Defiant: Quantic Dreams Book 2 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (reading list txt) 📗

virus so far. There was still a chance that they were infected, but it was clear that her wife’s illness had sapped her energy. I invited her to sit next to me for a while. We didn’t speak. I simply took her hand in mine and let her take a break from her burden for a while. Whereas Marcus had become harder and stronger, Eliza had softened. It was one of the strangest things about being human. We are uniquely gifted with the knowledge of our own mortality, yet we are always surprised when faced with the fact that we won’t be here forever. The same goes for our chosen mates. Swearing ‘to death do us part’ never really means that. We figure that our marriages are forever. I didn’t need to tell Eliza that I knew how she felt. She knew how Fiona’s mother died. Sharing the sympathy of someone else who knew what it was like was enough. I told her to give Fiona my love, and reassured her that I would be up on my feet in no time. Every time she tried to bring up Gabriel’s takeover of the shelter I hushed her.

“I’m on it.”

She laughed then, a deep belly laugh that reverberated throughout the infirmary before she clamped her hand over her mouth.

“Of course you are.” She grinned. “You’re in your golden years, got the shit kicked out of you, and nearly lit yourself on fire, but don’t worry, you’re on it.”

“I’m still breathing, aren’t I?”

“That you are, Jacob. That you are. Just make sure you stay that way long enough to see your daughter, okay? Fiona’s going to kill me if I let you die.”

“I’ll try.”

Late that night I received a visit from Gabriel. It was well past lights out and the few other patients staying with me were gently snoring. I was just drifting off myself when the curtain to my bed whisked back. I could see his hulking form in the dim light as he stared at me, unblinking.

“Couldn’t even kill yourself properly, could you.” His voice was a low rumble, barely loud enough for me to hear.

“What can I say.” A low level anxiety thrummed through me. There was nothing I could do, or say, to raise the alarm fast enough to save me now. The truth was, there wasn’t a lot he could do to me. Or so I thought. Surely the sounds of my choking would be heard by the other patients or the doctor and someone would come running…right?

“You’re too late, you know. Your ‘near death’ experience outside has only helped to convince these people that they were better off under my care.”

“Mhmm.” I tried my best to arrange my face into studied nonchalance. Act too frightened and it would only piss him off. Call his bluff and, well, there was a very real chance I wasn’t going to make it through the night.

“Those burns look nasty.”

“Could be worse, I guess.” I shrugged my shoulders. The treatments the medical team had been giving me over the past couple of days had worked wonders. I was nowhere near fully healed but it no longer felt as if my body was constantly on fire. That plus a steady diet of painkillers and I was even able to sit up in bed and read. Surely I was the strongest lion in the jungle. Or the most geriatric.

“Thanks to the outbreak you brought into this place, my plans to reconnect everyone to the virtual world have been…delayed. I thought about just working you meatbags until you dropped, but that wouldn’t make me a very popular leader. Plus, people seem to be doing a fine job of shuffling off the mortal coil by themselves. The stink of it is something else, though. It’s funny how weak you organics are.”

“I’m sure. Want me to sneeze on you and you can experience it personally?”

A tiger’s grin in the darkness. Bared teeth that sent a chill down my spine. Gabriel might have been able to fool others, but it was clear to me that he was insane. If my life hadn’t been in immediate danger I might have felt pity for him. “So, so cocky. Right until the very end, Jacob Alvaro. Do you know what the first thing I’m going to do is when I have the pods operational again?”

“I don’t know asshole, dance a jig?” The gangster routine was beyond stale now. Just kill me and get it over with.

“You’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes, surely you remember this then. I’m going to burn you, Jacob. I’m going to burn the heart out of you. I’m going to take everything you hold dear and take it from you. Piece by piece. And then I’ll step back, and let you fall.”

“Every fairy tale needs a good old fashioned villain.”

He chuckled darkly. “Precisely.”

“I do look forward to that Gabriel but if you’d be so kind, I’d like to go to sleep. It’s late.”

“Of course, you need your rest,” he tutted. He reached one massive paw forward and ruffled my hair before trailing his fingers down my arm. He ripped the IV line out of my hand and I hissed as blood started spurting from the site. “Sweet dreams.” He turned but before he could leave I worked up what little spit I could and spat at him. The spittle hit the back of his head and he stopped cold, wiping the spot off with a hand. I expected another threat, or at the very least a biting quip, but he simply walked away. The gauntlet had been thrown. Let the games begin.

Chapter Twenty-Three

I slept like a dead man and was rudely awoken by the prick of a needle in my forearm.

“Hey!” I yanked my arm away but the thief had already filled a syringe with fresh blood.

“Hush, you great big idiot.” I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and saw the bedraggled form of Phoebe Rickman at my side. “It’s only blood. You’ve got