Dangerously Divine

by Deborah Blake

  If anything, Victor’s look grew even more disbelieving. “Are you serious? None of these have even been touched. My sources said you are all junkies.” He strode over to Kelli and pushed up the sleeve of her coat, shirt and all. They slid easily up her too-thin arm to show the track marks he was looking for. Ciera could see Kelli’s body was shaking, although whether from fear or the pull of the drugs in front of her, it was hard to say.

  “Ex-junkies,” Ciera said in a calm tone. “Who will all be happy to pretend they never saw you or this place, if you just let them go. You have me, and that’s what you wanted, right? I’m sure you have everything arranged so I can never get away from you again. Just let them go, Victor.” She tried to smile at him, the way she used to when he was wound up and ready to snap. There had been times when it had even worked.

  But not this time, apparently.

  He slapped her, with an open palm—more to make a point than anything else, she supposed.

  “Shut up,” he said. “We’re leaving now.” He jerked his head at the girls, who were staring wide-eyed at Ciera’s bleeding cheek and the guns aimed loosely in their direction by his three men. “Move it.”

  Julie Ann twitched her head at one of the men, her eyebrow raised in question. Ciera shook her head in return. There was nothing they could do right now. Maybe their captors would get careless as they herded them out through the huge warehouse. All they could do was wait and pray for an opportunity. Or maybe for a miracle.

  CHAPTER 28

  GREGORI slid through the cavernous space, guided by the feather he’d tucked into his jacket so that its light would not give him away. Its steady glow had led him unerringly to this building, dimming whenever he had veered off the correct path, then brightening again when he had turned back in the right direction. By the time he had pulled up in front of the warehouse behind the huge Hummer already parked there, he almost didn’t need the feather at all, so strong was the tugging sensation in his chest.

  Ciera was here. He just knew it.

  He could feel the distant ripples of her emotions: fear, anger, a hint of pain, and a strange sense of peace and joy he could not explain. But at least he knew she was still alive.

  He wondered if there was any way to communicate with her. Sadly, telepathy did not seem to be among his new gifts, but the sense of connection that felt like a ribbon leading from him to the phoenix feather and then back out again was so strong, it made him question if there was a possibility that Ciera could feel it on her end.

  Sun stopped for a moment, leaning against a huge plastic-draped crate and closing his eyes. Ciera, he thought. I am here. Hold on. He sent the feeling as much as the words down the cord that connected them, and thought for a second that he perceived a shiver of response. But nothing else happened, so he opened his eyes again and kept moving forward, creeping panther-like through the dusty aisles.

  The sound of voices and footsteps alerted him to people approaching. The deep bass rumble of one man said something about not looking forward to going back into the snow. Another man answered him, but Gregori could not make out what was said. Either way, he suspected he had found the occupants of the Hummer.

  He tucked himself into the shadows between two rows of shelves and watched in silence as a ragtag group neared the spot where he was hidden. A well-dressed man in an expensive coat and with perfectly trimmed hair walked by first, conversing with the man with the bass voice. After them came the ones he had come searching for—Ciera and the three girls. They all appeared unharmed except for a nasty-looking scratch on Ciera’s cheek that bled sluggishly. Trailing behind them were two more large men talking about some hockey game they had just seen.

  Gregori gritted his teeth at the sight of the small wound, vowing to make whoever had put it there very, very sorry. But his shoulders unclenched a bit at the confirmation that at least they were all safe for now, although the guns the accompanying men carried did not necessarily bode well for the future. No matter. The balance of power had just shifted. Ciera’s captors simply did not realize it yet.

  As an experiment, Gregori sent a tiny pulse of energy down the invisible ribbon he thought of as representing his connection to Ciera. Nothing much, just a burst of affection and fierce protectiveness.

  Amazingly, Ciera lifted her head, putting one hand to her chest and then glancing around surreptitiously. Her eyes met Gregori’s for a split second and she gave an involuntary grin before settling her face back into its former somber mien. But she nudged Julie Ann’s arm and winked at her. The girl looked back at her with wide, startled eyes and then, comprehending, nodded slightly before nudging the girl next to her.

  Nothing obvious changed, but Gregori, following along on noiseless feet, could see that they had all straightened up and assumed the alert attitudes of soldiers ready to fight at any time.

  Nicely done, Ciera, he thought. Very nicely done indeed.

  He hated to risk an attack when the men were armed, but if he allowed them to put the women into the Hummer and drive away, anything could happen before he could track them down again. It had to be now.

  Gregori waited until the last two men were a few steps past him, then stepped out behind them. He had smashed the gun out of one thug’s hand with the edge of his own and whirled around to kick the other thug’s gun under a wooden pallet before they ever realized he was there. His first target let out a high-pitched yowl as the bones in his wrist shattered, but his companion turned around and answered Gregori’s attack with a flurry of kicks and punches that had professional written all over them.

  Encouraged, the first thug pulled out a knife and held it awkwardly in his left hand. Gregori did not see him as much of a threat, but it divided his attention and meant that, at least until he could take them both out, the girls were on their own. He thought it would likely take less than two minutes, but two minutes was a long time in a fight. Especially when guns were involved.

  Down the hallway, all three girls let out bloodcurdling screams at the same time and raced at the third thug. He was so taken aback, he only had time to get off one shot before they were on him. The bullet went wild, hitting a metal beam and ricocheting off into the dim recesses of the building.

  By the time Gregori had disposed of his two foes, the girls had taken down theirs and stood panting triumphantly over his unconscious body like a trio of pint-sized avenging Valkyries. A few steps beyond them, Ciera and Victor faced each other, separated by less than a foot. Victor’s gun glinted in the red glare of the safety lights. His face was seemingly calm, but Gregori could see the fear and anger swirling behind the calm exterior.

  “Do something,” Julie Ann hissed as Gregori walked forward slowly.

  “I do not think Ciera needs or wants my assistance,” he said. “This is her battle, and I believe she needs to fight it herself. There is no feeling worse than helplessness. She has earned the right.”

  He ought to know, after all those weeks spent locked up in a cage, unable to help his brothers or himself. His torturer was dead—he would never have the chance to confront her and gain back that sense of control. He was not about to take that away from Ciera. He wanted nothing more than to rush in and rescue her. But sometimes people needed to rescue themselves.

  “Ciera?” he said.

  “He’s mine,” she responded without looking over her shoulder at the others. “I’ve got this.”

  Victor laughed at her. The end of the gun came up a fraction of an inch until it was aimed directly at her heart.

  “You’re insane,” he said. “All you are going to have is a bullet in the chest and a bunch of dead friends. You have nothing. Just like when I first pulled you off the street. You seem to have forgotten that I always get what I want, my dear Suzy.”

  Gregori edged a little closer, just in case. He could see Ciera’s face now, set and determined. But not at all afraid. He could see her shifting her weight to her rig
ht side, as if she were about to try a high kick. Victor noticed it, too, and his grin grew even wider.

  Right until she feinted to the left, then ducked as he shot, so the bullet went sailing over her head and into the wall behind her. Bouncing back up from her squat, she thrust out with both arms, knocking his gun arm wide with one, and smashing into his nose with the other. Tears sprang into his cold brown eyes from the pain of the strike, but Victor still managed to hold on to the gun and bring it back up. Ciera got both hands on the wrist that held the gun and held on. The weapon was trapped between their bodies as they fought, moving back and forth down the hallway in a macabre dance.

  Suddenly, there was the muffled sound of two shots. Kelli grabbed Shannon’s arm and bit back a scream. Gregori stood rigid as a board. If he had been wrong . . .

  Then Ciera stepped back, so they had a clear view as Victor fell to the floor. The gun fell out of his fingers as he hit with a thud that seemed to echo through the building, and blood began to spread out from underneath his body in a crimson tide. Open eyes stared at nothing.

  “And you seem to have forgotten that I’m not your little Suzy anymore, you sadistic son of a bitch,” Ciera said through gritted teeth.

  The girls all turned to each other to high-five and cheer, so only Sun saw the moment when Ciera’s knees buckled and she began to sway.

  He ran to her, turning her around toward him. She gave him a shaky but triumphant smile. “I told you I had it,” she whispered, holding one hand over her stomach. As he watched with horror, a red stain blossomed beneath her fingers.

  “Ciera,” he said, easing her to the floor. “Dammit. Don’t you dare die on me.”

  She reached up to touch his face with bloody fingers. She coughed, and flecks of red appeared at the corners of her mouth.

  “Not a chance,” she said. “I haven’t even told you I love you yet.” Then her eyes flickered closed and stayed closed.

  CHAPTER 29

  FROM a long way away, Ciera could hear the sound of Shannon screaming. Or was it Kelli? It was hard to tell them apart at that volume and pitch. A marginally less hysterical voice yelled her name. That would be Julie Ann. A part of her marveled at her ability to notice such things at a time like this, although she struggled to remember what it was that made this time so special.

  Then she felt a warmth in her middle, subtle at first, then building to an almost unbearable heat, as if she were standing too close to a furnace. Reality seemed to zoom back at her from the end of a very long tunnel, and she forced her eyelids open despite the heavy weight holding them shut.

  A familiar face smiled back down at her. It took her a moment to put a name to the high, flat cheekbones and slightly tilted dark eyes topped by feathery black brows, although she was sure she knew them well. Gregori, that was it.

  “Hello,” she said. The word came out with a gasp, as though she barely had enough air in her lungs to form it. Slowly, she became aware of an aching pain in the midst of all that heat, but as soon as she noticed it, it ebbed away, drawn off through the slender fingers pressed against her belly. The next breath came a little easier. The one after that easier still.

  “Hey,” she said, blinking. “You’re doing that healing thing, aren’t you?”

  He nodded, the smile slipping away from his lips, but lingering in his eyes. “I am,” he said. “It seemed like a good idea, what with you being shot and bleeding, and such.” Now his breathing sounded forced and heavy, although his gaze never wavered.

  Ciera closed her eyes for a second, taking that in. When she reopened them, he was still there. His serene face was more reassuring than an emergency room full of bustling white-coated doctors.

  “Shot, huh,” she whispered. “Where is the bullet?”

  His lips thinned for a moment in concentrated effort, and there was a tiny clink of metal hitting the floor. “Out now,” he said. A bead of sweat edged his hairline, but otherwise he appeared as unconcerned as if he were preparing for an hour’s meditation.

  He was kneeling over her body, which she could suddenly tell was resting flat on the ground, although she couldn’t remember how she had gotten there. Both of his hands were pressed firmly against her stomach in the area that burned the hottest. A glowing orange-red feather sat on the grimy floor next to them, giving off enough light for her to see the surrounding area.

  “I thought you couldn’t do this without draining your own energy,” she said, finally feeling alert enough to worry. “You have to stop.”

  One side of his mouth quirked up, although he kept his focus on whatever he was doing. “I seem to have gotten past that issue,” he said. “Khen Rinpoche told me I was fighting my own nature. But I think it was more than that. When Brenna was able to overpower me and my brothers, and steal not only our immortality but our very identities, I lost my trust in the universe. My brother Mikhail lost his ability to trust himself, and so he shut everyone out. I, apparently, shut out everything else. I have been searching for a way to reconnect with the universal energy, when I was the one blocking that connection in the first place.”

  “Wow,” Ciera wheezed. “That’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?”

  His lips curved up a little farther. “That is one word for it.” He stared intently into her eyes. “I seem to have been resisting a number of connections that would make me more whole instead of less. Perhaps foolish would be a better word.”

  “Does that mean—”

  Julie Ann’s thin face appeared over Gregori’s shoulder before Ciera could finish her question. “Wow. She looks a lot better. I guess you weren’t kidding when you said you could fix her up, although I’d still like to know how the hell you’re doing it. Is it some kind of freaky superpower?”

  Gregori winked at Ciera. “I suppose you could call it that. Did you do as I asked?”

  “Yup.” She nodded vigorously. “We tied up all the bad guys with some ropes we found, just in case they woke up again before you were done. Although I still think you should have just let me shoot them.”

  Ciera barely heard the tiny sigh Gregori let slip out. She bit her lip, trying not to laugh, since she had a feeling it would hurt like hell if she did. Poor guy. He’d been dealing with three traumatized, high-strung teenage girls while trying to heal what she was pretty sure should have been a fatal bullet wound. She almost felt like a slacker, just lying here on the cold floor, doing nothing. Well, nothing but bleeding to death. But that hardly counted.

  “I think there has been enough shooting here tonight, don’t you?” he said with the too-patient voice of a man who has been through this particular argument more than once already. “I think Ciera is almost ready to go. Gather the others, will you, please?”

  “Almost ready to go?” Ciera protested. “But I feel . . .” She stopped to assess exactly how she felt, and was amazed to discover that she actually didn’t feel too bad. Exhausted, and kind of achy, as if she’d just gotten over the flu, but considering she had almost been dead not too long ago, she thought she could live with that.

  “Oh,” she said. “You might be right.” She looked up at him, seeing new lines of strain around his eyes and mouth as he carefully removed his hands from her belly. They were covered in blood from his fingertips to his wrists, and the once-pristine edges of his sleeves were damp and discolored. She glanced away from the sight, slightly nauseous at the thought that all that had come from inside her, but when she explored the place his fingers had been resting, all she felt was a thin, circular ridge of flesh, still a tiny bit tender to the touch.

  “That’s some trick,” she said weakly, as he carefully helped her to her feet and leaned down to grab the glowing feather and tuck it inside his coat. He kept one strong arm around her, for which she was grateful.

  “I also juggle,” he said in a grave tone, “and am quite adept with a deck of cards.”

  “Good to know,” she said. “I’ll keep
you in mind for my next birthday party.”

  “Are you really okay, Ciera?” Kelli said as she came up with Shannon and Julie Ann. “We kind of thought you were dead there for a minute.”

  “I was only mostly dead,” Ciera said with a crooked grin. “That’s a completely different thing.” She glanced at the various bodies strewn around. “Can we maybe get out of here? I’ll call the cops and leave an anonymous tip as soon as we’re far enough away.”

  Gregori nodded, and they all began to move slowly in the direction of the warehouse entrance. Julie Ann stopped suddenly and reversed course.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Kelli asked.

  Julie Ann walked back to where the last two thugs were sprawled in the middle of the hallway and picked up the wastebasket full of drugs one of them had been toting. Then she stomped back to stand over Victor’s body.

  “I just thought I’d make it easy for the cops to figure out what went on here,” she said, and upended the entire container. One of the baggies broke on impact and dusted white powder all over his previously pristine suit, sticking to the bloody hole in the middle of his chest.

  “Nobody is going to believe he is just some fancy-pants businessman when they see this,” she added, and then gave his body one more vicious kick before marching up to the others.

  Ciera just shook her head. “Julie Ann,” she said.

  The girl braced herself. “Yeah.”

  “You freaking rock.”

  The other two girls giggled, and even Gregori nodded in agreement.

  “Huh,” Julie Ann said, blushing a little at the unaccustomed praise. “I guess I do, at that.”

  Ciera thought of something.

  “Hold on a minute,” she said, prying herself gently from Gregori’s supportive grip. He hesitated, then let her go. That was one of the things she loved about him; he was always willing to let her walk on her own two feet when she needed to.