Reed must’ve gotten the upper hand, ‘cuz the beautiful, black-winged angel is thrown against the far wall. Slidin’ down it, she looks stunned for just a split second before she growls. Risin’ to her feet, she rushes Reed again. Evie springs up, hearin’ the growl and the chaos. Seein’ Reed gettin’ pounded by Anya, Evie’s eyes narrow as her wings spread out around her.
Growlin’ at Anya, Evie lunges forward, but I catch her ‘round the waist, haulin’ her back from the fray. “REED! STOP!” I shout at him, seein’ him pick Anya up off her feet again and toss her back into the same wall.
Reed takes a defensive position between Anya and us, speakin’ to her in a rapid flow of Angel. Clutchin’ her ribs, Anya doesn’t rise this time; she just sits on the floor pantin’ while glarin’ at Reed.
Seein’ a bag by the door, dropped in haste, I let go of Red. Walkin’ to the door, I pick it up. It’s filled with bread and cheese. I turn back and go to Anya’s side. When I reach her, I slide down the wall to sit next to her. Her eyes register pain as I hand her the bag.
Reed has Evie in his arms, holdin’ her to his side as he’s strokin’ her wing. But, his eyes are on Anya and me, lookin’ puzzled and upset. “Who is this, Russell?” Reed asks.
“I don’t know. She said her name was Anya, but I don’t think she speaks any uh…human,” I reply, feelin’ my stomach flutterin’ wildly again.
Reed speaks again in Angel to Anya. She lifts her chin a notch, but she doesn’t reply to whatever he’s askin’ her. Reed narrows his eyes at her, lettin’ go of Evie, he moves forward, producin’ a knife from somewhere and tiltin’ his head to the side, lookin’ deadly.
“What are you doin’?” I ask Reed, feelin’ like I need to step between them before somethin’ really bad happens.
“She’s not answering my questions, Russell,” Reed says softly. “That’s unacceptable. I’m simply going to make her find her voice.”
“WAIT! HOLD UP!” I yell, ‘cuz everythin’ is so outta control. “I think she was gettin’ my back. She came in and you were—she probably thought you were killin’ me.”
“I was killing you, Russell,” Reed replies in a calm tone. “I was just doing it slowly.”
“Reed!” Evie says behind him, soundin’ offended.
“Who is she, Russell?” Reed asks again.
“I DON’T KNOW!” I shout back, ready to pounce on him if he gets any closer to her. “But…” I hesitate, glancin’ at Anya, “she’s got a…a…” I trail off.
“She has a what, Russell?” Reed glowers.
“She has a tattoo thingy…on her heart,” I reply in confusion.
“A binding vow emblem?” Reed asks, his brows unknittin’.
“Yeah, one of them,” I say, pointin’ to Reed like he hit the nail on the head.
Reed speaks again to Anya and she narrows her eyes before replyin’ to Reed.
Reed says, “She doesn’t trust me.”
“Maybe it’s ‘cuz you just tried to kill her,” I mutter with sarcasm. “What’d she say?”
“Basically, she told me to get stuffed and go to Sheol where I belong,” Reed replies grimly.
“Is that all?” I ask, fightin’ the urge to grin.
“Not quite. She says she is going to personally see to it that every Throne hears about me and puts me on their karma payroll,” he frowns.
“Is that bad?” I ask.
“It’s not good, Russell,” Reed replies dryly. “She thinks that I’m here to hurt you. We need to assure her that I’m not going to kill you.”
“How do we do that?” I ask.
“Why don’t we all sit down in the kitchen?” Reed says in a calm tone, easin’ back a step and straightenin’ up.
“Kitchen’s no good. We broke most of the chairs,” I reply.
Lookin’ ‘round, Reed says, “Well, the parlor is destroyed. Maybe upstairs?”
“Dead guys on the third floor,” I state.
“How about the dining room on the second floor?” Reed asks civilly.
“Should be thumbs up,” I answer.
“Fine, I’ll escort Evie, and you take Anya,” he says. Reed takes her in his arms, his eyes travelin’ over every inch of her face.
I rise and offer my hand to Anya, hopin’ she’ll take it so Reed doesn’t try to hurt her again. She tentatively puts her hand in mine, lettin’ me help her up. She holds her arm to her ribs, like they’re botherin’ her. An instant later, her wings retract into her back, makin’ her look almost human. She opens the bag and extracts a t-shirt from it. She pulls it on over her tight, black outfit. Then, she glances up at me.
Slowly, I slip my arm through hers, leadin’ her toward the staircase. She brings her bag with her. As we walk together, her eyes scan my face, like she’s memorizin’ every line of it. Enterin’ a regal room on the second floor, I pull out a posh chair for Anya to sit in.
Once she is seated, I take the chair next to hers. Reed and Evie take seats on the other side of the table facin’ us. Lookin’ ‘round the room, there are several windows linin’ the wall behind Reed and Evie. The dark sky outside is alive with softly fallin’ snow.
Reed speaks to Anya in Angel, attemptin’ a smile, but she frowns before answerin’ him. Pointin’ to the window behind him, Anya waits until Reed and Evie both glance over their shoulders before she swipes a candlestick from the table. Pullin’ it into her lap under the table, she stills when they turn back ‘round.
“Did she just take a candlestick?” Reed asks me.
“Yup,” I reply. “What did she say to get you to turn away?” I inquire.
“I asked her if she had just arrived on Earth. She said she had and that she’s not used to the cold or the snow,” Reed replies.
A small smile creeps to the corners of my mouth, until I think that she might be afraid and that’s why she took the candlestick. Maybe she’s thinkin’ ‘bout usin’ it as a weapon to defend herself. Impulsively, I reach for her hand beneath the table. Startled, she flinches a little, her face palin’ before she realizes what I’m doin’. Her cold fingers squeeze mine tight, and I feel her hand tremble a little.
“Maybe this would be better if it seems like I’m askin’ the questions and you’re translatin’ it,” I say, lookin’ at Anya and seein’ her green eyes watchin’ me.
Reed says somethin’ to her in Angel and Anya nods, turnin’ her attention to me. As I study her green eyes, they soften. “Uhh,” I say, findin’ it hard to think with her starin’ at me, “why are you here?”
Reed translates this for Anya. She listens and then she shrugs. Her voice is gentle as she answers, like she’s speakin’ just to me.
Reed says, “She said she had to come—she was worried about you.”
My eyebrows rise in question.
Reed listens to Anya as she speaks again.
“She said that she wasn’t supposed to be involved, but she has friends that heard some very disturbing things, so…she had to come,” Reed says with some surprise.
I frown. “Do you know what she’s talkin’ about, Reed?” I ask in confusion. “She’s havin’ me watched?”
“Yes,” Reed says, sittin’ back and lookin’ really interested now. “We should ask her what she heard about you.”
“Okay, ask,” I agree.
Reed asks the question in Angel.
Anya answers him.
Reed’s expression turns incredulous. “She said you didn’t come back. You were supposed to come back, but you didn’t,” he murmurs.
“When was I supposed to come back?” I ask, seein’ pain in Anya’s eyes.
Watchin’ Anya’s face, it falls when Reed poses the question. She glances back at me and says, “Ruse-el stay Ev-ie. Very cry.”
Reed says somethin’ to her.
“Very sad,” she amends.
Reed leans forward then, speakin’ in a torrent of Angelic words, his face intense.
Anya replies and Reed leans back in his chair, like he’s shocked.
&n
bsp; Reed says, “You were supposed to die, Russell…in the convenience store in Crestwood. That was your plan.”
“WHAT!” I shout at him.
“Everything shifted when Evie healed you…when you agreed to stay,” Reed says, lookin’ at me and somethin’ in me knows he’s as freaked out as I am.
“Anya,” Reed says, speakin’ to her in Angel. Hearin’ her respond to Reed’s questions, he has a “holy crap” look on his face. “She’s not supposed to be here, Russell,” he says.
“Whaddaya mean, like here in Torun or like here here…on Earth?” I question.
“Here here,” Reed replies. “She heard bad things…she heard about the Gancanagh. She was afraid that they would force you to give up your soul and then you would never come back…to her.”
“Come back to her?” I ask. Adrenaline courses through me. “Why would I come back to her?” I look at Evie to see how she’s takin’ all this. She’s absolutely still, but all the hair is standin’ straight up on her arms. “Is she really my aspire?” I ask Reed. His face goes blank, just like it does when he’s goin’ into battle.
“What did you say, Russell?” Reed murmurs, like he’s sure that he didn’t hear me.
“Ask her if she’s my aspire,” I say, tryin’ not to freak out.
Reed poses the question to Anya.
We watch as she pulls aside her t-shirt and then the black bodysuit, exposin’ a bindin’ mark above her heart that looks a lot like my wings. Reed reaches for the other candlestick on the table. He crushes it into a pebble in a fraction of a second. Then, Reed begins laughin’ like it’s the best joke he’s ever heard.
Reed kisses Red’s forehead, before turnin’ to me and sayin’, “Russell, meet your aspire, Anya!”
“HOW?” I shout at him, feelin’ off-kilter and strangely hurt. “I don’t have any marks on me.”
“You wouldn’t, would you?” Reed asks, grinnin’. “You’re on a mission and you were reborn as Russell. Russell is human—you have always been human. Anya,” he says, speakin’ to Anya in Angel.
She replies to his question.
Reed nods, grinnin’. “Anya said her mark was different; it used to reflect the image of your soul, but when you changed, it changed, too.”
“And I don’t have one ‘cuz I’m on a mission?” I ask quickly, tryin’ to understand.
His brows knit together as he processes my question. He speaks to Anya.
Her eyes cloud with worry and she looks really sad as she answers him.
Reed frowns. “Maybe,” Reed says. “Nothing is certain, Anya said. This is a mission that’s is ever evolving. If you were to lose your soul to Sheol, she would be released from the vow. That was the stipulation you made before coming here.”
“AHH, HELL, REED!” I yell at him, boltin’ to my feet and puttin’ my hand through my hair. “IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE JUST ONE THING MAKE SENSE IN ALL THIS?”
“It sounds like you, Russell,” Evie says quietly from her seat.
I turn on her in anger. “What sounds like me? Throwin’ aside the love of ALL my lives for someone else? Or marryin’ someone and not comin’ back to her?” I seethe, lettin’ Red have it.
Red doesn’t flinch. “Accepting a mission to protect me, staying to protect me even though you planned to go back, and worrying more about having someone you love suffer because you might not be able to come back to her so you gave her an out, just in case…it sounds like you, Russell,” she says again quietly.
Anya speaks then to Reed, her voice completely unmusical. Gesturin’ to Evie, with a flick of her wrist she scowls at her like she hates her. Evie, not understandin’ much more than me, sits back a little in her seat. Reed’s face is blank again, but he’s listenin’ to Anya like she spillin’ the secrets of the universe.
“What?” I ask, leanin’ both my fists on the table when Anya is done talkin’.
Reed looks grim, and he’s not answerin’ me. Gettin’ up from his seat, Reed says quietly, “I’ll go take care of the corpses upstairs. There are bedrooms on this floor, if you want to clean up and rest. Love,” he adds, takin’ Evie’s hand, he gestures toward the door, “you should lie down. You look pale.”
“I’m fine. What did Anya say?” Evie asks, lookin’ concerned and not gettin’ up from her seat.
Reed’s jaw tenses; he looks like someone punched him in the stomach. “She’s upset. She just transitioned from Paradise. She needs our support…she’s like a child here…she doesn’t know how things work.”
“Tell her to leave, Reed,” I say in a quiet tone. “She’s not supposed to be here, so tell her to go back.”
“I can’t,” Reed says, watchin’ me.
I scowl. “What do you mean you can’t?” I ask, feelin’ anger risin’ in me again.
“She can’t, I should say,” he replies. “She left on her own. She’ll have to be called back, just like the rest of us, Russell.”
“So, why haven’t they called her back?” I ask.
“Maybe they approve. She has a right to protect her aspire. Maybe they believe she can help us,” he says softly.
“Or maybe, it will just get her killed,” I reply. “She doesn’t have a soul—no do overs for her. She’s not trained to fight like you, is she? That makes her a liability, not an asset.”
“Yes,” Reed agrees, watchin’ me close.
“WHAT ARE YOU WAITIN’ FOR ME TO DO, REED?” I shout at him. Evie, jumps, lookin’ stressed ‘cuz I’m yellin’ at him.
“I’m waiting for some spark of recognition from you,” Reed replies. “Something that will assure me that what Anya believes is wrong.”
“What does she believe?” I counter, rubbin’ my brow wearily.
“She thinks that Evie agreed to this mission to tear you away from Anya…to get you back,” he replies coldly.
Feelin’ elated and pissed off at the same time, I sit back down in my seat, puttin’ my face in my hands. “She thinks that?” I mumble.
“That’s what she said,” Reed replies.
“Can we trust what she says?” I ask, glancin’ at Anya and seein’ her still glarin’ at Evie across the table.
“She’s not Fallen, Russell,” Reed replies, watchin’ Anya, too. “She seems to believe what she’s saying, but…none of us are infallible.” Reed speaks to her again and Anya’s eyes shoot to his, scowlin’.
“What did you just say to her?” I ask.
“I simply told her that if she harms Evie, I will kill her,” Reed says in a low tone.
“Reed—” Evie starts to say.
“Love, she thinks that you are coming between her and her mate,” Reed says softly, not takin’ his eyes off of Anya. “She will defend what is hers. She’s a Throne, you are Seraphim, it is nearly equal ground, but I can still defend you.” Pullin’ aside the shirt he’s wearin’, he leans closer to Anya, showin’ her his bindin’ mark.
Anya smiles then, her whole face lightin’ up, like Reed has just given her the keys to Paradise. She speaks rapidly to Reed, pullin’ on his arm and makin’ him lean closer to her so she can see his mark of Evie's wings better. He smiles, too, answerin’ back after streams of music come from her.
Lookin’ at Red, I say softly, “It’s like listenin’ to a symphony of fallin’ snow—their voices...like they have the power to change our world.”
“They do, Russell,” Red replies, watchin’ me across the small space. Red’s words hit me and my throat feels tight, like I can hardly breathe. Glancin’ out the window at the fallin’ snow, a shadow moves along the window ledge.
“GET DOWN!” I yell, springin’ up and tacklin’ Reed and Anya, just as bullets explode the window behind us. Fallin’ on the floor beneath the window, Reed pushes me off of him, lungin’ to Red’s chair and pullin’ her from it to the ground with us. Anya’s eyes squeeze shut as glass and fabric from the curtains fall on us.
As I look up, the toe of a boot drifts over the edge of the sill. Reachin’ up, I grasp the ankle attached to the foot
, twistin’ and hearin’ it crack as I break it. I push the leg backward and hear a scream as he falls out the window toward the street below.
Reed holds up the phone from his pocket, usin’ the reflective surface to scan the outside. “Gancanagh—do you sense any magic, Russell?” Reed asks grimly.
“Naw, not yet…let me do some recon,” I say, closin’ my eyes and concentratin’. The world ‘round me starts to do back flips as I force a clone out of me. Anya, seein’ my clone, gasps before reachin’ out her hand to try and keep it from movin’ away from us. “Reed, explain what’s happenin’ to Anya.”
“I’m going with you,” Red says, makin’ her clone appear beside mine.
“Yeah, okay,” I agree, directin’ my clone up onto the window ledge. Automatic gunfire pulses right through my clone and I grin at the stinky freak in the window of the townhouse directly across the street from us. I spread out my clone’s wings, just for fun, and watch the frustration mount on the cold creepy one’s face when none of his bullets affect me.
Watchin’ Red’s clone frown at my clone, I ask, “What?” Ignorin’ me, she directs her clone to fly across the street and mine follows hers.
When we near the Gancanagh with the automatic, I ask, “Friend of yours?”
“No, I don’t know him,” Red answers, movin’ ‘round and scannin’ the area. “Two more in the bedroom. They’re speaking Polish, I think,” she informs me. “How do you say ‘Kiss my ass’ in Polish?”
“Pocałuj mnie w dupe,” I reply, grinnin’ as one of the cold ones takes a swing at my clone and his arm slips right through me. I add, “Twoja matka to bajki.”
“What’s that mean?” she asks, wrinklin’ her clone’s nose at me, not even tryin’ to avoid the spiky spear the Gancanagh thrust toward her from behind.
Shruggin’, I say, “It means, ‘Your mother is a Faerie.’ Well, three here. We should check the other levels across the street.”
“Okay,” Red’s clone says, disappearin’. I let my clone speed back to my body, too. Returnin’ to my normal consciousness, I report, “Three across the street—banjax charmed weapons, not a big arsenal—couple of gats and some smokies—oh, and those long spiky spears.”
Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) Page 11