“I don’t know…” Elise said doubtfully. “I mean…why?”
“Because you need something you don’t have on Earth—a support system. I know you don’t talk to your family and I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of close friends either.”
Elise frowned. “What makes you say that?”
“Because, well…no one came forward and reported you missing when the AllFather snatched you.” Olivia patted her hand. “Please don’t be mad, I’m just saying if you were on the Mother Ship, we could all be here for you. Sophie and Kat and Lauren and I—we all want to stand beside you during this difficult time.”
Elise sighed. “I’m not mad. And you’re right—I don’t have any close friends. I tend to keep people at a distance because of, well, because of some things that happened in my past.” She blotted her eyes again. “In fact, Merrick is—was—the first person to get through that…that barrier I’d put up around myself. He made me feel again, forced me to think about things I didn’t want to think about. He…” She shook her head and Olivia rubbed her back some more.
“It’s okay. Get it out if you need to.”
“No.” Elise sniffed and sat up straighter. “No, I have to stop wallowing in misery. It’s time to go back to Earth and straighten things out with James. After that…”
“You’ll give notice at your work and come back up here. Right?” Liv looked at her hopefully.
Elise managed a small laugh. “You’re certain the Kindred Council would let me? I mean, without…without Merrick?”
“I’ll have Sylvan speak on your behalf,” Olivia said firmly. “And my husband, Baird, too. They have friends on the Council—you won’t be denied.”
Elise sighed. “All right, I promise I’ll think about it. But right now, first things first.” She forced herself to get up on shaky legs and shrugged into her robe, wrapping it tightly around her. “Um, can I borrow some clothes? I can’t go back to Earth looking like this.”
“Sure thing.” Liv hoisted herself off the bed. “Ugh, I’d get you something of mine, if we wore the same size. It’s not like I’ll be wearing anything cute for the foreseeable future.”
“I think you look beautiful—glowing.” Elise smiled at her. “Have you thought of a name yet?”
“Nothing Baird and I can both agree on.” Olivia hooked her arm through Elise’s. “Come on, let’s find you something nice to wear. Would you like me to go down with you for moral support when you talk to James?”
“You really are a good friend.” Elise smiled and squeezed her arm, touched at the offer. “But no, this is something I have to do on my own.”
The way I’m going to have to live on my own the rest of my life, she thought but didn’t say. She could break down and cry some more later. Right now she had business to attend to and the sooner she got it done, the sooner she could come back to the Mother Ship.
* * * * *
“This had better work, hybrid.” Draven gave him a threatening look as they stood together on the bridge of the prototype wormhole ship. It was made of some new material—semi-sentient plasma-steel or something like that. Draven had been bragging about it ceaselessly, talking about how the ship itself could handle most of the steering and how it had uncharted capacity for self-healing.
Merrick didn’t buy the self-healing bullshit but he supposed having a ship that could steer itself would make Draven’s army more effective—especially considering most of them were dumber than dirt. His troll soldiers were strong and loyal but they weren’t big in the thinking department. Having a ship that could chart its own course and deposit them on whatever unlucky planet Draven wanted to invade would be a real plus.
Of course, all that was assuming the wormhole generator he’d cobbled together worked.
Merrick was pretty sure it would—but it wasn’t going to be taking Draven and his monstrous army anywhere. The tiny but lethal bomb he had in his pocket would see to that.
It had been difficult to find the time to build the delicate little device, but Merrick had done it anyway, taking time from the wormhole generator despite the pain words Draven spat at him when he felt he was falling behind schedule. He’d been very careful to work on it only when his guards were all trolls. The imps weren’t super smart but they were clever enough to spot something wrong if he gave them half a chance. He’d hidden the bomb in the fuselage when he wasn’t working on it, and now he had it in his pocket, ready to detonate when the time was right.
“It’ll work, all right,” he growled at Draven, who was still staring at him. Behind him were half a legion of trolls—apparently Draven didn’t trust him. Go fucking figure.
“If it doesn’t, I’ll have you skinned alive.” Draven gave him that charming, empty smile that never quite reached his solid silver eyes. “Slowly.”
“And if it does work, you’ll do me the favor of killing me quickly. Yeah, I got it.”
Actually, Merrick already had the quick death thing covered. He didn’t expect to survive the blast once he activated the bomb. Even if he wasn’t initially torn to shreds, the explosion would blow a huge hole in the space ship, sucking out all the air and letting in the freezing vacuum of space. That was the reason he’d decided against detonating the bomb while they were still on the planet's surface. If he survived the blast, Draven would be able to get away on the ground. But once they were out in space, no escape would be possible. Merrick was fine with dying himself as long as he took the silver-eyed bastard out with him.
Or I would be fine, if it wasn’t for Elise. Gods, baby, miss you so much…
Firmly, he dragged his mind back to the business at hand—making a jump with the homemade wormhole generator and proving to Draven the machine actually worked. Then, once they were far from the bastard’s home planet—much too far to call for help—Merrick would flip the detonation switch and blow them all straight to the seven hells.
“This will do,” he heard Draven say as he looked at the instrument panel. “Let’s test it out and make a jump.”
“Fine. Where do you want to go?” Merrick asked.
Draven gave him a slow, cruel smile. “Let’s make things interesting, shall we? Why not jump to your lover’s solar system? Far enough out not to alert the Mother Ship, of course. But close enough that you can see her home planet.”
Sadistic fucker! Merrick scowled at the controls. “Fine. I’ll put in the coordinates.”
“See that you don’t alert your fellow Kindred, hybrid,” Draven said. “This is a private party and they’re not invited. If you bring them into this, you’ll be dead long before they can reach you.” He smiled. “But not long enough for your death to be anything but excruciatingly painful, I assure you.”
“I believe you,” Merrick growled. “Don’t worry, Draven—this is between you and me.”
Draven frowned. “Whatever do you mean by that?”
Merrick didn’t answer, just finished inputting the coordinates for an orbit around Mars, the small red planet that was Earth’s neighbor, and then stood back. “There you go, boss. All ready to jump—just push the button.” He indicated the red button blinking in the control panel.
Draven shook his head. “I think not. You do the honors for me, won’t you?”
Merrick was surprised. He’d been certain Draven would want to test the generator himself the first time. Good thing I didn’t hook the bomb to the button, he thought, fingering the tiny device in his pocket. “Fine,” he said, shrugging. “I’ll do it. You might want to hold on to something.”
Draven nodded but simply folded his arms, not taking Merrick’s advice. With another shrug, Merrick pressed the jump button and watched as space melted around them, folding in on itself in a bloody red blur as the ship generated a wormhole and then accelerated into it.
Chapter Thirty-nine
“Darling! It’s so good to see you!” James enfolded her in an embrace the moment she stepped out of the HKR building.
“It’s good to see you, too, James.” Even t
o her own ears, her voice sounded stilted and false but her fiancé didn’t appear to notice a thing.
“I was getting a little worried that you might miss the wedding, but here you are after all!” He pulled back and studied her critically. “A little worse for the wear, perhaps, but a little make-up will fix that, I’m sure.”
“I’m sure,” Elise echoed numbly. Her fiancé’s handsome face, once so familiar and welcome, looked foreign to her now. His skin was too smooth, his features too perfect. He needs a scar or two, she found herself thinking. Just like Merrick…
The thought sent a wave of sorrow washing over her and she nearly started crying right there on the front steps of the HKR building. Only by sternly reigning in her emotions did she keep from breaking down. I can cry later, she reminded herself. Right now I have to get through this. I have to tell James the wedding is off.
But James didn’t give her a chance. “Come on, the car’s waiting,” he said, pulling her down the steps. “And I have a little surprise for you back home I think you’ll like.”
“A surprise?” Elise frowned. “Look, James, I really appreciate your thoughtfulness but I don’t think—”
“You’re going to love it.” He grinned as he all but pushed her into the car. “It’s the perfect wedding present.”
“About that, James,” Elise began, but he was too busy giving the driver directions to listen to her. She heard him mention his home address on Bayshore and realized that whatever the surprise was, it was far from her own little apartment—which was where she longed to be.
“So now,” He leaned back at last and patted her hand. “I’m guessing you had lots of lovely adventures while you were gone.”
“You could say that,” Elise said flatly.
“And yet you came back all in one piece.” James grinned. “I admit I was skeptical at first, but I suppose that huge, scarred fellow you went off with was as good as his word.” He frowned. “What was his name again?”
“Merrick.” Elise choked back a sob. “His n-name was M-merrick.” She buried her face in her hands, trying to get control of herself. I won’t cry, she thought. I won’t. I won’t. I have to stay in control of myself. I can’t lose it in front of James.
After a long, awkward silence, James cleared his throat. “Darling,” he said tentatively. “Are you quite all right?”
“Yes.” Elise made herself take a deep breath. “Yes, but James, I have to tell you—”
“Good, then—here we are,” he interrupted her.
Elise frowned. She’d forgotten it was only a hop, skip, and a jump from downtown to the privileged area of Bayshore Boulevard. The long street, lined with opulent mansions and ultra luxury condos, was where everyone who was anyone in Tampa called home. Before she knew it, the car was pulling into the winding driveway that led to James’ sprawling estate and Georgian style manor house.
Looking around, she noticed that there were several cars parked in the semi-circular driveway, lined with magnolia trees. Was James expecting guests? She really wasn’t in the mood to play the gracious hostess at the moment. Although if her future mother-in-law was one of the attendees, Elise probably wouldn’t have to worry about it. James’ mother loved being the center of any social gathering—which was something Elise detested.
“James,” she said as he helped her out of the car. “Who all is here? I see some cars I don’t recognize.”
“That’s the surprise.” He was practically rubbing his hands in glee. “Wait until you see, darling!”
“James,” she began as he grabbed her hand and started pulling her up the white marble steps. “If this is some kind of a wedding shower, I need to tell you that—”
“No, no, nothing like that. Just a little informal get together to welcome you home.” He opened the huge front door and stuck his head into the interior of the mansion. “I’m home, everyone. And you won’t believe who I have with me!”
Feeling miserable, Elise plastered a sickly grin across her face. Now she would have to pretend to be happy to see whoever it was James had invited over and try to be social until she could pull him away into some dark corner and break the news that their wedding was off. Why did James always do things like this? Why didn’t he ever listen when she tried to talk?
Merrick listened, whispered a little voice in her head. He listened with his whole heart. And he asked the hard questions—the ones James is so willing to gloss over and ignore. He—
Her thoughts stuttered to a stop when she saw who was standing in the doorway, waiting to greet her. There was James’ mother, of course—looking very prim and proper and his father as well, wearing a suite that practically screamed “old money.” But standing beside James’ parents was her own mother, whom Elise hadn’t seen for over ten years.
And beside her mother was Charles—her stepfather.
* * * * *
A trip through the fold was never pleasant but this one went relatively smoothly. The prototype ship came out on the far side of Mars, with Earth just a tiny blue speck in the distance.
“A little closer, I think,” Draven drawled. “Let’s get a really good look at that wretched little ball of rock. After all, this will be the last time you ever see it.”
“That may be true,” Merrick said neutrally, pulling past Mars and nudging the ship closer to Earth. “But it’s also going to be the last time you see it. Or anything for that matter.”
Draven frowned. “Whatever are you talking about, half-breed?”
“You heard me. I gave you my word as a Kindred that I’d build you a working wormhole generator. I never said you’d get to keep it.” Turning to the smug, silver-eyed bastard, Merrick pulled the tiny bomb out of his pocket and flipped the detonation countdown switch.
“What are you—?” Draven began.
“Catch,” Merrick said and threw the bomb directly at him.
But to his surprise, the bomb passed right through Draven’s abdomen to land in the hands of the troll captain standing behind him. The troll made a noise that sounded like, “Hurgh?” and bent to examine his ticking prize. The other trolls around him did the same, crowding close to see what he was holding.
What the fuck? Merrick thought. A hologram? But the best fucking one I’ve ever seen. I never would have guessed—
“No, you fools!” Draven was shouting at the trolls. “Throw it aw—”
And then the ticking stopped and a high-pitched whistling began. A moment later there was a deafening explosion. Troll guts and blood splattered everywhere in a blackish-red mess. Draven disappeared and then everything and everyone aboard was being sucked out the hole that had suddenly appeared in the side of the ship.
“Fuck!” Merrick bellowed and his voice was sucked away immediately as the ship bled its atmosphere into the cold dark of space. He hadn’t minded dying as long as he could take his tormentor with him, but Draven was gone. And Merrick was going to die without ever seeing Elise again. Die for nothing. For—
Something heavy knocked him in the head and he fell down, dazed. The last thing he saw was a huge conglomeration of dead troll parts clogging up the hole from the bomb.
Then everything was blackness.
Chapter Forty
“Come on now, darling—you’re embarrassing me,” James hissed under his breath as he tried to drag Elise back to the center of the large living area where everyone else was having drinks and making polite small talk.
“Oh, I’m embarrassing you? What a shame!” she hissed back, staying stubbornly in the corner she’d picked out as a safe spot. “Did it ever occur to you, James, that I had good reason not to speak to my mother and stepfather for over ten years? Did you even stop to think at all when you invited them to come here?”
James’ voice rose in exasperation. “I assumed it was because—” He stopped abruptly—the conversation in the room had fallen silent. “Excuse us, please,” he said, smiling ingratiatingly. “Elise isn’t feeling very well at the moment. We’re going to go get her something
cool to drink and see if we can’t perk her up a bit.”
“I don’t want a drink,” Elise protested as he pulled her through the living area and dining room and into the huge kitchen with its central island and copper pots hanging from the walls. “I want to leave. I want to get out of here now, James.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he fumed, dropping her arm at last and going to make sure the door was securely shut. “You’re not going anywhere. What you are going to do is march right back to the living room, get a drink, and act like a normal adult instead of a rude, misbehaving child.”
“A child?” Elise couldn’t believe her ears. Couldn’t believe that James was dictating to her this way. Or that he had gone and invited her own personal nightmare to an impromptu pre-wedding party.
“Yes, a child,” James ground out, glaring at her. “I know all about your childish spat with Charles—how he accidentally ran over your precious dog and you never would forgive him. But honestly, Elise, ten years is enough. Don’t you think it’s time to let bygones be bygones?”
Buck crushed under those huge, ugly wheels…Charles laughing as he dragged me across the lawn…pushing me down…hurting me…
The memories came back in a flood, just as she had always known they would once the vault was broken. But instead of running away from the horror or trying to bury it again, Elise somehow found the strength to face it. What happened is part of me, she thought, feeling sick but certain. Merrick knew about it and he loved me anyway. It doesn’t make me less, doesn’t make me a bad person.
“James,” she said, looking her fiancé right in the eye. “I’m not a virgin.”
“What?” He frowned, clearly at a loss. “What are you talking about? I had your background checked—thoroughly checked—before I proposed. Unless you and that big ugly Kindred—”
“Don’t talk that way about Merrick,” Elise snapped. “And anyway, he isn’t the reason I’m not a virgin. Charles is.”