Ignited

by Dantone, Desni

  Nathan sighed. “What do you want me to do?”

  Stay with me, I thought, but couldn’t bring myself to say the words. He was right. It was just that I had never considered that Nathan’s presence in my life would come to an end. I had come to depend on it. I had come to depend on him. And, quite simply, I would miss him.

  That revelation nearly knocked me over and brought an abrupt stop to my furious march. It sobered my anger and left me feeling nothing but sadness. I glanced up at him from under my eyelashes. He must have caught the shift in my mood, because he looked confused.

  “You’re right,” I mumbled. “I don’t expect you to stay with me. You caught me off guard, that’s all.”

  He nodded as he absorbed my round about apology. The way he stuffed his hands into his pockets made him look younger, almost shy. “So you’re okay with me hovering for a while longer, until I know you’re okay?”

  “Sure.” I wanted to tell him he could stay as long as he wanted. Instead, I settled for backing off on the hostility.

  Nathan gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. One corner of his mouth lifted into a small half smile and I had to look away, fast, before I got weepy again. I turned away from him to survey the farm we had walked up on in the midst of our quarrel.

  “So, this is it?” I asked him with forced bravado.

  Nathan shielded his eyes from the sun with a hand as he studied our surroundings. “Looks like we’re not going to have any cover going in.”

  We stood at the end of a long dirt driveway that led to a large white farmhouse, matching three car garage, and barn. Rolling yellow fields hugged both sides of the drive and extended as far as I could see. Another field extended behind the house, and another beyond that. Farm equipment and outbuildings scattered the land, but provided little cover. There was one small cluster of trees, behind the garage.

  Regardless of our approach, we would be out in the open, so we went with the most direct route: the driveway. When we reached the widened head of the drive, he angled in the direction of the barn, away from the farmhouse.

  “Where are you going?” I whispered as I trailed after him.

  He looked at me like I needed my head examined. “The safe house.”

  I stared at him for a moment before it clicked. “You have to be kidding me. The safe house is not a barn.”

  He opened a side door and glanced at me with a shrug, as if he had simply forgotten to mention that insignificant detail. “I’m going to check it out first. Stay here.”

  He disappeared before I could form an argument. I hurried to the door and stuck my head inside. The room I looked into was only a section of the barn, large and dark with no windows. There was a shadow that looked like it might be an overhead loft along the left wall. To the right was a high wide door that probably led to the heart of the barn. There were a few tools that looked to be typical farm accessories.

  I saw no sign of Nathan. Wherever he was, the shadows had swallowed him.

  An involuntary shiver ran up my spine, and I stepped away from the door to lean against the outer wall. The massive farmhouse in front of me was a lot less creepy, and it probably smelled a lot better. I stared at it longingly, wishing it were the safe house. Maybe I could convince Nathan to hang out there instead, assuming no one was home.

  I looked around for signs of life, suddenly wary of some angry farmer charging outside, demanding to know what I was doing lurking around his barn. There weren’t any cars parked in front of the house. Other than a tractor, I saw no other form of transportation. Of course, the garage doors were closed.

  I eyed the building suspiciously, and that was when I saw the front end of a car jutting out from behind it. I edged along the wall, to adjust my line of sight, until my eyes took in the unobstructed view of a silver car.

  A mustang. With black accents.

  I knew that car.

  “Kris?”

  I spun around to the familiar voice behind me.

  Alec stood next to the door, dressed in ripped jeans and a black t-shirt, his hair disheveled, his eyes greener and sexier than ever. He looked...like Alec, albeit a very stunned and very confused Alec.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked once he’d recovered. Despite his obvious concern, he had an ornery twinkle in his eyes that I doubted ever faded and, if I weren’t mistaken, I’d swear he was secretly glad to see me again.

  Dimly, I recalled Nathan’s warning about him. I had never accepted his claim that Alec was a Skotadi and, after seeing him now, I wasn’t any closer to believing it.

  “Kris?” Alec gripped my shoulders. “Where’s what’s his name?”

  “Nathan? He’s checking out the barn. What are you doing here?”

  Ignoring my question, Alec tipped his head to the sky with a groan, and then grabbed my hands in his. His eyes were wide, fearful. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  I was hardly listening. Instead, I took advantage of his nearness to examine his eyes.

  “They’re black!” He hadn’t finished development yet, which meant he couldn’t be a Skotadi. He wasn’t anything yet. Nathan had been wrong.

  Alec studied me solemnly. “I see you’ve started developing, too.”

  I assessed his words with a slow nod. He said it like he had already known what I was.

  “Kris, you have to get out of here,” he said urgently. “There are Skotadi here. I’m assuming you know about them.”

  A ripple of fear shot through me. Skotadi here? My eyes darted to the door where Nathan had disappeared.

  “Don’t worry about him,” Alec said harshly. “You have to go before they find you.”

  He attempted to steer me in the direction of the Mustang, but I dug my feet in.

  “Not without Nathan.” I pulled out of Alec’s grasp and raced for the barn door. Peering inside, I saw Nathan emerge from the shadows, walking toward me.

  My relief gave way to crippling fear when a swarm of shiny gold eyes appeared behind him. With nothing but the alarm on my face to go by, a wary understanding registered on his. He held my gaze steadily and, other than one hand moving to his waist, he didn’t move.

  With his back to the eyes, only I saw him pull his gun.

  CHAPTER 21

  If the Skotadi thought they had the element of surprise, they were sorely mistaken. Nathan turned on them, let go three thundering shots, and three sets of golden eyes vanished. He was so fast, so practiced, so good...

  It wasn’t enough. As he took one down, two more stepped forward. Three of them took him over, tackling him to the ground, before he could reach the door where I stood watching in horror. They were bigger and faster, and crawled on top of him, working him over into a face down position. His gun spun across the floor and disappeared into the shadows.

  His eyes found mine. “Kris, run!”

  My response was automatic, and not at all what Nathan, or I, expected.

  I threw myself on top of the closest Skotadi and encircled my arms around his neck. The move caused enough of a ruckus for Nathan to wriggle the other gun from his waistband. He flipped onto his back, gun ready, and took out the two Skotadi on top of him, then the one I was wrangling.

  The body evaporated from beneath me and I crumbled to the floor. Nathan pulled me to my feet and hooked one arm around me, pressing me to his side, as another wave of Skotadi advanced on us. He popped off two more rounds, finding both targets.

  “I’m almost out of bullets,” he muttered to me between shots. “We’re going to have to run for it.”

  No way. The door was too far. We would never make it and, even if we did, then what? Maybe Nathan could outrun them, but not with me slowing him down. There were maybe half a dozen of them left. Too many. After all he had done, they would overcome us unless...

  The Mustang. Alec. He might be our only chance.

  Before I could say anything to Nathan, the remaining sea of flaming eyes charged. This time, they focused on me.

  One of them managed to wrestle me from Nath
an’s side. I wasn’t pulled far before Nathan yanked me free, grabbed the Skotadi’s head and twisted. With a sickening snap of the neck, the Skotadi’s eyes flickered out.

  As he let the body drop to the floor, Nathan shot over my head at another, and another. He pulled me to his side as he turned to the next one.

  Now, I have seen Nathan in action a few times, and have come to rely on his always dependable ability to get us out of bad situations. If I had to choose anyone to have my back in any situation, it would be him. He was good. He was fast. He was effective. And I had never, ever, seen him hesitate.

  Until now.

  He froze with his gun pointed at the head of a woman Skotadi, the barrel grazing the skin between her eyes. Neither of them moved. The remaining Skotadi halted their assault. It was as if the world had stopped turning.

  I was surprised to see a woman, let alone a pretty one. Even though her features were hardened by the permanent scowl standard on all Skotadi, it was obvious she had once been beautiful. Her dark hair was pulled back in a high tight bun and, except for the shiny gold ring, her eyes were black. But whereas most Skotadi were unnaturally pale, she had an olive complexion that softened her features.

  While her appearance had initially caught my attention, what I now noticed above everything else was the way Nathan looked at her.

  He wasn’t blown away by her beauty. He wasn’t even sizing up a Skotadi threat. He was in a trance as if, in his eyes, he were seeing a ghost. I had seen a similar look on his face once before. Her name left his lips as a whisper. “Lil?”

  As in Lillian? As in the tattoo on his arm? As in his girlfriend who was supposed to be dead? I didn’t know how, but seeing the look on his face, I knew it to be true.

  She took him in calculatingly, and her lips twisted into a wicked smile. “Hello, sweetie,” she said, her voice as cold as her eyes. She rotated her head slowly to fixate on me. “I see you’ve still got your pet.”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what that was supposed to mean, and I didn’t get a chance to find out. Once her focus shifted to me, Nathan sprung to life. He stepped sideways, putting himself between me and her. He must have noticed that his dead girlfriend was very much alive, and very evil. It wasn’t hard to miss.

  “Aw, I’m not going to hurt her,” Lillian purred. Her eyes cut into me. “I need her.”

  Need me? I didn’t like the sound of that.

  With a sharp nod of her head, the rest of them descended upon us. As a large Skotadi pulled my arms behind my back, I felt the wave of panic seize my body, threatening to cripple me, until I met Nathan’s eyes. He held mine with his, and I drew my strength from him.

  They wanted us alive. I didn’t know why, and didn’t know if I should be relieved or concerned. I settled with relief for now. I would worry about why they wanted us alive later.

  We were led by Lillian and three beefy escorts farther into the barn and to the real safe house, which, as it turned out, served as a large Skotadi base. And by large, I meant large.

  The compound was built under acres of farmland, and was accessed through a trap door in the floor of the barn. Steep and narrow steps chiseled out of the earth took us down and dumped us into an elaborate network of tunnels. It was cold and smelled of damp dirt and a touch of sulfur that stung my nose. Every fifty yards there was an overhead orange light so obscenely bright I preferred the stretch of darkness between them.

  We walked so long and turned so many times, I lost all sense of direction. There were no signs, no maps. They navigated the tunnels by memory, effectively ensuring that Nathan and I would have no way of figuring our way out if we managed to escape.

  When I saw the brick jail cell looming ahead, all hope of escape vanished. I wanted to panic...again, but even if I couldn’t see his eyes this time, I could feel Nathan’s reassuring presence behind me. He held me together.

  They removed our restraints and threw me in first. I waited for Nathan to spring, and to suddenly find ourselves fighting for our lives again, but he didn’t, and was tossed in behind me. Lillian oversaw the entire process then turned the key in the lock, securing our captivity behind bars. The muscled men retreated, leaving her alone with us.

  Her eyes were on Nathan, hard and unforgiving. “Isn’t it great how I know all your tricks? Let me guess. You parked half a mile back and walked in?”

  He stared straight through her, surprisingly free of emotion. I considered the possibility that he may be in shock. Other than to say her name, he hadn’t spoken a word since her return from the dead, and he chose not to acknowledge her with an answer now.

  Rather, he turned his back to her and crossed the length of the cell to where I cowered in the corner. Over his shoulder, I saw Lillian smirk before she withdrew into the tunnel. Positioned mercifully between two overhead spotlights, we were bathed in soft shadows, with just enough light to see each other.

  “You alright?” he asked as he scanned me for any obvious signs of injury.

  “Physically, I’m fine. Emotionally and psychologically, probably not so much. But what else is new?” Really, it was becoming normal, me being screwed up. “How about you?”

  “Fine,” he said hastily, like his well-being didn’t matter.

  “You sure? Was that...” I paused, unsure how to approach the subject. “I mean, is she...”

  “Yeah. And no, I don’t know any more than you do.” His tone made it clear he didn’t want to talk about it.

  I wanted to know how it was possible, if he had known it was possible. There was a lot I still didn’t understand about this new world I belonged to. Based on Nathan’s reaction, switching teams was not something known to happen. We were witnesses to something extraordinary and, from the looks of it, were in the middle of something big, and we didn’t have a clue what it was.

  “You probably should have gone back to Joe’s when you had the chance,” I muttered.

  Nathan’s lips twitch into a reluctant grin. It was the one thing I wanted to see the most at the moment.

  Other than maybe daylight.

  * * *

  “I wonder what time it is.”

  It had been hours since someone had come back to confiscate Nathan’s watch. I wasn’t sure what they thought we would do with it, other than tell time, but they took it, and left us with the impossible task of guessing the time.

  “Stop thinking about it,” Nathan returned. “You’re going to drive yourself, and me, crazy.”

  He sat against the cell wall beside me, his legs bent in front of him, forearms resting on his knees. He had extensively searched every brick and every crevice in the cell for a weakness. After reluctantly accepting a flawless design, he had conceded to join me on the floor, where we have now been sitting for an eternity.

  Our arms just touched and, unlike a few weeks ago, I wanted to keep it that way. Feeling him beside me kept me from losing it. Only knowing that they weren’t going to leave us like this forever, knowing that they had us there for a reason, and with each passing minute we grew closer to learning what that reason was, filled me with dread.

  “I’m tired.”

  “That’s what happens when you get up at the crack of dawn,” Nathan grumbled, though I could hear the smile in his voice. Surprisingly, he was in good spirits. I suspected it was only to keep me from freaking out, but whatever the reason, I was grateful. He rolled his head to look at me. “Why don’t you try to get some sleep?”

  I wrinkled my nose at the hard floor. “I don’t think I’ll be able to.”

  Nathan surveyed what we had to work with, which was nothing. Not a cot, not a blanket. Nothing. We didn’t even have a toilet. Not that I would have used it anyway.

  He stretched his legs out and patted them with his hands. “You can lay your head on me,” he suggested with a shrug.

  Oh, man, I hoped I was hidden in the shadows enough that he couldn’t see the flaming of my cheeks his suggestion provoked. “What about you?” I asked.

  “I’m not that tir
ed. Besides, I can sleep sitting up if I have to.”

  Of course he could.

  He nudged my arm. “Come on. Get some sleep.”

  I was exhausted and, though embarrassing, the offer was enticing. Quickly, before I lost my nerve, I rolled onto my side, facing away from him, and rested my head on his outstretched legs. While it was nice to have somewhere soft and warm to lay my head, the rest of me was at the mercy of the unforgiving earthen floor, and I pulled my knees in close to my body for warmth.

  Nathan threw his arm over me and tugged me snug against his torso. The heat radiating off of him flashed through me, spread all the way to the roots of my hair. As I warmed—from his body and from a mysterious fire burning inside of me—I relaxed. It was more comfortable than I had expected. Sleep might be possible after all, thanks to Nathan.

  I smiled to myself. He was taking care of me yet again. Somehow, he always found a way to take care of me.

  He always had. The answer to the longstanding question hit me like an out of control train and, only then, did I realize I had known it all along.

  “Hey, Nathan?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “You’ve always been around, haven’t you?”

  I felt the rhythmic movement of his chest as he breathed. “What do you mean?”

  “You told me how you found me when I was little. You said it was random that the Kala picked me to save. But what about the other times? Those weren’t random coincidences, were they?”

  His breathing faltered. “No.”

  “So you were around all along, and somehow knew when I needed you?”

  “Kind of,” he said carefully.

  What was he keeping from me? What was he so afraid of? I turned onto my back to look up at him, silently pleading for the truth. Finally.

  He stared at me for a long, long time before he took a deep relenting breath. “I had a prophet that I trusted watch out for you. I asked her to let me know if she saw anything bad happen to you. I got two calls. The first one came that night I got you out of that foster home when you were eleven. The second was the night of the car accident.”