Villainess (25 page)

I fumbled with the controls to follow him out of the building with the cameras. He tossed Leila into the back of a dark colored van, it was hard to tell if it was black or dark blue since everything was in black and white.
If I can just get the plates.
I swore, slamming my fist against the desk when I realized there were no plates. The van was unmarked.
Of course. This is what these people do. Why had I expected them to be sloppy?

God, Leila.
How the hell was I supposed to get her back? I needed to think. There had to be something I could do. I picked up my phone and called Kristoph. He said he had connections… the question was: would they be the kind that I needed to get Leila back?

Leila

I came to groggy and a bit confused. I groaned, gingerly pressing my fingers to my temple. I grimaced, pain lancing my skull. The skin was split there, but it didn’t feel too bad. I didn’t seem to be bleeding.

“Theo,” I groaned. “Where the hell am I?” I couldn’t see anything. I was blanketed by pitch-blackness. I rolled onto my stomach, feeling around to try and ascertain my surroundings.

Sudden light flooded the room, temporarily blinding me. “What? You don’t remember this place?” As soon as I could see past the spots dancing in front of my eyes, shock rocked my system. The familiar bare white walls and dull blue black-out curtains of the room were familiar—too familiar. “You brought me back to our old place? Why? How?” True, I’d never come back after I mistakenly thought I’d killed Theo, but I couldn’t help but wonder how everything seemed untouched after all this time.

“I’ve been staying here.” Theo’s large frame crowded the edge of the bed as he sat down. “I guess some sick part of me hoped you’d figure it all out and come back.” He trailed his knuckles down my cheek. “I missed you, baby.”

I snorted. “Yeah, you have a funny way of showing it.” I grabbed his wrist and flung it away from me. “How about telling me how you’re not dead, and why I’m here…amongst other things.” I had a list of questions about a mile long.

“Simple, my death was planted in your mind, just like a lot of things. You would have never went out on your own if you thought I was still alive.”

My lower lip began to tremble and I bit down hard to stop it, the copper tang of blood flooding my mouth. “What we had wasn’t real.” That thought upset me on some level. Sure, Theo had fucked up enough that I thought I’d shot him—I’d wanted to. Our relationship, at least what I’d believed, had a ton of ups and downs. Having the good times ripped away from me left me feeling oddly empty. Like I’d suffered for nothing.

“Maybe what we had wasn’t all real, but you got to me, baby. When it came time to let you go for real.” He punched the bed. “I couldn’t stand the thought of you disappearing with that prick.”

“Wait.” Confusion washed over me, a
way
too familiar feeling lately. “If you were part of my conditioning then why were you going to let me go with him?”

Theo’s gaze dipped to the dingy carpet. “Fuck. I’m not one hundred percent sure. Things were going good with your conditioning. Better than okay. You never did develop a taste for blood but we found a way around that.” He chuckled. “It kept your hands clean…no muss, no fuss. But you started to remember him—Jonah.” He ran his hands down his jean-clad thighs, his fingers digging into the material. “I couldn’t resist the urge to make you happy.” He turned to me, his blue eyes burning. “I guess I finally fell under your thrall.”

“My thrall?”
What the fuck is he talking about?

He continued on like he hadn’t heard my question. “I came to a decision. I had to break free from you. When Project Reaper let me know about your last test—that they were going to make sure you’d get caught—I made sure you went to Jonah’s hospital. It was a test. Your last test. Just not from Project Reaper…but really it was for me. Either you passed… and disappeared with Jonah, which would free me, or I’d have to kill you. Or rather, let you die.”

“And the people who were conditioning me, making me work for them—they were okay with throwing away all of that hard work?”

He chortled. “Of course not. But you would become collateral damage as far as they were concerned, or a failed project. If you weren’t good enough to stay under the radar or to get yourself out of the worst possible situation, they weren’t interested anymore.”

“So they just fucked with my head—my life and then rinsed their hands of me? Nice.” I ground my teeth together.

“It’s a little bit more complicated than that.” Theo stood, pacing the small space in front of the bed.

“If you didn’t die or disappear, they’d want you again.” He lifted his gaze to meet mine. “I’m tired of sharing you.”

“Well, that really isn’t your decision to make.” I still couldn’t help but wonder who exactly Theo was. Did he have any special abilities? “Are you going to tell me about my second talent, or were you just bullshitting me?”

“Oh, no.” He bared his teeth. “I wasn’t bullshitting you, baby. You’ve got one hell of a hidden talent.”

“Stop calling me baby. You lost that right.”

“Yeah, baby, you think so?”

“Just tell me what it is I can do besides get crappy-ass visions.”

“You can make people do what you want—you make them obsessed—or fall in love—I’m not really sure what you call it but—” He reached out and grabbed a fistful of my hair. “I just know you get under people’s skin. You infect them. And then the next thing they know they’re throwing everything away for you.”

I laughed, the sound brittle. “Yeeeah. Okay. I think you’ve completely lost it.”

“What? Don’t believe me?” He tugged me closer until our breaths were intermingled. “Before you I was the best at what I did. A mercenary—a stone cold killer. I never got personally involved with anything, and especially not anyone.” He shoved me away from him and I heaved a sigh of relief. “They warned me. I didn’t listen.” He stood, opening his arms. “Now here we are…”

“And where is that exactly, besides the obvious?”

“I’m going to make good on the promise you thought I made. I’m going to help you. And then we really can be together. Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s monster.”

Me? Be able to enthrall people in some weird way? Please.
So much for answers.
I needed to keep crazy-pants talking while I figured out what to do next.
I can’t believe I actually thought I loved him.
“Tell me how you plan on helping me, Doctor Frankenstein.”

“I’m going to kill them all for you.”

Oh, God, Jonah! No!
“You can’t!” I snapped without thinking.

His eyes hardened. “Don’t worry I’m not talking about your precious, Jonah, at least not yet. I mean all those sick fucks who wanted to use you, control you. The people who run Project Reaper.”

The pressure in my chest eased a bit. Jonah was safe, at least for the moment. “Weren’t you, or aren’t you, one of those sick fucks?”

“No, I was just the hired help, like I said.”

“Same thing in my estimation.” I raised my hand to my temple, the pounding of my heart causing my injury to throb. “Any chance I can get some ice, peas…or something frozen?”

“No.” Theo stalked out of the room, the door slamming shut behind him without another word. It would have been the perfect opportunity to try and escape, if I didn’t know Theo so well, or at least part of him. There was no way he would have left me an easy out. I was better off trying to get some rest so I was better prepared for what was to come.

I leaned back on the bed, the one that I’d once shared with Theo, his scent lingering around me. I’d once craved him, wanted only him. But now my thoughts were filled with only Jonah.

Theo

Losing? Lost? Either way, my mind was on its way out the door. I wasn’t kidding when I’d told Leila that she infected people. I’d tried to fight. I’d tried to hate her, and on some level I still did. It didn’t matter though. In the end, I was just another poor sap willing to throw it all away for her.

I trudged to the front door of the innocuous apartment building, and punched in the entry code. When I got to the elevators I used a key, hit the code that opened a hidden panel, and down instead of up I went. I was on the first floor as far as the residents were concerned. They had no clue that top secret shit was going on right in their midst…a couple hundred feet, maybe more, below them.

I nodded once at the security at the main entrance, both of them recognizing me and not bothering to check my references. I strode with confidence right into Xavier’s office. “Theo, I wasn’t expecting—” I pulled out my 9mm with silencer attached to the end and squeezed. Xavier’s face barely had time to register his shock before he was nothing but a memory.

I moved quickly through the rooms, capping everyone I came across, no exceptions. None of these people meant anything to me.
Only Leila. Only her. She’s all that matters now.
Until I came to him—Ben. Instead of registering fear, shock, or even regret, he merely smiled at me. It gave me pause.

“What the hell are you grinning about? I’m a split second away from blowing your brains out.”

“Leila passed the test, I see.”

I blinked rapidly, processing his words. “What are you talking about?” I thought I was the one ultimately testing her, not Ben. Was something else going on that I wasn’t privy to? I guess it shouldn’t surprise me if there was. Project Reaper relied on secrets. They were piled on top of each other to form a mountain of lies. I wasn’t sure anyone actually knew the truth anymore.

His grin widened, his dark features brightening, and his eyes gleamed with…joy? “No one could have guessed the full capacity of her abilities when she first came to us. We thought she just had visions…weak ones at that.”

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.” I shifted, sure to keep my gun aimed right where I wanted it, on his smug face.

“We didn’t kidnap her, Theo. We offered her a spot, a chance to hone her talents. She accepted. She wanted everything that was done to her.”

“What? That doesn’t make sense.”

“She wanted to become something more, and she was willing to do anything to become that. She came to us after her father and mother’s death, fresh from her best friend’s death as well…and after a split with Jonah. She wanted him taken away. Losing him is what broke her. She told us everything we needed to know to make her what she wanted.”

The things he was saying—they didn’t make sense. None of it did. “No. No. No. She—”

“She’s not who you think she is. She’s not even who she thinks she is. We’ve all been pawns in her game, not the other way around.”

“Then why are you smiling?”

“Because I’m willing to die for her. I knew all along I would.”

“Jesus fuckin’— she got to you too.” My mind was reeling. How the hell had she gotten to Ben—to Project Reaper?

“Give her this.” Ben leaned forward to grab something out of his desk. I squeezed the trigger, dropping him too. I wasn’t an idiot. All the things he’d said, they had to be diversionary tactics so he could get his own gun. Yet curiosity over took me. I stepped over his slumped body, avoiding the blood and brain matter the best I could.
It’s a bitch to clean out of leather.

There in his drawer was a card, but not just any card. It was a queen of hearts, but with one difference. There was a word written in black on it:
papilio.
I picked up the card and stuffed it in my pocket.

I was eager to get back to Leila now that my job was done. She was free—free to do whatever she wanted.

As long as it was with me.