Creatus

kill her to know she was protecting his wife. Vic was an excellent fighter, and they’d sparred many times. If he had to go up against the rogue, he’d want Vic even before Michael. She may not be as strong, but she was fast, and she knew all his moves, since the same person had trained them. Actually, he’d trained all of them.

“Name it. Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it. But until then, I have to find him.”

“Who?”

She turned away, ignoring him. “Call me when you know what you’re going to do.” She pushed open the door to the stairwell and walked out, letting it slam behind her. Like him, she couldn’t be bothered with the elevator.

Derrick stood motionless for a second, confused, wondering if she’d really given up that easily. He couldn’t think about it. He picked up the phone and dialed Michael again. He’d been trying to reach him all day.

Chapter Thirty-nine

Kris woke up with a stabbing pain shooting through her skull, reminiscent of the worst hangover she’d ever had. It was dark, so dark, but then again, she could feel a rough material against her face, so maybe it was daytime.

She had no idea how long she’d been out. Her body was in a curled up fetal position atop a scratchy blanket, but the cold dampness seeped through to her bones. Her arms ached from the unnatural position behind her back, and the restraints cut into her wrists. Her fingers tingled from the lack of blood flow. She stretched her top leg out and pushed up with her bottom leg until she was in a seated position with one leg underneath her. She repositioned her body so that she was on her knees, and then propping one leg up and then the other, she managed to get herself to an upright position. The binds were so tight on her wrist she couldn’t pull her arms down the back of her legs as she’d done when she was a child with play handcuffs.

She took tiny steps forward, not certain where she was. In just a few strides, she bumped into a wall. Moving her head back and forth carefully against the solid wall, she realized in fact, that there was a shroud over her head.  A rough burlap material scratched against her face.

Now would be a good time to scream, she thought, but whatever was over her mouth, prevented her from getting any volume. She wiggled her lips, attempting to get the sticky substance free.

As she worked at moving her mouth up and down and sideways, she skirted the room cautiously, measuring the width and length, tripping over a bucket of some sort every few feet. The stench of oil, grease, and bleach assaulted her nostrils, and she struggled to scratch her nose against the hard cold surface of the wall. The tiny room was only about three by six feet, she guessed. A storage unit, or a maintenance closet, maybe? It was cold, but off the concrete floor, her body felt better, since she still wore her jacket from the hike and zip line trip. But her face was freezing—Derrick! The memory crashed into her consciousness.

The hike, the zip line. She hadn’t dreamed up Derrick. She wasn’t in a riverbed. The rogue had kidnapped her. Was Derrick okay? she wondered. Derrick had said that the rogue would kill her first to hurt him, so he was probably okay if she was still alive. But that also meant he had something ruthless in store for her.

She chewed furiously at the tape. If she could get free… if Derrick was anywhere nearby, he’d hear her. Kris turned to the sound of wood scraping across the floor.

“Ahh… we’re awake,” the rogue whispered in a guttural sneer. The same voice she’d heard on the platform for a brief second after the rag had been placed over her face. “Now, here’s what’s going to happen, Kristina.” The voice was so low it was hard to recognize. She wasn’t sure if maybe it was because the rogue knew Kris would be able to identify the voice or if Derrick was close enough to hear. “Listen very carefully because I don’t like repeating myself.”

Kris nodded, since she couldn’t speak or scream anyway with the tape over her mouth.

“I’m going to take the hood and tape off, but if you as much as utter a word, I’ll kill Derrick. Do you understand?”

She nodded again.

“I don’t want to kill, Derrick. I just want him to go away and you are the key. Derrick will do anything for you.” The rogue turned her, and the sound of a switchblade snapping open caused her to jump. But then she heard the knife break through the tie around her neck, and felt the sack release from over her head, but she still couldn’t see, so obviously she had a blindfold over her eyes as well. A few seconds later, the tape she’d been gnawing on was ripped from her face, leaving a stinging sensation behind.

“Walk forward,” the rogue commanded, and Kris obeyed, as if she had any choice in the matter. “Remember, not a peep.”

Kris gulped, wondering if Derrick was nearby, wanting to scream with all her might, but if she caused his death knowingly, she could never live with herself. A few seconds later, her hands were free, but then the rogue pulled them up over her head, cinching them together with another zip tie. Well, at least that was something, she reasoned. At least they didn’t feel as if they would snap behind her back. Now they just ached from the position they’d been in for God knows how long.

“Move.” The rogue’s hand nudged her forward. “Careful, though, not too fast. I don’t want you to fall.”

The concrete disappeared below Kris, and she gasped at the pain now in her shoulders as all her weight suspended from just the tie around her wrist. Her legs dangled below her, scrambling to find purchase with anything to release the pain of the plastic digging into her skin.

“Lift your right leg. There’s a ledge just above your foot,” the rogue commanded.

Kris did as instructed, feeling the rope remain taut as she inched herself onto the ledge. Only the tips of her toes connected, even as she pushed her foot directly against the wall.

“Now, feel to the right with your hands as I direct you,” the whispered words continued, tugging the rope to her right until her hand hit another ledge. “You better do it quickly before I cut the rope.”

Kris grappled for the ledge, finding the cold ledge as it scraped the tips of her fingers.

“I’m just kidding.” A cackle came from above her. “I’m not cutting the rope yet. Now, I need you to count to one hundred and then scream for Derrick.”

“But you said…”

“And I meant it, and you’ve done well. But now if you don’t call for him, I’ll just have to kill him. If you do as you’re told, however, you can both leave and live happily ever after. Remember the rules, Kristina.  Don’t call for him until you count to one hundred, so I can be on my way.”

Something didn’t make sense. Why would she have to count to one hundred? She was in a no-win situation, she realized. If she didn’t call, Derrick would die. If she did call, Derrick would probably die. But… at least if she called, they both stood a chance. Derrick was the most powerful, but she doubted the rogue wanted a fight. But why one hundred. To be prepared?

With no other choice but to trust that Derrick would save them both, Kris started to count, quickly, hoping she wouldn’t fall from the ledge. Her hands were still bound and secured by the rope, but she wouldn’t be able to climb the wall. It wasn’t like rappelling down, which was easy. She couldn’t walk up a wall. Or at least she didn’t think she could. She continued to rattle off the numbers as she thought of any solution.

As soon as she hit one hundred, she screamed as loudly as she could, “Derrick!”

Chapter Forty

Michael glanced at his phone as it lit up. He looked at the map and smiled. Time to go. When he’d spotted his vehicle earlier, he put a GPS tracker on it, so he’d know when he was leaving. He’d left messages for everyone to meet him later tonight, so they wouldn’t wonder why he was dressed for watching. He’d decided the only way was to make it look like a creatus attack. That way no one would question his decision to take him out. He hated doing it, but he didn’t have a choice. It was him or the entire family, and he