by Lan Chan
“I was about to ask you the same thing.” He searched my face. I knew that looking away would spark suspicion so I held his gaze. His arm circled around my waist. Breathing was becoming a bit of an issue. “Are you okay?”
His voice was a rough rasp across my temple as he pulled me close. “Yeah.” It was a squeak. If I hadn’t been okay, I was okay now.
“Let’s get out of here for a little while.”
He was leading me down the short hallway when two figures appeared and blocked the exit. Sean and Rachel. That bravado that irritated the heck out of me was draped all over Sean’s expression.
“She’s with us,” Sean said. What happened next justified every one of the fears the humans had tried to impress on me. I blinked and Kai had Sean backed against the wall. Kai gripped Sean’s throat with his left hand. A blotch of red snaked up Sean’s face. He beat at Kai’s arm but the Nephilim’s shoulders were decidedly relaxed.
“Don’t push me,” Kai said. “You want to see a monster? Keep standing in my way.”
Rachel reached for something at her hip. Deeper in the background, heads turned in our direction. “Kai,” I said. “Tick-tock.”
He released Sean and grabbed my hand. The last thing I saw before he teleported us was Rachel’s brown eyes narrowed in vehemence. Kai didn’t take us far. I could still see the house in the distance from the outcrop we landed on. Smoke sizzled from his suit jacket.
“What’s that?”
He shrugged his jacket off and tossed it onto the boulders behind me. His tie went with it. “A deterrent. We’re not supposed to use our powers around here.”
“A deterrent or a restraint?”
“What’s the difference?”
“One hurts, the other incapacitates.”
Another shrug. I forgot who I was speaking to. Even if it killed him, this Neanderthal Nephilim would never admit to feeling pain. “This isn’t very neighbourly of you.”
A dark shadow settled on his face as he dipped his head down toward me. The vein in his jaw twitched. “I’m trying really hard not to ask what they did to you.”
Right. Even I knew when not to keep pushing his buttons. He clasped his hand beneath my jaw. I moved with him as he pulled me close. “You sure you’re alright?”
“Uh huh. Not sure if I will be when we get back there.”
His other arm wrapped around me. The material of the dress felt paper thin. Heat blossomed from where his palm splayed on my ribs. “Maybe we shouldn’t go back.”
“Very funny.”
He was smiling just before his mouth took mine. My eyelids closed involuntarily as my lips parted for him. We might have mere minutes but Kai’s tongue moved in languid strokes like he couldn’t care less what else was happening. Everywhere his hands touched me, my skin felt hypersensitive. A bell chimed in the distance. It must have been important because he pulled away. Then he changed his mind and kissed me again.
Down in the house, a piercing whistle cut through the suddenly cloying evening. Kai made a sound very close to a growl. The vibration poured into my mouth and shot molten heat through my veins. I shoved at his chest. He deigned to move a fraction so that I could speak. “I take it that’s your cue.”
He scrubbed his fingers through his hair. With his eyelids still at half-mast, he reached behind me and grabbed his jacket. Fishing in the pockets, Kai produced a flat, palm-sized, square box. It was white with gold trim. He pressed it into my hands. “I know I’m breaking one of your crazy no birthday celebration rules,” he said. “But I technically didn’t buy it so you can’t be mad.” I couldn’t bring myself to do much besides stare at the box. “Open it.”
My hands were slightly jittery. He lifted my chin. “What’s the matter?”
I presented him with my unadorned fingers and earlobes. “I’ve never had…”
My voice snagged in my throat as I snapped the lid open. The necklace inside took my breath away. It was a simple white-gold chain with an emerald pendant hanging from it. White-gold angel wings enclosed the emerald in a heart motif. The pendant was no bigger than a ten-cent piece, but the markings were so intricate I could make out every detail of the feathers.
As I did a flawless imitation of a mannequin, Kai picked up the necklace, undid the clasp, and fastened it around my neck. “It’s beautiful,” I said. “Thank you.”
The smile he gave me was both wistful and…sad.
“Kai!” It was a roar in Max’s very persuasive alpha tone.
The dominance in it had me shivering. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, a prey instinct came to life. It urged me to run. In the here and now, Kai wrapped his arm around me and teleported us back to the front lawn.
Max and Sophie awaited us. “Where the hell have you been?” Max snapped. “They’re getting antsy in there.” He saw me and his gold-ringed eyes dimmed. “Hey, Lex. Happy birthday.”
Kai shoved Max aside with his shoulder. The lion shifter’s nose scrunched up.
“Do not roar again,” I warned him. “I almost peed myself.”
For some reason, he gave Kai a self-satisfied smile. If Jacqueline hadn’t come to the door, I had a feeling Kai might have tried to go for Max’s head.
“What was that all about?” I asked Sophie.
She sighed heavily. “They’re having an argument.”
“About what?”
She flapped her hand dismissively. “Who knows? Something about Kai spending too much time in Seraphina and about endangering something or oth–”
She stopped mid-sentence and squinted like there was sun in her eye. Her gaze landed on the necklace Kai had given me. Her mouth was slightly ajar. “Wow!”
I touched the emerald gently. “I know. I don’t think I should be trusted with it.”
“I think you’re the best person to trust with it.” She smiled like she knew something I didn’t. But she didn’t elaborate.
We returned inside as the Councillors moved to a room that had been set up for the talks. They filed into the room in two lines. The supernaturals on the left, the humans on the right. Nobody spoke. If their postures got any more rigid they would be inanimate. All of the adults left the room. The door closed behind them. It might have been nice to be a fly on the wall.
“Do you think Max can still hear what they’re saying?” I asked Sophie.
“They’re not supposed to be using their powers.”
“Yeah, but he can’t just turn off his hearing, can he?”
She pointed at the speakers wired into the ceiling. “Those are special soundproofing units. They were made by a low-mag—” She stopped short as Rachel approached us. The older girl’s expression could have stripped paint.
“Go ahead,” Rachel said, “Keep referring to yourselves as low.”
“I’m sorry,” Sophie said. “It’s a habit.”
Astrid floated over to us. I squeezed her arm. “It’s good to see you.” In a sky blue evening dress, quite a lot of her skin was showing. I couldn’t help noticing the many scars on her arms from the chemical burn.
“Likewise,” she said. “Happy birthday, by the way.” She spotted the necklace and paused. “Malachi gave that to you?” The hushed quality in her voice alarmed me.
I suddenly wanted to take the necklace off because it was drawing too much attention. My hand was reaching up when Astrid stalled me. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to make you self-conscious. It’s just been a long time since I’ve seen the necklace. It belonged to Kai’s mother.”
Sophie and I exchanged a look. The enormity of what this meant wasn’t lost on me. I bit my bottom lip.
It was at this point that Rachel tried to back away. I snagged the material of her dress and dragged her back. “This is Rachel. She’s my Terran roommate.”
“Hi,” Rachel said. It sounded like she was pushing speech past grinding teeth. She couldn’t have been more insincere if she tried. Astrid wisely chose to ignore it.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Astrid said. “I
’m sorry about all the animosity.”
Rachel’s left eye spasmed. “Thanks.”
Sophie shot me an alarmed look. I returned a weary one. This wasn’t going well at all. And from what I could see, it was the humans resisting the idea of living peacefully. Astrid couldn’t possibly be more innocuous. If I were her, I would be spitting fire at the humans for having poured toxic chemicals on me. But she took it all in her stride. You would never have known that she had been in a supernaturally induced coma.
Silence stretched out ahead of us. We didn’t need to be shifters to try and overhear what was being said in the other room. Conversation in here was stilted. Mostly everybody just kept to themselves.
I’d seen Max and Desi try to strike up a conversation with Ashton, but after a few minutes they ran out of steam. For all their big talk, the Evil Three didn’t appear all that comfortable around Adam. If ever there was anyone who could charm the enemy, it was Adam. But even he was finding it difficult.
What concerned me the most was that Brigid was doing her best impression of a wallflower. She’d only given me one killing glare when I’d first arrived. Since then she’d been by the front door, speaking in low tones to one of her Fae friends.
“Well,” Rachel said. She too eyed my necklace. “I thought you said no presents?” I was beginning to get good at deciphering Rachel’s tones. This one questioned why Kai thought he could get me a present against my wishes. I could just about hear her voice in my head. “Why doesn’t he ever call you by your real name?”
Sophie noticed me faltering. “We might forgive him this time, I think.”
“How many times do you have to forgive them?” Rachel wanted to know. The way her lips pressed together made me think there was something else she wanted to say. Before I could pry it out of her, my eardrums were assaulted with yet another of Max’s soul-destroying roars. My whole body quaked.
Sophie and I instinctively shrank back. As did Rachel. She curled in on herself for a second before her fight instinct kicked in. I looked on as a mask of pure rage slipped over her. In the same way that I railed against authority, she had conditioned herself not to be afraid. The reminder that she was human amongst the supernaturals caused her muscles to bunch.
Sean gagged. I couldn’t see exactly what was happening past the taller figures in front of me, but the telltale snapping of reshaping shifter limbs told me someone had gone furry.
“Max!” Sophie screamed. She bolted forward only to be restrained by Astrid. The Nephilim pushed Sophie back at me as she strode forward.
“Get off him!” Ashton yelled. The last of his sentence echoed as he was flung clear across the room. He landed on the buffet table. It collapsed under the weight of his impact, sending plates and glasses shattering to the floor.
Instead of racing to his aide, Rachel produced a silver dagger from who knows where and inched forward. I could see Astrid’s indecision in the straightening of her spine. She wasn’t sure whether her intervention in Rachel’s decision would be appreciated. I didn’t care for the dull shimmer of Rachel’s blade. And then she did something odd. She nicked her palm with the blade. The crowd had dispersed to the edges of the room. In the centre of it, I watched as Desi’s glamour disintegrated. She’d been holding Max’s lion back. I knew for a fact her grip on her vampire half was second to none. She was finishing up her last few classes at Bloodline before taking up a post with the Night Guardians, the vampiric arm of their military. No way would she be enticed by the simple sight of blood.
And yet I held my breath as her eyes clouded until there was nothing but black pupil. Her lips parted to reveal incisors that pierced her bottom lip. I had a flashback to the day of my entrance exam when she had circled around me trying to find a weak spot in my protection circle. That had been a friendly display of power. This was Desi at her very basic. I blinked and she was halfway across the room. Rachel had no ability to phase but she didn’t need it. As Desi descended on her, the human kicked out and sent the vampire back. She touched the pendant at her throat, and it glowed an unearthly yellow that caused Desi to snarl. The vampire made a gurgling sound in her throat like she’d been burned. I would bet my life that was some kind of light amulet.
Without Desi to hold him in place, Max sniffed the air. Something in the aura around him seemed to irritate because he kept shaking his head. He roared again because he was unable to dislodge that irritant. When shifters got pissed, they lashed out at everything around them. Sophie tried to move forward again and then stopped short when his red-eyed gaze swept the room.
“Shit!” I said. He’d gone rogue. When a shifter lost all sense of civility, they gave in to their most animalistic instincts. Max had gone over the edge. What concerned me was the timing of it.
“Why aren’t they coming out?” Astrid asked. Her attention was on the doors to the conference room. “Keep her back.”
She pushed Sophie at me once more and strode forward. Desi and Rachel were locked in a pirouette of dancing limbs. Rachel was armed but Desi had vampire speed and strength. The fight should have been a foregone conclusion. Somehow, Rachel was managing to hold her own. Everywhere the knife touched her, Desi’s skin burned like she’d been hit by sunlight. The savage intent on Desi’s face was matched by the visceral hatred in Rachel’s.
Max sprang at Astrid when she tried to approach him. He charged in a flurry of claws and teeth. She managed to evade him but was finding it difficult to get at him without hurting him at the same time. Sophie clutched onto my arm. Her pulse was thready. Every now and again, plumes of black smoke wafted from the supernaturals. When this happened, both Desi and Max flinched. I remembered what happened when Kai had teleported. Wards had been set up to dissuade the supernaturals from using their abilities. It was like they were being magically shocked with each use of power. This had to stop.
Over at the conference room doors, Brigid was banging on the wood to no avail. “Stay here,” I barked at Sophie. She was riveted to where Max was attempting to get at Sean from behind Astrid.
“Why isn’t it opening?” I asked Brigid when I arrived beside her.
She snarled at me, her perfect features giving way to the darkness behind her glamour. “How the hell should I know? Your friends are the ones who did this.”
She gave me her back and attempted to wrench the handle open once more. She was a wind elemental. It said a lot that she wouldn’t risk being singed by using her powers. Ignoring her, I closed my eyes and dropped into the Ley dimension. It was immediately apparent why the adults inside the conference room hadn’t come barging out. Somebody had weaved a concealing circle around the room. It glowed in a bright daisy-bud yellow. I turned my mind to the room and found a flickering of the same yellow shimmering over Max and Desi’s chests.
Max roared again. He’d managed to get past Astrid by feigning an attack on one of the Evil Three. Now he was advancing on Sean. In his human form, Max was a hothead. As a rogue shifter, he had no safeguards. His lion was enormous. One swipe with his claw and Sean was done for.
Turning my attention back to the door, I found the thread where the concealing circle started and broke the connection with my own circle. A rushing howl of wind ripped through the conference room. I jumped aside as the adults poured out.
Matilda took one look at the scene and sprang. She phased through a number of guests. When she reached Max, her hand became incorporeal. I almost upchucked when her arm disappeared into Max’s thick chest. Sophie screamed again.
I was about to move forward when Kai appeared out of nowhere. His whole body sizzled with black smoke, but it was the rage in his glowing green eyes that held me captivated. Max made a choking sound. I imagined Matilda gripping his heart. Her expression was serene as she phased. Months ago she had tried to tear Kai’s soul from his body.
There was a beat of perfect stillness and then Kai lashed out. Before when he had fought the Sisterhood, it was with a disadvantage. Their ability to phase was completely foreign and not someth
ing the supernaturals could counter.
The whole room exhaled when his palm clasped around Matilda’s throat and made contact. Her eyes became pools of white. Her mouth opened just a fraction before Kai wrenched her back and away from Max. With his other hand, he pushed his healing magic into his friend. Max fought it for a second before his eyelids drooped and he fell unconscious.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I watched Harlow raise a gun. I drew the circle around Kai just as she fired. Instead of bullets, demon sludge hit the edge of the circle. I screamed and clutched my head. The corrosive substance ate away at my magic. My vision became spotty. Pressing my back to the wall, I let the circle go. The sludge dropped to the floor and began bubbling.
Kai threw Matilda into the glass window. The sound of it shattering broke the shocked spell on the room. Everything happened at once but I couldn’t tear my attention from Rachel. Astrid had moved to contain Desi but the human still stood with her knife raised. She was frozen. Incredulity and then something else crossed her features. If I didn’t know any better, I would think it was fear.
“What the hell happened here?” Jacqueline yelled.
Samantha pushed past her to Matilda’s aid. I stood there panting and trying to get the phantom sore spot in my mind to heal. I was about to move towards where Sophie had Max’s head cradled in her lap when Kai appeared in front of me. He reached out and cupped my face, eyes sweeping over me. “Did they hurt you?” he asked.
I almost choked on my own comeback. “What just happened?” My breath was raspy. “You...you touched her.”
“I’ll do more than touch her the next time they try ambushing us.”
He put his back to me. If he had walked away I would have taken it as a dismissal. But he didn’t move an inch as the adults worked to clear the room and sort out what had happened. Any time someone came too close, he speared them with a deadly look. For goodness sake!
I tried to push at his back but he wouldn’t budge. “I can still use my powers,” I warned him.