Sought(103)

“What’s going on?” she asked softly, looking into his eyes. This was the closest she’d ever been to him—the most he had ever touched her.

Without answering, Xairn carried her out of the ship and into a long concrete tunnel which appeared to be a hidden landing strip. Despite the tense expression on his face, he handled her gently—as though she might break if he wasn’t careful.

As they left the ship, panic gripped Lauren by the throat. “Where are you taking me?” she asked, struggling to keep her voice from wavering.

“To a holding cell.” His red-on-black eyes flickered to hers quickly and then away.

“But why?” Lauren begged. “This is the perfect opportunity—we can leave in the ship together. Just the two of us.”

“Do you think that scenario didn’t cross my mind?” he demanded in a low voice. “Unfortunately, it crossed my father’s mind as well. He has the control wand in his possession. I cannot start or steer the ship without it.”

Despite the bad news that the AllFather had the key to the ship, Lauren felt encouraged. At least Xairn had admitted wanting to take her away—or at least admitted to thinking about it. That was a definite start. “What are we going to do, then?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Stop talking—these hallways are monitored.”

Lauren was obediently silent as he nudged a button which opened a huge set of double doors that looked like they were made of some kind of metal alloy. The doors swung open silently, revealing a long central corridor with many smaller hallways leading off from it on either side.

Xairn stepped inside and the doors swung shut behind them with a finality that had the panic clawing at her throat again. Lauren refused to give in to the fear. Have to keep calm. Keep my head and trust that he wants me enough to keep me from his father. To keep him from… She cut off that line of thought abruptly and rode silently in Xairn’s arms as he walked down the long hallway, his boots echoing in the empty space.

Lauren supposed she could have walked by now—her legs felt fine. But she didn’t want to. The echoing, empty corridor was creepy—like some kind of a ghost town—and most of the smaller hallways leading off from it were dark and filled with shadows. The air was musty and foul and the few light panels that were on overhead flickered as though they might decide to go out at any time. It was like Xairn was carrying her into a haunted house—one she desperately wanted to escape from. But the man bringing her into it was her only hope of getting out again alive, so she clung to him for dear life.

At last they came to a slightly larger hallway branching off from the main one at an oblique angle. It was blocked by a set of metal doors exactly like the ones that had led into the building in the first place, only smaller. Xairn stopped and nudged a black button which caused the doors to slide silently into the wall, revealing a dimly lit space filled with glass doors and strange equipment.

“What is this place?” Lauren breathed, forgetting she wasn’t supposed to talk.

Xairn closed the door behind them before answering. “The medical wing. We can speak here. This wing is shielded from the rest of the Complex.”

“The medical wing?” she asked.

Xairn nodded. Where my father and his chief medical officers used to perform… experiments.”

“Experiments? What kind of experiments?” Lauren shivered as she looked around. There were several glassed in rooms—some were bare but one was set up like an operating theater. But the instruments that lay scattered on the floor and the exam table were strange and brutal. Saws with jagged teeth, long, thin picks with razor sharp points at their ends, something that looked like stainless steel barbed wire unwound in a lethal, shining line across the glassy red floor…

“What kind do you think?” Xairn said in a low voice.

Lauren felt sick. “Torture—my God, they tortured people here, didn’t they?” The fear she’d been trying to hold back suddenly grabbed her by the throat and she couldn’t breathe. “Oh please, Xairn. Please, no,” she whispered in a low, trembling voice. Clinging to him desperately, she buried her face in his neck. “Please…please don’t hurt me.”

“You think I brought you here to torture you?” he demanded hoarsely. “To take pleasure in your pain?”

“I…I don’t know.” The tears were coming now, hot and fast and there was nothing she could do to stop them. “Please, Xairn, please…”

“I won’t hurt you,” he said roughly. “Lauren, look at me.”