“For what?” she asks, while her ebony wings pin back.
“Xavier is going to shred you when he finds out what you did,” I say.
“That is less scary than what Brennus has planned for Russell. You could’ve left him out there alone…in the garden,” she says, while her fingers work quickly.
“No, I couldn’t have,” I counter.
“You paid the ultimate price for it,” she whispers. “I can see why you love Reed. He is different from any Power I’ve ever known—special.”
“I have to get him back!” I choke past the enormous lump in my throat, praying that she’ll understand.
“That is my plan,” she responds immediately, and my arms reach out and hug her, making it hard for her to move.
“You have a plan?” my arms loosen on her while my throat aches with unshed tears.
Swiftly, she reaches into my sleeve, pulling out the cool thing that Zephyr had handed to me earlier. “While you were meeting with Tau, I wasn’t just practicing my English with Buns and Brownie,” she says quickly, holding up a sorority pin belonging to either Buns or Brownie. It is intricate, made of gold with tiny pearls on the face of it. Upon closer inspection, I see that it opens with minute hinges and a clasp attached to it. Anya continues, “We were coming up with ways to kill the undead monsters and then to get you away from the Seraphim. The Reapers were afraid of just this scenario. They’re outranked by just about everyone here and to use their words, ‘they found you first.’”
I blink as she presses the pin into my hand. “Is this—”
“A portal,” Anya answers.
“To where?” I ask.
“To—” she’s cut off as the door crashes open and Xavier’s huge frame fills the opening.
His eyes immediately narrow into a scowl when he sees me untied on the bed. Xavier’s eyebrows slash together. “Anya,” he growls menacingly, raising the fine hairs on my arms.
Without even blinking, I pull energy to me and then thrust it outward, creating an invisible barrier halfway between Xavier and us. He doesn’t notice it, because when he rushes at us, he hits it hard, knocking him back onto the exquisite rug covering the floor.
Xavier is up in an instant, stalking the wall I created, searching for an imperfection in the energy between us. Behind him, Tau walks quietly into the room; his eyes are on me as his skin seems to pale a little.
“You’ve recovered your magic,” Tau states, ignoring Xavier’s stealthy pacing in front of him.
My mouth turns down in a frown as I hold my hand to the rope wound tightly around my ankles, freezing it so that it becomes brittle. Moving my ankles, the rope cracks and splits like glass, shattering away from me easily.
“Intense emotion hinders your magic,” Tau says calmly, studying me clinically, like a bug behind glass.
“That, and the fact that I was reluctant to hurt you, two things that don’t seem to be affecting me much now,” I reply with as much calm as I can find.
“I have found your aspire, Evie,” Tau says, and then glances from me to Xavier.
My barrier crumbles for an instant, distracted as I am by what Tau has said. Xavier capitalizes on my slip, coming to within inches of the bed before he hits the hastily erected barrier I throw toward him.
Xavier snarls at Anya, speaking to her in angry, Angelic tones.
Anya retorts with an equal snarl, “She tried to shift with the lariat on!”
Xavier pales as he looks at the discarded rope saturated in places with my blood. His eyes pivot to mine, while he says in a hushed tone, “You cannot shift when your wings are bound.”
“Really?” I ask, intending for my tone to sound sarcastic, but it sounds more hurt than I would like.
Xavier’s hands splay on the barrier between us. “Are they severed?” he asks in panic.
My wings move of their own accord, spreading out painfully, but fully functional. The pain in Xavier’s eyes eases a little, but only a little.
“I know where Reed is, Evie,” Tau says again, gaining my attention, but the wall holding Xavier back remains intact.
“I know where he is, too,” I reply above the sound of my racing heart as it pounds in my ears. “He’s with Brennus, waiting for me to come and free him, so don’t try to lie to me and tell me that you found him. Brennus was here, he—”
“BRENNUS WAS HERE?” Xavier roars.
His eyelids narrow to slits over his distinctly different colored eyes before he picks up a table and smashes it against the barrier between us, trying to get to me. I feel the energy push back at me as the table shatters into splinters on the floor, but it does nothing to gain him entry.
My heartbeat doubles, “Will you calm down?” I ask with a condescending frown. “You’re freaking me out!”
“The bad freaking out!” Anya adds beside me, nodding in agreement while her hands tremble.
Tau joins Xavier at the edge of the barrier: two huge, red-winged angels standing side-by-side with grim expressions. Tau brushes his auburn hair back from his gray eyes. I think I see a flash of guilt in them before he asks, “How did you fend him off?”
“You believe that he was here?” I counter.
“I believe you,” he corrects me.
“I didn’t fend him off. He wasn’t here to turn me,” I reply before taking a deep breath to calm my raging heart.
“Did he harm you?” he asks with his eyes closing just a little.
I shake my head. “Physically? No,” I reply, “unless you consider his kiss—”
Xavier turns away, picking up a chair and smashing it with his bare hands. Splinters and shards of it fall to the floor, but the really scary part is when he opens his fists and dust fall from them. He stands with his back turned to me, panting in frustration. “He will never touch you again,” Xavier says tensely.
“Don’t make me any more promises that you can’t keep,” I counter with a bitter edge.
Tau’s hand reaches out to Xavier’s shoulder when he sees it round a fraction. His hand rests on it before his eyes turn back to mine. My father’s voice is calm when he asks, “Brennus wants something from you. What is it?” My eyebrow arches at his quick mind. “It’s obvious,” Tau replies perceptively. “He wants something very badly if he’s willing to stave off his hunger to have you now. What is it?”
“Revenge,” I croak.
“Will you give it to him?” he asks.
“No,” I reply, shaking my head while a tear slides over my cheek.
“So, you will protect Russell and let Reed go?” he inquires with an unreadable expression.
My eyes grow wide at his intuitiveness.
Tau explains softly, “Russell is the only thing he could want…it’s the only thing that would make sense as a reason for him not to turn you the minute he found you here. Russell is growing in power. He’ll be as powerful as you one day—powerful enough to come between you and Brennus. Does he want you to bring him Russell?”
I nod, feeling my throat closing up again.
“He will not let him live. He cannot—neither will he turn Russell into a Gancanagh. You do know that, don’t you?” Tau asks me. “He has to stop Russell from evolving into a more powerful being than him and he has to do it now, before Russell becomes a real threat. If he takes you now without killing Russell, Russell will hunt for you. He will find you, like he found you before. Brennus cannot afford to turn Russell because there is no guarantee that Russell will stop evolving if he were to become undead. Who was Brennus’ maker?”
“Aodh,” I murmur.
“Aodh taught him that,” Tau says. “Aodh taught him never to turn anyone more powerful. Brennus killed his own maker, didn’t he?” Tau asks.
“Yes,” I reply softly.
“You give Russell to Brennus and he will kill Russell. Let me help you,” Tau says gently.
I bridle at his words. “No thanks, I got this one,” I reply bitterly.
Tau’s eyes instantly fill with worry. “I know that you do
n’t trust me—”
“Trust you?” I ask with a salty edge in my tone. “I can hardly stand being near you. I want to shed you like dead skin.”
My father’s eyebrows pull together in concern. “You don’t want me to leave you,” he counters. “You feel that I betrayed you, but that isn’t the case. I only wanted to protect you,” he reasons in a gentle tone.
“Don’t tell me how I feel,” I rasp. I flick the clasp to the pin-portal open. It lays docilely in my palm. Shifting my eyes to Anya, I say, “Anya, you should go first. When you get to the other side, pull me through.”
She nods, bursting almost instantly into small, speckled ladybugs. The normally lumbering bugs are anything but as they pull themselves agilely through the small opening in the pin.
Tau’s voice is filled with agitation, “Evie, stay with us! Brennus will not honor any agreement that he made with you—”
“I know that,” I cut him off. “He’s a known enemy—just like you.”
“I’m not your enemy!” Tau retorts harshly, his eyes becoming a dark and stormy gray.
“Now who’s being naïve?” I ask him hotly, wanting to hurt him. “I’m so relieved to be getting away from you, and if Brennus does manage to turn me, watch your back because you’ll make a good first kill!”
“EVIE!” Tau growls my name, losing all pretense of being cool, while pounding viciously against the barrier with his fists.
His desperation to stop me from leaving does something to my heart; it hurts like he’s squeezing it in his fist. Xavier joins him, hurting himself as he drives his shoulder into the unforgiving obstacle in front of him. Energy flares back at me in bursts. It burns as they push the barrier between us. I struggle to hang on to the energy so my wall won’t crumble again.
Tau’s frustration rings in each word as he says, “You don’t know what you’re saying! You’re more precious than any of us—”
“Precious?” I laugh without humor. “You only see me as a weapon.”
“I see you as my daughter!” Tau states.
My heart twists again as my throat gets even tighter. “You’re very good at strategy. I almost believed for a second that I mean something to you,” I breathe in a shallow tone.
Xavier, beside Tau, says urgently, “Can’t you see what you mean to us? You stretch the very limits of our control, Evie.”
I feel hollow: as thin as air. “You had a chance to help me, but instead, you drugged me and tied me up. You have made it impossible for me to trust you,” I say, my throat raw now. I stare into his eyes as his mouth twists in pain. “Go back to your cloud, Xavier. I don’t want you here.”
“The only way I’ll go again is if you come with me,” he promises me, resting his hand against the barrier.
The air shifts direction abruptly, stirring my hair. “Xavier, we’re so over,” I say in a soft voice.
“You’re wrong,” he says with a growl. “We’ve just started.”
Reaching down, I lay the open pin on top of the silken coverlet next to me.
Both Xavier and Tau growl at me, tensing like racers before the starting gun. When I distort, I won’t be able to hold them back from me. It will be a race to the other side of the portal. Whoever gets there first, wins. With my heart thumping sharply and my palms sweating, my mind chants silently: On your mark, get set….
CHAPTER 24
Your Heart Grows Cold
Russell
Rubbin’ my sweaty palms on the coarse, blue denim coverin’ my knees, my leg bounces up and down involuntarily. I stare at the X-shaped portal propped open against the far wall of the library. Sunlight, streamin’ in the floor-to-ceilin’, leaded-glass windows, falls like a spotlight on it. The reflected light from its tarnished metal highlights the dust motes dancin’ ‘round it.
As far as portals go, this one’s the sneakiest that I’ve ever encountered. Housed in Brownie’s cheap-lookin’ sorority placard, the dull, chi-shaped, Greek letter made from chrome hides the contours of distorted space within it.
I lean forward in my seat on the soft, brown leather sofa facin’ it. A low, menacin’ growl from my right makes me still for a second and grip the arm of the sofa tight. “Do not make me throw you out of this room, Russell,” Zephyr says from his seat adjacent to mine in Reed’s library.
I still. “I’d like to see you try,” my growl is sinister, but I don’t move toward the portal. It only takes a moment more for my leg to start bouncin’ agitatedly again.
Brownie’s voice comes from the other end of the sofa. “She’ll get Evie. Anya is cunning—”
“If anythin’ happens to Anya,” I retort, “I’m blamin’ you, Brownie.”
“ME!” Brownie says incredulously. “It was Anya’s plan!”
“And, you gave her the portal to do it!” I say between my teeth. “You should’ve protected her.”
“Sweetie, she’s a Throne,” Buns points out from her seat next to Zee’s. “She outranks us.”
I scowl at Buns. “Ahh, don’t even go there, Buns! I know you can give two figs ‘bout rank when it suits you.”
“True,” Buns replies unrepentantly. “I also happen to know a good plan when I hear it.”
My brow creases dangerously. “How is it a good plan to leave her there unprotected?” I shoot back with my leg bouncin’ twice as fast.
“She’s with an army of Powers,” Brownie says in a gentle tone.
“And what’re they gonna do to her when they find out that she’s tryin’ to liberate Red?” I ask Brownie pointedly. “What’s the penalty for treason in your world?” Brownie has the decency to pale. “Right! That’s what I thought!” I sneer at her speechless expression, while boltin’ to my feet.
Instantly Zephyr is in front of me, blockin’ my direct line to the portal with his killer-blue stare. “Do not lose your head.”
My wings pin back, just like the ears on a cat. “You better move ‘cuz you’re fixin’ to lose yours.”
Zee braces for my attack, adoptin’ a defensive posture.
Buns moves quickly in front of Zephyr with an implorin’ expression. “They won’t hurt her…Xavier and Anya are close. She insisted that he’d never let them harm her—”
“You also said that Xavier and Red had a thing before comin’ here. If that’s true, then Xavier will protect Red by any means necessary,” I reply, while tryin’ to pick up on any weaknesses in Zephyr’s stance.
“Sweetie,” Buns says calmly, “you haven’t eaten since we’ve gotten back to Crestwood. Let me fix you something.”
“I’m not hungry,” I say childishly, while my stomach rumbles in retort.
Buns puts her hands on her hips and taps her toe. “Oh no?” she asks like a bratty little sister. “Then you can help us clean up this place!”
She casts her hands ‘round Reed’s elegant library, indicatin’ that it’s covered in dust. From the look of the place, no one has been here to clean since Dominion hauled Reed and Zephyr away to their compound to question them about Evie—when Pagan thought Evie was a Nephilim. Even though most of the stuff in this room is untouched, the rest of the house was ransacked by the Gancanagh when they were lookin’ for Evie’s possessions for Brennus’ collection.
I found all of the clothes that I left in my room upstairs thrown on the floor and strewn over my bed. But, even without the mess, just bein’ back in Reed’s Crestwood estate is surreal; maybe kind of like returnin’ to a childhood home. I’d moved in here when I was just startin’ to become an angel—after Freddie had tried to kill Red and me and reap her soul.
I was a baby when I lived here before, just beginnin’ to evolve angelic traits and abilities. Zee had begun my trainin’ in the dinin’ room just down the hall. It feels like a lifetime ago. I’ve been ‘round the world since then…chased by monsters I never dreamed existed.
“I’ll help y’all later,” I say, never takin’ my eyes off Zee’s, waitin’ for him to get distracted for a millisecond.
Buns’s frustrated to
ne rings out, “We can’t start on the clean up because we’ve had to guard you from trying to get into that portal. I don’t know why we’re bothering, it won’t open on the other end until they’re ready to come through.”
My eyes shift to hers, knowin’ she’s right. Slowly, I sit back down in my seat. I ask softly, “Y’all have other portals back to Brennus’ estate, right?”
Brownie nods. “Of course—we stashed them right near…” she trails off when Zephyr shoots her a warnin’ glance.
“Where?” I prompt her.
“We’ll tell you later,” she mutters, lookin’ away from my piercin’ stare.
My leg resumes its bouncin’.
Buns relaxes a little before sayin’ pleadingly, “Sweetie, let me fix you something to eat.”
“Whatever,” I breathe sullenly.
“Good!” Buns says quickly, before skippin’ out of the room like a deranged sprite.
“I’ll help you!” Brownie calls after Buns, exitin’ in quite the same way.
Zephyr goes back to his seat cautiously, eyein’ me the entire time.
“You never should’ve—” I growl, but Zee interrupts me.
“Do not start with me again. I am at my limit, too,” he growls back, squeezin’ his fists like he wants to crush somethin’. “I have been working on another plan—one that includes just you and me,” he says in a tight voice.
“What’s the plan?” I ask, mirrorin’ his tone, while leanin’ toward his seat, givin’ him my full attention.
“We go back—find Brennus,” he says laconically.
“And then…” I trail off, waitin’ for more from him.
“That’s it,” he says grimly.
“No exit strategy?” I ask quietly.
“We either leave, or we do not,” he replies, his voice strained. “We take out as many as we can. If we get the head, Brennus, the body of the Gancanagh will divide and fall apart—easy for the others to conquer. We just make sure that neither of us leaves undead.”
“And Reed?” I ask.
Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) Page 39