by Jaymin Eve
“He’s following,” Lexen confirmed. “Don’t worry, he’s not draygone, he’s not going to catch me.” I liked his confidence, and despite our combined weight, Lexen didn’t sound even slightly fatigued. Dude was Superman.
“We left the others behind,” I bit out, not happy about being yanked out of Chase’s arms. And what he’d been saying … I needed to know more. I needed to hear everything. “What if Laous doubles back and captures them?” I’d turn myself over in a heartbeat. I would not leave Chase to die at Laous’ hands.
Emma sent a wonky smile in my direction. Our faces were close enough that I could see the glassiness of her blue eyes. “They’ll be okay. Not only are they formidable opponents that Laous will not want to take on, it seems that the helicopter is focused on following us. The boys will get away. I know it.”
That had better be true, because I needed to know what Chase meant about the trees choosing their mates, and … everything else. I needed to know it all. I refused to think that was the last time I’d feel my stomach jump when he was close by, the last time I drew comfort from his calm presence. I wanted more moments with him. Trees and all.
No one back home would believe this was me. After all of these years being an indoors, dirt-a-phobe chick, I was embracing nature, embracing everything that felt right.
This felt righter than anything else in my life ever had.
Lexen continued to power along, the darkness of his clouds covering us. “Are you sure you’re faster than a helicopter, Lexen Darken?” Callie asked bluntly. “Because I do not want to be eviscerated by some rotors.”
A low deep chuckle was his reply. He sounded confident, though, so that was something. “The hardest part will be making sure no humans see us,” he rumbled. “There are some things the human mind just cannot process. Which means I have to concentrate on keeping this cloud cover around us.”
We all shut up then, letting him focus. He was swift at first, but the longer we flew, the more he slowed. No doubt it was a huge burden for him, carrying all of us and expending energy to keep the clouds around us. At least the helicopter noises didn’t appear to be getting any closer. It was still behind us, though. Which for me was comforting. It meant that Chase was not in Laous’ hands right now.
“We’re over Astoria,” Lexen said, speaking for the first time in a while.
“This town is not going to think anything of dark clouds, at least,” Emma chuckled before sobering up. “Bloody place rains six days out of every seven.”
I couldn’t see the town; there was nothing but black mist under us, but I thought I caught a glimpse of the ocean. Lexen started to drop lower, and as he did the helicopter noise lessened and lessened. Each time we dropped another few feet, we seemed to drift further from those pursuing us. Eventually, the darkness around us eased up, and I could see a street below. “He’s turning around,” Emma cheered, her voice loud. “Because we’re over Daelight Crescent, right?”
Lexen heaved in a deep breath, nodding. “Yes,” he wheezed lightly. “Laous knows we’re stronger here, in our territory. Closer to the transporter.”
Daelight Crescent. I paid closer attention to the street that belonged to the Daelighters. It was pretty. There was no other way to describe it. It looked a lot like the gated street I grew up in – well-maintained rose bushes, perfect roads, mansions … whoa, hold the phone. They were not your average McMansions. More like castles. Lexen was almost on the road now, and I noted the thick white line that ran right down the center of it. As he dropped to a final stop, I released Emma, my arms aching from holding her for so long. Luckily, I’d been sharing the strain with Callie. Poor Lexen, though. He’d had no help.
Turning around, I paused when I saw the side of the road opposite the castles.
“What are they for?” I asked. Everyone turned to see what I was talking about. “They don’t really seem to, uh, fit in with this area.” Understatement of the year. These dwellings were about as far from the mansion side as it was possible to get. Maybe they were like … houses for their staff. Groundskeepers and such.
Emma cleared her throat, turning narrowed eyes on Lexen. He ran a hand across his face, and I noted that he had already changed back to his human form. “Part of the treaty is that humans and Daelighters must integrate,” Emma explained, eyeballing her mate. “They built the ‘poor side’ of Daelight Crescent so that humans would be part of their world, but also not cross over to this side. Apparently, poor people are used to obeying rules blindly.”
“For their own safety,” Lexen protested, only looking mildly contrite. “You all know firsthand the dangers in our world.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “I know you believe that, but there’s a reason you call us grubbers. You think you’re better than us.”
“Never,” he said fiercely. I took a step back because a fierce Lexen was a scary Lexen. “I might have been resentful toward my life here at first, but I have never thought humans were inferior. Just different.” He took her hand and she swallowed hard, her throat visibly moving. “I think humans are amazing, for the most part. I know I’m the lucky one to be part of your life.”
The anger faded from Emma’s face, and her eyes were shiny pools of blue as she blinked up at him. “You just seemed to hate us so much … it’s always worried me.”
Lexen wrapped his arms around her, holding Emma tightly to his chest. Her feet were no longer on the ground, and her eyes were closed as she let out a sigh. He continued to talk to her, his voice too low for me to hear.
Seeing them like that, it only reminded me that Chase was not here.
Callie met my gaze. “They’re going to be okay,” she said, nodding decisively. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince me or herself. Personally, I needed to see with my own eyes that Chase was okay. Daniel as well, of course. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. But Chase was at the forefront of my mind.
I hesitated just for a moment before patting Callie’s arm. She wasn’t as tactile as Emma, but I wanted her to know that I understood, and that she wasn’t alone. She sniffled for a second, then pressed her lips tightly together, trying to smile.
Emma and Lexen rejoined us then, their bodies close, holding hands.
“Do you know if my parents’ car got here safely?” I asked as my eyes ran along the street, stopping at a large gate at the end. A very imposing sort of gate.
“They got here,” Lexen said, pointing toward one of the castles. Just on the other side of the fence I saw the familiar black SUV. “They’ll be in Overworld already, and we should be on our way, too.”
Emma shifted forward with him, but I crossed my arms and shook my head. “Nope. No way am I going without Chase. What if he’s in trouble? We need to make sure they get here safely. No one is a sacrifice in this situation.”
“What Maya said…” Callie’s face held a very stubborn expression. “In reference to Daniel.”
Lexen’s eyes were so dark now that I could not distinguish between pupil and iris, which was freaky. Thankfully, there was still some white around the very outside; otherwise, he’d be repping a hot, scary-ass demon from Supernatural. “This is not a game. Four secret keepers are all that stand between the end of two worlds.” I became his sole focus. “Especially you, Maya. Laous needs you to find the fourth keeper. Once he finds her, he finds the stone. Do you understand?”
Anger flared inside of me. It was a guttural kind of thing, unstable, and much deeper than I usually felt emotions. “I’m not an idiot,” I bit out through gritted teeth. “I understand the larger concept of what is happening here, but sorry, I’ve never been big on ‘sacrifice one to save many,’ so you need to figure out another plan, one which doesn’t involve leaving without Chase or Daniel.”
Lexen moved preternaturally fast, wrapping an arm around me and yanking me off the ground for the second time in an hour. I was over his shoulder before my mind fully registered what he had just done, and then we were walking. I blinked down at Emma, wh
o was by my side. Callie was keeping up too, even though she lagged a few steps behind.
“I’m going to give you until the count of three,” I seethed, anger and astonishment warring inside of me, “to put me down. This is kidnapping. You’re supposed to be the good guys.”
Emma’s worried expression briefly morphed into something resembling amusement. “Lexen lives in a gray area when it comes to good and bad. It’s relative, depending on which side of the war you’re on. Plus, he’s got a history with kidnapping.”
“I like to refer to it as abduction,” Callie added. “Kidnapping is for children. Abduction is for aliens.”
I screamed as loud as I could, bringing both fists down and pounding on his back. “Let me go! You should never use your strength to force my compliance. That’s the best way to lose any trust I had in your people.”
Emma stopped walking, and that was probably the only thing in the worlds that would stop Lexen. He turned to her, and I ended up staring out into the street. “She’s right,” I heard Emma say. “Maya is a grown woman. She needs to do what she feels is right – the same way Callie and I did. We’re going to be a team, the eight of us. I can feel it with every fiber of my being. But for that to happen, there needs to be cohesiveness. A breach of trust will damage our dynamic severely.”
My body lifted as Lexen exhaled loudly. For a brief moment, I thought he was going to ignore her argument, but in the end his love and respect for Emma won. As my feet hit the ground, I took a step away from him. My instinct was to run, because I didn’t feel safe with Lexen at the moment. He had already demonstrated that he would do whatever it took for my compliance, in a bid to control the situation. Emma had stopped him this time, but maybe next time she would agree. Then we’d all be screwed.
“I’m sorry.” Those words took me by surprise, because I got the feeling he wasn’t an apologizer. “But you have to understand, I have thousands … no, hundreds of thousands of lives in my hands. Overlords put their people first. Their safety. Part of me wants to gather you three up and fly to the end of Overworld with you, out of the land of Daelighters and off to another of the sectors where I know Laous will never follow.” A blast of icy air hit me … disappearing as Lexen got himself under control again. “But I also trust in what Em is saying. The team thing. I … promise I will never force your compliance.”
He reached out and Emma went willingly into his arms. “Emma is always worried about losing her free will,” he said, staring down at her, before he turned back to me. “It was wrong of me to use my strength against you. For that, I am truly sorry.”
I relaxed and felt much more comfortable remaining near him. “Apology accepted. As long as you remember that I am a person, not a doll to throw around, then we should be all good.”
He opened his mouth but paused before he said anything. I waited a moment, thinking he might have forgotten what he was about to say, before realizing he was focused behind me. Spinning around, I saw that the huge main gate was opening. We all stared as it swung wide, and on the other side were two familiar figures. Chase and Daniel.
Without a word spoken, Callie and I both took off. My brain was too fuzzy for logical thought. I just knew that I had to see Chase. My sanity depended on it.
Chapter 13
I thought I heard Lexen shout something after us, but we were too far away at that point to hear him clearly. Probably he was annoyed that we hadn’t waited for him, but it was Chase and Daniel. There was nothing to worry about.
The pair had stopped just inside the gate, waiting for us. The fact that I was running to him should have embarrassed me, but it didn’t. Something had snapped inside of me when we left Chase behind. Whatever fear I had been harboring about fate arranging these connections between the secret keepers and overlords had dissipated with the thought that I might never see Chase again. It was a primal urge I had now, to explore this bond between us.
It was weird. I could admit that, but honestly, after everything that had happened over the last few days, weird was all starting to feel like a new normal.
“They look fine, right?” Callie’s long legs were eating up the distance, and she didn’t sound at all winded.
Meanwhile, I was dying trying to keep up with her. It was basically a sprint pace I had to set. “I - I think so,” I spluttered out. “Why aren’t they moving though?”
I wasn’t sure at what point I realized that this wasn’t going to be the happy ending I envisioned. But I definitely knew it when I ran into Chase’s arms. There was no stomach flip, no clenching of my chest and fizzing of energy in my blood.
Not Chase.
I shouted and started to struggle, but the fake Chase already had his arms wrapped around me. There was a burning pain across my biceps, but I didn’t let that stop me. Callie let out a muffled scream next to me, then she started throwing punches, kicking out with long straight strikes.
The guy holding me cursed, distracting me from the awesome that was Callie. “Stop moving, you stupid grubber bitch.”
Yeah, okay, whatever you say. I struggled harder, trying to recall what we’d learned in self-defense classes last year at school. With a larger attacker … stomp foot, knee groin, palm up into throat or nose.
All of these needed to happen pretty much in the same instant, and that’s exactly what I did. The crunch of his nose was satisfying, even though it kind of hurt my heart to see Chase’s face bleeding and broken like that. He let out a roar and shoved me away, sending me flying back.
Gravel bit into my palms, and in that same moment heat burst from Callie – past her worry about killing assholes by the look of it. The guy who’d grabbed me took off, but Callie had her hands on the other one. Her hands were the only part of her body not on fire, but judging by his screams, they were still hot enough to burn into his skin as she held him. “Where are Daniel and Chase? What did you do with them?” she shouted into his face, shaking him despite his size.
I jumped to my feet, wincing at the new pains ricocheting across my body. I had no idea what to do. Getting closer to Callie seemed like a very bad idea. Her flames were flaring in an unstable pattern.
Luckily Lexen was here now.
“Callie!” That word was a bite of command. “You have to let him go. We can’t find out what he knows if he’s dead.”
Emma was at my side then, running a hand across the grazes that decorated my skin. “Are you okay?” she asked, but I didn’t answer, too busy trying to see what was about to happen.
Fireball Callie turned to Lexen, and it was the most insane thing I had ever seen. Her eyes were swirling red, like lava. “This is how they tricked me last time,” she said, her voice shaking with rage. “The one impersonating my mom told me that they could grow skin from a single cell. Does it mean they have Daniel and Chase?”
Lexen took a step closer and Emma’s hold on my arm tightened. She didn’t like him getting that close. “No, it takes at least a week to grow a skin. Laous must have taken cells from all of us at one point or another.” He paused. “Actually, we all had to go for a healer scan when the overlord minors were first sent to Astoria. The process was overseen by Laous.” His lips pressed together. “No doubt another part of the reason he got us all sent here.”
Callie must have almost burnt the guy’s wrists to the bones at this point; he was just whimpering now, no longer fighting her. With a huge burst of exhaled air, her flames disappeared as she let him fall away. Lexen stepped forward, reaching down to feel for a pulse. “He’s alive,” he said as he turned to us. “Once we get him back to House of Darken, the healers can fix him up so that we can question him.”
I still didn’t want to leave, but I wouldn’t fight Lexen again – no one could say that I didn’t learn from my mistakes. I’d just have to hope and pray that Chase was not far behind us.
Lexen hauled the guy up off the ground and then turned around. “I’m going to have to check the guardhouse,” he said, face grim. “There should have been security out here b
y now.” His eyes met Emma’s.
“Ace?” she said, sounding like she was going to cry.
“Just stay close,” Lexen replied.
There was a small booth on the side of the gate, one which looked like it would seat two guards. There was no one visible through the glass window; Lexen continued around until he got to the door. A foul smell hit me just as Lexen stepped forward and blocked the view from the rest of us.
“Lex…” Emma reached out and touched his shoulder.
His head lowered as he stepped to the side. Emma’s muffled cry was enough to tell us everything. The two guards were on the floor, half draped over each other, congealed blood pooled all around them. They were clearly dead, eyes staring unseeingly; the stench increased exponentially at that point.
One of the guards was young, African American. The other was older, with a gruff face, and wiry gray hair. “How long have they been dead?” Emma asked, her hand pressed to her chest.
“A few hours,” Lexen replied, voice low. “Which means they were waiting here for us even before we left the cabin.”
This Laous seemed to be a planner. The bastard.
Emma knelt down, her hand hovering just above the face of the younger man. “Ace was a really nice guy,” she choked out. “Helped me when I first moved here. Got a message to Lexen’s family so that my guardians were protected.”
She broke off as she sobbed a few times, sucking in some deep breaths. I couldn’t see her face because of the way she was crouching, but I could see Lexen’s. He was doing that scary thing again. Dropping the Daelighter he held – pretty much on his head, because he was clearly way past giving a shit – he reached down and lifted Emma, holding her together as she sobbed.
“First my parents…” Her next words were lost in more sobs. “Then Marsil, and now Ace and this other poor security guard … who is next, Lex? Who will he take from us?” She shuddered. “Thank God, Sara and Michael are away on business.”
