Guardian

by Heather Burch

  Think like Vessler.

  Nikki braced herself against one of the boxes. “Toss me your gun.”

  Vessler always kept a small handgun in an ankle holster.

  When he refused to comply, she screamed it at him, but he swatted the air like one swats a fly and shrugged. “Fine. We’ll play your game. For a while. Though I warn you, Nikki, I make up my own rules.”

  He propped a foot on a box and removed the Robar ninemillimeter, then slid it halfway to her. It wasn’t as far away from him as she’d like, but it would have to do.

  “Do you really think you’re going to shoot me?” he asked.

  “No. I know I’m going to shoot you.”

  “Then what are you waiting for?” He took a step closer, tightening the twenty-some-foot gap between them.

  Think like Vessler. Right now, they were pretty evenly matched. She had a gun, but he had a plane in the air. What happened if she missed? Would a bullet through the plane’s fuselage cause it to crash?

  “Drop altitude,” he told the pilot. “Then rise high as she’ll take us.”

  The engine noise changed, and Nikki felt her body being propelled toward Vessler. Instead of fighting the momentum, she threw herself forward and crashed into his chest. He hadn’t braced for that. A desperate gasp of air left his lungs as he landed on the floor. She tumbled on top of him.

  Putting the gun in his face, she pressed her free hand against his throat as she felt the plane begin to incline.

  The rumble of a laugh surprised her. But not as much as the snap of a handgun to her right, cocked and ready. Vessler raised the Robar—which must have slid to him in the dive—inches from her nose.

  “Here we are again, Nikki. Check.” Vessler’s training in the weeks spent at the mansion came back to her. Never allow yourself to be in a fight that’s evenly matched. Find the advantage. An opponent always has a weakness. Use it against him.

  Why didn’t she pull the trigger? She wanted to, she just couldn’t.

  “You can’t kill me, Nikki.”

  Tears stung her eyes and her gun trembled. “And you can’t kill me. So we’re at an impasse.”

  “You’re wrong.” He pressed the gun against her cheek. “I could pull this trigger easily.” And in the depths of his eyes, she knew he could. But she also sensed he wouldn’t. There was a lie hiding in his words.

  “Then do it,” she bluffed. “If I’m dead, so is your plan.”

  He snatched the barrel from her face. “Sadly, you’re right. I suppose you think that gives you the advantage.”

  “Not really. What gives me the advantage is knowing that when I pull this trigger you die and your plan dies with you.”

  Vessler laughed. “Oh, Nikki. Sometimes you think too small. You can only destroy my flesh. You can’t kill my soul or the essence of who and what I really am. It will live on to see all my dreams reach fruition. Killing me only solidifies your transformation into what you were born to be, what you’ve been trying so hard to deny.”

  Cold washed over her. “Killing me will complete you, Nikki. I win either way.”

  Panic crept at the edge of her conscience. She knew he was right. And when he raised the gun to her again, she almost hoped he’d pull the trigger.

  The shot rang through the airplane, and Nikki felt the engine’s drastic change. Her eyes followed Vessler’s hand and the weapon. He’d shot the pilot through the back.

  “What did you do?” Nikki jumped off Vessler and pressed her back to the wall of the plane that was holding steady, regardless of the loss of pilot.

  “Taking the advantage, of course. You see, Nikki, you have two choices: Leap and take me with you, and we continue our chess match on the ground, or leap alone and leave me to die in the airplane that’s headed straight for downtown St. Louis … and all those innocent people.”

  Nikki’s mind raced. Leap? She couldn’t leap; she didn’t have wings. A thought struck her. “A Halfling can’t leap with this much titanium.”

  His face flashed shock but he quickly recovered. “No problem.” Vessler moved to the side door, unlocked its safety bar, and slid the door open. “We can jump. Your wings can open once you’re away from the titanium.”

  Wings open. Ha. They were going to die. Both of them. And no matter what happened, the plane would crash into downtown St. Louis and kill hundreds of others. Hate built inside her.

  Vessler, who’d snaked to the opposite side of the plane, had noticed her emotional shift, if his smug look was any indication. But what she couldn’t understand was why he was so willing to give up his life.

  “You’re such an evil man.”

  “Oh, I’m not evil. You are, Nikki—bouncing from one side of the war to the other. You’re the worst kind of evil, because you justify playing on both teams and never really choose a side. You know what that means? The rest of us have a purpose; we all serve a greater power. But you, selfish little spoiled Nikki, you only serve yourself. You’re already on the way to being the general who will lead my dark army, and the best part is you don’t even realize it because you’re too busy manipulating people into doing what you want.”

  Out the front window, she could see land, the first signal that the plane was slowly going down.

  Nikki’s knees buckled and she dropped to sit on the floor. “If I’m so evil and destined to serve you, maybe it’s best we both die. Right here, right now.”

  Shock replaced the calm on his face. Vessler leapt toward her, but Nikki raised the gun and fired. His hands clamped his leg as he crumbled.

  “God, please forgive me,” she cried, throat closing on the words.

  Vessler jerked a cabinet open and dragged supplies from inside. He found a bungee cord and tied it around his wound to stop the bleeding. Why would he do that? We’ll both be dead in another five minutes.

  “Nikki, please. Leave me here, but you can jump.”

  She chanced a spiteful look at him.

  “Go, Nikki. You deserve to live.”

  “A moment ago I deserved to die.”

  “Live, Nikki.”

  “With the fact that this plane will kill innocent people? No, Damon.”

  He didn’t want to die. She could see it in his face, the way he struggled to stop the blood flow. But she wouldn’t be bluffed this time.

  Again, they were at a stalemate. Think like Vessler.

  Vessler loved his life. Yes, if she jumped alone, it would ensure her turning into a dark creature, but he’d be dead, at least physically. No, there’s no way he’d give up his life that easily. Nikki’s eyes drifted to the pilot, now slumped over a board of controls with blood seeping from the wound to his back. Then her eyes found Vessler’s.

  “You want me to jump because you can fly the plane.”

  He tried to cover his reaction, but his nostrils flared. She’d found him out. “I’ll survive, you’ll land the plane, but my willingness to let you go down will be my ruin? That’s what you’re gambling on.”

  Fire burned in the depths of his inklike eyes.

  But, being Vessler, his loss of composure was only temporary. “If you don’t jump, we’ll crash. And all those deaths will be your fault.”

  “It won’t matter. I’ll be dead too.”

  “No, you won’t. You’re a Halfling, Nikki. You’d be amazed at what you can survive.”

  Was he right? She couldn’t be sure. Could she live with the deaths of innocent people, with innocent blood on her hands? With renewed vigor, she lifted the gun so it was aimed at his chest. “Land the plane.” She had to find his weakness.

  “That’s an empty threat, my lady. If you shoot me, I can’t land the plane.”

  She cocked the gun. “Land the plane, Vessler.” Then she saw it. Hurt in his eyes when she called him Vessler. Nikki saw her opportunity and softened her voice. She was his weakness. “Land the plane, Damon. Please. Don’t you want to watch me fulfill my destiny? Don’t you want to be there? To be able to smell the scent of fresh kill on my flesh and taste t
he vengeance you’ve worked for?”

  He was like a deer caught in the beam she was casting. It was working.

  She angled a step closer and chanced a glance through the front window. The earth was moving closer, green blobs becoming individual trees. She had only another couple of minutes at the most. “Please, Damon.”

  But a fierce flash of resistance overtook him. “No. You’re not as strong as I thought you were.”

  She frowned.

  “You couldn’t even shoot me—at least not to kill.”

  The flash of the gun surprised her, and she stared at her hand as if it belonged to someone else. She’d pulled the trigger. Her aim had dipped to his opposite leg, and now Vessler crumpled over to grab the new injury, his gun flying from his hand and landing behind a box.

  She hadn’t meant to shoot. Had she?

  When his face came up to meet hers it was red with anger, and sweat poured from him like the blood pouring from his new wound. Hands slick with both, he reached for a strap to tie around his newly wounded leg.

  “Land the plane, Damon.” It was an order. A cold, solid order given by one in charge. His eyes trailed from her to the wound, still shocked, still uncertain.

  Yes, she’d taken the advantage.

  He hauled himself up and stumbled toward the cockpit, but stopped. “No!” he screamed in defiance.

  Nikki angled the weapon toward his arm. Her eyes flashed back to his. “I’ll take you apart one piece at a time if I have to, but you are going to land the plane.”

  He shook his head and braced for the shot.

  But her adrenaline had seeped out through every pore, leaving her weak. She couldn’t pull the trigger again. Nikki sank to the floor. It was over.

  Vessler would bleed to death, and she’d go down in a cargo plane filled with titanium and kill a mass of innocent people. She imagined the plane hitting a park. Children, families, all dying together in one giant fireball. Nikki pulled her thighs to her chest and, still holding the gun, wrapped her arms around her legs. Across from her, Damon worked to tighten the tourniquet around the fresher wound. His breathing was unsteady, and it seemed that all the blood in his face was escaping through the bullet holes in his legs.

  “Checkmate,” she mumbled, and put her head down. She pressed her eyes into her knees so hard, it hurt. She thought of her dog, Bo, her parents, the karate tournament where she won a national title. She wouldn’t allow herself to think of Mace. That was too painful and it might be enough to change her mind.

  Suddenly, his presence was there all around her. Warm hands closed gently on her shoulders and he uttered her name.

  Chapter 27

  Mace?

  When Nikki looked up, he was standing between her and Vessler. Have we crashed? Am I dead?

  Mace slid the gun from her hands. “Come on, Nikki. It’s time to go home.”

  Confused, she let herself be lifted from the floor. If this is death, it’s quite nice. But the smell of blood, the scream of the plane engine, and the wind from the open door proved she was still part of the world. She focused on Mace: he was life, he was hope, and she was safe. Her relief turned to fear as she scanned his arms, bloody and scraped.

  “It’s time to go,” he said, and placed a steadying arm around her.

  “How’d you get in here?” She looked from side to side, confirming they were still inside the plane.

  “I wasn’t able to get in until you opened the door. I’d tried to leap inside and kept hitting the side of the plane and bouncing off.” He moved her gently toward the open door.

  “The plane’s filled with titanium,” she said.

  “I figured that out. We need to hurry. Raven can’t hold the plane up, only slow its decent. The titanium is taking its toll.”

  The wounds on Mace’s body were from trying unsuccessfully to leap inside the plane?

  He tightened his grip on her. “We’ll have to jump, and it’ll be a bit bumpy until my wings can open.”

  Nikki grabbed the side of the door. “Wait.” Her gaze traveled to the front window. “Mace, if Vessler doesn’t land the plane, it will strike downtown St. Louis. People will die.”

  Mace gave a long, surrendering sigh. He released her reluctantly and moved to Vessler. Grabbing him by the shirt, he lifted and dragged him to the cockpit. After removing the dead pilot, he dropped Damon before the controls. Mace leaned down, leveling his face with Vessler’s. “It’s the people she’s saving, not you,” he growled.

  Vessler grinned through a sweat-smeared face. “Keep telling yourself that, boy.”

  “And don’t even think you’ll get to keep the titanium.” Mace returned to Nikki and together, they jumped.

  They stayed in the air until the plane touched down in a field inside the busy St. Louis metro area. She’d expected Raven to follow them, but he hadn’t.

  “With any luck, Vessler will bleed to death,” Mace said.

  “Well, my luck hasn’t been dependable lately.” Nor her instincts. She was going to kill Vessler. It seemed impossible, but she’d actually planned to murder him. Nikki put a hand to her temple where a headache pounded.

  To Mace, nothing stood in their way now. But Nikki wasn’t who she used to be. When they touched down and he reached to steady her, she pushed gently from him.

  “What’s wrong, Nikki?”

  “Everything, Mace. You don’t know what I was going to do.” “Michael told us he’d met you last night.”

  When he moved to get closer to her, she stepped back. “I was going to kill Vessler. It’s sort of a blur now.”

  “I know you’ve had a huge internal monster to fight, but Nikki, I think Vessler was poisoning you.” Mace shook his head. “Or drugging you.”

  She frowned.

  “Raven told me that Omega can inject a serum that will cause a violent creature to be docile. Maybe it would work in reverse too.”

  “And I’m the creature.”

  “I’m just saying. You were pretty obsessed with that designer water Vessler gave you. Could he have been dumping something into them?”

  “Could he? Sure.” But her actions couldn’t be completely blamed on some unknown drug. She’d wanted revenge. Had been desperate for it. So much so it made her crazy inside. No, she couldn’t simply blame drugs. She had to be responsible for her actions. Actions that almost included taking a life.

  “You’re alive, Nikki. You’re okay now, and you’re a Halfling. It changes everything.” Mace looked so full of hope, it made her want to cry. Mace always believed the best. Especially of her. But once again, she would set him up to fail, because she wasn’t who she once was, and she saw no way to go back. Vessler’s promise haunted her. “This isn’t over.”

  Mace used his thumb to rub away the worry lines on her forehead. “It never is.”

  “If Vessler lives, he’ll continue his quest.”

  “But you know what you are now. He can’t have you.”

  “I’m spoken for?” If it were only that simple. She’d changed forever in the last few weeks. Who knew if Mace would even be interested in the new, damaged Nikki she’d become?

  “Exactly.”

  “Well, don’t think you’re going to get the blessing of my legal guardian.”

  “How about if I’m your guardian?”

  “No.”

  He flashed a frown.

  Her headache lessened enough to allow the tiniest smile. “You’re way too bossy.”

  “Is that right?”

  She nodded. “And you’re always trying to protect me instead of teaching me how to defend myself.”

  He raised his hands in surrender. “I promise to help you learn to defend yourself. Although what I just saw in the airplane would suggest you need little instruction.”

  “I need a partner, Mace. Not a boss.”

  “Okay, okay. I get it. If I was over the top, it’s just because I love you.”

  Oh.

  “You were saying?” He gestured with an upturned hand for he
r to continue.

  “No more damsel-in-distress heroics?”

  “No more. You’ve been called to be a leader, Nikki. I owe it to you to help prepare you.”

  “Still, I don’t think of you as my guardian.”

  “No?”

  “You’re my angel.”

  He led her to a river’s edge. For a long time they listened to the cadence of water against rock. “Think we can rest now?” she asked, but she knew she wouldn’t. She needed to discover who this new Nikki was. Maybe Mace could still love her. But she doubted it because …

  Because she was too much like Raven.

  A week after Zero reported Nikki was safe and back with the other Halflings, Raven stretched back, resting his hands on his stomach. The sky looked different from his ruins. Closer somehow, and more like an ally than a distant onlooker. The North Star winked at him. He thought of Debra the horse and Adam Cordelle. Huh. His list of friends had been reduced to a pathetic guard and a mutant mare. Wow, the depths one can sink to over a female.

  Female. Nikki. A Halfling. Could life be any more ironic? I fall for a human, ready to give up everything for her, only to discover the human’s been a Halfling all along. To top it off, now that loving Nikki won’t lead to my damnation, I get to watch her spend eternity happily ever after with Mace.

  The rocks at his back bit into his flesh like tiny piranha chewing away at his strength, mocking his stupidity. It was easier when she was a human and the real threat was heaven or hell. He could have beaten Mace at that game.

  But now everything had shifted. For Mace, Nikki had represented the one weakness that could send him to the pit. For Raven, she’d represented something to live for. He’d sink into darkness, of that he was certain. His eyes had been dimming into the blackness of the forever damned for years. Until Nikki. For all his unrestrained life, he’d allowed himself little time to ponder the hideous consequences of his actions. And he wouldn’t now, either. Because this, this empty hole of an existence, was horrid in its trappings.