What You Can’t See

by Allison Brennan

  Danica stepped back. He was the stronger of them and he held the now familiar sword in his hand and had no compunction to use it. “Good luck,” she whispered.

  Zach hoisted himself up and into the window. He gave her the three-minute sign. She nodded and watched his form disappear into the darkness of the unit.

  Zach crept through the small bedroom, careful not to disturb any furniture. His vision was sharp, his hearing acute, and his sense of smell on alert. He smelled Mark but his scent was not as strong as it should be if he were in the unit. Alarm bells began to sound. What if he wasn’t here?

  A small scraping sound from behind him and outside caught his ear. Danica!

  He rushed back to the bedroom, his speed so fast it would be a blur to a mortal. He nearly died when he saw Mark with an unconscious Danica in his arms hovering just above the ground. “Welcome to Hell on Earth, my friend.”

  Zach lunged through the window and Mark jumped up with Danica still in his arms. Zach turned and saw as clear as day Mark standing on the flat roof of the neighboring unit, dangling Danica by the foot over the sharp rocks of the side yard. “She won’t be such a catch if I drop her on her face now will she, Garett?”

  “If you harm one hair on her head, Santos, it will be the last thing you do.”

  “You think with just a few days of increased power, you can best me? Even with the sword you need the star more than you need your sweet Danica alive.”

  Mark laughed and in his gleefulness he reached into his pocket and held out the star. Taunting. “I have both. At mornings’ end I’ll have it all.”

  “You’ll have nothing, not even your Immortal life!”

  Mark laughed. “You’ll discover soon enough you are no match for me.” He slid the star back into his pocket and hoisted Danica up in front of him. She hung limp, unconscious in his arms like a rag doll. Mark pressed his hand against her belly. “Her womb is ripe. I have a hunger for her. If she bears my child then I will hold the power.”

  “You’re too late.”

  Mark raised a brow and grinned, his teeth glittering like canines in the rising morning light. He pressed his hand more firmly into Danica’s stomach. She moaned in pain. “I can undo what you have done.”

  She cried out, her body jerked against her captor’s, and Zach saw blood. He sprang into the air and lunged at Mark, knocking him backward. Santos tossed Danica out into the air.

  In a lightning move, Zach dove to catch her. She cried out, now conscious of her surroundings. Zach clutched her to his chest and rolled with her as they hit the sharp white rocks of the side yard. Zach stood and helped Danica to her feet.

  Mark’s laughter rang in their ears. “Danica, he played you again.” He reached his arms out to her, his hands open, palms up. “Come to me. I’ll love you unconditionally.”

  “Shut up, Santos,” Zach warned.

  “Did he promise to get your job back, Dani? Did he feed you a line about him going to hell but being saved? Then did he promise never to lie to you again?”

  Zach felt Danica stiffen in his arms.

  “Did you tell her, Zach, it was you who snitched her out to Captain Weber?”

  Danica jerked out of Zach’s grip and threw a hard look his way before she looked up to face Mark. “You’re boring me, Mark. Tell me something I don’t already know,” she challenged.

  Zach’s heart stopped in mid-beat.

  Santos was more than happy to indulge her. “Your lover boy told the captain you knew about the information IA was going to use to put Zach away. He said you paid the snitch for false information to jade the case. False information muddies up the big picture, doesn’t it?”

  Danica gasped and looked back at Zach. The pain in her eyes tore him in half. It was true. But he’d had his reasons.

  Bravely she turned back to Santos. “That’s old news.”

  Santos laughed. “Oh, really? Did Zach tell you how he maneuvered you between the sheets to seal the deal for when he needed an IA out?”

  Danica swallowed hard. Zach felt like the biggest piece of shit on the face of the earth. He’d done many things in his lifetime he was not proud of. But his initial reason for getting intimate with Danica was his all-time low blow.

  “Do you still want him, Dani?” Santos taunted.

  “Finish the story, Santos,” Zach said.

  “There is no more.”

  “No? Tell her about the price on her head, and the death threats. Tell her about the package with all of the pictures of her. In her home, in the shower. In my bed.”

  Danica gasped. “Death threats?”

  Zach looked down at her stricken face. “When it looked like I was going down for killing Thomas Pike, an opportunity presented itself. And before I knew how it was going to play out, the pictures started to arrive. The last one had a picture of you naked, and asleep in bed, with your heart cut out. With the picture was a note. ‘Back her off or she dies.’ ” Zach shrugged. Still not regretting he did what he thought he had to do to save her life. “So, I manipulated the evidence to make it look like you paid off an informant to testify in my defense. My attorney got a hold of it and, as you know, it killed the case against me.”

  “Did you kill Thomas Pike?”

  “Yes.”

  “And I got fired for trying to prove you innocent?”

  Zach’s temper flared. He took her by the shoulders and squarely faced her. “I killed that pedophile piece of shit, Danica. When his scumbag attorney got him off, I went to tell the bastard I was watching him, and to let him know the minute he even looked at a minor I’d string him up. I found him sodomizing a nine-year-old. I snapped his fucking neck!”

  Danica blanched at his rage. Not at her but for the children. The injustice of it all. “Who sent the death threats?”

  With her question, it all suddenly fell into place. Zach smiled. Finally, Danica would understand. He looked up at Santos who stood on the edge of the roof. “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for, Mark. Nice setup.”

  “What are you talking about?” Danica demanded.

  “Mark made the threats. He made them so I’d turn on you to protect you. You get canned, he gets me out of the picture, and the door opens for him.”

  “You!” Danica screamed at Mark. “Is that why you pursued me? Is that why you wouldn’t leave me alone?”

  Mark pulled the star from his pocket. “The time has come for the next generation of Starkeepers. You have no idea how close you came to my raping you, my sweet Dani. With my blood in the child’s veins, the Immortals will have the power to set the Watchers free.”

  Zach pulled Danica against him and spread his hand across her belly. “You’ll never poison her.”

  “Such a sentimental sight,” Santos cooed sarcastically. “But you’re too late, Garett. My power is stronger, older, more defined.”

  “No!” Danica screamed, grabbing her belly. Several lights in neighboring mobiles flashed on.

  Like an avenging angel, Zach leapt into the air, the sword poised. Mark stood battle ready. The men leapt, lunged, and parried. They flew high into the air—somersaulting, striking, twisting, and kicking each other. The force of their blows was horrific. Danica stood in transfixed fascination and watched the two furious spirits fight to the death.

  In a tangle of bodies they tumbled to the ground. Neither the force of the fall nor the sharp rocks digging into their skin impacted their bloodlust assault.

  Accustomed to his power, Mark was quicker. He twisted out of Zach’s grip then hauled him up by his feet and hurled Zach into the window he had slipped through only moments before. Mark dove in after him. Danica followed. The sound of crashing glass, wall beams splintering, and the thud of heads slamming into the floor, mingled with the heavy breathing of the two assailants, echoed through the place. Danica followed them, keeping a keen eye on Zach but also watching for an opportunity to snatch the star.

  As she sprinted into the living room after the two, she skidded to a stop. Another man, an
d from the stench of him, an Immortal, caught the star Mark tossed to him, as Zach took that moment to plunge the sword deep into Mark’s heart. He screeched as if the hounds of hell had been let loose. The sound caused every hair on her body to stand on end.

  The Immortal next to him stood in stunned silence. Danica lunged at him and knocked him against the wall. As the star rattled across the tile floor, she scrambled toward it. But the Immortal came to his senses and slammed her to the floor, forcing her breath from her lungs. She blinked, spots flashing in her vision. His large body covered her but she could see, just beyond her reach, the star. She took a deep breath and stretched her fingers and touched the tip. Warmth radiated from the imbedded stones. Amazingly, as if it knew its place in the world, the star cleaved to her hand.

  Wrapping her fingers around it Danica turned, and as she would with a Japanese throwing star, she jammed the sharp edges of the Star of Moria into the Immortal’s eyes.

  He screamed in pain. She shoved harder, twisting the razor-sharp tips deeper into the writhing body. The sickening smell of burning flesh assaulted her nostrils. The Immortal jerked back, she grabbed the star, and pushed away from him. The Immortal howled, clawing at his eyes, as he rose to his knees. Danica watched in fascinated horror as inch by inch, his skin turned to ash, as if an invisible bacteria ate him from the inside. In less than a minute his body was reduced to a heap of soot.

  Chapter Eight

  “I HAVE IT , Zach!” Danica held up the star triumphantly to show Zach, who stood breathing heavily across the room, next to Mark’s bloodied body.

  Her triumph was short-lived.

  “Danica,” Mark called, his voice lower, weaker. Dying. His dark eyes pleaded. “Please. Help me.”

  Danica stood frozen for a moment before she stepped toward him. He sat on the floor, his back to the corner of a wall. The golden sword was buried to the hilt in his chest. Blood soaked his shirt, a small pool forming on the linoleum floor next to him. “You can save me, Dani. Please—” He reached a bloody hand out to her. “Heal me, you have the gift. I will reward you with eternal life.”

  She took another step closer. Her gaze caught Zach’s. He stood rigid, but quiet beside her, watching expectantly.

  She squatted down next to Mark, and keeping the star in her right hand she reached out her left hand and touched the hilt of the sword. Slowly she wrapped her fingers around it, and withdrew it.

  Mark’s face softened and he smiled. Blood ran in small rivulets from the right side of his mouth, dripping to his chest. “Dani.” He closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

  Star in hand, her right hand joined her left, and she plunged the sword deeper into Mark’s black heart, severing the chambers in half. His lifeblood sprayed out in a gush. Mark’s eyes flew open in shock. Danica put all of her weight into the hilt. “You’re welcome, Mark,” she said between clenched teeth, then jammed it deeper. “Anytime.”

  Danica stood back, leaving the sword imbedded in Mark’s chest. She wiped her bloody hands on her shirt and looked up to Zach who didn’t know whether to kiss her or be shocked.

  “He pissed me off,” Danica said. She pointed the star at the carcass. “I’ll let you get your sword.”

  Zach reached down and pulled it from Mark’s quickly decaying remains. The odor of sulfur became almost unbearable. Danica turned away, covering her nose and mouth.

  Cool feminine laugher ricocheted around the room. A harsh force swept across Danica’s hand, taking the star. She cried out in pain, grabbing her wrist to her chest. It was then that her blood ran cold.

  An enchantingly beautiful yet equally deadly apparition floated inches above the ground three feet in front of her. A woman, an angel, a devil—she wasn’t sure which of the three or maybe a combination of all.

  The room rumbled in her wake. The floor vibrated violently beneath her. The she-devil cried out and retreated to the corner of the room, her feet now barely touching the floor. When she did so, her form solidified.

  She was even more enchanting in full human flesh. No longer suspended in midair, her gold and black robes hung perfectly about her noble shoulders. She stood regal, ethereal, and, Danica instinctively knew, lethal.

  Her presence in the room was that of one thousand queens.

  The rumbling increased in sound and velocity. Danica watched as the entity’s violet-colored eyes widened then narrowed before returning to casual. The woman stood calmly as if no force on heaven or earth could unsettle her.

  Suddenly another presence filled the room, this one darker, heavier, more powerful on a basic level, but without the seductive power the woman wielded. As it materialized the woman’s eyes narrowed. Danica knew that look. It was the same one she reserved for Zach Garett when he upset her.

  The entire unit shook, then steadied calmly.

  Danica turned, following the apparition’s stare, and gasped. A large man dressed completely in black stood behind her. Her eyes swept to his large feet, which did not touch the tile floor. Instead they hovered like the woman’s had just moments before. His long black hair hung around his shoulders like a dark shroud. His face was strong and hard, the chiseled lines severe. His crystalline eyes burned with the brightness of ice.

  The woman laughed, the sound rich, warm, tempting. “Michael, what took you so long?”

  Danica scooted back against the wall and watched these two indomitable spirits dance.

  “Sephora, I would have come sooner had you not been so coy.”

  She laughed again, the sound sexy, seductive. Even Danica felt lured by its promise. Who was she? And Michael? He was larger than life and the energy emanating from him exuded thick hypnotic warmth. Sephora’s energy was as strong too, but it was not good energy.

  It was immediately obvious to Danica who the bad guy was. And she was the most beautiful creature Danica had ever set eyes on. She was hypnotizing. And from the look on Michael’s face he was not immune to it.

  Sephora held out her hand. The star glowed deep purple in her palm. “Have you come for this, my love?”

  Michael smiled, the gesture pure pleasure. His eyes never touched on the star. Instead they locked with Sephora’s. In a lightning-quick action Michael pulled a mighty sword from behind him, and before Danica realized what he was doing he cut Sephora in half, then he severed the hand holding the star from her arm. Snatching it before it fell to the ground, he slipped it inside the dark duster he wore.

  What happened next stupefied Danica. There was no blood, only a soft glow from the internal parts of Sephora’s body. The severed hand reattached to the arm. Then slowly, as if awakening from a long sleep, the two halves met, and melded again. Sephora stood before them whole, no sign of trauma.

  Michael was not amused. Sephora walked toward him, her hips swaying seductively. “Your sword nearly killed me once. Now I am immune to it. Just as I am immune to you. Can you say the same for yourself?”

  “The day hell freezes over is the day I take you again.”

  Her deep throaty laughter filled the room. “I can arrange that.” Then her features sharpened. Every hair on Danica’s body stood on end. This woman was terrifying. Sephora pressed her body up against Michael. “The time has come, Michael, my people have atoned.”

  “They have atoned for nothing!”

  She stepped back, away from him. “End your jealous revenge! Let my people go.”

  “Jealous? Of what, Sephora?”

  “Of feeling, Michael. Of living. Your self-imposed prison is not ours!”

  Sephora backed farther away from Michael before she turned her full attention on Danica. Her skin chilled and she felt very vulnerable. “For the rest of your life, my dear little Starkeeper, I will be near. You have what I want, and I will literally move heaven and earth.” Sephora smiled and looked at Michael. “Or hell to possess it.”

  Next Sephora graced Zach—who had remained as still and transfixed as Danica—with her enigmatic smile. But to him she extended her hand. “I am Sephora, Queen of the Watc
hers, and Commander of the Immortals. We are of the same blood, Zachary Garett.”

  Zach remained motionless. Sephora looked askance at Michael, who stood with sword at the ready. “He can only deliver you from your evil. I can give you eternal life.”

  She touched Zach. He flinched; her fingers burned his skin. Sephora looked at Danica, who held her wrist. “You would come to love me as you love her.”

  Michael stepped toward Sephora, his feet still only an inch from the floor. Sephora laughed as her eyes noticed this fact. “Always so careful not to touch earth, are you, Michael? Are you so afraid you’ll lose that famous self-control of yours?”

  Michael stood stalwart. Zach could see he would not be goaded into a war of words or, worse, prove he had control. Of what Zach had no clue, but he trusted Michael.

  Sephora glanced at Danica before her amethyst-colored eyes flashed back at Michael. She smiled again but this time the gesture was pure malice. “Remember, Michael, I am all that you desire and more. I will use any and all means at my disposal to free my people—even tempting a fallen angel.”

  She rose above the floor as Michael had. Slowly her body turned to gossamer then disappeared, her sultry scent the only lingering reminder that she had been there.

  Danica and Zach both gaped at Michael. He scowled. “Sephora is to be avoided at all costs.”

  “No shit,” Zach whispered.

  “Is what she said true?” Danica asked. “She and Zach are of the same blood?”

  Michael nodded. “The result of the Watchers fornicating with mortals are Caladians. As a hybrid they are oftentimes made up of good and bad, of which Zachary is a prime example. A constant internal battle ensues until death. Then, a choice must be made. Caladians who choose Sephora turn into the strongest of Immortals. Those who choose the light? Live to fulfill their destiny on earth. And upon their next natural death go north.”

  “Was Santos a Caladian?” Zach asked.

  Michael shook his head. “No, your dead partner was a purist. One born evil. Sephora especially enjoys recruiting them as they tumble into hell. They have no conscience, no remorse. No soul. They are the perfect fighting machine.”