Allie's War Season One (127 page)

I groaned, but only fought harder, unable to lose the panicked feeling at not being able to feel him...or anything else.

Terian jerked me off the door and turned me around, punching me in the face. The force of the blow sent me falling straight to my back, on my cuffed wrists.

I lay there, winded, a flipped turtle.

The boy whimpered, watching me. I looked up at him, and saw him tugging at Terian’s arm. The tears in his eyes looked fearful, almost frantic.

Terian caressed the boy’s head. “There, there. It’s all right...she’ll be all right.” He exhaled, out of breath, combing disheveled blond hair out of his eyes. “We got what we came for. Be happy about that...”

“Revik,” I managed. I could only repeat his name, until I wasn’t sure if it was aloud or in my head. “Revik...”

Terian stared down at me with those unnerving yellow eyes.

“Don’t fret, love,” he said. “We can’t kill him...not anymore. Personally, I’d like to bring him along, but I’m afraid Nenz here won’t stand for it.”

I struggled backwards, my cuffed hands digging into my back.

There was no place to go. I tried to fight the Scandinavian off, but agony ripped through my body when he grabbed me by the collar, yanking me to my feet. The drug made my legs wobble, but still hadn’t knocked me out.

He shoved me towards the door, still holding the collar. I stumbled across a floor half-covered by rumpled wool rugs, littered with plates, clothes, a towel, what might have been broken glass.

“Busy little bunnies you’ve been...” Terian muttered.

He used the collar to steer me towards the living room, and straight for the front door.

It occurred to me only then that I was naked. I struggled against his hands, but he barely hesitated before forcing me outside. He shoved me down the wooden steps, holding the collar to keep me from falling.

Then I saw him.

Revik lay in a heap on the dirt below the wooden stairs. He was naked, too. His skin looked white but for the tattoos and his catalogue of scars...as well as what I’d done to him over the past however-many days. Four men stood over him. They must have drugged him, either before or after they shot him in the thigh.

I saw the collar on his neck as his eyes met mine.

“No!” He screamed when he saw Terian holding me. “No! No!”

He fought in an open panic, struggling to get to his hands and knees.

One of the seers kicked him in the side and I shrieked, fighting like a wild person against Terian’s hands. Half picking me up when I attacked him, Terian turned me around, yanking me backwards by the metal cuffs.

He caught me around the throat, holding me against his chest.

“Revi’!” Terian shouted. “Revi’! Calm yourself!”

“Get your fucking hands off her! Get your hands off her!”

“Do you want her to kill herself? She already tried once inside!”

“Let her go! I’ll swear to gods I’ll kill you—”

“Did you hear me, Revi’? You must see reason, my friend!”

“LET GO OF HER—“

“Calm, Revi’! Calm!”

“I’ll kill you!
I’ll fucking kill you if you hurt her!”

Terian held me tighter. I felt tension in his hands.

“We will not hurt her!” he said. “...But we can’t have the two of you ripping yourselves apart, do you hear me? You know it’s a risk...you know it! Will you make her die for you?”

He waited for that much to penetrate, for Revik to be looking at me again.

Once it had, I felt Terian relax, but only marginally.

“Good. Yes.” He took a breath, his voice still loud, but calmer. “You’ll get your chance, Revi’,” he said. “I promise you that. The boy doesn’t want you with us. We can’t kill you, which means we have to let you go. I’ll even call your friends in the Adhipan once we’re safely away...”

“No!” Revik struggled to get up, but one of the seers placed a foot on his shoulder, forcing him down. “Don’t take her! Please...gods, I’ll give you anything you want...anything!” He fought against the seer holding him. “I’ll help you rebuild it! I’ll help you, Terry!”

He looked at my face, then back at the Scandinavian holding me.

“I’ll do whatever you ask! Anything...I’ll fucking work for you, Terry! As long as you want! Don’t take her...please!
Please,
goddamn it!”

Tears were running down my face. I felt Terian’s fingers tighten at his words, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Revik. The panic in his face debilitated me, even when I couldn’t feel his light. The collar he wore was hurting him; I could see it...but he barely seemed to notice. When he began fighting openly again, Terian slid a hand around my waist, holding me against him more deliberately.

With his other hand, he cupped my breast.

“Revi’...behave yourself! Or I’ll give you reason to complain.”

Revik froze, his body taut, animal-looking once more.

But it was the boy who spoke first, making me jump.

“Get your hands off her!”

The blond Terian turned his head at the same time I did. I stared at the boy, bewildered at the fury I saw in his eyes...well before it occurred to me to be grateful. He was staring up at the tall Terian, hands clenched at his sides.

Terian hesitated a second longer. He looked between Revik and the boy.

The boy stepped in front of him.

“Let go of her,” Nenzi hissed. “...or I’ll kill you.”

There was the barest pause, then the Scandinavian-looking seer took a step back. He released every part of me but the collar.

“Thank you,” Revik said. “Thank you...”

The boy looked at Revik, his fingers still balled into fists.

“
You
...you disgusting
shit!”
His words held so much hatred I flinched. Like Terian had, I looked between the boy and Revik. “You don’t say
anything
about her! I should
kill
you for touching her...” He looked at me, breathing harder, then back at Revik. “Rapist! Fucking pervert
rapist!
I saw you hurt her...!”

“Nenzi!” I said, stunned. “He didn’t hurt me!”

Revik looked at me. His eyes grew liquid once more, just before they ran down the length of my body.

“No,” he said, hoarse. “No...I didn’t mean to.”

“Yes, you did!
Look at her!”

“He didn’t hurt me!” I said, angry. I turned on Revik, my voice warning. “Revik..look at your own body before you start complaining about mine!”

My words seemed to snap him out, briefly at least.

“How do you know this kid?” he said.

“Tarsi...it’s a long story...he shouldn’t be here...”

“Shouldn’t be here?” Revik said. “What does that mean?”

“Stop talking to her—” the boy began angrily, but I cut him off.

“Nenzi!” I said. “He’s my
husband!”
Terian chuckled a little behind me, but his eyes held a sharp interest when I glanced back at his face. He was looking between Revik and the boy and me, listening to us. I kept talking, struggling to balance on my toes.

“...Nenzi...
you’re
the one hurting me. You and this psycho friend of yours! If you cared about me at all, you’d let Revik go. You’d kill this sonofabitch and let us
both
go!”

Nenzi remained focused on Revik.

“I know what you did,” he said. “I saw it.”

Revik snarled, “Listen to
her,
you little psychopath! If you really want to help her—”

“Is
this
why you had me imprisoned? To
steal
her from me?”

“What?” Revik stared from me back to him. “What are you talking about?” He looked at me, and stopped, pain softening then hardening his features...until both of us were lost there. I saw his eyes blur, realized he was still trying to reach me. Pain stood out in his eyes as he strained against the collar. Eventually he stopped, gasping, as the collar shocked him harder.

His gaze dropped to the one around my neck...right before he lunged. A male seer caught him by the hair, holding him back. Fear exploded over his features again as he looked at me, a panic he aimed at the boy.

“Boy, please!” Tears came to his eyes. “He’ll hurt her!”

“No. He promised.”

“He’s a fucking liar! Are you really that stupid?”

The boy’s eyes glowed brighter. Staring at his round face, I realized I recognized that look. I’d seen it at Tarsi’s.

“No!” I screamed. I fought Terian, trying to get between the boy and Revik. Terian released me and I managed to get down to my knees, in front of the boy.

“No! Don’t hurt him! Nenzi, please. I’ll go with you. Just don’t hurt him!”

Revik’s face contorted in pain. “Allie! Baby...don’t!”

I tore my eyes off him to plead with the boy. “Please, Nenzi,” I whispered. “I’ll go with you. Just please...don’t hurt him...please...”

The boy continued to stare at Revik, but I saw the light in his eyes flicker, then dim, just before he glanced at me. Looking down at my body, he took in the length of me, his lips pressed together. He seemed about to say something, when he turned towards Terian, his gaze suddenly sharp.

“No,” he said coldly, in response to something Terian had thought.

The Scandinavian Terian’s voice grew cautious. “They’ve consummated. I assume you won’t want to test that by letting him die of exposure...”

“Boy,” Revik said. “Please! Listen to her! You can’t trust him!”

Nenzi caught hold of my arm, gripping it tight enough to hurt. I winced, avoiding his eyes as he looked at my body again. His dark eyes shifted up, meeting Terian’s behind me. His voice grew cold as ice, and suddenly much older.

“You touch her like that again, and I’ll cut off your cock and make you eat it,” he said. His black eyes glimmered a faint green. “Understand?”

“Of course, my friend...of course. It was only to annoy Dehgoies.”

Nenzi looked back at me. The expression there made me nervous.

“He’ll come after us,” Terian said. “He won’t be able to help himself.” His voice grew cajoling. “If you bring him with us now, we could control him. You would still get what you wanted, my young friend...only safer. For her, too.”

Nenzi gestured an emphatic ‘no,’ still staring at me.

“He doesn’t have anything I want,” he said. “...Not anymore.”

I met Revik’s gaze, trying to think past the screaming in my mind. I couldn’t decide if there was anything I could do, anything I could say that would make a difference. They had him chained to the steps. He’d been shot in the thigh. His face contorted in pain whenever he tried to move...or use his sight. He was bruised, beat up, overly thin. The wound in his leg looked like a lot of blood, especially against his pale skin.

Terian said he wasn’t going to let him die.

I saw Revik looking at my face, almost as if he’d guessed what I was thinking. His eyes filled with tears again. His voice thickened.

“No...Allie.” He shook his head. “No...please, baby. Please...”

Terian grasped me by the collar from behind. With a single, sharp pull, he yanked me ungracefully to my feet. I cried out, losing my balance so that I hung from his fingers. The boy grabbed my arm, glaring up at Terian.

“Stop hurting her!”

“If you’re not going to bring him, we have to separate them!” Terian said. “It’s time to go. Now, Nenzi!”

Nenzi looked at Revik, then at me. He nodded towards Terian.

“All right.”

“No!” Revik screamed, fighting the hands holding him.

Jerking me sideways by the collar, Terian began dragging me towards the gate and the field. I heard Revik’s anguished cry and nearly lost my mind. Craning backwards to look at him, I let out a scream as well, struggling against Terian. The scream turned into a sob as I saw him fighting the other seers.

Terian dragged me forward despite my struggles. In a matter of minutes I couldn’t see Revik anymore, though I could still hear him. I willed my light, every part of myself in his direction. Half dragged and half shoved through the thigh-high grass, I eventually opened my eyes on what looked like a jeep parked on one side of the field, a few dozen yards away.