Libra Ascending: An Epic Urban Fantasy Romance (Zodiac Guardians Book 1)

by Tamar Sloan

  “I wouldn’t worry about her. You’ll all join her soon enough.” Adalind closes in on Tristan and gets down to his level. Her back is to Zarius and Tess.

  This is Brielle’s chance. She can cry for Cassandra when this is over.

  If they make it out alive.

  “You may have been wrong about Cassandra, but you were right about my bestie,” Adalind says as Brielle hunches low and creeps toward the captives.

  Tess catches her approaching, and at the sight of the suit, she purses her lips and nods to her. Brielle swiftly gets behind the beam and works her fingers quickly and quietly to unravel the restraints. When Tess’s release and fall around her, Brielle moves over to do the same for Zarius.

  “So tell me, Prince Gem, who else do you suspect of being one of you?” Adalind asks, tipping his chin upward with her index finger.

  Adalind is so busy reveling in her victory, she never sees the ambush coming.

  Zarius swings a thick two-by-four right at the back of her head. “He prefers Tristan.”

  27

  Tristan

  The brief moment of surprise as the Skins watch their leader crumple is all Tristan needs. He leaps, somersaulting through the air and landing behind them. One sweeping kick and they’re both knocked out cold.

  Tristan streaks toward Zarius and they both form a defensive line in front of Tess and Brielle.

  “Nice suit,” Zarius comments.

  Tristan lifts his fists as the Skins start fanning around them. “What were the chances it was going to be my favorite color?”

  Three Skins run at them at once, but they don’t stand a chance against Zarius and Tristan. Like two gears in a well-oiled machine, Zarius quickly dispatches one while Tristan’s fist ploughs through the other two.

  “Adalind?” Tristan asks quietly, noting the pool of blood circling her head from the corner of his eye where she lies beside Cassandra’s dead body.

  “I doubt she’ll be getting back up again,” Zarius states flatly.

  Tristan can’t bring himself to feel sad for the loss of the girl. She betrayed Brielle. She killed Cassandra and Alden.

  She wanted to kill Tess.

  The next punch aimed at a Skin is powered by the rage that thought sparks. The Skin sails through the air, landing in an unconscious heap a few feet away.

  “And the girl?” Zarius asks as he rams his elbow into the next fool who comes at them.

  “Brielle. She’s the Libra.”

  The words slice straight through Tristan, the suit being no protection from the truth. The next kick slams straight through three Skins like a battering ram. Just as he lands, a piece of wood cracks across Tristan’s back. The sound of it splintering is like a gunshot.

  Tristan straightens and turns to face the man. “That could’ve hurt,” he growls.

  Using his fists like pistons, he pummels the Skin’s chest. The man jerks and grunts over and over, before finally collapsing.

  “Tristan!”

  Brielle’s panicked voice has him spinning around. Two Skins have used the distraction to work their way around and come up behind. One grabs Tess by the hair as the other sets his gaze on Brielle.

  “Use your powers,” Tristan calls.

  The bastard will never stand a chance.

  Except Brielle’s stepping backward, shaking her head. She whispers the next words, but they’re undeniable as they slide over Tristan’s ear.

  “My powers. They don’t work on the Skins.”

  There’s no time to ask what the hell she’s talking about. To try and get his head around what that means.

  Zarius is already running toward Tess. Tristan leaps into the air, covering the distance in a flying arc. He lands behind the Skin, relishing the sound as his armored fist slams into the side of his head.

  And then, there’s no time to talk. To think. The Skins have finally figured out they need to rush them at once if they’re going to stand a chance.

  But there’s no way they’re getting through Tristan and Zarius as they come to the forefront again. Tess is behind them. Brielle with her.

  And it seems Brielle’s just as helpless as Tess is, armed with less than basic fighting skills.

  Tristan and Zarius fight like they’ve never fought before. At times back to back, others side to side, they form an impenetrable barrier. Father and son. Guardian and Zodiac.

  As Zarius grabs one Skin and shoves the guy at Tristan, he almost finds himself smiling. An uppercut and a kick to the chest, and the man’s no longer a threat.

  This is what being a Zodiac’s about.

  Being a team.

  And winning because of it.

  Suddenly, the handful of Skins left go still. Like puppets, their arms drop by their sides, their heads flopping down like the strings have been cut.

  Tristan and Zarius straighten, glancing at each other. Instinctively, they take a couple of steps back, closer to Brielle and Tess.

  “What’s going on?” Tess asks quietly.

  Tristan waits for Zarius to answer, but nothing comes. Which means he doesn’t know.

  Whatever’s going on, it isn’t good.

  “I say we get the hell out of here,” mutters Tristan. He reaches back, finding Brielle already coming up beside him. He grasps her hand tightly. “Now.”

  Zarius is running on adrenaline and doesn’t have a suit to protect him.

  Brielle’s powers don’t work on Skins.

  Tess has been close to death enough as it is.

  Suddenly, a click reverberates through the silent warehouse, and the door to their right opens slowly.

  They all freeze. It was too slow for a breeze to have pushed it open.

  Yet no one is coming through.

  Tristan indicates the others stay where they are as he takes a few cautious steps to the side. It could be the door popping open at the wrong moment, but they need to be careful.

  Tristan's taken two steps then stops.

  A man enters through the door, his stride casual. He stops a few feet in, adjusting his cuffs as he maintains a side profile.

  Tristan's breath disintegrates. It can't be…

  The man is tall, ink black hair combed back from his pale face. Slowly, deliberately, he glances up at Tristan, half his head in shadow. A wide smile creeps up his flawless face. His gaze flickers past Tristan, finding Zarius, Tess and Brielle, but then quickly returns to him. A few more steps and the door whooshes closed behind him.

  Instinctively, Tristan knows who he's facing.

  Chardis.

  Just like his hair, he's dressed in ink, from his collared shirt to his creased slacks to his polished shoes. Of course, he is. Chardis likes to think he's the new black.

  Finally, he turns his face toward them. Tristan almost does something he’s never done in his life. He has to physically stop himself from stepping back.

  Chardis’s left eye is missing. No, not missing. Nonexistent.

  Nothing but a socket of nothingness, thin spidery veins the color of black blood extend from it, creeping across his face and disappearing into his hairline. It’s the coldest, creepiest thing Tristan has ever seen.

  He goes to step back beside his parents and Brielle when Chardis speaks.

  "Don't move."

  Like hell he won’t.

  Another step and Tess cries out. Tristan stills, fear spearing through him. Tess is clutching her chest, her eyes wide with panic and pain.

  Tristan spins around, facing Chardis. "Leave her alone!"

  "When I was told there was not one, but two, Zodiac Guardians here, I knew I had to come. I mean, what if you found your Gemini Twin, Tristan? Why, I could’ve been in a spot of trouble.” His gaze flickers to Brielle. “But instead you found yourself a Libra.” The black lines that are his brows hike up, stretching the spidery veins on his face. “I bet that was disappointing.”

  Tristan’s teeth are clenched too hard to respond. He needs to get to Zarius and Tess. And yet the darkest evil in the Universe is righ
t in front of him.

  “You do know what dark matter is, don't you Tristan? It's the glue between atoms, the fascinating, mysterious substance that holds our Universe together. It's the foundation of everything, yet undetectable on this primitive planet." Chardis's lips twitch. "If you have the ability to harness it, there’s no limit to what you can do."

  "Enough of the physics lesson," Tristan growls. "What do you want?"

  But Chardis continues as if Tristan didn't speak. "Considering it's tucked between every atom in this Universe, it means all I have to do is squeeze and it contracts."

  Tess cries out again, and from the corner of his eye, Tristan sees her collapse in Zarius’s arms.

  "I can crush a can. A car." His black gaze flares with obsidian fire. "Or a heart."

  Zarius roars an objection only for it to be cut off. Chardis chuckles. "Or a throat."

  Tristan's hands flex helplessly by his side. "What do you want?" he growls again.

  Chardis levels his cold gaze on him. "Remove your suits."

  Brielle's gasp splinters across Tristan's ears. Just like him, she realizes they'll be far too vulnerable if they do that. They'll lose what little advantage they have.

  It's Zarius's groan as he drops to his knees that propels Tristan into action. "We'll do as you ask. Just leave them alone!"

  With a short nod to Brielle, he says the word. In a blink, his suit is gone, Brielle's disappearing a second later.

  Chardis's smile grows. "Ah, what fine young Guardians you are." He angles his head. "And yet you have so much to learn."

  Turning to look at Zarius and Tess, Chardis raises his hand. Insidiously, a black mist starts to form around him. It grows, creeping along the warehouse floor like coal-colored cancer. The moment it touches anything—poles, walls, the silent bodies of the Skins—it creeps up, defying gravity in its quest to devour.

  Including the legs of Tristan’s parents.

  "What are you doing?" Tristan demands.

  But Chardis is focused. Unwavering.

  In his determination to kill Tristan's parents.

  "No!" he screams, his hand reaching back for his stone. Except he can't lift it. It's like gravity has multiplied, chaining him with invisible bonds no matter how much he strains against it. It pulls down on him, anchoring his feet into the floor. Leaving him immobile.

  Helpless as he watches Tess and Zarius collapse, gripping their chests. The black mist licks hungrily at them, tendrils winding their way around their waists.

  "No," Tristan screams through his tight throat.

  But there's nothing he can do.

  Zarius looks up at him. He mouths two words. “Find them.”

  His face contorts with agony, and he draws Tess to his chest. His parents cling to each other as their hearts are crushed within their ribs. Blood appears at Tess's mouth as Zarius presses a kiss to her forehead. Their eyes close simultaneously as their bodies crumple into the inky mist that now covers the floor.

  This time, the denial screams through Tristan's mind. Through his heart. Through the very core of his being.

  But it does nothing to stop the reality of what’s happened.

  Zarius and Tess are dead. Killed by Chardis.

  He turns to Tristan, one eye glittering with satisfaction, the other a black hole of evil. "I wanted you to see that before I finished you next."

  The mist grows and multiplies, sucking any light from the room. The warehouse shrinks as it turns into night.

  His whole body turns cold as Tristan realizes his vision has come to pass.

  Cassandra's dead.

  Everything's black.

  Brielle will be next.

  He doesn’t stop the cry that explodes from his throat as he feels his heart compress. It’s like a weight’s just been slammed on his chest. Agony detonates from the inside out, the sound of Chardis’s chuckle an unwanted poison in his mind.

  As the pain has his legs giving out, Tristan wishes he 'd been strong enough. He couldn't protect Zarius or Tess. He couldn't save Brielle.

  He’s failed.

  28

  Brielle

  All Brielle can do is watch as Tristan crumples and screams. She’s never felt so useless. Zarius and Tess just died right in front of her, and the same thing is about to happen to Tristan.

  “Chardis, please stop!” she begs, running forward and stopping just short of the black mist. “Take me instead. I’ll go without a fight. I’ll do whatever you want. Just spare him. Please!”

  “No, Brielle!” Tristan groans, the words barely audible through his clenched teeth.

  Chardis aims his black, soulless eye on her, and she suddenly feels heavier.

  “Having a Zodiac Guardian as a pet is a tempting offer,” Chardis says like a panther purring, stalking slowly closer. “But what use do I have for Libra? Power of truth and justice, eh? Was it your justice to let Alden die for you? Was it your truth to befriend the girl plotting your demise just because she cast a smile in your direction? You can’t even save the boy you love.”

  He waves his hand toward Tristan, who’s doubled over at his feet, barely breathing and clutching his chest.

  Desperation fries Brielle’s nerve endings from fingertips to toes, threatening to burst through her chest. And yet all she can do is watch Tristan gasp to death. Hot tears stream down her cheeks, and she wishes she still had her suit, if only to hide her face.

  Chardis is right. She’s of no use to anyone. Alden died trying to save her from Adalind. Cassandra died because of the connection Adalind saw between them. Brielle came here to help Tristan rescue Zarius and Tess, and because of her failure, they’re both now dead, too. She’s nothing but a walking disaster, a living disappointment.

  “There is no truth other than what I say there is, no justice other than what I will there to be,” Chardis says, his chest puffing out. “I am the truth and justice in the Universe, and I will not be judged by the likes of you.”

  Brielle’s body is all of a sudden so heavy that she can no longer stand. Her knees buckle and she lands on all fours. This is his doing. He’s manipulating gravity.

  “I must say, I do love seeing a Zodiac Guardian on their knees,” he boasts, his thin lips curling in a wicked smile. “Bowing to the rightful power in the Universe, like a good girl.”

  A force tightens around Brielle’s chest, cramping her lungs and making it impossible to fill them. Gasping, she looks over at Tristan, who’s now laying on the floor in the fetal position. His face is puffy and red, like the blood is trapped there.

  She knows there are only seconds left until he dies. And her, too.

  “I do wonder which of you I should kill first, which of you I should make the other watch as they die,” Chardis says as he paces around them.

  Tristan’s bulging eyes find hers, and he reaches out. But his arms are too heavy and don’t make it more than a few inches. He nods, and she understands all the many layers of that small gesture even without him mouthing the words, “It’s okay.”

  No, it’s not. None of this is okay. Tristan has spent his whole life looking for her, or at least other Guardians like her. Fate has to exist. Brielle refuses to believe that the Universe would set them up to meet only to kill them immediately after and doom itself in the process.

  Cassandra and Alden, Zarius and Tess, they can’t die in vain. They just can’t! She is going to avenge them and save Tristan, or she’s going to die trying.

  With every ounce of her strength, she pushes herself up enough to look at Chardis, her arm muscles shaking violently with the effort.

  “If…not…me,” she says between broken breaths. “Then…who?”

  Chardis stops his pacing and looks down at her. “What?” There’s a hike in his brow as if he’s impressed by her ability to speak through his gravity intensification.

  “Who…will…judge…you…for…all…you’ve…killed?” The last word exhausts her air supply and barely makes it past her lips. The lack of oxygen makes her arms give out
, and she falls flat on her chest.

  Chardis gives a low chuckle. “You’re no match for me, girl.”

  A familiar tingle in her gut signals through the white noise of pain and suffocation. She would know that tingle anywhere. She’s felt it her entire life. But it makes no sense. Not with him.

  The tingle creeps up her belly, then her neck, and as she knew it would, the vision takes hold.

  Brielle is suddenly spiraling through a whirlwind of faces meeting their death. Whole planets destroyed, massacres on levels too horrible to fathom. Blood and blackness staining every flashing image.

  When the vision fades, she feels spent, both physically and emotionally. The weight of all those stolen lives and mass extinctions crushes her more than Chardis’s gravity.

  Guilt. The most powerful guilt she’s ever felt.

  And it belongs to the man standing in front of her.

  Brielle doesn’t understand it, but she doesn’t have the time to question it. She embraces the foreign guilt no matter how much it hurts her soul, her heart. She gathers it into a tight little ball inside her, and in one last ditch effort, she throws her hand out at him, imagining herself hurling it right at his chest.

  Just like with Marie and Suki, her spirit feels lighter as soon as the guilt is gone.

  “What…what is this?” Chardis’s voice spikes with alarm.

  Brielle cranes her head off the floor to look at him. His eyes are wide with panic as his hands roam his chest all over. The black veins climbing across his face stand out in stark relief.

  “Urgh,” he groans, clutching his heart.

  She suddenly realizes it’s not only her spirit that’s lighter. Her limbs move more freely, their weight receding by the second. When she has enough strength to turn her head to Tristan, she finds the bright flush slowly leaving his face, his cheeks and eyes deflating back to their normal size.

  Chardis’s power is waning.

  She turns back to him and wills the guilt to intensify. He cries out in pain and clutches his abdomen as if some creature is about to burst out of it. Is that a red glow beneath his hand? She doesn’t believe it until a wisp of smoke rises between his fingers.