Page 28 of Rescuing Air

“You... you set us up?” I demanded.

“Perhaps I was wrong and you are as dumb as you seem. Yes, Parker, I set you up, but I didn’t know who would go to the meeting, so I had a team watching the hotel as well to take action once the bomb went off.”

“All those innocent people you killed!” I yelled, shooting up out of my chair. “Have you always been this coldhearted and fooled all of us for so long? God knows you’ve never shown Jay or his mother any love or kindness, so my money’s on the fact you’ve always been a bastard.”

Makoto slowly stood and met my gaze. “Sit. Down.”

“Really, and what’s going to happen if I say no? Are you going to kill me? Well, if the Dark Lord wins, we’re all going to be dead as it is, so why not speed up the process?” I challenged, feeling reckless.

“Kill you—no, that would be too simple. I would just torture Lailah in front of you so she knew that you were the reason it was happening. How do you think she would feel, knowing you once again betrayed her?”

Holy shit, Makoto wasn’t fucking around. The look in his eye told me he would enjoy every moment of doing it too. Not breaking my gaze with his, I sat back down as I clenched my jaw, hating every second of bending to his will.

“The six of you are too soft.” Makoto huffed. “What does it matter what she thinks of you? Didn’t she kick you out of the house, rejecting you completely? The only reason they have you with them now is to use you. They all know they can’t beat the Dark Lord without you. Why protect them? They’ve always hated you. Help me deal with them and the Dark Lord will find a place for you in the new world. Your gift of emotional and physical manipulation is something he finds valuable.”

“I’m sorry, I think the drugs you gave me have rattled my brain. Did you just ask me to betray Lailah and the others?” I asked, wishing I had my hands free to check to make sure I was really awake right now.

“That is exactly what I said,” Makoto confirmed. “The only reason we’re having this conversation right now is because you are free from her hold. The Dark Lord will win this battle now that I have all six of you secure on base. No one can get out of this place, though many have tried. It was built to be the starting grounds to the Dark Lord’s army.”

There was so much wrong with that statement I didn’t even know where to begin. Makoto was never looking for the Dark Lord’s army because he was one of the people in charge of it. No wonder the Elementi were always two steps behind everything and getting into trouble at every turn. Makoto gave them a direct feed of information about us. Clearly, he didn’t have the same grasp in Wisconsin because we didn’t have any staff and connected with the other headquarters that didn’t use him the same way. Here on the eastern side of the world, he could manipulate everything. Must have been why he dragged us out of the US and onto his turf.

“If I said yes, what would you need from me?” I asked, trying to understand what else Makoto wanted.

Makoto narrowed his eyes at me as if he didn’t really believe that I would help him. I didn’t know what he was looking for in my expression but he grunted and sat back in his chair. “I want to know what makes Synergy so special. What it is that the angels thought to create that would destroy someone like the Dark Lord. From what I’ve seen so far, there’s no way it could happen. The girl only has close-range defensive skills. Sure, she can purge a demon from a human body but it kills the human in the end. None of that could stop the Dark Lord from doing what he wanted, so there must be something else that only activates with the other knights. I can’t trust any of the others to show me her skills. They would use them to try and escape or kill me. You, on the other hand, owe them nothing.”

“So you keep reminding me,” I muttered.

“Only because it seems like you keep holding out hope that she will take you back and forgive you. I wish to keep you from falling into that lie when there is another option that doesn’t end in death. A smart man would look at the big picture and choose the winning team. Are you a smart man, Parker?” Makoto asked, folding his hands in his lap, waiting for an answer.

My mind raced with how I could play this to my advantage and what I kept coming back to was that I had to say yes. Lailah was the only person who could end all this, so if I could get her free, the Dark Lord would know he wasn’t safe. No one knew the truth of what she could do, not even us, if I was being honest. Hell, she didn’t even know, but the angels had come to tell her that she wasn’t scratching the surface of what she could do. If this was the way I could help her and the others, then fuck it, I’d lie the best I knew how. If Makoto found out I was playing him, I’d absolutely die, but that was a risk I was willing to make for the woman I loved and the men who were important to her.

“You’re right,” I stated. “No matter what I do, she won’t ever forgive me. I’ve groveled enough and my knees are getting sore from crawling back into her favor. That’s not even touching how the guys feel about things. Micah would gladly see me dead while the others would just watch, believing I deserved it. I’ll do what you need me to as long as you promise me that I won’t end up on the chopping block next to them.”

Makoto smiled, then stood, walking around to uncuff me. He motioned for my hand, which I held out to him. Before I could even react, he took a small knife out of his sleeve and sliced my palm before chanting a string of words I’d never heard before. The cut burned, and a symbol was branded into my skin from the blood that pooled there. “You’ve just made a pact with the devil. Break it and you will lose your life. This is the only way to make sure you don’t back out of the deal, Parker. Show your loyalty to the cause and you will reap your reward.”

I was so fucked.

seventeen

Lailah

After the fight with the demon, I was brought back to my cell. This time there was a thin mattress on the bed, along with a tray with a sandwich and a water bottle on it. Seems they didn’t want to kill me right away like I thought. I guess Makoto wasn’t lying about that. Gingerly, I sat on the bed, not feeling confident that it would hold me with how janky the springs looked. With a loud groan of protest at my weight, it held. Looking at the sandwich, I couldn’t remember the last time I ate and my stomach growled in excitement. It was a simple peanut butter and jelly. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised they didn’t want to put in much effort. Wolfing it down, I chugged the water as the peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth.

A guard passed by and tossed a thin blanket through the bars before moving on. With no windows in the building, or at least the sections I’d been in, I had no idea what time it was or how long I’d been here. Getting to my feet, I grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around myself, trying to keep from falling apart. Curled up in a ball on the bed, I stared at the small sink’s faucet as it dripped, trying not to fall asleep. I knew the moment I closed my eyes that the nightmares would be waiting for me and this time, I was on my own to deal with them. None of the guys would wrap me up in their arms and tell me it was alright, and that I was safe with them. Worse yet, the Dark Lord could try to kill me again now that I was separated from the only people who could save me.

No matter how hard I tried to fight it, my eyes shut, and I was pulled into the darkness...

“Little Synergy,” the Dark Lord purred. “Did you really think you could win? The angels were foolhardy in thinking a mere human, even with powers, could beat me. Now I have you trapped and alone, waiting for the day of judgment. You picked the wrong side, and that is a choice you’re going to have to live with until your last breath. Those men of yours are being tortured for information about you, the Elementi, and anything else I feel like knowing. You did this to them. If they hadn’t sided with you, binding their lives to yours, I could have found a use for them. Now, it’s just a waste.”

No, it couldn’t be true. I shouldn’t trust anything he had to say. Demons lie and manipulate, that was how they gained power in the world, but something in the pit of my stomach questioned if he might be telling me the truth.

“You have me, why bother with them?” I asked, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

The Dark Lord laughed. “Because you rejected my offer. I’m one of the Princes of Hell. No one throws my generosity in my face. This is all to teach you a lesson and perhaps give you a glimpse of what your life will be like once the angels forsake you, sending you to Hell for all of eternity. There’s no way they would accept you into Heaven after failing to save mankind, those made in the image of God.”

“Is there anything I can do to save them?” I begged, feeling hot tears trailing down my face.

“You could take the coward’s way out and kill yourself, taking that joy from me I suppose,” the Dark Lord mused. “Truly though, you’ve lost your chance to bargain and now you have to live with that.”