by J. L. Madore
"Mayhap." He nodded. "Our time together has been nice. I shall treasure—"
"Nice?" My entire body began to shake, my vision clouding red. Sparks began fritzing off my fingertips as I bit my lip. "Look, I need you to get the hell away from me before my temper gets loose." I fought between needing to put my head between my knees and slamming his head through the stone wall. "I feel like hell and you look like it. So, if you don't want to frighten your poor sister when her eyes finally open, go have a long, hot shower and pull yourself together. I'll try to do the same." Without waiting for his answer, I stumbled to Lia's bedside and hung on to my fall-apart. Nice?
Galan and I are amazing, electric, life-alteringly fantastic. Not nice.
When the muted splash and trickle of the shower started in the bathroom I let my tears fall. He didn't want me. Oh. Gods. I sobbed until my whole body went numb. Love, life . . . without Galan? I didn't even know what to do with that.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard the knocking, but couldn't quite grasp the thought. "Blaze, you up?" Bruin lumbered in, dragging Kobi and Savage behind him. Judging by the unusual shift-n-fidget of the demon and the very usual glare Savage was throwing off, they weren't thrilled to be there. Bruin sniffed the air as I swiped my cheeks and was at my side in two strides. "What? Tell me."
I shook my head, wiped my cheeks again and nodded to Kobi and Savage. "What's up?"
Bruin threw me a wary glare but didn't push. "Kobi and Sav came to have a boo at Lia."
"Why? What are you thinking?"
"Let's hold off on guessing. I'd hate to be wrong and get Galan worked up for nothing."
"Worked up regarding what exactly?" Galan strode from the bathroom, wearing only his pants and toweling his hair. The muscles of his smooth, bare chest glistened and danced as he back-and-forthed over his rumpled hair. The sight of him, even disheveled and exhausted, sent a dagger through my chest. He didn't want me.
"Oh, uh . . . just an idea Samuel came up with when we were discussing Lia."
Galan scowled and stopped the hair drying. "I would appreciate if Samuel was not included in conversations regarding my sister. His input is unwelcome and untrustworthy."
Bruin opened his mouth but when I shook my head, he let it slide. "Go ahead guys."
Savage released the tie-back of the privacy curtain and swept the heavy drape along its track to encircle Lia's bed.
Kobi bumped knuckles with Galan as he moved to join Savage. "Sorry about this, my man. You three give us a sec and we'll see what we can figure out." With a tight smile, Kobi pulled the drapes closed, leaving Bruin, Galan and me on the outs.
"It's okay," Bruin said, squeezing Galan's shoulder. "Finish getting dressed. By the time you're back they'll be done what they're doing."
"What are they doing?" he snapped, pointing at the curtain. "Have I no right to know?"
"Relax. They won't hurt her. They want to check out her neck and use Kobi's abilities to pinpoint any kind of magical juju that might have been used on her. I swear."
Galan scowled. "And what are Kobi's abilities?"
"You'll have to ask him. That's not my story to tell." Bruin shifted his attention to me. "Hey, did you have it out with Reign yet? Does he know Bloodvine got a name to you?"
"No. He's avoiding me. I thought sending a text saying, 'I'm pissed you've been manipulating me, but you can make it up by helping me kill one of my mom's rapists' was a bit much. The Scourge compound was the first I'd seen him and he was a little busy cutting raiders in half to bring it up."
"Maybe a little," Bruin chuckled. "Well, I saw him ushering half a dozen enforcers into his office ten minutes ago. You might take advantage of the opportunity." He tugged on my hair and let it spring back into place. "How long till Julian verifies the deets?"
"He said a few days."
"Cool. Let me know and we'll roll out and nail the bastard."
"You cannot be serious." Galan's voice was harsh as he spun on Bruin. "You love her, yet you encourage her to instigate an attack on a man who kills and rapes for the sport of it?"
"Fuck yeah." Bruin said. "It took me twelve years, but I killed every bastard involved in the slaughter of my people. Jade deserves the same satisfaction. That's what the Right of Vengeance is all about."
Galan cursed. "Am I the only male who thinks it wrong to put females in a situation where they are almost certainly going to suffer injury?"
"Yes," I snapped, "but don't complicate your life by worrying about what I do."
Galan surged toward me, his eyes blazing. He raised his hand to capture my arm.
Bruin lunged between us, his low growl echoing through the clinic. "Galan, step the fuck off my sister before you and I have a problem." The two men met chest to chest. Bruin had him by a couple inches in height and a good seventy pounds, but Galan was fast and angrier than I'd ever seen. Thank the gods he had the sense to focus on the wall behind Bruin's head.
Bruin's nostrils flared. "I smell that you're twisted in knots right now, Highborne, but instead of coming after Jade maybe you should hammer back hooch until you black the fuck out. That's what the rest of us do when the Fates deal us a ball-gnasher."
No response. Galan's chest rose and fell. His jaw muscles twitched and his eyes bore a hole in the clinic wall.
"Go finish in the bathroom," Bruin mumbled. "When you come out, we'll discuss what's doing with your sister." The air crackled between them until Galan peeled away and stormed across the clinic. The bathroom door slammed behind him with the boom of a cannon. Bruin turned a look on me. "What the fuck did I miss?"
When my vision blurred, Bruin dropped a heavy arm across my shoulder and pulled me in. Gods he felt solid and warm. Rubbing my cheek against his T-shirt I let the tears go. It was a mini-meltdown, but it did the trick. I straightened and accepted the box of tissues he offered. "Galan broke it off. He says the way I choose to live my life is too dangerous for him. He's got enough to worry about with Lia."
"Fidiot." Bruin shook his head. "It's his—"
The slide of the curtain had us both turning. I didn't know a lot about Kobi or Incubus demons in general, but he and Bruin were tight. In the past few years Bruin had been away a lot and the two of them had worked together. Savage, on the other hand, was a fierce fighter and a downright scary man. With his dark black eyes, the tats and the piercings, the mute warrior threw off a do-not-approach vibe like you read about. I didn't know how Bruin thought they could figure out what happened to Lia, but I hoped he was right.
Galan skulked over at the same time the two of them stepped away from Lia. Kobi studied the hardwood as he reached to his back pocket and slid a pair of dark sunglasses over his eyes. His brow was pinched and his expression was casting a whole lot of shadow.
"Tell us," I said.
"It's a form of spirit wound." He scrubbed his hand across his jaw, the light glinting off the multiple piercings through his eyebrow. "The Scourge fissured her soul."
Bruin cursed, shoving his hands deep in his pockets.
Galan looked from Kobi, to Bruin, to me. "Explain. I am not following."
I drew a deep breath. "He's saying that the Scourge have used dark sorcery to capture her soul. Even though her body is well, her spirit is vacant."
"How is that possible?" he choked.
Kobi pulled out two cigarettes and flicked open his lighter. Passing one to Savage the two of them drew hard until their vices flared to life. After a long pause Kobi let out a heavy exhale. "Soul Entrapment is a despicable spell that holds a person's soul hostage in a sorcerer's crystal. As long as the Scourge retains possession of that crystal, your sister's spirit is suspended in the nether region of the Veil." He raised his hand and took another drag. "She can't find her way back to her corporeal self, but can't move forward into the After either. She's trapped."
Galan recoiled. "If I get the crystal back she can be restored, yes?"
"In theory," I said. "But we don't know who has the crystal. If they see us coming—"<
br />
"If they destroy the crystal," Kobi continued, "Lia will be trapped forever. She'll become an undead."
CHAPTER THIRTY
It was absolutely pissing down. Fat, cold raindrops pelted down from an angry dusk sky, seeping under my battle vest and pooling in the mud around my boots. Murphy's Law, I supposed. Bruin and Cowboy didn't seem to notice, but Lexi and I were rocking the drowned rat look. It didn't matter. Squatting in the dark, behind a rusted-out John Deere and some rotting fence rails, was exactly where I wanted to be. Needed to be.
Stuart 'the skull' Skelly, the bastard Julian had confirmed was part of the death squad that killed my parents, had gone into the dilapidated barn on the back of his remote property almost two hours ago and hadn't come out since.
He wasn't alone—and that was our problem in a nutshell. Right of Vengeance gave me the go-ahead to confront and off Mr. Skull, but did not extend to snuffing out the budding potential of his four Scourge pals. Not unless they attacked us first—which was what Bruin, Lexi and Cowboy were jonesing for.
"O-two-thirty," Julian's 'military voice' sounded over our headsets. "Sit rep."
"No change," Bruin reported. "Just the four of us doing our best rubber ducky impressions, while the pigs are cozy and dry inside the barn."
"Girls?"
"S'all good," I whispered into my mouthpiece.
"Quack, quack," Lexi said.
Not for the first time, I wished this was over. After Galan had obliterated my hopes for a future, three days ago, I'd considered giving up my fight. That thought lasted as long as it took to picture the scene of slaughter at my farmhouse. I couldn't ignore what was done to my parents. But if Stuart Skelly gave me the final name, I could end this once and for all. Would Galan come around if I was done with my vengeance? He would if he was truly my destiny.
After leaving Galan and Lia in the clinic that afternoon, I had paced the corridor outside Reign's office, waiting for his enforcer meeting to end. I'd worn a path up and down the hall until I thought I'd explode. Taking the offensive had probably been a bad tack, but I hadn't been firing on all pistons. The half-dozen Talon enforcers gathered around Reign's desk actually looked amused when I barged in.
"Sorry for the interruption, I need a moment with my father."
"Now is not the time, Jade," Reign growled.
"Funny, I've been trying to get face-to-face with you since my recovery and have had the damnedest time, locking you down. It's as if . . . oh, I don't know, you're avoiding me."
Reign's dark eyes were calculating yet calm. "Give us twenty, gentlemen."
While Rue rolled maps, I had roamed the office. Aside from the charged atmosphere, that room hadn't changed in almost twenty years. Rows upon rows of irreplaceable grimoires lined the bookshelves, filling the space with the earthy smell of leather and parchment. My fingers traced across their spines while everyone cleared out. Reign had spent a lifetime amassing his collection, yet even as clumsy children he'd encouraged his four orphans to explore the fragile pages. If you counted the hours, I'd bet he sat with us for years flipping through those books.
"All right, missy, let's hear it. Get it off your chest." He sank into his chair and leaned back, fingers tented. Even oversized, the leather, desk chair groaned under his weight.
"Get it off my chest? Hmm, where should I start?" I planted both hands on his desk and faced him head-on. "Should I ask why my boyfriend of two years was only supposed to be acting as my bodyguard, or how you ordered him to break up with me and break my heart, or how you arranged for him to stab me . . . cause fuck, I could have used a heads-up on that one."
Reign's expression gave nothing away. "Obviously, I'll have to speak to Samuel about the confidentiality of orders. It seems he's been opening his mouth."
"Samuel didn't say anything. I healed him after Lia's rescue and saw for myself."
Reign sighed. "I made a tough call, Blaze. It got Samuel into the Scourge compound and we got Lia back. Don't expect an apology."
"Of course not," I snapped. "Why order him to dump me? You saw what that did to me."
"He wasn't the one for you. He knew it. I knew it and if you're honest with yourself, you knew it. Your destiny lies elsewhere."
"With Galan?" I couldn't help the flare of hope that flickered in my chest. With a wince, I doused it. "He broke it off. I'm not Stepford Wife enough for him." I brushed my hair away from my face and narrowed my sights on Reign. "How long have you been lying to me?"
He'd grunted at the question, his jaw tightening. "Since the day I found you in that cellar."
My whole life? I shook my head. If there was one thing I would have laid coin on, it was that Maximus Reign loved me. But at that moment, the first in seventeen years, I didn't trust him. The blow of that reality was like losing my foothold and dangling over a precipice. Everything I had considered a given in life was built on lies.
That's when I'd stormed out. I hadn't told him Julian was verifying a name and getting the kill sanctioned through the Seelie Court. I hadn't trusted Reign enough to let him in.
The grind of metal on metal snapped me back to the barnyard. Someone was hefting the barn door open, the weight of it fighting to slide in its rusty track. I touched the hilt of my dagger.
"Naptime's over, y'all." Cowboy drawled, thick as molasses. "Up and at em."
My backup waited outside, covering Mr. Skull's guests as they dispersed and hopefully Flashed straight to hell. I slid in the side door, unfurled my whip and called on my bard powers. If Mr. Skull heard me walk up behind him, he didn't let on. He seemed completely focused on the maps and papers pinned to the wood on the inside of the barn wall.
"Stuart Skelly?" He jumped and spun. "In accordance to the Right of Vengeance, I sentence you to death for the wrong you inflicted on me and mine seventeen years ago."
The bastard had the gall to look relieved as he assessed me up and down. Coughing up a gob of phlegm, he spat it on the ground between us. Wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve he sneered up at me. "Be more specific, dollface, I was rather active in my thirties."
Tightening my hold on the braided leather grip of my whip I stepped within range. The barn was a long rectangle with an open centre alley and closed off pens running up either side. "On a small farm, the afternoon of the summer solstice, you and your raid party eviscerated my father on the front porch of a yellow farmhouse then proceeded to follow my mother into a barn very much like this one."
I glanced at the bale hooks, pitch forks and halters still hanging on their rusty pegs. Beyond the musky skunk of Scourge, the place held the sweet smell of straw. There was no room for animals in the stalls, though. Each cubicle was packed from plank floor to hayloft with wooden crates. The days of this being a working farm were long passed.
It was some kind of Scourge depot now.
"My mother was tortured, raped and killed because she wouldn't tell you where I hid."
A light of understanding lit in murky eyes and he laughed. It was a chunky, wet sound. He spit again. "Ah, I do remember that. I was so green then I actually felt bad about the way that woman was ravaged." He took a step closer and dropped his hand to the dagger sheathed on his hip. He winked and his face distorted into a hideous smile. "Well, until it was my turn. Then I fucked her hard and deep. I swear I nearly ripped her in two."
"You bastard." My whip cracked through the air, narrowly missing his neck as he barreled at me drawing his dagger. The edge of the blade glinted blue in the light. I sent out a sound burst. As the air around us exploded in a cacophony of eardrum splitting chaos the bastard dropped his dagger and grappled me.
I staggered under his weight, fighting to free my hands. Shuffling through loose straw I connected my knee to his crotch and freed myself enough to press the handle of my whip against his throat. As we struggled, my mind flipped through the macabre pages of my family album, revisiting scenes from that afternoon in the barn. Rage boiled in my gut. I may have been a scared little girl back then, I wasn't now. E
very last one of them would pay.
Skelly's shoulder rose as his fist swung. Before I could react, white spots exploded behind my eyes. He yanked me back by the hair until I was staring at the crumbling boards of the hayloft above. By sheer weight, he forced me skittering to the back of the alley, struggling toward . . . the trap door.
Built into the floor of the barn was a door leading to the cellar below. With the door propped open against the back barn wall, the black rectangular opening sucked at us like a black hole. As we struggled, I had a feeling he was envisioning me becoming his guest down there.
Screw that. With trembling hands, I clawed at his face and drew one of the daggers from the bottom edge of my battle vest. As he hefted me over the opening, I twisted, thrust the blade into his sweet spot and pulled him in tight. If I was going down, he was coming along for the ride. As he exploded into a mass of black goo I tumbled backward. Pain seared the back of my head and everything disappeared.
At some point, I became aware. Aware of a throbbing in my skull which made me sorry I was no longer unconscious. Aware of lying sprawled on my side, my face mashed into the dirt. The grit of moldy soil caked the inside of my lips and lodged up my nose. Rolling to my back was a big no-go. There was a pile of Mr. Skull on top of me. I tried to shift under his weight and fireworks went off inside my eyes. A fiery sting licked across my shoulder and down my side.
With either sheer grit or red-headed hellfire I forced my body to twist the other way. Bile slammed the back of my throat. There was no preventing my lunch from fertilizing the dirt. My eyes watered and my shoulder screamed as I wretched. And again. And once more just for fun. After my vision cleared and my eyes adjusted to the blackness I studied my surroundings.
Oh gods, the root cellar.
As my heart really got pumping and my airways closed off, I fought the urge to blackout. Galan. I needed him. I thought about that storage room in Toronto and how he'd soothed my crazies. Then I remembered the blow-out we'd had just hours ago. He was livid I was letting my past endanger my life. I reminded him my life was none of his concern. I was a warrior.