Pursued (50 page)

“Stop! Why are you doing this? Fucking
stop!”
Merrick shouted. He tried to push feelings of comfort and reassurance through the bond to Elise but the transparent barrier between them kept the two of them from exchanging thoughts or emotions.

“I told you why,” Draven drawled. “I’m disappointed and I’m
bored.
It’s a bad combination—for
me,
anyway.” He lifted the silver remote again.

Merrick thought he would die if he had to watch Elise be hurt anymore.

“I can help you,” he shouted. “I can build it—recreate the wormhole generator.”

“Is that right?” Draven pushed a button and the gray liquid was replaced by purple. At once, Elise slumped in her bonds, the fear leaving her as quickly as it had come, to be replaced by blessed numbness. Merrick hoped so, anyway.

“Yes,” he said, praying the bastard would believe him. “Won’t take that long, either. It's based around a piece of alien tech I scavenged but I can recreate it—all I need are the right tools and equipment. But…” He glared at Draven. “You have to let her go first. Put her back in the ship and set it to autopilot out of here. Back to the fold, if it’s still open.”

“It is,” Draven nodded. “I think they’ll keep it open a little longer, hoping the two of you will find your way home. You know…” He grinned, an expression that made his silver eyes seem even emptier. “I took something of a risk, having you diverted from one destination to another
while
you were folding. I was quite aware that it might cost you your life. But, it was a chance I was willing to take.” He smiled brilliantly. “And now, just look at how well it’s all turned out! It seems we’ll both get what we want.”

“Yeah, fucking great,” Merrick growled. But inside he was a little less anxious. He wouldn’t allow himself the luxury of relief until he saw Elise put on the ship and the ship disappearing into the fold. But at least they were headed in the right direction.

“Of course…” Draven leaned toward Merrick. “I can’t promise that
you
will get out with your life. I can’t have the Kindred High Council finding out about my interest in wormholes.”

“You can kill me when I’m done—I don’t care,” Merrick said hoarsely. “Just let Elise go. She doesn’t know anything about you—she’s no threat.”

Draven put a hand to his chest. “Ah, such love…such sacrifice. If only I still had my soul, I would swoon, I’m quite certain.” He frowned at Merrick. “Then again, how can I be certain your offer is good? How do I know you’ll do as I ask, after I let her go?”

“You have my word as a Kindred,” Merrick said, lifting his chin. “Just let her go and I swear you’ll have your generator in two solar days time.”

“Your word as a Kindred, eh?” Draven raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow. “That’s quite an offer—especially since you don’t know how long a solar day is, here on my lovely home planet.”

“I know
where
we are and
who
you are,” Merrick said evenly. “I may not have made the best marks at learning house, but I remember my First Kindred history. We're on Hrakis and you’re the same bastard who tried to wipe them out a thousand cycles ago. Guess they didn’t quite manage to kill you off, after all.”

“Not quite.” Draven’s silver eyes glittered. “Very well, since you’re so knowledgeable, I’ll take you up on your offer. I will release your lovely lady and send her back into the fold. I’ll even let you say goodbye to her. Mind, though—” He raised one finger in the air. “No communication through that tricky little Kindred bond of yours. I may not be able to catch the exact message you’re trying to convey, but I
can
hear you sending it. If you send so much as an
I love you
through, our little deal is off and I’ll torture her to death.”

Merrick felt cold. The bond—what were they going to do about the bond? “I won’t say a fucking thing,” he promised.

“Very well, see that you don’t break your word. I can’t abide anyone who lies to me. Lying is such
bad manners,
and manners are important, don’t you think?” Without waiting for an answer, he pointed the silver remote again and two things happened at once. First, the transparent shield separating them and Elise came down with a low humming sound. Second, the drugs flowing into her arm changed from purple to clear. Slowly, Elise lifted her head and blinked her eyes.

“Merrick?” she murmured, looking at him.

“It’s me, baby,” he assured her in what he hoped was a soothing voice. “Don’t try to talk through the bond.”

“Why not? Who is that?” She peered groggily at Draven. “Where are we?”

“The less you know, the better,” Merrick told her grimly. “The only thing that’s important right now is that you’re going home.”

“Me? What about you? Why are you bleeding?” Her eyes were wide and frightened. “Please, Merrick, please tell me you’re coming with me.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, baby,” he said roughly. “There’s only one ticket out of here, and it’s got your name on it.” He looked at Draven. “There’s one more thing—we had a plant with us, a branch with long thorns and red berries.”

“Oh, you mean this?” Seemingly from out of thin air, Draven produced the wilted
skrillix
branch. “I wondered why you had it. After all, what would a happily bonded couple want with a branch of the infamous ‘pain vine?’”

“It’s to break our bond,” Elise said quietly. “It’s not right and it’s dangerous to us.”

“But you have to send it back to the Mother Ship with Elise,” Merrick added quickly. “I’m pretty sure they can break the bond even without me there, but she has to have the
skrillix
to do it with.”

“So you want to break your sacred Kindred bond? How very
refreshing.”
Draven grinned broadly at both of them. “But you don’t need to travel back to your Mother Ship to do that! I can manage it for you right here.”

“No, Draven, you
can’t
,” Merrick said flatly. “A soul bond is a very delicate thing.”

“You wound me.” Draven put one perfectly manicured hand to his chest. “Do you mean to say you think
me
indelicate? My dear hybrid, I’m quite offended by such an implication.”

“Merrick wasn’t trying to be rude,” Elise said quickly. “It’s just that the
skrillix
branch has to be put in the same stasis machine I was in originally, when Merrick found me, in order for it to work.”

“Oh, no, no, my dear,” Draven protested. “That’s only necessary if you want to break the bond
painlessly
. But we don’t care about that silliness, now do we?”

“Yes, we fucking well
do
care,” Merrick growled, but Draven had already called over a pair of tiny imps with dirty gray skin and was rapidly giving them instructions. They ran off as a pair and returned moments later with a cup filled with oily black liquid and a syringe.

“Now, then,” Draven continued, placing the implements along with the wilted
skrillix
branch down on a nearby table. “Let’s proceed, shall we?” Rapidly, he stripped the branch of its berries and squeezed them into a pulp, letting their blood-red juice run into the black liquid in the cup.

Merrick ground his teeth together. After everything they’d gone through to get those damn berries, and here this bastard was, ruining them all! He opened his mouth to protest again, but Draven was picking up the
skrillix
branch once more.

“Lovely long thorns, aren’t they, my dear?” He gestured with the plant to Elise who grew pale and shrank back against the steel table she was strapped to.

“Please,” she whispered. “Please, no…”

“Ah, I see you have some experience with the more, shall we say,
interesting
aspects of the
skrillix,”
Draven smiled languidly. “I would simply
love
to hear all about it, but unfortunately if we don’t get you and your little ship pointed toward the rift soon, the Kindred will close it. And
then
where will you be?” He lifted the branch again. “But fear not, my dear, these thorns aren’t for you—not this time. They are for me.” Pricking his finger, he let seven dark red drops fall into the cup. “I have no soul, you see,” he continued, swirling the contents of the cup to mix them. “So my blood will act quite nicely as a solvent for your bond.”

“You’re crazy,” Merrick said hoarsely. “You don’t know what the poison in those thorns can do to you.”

“Oh yes, I do.” Draven pricked his finger again, seemingly just for fun this time. “I’m touched at your concern, but please don’t be worried for me—I’m immune to the effects.”

He offered the cup to Elise, but she shook her head. “No. I don’t want your blood inside me.”

“Oh no?” Draven raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, well…how
hurtful
. Especially when you consider there are
much
more painful parts of myself I could put inside you, my dear.”

“You fucking lay one finger on her and I’ll kill you,” Merrick growled.

“Don’t worry.” Draven waved airily. “We don’t have time for pleasantries like nonconsensual sex any more than I have time to find out why your lady love so fears the
skrillix’s
sweet kiss.” He looked at Elise. “We have a fold to catch before it
un
folds, my dear. And since you won’t be persuaded to take my little mixture by mouth…”

Plunging the syringe into the black, oily contents of the cup, he pulled up the plunger, filling it with the viscous stuff. Then, despite Merrick’s hoarse shouts for him to stop, he connected it to the tubing running into Elise’s arm, and injected her with the awful looking mixture.

Elise was dying. Someone had taken a knife and was cutting her in two—just like that old magic trick where the magician pretends to saw his lovely assistant in half. Only this was no trick—Elise could literally feel a part of herself being severed. She supposed hazily that it must be her soul, but it hurt as much as though some crazy doctor had decided to amputate one of her hands without any kind of anesthesia.

Oh God, the pain! The pain!
She threw back her head and cried out, only dimly aware that to her left, Merrick was doing the same. Had the man with silver eyes—the same man who had been in her dream—injected him too? Or was he simply experiencing the same effects as Elise because they were so closely tied together?

But we won’t be for long,
she thought, even as she writhed in agony.
I’m losing him—losing Merrick forever.
And losing any hope of having a life with him in the future.

The thought of being forever separated from the man she loved was almost more painful than the intense agony of the bond being broken. Hot tears ran down her cheeks and Elise couldn’t stop them—didn’t try to stop them. She was mourning a loss too great to be calculated. She was losing a part of herself she would never recover—the part that had belonged to Merrick.

It seemed to go on and on forever, but at last the horrible cutting sensation ended, to be replaced by a throbbing numbness. The amputation was over.

Elise slumped on the steel table, going limp in her bonds. Her heart felt like an empty socket, a ragged hole in her chest that would never heal.

“Elise? Baby?” she heard Merrick murmur and she realized he must have been trying to get her attention for some time.

“Merrick,” she whispered, blinking tears from her eyes so she could see him.
I can see him, but I can’t feel him,
she realized, with a growing sense of despair.
I can’t feel his emotions anymore.
“Merrick,” she said again. “I can’t…can’t feel you. You’re gone.”

“I’m right here.” He was trying to sound reassuring but Elise couldn’t help it—she wasn’t reassured.

“But you’re not in
here
anymore. Not in
me
,” she whispered back as fresh tears filled her eyes.

“The bond is dissolved,” he said harshly. “But I still love you. I’ll always love you, baby—hold on to that, even when I’m gone.”

“I’ll try.” Elise choked back a sob. “I knew…knew it wasn’t just the bond. I knew what I felt, what we both felt—”

“Blah, blah, blah. True love conquers all, etcetera, etcetera.” Draven yawned, as though the whole thing bored him. “You’re
welcome
, by the way. Your unwanted bond is completely gone, so now you can go your separate ways in peace instead of
pieces
. Which you’re about to do right…now.” He snapped his fingers and a pair of imps came at once to let Elise out of her restraints.

“Wait!” she cried as they pulled her off the table and began pushing her out of the room. “Wait, I need to say goodbye!”

“No time.” Draven shook his head. “Not if you want to get to the rift before it closes.” He motioned to the imps. “Take her back to her ship, strap her in, and set the coordinates for the Kindred Mother Ship. Hurry, now!”

The imps started to drag her away but Elise twisted in their grip and somehow managed to break free. Running back, she threw her arms around Merrick’s neck. “I love you,” she whispered and pulled back to look into his lovely, mismatched eyes. “I won’t leave you. I
can’t.
”

“You have to.” Merrick frowned at her fiercely. “Don’t you understand? I have to stay here so you can live, Elise.” His voice softened. “Go on, baby. Don’t let my sacrifice be in vain.”

“Merrick…
Merrick,”
she sobbed as the imps and one of the larger creatures that looked like some kind of monster out of a Tolkien nightmare dragged her off him. “Please…please!”

“Take her away!” Draven clapped his hands sharply. He frowned at Elise. “And just so you know, your lover
will
pay for that little scene. Pay over and over before I finally kill him.” He made a face. “I dislike sentiment. It’s so
messy.”

“No!” she screamed but they were already dragging her out the door. The last thing she saw was Draven, looming over Merrick, speaking horrible sounding words that somehow opened wounds and lacerations in his broad, bare chest.