Finding the Lost

Then she’d be his. Totally. Completely. No turning back.

She was already close, hovering on the edge of giving him everything he wanted. It wouldn’t have taken much to push her over. Her mind was open, receptive, and weak right now. It would take just a small brush of power over her thoughts and she would be on her way to total devotion.

His slave.

That thought stopped him cold. He didn’t want that for her. That was how the Synestryn worked. They forced their human servants—the Dorjan—to love them, worship them.

Paul pushed himself away from her, both her mind and body, before he did something irrevocable. Unforgivable.

Andra tried to pull him back against her, but she was weak and was no match for his will, even as threadbare as it was right now.

“Why did you stop?” she asked in a voice rich with arousal.

“We can’t,” he told her in a strained whisper. “I want to, but . . . this is just wrong. It’s not real.”

“That wasn’t real?” she asked. Her voice shook. “It sure felt real to me.”

Paul scooted a couple feet away, leaving Andra lying there, all sprawled out and breathless. He had to look away and focus on the empty fireplace in order to regain his self-control.

“Yes. It did.” Because he was such a fucking bastard. He was making it feel real for her.

Paul’s stomach clenched and he had to adjust his jeans in order to pull in a breath without emasculating himself. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” she asked in a husky voice. “I was right there with you, ready, willing, and eager.”

The lingering effects of their kisses were still visible. Her skin had heated, and a pretty pink blush had spread up over her cheeks. Her lips were swollen and parted in invitation, and the languid sprawl of her long legs made Paul’s fists tighten painfully in order to keep himself from reaching for her.

“I know. Neither one of us was thinking straight. Logan and Nika are only a doorway away.”

“Nika,” she breathed as if she’d forgotten she even had a sister. “What the hell was I thinking?” She covered her face with her hands and let out a frustrated growl.

The urge to comfort her tugged at him, but he managed to keep his distance.

“I’m going to go clean up this blood before it is a problem.” He stood, or rather, had intended to. Instead, he kind of lurched upward, winced as his erection was pinched painfully against his fly, and limped toward the kitchen.

“Logan treated Nika’s blood like it was some kind of toxic waste. He had me wrap up the IV in a wet towel so the monsters couldn’t smell it, and leave everything under running water.”

“I probably should have been more careful with mine, but I wasn’t thinking straight.”

She’d followed him into the kitchen, but kept a safe distance. A smudge of blood was on her shirt as well. He nodded toward it. “You’re going to need to change. I’ll have to burn that shirt, along with anything Nika bled on.”

Andra saw the blood, looked at it in horror, and stripped the shirt off, leaving only her sports bra behind. It was modest enough, but not nearly as modest as it would have needed to be to keep Paul from wanting to charge her.

“Is there a clean one around here?” she asked.

“At least one of the bedroom closets will be full of clothes. Take whatever you want.”

She turned to do just that when a scream ripped through the little house. Nika’s scream.

Andra slammed the bedroom door open, unable to contain her fear for her sister. It was only twenty steps to the bedroom, but in that time, Andra’s mind went through all the horrible things Logan could have done to her. Or maybe it wasn’t Logan at all. Maybe the monsters had found them because of the blood.

When she got into the room, Nika was out of bed kicking and hitting Logan. He was standing in front of the open window, blocking the exit with his body. “She needs me!” screamed Nika. “I have to go find her.”

“I’m right here,” said Andra, rushing forward. “I’m fine.”

Nika’s eyes met Andra’s, but there was little of the sister Andra remembered left inside her right now. All that was left was the panicked desperation of fear. Andra had seen it enough times before to wish they had some kind of tranquilizer with them. That was the only thing that had ever worked at the hospital to calm her down so she wouldn’t hurt herself.

“Not you,” screamed Nika as if in pain. “Tori. They’re hurting her.” Nika clawed at Logan’s body, but he did not move or even try to stop her from assaulting him.

Logan grimaced and looked at Andra. “I don’t want to hurt her, and if I try to restrain her, I will. You need to calm her down.”

Nika screamed in outrage and pulled a framed picture from the wall. She slammed it into Logan’s face. He ducked aside, but not enough. The frame splintered, the glass shattered, and some of it hit him, opening a gash along his temple.

“Shit,” said Paul from behind her, and rushed into the bathroom.

Nika pulled a jagged shard of glass from the broken frame. It was about ten inches long and she held it like a weapon she was aching to use. Her arms were shaking with the effort of holding it up, and she swayed as if she were about to fall over.

Andra stepped forward slowly. “Nika, please put the glass down. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

Nika’s eyes were wild, but they pleaded with Andra to understand. “I have to go. Tori needs me.”

“Tori is gone, baby. No one is going to ever hurt her again.” Saying the words made Andra’s throat tighten against the need to scream and lash out the way Nika was. Part of her envied Nika’s ability to let go and rail at the world. But Andra had to be strong. Stay in control. She was the only one left to take care of Nika.

A fat tear slid down Nika’s sunken cheek, breaking Andra’s heart. “They’re hurting her now. I can see it. Feel it. Please help her. Save her.” Nika stared out into the night. “She’s calling your name. Can’t you hear it?”

Andra closed her eyes against the image of her baby sister’s cries for help. She’d been eight, wearing a pink nightgown, clawing at the arm of the monster that held her. That had really happened, and even though it was years ago, it was still as horrible and devastating now as it had been then. Andra had failed her baby sister and let the monsters take her.

And now they were killing Nika, too. Slowly. Horribly.

Andra swallowed her pain, ground her teeth to fight back the tears, and stepped toward Nika. “You have to let her go. I know it’s hard to accept. It took me years to do so myself, but she’s gone, baby. I searched for her a long time—for years—and never found her.”

“I see her.”

“It’s not her. It’s the monsters lying to you, tricking your mind. Tori wouldn’t want you to suffer like this.”

Paul came out of the bathroom with a wet towel. Logan replaced the shirt he’d wadded up against the wound with the towel. “I have to leave before I draw them here,” he told Paul.

Paul nodded, but kept his eyes on Nika and that make-shift weapon.

“I’ll feed so I can heal, and be back as soon as possible.”

“If you’re not back by daybreak, I’m taking them to Dabyr.”

Logan nodded and left.

“Let me have the glass,” coaxed Andra.

Nika gripped the shard tighter, her paper-thin skin only a fraction of an inch from the broken edge. She couldn’t stand any more physical damage. She was too weak.

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” barked Madoc from the doorway. “Logan dashed out of here like his ass was on fire. What did you do to him? And why the hell didn’t you let me watch?”

Andra turned around to tell him she was trying to help her sister, but he wasn’t talking to her. He was talking to Nika.

He strode forward, pushed Andra out of the way, and said, “Give me that fucking glass and get your ass back in bed before you fall down.”

Nika craned her neck to look up at him and blinked a few times. Then, amazingly, she offered Madoc the broken glass.

He took it and tossed it onto the dresser without looking where it landed, shattering. He was too busy glowering at Nika as she moved slowly toward the bed. She crawled back onto the mattress.

Madoc yanked the blanket up until it covered her to her neck, then nodded once as if satisfied.

He turned to Paul. “You can’t even keep one scrawny woman in bed?”

“It wasn’t Paul’s fault,” said Andra. “Logan was watching her.”

“Fucking leech,” growled Madoc under his breath.

Andra sat on the bed and checked Nika’s hands for cuts. She was paler than normal and sweating, but appeared to be unhurt. In fact, she seemed to be calm again and more herself. “Are you okay?” asked Andra.

Nika nodded. Her eyes were red from crying, but at least the tears had stopped falling.

“No, she’s not okay,” spat Madoc. “She’s too damn skinny. Girl needs a cheeseburger.”

Andra glared up at him. She didn’t care how big he was; he wasn’t going to talk about Nika as though he knew her. “She has trouble eating. Back the hell off.”

Madoc rolled his eyes and folded his body into a chair near the window. “Feel better? I’m all the way across the room now.”

Nika grabbed the strap of Andra’s bra, reminding her she still hadn’t put a shirt on. “You have to find her. Promise me you’ll find her.”

Andra gathered what was left of her patience. “I can’t, baby. Tori’s dead. When you feel better, I’ll take you to see her grave so you’ll know it’s true.”

“Empty hole, empty hole, empty hole.” That vacant look was back, and Andra wanted to scream in frustration and anger.

Instead, she smoothed Nika’s white hair away from her face and forced her voice to come out even and calm. “Try to get some sleep. We have to leave soon, and I want you to try to eat something before we go.”

“No blood. I won’t drink it. You can’t make me.” Nika was gone now—only an empty shell of insane terror remained. Andra had seen the look enough times to know it was useless to try to reason with her. Without the drugs the hospital gave her, she probably wouldn’t even be able to sleep, either.

Nika was wasting away in front of Andra’s eyes and there wasn’t a thing she could do to stop it.

Paul’s strong hand cradled her shoulder, and the touch of his bare skin on hers helped soothe her. Gave her the strength not to lose hope. “No blood. I promise.”

“Chick thinks you’re feeding her blood?” asked Madoc.

“Back off,” warned Paul. “You don’t have any idea of what’s going on here.”

Madoc snorted. “I know she’ll die if you don’t feed her.”

Anger swelled up inside Andra until she had no choice but to let it out. She moved from the bed and stomped over to where Madoc sat. “You think you know what’s best for Nika when not even her sister or a team of doctors can help her? Fine. You take care of her, then. Apparently, you’re some kind of expert.”