Curious, Drake allowed his power to seek out her mind, but the pain became too much and he pulled back.
The Seeker frowned slightly. "I thought you would be pleased. After all, is this not the girl who tormented you throughout high school? Now she will never harm you again."
Drake and Sam linked together and reached for the Seeker's mind, but they hit an impenetrable wall.
"Your powers will not work on me. And now, your powers will not work at all."
Drake's heart pounded against his chest. He reached for Sam's mind, but found nothing. He couldn't compel or seek the mind of anyone. One look at Sam proved she had lost her powers as well.
Drake stood and cocked his gun. The Seeker nodded, and Mary cat-walked over to Drake. Heat exploded in his body, every muscle and nerve ending crackling with awareness. The room zeroed in on Mary, her smell and heat and the expectation of her touch.
"No! I won't be seduced by you." Drake turned the gun toward Mary, but Sam kicked it out of his hand.
Tears clogged up her throat. "You can't kill her. She's only acting on his command."
Drake gaped at Sam, shocked that she'd just disarmed him of the one weapon they had against the Seeker. Rage exploded in him. He pushed Mary out of the way and charged at the Seeker, bent on beating him until he could never hurt another soul again.
Before he could move two feet, the Seeker tore through his mind until all Drake could experience was pain.
Never-ending pain.
Chapter 50 – Lucy
The nurse handed Lucy a bottle of pills. "Take one every four to five hours as needed for pain. Come back in if you notice any puss or infection forming around the wound, or if the pain spikes suddenly or the stitches tear. Do you have any questions?"
Lucy shook her head. "No. Thanks."
She stuck the pills in her backpack and brushed her finger against the metallic sphere. The gentle thrum of energy filled her and eased the pain in her shoulder better than any medication could.
At least a dozen students filled the waiting room as Lucy made her way to the front door. Most of them had sought treatment for some kind of injury after a run-in with the guards from the night before. Lucy reflected on her conversation with the Seeker and wanted to talk to Luke about it. While the Seeker's rhetoric made sense, the reality was less convincing.
Before Lucy reached the door, Mr. Black entered alongside a young girl on a stretcher. He held her disfigured hand with such gentleness that Lucy had to follow him to learn more.
After all, know thine enemy is a basic tenant of the art of war, is it not?
Mr. Black spoke to a doctor. "I need her closer to me in these final stages. The other hospital said she might not last more than a few weeks. You have to buy her some time."
"We can make no guarantees. I've never seen anyone recover from such severe degeneration."
"Just keep her alive for as long as you can, okay? She's all I have, and I won't give up my little girl without a fight."
The knowledge that Mr. Black had a daughter startled Lucy. Of course he had parents—did they know what evil they'd spawned—but a wife and child? That required empathy, compassion, and some capacity to love, none of which Mr. Black seemed to possess. Yet this young girl, with her beautiful and disfigured form, argued otherwise.
As if she didn't have enough conflicting thoughts, now she had to factor in a human Mr. Black, one who hadn't been spewed out of hell—a demon in human form.
The doors to the private clinic swung closed, and Mr. Black and his daughter disappeared.
Lucy left the hospital and immediately ran into Luke and Gary.
Luke embraced her in a gentle bear hug that avoided her shoulder and arm, which hung in a sling for protection. At least it was her left arm. "I'm so glad you're okay. How did you escape the Seeker?"
"He let me go. He wasn't that bad, actually."
Both guys looked at her like goldfish with their mouths agape.
"Don't look at me like that. You weren't there. I'm just saying there's a lot we don't know about what's going on."
Gary swatted the air as if to make her words go away. "I don't care about any of that. We have to get out of here. Now's the time to try again. We can get out, no problem, as long as the Seeker isn't around to block our powers. If we move fast, we're free."
"I don't know, guys. I'm still in a lot of pain, and I can't help but think that we're partly to blame for all this. If we didn't keep pushing the boundaries, they wouldn't have to get so strict. Maybe things will get better if we just chill for a while and see what happens. Luke and I won't be going on assignment, or to any breeding facility, and the Seeker has promised to come clean with all their plans soon. We just need to give them a reason to trust us."