Atlas (The Atlas Series) (26 page)

“Feels kind of normal, huh?” Jack said after scraping the bowl clean.

“Weird, right?” The familiarity of it all was almost intoxicating because of its normalcy.

Jack looked around the apartment. “I never thought anyone but me would visit this place. I was preparing for a pretty lonely life.”

“I don’t know, it’s been non-stop introductions to freakshows for me. You underestimated the social networking of the supernatural.” Kala tried to make light of the situation.

Jack chuckled slightly, then turned serious once more. “It’s been pretty horrible for you, hasn’t it?”

He looked so guilty and beaten in that moment that Kala couldn’t complain, not that she would have anyway. Kala watched Jack as he sat there with his empty bowl looking so vulnerable. She wasn’t used to seeing him that way. He was always her commander, so powerful and decisive. It was nice seeing this other side to him. It made her realize how much she loved him.

Without thinking, Kala put her bowl down, stood up and sat in Jack’s lap, leaning in for a kiss. Jack immediately responded by grabbing Kala’s waist and pulling her toward him so their stomachs were touching. He kissed her as if his life depended on it. A part of Kala thought that Jack actually believed that. That every kiss may be their last because one of them might give in and kill the other. It somehow made the moment more passionate, more dangerous.

Grabbing onto Kala’s legs, Jack lifted her up and carried her upstairs. Kala was so blinded by the intensity of their kissing, she was amazed that Jack found his way to the bedroom without tripping over something. Like a gentleman, Jack laid Kala on the bed as if she was made of glass. It was one of the things she loved most about Jack, his ability to be both gentle and rough. Always the perfect mixture. As if reading her mind, Jack ripped open Kala’s shirt like it was made of paper.

Kala let out a gasp of desire as Jack’s hands pulled her in close. When their mouths touched again, Jack’s kiss was firm, with just enough tenderness to make Kala quiver in anticipation. She knew she’d never find anyone that could kiss like Jack. It was a serious skill and not many people had it, but when they did… mind blown.

All time stopped and all worries melted from Kala’s head as the two of them made love.

Kala watched Jack sleeping beside her and smiled. She wished she could bottle up this moment and keep it forever, because she knew it wouldn’t last long. Looking at the clock on her nightstand, Kala shuddered.

1d 08h 04m 21s.

9:56 P.M.

Sleeping wasn’t an option at this point. Kala had only one more day. One day. It still didn’t feel like it was actually happening. If it hadn’t been for floating inanimate objects and breathing fire, Kala might have been able to write it off to a bunch of cult crazies predicting the end of days. Even as she thought it, Kala knew that was a lie. What she was going through was real. Too real. No amount of hiding would change that.

Kala picked up what was left of her t-shirt that Jack had ripped in half and tossed it on the ground. Sliding out of bed, she walked over to a small black dresser across from the bed. A drawer full of neatly stacked t-shirts lay perfectly inside. Grabbing a simple v-cut white one, Kala pulled it over her head.

At that moment she really noticed the bedroom.

Kala froze in her tracks when she realized she was standing in the bedroom of Talan’s apocalypse vision. This was the bed that she and Jack had woke up from…

Shaking herself out her paralysis, Kala grabbed her jeans from the floor and put them on. She needed to get out of there, away from Jack, away from the memory of what was to come. Kala leaned down and kissed Jack’s forehead.

He mumbled something unintelligible.

Kala whispered to him, “I’m going to get some air. I’ll be back soon.”

“Love you,” Jack muttered, then was back asleep.

Kala touched Jack’s face gently. She meant to say she loved him back, but stopped herself. He wouldn’t hear her anyway. And Kala wanted the first time she told Jack to be special. Kala had never told any man that she loved him, not even her foster father whom she loved with all her being. She wished the ‘L’ word wasn’t so hard for her, but it was and there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. But at least after today, Kala figured he would know how she felt. The fact that she wouldn’t kill Jack to save the world had to be proof to him. What else could she do to convince him?

Grabbing her jacket, Kala left the apartment and walked down the sidewalk. The neighborhood was on the older side with lots of brick buildings and old-fashioned street lamps posted every fifty feet or so. It almost felt like Kala was on vacation, the area was so pristine and quaint. Maybe for just a second she could pretend that her life didn’t suck.

She walked with purpose, following the path that Jack took in her vision. It hadn’t been her plan to do this, but once she was outside and recognized the scenery, Kala couldn’t help herself. She passed a coffee shop and stopped when she arrived at the alley Penny had stepped out of.

Kala could almost see Jack and Penny, though it was dark and not morning light like it had been in the vision.

“Thought you could hide from my master?” A voice called out from the alley.

A silhouette soon turned into…

Lali?

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Lali?” Kala thought she might be dreaming. It was a surreal moment to see her fellow soldier walking out of the shadows. “Shouldn’t you be back at the Compound?” Kala couldn’t seem to get past her confusion. Though Lali was a few inches shorter than Kala, she was still an imposing figure. Her short black hair almost disappeared into the shadows of the alley, but her bright blue eyes stared at Kala with…

…hatred.

Thought you could hide from my master
…

The words finally hit Kala.

Master
?

“Who’s your master?” Kala decided to assess the situation by keeping a conversation going with Lali.

There were several things that bothered Kala about her current predicament. The first of which was
How in the hell is Lali a part of all this
? The second being:
Which side is Lali on
? Malaks or Demons?

“You know who,” Lali snarled. “I’ll be rewarded for finding you.”

Kala figured it was a good bet that Lali was a Demon based on the fact that Asmodeus wanted her alive and a Malak would probably want her dead. Unless…

“Does your master want to kill me?” Kala took a few steps back as Lali took a few steps forward. Kala didn’t really want to have a fist fight with Lali in an alley. Lali was a formidable fighter as a human, if she was some kind of supernatural being, Kala didn’t want to get her butt kicked. Or teleported.

“Stalling,” Lali accused.

Kala threw up her hands in exasperation. “Are you a freaking Demon or Malak? Just tell me Lali.” Kala didn’t really expect Lali to give her a straight answer, but she might as well try.

“Demon, duh.” Lali looked at Kala like she was a moron.

“It’s not that easy to tell, ass-hat,” Kala said defensively. She was suddenly struck by the fact that, aside from the topic, this conversation was almost
normal
. “How did you find me?”

Kala knew that Lali couldn’t resist the urge to brag, it was one of her more annoying traits. Knowing now that she was a Demon, it kind of made sense.

“I followed Jack. I knew it wouldn’t be long until the two of you hooked up again.” Lali had a look of superiority on her face. “You guys thought you were hiding it from the rest of us, but it was obvious.”

“Why were you a part of the unit? Did you know who Jack was?” Kala wondered what a Demon was doing in an elite military team.

Kala recognized that look on Lali’s face: confusion.

Lali had no idea what Kala was talking about. “Jack? Why would I give a crap about Jack? Corn-fed Iowa boy. That boy was born a do-gooder. He’s insignificant. I was there to watch Turner.”

Kala actually thought that was pretty logical. “That makes sense.”

Lali went into attack stance. “I’m taking you to Asmodeus.”

“You can try.” Kala knew that sounded obnoxious. “If you were following us, then you know what I can do.”

“The fire thing? Yeah, not worried.” Lali pounced.

Kala sparked the lighter, sucked in the flame and shot it out her hands.

Lali was a goner when it came to Kala’s aim, though Lali had tried to duck out of the way in time. The Demon screamed in pain as the flames engulfed her whole body.

Kala ran as fast as she could away from the alley and the burning Lali. As she hurried her way through the streets, she could hear people reacting to the flaming woman with screams of terror. She realized two bodies torched in one day would be front-page news. D.C. would think there was a serial pyro-killer on the loose. Knowing that neither Penny nor Lali would die from it, or frankly, be hurt by it, didn’t help the fact that Kala was responsible for both incidents. She just hoped there were no cameras around to make the hunt for her expand to the freaking police!

It didn’t matter anyway, because Lali was coming up behind her fast. The fire was out and she looked furious. Kala chanted the words that made a man’s briefcase fly out of his hands and smack into Lali’s annoyed face. The man looked at his hands, slightly horrified, like he thought
he
had thrown his briefcase at Lali. If Kala hadn’t been more than a little hurried she would have found it amusing.

Kala knew it wouldn’t stop her, but she just needed to get to safety, wherever that was! She didn’t know how long she would have to run, or where she was running to, Kala just needed to create some distance between her and Lali.

Since it was late at night there weren’t that many people out, but Kala could see their stares out of the corner of her eye. She could tell they were debating whether or not to stop her, probably assuming she had stolen Lali’s purse from the expression on her former teammate’s face. It didn’t help that Lali’s clothes were charred black from being set on fire. If Kala had been in their place, she would have kicked her own ass by now.

Kala still couldn’t believe Lali was a Demon! How many Demons were out there? Kala had trusted Lali. They had a bond. Two females picked for such an elite job, it was a badge of honor. To find out that the girl was just there to spy on Turner… One thing was for sure: Lali did not know anything about Jack training his whole life to be the next Atlas. All Lali apparently knew was that Asmodeus wanted Kala, and that Kala had unfortunately taken on the role of the shmuck-o god.

The only advantage Kala had at the moment was that it appeared Lali was acting alone. Kala didn’t know if Demons had some sort of telepathic way of communicating with each other, but she figured Asmodeus would be here already if Lali had been able to tell him.

Lali screamed in rage as Kala stayed just out of reach. Demon or not, Lali had short legs, and Kala knew she could outrun her. The question was: could she lose her? All it would take was one touch from Lali and Kala would be teleported straight to Asmodeus. Or at least somewhere where Lali could hold her until Asmodeus arrived.

Kala dodged, cars, people, alleys and small animals. She didn’t think she could keep this up much longer.

Lali screeched.

Kala turned around and saw Talan with his hand around Lali’s throat.

Kala had to admit, it was kind of sexy. She stopped running to catch her breath and see what Talan planned to do with the Demon.

Lali’s eyes were wide with fear and confusion.

“Burns, doesn’t it?” Talan asked Lali.

Kala could see the tiny wisps of smoke floating up from Talan’s hand wrapped around Lali’s neck. She could hear a slight sizzling.

“How?” Was all Lali choked out.

Talan leaned in close and Kala saw the intense anger in his eyes. “
You
are a lesser being.”

Lali’s voice rasped in terror. “Malaks are lesser…beings.” She couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around how Talan was causing her so much pain.

Talan smiled. “I’m Grigorian.”

Lali’s eyes grew even rounder. “It can’t be.”

“People keep saying that, yet here I am,” Talan answered.

SNAP!

Lali’s head came clear off her shoulders.

Talan turned to a shocked Kala standing ten feet away. No one was around, but Kala knew that wouldn’t be the case much longer. A decapitated body wouldn’t exactly escape notice.

“Can you hide that with one of those magic spells?” Kala asked. It hadn’t hit her yet that the woman she thought was her friend was actually a Demon, and now dead because of her. Not only dead, but headless. Not only headless, but headless on a public street.

“Are you okay?” Talan asked, his face full of concern.

“Oh, she’s just fine,
Malak
.”

Kala knew that voice.

Asmodeus.

“It’s a shame to lose Lali, she was a well-placed servant, but ultimately she proved very useful.” He stepped out of the shadows, right behind Kala.