by Jayde Brooks
“Convince me that you know where my Omen is!” she commanded.
Khale’s voice came from some faraway place. “Eden! Stop it!”
The shifter had no place in this. Kifo, her little Djinn, Eden’s little magician, would answer to her.
“Convince me that you can be trusted, Djinn! Convince me that I was right in choosing to let you live!”
This wasn’t her! It didn’t even sound like her! Eden craved the sounds of his screams! She salivated at the thought of spilling his blood. Kifo could not be trusted! He could not …
“Eden!”
The sound of Prophet’s voice brought her back inside this room. Pictures had fallen off the walls, vases had been broken. Kifo stood there looking as if he had seen a ghost, or worse. She was so close to losing what was left of herself.
“Where is the third Omen?” she asked softly.
She needed to know where it was. Eden needed to get this shit over with. Her end was here. It was right here in front of her.
“Where is it, Kifo?” she asked again, looking into his hooded black eyes.
“The Omen is the Seer Andromeda,” he told her.
Eden shook her head, confused. “I don’t … I don’t get it. The Omen is in Andromeda or it is Andromeda?”
“It is her.”
How the hell was she supposed to make sense of that? The first Omen had been a thing, an object passed from that crazy old man to Eden. He passed it to her by touching her. The second Omen was a … a spirit, the spirit of Sakarabru’s rage. Eden had to literally die to go into the afterlife to get that one. And now he was telling her that the last Omen was a person?
She looked at him as if he were out of his mind. “I’m supposed to bond with Andromeda?”
He raised his chin defiantly. “Yes.”
Eden was dumbfounded. “How?”
Kifo’s blank expression pretty much answered her question. He had no idea.
Eden slowly turned away from him. She’d come too far to go back. It would be impossible to unbond with the first two Omens. She couldn’t change her mind and say, “That’s it. I’m stopping right here. No more bonding, and to hell what happens to all you Ancients and the rest of the world. Y’all can kiss my ass.”
Eden looked at Khale. “You’re the genius,” she said sarcastically. “Any ideas on how I’m supposed to bond with the Seer of the Ages that doesn’t involve you cutting my throat?”
“None.”
Eden turned to leave the room. “I need my Guardian.”
She sat cross-legged on the bed while he paced slowly back and forth.
“He’s setting us up,” Prophet eventually said, stating the obvious.
Even if he hadn’t said it, she knew the moment she laid eyes on the guy talking to Khale that he had come here under false pretenses. Eden knew him but not directly. He was familiar to her because Sakarabru knew him, intimately, and he wasn’t to be trusted.
“We’ve got nothing else, Prophet,” she said.
He stopped and stared at her. “Do you hear yourself?”
“What?” She shrugged.
“Three months ago I couldn’t get you to stop crying, and now you want to go rushing off to New Orleans on the chance that you can make this last bond.”
So what was he saying? “I mean, what else am I supposed to do? I need all three to defeat Sakarabru, and I’ve only got two. This dude may be lying or he may be telling at least a part of the truth, and we’ve got nothing else.”
“You sound almost anxious to do this, Eden.” He was studying her, looking at her almost as if he didn’t recognize her.
“You’re right,” she admitted reluctantly. “It’s incomplete, Prophet. I’m incomplete.”
She felt like some junkie in need of a fix. As terrifying as it had been to make these first two bonds, Eden felt off balance without that last one. There was a void inside her that desperately needed to be filled.
He sat down next to her. Eden could see the worry in his eyes. “I can’t lose you again. I won’t.”
“Then don’t,” she said, pressing her hand to his face. “This is hard for both of us, Prophet. But I’m in this now and I can’t turn back even if I wanted to. All I can do is finish this and then hope that I can hold on to some semblance of myself when it’s over—if I live through it.”
For the first time since she’d known him, Eden sensed his doubt and uncertainty. Prophet had been strong for her. He had been encouraging her and taking care of her, making sure that she was okay. Now he was the one that needed reassurance, and she owed it to him to give him that.
Eden crawled onto his lap. “I am fighting this,” she told him, staring into his eyes. “Every second of every day, I am fighting for me and you because I don’t want to lose you either.”
He was strong and steadfast, and he loved her in a way Eden never dreamed she could be loved. Prophet was ready to lay down his life for her if it came to that. Of course he was worth fighting for.
“I’m not leaving you, either,” she assured him. But the reality of the situation loomed between them. “If things don’t work out, though”—she choked back tears, at the thought of dying—“you’ll come with me?”
“I’ll follow you anywhere. I told you that. I meant it.”
That’s what she was afraid of, even more than bonding with that last damned Omen.
* * *
Eden was awake and staring out of the bedroom window long after Prophet had fallen asleep. The Djinn appeared as if by magic, standing in the corner of the room.
“A month ago, you might’ve scared the shit out of me,” she admitted softly.
Kifo surprised her, and maybe even himself, with a smile. “I owe you an apology,” he said sincerely. “I was not strong enough to resist the influence of Lord Sakarabru. I bought him back,” he confessed. “I rebuilt his army, and I ruined what was once a pretty decent world.”
This was his idea of atonement?
“So what do you want me to say? That’s it’s okay? That we all make mistakes?” she said sarcastically. “That on behalf of humankind, I forgive you?” She could tell that Kifo was seriously kicking his own ass for what he’d done. Eden needed to be a bigger person and not continue to add insult to injury. “Tell me that Andromeda really is the final Omen, Kifo. And that once I bond with her, that’ll be that, and that whatever’s going to happen is going to happen, and that you’re not setting me up.”
“I’m not setting you up.”
She stared at him. “Even if you are, does it really matter?”
Kifo shook his head. “Exactly.”
“Sakarabru wanted me to lead you to Yankee Stadium,” he admitted. “Away from Andromeda and directly to him.”
The two of them locked gazes in a moment of silence. Eden had evolved into a destiny she never wanted and into a creature she never wanted to be. Kifo was probably leading her to her death but if he was, then he was probably doing her a favor.
“When do we leave?” she asked him.
“As soon are you’re ready.”
USE SOMEBODY
Picking up the pieces from a moment like this was never easy, but it was possible, because at this same moment, Andromeda was strolling along a white sand beach, with the sun shining down on her face and the Mediterranean air caressing her skin. At this very moment she was eating a bowl of her favorite ice cream at a bistro in San Francisco. And right now, in another place, Andromeda was about to make her lover scream her name to the heavens and swear his love to her for all eternity. This sacrifice had been necessary and even welcomed because it was selfless, and the selfless moments were always the sweetest.
Her wounds were healing nicely. Sakarabru had taken such pleasure in tormenting the Seer. The sadist in him loved to watch her suffer. But what he failed to understand about the closeness of these encounters they shared was that they always left parts of him open and vulnerable to someone who knew what to look for. Andromeda had always prided herself on her insightfuln
ess and intuition. She understood the nature of a thing pretty quickly, and she had grown to understand the nature of Sakarabru intimately.
She picked up what was left of her pretty dress, disappointed that she’d soiled it. It had been one of her favorites, but she’d never be able to wear it again. She’d gotten it from Bolen’s Department Store in Louisville, Kentucky, back in the year 1957. To her, 1957 was just a number, but humans had this obsessive compulsion to measure things, time being one of them. Maybe one day she’d go back to Bolen’s and try to find another dress just like this one. For now, she was naked. She was finished here. Andromeda had done what she had come to do. The third and final Omen was now where it was meant to be, placed there by the incomprehensible babblings and cries of a tortured Seer who had finally spat the foul taste of the Demon out of her mouth and back onto him.
“Tell me where my Omen is, Seer!” he yelled, driving his dagger slowly into the raw flesh of her belly. “End your suffering, Andromeda.”
His face was mere inches from hers. The pain was unbearable, but bear it she did. Instinct and reflex took over where intent left off.
“Ptuah!” she spat in his face.
Of course he was furious. And of course, he would make her pay for her transgression. Andromeda turned her face to where she knew Kifo stood. Tears of desperation filled her eyes, her lips trembled as he twisted his blade in wide circles inside her. Andromeda wanted to smile. Kifo kept his promise and she knew that it was killing him to do so, but it was also necessary. He materialized long enough for her to see him. And Andromeda winked. The rest was up to Kifo and the Redeemer. Andromeda could only hope that Kifo was as observant and as diligent a mystic as she believed him to be.
* * *
“Don’t do this to me, Prophet,” Eden said as the two of them stood outside the SUV.
Kifo and Khale were inside.
He stood there as defiant as ever. “I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation.”
“You’re a distraction that I don’t need,” she said earnestly. “It’s over and you know it. And if I’m going to do this, then I don’t need you in the mix.”
“I’m insulted,” he protested mildly.
“I’m not trying to insult you.”
“You have.” Prophet reached for the handle on the passenger door, pulled it open, and waited for her to climb inside. Eden sat sulking as he made his way around to the driver’s side and climbed in behind the wheel.
The mood in the vehicle was tense and heavy. In a matter of hours, Eden would come face-to-face with the Demon. Questions started to come to mind. Eden wondered why she hadn’t thought to ask them before.
“What’s he look like, Kifo?”
“Taller than normal,” he said from the backseat. “Sakarabru was resurrected with his former Theian form. We were taller then. Evolution has changed us. He’s … good-looking, I guess. Time and the transition to this world has turned his hair white. His eyes are blue?”
“Green,” Khale absently interjected. “His eyes are green.”
“How much does he know about me?” Eden continued probing.
“Very little,” Kifo said. “Sakarabru knows of a reborn Redeemer. His only point of reference is Mkombozi.”
“Is he afraid of me?” The question surprised even her.
“Yes,” Kifo said quickly.
Eden wanted to find solace in that answer, but there was none. Mkombozi had gained the strength to defeat Sakarabru, but she’d lost her soul to the Omens. Eden could feel her own spirit slipping away already. And she had no doubt that the last bond would seal the deal. The idea of going head-to-head against one of the most powerful creatures in the universe was too unbelievable to grasp. And the fact that she was the one who was supposed to take him down—well, that was just crazy. What would the bond with Andromeda give her? She had the connection to the mind and strength of the Demon. What was left? Andromeda was the Seer of the Ages, which meant that she could travel through time, or something like that. Maybe that’s what she’d get from the bond. The ability to time-travel. Or maybe she’d just grow taller.
* * *
“Oh shit!” The Guardian growled, slamming his foot so hard on the brake that he pushed a hole through the floor of the vehicle.
The bull burst through a thick cloud of black smoke forming out of nothing in the middle of the highway, his head lowered, and charged directly at the vehicle.
“No!” Khale shouted at the sight of the Demon. She shifted into an eagle upon impact and flew out with the shattered glass from the backseat window.
Sakarabru met the car head-on and drove enormous golden horns into the front end of the vehicle. The razor-sharp tips of them projected through the dashboard, one of them just inches away from stabbing into Eden’s chest where she sat in the passenger seat.
Prophet jerked her toward him just in time and held her against him. The bull Demon raised the entire car off the ground on his horns, held it over his head, and then he released an Earth-quaking yell into the atmosphere as he flung the vehicle through the air, across a ravine, and crashing into an open field. He charged into the trench and waited as the vehicle rolled violently until it stopped and landed on its hood.
“I know she’s somewhere inside that piece of shit!” He growled, starting to charge at them again.
The Demon was caught. A fifty-five-foot anaconda wrapped herself around both legs, squeezed him around the waist, his neck, face, and finally both horns. Khale was suffocating him. She glanced over at the wreckage in time to see the Guardian pulling Eden out of the car and leading her toward the forest. A wave of pain suddenly tortured Khale. She looked down and saw that the demon had taken a bite out of her.
He spat out the meat. “Get the fuck off me, bitch!”
She constricted even more. “Kiss my ass!” she hissed.
A thousand hands seemed to start pulling at her all at once, tearing into her, biting and … The Demon’s Brood had come out of nowhere and converged on the two of them like a colony of bees. They were shredding her into pieces, and she had no choice but to change. Barely escaping with her life, the hawk had just enough strength to barely keep herself beyond the reach of the arms of the Brood. She held on long enough to get to the forest, where Eden had disappeared, and found a branch high enough that she couldn’t be reached.
She was covered in blood; chunks of flesh were literally gone. Pain engulfed the Shifter as she desperately scanned the forest floor for Eden. “Eden!” she called out. “Keep running!” Khale pleaded, hoping that she could hear her. “Whatever you do! Keep running!”
SET THE WORLD ON FIRE
Thirty Brood stood between Prophet and his target. Thirty motherfuckers that meant about as much to him as mosquitoes. He swatted against them with forearms as thick as pythons. Prophet snapped necks like toothpicks, snatched off arms as easily as pulling the wings off flies. His focus on the Demon was unwavering; their bites, their knives plunging into his rib cage meant nothing to him. He felt numb and determined, crushing their bodies under his feet as he trampled over them. The Demon stood there waiting for him, their gazes locked on each other. The adrenaline surging through the Guardian’s veins took him back to a time when war was everything and killing his enemy made his mouth water.
The last Brood standing between Prophet and Sakarabru had the misfortune of stumbling and falling. Prophet felt its skull crush under his heel. He lowered his head and lunged for the Demon, but before he could barrel into him, Sakarabru caught him by the hair, raised his knee, and planted it solidly under the Guardian’s chin. Blood sprayed from Prophet’s mouth.
“Where is she?” the Demon growled in his face.
Prophet spun free. It was a foolish question to ask a Guardian. Prophet smiled leaded back, and kicked, driving the heel of his boot into Sakarabru’s knee. Prophet planted his feet, drew back his massive arm, and drove his fist full force up into the Demon’s diaphragm. Opportunity! Take it! Prophet commanded himself. He took adva
ntage of the Demon’s exposed neck, grabbed hold of the back of it, and drove his knee hard into the Demon’s throat. At least now they were even, and neither one of them could breathe.
Eden had been running away from the wreckage through the forest parallel to the highway. She had to put as much distance between Sakarabru and herself as possible. She had to somehow get to Andromeda and make the bond with the last Omen. God! It was impossible! It was all so impossible! Prophet! She thought he was behind her. Oh God! He had stayed behind to …
“No! Prophet!” she cried out. Eden couldn’t let him do this. She started to run back to him! Sakarabru would kill him.
“He’s killing him!” Kifo cried out.
Eden followed the sound of his voice. “Kifo? Kifo!”
He appeared as if out of nowhere. A wave of mistrust washed over her. Kifo was a liar. Kifo couldn’t be trusted. He had betrayed her.
“You set us up! You fuckin’ betrayed me, Djinn!”
Eden blinked and suddenly saw the Djinn kneeling at her feet. Blood seeped through the fibers of his stark white suit.
“He’s killing the Guardian, Eden,” he said. “Sakarabru is too strong for him. He’s too powerful.”
“I need Andromeda!” she said, panicked. “I can’t do this without her! I need the last Omen!”
Kifo struggled to his feet.
“Where’s the Seer?” she shouted.
He helplessly shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Eden couldn’t do this without the last Omen. “She’s at the…” Kifo was magic. He could disappear and reappear like magic. “Take me to her,” she commanded. Eden rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him. “Magic, Kifo!” she said, squeezing her eyes shut. “Make your magic!”
Prophet’s agonizing cries snapped Eden out of her desperation.
“No!” Eden couldn’t let this happen. To hell with the third Omen. She couldn’t let Sakarabru kill Prophet. She ran back toward the wreckage.