Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (92 page)

W
alking to the mantle, Zee picks
up each compact, s
pinning them so that they turn
in perpetual motion, hovering inches above the shelf where they had rested. Crossing back to us, Z
ephyr
ho
ld
s
my gaze.

He gently touches
my cheek, saying,
“Live
through this,
Evie, and when it’s done, we won’t look back.”

M
y eyes instantly gro
w hot
with unshed tears, but I force
t
hem down. I ca
n’t control the
goose
bumps, ho
wever, as my entire body reacts to his words. I wonder
feebly
if he kno
w
s that I’d
give my body, my soul, to be alone with Reed for just a few moments…
however long it will
take to
change him back to what he had been.
All I can
do i
s nod.
I must not exude
much confidence, because
Russell
grasps
me by my upper arms
.
When
his
intense st
are locks
with mine,
he begi
n
s
to coach me
.

“This is gonna be a
s
simple as t
akin’ the back roads home, Red,
”
he says
, trying
to hide his dark
unease with a winsome smile. “You
know Brennus, ju
st like
you
once kne
w every twist, bend
, and crack
in the pavement along that route
.
He’s weaker than you
, so
I expect you
to beat six shades of crap out of
him.
Do you
hear me?” he asks
.

I nod
, unable to speak past the tightening in my throat.

He nods
, too. “
You’
r
e
gonna make it.
Now
get amped up so we can get you
r boy
back
!”
My eyes widen at his words and when he sees
my surpr
ise, his expression turns
to one of true affection.
He
smoothes
a strand of hair back from my face, saying
,
“I’d rather risk soundi
n’ like a hypocrite than send you
in there withou
t a pep talk. You’
r
e
goin’ in
regardless of what I say, so go
knowin’ that I won’t bail on you
…
I got you
r back.”

“I never thou
ght you’d bail on me,” I reply
with the cer
tainty of a thousand lifetimes.

Russell nearly crushes
me then, hugging me to him
with a strength that insinuates
his fear louder than his anger had.
“Don’t let
Brennus
have
Anya
,” he whispers
in my ear. “She’s not his.”

“I know,” I breathe
in his ear. “She’s yours.”

“Remind her if she forgets,”
he responds while he tries
to hide the unruly panic that’
s banking in his lovely brown eyes.

Slowly, Russell let
s go of me and straightens. Without a word, he turns around and sweeps
Anya into his arms, hugging her m
uch like he had embraced me. “You can have whatever you
want from me…ju
st come back,” he says
against her hair.

Anya closes her eyes, like she’
s in pain.
“You’re impossi
ble to f
igure out
,” Anya replies in a soft
tone.

“Naw, I’m simple. I’ll show y
ou
when you
get back,” he promises before he kisses
her.

I discreetly aver
t
my eyes from them
because it i
sn’t a friendly p
eck on the cheek. Zephyr clears
his throat not
soon after and Russell releases a rather stunned-
looking Anya.

“Are you ready, s
we
etie?” Buns asks
Russell in a careful voice
.
Russell’s jaw i
s to
o tight
to answer her. His brow furrows
, looking
from Anya to me and
then
back again before he nods
once.

Buns and Brownie stan
d in front of the tabl
e, near the antique book. They’ll
enter it first and
then
Anya a
nd I
will
foll
ow them. Russell and Zephyr will
use the laptop portal to gain access to the estate.
Reaching out, Buns takes
Brownie’s hand in
hers. T
h
e
look that passes
between them i
s one of
love that tr
anscends
mere friend
ship. They a
re sisters in the most important
sense of the word. Buns glance
s at Zephyr and I have
to bite my
lip so I won’t beg her to stay behind—
f
or his sake. Zee’s eyes a
re those of a man who has hi
s back against the wall. He says
something to her in A
ngel that mak
e
s
her smile faintly
at him, before giving him a coquettish wink.

Lifting the lid of the book, the room
begi
n
s
to swirl and distort.
Buns and Brownie whirl
away in
to
a turning, twisting dark
ness beyon
d the empty pages. Zephyr closes
the cover for a moment, allowing Anya and me t
o compose ourselves. Russell has
the look of a boxer a
bout to enter the ring. He ca
n’t help bouncing around, do
dging unseen shadows that jab
at
him. Feeling Anya
’s
fingers thread
through
mine, I lift
my
eyes to her face and fi
nd it ashen
with fear.

Zephyr lifts
the lid on the boo
k just as Anya pleads
softly, “Russell, don’t let me fall
—
”

As we distort
,
Russell’s
urgent
words follow
us into the portal, “
I’ll be there
to catch you
—
”

Traveling rapidly through tea
stained
-colored
, parchment passages, covered on all sides by anci
ent, rune-like symbols, I’
m
ejected from the paper shroud much like a bookmark slipping from
a
text.

I land
on my hands and knees i
n a patch of streaming sunlight
from the long gallery of arrow-slit windows in the Archive room
. Swallowing hard against the bil
e rising in my throat, I glance
up to see Brownie’s platinum hair spilling over Preben’s ar
ms wrapped around her.

Clasping the closed
book-
portal under her arm,
Buns reaches
down
with her other hand
to help
me up. I gi
ve her a curious look
while rising to my feet. S
he shrugs, saying, “Preben
’s happy to see her.”

As I look
p
ast Preben’s silvery hair, I see
no less t
han two score of Power angels
; t
hey watch
me with unwavering stares.
I square
my shoulders, adopting the stature of a leader.
When
Preben’s gray eyes lock
with mine, he eases
Brownie to his side, holding her in place with his arm over her shoulder.
“We are assemble
d
,” he says
,
and
seeing t
he question in my eyes, he adds
, “They are P
rostat Powers—
friends of Zephyr
and Reed.”

“I see,” I reply, but then my brow wrinkles
in concern. “You’re a Dominion Power. Won’t helping me go against the Seraphim’s leadership?”

Preben smiles
, saying, “It would, if I were still
a part of Dominion. They have chosen to follow your father’s leadership.
But, I have since elevated
in rank
to Prostat
Power. That makes me
no longer beholden to Dominion.”

My eyes widen as I point
out,
“
You’re still out
ranked though.”

He smiles
in amusement.
“I am taking my direction from a Seraphim, am I not?”
he asks
me, while one silvery-blond eyebrow
ri
se
s
in question.

“So, I
am
a loop-hole,” I breathe
a
shudder
ing breath.

“Your rank is open fo
r interpretation,” Preben agrees
. “There has been no official ruling regarding your level or position among us
, so should
we choose to follow you
, we will not be committing treason
.”

“Then, I than
k you all for coming,” I reply
with a wry smile
of my own
.

“It is our honor to
fight with you,” Preben replies,
inclining his head.

“I just want to make one thing very c
lear. No one kills Reed,” I say
in my most menacing ton
e. “Do you understand?” I ask
him.

“Is that an order?” he counters
in a calm tone.

“Yes,” I reply
.

“Then
, it will be obeyed,” he responds
.

I blink
,
unable to believe that I’
m not
coming up against harrowing resistance.
Feeling all of their eyes o
n me, I try
to hide my
bewilderment. Focusing on Anya
,
I see that she’
s watching
me
,
too
. Her skin has almost no color now and she ho
ld
s
her hands together in front of her in an effort to stop them from shaking.
I claim
one of Anya’s hands, holding it tigh
t
in mine and s
queezing it reassuringly. She gi
ve
s
me a fragile smile, but her
green
eyes betray
her
mounting
anxiety
that goes
well beyond unease
.

Preben breaks
our
silent communication as he says
, “The Seraphim guard the doors to the
Knight’s Bar. They’ve surmised that shoul
d you return, it is where you’ll
go.”

My brow wrinkles as I curse
wordlessly in my mind.

“Sweetie,” Bu
ns smiles
at me. “Brownie and I
can take care of them.”

“
You have a
plan?” I ask
her in surprise as we huddle
to discuss it.

An engagingly sly smile passes
between Buns and
Brownie, before Brownie intones
,
“It’s a blend of the sophisticated
and uncomplicated. We’ll just pretend to stumble upon them.”