For a moment, Gage’s eyes soften, but I refuse to see the pity. My past isn’t exactly a secret, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy the looks people give me when they remember the details.
My stint in the slave ring was very small compared to what others have endured. I spent more time in the Light Council’s prison than anywhere else. But I was passed along some dark corners before I got there.
“We’ve got the coordinates now,” James calls from behind me.
But Gage draws my attention once more before I can respond.
“Do you use your visions to track them down?” Gage asks, seeming genuinely interested.
I laugh humorlessly while shaking my head. “Boy, when you cut someone out of your life, you manage to cut out all things tied to them, huh?”
He tilts his head, and I turn around to follow the others, not bothering to elaborate for the clueless dark user.
I have a job to do, and Gage isn’t going to stand in my way. Rogue dark users; as if I’m worried about that. “Go stick your head back in the sand,” I say with my back turned. “Some of us have real things to deal with right now.”
***
GAGE
“You fucking lied to me and let me make an ass out of myself when I was looking for K.”
Dice laughs hard, pounding his chest when he starts to choke and strangle on his roaring release. He is still mocking me for my idiotic moment with Kimber. Really wasn’t expecting her to look like that. And I hate the fact that I’m still thinking about her.
“What’s up with her visions? She seemed bitter when I asked about them,” I say to Dice as we drive down the highway, following behind the Somage.
If they’re going after a slave ring, she’s right about it taking priority.
“When you’re a kid and someone forces you to use enough power to open the gates of purgatory, it tends to fuck with you. Her visions became fewer and fewer over the years. Now she gets premonitions here and there, but nothing that helps too much. She has to strain hard to get the few she does get, and they’re usually the leads they use to track down more leads.”
Frowning, I glance at him. “How long has she been running the Somage?”
“Two years. Pretty damn badass at her job, too. They’ve found about forty slaves and freed them. Prisoners is a more accurate term. They’re chained and bound and left to rot for centuries if no one wants them, unable to die because they’re given just enough blood or anything else they need to sustain themselves for survival. And they’re forced to survive. The ones not bought are used for scientific experimentation to search for weaknesses among the various species.”
I shudder just thinking about it. We found many slave holding cells during my time in the Somage, but mostly it was other immortals collecting rare beings such as Kimber. Sick and twisted fucks.
“Without her visions, she’s nothing more powerful than a strong human. She shouldn’t be out fighting and running the Somage.”
Dice snorts while shaking his head. “And you thought Alyssa was naïve.”
“What does that mean?” I ask, growing tired of the smirking incubus.
“Hashtag… Yeah… No real good hashtag to use there. You’ll see, though. Soon, I’m sure. Kimber doesn’t play nice.”
The mountain we’re driving around is steep, curvy, and very fucking high in altitude. What lead could they possibly have—
“Son of a bitch!” Dice yelps as our car gets pummeled by a vicious boulder that I never heard or saw coming. It slams into us, driving us off the road, and nearly pushing us off the side of the cliff.
I grit my teeth while uselessly trying to guide the car to a safe stop. Dice is pushed against me, since his side of the car is absorbing most of the impact. Glass is shattered and flying around the spinning vehicle, and I have to use my magic to help us skid back into the center of the road.
The mountain begins thundering as a landslide ignites, more boulders toppling from the peak that we’ve nearly reached, and I leap out of the car to start racing toward Kimber. She’s fucking defenseless.
A damn boulder might not kill her immortal body, but whatever just caused this landslide will definitely be strong enough to fuck with her. I can’t believe the mighty four let her fight without her having any line of self-defense.
The boulders collide and crash around the curve where I can’t see, and I split the planes, vaporizing quicker than I can run, becoming a shadow that exists neither here nor there. The wind vibrates in my ears just as I rematerialize in the middle of the wreckage.
“Get up there!” I hear Kimber yelling just as people blur into motion.
I barely get a glimpse of her blonde hair as she flips and lands on the mountainside, disappearing into the thick of the trees that still have boulders crashing through them. I’m going to throttle her when I catch up.