by Anne Hope
Emma’s eyes glimmered with interest, an unvoiced question dangling from her lips.
“There was too much dark energy at the abduction site,” he told Eddie. “I couldn’t pick up her trail. And Emma’s signature—” he paused, venturing a glance her way, “—distracted me.”
“You can track people?” Wonder and indignation laced her tone. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“There was no point. I failed to pick up your mother’s trail.”
Her fingers closed around his arm, sending a jolt of pure electricity racing through him. “You can try again.”
“Chances are I won’t be any more successful the second time around.”
She squeezed his biceps. “Adrian, please.”
She was hitting below the belt, beseeching him with her devastating gaze, appealing to that secret part of him that simply couldn’t refuse her. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”
Night sucked whatever light remained from the day, and darkness swept in to mask the broken expression on her face, but Adrian caught it. Darkness wasn’t an impediment for him any more than walls were.
She withdrew her hand from his arm, letting it drop to her side. “Right now, hope is all I’ve got.”
Chapter Nine
Adrian tossed the backpack in the rear seat of his Tahoe, preparing to undertake the long drive to Phoenix once more. The bag was stuffed with weapons, all glazed with Emma’s blood—a butcher knife, the switchblade he’d used at the motel, and the nine-millimeter Glock he’d borrowed from Eddie. Emma had carefully coated the bullets and loaded the magazine for him, because he had absolutely no desire to come in contact with her blood again.
Just in case, he wore a turtleneck sweater beneath his favorite leather jacket. He’d also donned a pair of black leather gloves, leaving practically none of his skin exposed should a battle break out.
A few minutes ago, he’d dropped Emma off at Eddie’s, the only person he trusted to keep her safe. He’d agreed to return to Phoenix and attempt to pick up her mother’s trail only because Emma had promised to stay at the ranch. There was no way he’d allow her anywhere near Phoenix. The city was crawling with Kleptopsychs hell-bent on hunting her down like some animal.
“All set?” Eddie had crept up behind him again. Considering how fine-tuned Adrian’s senses were and how big Eddie was, that was quite a feat.
“Where’s Emma?”
“At my place, where you left her.” A teasing smile curled the Rogue’s mouth. “She’s watching the news, hoping to hear something about her mother.”
Adrian forced himself to relax. “It doesn’t feel right, leaving her behind.”
He remembered what had happened the time he’d left Angie alone at her penthouse, thinking she was safe. He’d gone off to avert a crisis instigated by the Kleptopsychs, only to learn it had been a clever diversion orchestrated by his uncle.
Kyros had taken advantage of Adrian’s absence to abduct Angie. He’d dragged her to the Manhattan Bridge, where he’d attempted to invade her mind and shatter her will to live. If Adrian had gotten to that bridge a second later, he would’ve lost her that night.
“She’ll be fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”
“I can handle the Kleptopsychs.” He patted the backpack. “I’m heavily armed.”
Eddie didn’t look convinced. “Good luck. Wish I could go with you.”
“I need you here. There’s no one else I trust to look after her.”
Eddie nodded, turned to leave. “You should’ve warned me,” he tossed over his shoulder.
“About what?”
“That she’s the spitting image of Angie.”
Adrian slammed the passenger door shut, digging into his pocket for his keys. “So I’m not the only one who sees a resemblance.”
Eddie pivoted around again. The shock on his face was unmistakable. “Are you kidding me? The woman could be Angie’s twin.” He drew his thick brows together. “Is that the way it usually goes? Do you think whoever got my old soul is walking around with my ugly mug?”
Adrian’s lips twitched with humor. “I sure hope not.”
The man jabbed him in the arm, hard, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “Jackass.”
“You asked for it.” Adrian shot a glance at the townhouse across the street, narrowing his vision to catch a glimpse of Emma. She sat on the couch, flipping through the television channels, her expression grim. “Besides, your theory makes no sense. Her soul was once mine, too, and she looks nothing like me.”
Eddie’s face sobered. “Then how do you explain the likeness?”
An uncomfortable sensation unfurled within Adrian. The truth was, he couldn’t explain Emma’s resemblance to Angie any more than he could explain her healing abilities or deadly powerful blood. “It’s probably just a coincidence.”
Eddie didn’t buy it. Adrian could see the wheels spinning in the guy’s brain. The man lived for a good mystery, which was one of the reasons he’d become a cop. “Some people say when something seems like a coincidence, it only means we’re not seeing the big picture.”
With a smirk, Adrian circled the Tahoe and prepared to take his place behind the wheel. “Don’t tell me you’ve bought into the Watchers’ ‘everything is preordained and we’ve got no control over our lives’ philosophy.”
He folded his body into the driver’s seat, anxious to hit the road. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could return to Emma. He didn’t have much faith that his little expedition would prove successful, but he owed it to her to try.
Eddie’s features hardened as he came to stand beside him. “Don’t ever compare me to those hacks. Hypocrites, all of them. They use the greater good to justify cutting people down in cold blood. I’d get in bed with the Kleptopsychs before I’d get in bed with the Watchers.”
“You don’t mean that.” Adrian knew Eddie had no love for the Watchers, but he hadn’t realized just how deep the cop’s animosity ran.
“Like hell I don’t. At least the Kleptopsychs want to see our race persist.”
Tension loomed between them as Adrian struggled to read Eddie. Was the man just letting off steam or did he believe what he was saying?
“Doesn’t it strike you as weird?” Eddie tagged on after a short pause.
“What?”
“Emma. This whole situation is giving me a bad feeling. And you know my instincts are rarely wrong.”
Eager to put an end to the conversation, Adrian shut the door and started the ignition. He opened the window and pushed his elbow through it, propping his arm on the door. “Just keep her safe for me.”
The dirt road ahead curled into the distant woods, which shivered in the moonlight. Ignoring the greasy sensation in his abdomen elicited by Eddie’s words, Adrian floored the gas pedal and speared into the night, leaving a fat cloud of dust in his wake.
Emma sat on Eddie’s couch, her legs tucked under her, only half-watching the news. So far, there hadn’t been anything about her mother, only the usual headlines: Murder in Phoenix leads to the discovery of a drug ring. Scottsdale rapist turns himself in. Man shot in an attempted burglary. The list went on and on.
Emma turned the television set off. She couldn’t bear to watch any longer. The world was going to hell, one transgression at a time, and the Kleptopsychs were to blame. The disease was spreading, the corruption growing, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Or was there? Her mother insisted that it was her destiny, her responsibility, to save humanity. Could she fight the darkness? Was she strong enough? Brave enough?
The door swung open, and Eddie joined her in the living room. The sight of him was intimidating. The man was huge, as tall as Adrian but bulkier, with a square jaw and rougher features.
“Did Adrian leave?” she asked him.
“Yup. He just took off.”
Heaviness settled at the pit of her stomach. Had it been wrong of her to ask him to track down her mother? Had she sent him to his d
eath? She’d only just met the man, and yet the idea of him getting hurt or killed made her heart contract with pain.
“Do you think he’ll be all right?”
Concern flickered in the cop’s gaze, but he quickly masked it. “If anyone can singlehandedly take on the Kleptopsychs and come out of it unscathed, it’s Adrian. The guy’s got a horseshoe up his a—” he stopped himself, cleared his throat, “—butt.”
A smile yanked at the corners of her mouth. “You can say ass. I won’t melt.”
He flushed. “Gotta show respect for the ladies.”
Why did everyone feel the need to walk on eggshells around her—first her mom, then Adrian and now Eddie? She wasn’t some delicate flower that would bruise at the slightest touch. Her ears wouldn’t fall off if someone happened to swear. And she certainly wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life hiding when she could be out there making a difference.
An idea sparked in her mind. “You’re a cop, right?”
“Last time I checked.” He lumbered across the living room and dropped in the armchair to her right.
“So hypothetically speaking, you could teach a person a thing or two, like how to fight or shoot a gun.”
Wariness narrowed his eyes to slits. “Hypothetically speaking, sure.”
If she learned how to shoot, she could defend herself. Handling bloody bullets might be a hazard for Adrian, but for her, it would be a breeze. Her mother had shown her how to work a gun, from removing the safety mechanism to loading it, but Emma hadn’t had much shooting practice. Christina had been adamant about assuming the role of protector. Given the opportunity, she would’ve gladly locked Emma away in a tower and thrown away the key, so determined had she been to keep her safe.
“I want you to teach me.” Resolve coursed through her, emboldening her. She gave Eddie a meaningful stare. “I want to learn how to kick some serious ass.”
Adrian mounted the rickety steps of the apartment complex, his senses tuned to the slightest shift in the atmosphere. If a Kleptopsych approached, he’d feel him. The dark aura emitted by his kind was something Adrian recognized all too well, especially since he was half Kleptopsych. Thankfully, he’d gotten his scruples from his Hybrid father, because his mother’s side of the family left a lot to be desired.
He reached Emma’s unit, which had been sectioned off by the police. Given the late hour, no investigators loitered at the scene. Ignoring the numerous warnings to keep out, he unbolted the lock with the power of his mind and entered.
Then he got to work. Energy spoke to him, made images unfold in his mind. Instinct guided him to the window, where the intruders had gained access to the small apartment. The fire escape was a few feet to the right, an easy jump for his kind. Broken glass still carpeted the faded hardwood floor, glinting silver in the moonlight.
He dropped to a crouch, touching his palm to the ground. Lingering traces of death clung to the floor. Three Kleptopsychs had fallen, one in the living room, two by the window. The bodies had been removed, but Adrian still felt their dark aura contaminating the area where they’d died.
Emma’s mother had put up a decent fight, but it hadn’t been enough, and eventually, she’d been overpowered. He sensed the woman’s desperation, felt her fear, not for herself, but for her daughter.
Peeling back the layers of black energy, he fought to zero in on her signature. When he failed, he fisted his hand in frustration. Something was running interference.
He stood and walked over to the small desk by the window, where an abandoned pair of reading glasses lay. He picked them up and rubbed them in his palm, hoping to forge a connection with the woman. In the business of tracking, a physical object belonging to the person being sought often helped.
Nothing. Not even a faint hum along his flesh to indicate the glasses had once belonged to someone. The highly populated area must be masking the signal.
Emma’s signature had been easier to track, partly because of the sheer power it exuded and partly because her soul had once belonged to him. But her mother’s essence was a different story.
A familiar wave of black energy swept over him, and Adrian’s hackles rose. Someone was here. He dug into the backpack for the Glock, pulling it out and aiming it at the door. If the Kleptopsychs chose to make another appearance, they were in for a nasty surprise.
The door creaked open. A leather-clad figure filled the doorway.
Adrian cocked the gun, his finger twitching against the trigger.
The intruder sensed him and turned to face him, and Adrian lowered the Glock in relief. “I nearly shot your head off.”
“When did you become so trigger-happy?” Marcus cut a path through the small apartment and came to stand beside Adrian. “Thought you were the new Gandhi.”
“And I thought you were dead.”
A broad grin split the Watcher’s face. “I’m too stubborn to die.”
Adrian shot a nervous glance over his father’s shoulder. “Where’s your posse?” The last thing he wanted was another face-off with the Watchers.
“I’m going solo on this one. My partner has her hands full these days.” Emotion backlit the Watcher’s eyes, a mix of affection and pride. “Regan and I have a son now. He’s going to be one in January.”
Adrian’s throat tightened, not because he wasn’t happy for Marcus. The man deserved a chance to be a father. His brother was lucky to have him. Had Adrian had the opportunity to know the man when he was growing up, he had no doubt his life would’ve been different.
“How’d that happen?”
Marcus’s gaze narrowed. “Don’t tell me no one ever had the talk with you.”
“You know what I mean. How’d Cal allow it?” The Watchers were forced to take a blood vow when they joined Cal’s army, and that included a vow of celibacy.
“He didn’t really have a choice. The deed was done when we returned to the complex.” Which meant the child was conceived when Marcus and Regan were staying at Adrian’s place.
He smiled, and Marcus bristled. “Don’t look at me that way.”
“What way?” Adrian knew exactly what way.
“Like you’re psychoanalyzing me. It drives me nuts.”
He knew that, too, which was why he did it.
Marcus grunted and changed the subject. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in hiding.”
“I was. But then I heard about the Kleptopsych attack and decided to check it out. Eddie and I have been monitoring their activities recently.”
“Looks like we’ve got something in common. You wouldn’t have had anything to do with that slaughter I found at the Roadside Inn? I could’ve sworn I felt traces of your energy there.”
“Nope.” Adrian feigned innocence. “My slaughtering days are long behind me.”
Marcus didn’t look convinced. Dropping the interrogation, he kneeled and touched his palm to the floor the way Adrian had done earlier. “The Watchers have been investigating these abductions since they started, shortly after Regan and I left your place. But we keep running into one dead-end after another.”
Adrian engaged the safety mechanism on the Glock and slid the weapon in his jacket pocket. “Do you know what the Kleptopsychs are after?”
A scowl darkened his father’s face. “The Sacred Four.”
The Watchers had their own damn lingo. It was aggravating to be out of the loop. Then again, Adrian had chosen his freedom over a life of servitude as a Watcher, so he had no right to complain. “Care to explain that?”
“Remember the nonsense Ben wrote the night before he vanished?”
How could he forget? The boy had gone into a deep trance and scribbled with manic eagerness. Then he’d passed out and slept like the dead. “What about it?”
“I was right. It was another prophecy. It appears there are four souls in existence that can fight the darkness, maybe even wipe it out altogether. Cal is looking to reunite them.”
Marcus stood and stalked the room, his back taut, his should
ers squared. “We’ve already gotten our hands on two of them. They’re safe at the Watchers’ complex. But two still remain at large, and whoever is now leading the Kleptopsychs knows about them.”
Dread iced Adrian’s veins. So the Kleptopsychs really were after Emma’s soul. “What do they plan to do with these souls if they find them?”
“We haven’t figured that out yet. The Sacred Four are too powerful to be ingested by anyone other than an Ancient.” Ancients were first-generation Nephilim—the direct spawn of fallen angels and humans. Few still existed today, most of them having been killed during the Great Flood. Those who survived went on to spawn the Kleptopsychs, who in turn spawned the Hybrids. “A firstborn could give it a crack, but only if the soul in question is willingly given.”
“Can’t imagine anyone willingly handing over their soul.”
“You’d be surprised what humans would do in the right circumstances.” Marcus’s expression grew hard and inscrutable. “There’s also another possibility. Another way for the Kleptopsychs to steal these souls.”
“What’s that?”
The Watcher paused, as though unsure if he should share the sensitive information with his Rogue son.
A spark of anger flared in Adrian’s gut. “Come on. After everything I sacrificed to help you, the least you can do is tell me what the hell is going on.”
Marcus’s blank mask cracked, but uncertainty still fringed his eyes. “Anything I tell you has to stay between us. The Rogues can’t learn about this. If they do, a full-fledged war could break out.” He stared Adrian down. “Can I count on your discretion?”
“You know you can.”
Marcus began to pace, anxiety pulsing off him. “Remember when I told you Kyros was farming humans?”
“After you came back from torching the Rivershore Hospital.” Adrian recalled that conversation clearly because it was the last one he’d had with his father.
