Chapter Thirty-Six

A chemical, sterile scent inundates my nostrils, prompting my heavy eyelids to lift slowly. One, then another.

A dull ache spreads throughout my neck and shoulders, and a stabbing pain pounds in my head, like I'm being repeatedly run through with a blade in the back of my skull. Glancing up, I find my wrists bound above my head in chains suspended from the ceiling. I attempt to tap into the Scylla, even though I know it's caged and my power is out of my reach. I drop my gaze to see another set of chains securing my ankles to the wall, and dread worms its way into my gut. I finally lift my eyes, and it takes me a full minute to come to terms with my surroundings.

Blinding shades of white leak into my vision, and I blink rapidly to focus. I'm in what appears to be some sort of lab, judging by the counter housing an array of ominous looking liquids that look disturbingly familiar, and the small silver table in front of me where crude looking medical tools are spread out on its surface. The dread in my stomach morphs into full-blown panic as I spot a metal examination table a few feet beyond the tray with the tools.

Where the fuck am I?

The answer to my question comes in the form of rumbling that shakes the suspended lamps in the ceiling, flickering as they swing violently. The faint blaring of a horn floats past my ears and realization hits me harder than the blow to my head.

I'm being held captive beneath the subway.

The hiss of sliding doors draws my attention to the far right of the room. My stomach plummets to the floor as the man I trusted and thought I knew strides inside dressed in a white lab coat.

"You're finally awake." His tone is placid and oddly congenial, as though he's a doctor visiting a patient.

I tug against my chains, though I know it's moot. "Where the fuck am I? What did you do to me?"

Jesse stands in front of me and folds his arms across his chest. "You're in TriTech's lab, the one we hide far below our headquarters, and where we conduct our most gruesome experiments."

I wish I was baffled at the fact that Tritech has a hidden lab where they commit heinous acts, like I'm starring in some sort of horror film, yet I'm more perturbed at Jesse's bored, matter-of-fact tone.

"I glamoured Prometheus' chains to resemble my belt, lured you to Kruptos, then knocked you out and tied you up," he says condescendingly, like he's explaining the situation to someone daft.

My gaze flits to the sharp, deadly medical tools that sit before me. "You're going to experiment on me?"

Jesse sighs and pulls a small rolling chair out from the counter. He sits, and something of the boy I thought I knew returns in his otherwise disconcerting features.

"I never would have subjected you to any of this." He scoots closer. "Everything would have been painless. I just wanted your blood, and I could have gotten that easily. You showed me your monster that first day in your bedroom, and then again that night in my office. And what did I tell you?"

My brain replays the events of that night, of how I sank my teeth into his flesh, and how horrified I became at the change in my eyes and the creature staring back at me in the reflective window glass. How I ran from him, but before I made it to the elevators, what had he said?

"I don't care." It comes out soft, the words trembling as they leave my lips. I had thought he meant he didn't care that I made him bleed, or that he assumed I was perhaps into debauched sexual activities and was accepting of it. Not that he didn't care I was a monster.

Jesse nods. "I didn't, Rhi. I would have kept your secret and kept you safe, like I kept you safe from my father all these years. I loved you."

I yank on the chains again, disrupting whatever he is about to say next. "You still can. Let me go. Please." Tears spring to my eyelids, and I bite my tongue to keep them from falling. I refuse to let him see me cry.

Jesse stands, kicking the small chair behind him. He encroaches my personal space, closing the distance between us so that his breath fans across my mouth.

"It's too late. You chose him, Rhi. Everyone knows what you are now, and even I can't stop them from getting what they want."

"Who?"

He grins, then. A cruel curve of his mouth. "The Sons of Hercules."

They're coming for you .

I gulp. "I thought they no longer existed."

Jesse places his palms on either side of my head. "Oh, they very much exist. In fact, I'm their leader." An unsettling shiver skirts down my spine as Jesse's lips skate over my jaw. I don't want any part of him touching me. "I inherited that position from my father as well. We sent Leviathan after you at Alystair, since gods and demigods are warded from entering."

When Jesse dropped me off at campus months ago, I recall how he stayed far back from the gates, but I never thought anything of it.

Now, I know why.

Jesse's hand comes to my waist, and he pins that golden brown stare on me.

"Why?" I whisper. Because I still don't know what this demigod wants. Retaliation for an age-old war that seemingly dissipated? Or something else entirely?

"Because for some inexplicable fucking reason, you are immune to almost everything. You can't even catch a fucking cold, and yet my family has the power of Zeus flowing in their veins, and my father died from cancer. How unfair is that?"

My mouth parts, but Jesse places his other hand over my lips.

"You are an abomination. A fucking monster. History dictates that you shouldn't be as invincible as you are, but it's your blood that protects you and bolsters your immunity. That makes you a very interesting specimen. I'm going to find out what it is about your blood that's so fucking special, and I'm going to harness it to make a very specific antidote that will cure demigods of all afflictions."

Jesse removes his hand and steps back, brows creasing in anger when I laugh right in his face.

"I'd feel bad for you if I believed that your anger solely had to do with losing your father. Because I loved him, too, Jesse."

"Shut the fuck up."

"But it's so much more than that, isn't it? What it comes down to is petty fucking jealously, and a centuries old hatred that still burns deep in your blood, a hatred that is learned. A hatred that is taught." I chuckle again and shake my head. "You know, if you had asked me, I would have helped you. If you were honest from the beginning, I would have given you my blood." Fury rockets through me as I continue speaking. "And another thing - what about humans? They die from various illnesses daily, and I didn't hear you mention how you might help them in your fancy fucking spiel. History dictates - to use your words - that the gods and demigods are supposed to be benevolent and kind, but us abominations know better. We know the truth that your ancestors are just a bunch of cruel, conniving pricks, and the apple doesn't fall far from the fucking tree from where I'm standing." I glimpse up at my chains. "Sorry, hanging."

Jesse launches toward me, and it takes all of my energy not to flinch. He roughly grabs my cheeks between his hands and painfully squeezes, dropping his mouth so that it hovers above mine.

"I don't know where you got the fucking balls to speak like that, considering the position you're in. But I'm sure as fuck going to have a great time teaching you to keep that pretty mouth shut."

Without warning, an agonizing burn ricochets throughout my entire body, as though I'm on fire from the inside out. My body trembles with jolts of electricity just as a scream rips past my still tightly grasped cheeks.

"You'll be doing a lot more of that after I'm done with you," he says diabolically, his features twisted in cruel amusement. "I've been hiding my real power for years, Rhi. I can wield lightning, send it pulsing through your veins like your own blood. I can also control storms. That day in your room, after that demon spawn hauled me through your window, I practically exploded with the force it took to keep my power concealed. It was bad enough I caused a rogue thunderstorm, but the look on your face when your hunger surfaced with the need to tear me apart was priceless."

I snarl, but he is unfazed.

"I know you love the way I taste," he continues, his lips brushing mine with each word he speaks, still holding my cheeks captive so I can't utter a single word. "I saw it on your face that day when you bit my tongue. I heard your moans that night when you tore into my back. You could have had that, Rhi. I would have let you feast on me. I would have given you anything you wanted. But now," Jesse draws back, squeezing even tighter, "I'm going to relish your screams while you beg for my mercy."

He releases me with a brutal shove against my face, and I drop my head as I work the ache from my jaw. But I don't linger with my head down too long. I lift my chin, glimpsing Jesse's back as he makes his way toward the exit.

"Hey, Jesse."

Jesse pauses, but doesn't turn immediately, as though he's weighing the pros and cons of indulging me, so I taunt, "You know who else tasted really good?"

He stiffens before spinning on his heel, eyes darkening to nearly black.

"Peter," I say with a maniacal grin. I run my tongue over my bottom lip, letting drool pool over and drip as my brain conjures the most delicious meal I've ever had.

Jesse remains in his current spot, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. "What did you do to him?" His voice is steady, but a savory scent wafts past my nostrils, giving away an underlying emotion.

Fear.

I only grin wider.

"I ate him."

Shock registers as his eyes go as wide as saucers, his jaw nearly hitting the floor. "What did you just say?"

"I. Ate. Him." I mimic the same condescending tone Jesse used.

Jesse's nostrils flare. His chest rises and falls rapidly with barely concealed rage.

"And you know the best part? I ate him slowly. He was paralyzed by my venom, and I made sure to savor him. I made sure he felt every last tear of muscle and heard every crunch of his bones as I tore into his chest and ate his insides."

Jesse swallows, regaining some composure, and takes purposeful steps in my direction. "And I'm guessing your Hell beast of a boyfriend helped you with the clean-up? "

My bravado falters for a bit. It always does when Jesse brings up Nick, because as much as I don't care what this asshole has planned for me, I don't want those plans to involve Nick.

"He'll come for me," I say, if only to strike some fear into Jesse at the prospect of Nick's retaliation.

Instead, Jesse smiles and leans toward me. "Oh, believe me, I'm counting on that."

My face falls hearing those words, and panic clamps down in my chest at the thought of Nick being in danger while trying to rescue me.

Jesse misses the shift in my countenance as he gives me his back and once again heads for the exit. He pulls his cell phone out of his pants.

"She's all yours," he says, and then pockets his phone and leaves without another word.

The slide doors close with a foreboding click . I roll my neck out, the way my body hangs from the ceiling straining my back and shoulders. I should be more concerned with the call Jesse made, and what's in store for me. The tools laid out before me glint dangerously under the room's suspended lamps, and I shudder.

But the main reason for my fear is entirely because of Nick. Because we'd only just found each other again, and I can't lose him. A gut-wrenching thought hammers its way into my skull. What if this is what the Prophecy meant? What if the way I kill Nick is because he comes to my defense?

No. No. NO.

I spend the next ten minutes twisting and turning, bucking my body into exhaustion as I try to wrench myself free from the chains at my hands and feet. But it's no use, without my power, I'm helpless.

Let them fear you.

My head jerks up. That voice. I reach for it, reach down into that bottomless well within the dark recess of my soul, the place where I imprison my rage and my doubt. A place that hordes all the emotions I'm both too scared and too ashamed to feel.

Something flickers, an enticing ripple that has me reaching further. Just a little further…

And then the doors open, pulling me from the darkness.

Two men in white coats enter, though they move no further than the threshold. The doors close behind them, and they sit there, barely paying me any attention beyond disdainful grimaces as they discuss the most mundane topics like their golf scores last weekend.

The fuck?

Finally, the doors open again, and both men stiffen, their postures going rim rod straight. Acid swirls in my stomach, nausea building with every step the newcomer takes towards me. The newcomer that isn't new at all, but another betrayal, and one I should have seen coming. Every single thing that feels familiar in this lab does so because I've seen it all before. In her lab.

"No," I whisper, that same betrayal lancing painfully through my chest with every beat of my heart. More pieces click into the place the longer her granite gaze rests upon me. The unidentified masked woman in the classroom during Silas' little coup. Her precision with the syringe. Our weekly meetings where I poured my heart out, because her normal, sharp smile was warm. Welcoming. So that I would trust her.

"I'm sorry," Wilde says, her signature sharp smile absent, replaced by a hard mouth. "I had no choice." Then she turns to the two lackeys flanking the door. "Get her on the examination table. We have work to do."