Scorched Skies (38 page)

“Ah, I see.” Fallon
’
s eyes washed over the table. “Jack
’
s teaching you how it
’
s done.”

Charlie sighed. Fallon had also become pretty close to Ari over the last week. “You going to rag on me about it?”

The young Guild hunter
’
s dark eyes widened. “Hell no.” She grabbed up a chunk of lapis lazuli. “I
’
m joining in.”

Charlie grinned, watching as Fallon cast an enchantment with the rock, turning everything in the room the color of the stone, including herself. Only Jack and Charlie remained normal. The air was thick with the smell of wet paint.

“Where did she go?” Charlie asked Jack, his eyes straining to find her. Suddenly he laughed as her eyes popped open against the forever blue. She had blended into the staircase.

“This really has no purpose.” Fallon chuckled. “It
’
s just fun.”

Jack exhaled heavily. “Fallon, I
’
m trying to teach him real things, not stupid parlor tricks. Not to mention you just drained who knows how many pots of paint of that color from every hardware store in the vicinity.”

The blue began to drip from everything, flooding to the floor in a river that bubbled and popped until it was completely gone. Fallon stood before them blue-free. “Yeah, but the parlor tricks are a riot. And it
’
s only a little paint, it
’
s not like I stole gold or anything.”

Her smile was infectious and Charlie
’
s blood heated with the excitement of having so much power in his control he could just use it to mess around when his revenge was over. A little voice in the back of his head whispered the words
‘
consequences
’
. He pushed it back, not wanting anything to dampen his spirits.

Together he and Fallon put their heads together over the table, listening as Jack taught him as much as he could. All thoughts of Ari
’
s earlier cold indifference melted out of existence, the knot in his stomach transforming to little moths of anticipation.

Hours later, Ari
stared into the fire as summer rainfall battered against the glass windows. The room was dark from the bleak sky outside and Ari
’
s eyes had automatically tracked to the fire that had been lit. It really hadn
’
t been needed, it was still warm outside, but Matt had decided a fire would be cozy. The twins were on the sofa playing the Wii. Ari was in the room with them but her mind was downstairs in the basement where Fallon and Jack were teaching Charlie to harness his gifts. She felt sick with worry and was exhausted pretending she didn
’
t. Fallon had assured her that teaching Charlie to control his gift was the best thing for him, but all Ari could think about was what the power and its addictive properties in a half-breed had done to someone like Dalí.

Ari had been sitting with the women in the kitchen for a while before needing some solitude. Everyone was a lot more at ease with her and Ari had used the time to take her mind off Charlie. As Bryleigh had cooked dinner, Megan, Susan and Ailidh had sat around the breakfast table chatting away about this and that. Ari had found a break in the conversation to ask, “So when do you think we
’
ll get word about Dalí?”

“Soon.” Megan had smiled at her sympathetically, seeming to understand Ari
’
s impatience and need for action. “I know it can get boring waiting around for new leads but we take turns, working in groups of three or four. Minimalizes the boredom.”

“I think the rat bastard has definitely moved on,” Susan had added, swinging a carrot stick around to punctuate her words. “There
’
s no trace of him here. I was out yesterday with the twins, and Aidan, Brechin and Anabeth are out today. They called in to say… nada. Again.”

“Well, if he
’
s upped his game from robbery to kidnapping and possibly murder, I don
’
t see why we should be left alone to deal with that?” Ailidh had glowered, clearly uneasy at the thought.

Confused at her meaning, Ari had asked, “What do you mean?”

Megan had explained. “Like all Jinn, we have different levels of power within our Guild. We categorize our targets so we can send the appropriate Guild hunter after it. With nasty, dangerous Jinn like Ghulah
’
s, Labartus, Nisnas, Marids, Shaitans etc we keep tabs on them once they cross our radar. We have hunters follow them, trying to prevent them, as much as possible, from inflicting damage on the human world. We can
’
t kill them without reprisal, so we just keep tracking them. When they flee the country, the hunter follows them until the next country has been alerted and can take over the hunt with one of their own Guild. With sorcerers it
’
s different. They
’
re more elusive because, like us, they
’
re part human so their energy is diluted. Since we can kill them without reprisal from the Jinn courts, we hunt them and when we find them we kill them. Again, if it
’
s a particularly brutish son-of-a-bitch we make sure the team hunting them has among them our most powerful.”

“And you guys don
’
t have that person here?” Ari had asked, surprised.

Bryleigh had shaken her head as she
’
d rolled out pastry for the pies she was baking. “Fallon
’
s father is the most powerful among our Guild. He usually deals with murderers etc. Fallon will be almost as strong as him one day, but she
’
s still very young.”

“I don
’
t get it. You knew Dalí was the son of a King, right? So why didn
’
t you send Fallon
’
s dad after him?”

“We didn
’
t know Dalí was the son of King,” Megan had disagreed with a frown. “It was just rumor. And considering every sorcerer on the planet claims to be related to the Sultan or a Jinn King, we didn
’
t really believe the rumors. But it doesn
’
t matter, because we do have strong hunters with us. Jacob.” Megan had nodded in assurance. “And my Gerard, and Jacob
’
s nephew, Brechin. Plus… we have a Ginnaye among us now. A full-blood. Jai
’
s more powerful than two of us put together.”

That had seemed to be the end of the discussion as Susan started chatting about her cousin Fallon
’
s obvious crush on Charlie. Rolling her eyes, Ari had quietly slipped from the room and had slumped down in an armchair at the fireplace, the sounds of the twins playing the game console soothing to her over anxious ears.

“Did you hear about that Scottish Guild member?” Callum asked quietly, the hushed tone of his voice catching Ari
’
s attention.

Matt shook his head, frowning at the game. “No. What Guild member?”

“I heard Scott and Gerard talking about it this morning. Michael called this morning to say they had found out stuff about those kidnappings and would call back later when they had the info confirmed. He also told Gerard that some important Guild hunter in Scotland had just been sentenced to death in the Jinn courts.”

Ari
’
s eyes widened, and totally appalled she leaned in further to listen.

Matt stilled too, looking at his brother with sadness in his eyes. “What happened?”

“He killed a Ghulah. The thing was munching on one of his Guild and he just lost it and killed it. He was taken to court, but apparently his defense wasn
’
t strong enough and there wasn
’
t a full-blooded Jinn to speak for him so he was sentenced to death.”

“Shit.” Matt shook his head angrily now. “If it had been someone like Jai he would have gotten off with a slap on the wrist or a castration or something like that. But no… the tiniest bit of human blood and you got no chance of a fair trial.”

“Yup.” Callum battered his control with his fingers. “There
’
s no escaping fate in the Jinn world.”

His words pounded into Ari like bullets, propelling her back in her chair with a muffled gasp. Her chest constricted and she felt a panic attack come on for the first time in weeks. Her brain grew fuzzy and her breathing labored. There was no escaping fate. There was no escaping her own fate. Her future was hopeless. She knew that. She
’
d always known it. But for some reason today she couldn
’
t cope with it. Not wanting the guys to see her meltdown, Ari hurried from the main sitting room into the study, her feet coming to a halt when she saw Jai sitting at the desk, staring out at the rain. He twisted around to look at her and his eyes narrowed at her expression.

“What
’
s going on?” he asked softly, standing up swiftly and striding towards her.

Ari
’
s whole body buzzed with emotion at being the focus of his attention and she licked her lips unconsciously as his power washed over her. For a moment the panic had eased. Exhausted, Ari found herself giving in. “I
’
m calling a ceasefire on Ari
’
s Bitchfest 2011.”

Jai smirked, his green eyes sparking with laughter. “Why?”

She exhaled heavily, her hands and knees trembling. “Because I really need a friend.”

Her skin tingled as Jai gently took hold of her hand and led her over to the leather sofa. He let go as they sat down next to each other and she felt the loss of his warmth within her supposed-to-be-temperate body. “What
’
s going on?” he asked quietly, his concern no longer irritating but needed. Wanted.

“I
’
m not going to make it,” Ari told him, her voice shaking with the confession. “We
’
re chasing after Dalí and dodging my father, but I
’
m not going to make it out of this, Jai. Azazil has to have something planned. And with the kind of power I have it won
’
t be long before the entire Jinn world finds out about me and then what? I
’
m a goner. I
’
m so dead,” she choked, fear squeezing her lungs and numbing her legs.

Recognizing the panic attack, Jai grabbed a hold of both of her hands, his rough touch drawing her panic out like he was sucking poison from a snake bite. “I am not going to let that happen,” he promised her fiercely, his eyes intense and voice low with emotion. “You need to believe that.”

“I don
’
t want you to get hurt.” And she knew she was breaking her own promise, letting her feelings for him shine out of her eyes. But it seemed even after a few weeks of trying to put distance between them, even after the confusion and hurt she
’
d felt when he
’
d told her about Yasmin and how he had treated the young Ginnaye, Ari couldn
’
t let go. She knew she should. She knew it was the right thing to do.