Love Beyond Sanity (23 page)

"What is that?" He looked up, ready to jump and stop whoever it was that interfered in their moment.

"You don't hear that all the time?" Her voice was gentle and she stroked the side of his face.

"No." But he had, hadn't he? Goosebumps formed on his arms and his pulse increased. Tears filled his eyes. How could he have missed something he'd never before known?

"Yes you have, it's just one of those things you ignored."

The certainty in her voice startled him. He was sure she was right. There were probably a million things like that. He'd needed things to fit in a neat box and anything that hadn't had been thrown away where he didn't focus on it. For a smart man, he suddenly felt so foolish.

"What is it?"

"It's the Chanters. I have no idea what they're saying but they show up when we're doing something right, as if they're giving us consent or approval of our decision making."

He grinned. "So they approve of this." Running a hand down her body, he watched her shiver.

"Of our joining, I imagine. We're supposed to be together. It's part of the game plan."

He raised an eyebrow and smiled. "The game plan?"

"Maybe that's my wording, not theirs."

"I would imagine."

Jason found no more need for talking as he embraced Charma. Her warm and loving nature filled his, and he closed his eyes from the emotions he felt. Suddenly, her mind opened up to his. Whatever block she had built ceased and she was as transparent to him as he had been to her. In her soul, he found the same feelings he felt for her.

When they joined physically, it was like coming home after being adrift for an eternity. Charma closed her eyes and he stroked the side of her face. It had never felt like this, he hadn't known it could. The chanting became louder and louder until it filled his ears with a ringing so loud he thought for sure he might explode.

Charma called out his name and he was lost in her. Glad to exist in the chaos that filled his mind for eternity as long as she was there with him.

* * * *

After a time, he found his senses returning. He dared to open one eye. He sighed. Clearly, there was a heaven and he'd found it inside of Charma. She laughed, reminding him that she was almost always inside his mind.

"I guess I'd better not think anything bad because you'll know that too."

She whacked him in the arm and he grinned. "Like you could."

"I can. Just not about you." He stretched his arms and yawned. "This was a terrible idea."

"What?" Charma closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Now I'm relaxed and not at all prepared to do battle with the demons that hunt us."

"If they're hunting us, they're doing a terrible job. We haven't moved in over an hour."

"That doesn't mean they're not coming. Maybe they're just finishing with Drew and Marina before they come to finish with us."

She opened her eyes and sat up. Giving him a look that said she was not amused, she bent over the bed and retrieved her shirt. Pulling it over her head, she sighed as she picked up her bra and put it on under the shirt. "You're in a real glass half-empty kind of a mood, aren't you?" Biting down on her lip, she seemed to regard him warily. It occurred to him that he could just push into her mind and see what she was thinking about, but he decided that would be an invasion of privacy. "Are you always like this after sex?"

He laughed. "Is that a roundabout way of asking how many sexual partners I've had?"

"That's a very direct way of trying to figure out if I'm going to takeon massive amounts of pessimism every time we're together?"

"Oh, so then you're assuming we'll live through this to do it again?" He knew he was driving her crazy. If he'd had any question, the loud groan she made would have let him know he was right.

"Jason."

"No, I don't get like this after every sexual encounter. I'm just a little overwhelmed by the magnitude of this whole thing. Who in the world—or okay, the universe—thought it was a good idea to send us down here to fight these things and leave us so vulnerable to them?"

She stood and handed him his underwear, which he quickly put on. When he looked up, he was handed his pants. Charma had dressed herself and seemed intent on helping him to get that way. It wasn't lost on Jason that Charma had probably decided he needed to be dressed to reassert his sense of control and order. The fact that she was handling him so adeptly should have bothered him but didn't.

Once he was dressed, she stepped forward and brushed the hair out of his eyes. "Do you think if we were really that vulnerable, they would be this afraid of us?"

"Afraid?" He wasn't following her.

"Jason, these creatures have gone to a great deal of trouble to try to eliminate us. Just a few months ago, they kidnapped Kal, murdered Isabelle's parents, sent a possessed police chief after us, imprisoned you in your own mind, and just moments ago dropped the ceiling on us. Yet, we are still here."

"Sounds like we've been lucky."

"Or maybe we're just not so easy to kill."

He nodded. It was possible.

In any case, if he wanted to save Charma, he needed to get them out of the mental health institution his parents had helped build and never look back. Rescue was not coming, at least not fast enough for his satisfaction. That meant they were going out the window.

Charma whirled around, a panic-stricken expression on her face. "I hate heights."

"I know. It's convenient you can read my thoughts. I never have to explain anything."

He opened the window and closed his eyes at the unexpected heat he felt outside. It was nighttime but that hadn't cooled anything down.

"Come on. I won't let you fall." He held out his hand and she took it. He could feel her shaking and pulled her close. "I've done lots of rock climbing. Neither of us is getting hurt." He hoped.

Chapter Sixteen

Gabriel jumped out of the taxi and stared up at the clearly under-attack building that stood in front of him. At one time, perhaps it had been a tribute to beautiful architecture. Now it was a mess. Smoke poured from the top floors and a crowd of screaming people surrounded the outside.

The aforementioned grouping held torches, and Gabriel had to suppress a laugh. It was like something out of a bad monster movie. Only this wasn't a movie. This was his damn life, and the answers—or in the very least, Sebastian—were inside. That meant he needed to be in there, too.

"I wouldn't go in there, if I were you." The cab driver he'd all but forgotten called out from the window. "Come on back in, I'll take you anywhere you want to go."

Surprised, Gabriel turned to face the man. He smiled. Somewhere along the line, he'd forgotten that people were for the most part decent and hard working.

"Thank you, but I'm afraid I have no choice but to go in there."

"Listen, buddy, I don't usually interfere in the places where my passengers are dropped off, but this just gives me a bad feeling, man. I don't want to leave you here."

Gabriel nodded. "I appreciate that. Usually, I land on my feet. I'll be fine."

"If you're sure."

"I am." At least he hoped he was. There were some things he could have set in better order. If he'd known he was going to New Jersey with a large possibility of death trailing at his heels, he would have been more organized.

The taxi driver nodded and sped away. Gabriel watched him go and wished he would have gotten back into the car and left with him. Oh well, he'd made his own bed when he'd decided to come looking for Sebastian. Now he'd have to live with the consequences.

Looking up, he squinted into the darkness. There was definitely someone on that roof and from the looks of things, they were stuck. He might not be able to pull himself through space like he could do for other people, which necessitated the need for an airplane if he wanted to travel, but he could do something about this particular scenario. For brief periods of time, he could levitate. With just a thought, he lifted himself off the ground, still proud as hell that he could do that, and made for the roof. He, and whomever it was that had managed to land on the roof, would have to figure out what to do with the crazies down below together.

* * * *

"Hell, Kal, can't you make this frickin' thing go any faster?" Leonardo looked out the window for the hundredth time.

"I can make the car go faster, bud, but I can't do anything about the traffic."

Leonardo was sure he saw Kal roll his eyes in the rearview mirror. "What about that thing?" From his position in the front passenger seat, he pointed at the GPS that was supposed to helpthem get where they were going. "Can't it tell us some kind of short cut?"

"New Jersey traffic is famous, especially during rush hour." Isabelle, Kal's soul mate and wife, spoke up for the first time from the backseat. Her voice was even, her manner pleasant, and Leonardo knew she wanted to yell and scream despite all of that. The last two weeks, spent entirely in the company of Kal and Isabelle, at least since he'd been sprung from the French prison, had given him insight into the way the two of them operated. More information than he'd ever needed to have.

"Look, Leonardo." Kal exhaled and gripped the steering wheel more tightly. So hard, in fact, that Leonardo could see the whites of his knuckles. "I didn't argue with you when we were diverted to New York instead of Maine, and you said we had to drive out here to save Marina and Charma. Even though I'm still not sure how you know that without having spoken to either of them telepathically."

"I just know, like I sometimes just do. I knew the second the god-forsaken plane changed direction that we were being brought here."

How did you explain it? Leonardo was never sure. It drove him crazy. Here were two people who shared his abilities, to a point, and yet he still had to instruct them, as if they were normal humans instead of Outsiders. He let out the breath he'd been holding.

Damn it. If Kal had only let him drive.

Isabelle finally spoke, sounding tired. "Leonardo, I've been trying to reach Charma and Marina. I'm getting nothing. It's like they're blocked from me somehow."

They were all bound to be jetlagged so it was no surprise that they were all a little 'off.'

He nodded. "I'm having the same problem."

"It's making me nervous."

He agreed. "Me too which is why I would really like Kal to find a way out of this traffic."

"Look." Okay, Kal was shouting now. In a moment, they'd be lucky if the whole car didn't explode with electricity. "We are four miles from our destination. It is a straight shot from where we are. If I start messing with this, it could take us twice as long."

"All right. Let's
not
get upset." Isabelle undid her seatbelt and moved forward in the car to place her hand on Kal's thigh. Leonardo watched as the other man took a steadying breath and seemed to relax under her hand.

She had spoken to him aloud. Or at least she'd said what she wanted Leonardo to hear aloud. He had no idea what she'd said to Kal on their private telepathic link.

"You know this whole thing has been a disaster. We don't have the book, you got thrown in jail, and now the two people who were supposed to be guarding the homestead are somehow here in New Jersey requiring our rescue."

Kal had a way of summarizing things that made Leonardo crazy. He might as well still be talking to Veli. Yes, he screwed up. Again. The book was not where Abraxas had told Isabelle it would be which led to an unfortunate conclusion that either it had been moved inadvertently or it was in the hands of the Darkness. Neither possibility particularly amused him.

The jail incident had been a diversion, at best. In any case, time spent inside a French jail had not been on his list of things do in this lifetime.

He certainly hadn't asked Kal and Isabelle to get on a plane and come rescue him. Anytime he'd wanted to, he could have gotten himself out. If he'd really wanted help, he would have called for Marina to spell cast the guards. Mostly, it had been a temporary vacation.

Was he now expected to thank them for coming over there and making a scene until he was released?

But he wouldn't take responsibility for what happened with Marina and Charma, whatever that turned out to be. He had to be able to leave them alone for a few weeks unsupervised without them getting into mortal peril. They weren't children. They were highly skilled Outsiders capable of massive destruction if they wanted to behave that way.

He cleared his throat. "Thank you for coming to France."
That was appropriate, right?
He'd love to have someone to talk to about these kinds of problems. Unfortunately, since he'd sensed his soul mate's power mixed in with the demons, he knew that was highly unlikely to ever happen.

"Oh, you're welcome, Leonardo." Isabelle's voice raised several octaves. That must mean she was happy. So why was Kal rolling his eyes again?

* * * *

Eden stood. Her legs were working. It was a miracle. She didn't need to speak if she could just move around. Wobbling, she took tentative steps from the wheelchair to the table in front of the television.

The shouting outside was starting to bother her ears, not to mention the loud crash from above that had convinced her the ceiling was about to fall down. There was no way she was waiting in this room to be crushed to death.

She just knew Charma would have returned if she could have. That meant she needed to get herself out.

Feeling steadier by the second, she moved forward until she could see in the hall. Men and women passed, their eyes glazed over. She wasn't sure what gave her that impression. Something about their pupils being too big, maybe. By no means did Eden know anything about these matters. They just looked
wrong
somehow.

A quick scan told her there was nothing inherently different about what they wore, how old they were, or what gender the crowd was. That meant Eden could blend in. She hoped.