Reed must feel the change in me because he tenses in my arms. A deep point stabs me where I join the darkness, like two lines meeting. I lift my lips from him. A smile spreads them thin. My mouth opens wide before I clamp down hard on his shoulder. Impaling his flesh, sinking in. The iron taste of his blood fills my mouth, the shock of which registers in my mind, but my jaw remains rigidly clenched.
Reed grunts and flinches as he exhales. His fingers tighten on the back of my neck in an attempt to pull me back from him. “Evie?” He breathes in and it catches in his chest before he exhales. He growls out one word, “Brennus.”
A rumble of laughter rolls up from my chest. My jaw eases and my teeth slide out of Reed’s shoulder. Blood collects at the corners of my mouth, sliding down my chin to drip onto the white sheet pressed between us. I feel something inside of me stir, making me pull back from Reed. When I catch sight of his face, his expression is grim.
My eyebrows pull together as my eyes narrow. “Whah part of ‘moin’ do ye na understand, aingeal?” I hear myself say.
Reed grips both my shoulders, steadying me and holding me in place so that he can look into my eyes. “Fight him, Evie,” Reed orders with a sharp shake to rattle me to action. His jaw is tense. His fingers dig into my biceps with an urgency that is as palatable as the aftertaste of his blood. Charcoal wings ruffle behind him showing his agitation in ways that no words can.
“Da dark seeks out darkness,” I say, but it’s not me. “And she needs me.”
“She needs to kill you, Brennus.” Reed shakes me hard again. “Kill him, Evie!”
“She’ll na do it. She loves me so.”
“You haunt her. It isn’t love; it’s decimation.”
The laugh that comes from me is condescending and not mine at all. “I’m da footing for her between ripe and ruin. She can na stop dem, aingeal. Na wi’out me.”
“She’ll bury them and you.” Something about the way Reed says that causes me to shiver. I turn inward as I search for the ache, the point where the swirling dark has collected. I pull energy to me, the higher frequency energy; the kind that Brennus has no control over. The darkness recoils from the sting of it, allowing me to gain ground within my own self.
Reed grasps my chin. “Evie?” his eyes search mine.
Striking against the blackness of Brennus inside my veins, I grunt. “Brennus! GET OUT!” Reed breathes a small sigh because he hears me, but the command I’ve gained over my body is tenuous at best.
Brennus pulls a sea of high and low energy to us that forces me back. It makes the sound of a wave, rushing in my ears. “Reed,” I pant in confusion, wildly looking around the room for a means of escaping my own self before I’m drowned in it. Brennus no longer controls just low energy. He controls it all...and he’s much better at it than I am.
Reed’s fingers dig into my chin, forcing me to focus on him again. “Evie, don’t be his toy! Expel him like a clone!”
A wicked smile spreads over my lips. “I told ye dat I’d come for her. Do ye fancy some blood sport, aingeal?” My chin pulls away from Reed’s grasp.
Brennus controls me, making me lunge sidelong for the dagger on the bedside table, the one Reed used to pledge his loyalty to me yesterday. Grasping the heavy hilt in my palm, I pivot back toward Reed. My wings spread wide to use their force to outmaneuver him. He tackles me, wresting me back onto the mattress. Involuntarily, I struggle against him as Brennus inside of me holds the dagger just out of Reed’s reach with one of my hands.
Reed’s knee digs into my chest as he pins me, and subsequently Brennus, down on the bed. He reaches for the ancient blade in my fist to pry it away. Brennus hisses and snarls, struggling beneath Reed’s weight. The undead faerie inside of me manages to free my other hand. Raising it, Brennus hurls deadly energy from it. Hit by the hellfire, Reed explodes off of me. He crashes into the wall, scattering books from the shelves. My body crawls forward over the mattress. Red wings snap and wave behind me as pennants in the wind. Brennus uses my body to stalk Reed around the room. We engage in a stealthy dance. Whistling swipes of the knife cutting through the air makes Reed turn away in order to avoid being shredded.
Brennus! Stop! I scream in my mind, but no words form on my lips. Brennus ignores me entirely, choosing to focus his attention on Reed instead.
Reed refuses to fight back in any way, knowing that if he does, he’ll be hurting me. I struggle harder within the prison of iniquity; the wickedness swirls around me in paralyzing waves. I follow it down because Brennus has me by my heart.
“Wake up, Evie,” Reed says, searching my face for any sign from me.
“She’s na asleep,” Brennus enlightens. “She made me stronger and she gave me her blood so dat I could find her ta face her black future wi’ her. Ye’re in me way. I plan ta keep her all ta me.”
“Too. Late! She binds to me. Always to me.”
“So ye must die so dat she’ll be moin alone.”
Reed strikes quickly, backhanding us. My face jerks sideways. Brennus licks the blood that collects at the corner of my mouth.
“Mmmm, she tastes like whah I imagine daylight would taste like—da sweetest flame.”
Reed growls and shifts to avoid the dagger thrust from Brennus that would’ve cut him in half.
“I tought ye were going ta kill me,” Brennus taunts.
“Jump out of her body and it’s done.”
“Dere’s so much power within her. More dan I realized. ’Tis as if I have da world at me fingertips. I’ll have ta teach her how ta harness all dis power.”
Brennus lowers my brows over my eyes in a razor-sharp look. My lips move in strange ways, forming words that have never before twisted my tongue. Brennus puckers my lips, as if I’ll blow Reed a kiss. Glittering breath emits from my mouth; it sparkles like particles of rock dust, floating and spreading wide. Reed ducks away from the winking light reflecting in the cloud, dodging it. It catches his arm and the swirling mist shreds his skin with tiny glass-like shards. Blood wells up in tears from him.
When Reed glances down at his forearm, Brennus reacts quickly, throwing the dagger in my hand in Reed’s direction. Reed’s green eyes track it. He sidesteps the blade, evading its sharp point. The dagger shoots by him. Then, the ancient blade pauses. Instead of embedding in the wall behind Reed, the dagger chooses to turn abruptly, pursuing Reed with a relentless persistence. My outstretched hand tracts Reed, directing the dagger with a magical spell that Brennus murmurs from my swollen lips.
I use all my strength to shut my gob, hoping to break Brennus’ magic, but it does nothing. Brennus still shifts the dagger to slice at Reed, missing him by inches. Reed blurs around the room at supernatural speed, trying to avoid death.
Zephyr appears at the threshold of our room, watching in confusion as I try to kill Reed. His blue eyes pierce me. He shivers when he sees the darkness within mine. His light brown angel wings launch from his back in a flurry of feathers. They spread wide and serrate with aggression. His confusion is written on his face. He senses danger, but he doesn’t know from where it’s originating.
The dagger Brennus magically wields cuts Reed’s shoulder; blood spurts and stains his charcoal wing with speckles of red. Zephyr growls and barks, “Evie?”
My face turns toward Zephyr momentarily. Brennus lifts my other hand and the door between us immediately slams and seals shut. Muffled bangs and yelling from Zephyr can be heard on the other side, but he’s unable to break through it. I hear him yell to someone, “FIND RUSSELL.”
I’m like a tourist in my own body, I think.
The dagger hasn’t stopped, but continues to pursue Reed relentlessly. In desperation, I concentrate on moving my fingers of my left hand. Energy spirals down my arm. I focus hard; my fingers twitch, and then bend. Lifting my left arm with effort, I bring it towards my face, covering my eyes with my hand. The clatter of the dagger is shockingly loud against the hardwood floor. I exhale a deep breath at its noise.
“Evie?” Reed says m
y name in question as his heavy breathing draws nearer while I war with Brennus inside me. The cold darkness races and bumps up against what I know to be me in my veins. It grips my skin unseen.
In the next moment, my right hand covers my left, ruthlessly prying them from my eyes, uncovering them. The sharp, unpolished metal of the dagger lifts from the floor and catapults in a whiplash toward Reed. He catches the hilt of it as the dagger point continues to drive on. Reed is propelled backward. His teeth clench and sweat breaks out on his brow as he struggles with the knife. My outstretched right hand glows brighter, forcing energy into the weapon. The tip of the dagger lurches onward to press up against Reed’s bare chest where the image of my wings are branded above his heart.
Fear, like an accelerant, ignites inside of me. I flail my left arm, compelling all the fear and energy I can find into it. This is my heart and it burns for Reed. I’m never going to be the one to hurt him. Inside of me, fire meets ice. The dagger that’s a breath away from cutting into Reed, with a lurch, abruptly changes direction. Reed continues to hold on to its hilt, but now he’s struggling to keep it from crossing the room to me.
Wind from the powerful beat of Reed’s wings causes my hair to blow away from my face. He’s dragged across the floor toward me by the ancient metal in his hands. A deep growl snarls from his lips when the dagger continues its path to me. The deadly point pierces my skin, blood wells from the charcoal-colored wings etched above my heart.
A bead of sweat rolls down from the side of Reed’s face. “NO,” Reed yells at me. “EVIE! DON’T!” He’s so close to me that I can kiss his lips. I don’t, instead I concentrate on the energy controlling the dagger. “BRENNUS!” Reed snarls as he digs his heels into the floor, attempting to keep the blade from entering my heart. “SHE’LL KILL HERSELF!” Pain floods my senses. I focus on Reed’s hands. The tension in them translates to his forearms as he violently resists my will. The dagger buries deeper.
The ice in my veins recedes. It flows backward to collect in the dark place between my heart and my soul. I’m disoriented. The room spins. An image of Brennus, not unlike one of my clones, lifts from me. Brennus glows, shimmering. His ethereal light fades to a normal hue of his skin—or his “new normal”. His skin is much more golden now. His black wings unfold around him, large and menacing. But with the loss of my energy to sustain him, Brennus’ glow fades, but he still remains.
“Do na kill yerself, mo chroí,” Brennus pants as he sags a bit like someone who has just run an excruciating race. “’Tis weak.”
With a firm grip still on the dagger, Reed draws it out of me. I fall forward to be caught in Reed’s arms as he rests me against his chest. He flips the dagger in his hand before throwing it. The blade passes through the shape of Brennus to stick in the wall behind him.
I grit my teeth as Reed rips the edge of the sheet that I have wrapped around me and uses it to stanch the flow of blood coming from my stab wound. “It was the only way to stop you, Brennus. I’m your weakness,” I pant against the pain. “Your tristitiae—I’m your sorrow.”
“No,” Brennus says with his eyes softening for a moment. “Ye’re me love.”
“How did you possess her?” Reed asks while his deft fingers bind and tie the makeshift bandages to me.
“We’re connected trough blood. She gave hers to me.”
Reed’s fingers pause and clench into fists. He glances at Brennus. “I will kill you.”
Brennus’ eyes narrow at Reed. “Ye can na kill me! Ye’re WEAK! Ye make her WEAK, aingeal! Dat’s why ye have ta die.” Brennus replies in disgust. “Do ye na see dat, mo chroí? He’ll let ye be his martyr—he’ll let ye die for him. Ye can na win dis wi’ him. Ye have ta be ruthless! If ye’re meek da aingeals will forsake ye. I know dis ta be true!”
“HOW DO YOU KNOW?” I retort. My blood smears on Reed’s chest as I twist to look at Brennus.
“I KNOW BECAUSE I WAS FORSAKEN! ’TIS WHAH DEY DO! I prayed for Finn—for me—dat day when Aodh made me his sclábhaí! DA AINGEALS DID NA LIFT A FINGER TA HELP US!” He points his finger accusingly at Reed. “I’LL NA HAVE DAT FOR YE! I will na,” he says the last part quietly, shaking his head with a grim expression.
“You have to stop trying to save me, Brennus!” I growl. “I don’t want you to save me.”
“I’m na concerned wi’ whah ye want. Dere’s opposition to yer very existence everywhere now. Ye tink da Werree wanted ye before? Dey covet ye, ta be sure, but dat is nuting compared ta whah dey want ta do ta ye now. Dey know dat if da fallen get ye, ye’ll annihilate da Divine and da Fallen will control everyting on Earth and in Sheol. No one wants dat; jus as we do na want da Divine ta have dat much power. Once da aingeal war ends, if dey were ta stop fighting one another, whosoever wins will focus on us—da na so divine craiturs. Dey’ll reign down on whoever is left. So every craitur will either have ta begin ta choose sides so that dey have a chance of surviving whah comes after, or dey take ye out demselves.”
I flinch at this information. “I’m not your problem. I thought we covered this in my dream.”
“Dat’s where ye’re wrong. Ye’re everyone’s problem, but I take care o’ whah’s moin.”
“I’m not YOURS!”
“Ye are. Moin and no other’s. Dere will come a time when ye’ll need me more dan ye need him. When dat day comes, I’ll be dere for ye.”
“It’s not today,” I state with heat.
Brennus’ smile is iniquitous. “Den I’ll see ye tonight and every night dereafter. Maybe ‘twill be one o’ dem.”
“Until my blood runs out you mean. You don’t have an endless supply, just two small vials. It won’t last forever.”
“’Twill last long enough, and who knows?” His eyebrow rises cunningly. “Do ye forget dat I know where ye live? Perhaps ye’ll see a way ta give me more.”
The shattering of glass from the bedroom window behind us hardly registers before Zephyr is beside Brennus, slashing a sword in broad strokes through his shadowy form. Brennus ripples; his image distorts and roils but it does little to Brennus but make him angry. Zephyr stops swinging at him when it becomes apparent that it’s ineffective.
A moment later, Russell crashes through the bedroom door. He scowls as he enters the room assessing us all. His unfurled red angel wings make him look even bigger than six foot five. “Brennus, you maggot! Come here and let me kill you.”
Brennus smiles. “Da other,” he says, “ye get a bye dis time, but only because ye healed Genevieve. When I’m ready, however, ye best be, too.”
Russell comes to stand next to Zephyr; his wings brush up against light brown ones to form a wall of angel. “Oh, I’m ready,” Russell responds, but his brown eyes are on me. He sees the blood-soaked bandage on my chest that covers Reed’s binding mark. “I bought scented candles for the occasion.”
Brennus’ smile widens. “He’s amusing, mo chroí, except for when he’s na.” He glances at Russell. “Do na worry, someone must get hurt soon—it will na be me. Half of ye will na make it. Care ta take wagers on yer Anya being among da casualties?” Brennus asks before he turns his sultry smile back to me. “We’ll take dis world. Ye’ll have no choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” I whisper.
“Dere is. Either ye run tings or dey will. I’ll see ye tonight, mo síorghrá.”
Brennus’ image falls apart like a dry sandcastle, running in grains onto the wood floor. A cloud of dusty smoke stirs up, and then fades away to nothing.
“He was with you while you slept?” Reed picks me up in his arms.
I wince, avoiding his eyes. “He showed up in my dream. I thought he was gone when I woke up—”
“He took possession of you, Evie,” Reed masks his emotions. He lays me on the bed. I can no longer avoid his eyes.
“It wasn’t me trying to kill you, it was him. I tried to stop him.”
He touches my hair. “I know, but you weren’t trying to kill him. You were trying to kill yourself.”
&nb
sp; “It was the only way I could see to make him leave before he hurt you. I’m his weakness. He won’t let me die.”
“That was a gamble, Evie,” Zephyr says from behind Reed. He eyes my bandage. It’s soaked through. He walks to the foot of the bed and squeezes my foot lightly. “Maybe you should have just pushed him out of you.”
“He wouldn’t go! I couldn’t afford to let him stay one second longer and risk him gaining control of me again.
“What if he decided not to go?” Reed asks.
“He couldn’t stay if I was dead,” I murmur.
Reed’s face completely changes from calm to stormy in a few breaths. His hand, resting on the wrought-iron headboard, crushes it with the whiny squeak of bending metal. He takes a deep breath. “And you thought that was an option?”
“It worked.”
Reed’s nostrils flare as he attempts composure. “Killing yourself is never an option. Are we clear?”
I glance at Zephyr. It’s always been in my mind that if I ever need a way out of this, an alternative fate, he’d be who I’d go to for that kind of help. Not to live, but to die. “I protect what’s mine,” I say, sounding very much like Brennus.
“With your life?” Reed asks.
“With my life,” I nod.
“Then Brennus is right. I make you weak,” he says bitterly. “You can’t end your life because you’re afraid of what will happen to me.”
I put my hand on his cheek. “You are my life. It begins and ends with you.”
Reed pulls away from me. “Don’t say that, Evie, or I’ll be forced to leave.”
I pale. “What?” I ask and an ache more painful than the stab I just endured squeezes my heart.
“I won’t be the one who makes you weak.” The conviction in his tone makes me shiver.
“Then don’t be. Never leave me,” I say, reaching out and touching his arm.
Russell snorts in derision. “Shoooot. Like you two could stay away from each other. Tell her another fairytale, Reed.”
Iniquity (The Premonition Series Book 5) Page 2