Redemption

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

                Darius woke up with a headache, but when he remembered how much he had drank the day before, he realized it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The drinking had made him feel better at the time, but now, he regretted it. All it gave him was a headache on top of all the other problems that had come up since Niki showed up in New York.

                The thought of Niki made him jump up immediately. He remembered the events of the previous night while he’d been drunk. The senator, Erik, Tin, and Ruslan had all been at his apartment and knocked Niki out. They’d carried her and Garm away, while Erik did his best to keep Darius calm and help him walk out of his apartment.

                Darius thought he remembered hitting Erik hard in the face, because he certainly remembered blood. He hadn’t wanted to cooperate with them, because he was drunk and could only see them as the enemy after they had hurt Niki. She was the only friend he had, and he had to find out what happened to her.

                He immediately saw he wasn’t in his apartment but instead in a small room. He headed for the door, not caring about what else was in the room, but he realized he was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. He looked around for his clothes and saw some folded on a chair. He quickly put them on and took off, not even bothering with the socks or shoes.

                When he ran down the hallway, he realized he was at Senator Rheingold’s estate, which made it easier for Darius to find his way around even though he’d never spent the night in one of the bedrooms. He barged into the senator’s office, not even looking at his secretary.

                “Where’s Niki?” he demanded to know.

                Rheingold looked up from his computer and looked him over. “Why aren’t you wearing shoes?” he asked, ignoring Darius’ question.

                “Fuck shoes,” he said, not in the mood for anything but answers. “Where is she?”

                “I wonder if your attitude is a side effect of the drug we had to use on you or whether people who’ve been tranquilized just have a tendency to wake up pissed off. It’s your own fault we had to knock you out, by the way. You tried fighting my driver.”

                “God damn it!” Darius shouted, feeling the temperature drop in the room. “Where the fuck is Niki?”

                “Calm down, Darius,” the senator ordered. The tone of his voice told Darius he wasn’t going to tolerate any shit, and despite the rage he felt, Darius did his best to remain calm. “We’ve got her locked up downstairs.”

                Immediately, Darius moved to the locked door, wanting to see her and make sure she was all right, but an unseen force stopped him. While he could have easily overpowered the senator in a telekinesis battle, he really didn’t want things to come to that, so he didn’t fight it.

                “I was actually hoping this situation could work to our advantage,” Rheingold said. “You know we’ve talked about needing to recruit more people to our side. While she’s not the most powerful person I’ve ever seen, she gave Tin some nasty burns and I think you’d be happy to work alongside your friend. Given what happened last night, I don’t think she’ll be up for listening to anything I or the others have to say. I’d like you to see if you can’t convince her to work for me.”

                “Yeah,” Darius agreed immediately. He’d have agreed to just about anything if it meant getting to see Niki. “Yeah, I’ll talk to her. Can I go now?”