Secret of Betrayal: Book Two of The Destroyer Trilogy (45 page)

Chapter 1

Jeopardy

There have been very few times in my life when I thought I
had everything figured out. The problem is that even when I think I have the
puzzle solved, there always seems to be a piece missing, the one piece that will
make the difference between utter failure and complete victory. This is my last
chance to get it right. Now more than ever, failure means death. And not just
for me this time.
For everyone.

The men who want to kill me are right behind
these double doors. I am well aware of that fact, but I open them anyway. Their
cameras have been trained on me since I reached the compound parking lot. So,
the pack of rabid-looking Guardians filling the lobby is no surprise. Neither
is them being completely unarmed. They don’t need any weapons to kill me. They
are weapons. Faster than any animal, stronger, too, and every inch of their
bodies is honed to murderous anarchy. There are dozens of them glaring at me,
probably close to fifty. Thank goodness this is a relatively small compound. I
can pick out which ones are Seekers, Guardians with Vision to see what’s about
to happen, and a vindictive pleasure rises in me as I see their faces screw up
in confusion. The only thing that does give me pause is the look on Captain
Linden Blackwood’s face.

Barely restrained ecstasy glares at me from his
eyes. The pure, red hot hatred roiling off of him doesn’t do a whole lot to
steady me, either. Sometimes I really hate having Perception. There are plenty
of times I would rather not have to feel everyone else’s emotions. I have to
tap my Naturalism talent to control my muscles and keep them from quivering in
the face of his raging desire to slit my throat. Blackwood is the one who gave
me the ultimatum. I could either turn myself in, or save my own skin at the
price of eighty-one Ciphers losing theirs. It was an easy choice. He knew it
would be.

No one says anything, as if none of them really
believes I, the most hated person in the world, the prophesied Destroyer, has
just turned
myself
in to them. I take advantage of
their shock, and frantically scan the crowd. Foolish hope makes me search for
him. My eyes touch every face, but he isn’t here. Part of me is relieved. The
rest of me is terrified of what that might mean. It might mean they haven’t
turned him into an assassin aimed at my throat, yet. There may still be hope to
rescue him. Or, I could be completely wrong, which wouldn’t be all that
surprising, really. He may have already been twisted and they’re simply holding
him back to deliver the final blow in the most devastating way possible.

Leave it to the Guardians to want a dramatic
finish.

The only thing I do know for sure about Braden, is
that he’s still alive, thanks to our connection as Spiritual Companions. That
one thought gives me enough strength to keep from trembling and showing my
utter terror at being here. He’s still alive. The man I love, well one of them,
is still alive. Even in this moment of being so scared I can barely move, I am
struck with how screwed up my love life is right now. Somehow, I managed to
fall for two guys at the same time.
Milo, for loving me when
no one else would, and Braden, for bringing happiness back into my world.
But even worse, one of them hates me for the necessary lies I fed him, and the
other one is probably working out the best way to murder me right now. World’s
best girlfriend I am not.

My heart starts pumping harder as the Guardians
begin to shift, whisper.

I can’t think about my monumental list of
mistakes right now, so I focus on Braden instead. I can feel his life force
pulsing inside of me. I wish I knew whether he’s hurt or where he might be. I
won’t know until I am faced with him, until he either kisses me, or tries to
kill me. I’m really hoping it’s going to be the first one, but I know how
unlikely that option is. He knew what his brothers would do to him if they ever
found out he betrayed them to help me. And judging by the ferocity in every one
of their expressions, I don’t doubt him. That doesn’t mean I’m giving up on
him, though.

Finally, the spell of having the one thing you
have worked your entire life for being dropped into your lap finally wears off,
and Blackwood steps forward. “You came,” he says.

Well, duh. I want very much to smack him and
call him an idiot for mouthing such an obvious statement, but I don’t. My heart
is racing and my mind is fighting to keep control of my building fear. It is a
concentrated effort to look calm and in control. I face him squarely and say,
“You knew I would.”

“Yes, I did.” He knew I could never let
eighty-one people die when I had the chance to save them. Some Destroyer I am.

“Where are they?” I demand.

“Your pets?”
Blackwood
asks in his most disgusted tone. “Where do you think they are, Libby?
In their cells, where they belong.”

He is such a creep. Anger starts seeping into my
body, slowly overpowering the panic and fear. My hands ball up into fists at my
side. Blackwood sees the movement and snorts derisively. The Ciphers, once
talentless freaks they hunted and locked up in the spirit world where they had
no hope of escaping, are still their prisoners after our rescue attempt didn’t
quite work out the way we were hoping. My friend and teacher, Mr. Walters,
betrayed our plans at the last minute and left
them
all trapped here. Mr. Walters only did it to save his daughter and her family,
which I understand completely, but it still left me with the responsibility of
rescuing them for a second time.

“Bring them out here, now,” I demand.

Blackwood oozes toward me, a snaky smile showing
the perfect white of his teeth. “Now why would I do that?”

“We had a deal, Blackwood! I turn myself in, you
let the Ciphers go.”

He stops right in front of me. I can see his
cronies behind him. Knowing, sickening smiles creep onto their faces. “Libby,
Libby, Libby,” Blackwood says as he shakes his head sadly, “you should really
work on your listening skills, little girl. The deal was, you turn yourself in,
and I don’t
kill
the Ciphers. I never said anything about letting them
go. That’s much too dangerous.”

Rage boils around me. I can feel my face turning
red. “Let them go, Blackwood, or you can kiss my surrender goodbye.”

For a moment, I can see and feel the doubt in
him. It bursts through him like a party balloon stuck with a pin.
Unfortunately, it clears just as quickly. “Refusing to surrender will get them
killed, Libby. You will practically be killing them yourself, then. At least if
you turn yourself over to me, they will stay alive. And you can die knowing
your precious little pets won’t be harmed.”

“I don’t believe you,” I snap. “You’ll kill them
right after you kill me.”

Blackwood
tsks
at me
and shakes his head. “Given how Braden and Walters both betrayed their promises
to you, I guess I can see why you would doubt me, Libby, but even you cannot
doubt this.”

I watch as he presses the first two fingers of
his right hand against the emblem of the Guardian blade strapped to his left
wrist. My breath freezes in my chest. A Guardian promise is unbreakable. Nobody
really understands it, but something physically binds you to a promise made on
your Guardian emblem. But he has to speak the words. Hope that I haven’t come
here in vain makes me lightheaded as I stare at him.

“I promise that I will not kill even one of the
captured Ciphers after I have killed you, Libitina Sparks,” Blackwood says
plainly. He waits for my sigh of relief, but he doesn’t get it. Milo’s
continual paranoia about the Guardians has taught me better than that.

“What about the rest of these goons?” I ask. “Do
you promise none of them will kill the Ciphers, either?”

Blackwood’s jaw grinds against itself. I can
actually hear the grating enamel. I hope his teeth all break in half and fall
out of his pretty little head. I give him a full ten seconds to assure me that
his promise actually means something.
Silence.

“That’s what I thought,” I say. “I’m not as
stupid as you think I am, Blackwood.”

“You won’t let them die,” he says through his teeth.

“Why? Because Braden told you I wouldn’t?” I’m
still terrified, and angry as anything, but my fight to not run away screaming
lessens dramatically as Blackwood’s facial expression starts to change. I push
a little more.

“Braden thought he was playing me, seducing me
to win my trust.” Not at all true, but I’m not going to tell Blackwood that. I
smile and shift my stance from scared and defensive to just a little bit
seductive. “Didn’t you ever even consider that I might have been playing him,
too?”

His dark eyes harden into the mahogany they
resemble. Fear that he is about fail is wrapped so tightly around him, I’m not
sure how he can even breathe under the pressure. Blackwood is ambitious and
immoral. Killing me and claiming the glory and prestige that will go along with
it are all that matter to him. And I’m putting all of that in jeopardy.

The slow change in his demeanor from furious to
smug sets me on edge. His emotions are still boiling with rage, but there’s a
steady stream of pleasure riding the wave now. “Whether you were playing him or
not, you’re already in my hands, on
my
turf. There’s no getting away
from me now.”

I don’t miss the subtle flick of his right hand,
but even if I did, the host of Guardians moving into a circle around me would have
given away what he was thinking just as clearly. I can’t help flinching back
into a worried posture. Blackwood steps closer. I don’t move a muscle and
neither does Blackwood. We are locked in an infantile staring contest as his
men cut off my escape.

Or at least they think they have.

Blackwood watches me, but his hungry expression
doesn’t fall away until I rise from my defensive crouch and smile my very best
smile at him.

###

About the Author

DelSheree Gladden lives in New Mexico with her husband
and two children. The Southwest is a big influence in her writing because of
its culture, beauty, and mythology. Local folk lore is strongly rooted in her
writing, particularly ideas of prophecy, destiny, and talents born from natural
abilities. When she is not writing, DelSheree is usually teaching yoga,
coaching gymnastics, reading, painting, sewing, or studying about teeth as a
Dental Hygiene student. Her works include
Escaping Fate
and the
Twin
Souls Saga
. Look for the next two books in
The Destroyer Trilogy
,
Secret of Betrayal
and
Darkening Chaos
,
in winter 2012 and
early 2013. Follow sixteen-year-old Libby Sparks as she tries to escape
her destiny to destroy the world.