“But, what if I can?” I croak, holding my hand to my cheek.
“Never speak of dat again,” he says softly, “or ye’ll spend da next tousand years in whahever dark hole I decide ta confine ye ta.” He looks around warily at the fellas in the room to see if any one of them heard what I said. Several fellas closest to us look stunned.
In the next second, Brennus has pulled me to my feet. “Now,” he says, “’tis time ta cut all da strings dat bind ye ta da aingeal one-by-one.” My eyes fly to his face, seeing his eyebrow arch. “I’ve had many, many conversations wi’ yer aingeal dese past days. ’Twas hard to keep from killing him when he gave me dis.”
Reaching into his pocket, Brennus pulls out a folded scrap of paper that is worn and frayed around its edges. He holds it up for me, but he doesn’t need to open it for me to know exactly what it contains. It’s a piece of the note I had once left Reed, telling him that I love him with a verse from Shakespeare.
“When he’s gone, ’twill be only me dat ye see,” Brennus promises as he drops the note back into his pocket. “Bring me her aingeal.”
My eyes swiftly move around the room, up to the gallery tier just below the rosette windows, looking for Reed. The legions of silvery-clad Gancanagh, who thickly line the whimsical walls of the kirk, part. Reed emerges from the apse, walking like a man would who has been trapped in the desert for days without water. If I thought that I was prepared to see him, I was mistaken. It seems that my heart, which I thought to be entirely broken, can still be torn further.
As Reed stumbles forward, nausea chokes me, making it easier to hold myself in check and not run to him. Everywhere my eyes touch on his bare chest he is covered with puncture marks and trails of seeping blood. His once proud wings lay broken and limp against his shoulders; bare, featherless patches mar their elegant, charcoal lines. Deep bruises, in various stages of healing, discolor his face and arms.
Reed’s green eyes don’t meet mine, but stare with longing at Brennus while he approaches us, waiting for his master to notice him. The thrall is a noose around his neck, strangling him and his pain is mine. When Reed reaches us, he goes down on one knee in front of Brennus, bowing his head in supplication.
Brennus smiles at me nefariously, saying, “Ye see, mo chroí, yer lover is already dead…he jus refuses ta admit it.”
Brennus reaches down and touches Reed’s cheek, infusing his pained, feverous eyes with a dopey, contented pallor, making them dull and lack-luster. It’s taking everything that I am to refrain from attacking Brennus. Dark rage burns within me, well beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. I begin struggling to gather energy to me, searching for it in the cracks and crevices between wood, bricks and mortar. It’s flowing in an intricate dance just beyond the sphere of magic that is entrapping and shrouding me.
“Stand, aingeal,” Brennus orders arrogantly. “See whom I brought for ye.”
Reed stands immediately, and his eyes shift to mine. “Evie,” Reed says, his voice is low and dull, a ghostly shadow of its former self.
“Dat’s right, she’s come ta take ye from me,” he says coolly.
Reed’s eyebrows pull together abruptly and he leans towards me in an aggressive posture, spreading his broken wings as wide as they’ll go. “I do not wish to be parted from you,” Reed replies with an air of menace in his tone while his predatory eyes scan me ruthlessly.
“She is jealous of whah we share, aingeal,” Brennus lies. Reed growls at me, low and scary, causing the hair on the back of my neck to rise. “Ye’ll need ta fight her if ye wish ta stay wi’ me,” Brennus explains in a tone that implies regret. “Ta prove ta da fellas dat ye should be da one ta remain wi’ us.”
A slow, cruel smile forms in the corners of Reed’s perfect lips. “I am prepared to fight.”
“I knew dat ye would be,” Brennus smiles wickedly. “Ye need but choose a weapon,” he commands, sweeping his hand toward a wall adorned with evil, hand-to-hand combat weapons.
Reed’s head tilts to one side. He scans the array of wickedness, searching for the perfect weapon with which to kill me. I stand perfectly still, continuing to find and draw trickles of energy to me. But, it doesn’t take Reed long to find what he’s looking for, and moving with surprising speed, he plucks two short daggers from the wall.
Brennus’ smile deepens, enjoying his game. Turning to me, he asks, “Which weapon will ye choose?”
I don’t look toward the weapons wall, but lift my hand, murmuring soft words that strain to rhyme.
Anger enters Brennus’ eyes when the front of his suit jacket tears open as the dull, steel blade of a letter opener he had hidden there emerges from his interior pocket. It comes to me, striking the palm of my hand as if I’m a high-powered magnet.
“There you are,” I say to it softly.
Uncertainty enters Brennus’ eyes as he notices that my hair is no longer hovering around me weightlessly. His eyes shoot immediately to the gallery above us. My eyes follow his and I spy a few familiar faces from the dozen or so youthful-looking undines lining the arching loft.
Safira stands out among them, her long, golden hair falling in waves around her, making her appear every inch the mermaid-like creature that she resembles. But, there are subtle differences in her appearance from when I had seen her last. Now, she has the dopey façade of one under the thrall of the Gancanagh. Her sisters, Marlowe and Kendall, don’t look much better as they breathe heavily between their sharky teeth, trying to wrest the energy that I’ve stolen from them back again.
“Your undines are growing weak,” I comment to Brennus. “Maybe you should feed them better.”
Brennus regains his calm quickly, smiling back at me when my hair floats up from my shoulders, indicating that they’ve regained control of me once again.
“Dere is no need ta attend ta dem. I do na plan ta be here much longer. Once we’ve finished here, I will na need dem.”
“They’ll be so bummed,” I reply, letting my eyes fall again on the wicked creatures who are creating this magical room that separates us from the angels. Brennus shrugs indifferently. “Why not just turn me now?” I ask out of curiosity, toying with the little letter opener in my hand. Memories of how I had thrust the tiny blade into Brennus’ foot in my attempt to escape from him in Houghton flicker in my mind.
“Ye might enjoy killing yer aingeal after ye’ve been turned. Dis way, da pleasure is all moin,” he says before he caresses my cheek.
A ghost of a smile touches my lips when my eyes find what I’ve been looking for in the gallery. The tall, silvery flash of Faerie armor, standing just below the rosette window, makes my heart swell with pride.
“You should leave this house of cards now, Brenn,” I warn. “Before you’re rendered irrelevant.”
“Ye’d have me miss seeing ye kill da aingeal? I remember how ye sorted out Keegan down in da caves. ’Twas yer first kill…I would na dream of missing dis,” he replies.
“Maybe he’ll kill me,” I murmur, trying to buy more time. “As you said, I’m playing in adagio. My speed will definitely be a factor. All of my movements are so much slower—it’s like you’ve rendered me human again. Even Reed has quicker reflexes than me.”
Brennus’ eyes darken as he warns, “Do na tink dat I’ll allow ye ta escape into a true death…dere will be suffering should ye try.”
Brennus turns from me to Anya who hasn’t moved from the spot where we’d fallen earlier. Several fellas still hover around her, displaying their fangs to increase her terror. Brennus brushes by them, coming closer to her. Fear pours from Anya; her eyes lurch from Brennus to me and then back to Brennus again.
“She is exquisite, mo chroí,” Brennus says to me over his shoulder. “Perhaps I will share her with ye later…” He reaches out to her then, touching her cheek.
A soft sigh comes from Anya’s lips as she relaxes in an instant, her eyes roving over Brennus like he is the most beautiful creature she has ever seen. Taking Anya by the hand, Brennus guides her a
way from me toward the apse where an elegant chair awaits him. When Brennus sits in it, he positions Anya to sit at his feet, her head resting lovingly against his knee while he strokes her long, dark hair like a favored pet.
Brennus waves his hand in the air, toward where Reed and I stand facing him. “Ye may begin,” he says, like a king upon his throne.
The weightlessness that I’ve experienced since I entered this place immediately falls away. My hair no longer hovers, but lies placidly against my shoulders. I can suddenly move faster than slow motion, which is really fortunate because the moment that I realize this, Reed’s dagger slashes through the air, cutting a long slice into my arm.
Feeling my skin burn as blood drips from the edge of his blade, I hear the room erupt with click, click, click as fangs engage. The Gancanagh have caught the scent.
I grip the letter opener more firmly in my hand as I try circling away from Reed while he assesses my every move. He stalks forward slowly, mirroring my steps as if he knows what I’ll do as I do it. I back up and bump against an invisible wall the undines have created to keep me within the sphere of their control.
Momentarily distracted, I’m just able to spin away from Reed when his dagger slashes toward my neck. It cuts the air as it misses me, but the blade in his other hand doesn’t; it leaves a small, painful cut on my cheek. Brennus hisses in anger. I ignore him, but Reed doesn’t; he looks toward Brennus in question. The distraction is just what I’ve been hoping for. I reach my hand out to touch Reed’s chest.
As my finger’s graze Reed’s skin, I whisper to him, “Doubt thou the stars are fire…” My hand glows as if it’s being lit from within, drawing some of the poison from Reed’s flesh. Something breaks within my wing, while I see his wing straighten.
Reed stumbles back from me, breaking the connection before I can bond to him fully. He’s stunned, shaking his head, like he’s shaking the cobwebs from it. I move to him again, saying softly, “Doubt that the sun doth move…” I rest my hand on his shoulder and see the bloody puncture wounds marring his skin close up and smooth over, leaving it flawless once again.
“Doubt truth to be a liar…” I fall against Reed. His arms encircle me, holding me to his chest. “But never doubt that I love…” My voice falters as blood oozes from the opening puncture wounds along my neck and chest. The strength drains from me as I gaze up at Reed’s perfect green eyes.
And then, I hear Reed whisper near my ear, “But never doubt that I love…I love thee best, O most best, believe it,” while clutching me tightly to him.
CHAPTER 26
Step Into The Ring
Russell
My stomach churns like it got pulled through the antique book portal along with Anya and Red. Holdin’ the media table for support, that feelin’ doesn’t go away when Zee shuts their gateway to Ireland, closin’ them off from me. My knuckles turn white as I crush the clear, glass surface causin’ it to crack like expandin’ ice. I can’t even look at Zee, but watch the minutes tick by on my watch, waitin’ for the time when I can follow them to Ireland using the other portal.
“Do not dwell on what could happen to them,” Zephyr advises with a frown. “Think instead of all the problems that you plan to lay at Brennus’ feet.”
“There’s room for all of that in my mind now,” I reply wryly, easin’ my hands off the table. “I can obsess on everythin’ simultaneously, but it’s the thoughts ‘bout Anya that are rippin’ my guts apart.”
“Yes,” Zee replies grimly, “I understand that problem…Buns is a force of nature.”
“She is,” I say with a reluctant smile, “you’re kinda screwed, dude. She’s definitely got her own ideas.”
Zee grins, too. “Do not laugh too hard, playa, yours is a Throne…karma…” he says, noddin’ his head before grimacin’ and addin’, “ouch.”
My smile broadens involuntarily. “Zee, when did you become funny?” I ask.
“It is difficult to be funny in Human,” he says, before lookin’ at his watch and then graspin’ the cover of the portal computer. “Learn my language and you will think I am hysterical.” After a second he sobers and asks, “Are you ready to do this?”
I give him a look full of hubris, while sayin’, “Shoot, I’ve already turned pro…this is like headin’ back to the minors.”
Zephyr flashes me an evil grin, “You are becoming more of an Angel every day.”
He opens the laptop and immediately we swirl into the dark tunnel woven with coursin’ blips of light and circuitry. In the next instant, I’m squeezed out of a CD slot and deposited into a supple, leather seat of a luxury automobile.
Lookin’ ‘round at the high-polished shine from the tortoise shell dashboard, my eyes widen at Zee in the driver’s seat. “Do portals come standard on all Bentleys?” I ask, feelin’ the perfection of the hand-stitchin’ on the seam of my seat.
“No, this one is custom. Buns installed it before we had to leave,” he states proudly, while touchin’ the steerin’ wheel in front of him as if it were a lover.
“Remind me to have her bling my ride when this is over,” I say, assessin’ the garage outside my window. It seems a shame to call it a garage, ‘cuz it’s more like a homage to luxury vehicles. I’d like to live here beneath the vaulted ceilin’ with its ribs that turn into columns of support. “Where are we?” I ask.
“The carriage house—it’s across the lawn from the kirk,” he replies, depressin’ a button. Immediately, the wooden garage door in front of the vehicle slides soundlessly sideways, allowin’ bright sunlight to spill into the dim interior.
“Can I drive?” I ask after he orders the car to start with some kind of Faerie-soundin’ word.
“No,” he says with a smile, “I’m the driver.”
“C’mon, Zee,” I beg. “The only car I’ve ever had was the beater I bought when I turned sixteen.”
“All the more reason for me to drive. You cannot handle her…she’s European,” he says with a smug smile, pullin’ out of the garage and headin’ down the gravel drive toward the estate. When he glances at me and sees my hostile look, he adds, “Do not be angry, I will buy you one when this is all over.”
“I’m not angry,” I say with a frown. “I’m concerned.”
I point up ahead of us to Xavier standin’ with his arms crossed beneath a rosette window of the kirk.
“How’d he know we’d be here?” I ask.
“He caught one of them,” Zephyr replies, his face goin’ ashen.
“Would he hurt them?” I ask as Zee drives the car recklessly now in the direction of Xavier.
“Would you if they could lead you to your love?” he counters. I growl in response.
Zephyr tears up the grass in deep chunks as we speed over the lawn. Xavier doesn’t even flinch or move at all when Zee stops the car a mere inch from him. It’s only when I fumble for the door handle that he shoots to my side of the car, rippin’ off my door and pullin’ me out like I stole it.
Without thinkin’, I send a burst of energy at him, knockin’ him away from me in a stunnin’ flash of light. He is only on the ground for half a second before he is up and comin’ at me again. But Tau lands in front of Xavier, holdin’ him back from me.
“We need him!” Tau says fiercely to Xavier, who at once stops strugglin’ against Tau. Evie’s father immediately turns to me and says, “Evie went into the kirk with Anya, at which time they disappeared from the estate.”
“They’re still here,” I reply gruffly, seein’ the anxiety in his eyes that are just like Red’s. “I’m here to help them.”
“How do we assist you?” Tau asks with a taut expression.
“Ahh, you wanna help now?” I counter sarcastically. I glance at Zee who gives me a significant look. “You can start by bringin’ us our Reapers,” I sigh in a relentin’ tone.
“Cole, retrieve them,” he orders without takin’ a breath. “What else?” he asks me succinctly.
“I don’t know. I need to check it out,”
I say, brushin’ past them and leapin’ into the air. I fly to an enormous, flower-shaped window and hover there, tryin’ to look beyond the dark, starry patina, cloudin’ and distortin’ the shiftin’ details of the church below me. It's like tryin’ to look through foggy water.
“She’s not in there!” Xavier snarls next to me, jumpin’ down my throat. “I’ve been through it—questioned all the Powers!”
I scowl back at him, “I’m fixin’ to go off on you! Can you shut up for a second?” I ask before continuin’ my recon.
“Do you see them?” Zee asks next to me.
“Yeah,” I reply in a calmer tone. “They’re alive.” Then I have to clench my teeth as Brennus slaps Red and I see her sprawl on the ground.
“What happened?” Tau asks, his face turnin’ red at my expression.
“He’s just slapped Evie,” I reply, not sugar-coatin’ it. “She can’t fight back—”
“Why? What’s wrong with her?” Xavier demands with a tone of desperation that I’ve never heard from him.
“I don’t know. She looks weird…slow,” my eyes dart away from Evie as I evaluate the other elements of the chamber below.
“You have to go in there—kill him!” Xavier urges, proddin’ me in the shoulder.
“I’m plannin’ on goin’ in there! Just give me a second to figure out how not to get killed when I do! There are hundreds of armed Gancanagh in there and a bunch of freaky-lookin’ mermaids.”
“Mermaids?” Tau asks softly, before his eyes snap to mine. “You mean undines?”
“They look like mermaids to me—they have gills,” I touch the sides of my neck, “and long, flowing hair, barracuda teeth—”
“Undines,” Tau growls, his face turnin’ redder. “The innocent bound to the damned…”
“They don’t look innocent…they look totally vicious,” I chime in, pullin’ my hand through my hair. “Okay,” I say to Zee, “I gotta check the way in.”
Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) Page 44
