Missing Pieces (The Pieces Series Book 1) (21 page)

I
wake strapped to a bed. There is an IV in my arm, and I can’t move a muscle. Neeko’s standing there. “You can’t move, but you will be able to feel everything I do to you, demon.”

He has a scalpel in his hand and an evil glint in his eye. He steps up to my feet and begins to cut the bottom of my foot. I scream out, but he doesn’t flinch. He starts to peel my skin off, then moves to my leg, doing the same. By the time he reaches my knee on my second leg, I’ve passed out. The pain is too much to take. It’s not the physical as much as the mental pain of having the man you love torture you like he doesn’t give a damn. I go in and out of consciousness as he continues his torture.

They wake me every hour to rub salt on my skinless body. I scream, but no one seems to care. This seems to go on for days, but I have lost track of how long I have been down in this place. I’ve had no food, and the only water I get is poured on my face. My mind is too fuzzy and I can’t move so I can’t use my magic. I can’t escape this hell anyway. My soul’s other half has turned his back on me for something I didn’t know and something I can’t change. Neeko walks into the room. I guess another round of salt is in order. I cringe at the thought. He walks up to the side of the bed and sticks a needle in my IV. I pass out.

I
wake up in my tiny cell again. The covers are sticking to me because my skin has started to grow back. Derrick walks in with a tray of food. He looks at me and frowns. “I wish Nigel wouldn’t have overheard or you would not be going through all this.”

“You don’t hate me?”

“No, I don’t hate you. You have no control over who your parents are. You were not raised to harm us. Hell, you were raised as a human. We are supposed to
protect
the humans, but here we are torturing you for nothing.” He shakes his head. “I’m sorry. Please eat. I’m sure they aren’t done with you yet.”

I try to eat, but get sick. Derrick grabs my hair and watches me empty my stomach, cursing under his breath. The next thing I know, he jumps up. “Gabby, I want you to run. I can get you to level 2, then you can flash out. Please, I can’t stand him hurting you.”

“No, Derrick. He would hurt
you
for helping me and I can’t have that. I am tired of running. If he can live with what he is doing to me, then I can, too. I want him reminded every day of how evil this is. I can’t give up on him. My heart won’t let me. This can’t be him. He must be doing this for some other reason.”

“Please, Gabby, please.”

“You can beg me all you want. I’m not leaving.”

He gets up and paces. I can tell he is having an inner struggle by the way he stops and shakes his head every few steps. “I am going to find a way to get you out if I have to tie you up and flash you out myself.” I just stare ahead, hoping he will drop it.

He looks at me with tears in his eyes. “He is going to kill you if I can’t get you out of here. And when he comes back to reality, that is going to kill him. I can’t lose either of you.” He walks out.

A
bout an hour later, Neeko walks in and jabs me with a needle. My muscles lock up on me and I can’t move. He drags me into a room and places me on a table, strapping me down. He adds a bag to my IV, and everything gets a little hazy. He hits a button and the table goes horizontal. “I want you to have a front row seat to the show.”

I can’t make anything come out of my mouth so I just stare into his eyes. They are blacker than night, but before I can dwell on that, Derrick walks in. He looks confused, his eyebrows furrowed as he looks from me to Neeko. He starts to back out when someone else enters, quickly jabbing a needle in his neck. He falls to the floor. Neeko starts laughing a horrid laugh, and the sound turns my stomach. My Neeko would never hurt his best friend, no matter what! I am forced to watch as they chain Derrick to the wall and start an IV. Tears begin to fall from my eyes. Neeko really is a monster. How could I have missed this?

He wakes Derrick by stabbing him in the gut. I cringe. Neeko turns to me. “You know, the only way to kill a Godgel Immortal such as myself and Derrick is to cut of his head. To kill a demon, you have to burn them to ashes. I wonder what it’s going to take to kill you.” His eyes twinkle with evil intent.

He looks back at Derrick. “How could you betray me? You were going to help her escape, a demon, after everything they have done to us? You are a traitor.”

He stabs him again and my tears flow harder.

“Don’t worry, Gabby. I’m not going to kill you just yet. I am going to let you watch me kill this traitor first. Then maybe his wife and little girl. Ugh, humans.”

He spits on the floor, like humans are scum and he can’t stand saying the word. Derrick looks at me, pleading with his eyes. What am I supposed to do? Neeko walks to a table filled with all sorts of torture tools...some I recognize, others I have never seen. He picks up a samurai sword. “This will cut your head off in one sweep. You were my friend. I don’t want you to suffer.”

Neeko positions the blade at Derrick’s throat, and everything slows down. He begins to lift the blade behind his head, ready to swing. Sweat drops off my brow. Everything’s quiet, and I can hear my tears hitting the concrete floor. My heart is trying to pound out of my chest, and I begin to tremble. I close my eyes. I can’t watch. Derrick has become like a brother to me, and it’s my fault he is in here right now. Visions of our time together flash before my eyes: me throwing my tray of food at him; him falling down, laughing at my inability to flash; our banter; and his gratitude for trying to save his daughter.

I hear a scream echoing off the walls. It takes me a minute to realize it’s
me.
Derrick does not deserve to die. The room seems to be heating up. I open my eyes just in time to see the shocked expression on Neeko’s face before my light explodes out of my body and hits him, knocking him unconscious. I drop to the floor, having burned through my restraints and clothes. I feel better...not drugged, at all...and all my wounds have healed. Even my scars are gone. I guess my light heals me, too. I stumble over to Derrick. He was not hit with my blast. I untie him and he runs to Neeko, who is knocked out.

“Come, Gabby. Let’s get you out of here. I don’t want to give him time to come to.”

“What about you?”

“I am going to go get my family and go on
vacation
until the Neeko I know comes back.”

I begin to cry again. I hug him as tight as I can, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for never giving up on me.” My tears start to soak his shirt.

“Go, baby girl, and be safe,” he says, like a father trying to soothe his little girl.

I see a tear drop from his eyes right before I flash to the only other place I know...my apartment. I begin to throw things in a suitcase. I need to write Neeko a letter and get all these things off my shoulders before I disappear so that if
my
Neeko ever comes back, he knows I always loved him. I write it quickly and flash to the house. No one is in the bedroom so I put it in my favorite drawer. I know that, when the time is right, he will look there.

I flash back to my apartment and finish packing. I don’t have much cash so I’ll have to restart somewhere else, maybe go back to my home town in Alabama. I hear a noise and freeze. Have they already found me? No. No. Please, no. I turn around quickly and see sparkling brown eyes the color of caramel, and blonde spiked hair with black tips. Lash.

“When did you dye the tips of your hair?” I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Ah, Gabby. It’s so good to see you in one piece. My hair? Well, I changed it after I saw you.”

“What do you want, Lash? I don’t have much else to give. I won’t be any fun to torture because I’d break too easily.” My voice cracks and tears begin to fall. Everything hits me at once. My knees give out, but before I hit the floor, Lash has his arms around me.

“Gabby, unlike Neeko, I only want to torture you with my presence, never pain...unless it feels good. Let me take you away and hide you from him.”

“Lash, I have nothing left.” I feel so hollow.

“I only need you safe. Let me help you. I won’t ask you to give me anything in return.”

Should I trust a demon? I trusted an angel, and look where that got me. Why not? He can’t break my pieces any more than they already are. If he kills me, it can’t hurt as much as my heart does right now. It would probably feel better.

“Why not, Lash? Take me away, but know that I will never love another. I can’t believe I am saying this, but I still love Neeko.” 

He picks me up so that he is carrying me like a baby and we flash away, leaving everything I know behind.

Neeko

––––––––

G
abby walks in the bedroom after our fight. I didn’t expect her to come back so quickly. How can I ever stay mad at her? “I’m sorry.” Her eyes become wide with shock. “Is it really that hard to believe that I would say that I am sorry? I should not have yelled at you.”

She shakes her head. “No, Neeko, I am sorry. I’m just stressed. I haven’t really had time to sit and think. I was thrown into the Immortal world and then told I am part of it. It’s a lot to take in when you add that I have a mate, too. It’s all just really starting to sink in.”

“I know. I was born into this world and I still have trouble taking it all in.”

“Neeko, can we go away for a few days...just us?” Maybe a week away is just what we need.

“Ok, just let me get things squared away and we can leave in the morning.”

“No, I want to go now. Please?”

“Ok, ok.” She looks ready to break down. “At least let me tell Derrick so he can run things while I’m gone.”

“Tell him we need to go away to work on us. I don’t want him to think it’s because of him or me trying to save his daughter.” She walks up to me and places a gentle kiss on my lips. “Please?” Weird, I didn’t get the usual shock that I always feel when she touches me. She must really be stressed.

“Ok, pack up. We’ll go someplace warm.” I go to find Derrick.

I
flash Gabby and me to a condo on the beach that I own. Amazed, she looks around. “You own this?” She runs her hands over the suede sofa.