Precious Time

by W. J. May

  Devon nodded, then grew very still. Waiting.

  So, get on with it, Kerrigan. Rae’s hands tightened with anticipation as the ink rose to the surface of her skin. But the moment it had, she found herself just as frozen as Devon. Completely incapable of the next step.

  “I can’t.” She dropped her hands and drew back onto the mattress, bringing her knees up to her chest and shuddering at what she’d almost done. “I can’t do it.”

  His words would be enough. Enough to make her understand. Enough to show her any critical information she might have missed. They simply had to be.

  “Just tell me what…” But her voice trailed off as Devon picked up her hands once again.

  “Use the ink,” he said softly. Her eyes widened, but he stared back with a faint smile. “I have nothing to hide from you. We’ve already agreed to share our lives together. What’s mine is yours.” His fingers laced through hers, bringing them automatically to his lips for a kiss. Then, before she could say a word, he closed his eyes and bowed his head, bracing for what was coming.

  Rae stared for a second before pulling in a deep breath and doing the same. I love you. So much. Maybe too much. She swallowed, needing to find the answers. Here goes nothing…

  The ink hit them like a tidal wave, fusing their hands together as a quiet gasp escaped from their lips. Then, as quickly as it hit, they froze in perfect unison.

  This is it… Rae looked around in wonder. This is the man I’m going to marry…

  It was truly incredible. Like nothing she’d ever seen before.

  The first thing she noticed was the light. Everywhere—bright light. It was as if his entire mind was awash with it. Illuminating every thought. Setting every memory aglow.

  While most people pulled her down, spiraling into the depths of their thoughts, all of Devon’s were right up on the surface. Just waiting for the slightest glance or touch to send them spilling out into existence.

  Because he wants to do this. Because he’s waiting for me.

  A feeling of love and completion washed through her. So intense that it would have lifted her off her feet had she been standing. The stronger it became the more the world around her brightened in response, as if he sensed her feelings and reflected them back in his own. The connection between their hands warmed with a tender glow, and had Rae’s eyes been open she was sure she would have been smiling.

  But she hadn’t come here to explore the beautiful wonders of Devon’s mind. She had come for a specific purpose, to see a specific thing. A thing that had no light at all.

  As if on cue, the world around her dimmed. She rotated, staring with wide eyes as the picture slowly changed. It got dark and wet. Then waited…inviting her to step inside.

  The second she did, everything changed.

  “What the—?!”

  It was like getting sucked into a black hole. Yanked off her feet, spinning, flying, only to come crashing down into the real world. Harsh reality slapping her upside the brain.

  That’s more like what I was expecting.

  She opened her eyes, and all at once she was right there. Standing inside a moment from just a few hours before. Before the world had fallen apart. Seeing it all through Devon’s eyes.

  The way he lay silently beside her, waiting for her to fall asleep. The way he kissed her softly on the forehead, and whispered a silent apology, before stealing away into the night.

  Rae ghosted along beside him as he crept into the room at the end of the hall, where his friends slept soundly on the bed. Not taking any chances, he clapped a hand over Julian’s mouth and tilted his head towards the window. Julian glanced at Angel in surprise, then followed without hesitation. He dressed quickly, and they leapt out the second-story window with effortless grace.

  Julian’s face lightened with surprise when he saw Luke waiting for them on the wet pavement, then lightened again as Devon started walking not to his car, but down the street.

  “What’s going on?” he asked quietly, once they were a safe distance away from the darkened house. “Where are we going?”

  Devon stiffened. “You’ll see.”

  A few blocks up, they ducked into a bar. One that Rae must have walked past a million times, but had never really noticed until that moment. They wove their way through the noisy crowd, ignoring the drunken people around them, to a table in the very back.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Julian stopped dead in his tracks. “What is he doing here?”

  Rae whirled around and almost shouted the same question herself.

  Moving like the villain in some cheesy horror film, Simon Kerrigan slowly leaned out of the shadows, folding his hands upon the table. Tristan was sitting beside him, staring at an untouched drink. He glanced up as well, although he looked about as eager to be there as Julian.

  “Lower your voice, kid.” Simon gave him a teasing wink. “We don’t want to make a scene.”

  A scene?!

  In a blur of shocking speed, Julian leapt over the entire table and punched Simon in the face.

  Punch was a bit of a generous word. Punch implied something you could come back from. If Simon hadn’t been gifted with certain supernatural talents, there was a good chance that punch could have killed him on the spot.

  “Julian!” Luke pulled him back down to the floor, looking just as stunned as Simon. They had no idea about the file. About the damage it had caused. “What the hell’s the matter with you?!”

  Julian said nothing. He simply stared at Simon with the darkest expression Rae had ever seen on his handsome face. One that promised terrible things to come.

  Tristan glanced in astonishment between them, while Devon’s face tightened with a look of profound remorse. But Simon was starting to look like he understood. His eyes softened the longer he stared across the table, then thawed completely as he bowed his head with a sigh.

  “He knows.” Julian spat on the sidewalk.

  “Knows what?” Luke demanded, still holding Julian back. “Julian, what the—”

  “He has every right,” Simon interrupted quietly, picking up a napkin to wipe at the blood dripping down his face. “He has every right.”

  “Shut up, guys. It’s a conversation for another night.” Devon stepped between them, trying to steer the unlikely group back on task. “I wouldn’t have asked you here if it wasn’t important. Simon texted me earlier tonight. Apparently, he…he has some information.”

  Luke looked at Devon curiously, while Tristan cast a sideways glance at Simon, obviously wondering where exactly this crucial information had come from.

  Julian, however, took one final look at the table before he turned on his heel and walked away.

  “Jules,” Devon rushed after him, catching him by the sleeve, “please…for me.”

  Rae watched silently as he and Julian shared a long look. It was moments like these when she’d swear they were telepathic. The psychic’s dark eyes hardened, but when it came to Devon there was very little he would refuse. After a tense moment he nodded curtly, and the two of them returned to the table.

  “So, what is this information?” Luke demanded. He may not have known what precisely had his friends so upset, but he didn’t need another reason to hate Simon Kerrigan. “Spit it out.”

  Simon’s eyes flashed as a sinister smile ghosted across his face. “I know where Samantha is.”

  There was a moment of silence as everyone present absorbed it as best they could.

  Luke was simply surprised, while Devon’s eyes flickered nervously around the group. Julian was unmoved, but Tristan was staring at his son with a curious expression, looking almost pleased.

  “That’s why you called me?” Tristan asked in surprise. “To help you with Samantha?”

  Devon froze guiltily for a second, looking suddenly unsure of the answer himself. “You can walk away,” he said quickly. “You don’t have to—”

  “No,” Tristan downed his drink with a sudden smile, “we’ll take her out together.”
>
  Luke’s eyebrows lifted slowly as the point of the meeting became abruptly clear. While the three men were obviously on the right track, there seemed to be some vital people missing from their group. Julian saw it at the same time, and gave Devon a hard stare.

  “You’re asking me to go with him?” Julian asked quietly. “You’re asking me to do this?”

  Devon looked like he was being torn in two. One half was truly horrified to put his friend in such a position, the other half was begging him to see it through. “I’m asking you to protect Angel from what’s coming. I’m asking you to help me protect Rae—” His voice broke upon saying the name, and his eyes shone with true panic. “Julian, you know why I can’t…why I can’t just…” He bowed his head with a fractured breath. “Jules…please.”

  Rae’s eyes welled up with tears, and she lifted a shaking hand to her mouth. No one else but Luke knew what they were talking about, but the question Devon was really asking was clear as day.

  Please help me protect my unborn child. Please help me eliminate this threat.

  As godfather to my child…please fight for it.

  They locked eyes for what felt like an eternity before Julian sighed imperceptibly and glanced away, looking suddenly tired. “All right.”

  The rest of the memory became nothing more than a blur.

  Simon had apparently picked up a tracking tatù. Rae assumed it was the same ink that belonged to the man Beth had hired to keep tabs on him. And Simon had found Samantha’s flat there in the city. It was less than a twenty-minute drive, and she had no reason to believe they’d be coming.

  It would be easy, he said. It would be quick.

  The men piled into a car waiting outside. A car Rae assumed Simon had also somehow taken from his keeper. They shot away into the city, weaving their way through the darkened streets before coming to a sudden stop about three blocks away from a run-down apartment complex.

  No one had said a word in the car, and no one talked now. They simply stood in an ominous-looking huddle on the sidewalk—their breath frosting into clouds as they gazed up the street.

  Finally, Devon cast a sideways glance at Simon. “Are you sure she’s inside?”

  Simon nodded, a look of hungry anticipation sharpening his face. “Fourth floor. Second door on the right.” He cocked his head suddenly to the side as his lips turned up with a sudden smile. “She’s asleep. Or at least, she’s in the bedroom.”

  A faint shadow clouded Devon’s eyes before he looked down with a quick nod.

  The idea of killing an unarmed sixteen-year-old girl as she slept might have been unsettling, but he also had plenty of images of the same such girl trying to murder his future wife. The mother of his child. The one effectively cancelled the other.

  “Okay,” he said softly, slipping into the same decisive tone Rae remembered so well from their missions together. “I’ll go in first with Jules. The rest of you provide cover. No one gets too close. With any luck, we should back outside in less than a minute.” He pulled a gun Rae had never seen before out of his jacket, and screwed on a silencer. “…And then this whole thing will be done.”

  No one disputed the plan. In fact, no one said another word as they crept inside the building and made their way up to the fourth floor. The lights flickered on and off above them as they ghosted down the hall, coming to a stop at the second door on the right.

  Without a word, Luke sank to his knees and pulled something silver out of his pocket. Any of the men gathered, including him, could have kicked it down in a second, but they needed to be quiet. They needed the girl not to wake. He fiddled around with the lock for a second before it swung open with a low creak, casting an ominous glow of moonlight into the darkened hall.

  Devon and Julian exchanged a quick look, and stepped inside together. The other three were just a few steps behind. Rae found herself literally holding her breath as they silently made their way across the living room, their eyes locked on the door at the end of the hall.

  It pushed open without a sound, and for a second all was still.

  Samantha was there all right. Sleeping, just like Simon had guessed. It if was possible, she looked even younger than Rae remembered. Her dark hair spilled out over her pillow, and every so often she would shiver with the chill, clutching the blankets tighter around her chin.

  A strange look passed over Devon’s face as he lifted the gun. Preparing to cross a line, after which he would never be the same. His eyes closed for the briefest of moments as he placed a finger on the trigger. Praying for forgiveness? Praying for strength? Then he pulled in a deep breath.

  …and all hell broke loose.

  As Devon’s finger squeezed upon the trigger, he was tackled suddenly from behind. The bullet lodged itself in the wall a few inches away from Samantha’s pillow as Simon knocked him down and raced towards the bed. A chorus of shouting suddenly echoed in the quiet room, followed by one piercing scream as Samantha sat bolt upright and stared in terror at the scene in front of her.

  Simon was tearing towards her with his hand open, a hungry gleam in his eye.

  He wants her tatù, Rae realized with a chill. It was always about her tatù. That’s why he came.

  Julian made a wild grab for him, but missed. Luke grabbed for the gun, but it had flown from Devon’s hand. Tristan grabbed his son by the shoulders and pulled him out of harm’s way.

  Leaving nothing in the world between Simon Kerrigan and his greatest prize…

  …except Gabriel.

  He came out of nowhere, flying past them like he’d been given wings. A split second before the tips of Simon’s fingers could touch Samantha’s skin he leapt into the air and tackled the man with all his strength, sending them both somersaulting across the floor.

  They hit the wall with a deafening thud, and for a second nobody moved.

  …then all hell broke loose again.

  A feral scream shook through the air as Samantha leapt to her feet. She might have looked like a peaceful child when she was sleeping, but awake she was a tigress. Ready for the kill. “You…I can’t believe you just…” Her eyes came to rest on the gun before widening to a terrifying size. “Every single one of you will pay for this,” she muttered. “You have my word.”

  The next second, she was gone. Not fled. Not escaped. Just…gone. Like she’d simply vanished into thin air.

  Rae whirled around, desperately searching, but it was like trying to find a ghost. For all they knew, Samantha had commanded them not to see her. Commanded herself to appear invisible as she slipped out onto the fire escape or into the hall.

  At any rate, the mission was a complete failure. But the night was just getting started.

  “What the hell was that?!” Luke shouted, scrambling to pick up the gun. He quickly reloaded it and whirled around in every direction, but the girl was gone. “Simon, what did you do?!”

  On the other side of the room, Simon and Gabriel were still picking themselves up off the floor. There was a human-sized dent in the plaster where they’d slammed into the wall, but Gabriel seemed to have gotten the worst of it.

  He blinked heavily as a stream of blood slipped down from his golden curls. Then looked up in a daze to see Simon towering over him with a terrifying expression on his face.

  Nothing happens to him, Rae told herself reassuringly. You’re going to see him just a few hours from now. He’s fine.

  However, looking at her father’s face, she couldn’t be so sure. He looked about a second away from ripping Gabriel in half, but in the meantime there was something he wanted even more.

  That same hungry expression flashed across his face, but before he could take a single step forward Gabriel’s hand shot up between them.

  “Give me a reason,” he said softly. A crimson stain dripped down the side of his face, but he looked up at Simon with steady, lethal eyes. “Give me a reason and I’ll do it.”

  Simon stopped where he stood. Looking at the hand. Looking back at Gabriel.

&n
bsp; The rest of the room was still in an uproar. No one noticed the quiet exchange between the two men. Each of them was lost in his own panic. Trying desperately to regain control.

  “She couldn’t have gotten far!” Luke’s hand was still clenched around the gun, pointing it alternatingly between the door and the window. “Devon, can you hear her?”

  Devon shook his head, closing his eyes with concentration as he tried. A few feet away, Julian was having similar luck as he tried to see down a million paths of what might happen.

  If only they had been paying attention. If only they had noticed the way Tristan’s eyes had glazed over. The way he stepped purposely away from the rest.

  I can’t see this! A wave of panic shook Rae to the core as she stood helplessly on the sidelines—watching the nightmare unfold. I can’t just see it happen!

  Julian was standing in a trance, staring off into the future. But for the first time, it looked like he didn’t quite believe what he saw. A faint line creased down the center of his forehead as his lips parted in surprise. He was still coming out of it when the knife sliced through the air.

  Rae let out a silent scream that no one could hear.

  It happened too fast for anyone to stop it. Too fast for anyone to see. The blade slipped in and out of his chest. Eliciting only a quiet gasp and a fleeting look as he fell noiselessly to the floor.

  The scream that followed was much louder, but it didn’t come from Julian.

  “JULES!” Devon dove beside him, trying to catch him before he hit the floor. But for once, he wasn’t fast enough. His movements were palsied with shock, clumsy with fear. He was so thoroughly beside himself, he didn’t even see what was coming until it was too late.

  “Devon—” Julian gasped. His face was drawn with fear and pain, and his eyes were locked on something just over his friend’s shoulder. “Dev, behind—”

  Devon turned just as the blade flew towards him. Stained red with the blood of his best friend. Held firm in the hand of his father.