Chapter 29

I stomped on the hand with my free foot, using the kind of force I would if I’d seen a cockroach crawling across the floor. The guy scrambled to his feet and lunged at me, but Vi yanked me out of the way. She didn’t seem to be fully healed, but she looked better than she did at the compound.

Vi faced him. “Gonna have to get through me, asshole.”

“Didn’t get enough, huh?” The grin that surfaced was strangely playful in nature. “You like being beaten? This is for you, what is the word…foreplay?”

“I know something you don’t,” she sang, and then delivered an uppercut that sent colossal dude into the air. He crashed into the opposite wall, penetrating the cheap drywall. His hair was sprinkled with chalky white highlights from the debris.

She giggled, which warmed my heart. I was so worried about her before, but seeing her in her element like this, kicking some dude’s ass was fucking awesome.

He didn’t appear to be moving. Jay approached him as if he were a wounded animal, reaching his hand out slowly. He rested his hand on the dude’s arm.

Colossal dude groaned. And then his eyes opened and focused on Jay. “Get away from me, freak!” He shoved Jay off and stumbled to his feet.

“He’s the freak?” I muttered.

Jay seemed shocked and maybe a little pissed, it was hard to be sure. “I was just trying to help.”

“I don’t want your help! Stay away, or I kick your ass, too.”

Jay narrowed his eyes at him, and I got the feeling he took it as a challenge. “Very well.” He settled on the couch, with his legs crossed and his hands rested on his knees. When he closed his eyes, I suspected he was attempting a distance healing, and I couldn’t help but smile.

The dude shook all the dust from his hair and eyed Viola. “You have power, too?”

“Now that there isn’t a dampening field,” she said. “You gonna back down, or do we get to hear the sound of your spine shattering?”

He laughed. “I like you. Got a lot of spirit. Remind me of my ex-wife, before I broke her.”

Without any indication, he charged at Vi, knocking her off her feet and into the end table next to the couch. The lamp broke into a million pieces, some of which spilled onto Jay’s lap, but he didn’t move an inch. His hands glowed, and I knew the next strike Vi made would have a major impact—it might even kill the dude. And while I didn’t like the guy, I thought there’s at least a chance he could be useful. If Jay were really healing him, then I should be able to get through too.

I wasn’t sure how much my power affected him earlier, and I was afraid if I put too much more pressure on his brain, I might kill him. And then it dawned on me—I could try out my suggestion power. I focused on him, standing there all smug and superior, and thought, you don’t want to hurt us. You want to sit your ass down on the couch and answer all of our questions.

Vi jumped to her feet, pissed as hell. She was about to retaliate, when I grabbed her arm. “It’s okay. I got this.”

She seemed confused, but she backed off. We both watched the dude calmly sit on the couch, on the opposite end from Jay. It creaked in protest at the weight of his massive body and sunk down where he sat.

“First of all, who are you?” I asked.

Vi’s jaw dropped. “What the fuck? Is this some kind of trick?”

Jay’s eyes opened and he wore the cutest sleepy little satisfied smile. He guided Vi over to the loveseat and started to work on her. “She’s using her power of suggestion,” he whispered.

“Really? She can do that?” she whispered back.

“My name is Lukas,” the dude said, as he scratched his balls. “I’m from Slovakia.”

Not Russia, but damn close. With no threat of danger present, I took a good look at him. He had short dark brown hair and a five o’clock shadow, not unattractive, but nothing special either. Easily the size of two or three linebackers, all muscle. Okay, maybe he was kind of hot in a rugged, foreign sort of way, but it was hard to see him in a positive light after he almost killed my friend.

“Why did you kidnap Vi?” I asked.

“Derek wants you. He figured, you come after her.” He said it nonchalantly, as if he were talking about a beer run as opposed to an abduction. And it pissed me right the fuck off.

“So this is what you do, whatever Derek commands? You’re some kind of lackey?” Was I trying to get under his skin? Maybe a little. Having seen a glimpse of his history, I knew there was a real person in there somewhere.

“Derek made me like this,” he said, his hazy brown eyes staring deliberately into mine. “Let me just say, I am grateful.”

“You can’t feel pain, is that your power?” Jay asked, still working on Vi. Her ribs looked completely healed, and Jay had moved on to her face. Vi’s eyes were closed, and she seemed so peaceful and relaxed.

“I feel nothing.” It was the same thing he said at the compound, only slightly less creepy in the current environment of Jay’s apartment.

“Not even emotions?” I asked.

He snickered. “It is blessing. Trust me.”

“How can you say that?” Jay said quietly. “Emotions are what make us human. The capacity to love…it’s everything.”

I was touched by the simplicity and truth of his words, and the conviction behind them. He looked at me and smiled. My heart just about melted. How did I deserve—

“Sure say that now, and then when you catch her screwing your brother, then…then come back and we talk.”

“This fucking guy,” I muttered. “I need a cigarette.”

“You have cigarette?” He straightened up, looking at me eagerly.

I rolled my eyes. This fucker rains on my moment with Jay, and now he wants to bum a smoke? “Come on, Lukas, is it?” I looked at Jay. “We’ll be right outside.”

“Do you think that’s wise?” Jay asked. “What if he takes you?”

“I can’t beam…uh, what you call it, teleport?” None of us said a word, so he continued, “You know, beam me up, like Star Trek?”

I couldn’t be sure whether he was lying or not. With no emotions to hone in on, it was like he was a blank slate. “If that’s true, how did you manage to kidnap Vi?”

“Vlad beamed me here,” he said simply, as if I knew who the fuck Vlad was.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “I thought everyone who got modified could teleport.”

He shrugged. “Hell if I know.”

“There was two of them,” Vi confirmed. “I tried to get away, but it’s like I couldn’t teleport.”

“Yep,” Lukas said, nodding. “Vlad.”

I got the feeling I didn’t want to meet this Vlad. As a precaution, I focused on Lukas, thinking, you don’t want to kidnap me. You just want to walk outside and have a cigarette with me.

“We’ll be okay,” I said, then turned to Lukas. “Right?”

“Only cigarette, no funny stuff.” He wore an expression akin to a child on Christmas morning. I wondered how long he went without a smoke.

I dug through my purse and grabbed the packet and a lighter, the one Steve had left with the two snakes intertwined. On the elevator ride down, Lukas appeared to observe me, his gaze traveling the length of my body.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

I was tempted to probe his mind, but I got the feeling I didn’t want to know what he was thinking. Some things were just better left unsaid.

Outside after we both had a few drags, I asked, “So what now?”

He shrugged. “I miss Slovakia. Would be nice to go back.”

I exhaled a stream of smoke up into the air above me. “We could use your help taking down Derek.”

Lukas let out a belly laugh. “Take down Derek? So funny. I always say—Americans, so funny.”

“You’re on the inside, there’s got to be something you’ve seen or heard, something we can use to—”

“Even if this is so, why would I help you?” He snickered. “You simple, silly woman. You have no idea.” He took a long drag on the cigarette, then extinguished the end with his fingers. “Save this for ride home.”

“The first time I scanned you, I caught a glimpse of your life. I know you haven’t shown any signs lately,” I said, looking off to the side, “but I truly believe there’s some humanity in you.”

His brow wrinkled, and I wondered if my English was confusing him.

“Scanned? More like mind fuck…” he mumbled.

“I’d like to point out that you were trying to kill me at the time.”

“Following orders,” he said in a flippant tone. As if almost killing me were just another day at work.

“Well that’s kind of my point. I don’t think you want to hurt people. I know you were hurt, I can only imagine how much, to try to take your own—"

“You don’t know me! And stay the fuck out of my head.” He walked off without another word.

“We need your help!” I yelled after him.

His reply was to flip me off with both middle fingers, laughing.

Could I have used my powers to keep him there? Definitely. Did he deserve to get “mind fucked” as he called it, after everything he did? Maybe. But using my power that way felt wrong, even on scumbags like him. And if there was a hope of him coming around, forcing him to stay wasn’t going to win any points.

Still, I was tired of being hunted down. I needed a break, and having Derek send more of his minions was something I didn’t need to deal with. So I planted a single thought in his head: I’m going to take the night off and not return to the compound.