A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(21)

“I don’t murder for fun. I murder for lots of reasons, but not fun. As for why some of us kill, well, that’s simple. It’s predatory. Just like wolves, or lions. We’re fulfilling a need to be the predators we were born to be. We’re better than you, than humans. Your kind deserves to be beneath us, watching in awe as we decide whether you live or die.”

“You look human.”

“I am a redcap. I haven’t been human for a few centuries now. No, like the rest of my group, I’m something better. You’ve already seen what the ogre and Dara can do, and felt Shane’s power. We’re going to find more people who think like we do, who know that we should be at the peak of power on this planet. And when we have our army, we’ll burn those who dare oppose us.”

Layla wanted to say that Elias was deluded, insane, a madman. But she didn’t want to antagonize him further, and her face still stung from where he’d struck her. She wanted to hurt him for that, though. “Why do you want my father to help you?”

“What do you know of spirit scrolls? Did your father ever mention them to you?”

Layla was confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Elias sat back in his chair and smiled. “I see there’s a lot he’s been keeping from you. Your mother kept it from you too. She knew. She knew all about it. You think you ran and hid because of your dad? Your dad is in a maximum-security prison, in a part especially designed for people like him. Unless he’s literally the A-Team and he makes a nuclear weapon, he’s staying put. You were never running from your father.”

“The media. We ran because my mother was terrified they’d hound us.”

“The media didn’t do anything. Everything about you and your mother was kept out of it, people in positions of power within the LOA made sure of that. No, you didn’t run because of your father or his crimes; you ran because of us. You ran because the last thing your father told your mother before he was taken was to hide you. He knew we’d come for him through his family. He’d tried to prepare for it.

“For twenty years he killed criminals while working for the FBI in a serial criminal task force, and for twenty years we had no idea he existed. And then he got caught, and the people I work for got wind of it, and now there’s a man right there who can help us. It’s taken seven years to find you, Layla. And you’re going to do what we want. You’re going to help us make your father work with us.”

“I’m not interested in his crimes. He’s in prison, and he deserves to be there. And you getting him out isn’t going to help.”

“Oh, we’re not going to get him out. No, he wouldn’t be a team player. We just need his help. So, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to contact him and tell him we have you. We’re going to ask him really nicely to help us find some people who are outside of our area of influence, and if he refuses, we’re going to start cutting pieces off you.”

Layla knew she should be scared, and deep down she was, but a righteous fury took over, and all she wanted to do was reach over and beat Elias until he could no longer speak, until his face was a mash of pulp. It was more than just a need to fight; it was a need to hurt. Not in self-defense like with Rob or her neighbors, but for the pure need to hurt the person in front of her. She’d felt such anger before in her life, although it had been long ago, but it was terrifying and liberating to feel it course through her again. She wondered for a brief second if that was how her father felt when he killed someone, and then just as quickly as it had come, she forced herself to be calm, and the anger vanished.

Elias got up and walked around Layla, making the anger flicker back inside of her.

He removed her handcuffs and picked up the chair he’d been sitting on, placing it against the far wall, retrieving his hat as he walked past. “We’ll be back in a few hours with food, and there’s water in the tap over there.” He pointed toward a sink that Layla hadn’t even realized was there, she’d been so focused on what was in front of her.

Elias stopped at the doorway. “When I come back, I’m going to ask you to help us. If you say no, I’m going to hurt someone badly. You might be thinking we won’t kill you, and you’re right. But, my dear, there are many, many worse things than death, and if you mess me around, I’ll show you a few of them.”

“My father doesn’t care about me,” Layla almost screamed. “He pretends to be this person with emotions, with feelings, but none of it is real. He’s a monster hiding inside a human body. You could kill me and he’d barely notice. He won’t listen to me; he certainly won’t do anything to help me. I don’t even know where exactly he is.”

Elias smiled. “You underestimate the power of a daughter in her father’s affections. We know he loves you. We would not be doing this if we were not certain of his devotion to his daughter. You say he doesn’t care? Well, I think he cares a great deal.” He tipped his fedora toward her and left the room, locking the steel door behind him.

Layla sat on the chair, not knowing what to think, and for the first time since the death of her mother, she cried. Not for herself, not for her situation, but for all of those who had died to get her here. She cried for those who had died for what appeared to be a madman’s insanity. She cried for not fighting back, for wanting to fight back, for the inevitable drift toward her father if she allowed her control to waver. And when she finished crying, when there was no more to give, she was left with a hollow feeling inside of her. A feeling of regret and sorrow. But alongside it was an ember of rage. And that was what would sustain her, and help her get free.