Chapter 154

Nadia's POV

The back of the van was swelteringly hot. Outside was picking up wind, but the people at the front of the van had turned the heat on high and Nadia was sweating badly. She had no idea where they were going or what was going on or, so much more importantly, where Laila and Myra were. She wished Tanith would wake up.

Despite how uncomfortable she was, Nadia was listening. There were two people at the front, two men, and the woman that had come was in the back with them staring daggers into Tanith unconscious form. The men were whispering but every once in a while they would say something louder and have a short conversation about it with the woman in the back. She knew all their names now. Lilo, Marvin and Smith. Smith was the woman. Nadia didn't know if that was a first, last or only name, but it was all they said.

"What the fuck is up with all this traffic?" Marvin muttered loudly. He'd been the one on his phone 'watching' her earlier. He was also responsible for her bleeding lips, swelling eye and bruised ribs. He spoke and acted like a typical idiot, roll-his-eyes play-online-all-night guy, but he had been brutal to her. "We've got somewhere to fucking be, god."

"Shut up," Smith snapped quietly, still just glaring at Tanith. They went around a corner and Tanith's body slid across the floor. Smith watched Tanith; Nadia stared at her lap.

"You shut up!" He snapped back. There was a long pause and then he continued in a normal tone once more. "How long is it now?"

"Thirty-two minutes until we're there," Lilo said quietly, probably thinking Nadia couldn't hear. As if there was anything she could do anyway. She was tied up with proper anti-magic shackles now. "Forty-three until he arrives."

Nadia heard that also. She didn't move, tried not to make it obvious that she had any idea what they were saying. Someone was going to meet them where they were going. Was 'he' one person, or a main person followed with a dozen followers? Nadia couldn't do anything, now or when they got there, but Tanith would want to know when she woke up and broke them out of this mess.

Marvin tutted. "Not if this traffic doesn't fuck off."

"That's not how traffic works," Lilo continued in a useless whisper.

"Yeah but still. It's a weekday, it's not even lunchtime! Why so much traffic? Hey, what happens if we're late?" Marvin asked.

"I don't know."

He tutted again. "After, I'm getting food. Got to get ready for a date."

"With buying food?" Smith asked, her angry glare turning into an equally mean frown and still aimed at Tanith. "Not like you to cook. Or go on dates."

"Yeah, this one's got me though," Marvin said, chuckling. "Met her at this crap place yesterday and asked her out. And for the record, I can cook! I just hate it. Anyway, we're going out for dinner, I'm just fucking starving."

Smith rolled her eyes and went back to staring.

"What're you even doing, since you think my nights so stupid?" Marvin asked, glancing back from the passenger seat to glare at Smith. "God, are you still staring at her. Fuck off, Smith, glare at the kid. She's a fucking idiot anyway."

"No, you just don't know how to keep an eye on a captive child with next to no defensive abilities," Smith snapped, actually turning to glare at Marvin now. Nadia was tied up underneath their shouting area. "You're the idiot."

"Oh, shut up," he taunted. "She had a knife!"

"Your knife," Smith reminded him of the moment she had pulled herself free enough to try and attack him. It hadn't worked for more than a second. She should have Shocked him. "If you hadn't messed around with the TV that wouldn't have happened. So yeah, you're an idiot that can't even watch a defenceless, tied up child."

Their bickering turned to screaming pretty fast but Lilo told them to stop and it was silenced. Nothing more was said until they arrived and the car stopped.

"Get out."

Nadia struggled to her feet, her ribs protesting painfully. Smith grabbed her arm and yanked her towards the now open door. There was a man standing outside, with two covered up people on either side of him in black, padded gear with guns all over. Nadia was pretty sure this was the 'he' they spoke about earlier. He was wearing a suit, smoking a cigarette and had an air of boredom like he'd rather be dealing with something else.

Smith jumped out of the back with Tanith over her shoulder. Tanith, for her part, was limp. Not even being picked up woke her up and Nadia felt more and more like her chances of getting away – of survival even – were slimming.

"Pack 'em up," the guy with the cigarette muttered, turning on his heel and going towards an exit door of whatever parking lot they were at.

Nadia wanted to protest, but even without tape, she didn't dare try. Smith nudged her and she walked towards a car. She was sat in the back seat, Tanith laid out next to her, and an armed person sat opposite them with a gun. Someone else sat in the front.

The door slammed. The windows were blackout, but Nadia could still see out to Smith's glaring face. The car pulled away and they smoothly rode out of the lot, the exchange done.

.*****.

Valkyrie's POV

Valkyrie knelt on the floor, grinding her teeth, as the man paced in front of her. The room was dim but she could see from the low candlelight that the half-dressed man was sweating all over, splattered with blood and exhausted to boot. Why they had picked her up and brought her to him, she had yet to work out. Surely this building had more than one torturer? Had Saracen caused the cut on the man's leg?

"Do you know who I am?" The man croaked.

She considered saying nothing and changed her mind. "No."

He forced out a laugh and paced faster. "Your brothers have left you unprepared."

She said nothing this time.

"You're probably wondering how all this happened," the man shuddered. "Do you know why you're here?"

"I don't."

"We're looking for someone," he stared at her for a moment and then resumed his pacing, this time shaking his hands out. "Do you know who Richard Killer is?"

Valkyrie did. He was not very old, she remembered her family saying he was younger than Tanith, but he was legitimately insane. He would run and jump over buildings, take bad falls and sustaining broken bones, and then do this screaming laugh as he kept running. All anyone knew was that he had been abandoned by his mother to a nunnery at birth and the nuns had abused him, leading to his killing them all when he was only eight or nine. No one knew for sure but it was a well-known theory that he had Neoteric magic – that being, he was a person with magic based on his personality without any training or thought. It was some of the most dangerous magic there was. "I do."

"Is he in prison?"

"Not that I know of."

"Tell me about him."

Valkyrie did. She said about the suspicions on his magic, about his known upbringing and how many people they believed he killed. He was one of the people every Sanctuary around the world was interested in capturing and throwing in a cell so a detective like Valkyrie had to memorise a lot about him.

"Anything else?"

"There isn't much on him," Valkyrie told him honestly, her back aching from being hunched over in front of him. "He's never once been caught, and we only know what we do from his own admissions before he usually kills everyone. It's all from security footage and a handful of mortal witnesses."

"Where is he now?" The man asked, staring at her.

She looked straight back at him. "No one knows. He hasn't killed in a few years and no one has turned up with his description. He's a top priority criminal, we'd know if he surfaced."

The man stared at her for a length of time but Valkyrie didn't dare look away. Eventually, he nodded and continued. "What do you know of Noirette Paine?"

"He is currently working for the Spiders in Ireland. Assuming they haven't killed him yet," she told him. He asked for everything she knew and she told him the little she did.

"And what about Remus Crux?"

"Of course I know him," she snapped as shoots of pain went down her spine. "He's utterly insane but works for the Spiders also. We don't know his motive for working with them other than they both hate the Dead Men."

He nodded and walked over to her slowly. "Are you working for the Spiders?" He asked.

"Never," she replied.

He slapped her.

.*****.

Nadia's POV

Nadia wasn't sure where they were, but she was sure it was in the city. She'd had a bag put over her head and was taken into a building and the bag removed. It looked as if she'd been left in a greeting room, somewhere fancy. The luxuriousness of it was disconcerting. Tanith was no longer with her and she didn't know where she was anymore. She still had her shackles on.

Nadia tried hard to think of what she could do but she wasn't stupid – outside of that van and now alone, she was able to think without panicking. If she could get a key to remove her shackles, she'd be able to fight her way out of the house. She needed to stay calm to use her Shocking magic but as long as she did that, she'd be okay. And once she got out, it wouldn't take long to call for help and someone else could save Tanith, assuming she didn't do it herself. In fact, if Tanith woke up maybe she'd save them both and that would be a wonderful solution.

The wooden, double doors were opened and a very elderly man walked through. He had dark hair and dark blue eyes, a white beard and was already raising an eyebrow at her.

"You're Miss Robin?" He asked immediately, sitting down across from her.

"Yes," she quietly said.

"I need information." He lit a thick cigar before he spoke again. "Where are the Dead Men right now?"

"They went on a mission," she said instantly. "Then a man turned up at the house. He called himself Lilo."

"Yes, but do you know where they are?"

"No, I don't get told that stuff," she said. Nadia would rather grit her teeth and say nothing but something about him compelled her to speak.

He hummed. "Okay then. Where are your parents?"

She felt the blood drain from her face. "They're in India."

"So nobody knows that you're here right now?"

Nadia clenched her jaw shut. He grinned, so he obviously knew.

"At the moment," he told her, taking a long drag of his cigar, "your little girlfriend Valkyrie Cain is with one of my men, Mr Sorry. My name's Samael Grievers. You see, I've entered a business partnership. I do something for this other… company. And they're doing some things for me. Do you know what two reputable businesses like ours may have in common?"

Nadia took a shaky breath and shook her head.

He grinned again, and then picked up a remote and turned on an old, dusty television that looked to belong in the nineties. Nadia's mouth opened in horror – it was a feed of Valkyrie and Mr Sorry in a tiny room. There was blood everywhere, knives scattered around. Both of them were red all over, but only Valkyrie was chained to the floor.

"I really hate this girl. She's smart, for sure, and talented to boot. But she's a nuisance for a business like mine, and she caused me to lose a lot of my previously loyal patrons. I'm a changed man, though, for now I know that allowing a child into my premise when I don't know enough about them is, what I like to call, a liability. She killed one of my best men and now I need to have her killed."

"No," Nadia whispered, tears springing into her eyes. She could feel bile in the back of her throat and couldn't draw her eyes from the screen as Mr Sorry slowly cut through the skin of Valkyrie's thigh and Valkyrie screamed silently.

"The Spiders only want some of the Dead Men," Samael continued to grin, sucking on the cigar. "They couldn't care less about Cain. She's not one of the original. Suits me just fine. I'll leave you to mull over this, okay? But you don't have long. A client is coming for you soon. And he paid a whole lotta money to get you, so make sure to smile, okay?"

What a fun cliffhanger!

DemiseRim: I did want you wanted! I didn't hurt Tanith and Nadia! Are you happy? I have no comments on Myra and Laila - their sections of the story will come soon. Wouldn't want to spoil it for you ;)