from crashing into him, she crawled backwards and then scrambled to her feet.

“I am on your side. I gave Enric the cantus and told him Bach was here,” Felip called out.

“
Sure whatever.” She’d never believe anything he said.

“
Why would I do that if I did not want to help you?” Felip once again appeared in front of her.

“
Why do you do every nasty thing you do? Because it fits into your agenda.” She scowled.

“
My agenda is helping you.” He sounded sincere, but he’d seemed sincere before. “You are all I care about.”

“
Then let us go and don’t come with us.” She got up. “Can you stand to lose the leverage?”

He
’d never go for that.

“
If I stay back here, Bach and others will kill me when they find you are gone, but if it means getting you out of here then fine.” Felip forced a smile.

“
Give it to me,” she demanded holding out her hand. “The dark glass and the cantus, so I’m sure I can leave.”

Frowning, he shook his head.
“I cannot.”

“
Of course you can’t, because that means you can’t manipulate the situation in your favor,” she snapped.

“
He cannot because I have the cantus and the dark glass,” Enric said from behind him.

“
Then why bring him at all?” She grimaced. “He’ll stab you in the back or turn us over to Dy’obeths if it suited him.”

“
Because it would be foolish to walk into Bach’s den alone. I was his best option.” Felip pointed toward the end of the corridor. “So, we can stand here and bicker about it or move.”

“
And now I owe you my life right?” She sneered, unsure what to do next. Maybe being Bach’s prisoner wasn’t so bad if the alternative was trusting Felip.

“
You owe me nothing and you never will.” Felip headed down the passageway. “Let us go.”

“
What do you really want?” She seethed. “You weren’t happy murdering Ollie, so now you want to see me suffer too?”

Closing his eyes, he dropped his head.
“I did not and would never hurt your child—ever. I loved her like she was mine.”

“
You’re so full of crap.” Forcing a laugh, she felt hot tears roll down her cheeks. “When Bach wakes up and rips you apart, my only regret will be not seeing it.”

“
We do not have time for this.” Enric tapped her shoulder. “We all need to go.”

“
Not Felip,” She protested. “He stays here.”

“
If that is what you need, then I will stay here. Go and—” Felip started.

“
Do not worry, Felip will answer for his actions when this is all over.” Enric attempted to assure her. “But we need him right now. He found out Bach brought you here and after you were taken, he got us a place for us to lay low and that is where your friend is now.”

“
You have Garfield?” She asked as they moved toward the end of the hall. “If you’ve hurt him, I promise you’ll pay.”

The walls trembled
with her voice.

“
It that—?” Enric turned to Felip.

“
We are wasting time. Once Coia figures out her sons are missing they will come looking for us,” Felip explained.

“
He also found—” Enric continued to try and explain something to her.

“
If Wisteria dies we are all dead. Do you not get that?” Felip implored. “You can tell her everything else when she’s safe, Enric.”

They hurried into a
large room furnished with a couple of chairs. The remnants of a table lay scattered on the far side of the wall. On the other side of the room stood a wall made of glass.

Enric handed her a shard of obsidian crystal before placing the small tile of dark glass on the window.

Wisteria went through the threshold first. Emerging on the other side, she stepped into a large barn. Scanning around, she saw Merce’s empty overland parked a few feet away.

A moment
later, Enric arrived and then Felip stepped out.

“
Where is Garfield?” Wisteria asked Enric.

“
He’s in the main house.” Enric pointed to the main doors.

Felip walked ahead, but Wisteria didn
’t move.

“
We have to go outside again?” She wasn’t prepared to do that. “What do you have out there Felip?”

“
Nothing. Come on, if I wanted to do anything to you I would not have done it by now,” Felip remarked.

“
That sounded like a threat,” Wisteria retorted. “It’s good to see you’re honest about something at least.”

“
Listen Wisteria—” Felip paused as if he was thinking about what he was going to say. “About Oleander, I am sorry I did not stop Doc.”

“
Doc—” Wisteria stuttered. “My father—stepfather never—”

“
He killed Oleander and I should have done more to try and stop him. You have no reason to believe me because I have never been worthy of it,” he revealed.

“
Enric, please take me to Garfield...” Her voice trailed off when she noticed Enric was gone. “Where is he?”

“
In the main house. He went around the other way.” Felip pointed.

Upset
Enric left her, she hurried out.

Felip overtook her
, closing the door before she could leave.

“
What are you doing?” she demanded.

“
I am sorry I hurt you. I never wanted things to turn out this way.”

“
Felip, you got all the artifacts, the obsidian crystal, the maps and the dark glass. You brought them together to release Coia and the Dy’obeths. You set this madness in motion.”

He frowned.

“Now the Dy’obeths are rounding up all the humans in this realm to kill them.” She sighed. “You’re part human and you let this happen?”

“
I did not think things would turn out this way. Coia said she would bring equality to the Family by ending the caste system and creating a world without Thayns. She said she would remove my human side and free me from my shame.” There was pain behind his words.

“
Is being part human really that bad?”

“
In this realm, it is hell, but you cannot understand. You have lived in a world where all people are treated equally.”

“
There’s no equality in my world.” She could relate to that because once she left Lagos she’d always been the weird outsider who endured the abuse of others.

“
I did not realize she was crazy,” he explained with desperation. “Now she is going to destroy everything and everyone unless we stop her.”

“
Even if that means helping Bach?”

“
Bach and I have our differences, but I never dreamed of anything this bad. Listen, I was doing what I felt was right—getting Bach’s mother back and breaking the Family’s elitist system. Instead, I released these monsters.”

“
Felip, I—”

“
Believe me, the Dy’obeths are going to kill me too. Why would I want that?”

“
You’re saving yourself. Finally, some truth, like always, you’re servicing your own agenda.” She backed away.