If she let it happen.…
But she couldn’t. She’d known all along she’d never be able to hold it in—the rage. It nearly overwhelmed her now, her power, churning like a tempest inside her. She’d thought it would be a decision, but the decision was made; she had no choice. This man was guilty and deserved her judgment.
Her fists clenched at her sides, an otherworldly screech ripped from her throat as the rage consumed her, flooding her body, feeding her anger like oxygen feeds fire—chasing sadness and grief away, leaving her firm resolve in control. Blood oozed from her nose and eyes. Her clenched fists opened the crescent-shaped scars along her palms and her blood stained the grass at her feet. She knew she looked like a freak show straight out of a horror movie, but she didn’t care.
Gregg, Liam, and Darius watched her in absolute shock.
When the man dared to touch Aidan’s gift, she judged him, weighed his character, and found him lacking. She knew without a doubt that he deserved her punishment. Blood bubbled from Aidan’s mouth as Gregg fought to reach his son, but Liam did as she asked and kept him from interfering.
Allie’s gaze zeroed in on the man who threatened Aidan and blood filled her sight, painting her world red as an eerie silence muffled everything around her. She roared in outrage and gave in to the urge to unleash her fury. She didn’t know what she was doing; she only knew it had to be done. The man would pay for ever thinking of touching Aidan, but also for all the others he’d killed and maimed over his long lifetime. Hundreds of Immortals deserved retribution and she would be the one to deliver it. Releasing the anger, like a shockwave, was a high unlike any she’d ever experienced. She soared, drawing on her power, letting it run free and wild in a way she’d never dared before.
Golden-green light filled the clearing and dead silence echoed in her mind as her anger wilted. A strange calm swept through her after the rage. She collapsed to the ground, just as her victim did. He fell, weak and disoriented, giving Gregg the opportunity to help Aidan scramble away.
She caught Aidan’s gaze for a moment and it was filled with awe—and so much love. She didn’t deserve it. Gregg stumbled back from Allie. She couldn’t bear to see the fear and accusation in his eyes, so she looked at Aidan and Darius instead. She saw only love there. Different kinds of love, but neither of them would ever look at her with fear or disgust. Their unwavering confidence bolstered her. She fought to rein in the power that consumed her. She didn’t want to hurt them.
The storm withered within her, replaced with a wave of regret so overwhelming she wasn’t sure if she could come back from this. She curled up on the ground in a heap. Her tears mixed with blood as a sorrowful wail escaped her. Her raw screams tore at her throat like hot lava.
“Little one,” Liam called softly, “come with me, now. We must go.”
She knew it had to be this way; she couldn’t be near anyone right now. She scrambled away from her brother, terrified she might hurt him too. There was a chance Liam would be immune to whatever this rage-gift-nightmare was, but she couldn’t risk it. Her bloodshot eyes filled with tears as she saw the look of fear on her brother’s face. Her cheeks were streaked with blood and soot and her bloody hands clawed at the grass around her.
“Allie, deep breaths. Rein in it, sweetheart. You did well,” Gregg said softly, like he was talking to a volatile monster that might strike at any moment. “But you must go. Now. Liam will keep you safe and I will be right behind you. I’ll see to Aidan. Thank you for saving him—I’ll never be able to thank you enough for sparing him such a terrible fate. It’s so much harder at this age, to lose a gift.”
“Gregg … you know we cannot let that woman escape again. She’s—”
“I know, brother. I will bring Livia to you. Now take your sister and go. She can’t be seen. She will never have another moment’s peace if even a single witness leaves this place tonight knowing what she is capable of.”.
~~~
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
Allie refused to let anyone touch her. She managed to get to her feet and followed Liam uncertainly, her legs shaking beneath her. She’d never felt so weak, but it wasn’t safe to let her guard down now.
“Wait,” Darius called. “I’m coming with you.”
Allie turned to see him charging along the path through the woods, back toward the orchard.
“No,” Liam said.
“He’s coming or I’m not going,” Allie choked. She felt better just having him near. “Keep your distance—both of you. Don’t touch me … it’s not safe.”
“This way. We’re taking a detour through the woods. It seems we have someone waiting to help us.” Liam stepped off the trail and led them through the dense forest of evergreens. He seemed angry, but not at her. His eyes glimmered with the use of his gift that would lead them to whomever waited.
Allie stumbled over the uneven ground when the forest floor beneath her suddenly became gravel. She looked up through her glazed eyes to see a familiar car waiting beside a dilapidated shed.
“Vince?” she whispered, too stunned to fathom why he and Kayla were there. “It’s too dangerous,” she mumbled. They had broken up to keep him out of her dangerous life and yet here he was, caught up in the middle of it again.
“We’ll follow you back. Make sure no one is tailing you,” Vince said.
“Liam, no.” Darius reached out to grab his uncle.
“He has the Coalition stink. Both of them do,” Liam snarled. “It's the only explanation.”
“We can trust them.” Allie sighed, sinking to the ground again. She didn’t have the strength to stand.
“That’s good enough for me,” Darius said. “I don’t care why they’re here. She trusts them and we have to get her out of here. Now.”
“We know nothing. We don’t want to know anything. We just want to help,” Kayla said, her voice trembling. “Are you okay, Allie? Is she all right?” Kayla stepped toward her and Allie curled into a tight ball, gravel scraping at her skin.
“She’ll be fine,” Darius said.
“Don’t touch me!” Allie screamed as Kayla knelt beside her. “It’s not safe.”
“I won’t. I’ll just sit here and when you’re ready to get up, we can go.”
“Leave now, while you still have the chance to walk away,” Liam insisted. Allie could hear the venom in his voice, but everything felt so far away. Like she was underwater and she couldn’t reach the surface.
“No,” Vince said. “Like it or not, we are helping. We’re not here to interfere, but there are too many Coalition swarming around here and I’m getting you all out of this in one piece, right now. Get Allie in the car and get her home. Get home to your daughter.”
“What do you know about my daughter?” Liam said, taking a menacing step toward Vince.
“It’s your job to take care of her and if you get caught, Kahlynn will be alone.” Vince took a step toward Liam so they were nearly nose to nose.
“What’s it to you?”
“That little girl … means everything to us.” Vince gestured at Kayla.
Vince’s voice sounded strange and distant to Allie’s ears. She closed her eyes and curled into a tighter ball. “No, Vin. He won’t understand,” Allie murmured. She wanted to keep sinking into herself, but too much was happening around her. She had to snap out of it.
“Liam? Look at Kayla,” Allie whispered. “Imagine Kahlynn at this age.” She sat up and looked at her brother. “If they aren’t asking questions, we shouldn’t either. You know this isn’t safe for them. We can trust them to watch our backs. They have a vested interest.”
Liam took a step back, his eyes wide in disbelief as he looked from Kayla to Vince. “Right. Get in your car; you can follow at a distance. Text Darius if you see anything.” He headed for the shed where an old, unremarkable sedan waited for them. One of several bug-out vehicles Lucien and Imogen had placed around the property.
Allie had done all she could to ensure those she lo
ved survived. Now it was time for her to get as far away from this place as she could.
Liam came to crouch beside her. “I know what’s going on in that head of yours, little one. Your gift is a frightening thing, I will not lie, but I, and everyone else who loves you, will never fear you. You are a powerful girl and I trust that you will not hurt me or Darius. I know what living with that constant fear is like and I won’t let my sister live like that. It is difficult to maintain such rigid control. But I will teach you. We will have you back to school in no time. I’ll be kicking Aidan out of your room again—possibly Darius now too, it seems.”
“It’s not like that,” Allie and Darius said together.
Liam’s chatter calmed her like nothing else would have. His unfailing trust in her pulled her out of the desperate spiral she was in. But she wasn’t there yet. Her power still whirled inside her and if she lost complete control, she might never recover.
She carefully got to her feet. They needed to keep moving. Livia would come after her soon and Allie needed to know for certain that she wouldn't hurt Liam and Darius if she went with them now.
Allie leaned against the car. She just needed one more minute, and then she’d pull it together.
Sobs wracked her body and she beat the car with her fist until her knuckles were bloody. Who was she to decide who lived and died? She understood now, what she’d done to the man who’d attacked Aidan. She could feel his immortality wrapped around her like an invisible cloak. She’d taken it from him—in essence, killed him. How was it possible that Allie, a seventeen-year-old girl, had broken a powerful Immortal man––left him mortal? He would die someday, and his Complement, a woman he’d yet to meet, would never know the completion they all desperately needed to survive the crush of so many years. Who was Allie to ruin two lives? But she knew she’d do it all again if it meant saving Aidan from the life of torment she’d seen for him in the space of a heartbeat.
“Little one.”
Liam’s touch filled her with fear and she whirled on him.
“I’m fine, sweetheart. You won’t hurt me. I cannot leave you to sob your heart out like this.” He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. A deep chasm of grief filled her as she bawled on his shoulder. How could she ever live with herself? But she had to pull it together now. She drew a shaky breath.
“We have to go,” she whispered, her voice hoarse and brittle to her own ears. “I cannot be trusted yet. Not till we know for sure what this is.”
“Gregg will meet us soon and we will regroup and sort this all out.” Liam held his hand out to her. She took it carefully as he helped her into the backseat.
“Darius, if you’re coming, get in the car. We have to leave now.” Liam slid in the front seat and cranked the car, checking for Vince and Kayla in the rearview mirror.
Allie still wrestled with the anger bubbling within. But her anger was directed at herself now. Exhaustion swept through her as soon as her head rested on the seat. She curled into a fetal position and hugged her knees to her chest. She was too tired to think and too scared to sleep. What if she lost control? What if she hurt two of the most important people in her life?
Darius. She didn’t know what this was, but without thinking, she reached between the seats for his hand. His fingers laced through hers, resting on the console between the front seats. He didn’t even hesitate to touch her.
“What is this, Liam?” Darius asked, his voice low and distant.
She could hear them, but they felt so far away, like she was underwater again.
Maybe this was all a dream and I’ll wake up soon. But Allie stared at the back of the seat in front of her, her eyes like glass.
“Tell me what happened?” Liam said.
“Before the fighting—we bonded. But I don’t understand it. It’s not like any bond I’ve ever heard of.”
Liam swore softly under his breath. “I can sense it. It's strong.”
“What does it mean?”
“I don’t know much about it. Gregg will be able to help you.”
“It’s my job to protect her,” Darius said. “I can feel it.”
“She can protect herself.” Liam chuckled. “Clearly she can fight her own battles. She just needs you to be the voice of reason.”
“Reason? Have you met me?”
“Fate has a sense of humor, nephew.”
“So I’m supposed to advise her or something?”
“Just be the friend she can trust unfailingly. You’ll figure out the rest.”
Liam's phone chirped with a message from Vince.
“We're supposed to take the next right for four miles and then we’ll hit the back roads till we cross back into Ohio.” Darius responded to Vince’s text and set the phone on the console to watch for updates from their tail.
“So what’s our next step?” Allie asked. Her voice like gravel in her throat.
“We get back to the underground as soon as possible,” Liam said. “But we have to make sure we aren’t followed. You doing okay, little one?”
“I have control now.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“I’m okay.” But even she didn’t believe her.
~~~
Hours later Allie finally sat up. Inside, she was still a mess. She wanted to curl up and wallow in her misery. I’ll do that later. Later, when I’m home, I can fall apart.
“We’re almost there.” Darius answered her unspoken question.
“Vince spotted a tail. They showed up as soon as we hit the Cleveland area,” Liam said. “He helped us lose them in Strongsville. We’re almost to Rocky River now to get another car before we head into the city.”
“And by ‘get another car’ you mean what exactly?” Darius asked.
“Borrow it.”
“Liam. I’m a cop. I can’t be stealing cars.”
“That’s why I said borrow. We’re not going to keep it.”
“You can’t tell me you McBriens don’t have an extra car around here somewhere,” Allie said. She felt a fierce urge to protect Darius from even the possibility of getting caught in a stolen car.
“Can’t you just use your badge to seize one?” Liam sounded irritated.
“No.” Darius glared at him.
“Fine. I have a car stashed at one of my bars on the other side of the Metroparks. We’ll ditch this one at the marina.”
Allie waved as Vince and Kayla drove past them, signaling that it was safe for them to head home. As she watched them leave, she saw her future with them in it. This wouldn’t be the only time they would risk their lives to help her. This was just the beginning of their involvement in her world. Breaking up with Vince hadn’t spared him anything.
“Time to take a walk. You up for this, Allie?” Liam slowed to a halt in the marina parking lot.
“I’ll follow you,” she said absently.
As they marched through the woods along the well-tended trails of the park, Allie somehow managed to keep up with her brother’s long strides.
“You think she’s okay?” Liam asked Darius, casting a glance back at her.
“She’s holding it together,” Darius said. “She’s a tough cookie.”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Allie muttered.
“From the look on your face, little one, you’re a million miles away.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Just let her be, Liam. She just needs some time to herself. The more you ask her how she’s doing, the more irritated she’ll get. She’ll snap out of it when she’s good and ready.”
Allie moved woodenly, her arms crossed protectively over her chest as if she were trying to physically hold her power back. She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. She was exhausted, but it felt good to stretch her legs and empty her mind. It was almost morning now. Still dark, but the birds were just beginning to stir. It was over. They’d made it through the worst of it and as far as she knew, they’d come out of this not completely
unscathed, but better than any of them had a right to hope for. She’d just never realized the magnitude of what she would do to that man. It was inhuman, what she did. Even more of an abomination than what Livia did to Ming and Jin.
“Wait here,” Liam said. “I’ll go get the car.”
Allie and Darius crouched in the shadows along the tree line behind Liam’s bar. It was a crap dive bar, but it suited him.
Allie climbed in the front seat beside Liam and pulled Darius in beside her. She felt better having them close now that she was more in control. She pulled her feet up on the seat and wrapped her arms around her legs.
“What now?” she asked.
“We go home.” Liam headed along Cliffton Boulevard toward downtown.
“Aren’t we taking the ferry?” Allie asked.
“Nope.”
A few minutes later they pulled into the garage at Terminal Tower in the heart of downtown. For a second, she thought they were going to park and take the RAPID to some other location before heading home. But the trains didn’t run this early. Before she could ask what they were doing, Liam pulled onto the tracks and they drove through the tunnel where the trains turned around. Terminal Tower was where the trains converged. The tracks ran from the east side to the west side, passing through the station at Tower City.
Darius hopped out of the car and crept along the dark tunnel, running his hands along the wall. She wasn’t overly surprised when the wall opened up to reveal another tunnel, just big enough for the car.
“Please don’t tell me we’re about to drive to the island through this tunnel.”
“Okay. I won’t,” Liam said.
“No freaking out, Allie,” Darius said when he slid back in beside her. “We’ll be there before you know it.”
“How do I not know about this?”
“We have dozens of ways on and off the island. This one is a last resort,” Liam said.
“And why is that?”
“It fl—”
“The entrance is too public, right, Liam?” Darius shot him a sharp look.
Emerge: The Judgment: (Book 2) Page 26
