Gilded In Gold Ch 05

Xerxes stormed into his quarters, his body shaking in barely leashed fury. He'd half expected what he found today, but having his worst fears confirmed just added to all his problems. How that little shit had gotten his hands on the latest net his company produced, he didn't know. It wasn't even out yet, and only a few select people had been given a beta version of the powerful net.

As soon as he was behind closed doors, he went straight to his bedroom. It had been turned into his own, private office, with a multitude of large screens set up on one wall. He quickly uploaded what he could remember of Daniel's Mental Map structure, laying out the outlying layer before trying to fill in the maze-like intricacies that made up his security. Although he hated to admit it, Daniel had been smart enough to create a bunch of dead ends in his net that drained the power of any intruders while they looked for an opening. But Xerxes was not only was the very creator of the net, he had his powerful brother at his fingertips.

However, there was only so much that he could do with his limited access. Throughout the whole session, he had been monitored by Daniel's goons. The key, literally, was in Tibby. While quickly exploring Daniel's net, he'd found that the maze had an underlying pattern and had quickly figured out a system to figure out where the dead ends were. Though the pattern stayed the same, the walls would constantly move making it seem as if it were a constantly changing maze. It was a brilliant plan, and only a handful of men he knew were capable of making truly moving and changing walls; his brother Eli was one of them and Xerxes had been the man who'd invented that kind of wall. Daniel's was more primitive, it was as though he's gotten the bare skeletons of his program's blueprints and tried to knock off Xerxes' sophisticated design. All he needed now was a structure key, and Tibby would be the perfect mold to make it from.

While he'd been kissing her, he'd gently probed inside her mind. Her maps were a mirror of Daniels. He'd timed the changing walls and they changed at the exact time Daniel's did. He just needed access to her walls, which couldn't be too difficult getting from the malleable and impressionable girl. He snorted in disgust; the girl had been like a bitch in heat.

Right, like that was a turn off for you.

Eli's mocking voice filled his head, but Xerxes choose to ignore him.

I won't need you to baby sit me tonight. The girl seems comfortable enough with me. And since she can sense both of us, there's no need to expend your energy.

Xerxes hoped that his brusque tone would get his brother to shut up about things he didn't understand.

Bull-fucking-shit!

Eli snorted.

Don't curse.

It was almost automatic, his reprimand. Ever since his brother had gotten out of seclusion and been handed over to Xerxes' custody, Eli had tried pushing the boundaries of all his rules. One of his more colorful stunts had been to have a bunch of strippers brought to the penthouse during one of Xerxes' corporate parties.

Eli's powers were unstable at best; hence his imprisonment in a Counsel controlled facility. Their parents had committed Eli when he'd barely been five years old and he'd only been allowed limited visits from his siblings. Xerxes had bonded with his youngest brother, being the other outsider in the family. He'd worked hard to build a program to help Eli control his powers, since he hadn't yet found a human to channel his excess strength to. About a year ago, Xerxes had finally made a breakthrough and connected Eli to him, seeing as how his powers were already on the low spectrum of the of scale. He might as well be a weak human, for all the mental capacities he had.

~

Okay, you need to get yourself out of your pity party. I'm gonna act like your little fan boy and point out you single handedly built up Xerxes Corp. and made huge innovations in Mental Maps and their shields. ~

Xerxes cracked a smile at Eli's tirade. ~

You're the best fan boy I've had, Eli.~

~Ha! That's because I'm your brother. Anyway, stop pretending you don't want me there with you tonight because I'm exerting myself. You just wanna bone her, and before you say it bone is not a curse word.~

Xerxes cracked a smile as he shook his head. The Palace was having a costume ball tonight, and it was going to give him the perfect opportunity to romance the Cross girl. And if it entailed some "boning", he'd be more than happy to break his three month dry spell.

~

Seriously, man, call her by her name. That's what you're gonna be calling out when you fuck her.~

Just to appease his brother, Xerxes said her name out loud.

Tibby, there happy? ~

~Nope, but I know you will be tonight. Just...go easy on her yeah? She seems nice.~

Xerxes frowned. ~

She's the sister of the man holding our sister imprisoned.~

~That doesn't automatically make her the villain.~

Xerxes snorted, clearly disagreeing and heard Eli's long, drawn out sigh flow through his head. Lacking the patience to deal with his brother, Xerxes set up the block that would only allow Eli to see into his mind but wouldn't allow him to interfere.

A beep sounded on his PACT, indicating an incoming message. The face of one of his closest and trusted personal guards appeared, and he nodded for her to continue.

"You certainly moved fast," Cassidy, better known as Cass, smirked at him. "She was all blushes and dreamy sighs when we went to dress her."

When Xerxes had decided to go after his sister alone, his eldest brother had refused to let him go into another territory without a few guards. He'd picked Cass and two other men to follow him, positioning them at advantageous places within the Palace workforce for his convenience. So far, Cass's position as Tibby's personal designer was paying off well.

Xerxes nodded. "Did you learn anything new about her?"

"Not much. She did ask Mina a few veiled questions about sex. If ever there was a girl ready to be ravished, it's her."

Xerxes savagely grinned, showing his sharp canines. "Good."

"Oh, by the way, the dress she's wearing has a touch zip going down her front, it's a green vine that ends in a pink and yellow flower at her waist," Cass said with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows. "She's going as Mother Nature, so I suggest you go as something to compliment her."

"Thanks for the tip," Xerxes said absentmindedly as he walked to his closet in search of a suit. There was no goddamn way he was dressing up like a silly kid for a costume ball.

"Oh, I know you well enough by now but please don't be one of those guys that are too cool for costumed balls," Cass frowned up at him from the transparent screen.

Xerxes sat the screen up on a small table beside the closet doors, and then pulled out a plain black suit made of organic fabric.

"What's a better compliment to Mother Nature than man?" He said as he shrugged out of his current suit.

Cass just rolled her eyes. "Man also destroyed Mother Nature. Don't you think that's a little too on the nose?"

"I think it's prophetic," Xerxes defended.

Cass shook her head. "You would. Just make it good for her; I think she might be a virgin." With that, her image shuttered off to be replaced by the PACT's blank screen.

Great.

Now both his brother and his employee were on Tibby's side. They didn't understand the gravity of the situation, the utter hell his sister had been going through for the past few months. She'd sent out low frequency signals undetectable to more powerful Psychs, that only he'd been able to discern. He'd only felt a fraction of her pain and her humiliation and that was more than enough of what he himself could take. Tibby was just in the way, and as in all wars, there were always a few innocent casualties.

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Although it was a costume ball, which should imply some sort of a costume, Tibby saw more than a few men and women completely nude. One couple in particular caught her attention, and she'd been hard pressed not to laugh. A tall, skinny man and a woman that could have been his more feminine twin stood arm in arm, both with a small fig leaf on their privates. It hadn't been a particularly big leaf, but it hid all the pertinent appendages. Daniel had later told her that the man had had himself cloned, except he had it made with two x chromosomes. Tibby didn't know much about cloning other than that it was illegal but enough money could make the authorities turn a blind eye.

The ball itself was magnificent and yet simple. Gilded mirrors went on uninterrupted throughout the room, with mirrors on the floor as well the ceilings. Floating faux candles provided the only light, sometimes dimming and sometimes illuminating particular areas of the ball room. Classical music intercepted with the more modern techno and metallic music blasted from unseen speakers. From the silver and swirling ceilings, drops of what looked like glistening tears fell from the mirrors only to completely disappear just a few inches from the partygoer's heads. At first, she'd been afraid to step onto the swirling silver lake that was the floor, which looked like it was liquid mercury, fearing she'd fall through and drown. But it was as sturdy as wood, and Tibby had delighted in causing small ripples with the tips of her shoes.

The real decorations were the people themselves and the costumes they adorned. Tibby had seen a beautiful woman dressed as Icarus, with moving feathered wings in a flowing white feathered gown with gold accents. Another man had dressed as the devil, with a moving tail and a demonic face that could only come from hell. Daniel had dressed simply, as the beloved Prince Carter, who'd died fifty years ago in the Central Axinion War. Tibby was dressed as Mother Nature, at Cass's insistence. The fabric was little more than gauze and she'd at first adamantly refused to wear something so revealing and formfitting. Mina had added some faux flowers and vines to cover all her private areas, tastefully revealing only a teasing glimpse of skin here and there. The flowers would alternately bloom, then wither away and leave hologram petals at her feet only to blossom once again.

Daniel had certainly been pleased with her appearance but she couldn't care less. There was only one man she wanted to see but there had been no hint of the mysterious Ryan Ezekiel. Daniel had escorted her through the huge ballroom, even taken her out into the middle for a few dances but no matter how many times she craned and twisted her neck in vain attempts to catch sight of him, she saw nothing. While they'd danced, she saw a few couples openly copulating right next to them, some turning the dance moves into a sensual love play while others butchered the timeless waltz into a vulgar display of carnality.

Tibby had implored Daniel to let her rest her tired feet, and he'd grudgingly left her with two body guards. Wanting to get away from the raucous voices, she'd escaped into a balcony, closely followed by the guards. Thankfully, they stopped at the doors, and let her go out onto the balcony. Perversely, she'd hoped her second foray onto a balcony would again meet her up with Ryan Ezekiel. Gingerly, she stepped onto the stone railing, and leaned her upper body on the top of the balustrade and tipped her head up the artificial night sky.

Hundreds of years ago, the atmosphere had been disintegrated and humans had been forced to release a toxic gas that protected them from the sun, but it was hazardous to them. The Cadeon Tech Corp had instituted a shield to go under the toxic gas that protected the humans. The gas above it was an opaque mixture of grey and green most of the time, so the shield projected images of stars and moons at night, while it showed the sun during the day. Tibby wondered if what she saw was a genuine testament to what her ancestors had seen hundreds of years ago.

Just as she was about to give up and go back to the ballroom to tell Daniel she wanted to back to her room, she felt two warm arms cage her in.

Ryan.

"I half expected you to come as Rapunzel," he whispered near her ear, his breath disturbing the wispy curls of hair there.

"Why, were you hoping to climb my hair?" She turned her face towards him, wondering what his costume would be. He wore no mask, and from what she could see, he wore a simple albeit expensive looking suit. "What are you supposed to be?"

He grinned down at her. "I thought I'd come as me, since you have trouble discerning me from this something else you feel."

Turning fully within his arms, she leaned back as far as she could without injuring her spine. "Are you saying Ryan Ezekiel is just a mask?"

Tibby watched his face as he looked at her. One of those floating candles wandered into their little enclave, and for a moment she saw another face. The devil she saw earlier had nothing on this new face. She gasped and blinked, but the face in front of her was back to the way she was familiar with. Surely it was a trick of the light, her fanciful thoughts twisting perfectly harmless things and turning them monstrous.

"The girl I see walking in her brother's shadow, a puppet to his whims ... that's just a mask isn't it?" Tibby made to turn her face away from his probing gaze, but his rough hands on her jaw turned her back. His calloused fingers bit into her skin, turning the skin white.

"Who are you, Tibby? What do you like?"

Tibby didn't like where his questions were going. She wrenched her face away from his grasp. "For some odd reason I happen to like you," she retorted.

Her words made him laugh, mocking in his amusement. "There's nothing about me a good girl like you should like, but then again that's the appeal, no?"

Tibby angrily pushed away from him, taking a few paces to the left of him. "What do you want? Do you want me to like you or not? I do not have time for your games," Tibby yelled in frustration.

Back in her room when she'd been getting dressed, she'd seen how her time was dwindling. Daniel was ever more attentive, spending more and more time with her, touching her with long, lingering caresses. At dinner with his clients, he'd openly maul her and the slightest flinch or hesitation on her part would earn her an excruciating headache, thanks to Daniel. She had no freewill to even react like she would like.

Ezekiel stalked her, until the Palace walls were to her back. "What do you want, Tibby?" He grabbed her around the waist, pushing his hard body against her and crushing the flowers on her dress.

Tibby closed her eyes, utterly defeated. "I don't know. I don't know what I like," she cried. "Daniel never gave me the chance."

"Okay, we'll start out small. What color do you like?"

Tibby smiled, caught off guard by his sudden switch to a much lighter subject. If they didn't talk about Daniel, he simply did not exist.

She thought about the question for a moment, and then answered. "I like white."

Clearly, he wasn't expecting that, assuming by the look of his bemused expression. "White?"

Tibby nodded tipping her head up. "Mmmhmm. White. It's all the colors mixed together."

"So it is. What else?" Ezekiel murmured, leaning in to brush his lips over the cool crest of her check.

"I like strawberries. Their sweet and tart taste reminds me of summers at my grandfather's farm." Tibby close her eyes, thinking back to those sweet and innocent childhood memories.

Ezekiel took his warm lips away and she wanted to protest. "You lived in the Onyx Lands?"

Tibby nodded, looping her hands around his neck. "Can I call you Ryan?"

"Kiss me," Ezekiel said instead. Tibby pursed her lips and felt him press his lips against hers. It was soft and gentle, everything Ezekiel wasn't. He inhaled and sucked the breath from her very lungs, then breathed back warm air inside her, melting her frozen insides.

"Now you can call me Ryan," he breathed against her lips.

"Ryan," she whispered, his name just a puff of air "Take me away from here." Tibby meant more than just this balcony. She wanted him to take her away from Daniel but she could never outright ask that of him. He barely knew her. He wouldn't risk his life for her. Daniel would hunt him to the ground for what he had already done, and that was just one kiss.

Ezekiel pulled his face way then pulled her towards the edge of the balcony. He jumped up on top of the balustrade, facing her.

He put a finger to his lips. "Don't scream."

Then he just disappeared over the edge, falling into the darkness. Tibby muffled her helpless scream and looked frantically over the edge. She saw to her relief Ezekiel standing a few feet underneath her grinning.

"What the hell?! I almost had a heart attack!" Tibby whisper-shouted, clutching at her dry throat.

Ezekiel chuckled. "At least you didn't scream. C'mon. Jump. I'll catch you." He loosely held his arms out, beckoning her with his fingers.

"Are you crazy?"

He grinned and nodded.

Looking back at the closed doors, she saw no shadows coming towards the balcony. "What about the guards?"

He shrugged. "They'll think you're just star gazing, even if they find you gone. Don't worry, your brother won't find out."

Biting her lip in indecision, Tibby eventually stepped onto the railing. "Are you ever going to tell me how you do that?"

"Do what?"

Tibby narrowed her eyes at him. She climbed onto the stone ledge and swung her legs outwards, keeping a firm grip on the stone with her hands. It was a one story drop, but Ezekiel seemed to be none the less for wear.

"Manipulate their memories and change their perception of time and events."

"If I reveal all my secrets, I'd unravel love. Now jump."

The rough stone bit into her palms as she squeezed it one last time before pushing herself away and jumping. It had seemed like forever since she'd been able to make any decisions in her life. Even if this was a huge mistake, it would be her mistake. She was making the conscious decision to fall.

Surprisingly strong arms caught her, and then slowly slid her down his body.

"Now what?"

Ezekiel touched his nose to hers. "Now we run."

Bemused, she pulled back. "What?" But he didn't answer her, merely took her hand and took off in the opposite direction the Palace walls.

A central computer took care of all the security on the Palace, so there was no need for physical security. Since the sensors could identify them, their presence on the grounds didn't sound the alarm. The wet grass tickled her feet, wetting the edges of her gown. Laughing in abandon, Tibby ran after Ezekiel as they cut a wide swath on through the grass, heading for a shadowy destination. She didn't know or care how long they ran. The twists and turns they took around the extensive Palace gardens were lost on her, all of it a blur and the only beacon was the man who was leading her away from Daniel.

A dimly lit barn house soon came into view and Ezekiel ran in that direction. Tibby gulped in a lungful of air and burst out in front of him, now leading him towards the barn. Lights hidden along the grass light up to illuminate their way, but it seemed like she was trying to outrun their revealing light.

She collided heavily with the old, wooden door but she welcomed the jarring impact to her body. She hadn't felt anything in such a long time.

Ezekiel pulled her away, and then tried the knob of the door. She wondered why he didn't just tell the computer to open the door. Ezekiel shoved his shoulder against the door numerous times, until it finally gave way with a long, drawn out groan. The inside remained dark; it seems as though the computer wasn't connected to this dilapidated building. Ezekiel shoved it open and peered in, checking for any threats. When he found none, he beckoned her in.