Sacrifice

by Denise Grover Swank

  Will latched on to every word, trying to piece his life together. “You still didn’t answer my question. What is she?”

  “I don’t know. You were trying to find out, part of the reason you stole the book. But as far as I know, you never found the answer.”

  “She wouldn’t tell me?”

  “She didn’t know herself. She’d never shown any type of powers until she met you.”

  Will took another breath. “How did I meet her?”

  James gave him a hard stare. “You were never totally forthcoming with all the details, but I know that she was your big job. The Vinco Potentia hired you to bring her to them.”

  “Wait. Who?”

  “Kramer works for the Vinco Potentia, a secret political group that Senator Philip Warren is the head of.”

  “Why would they want her?”

  “She was part of a prophecy. She was supposed to have a baby that had powers they planned to exploit.”

  “But you said she had powers. Wouldn’t they want her for those?”

  “They did after they found out she had them. Of course, they were scared shitless of her after they realized what she could do. But your purpose was to deliver her to them so they could make one of their members the Chosen One. They figured one of their guys would get the mark and have the power. Double the power, double the fun.”

  “So did one of them become this Chosen One?”

  “No, you did.”

  Will’s heart skipped a beat.

  “The Chosen One got a mark, like a tattoo or a brand.”

  “On my arm. It was on my arm.”

  “Yeah. How’d you know?”

  “Kramer.” Will sighed, rubbing his eyes. “So did I have powers too?”

  “No. You said you could talk to her in your head when she was really scared, but other than that it was just an obsessive desire to protect her. That was the Chosen One’s purpose—to protect the queen.”

  “She’s a queen?”

  “That’s what the prophecy calls her, although you were never sure if that was literal or not.”

  A queen. This was insane. But if she had supernatural powers and he really could hear her in his dreams, that meant that the voice in his head could have been real. But who was it? “Who’s Jake?”

  “Her son.”

  “So where is he now?”

  “Last I knew, Alex Warren had him. Right before Kramer showed up to capture Emma, we’d tracked Alex to Montana. Not only were you trying to get more information about what Emma might be, you were also trying to recover her five-year-old son.”

  “Why would Alex want him?”

  “Because he has powers of his own. He can see the future.”

  “Shit.” If he hadn’t already been exposed to everything else, he wasn’t sure he could believe all of this. “Wait,”—he braced his hand on the dashboard—“we have to go back. If Alex has Jake, we need to get him back.”

  James shook his head. “No fucking way. We are not going back there. Besides, I’m fairly certain that Alex doesn’t have him anymore. They kept asking me if I knew where Jake was. Before this, Kramer knew that Alex had him.”

  “Then Alex lost him or gave him to someone else.”

  “So it appears.”

  “Then who has him now?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe Emma has him back.”

  Will knew that wasn’t true, judging from her cries for Jake in his dreams. “So now what?”

  “Now?” James raised his eyebrows. “Now, we try to put our lives back together.”

  “What the hell are you talking about? We have to find Emma.”

  James snorted. “We most certainly do not have to find Emma. We need to stay the fuck away from Emma. You claimed you loved her, but she was a manipulative bitch who tricked you into becoming part of all of this mess. She almost got you killed several times and she definitely gifted you with some powerful enemies. The best thing that happened to you was losing your memories of her. I have no idea how that happened—more supernatural mumbo-jumbo shit, I’m sure—but we’ll take it as a sign that your job is done and you’re free of her.”

  Giving Emma up was the last thing he could do. “Why do you say she manipulated me?”

  “Think about it. When have you ever fallen in love with a woman? Messed around? Sure. You even had some steady girlfriends in the past. But head-over-heels in love? Never. So what are the chances you’re going to fall hopelessly in love in less than a few weeks with someone you’re hired to transport?”

  Will wasn’t sure he wanted to know where this was headed.

  “You’re branded with a fucking magical mark by a woman with magical powers and you just happen to fall in love with her? She’s cast a spell on you, Will.”

  Will shook his head. “There’s no such thing as magical spells. That’s insane.”

  “No. It’s not. She possesses power you can’t even dream of. She can use mind control. She can create massive explosions. She’s killed countless people, Will. Countless.”

  “That doesn’t mean that she made me fall in love with her.”

  “She freely admitted that the mark made you feel compelled to protect her. If she branded you with that, what’s to stop her from making you love her? Wouldn’t that be in her best interest? Wouldn’t you want to protect her even more if you thought you loved her?”

  Will’s stomach twisted. What he felt wasn’t real. Or was it? “I dreamed of her.”

  “What?”

  “Not only did I hear her crying when I slept, calling out for me and Jake, but when you woke me up because of the alarms, I was dreaming of her. It was real, like she was really there.” He turned his head to James. “She was surprised to see me alive. She was happy to see me.”

  “What did she want?”

  He gave his head a shake. “Nothing. She just wanted to be with me.”

  James remained silent for several seconds. “That might have been real.”

  Will nearly collapsed with relief.

  “But you said she cried for you in the other dreams? You think she’s being held captive?”

  His defenses went up. “Yeah.”

  “What if she needs you to save her? What if she visited you so you would search for her?”

  “She didn’t ask me to save her, James. She said she thought I was dead and was happy to see me.”

  “Yeah, of course she was. Because she needs you to save her.”

  Will shook his head. “No. I don’t think—”

  James tapped the steering wheel with his thumb then pulled the car to the side of the road. “We need the book.”

  “What book?”

  “The book you stole from the compound. The book you thought had answers. We need to find the book and figure out how to free you.”

  Will wasn’t so sure he wanted to be freed. But he wanted answers and he also wanted to find her, James be damned. “So where’s the book?”

  “Last time I saw it was in Montana.”

  Leaning back into the seat, Will’s eyes sunk closed. “And where are we now?”

  “South Dakota.”

  “Do you have any money on you, Daddy Warbucks? How are we going to pay for this little field trip?”

  James shoved Will’s shoulder and laughed. “Oh, ye of little faith.” His hand slipped into his pocket and pulled out a wallet. “Those guards back at that compound don’t need these anymore.”

  ***

  When Emma opened her eyes, she found Raphael sitting in a chair next to the window. Her heart skipped a beat as she sat up.

  His elbows rested on the chair arms, his fingers laced and under his chin. Dark circles underscored his eyes. He sighed when he saw her move and lowered his hands to grip the chair arms.

  Emma’s first reaction was to jump out of bed and make him leave. But his glazed expression made it obvious he was hung over. After last night, provoking him seemed a bad idea. Instead, she froze, waiting to see what he wanted.

 
His eyes bore into hers. “I’m sorry for my behavior last night. I was drunk and obviously out of control.”

  While his apology was surprising, it also angered her. “It couldn’t wait until breakfast? I sit down to eat a bagel and you sip your coffee murmuring ‘sorry about terrorizing you last night.’ Why are you in my room watching me sleep?”

  He rubbed his face with his hands. “After I calmed down, I realized I’d made you take several sleeping pills. I wanted to make sure you didn’t stop breathing.”

  “Wow. Am I supposed to thank you for that?”

  He shook his head and he stood. His eyes glistened. “Again, my behavior was inexcusable and I’ve damaged what little progress we’ve made. I’m sorry.”

  She pointed to the door. “Get out.”

  His gaze focused on the floor as he walked to the door and paused at the threshold. “You cried for him again.”

  Her breath caught as her pulse sped up.

  “We’re days behind and I need you to be focused. The sleeping pills were supposed to help you get enough rest so you could concentrate.”

  Her anger swelled, overtaking her caution. “Maybe I didn’t sleep well last night because some maniac threatened me.”

  He hesitated for several seconds. “You need to get ready. We have a full day of work ahead of us. After your demonstration of power last night, it’s time you showed me what you’re really capable of. What you’ve been holding back.”

  Hours later, Emma had been unable to repeat her use of power the night before, not that she didn’t like the idea of blasting Raphael across the lawn. She just couldn’t make it happen.

  Desperation made Raphael short-tempered and dangerous. “Center yourself,” he said, making her focus on the same log from the day before. “Find your energy within yourself and concentrate on making the wood burst into flames.”

  She narrowed her gaze, searching for the burn in her chest, then pushing it out.

  Tiny flames licked at the tree trunk before sputtering out.

  A vein throbbed in Raphael’s temple. “What is your game, Emma? What do you hope to achieve?”

  Her hair clung to the side of her sweaty face. The afternoon was hot and humid and she was short-tempered herself. “What could I possibly gain from holding back my power from you, Raphael? You’ve said you won’t teach me the next step, getting power from other sources, until I master this one. And seeing how I really need to move to the next step so that I have even the slightest chance of saving my son, why would I hold back?”

  He moved closer to her, his skin blanching around his mouth. “I don’t know, Emma. Perhaps manipulation of some kind.”

  “Oh, isn’t that calling the kettle black. Seems to me you own the market in manipulation, Raphael.”

  His pupils dilated and turned a faint red. “Do not push me.”

  “Or what? You’ll get drunk and come to my room again?”

  She wasn’t prepared when he backhanded her cheek.

  Pure rage filled her and she lashed out, forcing her energy to him.

  He stumbled backward, wisps of smoke wafting off his shirt. Squaring his shoulders, a murderous look filled his eyes. “Is that what it takes, Emma? Extreme emotional distress? Maybe you need to fight for your life to make your power work.”

  The ground shook under her feet and she struggled to maintain her balance. A loud crack filled the air on her right and a tree fell toward her. She jumped out of the way, the tree branches scratching her arm as the massive oak crashed to the ground.

  “Use your power, Emma!”

  The tree skidded across the yard to her, knocking her face forward on the ground. The air flew out of her chest and she fought to suck in a breath.

  “Get up,” he snarled.

  He’d lost his mind.

  He strode toward her and jerked her off the ground, then gave her a shove as he stepped away. “Defend yourself, Emma.”

  She found a small burst of energy to shoot, which he easily blocked with the wave of a hand. The ground shook again and a small crack split the earth, zigzagging from Raphael and stopping at her feet.

  Hands clenched at her sides, her chest heaved. “Do it! Finish it, Raphael!”

  His eyes locked with hers, a green glow surrounding him. He looked wild and dangerous before he broke contact and turned away. “We’re taking a half-hour break, then resuming.” He stomped into the house.

  Once he’d gone inside she allowed herself to pat her swollen cheek and wipe the blood from her lip. Tears burned her eyes before it occurred to her that he’d left her outside. Alone.

  Her pulse quickened. He said he’d be gone a half an hour. How far could she get before he realized she was gone?

  Did she dare leave?

  The fact remained that while Raphael’s mental stability deteriorated by the hour, he was the only one who could help her at this point.

  Unless she found Alex.

  The thought made her skin crawl, but Raphael had quickly ascended the list of most hated people in her life, a hard list to climb. Still, there were so many problems with her plan, or lack thereof. She had no idea where Alex was, and Raphael was sure to find her before she got far. He tracked her somehow, and she was sure it had to do with her energy. All the more reason to learn to control it.

  She walked down to the creek that ran in the trees along the back of the property. While she couldn’t run from him yet, she could get away from him for a short while. Kicking off her shoes, she sat on the bank and put her feet in the stream, the water cooling her down. She closed her eyes.

  Raphael freely admitted he withheld information from her. The question was why? He must be spoon-feeding her, only giving her information absolutely necessary to finish this level then move on to the next. But what if she could figure out some of it herself? What if she really did do the very thing he accused her of—progress and hide her true powers from him?

  The idea teased her need to retaliate.

  Raphael controlled the earth. She’d seen him create earthquakes and make trees fall. He could move simple objects. He could control her. The last filled her with anxiety, but if she could figure out how it all worked, she was certain she could stop him and regain her free will.

  Alex was air. Storms and rain and wind. He could probably do other things she hadn’t considered. He could control weather associated with clouds, but could he change climates? Could he control things in the air, such as planes?

  She and Aiden were fire. She already knew she could create massive fires and make small items explode. She could turn men into piles of ash. She could control minds. Surely there was more. The fact that she needed extreme anger to use her power was crippling. During her skirmish with Raphael, her fear overpowered all fury, squashing her energy. She’d learned weeks ago that fear didn’t work for her energy source. Her power was fueled by pure anger. Lord knew she had plenty of anger to go around, but even she had her limits. She had to figure out other sources. And she’d be damned if she told Raphael what she was doing.

  Dipping her foot deeper in the water, Emma let her guard down and thought of Will. If he were alive, he would rip Raphael apart for the way he’d treated her the last two days. But Will wasn’t here and the fact remained that Will was no match for Raphael’s powers. Even if he were alive.

  Raphael had been right. She cried for Will again, but she’d dreamed of him too. A more concrete dream than the previous ones. He appeared to her in the darkness of her grief and not only knew who she was, but held her in his arms and looked down at her with love. But four words in her dream ate at her resolve.

  I’m not dead, Emma.

  She scooped up her hope and held it tight in her fists. Could it be true? Raphael insisted that Will had died.

  Raphael insisted.

  It made sense that he would encourage her to leave Will behind. Raphael saw Will as a threat, even in death. But would he lie to her and tell her that he was dead for his own benefit? Hell, yeah, he’d do it.

 
; Yet she couldn’t ignore that Will’s presence wasn’t out there anymore. The mark had to be the reason, but if their marks were gone, how could they have a connection in their dreams?

  Jake didn’t have a mark and she could communicate with him telepathically. Until Aiden’s interference. But Jake was half-deity, or whatever they were. That had to account for something.

  Could Will be alive? Raphael was right about one thing—when she searched deep in her heart for the answer, the cold truth ached in her bones. Will was dead. They had tossed his dead body into the van. The surety permeated every part of her. But her subconscious just couldn’t let him go yet.

  When she allowed her head to consider the bigger picture of who she was, she found herself on the verge of a panic attack. Most people would jump at the opportunity to be part of something bigger, something immortal, but Emma had always craved normalcy. The chance to live a safe and ordinary life. And as sucky as her existence had been the last twenty-seven years, an eternity of it was more than she could stomach.

  A week ago she would have settled for life with Will, Jake, and their baby, driving a minivan, and complaining about Will forgetting to take out the trash.

  Now she didn’t know what to hope for.

  Chapter Nine

  “James, how can you be sure that the bag is still at the cabin? First of all, wouldn’t Kramer and his men have taken it? And if it had been left behind, wouldn’t the management have taken it?”

  “I told you I had insurance. This was just one of many pieces. I knew you had the book and I figured Kramer would want it. So I hid it in the crawl space under the cabin after you left to go look for Jake. How many campers are climbing into dirty, cobwebby crawl spaces? Trust me. It’s there.”

  “So what are the other pieces?”

  James’s chin jutted then he turned to Will, his eyes full of worry. “We can talk about this later. You need to eat more of that grease feast in a bag and get some sleep.”

  Will shook his head and tossed the fast food bag into the backseat. “I think a couple of hamburgers will hold me for a few hours.”