Embraced by Embers

by Kasey Mackenzie

  And I’d just have to damn well ignore the guilt that I was about to sanitize Detective Abrams’ mind the way someone else had his case files…

  Dia and Nic showed no judgment when I silently told them what I planned or when I carried that plan out. We bid a bemused-looking Detective Abrams farewell, leaving him convinced that we’d been a group of high school youth all grown up who had wanted to thank him for solving the murder case of an old friend of ours. It had the added benefit of actually being true. Because all three of us damned well knew who the most likely culprit was.

  Daddy Dearest’s precious Flower Lily.

  Chapter 11

  The very person we’d left back at the house with plans to go shopping under the watch of Rhianne and precious few other Elementals. All of whom I trusted but none of whom could channel Spirit. Lily claimed to be weak in that element, but what if she’d lied? The way it seemed she had lied about many other things.

  The realization she had most likely cold-bloodedly murdered two young teens who had barely begun to live—one of whom had suffered life with abusive foster parents—hurt like hell. The fact they’d been our flesh and blood made it even worse. I felt like I’d failed them somehow, even though I’d been a college student who hadn’t even known they existed at the time of their murders. Hell, I hadn’t known I was an Elemental either, so would have been no use against even a younger sibling like Lily if I had known about them.

  Liam and Jake sensed our grimness the moment we settled in the SUV. Jake claimed my hand and kissed it, pulling me close in the back seat so Dia could clamber in next to me and slam the door shut. I saw Liam take Nic’s hand in similar fashion. I managed a small smile at the open display of affection, but then I glanced at Jake and the smile faded as we began relating all we had learned.

  Liam’s speed increased the farther along into the tale we got. Nic set a hand upon his arm and murmured something that had Liam letting off the gas slightly. Probably pointing out that getting pulled over for speeding would only slow us down.

  “I’m going to contact Rhianne telepathically to make sure she’s okay.”

  Liam’s foot eased off the pedal a little more, and Jake pressed a kiss upon my forehead. “Be careful,” he cautioned. “We don’t know how powerful Lily actually is in Spirit, seeing that she’s lied since we first met her.”

  My lips twisted grimly. “You mean after we revived her supposedly reluctant ass at the monastery? God, I can’t believe we let her play us like this. I mean, even though we all knew she could be lying, we still put her in a position where she could take Rhianne hostage. And Rhi does not deserve to go through that shit again!”

  Surprisingly, Liam was the one to reassure me. “We all knew what we were getting into; we all bear responsibility. And we had no choice. Better the spy you suspect than risking missing the one you don’t. Now get a hold of yourself and check on our sister!”

  I let out a choked laugh and squeezed my eyes shut. Dia leaned into my right side the way Jake held me from the left. I let out a sigh and patted Dia on the leg. Thank god he’d sent me one non-psychotic sister and brother to help fight the ones who were fighting for Team Evil.

  Spirit sucked me under at my call, and I hurtled through glittery black bands of magic with an image of Rhianne locked into my mind. Only to slam into a barrier preventing me from locking onto her psyche just the way Drew had kept me from finding Nic days earlier. At least I’d always assumed that had been Drew’s doing.

  My eyes flashed open, and I cursed a blue streak. The mood in the SUV grew even more tense as Dia said, “You can’t get through to her, can you?”

  “No. Fuck!” I spat out a few more curses that did nothing to make me feel better.

  Nic let out an uncharacteristic expletive of his own. “Can’t this thing go any faster, babe?”

  That complete 180 from his earlier calm request had Dia and me letting out inadvertent giggles that we quickly cut off. I shot a guilty look at Jake, but he had a smile playing about his lips despite the worry for Rhianne that pulsed across our bond.

  Liam sent a cheeky grin in Nic’s direction and said, “Hell yeah it can! And we are going to get our sister back, because that’s what we damned well do!”

  Since I couldn’t lock onto Rhianne, I channeled Spirit into a concealing firewall so we could speed without repercussion. No police officers or radar guns would be able to detect us. Of course, that also meant other drives couldn’t see us. Given that the firewall tended to repel non-Spirit users—and that Liam’s driving skills rivalled Evel Knievel’s—that didn’t prove an insurmountable problem.

  We squealed back into the Victorian’s driveway in half the time it had taken to reach the Abramses house. Melody and Theo ran out of the kitchen and through the connected garage as the door slid up, looking disheveled and all kinds of pissed off. My heart sank at the sight, and I clenched my fists.

  “They’re gone!” Theo burst out, visibly seething with rage. “Both Lily and Rhianne.”

  “We got back from clothes shopping about an hour ago and had an early lunch,” Melody chimed in. “Someone put sedatives in our damned food, and we only just woke up.”

  That gave me pause for a moment. Why would a cold-blooded murderer who hadn’t batted an eyelash at beheading her own siblings merely sedate the guardians set upon her? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to just kill them while they slept rather than risk them giving chase? I voiced those fears out loud.

  Theo looked even more pissed off. “We knew it had to be Lily. What’s weird is that we woke up so much sooner than the others, who are all still deep asleep in the kitchen and living room.”

  We ran into the house to check on our Clanmates. I went straight to the sedated food while the others made sure everyone would be okay. The first thing that caught my eye was that the food had been tampered with using more than just drugs. Glittery black shards floated around every single plate. I checked the stove, and the huge pot of pasta there also crawled with Spirit.

  Melody and Dia stepped over to see what had me so fixated. I directed a question to Melody. “So who prepared lunch?”

  She scrunched up her face in thought and then said, “Rhianne and Lily, although mostly Lily. Rhianne made the salad and breadsticks.”

  “And Lily made the pasta,” I finished.

  Dia stared at me intently. “How’d you know that already?”

  “Because,” I replied with an angry glare at the food. “The pasta pot and all the uneaten pasta are crawling with shards of Spirit.”

  Jake walked up and shook his head. “And only Lily could channel Spirit among this group. Fuck!”

  “I don’t know what I was thinking leaving her alone with them. I knew she was hiding things. She should have had a Spirit user with her at all times! We should have brought Riku or Colin with us.”

  Dia cast me a frustrated look. “Don’t take all this onto yourself. Having a Spirit user here wouldn’t have saved anyone.”

  I wrapped my arms around myself and maintained my surly expression. “What makes you so sure of that?”

  “Because she was smart enough to use drugs and magic. And she’s obviously way stronger in Spirit than she claimed.”

  “I have a question,” Nic called from the living room. “Has she been acting on her own or been in cahoots with Drew this whole time?”

  Jake frowned. “Excellent question. Did they act together to murder your siblings out of jealousy or fear of their abilities to channel Spirit? Or is she trying to pull of some sort of coup of her own?”

  I arched my brows. “You mean some sort of last person standing kind of thing? Trying to get Drew and me to take each other out so she’s the only Mindbending heir to Garrett’s throne?”

  “That would make a whole lot of sense.” Dia let out a whistle. “If we assume she acted alone to kill Mariana and Simon, then pretended to be too weak at channeling Spirit to challenge Drew, she’s used to manipulating things from the shadows.”

  Nic
nodded. “And even if she is actually stronger in Spirit than she let on, she could still be weaker than Drew and Cass. So playing you two off each other is a stroke of genius.”

  But why did she take Rhianne?” I burst out, grabbing the chair back in front of me to have something to steady myself as acid burned in my stomach. “And why didn’t Theo and Melody sleep as long as the others?”

  Liam fielded that one. “That answer is actually pretty obvious. The Spirit-laced drugs didn’t affect them as strongly because they’re liegesworn.”

  My eyes widened, and I let out an impressed breath. “That makes perfect sense!”

  Jake pursed his lips. “I assume she used drugs and Spirit because she had no idea how long we would be out on our errand. And she knows you better now, Cass. Killing your guards when she could just disable them and run makes you likely to be more reasonable when she makes whatever demand she has.”

  “Plus it’s delaying us longer than finding them dead would have,” Dia pointed out. “We stopped to check on them rather than rushing right back out to search for Rhianne.”

  “What good would that even do?” I asked with a bitter edge. “She’s blocking my ability to connect with Rhianne on the psychic plane. And we don’t have a specific location for me to check like when those mercs took Nic. There’s no telling where they could be by now!”

  Jake slung an arm across my shoulder to comfort me, and I gave myself a moment to rest my head against him. But then I reminded myself that Rhianne was his sister, and they both deserved me to stay strong and figure out how to help fix this mess.

  I shook my head. “Sorry for the self-pity. Let’s look at things logically. What spooked Lily enough to run off when she did?”

  Jake squeezed my shoulders and dropped his arm. “Assuming leaving when she did wasn’t part of her master plan.”

  I clicked my tongue a few times and then shook my head again. “Intuition tells me this was spontaneous. Especially given that she didn’t have enough sedatives to kill everyone when she dumped it into the food. Do you think she heard us talking about investigating the murders?”

  “No,” Liam’s voice echoed from down the hallway as he came toward the kitchen from the direction of Jake’s office. “I think she hacked her way into the computer and pulled up most of the research Nic and I hacked into last night.”

  I groaned. “Well, that would certainly do the spooking-off trick. But why did she take Rhianne? Other than the obvious option that she wants to force me into taking Rhianne back.”

  Jake rolled his eyes. “Because that worked so well for your father last time.”

  Pressure suddenly built inside my mind, its crushing power inspiring to grasp at the chair in front of me to avoid falling. “S—someone’s trying to invade my mind.”

  Jake swept me into his arms to make sure I didn’t bust my ass. “Can you hold them off?”

  I opened my mouth to respond only to have the physical world shoved away with terrifying force. ((Cass. It’s Lily. I don’t have much time. Memorize these precise instructions or Rhianne will die.))

  ((If you hurt her, so help me God, I will rip you apart with both magic and my bare hands!))

  Damn, so much for my plan to keep cool and negotiate like a pro.

  ((Shut up and listen!)) Lily demanded. ((I can’t hold this link long. You need to come to the store where you met Isaac to save Rhianne.))

  ((And the fact you know where I met Isaac isn’t the slightest bit suspicious. Why are you holding Rhianne hostage there?))

  ((You suck at following directions, big sister. Rhianne has at best four hours to live where she’s being held. I will wait as long as I can, but you better get here quick.))

  Before I could respond, her presence left my mind. I gasped and opened my eyes to find everyone’s eyes focused on me. Jake still cradled me into his arms, but he gently set me down when I gave him a Look.

  “That was Lily. She said Rhianne will die in four hours if I don’t come to the store where I met Isaac. She said...she said she’d wait as long as she could but that I’d better hurry.”

  “It’s a trap,” Jake pointed out mildly.

  I rolled my eyes. Of course it is. They’re always traps. We just have to outsmart and/or outgun the trap.”

  Dia gave a sudden fierce grin. “That is one of our specialties.”

  Nic stepped forward with the light of battle in his eyes. “We have reinforcements available at a moment’s notice. All we have to do is figure out how to wake them up quickly. And then we go kick a whole lot of ass.”

  Liam edged up to Nic’s side and took my brother’s hand. Jake’s brother had grown steadily more comfortable with public displays of affection.

  “I know how your mind seems to work the best when those you love are in danger, Cass. We can do this. And this time, you don’t have to come up with the plan all on your own.”

  “And you will not be going in alone this time, either,” Jake drawled.

  I could tell by their tones and the emotions filtering through the mate bond that both were referring to the last time I’d had to run in to rescue Rhianne. Garrett and Keith had held her hostage at the same abandoned warehouse where Daddy Dearest had first murdered me. They’d given me barely an hour to surrender, so Jake’d had no choice but to send me in alone while he went for backup. I’d also been woefully under-trained in using my Fire abilities—and not yet aware of my Mindbending gifts.

  This time, I was more prepared in all ways. Hopefully it would be enough. It’d have to be.

  “All right. Let’s wake these Sleeping Beauties up and come up with a plan. We need to be on the road in an hour. Rhianne is counting on us, and we will not let her down.”

  Chapter 12

  Turned out that she didn’t let us down when all was said and done.

  Jake and I retraced our steps of months ago, passing through the same rusted metal door that squealed when we opened it. Not much else had changed, either. Same gloomy storeroom giving way to an equally dim hallway that crawled with cockroaches and the occasional scurrying rat. Locked doors lined the hall and unpleasant odors permeated the air around us. I assumed the Freeholders kept this area deliberately disgusting to discourage humans from exploring. The actual store area wasn’t nearly so smelly or pest-infested.

  I kept my breathing as quiet as possible while we crept along the hallway. We’d decided to conserve my energy for helping get us out of any shit we came across later rather than concealing our approach with Spirit now. Besides, we wanted to serve as the main attraction to hopefully disguise the fact our reinforcements were surrounding the place. Emergency lights lined the floor along the hall, and red Exit signs illuminated the door we’d come through as well as the one leading into the store that we now approached. The only sounds were the old building settling and air conditioning kicking on in the vents around us. Goosebumps pricked my flesh as intuition kicked in again.

  ((Rhianne is nearby! I can sense her now.))

  ((What about Lily?)) Jake asked.

  I sent a tiny thread of Spirit questing, but the only psyche I could feel was Rhianne’s. (All I can tell is that Rhianne’s in there somewhere, and she feels unconscious. Lily probably kept her unconscious with Spirit when those sedatives wore off. Just like with Nic.))

  ((Okay. Well, at least we know Rhianne’s alive. You ready for this?))

  I arched a brow and gave a cool smile. ((Liam said it himself. I work best under pressure. Now let’s do this!))

  He channeled Earth to form a shield around us, and I shoved open the door. Dim light glowed from above, illuminating about half as strongly as they would have during the day. A cavernous room spread out hundreds of feet both left, right, and straight ahead. Countless shelves and hanging racks were littered with everything from ancient weapons and shields to modern gadgets, clothing, and ingredients for magical spells. The smells in here were much more fragrant, generated mostly by candles, food, and herbs.

  A low, throaty laugh sounded from
across the room, and my pulse skittered.

  I whipped my gaze to the counter across the room, only to be struck by intense déjà vu. A blonde-haired, brown-eyed woman with a generous bosom leaned against the counter, saucy smile on her face. Only this blonde wasn’t the one I’d been expecting. Instead, it was the same woman who had been here the day I’d met Isaac. Zoe Stevens, convicted Freeholder criminal and brand-new plaything of Dorian Garcia.

  She let out another husky laugh and pushed to her feet. “Is that really what you think? That I’m that gorgeous but weak-ass man’s plaything? You definitely have our roles reversed.”

  I must have said that out loud. My brain stuttered as it tried to catch up. I did the only thing I could: stall for time. Guess this really is like the last time we came to Rhianne’s rescue…

  “Where’s Rhianne?

  Zoe nodded to the office area behind her. “She’s having a catnap in my new office. Don’t worry your pretty little head, though. She’s comfy as can be. And for the moment, she’s in no danger.”

  Jake shifted slightly, drawing Zoe’s attention. Hunger swept across her face, quickly replaced by impassivity. A false mask, I was willing to bet. Just like so much else about her seemed to be. And I wasn’t talking about her chest.

  He managed to keep his voice gentle enough. “Best for you if she stays that way.”

  Her voice became slightly wistful. “Oh, Jake. You have no idea how much I wish you would have just chosen me. It would have made things so much easier. And more enjoyable. Just know I have no desire to hurt Rhianne, and I won’t. Provided you give me what I want.”

  He arched a brow. “And just what is it you want?”

  She smiled and gave another little laugh. “It’s more of a who really.” When Jake slanted a glance at me, she shook her head. “Oh no, not her. At least not this time. No, my quarry is the one person standing between me and my rightful place. Lily.”