Bound (Secrets of the Djinn) (16 page)

I didn’t know that. 
He never talks about it.  My eyes widen as I think of all the rows of copper items Brielle had stashed in a hidden compartment in her apartment.  Each one representing a djinni she bound and sent back behind the veil.  Zane has more?  Where does he keep his?

My shock keeps me silent and Zane
continues.  “The only thing you did is prove to me that not all djinn are evil, murdering sons of bitches.”  He puts a hand up before I can protest aloud.  “Stop it.  You know the difference.  Have you ever carved someone up just because you felt like it?  Tortured, molested, and sacrificed both children and adults for the fun of it?”

My face blanches at his words.  I manage a croaked, “No.”

“Then get it together and help us figure what to do instead of wallowing in self-pity.”

“Wow, harsh,” Brielle says through the door.
  For such a grand house, the doors and walls are awfully thin.

Yes, it was harsh, but I needed to hear it.  Meeting Zane’s eyes full on, I nod.  “Okay.”

He smiles and gives me one last kiss before separating our bodies and getting up.  “I love you,” he says, more tenderly than I thought possible after his other words.  He already has his jeans on by the time I stand up.  He tosses me mine and I try to catch up, but he’s across the room and opening the door just as I pull the t-shirt over my head.

“Hey, this is a PG house
on this side of the door,” Brielle complains, covering her eyes.

I snort as I shrug into my shirt.  “Please, like you
haven’t seen more of me than this.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t ask for an encore.”

As opposed to us, Zane is all business now.  I’ve never seen him go up against the djinn, only Brielle.  I don’t know what to expect from him.  “How long have they been here?” he asks.

“The sensors started going off about five minutes ago.”

“Everyone is inside?”

Brielle nods and starts walking.  “They’re in Grams’ sitting room.”

We follow her down the stairs and into the sitting room where Roman, Malik, Hank and Mrs. Gregori are waiting for us.  “Nice of you to deign us with your presence,” the old woman says.

Zane’s eyes burn in her direction for an instant before dismissing her gruff greeting. 
Turning to Hank, he says, “What are we looking at?”

It’s Malik who responds.  ‘Mostly Ghuls, a few Ifrit.” 

There are levels of djinn according to how close they are to being humanoid.  Malik and I are Marid, the highest and most powerful order of djinn with the Saitan close behind us.  The Saitan, though, are cruel with no regard at all for human life.  Except for Roman.  He has denounced the Saitan ways.  At least, he claims he has.  The war behind the veil is between the Marid and every other type of djinn.  The Marid are the only thing stopping the djinn from coming to this side of the veil and what would happen if they did.  It would not work out well for the human race.

The Ghuls and Ifrit are shape shifters with the latter having the least substantive body.  They are comprised more of smoke than true form.  Both are able to take on human form on this side of the veil by killing a human and assuming his or her shape.  The Ghuls are better at it and can remain in this form longer.  They’re also excellent warriors.

“Any idea why they’re here?” I ask, tasting the stupidity of the question as it slides out of my mouth. 

Brielle confirms it with the ‘are you fucking stupid’ look she gives me.
  “Does it really matter?” she asks.

Zane strides to a closet door I’ve never really paid attention to before. 
No one has opened it since I arrived.  Now, I understand why this is Mrs. Gregori’s favorite room. 

Inside the closet,
which is really more of a pantry than a closet, Zane starts handing things to his sister.  Copper items of various shapes and sizes that she puts in a backpack.  Next come the guns.  Air guns mostly, but there are one or two that I’m certain will shoot real bullets.  The air guns are used on the lowest djinn.  They blow them apart.  Hank is with them now, filling his hands and pockets with items.

Zane
is barking orders to his sister and Hank and neither of them are giving him shit about it.  Even Mrs. Gregori doesn’t interrupt or contradict him.  It suddenly becomes clear who is really in charge in this house.  Despite his laid back attitude and charm, Zane is a serious djinn hunter.  I’m beginning to believe what he said about capturing more djinn than Brielle has.

Brielle looks down at the electronic device she has in her hand.  “They’re spreading out.  They’re
mostly in groups of two several hundred yards apart surrounding the entire property line.  There’s a larger group at the end of the drive.”

“What about your neighbors?” I ask, remembering we’re not isolated on a desert island
here.  The acreage Zane and Brielle own is large, but neighbors live about half a mile down the road.

“The closest are the Hanson’s,” Zane says, placing several guns on his person.  “Hank will cut them off before they ever reach the Hanson’s house.”

Unless they’ve already gotten to them to reduce the chance of witnesses.  I push the thought from my mind.  “Where do you want me?” I ask.

Now he looks up.  “Skye…”

Putting my hands on my hips, I shake my head.  “I’m a part of this, Zane.  Whether they’re here because of me, or because of you, it doesn’t matter.  I want to protect you as much as you want to protect me.”

“Can we
do the dramatics later?” Brielle asks.  She tosses me an air gun.  “Why don’t you go with Malik?  I think you’d be too much of a distraction to my brother.”

Catching the gun, I turn to Malik with raised brows.  “Any arguments from you?”

He puts his hands up in a gesture of surrender.  “I know better.”  A slightly mocking, big brother grin is trying to slide onto his lips despite the coming fight.

With shaking hands, I put the gun in my waist band so I can take two more from Brielle.  How many guns
are in that closet?  The bigger question is, where am I going to keep them?

Reading my mind, Zane brings me a hunting vest.  He holds it for me to slip my arms in and he takes the guns and puts them in
deep pockets inside the vest.  Finished, he puts his hands on my cheeks.  “Don’t get hurt.”  Before I can say anything, his lips are on mine in a kiss that promises good things if I follow his command.

Releasing me, he says to the room in general, “Let’s hit it.”

I am not ready for this.  All of my training over the past month has disappeared from my brain and all I want to do is curl up in the corner and wait for it to be over.  Fortunately, I’m not a coward.  I kick my fear to the curb, straighten my shoulders and follow Zane out the door. 

Malik is next to me and gives my
completely healed shoulder a little squeeze.  “You’ll be fine.  I’ll make sure of it.”

I give him a weak smile.  “I’d rather make sure of it myself.  I need to know I can.”

Chapter
19

The sheer physical size of the djinn waiting for us is enough to make me shake in fear.  How the hell am I going to fight someone three times my size?  Just do it, I guess.  Great, I suddenly feel like a Nike ad.

I can see the strain on the djinn’s faces being so close to Brielle’s sine wave.  The lower the djinn, the more likely this frequency will cause them pain
and their eye sockets to bleed.  A few of them look like they’re crying bloody tears.

“The pride of the Marid,” one of the djinn sneers, “how nice of you to surrender together.”

I glance up at Malik.  “Are they always this stupid and cocky?”

Malik chuckles.  “Yes.  The
Ifrit are known for their lack of sense.”  Without another word, Malik raises his hand and a blast of energy so strong shoots from him that the ten djinn standing in front of us are all thrown backwards a good twenty feet.

While the djinn are struggling against Malik’s magic, my mind is suddenly bombarded with images.  I see Zane in hand to hand combat with a djinni twice his size.  He’s winning.  The djinni is down and Zane has a copper spoon and is chanting the binding spell.  A shadow falls on him and I want to warn him, but it’s not necessary.  He
’s aware someone is behind him and he whirls around, catching the djinni off guard.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

New images flash before me.  Roman is with Brielle and they are in hand to hand combat with four djinn.  Roman is using his own energy, similar to what Malik can do, to
fend them off.  He’s not as strong magically as Malik, but he’s stronger than the djinn they’re fighting.  It crosses my mind that he has never used this magic when fighting with Zane.  Is it because it would be unfair or because he didn’t want any of us to know he has the ability? 

Brielle is fast and her smaller size is working for her.  She can slip in and out
between the djinn, causing damage as she goes.  She and Roman are making a good team.

Zane is now fighting two djinn.  His fists are flying and a roundhouse kick brings one of the djinn down.  He’s not able to recover from his spin fast enough and the other djinni grabs him from behind.  A knife is gleaming in the sunlight, headed for Zane’s chest.  A head butt to the djinni’s nose and a punch to his groin make him drop the knife and Zane is free of his grasp
uncut.

My mind flashes to Hank.  The man moves more like a twenty year old than a man in his seventies.  He’s taking on two djinn who are equal to him in size but not nearly as strong.  One punch to the head and a djinn
i is on the ground.

My head is whirling.  Distantly, I can hear Malik ask if I’m okay.  I can’t answer him.  A feeling comes over me, a calm
very much out of place in this melee.  My friends are in danger and I need to save them.  I won’t let anyone hurt them, especially Zane.  Reaching in the direction of Malik’s voice, I find his hand.  I grasp it in mine and I squeeze as hard as I can.  Malik doesn’t pull his hand from mine.  Instead, he grasps it tighter.

Like taking in a deep breath, I pull on Malik’s energy.  I feel a rush of power as
I force it from him.  My hair is blown forward as a rush of energy emanates from Malik and me.  It tries to take us with it, but Malik’s strength and firm grip on me anchors us.  The djinn aren’t as fortunate.  A sound like a sonic boom emanates over the land.  The energy whips through them, tearing at them.  Before our eyes, the human forms they donned begin to disappear and what is left behind is something resembling thick black smoke in the shape of men.  Their substance is gone.  They are fragile as the wind now.  Malik takes back some control and directs the energy towards them until their black, wispy forms are torn apart, the molecules being forced so far apart they can’t rejoin.  The energy tears at them until nothing is left.

I gasp when Malik releases my hand and the power we
created together ebbs.  Drained and confused, I find myself sitting down on the unpaved driveway.  “What was that?”

My brother grins down at me.  “That
is what I have been waiting for.”

I scowl up at him.  “Thanks for clearing things
up for me.”  I take his outstretched hand and let him pull me to my feet.  “Malik, I could see the others.  I could see Zane and Roman and Brielle as they fought.  How is that possible?”

I don’t like the way my brother’s brows dip into a confused expression.  “What do you mean?”

“In my head.  I could see them in my head like I was right there with them.  This,” I gesture towards the driveway and our surrounding area, “was gone and all I could see was flashes of their fights, not ours.  Is that normal?”

His expression hasn’t eased at all.  “Have you bound them all to you?”

My mouth drops open.  “What?”

Before he can say more, a female voice says,
“Impressive.” It’s not Brielle or Mrs. Gregori.

I reach for Malik’s hand
, ready to attack again.  “It’s okay,” he says, staring at the beautiful blonde woman dressed in tight black leather which showcases her curves perfectly.  She could be the centerfold in a biker magazine.  Her hair is in braids at the back of her head and her eyes are so blue, they must be colored contacts.  No one has eyes that blue.

“Jalynx, what brings you here?”
my brother asks.  His voice is almost warm.

“When the acting
Premier’s nephew goes missing, there is concern amongst those loyal to him.”

“Who is she?” I ask. 

Malik’s relaxed smile tells me she’s not a threat.  My intuition isn’t convinced.  “Jalynx, you may remember my sister, Skye.”