"I knew you'd come, Gabriel. I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away."
Gabriel shrugged. "Well, you know me, Sebastian. I love to live up to expectations."
Without another word, Gabriel raised his hand and threw Sebastian into the air until he fell back breaking the window. Loraine heard a scream that could best be called blood curdling.
One second later, Gabriel swung around and turned her body to the left with his hands. "Go, Loraine, go."
She ran, still not sure where she was going but trying to keep Gabriel's instructions in her mind.
Get to the office. Get the books. Get the books out of the house.
A roar sounded the air behind her, and she knew Sebastian was back in the house. From the rage she heard, she guessed this time Gabriel hadn't lived up to Sebastian's expectations and had managed to hurt the demon.
The least she could do was to do the same. She'd get the books but she wasn't going anywhere without him whether he liked it or not.
Chapter Fifteen
"Is he conscious?"
Isabelle looked up and sighed more than spoke her response. No, Kal wasn't even a little bit conscious. He'd been out cold since the demon had dragged him down the stairs and strung him up by his wrists from the ceiling. Moments later, he'd done the same to a then knocked out Leonardo.
Both men were blindfolded. Isabelle could honestly say that with the exception of two other times—once when she'd witnessed her parents' murder while she'd been stuck in a time bubble, and once when Sebastian had kidnapped Kal—she'd never been so terrified in her life. Kal hung from his restraints like a slab of meat in a cold locker.
"What did he do to you guys?"
Leonardo groaned. "He hit us with some sort of surge. Really knocked me for a loop."
She laughed even though she didn't find it funny. Leonardo occasionally had a way of stating the obvious that tickled her funny bone. Now she laughed because she didn't know what else to do. "Obviously."
"Can you tell me where we are?"
"In the basement."
Leonardo was silent for a second. "Is it some kind of dungeon?"
"No, it's just a basement. There's a couch in the corner, a television and a whole bunch of torture devices. Probably the standard fare for your average demon in the new millennium."
"Isabelle," Leonardo sounded tired when he spoke. "You're pretty terrified aren't you? This level of sarcasm is not you, it's Kal."
"Don't lecture me Leonardo. I can be sarcastic if I want to be."
"All right, I'm just not going to talk to you right now."
Always true to his word, Leonardo stayed silent hanging from the ceiling. The longer he did it, the more she wanted to cry. It was all so incredibly frustrating. She couldn't reach Kal, not even telepathically, which meant he was really, really out of it. That scared her probably more than it should have.
"Okay, I apologize." She sighed and waited for his response. "Oh, you're going to ignore me now?" The tears that threatened to spill finally toppled out of her eyes. They weren't just quiet, dainty tears. No, big, fat, tears tore through her body until she shook from the impact of her sobs.
"Hell, Isabelle, get a grip."
She gasped for air in between cries. "Now you've decided to speak to me?"
"All right, so I'm being a jerk. I am hanging from a ceiling by my arms and my body still burns from the impact of the demon's magical surge."
She sniffed, wishing her hands were free so she could rub her nose. "Why aren't we dead? Why hasn't he just killed us?"
"I was contemplating that myself. I have a couple of theories."
She laughed. "Go ahead, Leonardo, tell me your theories."
"It's all about the books. He's using our own magic against us."
"Is that how he bound my powers to him?"
Leonardo kicked his feet in the air. She felt terrible, and for a second was actually relieved that Kal was unconscious. He didn't do 'pain' particularly well. If Leonardo was uncomfortable, at least he wasn't complaining endlessly. Although a much larger part of her would do anything to have Kal wake up and bitch and moan just so she could know he was okay.
"Exactly. He's got the book, and he's using it."
Upstairs a loud boom sounded. Isabelle gasped. Something was happening, and she was totally unable to do anything to defend them. It had been almost a year since she'd felt this helpless. She hadn't liked it then, and she really didn't like it now.
"What the hell is going on?" Leonardo pulled at his restraints trying to turn around, but he couldn't move. Isabelle winced, watching him.
"Maybe it's Gabe."
Leonardo scoffed. He wore a blindfold so she couldn't see his expression but she could imagine he rolled his eyes. "How would he even know we were here? He and Loraine took off, remember?"
"That's right but then Christophe came. Before he disappeared I told him to call Gabe."
Leonardo's silence told Isabelle he contemplated what she just said. "I don't think I understand."
"When I first got here there was a man here named Dr. Christophe Roux. He came down, spoke to me, and then vanished, but I managed to give him Gabe and Loraine's cell phone numbers."
"I'm going to take what you said at face value because dangling from the ceiling I can't do otherwise."
In the distance she heard a roar, and Leonardo groaned.
"It's definitely Gabriel. He has the ability to piss of this demon more than anyone else. We'll be lucky if he doesn't get himself killed and doom us all."
"You know it might be nice if you cared about him getting hurt because you cared about him and not just his role in the dang prophecy."
Leonardo cursed, and Isabelle raised her eyebrows. This was unusual behavior for him. He was always so controlled.
"Let me be clear. When this is over and we have won, I will spend all the time you want getting to know everyone personally. I will discuss my feelings, your feelings, Kal's feelings—I will discuss the feelings of anyone who wants to discuss them with me. I'll have a good old-fashioned love-in if that's what you want. I will figure out Eden's favorite pizza topping, and Jason's top pick for vacation spots. But for right now, while everything is on the line, and I have left my job and my life in New York to come and lead this war, I'm going to focus only on how we can beat the demon upstairs."
His usually pale complexion turned decidedly red. She wasn't sure if it was because he dangled from the ceiling or because he was so angry.
She wanted to calm him down. "Leonardo…"
He interrupted. "I'm sorry if that makes me heartless. Shouldn't the pressing point be that I don't want Gabriel to die?"
"I'm sorry. Forget it. This is not the time for me to start pressing you to make emotional engagements."
"I have to get down from here." Leonardo kicked his feet again. "I have to get down right now."
* * * *
The problem with being around Marina, Drew decided as he paced the length of the living room for the tenth time, was that just by being in the same room with her, she reminded him about all the things that were wrong with him. It wasn't her fault. Well, not entirely.
She glanced up from the book she read. He had to give her credit. She'd gone out of her way not to mention their soul mate connection once since he'd arrived. He knew she just pretended her disinterest, and he was willing to let her continue, for no other reason than to make things easier on both of them.
"Is there something I can get you, Drew? Something that might help you calm down a bit?"
"You could tell me Leonardo is going to call."
She laughed and stood up. "As you know, we don't exactly work that way here."
"What does that mean?"
"It means if we kept track of all the Outsiders by putting them on a leash, you'd be living here instead of running away."
He opened his mouth to speak, but Marina held out her phone. "Leonardo is programmed on my phone. Why don't you call him?"
"He won't answe
r."
"Oh, yes?" She looked amused, her brown eyes glittering with laughter. "Are you Eden now? Can you see the future?"
Drew nodded. "Sometimes I can."
Her expression drastically changed. Gone was lighthearted Marina, and in her place stood the Marina who was much more dangerous to him. The sharp-eyed woman who saw too much and understood even more, and who might, if he let her, bring him to his knees.
"And now? Have you seen something going on down there in New Orleans? Something wrong? Some reason why I should jump on a plane?"
He shook his head. "No, I haven't had a vision. I get them very rarely. It's more like a feeling."
She put her hands on her hips. Hell, he was going to have to man-up about this soon.
"A feeling?"
"Yes. The demon and I, we're connected. Sometimes, I can tell what he's doing. At the moment, he's got some Outsiders with him."
Marina smacked her forehead with her hand. "I can't deal with the 'I'm connected with the demon' thing. Hold on." She held up her hand. "Hold on. He has some Outsiders with him? You mean the group that went down there? Leonardo, Kal, Isabelle, Loraine, and Gabriel?"
Who else would he mean? He shrugged. "Yes."
She ran for the door, and he grabbed her arm pulling her back. "Where are you going?"
She shoved at his grip, but he was stronger. He didn't feel like letting go. "I'm going to the airport." An idea must have struck her because she stuttered and said something in Russian, the language she'd spoken until she was five-years-old. Something he only saw her do when she was flustered. "Unless you can transport me there? Do you have that power from Gabe?"
He shook his head. "I'm not sending you there."
"Why not? Because you don't want to or because you can't?"
It had been a mistake to pull Marina toward him. She smelled like vanilla beans, a scent he loved. His groin got hard and he wanted to throw something in frustration.
"I could, but I'm not going to because this is their destiny. This is their chapter in this saga. You're supposed to be here. They're supposed to be there."
She yanked her arm again, and he released her.
"First of all, you don't decide where I go. And I don't want to hear any more prophesying from a man who has chosen to check out of the game all together." She fisted her hands at her sides. "When you want to get on board and get dirty with the rest of us fighting the fight, then you can talk to me about fate, destiny, and chapters."
He heard the implication in her voice. He knew what she wanted to say but didn't. She basically thought he was a jerk for abandoning them, for not getting involved in the day-to-day stuff that dragged the group down and made the war against the demon harder to win.
There was no way to explain it to Marina without telling her more than she could hear.
"You called me here. You called me on the phone and told me you were alone."
She shook her head. "No."
He hadn't thought she'd let him get away with that. Opening his mouth, he hoped he could keep talking but she wasn't done.
"I didn't want you to come here because we're alone. I don't need Kal and Leonardo to protect me. I'm one of the strongest power wielders out there. Even if I were not, Jason can stop people's hearts by just thinking about it, and Charma stores up evil inside of her to let loose when she chooses."
Her eyes filled with tears, and it tore at his heart. Still, she looked fierce and was obviously not going to cower away from saying what she wanted to say. He had to get out of there.
He ran a hand through his hair. "Fine, if you don't need me, then I'll just leave."
He turned on his heel, making a point to give Marina the full view of his back, and stormed toward the door.
"That's it? You're leaving? You're running away?"
"I'm not running. I'm walking rather slowly actually."
He knew he was being a prick. It wasn't like he was unaware of what he did and said to Marina. It was simply that he had no choice but to behave this way.
A pain-filled scream echoed down the hall, interrupting his show of power.
Without a second thought, he ran in the direction of the sound. He heard Marina behind him, and he stopped for a second to grab her before they ran in the room where the screaming bellowed.
Pushing her against the wall, he whispered in her ear. "Don't go in there until I've had time to assess the danger."
She shoved him hard. "Stop ordering me around. It's Eden. She must be having a vision."
He wasn't sure if he let her go because he was relatively certain Eden was safe or if it was due to the look on Marina's face—the look that said she would claw out his eyes if he didn't. Either way, he let her storm ahead of him into the room.
Eden writhed on the floor. Screaming, she held her head as Jason and Charma tried to restrain her.
Charma looked up, tears swimming in her eyes. "It's a really bad one."
Marina grabbed Eden's hand. "It's okay. We're here with you."
Jason placed his hand on Eden's chest. "I can't get her to calm down at all. Her heart is pounding too fast."
Finally, after assessing the scene, Drew decided the three of them had no clue what they were doing. He knelt down next to Marina. "What is she seeing?"
"I don't know." Marina's words were clipped. "She hasn't told us yet."
"Is it always this bad?"
Jason nodded. "Lately it's been getting progressively worse. I'm afraid it's going to kill her."
Drew sighed. This was not something he wanted to deal with. It was too soon, too complicated. "It might."
Marina's head shot up. "Drew! You can't know that. Stop being a downer and help if you can."
He wished it was just a question of his being a downer. "I can help her this time, but she needs an anchor."
Drew held his hand over Eden's writhing body. Closing his eyes, he spoke the words that had been taught to him so long ago when he'd been young, foolish, and convinced of his own superiority over the Darkness.
"By dawn's brightness, let the powers that control the earth ease this woman of her burden." He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, forcing himself to be calm. It would be too easy to tap into the part of himself that would unleash the Darkness. He wouldn't bring Sebastian to the Outsider's safe haven.
"Release her from this vision. Send it back to where it came. Plague her no more this moment."
His palms vibrated as the power he'd called passed through him into her. Finally, he could feel Eden's aura soften under his fingertips. Her energy stilled. Opening his eyes, he looked down at the seer who had gotten into so much trouble. She slept peacefully.
Raising his eyes, he found Marina open mouthed as she stared at him. Charma and Jason held hands as they regarded him silently.
Marina finally spoke. "Drew, what did you just do?"
He jumped to his feet. Shaken from the energy he'd expelled, he hoped he seemed steady.
He tried to smile. "Gotta go."
Turning on his heel, he walked away, even as Marina shouted his name. This time he would leave and not come back.
* * * *
Leonardo's arms ached. He had a splitting headache, and he really wanted to not be hanging from the ceiling.
"Isabelle, I have an idea."
If necessity was the mother of all inventions, then it was fair to say at that moment, he was needier than he'd ever been before in his life.
"What is it?"
It was the desperation in her voice that bothered him. Isabelle was giving up, and he couldn't have that. If Kal was really hurt, he needed her strong. Pissing her off didn't seem to be doing the trick. Maybe it time to just level with her.
"Kal got pretty banged up by the demon."
She made a small sound in her throat that tore at his heartstrings. He pushed down the feeling. She was an Outsider. Charma and Marina had been raised to be strong. Isabelle needed to be now too, even if she too often thought like a human.
> "I can see that."
"Yes." If he was going to tell her, then he needed to just tell her. "He should be up by now. If he's not, then this situation has gone from bad to downright dire."
Isabelle was silent. Trapped in the dark by his blindfold, he couldn't tell how she reacted. Finally, she spoke.
"Thank you for being straightforward with me. What can I do to help with your plan?"
"What I'm going to do, it's dangerous. Do you remember how I took Veli's powers?"
"Yes." She cleared her throat. "It killed him."
"That's right. An Outsider can't live without their powers."
"I'm going to try to take Sebastian's powers."
He heard movement as if Isabelle tried to get up and failed. "Are you out of your mind? You can't take the powers of the demon."
He couldn't explain this to her in a way she could understand. There wasn't vocabulary for explaining that you just knew you were capable of doing something others would never be able to do.
"Yes, I can."
She swore and he laughed. "I don't mean you can't as in you're incapable of doing it, I mean you can't because I'm telling you it's a really, really bad idea."
"I don't think it'll kill him like it killed Veli. I think I can only hold his powers long enough to make him really mad and bring him down here in a hurry." He sighed. His wrists really ached like all the blood from his body could no longer make it up his extended arms.
"How will that make us better off than we already are?"
"I know your wrists are bound, tethered to the floor, right?"
She sighed. "That's right."
"You're going to have to find a way to hit him over the head, disable him some way and take his keys using your hands. You can hold something, right?"
"I guess I can. It'll be hard, but if you can take his powers, I can manage to do that. I'll grab something."
He hoped she looked around and found something soon because he was taking the demon powers, and he was doing it now.