djinn wars 03 - fallen (13 page)

As soon as we were safely past the area the devices protected, I saw Jace straighten, and from the back seat, Dani let out a tight little sigh. Up ahead I saw the rest of our group, waiting in the cover of the trees. A quick scan of the scene told me they were more or less where we’d left them, although I noticed that some of the djinn had moved toward the road, as if to make sure they’d be the front line of defense in case anyone else came along.

I slowed, then came to a stop. As the waiting group began to move toward the Jeep, I rolled down the window. “I’ve got him,” I said briefly. “Everyone back to their vehicles. We need to get going.”

There were no cheers, nothing but a brief murmur among the djinn and their Chosen, and then everyone began to disperse toward the waiting vehicles. I’d handed off the keys of the pickup I’d driven here to Travis, and he and Azael hurried toward the truck, followed by the man whose Jeep I was driving and his djinn companion. In less than a minute, everyone was back inside their respective vehicles and falling in line behind us as we began moving south on Pajarito Road.

That went well,
I told Jace.

Almost too well,
he responded.

I’d been thinking about the same thing, but I didn’t want to admit it. Anyway, the time to be stopped by Margolis’ forces was some ways back up the road. My past experience with them had shown that they didn’t dare venture beyond the bubble of safety Miles Odekirk’s devices provided.

So what would they do when they discovered their resident wizard had been stolen from right under their noses? I honestly had no idea. There were plenty of people in Los Alamos who knew how to operate the little boxes, but that didn’t mean they could create any more of them, now that the scientist was gone. If one of the devices malfunctioned, they’d be in a world of hurt.

They’re short-staffed, and not all that well-trained,
I told Jace after a pause.
Probably they thought they had plenty of people guarding the facility. After all, no one who was a resident would ever think of going in there without an invitation, and no djinn would come anywhere close.

Except those of us who are mad enough to ignore what those devices do to us.

Not mad,
I replied.
Brave.
The people in Los Alamos are not exactly of a mindset that would believe a djinn capable of personal bravery, or loyalty. So they would never imagine that any of you would willingly come here in order to do what you did.

What we all did. You and Evony and Dani.

And Ethan,
I added. I didn’t really like his methods, but I couldn’t argue with the results.

And Ethan,
Jace conceded.
I hate to see death when it is not needed, but perhaps that was unavoidable. We will just have to do everything we can to make sure there are no more deaths that come about as a result of our actions.

I wasn’t sure that was exactly realistic, but I didn’t argue. Like Jace, I thought there had already been far too much death. We should be trying to avoid it. Every life was precious, even the lives of those in Los Alamos, the ones who believed all the djinn were pure evil.

Problem was, some of them actually were. I recalled Aidan’s story, how the djinn who’d destroyed his face had laughed and said, “Give my love to Lilias.” Surely those were the words and actions of a monster.

But we had no monsters in Taos, only djinn and the mortals they loved. And we had to do everything we could to make sure they could live real lives together, and not suffer endlessly just because some of the djinn had decided to go rogue.

The moon was higher in the sky now, almost directly overhead. It lit the landscape so brightly that we almost didn’t need our headlights, although I wasn’t foolish enough to try turning them off. This time I didn’t miss the turn-off onto Highway 4, and we all slipped onto it with nary a tire screech. From there, just that quick jog on 502, then on through Española, up 68, and back home.

Well, Taos, anyway. In my mind, Santa Fe was still home. And maybe, just maybe, the two of us could come up with a way to get back there. That was what I really wanted — a quiet corner of the world with Jace, a place to love each other and build and grow together.

But first things first.

“Everyone all right back there?” I asked as we passed the last casino in town and began heading out into open territory. That casino might have even been the place where Evony had been holed up with Natila for a while, but I didn’t dare ask. Evony’s was a wound which had barely begun to heal.

“Just fab,” she said in reply to my question. “Although this is probably a little cozier than I wanted to get with the legendary Miles Odekirk.”

Dani made a noise that sounded like a muffled laugh, but I could tell the scientist was far from amused.

“I assure you, the feeling is mutual,” he said icily.

That made me want to laugh as well. I decided that probably wasn’t a good idea, though. It was going to be a tough row to hoe, getting him to help us, and teasing him on top of kidnapping him in the middle of the night almost guaranteed his non-cooperation.

I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Edging up to eleven. All right, so it wasn’t exactly the middle of the night, but late enough that I doubted he’d been expecting company. Did he actually go home, wherever that was, or did he sleep somewhere in the labs, so absorbed in his work that he couldn’t bear to be parted from it for even a few hours?

We’d find out soon enough, I supposed. He’d have to be set up in our basement lab, since the auto shop was too far away to be considered safe. Would he stay there, even if given a cozy hotel suite to sleep in?

Just as I was returning my gaze to the road, a wall of fire roared across the highway some fifty yards or so ahead. I let out a scream and hit the brakes, heart pounding, adrenaline bursting along every vein and artery like thousands of firecrackers going off. Behind me, I heard brakes squealing.

“It’s them!” Jace shouted, and before I could even blink, he’d undone his seatbelt and was hurrying outside. At the same time, Dani also clambered over a cursing Ethan so he could be out in the open as well.

Gale-force winds blew outward from Jace, causing the wall of flames to waver and dance. As soon as Dani was outside, those winds intensified, shrieking with the voices of a thousand enraged banshees. I wanted to put up my hands to cover my ears, but I wouldn’t allow myself to do anything so cowardly. Instead, I pulled out my pistol, thumb on the safety. Right then, I couldn’t see anyone except Jace and Dani, but I wasn’t foolish enough to think that wall of flames had just appeared out of nowhere.

More of our djinn emerged from their vehicles. Lightning crackled overhead, and the bright moonlight that had guided us along our way disappeared. I knew if I looked up, I’d see more of those same roiling clouds that had accompanied the first attack by the rogue djinn on the people of Taos. But had they been created by the elementals who attacked us now, or our own djinn?

I didn’t know. All was chaos and sound and fury, the darkness penetrated by fire and lightning, the wind whipping up dust from all around us. We had twenty djinn — what should have been a formidable number, in most cases. The problem was, I didn’t know how many of the enemy confronted us now. They hid in the dark, an inimical presence, one that seemed to weigh on my heart and lungs, to suck all the air out of the surrounding spaces.

We’d brought mainly male djinn with us, but there were also several women. One of them approached Jace now, her pale hair fluttering wildly in the wind like a white banner of surrender. From the way she raised her arms, though, I got the feeling she wasn’t planning to capitulate anytime soon. Instead, water flowed out from her, as if she were some sort of latter-day Moses who could not only part the Red Sea, but call it to do her bidding.

The flames the other djinn had conjured flickered, weakened, but only for a moment. Then they surged back up again, brighter than ever. I could see Jace clearly right then, the firelight casting his features into strong relief, his black hair whipping around his head. He was beautiful, but frightening as well. I’d never seen him like this, using his full powers, the winds streaking out around him and beating down that unnatural fire, moving the female djinn’s waters forward in a surge as inexorable as a tidal wave.

For the first time, as the water seemed to swallow the fire for a brief second, I could also see one of our adversaries. He stood just beyond the dancing, angry flames. In the uncertain light, I couldn’t make out the color of the dark robes he wore, but I could still see his face, hair black as night, features proud and cruel. How could I have ever thought Zahrias’ face harsh or unkind? Stern, yes, but there was no evil in his features. Not like this man — this djinn — who stood there and smiled as the night tore itself apart around him.

In that moment, I couldn’t even tell who had the upper hand. The flames would rage forward, and the wind and water would push them back. And we humans could only cower in the vehicles, unsure as to what we should do…except stay inside and hope our champions would eventually emerge the victors in this conflict.

But then I heard Evony mutter, “Fuck this,” and push open the door on her side of the Jeep.

To my surprise, I saw Miles Odekirk reach for her, as if to prevent her from participating in this insanity. She was too fast, though, and slipped out into the maelstrom before his fingers could close around her arm.

“Shit!” Ethan cursed, and he, too, was out, leaving me alone in the Jeep. Well, alone with Odekirk. In the rearview mirror, the scientist’s eyes caught mine, and then I saw him shake his head slightly. He might have been frightened out of his mind, the same way I felt right about then, but he wasn’t so terrified that he intended to leave the safety, however spurious, of the SUV.

Evony was moving fast, running to stand next to Jace. Dark fire glinted off the barrel of her pistol as she pointed it at the black-haired djinn.

There was too much noise from the howling wind for me to hear the gun going off, but I saw the flare from the muzzle, saw her arms jerk from the recoil. Ethan came up beside her and got off another shot, and another.

The flames subsided for a second or two, even while a shrieking filled the air that had nothing to do with the wind Jace and our other djinn had called. I winced, fingers tightening on the grip of my own gun. Had Evony hit our enemy…or enemies? I’d only seen the one, but I knew there had to be many more than that single djinn out there.

An explosion of light — no, fire, this time in concentrated spheres that launched themselves out of the darkness, striking Evony and Ethan so they were thrown to the ground, screaming, then going still.

Another scream echoed in my ears — mine, screaming my denial. My left hand found the door handle, began to pull it.

“Don’t,” Miles said. “You can’t do anything to help them.”

Like that mattered. Not when it was Evony lying out there, pistol knocked a yard from her hand, her dark hair fanning out against the asphalt like crumpled silk.

From our own djinn came an answering scream, wind and water and, yes, flame and swirling dust falling on our enemies, a storm so intense, so wild and uncontrolled, that I knew no mere human could hope to survive in it. Maybe no other djinn, either; I stared out into the night, tears rolling down my cheeks, and waited for the counterattack.

It never came. Gradually, the wind’s howl died down, and the dust devils subsided, and the water flowed away to nurture the hard winter soil. All that was left were our djinn, faces streaked with dirt, clothing torn. And they knelt by Evony and Ethan, and they wept.

We came into Taos a little after midnight, limping our way to the resort that was our only sanctuary. Jace had held my hand the whole way, fingers tight on mine. Because of that, I knew the precise moment we crossed into the safe zone. His flesh grew cooler, and I knew he no longer had access to his powers.

The powers that had saved most of us, but not all.

I swallowed and fought back the tears. Later, I’d let myself cry, but for now I had to maneuver my borrowed Jeep through the dark streets. No careless energy wasted on lighting the street lamps, not now. Everything we had needed to be used for keeping our food safe, illuminating our one small corner of town.

Evony’s limp form lay draped across Dani’s and Miles Odekirk’s laps. The scientist hadn’t made a sound of protest, possibly because he knew we were all poised on a razor’s edge, and it wouldn’t take much to make any of us snap.

Terrible mixed metaphor, but I wasn’t thinking very clearly at the moment.

We didn’t have room for Ethan in the Jeep, but he was being brought back to Taos in the bed of one of the pickups. Irrelevantly, I wondered if the ground was even thawed enough for us to bury them properly. It had been warmer than normal the past few days, but still well into the teens at night.

During the whole drive, Jace had been silent. Perhaps he’d only wanted to keep from distracting me; after all, it seemed as if we’d driven off the rogue djinn for the time, but maybe that was only what they wanted us to think. Maybe they’d moved farther on down the road, and were only waiting to pounce on us at the perfect unguarded moment.