Libra Ascending: An Epic Urban Fantasy Romance (Zodiac Guardians Book 1)

by Tamar Sloan

  Brielle’s weight is back to normal and she scrambles to Tristan, and both of them stare in amazement as the flesh of Chardis’s cheek, neck, hand, begin to char from the inside out.

  “What’s happening?” Chardis shrieks, flicking a sneer at Brielle.

  “Your judgement,” Brielle says, her shoulders rising and falling with each starving breath.

  Chardis’s face twists into a hideous snarl. “This is far from over, Guardians!”

  The space behind him ripples and warps into a strange sphere that distorts the images beyond it. Before Brielle can make a move, he steps into it and blinks out of sight, the ripple smoothing immediately after.

  “What the—” Brielle jumps to her feet and runs to the space where he disappeared. “Where did he go?”

  “I think it was a wormhole,” Tristan says, shakily climbing to his feet as well.

  “Do you think the penance burn will kill him?” she asks, adrenaline still galloping through her veins as her lungs adjust to their full capacity.

  “I really don’t know, but I doubt it.” He stumbles close, tripping and grasping her shoulder for support. “What happened? I thought you said your power didn’t work on the Skins.”

  “It didn’t.” She shakes her head in confusion, looking around at the dead Skins that surround them. “They felt no guilt, so there was nothing to amplify. I think because they weren’t acting of their own volition. You said they are possessed or infected or something, right?”

  He nods, catching his own breath as well. “So your power doesn’t work on the Skins because they aren’t in control of themselves and feel no remorse. But Chardis did?”

  “It was subtle and buried deep, but the weight of it was atomizing,” she explains. “He’s done so many horrible things, and I saw all of it.” A shudder runs up her spine, and pressure builds behind her eyes of tears she’s not ready to shed. “He’s a monster.”

  Tristan looks down at the lifeless shells of his parents. “Yes, he is.”

  The tears she fights to keep inside push even harder to be set free. “I’m so sorry, Tristan.” There are a million things she wants to say, but she knows that none of them will ease his pain.

  He continues to stare at them for a long moment, then turns away and sniffles. “We’ll take them back with us, give them a proper burial. They don’t deserve to be disposed of by the Skins.”

  She nods, and her eyes find Cassandra. “Cassandra, too. She may have been a bit of a witch, but she didn’t deserve this.”

  Brielle kneels over the body of her rival and brushes the matted blonde hair away from her bruised and cracked face. Why didn’t she try harder to make amends with Cassandra? If they had stayed friends, Adalind wouldn’t have been able to blindside them. Cassandra might still be alive. Brielle can’t forget all the nasty things Cassandra’s done since she got adopted, but things didn’t have to be that way. Maybe she should have told Cassandra about her powers long ago. The powers that are not a curse as she thought, but a gift, a true way to protect those she loves. She’s been so wrong, about so many things.

  Cassandra’s chest rises ever so slightly.

  Is she breathing?

  Brielle moves her fingers around Cassandra’s neck to find her pulse, and sure enough the artery drums a weak beat.

  “She’s alive!” she shouts, waving Tristan over. “Cassandra’s alive!”

  Please don’t let it be too late to save her.

  29

  Tristan

  Tristan reaches Cassandra’s side just as Brielle does. He ignores the ache that seems to have woven itself through his ribs. It flares hot and hard with each breath, but he doesn’t care.

  Cassandra might be alive.

  They both kneel beside her, their breath held as they wait to see whether Cassandra has any of her own.

  Yes! There it is! The slightest rise of her chest.

  Tristan falls back on his haunches. “She’s been paralyzed.”

  Brielle gasps. “What? How?”

  “Poison. The Skins have used it on me before.” Tristan looks around. “There’s an antidote. One of these guys will have it.”

  Ready to use in case they wanted to interrogate Cassandra again.

  Tristan stands, gritting his teeth as his head swims. “You stay with her, I’ll find it.”

  He only has to go through the jacket pockets of two Skins before he finds it, relieved that it’s in a syringe. Obviously the Skins needed it to be ready.

  Brielle’s holding Cassandra’s hand, watching her closely. “What she must’ve gone through…”

  “If she’s lucky, she won’t remember.”

  Uncapping the syringe, Tristan hesitates. All this first aid stuff was always Tess’s domain. He’s never injected anything into anyone.

  But Cassandra’s breathing is barely there. He doesn’t have a choice.

  Not when Zarius and Tess are…gone.

  Tristan welcomes the stab of pain at his sharp intake of breath. It’s only a fraction of the agony that’s going to hit him when he finally allows himself to think.

  Knowing he needs to do this, Tristan pierces the skin of Cassandra’s arm with the needle and injects the antidote.

  Sitting back, he lets out a breath. “Now, we hope to hell it works.”

  Brielle’s hands flutter over Cassandra. “She’ll just...wake up?”

  If Tristan’s right, she will. “That’s the plan. The antidote worked pretty fast when…when Tess gave it to me. She was so good at that kind of stuff.”

  Talking about her in the past tense suddenly is far more piercing than he’d ever imagined.

  Brielle nods, her eyes soft with understanding. “They both loved you very much.”

  Tristan looks away. They both died for him.

  Brielle sighs. “It’s probably a good thing Cassandra’s not a Zodiac Guar—”

  Tristan shakes his head vehemently. “When I was paralyzed, I could still hear everything.”

  She clamps her mouth shut. And Brielle thought she had secrets before…

  From the corner of his eye, Tristan sees Cassandra’s fingers twitch. She’s starting to wake, which means they have to get her out of here before she sees the graveyard of bodies around them.

  Including Zarius and Tess.

  Clenching his jaw as he shoves away that thought, Tristan scoops Cassandra up. He can try and process that when this is all over.

  Try to figure out how the hell he’s going to keep moving forward.

  Brielle holds the door open and Tristan carries Cassandra out, striding away from the warehouse of death and toward his truck. Outside, it’s still dark and quiet. Tristan looks around, wondering how everything can still look the same.

  Not when everything’s changed.

  Cassandra stirs in his arms and he looks down, finding her eyes fluttering open. Tristan stops, waiting to see what they’ll be dealing with.

  Her blue eyes groggily blink up at him. “Tristan?” Her hand lifts, brushing his cheek as if she needs to make sure he’s real.

  “Yeah, it’s me. You’re safe now.”

  Cassandra’s brows crinkle, her body twitching as sensation returns. She’s probably going to be sore in a whole lot of places, and yet he can’t tell her she’s lucky to be alive.

  “I…” She swallows. “They…”

  “We’re going to take you home.”

  Cassandra’s eyes widen. “We?”

  Brielle steps in, her face soft with reassurance. “It’s only the three of us. Like Tristan said, you’re safe now.”

  Cassandra stiffens. Her blue eyes shoot to Brielle before returning to Tristan. “You can put me down now.”

  Lowering her gently, Tristan releases her slowly, making sure she doesn’t collapse. Her body wouldn’t be used to seeing such violence.

  But Cassandra locks her knees. She throws back her shoulders.

  Then narrows her gaze at Brielle. “Just before they…” She shakes her head. “They said your name. They asked me
about you.”

  Brielle takes a step back. “I’m so sorry you had to go through this, Cassandra.”

  She takes a step forward, her body vibrating with anger. “I should’ve known you were somehow involved in this. Did you ask them to take me?”

  Brielle gasps. “No, I’d never do that. I—”

  Tristan steps around to face Cassandra. “We went for a drive and found you beside the road, unconscious. Despite what’s happened in the past, Brielle would never wish this on you.”

  Cassandra’s hands are clenched by her sides and it takes her a couple of seconds to tear her gaze away from Brielle.

  Who’s right. It’s a good thing Cassandra’s not a Zodiac Guardian. Brielle was probably thinking that her violent introduction to their world would leave scars. That Cassandra’s perfect world would have been turned upside down.

  But right now, Tristan’s realizing they don’t need that sort of conflict in their fledgling ranks. The Zodiac Guardians’ strength is as a team. Cassandra and Brielle’s history will only fracture that.

  Tristan grasps her arm, in part to keep her focus on him, in part because Cassandra’s trembling is morphing into shaking. He asks his question slowly, knowing her answer is going to make all the difference. “What do you remember, Cassandra?”

  “I… I was walking back from track training. There were men…” She closes her eyes then opens them again. “And then I woke up here.”

  Tristan watches her closely. “That’s all?”

  Cassandra lifts her hand to her temple, frowning. “That’s all I remember.”

  Relief that something’s finally gone right floods Tristan. They don’t have a civilian on their hands who they have to explain why they were tortured and interrogated. That words like Zodiac and Guardian are more than science fiction. In fact, it’s possible the Skins wiped her memory themselves in an effort to cover their tracks.

  Tristan wraps an arm around her shoulder. “Come on, let’s get you home. Your parents are probably worried.”

  Cassandra nods mutely, allowing Tristan to lead her to his truck. She climbs in the back seat and curls up, her eyes fluttering closed.

  Tristan and Brielle glance at each other. Sleep is probably the best thing for Cassandra right now.

  They drive back quietly, not wanting to wake her. As they pull up the wide driveway to park outside the large, double story mansion, Tristan frowns. No lights are on, there’s no movement.

  The monster-sized house is asleep, even though Cassandra has been missing for hours.

  Cassandra wakes as the truck comes to a stop. “I’ll walk the rest of the way.” She opens the door, moving stiffly but determinedly.

  Tristan jumps out, glancing at Brielle to let her know it’s probably best if she stays in the car. Coming around, he grabs Cassandra as one of her knees gives out. “Your mom is going to ask some questions.”

  Cassandra snorts. “She’s overseas.” Flicking back a strand of matted hair, she angles her chin. “A shower, some strategic makeup, and no one will know.”

  Tristan has to keep his eyebrows from hiking up. It’s not the response he expected from her. At the same time, if she’s going to act like this never happened, that’s a good thing.

  He nods. “Okay. But if you get dizzy or anything, you’ll need to see someone.”

  Cassandra’s lips tip up. “I will. Thanks, Tristan.”

  Shrugging, he allows himself a smile. “Good thing I was at the right place, at the right time.” Releasing her arm, Tristan’s glad to see Cassandra stays steady. “Get some rest.”

  “I will.” With a flicker of her fingers, she turns away, limping toward the house. Instead of walking through the front door though, Cassandra turns left and disappears down the side of the house.

  Climbing back in the truck, Tristan sits and waits, although he’s not sure what for.

  He doesn’t want lights turning on in any of those multitude of windows—it would mean Cassandra has to explain her injuries. Cassandra having to think harder about what happened to her.

  And why.

  But the house remains dark. Meaning no one’s going to be there to help Cassandra wash away the blood. To tsk tsk over the bruises. To tuck her in and reassure her she’s safe.

  “Do you think she’ll be okay?” Brielle asks quietly.

  Tristan sighs, starting the truck again. “It seems she’s tougher than she looks.”

  The drive back to the warehouse is silent. Heavy with the knowledge of what has to happen next.

  Lifting Zarius and Tess’s bodies. Putting them in the back of the truck like they have with Skins in the past.

  Wondering how he’s going to explain their disappearance.

  Trying to forge a life without them.

  But Tristan slows as they reach the final rise before the warehouse. Instinctively, he cuts the headlights.

  Brielle leans forward, having seen it, too.

  A soft glow rises into the black night, punctured by flashes of red and blue. His hands tightening around the steering wheel, Tristan creeps the truck to the top of the hill and stops.

  “Dammit,” he mutters.

  Several police cars have surrounded the warehouse, their lights flashing. Beside them, a single black car is parked.

  Brielle frowns. “Does that car say FBI?”

  Tristan works hard to carve out a short, sharp nod. His body feels like it’s turned to stone. “Yeah, you read it right.”

  He scans the bodies moving in and out of the warehouse, quickly finding what he’s looking for. The tall, thin frame. The balding head.

  The nose poking around where it shouldn’t be.

  Tristan allows the truck to roll back, his mind screaming for him to go down there. To be able to say goodbye to the two people who were his world.

  Who he now has to face his future without.

  Brielle grabs the dash as if she’s having problems letting go, too. “But—"

  “We can’t go down there. The feds will ask too many questions.”

  “Oh, Tristan,” Brielle breathes, realizing what this means.

  Tristan looks away, preferring to keep his gaze on the black night rather than the movement and lights. “It’s probably better this way. I’ll get a knock on the door. They’ll get a proper burial. I won’t be able to answer any questions as I was never there.”

  Brielle goes quiet. She knows the truth.

  Tristan was there.

  He saw Chardis murder Zarius and Tess.

  “So, what now?” she asks, her voice tight with the pain Tristan’s feeling.

  If she were his soulmate, that would make sense.

  But she’s not.

  Tristan grits his teeth. “I’ll drop you off at the orphanage then head back to my house and wait.”

  Cassandra is home safe, with no memory of what happened.

  They now know Brielle is the Libra, a Zodiac Guardian.

  Chardis is gone…for now.

  With a heavy sigh, Tristan allows the truck to roll back. Once they’re far enough away, he starts the engine and heads back to Mirror Point. “It’s over.”

  30

  Brielle

  The night seems so much darker as Brielle walks up the stairs of the orphanage. Her steps are heavy, and it’s not just because she was nearly crushed by hyper gravity. This is going to be her permanent place, at least until her next birthday.

  Now that she’s thrown away her chance at a family.

  But she can hardly feel that selfish loss now, knowing that Tristan’s loss is so much greater. She only lost a possible family. He lost a real one. Somehow, that sting burns deeper than anything else.

  At least she could be there for him. They may have failed to save his parents, but they discovered they have a major advantage against Chardis.

  Her powers.

  If she’d practiced more, been better prepared for the fight, she may have even defeated him tonight. She clenches her fists with the vow that the next time they face him, sh
e will.

  Then she opens the door, ready to face her solitary orphan life once more.

  “Brielle!” The voice that doesn’t belong here reaches her before she sees them standing next to Sister Agatha.

  Frank and Beatrice.

  Before Brielle has time to react, Beatrice rushes forward and wraps her in a tight embrace.

  Shock has Brielle stupefied, unable to react.

  She sees Frank’s face over Bea’s shoulder, and the emotions carved there are a mixture of concern and relief.

  “Why did you run off like that?” Bea asks, still hugging her.

  Brielle is speechless. There’s no explanation she can give that will make any sense, or excuse her disappearance.

  Frank closes in, putting a hand on her back. “We were so worried about you. We didn’t know what else to do but wait for you here.” He looks over at Sister Agatha, whose wrinkled face is fluffed in a loving smile.

  Brielle finds her voice at last, though dry and cracking as it is. “I’m so sorry for leaving like that. There’s no excuse for my behavior. I understand if you want to call off the adoption.”

  Beatrice pulls back enough to face her, a frown pinching her brows. “Oh, you sweet girl.” She shakes her head, then smiles. “It’s already done.”

  Brielle blinks and looks at each of their faces one at a time. “Wait. What?”

  “We signed the adoption papers as soon as we got here,” Frank says, looking and sounding the epitome of a father.

  Brielle’s breath catches in her throat. “R—really?”

  They nod.

  “It’s understandable that you’d freak out,” Frank says. “We shouldn’t have rushed you over to our house. It was too much too fast. But we wanted to make sure you know that you always have a home with us. You can always rely on us. We aren’t going to give up on you.”

  “Unless…you really don’t want us as your parents.” Bea’s eyes mist up as she barely gets the words out.

  Overcome with more emotions than she can name, Brielle throws her arms around Bea’s neck, letting loose the tears she’s been holding in all night. She feels Frank’s large, warm arms close around the two of them as well.