Jack of Hart- Wild Card

by Violeta Bagia

  A wide smile spread across her face, I leaned in desperate to kiss her but before our lips met, she beamed, and she pressed her hands to my chest and pushed, the move forced me off her and we were back on the ground squaring off.

  ‘You’re holding back.’ She pointed.

  ‘So are you.’

  She tilted her head with a smile and we both moved into position.

  A quick second later, she rushed me, her roundhouse kick got me in the chest, winding me, I stumbled for a quick second before regaining my footing and when she lunged again, I caught her leg and forced her back, a moment of instability sent her falling, but I moved quickly and caught her.

  Her eyes swung up to mine and a wild grin spread across her lips again as she escaped my grasp and pushed me away. I stumbled and quickly stabilized myself, this time, she mixed it up with a move I wasn’t anticipating, she came at me with two jabs and a cross body shot, when that caught me off guard, she swiped her legs out at mine and tripped me.

  As I went down, I reached out and pulled her down with me.

  She fell on top of me with a shriek.

  Ragged, breathless laughs filled the small space between us and my fingers moved on their own, grazing her cheek with my fingers.

  When she closed her eyes against my touch I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her down, flipping us again.

  She opened her eyes and found mine and that brief moment of blissful silence, where nothing sounded in either of our minds but the love coursing through our hearts was loud, I leaned in closing my lips over hers.

  The low, hungry breath she let out filled me and set everything on fire.

  I buried my fingers in the dirt of the training pitch and tangled my free hand through her hair, feeling every movement under my fingertips.

  When we broke for air, I let my lips linger and pressed my forehead to hers.

  ‘I love you Ace.’

  ‘I know. I can feel it.’ She laughed softly, biting her bottom lip. ‘I love you too.’

  A low sound broke free from my throat as the hunger built inside me.

  Her soft hands reached up and slipped under my shirt and grazed the skin on my back.

  Shuddering, I lowered my forehead to hers. Slowly, the soft light surrounding us began to fade until we were both plunged into darkness.

  ‘I guess it’d be stupid to ask if I’m interrupting?’ My eyes snapped shut in the worst case of bad timing when Aurel called from the other side of the pitch.

  What was it with not being able to catch a break?

  Ace let out a soft laugh before pushing me up and standing.

  ‘Dinner’s ready, unless you’re not hungry anymore?’

  ‘Shut up.’ Ace warned, though it was lighthearted there was an underlying darkness in her words.

  I reigned in my wildly beating pulse and shot Aurel a death stare to which he replied with the finger. I followed behind Ace, watching each graceful movement with awe. God, she drove me crazy.

  Dinner was served, and we ate in high spirits, Ace and Anna chatting about shopping, the latest missions Ace had been on and the role in the FBI. But she wasn’t well. Exhaustion was slowly rolling through her and each forced smile and exaggerated laugh, was bringing her closer to a dark edge.

  When she looked up and our eyes locked, I understood without her having to say a word.

  ‘That was lovely Anna, thank you.’

  Aurel looked to Ace and then brought his eyes to me.

  ‘Let them get some rest, they had an exhausting training session before dinner.’

  He nodded at Anna and stopped her before she protested.

  Ace shot him a look which both said thank you and stop talking.

  I mouthed him my thanks before getting mine and Ace’s dishes and helping Anna take them to the kitchen, when I returned Ace was already gone.

  ‘She said she’d meet you upstairs.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Anna and Aurel stayed up for a while longer than Ace and I did, I heard them as I sat with Ace in my arms listening to the slow and shallow breaths I’d come to know and fear.

  She was falling into a nightmare, the kind that consumed her and even when she woke, it’d linger. Her eyes would be stained red from the hours of endless tears and her body would ache from the persistent strain.

  And the heavy notion that I hadn’t been around for the past eleven months to help her through it, broke me down.

  A few minutes later, she stirred, her eyes fluttering open, landing on mine.

  ‘I need some water.’ She whispered, grazing my cheek with her fingertips. ‘I feel like I ran a marathon in the desert.’

  ‘I’ll get you some.’

  She pulled me back into the bed. ‘I can do it.’

  Letting her leave made me uneasy and as each minute ticked by, my patience grew lesser. I edged to the foot of the bed and glanced across at the watch on my bedside table, she should have been back by now, a nagging pang of worry came over me. As I reached the door, I heard the crash of glass and then a loud thump.

  My body kicked me into gear and didn’t give me a second to react before I was rushing through Aurel’s house looking for her.

  ***

  Aurel

  I kissed Lucy goodnight and promised Anna I’d be back in bed within the hour, I had a few Agency things to tie up and now that Illarion was here I managed to close a few files with the information he gave me from a deep undercover job.

  A few of his cases crossed over with mine which made it easier to get all the information we’d both been missing and having Ace here was good, even with the weight of her illness, she seemed to be relaxing, taking the visit as it was intended. She seemed in good spirits.

  Turning down the hallway, I stopped when my eyes focused in the dark on two figures hunched over on the floor at the landing of the stairs. I moved to the side, shielding myself among the shadows. Illarion’s hushed whispers carried through the hallway and agonizing sobs from Ace came in response.

  Across the floor there was broken glass and blood mixed with water.

  I grit my teeth and moved toward them, careful to stay quiet, the last thing I wanted to do was scare her. I’d seen that look on her face after dinner, Illarion was shaken by it too and that meant something.

  ‘Breathe, baby.’ I heard him whisper, he was kneeling behind her and had one arm around her stomach holding her up and the other on her chest. ‘I’m here. Just breathe, focus on my voice.’

  She sobbed and choked on breaths. ‘It’s so real…he’s so real, Ila… he’s here…and I, I can’t…’

  ‘We’re going to stop this.’ His voice took on a rough edge, he was either about to break or punch something.

  From the erratic pulsating of his white aura I knew it was the latter. He was furious.

  Seeing the woman you love, breaking like that was pure torture. I couldn’t imagine how I’d feel had it been Anna crumbling before my eyes like that.

  A helplessness I couldn’t stand, washed over me and my throat closed with anger. I pushed down the tightness and blinked away the tears.

  She needed help, this wasn’t normal, and this wasn’t Dalca. Illarion was too damned blind to see it for what it was.

  He needed to get her help, he needed to stop enabling this. As I moved back her face shoot up and she looked right at me.

  Crap.

  Illarion followed her eyes and stopped on me. There was no point hiding, she could see in the dark better than me.

  Slowly, I made my way over to them. She rubbed her face with her palm and looked up at me through tears, and despite that, a weak smile formed on her lips.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered wiping her eyes again. ‘I broke your glass.’

  ‘I hated that one anyway.’

  She closed her eyes like she was in pain and forced a smile. ‘I shouldn’t be around anyone when I’m like this.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ I said softly kneeling and pressing a hand to her knee.


  Illarion looked away.

  ‘Come on,’ I whispered. ‘You’ll have some privacy in the bar, we’ll get the glass up and you can stay on the sofa bed in there.’

  Illarion helped her up to her feet and fit her against his body.

  It was so obvious, how he was missing this was beyond me. I saw it weighing her down, snuffing out her usually steady aura.

  She was suffocating and trapped inside her own head. These were classic symptoms I’d seen a hundred times around hospitals—psychosis.

  As soon as the three of us were safe inside the bar, I closed the frosted glass and brought her a bottle of water. Letting him settle her first I moved over and handed it to her.

  She downed the liquid in a single gulp and leaned back against the couch, her sweat slicked face glistened under the dim lights and for the first time I saw how fatigue made her face pale. As soon as she leaned back, Illarion knelt in front of her and began running gentle circles on her thighs.

  ‘Is there anything I can do?’ I asked quietly.

  Illarion looked up at the ceiling, stretching his neck out before he turned back to me. ‘We’ll leave in the morning.’

  Shaking my head, I sat down beside them. ‘Absolutely not. We deal with shit together, we always have.’

  ‘Things are different now,’ Ace murmured, her voice barely audible. ‘I won’t put your family through this.’

  ‘Ace—'

  Before I said anything else, Ace’s eyes traveled up to me and there was something cold in them. ‘You don’t want me here, so don’t bother pretending that you do.’

  Everything else I was about to say, fell flat and Illarion shifted beside her.

  ‘We’re happy to have you here.’ I tried.

  She closed her eyes with a wince and I carefully considered my next words.

  ‘We don’t turn our back on family, Ace, especially when they’re going through some shit.’

  ‘I don’t think this shit can be helped.’ She exhaled. ‘At least not by you.’

  ‘Everything can be helped…there are doctors, psychiatrists—’

  Her eyes snapped up to mine, jolting me.

  ‘I’m not going crazy, Aurel.’ She shot. ‘I don’t need a shrink.’

  ‘Ace, there’s nothing wrong with needing—’

  ‘I’m not losing my mind.’ She repeated, louder this time. ‘They’re coming for me, he’s coming for me.’

  I looked back and forth between them. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Dalca.’ Ace said a long moment later. ‘He’s coming, and he won’t stop this time. Because now, we’re all at risk, he needs me, he needs us together to stop Project Adam.’

  There was no way I’d actually heard what she just said. But the sincere, pained look consuming her features matched the expression on Illarion’s face.

  They both believed, without a shadow of a doubt that this was happening. I had to be careful here, incredibly cautious with my next choice of words. Taking a few steps back, I sat when the back of my legs hit the bar stool.

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Don’t.’ Ace whispered hoarsely. ‘Don’t you look at me like that.’

  My eyes darted away but not before I spotted Illarion’s warning gaze.

  ‘Forgive me for being skeptical.’ I said carefully. ‘It’s impossible. You know this.’

  ‘No.’ Illarion shot, taking her place. ‘What’s impossible, is for us to beat this alone. We need your help.’

  A shiver rolled through me. ‘I need time to process this.’

  ‘Process all you like.’ Ace muttered. ‘I have to leave, I can’t hold him at bay, he’s pushing, and he’s pushing hard.’

  Before anything else was said, Illarion made a move to get up but stopped abruptly when Ace doubled over, snatching her hand back from his.

  ‘Ace?’

  ‘No.’ Her hand hovered. ‘Don’t, don’t touch me. Get back.’

  Illarion moved to her but stopped just short.

  She shook, her hands outstretched and trembling in front of her face. When she brought her eyes up to mine, I stammered backwards almost toppling off the stool.

  A strong, pulsing aura was covering hers, almost like it was taking over and around the aura, energy, like charged up electricity was buzzing, spitting around her. It wasn’t black like I’d always seen in her; it was white…

  ‘Move back!’ She warned, clutching her head.

  Her green eyes turned black, webbing spread across her skin and the pulse of the white aura intensified.

  Illarion balled both fists at his side but he stood back, watching on in horror as she gripped her hair, panting.

  The power in the room heated up and the smell of burning hair stung my nostrils, there was smoke, small at first, but it quickly grew and Ace, she stood, deathly still, her eyes vacant, staring at me but not seeing me at all.

  Illarion was calling for her, shouting through the erratic electricity flying around the room, but she was containing it in her small circle and as the smoke billowed out around her and the energy built to an uncontainable level, she forced her eyes shut and screamed out.

  Several things happened at that point; first, the smoke rapidly exploded and turned into flames, burning around her but touching nothing and second, she fell to her knees, her eyes open and unseeing and as a trickle of blood spilled from her nose. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced out a choked cry, and just like that, the other aura and the fire was gone, and it was just Ace again.

  My mouth hung open, there had to be another explanation…there had to be…

  Illarion, pushed past me and wasted no time reaching for her and as soon as his hand touched her skin, she jolted awake, her eyes rapidly darting around from corner to corner until she stilled pulling free from him.

  Her eyes were back, and the smoke, nothing more than a memory.

  ‘We have to go now.’

  ‘Ace?’

  ‘Now.’ She breathed, getting to her knees. ‘It’s not safe here, not safe for them.’

  ‘Okay.’ Illarion pulled her to her feet. ‘We’re leaving.’

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Aurel

  Illarion packed all of Ace’s things and called Daniel to come for her. Within the hour she was gone, and I stood shell shocked beside the front door.

  So much for staying at my own house, safe…I scoffed. Nowhere was safe, it seemed.

  If Ace was going to lose it, it could happen anywhere…but that glimmer, that aura I’d seen, that wasn’t right.

  Shaking the image out of my head, I glanced across at the vehicle parked beside mine, a military grade, bullet proof Hummer.

  ‘This is serious, isn’t it?’ Anna asked, coming up behind me, keeping out of earshot of Illarion.

  Hoping that I could shield her from as much of it as possible, I smiled, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead. ‘You’ll be safe, I promise.’

  ‘I know,’ she murmured. ‘I’ll go wake Lucy.’

  ‘Okay.’ I watched her disappear through the doorway and into the house.

  ‘You should go now, before sunbreak,’ Illarion called from beside the car. ‘You need to get back to the safehouse.’

  When Anna returned, I heeded Illarion’s warning and took Lucy and followed Anna out into the waiting Hummer. She slipped inside and I gently strapped Lucy into the baby capsule, as soon as it was secure, I closed the door, and turned back to Illarion.

  ‘Is Ace alright?’ I asked bringing my attention to his hands, I couldn’t ignore the way his knuckles blanched under the pressure he was exerting.

  ‘No.’ He said dryly. ‘It’s taking a toll on her.’

  His strength in the way he held everything at bay, floored me. I didn’t know how he did it.

  Whenever he was with her, all I saw was positivity, even his aura didn’t give me an insight into what was really going on inside. I’m sure he even had Ace fooled and I guess that’s exactly what she needed now.

  She was sick an
d she was getting worse. She was strong, but the Darkness was stronger and whatever was happening, it was physically manifesting into psychotic episodes. We’d seen that before, powerful Sensitives who’d used their powers too much, sometimes they cracked, sometimes they ended up like his mother.

  But Illarion and Ace were determined there was only one answer and that answer didn’t work for me. I couldn’t accept a theory blindly when we’d all seen Dalca’s body, they’d cremated it.

  ***

  Illarion

  We reached the block of apartments and I waited patiently as Anna unhooked the capsule and took Lucy in.

  I slammed the door shut once Aurel and his family were out of earshot and then I kicked the tire with as much force as I could, biting down to stop from screaming out.

  ‘God damn it!’ I hissed into the night sky, slamming my fist into the solid steel chassis. Thank God for bullet proof body work.

  I pressed both my palms flat to the windows taking in deep, slow breaths. I couldn’t break down, not now. She needed me to be here, completely here.

  Matt and Peyton were still hours away, we needed them, Christ, I couldn’t do this without someone in our corner and I couldn’t let her see how rattled I was.

  My breath fell short, was I really considering breaking Alex and Clair away from the safety of my house for my own personal gain?

  Tears pricked my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. I couldn’t.

  ‘Brother.’ Aurel’s voice startled me.

  ‘Sorry,’ I muttered, sucking in a breath. ‘I thought I was alone.’

  ‘Like you need to apologize to me,’ he sighed. ‘Why have you been holding all this in?’

  I shook my head leaning heavily against the car.

  ‘I’m a phone call away, why would keep this to yourself?’

  ‘And what?’ I almost broke. ‘Pull you away from Anna and your child?’

  Aurel folded his arms across his chest.

  ‘I would have come.’ He ran his hand over his face. ‘You are my family too, both of you; you think I would have let you deal with this alone?’

  ‘I wasn’t going to drag you into this. I don’t want you to feel what I felt. Ever.’