Page 5 of Tainted Essence
I’m dizzy and have black spots dancing at the edge of my vision as I’m thrown inside, what I can only assume, the trunk of a car. Before I can get my bearings or get my head to stop spinning something—no, someone is thrown on top of me. I gasp and groan from the impact as I try to roll out from under them but it’s a fucking hard when your hands are tied.
“Your cousin’s coming along, get comfortable, it's a long ride,” a man with a thick Russian accent says, then the hood is yanked off my head. I slam my eyes closed against the light. The trunk is slammed, then I’m bathed in darkness. I try to regulate my breathing and remain calm as the car takes off. I sigh in relief when the body rolls off me except I remember what Taylan said and put two and two together, the body is Taylan.
“Taylan?” I whisper shout, trying to gain his attention. When the driver hits the brakes, it shines enough light inside for me to see his eyes are closed. He’s knocked out. I feel around with my fingers hoping to find something to cut these restraints off, but after a couple minutes I growl in frustration.
“Argh,” Taylan groans out. I have no idea why the fuck this idiot would risk his life for me. The last time I saw him I told him to die and I would fake cry at his funeral. “Slayer?” he moans and shifts.
“I’m here,” I answer.
He rolls onto his back, hissing in pain. They clearly worked him over pretty well if he’s in this amount of pain. “You okay?”
“I got a fat lump on the back of my head and a pounding headache from getting my face smacked into something but I’ll live,” I deadpan.
“There’s a guy who wasn’t wearing a mask and barking orders in Russian, he’s the one we need to talk to.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s the boss or at least he’s the one running this thing,” he says in a clipped tone.
“Why are you pretending to be Royal?” I whisper, trying to keep my voice low in case they can hear us talking inside the car.
“Same reason I’m calling you Slayer instead of your name.”
“What?” I’m confused as hell now.
“You will deny being Anya Murdoch's daughter, you will claim to be Rook’s kid. If they think you aren’t Destiny, that will buy us some time for our people to find us.”
That actually makes sense but he still hasn’t answered my other question. “Why are you pretending to be Royal?”
“You don’t think I can pull it off?” The fact he is trying to joke at a time like this grates on my freaking nerves.
“Royal has a New York accent and you sound Canadian!” I hiss.
He’s silent for a moment and I begin to fidget as the events of the night catch up with me. “If they knew I wasn’t important they would have put a bullet in my head and you would be left alone with them. Saying I’m him means I’m valuable and them thinking you are Rook’s kid means you are worth nothing but them thinking I am Bishop’s…” He lets his sentence trail off.
I nod my head even though he can’t see me. “Which means you will take the brunt of their anger while I don’t. They will torture you so Uncle Bishop forces my mom to give up her formula,” I mutter dejectedly.
“I won’t let them hurt you, Slayer,” he says quietly.
A whoosh of air escapes me. “Why? I’m not your problem, you don’t even know me.”
“I may not know you personally but I do know your family, they came to our aid?—”
“Stop bullshitting and tell me the truth!” I snap—there is no fucking way he would risk his life because he feels like he owes my family.
“I like you.”
I snort. “Nice try, no one likes me. Now, tell me why you are really here.”
“That is the reason, I obeyed Knox’s orders to come here in the hopes I would see you again.” I lull my head to the side and squint against the darkness, trying to see him in the dark but can only make out the outline of his face.
“Nice try, Romeo.”
“Believe what you want but it’s the truth. I’m a man, Slayer, and there is no fucking way I would have let them take me out like a bitch while they ran away with you, that shit isn’t in my DNA.”
“So you have a hero complex?”
He scoffs. “Fuck, you’re no good for my ego.”