Rapture

  “You’ve taken a great risk to meet with me,” Myrin told the light-elf king.

  Tamsin chuckled with a wolfish smile. “It is only a great risk if I feared for my safety old one.”

  “You have no way of knowing where my loyalties lie,” the elder pointed out.

  “You care for Trik and you know what the ancient texts say. Unless you are a fool, I imagine you have figured out who will come out the victor in the coming battle.”

  “You never have been one to mince words,” Myrin retorted.

  “We are on the brink of a civil war. I do not have time to mince words,” Tamsin said with a sharp look.

  Myrin’s eyes met his and the centuries of history between the two elves suddenly seemed so very insignificant. “How is he?” Myrin finally asked.

  “He’s as arrogant as ever,” Tamsin laughed with the elder, “but he has her, and she brings out the best in him.”

  “She must be very special.”

  Tamsin nodded. “She is, but then so is Triktapic, even if he is as annoying as a paper cut with salt being poured on it.”

  “Does he know that you share such affection for him?” Myrin asked.

  “Believe me, it’s mutual.” Tamsin paused and then let out the breath he’d been holding since he entered Sanctuary. “Do you know any of his plans?”

  “Lorsan no longer confides in any of the elders. Since Triktapic left, he trusts only his Chosen.”

  Tamsin’s brow furrowed as he considered the elder’s words. “How many of the elders are loyal to him?”

  “They fear him; they are not loyal to him.”

  “Fear can be a very big motivator,” Tamsin countered.

  Myrin stood from the table and pulled the hood of his cloak back up over his head. As he turned to go, he met Tamsin’s eyes. “True, but there is something that is an even greater motivator than fear,” he paused and looked around the dark, nearly empty room, which was usually filled with loud music and writhing bodies. His eyes took on the look of one remembering another time—a happier time. “Hope, Tamsin. Hope is greater than fear. If Trik can give them hope, he will have their loyalty.”

  Tamsin watched as the elder slipped away into the dark room. He had come hoping to get information; instead all he got were more questions. He wondered if Trik would ever truly have the loyalty of any of the dark elves. They were a race built on self-indulgence and chaos. They thrived by hiding in the shadows. Now the protective cover of darkness was about to be ripped from their lives. Their deeds, their ways, would be laid bare for all to see. Can there be redemption for one such as these? He hoped so; he truly did, for the sake of the dark elves and for the sake of his new king.

  A knock on his office door had Tony looking up from the numbers before him. He frowned at the door as if the person on the other side could see his disapproval at being interrupted.

  “Come in,” he called out.

  The door was pushed open with a force that was completely unnecessary. Tony stood quickly and reached for the gun he wore on his back beneath his suit jacket but froze when Tarron, Lorsan’s chemist, strode efficiently into the room. Tony felt the chill that followed the demented elf flow into his office and rush over his skin. He struggled with his need to back away from the evil that had just entered and his need to not appear weak in the face of that evil. He knew what kind of man Tarron was. He fed off the weaknesses of others. He took pleasure in pain and Tony wasn’t about to give him that kind of power.

  “Tarron,” Tony said as he let his hand drop to his side.

  Tarron’s unnaturally green eyes met his and Tony itched to grab his gun. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his slacks instead.

  “I’ve heard some disturbing news,” Tarron said as he slowly walked over to the one way glass that looked out at the casino floor. Tony recognized the motion for what it was. Tarron was letting him know that he didn’t consider him a threat—a man doesn’t give his back to something or someone he considers a risk to himself. He didn’t respond to the dark elf, but waited for him to continue.

  “I’m told that Rapture is not being made available to the customers all of the time.” Tarron turned to face him and leaned casually against the glass. Tony wasn’t fooled by the casual stance. He knew how fast the elves could move. He also knew that the calmer they acted, generally, the more trouble you were in.

  “People were tearing my casino apart over the stuff,” Tony told him, his shoulders tense as he tried to temper his anger. “When they can no longer pay for it, some of them go berserk. It’s dangerous and frankly I was getting tired of cleaning up the mess.”

  “Your casino?” Tarron asked coolly.

  Now you’ve done it, Tony thought to himself as he watched the dark elf grow very still.

  “You are simply the caretaker of this establishment, just as your father was before you. You do not get to make decisions like the one you have made. I advise that you remedy the situation immediately.”

  Tony bit his tongue to keep from telling the chemist to go to hell. He knew that all that would do was get him a one way ticket there himself. He nodded instead, but kept his lips firmly shut. Tarron was pulling the door closed just as he looked over his shoulder at him and spoke. “And Tony, I do hope that we haven’t put our trust in the wrong human. I would hate to have to tell Lorsan that you were keeping questionable company.”

  The door shut with an audible click and Tony felt it all the way to his bones.

  “Shit!” He growled as he grabbed his cell phone, about to dial, but then realized just how stupid he had been. He forced himself to wait twenty minutes to give Tarron time to get out of the casino before he left his office and headed towards the floor where the light elves and the females were staying.

  The knock on the door startled Elora from where she dozed on the couch. Cush wasn’t next to her, and when she looked around the room, she saw that the door to the bathroom was closed. She stood and stretched and started towards the door just as another knock came, only this one was more insistent than the first.

  “Okay, okay, hold your horses,” she grumbled. Just as she reached for the door knob, she felt the air around her shift and suddenly a large hand was flat against the door. She turned her head up to look at Cush who was frowning down at her. “Pushy much?”

  “Did you bother to ask who it was?” he growled at her. “Or have you forgotten that you are in enemy territory?”

  Elora stepped back and crossed her arms across her chest. “How many times do I have to remind you that I,” she pointed to herself, “am a dark elf? I am technically in my own territory.” She smiled innocently at him.

  Cush bit back the snarl that lurked just below the surface as the knock came again and this time a voice with it.

  “Warrior, open up; we have a problem.” Tony’s voice came through the door.

  He stepped in front of Elora to block her from view as he undid the lock and pulled the door open to reveal a flustered looking casino owner on the other side. He walked in without being invited, sweeping past Cush, and then whipped around to look at them both.

  “You all have to go. Now.”

  “What’s happened?” Cush asked.

  “Seriously, dude. You’re looking a little panicked and it’s really not a good look for you,” Elora pointed out unhelpfully.

  Tony gave her a pointed look.

  “What?” She shrugged. “It’s my dark nature. I’m just spouting off at the mouth. Truly I have no idea what I might say or do next.”

  “That’s my fault isn’t it,” Tony asked Cush as he nodded towards Elora.

  Cush bared his teeth at the human. “Yes, thank you for that.”

  “Not to break up the boy bonding moment or anything,” Elora interrupted, “but you were just telling us that we needed to get out of Dodge. Would you please like to elaborate?”

  “Tarron was here.”

  Cush went still at the name of the dark elf.

  Tony’s eyes narrowed on him. “I
take it you know who he is?”

  “I know Tarron,” Cush confirmed gruffly. “And if he was here, then you are correct we need to go.”

  “He knows you’re here.”

  Cush let out a string of curses in his native language as Elora looked at him with wide eyes.

  “You can’t blame that on your dark side, buddy,” she told him dryly.

  Cush shook his head at her as he grabbed her hand and began pulling her towards the door. “Thank you for your help, Tony,” he told the human. They were out in the hall banging on Lisa’s door when Rin and Oakley came out of the room they were sharing.

  “What’s going on, Cush?” Rin asked.

  “We need to go. Tarron knows we are here,” Cush explained.

  Rin let out some similar sounding words as he dashed back into their room. Oakley hurried down the hall towards them, frowning as he looked from Cush to Elora to Tony.

  “I take it this Tarron character is bad news?” Oakly asked.

  “Apparently, he’s worthy of elvish cursing,” Elora told him.

  The door to Lisa’s room finally opened and she stood there disheveled, obviously having just awoken. “What wrong?” she asked Cush.

  “We need to leave,” Cush told her without elaborating further.

  Lisa nodded, not questioning him. She hurried to put her shoes back on and ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame her bedhead.

  In a matter of minutes they were in the parking deck following after Tony. Though it was nearly ten o’clock at night, the lights of Vegas rendered it as bright as day. Elora turned to look out at those lights and she soaked up the noise and life of the city. She felt the itch under her skin to run. To where? She didn’t know; she just knew that the night called to her. Cush, sensing her restlessness, wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

  “I have no idea how much Tarron knows,” Tony admitted. “I was stupid not to consider that they were watching me. They probably have video cameras in my office and the conference rooms and definitely out on the floor. I’m going to give you a vehicle that’s clean so it will be safe.”

  “What does it matter if it’s dirty?” Elora asked.

  Tony smiled at her. “Not clean like that. I mean clean as in free of any bugs or GPS so they can’t track you.”

  “Oh, gotchya.” Elora nodded.

  “I wish I could tell you that she would be safe if she stayed here,” Tony said, speaking to Cush. “But I’m not too proud to admit that their power is too great for me.”

  “I understand, and I would not put you in that position. She belongs by my side anyways.”

  “Well at least then you know what sort of trouble she’s getting into,” Tony pointed out.

  “She is standing right here,” Elora grated out.

  Tony led them to a black, generic, albeit very official looking, SUV. They loaded up with Cush taking the driver seat and Elora next to him in the passenger seat. Cush rolled down the window as he started the vehicle. Tony stood several feet away watching them. His eyes were narrowed and the skin around his mouth was tight with stress.

  “Will you be alright?” Cush asked him.

  Tony shrugged. “Worst case scenario, they torture me; best case, they only kill me.”

  Elora’s mouth dropped open at his words. “He’s joking right?”

  Cush began to back up and as he put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking deck he looked one last time at Tony. Then he glanced over at Elora and shook his head. “No, unfortunately he’s very serious.”

  “Torture? Really? I mean, who does that?” Elora asked incredulously.

  “Apparently, dark elves,” Oakley replied and then added, “and truthfully now knowing that we are half dark elves, it explains a lot.”

  Tarron watched from the shadows as the black SUV pulled out of the parking deck. He had expected that the human who was in charge of running Iniquity would have ran with the light-elf warriors. But he stayed. Whether that made him brave, or foolish, he couldn’t yet say. He did know that it made him dead. Tarron had no way of contacting Lorsan in the dark elf realm since the king had closed the portals. So he couldn’t get a confirmation that his king would indeed want Tony the human removed. But the human had betrayed them. In Tarron’s book, betrayal was an automatic death sentence.

  He stepped out from the shadows. Tarron could see by the tightening of Tony’s shoulders that the human knew that he had company. Tarron prepared himself to have to run after the human. Humans are prey and, after all, that is what prey do; they run from anything deadlier than themselves and the elf was definitely much deadlier. But, once again, the human surprised him. Tony turned slowly to face him. His jaw was tense and his eyes darted around the parking deck before finally landing back on Tarron.

  “Your family has worked for the dark elves for many generations,” Tarron said as he took a step towards the human. “You know the cost of disloyalty, yet you are still here?”

  “I know the cost,” Tony agreed. “But I also know that the cost of Rapture being given to my race is more than I’m willing to stand for.”

  Tarron chuckled. “Suddenly you’ve grown a conscience?”

  “Something like that,” Tony quipped.

  “I think it’s a little late for regret, human,” Tarron purred. “You’ve made your bed, and you invited the enemy to lie down with you in it. What is it you humans always say? You reap what you sow?” He smiled as he took another step closer.

  Tony knew he was staring at death. There was no other way to put it. The sadistic dark elf standing not twenty feet from him was going to kill him. He realized that he was having one of those moments that you see happen to people in the movies, where their life sort of flashes before their eyes. For him it was more that everything up until that point was staring him in the face and it was screaming at him, this is what you did with your life? This is how you spent the few years given to you, in the service of evil? The crappy thing about having reality stare you in the face is that there is no turning from it. There is no hiding from what has already happened. It is done and it cannot be undone. And now as he stood there, staring at the man who would end his pathetic version of a life, he realized just how badly he wanted to do something good with his life.

  He wanted to help someone or give back in some way, and now, now he wouldn’t be able to do that. He would never be able to redeem himself from all the darkness he himself had caused, and he knew that if there was a hell—if it was a real place, he was about to be checking himself into it. Tarron took another step closer, and another, and the waiting just made Tony want to scream at him to get on with it. Suddenly, there was a screeching of wheels on the concrete and headlights were bearing down on the pair, heading straight for his executioner. Tony kept thinking that the vehicle was going to slam on its breaks or swerve, but it did neither. In fact, it seemed to be speeding up. Tarron must have seen the alarm in his eyes because he whipped around to see the oncoming vehicle and, in an act of last second desperate self-preservation, he jumped as only supernatural being could. Tony was just about to dive out of the way when the tires screeched to a halt. The back passenger door of the black SUV was flung open and Rin, the warrior, stuck his head out.

  “You look like you could use a ride.”

  Tony chuckled but wasted no time jumping into the vehicle.

  “I thought you were going to hit him like a speed bump,” Tony heard Elora’s voice from the front of the vehicle.

  “He jumped out of the way, Elora,” Cush responded as if he was talking to a petulant child.

  “You could always back up and see if you hit him then,” she pointed out.

  Tony coughed back his surprise which caught the girl’s attention. She turned back to look at him with her purple eyes shining.

  “Blood thirsty much?” Tony asked her.

  She shrugged and pointed to herself. “Dark side.”

  “You can’t blame every little flaw on your dark side, Sis,” Oa
kley huffed.

  “Okay, well, if it’s not my dark side, then I’ll blame it on my ovaries.”

  That brought a laugh from everyone as Cush slammed his foot down on the gas pedal and pointed the car in the direction of California.

  Tony looked over his shoulder out the back window. He didn’t see any sign of Tarron, but he could feel him. Like a festering wound waiting to burst and spread its poison, Tarron would wait and then he would strike.

  Chapter 11

  “Where you go, I go. Where you stay, I stay. Your people are now my people. Who you love, I’ll love. Who you serve, I’ll serve. When you hurt, I hurt. When you laugh, I laugh. All of my days I am bound to you and when you leave this world, I can only hope to leave it with you.” ~Trik

  Cassie groaned as she lay back on the grass and stared up into the sky. Her entire body ached. She ached in places that she didn’t even know she had and in places she would never dream of saying she ached. She could feel her body changing, tightening, becoming sharper, as a result of the rigorous self-defense exercises Trik was putting her and the elves through. Aside from the warm weather, staring up at the sky, she could almost pretend she was back in the human realm lying in her own back yard. It would be cold January there she knew. She pushed away her worries, drawing on the memories of her life before Trik, before Rapture, before life and death. Her mom’s face suddenly emerged and she had to fight back the tears as a wave of longing rushed through her. She missed her parents fiercely and she was beginning to doubt that she would ever see them again. But no matter how badly she wanted to be with her parents, she knew she was where she needed to be. Unfortunately, being where you need to be didn’t diminish the feeling of wanting to be somewhere else.