“Oh.” Aurora waved dismissively at the empty desk on the far side of the room. “James thinks it’s indecent with all the small ones around.”
Anna made a ‘gee, you think?’ face.
“The match is about to come on. Thought you’d care to watch it.” Aurora tilted her head, stooping to the side until her shin-length blonde hair touched the floor. She reached forward and pinched Anna’s cheek. “Who’s a dreary Daisy?”
“Will you stop?” Anna yelled. “For fuck’s sake, I’m not six.”
Aurora fixed her with a stare and tapped one foot. “Says the wee lass curled up ‘round a plush.”
Two minutes later, Anna sighed. “Do you think we’re doing the right thing?”
“What, watching Manchester lose?”
“Fuck you.”
“Won’t James get jealous?”
“You’re incorrigible!”
“I know.” Aurora winked. “Offer stands if you change your mind. It’d be a thrill if you shocked my naughty bits a little while—”
“Stop. I know you’re not serious.” Anna slid her heels in close and rested her chin on her knees. “I mean with the whole people smuggling thing and leaving Earth.”
Aurora sashayed around and sat on the bed behind her, one foot on either side. “You know”—she massaged Anna’s neck and shoulders—”I’ve got an enormous strap-on that says I might be serious.”
Anna giggled. “Stop it.”
“You’re so tense. Relax.” Aurora kept quiet for a moment. “I think James has honorable intentions. Those people would have been far worse off had he not arranged for them to be smuggled out.”
Kneading hands threatened to put Anna to sleep right there on the floor. “Why the cargo boxes? Those Syndicate bastards left two children in handcuffs for weeks, shipping them from Mexico to Europe and back. And not just cuffs, they had them trussed up like spree killers pumped full of Lace.” She fumed, making the lights flicker. “Why didn’t they send them straight here? Why all the clandestine nonsense? It’s not like this country has a problem with immigrants. They want to steal all the people they can from the ACC.”
“James doesn’t want the authorities picking up on a large influx of psionics.” Aurora worked the massage down over Anna’s shoulders onto her arms. “They’d suspect something was up.”
Anna thought about the bedraggled refugees, wondering how much of their suffering had been because of James. Oh, get off it. So they had a ‘orrible boat ride. If not for him, they’d be dead. The roaming massage derailed Anna’s train of thought. “Lauren?”
“Yes?”
“That’s my breast you’re squeezing.”
“I’m well aware of that, dear. Cute little things you’ve got. Shall I get the toy? It’s a real stonker.”
Anna grabbed her friend’s wrist and guided the hand back to her shoulder. “Are you trying to kill James? Do you’ve any idea what he’d do if he walked in on that?”
Aurora laughed. “You know, to get a picture of his face it would almost be worth going through with it. He is getting old, though; it might be too much for his heart.”
“You’re awful. He’s not that old.” Anna chuckled into a wistful sigh. “Do they all really think I killed her?”
“I doubt it. Besides, they’re more afraid of me than you.”
Anna leaned back, gazing up at the onyx-eyed face hovering over her. She couldn’t remember when hearing a voice but never seeing the woman’s lips move had stopped unnerving her. “When we leave Earth, who will help the ones stuck in those places? I doubt we’ll be able to smuggle them into space.”
“There’s no point in worrying about that.” Aurora rolled off the bed, skipping toward the door. “So, coming to watch the match?”
9
Lead Me to Temptation
Kate
A vast expanse of desert scrub raced past the window. Kate fixated on the stretched shadow the hovercar left on the ground forty meters below, imagining it a patch of liquid slithering over every rock and bush that zipped by. She almost forgot she stared at an ultra-high-resolution display on the inside of a two-inch thick armored panel and not a window. Every so often, the outside world faltered with lines of static. David didn’t notice it, but Kate twitched each time it flashed. She would have preferred more sleep; five hours spent trying to track down Aaron Pryce had proved a massive waste of time. His records checked out. He had killed several Division 0 personnel, in a violent telekinetic blast that also inflicted significant damage to the medical facility, and a pickup warrant had been issued for him along with an extreme caution warning.
She leaned away from the door, sliding her hand onto his leg.
Tactical Officer David Ahmed shot her a startled look and chuckled before directing his attention forward. “What’s got you so nervous? I thought you got over your fear of flying.”
“It’s not the flying that bothers me, it’s the sudden stopping.”
The latest generation video hardware in the driver side door recreated the sunlight outside so well it made her squint, even as it highlighted his chiseled nose and lean cheekbones. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear it felt warm on her face.
“We’re not going to crash.” He glanced at the side for a second. “We’re only doing 310. Even if the collision avoidance circuitry somehow failed and allowed the car to go straight into the ground at our current speed, the high-impact survival system would protect us.”
“Oh, that’s reassuring. So we don’t die on impact, our unconscious bodies suffocate in a car full of hard foam.”
He glanced at her with a fading smile. “Now you’re starting to worry me.”
She folded her hands in her lap. “You’ve heard the stories about machines failing out here, haven’t you?”
“Oh, is that it?” His grin returned. “Some presence out here hates technology and makes it fail? I wouldn’t worry too much about that. It’s just a bunch of scary stories the artifact hunters circulate to scare competition away. The fewer people coming out here, the more they can sell their junk for.”
Three thin bands of static climbed Kate’s window. She watched them scroll up and disappear at the top. Foulness seeped into her memory, the stink of the decrepit priest’s breath.
“You’re genuinely scared.” He flicked on the autopilot and took her hand. “What is it? Is there something out there?”
“Static on the window.”
David squeezed her hand. “It’s probably interference from a radiation cloud. There were some small-scale nukes used in the war.”
“I’ve met him… it.” Kate looked down at his hand. “It’s real. Whatever it is feeds on hate and suffering. It doesn’t want people to leave. I think it… possessed me or something the first time I went to Querq. I don’t remember much but being filled with hatred. I wanted to kill everything… especially Althea. That… thing hates her for some reason.”
“You shouldn’t hold on to so much guilt. It was an external influence.”
Kate cocked an eyebrow at him, almost smiling. “An external influence you just said doesn’t exist.”
He tapped his boot.
She wondered if getting into a relationship with an empath would prove to be a blessing or make for many infuriating arguments. The widening grin still hovering at the edge of her vision brightened her mood.
“You’re worried it’ll happen again.”
“Yeah.” She let her head fall back against the seat. “If it doesn’t kill us in a crash first.”
He gripped both control sticks, easing their speed down to a lazy 250 mph and gliding nearer to the ground. “I’ll keep you close. If I feel anything happening to your emotional state, I’ll warn you.” He looked her in the eye. “Remember, external influence on emotion is all about feeling. You can overwhelm it with rational thought. Remind yourself over and over that something is forcing you to feel a certain way, and you can fight it off.”
“Okay.” Kate scooted to her left as far as
she could, and leaned over the center console to rest her head on his arm. The position wound up awkward, but not intolerable. Whoever designed patrol craft to be half again the width of a standard car obviously never had a romantic interest in their partner.
“This is why they don’t let couples ride on duty together.”
“Mmm.” She rubbed her head into his shoulder like a cat. “Good thing we’re off duty.”
She gazed out at the onrushing terrain, well aware her lack of worry was David’s doing—and didn’t care.
David’s voice nudged her awake. “You might want to sit up; we’re about to land.”
“Right when the dream was getting good,” she muttered underneath a yawn as she righted herself in the seat and stretched.
Querq raced toward them, a patch of life and color among the scar of an ancient city. He slowed, lining up on a path to the square at the center of town. From this height, the remnants of the statue in the courtyard looked like a broken toy soldier, one of those little green men snapped off its base, leaving half of one leg standing. A pair of prewar pickup trucks, with machine guns mounted in the beds, flanked it on either side.
He tapped a button on the console, and mechanical whirring vibrated the patrol craft. Ground wheels extended from behind their protective shrouds, which retracted out of sight. The mechanical whine stopped with a near-simultaneous clunk as all four locked into place. David circled once and brought the car to a midair standstill before easing it straight down onto the tires. A blast of air from their landing knocked a red, plastic cup off the broken stone leg.
Kate’s contentment evaporated at the sight of empty walls and uninhabited streets. No signs of activity existed anywhere. “David? Something’s wrong. Where is everyone?”
He shut down the drive system and hit the door release, ducking under the rising gull wing to get out faster. In her rush to follow him, she tripped over one of the two-inch thick power cables spider-webbed throughout the courtyard and landed on all fours. Under one of the old trucks, three grown men huddled together weeping like boys with a monster in their closet.
“That’s strange,” said David. “I wonder where they went.”
“Found some.” Kate sat back on her boot heels, gesturing at the truck. “This looks like your job. I think they’re afraid of the patrol craft.”
The men calmed and glanced at each other. As if under a silent pact never to speak of what happened, they crawled out, recovered their rifles, and stood. Kate, still kneeling, looked from them to David as he walked over. Along the wall, men and women emerged from hiding places and went about their business as though nothing had happened. The distant wails of terrified children rose into the air, crying out for mommy or daddy.
“Or, maybe not.” Kate accepted David’s hand and let him pull her upright. “Did you do that?”
“No,” he whispered. “They snapped out of it on their own.”
Behind them, several townspeople emerged from their homes. Some carried laundry on their way to the creek bed. Others chatted with neighbors. Some collected panic-stricken kids. Various exchanges along the lines of “What’s wrong?” and “I dunno!” repeated with different families.
“Think it’s Althea?” asked Kate. “Did she do this?”
David exhaled, raising both eyebrows. “If there’s an empath capable of fear-bombing an entire town, it would be her. If she did, we’d better keep a lid on it. If Burckhardt finds out she can make six hundred people shit their pants at once, he’d want to weaponize her.”
Kate laughed, despite feeling guilty about doing so. “Why are the little ones still scared?”
“They’re scared because they don’t know why they were scared. Everyone else is brushing it off out of embarrassment.” He winked at her. “What happens in Vegas…”
“What?”
“Never mind. I watch a lot of old videos.”
She took his hand, pulling him along down the nearest street. “We should find her.”
“It’s probably nothing,” David said. “Some other kid probably snuck up and startled her and it radiated.”
“How can you be so sure of that?”
“It’s not continuous. The telempathic effect seems like a radiant burst. Quick, instantaneous, and already over. If she was in danger, it would still be happening.”
“She could also be hurt.” An odd sense of protectiveness took root in her mind. She had to make sure Althea didn’t need help.
Kate jogged up to a light run, flashing reassuring smiles at disoriented townspeople. A few blocks later, a streak of white darting down an alley caught her eye. Kate sprinted after it, entering a narrow passageway packed with trashcans laden with plumbing scraps and one unimpressed black goat. She took a hard left at the end, exiting to a wider street where a handful of townspeople and more goats wandered about with no sense of urgency. The clattering of metal behind her announced David’s ungainly encounter with the junk.
Three blocks to the left, Althea darted out of one alley, zoomed across the street, and disappeared into another.
“Althea!” yelled Kate.
The girl backpedaled into view and stared in her direction. As soon as they made eye contact, an overwhelming sense of gratitude washed over her. Her mysterious need to protect the child swelled. Kate waved, beckoning her closer, and shut her eyes. She did something to me. Why do I want to twist the head off whoever scared her?
“Kate.” The child’s voice sounded nearby.
Her eyes snapped open. Althea had approached close enough to hug, standing with her arms at her sides. Clean tear trails marked her otherwise dust-covered face, though she seemed more worried than sad. Kate couldn’t resist the urge to embrace her, as though she’d been reunited with a long absent daughter.
“Are you okay?” asked David, hand on Kate’s back. “That doesn’t feel natural.”
“I’m sorry.” Althea’s voice sounded meek and mousy. “I don’t know what I did.”
Kate’s mood leveled off. She let go and wiped her eyes. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
David looked back and forth between them for a moment, tapping his chin.
Althea’s calm broke to worry. “Have you seen Den?”
“No, kiddo, I haven’t.” Kate looked the girl up and down, relieved at no sign of injury. “Did something happen to you?”
“The Many was here.”
“What?” asked Kate.
“Umm, Aurora called him the sen-shins.” She stared at the ground. “In the garden.”
David looked confused.
Sentience, Kate said, telepathically to David. I told you it’s real. “What did it want?”
“He is scared I want to kill him.” Althea twisted her big toe into the dirt. “He lied. He says we help each other. He doesn’t help; he hurts. I’m afraid he’s hurt Den.”
“This sentience,” said David, “did he attack you?”
“He showed me scary things. War machines in the air dropping fire, and people dying.” Althea looked up at him. “It makes him angry that I am happy.”
David gave Kate a knowing look.
“Maybe I shouldn’t be here?” Kate shivered, finding the thought of separation from Althea as painful as it was strange. “He fed on my rage, wanted me to be the queen of his hell.” She looked at her hands. “My power’s only good for hurting people.”
“That’s not true.” David grinned. “You can put fire out as easily as start it… you could be Querq’s fire brigade.”
“Funny.” She poked him in the side, but couldn’t help smiling.
Althea leaned up and put a hand on Kate’s cheek. “You don’t have the angry anymore. He cannot reach you.”
She did something to you similar to what she did to that big guy, Shepherd. From what I understand, he tried to kill her too. It’s a lingering telempathic imprint, something we haven’t ever seen before. I’m not strong enough to dislodge it, but you don’t seem to mind.
David’s voice in her mind sent wa
rm tingles down her back. Coupled with the emotion she felt from Althea’s touch, it brought tears of happiness.
“Why are you crying?” Althea tilted her head. “You give off happy.”
“Sometimes that happens.” Kate sniffled and gathered herself. “I don’t want to be a risk.”
Althea let her arm fall to her side and smiled. “You are not alone anymore. The bad man has nothing to hold you with.”
“Thea?” called a young woman over a row of houses.
The child faced the direction of the voice, stood on tiptoe, and yelled, “I’m here!”
A girl of about sixteen, with long black hair and dark skin, rushed out from an alley. Dirt and mud spattered her coral-orange dress and bare legs. Two dandelions fell out from behind her ear as she ran over and wrapped her arms around Althea.
“I thought something happened to you. Everyone went crazy for a minute.” The older girl glared at Kate. “What do these people want?”
Althea shot a deliberate look at the girl. The teen’s glower softened as a shift in her expression gave away a telepathic conversation. “This is my sister, Karina. This is—”
“I know who she is. She tried to hurt you. Now she is a police? She is on the wrong side of the cage.”
“Karina!” Althea poked her sister in the side. “It was the Many. I mended the hurt. She is our friend now.”
Kate squeezed her hands into fists, feeling like the orb of a Gee-ball game. The false priest had manipulated her emotions one way, Althea the other. El Tío, while by no means mystical, had pulled her strings to work her like a puppet as well. She had always been someone else’s pawn, a reed bent in the wind to please the people around her. At six, she had burned the little wooden blocks to make the men in white coats smile. At sixteen, she had burned living people to make El Tío happy.
Would she ever be in control of her own life?
Althea’s frail arms encircled her with a hug, startling her out of her inner debate. “Don’t be sad. Karina wants to protect me.”
Angel Descended (The Awakened Book 6) Page 11