Precious Time

by W. J. May

  “Are you even going to be fighting Samantha?” Angel lifted her eyebrows in surprise. “I would’ve thought that was completely off the table, given your…news.”

  On the other side of the room, Devon had gone still. He kept a fixed smile on his face as Julian and Luke bantered back and forth about something to do with children, but his head was tilted to the side in the way it did when he was focusing on something else.

  “I…” Rae glanced between them, struggling to come up with a response. “I don’t know. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess.”

  Devon dropped his eyes to the floor, while Angel gave her a long look. But whatever it was she was looking for, Rae would never know.

  In the end, Angel merely flashed a tight smile. “Well, congratulations. That’s going to be one lucky kid.”

  The words touched Rae in spite of herself. In the thousands of random hypotheticals circling constantly through her head, she had never once considered the kid to be lucky.

  Beautiful, perhaps. Freakishly gifted beyond the confines of the human world.

  But lucky? If anything, didn’t having two such trouble-magnets for parents put the poor little thing squarely into the other camp?

  “Thanks, Angel.” She kept her eyes on the girl as she drifted back across the room to Julian’s side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, still chattering on excitedly with Luke as, slowly, the rest of the room fell into the same, spirited conversation.

  All except one.

  One man who was standing a few feet away, staring out the window with an unreadable expression. Instead of standing in the center of the circle, accepting his friends’ congratulations on becoming a new father.

  * * *

  The baby celebration went on long into the night. Luke ran out to pick up take-out from Molly and Rae’s favorite Italian restaurant just before closing and, together, the six friends toasted to the next generation of troublemakers. Four with Champagne. Two with sparkling cider.

  The speculations got wilder. The spirited predictions got more and more bizarre.

  It wasn’t long before the entire evening had digressed into one of those nights that Rae loved so well. The kind where all of her favorite people in the world were sitting around the same fire. Safe from the dangers that hunted them. Relaxed in each other’s company. Content to pretend that the world stopped at the front doorstep. That this single night of happiness was all there was.

  The only problem was, the picture wasn’t quite complete.

  It was missing Gabriel, who had gone out with Kraigan that day to help the latter search for his own apartment. After some transparent threats from his little sister, Gabriel had agreed to put his personal differences with the man aside long enough to eliminate him as one of Angel’s roommates.

  According to Kraigan he had been searching diligently since they arrived in London, but no one could imagine he had made much of an impression with any potential landlords. To be honest, Rae was surprised he hadn’t resorted to his usual kidnapping and threats. Gabriel, on the other hand, was charm incarnate. If there was one person who could secure a highly-coveted London property without something so basic as a credit check, it was him.

  By now, the two of them were probably at some bar. Drinking shots, terrorizing co-eds, and comparing notes about their deviant pasts.

  But the picture was also missing Devon, who had grown more and more aloof as the night progressed. Keeping a smile on his face, he withdrew further and further inside his own head.

  Rae wished there was something she could do to stop it but, to be honest, she didn’t see what could possibly be said. They both knew the danger they were up against. There was no point denying it. And after what had happened at the wedding, they both knew how immediate that danger was. It was an impossible situation. One with only questions. Not an answer in sight.

  At one point he got a text on his phone, which seemed to make thing all the worse. His face tightened imperceptibly as he glanced down at the screen. But before Julian—who was seated beside him—could even notice, he’d already slipped the thing back into his pocket with an easy smile.

  But despite her fiancé’s troubling reserve, the night still managed to end on a high note.

  Molly and Luke had decided to stay over, regardless of the fact that they lived about four minutes away, and were setting up downstairs in one of the guest rooms. Angel and Julian, both pleasantly buzzed with Champagne, couldn’t keep their hands off each other and vanished abruptly without a word of goodnight.

  Leaving Rae and Devon to walk slowly up the stairs together, hand in hand.

  “Julian had better be careful,” she teased lightly as they both undressed for bed, “or else he’s going to be expecting a child of his own before long.”

  “He and Angel aren’t planning on having kids,” Devon said abruptly. Rae looked up with a start, and he quickly clarified. “At least…they aren’t planning on it right now. Not remotely.”

  Rae peeled back the covers with a frown, thinking it over. “Because of Angel?” she guessed quietly.

  Having grown up the way she had, it wasn’t hard to understand why the girl wasn’t exactly eager to be a mom. To be honest, Rae would be surprised if the thought had ever crossed her mind.

  “Actually, because of both of them.” Devon slipped into bed beside her. “He’s been that way ever since I met him. Says the future’s too dark. He can’t imagine bringing a child into it.”

  Rae flipped off the lamp, and snuggled down into his arms. “But there’s light, too. Jules knows that.” A wave of sadness tightened her throat as she shook her head. “I can’t imagine a world where Julian never has a child. A guy like him has to.”

  “I don’t know,” Devon murmured. “Sometimes I think he has a point.”

  Rae shot up immediately, pulling herself out of his arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded. “I hate to break it to you, babe, but it’s a little too late to turn back the clock on this one.”

  “No, no, no—that’s not what I meant!” He sat up with her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he coaxed her back down. “I just mean…the world’s a dangerous place. Our world especially. I can understand how it would give him pause.”

  Rae’s heart was still pounding as she lay back on his chest. “But that’s why it’s our job to keep it safe,” she whispered. “You have to believe that we can do that, Devon. If any two people in the world can make it happen—it’s you and me.”

  His chest fell in a silent sigh, but he kissed the top of her forehead. “I know. I know we can.”

  Rae nodded, temporarily appeased, but something about his voice left her incredibly unsettled. Left a nagging feeling of doubt that plagued her as she tried to fall asleep.

  In hindsight, that’s why she shouldn’t have been surprised when he disappeared in the middle of the night…

  Chapter 4

  Rae’s eyes snapped open and she gasped.

  It was like some sort of internal alarm clock went off. A silent warning that only she could hear. One second, she was fast asleep. The next, she lay wide awake, staring in horror at the empty sheets where the love of her life was supposed to be.

  A flash of lightning lit the room and she bolted upright, her eyes darting around. It was an ominous moment, like one from a suspense movie where the music suddenly puts you on the edge of your seat. Except there was no music. And this was real life.

  “Devon?” she called softly, well aware that if he was anywhere in the house he would still be able to hear her. “Devon, where are you?”

  Nothing. Just a chilling silence. One that shook her to her very core.

  Something is not right.

  Another flicker of lightning and Rae leapt to her feet, pulling on her bathrobe as she raced out into the hall. It was the middle of the night, just a little past three, but she was hardly surprised when she ran into Angel at the top of the stairs. The girl was dressed in a gauzy black nightgown, one that m
ade her look like some evil princess about to cast a spell.

  “Julian’s gone,” she said without preamble. “I checked the house. He’s not here.”

  The hairs on the back of Rae’s neck stood, and she instinctively pulled her robe tighter. “Devon’s not here either.”

  There was another bolt of lightning from outside, followed by a deafening growl of thunder. Followed by a panicked scream from the downstairs. Or a cry. It was something in between.

  “Devon?” Rae called.

  At the same time Angel cried, “Julian?”

  Without stopping to think the two girls took off, neither one bothering to use the steps part of the stairs. In a whirling arc of hair Angel flipped straight over the side of the banister, while Rae ran horizontally across the wall. Both skidded to a stop in the foyer right as Molly came racing down the hall.

  “I can’t find Luke!” she cried. “At first I thought he might have just run back to the apartment to get something, but he’s not answering his cell—”

  “Julian and Devon are gone, too,” Angel interrupted.

  Molly’s face paled. Over the last few years, they had learned not to take unexplained disappearances lightly. In their world, they usually implied something far worse to come. “Well…” she floundered, glancing fearfully towards the front door, “maybe they just went out celebrating some more? Headed to a bar for some kind of guys’ night out…” She looked like she hardly believed what she was saying.

  Rae shook her head. “They would have told us. Or left a note.” Her face darkened as she recalled the look on her fiancé’s face. “And Devon wasn’t in any mood to celebrate…trust me.”

  A sudden sound made her jump, and she turned around to see Angel gearing up by the front door. She was already wearing a long leather trench coat over her negligée, and was in the process of lacing up the combat boots to match.

  “Where the heck are you going?” Rae demanded incredulously, and bit back the last of her comment, Dressed like that?

  Angel finished with one boot, and started on the other. “I’m going to find Julian.”

  Rae and Molly exchanged a quick look before the latter stepped forward.

  “Angel, we have no idea where they are or when they left. They could be in anywhere in England for all we know.”

  There was a metallic snap as Angel pull two handguns out of nowhere, loaded them, and slipped them into her coat. “Yeah, well, it beats sitting around here.”

  She yanked open the door, but Rae shut it again with a burst of wind. “You’re on a team now,” she reasoned quietly. “We don’t just go rushing off in the middle of the night on our own. We need to think. Come up with some kind of plan—”

  “Julian and I were awake until just after two; meaning that, if they left immediately after, they’d have an hour head start. I’ve already called the major airports and bus stations, none of which reported any passengers matching Julian’s description—so we can rule them out. Now, given that they didn’t take any of their cars, I’m assuming they’re either on foot or had to wait a minimum of ten minutes for a cab. In this city, that gives us a seventy-mile radius of where they could be.” She delivered the speech in a flat monotone then lifted her eyes, her glare cold. “I wasn’t trained to go rushing off in the middle of the night without a plan either. I also wasn’t trained to sit around waiting for bad news. Stay here if you like; I’m going to find him.” Without another word, she spun around and kicked open the door.

  “Wait!” Molly called after her. “Where are you even going to start?!”

  Angel whipped something silver out of her pocket as she vanished into the darkness. “I’m going to start by calling my damn brother…”

  A second later, she was gone.

  Rae and Molly stared after her in silence, watching as the door banged open and shut in the storm. Torrents of icy water streamed inside, illuminated every so often by a flash of electricity, as the two gazed out into the dark. Eventually, Rae used her telekinesis to pull the thing closed.

  “This feels different,” she said quietly.

  Molly jumped like she been startled, then flashed her a questioning look. “What?”

  “This.” Without thinking, Rae’s hand slipped down to her stomach. “It feels different when I don’t know where to find him. When I don’t know if he’s safe.”

  Molly reached down with a sigh and took her hand. “Yeah. That never goes away.”

  * * *

  They waited for what felt like an eternity, pacing the kitchen with tired, sleepless eyes. Angel’s confidence might have been inspiring but it was rooted in restless panic, not fact. In this part of the country, seventy miles didn’t really narrow it down. And if there was nothing more to go off than that, the best thing they could do was remain where they were. And try to stay calm.

  Rae didn’t want to worry Molly. She kept thoughts of Samantha in the far corners of mind, refusing to let that thought plant any seed.

  Mugs of coffee were conjured and swallowed. Then conjured again. Clothes were put on. Phones plugged into their chargers. Together, the two girls created a silent vigil by the front door, taking turns to walk to the window and keep watch. Every thirty minutes or so they would try calling one of the boys, hoping that something—anything—had changed. Each time, it went straight to voicemail.

  “I’m going to kill him,” Molly finally murmured. It was about five in the morning, and the two of them hadn’t spoken for at least an hour. Rae lifted her head and glanced over, brows knit in a silent question. “Luke. I’m going to kill him the second he gets home.”

  Rae sighed and rested her chin back on her hands. For the last forty-five minutes, her eyes had been trained out the window, gazing sleeplessly into the dark. “I thought we agreed not to use the ‘k’ word until we knew they were okay.”

  “Yeah, well, things change.” Molly glowered at her mug of coffee. It was full to the top, but had long since gone cold. Still, she refused to put it down. “I can’t believe he would do this to me.”

  “Well, if it’s any consolation, I don’t think it was his idea.” Rae’s eyes narrowed as she gazed out at the misty streetlamps. The storm had lessened, but only slightly. The thunder and lightning had subsided, making way for the freezing winter rains.

  How much longer was Devon going to pull this crap? This protect her for her own good bullshit that tripped them up time after time. Whether he was breaking up with her to give her ‘freedom,’ or shooting himself up with lethal chemicals for her protection, it always seemed to end the same way.

  How many more times would they have to play out the same lesson? How many more nights would she have like this one? Sitting by the window, staring at her phone?

  Would it happen after she had the baby? Would they both be waiting by the door?

  Because, the thing was, she had a good idea of where he had gone off tonight. At least, she had a pretty good idea of what he had gone off to do.

  And it happened to involve a certain psychopath they were all intent on killing. A thought she’d been trying to avoid processing. Now, she was tired and irritated. “It’s like he can never let himself get too happy,” she murmured, staring down at the couch. “It’s like he’s always waiting for something to go wrong—”

  “Rae.”

  She looked up sharply at the change in Molly’s tone.

  “They’re here.”

  Like flipping a switch, the hours of fatigue fell away as the two girls discarded their mugs and blankets and stood side by side in front of the door.

  Even through the storm, they could hear the metallic screech of brakes as a car they didn’t recognize skidded to a stop on the front lawn. They saw dark silhouettes, and could hear the sound of frantic, hushed voices as the car doors opened and the men made their way inside.

  “You ready for this?” Rae asked softly.

  Molly’s eyes flashed in the storm. “You have no idea.”

  They were prepared for a screaming fight. For a f
ull-on inquisition—torture, chains, the works. They were prepared to stand their ground until they got a satisfactory explanation. No matter how many painful hours or angry tears that might happen to take.

  But all of that would have to wait.

  “HE’S NOT BREATHING!”

  The door burst open and Devon rushed past them, carrying a limp body in his arms. An ominous trail of red followed along behind. With a violent swoop of his arm, he swept everything off the kitchen table and gently lay the person down.

  Four other men rushed in after him. More than had left the house that night.

  Rae and Molly watched in silent terror as they gathered around the table, hastily unwrapping whoever it was they’d carried inside. It was hard to make out much of anything. Everyone was cloaked in black and soaking wet from the rain, moving at such a speed that they were just blurs.

  But Rae should have guessed who it was from the look on Devon’s face.

  Her mouth opened in a noiseless scream as a hood fell away and Julian’s head fell back onto the table. Pale as a sheet. Still as a corpse. And, like Devon said, he was very much—

  “NOT BREATHING!” A mix of rain and tears flew off his face as he whipped around, staring helplessly at the men beside him. “DID YOU NOT HEAR ME?! DO SOMETHING!”

  * * *

  The next moments were some of the darkest in Rae’s life.

  They moved at a strange, stilted pace. Dragging along, then lurching forward so fast she could hardly see. Colors were too bright, sounds were too loud, and given the numbing shock that had clawed its way through her body, it would be a miracle if she remembered any of it the next morning.

  At the same time, she knew it was a night she would never forget.

  “Jules!” Devon sobbed, gripping the collar of his jacket. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

  “Can’t get it to stop bleeding,” Tristan murmured, pressing down hard somewhere on Julian’s ribs. “Do you know what blood type he is?”