The Watcher (Crossing Realms Book 2)

by Rebecca E. Neely

  Barely able to keep from groaning, Dev longed to strip her shirt off completely. “Everything contains energy.” He had to focus hard, which took effort. “In this realm, on this planet. You, me. Vitality is the whole of all those energies, including air, sun, the Earth. Plants, animals, humans. Their life cycles and beyond, as well as their spiritual, emotional, and physical energies. We like to say we have the ultimate renewable resource. The stone, the Keepers, the Watchers. Each feeds the other.”

  “No wonder it’s so potent.” She pointed at him. “You are going to teach me to do this.”

  He tucked a few stray hairs behind her ear. “I will,” he told her.

  But she’d never get the chance to use the skill, if he had anything to say about it.

  By unspoken agreement, everyone took a seat around the Situation room’s long conference table, Nick at the head. He nodded to Dev. “Tell us how we’ve been compromised.”

  Apprehension iced his blood. “I think the Betrayers know about our plans to try to recreate the Similitude.” Under the table, he thumped a fist against his thigh. “And how we stopped Haenus.”

  No one said a word. Immediately, Nick and Libby reached for one another and joined hands.

  A well-deep silence filled the room.

  His lips thinning, Nick rose. “If they know how she stopped him, there’ll be nothing to prevent them from draining us.” He placed an arm around Libby. “Except my mate. And that’s not happening.”

  “Agreed,” Dev said. “You and I have already discussed this. While we’re working on a way to create Similitude, we think we can also find a way, a different way, to stop it.”

  Libby paled. “I’ll tell you everything about my confrontations with Haenus. All the details. Maybe something will help.”

  “Libby, we’ve already tried everything on that front,” Nick said firmly. “Her ability, the way I see it, is a last line of defense,” he explained to Meda.

  Abruptly, Libby pushed her chair back, and bent to kiss Nick. Clasping and unclasping her hands, she hurried to a nearby refrigerator and started unloading bowls of food. “You must be starving,” she said, reminding Dev a lot of Charlotte in that moment. Food cured all ills. Including, apparently, Libby’s anxiety.

  Zane and Meda joined her, and in minutes, they’d heaped the center of the table with sandwiches, cold fried chicken, and potato salad. Libby filled a plate and they followed suit.

  “Tell us everything,” Nick said, his voice deadly quiet.

  Dev cracked open a soda and drank deeply before biting out, “Dreadlocks.”

  “Come again?”

  As succinctly as possible, Dev told them about the Betrayer they’d seen, describing her as best he could. Meda chimed in several times, adding details. Zane and Libby took notes. Curtis recorded their conversation on his Smartphone, his fingers pressed to his temples.

  “I’ll look through the profiles we have on the brood members,” Curtis said. “See if I can find a match for this woman.”

  “Good.” Dev stretched. “The foreboding? Right after I’d met Meda and left MJ’s, I was standing outside the bar. I felt a tremor. It was the second time that day. We both felt it, after the Compulsion for the man at the motel. Nothing came of it. I should’ve known better.”

  Zane shook his head. “How could you have? You felt what you expected to feel.”

  Dev chugged the rest of his soda and crushed the can. “Or exactly what they wanted me to feel. I’d lay odds that woman camped out beside our motel room the entire night. How is it possible she could be that close? The Vitality energy would’ve killed her. Or it should’ve. It’s like she could disguise her dark energy somehow so I didn’t pick up on it. The only thing that makes sense is that she was using the Similitude in some way to do it.”

  Curtis leaned forward, tapping his pen on the table. “If that’s true . . .”

  “It’s a game changer,” Nick finished for him, plunging the room into silence.

  Curtis spoke, and Dev knew he was reasoning out loud. “We regulate our energy when we need to, and that enables us to go ‘under the radar.’ This is different. They’re not flying under their own radar. They’re flying under our radar. I don’t know. I might have some ideas. I have to do some recon first.”

  Meda broke in. “Would it possible to use the Vitality stone in the same way?”

  Dev lifted a hand, in deference to Nick. “Good question.”

  Nick tapped a finger to his lips. “It is a good question. My first reaction is that we need to focus our efforts on figuring out how to create Similitude, and how to find another way to stop it. We can’t spread ourselves too thin. Especially because of Dev’s timeframe. I’m not sure of the consequences of doing such a thing. For the moment, I don’t think we can consider it.”

  Dev met Meda’s eyes, thanking her silently. “Back to Dreadlocks. She was sick from the Vitality energy. That was pretty clear. And she looked young. Why send an inexperienced Betrayer onto the front line? It doesn’t make sense. But we’ve got bigger problems right now. I think we have to assume she heard everything we talked about in the motel room.” Dev raised a hand in Zane and Saxon’s direction. “Have you experienced anything like what I’m describing?”

  “No.” They shook their heads. “None of the other clans have either.”

  Curtis rose, crumpled his plate, and threw it in the trash. “The Similitude must still be contained, here, in Pittsburgh. That’s what we’ve thought, and this more or less confirms it.”

  Nick inclined his head at the group. “I don’t want to do this. But I have to put it on the table. We could evacuate the clan to another network. Only key people stay.”

  Dev’s stomach lurched, and without thinking, he reached for Meda’s hand under the table.

  Libby piped up. “And back down? Leave Dev and Meda? No. No way.”

  The others nodded in agreement.

  “All right.” Nick leaned forward. “We’re all on the same page.”

  Curtis exchanged a wary look with Nick, and Dev’s relief turned to dread.

  Sighing, Curtis moved toward the monitors, grabbed a sheaf of papers, and laid them out on the table. “There’s something you don’t know,” he said quietly. “I’ve only told Nick.” His brow wrinkled. “The network is losing energy. I’m going to give it to you straight. The reports show it started . . . right after you crossed realms.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “If that’s the case, that means the Watchers’ realm is vulnerable too.”

  “The Betrayers must be aware of that also.” Dev remembered Nick’s comment about a double-edged sword.

  “I’ve no doubt. For the simple fact you’re here, they’ll be monitoring energy levels more closely than ever, same as we are.”

  Dev released Meda’s hand, bolting from his chair. “They’re going to try to cross realms. Like Haenus did. To get to the quarry.”

  “Yes,” both Nick and Curtis said at the same time.

  “You think the Watchers knew this would happen? Dammit! Why would they do this? Allow themselves, and us, to be vulnerable? When we’ve only begun to recover? Mysterious ways,” he muttered. “It’s almost like they’re letting it.”

  Nick tugged impatiently at his ball cap. “Maybe it has to, in order for us to succeed.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “There have been no Compulsions since you arrived. None except the one you just told us about,” Curtis reminded Dev. “The only connection right now is between them and you. It’s almost like the Watchers have shut down their realm, voluntarily. Before, the Betrayers’ dark energy shut it down when Libby first came on the scene. Now, it’s almost like they’re dedicating their energy to sustain you.”

  “There’s something else.” Curtis frowned. “Yesterday, a regularly law-abiding woman who’d
had her purse snatched decided shooting the thief in the face was a good idea. After she swiped the gun of the policeman who was trying to help her, no less. There’s been rioting in different parts of the city since.”

  Dev exchanged looks with Nick, dread churning his gut. “Drastic measures. Dammit. Because I’m here. They know there’s no Compulsions. And they’re going for the jugular.”

  “Of course they are. Humans need us more than ever, and we’re leaving them high and dry. It’s perfect. They’re vulnerable, and become more so, the longer this continues. A violent feast for the Betrayers. It’s been less than a day, but crime is increasing. All I have to do is turn on the TV or scan the web to know that.” He gestured to the bank of monitors. “Even your man at the motel might be proof of that. Without us Keeping them, you know what will happen.”

  “Abel took a risk, depleting his own energy for this ‘drastic action.’”

  “And the Watchers took one, sending you here. Tit for tat.”

  “I don’t understand,” Meda broke in. “Are you saying that Abel made that woman shoot that guy?”

  Dev nodded slowly. “There’s always been evil in the world. Betrayers ‘help’ it along,” he air-quoted, “and create a ready feeding source in the process. Just look at the news. History. Remember the military siege on that religious compound down south last year? The recent, unexplained shooting death of a music star? Wars, massacres. Trademark Betrayer.”

  Meda paled. “Oh my God,” she croaked. Then cleared her throat. “But they don’t do it all the time. Why?”

  Though he was sorry for being the one to enlighten her, Dev appreciated her logic. “Because, as I said, it takes a great deal of energy to do so. Much easier to feed off scraps of Vitality, which is a hundred times stronger. Then, with Similitude in the picture . . .” He trailed off, leaving the statement open ended. But he really didn’t need to fill in those blanks.

  Curtis sighed. “That the Betrayers are using the Similitude, period, also depletes the network. They’re not doing it consistently, or I’d have noticed. There were a few blips in the last few months. Nothing big enough to raise any red flags for me. Until now.” He raised an eyebrow.

  “A few blips, huh?” Dev huffed. “Wonder if they have anything to do with the Betrayers disguising their dark energy. If that’s what they’re doing.”

  Curtis’ nostrils flared. “From what it sounds like happened at the motel, they’re somehow flying under our energy radar. And using the Similitude to do it. Like I said, I have some ideas. And if that’s what they’re doing, I’ll find out.” His eyes darkened. “We may have a bigger, more immediate problem.”

  “What bigger, more immediate problem?” Dev asked, his voice strained.

  Curtis dragged his hands over his face before answering. “Since the Watchers’ realm has healed, they’ve been protecting the network with additional energy to compensate for the existence of Similitude. Kind of like a failsafe.” He paused. “However, I’m guessing they’ve redirected that to you.”

  Dread churned Dev’s gut. “To me?”

  Curtis rose, heaved a sigh. “One thing I’m sure about is energy. It’s not business as usual for you to be here. It required a lot of energy to bring you here. And it’s requiring a lot to keep you here. It has to come from somewhere.”

  Curtis was right, Dev knew. He was always right. Helplessness and anger charged through his system. Glaring, he leaned forward and swiped the papers onto the floor. “Do you have nothing else except your goddamn numbers and reports?”

  Anger flushed Curtis’ face. The room fell silent.

  Dev screwed his eyes shut. Instantly he wished he could take it back. “Shit, Curtis. I’m sorry.” He knelt, gathering the papers.

  “Forget it,” Curtis replied, his voice terse.

  Dev growled as he paced the room. “I thought the Watchers sent me here to help. Now you’re telling me I’m a drain on the whole operation? And I’m to blame for the humans being unprotected? Why the hell did they even send me that Compulsion? Why risk it?”

  “They took the risk because you’re important,” Libby said softly, waving a hand to encompass him and Meda. “Not just for this mission. To us. You two worked together to save the couple at the motel.” She glanced at Nick. “I think it’s a way of testing us. That’s how it was with us, too.” Leaning across the table, she squeezed Dev’s shoulder. “So, we keep working together.”

  Even while his shortcomings slammed into him full force, Dev thanked the gods for Libby. He wasn’t accustomed to thinking of himself as important. An Achilles’ heel—that’s all he’d ever been to his clan. The darkness he’d fought all his life haunted him. And his big Compulsion, the one he’d so foolishly believed he could use to bargain with, did nothing more than lay waste to the lifetime he’d spent proving he could be more than a burden.

  He refused to get caught up in self-pity. The gods knew there’d be plenty of time for that later. His racing mind fought against the quicksand claiming him. There had to be something he could do. “From what you’re describing, I’m pretty sure we’re not going to be able to communicate with the Watchers. Not if our connection’s been cut. Not if they’ve shut down the realm, and the energy is all going one way. My way.”

  Dev thought quickly. “The Watchers gave me conditions for my being here in the realm. I didn’t tell you about them before, because I believed they were something just for me, but I’m reaching.” He ticked them off. “Don’t endanger your fellow Keepers. Don’t take more than you give. And last, find your strength in your weakness. I’m not sure if I’ve upheld them, or if I even understand them.” His gaze swept over the group. “Some food for thought, in Watcher speak. For whatever its worth, maybe they can help us.”

  He leaned forward, his palms on the table. He might be a drain on the clan, but he refused to drag Meda down with him. “That brings me to the next matter at hand.” Locking eyes with her, he prayed she’d understand.

  In pursuit of his Compulsion, he’d been willing, even eager, to explore the possibilities her ability might afford them.

  Until he’d seen what the Similitude had done to her. And she’d held it only for a few moments. The gods knew what it could do to her if she used it to try to create more Similitude.

  Nor did he want her to get caught in the crossfire when he exacted his revenge. And he would exact it. Bad enough he had to make sure his clan wasn’t hurt because of it. He wouldn’t allow her to become a victim as well.

  Plus, he just needed to cut ties. He was becoming too involved.

  She was a human. It went against every Keeper code he’d been taught.

  He’d do anything to save his clan.

  Except sacrifice her.

  Her black eyes lit on his, gleaming like daggers. Almost like she knew what he was about to say.

  Rising, he turned his back on her and spoke to Nick and the others, neatly cutting her out of the deal. “I think the key is her father’s research. Once she goes over all of that with us, I want a Keeper assigned to her immediately, 24/7. For the rest of her life. And then I want her taken out of here. We have no idea how the Vitality is going to affect her over time. I’m already shooting us in the foot. We don’t need her doing the same. I move we learn what we can from her, and then do this ourselves. After all, she’s only human.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Dev had taken aim and fired. And hit his target, leaving Meda with a gaping hole of hurt. “Dev,” she cried. “Where the hell is all this coming from?”

  But he kept his back to her.

  “Did you forget that I’m part human?” Libby asked, her voice rising. “Would you rather I hadn’t killed Haenus?”

  “No, of course not,” Dev snapped. “Don’t you see my point, Libby? You’re part human. She’s all human.”

  Nick held up his han
ds for silence. “Meda’s safety is important to all of us. The Watchers wouldn’t have sent you to find her unless there was a good reason.”

  Meda huffed. When had she become invisible?

  “Oh, there’s a good reason all right.” Dev whirled around and faced her, his expression hollow, lethal. “She has the ability to get impressions through touch. Only with humans. Or so she thought. This morning she held Haenus’ stone. She got impressions from its energy traces. And the Vitality stone is ramping up that ability.”

  Meda gripped the arms of the chair, her knuckles whitening. All heads swiveled in her direction. The insecurities and fears of a lifetime reared up and took hold. She’d let her guard down. And he’d exposed her. A part of her wanted to run, the other wanted to crawl under the table and hide.

  I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.

  The promise Dev made her at her apartment resounded in her brain. She ordered herself to believe it. Even if her heart bled betrayal.

  Meda rose slowly, commanding her legs to support her. Heat crept up her neck as she addressed Dev. “We agreed at the motel my ability was the reason the Watchers sent you to find me. That you would help me learn how to control it.” Her voice broke and she fought tears. “That I had . . .”

  You.

  Dev folded his arms across his chest, unyielding. “I can’t let you do this,” he said, his voice tight.

  “The Watchers would never willfully harm a human,” Nick protested, his voice heated.

  “Oh yeah?” Dev shouted. “What if they don’t know everything? I did time in their realm, remember? And that’s where I have to go back to, in less than five days. I’ll be the one sacrificing her. Not you.”

  “Stop, both of you!” Libby cried. “Can’t you see you’re upsetting her?” Darting around the table, she hurried to Meda and, hesitating for a second, threw her arms around her. “Trust me, I know what it’s like to have your life torn apart,” she murmured. “I’ll help you. We all will.”