The Compass (6 page)

Chapter Six

Someone was following her, she was sure of it. Ali chanced a quick look behind her. The sidewalks teamed with people enjoying a night out on the town, however none looked like they were stalking her. Nevertheless she trusted her gut and it was telling her to get moving. Her feet protested—three inch heels were not made for speed walking. But having whoever was following her, catch up to her
really
wasn’t an option. She quickened the pace ignoring the throbbing in her feet. When the voice came, she discovered she was being stalked by fantasy man.

You can’t outrun what’s coming Ali.

She tripped, nearly falling. Coming to a stumbling stop, Ali whipped her head around. But there was no one. Not another single soul. Where had they gone? There were people around just a few minutes ago. Hysteria gathered, and there was a dull thud in her head, marvellous, just what she needed—another headache. There was an answering thump in her chest. Her pulse tripped into overdrive and her muscles tightened.

I need you to stay calm.

She squeaked. His voice filled her head, and strangely, warmed her belly. Don't just stand there Ali move. She pivoted on the ball of a foot and started running, heels be damned, her bag slapped against her hip. Curses echoed in her head. What did
he
have to be upset about?
He
was the one invading her subconscious. “A bad day mixed with emotional upheaval, meds, then followed by alcohol—not a smart move Ali.” She berated herself in between breaths. Laughter came, creating goosbumps all over her body.

We have an agreement there, lass.

Fear skated up her spine alongside the goose pimples, but she didn’t slow down. Turning a corner, she felt the familiarity of her street and it helped calm her. Ha! She was going to make it. Her spark of victory was soon smothered as the ground quaked beneath her feet, throwing her off balance. Stumbling, Ali and hit the brick wall of a building; her bag fell to the ground. The sharp pain in her shoulder joined the growing pain in her head. Her survival instincts had her fighting against the need to just sit and cry. Crouching down, she scooped up her purse. An arm snaked around her middle and hauled her up. “Hey!” Ali kicked out with her legs, adrenaline taking over the fear. She thrust her elbows, coming into contact with a solid wall of muscle. A tingle ran up her arm—damnit, she hit her funny bone!

Finn grunted against her attack. At the same time, he tried not to purge from the strong scent of beer. “You smell like a brewery.”

Her struggles ceased immediately. Twisting her head around, she came face to face with the fantasy guy from the bar—un-freaking-believable. Her struggles began anew. She hadn't wanted it to be true. She had wanted it to be a figment of her imagination. “Let me go!” She swung back with a foot, but fell short of her goal. “I swear, if you don't let me go, I'm going to scream.”

Holding her was like holding a live wire—the intensity of it threw him off balance. The energy emanating off of her, was a contradiction to the gentle flow it had been when he had first connected to her. The feel of her, even through the jacket, burned up his arms, and shot straight into his soul. Finn scowled as he tightened his hold. “Be still. We don't have time for this.”

Ali went still, not because he had ordered it, but because of shock over his highhandedness. “Of all the nerve,” She shouted, wincing with the pain it caused in her head. “You’re the one accosting me!”

Finn dragged her to his chest. A crack sounded above them. Turning his face towards the sky in time to see it light up in a flash of lightning, Finn swore, they were out of time. They had to find cover. Searching, he spied an opening to an alley. He began moving towards it.

Ali’s eyes widened over the location he was hauling her to. “Oh, you have
got
to be kidding me.” She tried to gain some traction, but her boots just slid along the concrete. “You are
not
dragging me into an alley.” Dragging in a deep breath, Ali screamed—loudly.

Finn swore, and feared the windows of the buildings would shatter. In reaction, he placed a hand over her mouth and continued moving. Gritting his teeth, he hoisted her up while scanning, and made his way toward the alley. It wasn’t the ideal place to face what was coming, but it would offer places in which to hide Ali while he engaged with the enemy.

Holy cow, was this man made of steel? Ali tried to pry off the arm that had encircled her waist, but it was like trying to bend an iron band. The hand on her mouth made her mouth water at the thought of tasting it. How crazy was that? Probably just as crazy as the nagging feeling that he truly didn’t mean her any harm, that for some reason, she felt a level of security with him. This stranger was affecting her in ways that no one else ever had. Yet regardless of all that he made her feel, she wasn't going to let him haul her off somewhere. She wasn’t going down without a fight. Placing her hands over the one that covered her mouth, Ali bit down—hard.

“Son of a bitch,” Finn turned her loose. He forgot about stopping the sting of her bite. “Are you completely mental?” He shook out his hand and glared at her.

Smug, Ali hoisted her bag up, lopping the strap over her head so that it lay across her body, and dragged her hair out of her face. Her chest rose and fell deeply with the effort of taking in air. “Serves you right,” She put a few feet between them. “That’s what you get when you attack an innocent woman.” She then pivoted and ran back towards the sidewalk. Her escape was foiled by a cry of pain as her head exploded. The strength of the assault caused her to stagger back against the wall. Her vision blurred and her stomach rolled. No, no, no, this cannot be happening. Crossing her arms over her middle, Ali tried to still the queasiness with deep breaths. Her legs gave out, forcing her to sit on the ground.

Finn felt her pain, but could do nothing to stop it. He had to get her to safety. Rushing over to her, he crouched down and held her by the shoulders. “Ali, you need to listen to me. You are in serious danger.”

Lifting her head, she slapped at his hands and shot back. “Stop saying my name as if you know me.”

She was terrified, but there was a temper brewing there as well. The atmosphere around them was in turmoil, yet he pushed to keep from transmitting his frustration, over her stubbornness. Cursing at himself a million times over, Finn lowered his voice to what he hoped was a gentle tone. “There is much I need to explain to you Ali—but we’re about to have company. Trust me when I say that they are not interested in your well being.”

Ali wasn't going to give up. With every ounce of willpower she possessed, she forced herself to stand. “You. Are. Insane.” She gave him a mighty shove and ran. She felt his shock as she sped by him, but wasn’t about to take the time to gloat over it.

Finn blew out a breath of frustration and took off after her.

Having troubles, cousin?

Without slowing down, he responded to Cian’s teasing.
Have you any idea of who is coming?

Cian’s tone turned serious.
No, and we’re being held back—you're on your own.

He heard the unspoken statement, knew what lay there all too well.
This is not the time for a lecture Cian.

Continuing to hide who you are is going to be your downfall cousin, as well as the woman’s.

Finn slammed the connection shut and increased his speed. He didn't need to be reminded of his shortcomings. As for Ali, he would not allow her to be taken. He may have relinquished the magick of his parents, but he did have the gifts of the immortal. However, if whoever was coming was more than a warrior, if they chose to come at him with magick, his natural gifts would be no good. Whipping up some wind could provide an affective distraction, but he didn’t hold out too much hope that it would be enough. And with the others blocked, any thought of aid had to be tossed aside.

Ali counted every step she put between her and fantasy man. However, whatever ground she gained came to a halt as a silhouette slipped out from behind another building. Skidding to a stop, she watched in confused wonder as it took the form of a man. By the time her brain had registered what it was seeing, he was smiling at her. The kind of smile a killer gave before chopping you into little pieces. Though terror was choking her, she was determined to pass him. “Excuse me, you're in my way.”

The man tilted his head. His nose wrinkled in disgust. “A drunken mortal is fated to end the Darkness?”

Ali groaned. What was he talking about—what darkness? “I’m sorry; I really need to get home.”

He made a sound of annoyance. “The only place you're going, Alina, is to see Mikel. He is most anxious to meet you.”

Did she have a damn name tag on? She studied the man closely. Where she had felt a measure of safety from fantasy guy, it disintegrated with this guy. Danger clung to him; his opaque eyes were like mirrors. Despite her best efforts, Ali couldn't help but stare into them. His smile reminded her of crawling insects. His hair was combed straight back, and was black as night. He wore a suit that screamed Armani, and his shoes, even in the dark, shone. She stepped to the side; intuition told her that she needed to get far away from this man. “I'm not going anywhere.”

The man laughed. “Typical mortal, you think you have a choice? Come, I grow weary of our dialogue.”

She pulled back when he reached for her. Then tall, dark, and gorgeous was there—with a sword. Where the heck did he get
that
from? Her brain struggled to understand what she was seeing as he shoved her behind him. Her line of vision was blocked completely by his broad back. The hand with the sword rose and she found herself mesmerized by it. He spoke to other man with a tone of familiarity.

“Lugus,” The name came out in a sneer. Finn brandished his sword. “It has been a long time.”

With a one sided smile, Lugus produced his own blade with a flip of his hand. “Finn O’Shea, our paths cross once again.”

In response, Finn called up the wind, then sent the squall forward, knocking Lugus back.

“Parlor tricks?” Lugus spat onto the ground. “You’re going to protect a Fragment with parlor tricks—Agrona was arrogant in her choice.”

The dismissal of his ability was hard to take, but Finn couldn’t allow his ego to take over. “That was just a warning Lugus. I have the first Fragment.” Thrusting out his free hand, he punctuated his declaration with a shower of ice shards.

Lugus stopped the projectiles with a sweep of his arm. The ice fell to the ground in droplets of water. “Repaying you in kind would be too easy. It has been some time since our blades clashed.” Taking a few steps forward, Lugus brought his sword down in an arch.

Ego commanded him to stand and meet Lugus’ attack head on, but his priority was Ali. Whirling away from the deadly steel, Finn grabbed Ali by the arm, ignoring her gaping mouth, and incredulous expression. Fading his own blade, he forced her into a run; her struggles doing little to slow him down.

This had to be some kind of an elaborate hoax. The man—she now knew his name was Finn, had conjured up wind and ice, and threw it at the other man, Lugus—with his hands. There had to be hidden cameras and a crew waiting to jump and yell something absurd like: you’ve been punked. Yet, something told her that this was very real. She was wide awake and was being dragged by some gorgeous stranger who accosted women, and wielded swords—swords that appeared, and disappeared, into thin air. If this didn’t get her committed, she didn’t know what would.

Her chest burned with the effort it took to get air, her legs were going to fall off, and his grip on her arm was surly going to leave a bruise. Couldn't he tell she was in pain? She tried to focus on what they were passing, on the off chance that she would be able to escape, but all she saw were brick walls. They turned a corner and came to a sharp halt. A dead end. Ali wrenched her arm, surprised when he let go. She glanced up at their roadblock. Whirling around, she yelled at him. Fear, mixed with her growing temper, made her voice sharp. “Fabulous. Tell me, what were you thinking of doing? Jumping the thirty feet to the roof of the building?” When he remained silent and glanced upwards, Ali sputtered, “You can’t be serious?” This was insane—
he
was insane.

Finn gave jumping as much consideration as he dared; frustration had him curling his hand into fists, another reminder that he couldn’t do as he wished. Transporting both himself, and Ali, would be too strenuous and he wasn’t all that confident that he would be able to make the jump without endangering her. The familiar rising of the hairs at the nape of his neck announced that he had waited too long. With his mind already turning to battle strategies, his eyes jerked to Ali, “Hide—now.” Her mouth dropped open, reminding him of a baby bird. Then she was back to shouting at him.

“You want me to hide?” She spread her arms out wide and did a slow turn. “Could you perhaps point me to the best dumpster?”

Her sharp tongue did not help the situation, and Finn could feel Lugus pressing down on them. His sword shimmered into view once again, his hand curled around the hilt. He tried not to let Ali’s expression concern him. She was going to be seeing a whole lot more of these types of things in the coming days. “We could discuss it, but our company is here.” Silently he chided himself for wasting precious time on chit chat.