Grave New World Read online

  These and some of the other finer aspects of the situation had not been taken into consideration by Jax Rochefort and the crew of idiots and fools he enlisted in their quest for ultimate power.

  “Whom do you report to?” I asked, even though I did not imagine he would part with the information quite so easily. I had fallen right into a trap; the workings of which I could not help but admire. It was cunning, but on a level that greatly exceeded the mind of the moron standing in front of me. I would discover who the true orchestrator was, even if I had to endure Jax’s insufferable conversation to achieve it.

  “You really think I’m going to tell you anything?” he retorted, trying to sound affronted that I would even ask. “All you need to know, you piece of traitor shit, is that I’ve been watching you and reporting all your comings and goings to my boss. You think you’re so slick all this time.”

  I heard him pulling away from Dulcie and standing up. Moments later, he was walking toward me. “I must congratulate you on your unparalleled skills when it comes to backhanded activities,” I said with a grin. “I have to confess I did not foresee it, and I am quite intrigued over that unfortunate fact.”

  “You can wipe your smug ass smile right off your face,” Jax spat back at me. A moment later, I felt his fist slamming into my cheek. My head was hurled to the side with the power of his thrust, and I instantly saw stars dancing before my eyes. Then, I felt my head bouncing against the hardwood floors of my chateau, where we were currently holed up, in my drawing room, to be precise.

  “Striking a bound and defenseless man,” I started, once the delirium in my head subsided. Due to my trussed up hands, I was unable to right myself, so I remained quite lifeless on the floor. The pain was fleeting and very momentary. My body was already busy healing whatever damage he tried to inflict.

  “You always acted so high and mighty, like you were better than everyone else. How do you feel now? Now that you realize you’ve been the only fool all along?” Jax ranted.

  “I will admit being unaccustomed to the sensations I am currently experiencing,” I responded. “But once I have registered and processed them, I should be delighted to give you a full run-down.”

  “You’re a fucking asshole! Even to the last second,” Jax snarled at me. “Well, how about I tell you how I feel? I feel fantastic! I feel fan-fucking-tastic! I’ve been looking forward to this moment seems like forever! The moment I slap that smile right off your fucking smug face.”

  “Well, congratulations are in order then, my good man,” I mocked him.

  “Don’t think this is it, Bram,” he nearly interrupted me. “’Cause it’s not it. We have other plans for you, plans that’ll bring you right back down to size again,” he finished. I could hear him turning around to face the beautiful fairy again. “And you! My little dragonfly! You’re the catalyst to bring all of our plans to happy fruition,” he finished, making the words sound dirty.

  “This is strictly about you and me,” I interrupted. My fondest wish was to emancipate Dulcie from any more of this nonsense. “Dulcie does not need to be involved at all. You know as well as I do that you do not need her.”

  “Bullshit,” Jax responded. “I need her more than I need you. In fact, you’re lucky you’re still even sitting there and talking.”

  “I know everything she does,” I persisted, using all of my bravado. “There are even agents in the ANC that trust me. They always have.”

  Jax laughed again, but the sound was humorless and hollow. “No one trusts you, and you would do well to keep your goddamned mouth shut from now on,” he nearly yelled at me. “Because I’m about five minutes away from cutting your fucking tongue out just so I don’t have to listen to your drivel anymore.”

  “There’s one crucial flaw in that plan, Jax,” Dulcie intervened.

  “Oh, yeah? And what’s that?”

  “The part about me helping you,” she replied.

  “I have no doubt that you’ll help us,” Jax fired back at her. “In fact, I’m betting you’ll do everything I tell you to and real soon.”

  “Like fucking hell I will.”

  “Of course, your indignation doesn’t come as any surprise to me,” he quipped. “I figured you couldn’t be persuaded so easily,” he added, and I could imagine him shaking his head. There was still some humor in his voice. “But unluckily for you, I also am very familiar with your type of character.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Dulcie demanded.

  “You, my sexy, little bitch, care more about the welfare of your friends than you do for yourself,” Jax said. “And that’s a fatal mistake that you will learn to regret. Trust no one! You have nobody but yourself, is what I always say,” he finished.

  He was so correct. Dulcie would have sacrificed herself for those she cared about. While I failed to understand this side of her personality and considered myself the most important person in my life, I still had to admire her for that unselfish trait. Unfortunately, though, I expected Jax would use her unflagging loyalty against her.

  “What’s your point?” Dulcie asked, her voice an octave lower. I had to infer that she was suddenly getting nervous, even anxious.

  “You will either do as I tell you,” Jax started before hesitating in what seemed like dramatic effect. The bastard! “Or it will be your friends that suffer, not you.” He was quiet for another few seconds. “And we will start with a certain undead friend of yours, one I’ve harbored a personal vendetta against for far too long to mention.”

  Since I recognized the subject to whom Jax was referring, I was not certain how well I might fare after all. I had no false illusions that Dulcie was very fond of me …

  CHAPTER TWO

  Dulcie

  I paced the perimeter of the room for the nth time. My hands, like Bram’s, were bound by Netherworld iron handcuffs, but unlike Bram, whose feet were also chained, mine were not. I wasn’t sure if that were an oversight by Jax, or maybe he wanted to allow me the use of my feet. Maybe he just didn’t consider me as serious a threat as Bram? If so, big mistake for him …

  Each time I passed the door, I could not pry my eyes from the handle. On my fifth pass, I turned around and grasped the handle between my bound hands. I had to give it a half-hearted pull, just to prove to myself that it really was locked. Of course, I never expected it to be open. Yes, a small part of me hoped Jax might have overlooked locking it, but my expectations weren’t too realistic. Based on my original assessment of Jax, that is, a loud-mouthed simpleton, it made perfect sense to suspect he might actually have forgotten to lock the door. But apparently, in light of the latest events leading up to our imprisonment, my original assessment of Jax couldn’t have been more wrong! The Jax I thought I knew was an act, a deliberate fabrication to lull Bram and me into a false sense of security. Turns out, the real Jax was something far more sinister and, unfortunately, far more intelligent. I cursed myself and my own short-sightedness in falling for his act. The only thing that gave me comfort, if that’s what you could call it, was learning that Bram also swallowed Jax’s façade, hook, line, and sinker. A lot of good that actually did for us now.

  “Before you inquire, there are no hidden doors in the walls, nor any trapdoors in the floor that might assist our cause,” Bram suddenly piped up. His voice came from where he was sitting in the corner of the furniture-free room. His bound legs were pointing straight out in front of him, and he was leaning against the wall. I’d already managed to remove his blindfold despite having my hands tied behind my back, a small feat but a feat, nonetheless!

  “Well, that was stupid of you,” I replied as I turned to face him. “Why build a castle with no means of escape from it?”

  Bram chuckled and shook his head like he thought my question was cute. That only further irritated me. “My dear,” he began in his patronizing, signature way, “allow me to remind you that I did not erect this structure. If I had, I must assure you I would have stipulated that every room be equipped with a means of esc
ape, as you refer to it. Furthermore, I would hardly call this a castle, but rather, a chateau.”

  “Castle, chateau, estate, or big ol’ useless house! Whatever you call it, that’s not the point. The problem right now is that we’re stuck with no way out, and it totally sucks.”

  Bram nodded briefly before beaming and offering me that unconcerned smile of his that, I had to admit, was infuriatingly handsome. That was Bram’s dichotomy and my biggest gripe with him—he could be so exasperating but look so good doing it.

  “Yes, little bumblebee, you are quite right. We are stuck and, yes, it does suck.” Then he smiled smugly, like he was impressed with himself. “Did you notice my small rhyme?”

  I frowned at him. “Yes, I did notice it, but it wasn’t your small rhyme, by the way. It was mine.” Bram arched his eyebrows, indicating he wished for me to explain, so I did. “I said it first.”

  “You must excuse my feeble attempt at levity, my dear.”

  “I don’t have to excuse you for anything!” I railed back impatiently.

  He frowned. “You are quite out of sorts, and it is affecting your attitude in negative ways.”

  “Well, maybe that’s because I don’t particularly enjoy being held captive, especially by someone who, as it turns out, totally bamboozled you!” I shouted before frowning at him in disapproval and pacing again. “Jax? Really, Bram? You got outwitted by the biggest dumbass dickhead in the universe.”

  “Bamboozled?” Bram repeated while bringing his long index finger to his lower lip, and tapping it as if he were deep in thought. He looked ridiculous with his wrists manacled together. “I quite like that word, actually.”

  “Bram!” I yelled at him in exasperation. My vexation with the obstinate vampire could no longer be subdued. “How could you let this happen? How could Jax pull one over on you? You! Of all people! You who always claim to be one step ahead of everyone else!”

  “Well, apparently I am not, as this case has no doubt proven,” he answered with a shrug like it was no skin off his fangs. “Although I do appreciate your enduring vote of confidence.”

  “How did you fail to realize that the cults were coalescing?” I inquired, feeling as baffled as I probably looked. Upon reaching the wall, I turned around and started pacing in the other direction. “I mean, they were openly merging right underneath your nose!”

  Bram frowned. “Yes, of that I am now well aware. There is no use in rubbing it in.”

  “I’m not rubbing it in,” I argued before turning to face him. “I’m just trying to understand how you managed to miss it.”

  “History will give us the answer, I trust, but for now, let us attribute my deception to the excellent performance everyone demonstrated in their respective roles. It was very effective,” Bram replied in a stoic, matter-of-fact tone. “And I do wish you would cease that pacing. You are beginning to make me uncomfortable.”

  “Whom do you mean by everyone?” I demanded. Since he was talking, I needed to collect as much information as I could. It didn’t matter that Bram had failed to see what was happening right in front of him, that didn’t preclude him from having useful information that would benefit the ANC, if not now, possibly at some point in the future. Well, that’s assuming that I would make it out of this alive!

  “The leaders of each cult,” Bram answered tersely. “Clearly, they were all in cahoots.”

  “Do you know who the leaders of each cult are? And how many cults there are altogether?”

  “There are five potions organizations altogether,” Bram started. “I commanded the largest, Crossbones.”

  I remembered Jax telling me something about Crossbones that I still needed to cross-reference. (No pun intended). “Are there really three hundred people in your employ, Bram, or was that just bullshit? Do three hundred people actually work in Crossbones?”

  “That number or thereabouts,” Bram answered with a dismissive shrug. Even now, while we were both being held captive, Bram showed little concern or worry. Maybe it came with his advanced age or wisdom, I didn’t know. But it was more than just annoying, to say the least.

  “And Mayhem? Was that the second largest of the potions organizations?” I asked, trying to remember all the information spilled by Jax. I wasn’t sure when, but I’d stopped pacing and now stood directly in front of Bram.

  “Rochefort does have a big mouth, does he not?” Bram replied, looking perturbed as he shook his head. “Yes, Mayhem is the second largest in the potions rings and has roughly the same number of members as Crossbones does.”

  “Who is the leader of Mayhem?”

  “Shade,” Bram instantly replied before raising his brows to convey his disapproval.

  “Shade?” I repeated, sounding dumbfounded.

  “Yes, that is correct. One-word name. Shade. He, along with Cher, the late Prince, and Madonna, prefer no surname in their identities.”

  “Moving on,” I interrupted before pacing back and forth again. Somehow, and I had no idea why, I always seemed to think better on my feet while I was moving. I abruptly came to a halt and turned to face Bram when something unexpectedly occurred to me. “Could this Shade person be the one who’s ultimately in charge now? I mean, it’s obviously not Jax! He already admitted that he took orders from someone above him.”

  “Of course Jax is not in charge!” Bram laughed at me with scorn, like I was stupid. “That behemoth could not determine his left foot from his right …”

  “Oh, really? And yet look what he managed, to pull one over on you!” I would have gone on, but I chose to swallow the rest of my words after Bram’s unhappy expression conveyed his lack of appreciation for my sarcasm.

  “Shade could not be in charge,” Bram announced, his jaw firmly set.

  “Okay, then who do you think it could be?”

  “You surprise me, my dear,” Bram said as he turned to face me with a frown.

  “I do?”

  “You failed to do your homework this time,” he responded. “You should already have discovered and known all of this information.”

  “Well, I hate to break it to you, Bram,” I replied, my aggravation snaking up my spine and tainting my tone of voice. “But no one in the ANC knows anything about the commerce of the potions organizations or their inner hierarchy. Do you know why that is? It’s because they are basically a secret society that survives totally underground.”

  Bram frowned again at me like he wasn’t impressed with my analysis. “Anarchy is another ring, and it’s basically run by a thug called Jimmy Brant.”

  “How many people are there in Anarchy?”

  “Perhaps two hundred.”

  “Okay, go on.”

  “Credo is the smallest of the rings. They only have perhaps one hundred members. It is operated by someone named Dirty Shelly.”

  “A woman?”

  “Perhaps you could call her that. However, she is the roughest fragment of any woman I have ever had the distinct misfortune of having any contact with.” He sighed. “Yes, sweet, she is much worse than ugly.”

  “Anyway …” I said as I rolled my eyes. It figured that any woman who wasn’t at least somewhat attractive could not be classified a woman in Bram’s eyes.

  “232 is the final ring, and that contains perhaps two hundred fifty members. It is run by The Overlord.”

  “The Overlord?” I repeated, shaking my head with curiosity. “Where do they come up with these corny names?”

  “Yes, The Overlord. He is an ogre, and I hesitate to warn you, quite territorial. I imagine the Rebellion probably had the most difficult time in their attempts to persuade him to join their cause.”

  “And his organization is named 232 after the potion, right?” I asked. Bram simply nodded. 232 was a dangerously illegal street potion that was highly addictive. It affected the users by flooding them with feelings of euphoria that would last for days on end. “So, in your opinion, would any of the leaders of any of those organizations possibly be the one giving orders to Jax?”<
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  “Possibly, yes, but I find that highly improbable.”

  “Why?” I demanded. “Clearly Jax has to be taking his orders from someone.”

  “Yes, of course he does,” Bram agreed, before he resumed shaking his head. “But not from any of those inept creatures.”

  “Well, who then?”

  “That, my dear, is the million-dollar question, and I must apologize that I do not currently have an answer for you.” All of a sudden, Bram began to leisurely inspect his fingernails, as if he had all the time in the world. “I, for one, remain suspicious of that one. I cannot say I believe anything Jax has told us.”

  “What?” I exclaimed as I faced him in annoyance. “How could it not be true?”

  “I have no reason to believe it is true.”

  “You mean, besides the fact that you and I are stuck in here while he’s out there! What part are you missing? Because clearly you’re missing something.”

  Bram shrugged and shook his head before he glanced up at me. “Rochefort is a pretentious blowhard. He could not possibly rank as highly as he professes to, at least not in this lifetime.”

  “He said he was taking direct orders from someone he obviously feared and respected. And it looked to me like he was in charge back there. Those thugs took all their orders from him,” I argued.

  “So Jax is the commander of a couple of thugs,” Bram responded with a pssshing sound, inferring he wasn’t impressed. “That means absolutely nothing.”

  “Okay, well, whoever is in charge of the Rebellion trusted Jax enough to let him procure you, so what do you have to say to that?”

  “Nothing whatsoever. All I am saying,” Bram started in a low tone as he glared at me, “is that I do not believe the Rebellion is what Jax would like us to imagine it is.”

  “Explain.”

  “Rochefort wants us to think he has all the backing of the gang units, because he thinks it will intimidate us. But I doubt seriously if such is truly the case.”