Guild of Truth 02 - Shield from the Heart (2 page)

Vander had been able to get a few of his captives out, her mystery man being one of them. The guilt over that had never truly left her, but it was another deeper fear inside her that urged her toward finding their new location. The fear that her mystery man was her destined Mirror Mate — a soul mate that, once bonded with her, would increase her individual power.

She shook her head.

It wasn’t possible.

She clicked on a file folder a little too forcefully.

All she needed to do was find the new location, free the man she’d seen all those months ago, and then her conscience would be clear. She’d be able to celebrate her three year anniversary with Joel without a doubt that he was the man for her.

It was time to take action.

“Come on,” she mumbled to her computer as she searched for any address that could be used as an alternative facility.

The harsh clatter of metal hitting the floor made her jump.

“Sorry.” Cali Crazar stood in the doorway to her office, two paint cans resting at her feet. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Liar.”

Cali shrugged. “Not my fault you were too absorbed in your computer. What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.” Sydney tried to minimize the window but Cali was too fast.

Darn her and her long legs.

Cali had all the makings of a runway model: tall, lean build with dark hair and dark eyes. She was twenty-five, nearly two months older than Sydney. However, with her height, most days Cali made Sydney feel like a child when she stood next to her.

“The Kratos database?”

“Like I said.” Sydney exited the window. “Nothing.”

Cali leaned against her desk, arms crossed. “That’s not nothing. What are you expecting to find?”

As if she didn’t know. Cali had been there when they’d found the man with eyes like ice. She’d been there when Sydney had gone to the hospital in hopes of finding him among the other rescuees. But Cali wanted her to say it out loud.

Sydney had a sneaking suspicion that Cali might know what Sydney was too afraid to voice.

Cali had found her Mirror Mate all those months ago in Sydney’s best friend, Felix. He’d been sent to rescue Cali from Vander Donahughe — who, at the time, had believed Cali to be his soul mate.

“Well?” Cali prodded. “You were trying to find where they might be keeping
him
, weren’t you?”

Sydney avoided her eyes, her heart speeding up.

Her office grew quiet, the faintest
ba-bump, ba-bump
filling the air.

It sounded in time with her heartbeat.

Sydney shot her Shield up.

The sound cut off instantly.

She whirled on Cali. “Don’t do that.”

Cali narrowed her eyes. “If you’d tell me the truth I wouldn’t have to use my powers as a lie detector.”

Cali was their guild’s Silencer, someone with the ability to manipulate sound, and ever since she became full-forced she’d been experimenting with her powers like crazy — her most recent breakthrough being she could determine if a person was lying by how fast their heart beat.

“Everyone is worried about you, Sydney,” Cali continued. “You’ve been acting different for months now. And don’t think I don’t know why. What I don’t know is why you’re so obsessed with finding him.”

Sydney dropped her Shield, the prickling at the back of her neck fading with her powers. “I’m not obsessed. I feel guilty. Every time I remember that we had a chance to free him and didn’t, it eats at me. We thought he’d be safe with the cops on their way, but all we did was condemn him to more time with Vander. I feel it’s my duty to find him.”

Cali gave her a look that said she didn’t one hundred percent trust her answer. “Duty? That’s all you feel?”

“Yes.”

No.

“I’m trying not to let it get to me but after so long with no results … ”

“It wears on you,” Cali finished for her. “I get it. But don’t worry, Joel’s continually hacking into the system to find new information so it’s only a matter of time. Now let’s finish painting this room, shall we?”

As well as being a Silencer, Cali was also an amazingly talented artist. She was hard pressed for a job so Sydney had hired her to repaint the office. They both knew it was a waste of her skill but it was the only way Sydney could help her without giving her money outright. Cali wouldn’t have accepted it any other way.

• • •

Joel burst into Sydney’s office. “I got something.”

Sydney and Cali both looked up from their work.

“What’d you get?” Cali asked as Joel came around Sydney’s desk, his midnight blue eyes sparkling.

“I’ve been keeping tabs on all the e-mails that have been going back and forth to the different Kratos Companies. I have a system in place to alert me if there is any form of address going through the message and today there was a red flag.” Joel gave Sydney a quick kiss in greeting.

She hardly felt it.

“You have a new address?” she asked.

He slapped a sheet of paper down in front of her. “Not only an address. Look at what was being shipped to this location.”

Cali came up behind him. “Propofol?”

Sydney snatched the document. “It’s a sedative, the one that I use in my practice.”

Cali caught on instantly. “Which means that there’s something at this address that they are trying to contain.”

“All in favor that what they’re keeping are people?” said Joel while raising his hand.

Sydney shared a look with Cali before they both raised their hands in agreement.

“This is it,” said Sydney, staring at the address. San Francisco. Her heart beat rapidly. “We need to get Niella and Felix in here to discuss our next move.”

Cali already had her cell phone out. “Felix said he’d be here shortly. He also has a surprise for you.”

A surprise for her? The thought gave Sydney pause.

“Come on.” Cali beckoned them out of the office to the front lobby where Niella sat at her regular post behind the reception desk.

Niella Souveray was the guild’s Dreamer. Her power included visions of the past, present, or future. Unfortunately, she had no control over what or when she Dreamed. She looked up from her work when they entered the room. “So? We learn anything new?” She wheeled herself out into the middle of the lobby.

Sydney handed her the printout of the e-mail.

Niella’s hazel eyes scanned the information. “So who’s going to San Francisco?”

“I am.”

“I will.”

Sydney exchanged a startled look with Cali who had answered at the same time. They both stared at one another until Felix came through the door. Cali’s eyes instantly sought him out.

Sydney felt a pang of jealousy — which was ridiculous because she had Joel.

She looked over her shoulder at him and found that he was watching Cali and Felix too, a wistful expression on his face. Her jealousy turned to guilt. Out of everyone in the guild, Joel had suffered the most at her strange behavior. She owed it to him to find this man so that she could return once more to the woman that she was.

He caught her staring at him and offered a warm smile before he came closer and took her hand in his. Sydney waited for the flutter of her heart or the flip of her stomach, but she guessed that after dating for so long it was natural to lose some of the excitement.

She squeezed his scarred fingers, resisting the urge to wince. The scars that ran along Joel’s hands and forearms were something that she could never truly accustom herself to. It wasn’t that she was shallow and wanted his skin perfect, she just couldn’t look at them without thinking about how much pain he’d gone through when he’d been cut or burned working on cars with his father as a teen.

“What’d I miss?” Felix slid one arm around Cali’s waist to address the group at large.

Cali gazed up at him. “We’re going to San Francisco.”

Sydney stepped forward. “Actually, I think it’d be best if I went.”

The silence that followed was oppressive. She shifted nervously under everyone’s gaze.

Cali found her voice first. “You can’t just take off for a week. As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t have a steady job like you do. I’m a little more flexible right now.”

Sydney’s brain understood the reasoning behind Cali’s words, but her heart simply wouldn’t listen. “I’ll take time off, reschedule all my appointments. I’m overdue for a vacation anyway.”

“Don’t worry about it, Syd,” said Felix. “Cali’s right, we need you to stay employed to fund our little Guild of Truth.” He flashed a grin.

Sydney’s temper flared. A normally rare occurrence that she now found happening more and more. “Maybe I don’t want to freakin’ stay behind this time. Anyone ever think of that? I may not have the most offensive powers but I can still pull my own weight. I don’t want to be the guild’s sugar momma.”

Felix held his hands up. “Whoa, totally not what I meant, Syd.”

“I know what you meant and I’m sick of being assigned to the B-team.”

“Now you know how I feel,” Niella mumbled.

Sydney left that comment alone. She wasn’t about to get into it with Niella. “If Vander’s at this location then anyone who goes up there is in danger.”

“Yeah,” Cali butted in, “which is why — ”

“Everyone but me,” Sydney cut her off. “Vander is powerless with me there. Literally.”

Cali wanted to say more. Sydney could see it in her expression. Cali had a vendetta against Vander after he kidnapped and tortured her personally. There was also the small fact that he’d tried to have Felix killed. But she also knew how much Sydney needed to find this mystery man of hers.

Their eyes locked, her green with Cali’s obsidian.

“You know, I’m a little overdue on some vacation time too,” Joel broke into the conversation.

Sydney gave him a dazzling smile. He was backing her up. After everything she’d put him through he was still sticking with her.

“When are you guys leaving?” Felix kept his hands up in surrender and Sydney felt a little bad about snapping at him like that.

“As soon as possible, I guess,” said Joel.

Sydney straightened her shoulders. “Tomorrow night.”

Joel gaped at her. “T-tomorrow night? Syd, I have to request time off. I can’t just get up and leave.”

“Tell them a relative passed away. They’ll understand.”

Joel shot a beseeching look at Felix. Felix shrugged his broad shoulders, some of his regular mirth shining in his blue-green eyes. “Oh, before I forget, Syd,” said Felix, “I have a surprise for you.”

Any more debate about San Francisco was put on hold as Felix led them out into the crisp autumn evening. The wind had kicked up, the sun already setting, the days getting shorter as they neared October. Gone were the days when it was light until eight at night.

“You too, Niella.” Felix called as she stopped her wheelchair in the doorway of the clinic.

She waved him off and crossed her arms as the breeze barely disturbed her short pixie hair. “I can see everything I need to from right here.”

Cali stuck her tongue out at her. Niella quirked an eyebrow, her lips twitching as if repressing a smile.

“What are we looking for exactly?” asked Sydney with a shiver.

Joel put his arm around her and tucked her into the warmth of his body. She stiffened for a fraction of a second before she forced herself to relax.

“You ready?” Felix’s grin widened. He scanned the plaza parking lot but the traffic was slow. He inhaled deeply and focused his eyes on the empty handicap parking spot.

Everyone waited.

They kept waiting.

Sydney looked to Cali to see if she’d give anything away but her attention was riveted to her Mirror Mate. “What — ?”

Felix waved his hand. Sydney’s Toyota Yaris appeared out of nowhere.

“Shit,” Joel breathed.

Sydney stared at her long lost vehicle. “You brought it back?” Three months ago when Felix had rushed to Cali’s rescue, Sydney had followed to offer backup and was rewarded with Felix Erasing her car so that no one could trace her to what had turned into a semi-crime scene. She’d thought the car she’d bought last spring to be lost forever. Felix had never been able to return things once he Erased them. But that was before he bonded with Cali and became full-forced.

She went to the hood of her car. It was hot to the touch. Unnaturally so. There was a faint aroma of sulfur that lingered.

“Where did it go?” She pulled her hand back with a frown. Her fingers were covered in a sticky goo. In fact, the entire car seemed to be coated in the faint pink mucus. Brown dirt clung to the goo-like film and Sydney investigated the side of her car where there were a few dents and scratches.

A frown marred Felix’s handsome features. “No idea.”

She crouched down to get a better look at the markings. She had to be hanging around Joel and Felix too much, because if she were perfectly honest, the scratch marks didn’t look entirely human or animal.

“When did you learn that you could do this?” Sydney finished wiping the substance off her hand with the towel Niella offered her.

“Cali’s not the only one that’s been experimenting,” said Felix. “I first started with Niella’s theory that when I became full-forced it’d increase the distance in which I can use my powers. I tried Erasing something I couldn’t see in another room, but that didn’t work. So I moved on to something extremely far away that I could still see.” He shook his head. “But that was a no-go too. Finally, I tried to bring back something I Erased.”

“And still no idea where it went?” Joel pointed to Sydney’s car.

The entire guild was a little on edge after they inspected her vehicle.

Felix promised to clean off the “ectoplasmic membrane” by the time she got back. But that wasn’t what worried her. What if the substance was toxic? It was highly unlikely, considering that she’d touched it, but what if it was ingested by accident? She almost wanted Felix to Erase it back to wherever it had been.

Felix looked genuinely concerned. “No idea, man,” he answered Joel. “Everything else I’ve Erased and brought back were on a much smaller scale.”

“They also weren’t Erased for as long as Sydney’s car,” added Cali.