Chapter 17
Fear coursed through her body as Deva stood surrounded by her father’s motorcycle club. So many faces, some familiar, even friendly. Others with daggers in their eyes. Rugged faces, old, young. So many people, it was becoming oppressive. There was no way out, the circle a tight and unyielding mass of men whose faces blended into one another.
Over and over Deva made her way around and tried to push them apart and escape, but the more she pushed, the more the wall of men shrunk. Running around, she started to slip, and when she looked down, blood was streaking the concrete floor.
Following the scarlet stream, she saw her brother, lying on the ground in agony, his sand-colored uniform drenched red and tattered, his blond hair matted with gore and brain matter.
Deva sobbed as she ran to him and fell on her knees by his side. His body was mangled, part of his leg gone and blood was pumping out of him at the fading beat of his heart. She tried to compress his leg wound with her hands, but the exposed muscles trembled under her soaked fingers, making it impossible to staunch the flow.
Deva scrambled by his head and gently cradled his beloved face in her hands tracing the features she had longed so often to see once more.
“Johnny, please, stay with me, I’m gonna get help, you’ll be fine.”
And the face she knew so well, her only anchor in this world smiled. Her heart constricted into a painful knot, and all the sorrow and loss she had felt pouring out of her as tears fell.
“Please, please don’t leave me, Johnny. Please, I’m so scared. I can’t make it alone.”
“Vic, I love you, but I need to go. You gotta let me go.”
Deva sobbed at his nickname for her, and as his life slipped away, she held to his body even harder, touching him, shaking him as if her anger and stubbornness alone would bring him back. It was the first time she’d ever seen him dressed as a soldier. And then she noticed his service gun.
Looking up and seeing the patched and crested men closing in, she grabbed his weapon and started firing at them. Bullets went through the bodies, and still, they stood, closing in more and more. They wouldn’t get her alive. She turned the gun to her head and pulled the trigger.
The gun fell from her hands as she remained breathing, the deafening sound hurting her ears. There was nowhere to run, no possible escape, and then she saw her father appeared from behind his men, followed by a hooded figure.
“Daughter. Princess. You have finally returned, and this time I’ll make sure you remain with us. No more running, no more hiding, no more lies. I will not see you flee your future husband again. Accept your duty.”
“Never!” She screamed while still clutching the lifeless body of her brother.
Mex Johnson crouched before her, his face the most ruthless she had ever seen, a devious grin on his mouth.
“You will bend to my will. As they all do.”
And before she could blink, the shadowy figure descended on her, pinning her down as she screamed and clawed to get away.”
“Deva, dammit, get a grip!”
The female voice was familiar, but so out of place, it made Deva freeze. And surprisingly, the shadow pushing her down stopped moving. Images blended in front of her. Juggling her memory, she thought it was Sasha she had heard.
“Solnyshka, come back. You’re safe.” Aleksei. And the shadow blurred with his form, as she realized that she was pinned down on a wide bed. Still too caught up in her nightmare, trying to flee, grabbing Sasha’s arm in desperation.
“Sasha. Help me, he’s back, he’s going to take me. I can’t let that happen. The gun, the gun didn’t work. I put it on my head, and it didn’t work again. I won’t go with them.”
Words tumbled out of her, as the fear she had carefully wrapped up and hidden deep down inside her mind was unleashed. Images changed with the faces in front of her. Sasha carefully unlatched her hand from her arm, and it was Aleksei who filled her vision, his voice low and strong.
“Nobody is going to take you,lyubimaya. I won’t allow it. You are safe here.”
And it was him she now clung to like a lifeline. “You don’t understand, he comes in the dark, there is no way to flee, I’m surrounded. There is no protection, except in death.”
If possible, Aleksei’s face turned even fiercer. “Nobody is going to hurt you. You are safe in my care. The monsters are only due to your fever. Sasha is taking care of you, and the shadows will go away. Now breathe for me, Deva. Deep breaths. I won’t let you go until you fall asleep. I promise.”
Deva tried to breathe, her eyes fixed on Aleksei’s swirling pools of mercury until fatigue took over. His strength and heat infused her body, calming the panic. Her body relaxed finally, and tears spilled down her cheeks. “I couldn’t save him, Aleksei. I couldn’t save, Johnny. I’m so sorry.”
Sasha worried face softened as she bent down to kiss her forehead. “Nobody could save your brother, Deva. Not even you. Now sleep. You will be back to yourself in no time. Your Russian watchdog will keep the monsters away.”
She closed her eyes, the last of her strength evaporating, making her fall into dreamless oblivion.
***
