Reed breaks free from the remaining Brenns attacking him and focuses on the fellas. In less time than it takes me to breathe in and out, the fellas in our sanctum are dead, strewn like dirty laundry upon the ground, killed by the letter opener in Reed’s hand. I’m panting now as my entire body shakes with a need to give in to the pressure being exerted on it. A whimper escapes from between my parted lips and I close my eyes. I’m connecting to the energy flowing through the fellas on the other side of the barrier. They’re trying to steal it from me, but it’s as if the energy is magnetized, accruing in me as if by choice: choosing me, not them.
I groan as the flames inside me become excruciating. When I open my eyes, I glance at Brennus, only two Brenns remain, the rest have been reconnected with Brennus. He’s a mess, his body a roadmap of abuse. He’s bent over, holding his bloody abdomen, but he’s also healing quickly. Brennus’ eyes meet mine and he tries to hide his pain from me as he calls the remaining Brenns back to him. In that moment, his pain makes mine more intense and I cry out.
“Evie?” Reed says, turning his full attention to me.
“Burning,” I say desperately, feeling a tear trickle down my cheek. Reed moves to my side, but as he extends his hand to me he winces as heat and energy flow in a current into him, but he doesn’t let me go, instead, he picks me up in his arms.
“Reed, run,” I warn him, “I’ll open up a gap and you can fly—”
“I’m not leaving you,” he growls.
“Something’s happening to me,” I groan.
In the same moment, the magical wall I created to hold everything back slips nearer to us, caving in as it draws closer. Soon it will no longer exist. I try to hold it, but the energy I’m using to create it wants to swirl into me instead.
“Ye have ta let go of da energy, mo chroí!” Brennus says in a harsh tone. He doubles over in pain, unable to move toward me. “’Twill kill ye if ye do na!”
I shake my head as suffering contorts my face. Hostile soldiers lurch in our direction when the curtain that keeps them back hops forward a few feet. Anticipation at getting to Reed shines in their eyes like lust. Hands splay, aching to touch Reed with their toxic skin, and fangs extend with resonating clicks. They’re primed to tear him apart; he won’t escape again.
Reed’s fingers are tender on my brow, brushing my hair from my face. “Let go, Evie,” Reed whispers to me.
“I can’t,” I say through gritted teeth. “They’ll kill you!”
“Whatever happens, love, we’ll be together,” he says in a gentle way. “Let go.”
With most of my remaining strength, I open a gap in the barrier above us, enough for him to fly up and pass through. “It’s open—please go—you have to get away from me. Something’s wrong with me,” I whisper. Reed shakes his head no. “Please—” I beg him.
“Not without you. Never without you,” he says. He looks into my eyes and mouths silently, “I love you.” Then, his lips lower to mine and I have no choice. I let go.
CHAPTER 28
Crestwood
Reed
God, please protect her...
Rippling, white light rolls outward from Evie in a fiery shockwave. The blinding energy impacts me; it pulsates throughout my body and I feel as if I’ve been set aflame. My jaw clenches in an effort to retain the air within my lungs and my arms close tighter around Evie to keep her with me, but I’m not strong enough. When I’m torn from her, I’m blown within the undulating energy, tumbling in the chaos of the inferno. The deafening euphony of thunder eulogizes silence, leaving my eardrums muffled when its noise is spent. Within seconds, I come to rest on a patch of charred earth.
Evie...My fingers twitch on the smoldering ground.
Breathe...with effort I manage to expand my collapsed lungs. The sound of my gasping inhales are almost inaudible to me. The aching-tear of scorched membrane within my lungs makes me want to rebel against my need for oxygen. I stamp down the desire I have to hold my breath and I force myself to inhale again.
The sweet smell of crackling flesh hangs in the air. Soon, however, that scent is replaced by a burnt odor of skin. I lie on the ground in confusion until something soft touches my cheek. Opening my eyes, I brush away a gray flake of ash only to have it replaced by several flakes that drift down like falling snow from the sky.
Evie...
The light around me has extinguished; the lampposts have all fallen over in inanimate heaps of melted iron. The ground surrounding me is a large, blackened circle reaching out in at least a fifty-meter radius. Blinking, I try to clear away the soot from my eyes.
Evie...Evie...
I attempt to sit up; my eyes close involuntarily and I slouch to the ground once more. The pain is nearly insuperable. Dead, blackened skin hangs from my arms in places; new flesh is rapidly forming beneath, but it’s pink and tender, barely covering muscle.
Pain is ephemeral...control it...GET UP...
My arms must have somehow protected my face because my skin is intact there; it’s just my arms, legs, chest, and abdomen that are in the process of healing.
EVIE...
I move my head, searching for my angel. Dark shadows sprawl out on the ground and it takes me moments to recognize what they are: they’re the ashen silhouette remains of the Gancanagh soldiers. The fellas have disintegrated into embers, blanketing the once snow-covered ground with their essence.
FIND EVIE...GET UP! EVIE...
Ignoring the agony it takes to bend forward, I get to my knees. I hang my head as I compartmentalize the pain. My hands draw into fists. I push up to my feet and feel my wings unfurl to balance and stabilize me. I begin to shake: the result of trauma. I ignore that, too.
Where are you now...be here...please...be here...Evie...
A soft luminescence draws my eyes to it. Brennus stirs to life on the ground several yards from me. His skin is glowing, lighting the very air and pushing back the shadows. He brings his radiant hands near his face, examining them like he’s never seen them before. Something moves behind his back, and as he seems to feel it, he shifts, peering over his shoulder. Brennus’ wings knit out behind him; the rapid meshing of their velvety-texture wefts in spiraling, symphonic patterns as they reach to points above his head. At the conclusion of their regeneration, they float for just a moment, entirely white and resplendent. His skin glimmers golden, taking on the healthy veneer of a faerie. But in moments, dark splotches appear at the tips of Brennus’ white wings, running like dye down them until they turn as ebony as his hair. His skin pales a bit too, it doesn’t revert to the stark pallor of a Gancanagh, but neither does it retain its faerie-like glow.
As the shimmer of Brennus’ skin dims, he casts his hands in small circles while his lips move silently. Orbs of light float up above us, illuminating the ruined lawn of Central Hall. Ashes continue to float down and it would be beautiful if it weren’t repulsive.
Tear his ears from him and push them down his throat. Pluck out his eyes from their sockets. Crush his cranium between my fists...no, that death is too expeditious...he must suffer...why didn’t Brennus die along with his soldiers...
I take a step in his direction. Butterflies flutter in my abdomen; I lose my breath.
Evie...
I pause and scan the terrain. Lying still and broken on the ground in the spot where we’d last been together, I find my love. Her dark-feathered wings are a stark contrast to her pale skin as they fan out, framing her. I can detect no movement coming from her and since I cannot hear her heartbeat, I cannot ascertain if she lives. The acrid taste of fear burns my throat as I immediately change direction to go to her. My muscles feel like inflexible wires as I force my knees to bend, limping forward. I stretch out my wings, they lift me off the ground easily and I fly to her, touching down on the ground by her feet. I sink to my knees by her side before I gather her to me in my arms. Her cheek rests against my neck and I blanch at how cold it is.
She’s not breathing...
My lips move near
her ear and I can hardly speak past the tightening in my throat as I whisper, “Evie, don’t go. Stay with me. I’m lost here without you...” I glance up at the sky, seeing the moon shine white with indifference against the night. “Don’t take her from me...please,” I manage to say, as my jaw grows taut, “and if that is too much to ask, then...take me, too. Forever is too long...”
I feel her breath stir against my skin. The blood from her bite wounds pulses from her and smears on my chest. She’s alive...
“That’s it, love,” I say coaxingly, fighting the need to crush her to me. “Breathe.”
“She is bleeding out,” Brennus’ deep voice states beside me. It sounds as desolate as the burnt, leafless trees behind him.
Kill him. A low growl rips from me as I pull Evie closer to protect her from him.
“She’s dying!” Brennus says in an urgent tone I can barely hear. He kneels down beside us with an anxious expression. “Give her ta me.”
“Attempt to take her from me and you die now. I will never let you change her,” I growl.
Brennus scowls as he reaches his long, white hand out. He brushes his fingers against my cheek. “Give Genevieve ta me,” he orders in an even tone.
“Never. Going. To. Happen,” I growl back between clenched teeth as I snatch Evie back further from him.
Brennus’ eyes widen as he states,“Ye’re na enthralled.”
“No,” I reply as it registers in my mind that either Brennus has lost his ability to enthrall his victims, or I have become immune to it...or both. I draw back my fist and punch him in the face, knocking him back from Evie. With one eye still closed, Brennus shakes his head, a bit stunned before he rubs his chin ruefully. Then, both eyes open and narrow as he studies me.
“Ye’ll let her die?” he asks in an angry tone. His black moth-like wings move then, extending in agitation. The glow from the hovering orbs above reflects on his wings and casts garish shadows behind him.
“I will save her soul from you—from Sheol,” I murmur, feeling panicked at my own words. Can I save more than her soul? Can I save her life? Overwhelming sorrow crushes my heart and I can hardly breathe.
“She’s moin,” Brennus hisses with venom as his face coils, ready to strike. “Ye can na keep me from her.” His lips move silently, as he casts his hands in my direction.
My arms open involuntarily when a powerful force seizes me. The air is quickly being drawn out of my lungs as I feel a force shoving me back. Evie begins slipping from my arms. Her hair slides over my palms like unraveling kite strings. My empty hands feel frozen when she’s no longer in them. When she is in Brennus’ arms, he holds her to him, kissing her temple. In the same instant, I’m magically thrown back away from them. Losing her again is suffocating me; the loss of her is excruciating.
I come to rest on the ground several yards away from them. My eyes narrow and I growl, getting to my feet immediately. Brennus gently strokes Evie’s hair back from her forehead. I launch at Brennus, but he raises his hand. I’m knocked back again, coming to rest on the charred earth once more. When I rise, I come up short, my wings stretch out at full extension as I’m levitated off the ground and held in stasis as if I’m a specimen pinned to a matte.
Brennus smiles tauntingly. “She has changed me, aingeal. Her blood is in me veins and it has protected me from her most lethal weapon—her incendiary nature. ’Tis da only way ye survived as well. Ye have her blood in ye. I feel her power within me. Da energy she has released has rendered me stronger...she gave me a power-up. Me magic works on ye now,” Brennus finishes with a hint of awe in his tone.
“You’re becoming alive?” I ask, trying to distract him from Evie.
Brennus frowns. “I felt alive...for a moment, but it did na last.”
Find a way to break his spell then reach inside him and pull out his spine. Crush him...
I soften my face, making it expressionless. “She can try again—” I say urgently, trying to find the persuasive argument that will stop him from sharing his blood with her.
His lips twist in desperation. “She can na if she dies!” Brennus growls.
“BRENNUS!” I shout in frustration.
“I’ll save her, aingeal. I’ll make her strong again,” Brennus says. Click, his fangs engage and he uses them to tear open his flesh. He lets his dark blood well up.
I pull with all my strength against the force that holds me aloft. Pain doesn’t deter me; it makes all of this more real. It increases my determination to get to her. “You’ll lose what you love the most! She won’t be the same without her soul! You’ll destroy the only part of her that truly loves you...”
He holds his bleeding wrist above Evie’s lips, but he pauses. I see him stiffen and I hold my breath. His hand begins to tremble as his jaw tightens.
Convince him not to kill her. In a soft tone I say, “You will have a lovely shell of her, but her soul will no longer be yours. She will belong to Sheol for eternity...”
A groan filled with agony comes from Brennus. His wrist twitches and I flinch like a knife cut. After a moment, he drops his bloody wrist from Evie and clutches her limp form to him.
“Why can I na do it?” Brennus spits out in torment. “Why can I na turn her?”
Relief makes my neck bend and my head hang forward. “You love her soul—willing or not. Her soul has been rooting for you—for your redemption.”
“Dere is no redemption for me, ye know dat,” Brennus says the first thing that I can agree to.
“I know,” I say without hesitation.
“She does na accept dat,” he says.
“No,” I agree.
“I can na let her go,” Brennus says, waveringly. “She has ta stay on dis side of eternity. Immortality is a curse wi’out her...”
My eyes flare wide as fear explodes in me that he will change his mind again. I struggle for a way to save my angel. Brennus is the only other being to share my fears of immortality after her loss...
“Give her back to me and I will take her to Russell—the other,” I say urgently. Brennus’ response is to clutch her tighter. “He can save her—it’s the only way!”
“Da other,” Brennus murmurs. Pure malice etches his face for a moment as he battles himself. He’s struggling over the extreme torture of losing her again: handing her back to me. I have no altruistic feelings for him, even having felt the same when I had to leave Evie with him.
He must die...soon. My need to crush him is a palatable thing.
“Russell is exactly like her—she healed me, he can heal her.” I wait, unable to breathe. I watch Evie’s face: her eyes remain closed, her brow unfurled. Blood drips openly from her wounds, like the ticking of time. Tick, tick, tick...
“He’s weak,” Brennus says dismissively.
I shake my head. “Russell’s strong—that’s why you wanted her to deliver him to you. He’ll save her,” I state with absolute certainty. “He’ll make her stronger. She’ll be able to defeat Sheol. If you let Sheol have Evie’s soul now, then it’s over—her innocence will be tied to the damned. One day you may have to look upon her soul—when it again comes in search of the body from which you separated it. She’ll bring all of the Fallen with her.” I taste bile on my tongue as I show him the future I fear the most. “You now have the means to keep her with you without turning her. Your magic is immense. You’ll find a way to have her without losing her soul once she’s healed.”
Brennus falters, his eyebrows knitting together. “I’ll na lose any part of her ta dem,” Brennus says in a tormented voice. He strokes her wing lovingly. Then he bends close to her and whispers, “Ye’re me only love...so ye can na die. I’ll come for ye, mo chroí, after da other makes ye well again. Do na get comfortable wi’ da aingeal...he’s na for ye. I’m still yer king.”
He waves his white hand and removes the invisible force that holds me aloft and I instantly fall to the ground. I’m next to them in a second, extending my arms to take Evie back from his. Gingerly, Brennus relinquis
hes her to me. Immediately, something eases in my chest, an ache around my heart is soothed for a moment. Brennus’ face becomes ashen, more from her loss than from his undeath. Pain shines in his eyes. The orbs of light above us dim, like I’ve taken his power from him, too.
Yes. Suffer.
Brennus swallows hard. “Find da other quickly,” he orders. He pulls an ebony brooch pinned to a black ribbon from a pocket. “Dis will bring ye ta him...if he still lives. ’Tis da portal she had wi’ her. Dis will lead ta where dey planned ta meet.”
When he hands me the brooch, he grimaces with anguish and balls his hands into fists. “Do na let her die or I will kill ye slowly. I’ll be around ta collect her soon.”
I don’t assuage his fear. “I’ll end you when you come,” I promise him.
His smile is sinister. “Ye’ll try,” he says as I open the portal and Evie and I begin to distort.
A pull begins in the pit of my stomach, interrupting for a moment the flutter of butterflies that I have there. I jerk forward with Evie pressed to me and we surge and contort to fit into the portal. Once inside, dark walls swirl by silently. The ebony stone is lined with veins of mother-of-pearl; it shimmers like the inside of a seashell. Brighter light appears ahead and I instinctively protect Evie’s body with my own as we near the threshold. Emerging from the portal, Evie and I spill out upon the floor of the media room. I flinch as my new skin breaks open in places and begins to bleed. The pop in my ears is my auditory canals adjusting to the pressure in the room and everything is incredibly loud once more.
Anya gasps from her seat on the wide leather sofa; the soft blanket around her shoulders slips from her as her hand comes up to cover her parted lips. Russell, seated next to her, has his elbows resting on his thighs with his head cradled in both of his hands. He looks up when I try to rise from the floor with Evie’s still body resting against my chest.
Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) Page 47
