From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) (20 page)

I didn’t know what to say. His anger appeared
palpable. But he stayed here. For me. This wasn’t his quest either,
but he stood here because he knew how much Annabeth meant to me. My
hurt was temporarily quelled. I faced the building, both of us
staying quiet.

Time ticked by. We watched every detail,
every new guard, and only talked when we had to. It was boring and
extremely uncomfortable.

I was about to throw myself off the roof when
a guard walked out of the front doors, standing at taut attention,
like a soldier. Only a few seconds later the sound of a car rumbled
up the lane. Ryker and I dropped behind the wall, gradually inching
back up, peering over.

Voices spoke from below while the car
idled.

“Take her upstairs. Another one at the club
strung up on heroin and getting out of control. I have to stay
under the radar.”

Ryker stiffened next to me, his gaze drilling
into the man below.

Vadik slipped out of the town car and dragged
a girl behind him.

“Shit,” Ryker mumbled. The anxiety in his
voice snapped my eyes to his. “Being this close, he might sense
me.”

Great
. I worked my jaw and glanced
back over the top. The chances of Vadik sensing him were good;
Ryker was part demon, extremely powerful, and Vadik’s son after
all. Right now I hoped our abilities were still mostly sequestered
by Rapava’s magic-dampening medications.

“I’m endangering you,” Ryker muttered. My
hand came down on his, and he flinched.

“Too late now.” I withdrew my hand and stared
down at Vadik.

Vadik walked toward the front of the
building, his hand clutched around a girl’s thin arm. Her overly
dyed, black hair was ironed straight and left scraggly at the ends.
She stumbled in her six-inch heels. The tiny, skintight black dress
she wore made her resemble a skeleton. Her eyes appeared sunken,
her skin a greenish-blue color.

“Give her just enough to keep her going. Soon
she will find that fae feeding off her is far more powerful than
any drug humans can produce.”

Fury filled my mouth with the taste of bile.
I knew humans were capable of this and worse, but Vadik’s cruelty
inspired a deeper hate and disgust.

“Yes, sir.” The guard who came out to meet
him nodded. Vadik pushed her toward the man, her boney figure
flying into the man’s chest. Vadik turned back to the opened car
door. He took a step then stopped. Cold navy eyes zipped up to
where we were hiding, sealing off my lungs.

Ryker and I ducked, hiding behind the wall.
My muscles seemed to turn to ice, my spine a rigid pole. Ryker’s
lids squeezed together, his lips pinched.

“Sir, is everything all right?” the guard
asked.

It was just a moment, a glitch in time. But
it felt like the entire world stopped, waiting for him to respond.
My heartbeat throbbed in my ears.

“Yes,” he said slowly. “Fine.”

The closing of the car door echoed through
the air before the expensive town car rolled away.

I leaned my forehead against the cement
partition. “That was close.”

“Too close.” Ryker still didn’t look
relieved, a frown lining his forehead.

“You think he knows we’re here?”

Ryker lifted his head, staring over the wall,
and I followed suit. The guard and the girl were gone, already deep
inside the structure.

“I don’t know, but it’s time to get out of
here.”

“I just want to look in, see what’s going on.
See how many girls he has in there, how many guards.”

“Zoey, we almost got caught.”

“But we didn’t,” I retorted. “We’re here. I’m
not going till I know what we are dealing with.”

“You mean see Annabeth. You understand even
if we see her, you probably won’t be able to get her.”

A snarl clipped at my lips. “How do you
know?”

His mouth flattened, and he tipped his head.
“Because I know Vadik. He’s going to be sure it’s pretty much
impossible to get in or out.”

“But not
totally
impossible.”

Ryker rubbed the creases between his eyes. “I
want you to be prepared that she might not be here anymore.”

My head snapped away from his. “Yes. I’m
prepared.” It was a lie. My heart was riding a wave of hope,
gripping it with all my might. Before he could say anything else, I
scampered for the ladder. The only place I could get a look through
the top windows appeared to be from the crumbling building next to
the warehouse.

Ryker silently followed me, but I could feel
his resistance like a band pulling me backward. Slipping around the
building, I watched a guard stroll around the front, his gun in his
hands, ready to discharge. During the hour, I watched the handful
of security pacing around the property and realized they had a
pattern. One would turn a corner and in five seconds another one
would walk around the front of the building. They moved in sync,
one or two always had eyes on an area. That left me with only a few
seconds to dart from my location to cross the lane before a guard
would come.

Ryker pressed against the wall beside me. His
breathing grew heavier. I glanced over my shoulder at him. He
gripped his knife so tightly his knuckles were white, his eyes
closed.

“If it’s too hard for you to be near me, you
can go.” I clung to my own knife. It would be a lie to say I didn’t
miss having a gun.

His lids barely opened and his eyes slid to
me, flashing bright with anger. “I am not leaving you.”

“You’d rather stay to make sure I’m all right
so you can kill me later. Love the plan.” I waggled my head.
“Stubborn ass.”

“I’m stubborn?” he scoffed.

A guard strolled down the street, nearing us.
I slammed my head back against the wall, wanting to blend in with
the shadows. He passed us and curved around the opposite
building.

“Now.” I sprinted across the way and headed
straight for the fire escape. This building stood at least seven
stories, a floor taller than the one next door. From the top, we
could look into the windows of the other.

We had a lot of rungs to climb before we were
safely out of view. My heart thumped, adrenaline sweat dampening
the back of my neck. Any second a guard could come around and spot
us. My back prickled, waiting for a bullet to find its way into my
spine.

I hauled myself over the top and, without
looking, leaped over the wall, rolling to my knees on the roof
floor. A shrill chirp of fear tried to exit my throat, but unease
locked down all my muscles.

Ryker dropped beside me. “Holy shit.”

Both of us gawked in alarm at the colossal
gap only a few feet away from us. It looked as if someone dropped a
bomb on the building. A massive hole was ripped through the metal
and concrete, leaving the roof buckling.

Slowly I edged back, pushing my back up
against the roof wall.

Ryker moved to me; his gaze on the ground far
below.

“Looks like they use it as a fight ring.”

That would make sense. The girls he used as
fighters had to train and keep in shape enough to attract a
crowd.

“The rim along the roof looks sturdy enough.”
Ryker kept low and followed the edge to the other side. I copied
his movements.

When we finally reached the far side near the
main building, I exhaled. Heights didn’t scare me, but falling from
them did.

We gazed at the building across from us. The
top had windows, which gave us a view into the structure. The space
reminded me of a high-security prison. The entire middle was open
all the way to the bottom, metal tables and chairs filled the
lowest level with what looked like an eating area. Circling this
main area were levels and levels of jail cells.

I stepped forward, making out human forms
pushing through the bars. My heart squeezed. Bone-thin arms
stretched out from some of the cells, reaching for something I
couldn’t see. Then the guard from outside came into view dragging
the new girl to a chamber. It was a split second when he opened the
cell door that I saw her lying on the lower bunk bed, curled in a
ball. Her blonde hair spread over the thin mattress under her. Her
face void of emotion. She looked dead.

Annabeth.

A sound came from my throat.

“Zoey!” Ryker tried to grab for my arm, but I
was already gone. Dashing for the corner of the roof, I figured out
that the best way to get there was where the structures almost
touched.

I shoved the knife into the back of my pants
and bolted for the ledge. I pushed myself off and flung my body
toward the opposite roofline. Grunts and moans hurled from my
throat as I landed, rolling several times. Damn. Still hurt. I did
this once before when Ryker and I were trying to escape the
Collectors. It hurt when I had been human, and it hurt being half
fae. But this time I bounced up much faster, scurrying for the roof
door without even a limp.

I had never acted so foolishly, but I
couldn’t seem to stop myself.

I heard my name along with some words not
even I would repeat, but I ignored the pissed-off Viking and
advanced down the stairs to the cells below. My shoes padded down
the pinging echo of the steps. The stone felt my adrenaline and
hummed along the base of my foot and up my leg. It pushed more
power and drive into each step.

Do you feel it, Zoey? The high you sense
right now? It could always be like this
.

I did feel the high. It thrummed into my
head. The rush of blood. The sensation of being truly alive, like
when I fought. But this was on a whole new level. I needed more. I
needed a bigger high.

I can give that to you
.

I bit down on my lip. I knew it could.

Say it. Say “Yes, I am yours.” I already
have you, Zoey. You know it. Just make it official
.

I could taste blood.
Stop!
I yelled in
my head, but my voice sounded soft, even to me. Pain slashed
through my head like a zap of electricity, so quickly bile coated
my throat. My legs gave out and I hit a stair. My back slid down
the wall, and I groaned.

No
.
You won’t have me
, I
growled in my head. Pressure built against my brain, filling along
my skull, until I thought it would explode. Sweat beaded my
hairline, my teeth gritted, and a cry escaped.
Stop.
Now
…
please,
I whimpered.

Soon, Zoey. I will not wait much
longer,
it whispered and then went silent.

The buzzing in my mind vanished, and the pain
dissolved into only a slight pulse in my head, sending relief
throughout my body. I took in a breath, my muscles still tense
after the sudden shock of pain.

It took me a full minute before I felt
confident my legs could hold me. They still shook, along with my
hands, like I was some kind of junkie coming down from a high. The
magic it contained was like a drug, and when the stone took it
totally away from me, I sensed myself crashing. Emotional and
trembling, I rolled my shoulders and stood, trying to push the need
for another hit.

All I need is a little, just a small dose to
get me through the night.

Jesus. I did sound like a junkie. And like
everyone who suffered an addiction, I wondered how much longer I
could resist its call.

The lack of time and the extreme danger
tossed me back on my path.
Annabeth. Remember Annabeth
. The
image of her face stilled my hands. I snuck to the door leading to
the cells and twisted the knob. Slowly I peered around it,
assessing my surroundings. A large man was stationed on the
opposite side at the far end.
Crap
. I grabbed my weapon.

At least Annabeth was on the end of the
building closest to me, with no guards. I went low, plastering my
back to the wall, letting the dark prison engulf me. I slunk down
the row, my breath tight in my chest.

The first cell I passed was empty. The next
one held a single girl who stared at the wall, vacant of life. I
recognized her as one of Duc’s girls. She wore leggings and a gray
sweatshirt, dirty, ripped, and worn, with her frizzy hair knotted
in a bun on her head. We had sparred once in the practice ring. She
had been decent enough to be an opening fight but not to headline a
match. I couldn’t think of her name, and even though it stung to
leave her, she was not why I came here. I wanted to help them all
eventually, but Annabeth remained my first priority.

I slipped by one more cell, which held two
girls, both curled on their sides asleep. No blankets or pillows,
only a thin dirty mattress for comfort, a true prison. I never
thought I would say it, but they had been better off with Duc. At
least Maria had made sure they were comfortable, clean, and
healthy.

The cell where I spotted Annabeth was close.
My heart slammed against my ribs, sweat dampening my back, as I
slithered slowly up, grabbed the bars, and looked in. This cell
appeared larger with two sets of bunk beds perpendicular to each
other, a toilet and sink on the opposite wall.

Annabeth still lay on her side, indifferent
to the new girl sitting in the corner crying. Another girl curled
on the top of the other bunk, her back to me.

“Annabeth?” I whispered, her name almost
inaudible. Her complexion had been naturally pale, but now she was
the waxy white of parchment. Bruises puffed her right cheek, but
her features were sharp with malnutrition. Her leggings and hoodie
did little to hide the bones under her skin.

She didn’t flinch.

I moved closer, desperation flooding my
lungs. “Annabeth.” The girl in the corner stopped crying, her eyes
unfocused as she glanced up.

“I shouldn’t be here,” she sobbed. “I want to
go home.”

“Shhh.” I put my finger to my lips.

Annabeth slowly lifted her head, then
sluggishly turned to the bars. It was several beats before her eyes
widened, and she sat up.