Rising Ashes

by Annie Anderson

  Asher, Carver, Ian, Aidan, Cam and Rhys all stand in her orbit, with Mena holding her left hand. Evan tells me Aurelia has had a relatively easy pregnancy, so I don’t know if she’s drawing on Mena’s power or if she’s just cuddling with her sister. Evan leaves me to go to Aurelia’s right side, not only kicking Rhys out of his spot but also taking Aurelia’s water from her and putting it on the coffee table so she can hold her hand.

  I forget that Nicola is Aurelia and Mena’s cousin, and although their relationship is tenuous at best, they must care about her.

  “Alright, out with it. What are we dealing with here?” Evangeline orders Kyle, and he flinches as if struck.

  Oh, shit. It is going to be so much worse than I thought.

  “I-I found her,” he begins, “She and that guy Devereux have been hopping from one place to another. Hopping all over the goddamn planet. St-stealing children from families, teenagers, preschoolers, b-babies… I tried. I tried to get them back. To follow them to keep the children alive. But I lost her so many times, and I… She’s holed up in some abandoned mansion in the wilds of Maine or some shit. Th-there are graves.” He stops abruptly – choking on his emotion, on his realization that he has to put a stop to a woman that his body is trained to love, that his soul recognizes as his own. The guilt he must feel bringing this to us, I cannot fathom.

  “When you… when you stop her, can you make sure it doesn’t hurt? Can you… It isn’t her fault. It’s the dirty fucking soul they stuck in her. It isn’t her. Just don’t… Don’t make it hurt, okay?” he pleads searching Evangeline’s face for sympathy, but it isn’t her who speaks up. It’s me.

  “Yes. I can make it painless,” I admit, and even though I hate bringing up my past, it’s true I can do that. Especially for him.

  “It can’t be you. Nic told me before this happened. She said that the only way for Iva to be killed was if Evangeline did it. It was one of the last things she told me before I was captured. And I-I want your word you’ll… you’ll…”

  Evangeline leaves her perch on the couch to sit next to Kyle and wraps her arms around his shoulders. She whispers in his ear, and tears start falling from the big man’s eyes.

  “I just have one question. Are you bound?” she asks, and Kyle shakes his head. I didn’t realize I was holding my breath for the answer to that question until a sigh of relief gusts past my parted lips. I’ve known Kyle Brennan for three centuries. Losing him would be a blow.

  “She wouldn’t let me. Never said why, but I figure she knew this might happen,” he croaks, his face destroyed. It wouldn’t matter if I lost Evangeline before I bound her or not – it would still probably kill me.

  It would just take longer.

  “We’ll be humane about it, but it needs to happen. Iva won’t stop, and if she hasn’t already, she’s about to start a war,” Evangeline says carefully, looking Kyle right in the eye. His expression is somewhere between ravaged and dead. He is giving up so much.

  “I’ll tell you where they are, but you’ll have to get in on your own. I can’t help you kill her,” he responds.

  So we make a plan, and we pray no one dies.

  And I’ve never been more scared in my whole life.

  20

  Here Comes the Other Shoe

  EVAN

  We had to wait to attack. We couldn’t just walk up to the front door like a troop of girl scouts selling cookies and politely ask, ‘Hey will you guys just sit still while we kill you?’

  We needed to prepare. Step one was getting the amulets we needed to keep Iva out of our business and out of our minds. Aurelia, being the only one of us with a Witch in her pocket, offered to be the one to get them. Aurelia’s tattoo artist friend, Max, was a very nice Witch who didn’t prescribe to the old ways. She did things her way and had a different method of doing magic. And an added plus, she hated Tessa with a fiery passion, so my trust in her increased by at least ten-fold. Aurelia and Rhys left to make the short trip to her studio to procure the amulets while the rest of us got the rundown of the grounds from Kyle.

  “From what I saw, there is only two ways into the house,” Kyle instructs from his seat at the kitchen island as he points to a rough pen and ink rendering of a rather stately – if dilapidated – mansion. The drawing is dirt-stained and crumpled, but it looks as if he had given great care to it. He’d obviously been watching them for a while. The biggest asset with the ‘plan’ is the massive cliff the house sits on. Surrounded by a thick alpine terrain, the cover will be easy, and the cliff limits egress. Granted, Devereux can travel away at any time, but I have the distinct feeling he won’t want to leave his mistress. That’s what she has to be, right? I mean, why else would he summon her from hell?

  The plan feels too easy, too clean, and I’m scared.

  What if she knows what we’re doing? What if she has control over him? What if this is one huge trap? I startle when a scalding hand closes over my shoulder. I look up and back to Mena, who is watching me with concern.

  “You can do this, you know. Nicola said it herself – told me you were the only one of us that could,” she says encouragingly, but even she is wary of this plan. I can see it in her eyes.

  “That doesn’t mean we won’t lose people along the way,” I whisper back. “This feels too fucking easy.” And it is. There is no way we’re just walking up there and doing what we need to without some serious fucking repercussions.

  “And it may very well be harder than he’s portraying it to be, and we may lose loved ones. But can you live with yourself if she kills another child? This isn’t a wait-and-see situation. We know she is actively killing children, and if it is anything like the Aegis genocide…” she breaks off as she swallows thickly. “She won’t stop. Not until we make her stop.”

  I stop my freak out at the wisdom of her words. No, I can’t sit idly by while she kills again. Not while I am possibly in a position to stop it. It would be worse than San Francisco. It would be the worst stain on my soul because neglecting this wouldn’t be an accident. Letting these children die would be on purpose, and that is the worst sin – not stepping in when I could help save a life.

  I look across the island and catch West’s eyes. His face looks like it must match mine – blind fear mixed with resignation. I tip my head to signal for him to follow me and start walking toward the hallway. When we’re out of earshot, I ask him, “What do you think?”

  “I’m thinking body armor. Lots and lots of body armor. And if I thought it would work, and those bastards wouldn’t just travel out of there, a grenade launcher,” he says matter-of-factly.

  “But you want to go, right?”

  “Fuck, yes, I want to go. Not want, Angel, we need to go. And as much as I don’t want you to be in harm’s way, you have to go too. I know you don’t know much about my childhood, but… My father was the Devil himself. The things he did… no one should have to endure. I cannot stand for murder, but when it’s kids…” he trails off shaking his head.

  I step into his space and wrap my arms around him. “One of these days, you’re going to have to tell me about your life, my love. Not today, but someday, this info would be good to know. I don’t even know if you want children of your own.”

  “Of course I want children. Girls with your beautiful face or little boys with your eyes. I’m not picky. Whether it is one or ten, I don’t mind either, but I’d like more than one. We’re both only children, and I’d love our kid to have a sibling. I’m actually amazed it took you four months to ask that.”

  “I didn’t want to push. I figured we had time. But the bad stuff – even the not so bad stuff – I’d like to know, my love. You’ve carried it too long, I think.”

  I get an affirmative grunt and a squeeze in response. I know it will take some hounding, but I’ll get at least some of it from him. West has held that horribly toxic poison in his chest for centuries.

  Maybe one of these days he’ll let it go.

  That thought passes through my brain a
t the same instant the front door opens, and Aurelia and Rhys walk through it. Well, Aurelia waddles through it, but whatever. Her waddle is slight, but the woman is carrying twins, so naturally I have to give her shit.

  “What’s up, Mama Duck?” I say with a snicker.

  “Fuck you,” she replies with a baleful expression on her face. Touchy, touchy. She adjusts the short jean jacket that covers her arms, and fiddles with the black crepe sundress that flows over her ripe belly.

  “Aww, come on, you waddle and have feathers. You’re more than halfway there,” I giggle.

  “Seriously. I will make Rhys kill you. Don’t test the limits of my friendship, woman,” she says, but I know she’s just fucking with me. Aurelia is warily excited about her pregnancy, and has been taking every precaution so her babies turn out healthy. Sparing, no; katas, yes. Junk food, no; fruit and veg, yes. Over-training, no; resting when needed, yes. In the beginning, she over trained and fought and exposed herself to the elements, but now, she does everything she can to be safe. I think it is because she’s scared she’ll lose them, and with her history, I don’t blame her.

  “Fine, Sensitive Sally, I’ll quit fucking with you. Max help us out?” I ask.

  “Yep. You already have one – Max told me she saw one around your neck the last time you came with me to the shop – which explains so freaking much, BTW. She was in a rush so she didn’t make one for me, Mena, Rhys or you because we didn’t need them. Rhys, because he’s not going with you and me and Mena because our Aegis protects us. Everyone else gets one,” she informs me as she raises a censuring eyebrow.

  Busted. It’s been a century and Aurelia didn’t know about my little blue amulet. Well, she knows now.

  “What? A girl has to have her secrets,” I shrug, unapologetic.

  “Yeah, yeah. You say that now. What happens when you’re in trouble? Huh? I can’t see shit with that fucking thing on. It’s annoying.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine.”

  “Whatever, pass these out, and make sure Kyle gets one. I have a feeling he’ll be an easy mark for her to tap into,” she says as she hands me the pouch of amulets in her hand.

  “Good idea,” I say as we walk into the kitchen. A kitchen that doesn’t have a Kyle perched at a barstool.

  “Where’s Kyle?” West rumbles behind me.

  “He just smoked out…” Cam answers bewildered.

  “Oh, son of a fucking bitch. He. Did. Not,” Aurelia curses as her eyes begin to glow. “He did. That stupid motherfucker!”

  “He went to her, didn’t he?” West asks.

  “Of course he fucking did, the moron. Is he trying to get you killed?” she replies.

  “No. He’s trying to say goodbye. I would probably do the same,” he returns gruffly. “If you only had minutes with Rhys, wouldn’t you?”

  Her eyes stop glowing, and she takes a good long look at him. “Probably, but that fucks with your timeline. You guys need to go as soon as possible to try and intercept him.”

  “Alright, everyone. Get your shit squared away and be ready in ten,” West orders and they move. The King has spoken.

  First, mid-March in northern Maine is cold as fuck. Second, the nighttime temperatures make the daytime temps look like fucking summer. I wish I would have brought a goddamn parka. I thought Colorado was chilly, but I had no freaking idea. This is not the excellent Colorado weather. This is windy hell on a stick.

  The forest gives adequate cover, but the early morning hours are working against us. I would have preferred to attack under the cover of darkness, but Kyle royally fucked our timeline. I find it hard to be angry with him. If I only had one single day left with West, I couldn’t say how rational I’d be.

  We traveled in about a mile out from the house, checking for traps, surveillance and the like, but finding none. It’s like they want us to come – either that or they think they aren’t going to be caught.

  I don’t know which option scares me more.

  The trees are dense right up next to the small yard in front of the house, and the silence except for the ocean rushing against the cliffs bellows are the only sounds. No birds. No crickets. No animals.

  It is the calm before the storm. I feel it and so does everyone else. They feel this electric charge in the air like just before a lightning strike. The pressure, the oppressive weight of the air sticks to us. I’m just behind West when I feel a stir. I don’t think anything of it at first until I catch a glimpse of Mena.

  She wasn’t phased a moment ago, but she is now, and despite the blue flames that lick her skin and the brilliantly bright blue wings that are spread wide, she is white as a sheet. Her fingertips crackle like tiny lightning rods, and her head is cocked to one side as if she’s listening to something only she can hear.

  While she’s frozen, all hell seems to break out around us. Men file out of the front door of the house while barrels of rifles peek out of the upper floor windows. The world explodes as bullets whiz past us, but I’m not watching them. I’m watching Mena’s face because she knows something. Something horrible is happening, and I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s bad.

  Her eyes meet mine.

  “Aurelia is in trouble. I have to go. I have to go,” she whispers, and I have no idea how I hear her with the guns firing and men fighting around us.

  She pulls a katana from her back in a quick, seamless motion and cuts down the Wraith barreling for her, practically cutting him in two. She cuts down two more before she grabs Asher, and they smoke out of the forest leaving us to this hell to go to her sister, her twin, my best friend.

  Oh, God, we’re too late.

  21

  My Worst Nightmare

  AURELIA

  I thought I was safe. I thought not going into battle with them would make it so. While I regretted not going to help, I knew I wasn’t going to waddle my seven-and-a-half-months-pregnant ass onto the battlefield and do anything of consequence. I would be in the way, and I would put my babies lives and my husband’s life at risk. But while I was worrying about my friends – no, my family – I should have been worrying about my babies, my husband, myself.

  I’d wanted to stay at the penthouse. It was Evangeline’s headquarters after all, and I figured this would be the place everyone would head to once the dust was settled.

  The pregnancy had been easier than I thought it would be. Sure, I was always hot – even in the dead of winter – I couldn’t see my feet anymore, and shaving my legs had become a real problem, but my babies were thriving. Only six more weeks to go until they were considered full term and then I would get my lovelies. We have no idea what gender or genders are cooking in there, and since we have no way to know, we did the nursery in neutral colors.

  Rhys has been my rock, dealing with my crazy ass while I try to navigate the emotions of guilt and fear. Losing my first child was the worst thing to ever happen to me. More than the torture or losing Lucien or losing my mind to Iva. Losing my first baby was the absolute worst thing, and because of that, I have been either in denial about this pregnancy or running to the end of the spectrum and worrying about every action, morsel of food, and drop of water I've put in my body. I have been a mess, but Rhys… Rhys has been happy – so stinking ecstatic he’s willfully getting every ounce of baby gear set up and ready. It’s like he’s the one nesting and not me.

  But losing the babies is my worst nightmare. Failing to protect my first child has always been my greatest sin. Failing to protect these children would kill me.

  “You doing okay, Gorgeous?” Rhys’ honey-over-gravel voice calls from my right.

  I break my gaze on the lone brilliant sapphire blue amulet sitting on the island to look at him.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “You stopped in the middle of heading to the bathroom to stare at the amulet, babe,” he says as he rubs me between my shoulder blades. His touch is comforting and sets my mind back to rights, but I feel a niggle of fear.

  “I… I don’t like not b
eing able to see. I don’t like not being able to warn them if I can. I don’t like those amulets,” I mutter.

  “Yeah, I know you hate not knowing shit ahead of time, but they need the protection of them, so do your best not to worry. Mena is with them, and she’ll help them if not win, then definitely survive.”

  “You’re right. I know you’re right, but I can’t help but feel… like something is wrong, and I'm not sure if it is them or the babies or us. I feel off, and I want to grab a weapon, and I want to eat my weight in cheesecake. What the hell is wrong with me?” I ask as I turn away from him, but he comes up behind me and wraps one arm around my chest and puts one large hand over my belly. It might be weird or trite or whatever, but when he puts a hand over the babies it calms me down so fast, he might as well have shot me with a tranq dart. I cover his hand with both of mine, and one of the babies kicks me. Hard.

  I should have listened to my gut.

  I should have, but I didn’t.

  So when the five Wraiths smoke into the room, I don’t realize my worst nightmare is coming to life until it is.

  WEST

  Things are going from okay, to not good, to oh dear God we’re going to die so fast, I don’t know what to do. My first thought is how many fucking minions does this woman have? For fuck’s sake, is she that good at brainwashing people or is she just that good at bargaining lives she doesn’t have to? It isn’t just Wraiths fighting for her either – which doesn’t make a lick of sense to me at all. She was the one who ordered the mass killings of so many of our families. She was the one who had our houses and lives burned to fucking ashes. Why would they fight for this woman?