Chapter 145

I couldn’t say how long it had been since I had passed out. My mouth tasted terrible, like bile and blood. I struggled to breathe in the cold air and shivered. The world spun again and I landed hard on my front on the hard cold ground. I tried to curl up then a light drifted over me. I looked towards it and squinted into the brightness of the white-blue light.

“Even children know better than to look into a light source,” Ian said with a clipped tone. The light shifted aside, illuminating him. “Honestly, you prove yourself to be dumber and dumber every time I see you

He was wearing something different. It looked expensive and old-world-like. It was nothing like the neat suits Candido wore. His cuffs were trimmed with silver and gold. There were sun and moon motifs in the tile behind him and between us was a line of sturdy black poles that looked like the door of a cell.

“You…” A cold air drifted in as my breath turned to a cloud of steam around my head. “Look stupid.”

He was seated in a chair that looked like it was made of the same stone as the ground.

“I would never consult you for fashion advice,” he said and cocked an eyebrow. “What shall we call this look? Desperate-esque with just a slight nod of vomit-chic?”

I glared at him, struggling to my feet, and letting my fury strengthen me. I felt it surge like a tide and I jumped to my feet. I’d had enough of him insulting me. I’d ram right through that gate and beat him up with everything I had in me. I ran at the gate and slammed into it too hard and too fast to stop. I screamed as I saw the poles growing long sharp spikes. I turned at the last minute. One tore through my cheek, the other scraped my forehead. Another punctured my shoulder and burned. Another tore through my side and thigh. I shrieked as the wounds continued to burn. The iron returned to simple poles as I collapsed and rolled around, trying to press my burning flesh against the cold, but it didn’t help. It just burned and I felt the burning starting to work its way through my bloodstream.

I couldn’t breathe around the pain.

“Enjoyed a bit of wolfsbane? I’m sure it made you feel a bit closer to your beloved Candido’s agony, hm?”

“I hate you!” I yelled. “All you’ve done is ruin everything! I hate you! I’ll kill you!”

I glared at him, cradling my arm and side. The blood was warming my hands and clothing. He simply watched me without saying anything.

“When I get out of here…” I panted. “I’m going to punch that smug look off your face.”

He blinked and smiled. “How precious. That almost felt like a threat… if you were threatening that is.” He stood and his seat melted into the ground as if it had never been there. He leaned on the bars of the cell and tapped his nails against them. “You’ll be free to return to your precious daddy when you can escape the tower and get to him.”

My head shot up and my heart leaped. “Candido is alive.”

He shrugged. “For now.”

“Don’t you touch him!”

He scoffed. “Best hurry your escape plans along. Who knows how much longer her has?”

“You---The bullet.”

“Removed,” he said. “I just so happened to pick up a few werewolf medics on my way out of the compound and they’ve managed to keep him alive… Not sure for how much longer though. Golden wolf blood isn’t exactly effectual on golden wolves.”

He chuckled. “Watching them try is amusing.”

“Have you no heart?” I asked. “I’m your—”

“Niece, yes. I don’t need you to remind me. I’ve looked at the original more than enough times to recognize the resemblance. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I can’t get rid of you just yet.”

“Get rid of me?” I asked.

“If you prove to be as useless as you seemed to be, I plan to let Damian finish up that botched job he did.” He shrugged. “If he gets too rowdy on the other plane, I just destroy it.”

My heart lurched. “Destroy…”

Ian pulled something out of his pocket and let it hover over his hand. “This is the Heart of the Moon. Another artifact with great power—more a big red button than anything. If at any time the werewolf world is a threat to Lunae, all I have to do is activate it and everything will be destroyed.”

I stared at him in horror as he tucked it back into his pocket casually.

“Yes, it is much worse than a nuclear bomb or plague, and yes, I have no qualms about using it. Perhaps now you understand why it would not bother me for you, your daddy, and all the rest of those on the other side to die?”

I swallowed. “Why… haven’t you used it?”

“The legacy of my dear sister was still there,” he said. “I am trying to figure out if it is worth keeping.”

My stomach jolted as I realized that he was talking about me.

Or was he? He could have been talking about Wolf Fang. Was there something there that he wanted? Some artifact that might neutralize the Heart of the Moon.

I swallowed. “What about the triskele? What’s that for?”

He smirked. “Maybe if you get out of here within… a month, to be nice. I’ll tell you.”

He pulled back. “Until then—”

“Wait! What am I supposed to eat? It’s cold! I could freeze here! You can’t give me anything.”

He laughed but he didn’t turn back. I heard his laughter echoing back down the hallway until his footsteps seemed to disappear. My jaw set and I slammed my fist on the ground. The fury and distress welled up in me and I let out a scream.

“Let me out of here!” I yelled, listening to my voice echo through the air as if I had screamed into a chasm.

The tiles across the way from the cell shimmered as the light above them flickered.

I shivered again and winced at the pain in my shoulder.

I had to get out of here. I had to get to Candido. I had to know that he was alive.

I shook that thought away. He was alive. I know he was. I know he is. If he wasn’t, Ian would be sorry. Everyone would be sorry. I wasn’t sure how, but I was going to make him and Shiloh and Messiah pay for this.

I got up and went to the gate. The metal remained smooth this time and I gripped the bars. I bit my lip and closed my eyes, reaching for my powers, reaching for even just a flicker of it. I pulled back, reaching for it. I felt it flickering, and a second later, a spike went right through my hands. I screamed and flew back.

I screamed as it pushed, burned, and tore through my hand.

It sent another round of burning through me. I saw black veins growing from the reopened and new wounds. The past and the present blurred, throwing me back and forth between this darkness and that altar.

I tried to move my fingers, but I couldn’t feel them. I couldn’t feel anything but the pain. I screamed and screamed and screamed. The pain was all I could think of. I felt like I didn’t have enough air in my lungs.

I fell to the ground and I could smell the sharp scent of wolfsbane. The stone beneath me glinted in the moonlight-colored light.

The stone floor was laced with silver. My stomach lurched with fear.

“No,” I whispered, shutting my eyes. “No!”

I curled up, sobbing.

“Candido!” I screamed, listening to my voice echoing through the caves. “Candido, help me!”

Could he hear me? Where was he? My heart was racing.

I heard Damian laughing and it mingled with Ian’s.

I choked on a sob. “Candido will find me. He’ll find me. He’ll always find me.”

The scent of blood was making me nauseous. I felt the world spinning around me, tumbling, and moving along with the spinning in my head. I couldn’t take this anymore.

Candido. Where was Candido? Was he dead? If he wasn’t, he had to be on his way here. He had to save me. Didn’t he feel how much pain I’m in?

“Candido?” I croaked through my rough throat and tears. “Candido? Candido, where are you?”

The poison was burning through me. My lungs were burning.

“Candido, where are you? Why weren’t you coming for me?”

I slipped into darkness and fire. Then, I was so cold, so weak, so fragile that I could barely open my eyes.

I forced my eyes open. I wasn’t in that cave again. I wasn’t there, and I had to get up. I had to get to Candido.

Everything was burning. Everything hurt. My vision blurred. My mind spun.

Then, the light outside the cell went out.