Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (204 page)

He shook his head. “Good hell, what’ve
I created?”

“
A beautiful, controlled
young woman.”

“
Controlled? Hah! You have
yet to learn the meaning of control.”

“
Which is why you’re here.”
I poked him in the cheek. “Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. I just
made her stand up and take back everything she said about me and,
well…you know the rest.”

He smiled
his handsome crooked grin. “I’ll let you off
again
, but I’m serious. Don’t use
your mind control, especially on the ungifted, unless your life is
in danger. Promise me.”

Delmari couldn’t stand to stay mad at
me, and even more, he hated punishing me. I was his Achilles heel.
Good thing or I would have been sent straight to a Drea foster
family by now.

Twisting a long strand of ebony hair
around my finger, I huffed. “I’ll try, but it’s so hard. It feels
as natural as breathing, you know?” I shrugged. “When something
goes wrong, it’s my gut reaction.”

“
I understand, but I
haven’t worked with you all these years for your ability to be
spontaneous and out of control.”

I sighed, remembering the endless
hours we worked when it surfaced, just so I could keep it in check.
“I know.”

“
You also know why you
can’t use it.”

“
Yeah, yeah. It’s a
powerful ability that can screw with people’s lives.”

Delmari laughed, clearly amused by my
irritation. “That’s my girl.”

Not even
I could argue with that statement. I was his girl, even if we
weren’t blood related. He often complained about the way I acted.
When he did, I reminded him if
he
didn’t act like this, I wouldn’t, either. After
all, he was my only example since I was three months old. What had
he expected, really? “You know, you should just be grateful I don’t
have a physical ability.”

“
I suppose you’re right.”
He looked down, smiling, and picked at his nails. “You as a Kember
would be hazardous. Can you imagine a Drea’s life in your hands?
The Authority would really have a messy situation.”

I rubbed my palms together. “So would
Veronica Watson.”

Delmari rolled his eyes, bent down and
pressed his lips to my head. “I know high school can be rough, but
it’s your last year. If at all possible, be a good
girl.”

“
What if it’s not
possible?”

He looked around the room and let out
a slow breath. “Then you and I are going out back with the boxing
gloves.” He winked.

A warm glow spread through my body.
“Was that a challenge?”

Boxing probably went against the grain
for most girls, but I didn’t care. I loved to box. Who didn’t like
to hit things? Plus, I had a disorder: I couldn’t say no to a
challenge to save my life. Maybe that was my problem.

“
The question is, are you
up for it?”

I bounded off my bed, laughing. “Ah,
what’s another loss for you, right?” I knew I’d get owned. I did
every time. Delmari trained in this stuff—he put the meaning in the
word “lethal.”

He turned toward the door and stopped.
His eyes widened as he gazed out my window. Before I could question
him, he grabbed my arm and shoved me behind him, slamming my back
against the wall.

My breath hitched. The trees were
aflame. A forest fire? I opened my mouth, but the words stuck in my
throat. I could only stare at the red inferno dancing on the
treetops.

Delmari’s eyes closed like they
sometimes did when he summoned the rain. Water started to pour over
the trees, but the fire never wavered.

Body tensed, his eyes snapped open.
Veins pulsed in his arms. “Grab your pack. Now.”

“
M-my pack? What’s going
on? Can’t you put it out?” I wished I could keep my composure like
he did.

“
It’s a summoned
fire.”

I stood, hands shaking.

A Kember set our trees on fire? That
was crazy. No Kember would ever do this…

“
Taylee!” Delmari reached
back with one hand and shoved me. “Your pack!”

My heart
hammered. I jumped to my closet and grabbed my black emergency
backpack. A joke. This had to be some
sick
joke. Maybe another one of
Delmari’s escape drills? Once I secured it on my back, I rushed to
stand beside him.

Delmari grabbed my hand and pulled me
down the stairs.

He pushed the front door open, and I
gasped. Ten foot tall flaming walls surrounded our house. They shot
up in streams, through crevices in the ground. Thick smoke swirled,
darkening the sky. I squeezed my eyes closed, fighting the burn
that invaded them.

Fifty yards away, among the crackling
flames, stood a tall man in a black, hooded cloak, his hands
engulfed in fire.

There went my drill theory.

“
Listen.” Delmari’s eyes
never wavered from the Kember. His voice filled with urgency as he
reached for the handgun on his hip. “When there’s a break in the
flames, make for the cabin.”

Heat radiated through the air,
singeing my skin. Sweat dripped down my forehead and neck. Before I
could respond, the figure disappeared.

I jolted back as he materialized in
front of Delmari, grabbed him by the throat and slammed him to the
ground. The hairs on the back of my arms rose when the man focused
his ocher eyes on me.

Delmari struggled beneath the Kember.
He seized hold of the Kember’s hands and tried prying them from his
throat. Kicking his legs up, he nailed the cloaked figure in the
gut.

The man stumbled back. Delmari jumped
up and lunged toward him. The Kember vanished then reappeared
behind Delmari, kicking at his back, just as Delmari turned and
jumped to the side.

“
Run!” Delmari
yelled.

Despite his words, I froze.

Rain fell harder than I’d ever seen,
focusing only on one part of the woods: my escape route. It poured
like a waterfall from the sky until the section extinguished. My
cue. I needed to do what he instructed. He could take care of
himself.

Delmari gasped as he fought to keep up
with the other Kember’s speed. He ducked, avoiding the man’s
fire-lit fists and swung back at him. Delmari missed. The man
tackled him at the waist and slammed him to the ground.

Panic shot through me. Never once had
I seen a weak or slow movement from Delmari. The rain. Summoning it
to this degree drained his energy. I had to get out of here so he
could stop the waterworks.

Delmari thrashed. “Go!”

The cloaked figure punched Delmari in
the face. He grunted as his head slammed down into a puddle of
water. The Kember’s hands gripped Delmari’s throat, cutting off his
air supply.

I screamed. My drive to flee halted,
and my irrational instinct kicked in. I knew I should leave, but I
wouldn’t leave Delmari.

I lunged forward and grabbed the man’s
flowing robe. Pain shot through my hands like I’d seized a hot
iron, and I jerked them back, releasing him.

Taking a
deep breath, I closed my eyes, concentrating on getting into the
Kember’s mind.
Come on, Taylee, you can do
this!
I focused, seeing the black void
behind my eyelids. Then the weight of his mind opened
up.

Pressure built as his mind pushed back
toward mine. Like hitting a wall, my progress halted.

I snapped my eyes open, and the man’s
empty gaze flickered to me. An eerie smile spread over his lips. He
knew—he knew about my gift; it was the only way he would have been
able to stop me.

Delmari writhed beneath him, his fist
striking the Kember in the face. Blood poured from the cloaked
figure’s nose. He released his hold and counteracted Delmari’s
attacks, struggling to straddle his moving body.

I screamed, wanting to do
something—anything. Hysteria threatened to take me, as I realized
the only thing I could do for Delmari was leave.

Get to the
cabin.

Risking one last glance, I turned my
back on the only person I had in the world and ran.

Chapter 2

“
When
you get to the cabin, take the car. Don’t stop—don’t even look back
until you reach the Authority.”
The memory
of
Delmari’s rule echoed in my head. Most
people grew up being taught not to lie and steal—good qualities
which would keep them out of trouble. Not me. Delmari spent hours
upon days upon years teaching me to survive. When he said jump, I
leapt. When he said run, I got in the Honda, ignored speed limits
and all other traffic laws and hauled ass to the Authority building
just outside of Boise, Idaho.

Which was exactly what I
did.

The
fifteen minute drive felt more like rowing a boat over gravel:
frustrating and slow. I never let up on the gas pedal, but I kept
checking the rearview mirror, expecting Delmari’s black Hummer to
pull up behind me. Every time we found ourselves in this situation,
I got all jittery and anxious. He
always
caught up to me before I got
out of Meridian.

Not today.

What if something went wrong? The
enemy wasn’t a stupid Rygon keen on siphoning my life and ability
away like all the other times. It was a deranged Kember—one with
two very different physical abilities. Impossible.

Maybe
that’s why I couldn’t slow my breathing or racing heart as I drove
through Boise. I guessed I should’ve expected it’d take Delmari
longer. He needed time to unleash his deadly moves and pulverize
the guy. Then he’d escape. Delmari was an unstoppable force of
nature. No one could take him away from me, not even some
super-fast, fire-blasting
Kember
. No, Delmari would send him
straight to hell.

A painful
grinding came from beneath my car as I cut across a small slab of
manicured lawn, creating my own entrance into the parking lot.
Lurching forward, I clenched my teeth and glanced in the rearview
mirror at the thick piece of cement which almost ripped through the
floorboard. The curb had been a
little
high, and those flowers—well,
what was left of them—were the least of my
problems.

I didn’t even know why I worried about
Delmari. He always fought for both our lives. He knew he was all I
had. My mom, who apparently had been a Drea like me, died. My
deadbeat father ran off. Delmari figured my dad must’ve been a
Norm—a regular human without an ability. Obviously, whoever he was,
he didn’t want anything to do with our world, or me. Delmari was
the only one with enough balls to step in and take on a
three-month-old baby. He was my savior, my best friend. There was
no way he’d leave me alone.

I zipped past parked cars, jerking the
steering wheel from side to side. My head bashed the ceiling as I
sped over speed bumps, heading directly for the front doors of the
big building. The tires screeched when I stomped on the brake. The
back of the car skidded to the side, half on the sidewalk and mere
feet from the glass doors.

Ripping
the keys from the ignition, I glanced at the tall tower of bricks.
Delmari never clarified whether he meant get to the
Authority
building
or to the head honchos themselves. I wouldn’t half-ass this.
Straight to the source. I barreled out of the car, through the
revolving doors and crashed right into the front
desk.

A chubby lady with red, curly hair
grimaced. “Can—”

Through gasps of air, I choked out,
“Ian—uh, I mean, Authority Alvarez. Now!”

She leaned back in her chair and
started filing her nails. “Do you have an appointment?”

“
I—no, but—”

“
Get in line.” She gestured
to the full waiting room, without even looking up.

I slammed my fist on the counter,
earning her full attention and most likely everyone else’s in the
room. “No. Delmari’s been attacked. It’s an emergency!”

She sighed, holding my gaze with an
expression just short of a glare. Tossing her file onto the
counter, she pulled a form from a drawer and handed it to me.
“Write down everything—”

“
I’m not here to fill out a
freakin’ form.” I crumpled the page and drilled it at
her.

She flinched when it bounced off her
forehead and sat with her mouth agape, eyes the size of golf balls.
I jumped over the half door, next to her desk, that led back to the
Authority offices.

Unfortunately, the shock didn’t last long. She sprang from her
chair and intercepted my path. “Ian can’t see you right now. Get
back over that gate,
Missy,
or I’ll—”

I didn’t have time for empty threats.
If Delmari needed help, I couldn’t waste time talking to the
old-school Strawberry Shortcake. I stepped around her.

She grabbed my arm, digging her
freshly-filed nails into my skin, and jerked me around.