Page 48

Zephyr

M y scalp itched with the surety that this was all a trap. And it wasn’t just because of what had happened with Zelena this morning.

As I made my way to Lady Seraph’s rooms, the corridors were deserted, which made no sense to me.

There should’ve been guards at the entrance to the hall, and the double doors that led to her suite of rooms. Hell, there should’ve been an alert contingent of guards everywhere if they’d been looking for me and knew I was gone. But there was no one.

I was waiting at the door to her suite when I got Sherrod’s ping. I wished we didn’t have to split up, but there was no way I was going to keep him from Zelena.

Please be careful.

I used the key code, opened the door softly, and slipped inside a darkened entry way that led to a sunken living space inside her suite that was dimly lit. I was hidden in shadow as my eyes adjusted to the low light.

The horse shoe shaped couch that took up a good portion of the space, as well as the circular table in front of it, were a simple black with red accents in the form of pillows and flowers.

The ‘windows’ were darkened as if covered by thick drapes.

Crystal decanters and vases of red roses were spread throughout on gleaming black tables.

At first I didn’t notice her, draped in black like she was, but then Lady Seraph raised her head and her porcelain skin was such a startling contrast to the darkness all around her that it was like glimpsing a ghost. Her red mouth slashed like a wound on her pale face as she grinned.

“Please come in dear, I hate people who lurk in doorways.”

I froze, unsure if she was talking to me or someone else that might be in these rooms. My heart thundered in my chest and my palms became slick inside my gloves. I was still so long that Lady Seraph rolled her kohl-lined eyes and she snapped her fingers at someone to the right.

“Can you fetch her, please? I am impatient to get this over with.”

I sunk back into shadows, hoping that I could possibly hide. If whoever this was had to adjust to near total darkness, I could have the advantage. But, the person she was bossing around was none other than Cypher.

He walked into the entry way with an ease that belied the darkness around him. With one quick sweep of the area, he honed in on me and reached down to yank me up by the arm.

But I’d be damned if I went easy.

My fist slammed into the place where his dick should’ve been but he barely flinched.

I was stunned enough at the complete lack of pain for him to backhand me.

The slap jolted me back to the fight and I kicked out with my feet, hitting his shins.

He cried out and bent over, which gave me the chance to punch him across the face before one of my blades shot out of my cyber hand and I stabbed up toward his throat.

He caught my hand before I was able to pierce his skin and twisted, breaking the wrist joint unit. It didn’t hurt as much as shock me. The materials were damn near indestructible and he snapped them like it was nothing.

As I tried to process what had just happened, he took the opportunity to grip me by the throat and carry me, as I dangled off the ground.

I was losing the ability to breath the longer he held me like that, but it wasn’t long before he dropped me onto the couch across from Lady Seraph, like I was nothing.

I gulped in air and attempted to scurry off the couch. But before I could move, a set of metal restraints came up from the cushions and circled around my arms, holding them to my torso while another went around my thighs, binding me to the couch.

“You fucking…let me go!”

“Now, now, no need to get upset, we aren’t going to harm you,” Lady Seraph said, her voice a bit bored. “You’re far too important for that.”

“If you think I’m going to spill my blood in that arena for you anymore, you’re fucking delusional.”

She stared at me and then let out a trilling laugh as Cypher took up a position behind her. The amused smirk on his face was ten times more infuriating than Lady Seraph’s laugh and my hands curled into fists. I wanted to feel his neck under my hands for once.

“I don’t need you to fight for me anymore,” she said, scooting a little closer and reaching for a cigarette in a black case on the table.

When she had it lit, her dark gaze settled on me like she was examining me under a microscope.

“You know, I didn’t believe Cypher when he assured me he could control you.”

“So it was you who put the Befflein into the liquor in our suite.”

“It was supposed to be a test run, but your cyber units detected it.” Her eyes narrowed and the smile went even colder than before.

“You cost me a good man, but failure can not be tolerated and in the end it helps to prune the weaker elements from my organization. Finding your weakness was a bit harder.”

“What did you come up with?”

Her grin spread, slow, like a cancer, and it made my stomach turn.

“Why, good old fashioned attachments,” she said, snapping her fingers.

Cypher handed her a tablet and she turned it around so I could see the screen.

Sherrod and Zelena were in a tiny cell, unconscious. She looked like she’d been beaten within an inch of her life, though Sherrod looked untouched. My blood ran cold and then fury coursed through me, narrowing my thoughts and all my instincts to just one thing: Kill. Her.

“I’m going to rip your throat out with my bare hands,” I said, my voice strangely controlled.

“I like your determination, it’s unfortunate that I couldn’t turn you into a willing part of my operation.”

Before I could respond or even notice another person in the room, someone seized my head and held me tight while a thick needle was plunged into my neck.

I screamed as the liquid burned its way through my blood stream.

Within seconds my limbs became heavy, and my internal diagnostics began to glitch.

As it became increasingly difficult to control my body, my eyes widened with horror.

They had injected me with an extremely high dose of Befflein, one that my systems wouldn’t be able to filter out in time to avoid the effects.

Lady Seraph typed something into her tablet and I completely lost control of my body, though my mind was perfectly aware. Cold claws of terror dug into my gut as I found myself a passenger in my own body.

The odious woman typed something else into the tablet and I could hear the command hit my CPU. She told me to raise my head, and so I did.

“The override worked fast,” she said with a laugh. “I know you love that man in the cell, but he was really a distraction to ensure that Norris could inject you with the Befflein without much fuss. Well done, Norris.”

That weasely son of a bitch.

“Thank you, my Lady,” said a toady voice behind me.

“Is the other virus ready?”

“Almost, one more DNA strain to program. I’ve never done more than one before.”

“Well, hurry it up. We need to do this before the men’s fight tonight or they’ll all get suspicious.”

“Yes, my Lady.”

The bio weapon…is she going to release it here? Or am I to be used somewhere else?

Hot, furious tears fell from my eyes and I glared at her, wishing I could spew every single curse in my head at her.

“You know what’s so fascinating about this?

” Lady Seraph asked me. “I was going to use Vixen as the host of the bio weapon until you showed up. And I saw you in the free-for-all and you were just so…irresistible. Besides, I could tell Sherrod had a thing for you, and I owe that bastard for not killing my niece when I’d paid him to.

Nothing worse than a mercenary with a conscious. ”

I was bursting to talk and she could see it. With a few taps of her fingers on the tablet, my lips were mine again and I spewed a string of swear words at her.

“My goodness!” she laughed. “That was quite the display. I suppose I should let you have a little freedom, since you might die in a few hours. But first, a test. We have to make sure you will do as you’re told no matter what. Cypher, do you have any ideas?”

“A few,” Cypher said.

“I knew I could count on you. Now, I must get ready for the day, be seen and all that. When your tests are done and Norris has her prepped, the stylist will come in and make sure our weapon is very pretty for the big Krynn party tonight. I’ve made sure to let everyone know that you’ll be there, and after snubbing so many other invitations, they are salivating to see you all dressed up.

And I made sure to announce that it’s a ‘family friendly’ party, so some of the children are thrilled to meet a real life Cyborg!

” Her smile turned demonic. “You’re more perfect for this than I could’ve hoped, you know that?

Inspiring those kids’ imaginations, making their parents practically pant after you. I really must thank you, my dear.”

She waltzed out of the room, her black robe melding to her body like liquid metal as I sat there and realized that I was about to become a mass murderer. Once she was gone, Cypher slowly walked over and sat down on the low coffee table across from me, a smug smile on his strange face.

“I am going to rip you apart you sick son of a bitch!” I spat at him.

“Not after I’m done with you. I’ll be surprised if you have any fight left in you at all.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“It’s my job.”

“No, not working Lady Seraph. I meant your vendetta against me.”

“It was never really about you,” he said. “It was about the commander.”

This was just about the best opening I could’ve hoped for to exploit his pain and get him to fuck up. Maybe if I stalled long enough, this solution would wear off or I could figure out a way to escape. But I had to tread very, very carefully or he’d see it coming a mile away and clam up.

“So you were a pupil of his,” I said.