A Night of Redemption (The Redemption Saga Book 5)

by Kristen Banet

  If they survived the night and succeeded, the healer would have it.

  “Is he…” Quinn continued to hold his boy, rocking slowly.

  “He’ll live. He’ll need more attention from an actual veterinarian, but he’ll live through the night and more. I promise. Tonight, you aren’t losing a wolf. He’s just in for a long road to recovery. You’ll need to carry him for the rest of the night, just to keep him off his feet.”

  Quinn nodded, shifting to readjust the wolf’s weight. He stood up, Shade dancing around him, and held Scout with the utmost care.

  “Elijah, pull the fire down,” Jasper ordered, serious. “I think the tides shifted while we’ve been in here.”

  Elijah stood up quickly, vanquishing his flames with practically the snap of a finger. Sure enough, things looked calmer back at the Villa. Dozens of people were in handcuffs, lined up and seated, while agents walked around them.

  “It’s time to find Sawyer, then,” he realized. “And Vincent. It’s time to go end this, huh?”

  “It’s time,” Jasper agreed.

  “I can’t use my telepathy to Vincent. I have nothing,” Zander admitted. “I think even that will have me on the ground.”

  Elijah looked down at Sombra, who began to pull away from the group, always looking back. Of course she would know where her Magi was.

  “Let’s go,” he murmured, nodding to the big cat. Sombra didn’t seem like she was in a hurry, so they just followed, wondering what they would find. He reached out to Quinn after only twenty yards. “Let me, Quinn. Let me.”

  Quinn took a moment to consider the offer before gingerly handing the wolf to him. Scout was small, but he was still a wolf. Elijah held onto him, realizing just how heavy the load was. If he was having a hard time, he knew Quinn wouldn’t have been able to keep it up.

  Elijah just held on. He would carry the precious cargo. He would do the deed with Axel. He could shoulder this weight for the team. Always.

  35

  Vincent

  The earth rumbling violently told Vincent something was very wrong. Quinn. It had to be Quinn.

  “Oh fuck,” Sawyer mumbled, looking up.

  “He’s going to bring this place down on us!” Vincent yelled as the rumbling became cracks in the walls, floors, and ceiling. The Villa couldn’t withstand the sheer might of his power. There was no way.

  She grabbed him and they held onto each other. They had only been stuck by themselves in the shield for a minute, max, before this happened. They hadn’t been ready for this to happen.

  Sawyer gasped next to him. “Scout,” she said, something awful to the name. “Oh no, Scout was really hurt, Vincent. Sombra just sent it to me.”

  “Fuck.” Guilt ate at his heart for a moment. They had all come into this with clear heads, ready to win, ready to have tomorrow. He would never let it go if one of them, even one of the animals, didn’t make it.

  Pieces of the ceiling started to come down, slamming into the top of the shield, causing cracks.

  “Sawyer, it’s about to break - then we need to move before everything comes down.”

  “We’re going to have to leave them,” she told him, nodding down to the men on the floor, bleeding and weak. There were way too many of them for her to sublimate on her own and he didn’t have the sheer power to make that happen.

  “We won’t tell him,” Vincent whispered. “Do you understand me? He can’t know.”

  “I understand. I don’t want these guys to haunt him.”

  He was glad she understood where he was going with that order. He didn’t want Quinn to think they were his fault. They weren’t, not if Scout was hurt. He knew how deep that soul bond went. Even the thought of losing Kaar brought him pain, an unrecognizable loneliness he didn’t want to consider.

  No, he would never hold this against the feral Magi he loved like a brother.

  Finally, the shield shattered over them. They both went into their smoke forms in a second and flew out of the back of the building as it came crumbling down. He reformed outside, coughing.

  “Sawyer, you make the decision. Do we go after Axel or check on Quinn?”

  He watched her eyes go unfocused. Her mouth opened, but it took another couple of moments for her to say anything. “Sombra is getting the guys. Scout is alive. She’s going to make sure he gets healed by Zander. They’ve got it. She wants me to go hunting.”

  “Then let’s go.” He was ready for this. He had always wondered what it was like to do things the way she did. Something about that drove him to help her find Axel when she was better suited to it.

  And he still wanted to get his hands on his brother. He needed it. For everything. For everyone. His brother deserved to go down.

  He touched the bond with Kaar, grinning as the bird showed him the direction to go. He took off running, knowing Sawyer would follow him. She kept pace easily, going through the trees like they didn’t threaten to trip her up like they did for him. Vincent was beginning to fall behind, actually. She moved with ease, sublimating, phasing, and blinking through obstacles. He felt like a floundering youth compared to her.

  He knew she was capable. He loved seeing her in action. He just felt a little put in his place. He had thought he could keep up. Now he wondered if she was being slowed down by him.

  Probably.

  Kaar sent him an image of a helicopter ahead of Axel. He ground his teeth, pushing to go faster. “He’s trying to run!”

  “He always was a coward!” she retorted, blinking even further ahead. He just followed as best he could, scared to use his sublimation to speed up. He hadn’t enjoyed the pain Axel had put him through inside. He didn’t want to take the risk.

  He knew Sawyer saw his brother first, as a roar of rage and power came from her. He hauled ass, hoping to help her before she got hurt.

  He arrived right on time to see her blinking behind Axel and delivering a swift kick to his back, sending him into the dirt. Vincent stopped himself from going after his brother, though. His eyes searched the dark and found another target, one who could come back to haunt them, and had before.

  Felix.

  Vincent sublimated now, knowing his brother was too busy with Sawyer. He flew after Felix, reforming to tackle the little man to the ground. He held one hand to the small Magi as he searched for a set of cuffs. He had Felix handcuffed before he could even put up a fight.

  “Not this time,” Vincent said to him, hauling him up. “You’re going to sit and watch this.”

  “She can’t beat him. She’ll never really beat him. He’ll win this in the end.” Felix continued to throw out praise of Axel Castello as Vincent forced him to sit down. He turned to find Sawyer flying through two trees and slamming into a third.

  “Sawyer!” he called.

  “Little brother, I’m tired of this.” Axel walked out of the dark. Vincent raised his chin in the same defiant way she always did. “Oh, you spend way too much time with her.”

  “Of course I do. She’s everything to me.”

  “She’s a slut. She’s banging your friends too.”

  “Brothers,” he corrected boldly. “She’s in love with my brothers. And they love her back.”

  The look of disgust that his brother gave him showed him all the differences Vincent had needed to truly see. Every difference between good men and an evil one. Every difference between the men he chose and the one he thought was the last.

  Vincent had family that never looked at him like that, or Sawyer, or each other.

  “Brothers? Those…boys you keep with you? Your little precious fucking team? I’m your brother!” Axel was furious, insulted. “Family, Vincent! Family first!”

  “You’ve never proven to be a good member of the family.” Vincent shook his head. “No, I found a family. They’re good men…and her.” He glanced at Sawyer as she stood up, her face dark with emotions he could only try to understand. He understood better than most, but the depth of her feelings concerning Axel was something not even V
incent could truly comprehend.

  “Children. You’re all children playing house. Playing cop. You don’t know, you’ve never known what’s important in this world. None of you.” Axel used his hands to collect and shape the air and earth together. Next water was added and the earth began to reform. A spike. “And I’m done playing games with children.”

  He flashed it with fire, hardening it in a second and launched it. Vincent dove, focusing on it with his telekinesis as he moved out of its way. He couldn’t take full control over it, not being as powerful as his brother, but he was able to send it into a tree, shattering into a million pieces.

  He righted himself, and ran for Axel, jumping a crack opening in the earth as his brother tried to trip him up.

  He watched Sawyer dive in for him, slamming Axel to the ground, cracking the shield he had around himself. Vincent was amazed she was able to keep going. With both fists, she roared and slammed them down on the shielded man. Vincent watched her be lifted and get thrown back.

  He took her place, taking Axel into the dirt when he tried to rise up. His brother had made a mistake in not making a bigger shield. Axel was never one for open combat; it had always been Vincent’s favorite thing to do. To learn to use his body and his magic in tandem to achieve a physical goal.

  No, Axel had always thought he had better things to do than that. His magic would always save him.

  They rolled in the dirt together. Axel was still in peak physical condition. Vincent had the training, though. They hit a tree and Vincent was over his brother, who smartly forced him into the tree, slamming his head. Dazed for a moment, he slid off Axel, able to feel the warm, red blood dripping down the side of his face.

  Axel connected a boot to his back as he tried to crawl away and get his bearings. Sawyer was back in the action right at that moment, lunging and stopping him from delivering more abuse.

  Vincent stood up slowly, dizzy. He watched as this time, she didn’t let go. She grabbed onto the shield around him at his wrists and blinked, tossing him into a tree.

  The shield shattered, and the air left Vincent’s lungs as he watched Axel throw up a wall of fire and force Sawyer away from him.

  “He’s going to burn out soon,” she yelled to him. “He’s not as deep as either of us.”

  “I know!” He needed a plan. “Sawyer!”

  “What?”

  “Get angry.” He hoped she understood his meaning, and she did. She turned back to the man they had to defeat and everything near her became frosted in the cold Italian night. It flooded his sense of everything. He could feel the cold, and only the cold.

  And he sublimated, gently shifting into the form even as his rational mind told him it was a gamble. Vincent didn’t like gambles.

  This one just made sense.

  Sawyer continued to try and attack his brother head on, daggers drawn and ready for war.

  “Why didn’t you wear your mask, Sawyer? You were always better at being a shadow than a real person.”

  “Because you get to be afraid of me tonight,” she answered from beyond flames before blinking back in. It was quickly becoming a battle of how many times she could throw herself. Vincent crept closer.

  “Where’s my brother? He’s hiding around you, isn’t he? Using your magic as a distraction?”

  Vincent mentally began to curse; he was within only a few feet of Axel. The flames had been no obstacle. Now he just needed to make it the remaining distance. He reformed right behind his brother, reaching for his spare cuffs. They had all carried multiple pairs for this night, just in case.

  Axel spun, eyes wide. Sawyer wrapped her arms around his, holding him there, in place.

  “You sneaky piece of shit,” Axel growled. “And what now? Are you going to stab me while this fucking whore holds me for you?” He tried struggling, but Vincent knew his magic was depleted, or close to it. He formed a shield and Sawyer broke it by slamming him into another tree with a quick blink, then blinked back with a dazed and panting Axel.

  Vincent said nothing as he reached for one of his brother’s wrists and snapped the handcuff on.

  His brother sneered. “Really? I’ll get out again - you know that, right? I was nice this time and let you all play. Next time, I’ll just have you killed as quickly as I can.”

  “No,” Vincent answered. He resisted the need to take one of her daggers and sink it deep in Axel’s chest. He wouldn’t do that. Not tonight. Better men. They were better men than Axel and would always work for that. Killing him now would weigh on them for the rest of their lives.

  He deserved some honor, because the team was willing to give it to him.

  Vincent pulled away and Sawyer tossed Axel to the ground. They sat in the ring of fire, hoping it would die soon. It was fueled mostly by magic, but already a few of the olive trees were catching.

  Sawyer’s eyes were unfocused when he looked at her.

  “The team,” Sawyer said, panting. “The guys are on their way. Sombra is leading them, though she’s taking her time.”

  “That’s good,” he murmured, reaching out to her. They leaned together, their foreheads touching. Once the team was here, they were going to end this together. He ignored Axel. He wasn’t going anywhere. Not this time.

  36

  Sawyer

  The fire was gone first, engulfed by the earth, along with the half a dozen trees it had jumped to. Next, she saw them. Sombra led her men to her and Vincent. Her family.

  “Isn’t it funny how the past keeps coming back?” she asked Axel as she knelt and began to scratch her beautiful cat under her jaw. “Unescapable, really. You bury the hatchet and leave the handle sticking out. A Southern American saying.”

  “Shut up,” he demanded.

  “No,” she whispered.

  “So, this is it.” Jasper looked at her sadly. “It’s time.”

  “It is,” she murmured, leaning into her jaguar. It was time. For Midnight. For Henry. For James. For everyone she never knew or met that had been destroyed by Axel. For families wrecked and left to bleed out from their losses. For the loss of innocence and goodness in the world.

  It was time.

  “Turn me over. Let’s get this over with.” Axel scoffed. She knew it was an act. One look at him and she saw fear in his eyes. He was playing this off like he’d been arrested again, but everyone knew better. He knew tonight he was going to die and there was nothing else.

  “Antonio, tonight you have a choice,” Vincent said as Zander hauled Axel to his feet and moved him to a clearer area.

  She stood up slowly and saw Elijah carrying poor, sleeping Scout. Jasper and Quinn didn’t move far from the cowboy either, as if they were each ready to help carry the load. Shade stayed pressed against Quinn’s leg, as if it was the only way to make sure his brother was okay. Kaar swooped down and landed on Vincent’s shoulder, a scene she’d seen now a hundred times. It was practiced and easy, in a quietly impressive way. She had wondered how Vincent got used to it, since the raven wasn’t small.

  They watched Zander push Axel back to his knees.

  “And what is that choice?” Axel finally asked. She walked closer and stayed on her feet, even though she suddenly felt tired. Elijah gingerly laid Scout next to her, walking closer. It left her with Quinn and Jasper, both hovering over the wolf. Sawyer pushed a suggestion through the bond for Sombra to go comfort them, but the jaguar denied it. She would stay with her Magi now. Images of a little black house cat.

  This was personal for her too, in a very strange, far off way.

  “Elijah will hold a sword. You will have your own. You have two options. Fall on yours or fall to Elijah’s.”

  “That’s honorable of you,” Axel bit out. “Really? Not even the WMC made me that offer. They just wanted to behead me. Not that I blame them.”

  “We’re better people than the WMC,” Elijah answered, pulling the longsword from the sheath on his back and over his shoulder. It sang a beautiful haunting note of steel and death.


  “Are you?” Axel snidely retorted. “Yet you’ll still kill a man on his knees.”

  “I’m sorry,” Elijah answered calmly. “But I won’t let you hurt anyone else by forcing them to fight you and kill you in cold blood. There’s no need for assassins. There’s no reason for brothers to kill brothers.”

  Sawyer swallowed a lump of emotion in her throat, holding back tears at those words. Vincent looked at her across the clearing. He mouthed one word.

  Anything.

  They would all do anything for each other. If that meant Elijah would bear the sword that would cut off Axel’s head, then so be it. No one would ever hold it against him.

  In the end, it was Axel’s decision after all. It was all Axel’s.

  Vincent pulled his short sword and tossed it on the earth in front of Axel. Now, only Elijah was within range to be attacked.

  Sawyer knew the cowboy would win. Axel wasn’t good with a blade. He’d always found them beneath him.

  “I’ll give you to the count of twenty,” Elijah told him as he picked up the sword and put it into position. He angled it before Axel so that all he had to do was fall forward, letting it slide into his heart. It was sharp enough that it would go easily.

  “Now?” Axel asked softly. She heard the moment of defeat. She knew in that moment that even he knew it was absolutely over. If he tried to run, he would die. If he tried to fight, he would die.

  There was no reason for a blaze of glory. The last stand of Axel Castello was already over.

  She heard Felix, further away, calling out for them to stop. He would pay them anything to not kill Axel Castello. He loved the man. She nodded to Jasper. He walked away to get Felix and drag him closer. He could have a better view of everything at the end and know there was nothing he could do about it.