Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (3 page)

Br
ennus s
izes
up
Reed, saying “I have one ting ta say ta ye.
Cogadh
.”

I pa
le
at the word. It means “war.”

“
Tuigim
,
Brennus,”
Reed replies
casually, saying “I understand
.
”

“
Póg mo thóin
,” Russell grins
, telling Brennus
to kiss his ass. “Now run along.
I wanna talk to my girl.”

“Carnage. I like it,” Zephyr
say
s
from behind us, making me
jump.
I hadn’t heard the stealthy
way my
Power angel
mentor had
approach
ed
us. “When will you get here? I grow tired of waiting.”
Zephyr asks
as the
light-brown feathers
of his angel wings ruffle
in the ocean breeze.

“Soon,” Brennus replies
coolly
to Zephyr
, not taking his light
green eyes from mine.

“Don
’t do this. Please,” I whisper to Brennus
.

Brennus’ image nears
me and it feels just like he’s here. “Ye’re such pretty pain, Genevieve. Beaut
iful poison.” he says as his eyes fill
with the bitterest regret.

“Then let me
go,” I beg him
as a
pain in my chest begi
n
s
to ache.

“Why
would I do dat when I enjoy pain…all types of pain?” he asks as his eyebrow ri
se
s
in question. “Ye’ll be my lover and ye’ll learn all about pain, I promise ye.”

Russell growls
. “Look at the dead
guy trippin’, Zee,” Russell says
with an undercurrent of menace in his tone “He must not know that we have more game than Mattel.”

“I was going to crash your party as soon as I found you, Brennus. Consider yourself invited to ours, if
it’s more convenient,” Reed says
lig
htly. “Just make it soon
.”

“I will
,
aingeal
,” Brennus replies
to Reed
, trying to keep his cool.

Gazing at me, the ligh
t from the moon causes
Brennus’ black hair to shine with a silve
ry glow
. “Ye were right…ye did end up doing me wrong. I gave ye everyting. Ye’ll spend eternity making
dis up ta me,” Brennus whispers
in my ear
with the harshness of betrayal
.

Turning, Brennus’ image begi
n
s
walking away, back over the sea and into the frightening, blac
k-cloud horizon. As he retreats
acros
s the frozen waves, one thing i
s clear to me: I believe him. Touching the onyx locket hanging from my neck wit
h trembling fingers, I whisper
, “He’s coming. We have to leave.”

Reed’s gentle voice interrupts
my panicked thoughts as he says
softly, “I will never let him have you
again
.”

The murky clouds roil
back, receding and uncovering the night sky speckled with pinpoint
s of fire. Russell and Zephyr co
me nearer to us, lending me their support with their presence. Shivering in Reed’s arms,
I drop Russell’s hand and huddle
nearer to Reed
, while the moon cast
s
its light
upon us.

“Still…we shoul
d go,” I
reply
with
my hands shaking.

“We exp
ected him to find us,” Reed remarks
softly,
stroki
ng my wings. “You have
his knife—
”

“You knew he’d find me!” I frown,
pulling back from him so
that
I can see his eyes.

“Yes,” Reed answers
honestly. “The only thing I regret is that he di
dn’
t really come here
tonight
. I would’
ve felt him if he had, but since I’m not affected by his magic, I did not sense his
shadowy
presence.
We put Russell on point to detect Brennus’
magic
.
”

“I felt that
cold freak all the way over on the other s
ide of the island,” Russell says
grimly.

“Why didn’t you tell me that his knif
e would lead him to me?” I ask
Reed
, feeling like I have
just attended my own funeral.

Reed’s eyebrows dra
w together over his
lovely
green eyes.
“I didn’t wan
t to worry you, Evie,” Reed says
w
ith concern in his tone. “You ha
ve been through so much—
”

“Yeah,” Russell chimes
in. “We’ll take it from here.”
He points
his chin toward Reed and Zephyr.

“You don’
t know Brennus, Russell,” I warn
. “He’ll destroy himself to get me back.”

“Good!” Russell sho
o
t
s
back. “It’ll be his funeral
—
we’re
ready for him and his army to come
.
I like the way you
stood up to him, though,
tellin’ him you
weren’t goin’
with him.
I thought maybe he still had you
wrapped ‘round his finger
—
”

“I’m not his slave,” I interject
defensively.

“T
he l
ast few weeks you were with him,
you
acted
like one of them,” Russell counters
quietly.
“I w
as afraid they might own you
now.
”

“
I had to
act like one of them
,” I reply
, truly beginning to shake now. T
he breeze is becoming gentle
with only the scent of salt and tropical flowe
rs woven within the balmy heat.
“But I always wanted to come home.”

“Shh,” Reed hushes me
in a soothing tone.
“
Of course you did,
”
he agrees
as he sho
o
t
s
Russell a look full of censure.

“You have a plan and you haven’t told me about it?”
I ask
, before
piercing each one
of them
with my narrowing
eyes.

Zep
hyr’s light-brown wings twitch as he replies
, “We were waiting until you fully recovered from your captivity.
”

“When did you think that w
as going to happen?” I counter
, annoyed that they’re keeping things from me again.

Zephyr’s
eyebrow arch
es
over his ice
blue eye
as he smiles,
“I believ
e that you just proved that you are ready,” he replies
.

“Okay,” I breathe
, trying hard to slow the pounding of my heart. “So, what’s
the plan?” I ask
, needing something to concentrate on other than Brennus’ inevitable arrival here
.

Reed’s shoulders cave
in around me protectively. “
Zephy
r, would you please go and wake
Buns and Brownie? We wi
ll
meet at the big house
to discuss the plan with Evie.”
I look
toward the huge, plantation-style house on the ridge above the beach.
Zephyr and my Reaper angel friends, Buns and Brownie, have been staying in that house
on and off
for the past few months while they were trying to figure out where I was
,
and
then
how to free me from the Gancanagh.

Zephyr nods to Reed before he steps
forward, placing a gentle kiss on the top of my head. “
I am glad you are back,” he says
, treating me like a little sister
.

“Me
,
too,” I repl
y. Zephyr nods
toward Russell
before he leaves in the direction of
the big house
.
Russell
looks
reluctant to leave me, knowing that I’m still sca
red. “I’m fine, Russell,” I assure him
.

“Naw, you’
r
e
not,” he replies
in a discerning way
, “but you
will be after we kill Brennus.”
Russell can always read me like a book. He’s my soul mate and the sum of all our lifetimes together stretches back thousands of years. He rem
embers them all, but I can’t remember any of my past lifetimes as a human.

“Brennus is
already dead, Russ
ell,” I frown
, thinking of Brennus’
beautiful, co
ld skin against mine. I shiver
.

“Semantics, Red. He’s not dead if
he’s walkin’ ‘round,” he replies
.

“No, he’s
undead with magical powers that ca
n crush you and me,” I counter
hollowly.

Reed smiles
reassuringly.
“His magic can’t hurt me, t
h
erefore, I’ll take down
Brennus and
his fake empire
,” Reed says
quietly
.
Gancanagh magic has no e
ffect on angels, like Reed and Zephyr, b
ut si
nce Russell and I are human-angel hybrids
,
faerie
magic
can bury us
.
However, t
he toxic skin of the Gancanagh can enthrall angels like junkies to a power
ful drug, whereas Russell and I
are immune to the Gancanagh touch.

My heart beat
s
harder
in my chest at Reed’s words. My
need to be with Reed is what gave me the strength to survive my captivity with the Gancanagh
. Without that, I would
have succumbed to the gnawing need to feed on Brennus’
blood after he had b
itten me. I can’t lose him now,
when I only just got him back.

“Let’s run,” I whisper
in Reed’s ear
. “We can hide again,” I plead
.

“You haven’t even heard our plan, Evie,” Reed
says
softly, hugging me tighter to him.

“If it involves
you getting close to
Brennus
, then I’m against it.
” I say as my stomach twists
at the thought of Brennus using his thrall to control Reed.

“Shh, Evie,” Reed says
, smoot
hing back my hair as he listens
to the pounding of my heart. “Now that your life is no longer bound to Brennus’ life, I can kill him without any repercussions. The magical contract he made with you that tied you to him is the only reason he’s still alive.
Without it, he would
already cease to be
. I ha
ve had so many opportunities to kill him, but I couldn’t do it w
ithout killing you, too. But, Brennus
broke the contract, so he’s as good as dead when I see him.”

I pale
.
“Reed, he has an army,” I argue
.

“You’ll never be his slave agai
n. I promise you,” Reed breathes in my ear, and I want
so badly to believe him.
“Let me explain our plan to you. You’ll see.”

Gently, Reed
lea
ds
me to
wards
our bungalow on
the beach. Hesitantly, I look
over at Russell who’s watching me walking away with Reed. Pain is in his eyes, seeing me with Reed. I’ve always been Russell’s love in every one of our lifetimes together…except for this one. This one’s different. I’m no longer just human anymore, I’m also angelic and the ang
el part of me really loves Reed—
needs him. But, my soul…my
soul will always love Russell—
he’s my best friend.