by L. A. Banks
“You’ve never flown at night by yourself, jerk!” Sarah finally said between her teeth, jogging to catch up to her brother’s long strides. “And they are so gonna kick your dumb ass.”
Smirking, Al gave her a casual shrug as he walked away. “I’m not gonna fly alone. Uncle Yonnie is going, so by rights, me and my best hombre, Valencio, got this.”
Panic raced through Sarah as her brother bound up the steps and disappeared.
Missing Guardians, the Morrigan, a midnight mission—and now her brother was running off into the night like he was crazy to watch her parents fight demons or possibly their worst enemy. This night was going from bad to worst.
And unfortunately, she had to do something about it.
Chapter 2
Sarah ran back up the stairs and down the hall to Tami’s room. She needed reinforcements. None of them were ready. They needed training. And now her brother was leaving the compound with their cousin Valencio on an unauthorized run like he’d lost his damned mind!
Tami opened her bedroom door and waved Sarah in before she’d even reached it.
“What gives?” Tami said, looking at Sarah with wide-eyed concern. “You’re seriously stressed out. I could feel you ever since you hit the bottom of the stairs. Are your folks really headed toward splitsville?”
Sarah shook her head and pushed her hair up off her neck. “They were arguing about letting us go to the Academy.”
“What?” Tami asked, stunned.
“Apparently there’ve been kidnappings at or around the school, and some rogue Guardians have gone missing.”
Tami’s jaw dropped. “Get. Out.”
“Yeah, and my parents are going to investigate new demon portals near the school, and my stupid brother and Val are going to follow them!”
“Are you serious?” Tami said, grabbing Sarah by both arms. “That is so cool! I’m in.”
“Wha—No that is not cool. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life!” Sarah said, struggling out of her best friend’s hold. “Our parents are going to go down a freakin’ demon hole to bust things up!”
“But think of it, Sarah… what a rush,” Tami said, looking like she was in rapture from the idea alone. “And since we can’t fly because we didn’t get blessed with wings like the guys did, we can be Al and Val’s navigators.”
Sarah slumped in defeat. There was no arguing with Tami when she got like this. Her mother had been a vampire for forty years, they said, before she got her life and soul back. Add to that, Uncle Jack Rider’s wild personality and you got a kid as crazy as Tami. So much for being the voice of reason and stopping Al from doing something dumb.
“All we have to do is get beyond the compound energy safeguards so we can mind-link with them. You link to Al, I’ll link to Val. It’ll be insane!”
Sarah folded her arms over her chest. “Yeah. It is insane. One problem. Al will never let us tag along.” It rankled her to no end that her brother had thrown out the challenge that she was too chicken to go knowing that she really was, and yet if she tried to go, she knew he’d tell her she couldn’t. It would serve him right if she did force the point and showed up with Tami.
Tami folded her arms over her chest. “He has no choice. It’s called extortion. Either we go with them, or we blow the whistle on the whole mission.”
Sarah smiled slowly. Having something to hold over her brother’s head did have a certain charm to it.
“He’ll be so pissed,” Sarah said, grinning.
“Uh-huh,” Tami said, going to the door, her answering grin saying she knew she had hooked Sarah with the one thing she couldn’t resist. “So we all go or nobody goes.” She held the door open. “After you.”
“This is complete bullshit!” Al said through his fangs as he yanked his black t-shirt over his head.
He so got on her nerves. What a jerk. Why all the compound guys wanted to be like him and all the girls had wanted him at one point or another was beyond her. Her brother was cocky, arrogant and a royal pain in the behind. He got in trouble and stayed there. So what if he was tall, lean and muscular? Who cared if his skin looked like gold under the blood-red moon? Good looks and ability weren’t everything. It sure didn’t beat brains at a time like this.
She watched her brother run his fingers through his thick, soot-colored curls like he didn’t have a care in the world. He glared at her, his dark eyes an intense replica of her father’s—like that mattered. He wasn’t her dad and couldn’t tell her what to do!
He flexed his shoulder blades and forced out huge, pristine white wings, his eyes going silver in the process. It just wasn’t fair. Al had gotten the good looks and the wings to go along with the superior telepathic ability and fearlessness. He was the perfect combination of their father’s vampire and mother’s angel DNA. Her twin brother had clearly robbed her in the womb, leaving her with an unruly mop of brown curly hair, a flat chest, a complete lack of curves that her mother claimed was an athletic build, mediocre telepathic ability and fangs that only popped out when she was angry. Oh, yeah, plus there was some freaky attraction between her and stuff in the dark. But at least she’d come away with all the common sense.
And since, as her dad always said, “fair exchange was no robbery,” it was her recurring mission to keep her out-of-control brother in check. Tonight was definitely one of those times. She was not going to stand by and let him kill himself and take Val out right along with him. If she did, without at least putting up a fight, she’d never forgive herself. But why did she always have to make sure Al didn’t do something stupid? Maybe the better question was, why did everyone in the compound, especially her mom and dad, always expect her to look after her brother like it was her job or something?
But more than she was furious at her brother right now for putting her in this position, she hated that he’d lured her over to the other side of the light barriers that kept the compound safe and into the dark. She never went out at night.
“You all are not coming,” Al said, pointing at her as he walked closer to the edge of the cliff. Then he issued Tami a sexy vamp stare. “Tell my sister to stand down and get out of my face.”
Tami’s response was a smirk, which only seemed to piss Al off even more. Tami was the only one who didn’t fall at his feet when he turned on the macho charm. She was more likely to kickbox him instead. There was no one who could get under his skin more. Yes!
Anger flared in her brother’s eyes. “I’m not kidding!”
Tami held up her hand. “Save it, fly boy. We’re coming.”
Al clenched his teeth and turned to his best friend, who merely casually yanked his white t-shirt over his head with a shrug. It was clear that Val was taking a neutral position; as the peacemaker, he always did.
“Man, why don’t we just chill and let them navigate? What could it hurt?”
“Whatever, man,” Al said, giving in, and looked out over the edge of the cliff, waiting for Val to step up beside him.
Sarah stared at Val, pleased when he gave her a secretive wink that her brother didn’t catch. Val was always on her side, a private victory to be savored. Any lingering resentment she had for her brother fled when Valencio flexed his shoulders and spread his own wings. They stretched six feet on either side and were a gorgeous amber that glistened under the moonlight. He was part vampire from his father’s side and part Valkyrie, courtesy of his mother. The combination was awesome. If there was any guy who could challenge the great Alejandro Rivera in the looks and body department, it was Valencio. And he also seemed to have one additional thing that her brother didn’t, and that was brains.
He was as tall as Al, but with exotically dark brown skin and a deep, mellow voice. His eyes reminded her of rich milk chocolate, and his smile was…wow. A little hint of fang added a pearl-white gleam. One dimple always peeked out on the left side of his cheek when he gave her one of his heart-stopping half-smiles. A huge, wild afro crowned his head, but it was his easygoing personality that she lo
ved the most.
Just like all of the kids in the compound, they had been raised together like brother and sister, but though they called each other cousins, there were no blood ties between any of them except her and Al. She was secretly glad of that, and suspected she wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Sarah looked down toward the ground, suddenly feeling too exposed by her lingering glances at Val’s fabulous physique. Every adult was called Aunt or Uncle, Nana or Baba, was simply given that title out of love, respect, deference to age and familiarity, because their parents were comrades in arms, a band of brother and sister demon-hunting rebels. But it was nice to know that it was possible to have a secret crush in the house without it being weird.
“Okay, tell us when you’ve got a lock,” Al snapped over his shoulder, clearly resentful of having to wait until they did.
Leave it to her brother to ruin the moment. Sarah just stared at him with a frown.
“Sheesh, give us a second,” Tami muttered, rubbing her temples.
“I’ve already got a lock on my parents,” Al said to Val, ignoring Tami. “They’re heading toward the border town at the base of the mountain.”
Val nodded, clearly as eager to get going as Al was. “Hey, if you’re not up to the task, ladies, we’ll catch you on the rebound.”
Al laughed, exchanged a fist pound with Val, and then suddenly nose-dived off the cliff.
Val jogged backward, glanced at Sarah and offered her another dashing smile. “What can I say?” Then, in a running leap, laughing, he took flight and glanced back at her. “It’s cool—I’ve got his back.”
“You guys were supposed to wait for the mind-lock!” Sarah shouted as she watched them fly away. “I knew they’d pull this crap,” she grumbled.
Tami chuckled. “Yeah…as soon as the shirts came off and the wings came out, truthfully, I was done. I kinda forgot about navigating for a second.”
Sarah closed her eyes with a groan.
Tami held both hands up in front of her, laughing. “Lighten up, Sarah. You have to admit they’re both fine, even though I would never tell them that.” She gave Sarah a friendly shove, presumably to stave off the objection she knew was coming. “You don’t have to say it. You’re right. There are more important things going on, like all that stuff with your parents. But Val is responsible. He’s not gonna let your brother get hurt, you know.”
“They should have waited for us to lock with them, though,” Sarah muttered.
“Yeah, well, what would have been nice is if they’d let us view the action with them… so when they get back I’m gonna give ‘em hell. Trust me.” Tami flopped down, sat crossed-legged on the ground and shrugged. “But we still have leverage—if they don’t spill, we can threaten to tell.”
“Yeah, right. My brother knows we won’t snitch, and so does Val. Since when have any of us done that since we were babies?”
“Okay, point taken. I guess we’ll have to find some other way to find out what’s going on.” Tami looked up at Sarah and raised her eyebrows. “I bet Val would let you into his thoughts. And while we wait, I could give you some creative pointers on what to think that would blow his mind.”
“Will you be serious for once, Tami?”
“Okay, suit yourself, Miss Doom and Gloom.” Tami hadn’t lost her smile or her good cheer.
“I have a really bad feeling about everything that’s happening. They shouldn’t be out there alone without backup.” Sarah tore her gaze from Tami’s to look out toward the vast stretch of dark night beyond the cliffs, suddenly taking in panicked, shallow breaths. “We should go back inside…maybe get Aunt Inez or—”
“Face it, Sarah, no offense—and you know you’re my best friend and compound sister, so I’m saying this to you with pure love—but you always have a bad feeling about every frickin’ thing. Life isn’t perfect. Shit happens. But do you actually wanna be sitting on the sidelines forever, scared to death that something terrible might happen? You gotta live.” Tami yanked on Sarah’s sweatpant leg while looking up at her with a big smile. “Sit down. Take a load off. Breathe deep and relax. Pretend you’re in one of Nana Marlene’s meditation classes.”
Sarah sat down hard, trying to talk herself out of pitching herself over the edge of the cliff. Instead, she picked up tiny pebbles and hurled them over the side in frustration as Tami gave her a sidelong glance.
“C’mon…by tomorrow, when we all get to the Academy, none of this will matter. We’ll be able to go on real adventures. We won’t be treated like babies and sheltered from everything that’s going on. Like Yaya told us the last time she was home on break, we’ll get a chance to see real live combat situations on mentored demon hunts.”
Sarah just stared at her friend for a long moment.
“Think about it, Sarah. That’s why Al and Valencio are so antsy. Can you really blame ‘em? All of us are ready to embrace our destiny, but who can do that with over-protective parents hanging around? And I think all this drama at school and whatever is scary crazy exciting. Around here, everything is boring.”
“Exciting?” Sarah could only shake her head. Tami had no idea how bad a demon attack could be. Tami had never dreamt of them in vivid detail the way she had. The stories the adults told at dinner or during combat classes at the compound only seemed to make Tami and the gang more curious and more eager for an encounter, but for her, those stories were haunting.
“Yes, exciting,” Tami said with conviction. “Plus, there’ll be guys. Not just corny compound brothers. I’m talking about real ascended masters of the talents from the Upper Spheres. Can you imagine what they’re like?”
Tami elbowed Sarah, who smiled despite her foul mood.
“There’ll be students from all over the world. C’mon, Sarah, get with the program. By tomorrow morning we’re sprung. No more hovering parents and only, say… maybe fifty instructors to three-hundred-plus students. How much supervision do you think they can have? Not much. We are home free, girl!”
“Yeah, I can’t wait to get out of here,” Sarah said as she stared off into the darkness. Agreeing with Tami right now was the only way to get her to drop the subject. Her brother and Val were nowhere in sight, and the small lights from the valley towns were miles and miles away. If she could just get her friend to abandon this crazy mission of sitting outside in the dark tonight. Leaving Tami to be outside alone wasn’t an option. The guys had each other. Compound rule number one was never leave a friend alone and unarmed in the dark.
With a sigh, Sarah pushed herself up and extended a hand toward Tami, who only looked at it with a question in her eyes. Sarah’s mind raced as she thought of a way to make it look like leaving made sense. “C’mon. They’re long gone. No sense in sitting out here like a couple of losers. Knowing them, they lied and never even followed the Warrior squad. I bet they’re back in the house, raiding the fridge. C’mon back and I’ll fill you in on what Al and I heard our mom and dad talking about.”
“I’m game,” Tami finally said, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. She dusted off dirt and gravel from her jeans, then smiled and shook her head as they walked back toward the compound. “You really don’t like being outside the light barriers, do you?”
Sarah didn’t glance at her friend as her gaze continued to sweep the area. “No. I really don’t.”
“Is it because you remember things from before you were born… like how Nana Marlene would do those in-water telepathic exercises with us, trying to figure out if we’d been emotionally traumatized in the womb because all our moms were fighting while they were preggers? Maybe that’s why you’re scared of the dark.”
“Listen, I’m not scared of the dark. It’s more like what’s in the dark,” Sarah said. “I just respect it…and no, I’m not suffering from post-traumatic womb syndrome or whatever.”
Sure, she’d had nightmares as a kid, but that didn’t mean anything.
“But maybe you did get psychically scarred or something, you know? Maybe that’s why you always
feel a sense of doom.” Tami shrugged. “Like, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. What if because your mom was the one the Dark Realm was really looking for, they went after her harder than the other Guardians? I’m not saying you’re…well…just think about it, Sarah.”
“Then how do you account for Al?” Sarah said, becoming defensive. Now her best friend thought she was over-exaggerating her fears? The offensive concept burrowed down inside her and made her stomach churn.
“Hey,” Tami said, totally oblivious to Sarah’s darkening mood. “He’s a guy. When they’re scared, a lot of times they get more macho. They go over the top. If you ask me, that’s what happened, and that’s why Al acts like he does. I’m no shrink, but I think you went nerd scared and Al went über macho—all because the dark side was primarily focused on your mom while she was carrying you guys.”
“Is that what you think? Is that what you all think? That my mom—”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Tami said, jogging to catch up to Sarah, who’d begun walking faster. “I’m not talking smack about anybody’s mom, least of all yours. You know how much I love Aunt D. It’s just that…well…a lot of us have always wondered why you’re always afraid of stuff when your parents are the freakin’ compound generals. They’re the Neterus, you know? So, sometimes, just in trying to figure it out, we’ve tossed around some theories—out of love. Never dogging you behind your back or anything.”
