Encore (Descendants of Ra: Book 4) Read online

  No window to leap out of either, and Ridley would bet blood the steel door a few feet behind Emeline was locked and probably guarded. She guessed her location to be RockGate. That meant she was trapped in the belly of the Nicolis stronghold and the first batter up to take a swing at her hide—Emeline. Not that Ridley didn’t deserve it. Next would most likely be Avery, the new God of Chaos.

  Screwed summed up her situation. “How did you find us?”

  Emeline made a brittle sound. “I’ll give you credit for originality. I wouldn’t have thought of hiding out in the homes of the women you enslaved. How did it feel sleeping in their beds? Eating their food? Not bad enough you and Khuket crapped all over the inside of their skulls, now they’re going to have to disinfect their entire homes from your skanky presence.” She tsked and her leg twitched in anger.

  Before the ass-kicking commenced, Ridley had to know one thing. “Is EJ okay?”

  Emeline’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. Her nostrils flared and her head cocked to the side. “Concerned are you about the man you enslaved?”

  Yes! “Khuket enslaved EJ and the Order—”

  “Yet she skipped you—” Emeline uncrossed her legs and leaned forward.

  Ridley braced. She didn’t want to kill Emeline, but she would. For Josie, she’d fight for every precious second. She needed her knives. The chances of her getting out of the room without damage shrunk without them. A quick glance confirmed her coat wasn’t here. She didn’t worry about herself; she’d heal, eventually. But every second she was in here meant less chance of getting the blades and freeing herself and Josie from the curse.

  “—because she needed your help, and you gave it. Willingly. You shit on your oath to lead and protect the Order. They gave you their trust, made you their leader, and you played all of us for fools.”

  “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Tell that to Vito and Oscar, his teenage son. I found them murdered inside their pawn shop. Oscar was nineteen. Nineteen!”

  “It wasn’t me! Khuket killed them.”

  Emeline pointed a finger at Ridley. “You don’t get it. You let it happen. You. All of the crap that’s happened is because of you.” Emeline stood and closed the distance between them.

  Ridley rolled off the opposite side of the cot and sprang to her feet. Emeline kicked the cot, sending it skidding toward Ridley. She jumped before the metal railing of the makeshift bed could kneecap her, landed in the center of the cot, and used the momentum to leap over a surprised Emeline.

  Ridley rushed for the door. The room was too small to maneuver. She couldn’t let Emeline hit her. With Emeline’s strength and a single well-placed blow, Ridley wouldn’t get up. She’d almost made it when the chair crashed into her legs. She fell hard on her hands and knees, bruising both on the bare concrete floor. Emeline reared her foot back for a kick to Ridley’s ribs. Ridley rolled toward Emeline, toppling her. Their limbs tangled as each fought for dominance. An elbow smashed into Ridley’s cheek while she went girly and yanked a handful of Emeline’s curly shoulder-length hair. A good chunk ripped free as they both lunged to their feet.

  “I’m sorry. For everything. We don’t have to do this.” Ridley panted as they circled each other.

  Emeline swiped at the hair dangling in her face. “You broke into my house. Threatened my grandfather. He’s dead because of you. You and me”—Emeline waved a finger between both of them— “we’re doing this.”

  Ridley nodded, accepting the fact nothing she said would make this better. Anything out of her mouth would sound hollow and trite. Emeline would sum it up to Ridley trying to save her ass, and she’d be absolutely right. Still, “I never wanted your grandfather hurt,” slipped out of her mouth.

  Lips peeled back, face contorted, a snarl twisted Emeline’s voice. “You think a sorry covers it? Covers the pain and horror of the lives you ruined? My grandfather was the last connection to my family. My parents!” Her fists blurred as the punches came.

  Ridley ducked and swerved out of the way. Even though the room was small, if she gained enough speed, she’d be able to knock Emeline out. But she was tired and hungry. Recovering from the last escapade had drained her battery and reserve. This move had to work because she had nothing left.

  Faster and faster, she zipped around Emeline, building speed. Motionless, Emeline stood in the center of Ridley’s storm, her hair whipping around. Her jeans and sweater molded to her skin. Any second, Emeline would collapse.

  Ridley poured on the speed. She ignored the first wave of dizziness and focused on the goal. Another wave of dizziness slowed her. She couldn’t seem to get coordinated.

  So intent, she missed the black object in Emeline’s hand. She didn’t hear the click, though she did catch the two prongs that sprang from the front compartment. They struck her neck and sent a jolt of electricity up to her brain and down to her feet. Her muscles contracted in one massive spasm that seemed to go on forever then suddenly ended.

  She flopped to the floor, still jerking from the surprise electrocution. Emeline landed on Ridley’s back crushing her chest. She banded an arm around Ridley’s neck and grabbed a fistful of short platinum hair.

  “It wasn’t me. I’m not the one who stole the souls of the members,” Ridley wheezed as she sipped air.

  “You think I don’t know that? We know it was Khuket. You could’ve stopped her! It was your duty to stop her.” Emeline tightened the hold.

  “You don’t understand,” Ridley grunted. Her vision narrowed to pinpoints of flickering lights.

  “I understand it was you at my house pinning me to the floor. You, ordering me to hunt Avery. The only reason I didn’t kick your ass then was to save my grandfather. You used him and me.” Emeline hauled Ridley up by the throat and slammed her back into the wall. The hand around her throat squeezed. “I was there, in the library at Belinda’s house, when you and Khuket stole her soul. You could’ve stopped her!”

  Ridley wished things were that simple. Wished she could’ve changed her role in the horrible events. “Couldn’t.” Ridley croaked. She pried at Emeline’s fingers with her only good hand. “If I could’ve, I would’ve.”

  “You fucking liar!” Emeline cried into Ridley’s face and slammed a fist into her ribs.

  Ridley heard and felt them snap. Her vision winked along with her consciousness. Suddenly, she was free and lying face down on the cold concrete. A cough rattled up her throat and came out bloody. “You can’t kill me, Emeline. I can’t die.”

  “Kill you?” Emeline laughed. She actually sounded happy. “Oh no, sweetheart. Killing you is the footnote on my agenda. I’m gonna make you suffer. Make you pay. Beg. Then I'm gonna start all over again until every last member is returned to normal. And then I’m gonna give them their shot at you.”

  No. Please no. Ridley closed her eyes and shook her head. She didn’t have the strength to face them. A subtle, familiar snick made her eyes snap open and spun her around. Dangling from Emeline’s finger, was Ridley’s locket.

  “Yours?”

  All of her pain faded. She held out her hand. “Give it back!”

  Emeline opened the locket and withdrew the tiny snippet of hair tied with a thin strip of pink ribbon. “Pretty baby. Who is she?”

  With a burst of speed Ridley couldn’t afford to spare, she scrambled across the floor, latched onto the discarded folded chair, and brought it around like a club. Emeline was in mid-leap when the metal chair connected with her skull. She dropped and didn’t move.

  Not a twitch.

  Not a single peep.

  SHHHHIIIIIT.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I’m taking him to the Order.” Avery stepped closer to EJ.

  “He’s safer here.” Roman moved between them.

  “He’s my responsibility.” Avery pointed at his chest.

  Great. Now I’m a pet. Gonna take me for a walk? Check for fleas? Hey, guys. I’m over here. Why not ask me where I want to go? Maybe I’ll even answer. EJ sat in
the gold and black silk chair in the drawing room. He’d give anything to stretch, strip off his leather jacket and weapons, and relax. However, he was still frozen with a ringside view of the men bickering like skirts fighting over him. He’d never felt more loved.

  And more pissed.

  It’s one thing to have one person treat you like you’re an inanimate object. And another when your entire family does it.

  Ridley didn’t ignore him. She talked to him, fed him. Not that he was hungry or needed to eat, but it was nice, the breakfast she’d put together—then she was injured at the club.

  “He’s all of our responsibility,” Quin chimed in.

  “You know what I mean. He’s my brother,” Avery snapped. The dark cloud that had surrounded him when EJ first saw Avery wasn’t present. It disappeared the moment they arrived at RockGate.

  “Don’t pull that sibling shit with us,” Roman growled. “We care about EJ as much as you do.”

  “Regardless of DNA, he’s our brother, too. We’re all brothers. That’s how it’s always been.” Thane plopped in a chair, one leg draped over an arm.

  “How it will always stay.” Quin leaned against the bookcase smoking a cigarette.

  When did he pick up that habit? Man, one flick of ash on the Aubusson rug and Hector will gut him.

  Avery sighed and EJ recognized the sound. A layman would think his brother had given in and accepted the consensus of the group. EJ knew better.

  “It’s not the same, and you all damn well know it. I’m the one who’s sacrificed everything for him. I killed our parents for him.”

  What?

  Conversation stopped and everyone waited for the dust to settle from the bomb Avery detonated.

  “You didn’t kill your parents. There was an explosion—” said Roman.

  “That I caused. I detonated the propane tank, not the fire. Me. I killed them both.” Avery said in a flat voice as if he’d stared into the coffin of his worst enemy.

  What propane? There wasn’t a propane tank in the story Avery told him. He said it was a gas leak and faulty wiring in the trailer where they lived.

  “Why?” Quin hadn’t been secretive about searching for the parents who had left him in an orphanage in Barcelona.

  Avery glanced at EJ. Worry and a tinge of fear pinched Avery’s features. EJ wished he could generate more than a blank expression on his face. Answer the damn question, Avery!

  “Doesn’t matter now and I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “It matters.” EJ didn’t miss the threat in Reign’s low voice.

  “You don’t just say ‘I killed my parents’ and expect us to not ask what happened.” Thane rose from his slouched position.

  “It had to have been an accident.” Quin paced in front of the bookcase, trying to wrap his head around Avery’s confession.

  No. Avery never did anything by accident. Not even as a child. If he said he killed them, that’s exactly what he did.

  “They were addicts and deserved what they got.”

  “So you were judge, jury, and executioner?” Quin shoved Avery but didn’t move him an inch.

  “This discussion isn’t getting us anywhere.” Roman moved between the two men.

  “I did what I had to do.” Avery’s dead tone hadn’t changed.

  No. They were hardworking. Dad worked making machine parts, and Mom was a housewife. That’s what Avery had fed him all these years. Lies. Was their mother actually a singer who missed her big chance but had Avery and had to settle down? Was his father really a stock car driver on the weekend?

  “Did what you had to do? You were ten.” Quin frowned

  “And EJ was two. I protected him. Exactly what I am doing now.” Again, Avery’s glance shot to EJ. A mixture of worry, determination, and something else EJ couldn’t define crossed Avery’s face.

  Bullshit! The anecdotes about mom’s bad baking and dad’s hunting trips, the false memories, the lies he believed, the Polaroid of the happy couple taped to the mirror in his bedroom upstairs, all of it was bullshit. The betrayal cut deep. Deeper than anything he’d ever felt.

  “No. You are not protecting him.” Reign moved from his position outside the circle of men surrounding Avery. “I traveled in your shoes once and understand your motives better than anyone here. The bonds of siblings go deep. You want to mend him. This isn’t the way. Think of what your brother would want, not your fear of losing him.”

  “Reign’s right. This is what he knows, his home. EJ wouldn’t want to return to the place where he became a slave. He should stay here with us, his family. We know what he needs.” Roman squeezed Avery’s shoulder.

  Avery knocked Roman’s arm away. The room rumbled and Ink crawled over Avery’s exposed skin. “And I don’t?”

  Roman sighed. “Avery, calm down.”

  “Listen to me carefully.” Avery’s gaze nailed each man. “My brother wants what I tell him he wants. Needs what I tell him he needs. I tell him where to go, what to do, what to think, and that was before I absorbed Khuket’s power. You don’t tell me what’s best for him. I tell you and him what’s best for my brother.”

  His speech landed with the finesse of a Louisville Slugger hitting EJ’s skull. Ice settled inside EJ’s chest and radiated outward to every part of him.

  That’s how Avery saw him, as a puppet to be controlled.

  Avery turned to Reign. “You joined the family five seconds ago, and now you think you can impart your two-thousand-year-old wisdom? Why? Because you were some goddess’s whore for two centuries? Shut the hell up, and be glad you’re not on the outside looking in. You feel me?”

  The punch from Reign came fast and landed on Avery’s chin with a crack. Avery’s head snapped back…returned with an eager grin. EJ watched the ensuing melee with a detachment he would never have thought possible. Avery’s words lodged in his head on a repeat cycle that refused to end.

  They—Roman and Avery—trained him to obey orders, follow their lead. Mission first, everything else later. Avery mentioned cutting the umbilical cord at the RedZone a few weeks ago. It wasn’t the first time he had said something like that. EJ had never given the statement serious thought. It was just Avery being ornery. Nothing new. Now…the foundation on which EJ had built the relationship with his brother had a fissure a mile wide and ten fathoms deep. Was that how they all saw him? Was that the contempt he’d garnered from his family?

  Hector entered the room. Dressed in his customary silk Brooks Brothers’ suit, he took in the brawl and began removing antiques from the danger zone.

  Reign had his hands around Avery’s throat and a fist cocked. Roman had an arm banded around Reign’s neck while Quin and Thane fought to pull Avery away. Popcorn and beer. That’s all EJ needed to make this his personal Hallmark movie as he rooted for Reign to kick Avery’s ass back to middle school.

  A scream rippled through EJ’s blood and every cell in his body seized.

  Ridley.

  She was in trouble. Desperate. And in pain. Her agony doubled him over, left him dizzy. He didn’t care how or why they were connected as he lurched to his feet; he was simply grateful that they were.

  The fighting stopped and attention swung to him as he fought the darkness clouding his vision. When his vision finally cleared, he turned to the archway. Yesterday, he had deposited her unconscious body in the secured room. He didn’t want to leave her there in the cold basement. That’s where Avery ordered him to place her, and he couldn’t disobey. His power as the God of Effing Chaos canceled Ridley’s orders. Yet, EJ couldn’t ignore Ridley’s pain.

  Another scream had him sprinting down the hallway. A herd of footsteps followed him.

  “EJ, stop,” Avery ordered.

  EJ’s froze. He had no choice but to obey the command. Another damn person yanking his strings.

  “Where’s he going?” Thane said coming up beside him.

  A third anguished cry tore through EJ’s skull. Ridley was suffering. He had to get to her, had to protec
t Ridley. But he also had to obey Avery. The strain to follow his brother’s command and the desires of his heart split his brain and body in half.

  Avery stepped in front of EJ. His green eyes darkened to coal. “He’s probably going to Ridley. She still has control of him.” A muscle worked in his jaw. “Let’s get this over with. Follow me.”

  EJ obeyed and trudged behind Avery as he led the way to the holding cell. The rest of the men joined the parade, their combined footsteps thunderous in the narrow space.

  Avery keyed the password on the electronic pad and the steel door retracted. He entered the room and jerked to a halt.

  EJ stepped inside and pulled up short at the sight of a bloody Ridley sitting on the floor with an unconscious and equally bloody Emeline sprawled beside her.

  “S-s-she’s not dead,” Ridley whispered through a split lip. “Just knocked out.” She stroked Emeline’s blood-caked hair away from her face.

  In EJ’s peripheral vision, he saw Ink swarm over Avery’s exposed skin. The rage on his face, the swirling darkness pouring out of him, if he touched Ridley—regardless of her curse—EJ didn’t think she’d survive.

  Fuck! There wouldn’t be anything left to survive. He refused to let that happen.

  He launched himself at Avery. EJ’s fingers sunk into nothing as Avery roared and dissolved. A dark mist swallowed the entire room. EJ dove for the spot he last saw Ridley. He landed on top of her. Ridley clutched him, her body shaking hard in panic. He buried her face into his shoulder and held her close. Nothing would get through him to her. Nothing.

  From a roar to complete silence. The abrupt absence of sound stunned him and left his ears ringing. Wary, EJ glanced over his shoulder.

  Avery had Emeline cradled in his arms. He held her as if she were the Holy Grail—his Holy Grail. Insanity made his eyes flicker from black to green. He turned to Reign. “Heal her, please. Like you did at Mrs. Kelly’s.”

  Palms glowing, Reign placed his hands on Emeline. Light flowed over her in gentle waves. When it faded, the cuts and blood were gone.