by Lizzy Ford
Kaylee rolled her eyes. “I’m sick of this destiny shit. Neither he nor I am going to survive any of this. What does it matter that we’re soul mates?” As she said the words, she reminisced about her last kiss with Nathan. One that managed to convey his desperation and need. Nathan was not the kind of man who blindly went along with fate, but she’d felt his acceptance then when she hadn’t when they made love.
“Your aura is gorgeous,” Shanti said. “You love him already.”
Kaylee didn’t know how to respond. She barely knew Nathan. If she cared for him, was it because of the magical bond they shared? The one that destined them to be together? She’d been attracted to him at first sight, but who wouldn’t be? With his noble features, penetrating gaze, natural intensity and confidence, she could see why Maggy and Zyra had fallen for him. Or at least, fallen into bed with him.
“We should go,” she said quietly. “We don’t know what Maggy has planned.”
“I’m guessing she’ll wait until she thinks we’re asleep then come back and catch us off guard,” Shanti said. “It’s what I’d do.”
Two months before, such a thought never would have crossed Kaylee’s mind. Neither would volunteering to be murdered or discovering angels, demons, and spirit guides were real.
“Maybe we should leave on a couple of lights, in case she comes back.” She hurried around the house and turned on the living room lights before joining Shanti again at the door. “Let’s go.”
“I have a better idea. Do I smell natural gas?”
Kaylee glanced at the oven. “Yes.”
“Crank it up. We’re going to burn this place down.”
“To cover up the portal?”
“Or the proof Maggy is working with 3G,” Shanti said.
“I’m not following.”
“This isn’t a safe house, Kaylee. It’s someone’s home. I found the bodies in the utility room.” Shanti’s voice was hushed. “Spirit guides are forbidden from murdering humans.”
Kaylee went still. “Maggy killed them?”
“And left us here to fend for ourselves while she went to find her 3G friends, if I had to guess,” Shanti replied. “We’re leaving, but we need to burn the bodies, so no demons can possess them before we leave. We have no idea who else might know we’re here.”
“I didn’t know that was possible.” Kaylee sucked in a deep breath, not wanting to imagine how a reanimated corpse, or a possessed one, would act. She loved horror movies but hated zombies.
She did as Shanti directed and went to the oven to crank up the dials.
“I found matches and candles in the living room,” Shanti said. “Light one. It’ll do the trick.”
Kaylee hurried to follow the instructions. By the time she returned to the kitchen, the scent of gas had filled half the house.
Shanti led them outside. Dusk had begun to fall and along with it, the distant rumble of thunder. Clouds covered the sky.
Kaylee shivered as much from the chilly autumn air as the idea she could be dead by morning – or stalked by demons wearing human bodies. She hunched her shoulders as they walked down the sloping driveway.
Nathan was in more danger than he knew, if Maggy were working with 3G, too. Kaylee couldn’t help the frustration and anger boiling within her at the idea she could trust no one. The key holders alone were trustworthy but needed protection and allies as much as Kaylee did. It was a no-win situation.
They had barely reached the halfway point of the driveway when an explosion roared behind them. Fire leapt into the air above the house, along with smoke.
A light drizzle began to fall, quelling her concern about starting a forest fire.
Shanti continued walking, back to the destruction they’d both caused. “I hate that,” she muttered. “Fire is crazy energy. The bigger the fire, the more confused my senses get.”
Kaylee couldn’t get the image of zombies out of her mind. Finally, she shook her head and caught up to Shanti.
“Maybe Maggy is working for 3G and wants me alive to close the portals,” she reasoned. “Maybe she wouldn’t kill me after all, now that she thinks I might be useful.”
“Unless she plans to kill all the gatekeepers and you. That’s the only way she could prevent the gates from opening in the first place until a new generation of gatekeepers were appointed,” Shanti said.
Kaylee didn’t want to think about how many people Zyra, Maggy, Nathan, and Eddy were willing to murder in order to achieve their goals.
What if I have a say in this mess after all? She thought. Unable to understand what form that might take, Kaylee subsided once more into silence. She possessed one piece, maybe two, of a puzzle with a hundred pieces and the vague, odd riddle given to her by a cranky angel.
Shanti tripped over a large rock and stumbled.
Embarrassed she was remiss with regards to Shanti’s limitations, Kaylee caught the gatekeeper before she fell completely. “I’m a little distracted,” she said.
“You should be. I’m fine,” Shanti said and straightened. “If it comes down to it, and they’re coming for us, and I can’t keep up, you run.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“They won’t kill me.”
“Unless they plan to murder all the gatekeepers, like you said.”
“Even then, they’ll have to find the third. According to the stones, she’s nowhere near here right now, which means, she’s free,” Shanti said. “And even if they do find us all, if you’re alive, you can close the gates.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Kaylee replied.
They reached the end of the driveway. The road was completely dark in both directions.
“Can you see any … um, energy this way?” she asked and nudged Shanti towards the left.
Shanti tilted her head, quiet, and then shook her head. “Nope. Just trees. Everywhere.”
“They block you?”
“They radiate energy like every living being. There are a ton of them around here. It takes me a little longer to figure out what’s a tree and what’s not.”
“I guess we’ll find out what’s this way.” Kaylee struck off at a moderate pace down the road, not wanting to be too far from Shanti if she stumbled.
Shanti moved into the middle of the road, which was littered with fewer rocks. “I’ll hear anyone coming for a few miles,” she said and began walking quickly.
Kaylee moved to the middle and matched her stride, relieved they could move faster than she originally thought. The more space they put between them and the house, the better their chances of surviving, if Maggy really did plan on ambushing them in their sleep.
The drizzle turned into a steady downpour. Within minutes, they were soaked.
FOURTEEN
NATHAN RESISTED the urge to ask too many questions about what had happened after Kaylee and Eddy escaped. He didn’t trust the Satanist, aside from Eddy’s desire to protect Kaylee – and Shadowman. Eddy would lay down his life for Kaylee, until his people had no more use for her. The only good thing about the Satanists: they weren’t anywhere close to getting what they wanted, or Zyra would be far more stressed than she was.
Zyra’s search had expanded around the compound. They found the body of a dead Satanist off the road Nathan had told Kaylee about, and no one could explain why the man with a Florida driver’s license had been there in the first place. It was no coincidence, Nathan knew, even if he couldn’t piece together what happened.
Unable to reach out to either of the two people he trusted – Maggy or Troy – Nathan was left with no alternatives beyond blind faith and prayer.
And keeping Zyra as happy as possible.
After a long night fucking her, and a day of regretting it, Nathan sat in the quietness of the locker. Zyra hadn’t returned. He had time with his thoughts before she showed up, and he was back in puppet mode.
He normally enjoyed the space to meditate. Anymore, he didn’t like at all what he found in his mind when he had the time to center hi
mself.
Kaylee was forefront in his thoughts, followed by a sensation he was growing accustomed to: guilt. He had never in his life felt guilty about sleeping around. If his partner wanted him to be exclusive, he usually complied until he didn’t feel like it anymore, and then broke it off or broached the subject of an open relationship. For the more common occurrence of short-lived relationships, it was never an issue who else he slept with.
Kaylee was different. He understood why without fully being able to accept that he, of all people, had a soul mate. One he couldn’t touch. One whose life would probably end long before they had a shot at anything. One who knew he was sleeping with his ex and would probably never trust him again.
That’s the worst part, he admitted to himself. He wanted Kaylee’s trust. He wanted the kind of unbreakable bond that soul mates spoke of with stars in their eyes. He wanted a partner. Kaylee couldn’t be those things, because he had chosen the path to keep her alive over exploring their potential as soul mates.
If her kiss was any indication, he had a shot at something, assuming they both lived. He hadn’t expected the kiss or the vulnerability in her eyes. Both gave him hope that maybe, with time, she’d forgive him and maybe, with time, he’d find his home in the arms of the woman he was fated to be with.
Until then, he had his guilt as his constant companion.
Nathan wiped his face and made the silent choice not to be alone for too long again, lest his thoughts drive him crazy.
“Nathan!” called Ricky from outside the half-closed door of the locker.
“I’m awake,” he replied.
“Zyra wants you to check out the surveillance we have from last night.”
“I’m on it.” Nathan stood and pulled on his clothing. His skin and clothes smelled of Zyra.
There was a time when he had loved her scent and how it clung to his skin.
I wish it was Kaylee’s scent. The desire was followed by a pang of emptiness and despair that hit him straight in the gut when he considered it might never happen again.
If he could go back and tell himself anything, it would be not to kill her. To make love to her every night after the first, to protect her as he was sworn to do and find a different means of dealing with Shadowman. He had grown too apathetic over the years.
Nathan shook his head and grabbed one of the protein bars Zyra’s crew stocked up on every chance they had. He left the locker and walked through the quiet corridors of the bunker beneath the warehouse and to the operations center. Several heavily armed members of 3G loitered within the room, but most of the men and women were gone, resting in their quarters. Henry stood near the computer screens used to review or monitor footage originating from any of the dozen cameras positioned around the compound.
For once, Zyra’s second in command was smiling.
A warning bell went off in Nathan’s head. He continued to the surveillance station, suspecting that, whatever made Henry happy, was probably a bad sign.
“What’s up?” he asked and paused behind Vic, who was seated at the station.
“We found out how she escaped,” Henry replied.
“Let’s see it.” Nathan waited, unwilling to buy into what could have been a bluff.
Vic pulled up the footage, taken from a camera at the top of the warehouse, one Nathan hadn’t known was present, or he would have disabled it. Vic zoomed in as far as he could without distorting the picture beyond recognition.
The footage was from the night before. Nathan’s image appeared on the monitor, followed by Kaylee’s and Eddy’s.
His heart sank.
“I knew you were dirty,” Henry said triumphantly. “You showing up on our doorstep at the perfect time couldn’t have been coincidence, but Zyra wouldn’t believe me.”
Nathan remained calm, his eyes on the image of he and Kaylee kissing at the wood line. A stir of desire shot through him, along with yearning, as he watched her walk away. Nothing hurt as badly as knowing there was a possibility they’d never encounter one another again.
He sensed the 3G members gathering behind him, ready to take him down if he fought.
Nathan crossed his arms. “Did you show her?” he asked Henry.
“As soon as he found it, like a true friend would,” Zyra said tersely from behind him. “I shouldn’t have doubted you, Henry.”
Her second in command preened to the point Nathan rolled his eyes.
Zyra slid in front of Nathan. Hurt was in her pretty eyes. “I trusted you!” she said quietly. “What happened to this being about us? About leading the movement together?”
“Sorry, sweetheart,” Nathan replied. “I can’t turn my back on what’s right, even for you.”
“On what’s right,” she repeated, eyes sparking. A flush of anger spread across her cheeks. “We are doing what’s right!”
“You’re doing what you think is right,” Nathan allowed. “It’s called pride when you believe you know better than the folks running the Other Side.”
“Always a true believer.”
“Always,” he agreed.
“You were here to save her. That’s it.” Zyra searched his features.
If he lied to her, he had a chance she’d be lenient. But Nathan was tired of lying and causing more pain than he needed to.
“My attempt to kill her didn’t work,” he said carefully, likewise unwilling to tell Zyra or anyone else the truth about Kaylee being his soul mate. “She’s innocent. I shouldn’t have gone that far. There has to be a better solution.”
“Talk about pride!” Zyra snapped. “Killing her once and for all would have resolved all this!”
“Except the Satanists will still be after the portals to Hell. They’ll be just as happy to release three archdemons into the world as four. Kaylee’s death wouldn’t stop them. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to face one archdemon, let alone three.”
“Then we get rid of everyone!” Zyra snapped. “Gatekeepers and Shadowman’s host.”
“This fight has been going on since Creation. You think you’ll win it?” he challenged. “It’ll start all over again. Or, you could focus on the long game.”
“There won’t be a long game, if Shadowman succeeds in opening the first portal. No, I don’t want three archdemons loose. But it takes all four to start the apocalypse. I’d rather deal with three archdemons than the end of the world.”
Nathan understood her stance without agreeing with it. There was no easy way to triumph in this struggle, or someone would have done it long ago. Zyra, however, wasn’t open to any other solution but hers.
How many Zyras had history witnessed try and fail to defeat the apocalypse and evil once and for all?
“Besides, I have a different plan,” Zyra added, calming. “But we need Shadowman’s host first.”
“For what?” Nathan asked.
“If you weren’t a traitor, I might tell you.” She motioned two of the security detail forward and stepped away from Nathan. “We could’ve been like old times, Nathan.”
“No, Zyra. That was never an option,” he replied. He held out his hands.
One of the security guards cuffed him, and the other took his arm.
“We move out in the morning,” Zyra said icily. “Henry, make sure both of them are dead by dawn.”
Both? Nathan ignored Henry’s broad smile. He could think of no one else Zyra wanted dead unless … was it Maggy? If so, how had the toughest woman Nathan had ever known been captured? She would have chosen death over capture.
Henry followed Nathan’s escort down the hall and past four guards posted at the intersection of a shallow hall.
The last door on the left was flung open. Nathan’s gaze fell on the occupant, and his heart skipped a beat.
Amira. She was bloodied and dirty, huddled in a corner, shaking.
The security guard undid his handcuffs.
Nathan entered the locker and hurried to her. He crouched next to the first gen angel, whose aura projected her distress.
He touched her arm, and she pulled away, deeper into her corner.
The door slammed shut behind him.
Nathan reached out to Amira again and planted his hand on her forearm, pushing heat into her.
She froze then lifted her head. Her eyes were red rimmed. One was black and blue. Her lip was busted and a slash marred one cheek.
“Nathan!” she exclaimed, too loudly, as was usually the case. She flung her arms around him. “Nathan, I did something terrible!”
Nathan shushed her, even knowing she couldn’t hear him. He wrapped his arms around her. Her body was bruised all over. Several ribs were cracked, her foot bones broken, and cigarette burns and shallow cuts littering her exposed skin. He summoned energy from his surroundings and pulled from the Other Side, channeling it into her.
Fury stirred within him. Was this what Zyra had come to? Torturing an innocent first gen given the sacred duty of protecting a gateway to Hell?
Amira began crying and clung to him.
Nathan pulled her into his lap and sat back with his back against the cement wall. His thoughts went to Zyra’s orders. He wasn’t surprised she wanted him dead. But Amira and the other gatekeepers? Did Zyra really believe she could murder everyone involved and win this war?
Was I any different? If not for Kaylee’s status as his soul mate, would he be standing alongside Zyra in earnest, ready to murder four innocent people? He had believed death to be the only solution to Kaylee when they first met. He’d broken the most sacred of the spirit guide corps’ rules by murdering many times during his career. The difference: none of them had been innocent.
Kaylee was. Amira was. The other gatekeepers, wherever and whoever they were, were also innocent.
This is definitely karma, he realized grimly.
He hadn’t figured out any other option. He only knew killing innocents was not the answer. Especially when those innocents held the very keys to preventing the emergence of the archdemons.
Amira clung to him. Nathan stroked her hair absently. He continued to channel energy into her and felt her body respond and begin healing. He focused on her foot first, in case they needed to run.
When she had calmed, Amira sat up and gazed at him. Her expression was desolate, scared.