Chapter 12

Chapter 12

               Loqi had been enjoying a luxurious bath in his private home, away from everyone but a couple of servants who were bringing him drinks or food, when a messenger came in and told him that the president wanted to see him right away. Loqi, despising being summoned, simply took a long drink out of the glass he had on the edge of his tub and closed his eyes to the sunlight that came through the window. His home was not particularly large, but it was large enough he could justify having servants, and private enough that he was mostly undisturbed in life. Except for Bastian’s men.

               “Now,” the man said.

               Loqi ran his tongue over his teeth before letting out a slow breath. The man no longer saw Loqi sitting in the bath tub, he saw Loqi standing, gloriously naked and chiseled, and reaching for a towel. The man flushed and turned away and Loqi took his time in the tub, as he had planned to do. In the man’s vision, though, Loqi was heading towards his room to change.

               Loqi took several more long minutes in the tub before he really did stand, silently, the man not noticing his real movements. He changed his clothing into his uniform and stepped out as the vision was stepping out. The man nodded his head and lead Loqi out of his own house and towards the president’s manor.

               He felt he had been in the manor more often than not lately. He preferred being out hunting something, not being at the beck and call of a man who did not know what he was doing one day from the next. The man was more erratic than any woman and he was not in the mood for his mood swings.

               Loqi met David in the doorway of the manor and David looked just as displeased to see him.

               “How did the hunt for your sister go?” Loqi asked, surprised to see him back so soon.

               “We failed miserably,” David said in his usual tone of voice.

               “You gave up quickly,” Loqi said.

               “I was wasting too much of Bastian’s time.”

               “Are you no longer worried about her?” Loqi questioned, feeling there was something he was missing.

               “No,” David lied and turned to walk with Loqi to the back office.

               As usual Bastian sat at the desk as if that was all he had been doing all day. He watched David and Loqi come in and gestured for them to close the door behind them. Loqi pushed the door closed and took his usual spot standing in front of the desk while David made himself comfortable in the chair across from Bastian.

               “Did you meet up with Rafe on your adventure to find your sister?” Bastian asked of David.

               David’s eye twitched. “No.”

               Bastian sat back and crossed his arms. “He left the compound last night. He told no one why, and simply came back in like nothing happened. You did not find your sister, you did not see Rafe.”

               “No,” David repeated.

               “I think I am being betrayed,” Bastian said calmly. He looked unmoved by his own words, but his hands reached out and grabbed an envelope opener and stabbed the oak of the desk. The edge of the opener went deep into the wood. Bastian pulled it out again without hesitation or difficulty and laid it back on the desk as if he had not just thrown a fit of outrage in a matter of seconds. “I think Rafe has betrayed me.”

               David’s eye twitched again but he did not say a word.

               “Loqi, find her,” Bastian said.

               “Wait, me?” Loqi asked. He could not help the surprise from leaking into his voice and he hated himself for the moment of weakness.

               “He’s hiding her,” Bastian sneered. “He’s hiding her from us, so she must be important. I need you to find her.”

               “Why not let me go back?” David asked.

               “You failed,” Bastian stated bluntly. “Time for someone else to try.”

               “I will do my best,” Loqi stated.

               “I know you will,” Bastian said. “Because if you fail I will make you the next experiment.”

               Loqi turned on his heel without saying another word. He would not allow the president to see the fear on his face. He could give an illusion that showed no fear, but Bastian could see through illusions, and would punish him for the illusion. He had seen the experiments, and he had seen what they could do. Many of them could only destroy themselves and did not last long.

               David quickly caught up with Loqi and stopped him. Loqi nearly took the man’s hand for daring to touch him, but he turned to David and faced him. He did not keep the anger from his eyes and David did not hide his indifference.

               “Do not hurt her if you find her,” David said.

               Loqi watched something in David’s face and asked, “You do not look sure.”

               “Do not hurt her,” David ground out.

               Loqi looked David over and said, “You found her, didn’t you?” David’s eye twitched but he said nothing. “Tell me where she is.” David’s eye twitched again, and another moment went by where he said nothing. He couldn’t tell him, and he could not tell Bastian about it.

               David did not want her to return unharmed because he loved her, he detested her. He wanted to torture her and turn her over to Bastian.  

               Lips pulling at the corners in a twisted smile, Loqi said, “I won’t harm her. She’ll enjoy every moment of my finding her.” Loqi danced out of David’s grip and out the door of the manor. David detested and loved his sister, but he would torture her for it.

               Loqi understood the feeling.