Chapter 5 - Nightmare
2074 Words
#musicvibe - Running away from home, Smash into pieces
*
Valeria POV
Seriously, who was this guy?
I had to admit, he was hot. Like, any girl would have a crush on him within the first 7 seconds of meeting him.
But I had met a lot of guys who were like that, and I had never felt so attracted to someone before. Most of the guys I seduced on the job, I usually enjoyed hurting once I got what I needed from them.
And my personal life? Well, I never had a boyfriend, so my love life was basically non-existent.
While exploring the flat, I basically scolded myself for being so flustered around him. I was here on business, so I had to keep it together.
I don’t sleep with people on the job, I had to remind myself. I’m no bloody James Bond, for f*ck’s sake!
But at dinner he asked if we could play 20 questions. That was just adorable.
I burst out laughing.
“What are you, ten?” I chuckled.
He shrugged.
“I want to get to know you.” He replied.
I nodded.
“Sure.” I shrugged. “Me first.”
Tyson smiled.
“Hmm.” I hummed. “How long have you been king?”
“My father handed the title over to me two years ago.” He replied. “My turn!”
He narrowed his eyes and I fought the urge to squirm under his scrutinizing gaze.
“How did you get your powers?” He asked.
“Human experiments.” I shrugged and took another bite of the pasta.
Tyson stared at me incredulously.
“Someone experimented on you?!”
I was taken aback by his reaction. The sound that rumbled through his chest sounded an awful lot like a growl.
Maybe it was a bad idea to tell him things about myself.
“Maybe this was a bad idea.” I muttered and started to gather the dishes.
Tyson stood up and took my hand.
“No. I’m sorry.” He said. “I just- I just don’t like the idea of anyone hurting you.”
I frowned at him.
“Umm- okay?” I said. “But you realize that I am your bodyguard, right?”
I couldn’t decipher the look in his eyes when he replied.
“Yes, I’m aware.”
Was I missing something here?
I glanced at the clock on the wall.
“It’s getting late.” I said. “Maybe I should check the perimeter.”
I turned around and left without an answer, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach.
*
Tyson POV
Human experiments?
I figured that she had to have gotten her powers in some way. I had only ever heard of witches being born with powers and I could smell that she wasn’t a witch.
I was the CEO of a science company. I knew that human experiments were highly unethical and it was almost impossible to approve any kind of trials done on humans to the extent that the scientist could give a human being powers.
It must have been done illegally.
Dax growled in my head.
"Mate has been hurt." He snarled. "We must protect her."
"Easy." I replied. "I don’t want to scare her."
"Yeah right." Dax rolled his eyes at me. "You are acting like a first class dork. What happened to the confident king that could have any girl he wanted?"
"He met his mate." I sighed. "And she’s not like other girls."
"You’re right." He sighed too. "But she’s perfect."
I agreed.
The elevator pinged and Kayden and Garrett walked in.
“How’s things going here?” Kayden smirked.
I shrugged.
“Patience.” I said before Valeria walked in.
“Hi guys.” She greeted them.
“We’re here for the night shift.” Garrett grinned at her. “Maybe you two should go to bed. The investor is coming tomorrow to look at the new simulator, so you could use a good night’s rest.”
I rubbed my forehead.
In the midst of finding my mate and everything going on with Amadeus, I had forgotten why we even went to London in the first place.
Usually, I lived in Caniluna Castle outside of London. It was almost impossible for Amadeus to reach me there because he had to fight the whole royal army to get to me. Here at the Maxwell building the security wasn’t as tight, because that would look weird to any human passing by. That’s why we had asked for the new security system from Mr Sampson in the first place.
Maybe I needed some rest. The investor deal was important, so I had to get this right.
“Sure.” I muttered and looked at Valeria, wondering if she would consider sleeping beside me.
Before I could ask her, she nodded.
“I can take the sofa.” She offered.
“Okay.” I nodded before I could give in to the urge to protest. “Good night.”
“Good night.” She said.
I quickly left for my bedroom and closed the door behind me.
The image of Valeria lying in my bed with her hair spread out like a halo on the pillow was etched into my head now, making me painfully hard.
Maybe it was for the best. I barely had any self-control left.
I took a cold shower to calm down and went to bed.
Sleeping suddenly seemed like a daunting task. It was frustrating to have your mate so close, and yet it was like she was miles away from me.
I tossed and turned, until I heard soft whimpering coming from the sitting room.
"You might want to get out here." Garrett mumbled through the mindlink.
*
Valeria POV
The grip on my arms was so tight that I whimpered from the pain.
They came from nowhere. Barging in through the front door early in the morning. Me, mum, dad and Alex were all on our knees, our hands tied behind our backs.
A needle was pushed into my arm, collecting my blood in a small vial.
“Please.” My mother begged. “They’re just children. Leave them alone. I’ll do anything!”
“Shut up.” One of them snarled.
The blood was scanned by a device that was unknown to me.
The woman holding the device nodded.
“She has the genetic marker.”
She pointed at me and my mother thrashed against the people holding her down.
“No please!” She screamed. “Not my daughter! Leave her alone!”
“Kill them and take her.”
My parent’s and sister’s screams were deafening and I felt like I was suffocating from the fear.
“Mommy!” I screamed and tried to get free of the hands that were holding me in place.
The woman pulled out three syringes and handed one each to the men closest to my parents and my sister.
Before they could protest, the contents of the syringes were pushed into their arms.
Within seconds, all three of them fell to the floor, convulsing in agony and gasping for breath. White foam came out of their mouths and their eyes turned bloodshot.
After what felt like an eternity, they all stilled.
I was unable to understand what happened. I screamed at them to wake up. I begged them to help me as they put a bag over my head and dragged me away.
The bag was ripped off when I was pulled into the lab that I spent countless hours in from that day for years to come.
The restraints on my wrists were taken off and I started to struggle against them again. It took four people to strap me to a gurney.
There were seven people dressed in lab coats standing around me, my tears making their faces blurry as I thrashed against the restraints.
The people in lab coats started to insert small needles into my body. My arms, thighs, chest and neck were pricked with the needles and I whimpered from the stinging.
The needles were attached to tubes going to large bags hanging on an IV stand.
“Please.” I whimpered. “I want my mother!”
A woman closest to my head patted my forehead.
“Shhh.” She whispered. “It will all be over soon.”
Before I could respond, she shoved a ball gag into my mouth and nodded to a man standing opposite her.
“She’s ready.” She said curtly.
Amber liquid started to stream through the small tubes and entered my body.
The second the first drop hit my bloodstream, my body started burning. I screamed until I was hoarse and my body trembled from the pain.
Everything became a bottomless pit of pain and fear. I didn’t understand what happened to my family and I didn’t understand what was happening to me.
From that day. I was Twelve. The telekinetic soldier. Living in a small cage and only being let out to train with my new family to serve our masters.
Their faces floated before me, their voices laced with hatred.
“You don’t belong in this world.”
“People will always be afraid of you.”
Five’s face glared at me.
“Why did we have to die?” She yelled. “Why did you survive?”
“Why did you survive?”
“Why did you survive?”
The voice echoed in my head.
*
“I’m sorry!” I yelled.
“Valeria.”
“I’m sorry.” I mumbled.
“Valeria. Wake up.”
I felt a hand on my shoulder. Tingles rushed through my arm and I jolted awake.
Confused, I looked around to see Tyson, Kayden and Garrett staring back at me with concern in their eyes.
I took a deep breath to shake the dream and forced a polite smile.
“I’m sorry.” I said. “Did I wake you?”
Kayden shook his head.
“No, we were awake.” He mumbled.
I looked at Tyson. He studied me with an unreadable expression. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kayden and Garret walk out into the kitchen area, leaving me alone with Tyson.
“I’m sorry if I woke you.” I said and looked down in my lap. “It won’t happen again.”
Tyson reached out his hand and touched mine.
I cursed myself for letting him feel my hand tremble and I quickly moved it away.
It was puzzling. Every time he touched me it was like some kind of mild electric current flowed between us. I had never felt anything like it before.
“Are you okay?” He asked quietly.
I nodded.
“Yeah.” I whispered. “I’m sorry for bothering you.”
He chuckled.
“It’s no bother.” He assured me. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I glanced at him and shook my head.
“It happens a lot.” I shrugged. “So it’s fine. I’m used to it.”
Tyson shuffled a little closer to me.
“Is there anything I can do?” He asked.
I smiled.
“No, you don’t have to trouble yourself with all of that.” I said and got up. “You should get back to bed. You’ve got a long day tomorrow.”
Tyson looked like he wanted to say something else, but he quickly shut his mouth again and nodded.
“Alright.” He said. “Good night.”
“Good night.” I whispered before he walked back to the bedroom.
I walked over to the large window and looked out. The city lights calmed me down a little, but I still had to wrap my arms around myself to keep myself from shuddering.
Nightmares were a recurring phenomenon in my life. There wasn’t a single night since I was fourteen that I had slept through the night without being woken up by them.
I could still hear the sound from the gun that killed my brothers and sisters. When I was the only one left, I prayed that Five had been wrong about one of us surviving.
She wasn’t.
The survivor’s guilt tugged at my heart all the time. Not a day went by without me thinking about them, wishing I died along with them.
- Writer
