Lightning Kissed (25 page)

Colby drew herself against my back. I could
feel the heaves of her fearful chest behind me. Ari stopped her
pre-assault, opting instead for a gaping mouth and a slouched
posture.

I looked to Pema. What had she done? Her
eyes were closed tight, like a child afraid of the monster in the
closet. If she just closed her eyes, maybe it would go away.

Ari joined Colby behind me as a figure, dark
as the clouds in the sky, approached the French doors.

“I swear, I only did it to help you,” Pema
blurted out again, sneaking in one more apology.

“Who is it?” I asked. She opened her mouth
to answer, but was overwrought with a tremble so great, it
prevented her explanation.

“Well, dear perfect Theo, what have we
gotten ourselves into?”

The man was years older than the one I
remembered, but there was no denying his identity. His hair was
shaven so close to his head on the sides that the sheen reflected
aftershocks of the black lightning. He wore a black button-down
shirt, black pants, and matching black suspenders.

Even his eyes were black.

Not at all who I remembered from our
childhood.

“Torrent?” I asked and shocked myself into
believing at the same time.

“Yes, brother. Long time no see.”

His voice was slitherous, which matched his
devilish appearance. He was alive and well. Not well, per se, but
alive. My brother had always been the darker of us two, always
dabbling in the more mysterious things in life.

“Long enough to drive our parents to near
madness wondering where you were.”

“Oh, believe me, Theo, they know. It’s just
easier for them to pretend I’m missing than think about what I
am.”

“And what exactly are you, Torrent?”

He smoothed his collar and took an unwelcome
seat on the nearest chair. He made sure to glare at Pema before
matching my gaze again.

“I thought you said he had been
researching.”

“He had. There’s missing information.”

With an eye roll, he mumbled, “Clearly. Tsk,
tsk, Pema. Theo, come now, think about it.” His accent sounded a
little British. He was a grown up, British version of my
brother.

“No, just tell me. Without the taunting, or
the pompous attitude. Tell me what has been more important than
your family?”

Another eye roll. I didn’t like this Torrent
at all.

“There is good and bad. Heaven and Hell. Ice
and Fire. You really think there could be an Eidolon without his
counterpart? Who better to fulfill the role than the brother of the
Eidolon?”

Collin straightened up. “It’s just a
myth.”

“You people are ridiculous. You take
everything at face value. Do I look like a myth?”

Pema chimed in, but looked like she might
want to upchuck instead, “It’s true. He is Sanctum.”

“Sanctum is a person—who killed Demetrius,”
Colby spoke up.

Torrent, Sanctum, whatever his name was,
stood and encroached on my personal space. He looked at Colby. One
corner of his mouth upturned as he addressed her comment. “No,
sweet Colby, Sanctum is my title.”

“Explain,” my tone demanded.

“Nah. I don’t feel like it.” He began to
stroll around the room. “How about we talk about bigger and better
things. Let’s talk about how you and I are going to work
together.”

“Work together? In what capacity would I
ever work with you?”

He took in the perimeter of the room while
drumming up his next sentence. It had better be a good one. Though
I hadn’t seen him in years, at this point, I was grateful for his
absence. If this was what we were missing, then he could just go
back to wherever he came from.

“Like how we have a common enemy—enemy of my
enemy is my friend and all that. More specifically, let’s talk
about how you and I are going to take out the Synod—together.”

To Be Continued…

The love and
Skate Series:

Love and Skate

How It rolls

Down n derby

Caught in a jam

False start

Love and skate (the second Jam)

Bayou bear chronicles:

Burden

Hearten

Forced autonomy (a dystopian novella
serial)

Anguish

heartbreaker

Seeking havok

Emerge

Perchance

hoax

Striking (co-authored by Rachel
Higginson)

Lila Felix is full of
antics and stories. She refused to go to Kindergarten after the
teacher made her take a nap on the first day. She staged her first
protest in middle school. She almost flunked out of her first
semester at Pepperdine University because she was enthralled with
their library and frequently was locked in. Now her husband and
three children have to put up with her rebel nature in Louisiana
where her days are filled with cypress trees, crawfish, and of
course her books and writing. She writes about the ordinary rebels
who fall extraordinarily in wild, true love.

www.lilafelix.com

www.authorlilafelix.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/authorlilafelix

twitter: @authorlilafelix

email:
[email protected]

To God, for a
mind that conjures stories and fingers almost fast enough to keep
up.

To my husband and children, the core of my
heart and the breath in my lungs.

To Marcia Woodell, for putting up with my
constant texts about translations into Portuguese.

To the Hellcats, for just being all around
bad ass.

To the Rink Rats: the best damned street
team ever. Hands down, not even kidding.

To the betas who put up with my nagging:
Mandy, Candace, & Ashleigh.

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