Angels of the Knights (18 page)

Still, she wanted to see him again. Father Tomas assured her that love was a gift she should embrace. If only she could see him one last time.

Kade! I need you!

“Shh. I am here.”

Fallon’s eyes popped open and she gasped loudly. But, the furious beating of her heart slowed when she saw that she was still in the warehouse. Her aching arms still stretched over her head in chains.

It was just a dream. There was no valley. No butterflies. No Kade.

She slumped a tear-stained cheek against her shoulder. No, not a dream. A nightmare.

Another anguished gasp tore from her throat and when it did, a familiar smell wafted to her nose. Spicy soap. She swung her head up.

“I’m here, baby,” he whispered from behind her at her throat.

“Kade?” she whispered, turning on the chains to get a look at him.

There he was. Dimpled smile and all. And, now he was going to die just like Julian.

“Kade, you have to go! There are too many blackcoats. Please, Kade, I could not stand to watch you die.” Not after Julian. And, Father Tomas. And, Anthony.

“Nobody is going to die,” he told her confidently. “I’m getting you out of here.” Standing from his crouch behind her, he studied the locks around her wrist.

“How? You don’t have a key.”

“I happen to know a thing or two about locks. Now, quiet.” From his pocket, he pulled a slender pin and inserted it into the lock. After a few seconds of working it around the mechanism, Fallon heard a click and one handcuff came free. It only took him another few seconds to free the other hand.

She wanted to rub her wrists, but they were too tender to the touch. She found relief instead by rubbing away the prickling pain shooting up her arms. Nothing ever felt so good in her life. It meant she was alive.

“How did you get in here?” she asked him.

He pointed up to the ceiling in the far corner behind her. A duct vent was hanging open. When he helped her to her feet, she threw her arms around his neck. “But, how did you know I was here?”

Kade scratched his head. “I don’t know exactly. I felt the presence of a large, black cloud hanging over this building, and I knew something evil was happening here. It wasn’t a real cloud, just a feeling I had.” He shook his head. “It was weird.”

Fallon released her arms and looked at him.
My little Intuit.
Although he did not have the inner sight to see paranormal activity, he could sense it. “You are a very special man, Kade Royce.”

He kissed her lips. “Keep that thought until we get out of here. Come on.”

She stumbled as she tried to take her first steps, but Kade grabbed her before she could fall.

“I need a chair,” he said, scanning the room.

“No, we don’t,” she said. She staggered over to the open vent and stood directly beneath it. “I’ll go up first and pull you up.” When she noticed the look on his face, she said, “Just deal with it, Royce.”

He smiled. “Actually, having a superhuman girlfriend is kind of growing on me.”

The door banged open.

“There!” shouted the Soccer Dad Kjin, and three blackcoats piled into the room and sprinted toward them.

Fallon bent into a crouch and jumped straight into the air and through the open vent. Landing smoothly in the tight space, she leaned back down through the hole and stretched her arm toward Kade. “Hurry! Grab my arm, and I’ll pull you up.”

Kade jumped, but not high enough to reach her.

“Kade! Hurry!”

He jumped again and this time she managed to catch his wrist. She breathed a sigh of relief and with a forceful yank, hauled his body upward.

But, Kade screamed out before she could pull him all of the way through the opening, and he was ripped out of her grip and slammed to the floor. Then, his body disappeared underneath the flailing arms of the Kjin.

C
HAPTER
20

Sacrifice

Without hesitation, Fallon dropped back down through the vent to the ground. With a snarl, she reached down, picked up two of the Kjin by their shirt collars, and threw them off Kade.

Kade scrambled to his feet and the other two Kjin stepped back, wary now of Fallon.

Kade was breathing heavy as he put his back against hers. “What are we going to do?” he asked, as the four Kjin regrouped and formed up in front of them.

“I am going to fight and you are going to get out of here. As long as they haven’t established a Ha’Basin, I can take these four. At least long enough for you to escape.”

“Are you forgetting something?” he asked her.

“What?”

“My conditions? Well, condition, I should say. If you’ll remember, I revoked one of them. You know the white…”

“Kade! Your life is at stake here!”

“So is yours, and I’m not leaving you.”

“What in great Tyras is going on?” It was Marc Ellis, his face a thundercloud as he entered the room followed by the remaining four blackcoats. “Ah, I see my nephew has joined us. How very convenient for me. You see, I was going to visit right after I was finished here. Aren’t you going to say hello to your uncle, Kade?”

Standing back-to-back, Fallon could not see Kade’s face, but the bitterness in his words was unmistakable. “You are no uncle of mine, demon!”

Marc Ellis laughed. “This
demon
has been in your life for as long as you have been alive, young man. You seemed to like me well enough for all these years.”

“My eyes are now open, demon.”

“Not for long,” Marc growled at him. “You have no chance at survival, nephew. The Knight is strong, but without her Aventi, she cannot kill the nine of us together.”

“At least
you
will die,” Fallon hissed at him and felt immensely pleased when Marc’s features paled. But, he quickly recovered.

“You are going to need more than the two of you to kill me, my dear.”

“How about the three of us?”

Every eye in the room whipped toward the voice coming from the open door behind them.

Nikki!

Wearing all white, the angel slammed her Aventi against the Kur on her arm and the room filled with a brilliant white light. It was the most beautiful sight Fallon had ever seen, but she did not have time to enjoy it as the room erupted into battle.

Together, Fallon and Kade fought the Kjin that rushed to close with them, but it was the formidable angel in white that drew all eyes. Every thrust of her Aventi left a trail of black ash as every Kjin in her path died. Her movements were graceful, but deadly as she moved like a dancer through the room in fulfillment of her oath to the majestic realm of Emperica. She was a warrior Knight in all her wrath.

“This is the day of the Creator!” she screamed out, thrusting her Aventi into the air. “Your message has been received, Tyras, but you are wrong! Earth is not yours! You dare to declare war on Emperica? I tell you now! We accept! Ephesians 4:27 ‘And give no opportunity to the devil!’ And, so we shall not!”

Ducking a swing by Marc Ellis, Fallon had to smile at her friend. If Darius was watching now, he would be very proud.

With renewed faith and a forceful kick to the chest, Fallon sent the Kjin leader flying across the room to land hard on his back. A quick glance at Kade, showed that he was holding his own with the Soccer Dad Kjin. The Anthony Kjin was already lying at his feet unconscious.

Nikki glided over to join him and touched her Aventi to the once sixteen-year-old altar boy and he vanished in a puff of black debris. She also finished off the Soccer Dad with two lightening quick jabs of her blade—one to his human body and the other to his dark shade.

It was over.

All except Marc Ellis.

Fallon stalked toward him as he scrambled backward on the palms of his hands to escape her.

“Nikki! Give me your Aventi!” Fallon turned her head briefly to catch the sword out of the air and then fixed her eyes back on the Kjin. “Your days of terror are over.”

“Mine perhaps, but there will be plenty others vying to take my place.”

“I’ll kill them, too.”

“The Kjin are growing stronger. Soon, they will be indestructible. You have won the battle, Knight, but the war has just begun.”

“You heard my friend. If it is war you seek, we accept.” Fallon raised the sword over her head.

“Fallon! Don’t!”

Kade skidded to her side. His face was ashen and all of the resentment of earlier was now gone as he looked down at the uncle he once loved very much.

“I have to do it, Kade,” she said softly.

“Is there any other way? Any way to get my real uncle back?” The sorrow in his voice broke her heart.

“No, not here on earth. But, he will be released to Emperica with the death of his body.”

Kade ran a hand through his hair, conflicted still.

She put a hand on his arm. “Marc told me that he was going to take your body after this was over, Kade. If I let him live, he will come after you. He will seek to possess you.”

After a brief hesitation, he whispered, “Do what you have to do,” and walked away.

“I’ll do it,” Nikki said and pulled the Aventi from Fallon’s hand. “I don’t want you to be the one who kills the person who he has always known as his uncle.”

Fallon gave her a grateful smile.

There was no faltering in the redheaded angel as she put to death the Kjin who had taken so many innocent lives. “Tell Tyras hello,” she murmured as the body disintegrated.

When Fallon turned around, Kade had his back to them as he apparently tried to process all that he had been witness to.

It’s too much for him
, Fallon thought once again.
He does not belong in my world.

The realization weighed on her heavily and she sank to the ground and pulled her knees up tight against her chest. “Kade, I would like to talk to Nikki in private if you don’t mind. Can you wait outside for a few minutes?”

He turned with a questioning look. He was so achingly handsome, and it tugged at Fallon’s heart to see the grief on his face. Grief she put there.

But, he nodded and walked out without a word.

Nikki came and sat cross-legged next to her.

Fallon smiled at her friend. “How did you get here?”

“Julian called me yesterday and told me what was going on. After that, it was easy. I just followed the boyfriend.”

Fallon blushed. “You were pretty impressive tonight, Nikki. I would not be sitting here talking to you if not for your actions. Thank you.”

“The destruction of this many Kjin in one spot? I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Where’s Julian?”

Swallowing back the lump in her throat, she said, “He’s gone, Nikki. I am so sorry. He risked his life to save me and got caught up in the Ha’Basin.”

Nikki laughed. “Why are you so upset? He’s back in Emperica!”

“But, he’s going to be a Patie!” she cried. “Can you imagine Julian as a Patie?”

Nikki waved a hand. “I’m sure that Darius will come up with something more for our friend. And, he will be reunited with Blane. I’m sure he’ll be happy about that.” She reached over and took Fallon’s hands. “Look. We are warriors, Fallon. We know what the risks are, but we fight for what is right. We fight for those who cannot defend themselves. And, in that fight, we will die. But, the best part of all is that at the end of the road is the glorious Emperica.”

Fallon hung her head. “I know.”

Nikki narrowed her eyes at her. “Okay, I get it now.

There will be no Kade in Emperica.”

“Am I that obvious?”

“You love him.” It was not a question.

“Yes, I do.”

Nikki blew out her breath. “That definitely complicates things, but if you keep your work and love separate, I don’t see what the problem is.”

Fallon snorted. “He’s got this
condition
,” she murmured under her breath.”

“What?”

She shook her head. “Never mind. It’s just not that easy with Kade, Nikki. He knows everything and has this idea that he is going to fight by my side.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Nikki told her, but not unkindly. “As admirable as that is, he is a mortal. We are on the cusp of a very perilous conflict. Our world is too dangerous for a human. Especially, for one you love.”

Every word Nikki spoke felt like a spike driving into her heart. Fallon already had the same thoughts, but hearing them confirmed by her friend made them real. She could no longer escape the truth. The only way to keep Kade safe was to walk out of his life. She would have to sacrifice her happiness for him to live. And, it was a sacrifice she would make willingly because she would not gamble with his life any longer.

Tears dripped from her eyes. “Give me your Aventi, Nikki, and call Kade back into the room.”

C
HAPTER
21

Alone Again

Nikki opened the door for Kade, and he immediately rushed to her side and took her in his arms. “Are you okay?”

She nodded into his shoulder and closed her eyes, inhaling his intoxicating soap scent for the last time. If she had not already hardened her heart with resolve, she would have lost her nerve from the smell of him alone.

He pulled away with a smile. “Here. I found this for you.” It was her Aventi.

Oh, Kade, so innocently handing me the tool of your destruction.

She took it and got to her feet, and he stood as well.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” he said. “I have a surprise for you.”

She shook her head. “No.”

“No? Why? What do you have to do?”

She could not meet his eyes. “Something I should have done a long time ago.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Kade was having none of it. He lifted her chin. “Whatever it is, I will help. We are together now, Fallon, remember?”

“That’s the problem.”

“What is?”

“Your condition.” She turned from him. “I can’t allow you to be a part of my world, Kade. Your life is far too precious to me.”

He watched in confusion as she switched the Aventi to her right hand and held it away from her body.