Origin of Angels: Elemental Legacy Book 1 (26 page)

ONCE WE FOUND A SAFE PLACE to talk, Jett let loose every detail of his battle. The dark fae attacked without provocation. In an attempt to fight them off, he’d caused an earthquake which took out a few small towns in remote China. Luckily for us, no one was killed. Only minor damage occurred in the closest city.

Jett stilled as he looked at the group of stragglers he brought with him. “We were ambushed. There is no other explanation. They knew exactly where we would be. Our only advantage was we arrived a half hour before them. If not so, more Elementals would have been taken.”

“How many did you lose?”

He shook his head. “A few dozen, at most.” Anger darkened his eyes. “They were terrified of us, until our brothers showed up. After the attacks began, we had full cooperation of the Elemental leaders. If they had been more compliant from the beginning, we wouldn’t have lost one.”

“You did all you could, mate. Take a breather. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Before I could get up, he clamped onto my forearm. “Who led them to us?”

Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself for the upcoming conflict. “It appears Luke
—”

Jett’s jaw shifted as his teeth gnashed. “Let me guess ... Luthais’ machines again?”

I nodded. It took the sum of one look from Jett to prod Luke our way. He held up his hands as he walked toward us. “It’s not what you think. I had no idea the machine still existed.”

Jett jumped to his feet. “Confound you, Luke! You will get us evicted from this planet yet.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “There’s no point in overreacting.”

If I stepped aside, I was sure Jett would pummel him. “People could have died. You know our laws as well as I do.” Jett leaned as if he would rush Luke, but he pivoted on his heel and spoke to me. “We need to find every last one of his machines and do away with them.”

As much as I agreed, we had more important things to deal with. “What of the Elementals?”

“Our advantage is lost. We should regroup.”

I shook my head. “There isn’t time. We must go to the others. They will need our help.”

He gave a loud sigh. “It may be foolhardy, but I agree.”

Faine joined us, her grave look punctuating the feel of our little camp. “What is this I hear about a mind-bending machine?”

Luke spoke up. I’d nearly forgotten he was with us. “It’s a device I created decades ago to help with the war effort.”

Instead of asking him what it did, she plunged into my mind for the information. Faine had mastered the art of camping in my thoughts when we’d been bonded. I wasn’t sure what we were now, or if she had any power to offer me.

She gave a secretive smile,
then promptly ignored me. Her attentions were only for Luke. With the flirty way she walked to him, one might not know she slept with me every night. Frowning, I turned away. I’d already given her more of my heart than I could afford. She would leave again, and I would not go back to the depression which had kept me under the last time I lost her. Perhaps it was better to keep distance between us from the start. I hadn’t gotten used to her scent on the pillows or her perfume in the medicine cabinet. As much as I loved it on her, I did not intend to smell like vanilla.

Jett clapped me on the back. “She was always trouble. It is better for you to keep your distance.”

All I could do was nod. I nearly started a conversation with him, but something Faine said kept my atten-tion. I only caught a few of her words, but they were enough to turn my head toward her.

“.
.. change the human receiver?”

Luke nodded. “It shouldn’t be too difficult.”

When she faced me, I was offered a smug smile. “Then, why don’t you connect in and link to this Lambert fellow? He’s the one who makes the orders where Elementals are concerned, isn’t he?”

Luke’s expression fizzled to one of utter awe, while I gritted my teeth, unable to believe I hadn’t thought of it first. We could recover more Elementals this way than we ever would have before. Faine sauntered to my side and leaned in to kiss my cheek. “You’re welcome, and don’t you dare try to keep me out of your heart.” Her hands framed my face. “I would stay with you for eternity if I had the choice.”

Luke cleared his throat. “I’m as eager to get started as any of you, but don’t you think we should have a plan?”

Jett looked at me and laughed.
“As spoken by the mouths of babes.”

Luke sneered, but for the first time since we entered the human realm, I thought we might have a chance of succeeding.

NICCO’S DARK EYES SHONE WITH AN unholy light, as if he were proud of me. “Take your pick,” he said in answer to my question.

If I could choose who I addressed first, I would stick with Lambert. He would know where my girl was. Or I could ask my father, who seemed to know a lot. I let her image fill my mind, preparing to describe her to him.

He shook his head. “I have not seen her. Lambert is hidden in an underground facility in Ireland.”

“Wait. Did you bring me here because I was about to be captured?”

Nicco laughed.
“No, son. I took you to talk. I couldn’t contact you while you were in Faeresia. I’m a wanted man there.”

“The place is probably not how you remember. Rayla kind of screwed it all up. No one is happy with her idea of utopia.”

A broad smile covered his face. “Good girl. I knew she was mine the moment I saw her.”

“Yeah.”
I folded my arms. “How did she know how to rearrange an entire realm?”

“As you shall find out, such things are instinctual.”

Right. “Are you going to come with me to question Lambert?”

His expression turned serious. “I cannot. You must face your enemies alone. I am forbidden to interfere, but I can offer you information.”

What I needed was to know how to defeat Lambert without involving Valen. The last thing I wanted was a showdown with the king of evil.

Once again, he answered my unspoken question. “The man is a subordinate to the master of evil. He is no king. He will be deserted in the end. You don’t need to contend with him at all.”

“What about Rayla?”

“Before the end is decided, the two of you will have to work together. Fae and Angel purposes can be appeased, but it will take sacrifice from both of you.”

I frowned. “What kind of sacrifice?”

He closed his eyes. “I cannot say more at this time.”

“You didn’t say anything!”

His hand reached for my temple and my vision blurred. He was taking me back, but I didn’t know exactly where Lambert was yet. His voice penetrated my thoughts. “He will find you. I will be watching.”

Disoriented and clinging onto air, I hit the dirt hard. I gasped, pushing the pain back, trying to make sense of where I was. A man came into view, then a group of people behind him. I blinked to clear my vision and staggered to my feet.

Taylor stood staring not far away. Thunder clanged above us, followed by charges of lightning. Was it ever sunny in Ireland? I shook off the dizziness, assessing our surroundings. We were in the same field. Nothing had changed, even where everyone had been standing. “How long was I gone,” I asked.

With the tilt of one brow, Taylor said, “Perhaps two seconds.”

It had felt like days. My veins lit with a fire to find Lambert.
If only Nicco had told me where the man was.

“Did the angel offer up anything useful?” asked Ainessa.

Her presence hit me like a hammer to the head, and I staggered back. She frowned and stopped her approach, apparently still hurt from my previous explosion. I made myself be nice because she didn’t deserve to be treated like the enemy — yet. “Lambert is in an underground facility. It’s all I know, but I did hear about a place north of Galway the man was working on when I was part of the Order. It could be the same locale, but I really have no idea.”

Taylor considered me for a moment before taking off in the opposite direction of the town we’d come from. “Where are you going?” I asked.

He didn’t bother to turn around, so I barely caught his reply. “We need to find a place to drift.”

“I thought we had to travel by human means.”

He shook his head and faced me. “Plans have changed.”

Frustrated, I caught up to him and lassoed his elbow. There were signs everywhere of fae activity. He might not be intimidated by the opposition, but I thought we needed to set things straight before we charged off to the Order compound. “I thought you said we had to make sure everyone knew what was happening. You’re not involving any of us in the decisions.”

His face turned nearly green as he stared at nothing in particular. When I spoke again, he shushed me. His eyes darted around, and at once I realized he was having an internal conversation. Who with was anyone’s guess. I waited as others joined us. Ainessa sidestepped next to me and looped her fingers through mine. I frowned, completely disturbed by the warmth of her too soft skin. I eyed her while she beamed a sultry smile. Her green eyes flashed with a secretive light. Since she wasn’t going to tell me, I asked, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Her lids fluttered as she let her eyes rake down my frame.
“Guarding your body.”

I laughed. Her grin turned sly. “It seems some of our teams have been attacked.”

Out of nowhere, the air grew heavy yet thin at the same time. The light tone she had used shifted to one of pure seriousness. This time, she stepped in front of me. “Stay where you are.”

With a loud crack of thunder came a league of rogue fae. Chaos erupted as our group moved into defense postures.

Taylor yelled above the ruckus, “Get him out of here!”

Ainessa’s fingers clamped harder to mine. My eyes flew wide as understanding hit. “Don’t you
dare!”

Ainessa frowned. “An order must be obeyed, Travis.”

I yanked away from her. “I’m not leaving.”

THE HAIRS ON THE BACK OF my neck lifted the moment Creed showed up. At his statement, nausea hit, and my mind filled with a scene of emaciated bodies hunched together in a corner while sneering guards looked on. “Who?” I asked.

Heath pulled me to his side. “Don’t jump to conclusions.”

Easy for him to say. I gave a nod for his effort, then focused on Creed’s reply. “There are forty or so … some Elemental … some human.”

A frown consumed my face. “Why are humans with them? What’s going on?”

“Please,” he said. “Just come.”

I looked up at Heath, not sure if he would agree with the rescue attempt.
In that single moment of connection, his eyes were wide and his mouth hung open as if he couldn’t believe I’d be so stupid. My heart sank. I wanted to know what he was thinking. His hands came to frame my face. He shook his head, tilted my chin back, and kissed me solidly. Before I could blink, his fingers laced with mine and the elements pulled at us. I wasn’t sure I would ever understand him, but his actions told me more than his thoughts ever could.

Creed beat us to the bunker, and it was a bunker
— sort of. In reality, it probably was an old mine shaft, but the cramped walls had been lined with metal. I expected rebel leaders with their families, but the site greeting us was insane. A bunch of teenagers — Elementals with human boys scattered about. The thick air was hard to breathe. It wasn’t so much the stench of bodies that hadn’t been washed in who knew how long or even the faint scent of excrement. It was something a little off, like a chemical.

I shot a thought to Creed and Heath.
Grab as many as you can. I reached for a boy and a girl huddled together, coughing. They shrank away, but I managed to latch on. Without knowing exactly where I was taking them, I followed Heath’s matter stream. We ended up outside the bluff, not too far away from the sealed exit. Not waiting, I went back in for more.

It took a few minutes to extract the lot of them, but by the time we checked for stragglers and returned to question the kids, some were already gone. I sent Creed to round them up again and went to work attempting to calm the others. Heath drifted somewhere, only to return a minute later with a dozen cases of water in tow.

Eyes lit up as he handed the plastic bottles out. I gave the kids a few minutes to drink up and reconnect with reality, but soon, I couldn’t take it. One girl, a brunette stared at me, so I addressed her first. “What happened?”

She shook her head, horror registering in her dark eyes. “We escaped the initial Order raid with our boy-friends, but we were caught about a month ago. Lambert’s men came through the area again. We’d tried to live on what we could find in abandoned homes. Most had been ransacked by the Order. Some places were leveled completely. We found an abandoned root cellar to stay in during the day. At night we would search for supplies and vehicles to take us out of here. We weren’t sure what to do. Our families were gone, and we had no money.

“When they found us, we refused to go. We told Lambert’s men we had boyfriends and wouldn’t leave them. Afterward, the soldiers collected everyone and brought us here. They gave us a few supplies and told us they’d be back to get us once we realized we needed them, but it’s been over a month, I think. It’s hard to say how long. We tried to keep track of the days through the slit in the door, but I really don’t know. We ran out of water last night. It’s been two days since we ate anything.” Her brown eyes filled with tears. “I was sure we would die in there. How could they be so cruel? We weren’t hurting anyone.”