“There’s absolutely no way I’m going to help you,” I proclaim and throw the sphere across the room in defiance. An enraged Himyar charges, but luckily I manage to construct a shield between us the second before he pounces. Unfortunately, the impact knocks me to the floor and he furiously leaps on top of me, raining blows down upon the protective barrier. Under the intense onslaught my mental strength falters and soon he breaks through completely, laughing when his fist finally finds its mark. My head snaps back as he stands victoriously.
“Now you will help me,” he orders, breathing heavily.
“No,” I croak, pulling my knees under me. He growls and steps forward to attack again. Battered and scared I look death in the face, knowing my end will not come quickly enough.
BANG!
The loud ringing of stone smashing metal reaches my ears the same instant smoke fills the air, and I just know Gabir is back to help Himyar torture me. Raising my arms to protect my face I wait. When laughter replaces the blow I’m anticipating, I assume Himyar has paused to gloat over my frailty. Lowering my arms, I find he isn’t even looking at me. I follow his gaze and see Hal lying unconscious on the floor, his body trembling and a sword clutched to his chest. The billowing smoke I’d mistakenly assumed was Gabir’s is dissipating around him.
The sword! Forcing my feet under me, I rush towards Hal’s prone body while a second bang and the sound of tearing metal distracts Himyar.
“Wake up Hal. Damn it, you have to wake up!” I shake him. With a clatter the sword drops to the floor, slipping out of his lifeless fingers. Swiftly I reach across his body to snag the weapon but not fast enough.
“This is for me,” Himyar hisses, grasping the blade by the hilt. “Heavy,” he says, getting a feel for the weapon.
“Gwen?” Kade bellows, bounding through an enormous hole that’s been gouged out of the metal siding of the warehouse. Z follows a step behind. Locking on to my injured face, whatever relief he experiences over the discovery that I’m still alive is buried under a mask of rage. Snarling, he charges without thinking and lunges for Himyar at the last second. Twisting and teleporting away, Himyar evades him. A cloud of brilliant smoke envelops me and I cry out, startled.
“Hush it’s me,” Rashid’s voice soothes.
“Rashid, there’s another one. A second Sylph,” I explain quickly. In the distance I see Himyar snap his fingers before winking out again.
“I’m on it.” In a flash he’s gone, poofing around the room in search of the hidden adversary. Summoned by the snap, Gabir materializes half a heart beat later but Rashid gets the drop on him and the two begin to pummel one another, teleporting here and there as both attempt to gain an advantage over the other. The room explodes in a riot of color that hurts my head; rainbow streaks follow the Wanderers’ limbs as they move at above average speeds and wisps of smoke linger everywhere. There’s a semi-permeable fog that my lungs struggle to filter. My eyes find Kade in the middle of all the chaos, defensively battling Himyar and somehow managing to avoid his furious thrusts with the sword.
“Get to the car, Bass is on his way,” Z instructs, appearing unexpectedly out of the fray. He pulls me to my feet and shoves me in the direction of the hole in the wall.
“But Hal?” I scream as I’m caught in the forward momentum from Z’s push.
“Go!” he repeats and I comply, my feet speeding me towards my destination. Before I can taste freedom, Himyar’s hand latches on to my shoulder, pulling hard enough to change my trajectory and send me spinning to the ground. A painful cry tears from my lips as the impact jars my badly bruised body. A sound I’ve never heard rumbles through Kade’s chest and lifting my head I see death in the depths of his eyes. No! The desperate thought rips through my head but my lips fail to form a coherent response. Overturning a shelf, Kade runs at Himyar with total disregard, fury speeding his limbs. He doesn’t think rationally where you are concerned, the thought repeats in my head. I watch catatonically while Hal’s words come to life before my very eyes. Driven by instinct alone, Kade tries to out muscle Himyar, who vanishes an instant before Kade can tackle him. There is no way to halt his forward motion and Kade is unable to turn when Himyar reappears behind him in a puff of red and buries the sword Resheph deep into his back. Arching in pain, he gasps as his head snaps back in surprise. A strangled sound halts the violent turbulence in the room as we all watch in slow motion as the smoke clears and the warrior’s powerful frame bows and slumps to the floor. Splintering disbelief claws out of my soul as amber eyes hold onto mine for the briefest of heartbeats before rolling back behind his lids.
The air rushes from my lungs; my indestructible Wanderer, the constant in my life, is gone. What the hell have I been doing? Have I lost my mind? The simple answer is yes, when Ben died I did lose my mind. Plagued with guilt and angry at myself for failing to protect him from circumstances outside of my control, I shoved everyone, including Kade, away and instead chose to wallow in a self-inflicted punishment that I didn’t deserve. This time, looking at my everything sprawled across the floor, it won’t be my mind I lose, it’ll be my heart. Already I can feel the little muscle I’ve recently become well acquainted with being torn asunder.
“No!” The gut wrenching cry echoes through the building and Zafir, moving like lightening, catches Himyar in the side of the head with a nasty right hook. Staggering back, he loses his grip on the sword which is still firmly embedded in Kade’s back. Without hesitation Z assumes possession of the blade and delicately extricates it from his friend’s flesh. Finally possessing the upper hand, he fights with a brutality I’ve never seen.
Numbly, I drag my feet underneath me, forgetting all about Bass and the Yukon. I’m decimated and hatred pours from the crevices of my broken heart. It floods my system like poison, twisting and warping me into a very dangerous thing: a woman with nothing left to lose. I rush to help Z, craving revenge for the lives stolen from me. Attacking from behind, I fight dirty and use my powers to do anything I can to distract Himyar and give Zafir the advantage. Relentlessly I pelt him with debris I pull from the surrounding shelves.
“Enough!” Himyar yells with annoyance, and with a flick of his wrist he sends a gust of wind that knocks me off my feet before poofing to a new location and resuming his battle with Zafir. Scrambling, I get up and launch myself back into the fray.
Himyar’s ability to teleport seems to negate any leverage possessing the sword has given us, and so as it stands we are too evenly matched to best him. We need Bass. With Hal and Kade out of commission and Rashid actively engaged with Gabir, he’s the only thing that can tip the scales. As I prepare a fresh round of ammunition to send Himyar’s direction, Gabir catches me unaware when he appears beside me and backhands me across the face. Stumbling, I fall and land in an inelegant heap.
“Hands off!” Rashid bellows, materializing a second later and launching Gabir into a wall before disappearing again. Everything hurts. I cough and sputter as I try to take a deep breath, but the smoke makes my lungs burn. Himyar and Z are still locked in a ferocious battle. Dragging myself to my knees I rest while they circle closer.
“Old friend, it doesn’t have to be this way. Come with me. We have the girl, we can start a new world,” Himyar pleads with Z.
“No!” Zafir barks, swinging Resheph again.
“Fool,” Himyar snarls as he effortlessly evades Z.
“I was a fool... a fool to befriend the likes of you,” Z says lunging again. His insult is the last draw, and in a rapid succession of blows Himyar manages to knock the sword from Z’s grasp. It hits the floor with a clatter and skids to a stop right in front of me. Without hesitation I grab the sword and stand. The blade feels weightless in my hands and hums with an angelic song that fills my soul and revives my limbs. Alive with power I charge. Himyar has Z precariously wrapped in a head lock so he never sees me coming. Putting my weight into it, I plunge Resheph into Himyar’s back and hold it there, a fitting retribution for what he’d done to Kade. Capitalizin
g on my actions, Z slips from the head hold and flips around behind Himyar. Grasping firmly, he tears his head clean off before I can blink.
“Goodbye old friend,” Z whispers, tossing the head aside.
Outnumbered, Gabir glares menacingly at us a second before teleporting away.
“Damn it!” Rashid yells. The flight of the second Sylph frustrates him.
“Is everyone okay?” Bass asks, bounding inside.
“No,” I whimper softly. I can’t turn around, since somewhere back in the wreckage lies Kade. My anger’s spent after killing Himyar and I’m too tired to keep the grief that’s surely waiting for me when I turn around at bay.
“What’s wrong?” Z asks anxiously as he takes my hands. Looking up, I can’t articulate the words even as my mouth struggles with the truth.
“She thinks I’m dead,” a raspy baritone answers for me.
“What!” Z exclaims. “Gwen, he’s indestructible, heals instantly remember?”
“Maybe not instantly,” Kade tacks on hoarsely. Choking on his own laughter Z smiles.
“I don’t understand... I saw the sword... you screamed,” I say to Z.
“Ah Z, you do care,” Kade jokes.
“Girls scream, I do not scream,” Z informs me flippantly. “And don’t forget I just saved your sorry ass,” he tosses back at Kade.
Muttering to myself I run through Hal’s theory about the sword being powerful enough to kill the Wanderers. I rush to Kade who is still lying immobile on the concrete floor. I sputter as I try to reiterate everything Hal had told me. Reaching up, Kade strokes my cheek, running his thumb across my lips to halt my rambling.
“I suspect Hal may be right, but nothing short of cutting out my heart or removing my head would keep me from coming back to you.” The surety of his statement obliterates the dam I’ve constructed to keep my emotions in check, and I can hold no more back. Liquid amber eyes roam my face and wordlessly I promise never to build walls between us again.
“And I choose you,” I whisper for his ears alone before tenderly kissing his lips. It’s the closest thing to an apology my pride will allow in this public forum. There will be time later to seek forgiveness for my own stupidity.
“Are you sure you’re fine?” A jumbled mess, I can’t keep from touching him and seeking concrete evidence that he is alive and well. With my hands shaking I assess his body, searching for any lasting signs of damage, assuring myself everything is in working order. He’s the perfect patient and takes my harassment without complaint, until I tear open his shirt and expose his chest to the cool air.
“Do you want me to freeze to death?” he admonishes, batting my hands away and struggling to sit up. “This was a nice shirt.”
“There’s a gaping hole in the back, you were going to have to replace it anyway.” Running my fingers down his shoulder blades, I see he’s almost completely healed, just a patch of pink, dewy skin above his kidney is the only evidence he’d been stabbed.
“There’s not even going to be a scar,” I say with amazement.
“No,” he agrees and chuckles, pulling me around into his lap. With a frown he cups my battered face in his hands. The swelling around my eye isn’t as bad as I’d expected but judging from the expression on his face I’m not a pretty picture. Suddenly self-conscious, I drop my eyes. The familiar warm tingling sensation I’ve come to associate with his power begins where his fingertips meet my skin. It builds in intensity and rushes through my veins like electricity when he releases his spell.
“Good as new,” he tells me. Fully healed, I stand. Basal and Z have hastily constructed a stretcher and are in the process of situating Hal’s body onto the device for transport. Watching their progress a different type of fear grips me; not the earth shattering kind from which there is no recovery, but heart wrenching nonetheless. These men have become my family and I can’t stomach the idea of losing a single one of them.
“Will he be alright?” I ask tentatively.
“I’m not really sure,” Bass answers as he hoists the impromptu stretcher and he and Z tread carefully on their way to the Yukon. Not knowing what to do, I follow the trio, hovering just out of reach. Hal’s face is ashen and his breathing is slow and uneven. He’s obviously not experiencing the same miraculous recovery as Kade.
“He’ll be fine,” Rashid assures me before continuing to poke around what’s left of the warehouse.
“We don’t know that, don’t get her hopes up,” Z replies gruffly.
“He and I have been through this before,” Rashid says. “He’ll be fine in a few days.”
“Teleporting with the sword...is that what did this to him?” I ask.
“Yes,” Bass admits. “When you were taken we didn’t have much time and the sword was still in Utah. There wasn’t another option.” Stupid bastard, what were you thinking? I worry that despite Rashid’s assurances we might still lose him.
“Wait, how did you find me?” My phone, equipped with the GPS tracker, hadn’t been on my person like it should have been when I was kidnapped. Brilliant idiot that I am, I’d left the thing in my purse which I’d stowed under Andrea’s station at the salon.
“Okay, don’t get mad,” Z stipulates, preemptively calming me down.
“Explain,” I insist, already warming up to yell at someone for something.
“I said don’t get mad,” Z says, backing up with his two hands raised in a hold-on-a-minute gesture. Turning, I glare at Kade.
“What is going on? How did you find me?”
“Hal’s been feeding you tracking devices for years,” Kade announces, bringing me up to speed.
“Microscopic ones in your vitamins,” Z adds, like the size of the device will somehow make up for this blatant invasion of my privacy.
“What?” I scream. “You knew about this, didn’t you? Was it your idea?” Kade takes my finger pointing theatrics in stride, responding in a calm soothing voice that only infuriates me further.
“Yes, I knew about it and no, it was not my idea. However, it was a good one and I wish I’d thought of it myself.”
I’m disgusted and wind up, ready to let them all have it, when Rashid’s clear voice cuts through the tension, effectively ending my tirade before it even begins.
“Guys! I think I’ve found something.”
Chapter 26
Rising from his crouch in a pile of debris, Rashid holds an orange and black sphere over his head.
“He had another one.”
“Keep looking, there could be more,” I say excitedly. In the midst of everything I’d completely forgotten about the reason for my abduction and what Himyar alluded he’d been up to.
“What do you know?” Kade asks as his shrewd eyes scan my face. Interested, the other Wanderers, except for Basal who has stepped away to make a full report to Adil, gather around to hear what I have to say.
“Himyar told me he’d discovered a way to free the Sylph from their spheres. You all saw Gabir, so we can’t automatically write off his claim,” I add, hoping to waylay their skeptical stares.
“Bass!” Kade bellows to grab his attention. “Ask Hashim to join us.” Nodding, Bass returns to his call.
“Wait,” Kade tells me, squeezing my hand reassuringly. I bite my tongue and pause my tale for the two minutes it takes Hashim to appear and join us.
“We need your wisdom,” Kade informs him while Hashim’s gaze travels around the room soaking up the scene. “Go ahead Gwen.”
“Himyar believed he’d found a way to free the Sylph, and to his credit he did have a second Sylph named Gabir with him,” I repeat for Hashim. Pointing to the sphere in Rashid’s hands I continue, “He said I had the power to do it. He forced me to hold the sphere and then kept telling me to wish the Sylph inside free. He claimed because I had the power to lock them away, I also had the power to undo the spell and release them.”
When I say the words “he forced me” Kade’s fist clenches and his body goes rigid beside me. Calmly, I lace my fingers t
hrough his hoping to soothe his inner turmoil, but must admit his over protective instincts are incredibly sexy. “I refused to try and he wouldn’t admit if another Nephilim had been successful, although he did allude to the fact they had. Could he be right?” I direct my inquiry to Hashim. “It would give us an explanation of why he was kidnapping redheads, I mean other than for spiteful killing.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Hashim admits.
“It would have to be a very powerful Nephilim,” Kade surmises.
“Yes,” Hashim answers, thinking hard with his face adopting an almost comical look while he stares at his feet. “I don’t think this was a ruse. Himyar really did believe Gwen possessed the strength to accomplish this task. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble of kidnapping her; killing her outright would have made more sense.”
“Unless he intended to torture her, sending us a nasty message,” Z chimes in, winking at me.
“Yes there is always that,” Hashim agrees.
“If it’s all the same to you I’d prefer not to test his theory,” I wince, thinking what a nightmare a rouge Sylph can be.
“I guess we’ll never know,” Bass adds, stepping into the conversation. “Adil wants us all back in Utah to make a full report the second we’ve gotten things cleaned up here and Hal is well enough to travel.”
“Let’s get started,” Rashid chants.
Kade refuses to let me help with the cleanup efforts and instead finds a comfortable place for me to rest, wistfully tucking a bedraggled strand of hair behind my ear before joining his brothers.
“Seriously, look for more spheres,” I tell him, worried that Himyar might have a bunch stockpiled somewhere. Then I remind myself he’s not that stupid; if he’d have had more he would have hidden them in separate locations.
A Step Away (The Wanderer Book 2) Page 20