FALL (The Senses) (27 page)

Xamien took a few steps closer.
“Keep
talking to her, Jasper.”

“Trying something. Back off.
Speaking with that telepath, Danielle.”

Danielle was one of the few who
could speak telepathically from a great distance. She’d been given the gift
when she was changed into a Senses at the Stream of Hell in Zugarramurdi a
couple years ago. No doubt she wasn’t considering it a gift right now, speaking
to Jasper.

“Seriously? What for? Does he
know Danielle?”
Delara paused in her movement as
Abby sniffed the air and hissed.

Xamien was scowling.
“No, he
doesn’t. Jasper, what the hell are you doing?”

Jasper’s jade eyes were
squinting, as if he was concentrating
. “Asking Danielle a couple questions.
Not liking her answers.”
He looked at Xamien, shaking his head.
“Damn
man, he is going to kill you when he hears.”

“What’s he talking about,
Xamien?”

Abby abruptly turned and growled
at Delara. Delara tensed as the red dots in the center of Abby’s eyes blazed.
Shit, the vamp was going to leap any second.

“Damien had to be locked away
too, Abby,” Jasper said.

“Never ask Jasper to be a
negotiator,”
Delara muttered.

“He never negotiates, Kitten.
They’re dead before it gets to that. This is a new thing for him.”
Xamien moved forward when Abby’s attention turned back to Jasper.
Her head tilted to the side as if she was trying to remember something.

Jasper spoke again. “Babe,
Damien’s coming to see you.”

The moment the words were out of
his mouth, Delara reached Max. She cradled the girl in her arms, her hand
applying pressure to the wound on her neck.

“Jesus. Did you have to lie to
her? Wow, Xamien, you’re friend’s an ass.”

“I never lie, babe. Better get
that straight now. Danielle is telling Damien that witch-vamp is here. Done
deal.”

“What?”
Both Xamien and Delara shouted.

“Why?”
Delara asked.

Xamien sighed.
“Because Jasper
doesn’t believe in prisoners. That’s why I never told him about Abby being
here. Just didn’t think he’d be such an ass and tell Damien.”

“Not true. I’m good with a
willing female prisoner.”

Delara snorted.

Xamien stood in front of Abby,
blocking her path to Max and Delara. But Abby was interested in what Jasper had
to say. Xamien lifted Max up in his arms and they backed away.

“Can you make it out without
harming her?”
Xamien asked Jasper.

Xamien passed Max to Glunk and he
disappeared down the stairs. “Max is safe Jasper. Get out.” Xamien grabbed
Delara’s hand and they left the room to stand on the other side of the door.

When Abby turned to look for Max
on the floor, she went wild. Her eyes dilated, her nose scrunched up in anger
and she screamed. Jasper used his telekinesis and sent a leather chair into her
legs. Abby went crashing to the floor.

“Vamp deserves to be killed or
set free,” Jasper said as he strode out the door while Abby struggled to
disentangle herself from the chair.

The door slammed and Xamien
turned a key just as her body banged against it. Delara could hear Abby’s
snarling and fists pounding on the other side.

“What the fuck?” Jasper said.
“This is wrong. You get me. Wrong.”

Xamien sighed. “It’s been months
since she’s done anything. I was even considering taking the lock off the door.
I just can’t understand why she’d attack Max.”

“She’s a fuckin’ prisoner. The
attitude comes with the territory.”

Delara snagged Xamien’s hand and
squeezed. “We have bigger problems, thanks to your friend here.”

Jasper’s dark brows rose.
“Suspect this was Waleron’s doing. He should’ve executed her. Guy needs to
learn how to not let his emotions get in the way of what needs to be done.”

Delara snorted.

Jasper didn’t stop giving his
opinions. “Guessing Damien will be causing a scene right about now. And he’ll
be here in…oh, I’d say nine, ten hours if he can get a flight that quick.”
Jasper shook his head at the door as Abby’s fists continued to pound. “So
wrong.”

Delara already didn’t like the
guy. He’d just put all of them, Abby included, in a bad situation. “Wrong or
not, Waleron will have your ass. And it wasn’t only him you know—Abby never
wanted Damien to see her this way.”

Jasper shrugged then left her and
Xamien standing at the top of the stairs.

“I’ll try to reach Waleron,”
Xamien said. He waited several seconds before he finally spoke again. “I don’t
expect you to share my bed, Kitten. I can control myself on occasion. Take any
room you please.”

“Xamien…”

He reached for her and she let
herself be pulled against his chest. She could hear his heart pounding, the
whoosh-whoosh
of his blood pumping. He stroked her head then kissed the top of it. “Get some
sleep, Kitten. I need to check on Max.”

As they walked down the stairs,
the haunting sounds of Abby’s cries vibrated right through her soul. Was Jasper
right?

****

Danielle’s voice infiltrated his
shields.
“Oh god, Damien. She’s alive. Abby’s alive. Waleron took her to
Spain. To Xamien’s.”

He shook his head trying to clear
the imaginary voice. He’d finally gone down the path of the insane and was
hearing what he wanted—what his mind needed to be true.

“Damien. Christ, Damien say
something. Balen is on his way to the house. Don’t do anything. Wait for him,
okay?”

Damien swayed, and reached out to
steady himself by flattening his palm against the wall. He tried to catch his
breath, but he could only suck in short gasps of air, his chest rising and
falling as he bowed his head and tried to wrap his mind around Danielle’s
words. Sweet, tortured words that penetrated his body as if a spike had been
driven through the top of his head to the soles of his feet. Words he knew were
impossible. The venom of betrayal hissed through him.

Abby? Alive? How was that
possible? He watched her walk away from him, Waleron taking her to be executed.
She was a vamp. Dangerous, they all told him. Why would Abby not come to him if
she was alive? She’d never do that. Would she?

Jesus. He banged his head into
the wall, drywall crumbling to the floor as the conflicting emotions drilled
into him. The relief and sudden, unexpected joy slammed against the disloyalty
and the agony of knowing she’d been alive and never came to him. Never reached
out to him.

She was the reason he held on. Her
life she’d lost, but still his stayed with him. He’s survived without this
woman for nearly a year believing she was dead. Executed.

“Nooooo!” His fists punched
through the wall as a scream bellowed from his throat.

The emotions broke him as he
detonated into a million fragments of tortured man. His fingers raked at the
fist holes as he ripped the wall apart with his bare hands, just like his soul
had been ripped at for the last year. Uncontrollable desperation mixed with the
urge to kill everyone who deceived him. He needed to see her again.

“Damien? What the hell?” Jedrik
said as he came running into the living room with Ryker close behind.

“Stay back.” Ryker grabbed
Jedrik’s arm.

The front door burst open and
Balen came charging into the room, he skidded to a stop. “Damien, we didn’t
know.”

The room started spinning and
Damien grabbed his head in his hands. “Shut the fuck up.” He didn’t want to
hear the lies. They’d kept him locked up for months afraid he’d kill himself,
when really it had been to make certain Abby was hidden away from him.

She lived. The woman who’d picked
him up in the grocery store. The woman he’d fucked until the wee hours of the
morning. The woman he’d tried to forget as he flew back home to Florida, but
her sweet angelic face kept him awake at night. The woman he came back for to
try and stop from changing into a vamp. The woman who had carried his child in
her womb. Oh Jesus, the woman he’d fallen for so hard. The woman he loved. The
woman his goddamn Scar loved.

She was alive. She was fuckin’
alive.

He met the Talde head on as his
unrecognizable voice roared. “Why?”

He failed to wait for an answer.
Christ, he didn’t give a shit about their answers, they were all lies. He
picked up the leather chair and threw it across the room, straight for the
glass bay window.

Glass shattered and crashed to
the floor. He screamed a sound that slashed from his lungs as he stood blazing
with unadulterated fury.

“The jet is in the U.K. to pick
up Galen, but I got you on a commercial flight,” Balen said. “If you leave now,
you can make it.”

Keir strode into the room, his
face a mask of coldness as he looked from Damien to the broken window. “Waleron
will pay for that,” Keir said. He turned to Ryker. “Get him to the airport.”

For a brief second Damien thought
of the hunt for Tarek. They were already down Kilter, but Abby—Jesus Abby was
alive.

“We’ll deal,”
Keir said
. “This shit happening with Abby—you deal with it.
Now.”

Damien gave one nod then shoved
Jedrik out of the way as he walked past. He heard Keir speak just before he
threw open the front door.

“Waleron has done it this time.
And the bastard is unreachable.”

****

Xamien shut the door behind him
and walked quietly to the bed. He nodded to Glunk who was putting away the
medicine and bandages. It would have been nice if one of them were a Healer,
but tomorrow, if Max’s wound was bad, he’d contact Zurina to Trace here.

He put his hand on Max’s
forehead. “How are you sweetie?” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her
temple. “Damn it Max, it shouldn’t have happened. I don’t know what set her
off.” He placed her cool, frail hand in his. Christ, he’d hoped Abby would
eventually help Max heal from her past. Now she’d just put a huge dent in it.
Shot that one in the ass with a red bullseye, didn’t he?

“Sir, Miss Delara is in the blue
bedroom.” Glunk hesitated, his feet shifting on the hardwood floor.

“Just say it, Glunk.” Xamien said
as he pulled up a chair to sit beside the bed.

“None of my business where Miss
Delara sleeps.”

Xamien grunted. “Don’t lie. You
make everything your business.”

Glunk shrugged then bowed and
left the room, closing the door behind him.

His hand lay in Max’s while he
caressed her hair back from her face. He knew she was awake, felt her pulse
beating too rapidly to be asleep. But she kept her eyes closed, and her face
emotionless. He actually couldn’t ever recall seeing Max smile. Perhaps a hint
of one on the odd occasion through the years, but never a full-out smile.

He’d asked her numerous times for
permission to Dreamstep with her, guide her through the nightmares she had
several times a week. She refused and Xamien respected her decision. Xamien
felt a tiny squeeze from her hand and smiled. He knew what she was saying.

“You’re welcome Max.”

Chapter
11

“Where the hell is she?”

Damien’s voice could be heard all
the way upstairs. Delara threw on her jeans and raced out of her bedroom in
time to see the ragged and ravaged man pushing open every door on the main
floor.

Xamien met her on the landing,
his hair disheveled and still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. He grabbed
her hand and pulled her into his arms.

“Xamien,” she gasped, trying to
pull back.

“Morning, Kitten.” He brushed a
kiss to her forehead. “I missed you.” He put his finger to her lips when she
went to explain. “No need, Kitten. I’m a Reflection, remember? You sort your
shit out and then we’ll talk.”

She looked at his rumpled
clothes. “You didn’t sleep.”

“Because I couldn’t have you to
spoon with,” he teased.

Before she could respond Damien
yelled again. “Abby!”

“Guess I better save the poor
doors any further abuse from my brother.”

Delara gasped. “What?” What the
hell was he talking about? Damien was Xamien’s brother? The names were similar
but she put it off to coincidence. “I…how…okay I don’t get it.”

Xamien pinched her butt. “He
hates me. Think you already know that part. Can’t imagine what he thinks of me
now.”

“How come we never knew?” That
explained the animosity loud and clear.

“He wanted it that way. But,
right now, I better let him see Abby.” Xamien sauntered down the stairs as if
nothing was amiss. “Damien, I assume you received Jasper’s unexpected message.”