Lightning Bringer: (Lighting Seeker Book 2)

The Only House that Matters

Being tasered was a dreadful way to blackout. Vale had felt the power of electricity before. When her arm failed to protect her from its power, when her metal shoulder had been tugged away from her skin, leaving her vulnerable. 

The metal arm that Mortem had made was a conductor of it, laced with a few upgrades from Sky that kept her safe while she bent the lightning to her will. But being tasered with a spear that pierced one's side seemed highly unfair. It made it impossible for the arm to do its job, to keep her safe from crumbling under the power of the snarling beast.

Pain ripped through her body, forcing a scream that hardly sounded like hers before her vision blurred, the bright crackling power blinding everything until blackness washed everything out of sight.

...

Water. That was the first thing Vale noticed as her fingers brushed against a delicate surface. Am I back in the water? I need to find Dash. Her eyes were unfocused as she opened them but after a moment, she jolted to a sitting position. She wasn't outside. She wasn't in the water.

Memories came seeping back.

I was on the bridge... surrounded by AI.

Her vision began to clear.

I pushed Dash over the ledge... praying he had the common sense to get on the hoverboard and run. He won't have the common sense to run though. She knew that.

The room she sat in was cold, in color and temperature.

Vale remembered the AI's taking her down and pulling her into darkness. But the room she was in now was an odd contrast to the scene she had just remembered. Looking down, she found herself sitting on a bed, her fingers tangled in silk sheets. The feeling of water, she realized.

She scrambled from the bed, the feeling of something so soft felt like fire against her skin after spending months with Mortem and the others, hiding and fighting for a better life. The bed was an exorbitant luxury that felt like a slap in the face. Something she wasn't comfortable with and made her far more terrified than a pair of cuffs would have made her feel. A type of prison she understood. For that what the room had to be, a prison in disguise.

The room was filled with deep purple tones, from the duvet cover to the frilly curtains and drapery hanging along the cherry red canopy bed with flowers carved into every possible surface. A garish chandelier hung in the center of the room sending sparks of rainbow light across the dark marble floor. This place looks like Ace's fashion style threw up in here.

Vale walked to a large window along the far wall and discovered a balcony. The doors to the balcony were unlocked but she stopped herself from moving outside. She needed out, not a view. Vale didn't understand how she was in this girly room but the lack of human touch scared her.

Moving to the door, she found it unlocked. Hesitating, she took a breath and walked through it. A deep red plush carpet filled the wide hallway, long sconces lined the walls. The door to the room she had been in was at the end of the hall, making her direction choice easy. She saw paintings along the walls as she moved. People posed in stiff positions with firm jaws as they all but glared at the painters who captured a cold stone likeness of them.

Vale shivered as she walked, rolling her metal arm into a fist in a self-soothing motion, knowing she may need it to find her way to freedom, to tear the AI's apart the way they threatened to take apart her world, forcing a life onto others that wasn't their right to do.

I will find my way back to the others.

As she turned, she stumbled into a large hall. Large pillars of marble surrounded the round room like greek and roman temples of old. Probably dragged these pillars here as trophies, Vale thought. She moved into the center of the grand room, her body coming into a pool of golden light. A round skylight filled the cool marble room with warmth. She took a moment to allow it to wrap around her before she scanned the room, looking for a clear way out.

If Dash were here we'd just jet out through the skylight-. Guilt ripped through her. The shock on his face as she pushed him over the ledge. The hurt that flashed through his eyes when she told him he couldn't hide who he was. When she called him by a name that he had fought so hard to erase. She wondered if he was okay if he'd forgive her. She knew he'd have a few words for her when she saw him again.

I hope he's okay.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a cold voice filling the room. "Miss Vale Vita." Vale turned towards the voice, her metal arm growing into a long sharp sword. Her eyes found someone standing in shadow on a balcony above her. She hadn't seen the person earlier.

"Ah yes, I've heard you like to strike first." The person moved to stand in the light, the sight of him sent a chill down Vale's spine. "Shame that such a pretty face has such dreadful manners."

Vale finally found her voice, speaking slowly, pronouncing every syllable with care to make sure her voice was steady. "Who are you? Where am I?"

A sharp grin appeared along his ghostly pale lips. "I thought you would have pieced it together by now my dear." He held out his arms, a well-tailored blue suit with black cufflinks hit at his wrists, his long boney fingers held up in a grand gesture. "Welcome to House Devinus. The only house that matters." 

She stared at the man, hating the similarities she saw. Sky and Dash's grandfather. His eyes were mirrors of Sky's. Two twin horizons of clear blue. A strong jaw that matched Dash's. 

Vale was puzzled by the interaction. He was with the most powerful man in the world, the man responsible for the AI virus that was now threatening everyone she loved. And yet, he was alone with her and her arm that could slice him to ribbons. She did her best to hold back a snort, completely thrown by the entire situation. Is he insane? 

She was unaccustomed to being with an enemy who seemed so unterrified or who hadn't brought an entire arsenal or army with them and he was far more important than any enemy she encountered. Vale clenched her teeth as realization dawned on her.

No. He's no fool. He doesn't need to be afraid. I'm locked in this place, surrounded by AI tech that can destroy me before I take a step towards him. He has no reason to fear my arm, or what I stand for, or what I can do.

Vale stared up at him, quiet for a long moment, pushing away the chill that trailed her spine at the calculating look on his face. One thin, sharp eyebrow raised in appraisal as he took her in like a specimen to be broken down and rebuilt. He had raised Sky and pushed his eldest daughter right into the arms of Dash's father and into the rebellion. Vale knew better than to assume he didn't know who she was and who she ran with. 

"Plenty of places matter in this world," Vale blurted out before she could stop herself. 

The man's eyes narrowed, all evidence of a smile gone, replaced by a dark look. His eyes seemed calm, but Vale didn't trust the calm. It was a front. Something seen right before a storm that ripped through ships, a flurry right before a blizzard, a glisten right before a knife pierced a heart. 

She was a daughter of the rebellion. The Lightning Bringer. She brought chaos into rooms, people to the cause, and destroyed more AI's than any other person she knew, outranking Mortem which had made him bristle, even if he seemed somewhat impressed when he heard. 

And now she stood in the heart of everything she was against, more terrified than brave and doing her best to keep the terror off her face. She knew better than to assume he wouldn't have her killed on the spot if she didn't behave, or even breathe the way he wanted her to. She had never felt so outnumbered, outgunned. 

She felt like the girl who had run away from home in search of adventure, a girl who had read books and craved to practice what they taught. The man before her made her feel small, silly, and nothing like the warrior she knew she was. With one look, he made her question everything about herself, and suddenly she understood why Dash's mother had run. This place, although grand, was a gilded cage. A place where people were broken and beat into submission. And she had become their newest prisoner.