Refuge(156)

“Where on earth did you get drex venom?” Celine asked.

“They keep a lot of venoms in the medical ward for making antidotes,” Michael said, and I shivered to think of what other poisons he could have used on me. It was a miracle I was still alive.

“What else did you do?”

Michael cowered from the barely contained fury in Nikolas’s voice, and it took him several minutes to answer. “I-I let the hellhounds out so they would scare her. I did it when there were lots of warriors around to keep her from getting hurt.”

“How did you do that without anyone seeing you?” Tristan asked calmly, shooting Nikolas a look that said “let me handle this.”

“They let me hang out in the control room sometimes, and I saw Ben entering in his security code when he was on duty. After that, it was easy to log on from my laptop.”

While everyone digested how easily a fifteen-year-old computer nerd had broken into their top-notch security system, I thought of something else. “You set the karks on me, didn’t you?”

“I sprayed some scarab demon pheromone on you. I used just a drop to get them worked up. I had no idea they’d go nuts like that.”

I threw up my hands. “I don’t get it. The vampires wanted me dead and you had so many chances to finish me off. Why didn’t you just kill me and be done with it?”

He recoiled as if I’d slapped him. “I couldn’t do that. I never wanted to hurt you at all. I just wanted you to leave so they would see I did what they asked me and let Matthew go. And they said they wanted you alive.”

“So after all that, they suddenly decided to come here to get me themselves. Why?”

He looked away again, and his chest rose as he took a deep breath. “They asked about your uncle . . . and I told them he was human again. They wanted to know how, but I didn’t know how it happened. That’s when they told me I had to bring you to them or Matthew would die.”

They know what I can do. A fist-sized lump of ice formed in my stomach. It was no wonder they were desperate enough to attack a Mohiri stronghold.

Tristan walked over to stand beside me. “How did you make contact with them in the first place?”

Michael swallowed hard. “I was on a forum where you look for missing people. I posted about Matthew a bunch of times, and a month ago, someone contacted me. They said if I helped them, they would tell me where to find Matthew.”

“Oh, Michael.” I knew the kind of message board he was talking about. It wasn’t a normal missing persons website. The people on there were looking for family and friends who they believed were taken by aliens or something supernatural. I’d used them myself when I was looking for a sign of Madeline’s whereabouts.

He shook his head fervently. “You don’t understand. They sent me pictures of him. He’s alive.”

The denial in his eyes tore at my heart. “If you posted an old picture of Matthew, it would be easy for them to find someone who looks like he would today.”

“You’re wrong! You think I don’t know my own twin?” He twisted his fingers in the blanket. “I failed him.”

I glanced helplessly at Tristan. “Michael, you see now that the vampires were using you, right? They never had Matthew.”

“You’re wrong!” he yelled, getting agitated. “I saw him. I talked to him.”

“They tricked you.”

“No!” Michael’s eyes blazed and for the first time, I saw the madness in them. “He’s alive and now he’s going to die because I couldn’t give them you.” His screams grew louder, and he began to thrash wildly in his restraints. His sweet face suddenly twisted into one I didn’t recognize. “This is all your fault. Why couldn’t you just leave? You killed him, Sara! You killed my brother.”

I put my hands over my mouth and backed away from the bed as two healers ran into the room. One held Michael down while the other injected him with a sedative. The powerful drug kicked in quickly and soon the only sound in the room was my ragged breathing. Nikolas made a move toward me, but I shook my head.

“What will you do with him now?” I asked Tristan.

Tristan looked at me with eyes full of sorrow. “We have a facility in Mumbai where they’ve had some success rehabilitating some of the older orphans we’ve found. I’ll contact Janek and have him take Michael there.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Sara, what he said . . . ”

“He’s delusional, I know.” Michael’s outburst had hurt, but not because I believed him when he said it was my fault. It hurt me to see how much pain he was in.