What was she going to do? She had to get out of there.
Phoenix opened the front door of the Knight estate and walked in unannounced. He found most everyone in the living room, cleaning up after what had to be a tornado. “So um, what’d I miss?” he asked.
Frankie rolled her eyes as she picked up pieces of a broken lamp. Serena was damn near begging her to just let her say a spell that would clean it all up. Frankie was adamant that she save all the magic she had.
Gage grunted and pushed the sofa back up onto its legs. Phoenix noticed that the vampire had a busted lip and a nice shiner on his right eye. Finally Angel answered him. “It would seem that Samuel had some frustration to work out.”
“Ok then,” Phoenix said as he grabbed a broom.
“Where’s Leigh?” Rebel asked as he dropped a trash bag full of broken trinkets on the floor.
“Oh she stayed back to visit with Toni for a minute. She said not to worry, she will be here. And if you need her, she can be here in a flash.” Phoenix talked while sweeping broken glass from the foyer floor.
Rebel nodded. Of course Leigh would want to spend as much time with their daughter as possible. He was a little jealous, really. He wished he could teleport just so that he could hold his little girl just for a moment.
Samuel came down the stairs after having taken a cold shower on orders from Angel. He didn’t say anything at first, just helped clean up the mess he had helped make. When he bumped into Gage, he finally spoke. “Yeah, um, about all this,” Sam started.
“Don’t worry about it,” Gage said. “We have all been there.”
Samuel couldn’t just let it go like that. “No, man, I was seriously out of line. I am sorry. I truly am.”
Gage clapped him on the shoulder. “It happens to us all at some point. We used to have to spar with Leigh while she was pregnant just to keep her from setting the house on fire. Really. It’s ok.”
Samuel nodded his head. His new family was so much more than he could have asked for. Not only were they loyal to each other, but to him as well. Even when he just needed his ass kicked. “Nice shiner,” he told Gage with a slight smile.
Gage looked pointedly at the side of Sam’s face. “Yeah, you too.”
Sam could still feel the bruise pulsing on the side of his head where Gage had clocked his ass good. He deserved it. Probably so much more than that, but he didn’t feel any anger or resentment coming from any of them. All he felt was support, and that made him feel like more of an ass.
When the mess was cleaned up, as if right on cue, Leigh appeared out of thin air in the house. “Hey,” she said, going straight to Rebel and kissing his lips. “I sent pictures. Check your phones,” she told them.
“Now that we are all here,” Frankie said, “and the men have finished with the pissing contest, how about we talk about what we are about to do?”
“I have been in touch with the government,” Angel said. “We are free to proceed with extreme prejudice. Whatever damage we cause, the government will have an excuse for.”
“What does extreme prejudice mean?” Leigh asked. She thought she knew but she wanted to hear it anyway.
“That means, Love,” Rebel explained, “That when we shoot, we shoot to kill.”
Leigh nodded. Yep, that’s what she thought.
“So what’s the plan?” Samuel asked.
“First, we make a decisive strike against Abaddon and his drug,” Angel said.
Antonio’s face lit up like a kid at Christmas. “I have just the thing for that,” he grinned.
Angel nodded. “I thought maybe you might.” Samuel knew that before he died, Antonio had been an explosives expert. Looks like they were gonna blow some shit up.
“Then, before he has time to retaliate,” Frankie said, “We summon him. We bring him to us where we can fight him on our terms.”
“What about Azerial?” Sam asked. “If he has her and she is brainwashed in some way, how can we protect her?”
“I plan to summon her first. Once we have her here, you will grab her.” Frankie closed her eyes for a moment. “I don’t know how long I will be able to hold her here. Abaddon will be hot on her heels. You will have to be fast Sam. Faster than you have ever been before. You have to grab her and run with her.”
A grab and go. Samuel could do that. “But what about the rest of you?” he asked. “I can’t leave you to fight a demon alone.”
“You have to,” Frankie said. “You have to protect Azerial.” She took his hands in her own. She stared directly into his eyes and became more serious than he had ever seen her. “Before she was your mate, she was my goddess. I prayed to her every night, and I still do. Now I pray for her to come back to us. She isn’t just important to you Sam. She is important to the whole world. She is an Earth Goddess. If she dies, the forests die. The plants die. The water stops flowing. Her magic keeps the world alive. Abaddon is not above killing her to get what he wants. He cares nothing for the world. I know that you will keep her safe because you love her like no one else does, and I am willing to give my life to ensure that she lives.”
“So will I,” Jacque said, taking one of Frankie’s hands.
“Me too,” said Serena.
“And me,” Gage said.
“Count us in on that,” Rebel said with Leigh by his side. “I want a world where my daughter can grow and thrive. Even if I am not in it.”
“Us too,” Angel and Sebastian stepped in beside Jacque.
“You know me, can’t get killed enough times,” Antonio said with a wide smile.
“Me either,” Phoenix declared. “I just keep coming back for more.”
Samuel looked at his family in front of him. Together they formed a small army and he had just been given the most important task of all. He felt like he was in the middle of a suspense novel where the hero finds out that he is the hero. His job was to protect the goddess. His job was to live to make sure she did the same. He looked into each of their faces and saw no doubt and no remorse. They stood strong next to each other; each one willing to sacrifice their lives so that the evil could be put down and good would triumph. Their strength gave him strength. He wanted to hug each and every one of them until they couldn’t breathe. He wanted to say something epic that would be worthy of the history books and this epic moment that he had found himself a part of. He wanted to do a lot of things. Instead, he nodded his head in acceptance and said, “Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Gage, Samuel, Phoenix, and Antonio walked through the city streets together just like they had before, only this time, they knew exactly where they were going. RedFire Pharmaceuticals was a huge building centered in an industrial area just outside of town.
They were acting with the full support of the American government. The news would call this an act of terrorism, and some terrorist group would no doubt claim responsibility for it. After alerting Ricky and the human police force of as many human dealers as they could find, Samuel used his mind mojo to make sure they went quietly when the police approached them. He made sure they were more than willing to tell everything they knew. That was how Samuel found out where the center for Abaddon’s operations was. One of his higher ranking dealers had spilled when Samuel gave him a little mental push.
So now they were acting as a sort of Black Ops unit. They had cleaned up the dealers on the street, and now they would hit the demon where it hurt. Without the pharmaceutical company’s physical building, Abaddon would have to find somewhere else to manufacture his drug. They also went in with full knowledge that they were laying down the gauntlet that would most likely start a war. Abaddon would retaliate, and they would be prepared. They had to be. They didn’t have a choice. The production of Magic V had to be stopped before it claimed the lives of more innocent people, lycanthropes and human alike.
As the building came into sight, the men stopped. “You ready for this?” Samuel asked Antonio.
“I have always been ready,” he laughed.
“Boom is my specialty.” He patted the plastic explosives he had hidden under his jacket. He grinned and he looked way happier about this than Sam did. “I got something to tell you guys before we start this.”
“Oh no, what?” Sam asked.
“At the house, there is a black box with a button on it. It’s just behind the bookshelf in the library, on the north side. If it comes down to just one of us and that fucking demon, make him follow you and get to that box. Push the button.” Antonio smiled wickedly.
“I think I’m afraid to ask what that button will do,” Samuel muttered.
“If everyone is dead,” Antonio explained with all seriousness, “the last one standing will blow the bastard up. It probably won’t kill him permanently, but it will sure put a stitch in his side.”
“By blowing the bastard up, you mean,” Sam stated.
“Yeah, I rigged the house with enough explosives to blow the block to Kingdom come. If we’re gonna die, we are gonna go out with a bang.”
Samuel nodded his head. Antonio’s words were heavy in the air and the severity of the situation made itself perfectly clear once again. They might go down, but not without a fight. And a fight is just what they were getting ready to pick.
“All right. Phoenix, get in the air. Watch our backs and be prepared to fly us out if anything goes bad. Gage, go with him and have a look see into that building. We gotta make sure it’s empty.”
Gage grumbled a little. He didn’t like the idea of flying with Phoenix. Not because he didn’t like to fly with the man, but he knew it had been set up for his protection. Must protect the king of the race. He hated his title. But he also knew it would be useless to argue. These were Angel’s marching orders, and in the grand scheme of things, Angel still ran the show.
Gage stepped in front of Phoenix and allowed the huge man to wrap his arms around his middle. “Don’t get any funny ideas,” Gage grumbled.
Phoenix’s booming laughter echoed in the night air. “Don’t worry Your Majesty, you ain’t my type.”
“I’m gonna punch you in the mouth one day,” Gage said as Phoenix lifted them both into the air.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Phoenix said as they gained altitude. “How close do you need to be?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll know when we get there,” Gage answered. He began to concentrate. He looked for any errant thought coming from the building. He searched it with his mind’s eye. Soon, they were close enough that he could see inside the building clearly. “Here,” Gage said, and Phoenix began circling the building at that distance. It was still a good half mile from the front doors, but they didn’t want to risk getting any closer than they had to for risk of exposure. Just in case anyone was in the building, they didn’t want their plan exposed. If anyone was inside, the plan was to be aborted. Human casualties were not something they wanted on their plate of fuck ups.
Gage focused his mind on the bottom floor first. He searched each office for signs of life. There were none so he moved on to the second floor. His mind flew over the tiled floors and through the heavy wooden doors of what looked like a meeting room. He searched the elevator and the third and finally, the fourth floor. He thought he heard a glimmer of thought on the top floor, but after searching it again, he was sure he had been mistaken. There was no one there.
It’s a go, he projected mentally to Samuel. Then he and Phoenix got the hell out of the way so they could do their thing.
Azerial pushed the button to make the elevator go to the top floor. She had been blocking her mind all the way back to the company, just like John taught her to do. She bet he never thought she would use the skill to keep him away from her. It had been all too much lately. Her accident, which she still could not remember a single detail about, the life she lived, and John. She just had to get away, and this was the only place that she knew to go. Of course, she knew that he would come looking for her here eventually, but not if he didn’t sense her. He had told her that he was a witch of sorts and could sense people if he needed to. He said he could tell the future. She knew in her heart that if she married him, she must have loved him at some point in time. But now, she was positive that she didn’t love him; just being near him made her cringe. She didn’t want him touching her ever again, let alone try to kiss her again.
That had been horrible! As soon as she had realized what he meant to do, her body had coiled to run away. And that had been exactly what she had done, hadn’t it? She moved away from his touch and bolted right out the door like a scared little girl. She couldn’t help herself. That accident had changed her more than he knew. She was not the loving wife he once remembered. He told her that she had given up her grace as a goddess to be with him. Azerial shook her head. That made no sense. She didn’t remember ever having been a goddess, but she knew deep down that she would never have given something like that up for just anyone.
She found it very hard to believe that she had loved John that much. In fact, she had a hard time believing a lot of things lately.
Azerial couldn’t believe the Clan Leader and the King of vampires would want drugs off the market that were helping humans! She knew they were coming and she knew they were going to be trouble. She knew that she had to find out the truth. Azerial rummaged through the paperwork on John’s desk, looking for anything that might help. She opened his laptop and began to look through his files. It took a couple of tries for her to break through his password and firewall, and she wondered where the heck she had even learned to do that. When she opened his email, she saw something that caught her attention.
It was from his mother. Only, in the email, she didn’t talk like she was his mother. It appeared to be more of a business agreement. Anora had transferred a large sum of money into the company bank account. Azerial scrolled through more emails. Anora mentioned getting the job done more than once. She even called John a worm from Hell and offered to send him back where he belonged if he didn’t do as they agreed. That wasn’t something a mother said to her son. Azerial decided that Anora was not John’s mother. She continued through his computer and found what appeared to be a recipe of sorts. After looking up the ingredients, Azerial felt her stomach ball up inside her. Then it filled with lead. These ingredients were poison individually. Together, the combination was lethal. What was John making here?
She walked over to the window and looked down on the city below her. John’s office was on the top floor and she had a breathtaking view of the city. Lights twinkled, even in the distance. There was so much hate and pain in this world, but its beauty and love were stronger. She knew this. No matter what the vampires brought upon them, she knew that good would win over evil every time.
She started to move away from the window when movement on the street below caught her eye. There were two men standing in front of the building. There was something familiar about them. Perhaps her memory was trying to return. She had probably seen them before. There was something about one of them. Even from her perch on the top floor, she could see that he was shorter than the other man and he had no hair on top of his head. Bald. That meant something to her. She pushed at her lost memory, trying to grasp what it was that was trying to get through. She felt a fierce instinct to protect this man. He was young and muscular and he moved with the lithe grace of a vampire. Just watching him move set off all kinds of feelings inside her. She didn’t know why, but she felt responsible for him. He was hers.
Azerial watched the pair as they approached the front doors of the building, where she lost sight of them. A moment later, they were running from the doors and across the street. Azerial didn’t have time to process the whys of it, though. They were gone from her sight in a flash. Definitely vampires, she thought. That was the last thing she thought before the explosion rocked the building.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The men stood and watched from a safe distance as Antonio’s little toy went to work. It had been nothing to break the glass and send the little remote control truck into th
e building. Once it approached the elevators, the pair took off like their shoes were on fire. When they reached Gage and Phoenix, Antonio took the remote out of his pocket.
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, I give you, the boom,” he said with a grin. Then he pushed the little red button on top.
In less than a second of his finger brushing over that button, the earth rumbled and the building exploded. Or rather, imploded. The men covered their ears just in time to protect their eardrums from the hellacious boom, then hit the ground to protect themselves from the blast. Even though it was free of debris, Samuel felt the heated air rush over his back as he pushed himself farther into the dirt.
Antonio stood first. “Yeehaww!” he shouted. “Damn right you fucking demon, take that shit mother fucker!”
Sam stood and brushed off his front. “Fucking hell, what was in that?”
“A little of this and a little of that,” Antonio grinned.
“How did you make it fall on itself?” Phoenix asked him as he stood with them.
“It’s simple really,” Antonio explained. “I aimed for the elevator shaft. It is the centermost part of the structure. Once I took it out, the building couldn’t support itself. That way I did the most damage with the least amount of explosives.”
“Well fuck me, you did a good job,” Gage told him. “Now, let’s go. Sam, you better start running. We will see you there.”
Phoenix scooped up Antonio and Gage in each arm and spread his wings. He let his fire burn for a moment before shooting into the sky like a bullet. Sam watched as they roared into the night sky before getting his feet started. He began running. Serena finally talked Frankie into letting her do one spell. A spell that loaned Samuel just a hint of her magic to run faster than normal.
As soon as he had decided to use the gift Serena had given him, Sam took off like a shot. But he didn’t feel like his body was moving any faster than he was before. It seemed as if time itself had stopped all around him. He flew past the street lights and telephone poles. He saw a bum sitting on the sidewalk that looked like he had been frozen in suspended animation, his hand out in the air. Sam pushed himself harder and watched as everything around him dissolved into a rainbow of blurred lines and shapes.
Into The Divine Page 13
