Deceiver's Bond: Book Two of A Clairvoyant's Complicated Life (51 page)

Never had I wielded my TK so effectively. At that moment, with the feel of Kieran’s hand in mine and his body pressed to my side, I felt as though I had the power to touch the moon. If my control was this exceptional with simple hand holding, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if we were bonded.

“I can feel everything around us,” I said, stepping away from Kieran but keeping hold of his hand. “I’ve got it all, everything in a four block radius, but there’s one place I can’t penetrate because they’ve warded the building.” I focused on Daniel. “
Your
building.”

Daniel snapped his surprised gaze to Michael.

“I guess that’s new?” I asked.

Michael and Daniel both nodded.

“I can probe for weaknesses once we get closer,” Jackie told us, “but if it’s competently constructed … we’re talking days and multiple covens to crack it. But if we find a keystone we can compromise, brute force could work. It sure worked at our place.”

Stepping aside, Michael consulted his cell phone and then raised it to his ear, probably to alert our waiting allies of the potential problem.

Daniel shook his head. “The building is reinforced masonry and there’s a basement. If they’re smart, that’s where they placed the keystones.”

“We’d need a freaking semi,” I scoffed. “Or a tunnel borer.”

“We could try something like that I guess,” Jackie said and then made a face. “The semi. But if we can’t take out a keystone … you know what that means.”

Yeah. Zilch in the magic department.

I tapped my fingers against my lips, thinking. A ward was basically souped-up threshold magic—the same principal that dissuaded vampires (or any other magical creature for that matter) from entering someone’s home uninvited. Even if we managed to break through, we’d leave all of our power at the door. Not the best idea. To retain our magic, we had to be invited.

It was possible the ward had been constructed to allow telepaths inside but no one else. If so, Daniel and Michael could enter and then invite the rest of us in. But we’d only know whether they could get in by trying it, which would eliminate any element of surprise if it didn’t work. Our original hope was to swoop in, giving Invisius little time to prepare.

Kieran’s smooth voice interrupted my thought process. “There is another way. Lire could sidestep us directly inside.”

I whipped my gaze to him. “Kieran—”

“She can …
what
?” Kim asked, interrupting my protest. Her astonished, piercing expression made me want to hide behind Kieran.

Jackie smirked. “Holy shit, girl. When you said you had extras, you weren’t kidding.”

“What do you mean
sidestep
?” Daniel demanded.

“Lire has the ability to shift us to a higher realm,” Kieran replied.

Cell momentarily forgotten, Michael rejoined our group. “You mean like what the djinn did for us the other day?”

I fought against hunching my shoulders, which desperately wanted to roll inward like a pill bug. I waved my hands in front of me, ignoring Michael’s question. “No. Bad, bad idea. I’ve done it one time, okay? And I just took Kieran with me, not a whole damned troop.”

“Then take us inside one at a time,” Jackie said, much too reasonably.

“Are you crazy?” I paced away, throwing up my hands and then turning back to face them. “I’ve done it
once
. Did you miss that part? I’m no expert. What if—?” I wrapped my arms around my midsection. I didn’t want to think about all the possible ways things could go wrong. There were too many to conjure, but my imagination made the effort.

Kieran stepped in front of me and grasped my shoulders. “As much as you try to deny it, you are an adept. From the moment I touched you at our first meeting, I sensed it. Even without training, you are more capable than you know.”

From the moment I touched you …

I searched his face, the impact of his words settling a weight on my chest so profound I could hardly breathe past it. “From … the very beginning … you knew?” I frowned and backed up, breaking his hold on me. “Is that why—?” I shook my head as if doing so would change the truth.

It all became clear. Kieran had gone out of his way to charm me, to seduce me, because he knew I was an adept. This whole time, practically from the moment we met, he knew! Tíereachán was right. Kieran wanted his thumb on that power. He wanted to control it, to control
me
, for the benefit of the King.

“No. It’s not what you think.” He stared down at me, eyes pleading. “In the beginning, yes. I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t influenced me. But, it didn’t take long before—” He stopped, blowing out a frustrated breath, and then stepped closer to touch my arm. “You know how I feel about you.”

I wanted to believe him. And, mostly, I did. But there was that small, niggling voice, the one that liked to raise red flags and set off alarm bells. It cautioned me, saying how stupid I was to open my heart, and replayed Tíereachán’s choicest words:
He is using you!

“You claimed Maeve was misguided,” I said, jerking away from his touch. “And yet, you’ve sought the same thing.”

“No, Lire.
No
. My sole purpose has been to protect you. I’ll not see you become a pawn in our conflict and I have no desire to return to the Otherworld, much less rule there.”

Michael loudly cleared his throat. “You know, now’s not the best time for a lover’s spat. Can we please just do this, instead of standing here with our thumbs up our collective ass?”

Looking past Kieran, I skewered Michael with a sharp glare. “Thank you,
Michael
. But since I’m about to move that ass of yours, thumbs and all, into another dimension, don’t you think it might be important for me to be, oh, I dunno … how about
not pissed off
?”

He wasn’t wrong, though. Now wasn’t the time for this discussion.

I snapped, “Tell them we’ll be inside the building in five minutes, then they can start their countdown.”

I snatched Kieran’s hand and took a deep, calming breath. I forced my worries aside and then easily encompassed all of our bodies within my telekinetic grip. As my web slid over each of them, their eyes uniformly widened. I was sorely tempted to give Michael a pinch on his
collective
derrière but, by sheer force of will, restrained myself.

Instead, I grinned like a kid on a trampoline and almost burst out laughing, from their flummoxed expressions and from sheer exuberance. I’d never get tired of this feeling—the rush of raw power flowing through me. I wanted strip down and spend the day rolling in it. And adding to my morale was the fact that Kieran hadn’t been wrong. I absolutely knew how to do this. His touch was the magic equivalent of slamming an energy drink, a sweet boost that gave me the focus and extra confidence to take on the most daunting of tasks effortlessly. The added lift felt so good, I almost forgot about Kieran’s questionable motives.

I winked at Daniel and then, without hesitation, shifted the six of us to that now-familiar, singularly bizarre place.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please stay in your seats until the craft comes to a complete stop,” I quipped and levitated us through the bent environment.

I scolded myself,
Don’t get cocky
.

If my recent history was any indicator, something was bound to go wrong soon.

I resisted the urge to rush or shortcut through buildings. I stuck to the sidewalk to avoid getting lost and levitated us along at a measured pace. Although the view was skewed and impossible, the pale strip of cement rolling out in front of us was unmistakable and relatively easy to follow.

“Easy peasy. Up two blocks. Hang a left,” I sang to myself.

A few minutes later, on the correct street, I stopped us at the first sign of a red brick structure. If we’d simply walked, it would have taken about as long to get here, but this way we arrived undetected. I squinted at the warped view.

“Is this it?”

“Yes,” Michael replied.

I recalled the image of the building from Daniel’s memory and aimed us through the front door. And then daylight disappeared.

Without the sky and sidewalk providing me with anchor points, there was no making sense of our surroundings. I remembered the large entry hall and scooted us inside until we were clustered together over a location that appeared to be empty of furniture.

“Okay. Are we going along with the original plan, or do we try to find the keystones and bring down the ward for the people outside?” I asked.

“Ward first,” Daniel replied.

I looked at the others and they all nodded their agreement.

“Okay.” I squeezed Kieran’s hand, gazing up at him. “I’m going to slide us back. Veil us until we see what’s around.”

Earth’s resonance in mind, I matched her tune and slipped us home.

The dim surroundings heaved toward me, blurring, straightening, and finally snapped into normalcy. We stood at the head of a twelve-foot wide corridor, the front door at our backs. Alternating down each side, a series of four darkened archways gaped like missing teeth against the pale walls. At the far end, two closed doors and a staircase faced us. The stair treads climbed upward, each hardwood-clad step glinting back the dour light that managed to seep through the tinted windows.

I wrinkled my nose. I didn’t like the smell. It smelled like the building had been closed up for too long without running the ventilation system, musty and stale and something else. Garbage, maybe.

Nothing moved or made a sound.

I peered into each of the shadowy rooms as best I could. The one to my left had been set up as a sitting room, replete with couch, coffee table, and leather club chairs. On my right was obviously the entertainment area. A massive flat panel television had been mounted to the wall and a sectional couch took up most of the available floor space. The other two rooms might have been used as offices. I could just make out the corner of a desk through the far right-hand opening.

“I don’t see anyone.” I kept my voice low, even though it wasn’t necessary with Kieran’s veil around us. “Is it usually this quiet?”

Daniel frowned. “Could be a meeting.”

“Shit,” Michael muttered. At seeing my expression, he explained, “Meeting room’s downstairs. In the basement.”

Shit
was right. They’d all be gathered in force, right where we needed to go.

“This changes nothing,” Kieran told us. “Daniel and Jackie will take care of the ward. The rest of us will deal with the telepaths.”

Everyone murmured agreement.

I gazed up at Kieran. “Okay. Drop your veil for me real quick and I’ll feel around, see where everyone is.”

Probably because he didn’t want me being the sole target, Kieran dropped his veil from the both of us, leaving the others hidden. I unfurled my telekinesis and forced it through the building, room by room.

When my mind vision reached the basement, I gasped and slapped my hand over my mouth. I blurted past my fingers, “Oh, God! They’re … oh, no, Daniel. They’re … I think they’re all dead.”

When Kieran dropped his veil, Daniel and Michael regarded me, both of them aghast.

“What?” Daniel barked. “Dead? Where?”

“The basement.” I’d hardly uttered the words before he sprinted for the stairs. “Daniel! Wait. We need to stick together. I haven’t—”

Michael took off after him, forcing the rest of us to follow if we wanted to stay grouped.

I opened my mouth to tell him I just needed a moment to thoroughly check the rest of the building, but he’d already thrown open the door to the basement stairs. The nasty smell I’d caught whiff of earlier hit us full force. I gagged, my words choked off, and staggered back a step, once again pressing my free hand over my mouth. Jackie cursed.

Holy hell.
I wanted to be anywhere but here. Everything in me screamed not to descend those stairs. But apparently the smell wasn’t enough to deter Daniel. He’d already disappeared below, not bothering to hold up long enough to see whether we followed. Michael pursued in his wake. Both Kim and Jackie didn’t look any happier than me. Hand in hand, though, they trailed after Michael, Jackie leading a grim-faced Kim.

Kieran tweaked my hand. “You first, I’ll take the rear.”

I held tight to his fingers, probably squeezing hard enough to cut vital blood flow, and descended the narrow stairs. A single light fixture with a naked bulb shone bitterly above, throwing ominous shadows in front of me. I didn’t like knowing the stairs were the basement’s only point of egress. Why hadn’t I considered that during our planning session? So stupid.

With my pounding heartbeat filling my ears, it took every bit of my willpower to continue downward. I seized upon my anger and frustration like a lifeline, feeding it, trying to drown the terrified voice shrieking at me to run away. I ran through every possible curse word in my head and then some. When that got old, I grumbled,
Damn it, Daniel. Can’t even give me one fucking minute to check the goddamned building? I can’t do that and walk down these damned stairs and try not to vomit all at the same fucking time.

When I arrived at the bottom of the stairs, I’d already contemplated twice over my plan to give Daniel a swift kick at the first reasonable opportunity. That thought, however, died at the sight of him kneeling on the tile floor, grief stricken and moaning, “No, no, no,” over and over. Even though they’d turned against him, these people had been his friends. He’d grown up with them.

I’d already examined the scene in my mind, but now, color filled in all the dreadful gaps.

The room I’d stepped into was large and rectangular, perhaps thirty by forty feet, supported by two structural columns. A series of narrow windows on the opposite wall, their top casings nearly kissing the ceiling, had been blackened by a thick coating of paint, now cracked with age. Boxed fluorescent fixtures cast their harsh light on the carnage that splayed over the left side of the room. But it was the metal folding chairs, shoved aside and waiting for their next meeting, that somehow made the whole scene even more unsettling.