he lunged at Niklaus, hitting him in the stomach. He knew better than to punch anyone in the face, or anywhere there was bare skin, because Sebastian’s fist was accompanied by a burst of healing energy that sort of made his punch pointless.
Niklaus doubled over with Sebastian’s fist in his solar plexus, but then lunged forward, slamming Sebastian against the far wall of the corridor. Sebastian tried to bring his elbow down on Niklaus’ head, but Niklaus twisted free and then began pummeling him. With each impact, Sebastian felt his courage wane and fear grow inside him. He fought back as best as he could, hitting Niklaus in the chest and stomach and sending him staggering back for a moment, then Niklaus came back with an uppercut to his jaw, filling Sebastian’s head with exploding stars.
Niklaus shoved him against the wall and clutched his throat, filling him with fear. Niklaus leaned in close again, his gray eyes burning, his teeth bared in a smile.
For a moment, Sebastian saw through the human mask of Niklaus to the monster behind it, a thing the size of a great mountain, made of rock and bone, a thousand horns on its massive dinosaur-skull head, dark fire burning deep inside its bony eye sockets. It made an ear-shattering inhuman screech, loud enough to tear worlds apart. The fear-giver.
Then he was trembling and useless, staring into Niklaus’ eyes.
“You made a mistake,” Niklaus whispered. “Let’s get you into a cell downstairs.”
Niklaus punched him again, then dragged him out of the hall, shouting for more guards.
Sebastian spent hours shivering alone in a dim concrete cell, terrified by every sound that echoed through the cellblock, paranoid that they were going to punish Juliana for his actions. Frightened that she might already be dead, and nobody had told him.
Niklaus’ spell gradually wore off, but he was still trembling when the panel outside his barred window opened. It was Alise, her usually bubbly smile gone, her face hard and cold and slathered in makeup.
“Here he is,” Alise said, to someone he couldn’t see. “Why did you have to mess it all up, Sebastian? Everything was going so well for you.”
“I just wanted to see Juliana.”
“That’s too bad. Now you’ll never get to see anyone, not for a long time. A shame, with your children on the way.”
“I don’t have any children.”
“Oh, no one’s told you?” Now Alise’s smile was back. “Juliana is pregnant with your child. So is Mia. The first two babies of our supernormal breeding project, true Aryans of the future.”
“What breeding project?”
“You’ll never see either of the children, of course,” Alise said. “They belong to the Reich. They will be raised and educated properly. One day, they might command armies. You’ll never know. You’ll be down here, wishing you had never caused us any trouble.”
Sebastian walked to the barred window, anger burning away the cobwebs of fear Niklaus had left in him. “They’re both pregnant?”
“One day, my child will command both of yours,” Alise said. “I intend to have a son, and raise him to lead the Reich.”
“You’re pregnant, too?”
Alise scowled at him. “You have a visitor. Someone who wants to say good-bye.” She stepped aside, and another face took the place of hers. Jonathan Barrett, of Fallen Oak, South Carolina. Sebastian immediately wanted to spit in his face.
“What are you doing here?” Sebastian asked. “Coming to see how you’ve destroyed our lives?”
“Are we not having a happy day today?” Barrett asked, grinning.
“You’d better get us out of here, Barrett. This place is a prison run by crazy people.”
“You got exactly what I promised,” Barrett said. “Scientific testing of your abilities. I heard you were doing well here until recently, Sebastian.”
“You’re a liar,” Sebastian said. “I’m warning you, Barrett. You get us out of here now, or I’ll make you pay for it.”
“And how are you going to do that? You look so cozy there in your cell.”
“I may not know how, but it will happen,” Sebastian said. “I never forget. If you leave us here, I will come back and I will destroy everything you care about. Your ridiculous idea of a legacy. Whatever you create, I will ruin. I’ll burn your house right to the ground. I’ll burn your name right out of history. Nothing you do will last, and everyone will forget you ever lived.”
Barrett chuckled and shook his head. “Sad. Truly sad, threats made from a cage.”
“Mr. Barrett,” Alise said, “We’d better get going. You don’t want to miss your train.”
Barrett nodded. “Nice visiting