Love Beyond Lies

by Rebecca Royce

Samuel sighed. “Everything is more intense, even Eden’s visions. This is the end of everything. It was never going to be easy. Eden is strong and she can handle it. I’m proud of her all the time.”

  As if the moment eased, the prophet’s shoulders sagged. “That’s over and thank you, my love. Yes, I can get through it as long as I have you. I can get through anything as long as we’re together.”

  That was such a beautiful sentiment and one Gia shared. She turned to Colin. “I never should have tried to handle the shadow myself. We’re a team. I shouldn’t have…”

  He stroked his hand down the side of her face, which made her shiver with desire. “Stop. You did what you thought was best. That’s all that any of us can do. Eden was right, the ancestors interfered in this. Kept you away. Told you to leave Maine. As far as I’m concerned they are just as responsible as you are.”

  Colin would always see the best in her. She sighed. “You would have done the right thing regardless of what they said. You always do. I… I relied too much on them, I think. I…” She shook her head. “Enough. What was your vision, Eden?”

  She leaned her head on Samuel’s shoulder. “We’d better get everyone. Looks like the ancestors didn’t think we should have two days.”

  “The thing about the ancestors is… they’re not us.” Gia had never really understood this before now. “They didn’t sign up for this. We did. We were braver than the beings who made us. We took on the task to battle demons and we might never come back from it. They were Outsiders who didn’t. They… they lived ordinary Outsider lives in dimensions where nothing much happened. Or, here, on Earth before there was a demon. Our so-called parents in this life are the reason we got so fucked to begin with. I… I guess you could say this is their fault. But we have to listen to the ancestors?”

  “Wow.” Kal leaned against the doorway, Isabelle next to him with her arms around his waist. “How blasphemous. I always knew I liked you, Gia.”

  Eden nodded. “I agree. I’m not exactly sure what to do about any of it. They gave me these visions. What should I do about it?”

  The room started to fill, like everyone was drawn to it, and Gia watched as the entire Outsider crew sat down in various places on the porch.

  Kal pointed at Eden. “What I’m gathering is Eden has had a vision, and the very smart Gia is questioning why we listen to people who never put a foot in this challenge to begin with. Or they make it worse.”

  Drew sighed, his head going down onto Marina’s lap. “They help us. They give Eden a vision that one of you needs us, and we transport to you. I don’t think we can afford to alienate the ancestors right now.”

  “They relay messages like a carrier pigeon so we are beholden to them on battle strategy?” Alexa sat by herself by the window. “I think Eden takes the messages, fine. But, we go out of our way to determine which ones we listen to and which ones we don’t.”

  Leonardo nodded. “Agreed.”

  “Really?” He agreed with her? This was a first.

  Eden shook her head. “How am I supposed to know which ones to share and which ones not to?”

  “The good news is that you won’t have to for very much longer.” Leonardo cleared his throat. “We’re almost done. We have to be. One way or the other.”

  Colin groaned. “I’m getting a little tired of all of us acting like we might die, or cease to be or whatever. We’re going to win.”

  “On that note,” Eden rose. No one would know Eden was blind and saw through Samuel’s eyes unless they were told. She maneuvered like her own eyes gave her sight. It was the bane of being the prophet. Had they all chosen their own powers, or had they been doled out? There were just some things she didn’t remember and neither did anyone else, ever. Choosing their powers, the knowledge of them—they were always a big blank—even when she could remember everything else.

  Eden made her way over to the table in the center of the room. “Actually, I could use some help. Gia, can we try something?”

  Gia got to her feet and Colin rose as she did. “What do you need?”

  “I’m going to try to show you what I saw even though it’s not a description of the past. In case any of you have blanked on this, Gia and I have always been able to communicate through my visions, specifically the ones about the ancestors and past lives. I get them, she draws them. Everyone learned about the past that way. I haven’t been getting past visions since the scribe died and we got our visions back.”

  The scribe had died? Gia had so much she had to catch up on. Still, she didn’t interrupt. It was her job to catch up, not hinder the others.

  Colin nodded. “But you aren’t getting past visions. All present tense, as you said.”

  Christophe stepped forward. “You’re thinking as things have changed, maybe that has too.”

  Zane nodded. “You want Gia to see what you’re seeing?”

  “I want her to draw me a map.” Eden grinned.

  Well, that was a new one. She had never, that she could remember, drawn a map for Eden. The ancestors gasped inside her head and she ignored them other than to take note that they were shocked by the idea. They hadn’t reacted to the idea that they’d be ignored but this made them twitter? What was that about?

  “I can hear the ancestors. They’re a little worked up about this.”

  Eden shrugged. “Don’t care.”

  Raquel sighed. “They always hate when we mess with the prophet.”

  Those words set alarm bells off in Gia’s head. She took a step back. Yes, they hated that. Why? Who were the ancestors involved in this? Which souls were they? Whose direction had they been taking this whole damn time?

  “Colin…” She took her hand in his. “If we can hear them… and we’re part demonic… who else can hear them? Or who is it talking to us all the time? How can we be sure who they are?”

  The room fell silent, all discussion of whatever Eden wanted to do with a map floated away on the words Gia had spoken. How did they know what they thought they knew?

  Eden paled and Samuel came to her. “It’s a lot to digest.”

  “But it feels right, damn it.” Drew stalked to the window. “We’re taking messages from who-knows-what source. We have to find a way to… filter them.”

  The question was, who hadn’t wanted Gia to make Eden a map? “Hold on. Look… this is magic. Marina and Alexa can see it. I never could. That’s not my role. But… for a second, Marina, can you cut off Eden’s ability to get a prophecy? Just a few. If that’s okay, Eden.”

  She nodded. “By all means, if we think there is a problem with the signal, let’s get that fixed.”

  All of this was suddenly so clear to Gia. She’d had just a touch of Eden’s abilities her whole life. Why hadn’t she ever questioned the validity of them? Well, because she’d never fully powered herself before. How long should she have known this? How much had they missed lifetime after lifetime because she and Colin hadn’t communicated, or had lied about feeling one hundred percent settled with each other?

  That couldn’t matter now. “Okay. It’s magic. Is she cut off?”

  Eden swayed slightly and then righted herself in Samuel’s arms. “It’s so quiet. I didn’t realize, but I hear a constant hum all the time. I can only hear… you guys.”

  “All right….” If what she was thinking was true then she needed to be cut off entirely. “I don’t want to hear the ancestors or have them hear me right now. Or any of you. Can we go that far?”

  Marina winced. “Not me. I don’t… I mean, I could maybe figure it out with some time but I’m concerned I’ll really screw something up shooting in the dark with this.”

  “I can do it,” Alexa volunteered. She waved her hand and magic moved over Gia. Everyone gasped. For the first time, ever, they were totally cut off from the ancestors.

  Leonardo held his head. “I’ve never felt so alone before, even when I didn’t know they could hear me, I…”

  Gabriel cleared his throat. “Fuck.”

  “
No, this is a good thing.” Gia had to believe she was on to something. “Eden got a message and I got a message. She was given a vision and wanted a map. The vision came and then the ancestors, or whoever it was, reacted badly to the map. We need to know if it was the same people or others. Any way to trace it?”

  Marina’s eyebrows lifted. “To trace it? Like through space and time? No. That goes beyond me and I can’t imagine…”

  She was cut off by the sound of a dog barking. Loraine’s magical dog Futon rushed into the room, barking his head off. Loraine turned to him abruptly, listening to what he said. She could speak to animals although Gia couldn’t remember there ever being a time before that she’d actually had a dog around. It was kind of nice. Gia had always wanted a pet.

  “He says we did it. That we finally did it.” She shook her head. “He’s talking fast. It’s hard to follow. Um… we never get it right. We’re almost always led astray even when we win. Yes, we did the right thing.”

  Gia wished she could dance in a circle with delight. She had a hunch and this time rather than stumble on a shadow she’d contributed. But how had she known? Her hands tingled. It was the shadow powers. They’d known… so she did.

  She chewed on her lip. What else was she going to suddenly be able to do?

  Colin

  “How did you know?” He had watched the whole exchange quietly. But Gia didn’t have this kind of power.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist. “I think it’s the shadows. Hard to explain.”

  “Okay.” Nervousness swept its way through him. The last thing he wanted was for Gia to end up coated in filth like Alexa was, even if it helped the overall cause. She came first. They’d lost so much time together with things unsaid. He wouldn’t lose her to anything else. Not ever.

  Still, he kept quiet. Ranting and raving wouldn’t solve this and he didn’t know yet if it was a problem. Colin wasn’t afraid to charge into battle. But he wasn’t an idiot about it.

  There wasn’t an enemy here he could fight.

  Alexa spoke again. “We can follow the trail a little bit. Like— see if it comes in the same way. If it’s refracted. There could be all kinds of ways to do this. Don’t be lazy ’Rina.”

  “Lazy?” Marina whirled around, getting in Alexa’s face. “Don’t call me lazy.”

  “Hey!” Leonardo yelled, but they all ignored him.

  Colin rolled his eyes. The good feelings were clearly on their way out of the group. Angry, and on their way to exchanging blows was much more of the Outsider trademark move.

  Alexa lifted her eyebrows. She looked bored, but that didn’t mean she was. The woman had always been strong in a fight and now, as kept being pointed out, she was coated in demon filth. “I’ll call you lazy when you’re being lazy. You’re not using your full power. I shouldn’t be better at this than you are. Gia had the right idea. Trace the fucking magic. I can figure out how to do this in an instant if I need to. So use your brain and stop being a diva.”

  All right, this was about to come to blows. Drew put himself in front of Marina and Colin rolled his eyes. Maybe there was a time when Drew could have stood up to Alexa, but those days were long over. To Colin’s utter annoyance, Leonardo was suddenly standing in front of Alexa, nose-to-nose with Drew.

  “Fucking stop it,” Colin’s voice boomed into the room and it seemed to get everyone’s attention. “We’re getting away from the point. Alexa if you can trace the magic do so. Marina if you can, go ahead. I don’t give two shits, but before we lose this chance get it done and stop grandstanding. I can punch out Sebastian when he’s non corporeal. Don’t make me show you what I can do your faces, Drew and Leonardo. Everyone stand down.”

  Alexa walked over to Gia, “Take my hand.”

  “No,” Marina practically snarled. “Take mine.”

  “Ladies.” Colin hated to point out the obvious. “You need to track two magical events to two different people. Eden needs one of you.”

  His love winked at him. What did that mean? Confusion passed through him followed by a cool, gentle breeze.

  Don’t be worried. I winked at you because, as per usual, you are solving everyone’s problems and no one noticed. You always do that. Well, someone noticed. I mean, other than me.

  He still wasn’t used to talking to her like this. It really was soothing. Oh. I thought maybe I’d done something wrong.

  Marina walked over to Eden, which left Alexa with Gia. Colin should be worried about it, considering how volatile she could be. Except—she seemed more like herself. He wasn’t sure what had happened to change that, but this was the closest he’d seen Alexa back to who he used to know. Gia didn’t seem worried.

  You okay?

  Alexa grinned. “I need to chase magic so you two stop talking in each other’s heads. It’s messing with my radar.”

  Gia’s face pinked and it was the single most adorable thing he’d ever seen. He shouldn’t be so turned on that she blushed but everything about her was just perfection. She’d hate that. He hoped he wasn’t projecting these thoughts considering Alexa could clearly either hear them or feel them.

  Marina gasped. “I can actually see it.”

  He waited for the I told you so from Alexa but it didn’t come. Everyone in the room intently watched as Marina’s eyes widened. “Eden’s was a dark light…” Marina grimaced. “She has many directives coming to her, or she did. She has nothing now. Some of them come from one source, the other a different one. You were right, Gia. Good work with this. This last one was not an okay source.”

  Alexa nodded. “And Gia’s was. White light. The ancestors speaking to her didn’t want that map because it would have led us down the wrong path. But… sometimes you also hear the bad path. In fact,” Alexa turned around, “you all do. Light and dark. Except for me. I’m only dark. That’s not surprising. I am evil, after all.”

  She wasn’t that. He’d bet…

  The building shook hard and they all tilted left as Futon started barking loudly. Loraine cried out the word demons before they all fell to the ground. Colin got to Gia fast. He hadn’t been close enough to reach her before. Another way he’d failed.

  She grabbed onto his arm. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. Demons? That’s got to be The Father or Sebastian.”

  Everyone was talking, but it was Loraine who had Colin’s attention. “Demons. Zombies.”

  The door to the house flew open and the monsters they all hated rushed through. Colin grabbed Gia. She didn’t have offensive powers, not really. “Stay back,” he ordered her and hoped that she listened. Chances were fifty-fifty.

  He rushed forward, lining himself up next to Zane, who had ripped a zombie’s heart out. That was one of his gifts.

  But Colin had his own and if it worked on Sebastian, it would work on these things too. Lightning struck down from the sky, scorching several of them as Kal jacked his powers up to full power. Christophe vanished and reappeared behind one of the zombies, twisting his head to the side to kill him. They’d all have to be burned and Colin knew Raquel would do that.

  But these demon creatures? They were new.

  What were they supposed to…?

  Colin, something is happening.

  He jumped back. If Gia needed him than…

  His love lifted her hands in the air and then out to her sides. She sucked in a breath before black shadows exited her fingertips. A horrified look crossed her face before she smiled.

  Gia?

  It feels… good

  He turned to watch where the shadows went as he digested what she said. There were shadows coming out of her hands and that felt good. Okay… well, that was better than hurting. The demon army roared before they shivered violently, the black substance coating their bodies until they were covered in it. Seconds later, the demon army was gone, dissolved into the floor as though they were nothing other than black puddles.

  The zombies weren’t stopped but everyone stopped to stare at the black remnants of the demon army.
Fire flooded the room but didn’t burn them. The Outsiders were immune to Raquel’s powers. Colin backed up, grabbing on Gia.

  The shadows were gone and she clung to Colin, shaking like a leaf.

  “Are you okay?”

  Her teeth chattered. “I’m okay. That was… intense. What happened? I shot shadows out of my fingers.”

  “Those are the shadow powers. They said they were going to help. I don’t exactly know what that means right now.”

  The zombies were gone. The whole battle had been very fast and won by Raquel and Gia. He’d never doubted how tough the Outsider women were, but he understood something in a heartbeat—if this was to be won, it would be the ladies who would win it. They’d never understood that before. They’d spent years shoving them in the back, and keeping them protected.

  But they were going to save them all.

  He blinked. That was deep and not helpful at the moment. “Where the fuck did those things come from?”

  Leonardo shouted to the group, “Everyone outside. Now!”

  Colin didn’t love to be yelled at, but he did want to know what their leader was going to say. Raquel wobbled, but in Zane’s embrace she made it outside. In the sunlight, they stared at each other. Why had they come outside? Maybe Leonardo had just wanted to get out of the place where they’d just been attacked.

  When they got out there, Colin saw what Leonardo must have suspected. They were surrounded. The monsters were everywhere.

  They had thought to take one day off, but they hadn’t been prepared for this. The ancestors were blocked and so were the demonic voices that had taken over for a while. They were on their own. They hadn’t been prepared for it, and the final battle had started.

  The Father had brought the fight right to them.

  “Alexa,” Leonardo said her name and she stepped up next to him. Colin didn’t know what those two had to say to one another, but he knew enough to understand the prophecy had been very clear: they needed to be in love for the Outsiders to win. They absolutely were not.

  But prophecy could kiss Colin’s ass. He’d just gotten Gia back. He wasn’t losing her.