Awakened (34 page)

I swallowed, turned to find my rescuer. Bran. My eyes connected with his triumphant ones. Shock tilted my heart. His eyes glowed demonic red, his lips turned up with frenzied excitement. He lurched forward, jumping right back into the chaos. My gaze darted to the others, fully engaged in battle. They mixed their powers and fighting skills, their eyes glowing green. Were my eyes glowing, too?

Something sent me hurtling through the air. My back connected with a crate high up near the ceiling. High-pitched agony sucked the breath out of me and sent tears to my eyes. I groped the edge of the crate with my fingers, found a ledge and hung on for dear life. The crate creaked and rocked. I teleported to the ground, right in the path of a whirlwind. It mowed down the fiend who attacked me, leaving behind nothing but charred floor.

Sword.
My sword flew from the ground where it had fallen to my hand. I gripped the hilt with both hands, pointed it at the wind demon.
Stop.

The twister slowed down until I could see a female demoness, black hair flying around a gorgeous brown face. She careened to a halt. “You want to save your grandfather, Lilith? Come with me,” she whispered.

Not again.
“Go to Tartarus.” Before I could zap her, she teleported behind me, wrapped her arms around me in a firm grip. Air left my lungs. My ribs hurt from the pressure she was putting on them.

“You must…come…with me,” she sang in my ear.

I couldn’t move or think. Her sweet berry scent stifled as she whipped around with me. My hair flew across my face. Cold currents of air stung my skin and caused my eyes to water. Everything inside the warehouse became blurry. Someone yelled my name, and reality returned.

I let go of my sword and tried to teleport from her arms, but the twirling created some kind of force-field from which I couldn’t escape. I tried to use my power to free myself, but I couldn’t focus.

One second we were in the warehouse, the next were floating in cold, bleak darkness. The place was devoid of life. No emotions. No sounds. I heard the swish-swish sounds of wings. My feet touched nothing. My arms, trapped by the demoness’ hands, had gone numb. And my psyche couldn’t find a single soul. I shivered, my heart pumping with dread. Where was I?

A brilliant glow appeared out of the darkness. Another one emerged with it then another and another…. The lights coalesced into one giant orb, just like on the day I received my powers. Instead of exploding, the orb moved closer and enveloped me. I became one with the light, free and uninhibited.

My past flashed before my eyes, and everything became clear. The insecurities about who I was, being raised on the road and never feeling like I belonged anywhere, my fears of ending up alone without friends and concerns about my powers had hindered my ability to see and accept the truth. I was born to be a Guardian, a defender of all that was good. I couldn’t afford to be weak, to give up or let down those who fought alongside me.

As though the epiphany opened a floodgate, my friends’ thoughts slammed into my psyche. Remy had a gushing wound on his arm, causing him excruciating pain. Kim’s ribs were cracked, each breath worse than the last one. Sykes had burns on his body and was surviving on pure adrenaline. Izzy’s pain came and went. Bran was—

Stinging agony shot across my chest, echoing his. He was down, hurting.
I’m coming back, Bran. Hold on
. Another crack of pain bounced inside my skull. I tried to connect with him and help. I tried again and again, but couldn’t reach him.

I focused all my energy on teleporting back, using his face as a guiding point.

Darkness peeled away to be replaced by the jarring light of the warehouse and the din of the battle. Still locked in the vortex of the wind demoness, cold gusts bit my skin and tears flew across my face. I focused harder, crept inside the demoness’ mind.

Demon be gone.

Her arms loosened around me, then she let me go, shrieking. It took seconds before I realized something was missing. The howl from the battle had disappeared. The utter silence after the ruckus of seconds ago was downright spooky. I looked around in panic.

The demons had disappeared. How? The trainees remained standing, swords dangling from their hands. The Cardinals were near the barrels and crates, doing Lord-knows-what. Bran’s crumbled body caught my attention.

I teleported to his side, my heart constricting. There was so much blood on his shirt it stuck to his body. His chest rose and fell, his breathing shallow. He had several cuts on his face, too, but he was alive. Barely. I stroked his hair with shaking hand, searched for his psi energy. It was so weak, the life-force slowly draining out of him.

Fighting panic, I let my psi energy overlap with his.
Bran? I’m here. Can you hear me?

No response.

Don’t you dare die on me, Bran Llyr. Fight back.

Nothing.

Tears filled my eyes.
Please, don’t die. Tell me what to do to help.
I wanted to wrap my arms around him and cradle him, but I didn’t know the extent of his injuries. Something poked out from the side of his shirt. With unsteady hands, I undid his shirt. A broken rib pierced right through his skin and jutted outside his body. I fought dizziness, looked up and opened my mouth to scream for help, but the scene before me froze the words in my throat.

Seth and Janelle were disappearing through the red door. I was so concerned about Bran I’d forgotten about my grandfather.
Please, let him be okay.
To my right, Izzy hurried to Kim who was supported by Hsia. Kim was hunched over, her face bloody. Izzy placed her hands against Kim’s chest, closed her eyes and appeared to go into a trance. What was she doing?

Kim slowly straightened. She took a deep inhale and smiled.

Izzy? A healer? Why hadn’t she mentioned it? Bran groaned. My moan overlapped with his as pain shot through my chest. I crooned to him, tried to calm him down. I also noticed that his psi energy held steady.
You’ll be okay…Izzy will be here soon.

But she was busy with the trainees. She moved to Remy. He swayed where he stood, a hand clasping his arm, blood oozing between his fingers. She gripped his hand. Within seconds, blood stopped dripping from his arm.

Sykes’ face was white, dark shadows under overly bright eyes. I didn’t see blood on him, but something had burned his shirt off his back and his skin was charred. It took longer to heal him.

My gaze darted between Izzy and the red door, a different kind of fear gripping me when Janelle and Seth didn’t reappear right away. What was taking them so long?

Izzy came to our side. “Where are your wounds?”

I looked down. I had no blood on me except on my hands, and that was Bran’s. “I don’t have any, but Bran needs help.” I stroke his face, kept our energies meshed.

She opened Bran’s shirt and didn’t miss a beat when she saw the rib jutting out of his chest. Gently, she pushed the rib back inside Bran’s chest.

He groaned. I closed my eyes and ground my teeth, high-pitched pain shooting through him. I felt every spasm. Dizziness washed over me. Then the stinging receded to a dull ache.

“You sure you’re not wounded? You don’t look too good.”

“Please, just take care of him.”

She held her hand over his wound. Her palms glowed then miniature thunderbolts buzzed from her palm to his skin. “You self-heal, too?”

I shook my head, sweat pouring down my face. The sting felt like my inside was being pinched together.

“After what you just did, you must.”

“What did I do?” I asked through clenched teeth.

Izzy frowned. “You sure you’re not in pain.”

I nodded.
Forget about me. Tell me what I did.

“We heard you scream just before the nature-bender whisked you away. The next second you were back, and all the demons dematerialized. Whatever you did, it scared them. You ended the battle.” Izzy sat on her hunches, her hands dropping to her sides. “I’m sorry, Lil.”

I frowned, followed her gaze to Bran’s chest. His wound was still open and raw. I frowned at her. “Why aren’t you healing him?”

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” I screeched.

“I think it’s because he’s half demon. I can’t fully heal him.”

“What?” My breath caught on a sob. “He’s in pain.”

“I’m sorry.” She did the glowing hands thing, but the wound stayed the same. “I’ll get a strip of cloth and dress it.”

“Here,” Remy said from behind her. He transformed a torn piece of his shirt into a bandage. Beside him stood Sykes and Kim. Hsia had disappeared.

I looked toward the red door. A foreboding feeling washed over me. “Aren’t they back yet?”

Remy shook his head. “Hsia just left. Will you guys be okay alone? We need to see what’s holding them up.”

I nodded. Remy and the other two headed toward the red door. Izzy and I stayed with Bran. She dressed Bran’s wound. I stroked his hair, his battered face. His psi energy appeared stronger, or maybe it was wishful thinking on my part.
Can you hear me, Bran? I’m not leaving your side until you get better.

Izzy glanced at me. “You love him.”

“Is it obvious?” I asked.

She nodded. “His rib’s set. It will take a while, but he’ll heal.”

My hand smoothen his hair, touched his face. “He heals fast.”

“Not from an energy drain,” a voice cut through the air like a whip.

Izzy stiffened.

I looked up.

A swarthy-complexioned man dressed in austere black pants and a matching tunic that came to his knees stood a few feet from us. He didn’t carry a weapon of any kind, but perhaps there was no need. A menacing aura clung to him like a cloak. His head was clean-shaven, and his face…I shivered. He had pitch black eyes, and an ugly, jagged scar ran from his right temple to the corner of his lips, giving his hard mouth a perpetual sneer. There was something familiar about him, yet I was sure I’d never met him before. I could never forget his face or those eyes.

I tried to read his mind.

Nothing. Just static.

I frowned. “Who are you?”

“He won’t recover unless you get him help, Lilith. And neither will Falcon.” The man waved a hand and Grampa’s body appeared out of thin air and crumbled at his feet.

My heart dropped, my eyes zeroing in on Grampa’s face. He looked dead, his face pale though there were no visible injuries. I searched for his psi energy. It was there, but very weak. I wanted to run from Bran’s side to Grampa’s, but shock locked my muscles. I heard a shout.

“Stand…back…Valafar.”

Valafar? A buzzing sound droned in my ears and dizziness threatened to drag me under. Blinding rage slammed into me. I fumbled for the dagger around my waist. Gone. I dove for the one inside my boot, seized its hilt and jerked it out of its sheath. I drew my hand back and let the dagger sail toward him.

His hand whipped out and caught it. Smoke snaked from his fist, the acrid smell of burning flesh drifting into the air, but he didn’t drop the dagger. Instead he clenched his fingers tight. The wooden handle fell away. When he opened his hand, black ashes floated to the floor. I watched with morbid fascination as his blackened hand healed itself.

He shot me a hard look. “You don’t want to kill me, Lilith.”

Yes, I did. I wanted to rip his soulless body apart. I wanted him to pay for what he’d taken from me. I zapped him, the forced causing him to sway on his feet. Amusement flashed in his eyes. “You shouldn’t do that either, you’ll only exhaust your powers.”

Just to prove him wrong, I zapped him again, hatred burning through my veins. But the power of my attack wasn’t enough to move a pebble. The battle had weakened me.

“What do you want, Valafar?” Seth said in a voice colder than winter.

“My daughter, Seth. A man is entitled to claim his only child, is he not?” His gaze didn’t waver from me.

Shock robbed me of breath. He didn’t mean me, did he?
No. No, no, no.
“I’m not your daughter, you monster! You killed my mother.”

“I’m not here to discuss your mother, Lilith.” His voice was hard, the words clipped. “I’m here to take you home.”

21. VALAFAR

I was being sucked into a nightmare without an end. Nausea churned my insides. This couldn’t be real. This monster could
not
be my father. I shook my head. “No. I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Valafar’s eyes narrowed. “You should obey when I give you an order, my child.”

I felt a tug on my psi energy as though someone was trying to break the link I had with Grampa and Bran. Valafar. I resisted and stared him down. “I don’t take orders from you. You’re nothing to me. Go away. Leave.”

“You heard the child, Valafar. It’s time for you to join your kind in Tartarus, but first, you must release all the souls you’ve damned,” Seth boomed. He moved closer, his grip tightening on his sword. Moira already had energy balls in her hands. The others had their weapons ready, too.

Izzy slowly leaned forward, reached inside her boots and removed two daggers. She pressed one in my trembling hand. Shell-shocked, I stared at it, then her. What did she expect me to do with it? Valafar had reduced the first one I threw at him into ashes like a twig. Still, just in case. I shoved my hand and the dagger inside the pocket of my coat.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Valafar ground out.

I jumped, but his words and gaze were directed at the Cardinals, not me.

“If I go, I take Falcon with me. Imagine what they’ll do to him once he gets to Tartarus. All those demons he vanquished.” Everyone froze. “Now, I’d like to talk to my daughter uninterrupted.”

“You don’t have a daughter here,” Janelle retorted.

Valafar crossed his arms, widened his stance and smile. The scar on his face creased in a grotesque way. “You can delude yourselves all you want, Guardians. My blood runs in her veins. I am her father.”

My hand tightened around the dagger in my pocket. “I already have a father.” The look he gave me chilled me to the bone. It was full of suppressed violence. I knew then that he’d hurt me if I didn’t cooperate. Two weeks ago, I would’ve clammed up, become a sniveling mess. Not today. Not when the lives of those I loved were at stake. “Give him back his powers and leave. Nobody wants you here.”