The Ring Bearer (25 page)

Danato didn’t trust him, but there was only going to be two outcomes of this excursion. Either they would find Cori hanging to her life by a thread, in which case they might need a walking defibrillator. Or they would find Cori dead, in which case, Danato and Ethan would fight for the right to kill him. 

“Daniel?” Danato didn’t take his eyes off Efrat.

“Aye.” Daniel moved a little closer.

“You and Efrat are with me too. He’s my medic, and you’re his babysitter. If he doesn’t behave…” Danato finally looked at Daniel, but he didn’t finish the statement. Daniel gave him a slight sheepish nod of understanding. He may not have liked the unspoken order, but something told Danato that he wouldn’t have to ask him twice if it came down to that. At least in that, Daniel was useful.

57

Jillian rolled off the man who had broken her fall. She was bruised and probably had a few dozen micro-fractures that only time could heal, but she was alive. She hadn’t intended to be.

The fire ball that she put through the cabin was enough to take down the helicopter. She was prepared to die on impact, but this man had other plans. He ripped off the door with brute strength and pulled her out before they crashed. He took the brunt of the impact and was amazingly still alive, just passed out.

She felt bad that he had risked himself to save her life. Especially since, she would likely not be keeping it.  

She had one goal in coming to this place: to kill her lover. It was a strange gift to offer the one you love, but it was what she owed him for putting him through all of this to begin with.

She walked toward the helicopter wreckage. The fuselage was still burning and the tail rotor was still spinning, but other than that there was no movement. The bodies inside were charring into unrecognizable blobs, but she knew that one of them was Clark.

They say that revenge doesn’t alleviate the pain of loss, and that was true for her. The pain of losing Hirem would never entirely go away, but seeing the man who forced her hand, burnt to a crisp did satisfy her. His death was like a puzzle piece snapping into place. It may not have solved the entire puzzle, but it did make the bigger picture clearer.

Now that her job was down, she could finally be with Hirem. She found a particularly sharp piece of the mangled tail boom on the ground. She positioned herself over it and steeled herself for the pain of impaling herself.

She heard the truck pull up and the yelling, but she paid no heed to the name being called or the voices that bellowed it ruefully on the other side of the wreckage. The only voice that did catch her attention was Efrat’s. She had forgotten about the others. She was so absorbed in her own misery she had left them in this hateful place to fend for themselves.

58

Danato stared into the wreckage at the burning bodies. There was no chance that anyone could survive that. Ethan was kneeling before the blaze hammering the ground in futile contempt of human frailty. Heaton, the good man that he was, was standing witness; not quite consoling him, but not leaving more than an inch between them.

Danato on the other hand couldn’t bear to watch Ethan fall apart. It was unfortunately an emotion he was all too familiar with. If he had any chance of surviving this pain a second time, he was going to have to stay focused.

He turned away and found Efrat looking down at the ground. He at least had the common sense to look guilty. Danato moved to Daniel who was keeping one eye on Efrat and one on Ethan. He no doubt would have preferred to be standing by his friend in his time of need, but he didn’t dare defy Danato.

He stopped in front of Daniel. They were just far enough from Efrat that he wouldn’t hear, but close enough that Efrat would read his body language so he turned from his view and kept his head down like he was in mourning.

Daniel shifted like he was considering putting a hand on Danato’s shoulder, but he never actually did. “Danato…” He started.

“Kill him,” Danato said quietly, but with earnest. Daniel swallowed hard, and took in a breath, but didn’t move. “Did you hear me?”

“Yeah.” Daniel nodded, but he still didn’t move.

“Do it, now before he has a chance to defend himself!” Danato hissed between clenched teeth.

Daniel looked back at the prison, before answering. “No.”

Danato’s narrowed his eyes and turned to face Daniel full on. It had been a long time since Daniel had shown so much backbone. It would have been impressive if it wasn’t for the timing. “What did you say?”

“I said, no, Danato.” Daniel puffed up his chest and stiffened his neck, but his so called scary eyes still wavered at Danato’s stare. “You can’t imprison me for murder then hire me to be your hit man.”

Danto opened his mouth to explain the difference between torture resulting in murder, and self-designated justice.

“Something you need to say to me, Danato?” Efrat asked. He had taken a few steps away from them, but his hands were crackling with energy.

59

Daniel could feel the static in the air. If he rubbed his hands together he might be able to light a lamp. Danato and Efrat’s standoff was enough to draw Ethan out his agony. Heaton joined the standoff pulling his pistol.

Ethan didn’t bother with any of that. His teeth bared and fists clenched, he ran at Efrat like a football player to a defensive tackle.

Efrat shook his head like he was disappointed. He was about to raise his hand in defense when Heaton chimed in. “Do it and I drop you.”

Efrat had a chance to see Heaton waving his gun, before Ethan bowled him to the ground. For the most part, the fight was fair. Ethan was far stronger, but Efrat was electrified, so it seemed to balance things out.

Ethan got in a few controlled punches, before Efrat grabbed him paralyzing him with pain just long enough to get the upper hand. Then he took his turn to blue Ethan’s face. There wasn’t much banter, except some cussing and the occasional yelp of pain.

When the energy died down on either end, Efrat was pressing down on Ethan’s chest partially strangling him. Danato had moved to stop the encounter, but Daniel and Heaton both had the same thought. They each pressed Danato back. Whether this was about Cori or just comparing cocks, they might as well get it out of their system once and for all.

“You people have no idea how powerful I really am. What I could do to you!” Efrat’s voice sounded pinched like he might be holding back more emotions than anger.

Ethan released his grip on Efrat’s wrists, and punched him in the face. The solid crack made him and Heaton groan, as Efrat rolled of Ethan unconscious and bloody faced. “I’m not exactly using full strength either shithead.” Ethan crouched over Efrat for a moment, like he was considering the same thing Danato had.

“Don’t touch him!” Cori yelled from beside the wreckage.

Everyone paused to stare at her, waiting for the mirage to wear off. When it didn’t, Ethan was the first to react.

“Cori?” He stood slowly at first, but when he started to move he took his steps in leaps and bounds.

Instead of joining in the lovers running embrace, Cori lifted her hand, palm up, to him. Vines of fire curled along her fingers and formed a ball in her hand. She threw it at Ethan, reversing his approach instantly.

60

Ethan rolled to a stop near the others. Cori came forward, but stopped by Efrat. She bent down to check his pulse. She examined his face as well. When she was satisfied, she looked back at him.

“You broke his maxilla,” she scolded.

“What?” Ethan said glancing at the rest of them for confirmation that this was indeed a foreign statement.

“You broke his face,” she clarified with an eye roll.

“Who the fuck cares?” Ethan said standing up. “Cori…I thought you were dead.” He took a step toward her, but she raised her hands defensively…and offensively. “What’s wrong with you? How did you do that?”

“I think you have me confused with someone else,” she said and looked back at Danato. “Where are the others Warden?”

“Others?” Danato asked. He looked just as confused as Ethan felt.

“Remi and Garrett.”

“Back at the prison, why?” Danato stepped forward carefully. “What do you want with them?”

“I want to free them from this prison. I owe them at least that much.”

“Cori you don’t owe anyone anything,” Ethan interjected.

“My name isn’t, Cori,” she stated clearly, like that should have been obvious just by looking at her.

“Then who are you?” Danato asked taking another careful step forward.

“Jillian,” the nasal voice said from behind her. Efrat stood but barely held his ground. Cori rushed back to aid his balance. He looked her over. “Good to see you…Doc.”

“Jillian Frank?” Danato clarified. “Cori why do you think you are Jillian Frank?”

“We need to get the others out. I can’t leave you here. I should have thought about the rest of you, I’m sorry,” Cori said to Efrat.

“Efrat,” Danato threatened, but he ignored him.

Cori put her hand on Efrat’s. Ethan felt a pang of betrayal that hurt deeper than when she was visiting Cleos, but he held his tongue, hoping that eventually this story would start to make sense.

“You understand why I did it don’t you?” She squeezed his hand and he winced slightly, no doubt sore from their bout of fisticuffs. “I loved him too much to watch him suffer. I know he was your friend.”

Efrat looked away hiding whatever reaction he had to that statement. “We weren’t much to each other by the time you arrived.”

“I searched and searched…”

“I know, Doc.” Efrat chuckled and touched Cori’s cheek.

Ethan felt Danato shift beside him like he wanted to lunge at them, but Ethan put up his hand to stop him. As strange and uncomfortable as this all was, Efrat seemed to be the only one who knew what the hell she was talking about.

“I don’t blame you. I blame that burnt bastard, and I blame myself, and…” Efrat looked at Danato. “…and that’s it.”

Cori looked between the two men trying to discern this civility. “Efrat lets go. Let’s get you and the others out of here.”

“We aren’t going anywhere just yet.” Efrat brought his attention back to her.

“Why not?”

Efrat took in a deep breath and sighed. “You got your wires crossed but good this time, don’t you kitten.”

“What do mean?” She asked.

“When was the last time you touched my hands without getting zapped?” Cori looked down at their touching hands. “What’s the last thing you remember Doc?”

“I broke into the prison to shoot Hirem.”

“And how did that go?” Cori’s eyes faded out of focus as she tried to remember. “You didn’t quite manage to shoot him. Someone stopped you.” Cori nodded. “Then what happened.”

“Clark…he shot me.”

61

Cori felt the transition into her own mind like a record suddenly getting on track. She pulled away from Efrat. “There you go, kitten.” He smiled as best he could, but the pain seemed to keep him from being too smug.

She turned and looked at all the confused and askance faces. Ethan’s eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open. He wasn’t going to get burned again—literally—by his assumptions. “Ethan, I’m so sorry.”

He dove at her and lifted her into a bear hug. He swung her around, before dropping her suddenly and pulling her away. “Don’t you ever almost die on me again! Understand!” The statement was laughable in its context, but his tone was staid. She nodded in agreement, despite having no control over the dangers she might incur in the future.

He hugged her again and pulled her into a luscious kiss that she might have preferred be saved for later. A couple of coughs from Heaton and Daniel broke them up. Cori couldn’t help but look at Efrat when they did, just to see what adverse emotion the display might have caused, but he was staring at the rubble that contained Clark. Cori couldn’t begin to imagine what he was thinking, but she imagined it was the same thing Jillian felt: relief and satisfaction.

“How did you survive?” Heaton asked.

“Oh, shit!” Cori said. “The werewolf.”

“Oh crap, Callin!” Ethan kissed Cori one last time and joined Heaton and Daniel to find the werewolf.

Cori looked at Danato. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her since she had arrived as Jillian or herself. He looked blank, like all his colorful emotions had blended to turn him white. She took a step forward and waited for him to speak, but he didn’t.

“This…” Cori flipped her hands over to show him. “…is far more recent than you might think? At least my understanding of it is. I thought it was just residual. I didn’t know—”

“We can deal with that when we get back to the prison,” Danato interrupted her defense. “For now just give me a hug.” Cori flung her arms around him and he lifted her as he always did, but for a change he didn’t squeeze her too tight. He just held her to him and didn’t let her go. He held the embrace so long that she thought he might never let her go, but she didn’t even attempt to pull away. Especially, since she knew his anger regarding her untold story about her rings was just on pause.