Fury and Flame | 3

0 | 4

G I G I

      I held my hands over the fire, letting the warmth bathe over them and expel the coldness that made my body shake.

Neve and I had broken into a small house in the woods that appeared to have been abandoned for years, if the multitudes of cobwebs and dust were any indication. We weren't going to be here for long; we'd just needed somewhere to get out of the elements and lie low for a few days.

Benny had parted ways with us three days ago, having to leave for some urgent mission his deranged master was sending him on. Only a few days before that, we'd broken into some government faculty in the middle of the desert. Imperium agents had taken over the entire operation temporarily and stolen several types of weapons. I'd been forced to keep the workers in their places while they aided us, lowering their blood pressure when they dared to step out of line. Before Benny had left us, I'd snapped at him about how he wasn't keeping up his end of the bargain. But he'd assured me that the mission Orion was sending him on would be more than enough to compensate for our agreement.

But he'd left and Neve and I hadn't heard a word from him since. Though I did catch him and Neve having a very intense conversation as he was leaving, she didn't tell me any of it. I wouldn't have cared ordinarily, but I somehow got the feeling that I was involved in whatever they were saying.

Neve came into the living room wearing a strange expression on her face. Watching her in suspicion, I asked, "Is something wrong?" We were always in danger of being followed now so I was even more wary than usual.

"I have a contact inside Imperium that filled me in on everything that's happened in the past few days. We lost the Russian fortress to the ONNT and your old friends."

"You had a Russian fortress?" I asked, the question falling flat. Of course they did.

"We did. Not as large or mighty as the one in Romania, but still a threat. If they were able to destroy it..." But she never finished her thought, shaking her head slightly as if that could fill the silence.

"Is that it?" I questioned testily. "Because we haven't eaten in a day and a half, so I'll need to hunt something if we don't want to starve." Leaning down, I picked up my bow and the quiver of arrows the Imperium agents brought me before the raid.

"No, that's not all. There's something else."

I looked up at her, irritated when she trailed off without answering. "What is it?"

She regarded me with those glittering eyes for an annoyingly long time. "The answer...you might not like it."

"Tell me anyway."

"Alright." Neve spoke very carefully, like she was choosing every word as it came. "Before the Russian fortress fell, they were able to take one member of your crew back to the Romanian fortress as a captive."

After that, she looked at me expectantly and with a jolt, I realized what she was saying. "They took Delphinium?"

"Yes. It was no secret that Orion loved her the most out of all of us. He's wanted her back ever since she escaped his clutches. And now he has her."

"What is she doing there? Is he going to kill her?" The thought of Orion stealing my kill made anger flare up inside me, but I wasn't stupid enough to challenge him simply over Delphinium's life.

"No, she's not dead. He turned her into one of his own, somehow. No one knows exactly how he did it to her and Benton, but there are whispers of a brainwashing machine. One thing is for sure: she is not who she used to be. She's worse than dead now."