Taurus(The Zodiac Twin Flame Series)(28)

‘Taurus … ' She breathed my name.

‘Taurus!' Aries shouted from the kitchen. I smiled as I pulled away from Kerry. I had to sort Nick out before I spoke to her. I wasn't sure if she wanted me, but it didn't matter. I would let her know-

‘Come on!' Aries was his usual patient self.

I laughed when Kerry rolled her eyes and gestured with her head to go.

‘Can we talk later?' I asked.

She rubbed her lips together as a smile curved the corners of her mouth. ‘Yes,' she said, stepping to one side, allowing me to pass.                       
       
           


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‘Taurus?' she called.

I turned back to her. She held out the plastic bag that contained the drug stuff. I took it from her, nodding my thanks and winking as I left her to it.

‘What's that?' Aries asked as I joined him on the top step outside the front door.

‘My old life,' I said, jogging down and throwing the bag in the bin.

Aries' eyebrows rose as he watched me. ‘I'm impressed.'

‘I'm ready,' I announced.

Aries slapped my back as I went to walk away from him.

‘I don't like that you're doing this alone,' he said.

I froze. I didn't turn to look at him. I couldn't. My throat tightened at his concern. He hadn't shown this much interest in me, ever. The fact that he was concerned was … touching. Which was not a word I often used in my vocabulary.

‘I'll be fine. Just be on standby and keep Kerry safe.'

‘Kerry? Taurus, is she-?'

He fell quiet when I glanced over my shoulder at him. His eyes widened as he slowly nodded. I couldn't help the goofy grin that came to my face.

‘Good luck,' he called when I sprinted off.

The house where I met Nick was a bus drive away. I didn't want to walk across London, so I hopped on a bus as soon as I could find one. The doors whooshed shut behind me as I found a seat near the front.

‘It's been awhile,' a voice said into my ear.

I turned my head to see one of Nick's men sitting behind me. How had I not seen him?

‘I've not been well,' I lied, ignoring the glare of the old man beside me. ‘It's convenient that you're on the bus when I got on.'

The burly man smirked. ‘I'm afraid it is purely coincidence. Are you on your way to see Nick?'

My body shuddered involuntary. The man was talking to me as if I was on good terms with him. He trusted that my drug habits would keep me in line with Nick and his men. How had Nick brainwashed them into being part of his group?

‘Yes,' I replied, not wanting to get too comfortable talking to the man.

‘He is in residence today. He's been waiting for you to return.'

‘What is he, the bloody queen?' I replied, chuckling.

The man barked a laugh, which made me laugh harder. He was only human after all. His persona gave me the impression that Nick had messed with their heads, but maybe they actually believed in his cause.

‘How did you start working for Nick?' I asked him.

The old man next to me grunted. He creaked to a stand as he got ready to get off the bus. My new friend swung from the seat behind and landed in the seat next to me.

‘My father was in the group. He met Nick a long time ago. He taught me that you were terrorists. We can't have people like you around. Although, you seem all right.'

I blinked rapidly. Terrorists? Nick brainwashed them into believing we were terrorists? How incredibly stupid could they be to believe him?

‘The Zodiacs are well known by the Dysfunctionals. You seem to think you're all we care about, though. You're not the only people in the world with a mission.'

Interesting words. The man could tell me everything I needed to know about Nick. Our stop wasn't far ahead, so I asked the one question that had been bugging me since I had last seen his leader.

‘What is so wrong with falling in love with a soulmate?'

I wanted to know why he believed it was wrong. Not why Nick did.

‘How would souls expand if everything was love and light? We get stronger when we are faced with tough lessons.'

I couldn't tell whether his words were rehearsed.

‘But surely we wouldn't expand if we didn't fall in love?'

He tutted and shook his head as the bus came to a stop. We climbed off and walked towards the street that held my enemy.

‘Falling in love is okay. As long as it's not with your twin flame.'

The man was taller than me, but he was roughly the same age. Most of Nick's men were younger for some reason. Were they easier to persuade? Did he bribe them?

‘Why?'

He chuckled as we entered the street we needed. ‘Because when twin flames unite, nothing can separate them. They live long happy lives together and have children that make a difference in the world.' His face screwed up as he spoke.

It would explain why Nick left Aries and Pisces alone and focused his efforts on those of us that hadn't united with our soulmate. Negativity breeds negativity. It was like most wars in history. One person believed something so strongly that their conviction persuaded others to believe them. Religion had created many wars. Men wanted power. They craved it because they felt the need to control their environment. Even women were taking on that masculine role.                       
       
           


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‘The world would be a much better place if people like Nick weren't determined to bring everyone down. Just because he lost someone a long time ago, doesn't mean that everyone shouldn't experience love.'

I stayed calm. Heat pulsed through my veins as I thought about the pain and suffering Nick and his men wanted to cause. All because some woman had hurt him.

‘If you think that's the only reason he does what he does, you're even more naive than I thought,' he said, falling back and allowing me to go first as we reached the door.

No matter how hard I tried to find the answers, more questions cropped up. Life was a school for learning. That's what Kerry had said once over the last two weeks. I hadn't listened at the time, but maybe she was right.

‘Taurus! It's good to see you,' Nick greeted as I was led into the kitchen.

The table was laid ready for a trip down memory lane. My hands clenched into fists at the slight temptation. The pull was subtle, but it was there. I lowered myself into a seat, making sure to avoid looking at the open bag in front of me.

‘Where have you been?'

Nick's grey eyes were bright. He was happy that I was there. The man seemed lonely. As I sat and watched him take out a baggie and start to cut out a line with a credit card, I felt sorry for him. His life was consumed with hatred for people he didn't even know.

‘I've been a little … occupied.'

His hand froze in mid-air. His eyes flicked to me as I stared at him. His back went straight when I reached between us and pulled the whole bag of drugs to me.

‘I've missed this, though,' I said, plastering a smile on my face.

His shoulders relaxed as he bent to snort the white powder up his nose. He trusted me for some reason. Maybe he relied on my addiction to make me pliable.

‘I was getting over Sophie. It's hard.'

He narrowed his eyes, glancing down at my hands when I ripped open a baggie. I poured the powder onto the table, creating a dust cloud to rise. His Adam's apple moved when I bent down to the table surface.

‘Well … she had to go. You know my mission is important to me. I respect you, but I can't let you unite with your twin flame.'

His eyelids started to droop. He gestured at the mess in front of me. I sat up straight, leaning away from the drug that wanted to crawl up my nose.

‘How do you know when someone is a twin flame?'

He stretched his eyes open and tried to focus on me. ‘Take the drug. I'll show you.'

‘Tell me!' I said as he started to slump towards the table.

His eyes grew wide. He had finally sussed that I wasn't going to snort the powder. He struggled to push himself up by grabbing the table, but the drug had taken control of him.

‘I … don't know anymore,' he admitted as his eyes closed and he passed out on the table.

Nick's men waited in the hallway. I didn't have long before they would figure out that something was wrong. Any movement I made had to be silent. I hadn't expected my plan to work out quite so well.

We couldn't kill Nick, but we could send a message. We wouldn't go down without a fight. Nick had chased us through many lifetimes. We didn't remember them clearly, but we were sick of fighting. Our loved ones had been killed. Our lives had been ruined. Over and over. Nick had lost his love once, hundreds of years ago. We had lost ours hundreds of times. Because of him.

‘I'm sorry, Nick,' I whispered, reaching into my pocket and taking out a funky looking syringe. ‘But we're going to put up the biggest fight you've ever seen.'

I popped off the lid, revealing the thick sharp silver needle. Father had pulled some sort of favour to come up with the device that would change the war forever. Nick's head leant on the table surface. His mouth was open and dribble already formed at the corner of his lip. I stood, not having to worry about the scrape of my chair. I had made sure not to tuck it in.