Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (44 page)

Eva
stared, afraid to believe. “And how do I even know
that’s
true?”

“I may
have kept things from you, but I am
not
lying to you,” Brand growled.
Then he stared at her. Eva shifted uncomfortably as Brand’s eyes widened in
incredulity. “You’re
jealous?
”

“I have
no idea what I am!” Eva cried, on the point of being overwhelmed. She pushed
away, determined to put distance between them, but Brand held her.

“I
thought you would hate me,” he muttered, peering deep into her eyes, as if
searching for that emotion.

“Maybe
I do,” she whispered. Brand saw too much. “Maybe that’s what this is.”

“I
don’t think so,” he murmured, sounding amazed…and hopeful. Eva turned away.

She had
wanted to keep Brand. So maybe she
could
keep Brand. But…

“These
things don’t last,” she whispered, feeling horribly exposed, terrifyingly
vulnerable. Brand’s strong fingers relaxed on her nape, his thumb gently
stroking. She shivered.

“The
amati bond lasts forever, Eva,” Brand said quietly, his caress a warm glide
over her skin. “There is only one woman in the world I can Marque, and that
woman is you. There is only one woman in the world I can form a bond with.
You
.
And,” his voice deepened, “there is only one woman I would ever
want
for
my amati. You, Eva. You are stubborn, irrational and so damn beautifully strong
that it frightens me. I want you. Always.”

Always.

Forever
.

Eva
shook, but this time, from a different sort of fear. “I don’t think I can do
that.” She shifted back. This conversation was breaking her heart. She needed
to leave, and soon. Before too much was said. Before Brand said something like
that again. “Don’t ask me that.”

*“I
have to Eva. You have to face this some time. You can’t keep running. Not
always, not when…”

And
then it happened: Eva’s vision started to tunnel inwards. Everything began to
turn gray, hazy. Brand’s voice blurred and grew muted and echoing as if he were
speaking from down a long cement corridor, and no matter that just moments ago
she had wanted him to release her, now she was glad for his support as her
knees fought to crumple.

She
inhaled and scented blood – then her lungs froze up, her chest hurt. Her
muscles cramped. She fought to breath as panic seized her; her heart rate
spiked.

It felt
as if she had been running all morning, except she hadn’t…

Reality
dropped away as the Warning rose inside her.

A
slender too-thin woman strapped to a metal table – brown hair hacked off,
frightened silvery eyes flaring with gold and red as she fought. She snarled,
screaming. Then the beautiful empty-eyed woman laughed and turned, walking
away. “Very well. Refuse to cooperate. My pets deserve a treat,” and she
gestured to the fanged guards standing beside the door saying, “Perhaps you
will be more willing when they are through…”

Even as
Eva struggled to attack, to fight, the Warning flared forward.

She
looked down. The concrete cell was small, cold. The light inside was painfully
stark. A battered lump of flesh lay on the floor, where it had been dumped. The
brown hair peeked out near the head, clotted with blood. The silvery eyes were
swollen shut. There was a rattling breath, the stench of blood, and then an
exhale almost too soft to hear…

Everything
went dark.

“No!
No-no-no-no-no!” Eva screamed, and lashed out at the force restraining her.
NO.
No.
“No. Not her. Not her…not…” She struggled, trying to get free. She lashed
out, clawing with her fingers, finding purchase on something large and warm and
solid. She dug her nails in then threw herself forward, starting to pull on the
Change…

“Eva!
Snap
out of it!
” It was a raw deep snarl, and someone grabbed her shoulders, shaking
her body before wrapping his arms around her, cementing her to his chest.
The
guards. Rohe’s guards…
She screamed – furious, terrified –
fighting. She struggled as he turned her body around, before pinning it to her
own, then a rough hand shoved up beneath the hem of her shirt, skimmed over her
belly before settling over her left breast…

Brand
.

Eva
stopped trying to attack. Everything went out of her, and for a moment, she
simply hung limp in his arms.

Her
skin flared with awareness beneath his hands. Her sense of smell went into
overdrive, and she sucked his scent in like a starving woman. His thumb traced
over the Marque on her breast. The movement was slow and comforting, just shy
of arousing…and incredibly grounding.

She
exhaled and it sounded more like a sob.

“Do you
know me now, Eva?” Brand asked, his voice low and rough; it was a serious,
pointed, question. His presence at her back was an incredible comfort.

“Y-yes.”
She just needed to get ahold of herself. She willed her heart to slow down. “Yes.”

“What
happened Eva? What was that?”

“Rainey…”
she could barely force the words from her throat. She raised her fingers,
briefly touching the back of his large hand through her shirt. He was warm, so
warm. “I saw Rainey. And Rohe. It was a Warning. I had a Warning. About Rainey.
About…”

“A
Warning that Rainey will…”

Eva was
incredibly grateful that Brand didn’t finish that sentence.

Inhale
, she
thought,
breathe in his scent. Exhale. Just keep doing that
.

Don’t
think about the Warning.

“We’ll
get to your sister in time, Eva,” Brand said, “We won’t let Rohe kill her,” and
he spoke the words like a promise.

She
believed him.
Don’t think about that does to you. Don’t think about what
he
does to you.

Eva
didn’t have to think it. Her body
felt
it.

But…
forever?
She shuddered and stepped away. Brand’s hand dropped down her body, a sensual
caress that awakened her body so that it longed for more, then she carefully
turned to look up into his face.

Forever.

Eva
shook her head. “I need to think about getting my sister back. Rainey is my
priority at right now, Brand. My
only
priority.”

Brand
breathed in as if to speak – the door rattled. Eva shot away from Brand
as Kevin walked into the room, keys jangling in his fingers. “Joshua said
everything was packed and ready to go, but that you wanted to review the plan…”
Kevin took in the scene and froze like a deer in the headlights.

They
stared at each other, the room
too
quiet. Kevin paled. “Ah…never mind,”
the young Tracker muttered, backing toward the door. “I’ll just be…I’ll go find
Joshua…”

“I need
to get my jacket. It’s in the front seat.” Eva twisted off the bed, avoiding
Brand’s reach. “I’ll need it tonight.”

“It’s
not safe for you to go with us.” Brand’s voice was a low growl. “Eva, after
what just happened, you aren’t okay.” She heard in it a silent order for her to
stop, to turn and look at him. To finish their conversation.

I
can’t. I’m not ready for this
. She wasn’t…she needed to
think. She needed to save Rainey. Eva should be focusing on
her sister
,
not herself. After Rainey was rescued,
then
Eva could worry about
whatever this was.

It was
impossible.

“
Eva.
”

“I’m
fine.” Eva didn’t look back as she darted past Kevin out the door. “I’m really
fine, Brand.”

She
wasn’t sure who she was trying to escape from.

Eva
slammed the SUV’s passenger door and stared up at the night sky as she tried to
bottle her emotions. It was just after dusk, the sunset a faint pink burn in
the western trees; she could tell that it would be clear tonight. She released
her breath so that it puffed before her in the frigid still air, then pulled
the blue fleece jacket firmly around her shoulders as she turned back to the
motel.

“I
shouldn’t even be thinking about him,” Eva muttered. “He
lied
to me.” It
was Rainey she should be focused on.

Even if
she was afraid to think about her sister.

Eva
didn’t want to imagine Rainey in Rohe’s hands. She didn’t want to imagine what
Rohe must be doing to her sister.
Two weeks
, Eva thought, trying to
control the terror that rose inside. Her stomach twisted. Rainey had been with
Rohe two weeks.
That means two knives
.

“
Too
long
.” Eva snarled. She never should have let herself be taken by Rohe. If
she hadn’t been taken, if she hadn’t been
weak
, she would have been at
the Gens to protect her sister.

The
soft crunch of snow behind her, as if someone had shifted his feet. Eva ignored
it, caught in her guilt.

Then a
cool quiet voice spoke, straight from memory, “Hello, Eva.”

She
froze.

Slowly Eva
turned. A tall man was leaning against the SUV, watching her. His short hair
was dark mahogany, his gaunt face obscured behind sunglasses. He wore dark
boots, dark jeans and a leather coat. He raised a gloved hand and pulled down
the sunglasses to reveal pale gray eyes. “I saw your companions watching the
Asylum. I need to speak with them.”

“
You
,”
Eva breathed, stunned. Her blood tripped in her veins. She hadn’t expected to
see him here. She hadn’t expected to ever see the man – the Sakai –
from cell 113 again
.
“I thought you were gone. I thought you would have
left.”

“I came
back. So did you.” The man gave Eva an inscrutable look, then shifted his head
just enough that Eva turned and followed his gaze – and jumped again.
Brand was standing in the center of the parking lot, hands ready at his sides,
a deadly expression on his face.

Eva
swallowed, meeting Brand’s eyes. “This is…”

“Kieran,”
the man from 113 supplied coolly.

“…Kieran.
He’s the Sakai who…helped me escape Rohe. The one who left me for you…” then
Eva turned back to Kieran, because she had to tell him, because even if he was
a Sakai, she thought he might understand, “My sister is in there.”

“Rohe
rarely varies hunting grounds,” the Sakai said, his expression as stark as Eva
remembered. Eva shivered at the knowledge in his voice.

Brand
didn’t move a muscle, just leveled a long considering look at Kieran. “What do
you want?”

“I came
to bargain. You have been watching the Asylum? I’ve been watching it longer. I
know all the routes in, the exits, the guard changes and schedules. I know what
will distract them. I can get you in.”

“Why
should we trust you?”

Kieran’s
eyes rested on Eva.
Because she owes me,
Eva thought he would say.
Instead, he said, “Because I left her for you once.”

“And
you are offering to help
why
?” Brand’s snarl was soft, vicious, but the
pure hatred that filled Kieran’s smile frightened Eva to the bone.

“Because.
Once we get in, Rohe is
mine
.”

“This
is a retrieval mission, nothing more. In and out. Nothing flashy, no
unnecessary risks.” Eva watched Brand fold his arms over his chest, his
expression uncompromising as he stood in the door of the motel room and frowned
at Joshua. “We don’t have the firepower to take on all of Rohe’s people.”

“What
about the humans?” Joshua fingered a steel blade and glanced down at the map
Kieran had sketched. “Where do they factor in?”

“Noncombatants.”

“An
unlikely concern. The guards have been clearing the human patients out,” Kieran
told them.

“Killing
them?” Eva tried to stifle her alarm.

Kieran
looked at her. “Dead humans create questions, Eva.
Mass
dead humans
create even more. Rohe’s people are transferring them out to legit facilities
in state vans.”

Eva
shivered, and looked at the map again. “Do you think Rainey is in the same
section we were in?”

“Yes.”
Kieran flipped the map over, leaning against the table as he drew another quick
sketch with the pencil Joshua had provided. “This is the basement level. Eva
and I were contained
here
,” he slashed a quick
X
. “Rohe keeps her
preferred prisoners in this area. The others she contains with the human
patients.
Used
to contain with human patients.”

“And
these doors?” Brand looked over Eva’s shoulder, pointing to the left of the
sketch. “Is that an entrance?”

“No.”
Kieran’s face tightened. “A furnace room. The only entrance to the hall is
through the stairwell. Eva will remember where to go.”

Eva
tightened her grip on her arms. “The doors at the bottom cut into the line of
cells where Rohe kept us. The hall that goes to the left leads to Rohe’s…” her
voice failed.