by SGD Singh
Silas shifted in Aquila's arms, and he staggered under the Seer's human weight, cursing as the others laughed.
“Everyone stop saying traumatizing shit to him,” Kelakha growled, looking pointedly at Ursala.
Aquila steadied Silas as the Seer swayed once on his feet, and everyone's attention turned to him, all traces of humor gone as his glowing eyes widened, his expression troubled.
“My father was a member of The Infernal Guard,” he said, and everyone grew still, glancing at each other. “He and his entire family were killed before he could marry my mother, who was a civilian. So much pain…”
Tears spilled from his eyes and Silas grimaced, as if he were actually feeling his family's deaths. Everyone took a collective step toward him, but Silas straightened, looking stunned, and everyone stopped. “I was rescued by a familiar? Is that the right word for civilians who serve Underworlders?”
Kelakha nodded.
“She sacrificed her own life to keep me out of the hands of Underworlders,” Silas whispered. “I have no idea why.”
He dropped to his knees suddenly, and Asha rushed forward, hugging him close as the plants along the lake's edge began to die.
Lexi rolled her eyes and didn't say what she was thinking. She saved you, you idiot, just like the rest of us would save you, just like the nuns in Arizona tried to save you. She saved you because there's something about you that opens hearts and transforms every person who meets you into an over-protective sibling.
Silas looked up in alarm at the damage Asha had done, and a moment later the plants flourished with life again. “I'm okay, Asha,” he said, even though tears still rolled down his face. “Really. These Seer…realizations take some getting used to, that's all. You can stop killing things now.”
Asha helped Silas back to his seat and they all settled down to finish their meal, but the cheerful mood was gone.
The band looked like they were falling asleep, and Lexi hoped they would.
Then Ursala flinched, straightening, and Lexi snapped her attention to him. “Uh, Asha, there's a furry baby dragon-lizard thing trying to get your attention,” he whispered dramatically.
Lexi looked behind Asha and saw there was indeed a small lizard-creature covered in white fur and holding a box wrapped in fancy silk and exotic flowers out to Asha.
In an instant, she felt Zaiden's alarm. Her dagger was in her hand before she thought.
What? What is that thing?
That is a Prazasti. They give warnings of impending danger when they want to. On extremely rare occasions. This one is offering Asha a wedding gift.
A wedding gift? Of a warning of impending danger?
It's a big deal. Prazasti are very shy.
“Your first wedding present,” Lexi said brightly. “How cute!”
Asha accepted the present, then proceeded to try to have a conversation with the Prazasti. She reached for the silk bow holding the flowers onto the box, and Lexi lunged across the table, slapping her hand. “You can't open it now, Asha! Hello? You aren't married yet. That would be bad luck.”
“Bad luck?”
Asha shot her a suspicious look, then glanced at Zaiden, who was shit at hiding his reaction.
She hesitated, but set the box aside. “Right. Well, thank you, Yuyán.” They had apparently exchanged names. “We are very grateful for your gift.” She touched her heart and folded her hands, and Lexi could tell it was an effort not to reach out and pet the furry, miniature warning-dragon.
Zaiden motioned to the band, and they began to play.
The music was more beautiful than anything Lexi had ever heard, but rather than fill her with joy for life, the melodious sound only slammed home the reality of how much she had to lose, the pain her inevitable decision would cause, and Lexi lost all interest in hearing it.
Chapter 6
Jax craned her neck to look up into the endless spiral of stairs. She felt as if she were at the bottom of a dark well, instead of a fancy resort in Miami. “Are you guys serious? That's like forty flights.”
Kai took a loud sip from one of the cups, then returned it to the tray in Jax's arms. “Do you want to be trained in the art of badassery or not?”
“BapuJi said th—”
“BapuJi has charged us with your training from the hours of seven until midnight, if I'm not mistaken,” Kenda said, filling the cup Kai had emptied, and topping off three more. Jax felt the weight of the tray increase. “We are your masters until we decide you are trained to our satisfaction.”
Koko grinned at Jax. “The tray will only get heavier the longer you stand there. I suggest you get moving.”
Jax looked at each of the triplets in turn and felt her dread rise when she found no trace of their usual humor. Apparently, they took this whole training thing more seriously than she would have imagined. Either that, or they didn't want to risk BapuJi's temper if they let her slack off.
Jax had no one to blame but herself. She'd agreed to Jodha training.
Jax began to climb the stairs, though she failed to see how destroying the muscles in her arms and legs would help her to better fight Underworlders. “If I can't even walk tomorrow, I'm blaming you guys.”
“One doesn't voice one's complaints to one's masters,” Kai called. “What would have been the punishment for such a thing?”
“Double the weight!” Kenda called.
“And lose the shoes!” Koko added.
“Oh, fuck off,” Jax said, and they burst into laughter, finally sounding more like the boys she'd gotten to know in the last two months. They had patiently sparred with her, their protective presence offering a sense of security during BapuJi's long hours teaching Healing at Miami Headquarters. They'd joked and teased her through her recovery from everything she'd endured. For two months, their brotherly companionship never allowed her to feel alone, and their warm laughter barely left her time to feel Kelakha's absence.
Now Jax wondered how long they would stand at the bottom of the stairs, watching her climb.
Don't even think about sneaking out of the stairwell and taking the elevator. They can fly. They'll make sure you don't cheat.
Fuck.
Jax continued to climb the stairs, putting one foot in front of the other as her arms began to burn. She let her mind drift just enough not to drop the tray. Left foot. Right foot. She made herself not count the landings, focusing instead on untangling a computer hack that was supposed to be impossible.
So she had no idea what floor she was on when she noticed the silence close in on her like a living, breathing thing.
Jax stopped.
“Guys?” She told herself there was no logical reason for her suddenly speeding pulse, but knowing that wasn't necessarily true.
The lights flickered, plunging the stairwell into darkness for a moment.
“Kai, this isn't funny,” Jax snapped, failing to keep her voice steady.
She considered laying the tray down and holding out her revolver, but she shook her head and picked up her pace instead. Get to the top floor and home. It couldn't be that much farther.
Right?
She reached the next landing and looked for the floor number.
Nineteen.
Almost there…
“There you are, Jax,” Kelakha's voice echoed through the stairwell, deep and unmistakable. “I've been looking everywhere for you.”
Jax spun, causing water to slosh from the cups, and there he stood, leaning against the wall, wearing a long, black high-collared jacket, his pants strapped with weapons. He regarded Jax with a crooked smile, the front strands of his long hair held in its familiar high ponytail, the rest hanging over his shoulders, his midnight eyes twinkling under perfect brows.
“Wha… you're back, 'Lakha…?” Jax felt her pulse race at the sight of him, even as she thought of the Wraiths, able to take the form of whoever their victim desires most. Jax felt herself blush at the thought of what it would mean if this really were a Wraith. Proof positive of her de
sire.
She set the tray down, trying to ignore the trembling muscles in her arms as she reached for her revolver. “What's the password?”
Kelakha crossed his arms in a lazy, graceful movement. “I've been out of town. I wouldn't know.”
Okay, fair enough.
“All right.” Jax leveled the revolver at his face, and Kelakha's smile broadened. “Shift into your first animal.”
Kelakha straightened away from the wall, moving a strand of hair out of his face with one ringed hand, and took a step toward her, and Jax wondered how he could have possibly gotten more handsome since the last time she saw him.
When he kissed her for the first time, and promised to come back to her.
Kelakha was standing so close now Jax could see his eyes were dark pools of desire as he reached out to touch her cheek.
“I don't think you really want me to shift,” he whispered. His arm snaked around her waist, warm and strong. “Because if I shift, I can't do this.”
Jax brought her revolver to his chin. “And if you're really 'Lakha, you won't mind if I do this.”
She pulled the trigger, jumping back as chili pepper exploded between them, burning her eyes and making her cough.
A horrible, inhuman shriek filled the stairwell and Kelakha's beautiful form dissolved into a gelatinous, stinking mass against the stained cement floor as Jax continued to empty her revolver into the Wraith's eyeless face. It shuddered, its baboon teeth snapping murderously for one final instant before the holy water rounds destroyed it completely.
Jax scooped as much of the foul mess as she could into one of the cups, and washed water over the remaining slime. She left the tray on the stairs and climbed to the last landing, where Kai, Kenda, and Koko stood waiting for her.
“Well done,” Kai said, clapping slowly.
“I'm sorry,” Jax said, smiling with no humor. “Did you just say well done?”
“She's pissed.” Koko eyed the cup in her hand and took a step back. “I told you guys she'd be pissed.”
“It's been a week since the Zombie thing, c'mon,” Kenda stammered. “It's not like it was a Revenant.”
“A Wraith,” Jax said, and it sounded like a growl. “A fucking Wraith.”
She lunged for Kai, grabbing a handful of his clothes, and poured the contents of the cup down his shirt while his brothers cheered.
“Fuck!” Kai jerked out of her grasp. “That is some nasty, burning shit, man!”
Jax pushed the penthouse door open. “You better get some papaya on that before it scars,” she called over her shoulder. “It's been cooling, but I wouldn't risk it.”
“This is not the way to treat your masters, Jax! Don't for one second think BapuJi won't hear about this when he gets back.”
She flipped him off without turning, so he wouldn't see her smile.
Jax could still feel the Wraith's hands on her skin—hands that had looked so exactly like Kelakha's own. Facing a Wraith was much worse than decapitating Zombies, she decided, which were no more terrifying than the drunks on the streets of every crappy city she'd ever been in. Well, minus the whole “bite open your skull and eat your brain” risk. They were all just looking for easy prey.
After weeks of training with BapuJi for hours every day, Jax had successfully drummed a few Wushu techniques into her muscle memory, and so it had only taken a matter of seconds to behead all four of the Zombies Kenda let loose outside the resort's kitchen. After first asking Jax to check on a shipment of heirloom tomatoes.
BapuJi had given her a personal weapon after “the Zombie encounter.” It was a sleek Japanese katana of the same mystery metal as all The Guards' weapons, its hilt embedded in gemstones beneath the silk Tsuko Ito.
Other than earning her the weapon, definitely not one of the highlights of her life, but fun compared to the Wraith.
Jax decided to take a swim to wash off the slime that seemed to cling to her skin from the Wraith's touch. She ignored Kai, Kenda, and Koko as they entered the suite, rummaging through the fridge for papaya and speaking in loud Diné Bizaad, which she understood precisely none of.
Changing quickly, Jax went straight to the pool, and within minutes even the computer hack problem left her thoughts as she concentrated on the movement of her limbs gliding through the glowing water, and she lost track of time.
Every muscle in Jax's body finally exhausted, she let herself float to a stop, appreciating the warm ocean breeze that filled the starry, perfectly warm Miami night. Jax caught her breath as she drifted, then stepped out of the pool and wrapped a towel around herself, admiring the rooftop garden, the rustle of palm trees, the flowers in full bloom.
And Kelakha.
He leaned against one of the trees, watching her with a shy smile as his gaze locked on hers. He ran a hand through his hair and took a tentative step forward.
“What's the password?” Jax snapped, stopping him in his tracks.
Kelakha's grin widened. “Dave Mustaine.”
Now that she really looked at him, Jax wondered how the hell she could have thought the Wraith was Kelakha for even a second.
She resisted the urge to run to him, like some ridiculous, simpering romantic. “You're back,” she said instead, feeling stupid the moment the words left her lips.
“Yep.” Kelakha took another step toward her. “The Seer's name is Silas. He's amazing. Definitely The One.” He shook his head. “Oh, and Lexi's healed.”
“That's good.” Jax had apparently lost the ability to speak intelligently.
“We were only gone for eleven days. There, I mean.”
“Yeah?”
Kelakha was looking everywhere except at her now, and Jax was suddenly hyper aware of how little she was wearing.
“Kai told me it's already November.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I'm here to invite you to Asha and Aquila's wedding, which is in two days. On some secret Caribbean island owned by The Guard.”
“A destination wedding?” Jax smiled up at the stars. “And here I thought the world was ending.”
“Silas hasn't confirmed it's not ending, exactly,” Kelakha said to his shoes. “But he seems to want everyone at this wedding. Ursala thinks it's an excuse to force us all together for meeting-torture.”
Wanting to dispel the memory of the Wraith once and for all, Jax closed the distance between them and looked up at Kelakha. When he turned to her, she kissed his cheek, and he blushed, adorably flustered.
“Are you asking me to be your date for Asha's wedding?”
Kelakha's eyes widened and his mouth opened, but no sound come out. Jax tried not to laugh. Here was the same boy who had beaten every record in Jodha training history only a few short months earlier, now doing an awkward dying fish imitation.
“Yeah—yes,” he finally managed, looking tortured. “Yes. I am asking you. I mean, that is, if you want to…”
“Yes,” she said, kissing him once on his perfect lips before she lost her nerve. “I'm glad you're back,” she added, then hurried to her room.
Chapter 7
Lexi looked at the time. Again. One more hour until she had to find Asha, give her tonight's dress, and go over the final details for tomorrow's sunset ceremony. Thank God for Stevens and his mysterious minions, capable of delivering all manner of wedding-related items on pretty much zero notice, or she would've definitely gone insane planning this damn wedding.
An Infernal Guard wedding.
A lifetime ago, she and Nidhan had stood on the roof of a crumbling church in Arizona and joked about an Infernal Guard wedding of their own.
“English, damn it!” Uma bellowed, bringing Lexi's attention back to the meeting as she slammed her hands down onto the conference table.
All eyes turned to Silas, waiting to see how he'd react to Uma's temper, but the Seer only smiled at the white-haired Jodha.
Uma's expression filled with remorse, and Lexi smirked. The normally volatile Jodha had apparently grown as protective of Silas as the rest of them.
“The future is unwritten, Uma,” Silas said, and Yoki and Inala nodded on either side of him. “We cannot See what does not exist yet.”
Uma sighed, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes. “So we just wait and,” she waived a hand around at the tropical view outside the windows, “celebrate, while Underworlders plan and plot and scheme our realm's total destruction?”
Chakori put a hand on Uma's shoulder, and Barindra and Garud leaned forward. Lexi appreciated how intimidating they would look to anyone who didn't know the giant men were simply passionate about protecting civilians from creatures of the Underworld. Kelakha and Ursala crossed their arms in unison, leaning against the wall opposite Lexi, and she knew their glares reflected frustration at being stuck in a meeting, rather than strolling velvety beaches and becoming even more idiotically infatuated with their girlfriends.
“Destroying the portals between worlds is the only way to prevent our realm's destruction,” Silas announced, raising his hands as the other Seers burst into loud protest. “And when the time is right, we will destroy them.”
Barindra shook his head. “And if it kills you, as these two seem convinced it will?”
“Try to see past the protectiveness I inspire, Commander.” Silas shrugged. “My life means nothing when weighed against an entire realm, of that I'm certain, even if you aren't.”
The room grew still, somber, and Lexi felt a stab of grief at the mere thought of the Seer's death.
“Don't worry!” Silas filled the silence with laughter. “When the time is right, we'll have the help we need.”
“Spoken like a true Seer,” Uma growled, rolling her eyes. “Either you can See the future or you can't. You just said—”
“Within forty-eight hours our forces will be ready for any and all eventualities, seen and unseen,” Silas said, meeting Barindra's stern gaze.
Barindra nodded to a group of Jodha Lexi had never met, and they hurried from the room, presumably to start making calls.
“Uma,” Silas continued, “you and Chakori will contact civilian military leaders. Warn them, prepare them, help them to understand the danger of an Underworlder victory. Without panicking them.”
