Crux (The Aurora Lockette Series) (2 page)

I leaned
into Gavyn, unbuckling my belt so I could scoot closer to him. I nestled my face into his thick, brown hoodie and inhaled his delicious natural scent.

He gently pushed me away.
“Aurora, not so fast.” He reached around me to buckle the middle seat belt across my lap. “There, come here.” He put one muscular arm around me and gave me a reassuring squeeze. “I’m worried,” he whispered.

I turned my head up to put my lips next to his ear.
“Me too. They never act like this.”

The car was
turned down a bumpy dirt road. My grip on the door handle did nothing to dispel the sickness I felt in my stomach. I couldn’t tell if it was from fear, anger, or the motion of the car.

Konstantin turned
onto a narrower, rougher dirt road. We crawled along, teeth and bones jarring over the bumpy road. He turned off the headlights as he pulled off into a long, gravel driveway. A large aluminum-looking hanger with five or six cars parked in front popped into view as we drove closer.

We hopped out of the car. Konstantin strode off into the dark like he knew exactly where he was going. I grabbed Gavyn’s hand and followed.

He walked right past the entry door into the building and continued into the blackest of nights. About two-hundred yards out, he slowed down.

I peered around him. Eight or nine dark shapes waited around a fire pit. One of the dark shapes jogged toward us. I smiled when I recognized Dennis. My smile faded when I saw his facial expression in the
moonlight. He looked just as anxious as I felt.

“
So, it’s true?” he asked Carmen.

“
Dennis, let’s gather everyone around and explain,” Konstantin said.

“
All right.” Dennis turned to me. “Hi, Aurora.” He pulled me into a quick hug. “Good to see you. Have you been keeping up with the regimen I taught you?”

“
Yes, sir, of course.”

He managed a tight smile.
“Good.” He turned to Gavyn and extended his hand. “Hey, Gavyn, how’s the handler bit going, mate?”

Gavyn took the offered hand, but did not match Dennis’s friendly tone or demeanor.
“Hello, Dennis,” he said darkly.

I nudged Gavyn gently, though I understood his anger at Dennis. Dennis was the head of the unit that tracked down and killed the Shyama. He had recruited me to join the unit, trained me to be deadly, and then unleashed me on the world. More recently, he had called an emergency dispatch of several members of the group to Vegas, ignoring Gavyn’s request that I stay safe and sound in L.A. He was the reason we were standing in the Nevada
desert in the middle of the night.

Dennis shot Gavyn a wary look before returning his attention to the small group gathered around the fire.
“Okay, everyone, come close. We need to talk.”

I pressed forward eagerly, ready to hear what the bad news was.

He paused and waited for the small circle to tighten. He adjusted his light jacket over this military cargo pants, no doubt feeling the weight of the multiple firearms he preferred to carry on his thick, stocky, frame. “Okay. You’re all here because something major has changed. I’ve asked each of you to be here so you can return to your respective covens, villages, and families to pass along this information. We must make sure that every person in the society learns about this, and quickly, too. Understand?”

We all nodded, tossing each other equally baffled and scared looks.

“Konstantin?” Dennis opened his hand, palm faced up, in Konstantin’s direction.

Konstantin stepped forward, creating a center for our small, loose ring of Gifted humans. He folded his hands in a prayer like stance before him, touched the tip of his fingers to his lips, and dropped them to his side
. “They’ve adapted. They can now blend in with humans and interact normally with them.”

Gavyn interjected
, “What do you mean by that? I’m new to all this, but we’ve always been able to tell when they copy a human form.”

Konstantin shook his head.
“Not anymore, Gavyn. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

Carmen spoke in a thin, weak voice.
“I saw one tonight. I know it was a Shyama. I could sense it, but it was different. It was sitting at a poker table with a big group of people, dressed normally and everything. It was laughing, joking, buying drinks.”

Someone in the circle sucked in their breath, others gasped.

“What? Laughing?” A tall man with sandy-blonde hair that I hadn’t met before chimed in. “Are you sure?”

“
Yes. It caught my eye and winked.”

This time it was my voice that interrupted.
“Winked at you? Are you sure it was the Shyama?”

“
I’m sure. They’ve evolved. I’m certain of it,” Carmen said.

Dennis spoke next, all business as usual
, “We don’t know yet if these are a new breed of Shyama, or if the old ones have evolved. We don’t know yet if it affects them all, or just some. It’s clear that this is going to affect us. They no longer have to shy away from large human populations. They will no longer attack us when we are isolated. They will no longer be detectible by ordinary humans. They no longer have to worry about keeping their existence a secret; it will be easy for them to do so.”

“
Have they ever changed?” Gavyn asked.

“
Not in all my years, or in society records, no.” I didn’t ask how long the society’s records went back. I knew they kept extensive records, pretty much going back to when writing was invented. I knew they tracked bloodlines, trying to identify if preternatural abilities were genetic, and I knew they did research, to try to find our purpose.

I tried to summarize the gist of the bad news.
“So, they have changed. They can interact with society in a way they couldn’t before. That means they’ll be able to kill our kind with ease, doesn’t it? That’s the problem, right? Aren’t we kind of screwed?”

Dennis responded in a stern, cold tone
, “We are not screwed. We need to get the word out. We have to warn our people.” Dennis scratched the back of his head. “Okay folks, we are on full red-alert mode. Do not go anywhere without your handler. Travel in at least groups of four. Make sure the warning gets out about the change. My unit, we need to return to the hotel and figure out a way to kill that thing. We need to make sure they can…” his voice trailed off.

We all finished the thought for him, though nobody spoke the words. We needed to make sure that they could still be killed. We needed to make sure that they were not immortal. We weren’t immortal, but we were tough to kill. The Shyama were even harder to kill, but it could be done.

Dennis finished the meeting and sent us back to the hotel to do some surveillance on the evolved Shyama.

Back in the car, I stared at my glossy black boots, unable or unwilling to digest the news. As soon as we pulled
off of the dirt road onto the highway, Gavyn spoke, “This is very dangerous for Aurora. More dangerous than it is for everyone else.”

I jerked my head up.
“What? What do you mean?” As my handler, Gavyn could sense stuff like that.

“
Yeah, I feel it too,” Carmen said.

“
What? Why?” I asked.

“
I don’t know, but I can feel it, too,” she repeated. Carmen rested her left hand on the back of Konstantin’s headrest as we drove. She leaned toward him, but it was such a small space we could all hear anyway. “Dear, maybe you can call Dennis? We should probably send Aurora back to L.A. with Gavyn.”

“
Yes, we should. She should never have been here in the first place. Like I said three days ago,” Gavyn said.

“
All right. I’ll see what I can do.” Konstantin was surprisingly complacent.

“
I’m not some helpless damsel in distress. Let me help you kill this Shyama, then I’ll go back.”

I had recently developed a
disturbingly strong urge to kill things. I was never prone to violence before I learned about the society. I could feel the desire now, a controlled swirl of blackness deep in my chest. I longed for blood. I wanted to rip the Shyama apart with my bare hands.

I took a deep cleansing breath before my thoughts got too dark. Sometimes, they scared me.

Konstantin blew out air through his pursed lips before speaking again, “Let’s think about this logically. Gavyn and Carmen both have the willies over you being here. We come anyway, and now we have confirmation that the Shyama have evolved, or what not. I was a little uncomfortable with you being here after all of Gavyn’s warnings, but I must admit I just thought it was new handler jitters. I’m not taking any risks with you. You’re new to all this and I need to protect you. I think we should get you home. Let’s get you on a plane tonight.”

I leaned over the armrest.
“We don’t know enough about what’s going on with the Shyama to really understand the danger, do we? Carmen has seen one, only one who figured out how to do a really good job of blending in with humans. Maybe it’s a new strategy, maybe it’s evolution, or maybe it’s a completely new being. I think we need to stick together right now—you know, safety in numbers. There’s no need for me to leave tonight.”

Gavyn uttered a sigh
that sounded more like a growl. “No. That’s rubbish. We need to go. Why can’t you just trust me? Isn’t that how this whole handler bond thing works?”

Carmen twisted in her seat so she was facing us.
“Why don’t we go back to the hotel and discuss this? All right? Everyone calm down.”

“
Fine. But we are going back to get our suitcases, then I need you to get the private plane back on the tarmac tonight. We need to get back, and I don’t want her to fly commercial.” Gavyn left no room for argument.

Silence filled the car.

I turned my attention outside just in time to watch the brushy desert suddenly surrender its bare emptiness to the explosions of lights and sounds of the city.

Logic had prevailed by the time we got back to the hotel. Sort of.

Gavyn refused to put me on a commercial flight. He insisted that we take a private plane from a trusted contact. However, even with all of Konstantin’s society and Gavyn’s Hollywood connections, they couldn’t find a private plane that could leave tonight.

After a brief conference call with Dennis, he instructed us to spend the night conducting surveillance while he continued to look for a way to get me out of the city.

We found ourselves sitting at one of the hotel’s many restaurants at two o’clock in the early morning. Despite the late hour, eager tourists and partiers filled the trendy red booths. I stared in fascination at the suspended, perfectly round light fixtures that floated above the tables, deciding they looked giant Christmas tree ornaments.

“
Aurora, stop staring at those weird lamps. If you’re tired, you can turn in,” Konstantin’s voice interrupted my careful analysis.

“
I’m not tired,” I said, but I was fighting back a yawn.

“
Then can you at least pretend to do your job? You’re supposed to be keeping your eyes open, remember?” His words were stern, but he had a smile on his face.

Gavyn sat across from me, next to Konstantin. Carmen sat next to me.

Carmen and I had the best view from our seats, mostly because Carmen could sense things with her gift. We had chosen the restaurant right next to the main bank of elevators that connected the hotel tower to the casino on the first floor. We hoped that most guests, human or not, would have to walk by this juncture at some point.

I poked
at my mashed potatoes that were drenched in some heavenly sort of gravy. “All right, only if someone agrees to buy me one of those floating ball lamp thingies.”

After an appreciative snicker and a promise to purchase one of the light fixtures for our townhouse, Gavyn took a more somber tone.
“Seriously though, I am getting tired, and we all need to stay together. Can’t we go up to our respective rooms for the night? Maybe take turns keeping watch?”

Konstantin glanced at his watch and looked as if he was about to answer. However, he never uttered a syllable because Carmen stiffened in her seat and wrapped one of her hands around mine in a steely grip.
“There, look!” she exclaimed.

A tall
, pale man with very black hair was casually lounging near the opening to the restaurant. He was staring at us. Aside from the rather sickly pale skin paired with the startlingly black hair, he looked normal.

I studied him closely, taking in his generic features. Only then did I feel the strange tide of fear that the Shyama bring. Other than that, there was no indication that he was not human.

“Him? Is it the same one?” Konstantin asked.

“
Yes,” Carmen said.

“
I can’t even tell it’s a Shyama,” Konstantin said.

The strange being flashed us a bright smile, then turned around and walked casually away from the restaurant. I flinched at his apparent humanity. This was getting weird.