The Pairing

Chapter 11: Nightmares

Pitch-black quiet greeted them, but his ears still rang from the pandemonium they left outside. No way to live, always fighting. These people, he didn't know whether to feel sorry for them or put a bullet in all their heads.

"Set your weapons on the ground." A gravelly voice sneaking from the shadows caused Lena to jump, a scream escaping her lips.

Tarek held her closer. "No." He couldn't see anyone, the coward still hiding in the darkness. But he heard the clicking of engaging guns, the archaic sound something he knew well, despite the dated weaponry.

"Now," the phantom voice said with more force.

Tarek's grip tightened around his weapon. "No. Either that will have to suffice, or we'll leave." And he would. He'd take Lena from here and hide her away in another world, Tainted threat be damned. As far as he was concerned, Cassondra was the traitor, not them.

A chuckle as biting as acid eating through steel filtered through the hall. Dim lights flickered on to show ten men, all with greasy hair, rotted teeth, and ripped clothes. They stood like sentinels in a hall that led to a slight figure standing by an open doorway. "Welcome to my home, Protector."

Ajax.

Tarek aimed at the closest roughneck. "Call off your people, Warden, or I'll shoot every one of them."

The Warden chuckled again. "No need for hostility." He sauntered forward, pulling his gloves off finger by finger. "No one here wishes you or your little Guide harm."

Tarek didn't take his gaze off the Warden's fingers as he leaned in next to Lena's ear. "Don't let him touch you."

She didn't answer, her body quaking harder.

If the bastard brushed so much as a fingertip against the skin, his victim would live their worst fear—a tactic Exemplians had adopted using technology. A punishment worse than an execution and having energy sent to a lower world.

"Oh, come, now. Enough of that." Ajax tucked his gloves in his topcoat, his clothes impeccably clean and tailored. The man looked like a genteel politician, with pleasant features surrounding hard black eyes. "Rudeness is highly unnecessary."

Tarek remained silent, his scrutiny bouncing from face to contemptuous face in the hall.

"This won't continue, I swear to you." Lena's trembling voice filled the bloated quiet.

The Warden clapped his hands together, smiling. "Aren't you a sassy one? Lovely!" He gestured to his minions, and all of them faded into the shadows. Their smell still permeated the air, unwashed bodies and decay. "Follow me, won't you?" Ajax turned on heel, whistling as he waltzed into the open room.

Lena went to follow, but Tarek held her back. "Remember what I said." When she didn't acknowledge him, he gave her a subtle shake. "Lena! Don't let him touch you."

Beyond her fear, he saw her complete faith in him, something he didn't deserve. "You remember, too."

"Promise." He took her hand, keeping it secured in his, and followed the Warden through the open door.

The room glimmered, colored lights racing from wall to wall. A chained animal, some sort of three-headed rodent as large as a deer, snarled and snapped its three maws as he and Lena drew closer to the Warden, whose smile was as unsettling as the sporadic lights.

Lena moaned, slumping against his side.

"Are you going to make it?" Tarek held her up, her body quivering in his grasp.

"I... Yes... Give me a moment." She rubbed her eyes, blinked a few times, and then kept her focus on the ground, flinching with every growl and yap from the tethered animal in the corner.