Ignited

by Corrine Jackson

  The Protector had destroyed everything, and a bloodlust rose up in me unlike anything I’d known before. I rolled out of the bed, and Gabe did the same on his side, as another man followed Xavier into the room. I’d kept a knife handy in the nightstand, and I palmed it as I stood. Then I was launching across the room intercepting Xavier as he took his second step into the room, while Gabe went after his friend.

  Xavier grunted when I stabbed at him with the knife. He managed to block the blow I’d aimed for his stomach, and the knife sliced into the skin and tendons of his arm. Warm, wet liquid splashed on my tank top. Xavier didn’t feel pain, and the cut had only surprised him. I lowered my guard, letting my energy sift into the air.

  “Feel that? That’s only the beginning, Xavier,” I said with satisfaction when he grimaced.

  “Bitch,” he said through his teeth.

  From across the room, I registered that Gabe was fighting the other man, their movements a blurred symphony punctuated by groans and exhalations as my energy enabled them to feel the pain of the brutal punches they landed on each other’s bodies. Xavier took advantage of my distraction and swung at me. He didn’t expect my speed, though. I spun sideways, and his fingers only caught a strand of my hair. He gave it a tug, and I cried out when the hair ripped from my scalp. But I was loose, and I ducked low, swinging the knife. The blade caught Xavier across the back of his knee, and he tumbled to the ground.

  I rose and stood over him as he crawled forward on his stomach, trying to escape me. He gripped handfuls of the bedspread, pulling himself up so that he could twist about to prop his back against the foot of the bed. A few feet away, Gabe ended the fight with the other Protector by throwing him into the wardrobe. The wood splintered and broke beneath the man’s weight. My clothes tumbled out and fell over him. Before he could recover, Gabe smashed his head against the ground, ensuring he wouldn’t wake anytime soon.

  “It’s been a while, Xavier,” Gabe said evenly, joining me.

  As calm as his voice sounded, his body language told another story. He wanted to kill the man almost as badly as I had. Why, then, had I hesitated?

  “What do you want to do with him?” Gabe asked me.

  He left the decision to me, trusting I would know what to do. The problem was that I couldn’t kill a man in cold blood, even if he would hurt me. You’re not like them, Remy. That’s a good thing.

  “Can you hand me my phone?” I asked Gabe.

  He picked it up from the nightstand and tossed it to me. “Watch him for me,” I said, dialing a number.

  Seamus answered on the second ring. “Everything okay?” he asked in a sleepy voice.

  “There are two Protectors in my bedroom right now, and there might be more on the way.”

  “Morrisseys?” he asked, more alert.

  “No, these are my grandfather’s men. How fast can you get here?”

  “Twenty minutes,” he said, and I could hear the sounds of clothes rustling as if he was dressing. “If you can get out of the house, you should run now.”

  “That’s the plan,” I said. As soon as we found my sister and the others. “Hurry.”

  I clicked the phone off and crouched near Xavier. There wasn’t time, but I needed answers.

  “How did you find us?” I asked.

  Xavier laughed. “You think I’m actually going to tell you?”

  “Yes. You have no sense of loyalty.” I pressed the knife against his throat, letting him feel the sting of it cutting into his skin. “You only care about yourself. You can tell me what I want to know, or I can do to you what you did to me in California. Do you remember?”

  His brown eyes gleamed when Gabe flipped on a light, but Xavier pressed his lips together. We could play this game all night, but I wouldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t believe my threat if I didn’t back it up with action. My stomach twisted, and I took a deep breath. A cry escaped his mouth when I jerked the knife down and slid it across his thigh, slicing through black cotton and skin.

  “How many times did you cut me?” I studied him with cold eyes. “Do you know that I counted every injury I healed? I think we made it to thirty-eight before Gabe rescued me. You’re at three. Do you think you can last another thirty-five?”

  A tinge of fear crossed Xavier’s face, and I knew I had him. “How did you find us?” I repeated.

  Drops of sweat appeared on his forehead, and he pressed a hand to his thigh to stanch the bleeding. “The little Healer,” he finally bit off. “She called home to talk to her mother, and we traced the call here.”

  Instant denial had me jerking away from him. Erin had brought them on us. She’d been homesick and lost patience. Oh Erin. You should have waited.

  “Is it just the two of you?” Gabe asked.

  Before Xavier could answer, a shrill scream sounded upstairs. He smiled with grim satisfaction, and I turned the knife in my hand so I could grip the blade. Then I smashed the handle into his head and watched his eyes roll back into his head. He tipped sideways, smacking his head on the wood floor with enough force to open a cut on his forehead. The bastard was lucky that I wasn’t like him, because I could have done so much worse.

  Gabe was already racing into the family room, and I hit the stairs a few feet behind him. The scream had come from one of the upper floors, and feet pounded up the stairs somewhere above us. We bypassed the first floor and continued up to the next floor. The door to Gabe and Asher’s bedroom stood open, but nobody was in there. We continued up another flight to the top floor, and the sounds of the fighting reached us before we entered the chaos.

  Three doors opened off the landing: one to the right for Lottie’s room, one a little farther down that opened onto a shared bath, and one more directly in front of us that was Erin and Lucy’s bedroom. Lights were on in each of the bedrooms. My grandfather’s men had divided to conquer us, and they were winning up here. Lottie fought three men in her bedroom, and Gabe peeled off to help her. I ran on to the other bedroom, where two men and a woman cornered Asher. Behind him, Lucy pressed to the wall, her face wet with tears.

  My mind processed the scene in an instant. Asher’s mouth bled, and he already had an eye swelling shut. He could hardly stand, but he refused to move from his spot defending my sister. And I recognized two of his attackers. Goatee Man from Maple, Alabama. The other man was Xavier’s partner, Mark. White-blond hair shone on his head, and I guessed Asher recognized him, too, because his face had twisted with hatred.

  I had one moment to wonder where Erin was, and then glass shattered when Asher threw a lamp at Mark’s head. The woman cursed when a shard of glass hit her cheek, and I watched as the fresh cut began to close. She was a Healer. I must have made a noise of surprise because heads whipped toward me, and Mark sprang forward.

  Shorter than me, he had more muscles, wider shoulders, and outweighed me by a good seventy-five pounds. His momentum and strength sent me flying into the wall on the landing, and somewhere along the way I dropped the knife. I slid to the floor, catching my breath. Mark sprinted toward me again, and I rolled away, jumping to my feet to face him. We circled each other in silence, and I was ready when his fist flew at my head. At the last moment, I ducked to the side to avoid him, and I brought my foot up between his legs. He doubled over, probably feeling the first intense pain he’d experienced in months. Maybe since the last time we’d met when a truck put in motion by Gabe had rammed into him and broken his legs.

  As he was distracted, I dove for the knife where it had fallen on the floor. From the bedroom, I heard a shrill scream—was it Lucy?—and I scrambled to the doorway. Asher fought Goatee Man, fists pummeling bodies in a fair fight since neither of them had powers. The Healer appeared to be trying to reach my sister, but Lucy managed to punch the woman in the jaw.

  An arm lashed around my neck from behind and pulled me back onto the landing. I jerked against the hold, scratching and pulling at the hairy forearm that pressed against my windpipe and cut off my air supply. Mark’s muscles bun
ched as he tensed and yanked me off my feet. I gripped the handle of the knife and drove it backward into his meaty thigh. His hold on me loosened, and he fell, taking me with him. I sucked in a breath and fought against his arms. Mark grunted when I freed an elbow and shoved it in his gut, but he wouldn’t let me go. Finally, I reached for the knife sticking out of his leg and twisted it. The Protector shrieked and shoved me off him as he pulled at the weapon.

  “I’m going to kill you,” he hissed at me.

  I answered by unleashing my energy in preparation to lash out at him.

  “Enough!” a male voice shouted from behind me.

  I twisted around to find Alcais pointing a gun at my chest. Behind him, Erin cowered, a bruise coloring her cheek. Worse was the way she stared at the floor, her spirit gone. Her time away from him had been so short, and it was too easy to fall into a lifetime of training. It had taken me months to stop ducking for cover when voices were raised.

  “Hiding in the bathroom, Alcais? That sounds just like you,” I said with barely restrained anger.

  “Shut up!” he yelled.

  “Send the Healer to me,” Mark told Alcais. “I need her.”

  Franc thought he controlled these Protectors, but he was wrong. The hunger pervading the man’s features belied anything but a vicious motive. Mark had no use for Erin as a person, and once she healed him, he could steal her energy. And unlike the Healer they’d brought with them—a traitor my grandfather probably tricked into helping his Protectors—Erin would not be under Franc’s protection. No, she would be considered the enemy for siding with me.

  Over his shoulder, Alcais told Erin, “Get over there and heal him.”

  Erin’s eyes widened as she looked from her brother to Mark. “I can’t heal a wound like that. You know that.”

  He reached backward, grabbed her wrist, and yanked her forward. She stumbled and fell to her knees near me, sobbing. The Protector would kill her. Over my dead body.

  “I’m not letting her near him,” I told Alcais.

  The sounds of fighting continued in both bedrooms, and I knew I was on my own. Erin had trained, but she was too distraught to fight. So this fight was on me.

  “It’s not up to you,” Alcais said, waving the gun. “Erin? Do what I said.”

  The “or else” at the end of that statement was implied, and Erin shuddered. She crawled forward, until I blocked her path to Mark. The Protector worked to tie off his injury and sat up. I stood just out of his reach, but he could change that at any time. Terror filled me imagining what he could do to my friend.

  “No, Erin. You don’t have to listen to him.” I met her shattered gaze without judgment.

  “It’s my fault they’re here,” she whispered with shame. “I’m so sorry.”

  I slashed a hand through the air to make her stop. “It’s okay. I don’t blame you.” She started to drop her eyes and I insisted, “Erin! I don’t blame you, okay? Now, please get up.”

  Behind her, Alcais scowled and took a step forward. I glared at him and he stopped, rethinking approaching me. At my feet, Erin fought her fear and rose in wavering degrees. As soon as she stood, I saw that she’d found some of her strength. She would need it.

  “Erin, go to the stairs and walk down them. Leave the house and run until you can’t run anymore.” She froze, a wild flush coloring her cheeks. I snapped my fingers. “Move! Now!”

  She took one hesitant step and then another.

  Alcais cursed. “I swear if you go another step, I’m going to shoot you.”

  She stopped, a lifetime of fear giving her pause, and I told her, “He’s lying. He won’t do it. Keep going.”

  Her body shook, and my heart broke a little more for her. “I’m scared,” she said, her voice trembling.

  “It’s okay to be afraid, but you have to keep moving.” Fear for her injected urgency into my words when I shouted, “Go, damn it!”

  My yell startled her into a run. Alcais aimed the gun at her, but as I’d suspected, he didn’t shoot. It was one thing to beat his sister, and another to murder her outright. Still, once she’d disappeared down the stairs, he spun on me, fury mottling his skin shades of red and pink. I knew men like him. He wanted to be a leader, to be the one everyone looked up to with respect, but he would never be that person because he was small. Small of heart, small of courage, and small of character.

  “Why did you do that? She’ll tell everyone.”

  I hoped she would. Maybe then Franc would lose his hold over the Healers, and they could find another way to keep their people safe.

  Hands up to placate Alcais, I said, “Put the gun down. This is over.”

  “You’re right. It is.” The despair on his face looked real, but I felt nothing for him as he paced a few feet back and forth, the gun waving about. “She’ll poison everyone against me. I’ll never be able to go back.”

  He raised his head and let off a shout of frustration, and then he fired a shot into the ceiling. The sound reverberated in the small space, deafening me. The scent of gun powder burned my nostrils, and my eyes watered. I heard a roar from nearby that sounded like Gabe calling my name, but I didn’t dare turn my attention from Alcais.

  “This is your fault,” he told me, almost in tears. “Why couldn’t you do what we wanted?”

  The gun aimed at my chest, and I believed he would pull the trigger this time. “What about Franc? He wants me alive.”

  Determination set his face in hard lines. “I don’t care anymore.”

  Suddenly, from the stairs, Erin shouted, “Alcais, stop!”

  I swore under my breath. “Erin . . .”

  She ignored me, rushing onto the landing. “Franc started this, but you don’t have to be like him. Please, let’s leave. I want to see Mom and Delia. We can still go home.” As she spoke, she walked toward her brother, her hand out as she pleaded with him. “Please, Alcais. Let’s go home,” she said, weeping.

  She meant it. Whatever he’d done to her, she loved her brother. That sincerity that had drawn me to her convinced her brother. He wavered a moment, longing in his eyes. But then his hand steadied again.

  “Franc won’t stop while she lives. This won’t end until she’s gone.”

  He squeezed the trigger. I prepared to jump sideways, and Erin did the same. Directly into the path of the bullet. It slammed her backward into my arms, and I stumbled.

  “No!” The word ripped out of me in an agonized shriek. I lowered her to the ground, and the monster in me roared where we touched. I slammed my guard up to protect her, surveying the damage. Blood blossomed over her belly where the bullet hit her, and her eyes flickered closed.

  “Give her to me!” Mark said, clambering to his feet.

  The eagerness in his voice made me sick. Alcais surprised me when he stopped Mark from reaching his sister. “No. Leave her alone.”

  “You think you can stop me, child?” Mark scoffed.

  He proved his words true by knocking Alcais off his feet with his fist. I huddled my body over Erin, awaiting the Protector’s blow, but Gabe was there, fighting him off.

  Erin didn’t make a sound in my arms. She was bleeding out, and this was the type of injury you didn’t recover from. If I tried to save her, I would die. The knowledge of it flooded through me, and a sob ripped out of me. Could I save her, even if I tried? Could I control the monster that even now fought to get out?

  “Why did you come back?” I asked her, blinded by tears. “You could have escaped.”

  Erin didn’t move. Her muscles slackened, and her weight settled against me more. “No . . .” I wailed. “Please, don’t go, Erin!”

  No! Oh God, please no.

  The life faded out of her brown eyes by degrees, and I sobbed, rocking her in my arms. Without thinking, I touched my fingers against her pale cheek, skin to skin, and it didn’t matter that I had my guard up. A surge of power erupted between us, and pain like I’d never known tore me apart.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  In the
moment before she died, Erin’s energy invaded my body like an arctic blizzard. Every frozen molecule rammed the pain up another increment, and the torment made me want to claw at my skin frantically. Even my blood seemed to solidify, and my breath froze, shards of it cutting my lungs as I inhaled in desperation. I couldn’t even shiver, and time stretched on while I begged for the numbness that would surely come before death.

  My grip on Erin loosened, and I crumpled to the ground next to her still body, sprawling on my back. Her empty eyes stared into mine with accusation, and another sobbing moan escaped my parted lips. My hand fell from hers, and the frigid pain snapped away. An avalanche of energy surged through me driving out the bitter frost, and I moaned at the burn of heating all at once. Fiery ice—that was what it felt like inside me. Was this what the Blackwells experienced when they became immortal, or was it different for me because of my mixed blood?

  Gabe and Mark fought to one side of me, and I wanted to help. My body wouldn’t listen. I rolled my head the other direction to avoid Erin’s gaze. And I saw the Healer woman stab Asher in the shoulder while he fought Goatee Man. Another moan burst from my lips when I watched him fall. But in the confusion, somehow the woman fell, too, landing on top of Asher’s back. Perhaps Lucy had struck her. That left my sister and Goatee Man.

  “Lucy,” I whispered.

  Get up, Remy! Agony speared through me, but I turned over and managed to get my feet beneath me. I rose and stumbled in dragging steps toward the bedroom. Goatee Man had cornered my sister, though she looked ready to fight back. The vase weighed a thousand pounds when I took it off the dresser and hefted it over my head. Goatee Man went down like a rock dropped off a cliff, hitting the ground with a thud after I struck him in the head. I teetered and barely managed to stay on my feet.

  Lucy rushed forward, and we both turned to Asher, where he lay on the floor with the Healer sprawled over him. My sister knelt by them and pushed the woman off him. I took one step back and sank down on the bed, while Lucy cried out. The Healer had fallen on her knife when she landed on Asher, and it was buried to the hilt in her chest.