Deviant Knights (21 page)

It showed her a little of why Michel’s trust
issues were so great.
 
She had to say
that she saw him in a new light.
 
And if
she ever heard all of it, which she wasn’t sure she could stomach, she knew
that she would truly know him.

But then he’d refused to change the plans.
 
Which of course, was his prerogative, but the
fear she felt was immense.
 
They all
could be walking into a battle that they didn’t need to tread into.

What if the dream came true and she watched
Michel’s death, when it all could be circumvented?

The dream version was bad enough.
 
There was no way she’d watch it in real
life.
 
She hoped, for the first time,
that Thierry was very, very wrong about her gifts as he called them.
 
They seemed more a curse.

The four vehicles rolled through the airport
gates, driving out onto the tarmac.
 
The
jet rested on the asphalt, the single spotlight illuminating the airplane.
Goosebumps formed on
Kadence’s
arm, and the chaotic
blinking lights blurred with the wetness that formed in her eyes.
 
Her stomach was roiling, her skin
crawling.
 

Michel was walking into his death.

They’d said another two
Templars
would arrive with the plane, Henri and Lucian.
 
The two had been charged with preventing
Paloma
and her minions from entering the aircraft prior to their arrival.
 
She held her breath as the cars stopped
before the plane.

Gabriel and Alain got out of the car first,
drawing swords and scoping out the area.
 
Thierry and Michel did the same behind them.
 
Nervously, she watched from the backseat of
the limo.

Dual explosions made
Kadence
jump, a scream rending from her lips.
 
The two security vehicles, as well as the occupants inside them, were
blown sky high.
 
Her ears pounded, and she
could hear a ringing sound as she watched the remnants of the vehicles burn,
miscellaneous fiery parts falling to the ground.
 
Jumping to her knees, she looked all around
her, trying to determine where the blasts had come from.

Two men rushed from the airplane, swords
drawn.
 
They looked very much like the
other men, and she assumed they were
Templars
as
well.

A door to the limo opened and Gabriel stuck his
head inside.
 
“Hurry, we need to get to
the plane.”

She grasped Gabriel’s outstretched hand and
began the run to the boarding stairs, only to be cut off.

Rounding the plane was
Paloma
and at least a dozen men.

Black
hair whipped around her,
the heavy breeze off the sea making her hair look
more like that of
Medusa, full of flowing snakes.
 
Her
full, red dress swirled around her ankles, billowing in the wind.

Her face, as well as those of the men with her,
began to twist into the demonic expression again, making bile rise in
Kadence’s
throat.
 
The evil inside these beings warped the very air around them, making it
hard for
Kadence
to breathe.

The
Templars
around
Kadence
stood stock-still, frozen, watching their arrival.
Nor did they move as the woman stepped closer to eye Michel.

“Templar, you’re as handsome as ever.”

“
Paloma
, you’re as
vile as ever.”

Kadence
stifled a shudder.
 
She’d
never told the men of the exact conversation they’d shared in her dream.
 
It played note for note before her, making
all of the things she’d seen in her head suddenly more real.
 
There was no way
Kadence
could allow it to continue to go down this path.
 

Paloma
chuckled throatily.
 
This was
the woman who’d broken Michel.
 
She
needed to pay for that sin.

Kadence
felt the need to attack, to scratch the woman’s eyes out with her
bare hands.
 
But unlike in the dream, she
was able to move.
 
She rushed forward as
Paloma
pulled a sword from a sheath and aimed the tip at
Michel’s chest.

The Illuminati soldiers rushed to prevent the
knights from protecting Michel.
 
Swords
clashed around her as the
Templars
began to fight the
fast-moving evil incarnate.
 
Kadence
ducked around the fighting, not willing to let
Michel end this way.
 
She was within feet—she
could save him.
 
Paloma
would not have his head.

“Vile, am I?
 
You didn’t think that way many years ago, and if I’m correct, you want
me now just as much as you did then.
 
Perhaps more?”

Michel did not answer her.
 
Kadence
waited for
the denial as she moved closer, the refusal of such utter garbage, but none
came.
 
She watched as his shoulders
deflated in shame, his head dropping before him.

Paloma
lifted her sword.
 
Kadence
would not witness this act again.
 
She began to run.
 
She had to stop
Paloma
.

Michel dropped at the last second.
Paloma’s
sword bypassed him…and struck
Kadence
square in the chest.

****

Gabriel screamed as he saw the sword pierce
Kadence’s
chest.
 
He
was fighting two Illuminati foot soldiers, holding them back as best he
could.
 
Outmanned, he worked feverously,
all while trying to see
Kadence
.

Did she live?
 
She had to live!

He watched as Michel kicked
Paloma
,
knocking her off her feet.
 
In seconds,
he whisked
Kadence
off the ground and up the stairs
to the plane, leaving
Paloma
behind.

Gabriel needed to fend off these two and get to
Paloma
before she interfered with
Kadence
any further.
 
He slashed one of the
soldiers through the chest, kicking him onto the ground.
 
One down, one to go.

He pushed the other away, needing to attack
Paloma
more than he needed to fight the last man.
 
She was mere feet from the jet’s stairs,
rushing to finish the job she’d started.
 
Kadence
was in danger.

A figure in all black jumped from nowhere,
stabbing a blade into
Paloma’s
chest.
 
Gabriel skidded to a halt, trying to figure
out what he’d just seen.
 
Paloma
began to slump to the ground.
 
If she was Illuminati, the strike would not
kill her, but it would incapacitate her enough for Gabriel to deal the
deathblow.
 

He saw the figure in black slowly pull his sword
from the bitch and then raise it above.
 
He knew to give the deathblow.
 
The assassin would steal their kill from them.
 
If not Michel, it needed to be a
Templar.
 
Paloma
had wreaked havoc on their lives.
 
The
kill was theirs to take, not some nameless assassin’s.

One of the foot soldiers rushed to aid
Paloma
, fighting off the dark slayer.
 
Seconds later, the soldier Gabriel had pushed
away caught up with him to attack.
 
Paloma
was forgotten for a moment as Gabriel fought for his
life.

****

Thierry sunk his sword into the Illuminati he
fought, pulling the metal back out.
 
Crouching back into the fighting stance, he saw Gabriel, Henri, and
Lucien all with a single foe.
 
Another
unknown fighter in black fought an Illuminati soldier and
Paloma
lay on the ground nearby.
 

Paloma
had blood on her abdomen.
 
She was wounded.
 
Thierry rushed
closer.

The unknown warrior was small, moving with
ninja-like grace.
 
Dressed all in black,
the fighter was hard to keep in his line of site, the darkness around him
swallowing him whole as they danced.
 
But
his short sword blazed, reigning shots down on the much larger Illuminati.

As Thierry got closer, the Illuminati captured
the fighter in a headlock, pulling him up close.
 
Ripping at the black cloth that covered his
head, the Illuminati pulled the mask from—her. Onyx braids fell from her head
as crystalline blue eyes caught his in the briefest of seconds.

His feet quickened.

Her sword swiped down, catching the Illuminati
in the gut.
 
The soldier dropped his prey
and went to his knees.
 
She
turned,
the sword level with the soldier’s neck.
 
As she spun, the blade struck through and the
soldier’s head went flying.

Thierry froze as she leveled those incredibly
blue eyes on him once again.
 
The
coldness that emanated from them was bone-chilling.
 
A callous kick behind her, without looking to
see her target, and the man’s body fell to the ground.
 
A smirk twisted her full lips and he was both
awed and disgusted by the act.

Lightning that should have been theirs rushed
into the fighter’s body, lighting her from inside.
 

Thierry was dumbstruck.
 

The body began to crumble to ash. Wind picked up
the remnants of the powder, whirling it around and bringing it close to the
female.
 
It slowly absorbed into
her.
 
She’d watched the whole thing with
indifference, as if it hadn’t been the first time the event had happened.

Thierry’s mouth dropped open.
 
This was the same as what Gabriel and Michel
had described with
Kadence
.

The warrior.

Pushing him out of her way as she passed, the
electricity of her near presence made his skin tingle.
 
She brushed past him, drawing her sword high,
charging after
Paloma
.
 

Who was
gone.

Thierry raised his sword and circled the area,
looking for signs of the female.
 
They’d
been so close to finishing
Paloma
off, ending
Michel’s nightmare.
 
Alain charged into
the fray, his eyes wide as he surveyed the woman.

Turning to Thierry, Alain asked, “Did I see what
I think I did?”

“Good question,
mon
frère.”

When Thierry turned back to her, the warrior woman
was gone.

Chapter Seventeen

Michel worked diligently over
Kadence’s
wound.
 
The
sword had gone clear through her, exiting through her back.
 
Blood was everywhere; he held his shirt to
her wound, trying to keep pressure on it.

He heard the sounds outside, the fighting.
 
His body yearned to be out there, helping his
brothers fight.
 
But he couldn’t leave
Kadence
alone.
 
Not
after she’d rushed to him…to what?
 
Save
him?

Silly girl.
 
He was a Templar Knight,
more than qualified to save his own
arse
.
 
She’d gotten in the way of his chance at
redemption.
 
Paloma
had been in his sights.
 
It could have
ended right there, right then.
 
Instead,
in her misguided attempts to save him, mind, body, and soul, she’d gotten hurt.

He was angry.
 
Angry she’d interfered.
 
Angry
she’d gotten hurt.
 
Angry
at himself for being such a son-of-a-bitch.
 

Regardless of the fact she’d gotten in over her
head, she’d done it for noble reasons.
 
She thought she could save him.

No one could save him.