A moth landed on his brow, tickling his skin.
He pulled back, batting it away. Elena laughed at his antics.
“Forget about that. Concentrate on something more interesting.” She doffed her camouflaged jacket and shirt without ceremony, letting it drop to the floor. Bare to her sports bra, she placed her hands on her hips. He greedily took in her tanned skin and toned, curvy body. She reached out and seized him by the belt buckle.
“Let’s go, cowboy. We don’t have all night.”
The light from behind the blinds flashed with bright violet light, blushing the room in purple. Elena became a silhouette in the glare. There was something not right about her darkened figure, something he couldn’t put his finger on. The light dimmed, he blinked in the afterglow.
Elena gave him a quizzical gaze. “You all right, Nate?”
“Yeah, fine.”
“Not getting cold feet, are you?”
“No, it’s just—”
“Good. Because you’re starting to mess up the flow. Let’s make things better by getting rid of some of these clothes.” She tugged at his shirt.
“Just a second, okay?”
“Just a second?” Frown lines etched her face. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
He stared at her. “Wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? This isn’t even like you.”
“How would you know what I’m like? You’re just shifting the blame because you can’t handle the pressure.”
“Where is this coming from, Elena?”
She leered, face twisted with scorn. “You can’t handle a real woman. You’re scared. Scared of what you can’t control. A weak little boy who can’t get it up when he’s supposed to.”
Anger scalded his face. “Shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Make me shut up. You can’t can you? You’re worthless, you know that? Good for nothing. A disappointment. You always have been.”
He trembled, shocked to the core at the familiarity of the words. “Where did you h-hear that? How could you know what he s-s-said?”
Elena loomed over him, somehow growing taller. Or he shrunk in the wake of her words, he couldn’t tell. She slammed her hands into his chest, shoving him back.
“Oh, you thought your dead daddy was the only one you let down? You let everyone down, Nathan. You’re a born loser. You’re no man. You’re a scared, stuttering little boy, pissing in your pants at the thought of standing up for yourself. Admit it.” Moths fluttered around her, crawling in her hair and across her face. Her voice deepened, masculine and vehement. David’s voice.
“You keep taking me for granted, boy. Now I gotta teach you a lesson.”
Nathan yelled and leaped at her. They tumbled, slamming against the floor. Her face morphed, altering like soft putty until a new face formed. It was a man’s face. The face of his father, glaring with disgust and loathing. Moths spewed from his open mouth, fluttering past Nathan and whispering all the ugly things he’d heard so many times.
Nathan’s teeth gritted when he wrapped his hands around David’s throat. “You don’t think I know what’s going on? It’s the Aberration, trying to trick me again. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you as many times as I have to until you’re gone for good.”
Spittle bubbled from David’s lips. “Do your worst, boy.”
His face crumpled, wrenching bone and muscle until it morphed into another visage. Sid Damon wrapped his hands around Nathan’s wrists and sneered.
“Come on, Nathan. Let me see the beast. Show me… what you’re made of.”
Nathan’s hands squeezed tighter, fingers digging into Damon’s neck.
“Nate?”
Elena’s bewildered glance took in her surroundings. Smoldering wreckage encircled her, blackened with soot and coated in ash. Flames roared nearby, an inferno that forced her to back away from the blistering heat. Muffled groans and screams filled her ears from bodies trapped under tons of rubble. White powder fluttered down from a sky choked with billowing smoke.
“Nathan, where are you?”
She tripped and nearly lost her footing. A gasp exploded from her chest when she looked down. It was a corpse, mangled and smoldering. The face that stared at her was nearly unrecognizable. She backpedaled, unable to tear her eyes away from Nathan’s horribly disfigured body. Others were strewn across the rubble, people she knew. Blackwell, Hayes, Guy. Their bodies were charred and broken like cheap toys.
Elena stumbled across the debris, unable to shake the sense of dread that settled on her like invisible cobwebs. She knew. Even before she saw the tattered, staggering figure, she knew.
Her father turned around.
Despite being Mexican he looked like the terrorists the media touted on video and photographs: Dark, tangled hair and beard, thick brows nearly hiding dark eyes encircled by lines carved by age and stress. His shoulders were hunched; he gazed around as if in fear of being hunted. His shirt and suit were the same he wore at her mother’s funeral, now ruined by ash and flame.
A smile brightened his grimy face. “Mija! I knew you would come.” He held out his arms for an embrace.
She froze, trembling. “What… have you done?”
“Finally I have brought down those liars, Elena. The betrayers in the government who have hid the truth about your mother’s death.”
“You did this.” Elena nearly sobbed. The screams of the dying filled her ears, soot and smoke burned in her lungs. A single moth flew by her face, taking all the time in the world.
She brushed it away, staring at her father. Remembering the man of quick smiles, booming laughter, and gentle hands. The man who used to give her rides on his shoulders, who consoled her after her first heartbreak. That man wasn’t in front of her. She gazed into the face of a complete stranger.
He reached out to her. “Please, Elena. You have to understand. What they did… was worst than treason.” His glassy-eyed stare only made his words more insane. “They betrayed the land I loved, that I fought for, and then covered it up. It was only right that I strike at the very institution of their so-called justice system. I couldn’t let your mother die for nothing.”
“That’s just conspiracy talk. I told you to let it go. Why didn’t you listen? Do you know what you’ve done? They’ll kill you for this.”
“No, mija.” A deranged smile crossed his face. “I’ll cross the border and lose them. My family will take us in. They’ll understand.”
Tears slide down her cheeks. “Us? There is no us, dad. Not anymore. No one will take you in after this. I don’t want you near me. You hear me? Stay away from me!”
“No, Elena. You don’t mean that.” He staggered toward her, eyes pleading. She recoiled when his hands touched her.
“Get off of me.”
He seized her, strong fingers digging into her skin. Her heel struck an upturned stone and they tumbled backward. Her head rebounded off the broken ground, blurring her vision. Her father was a hazy, dark figure, leaning over her like a hateful shadow.
“You can’t be my daughter. You’ve been brainwashed, loyal to your military bosses. You’ve turned against me!” He threw back his shaggy head and howled in anguish. Violet lightning forked across the sky, barely visible through the curtain of smoke. One of his hands encircled her throat, pinning her down.
Panic overwhelmed her. Her father, no — this stranger was trying to kill her. Purple flashed across the sky again, painting the surrounding in a lavender haze that made everything seem counterfeit. It may as well have been a studio backlot with special effects being added in. It wasn’t real.
It wasn’t real.
Her hands flew to her pocket, searching for the last weapon she had left. The slim tactical pen slid into her open hand.