Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (22 page)

Openin’ her eyes an
d seein’ me smilin’, she scowls
a
t me. “Having fun?” she asks
.

“Yeah, this is truly awesome,” I reply with sarcasm.
“Maybe we can build a summer house here.
Let’s come back in the spring, when it’s w
armer.”
Holdin’ the w
hiskey to her lips again, I say
, “One more, then it’s over.”

“Do it,” she replies
in a raspy voice.

I burn
the last one, seein’
he
r bite her lip so that she wo
n’t scream again.

“Overachieve
r,” I mutter
under my breath, pullin’ the knife back from her and gettin’ up. Findin’ a key on the table,
I unlock
her chains, releasin’
her from the chair. Catchin
’ her quickly before she topples to the floor, I pick
her up in my arms, walkin’ to the front room.

I lay
her on t
he elegant sofa and locate
a
blank
et on the arm of the chair, puttin’ it on
her gently. Si
t
tin’ on the other sofa, I rest
my head on the arm of it
.
“Russell?” Evie asks
weakly.

“Yeah?” I ask
, closin’ my eyes.

“What happened to
that angel?” she whispers
.

“I don’t know,” I reply
in exhaustion
. “She…I don’t know.”

“I thought she was going to
kill me,” Red says
, her voice soft.

“Me, too,” I reply
.

“Throne—
black wings…she was a Throne…
karma,” Red murmurs
, trailin’
off.

“She karmaed me, all right. She b
urned the snot outta me,” I say
softly.

“She fix
ed you?” Evie asks
sleepily.

“Uh, yeah, I guess…” I say in confusion
.

“Why?”
Evie
asks
.

“I don’t know,” I reply
, feelin’ somethin’ in my heart contract painfully
.
I open
my eyes again, lookin’
at Red.

“She just left…
after she fixed you?” Evie asks
, tur
nin’ toward me

“I think—I think
I hurt her,” I say in a low tone.

“
How?
Do you th
ink she’ll come back?” Red asks
nervously, lookin’ toward the door.

“I don’t know,” I r
eply
wearily, lettin’ my eyes close again.

“But—
” Red starts
to say, ready to pick the scab off this one.

“Shhh,” I hiss
wit
h irritation in my tone. “M
y head
’s
poundin’.
Can you
be quiet for a second? I feel like I just got roasted on a spit at a family reunion. I need a second, okay?”

“Okay,” she agrees
, ignorin’ my tone.

Feelin’ like I’m float
in’ on an ocean, my body just gi
ve
s out on me and I fa
ll asleep with my arm over my eyes.

A while later,
stranglin’ pressure on my neck
makes my eyes pop open
as R
eed lifts
me off the s
ofa. He holds me off the ground with one arm. My hands go
immedi
ately to his, tryin’ to pry his hand
from my throat
.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you, Russell, and don’t say it’s because Evie will be mad because that no
longer matters to me,” Reed hisses
in a deadly calm voice.

You’re What
?

I’m pretty sure Reed
doesn’t want me to answer him, ‘cuz t
he pressure on my neck increases
and there’s no way I can speak.
With my feet danglin’ off the ground, a
c
hokin’ sound co
me
s
from me. But, a
second later
, somethin’ crashes
into the
room, hittin’ Reed like a defensive
end
blindsidin
’
a quarterback.

I tumble
to the ground,
which is good for me, ‘cuz it allows me to take a gaspin’ breath. T
he blur of angels lo
cked together in a fierce fight flashes in front of me.
Furniture topples over and splinters
as t
heir wings crash
into everythin’ around them.

Reed mu
st’
ve gotten the upper hand, ‘cuz the
beautiful, black-winged angel i
s thrown against the far w
all. Slidin’ down it, she looks
stunned fo
r
just
a
split second before she growls
. R
i
sin’ to her feet, she rush
es
Reed
again. Evie spri
ng
s
up, hearin’ the growl and
the chaos. Seein’
Reed gettin’ p
ound
ed by Anya, Evie’s eyes narrow
as h
er wings spread out around her.

G
rowlin’
at Anya
,
Evie lunges forward, but I catch her ‘
round the waist, haulin’
her back from t
he fray. “REED! STOP!” I shout
at him, seein’ him pick Anya up off her feet again and toss her back into the same wall.

Reed takes
a defensive positi
on between
Anya
and us
, speakin’
to her
in a rapid flow of Angel.
Clutch
in’ her rib
s
, Anya does
n’t rise t
his time;
she just si
t
s
on the floor
pantin
’
while
glarin’ at Reed
.

Seein’ a bag
by the door
, dropped in haste, I let go of Red. Walkin’ to
the door, I pick
i
t up. It’s filled with bread and
cheese.
I turn back and go to Anya’s side. When I reach her,
I slid
e
down the wall
to sit next to her. Her eyes register pain as I hand her the bag
.

Reed has Evie in his arms, hold
in’ her to his side as he’s strokin’ her wing. But, his eyes are on Anya and me, lookin’ puzzled and upset. “W
ho is this, Russell?” Reed asks
.

“I don’t know
. She said her name wa
s Anya, but I don’t think she speaks
any uh
…human,” I reply
,
feelin’
my stomach flutterin’ wildly again.

Reed speaks
again in Angel to Anya
. She lifts
her chin
a notch, but she does
n’t reply
to whateve
r he’s askin’ her. Reed narrows
his eyes at h
er, lettin’ go of Evie, he moves
forward, producin’ a knife from somewhere and tiltin’ his head to the side, lookin’ deadly.

“What are you
doin’?” I
ask
Reed, feelin’ like I need to step between them before somethin’ really bad happens.

“She’s not answering m
y questions, Russell,” Reed says
softly. “That’s unacceptable. I’m simply going to make her find her voice.”

“WAIT! HOLD UP!” I yell
, ‘cuz everythin’ is so outta
cont
rol. “I think she was
gettin
’ my back
. She came in and you
were—
she probably thought you
were killin’ me.”

“I was kil
ling you, Russell,” Reed replies in a calm tone
. “I was just doing it slowly.”

“Reed!
” Evie says
behind him, soundin’
offended.

“Who is she, Russell?” Reed asks
again.

“I DON’T KNOW!” I shou
t
back, ready to pounce on him
if he gets any closer
to her. “But…” I hesitate
, glancin’ at
Anya, “she’s got a…a…” I trail
off.

“She has a what, Russell?” Reed
glower
s
.

“She has a tattoo thingy…on her heart,”
I reply
in confusion
.

“A
binding vow emblem?” Reed asks
, his brows unk
n
ittin’
.

“Yeah, one of them,” I say
, pointin’ to Reed like he hit the nail on the head.

Reed speaks
again to Anya and she n
arrow
s
her eyes before replyin’
to Reed.

Reed says
, “She doesn’t trust me.
”

“Maybe i
t’
s ‘cuz you
just tried to kill her
,” I mutter with sarcasm.
“
What’
d she say?
”

“Basically, she told
me to get stuffed and go to Sheol
where I belong,” Reed replies
grimly.

“Is that all?” I ask
, fightin’ the urge to grin.

“Not quite. She says she is
going to personally see to it that every Throne hears about me and puts me on their
karma
payroll
,” he frowns
.

“Is that bad?
” I ask
.

“It’s
not good, Russell,” Reed replies
dryly. “
She thinks th
at I’m here to hurt you
. We need to assure her
that I’m not going to kill you.
”

“How do we do that?” I ask
.

“Why don’t we all sit down in the kitchen?”
Reed says
in a calm tone, easin’
back a step and straightenin’
up.

“Kitchen’s no good. We br
oke most of the chairs,” I reply
.

Lookin’ ‘round, Reed says
, “Well, the parlor
is destroyed. Maybe upstairs?”

“Dead guy
s on the third floor,” I state
.

“How about the dining room
on the second floor?” Reed asks
civilly.

“Should be thumbs up,” I answer
.

“Fine, I’ll escort Evie, and y
ou take Anya,” he says
. Reed
takes
her in his arms, his eyes t
ravelin’ over every inch of her face.

I rise and offer
my hand to Anya, hopin’ she’ll take it so Reed doesn’t try to
hurt her again. S
he tentatively put
s
her hand in mine, lettin’ me help her up. She
ho
ld
s
her arm to her ribs, like they’re
botherin’ her. An instant later, he
r wings
retract
into her back, makin’
he
r look almost human. She opens the bag and extracts a t-shirt from it. She pulls it on over her
tight, black outf
it
.
Then, she glances up at me.

Slowly, I slip
my arm through hers, leadin’ her toward the staircase. She
brings her bag with her. As we walk together
,
her eyes scan
my face, like she’s memorizin’
every line of it.
Enterin’ a regal ro
om on th
e second floor, I pull out a po
sh chair for Anya to
sit in.

Once she is seated, I take the chair
next to her
s
. Reed and Evie take
seats on the other side of the table facin’ us.
Lookin’ ‘
round the room, there are
several windows linin’
the wall behind Reed and Evie
. The
dark sky outside is alive
with so
ftly fallin’
snow.