Iniquity (The Premonition Series Book 5) (25 page)

I
don’t return
my consciousness to my body after leaving Brennus. Instead I think of a golden-haired Seraph with one eye the color of sky and the other the color of clover. My clone moves through the night, retracing the path I’d just taken. I’m a blowing feather, floating downward, into the house that I left a short time ago—Xavier’s house.

I go through it, passing from room to room, each one more destroyed than the last. My light illuminates the night as I float back outside, onto the rooftop patio. I find Xavier, his shoulders rounded as he grips the railing overlooking the water. His hands have bent the metal. Snow falls around us. He’s shirtless, his crimson-colored wings shifting in the frigid air. He must be cold.

“You should go inside. It’s freezing out here.”

He whips around, facing me. The savage pain etched upon his face is almost more than I can bear. “Where are you?”

“Not far from here.”

“Show me where you are and I will come get you.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Please go inside,” I beg. I hate seeing him like this. He’s an open wound.

He takes a few steps nearer to the image of me. “Not until you tell me where you are.” His warm breath clashes with cold night, causing white wispy vapor to curl away from him.

“I need you, Xavier. I’m dead if you don’t help me.”

His face stiffens as he attempts to rein in his emotions. “Tell me what’s happened.”

“I know about that night—the night I was suppose to meet you at the bridge. I never made it there.”

“You have the boatswain.” He inhales as if he can take his first deep breath in a long time.

“I do,” I say in Angel. I know I’m not supposed to tell him, but I have to in order to make him understand.

“You remember Simone? You remember us?” he asks in Angel. His handsome face is hopeful.

I close my clone’s eyes in concentration, breaking off a small fragment of her. I open her eyes again as I thrust the glowing shard of my energy into him. It pierces his heart like a dagger, disappearing inside his chest. He glows brighter for a moment. His face is one of shock until the memory plays out to the end. The light dissipates from him and he sags a little, unharmed, but trying to make sense of all he saw in my memory. When he looks at me again, the hopeless ache that was in his eyes is gone and reckless joy replaces it.

“You told me you made a deal for us, but you couldn’t tell me anything else.” He would hold me in his arms now if he could. His hands open, and then close tight. “I will destroy your inescapable and Byzantyne. Your soldier will ascend, and then it’s you and me together for eternity.

“Reed is my aspire.” My voice is as haunting as my clone body.

“Only until he ascends. Once that happens, his binding mark will strip from your skin and you’ll be released from your obligations to him. You’ll be his champion no more. You can choose your love.”

“I’m in love with him, Xavier.”

“You love me.”

“I do love you—”

“It’s always been us, Evie, even when you were tied to your soul mate. No one knows you like I know you.”

“I remember, but I’m different now. I’m not the being with whom you fell in love.”

“I know exactly who you are! I’ve protected you in this lifetime, too, until your contract with Byzantyne made it impossible for me to remain. I love you. I will finish this for you, and when I do, Reed will ascend. He’ll vanish from your life. All that will be left is us.”

I ache inside my real body, the one that is with Reed. “Until then, you have to respect that he’s my aspire,” I say through my clone.

He doesn’t like what he sees—my sorrow. “Where are you?” he asks again.

“I’m on my way to gather my army.”

He frowns. “Your army is where we were—in the mountain.”

“No, that’s your army, Xavier. My army is the Gancanagh and any other being who would follow me.”

“The Gancanagh are evil!”

“This is about redemption.”

“Whose redemption?”

“Theirs—mine. They deserve a chance to change and we need them to fight for us.”

“And you would give them redemption?”

“I would, but it’s not up to me.”

“No, it’s not. Only Heaven can decide their fate.”

“These are the flames by which they will burn then—or not. If they must die, then let this prove them worthy of forgiveness.”

He paces in front of me. “The gates of Sheol are open, Evie.”

“I am aware of that.” He stops to look at me, surprised by my calm, in-control demeanor. “You have to return to Tau and convince my father to meet us with his army in Crestwood. We have to join our forces in order to defeat the Fallen.”

“You’re asking divine angels to fight alongside undead demons? They will never agree to such an arrangement.”

“Then you have to make them agree. You have to lead them.”

“Your father—”

“He’ll listen to you if you explain it to him. Tell Tau that Emil is waiting for me there. The more time that passes, the more humans Emil will corrupt to fight for him. He hides just behind the gates. He has a plan to draw us in. He will attack us with an army of fallen. The boatswain wasn’t meant to open the gates of Sheol, it was meant to close them. And when that happens the sound of its music will separate Emil’s soul from his angelic body, just like it almost did to me the moment we used it before. Once Emil’s soul has divided from his body, we have to use the weapon Heaven has hidden for us in order to destroy his soul. His soul has to be annihilated or the contract is not fulfilled.”

“Tau said that Phaedrus is working with your soul mate to secure such a weapon—”

“We’ll find it. I promise.”

“The thought of you at the mercy of the Gancanagh is more than I can take, Evie.”

“I won’t be at their mercy, Xavier. They’ll be at mine.”

“How do I get in contact with you?” he asks.

“I’ll contact you. Convince my father, Xavier. My life depends upon it. I will see you in Crestwood.” I let go of my clone and she evaporates into the air.

I
return to myself
, waking up from my clone. Opening my eyes, I look through the windshield of Xavier’s car. Red neon light blinks the word “Opa” on and off from a sign, turning my skin rosy, and then pale. I straighten in the passenger seat of the SUV. Soft Greek music plays from somewhere out on the street. I glance over to the driver’s side of the parked car. Reed is there, watching me. He squeezes my hand clasped in his. “Hey,” I murmur, trying to smile but finding it too difficult to manage right now. “Brennus is here—in Detroit—not far from where we are now.”

Reed’s eyes narrow in confusion. “How did he know we were here?”

“He didn’t. He’s here because it’s my hometown. He associates it with me.”

“Your hand is cold,” he says, rubbing warmth back into it. Would you like to get something to eat while we wait for Russell? I need to find a phone so I can contact him.”

“I can send a clone to—”

“Let’s conserve your energy for more important battles, Evie. I’ll call him instead.” He’s out of the car and opening my door in an instant. With his hand on the small of my back, he leads me into an upscale Greek restaurant. We find a dimly lit table by the window. I look around at the dark wood walls and gas-lit wall sconces that give an old world feel to the place. A beautiful waitress appears to take our order. She becomes chatty when she sees Reed. I take the menu that Reed hands to me while she hovers by him with suggestions, pointing out her favorite dishes. After we order, Reed asks her if he can use a phone. I’m sure they never normally allow anyone to use their phone, but because it’s Reed and he has the face of an angel, she automatically agrees. He doesn’t even have to convince her with his persuasive voice. As she leads him to the back, she can’t help staring at him.

She returns before Reed with our water. I have the urge to stab her with my fork, but I’m better at controlling those impulses now. Instead, I take a sip of my drink, gazing through a picture window at the falling snow. “They’re close,” Reed says as he slips into the seat beside me. He leans to me, kissing my cheek and nuzzling my neck.

“They?” I ask. “It’s not just Russell?”

“I don’t think he could leave any of our family behind if he put a spell on them to make them stay.”

“Zee?”

“All of them.” Guilt, denial, and fear crash in on me. I want them anywhere but here. My aspire reads my mind. “It’s not your choice to make. It’s theirs. You’re not responsible for what evil does.” I know that he’s right. Everyone involved has to decide the role they want in this. It’s a war and it’s here.

“You’re right,” I murmur. Our food arrives. As we eat, I savor the exquisite torture of phantom touches from Reed’s nearness. I pretend that this is our life—that we’re just a normal couple having dinner together. I pretend that we don’t have dire consequences of an impossible contract between us.

I can’t help asking myself questions.
What if it was the two of us forever? Could I hold onto this much happiness? Could anyone?
My pulse races even now with him next to me. I swear that my body is made for his.
Could I be content with someone else now?
I know the answer is no. He has ruined me for anyone else.

When we finish eating, Reed’s expression becomes serious. He looks off through the window at the street outside. It’s getting really late. The staff is looking at us with an expectant air. They want us to leave so they can. Reed rises from the table and pays the bill in cash. He walks to where the staff has collected. With his persuasive voice, he says, “All of your guests are gone. You’re free to lock up now and carry on with your evening.” His voice whispers and hisses in my head. I want to itch my brain, but I’m unable to through my skull. Luckily, the sensation passes quickly.

The staff collects their coats in a drone-like stupor, before filing out of the restaurant. Reed trails the last one to the door. “You’ll remember tomorrow that you put your key in the mailbox after you closed tonight,” Reed says with an echoing voice, taking the key from him. The man walks away in a daze. Reed closes the door behind him and locks it, leaving the key in it. He goes to the bar. Selecting a bottle of wine and two glasses, he beckons me over.

I walk to the bar and slide onto a barstool. He pours me a drink. Taking the glass of wine Reed offers me, I touch the rim of mine to his. “To us,” I murmur.

“To always,” he replies.

I take a deep sip. He crouches behind the bar. A stereo system comes on with the muffled hum of electricity. Haunting music pipes through the speakers, defying gravity, floating through the room on a current of air. A soft guitar and mandolin with a bass instrument and violins weave in and out of one another at a slow tempo. Before I realize what he’s doing, Reed has moved the tables aside and is in front of me, holding his hand out. “Dance with me.”

I set down my glass on the bar. My hand closes in his. He lifts me off the barstool. My body presses and slides down his until my feet touch the floor. My heart beats faster. I’m in his arms. My head rests against his chest. Fire meets fire. He moves to the languid beat of the music. We’re really not dancing, not the way he’s capable of dancing. This is more like holding one another beneath the moonlight coming through the picture window. I only move when Reed moves, fading into him as if two becomes one. It feels as if he soaks into my skin and there is no way to tell where he ends and I begin.

“Did I thank you for everything you gave me?” I ask Reed in a whisper.

“Every day.”

“There was so much in this world that could hurt me and you kept it from me. If this doesn’t work out for us—” my chin begins to tremble.

“Shh…it will.” He holds me tighter.

“If it doesn’t, I’ll meet you on the other side. Okay?” I press my face to his chest, holding back my tears. I know it’s ridiculous, what I just said. There is no other side for us if we lose. We just end.

Reed plays along. “It’s a date,” he whispers into my hair. We sway together long after the music ends.

There’s a loud rap on the door. Reed’s forehead rests against mine. He whispers, I love you, Evie.” His hand still lingers on my hip, like he can’t let me go. I look over his shoulder. Russell is on the other side of the glass. His tawny hair is covered with a Detroit Tigers knit cap. Russell nods his head toward the doorknob. He’s holding Anya’s hand. White, new snow clings to her ebony hair and her long, black eyelashes. Lion-shaped earmuffs cover her ears. Reed lets go of me to unlock the door. I glance through the picture window. Buns and Brownie close the car doors of the Golden Goose, Buns’ semi-luxury gold-tone car from the nineteen eighties. Zephyr is on the street, checking out the area with his hunter eyes, trying to calculate the danger surrounding us.