Page 64 of Darling Wildfire
I would survive because only then could I get my vengeance.
I would do it for Cole. I would do it for Whit.
I would do it for Emy, because a small part of me hoped she’d escaped. I couldn’t think about that too hard though because it brought me too much pain and guilt.
Was she still in the forest? Terrified?
Even worse, what if Vetticus had found her?
Regardless, I would play his game until it was time to play mine. I would get my revenge in this life, or I’d die trying, but I’d give myself every advantage possible and that meant leaving my ego behind—for now.
He didn’t know how much of a monster I could be.
Vetticus returned, and I watched his shiny brown shoes cross the room until they were in front of my face. He crouched down, sucking on his teeth as he looked me over.
“Like a wild animal who doesn’t know when he’s beaten,” he sneered. “You’ll want the reward I have for you today but first you need to do as you’re told.”
There was a pause. “Crawl to me.”
I lifted my head and met his eyes.
“Crawl to me,” he said again, the challenge written all over his face.
I pushed myself to my knees as I thought of a million ways I wanted to make him scream. Then I dragged myself forward a foot, as I thought about all the ways I wanted to kill him. Driven by gruesome thoughts of Vetticus’ death by my hands, I crawled another few feet, slowly pulling myself across the ground until I collapsed on his boots, spent and seeing stars as they exploded across my vision.
Vetticus crouched down and yanked my head up. I scrambled to get my hands under me, breathing hard through my nose, teeth bared as our eyes clashed. He brought a cup to my lips, and I tasted water as he poured it roughly into my mouth. I choked, water cascading down my chin as I struggled to swallow. He shoved my head away.
“On your knees,” Vetticus commanded.
I pushed myself onto my knees, slouched over, barely able to hold my head up as Vetticus grabbed my chin. My eyes took a moment to focus on him and when they did, anger surged through me only this time I held my temper in check.
“Good boy,” Vetticus crooned. “You know what comes next,” he said.
A prick in my neck was the only warning before I was thrown back into the world of agony as he used the serum on me again. He drove my body past every pain threshold I had and my mind sank deeper into the safety of the darkness where thoughts of revenge festered and grew. With every painful touch and barked command, I found strength in my resolve to survive long enough to dedicate whatever was left of me to his complete annihilation.
31
THERON
Days, weeks, months…
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed but when my mind finally emerged from the darkness I’d escaped to, I realized I wasn’t in the warehouse anymore. Smooth slabs of stone were cool under my cheek and I heard the buzz of voices that sharpened by the second. I lifted my head and found a face staring at me through the bars a few inches from me.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” the man grinned.
“Don’t traumatize the newbie, Nyx. You remember how that felt—”
“Yeah, I had your ugly mug staring at me not saying anything—way more creepy.”
I rolled onto my back and saw an electric lantern high above me emitting a warm glow into the cell. I turned my head to the man, who leaned tattooed arms against the bars as he looked down at me. He ran his hand through black hair long on top, buzzed at the sides and flashed me that lopsided grin again.
“Welcome back to the living, my friend,” he said. “I’m Nyx—that ray of sunshine is Atlas.” He nodded to the cell on my other side and I turned my head to see a man with a brooding frown and dark blond hair tied up in a bun sitting on a cot.
I used the bars near Nyx to haul myself to my feet. The cell was clean, with a cot, blanket and pillow along the far wall and a toilet with a sink half partitioned in one corner. Sweatpants, a t-shirt and a sweatshirt sat folded on the end of the cot. I looked down and realized I was still naked and half stumbled over to the clothes to pull on the sweatpants.
I leaned heavily on the sink and turned on the water, drinking deeply from the faucet. I splashed some on my face and closed my eyes as I let the cool liquid restore some of my faculties. The effort was enough to exhaust me and I looked over at Nyx as I sat down on the cot.
“What is this place?”
