Jivaja (Soul Cavern Series Book 1) Read online

  “What is it?” Alicia asked.

  “Ray.”

  “He’s dead.” Alicia’s voice had a resigned tone.

  Mecca only nodded.

  Emilia had tried to portray herself and her kind as people with their own agendas and strange needs, but just trying to get along. No danger to humans. Controlled.

  But this sort of sport—this sort of game—they played with humans as prey. Prey. Worse than a horror movie: there was no guarantee anyone would survive in the end.

  Blood rushed to her face. She curled her hands into tight fists. Even if she had been considering Emilia’s offer before, this experience showed Mecca the true nature of the Visci and of the beautiful but deadly woman.

  “I can't look at him.”

  When Mecca turned around, she found Alicia had shifted and now faced the rest of the group. Ghostly faces looked at her, pale and washed out. The entire group fidgeted, some shifting from foot to foot, as if ready to run, others wringing their hand. One woman had all the fingertips of her right hand in her mouth, gnawing on the nails.

  “I don’t want to see him,” Alicia repeated. “I can’t.”

  “There’s no other way to go.” Mecca’s heart dropped into her belly. They were never going to make it out of here alive. “We’re close. We’re almost there. We have to keep moving.”

  Alicia’s shoulders and chest rose as she took a hitching breath. When she turned back to Mecca, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen. And then Mecca realized. It wasn’t Ray — it was Tina. Ray would just make her see her friend in her mind all over again.

  “I can’t look at him. If I have to go by him, fine, but I can’t look at him.”

  “All right. You can hold on to me and stay facing the hedge.”

  They formed a chain, with Mecca in the lead, then Alicia, each holding the hand of the next. Everyone faced the hedge except Mecca. She didn’t have that luxury. Someone had to watch the other entrances to this pathway. She didn’t want to be surprised.

  There had been way too many surprises already.

  Ray’s body seemed worse than when she’d seen it earlier. More grisly. The red of the blood leapt out at her. The stench of copper reached her nose. She hoped the others didn’t smell it. It occurred to her that she might be more sensitive with having absorbed so much energy. She hoped so.

  They inched along quietly. A scream broke the night air. They all froze. It came from deep in the center, it sounded like. It rang out, long and high pitched. And moving.

  Whoever it was had managed to run.

  Mecca’s group shifted from a single file line to a small huddle as everyone crowded together and exchanged glances. Hope etched the features of more than one of the women.

  They were being too optimistic. Whoever was running was making too much noise. Whichever Visci was after her would be able to track her with no problem. Mecca listened to the voice with a sense of inevitable doom.

  And she wished she hadn’t been right.

  Mecca let her eyes close as the screaming rose to a screech, only to be cut off violently. The silence that followed felt huge. Heavy. Ominous.

  The death sounds didn’t reach them — the squelch of a fist plunging into a chest; the ripping sound of a heart —

  Mecca was just glad the silence was the only sound. It meant that particular Visci was relatively farther away. She tugged on Alicia’s hand. “Let’s go.”

  Alicia looked at her blankly, tears following the trail on her cheeks cut earlier at Tina’s side. Mecca glanced at the others and saw similar gazes.

  “Come on,” she said and pulled again. “We have to go.”

  Alicia hitched in a breath and gave a little head shake. Then a nod. “Okay. Yeah.” She looked back at the others. “Come on. We’re almost there.”

  Mecca knew Alicia had no idea whether they were almost there. Mecca didn’t even really know, though she thought they should be. But Alicia was present and ready to move. And for that, Mecca was both grateful and impressed.

  She led them along the leafy wall, everyone silent, save for an occasional quiet sob. Mecca didn’t begrudge them their sorrow. Or their fear.

  They reached the corner, which led again to the right. Peeking around, she saw a short pathway, then another turn to the left. When they were all safely in the short end, Mecca looked around the next corner — would the corners never end, for fuck’s sake?

  A shot of adrenaline coursed through her so fast, she clamped her lips shut to keep from laughing.

  A long branch of the Maze led farther north. Halfway down it, on the right, was an opening. The narrow wedge through which Mecca could see out of the opening showed the trees of the forest.

  They’d found the exit!

  “There it is!” Mecca said, trying to keep her voice low. She turned to the others, who were ready to bolt forward. They reminded her of sheep who’d been spooked by a predator. That wasn’t really so far from the truth, she figured. “We’re almost there. But we can’t run. I know there’s a guard at this door. And he has a gun, so we need to be really careful.”

  They all gathered in the corner, and Mecca straightened the canvas pack that hung on her hip. “I’m going to see if I can get him.”

  Alicia put a hand on her arm. “Be careful.”

  “I will. We’re almost done. We’ll make it.” This was the first time Mecca had really thought this might be true.

  Alicia said nothing. The defeat in her eyes remained, but behind it Mecca saw a spark of hope. That hope spurred her forward.

  “Okay, the rest of you stay here.” Mecca lowered her voice as much as she could. “I’m going to try to get him down or get his gun from him, whichever works. Alicia, can you stand by the entrance so you can hear? If I need help, I’ll say your name and then you” —she pointed to the entire group— “come running. I think we can all take one of them on our own, if we have some surprise. But it’s also possible they posted more guards, so I want to see, first.”

  Heads bobbed their agreement. Mecca moved quietly toward the entrance, Alicia behind her. Every hushed crunch of grass beneath her feet sounded like thunder in her ears. She really hoped that was just sharper hearing. Just as she reached the opening, she glanced over her shoulder. Alicia gave her a small nod.

  Mecca straightened her back and strode around the hedge, her step bold. The guard, tall and thin, faced the woods, his back to her. A nasty-looking rifle barrel leaned against his shoulder, pointing at the sky. A whistled tune came through the air.

  She’d planned on bluffing her way through until she could find a way to incapacitate him, but now she modified those plans and quieted her tread. Mecca’s gaze shifted between watching the guard and scanning the ground for anything she might step on.

  The man took two steps forward, the tune on his lips at odds with the crickets singing in the woods beyond. He seemed oblivious to anything behind him. He obviously didn’t expect anyone to be leaving the Maze.

  He continued whistling — a show tune from Cats, Mecca thought — though she just knew at the last minute he would turn, shoot her, and it would be over.

  But he didn’t.

  She managed to get within arm’s length of him without alerting him to her presence. She pulled back and brought her foot up squarely between his legs. A whoosh of air left his lungs in a strangled cry, his legs folded, and he went down on his knees. The rifle slid from his hands and toppled to the ground.

  Mecca sprinted the few steps to where it fell and snatched it up. It looked like something military, out of an action movie. She pointed the business end at the guard. Other than that, Mecca had no idea how to use it. She didn’t even know whether the safety was on. She hoped he didn’t realize that.

  “Alicia, come on. It’s clear!”

  Her group of rag-tag refugees dashed out of the Maze, Alicia in the lead. By the time they reached her, the guard had regained his breath and straightened up, though the pained look never left his eyes and his face remained pinched. But the
re was no fear there.

  “Emilia’s going to be very unhappy that you were so easily overtaken,” Mecca said.

  “What are we going to do with him?” The question came from a female voice behind her, but Mecca didn’t know whose.

  “We can’t take him with us,” Mecca said.

  “Kill him.” Alicia’s voice carried on the air, hollow and emotionless. She looked at the guard without compassion.

  “We can’t kill him.” Mecca took a step toward her.

  “Why not? He helped kill Tina. He would have killed us if he’d seen us before we saw him.”

  Murmurs of agreement came from the others.

  If she handed the gun to Alicia, Mecca suspected the man would really end up dead. Alicia’s emerald eyes were like hardened little gems as she watched him.

  “I’m not a murderer,” Mecca said. A week ago, she'd never dreamed of even hurting anyone. Now, she'd killed three people, maybe four, if Will hadn't survived.

  But all were in self-defense. And all, except Will, were Visci.

  The guard at the barn had been human. Will was human. Mecca guessed this guard was probably human. Visci didn't seem to need guns.

  The group of women watched them in silence for a moment. The tension felt real, pushing against Mecca’s skin like hot steam.

  “No?” Alicia looked at her, those eyes still cold and hard. “We just watched you kill two people. What are you then?”

  Mecca didn't know how to answer that without sounding petulant, so she said nothing.

  The guard jumped to his feet and rushed Mecca, catching her across her middle with his shoulder. She flew backwards and her tailbone hit the ground first, jarring every bone in her body, making her brain rattle in her head. Her breath fled, leaving her gasping and almost panicking. She couldn’t get enough air. She ended up flat on her back as he wrestled the rifle from her hands.

  Her ears rang from the rattle to her head, but from a distance, she heard shouting and then the weight of his body disappeared as the women dragged him off her. Mecca gasped, trying to refill her lungs. She pulled herself up to a sitting position.

  A few feet away, the small party encircled the guard, who’d curled up in a fetal position on the ground. He covered his head with his hands, trying to protect himself from the bare-footed stomps and kicks raining down on him. A blur of black came from above and the crack of gun butt against skull overrode the shouts of the group, silencing them and ending the kicking.

  Alicia held the rifle by the barrel, almost like a baseball bat. She raised it and slammed it down on the guard’s head again and again. His arms went slack and a moment later, the end of the butt came away wet in the moonlight.

  Alicia kept swinging.

  “No! Stop!” Mecca pushed herself up to a standing position and everything swayed lopsided for a moment before righting itself. She staggered to Alicia, the others stepping back to allow her through but doing nothing to end the rage. “Alicia, stop!”

  The young blonde, eyes wild, raised the gun again and brought the butt down squarely on the top of the guard’s already bashed-in skull. Mecca had no doubt he was dead. His chest didn’t rise with breath; his body only moved when Alicia hit it.

  Mecca put one hand on the gun and the other on Alicia’s shoulder. She was amazed the rifle hadn’t gone off and shot Alicia as she swung. “Stop now,” she said. “He’s dead. You killed him.”

  Alicia looked at her. It took a moment for Mecca’s words to register, but the blank look on her features finally shifted into understanding. “Good,” she said. “He killed Tina.”

  Mecca took the gun from Alicia’s hands. “No, he didn’t. But it doesn’t matter now.” She looked around to get her bearings. They’d moved about twenty yards from the Maze. The woods were still another eighty yards away. Mecca could see the path to the guest house a ways to the north.

  “We need to get him out of the clearing so no one sees him.” She held the rifle out to one of the women who shied away. “Hold this, damn it. You were fine beating on him when he was down, now hold this fucking gun so I can get your mess out of the way.”

  The startled woman took the rifle by the barrel and held it at arm’s length. Mecca bent and grabbed the guard’s right foot. She nodded at the lanky young man. “Grab his other foot and help me.” The boy jumped forward and together they dragged the body the distance to the tree line, with the remaining group following at a short distance. Alicia came up behind, her face expressionless again.

  “Leave the gun here with him,” Mecca said after they’d tucked the body behind a short, straggly bush. She turned her back on the knot of people and tried to keep her mind away from the fact that she’d become an accessory to murder. Actual murder.

  “Shouldn’t we take it with us?” came a random voice.

  “If you have any idea how to use it, bring it. I don’t care.” There came murmuring from the group and a fair-skinned woman took the rifle and looked at Mecca, who only nodded. “Come on. I’ll lead you to the path that will take you off the property.”

  Mecca took them along the tree line, staying just inside the edge for cover. They didn’t move as fast as she’d liked because all of the others were without shoes. She knew how they felt, but she tried to keep them going faster anyway. When Emilia found out that they’d escaped, the hunt would be more than a party game. It would be an all-out rampage.

  They reached the path to the guest house. She had hoped to let Alicia take over from here, but now Mecca wasn’t sure she could be trusted. Mecca would have to take them to the guest house clearing herself, show them the beginning of the fire road, then head back to the main house.

  Twenty minutes later, the path opened out. She saw the guest house — a cottage, really — through the trees, windows all dark. It looked deserted. At least we’re getting one break. She stopped the group before they reached the end of the path.

  “Let me check and make sure it’s clear before we go.” She spoke to everyone in general. “You can’t see it from here, but on the other side of the house is a small road. That will lead to a back gate. There will be a guard, maybe more than one, so you’ll need to figure something out before you get there.”

  They looked at her with blank faces, but she just shook her head and turned away. She did her part. They could make their own way from there.

  Mecca saw no movement in the clearing, so she stepped out quietly. The dark guest house remained quiet, and she was grateful. Her nerves were so frayed, so jangled that she found herself jumping at any sound that came from the woods. The image of the horrible hole in Tina's chest kept coming into her head, no matter how many times she tried to push it away. Mecca rounded the corner of the guest house and stopped short.

  Near the well, a figure stood motionless.

  Small, the silhouette looked like a woman, but she knew that had no bearing on the danger. Mecca took a slow step backward, moving for the corner of the house. Relative safety.

  “Mecca?” The whisper barely made it to her ears, the voice familiar. “Is that you?”

  “Who are you?”

  “It’s Sara.”

  What in the actual fuck? Relief made her insides feel loose and wobbly. Mecca knew that Sara really couldn’t be of any help, but just having someone from the outside, someone normal, here in this crazy place made her feel better. She closed the distance between them quickly and yanked the other woman into a hug. When she pulled back, she asked, “Why are you here?”

  The surprise in Sara’s face didn’t fade as Mecca released her. “I came with your dad.”

  She didn’t see anyone else in the clearing. “Where is he?”

  “At the house. He came to find you.”

  Oh God. Now what was she going to do?

  “Mecca?” A whispered voice came from behind her.

  She turned and motioned for the group of refugees to come forward. “Come on out. She’s a friend.”

  “What’s this?” Sara asked, waving a hand at them.<
br />
  “I know we hardly know each other, but I need you to do me a favor.”

  “Um, sure.” Sara peered past Mecca as the group assembled behind her.

  “They need to get out of here. Can you take them — wait. How did you get past the guard?”

  The confusion and surprise finally melted as Sara grinned and pulled out something gun-shaped. “I tasered him!” She looked satisfied with herself. “It didn’t knock him out, of course. I had to give him a good wail on his jaw with his gun. But I got to use my taser! “

  Mecca looked at the small, pixie-like woman, with her lop-sided smile and child-like enthusiasm for tasers and laughed. She tried to keep it from sounding crazy. But it felt really good not to be terrified for a moment.

  “So what happened? They look like… Well, they look rough.”

  They really did. “I’m sure they can explain it as you go.”

  The moment dragged out as Sara studied her. “You’re going back in, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. I have someone to deal with. And Dad’s in there.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I know I can’t talk you out of it, but tell your dad I tried to.” She gave a gentle smile. “Be careful.”

  “I will.”

  Sara looked past Mecca at the women and two men. “We’ve got a little bit of a walk in front of us. Come on. Let’s get going.”

  Mecca watched them, a pixie leading escapees to freedom. When they’d disappeared into the trees, she turned back the way she came.

  Now, it was time. She was done fucking around.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: David

  “Good evening, Mr. Trenow.” A man stepped up from the side, wispy blond hair pulled back from his face. He looked to be in his late teens with a slight build. His delicate features reminded David of a young girl. He didn’t extend a hand to shake, but said, “My name is Claude Kassinzi.”

  This was the man who’d helped Mecca escape. Though he didn't look dangerous, he felt dangerous. The hair on David's arms rose. His nerves, already on edge, wanted to spring from his skin.