chapter Nine
This wasn’t the first time that Niko had stared death in the face.
Years before he’d fought off a group of morons who were in the process of lynching a young female psychic who’d been trying to make a living as a traveling gypsy.
Another time he was tracking a witch who was convinced she was destined to trigger doomsday and got caught in her lethal spell.
But he’d never teetered so close to the edge.
And certainly he’d never debated whether it would be preferable to battle through the pain so he could live. Or simply slip into the waiting darkness.
It was the image of dark, serious eyes and a lush, feminine mouth that had driven him to madness only hours before that gave him the grim determination to crawl back from the abyss. And, of course, the persistent sound of his name being shouted in his ear.
Scowling in annoyance, he forced open his heavy lids, not at all surprised to discover his fellow Sentinel crouched beside him with a worried expression.
“Arel?” he managed to croak.
Fierce relief flared through the golden eyes. “Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty.”
Pressing a hand to his aching head, Niko struggled to a sitting position. Shit. He was as weak as a kitten.
“Why the hell am I lying on the floor?”
“A good question.” Arel’s gaze was watchful, no doubt assessing whether he needed to call for a healer. “I’m assuming it has something to do with Dylan.”
“Dylan.” The memory of the crimson-eyed bitch who’d tried to crispy-fry him seared through his mind. “She was here.”
“Yeah, I got that,” Arel growled, his fury barely leashed. “What did she do to you?”
Even though his mind was fuzzy, Niko had a vivid recollection of the pain that had halted his heart.
“She shot me with a shockwave.”
Arel frowned. “I thought they’d all been confiscated?”
“She claims that she built her own.”
“Of course she did.” Arel curled his lips in disgust. They’d all known Dylan spent her free time tinkering with her inventions. A pity they hadn’t kept a closer eye on just what she was building. “Bitch.”
Slowly gathering his wits, Niko glanced around the empty kitchen, his abused heart slamming against his ribs.
“Angela?”
Arel grimaced. “Gone.”
“Goddammit.”
Niko surged to his feet only to lurch forward as his legs refused to cooperate. Thankfully, Arel was swiftly rising to catch him before he could do a face-plant.
“Before you have a meltdown, I can track them,” Arel hastily assured him.
“I don’t doubt your skill, amigo, but—”
“No, it’s not about skill,” Arel interrupted, making sure that Niko could stand on his own before he stepped back and pulled a phone from his pocket. “Look.”
Niko blinked to clear his bleary gaze, then focused on the road map that was visible on the phone screen. Leaning closer, he noticed the tiny light that was blinking.
GPS.
And if he knew Arel, then the blinking red dot was Dylan.
“You tagged her?” he demanded, afraid to hope.
Arel smiled with grim satisfaction. “I set a trigger on the back porch before I came in. As soon as Dylan opened the door it attached itself to her shoe.”
Niko released a shaky sigh despite the cold chill that inched down his spine at the realization of how easy it would have been for Dylan to disappear with Angela while he was unconscious.
“What if she hadn’t come through the back door?”
“I might have set a few others,” Arel admitted. “You know me. Better safe than sorry.”
“You?” Niko snorted. “Safe?”
Arel gave a casual lift of his shoulder. “Okay, call it overkill.”
Overkill. Yeah. That was definitely more Arel’s style.
“How long have I been out?”
“At least half an hour.”
Niko growled in frustration. Dylan might need Angela alive and relatively unharmed if she was to get what she so desperately wanted, but that was no guarantee of her safety. The female Sentinel was as volatile as she was unstable.
A lethal combination.
“We have to go.”
Arel moved to block his stumbling path toward the door. “Dammit, Niko, you can barely stand.”
Niko glared at his friend. “Don’t even start.”
“Be sensible. I could travel faster without you.”
Niko was shaking his head before Arel finished. “This is an argument you’re not going to win, so give it up.”
“Stubborn bastard.”
Moving like a drunken sailor, Niko sidestepped Arel and continued across the room and out the back door. He’d made it past the pool when Arel caught up with him. Offering Niko a frustrated scowl, the younger Sentinel led him to the garage where he’d hidden his vehicle.
Niko lurched into the garage, giving a lift of his brows at the sight of the large four-wheel drive pickup with massive tires that looked like they should have been on a tank.
“Christ,” he muttered, struggling to lift his foot high enough to reach the running board. “Overcompensating for anything, amigo?”
“I just like power,” Arel said, giving Niko a shove in the ass to get him up and in the passenger seat.
Slamming shut the door, Niko waited for his companion to swing behind the driver’s wheel and start the engine.
“If you say so,” he mocked at the throaty roar that filled the air.
Arel shot him a jaundiced glare, pausing to attach his phone to a mount on the dashboard before backing out of the garage.
“You’re not in any condition to question my manhood.”
“Which is the only reason I’m questioning it now,” Niko confessed, leaning his throbbing head against the seat. “You can’t kick my ass when I’m hurt.”
“Don’t count on it.” With an evil grin, Arel shoved the truck in gear and took off like a bat out of hell. “Hold on.”
“Shit.” Niko braced his hands against the glove compartment, clenching his teeth as the truck swerved around a corner and bounced across a shallow ditch to head straight across an empty field. “Is there something wrong with the road?”
“Shut up,” Arel muttered, his gaze shifting between the dark field and the map on his phone.
Niko bit his tongue, closing his eyes so he could try and concentrate on recuperating his strength. Dylan had clearly gone over the edge. There was no reasoning, no hope of compromise with the female.
This was going to be a fight to the death.
He managed to maintain his silence until Arel rammed through a fence at a hundred miles an hour and nearly sent them into the lake.
No one was more anxious than he was to get to Angela. No one. But he was just beginning to shake off the effects of the shockwave. He couldn’t afford to be injured before he even reached Dylan.
“I could drive,” he rasped.
Arel slowed as they neared the signal still blinking on the GPS.
“Has anyone told you that you have control issues?”
Always.
“Never,” he lied as Arel pulled the truck to a halt just outside a trailer park.
“Dylan’s close,” Arel murmured, his nose wrinkling at the stench of garbage and human misery. “Damn. Why here?”
Niko allowed his gaze to search the heavy shadows that shrouded the park, briefly puzzled by the tug of awareness that flowed through him.
Was this a new trick of Dylan’s?
Then, as the sensation settled deep in his heart, he realized this was no trick.
And it had nothing to do with Dylan.
“Niko?”
Belatedly realizing that Arel was studying him with a worried gaze, Niko returned his attention to their grim surroundings.
“If she intended to have a hostage she would want to be isolated from nosy neighbors.”
“True.” Arel pointed across the narrow parking lot. “There’s her car. Stay here and I’ll find out which trailer she’s in.”
“No need.” Niko nodded toward the trailer set a short distance from the others. “It’s that one.”
Arel turned to frown at him. “How can you be sure?”
Niko pressed a hand to the center of his chest. “I can feel Angela.”
Arel’s golden eyes widened in shock.
On very rare occasions a high-blood could be so deeply connected to another that they formed a bond that could be felt on a physical level.
Niko had always pitied the poor schmucks who allowed themselves to be melded. Why would anyone want to be leashed for their entire lives?
It was . . . abnormal.
Now, he accepted he hadn’t known a damned thing.
This wasn’t a leash, and it certainly wasn’t abnormal.
It was as perfect and natural as breathing.
Angela completed him.
Yeah, yeah. It was sappy. But that’s exactly how he felt.
“It’s gone that far?” Arel growled, not nearly as pleased as Niko by the unexpected gift.
Niko smiled, shoving open the door of the truck so he could jump out to stand on the dirt path.
“So it would seem.”
Arel cursed, hurriedly moving to stand at Niko’s side. “You still need to stay here while I scout out the best way to stage an attack.”
“There’s no strategy.” His gaze searched the trailer for any hidden traps. “I’ll go in the front door and while Dylan is distracted you’ll go in from the back and rescue Angela.”
In less than a heartbeat Arel was standing directly in front of him, his hands planted on his hips and his expression set in stubborn lines.
“No.”
Niko narrowed his gaze. “I don’t want to pull rank, but I will.”
“You’re no longer in charge of this mission,” Arel reminded him in sharp tones. “I am.”
“I’m taking back command.”
“Goddammit, Niko. You’re not thinking clearly.”
Niko refused to back down. “I’m thinking clearly enough to know I’m going to kill that bitch.”
“How?” Arel snapped. “There’s no way in hell you could survive another hit from her weapon.”
Niko couldn’t deny the blunt truth. It’d been a miracle that his heart had restarted after the first shock. The chance it could endure another blast . . . it was pretty much zero to none.
But it didn’t change a damned thing.
He was going to do whatever it took to get Angela out of that trailer safe and sound.
Whatever it took.
“I’m prepared this time,” he tried to reassure his companion. “She won’t have a chance to shoot me.”
“Niko—”
Growingly anxious to reach Angela, Niko didn’t wait to hear Arel’s arguments. He understood his friend’s concerns. Hell, he even agreed with them.
He was emotionally compromised and physically weakened. But none of that mattered.
Not now.
“Let’s do this thing,” he said, heading directly toward the trailer.
Dylan would sense his approach before he could reach the door. There was no point in being subtle.
Besides, he wanted the bitch focused on him. That was the only way Arel would be able to slip in unnoticed.
“Goddammit.” Arel moved to walk beside him. “If you get yourself killed I swear I’ll drag your sorry ass back from the grave.”
Niko grimaced. “Not even a necro can perform that miracle.”
Necromancers—or diviners—couldn’t actually manipulate the dead, although they were capable of entering the recently deceased’s minds to view their last thoughts.
“I’ll travel to hell myself if I have to,” Arel muttered.
Niko turned to meet his friend’s worried gaze. “Just promise me that you’ll make sure Angela is safe, no matter what happens.”
The lean face tightened, as if Arel was struggling against the urge to continue his futile argument. Then, heaving a sigh of resignation, he clapped Niko on his shoulder.
“You know you don’t even have to ask, amigo. I’ve always considered you my brother. How could I treat your woman as anything less than my sister?”
It was exactly what he’d expected, but he needed to hear the words spoken out loud.
“Thank you.” He returned his attention to the trailer. “Now go.”
Waiting until Arel had jogged to the back of the lot, Niko stepped onto the pavement that marked the edge of the park, a humorless smile curling his lips as the door to the trailer was thrown open and Dylan confronted him with an infuriated scowl.
“How the hell did you find me?” she snarled.
Niko hid his shudder of relief as he caught Angela’s scent. He could smell her terror. It spiced the air. But on the plus side her heart was still beating and there was no hint of blood.
Thank the gods.
“Ah, Dylan.” He forced a mocking smile to his lips. “Long time, no see.”
Her eyes glowed like pits of hell in the moonlight. “I asked you a question.”
He halted several feet away, but Dylan remained firmly lodged in the doorway. Dammit. He needed to lure her away from the trailer. Something easier said than done.
“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m the better Sentinel?” He deliberately prodded her pride. “It doesn’t matter where you go or how hard you try to hide, I will always find you.”
She stroked her fingers over the weapon still strapped around her forearm.
“Not if you’re dead.”
“Fool me once, shame on you.” He curled his forefinger in invitation. “Aren’t you going to come out and play?”
She leaned against the doorjamb. “No, I don’t think I will.”
“Afraid?”
“Too well trained to fall for such an obvious trap.” She sniffed the air. “Where is Arel? Trying to sneak in the back door?”
Niko’s smile never faltered despite his stab of fear. The bitch was supposed to be attacking him, not remaining lodged in the trailer like a rabid guard dog.
So how did he convince her that she had no choice but to fight?
By proving that the risk of leaving Arel and me alive is too great . . .
The thought seared through his mind at the same time he was struck by inspiration.
There was only one thing that Dylan feared.
And that was losing her one chance to be made normal.
She had to believe her dreams were about to be shattered.
Niko folded his arms across his chest, trying to look nonchalant.
“I wanted to make sure you didn’t slip away before we could finish this.”
“I’m not afraid of you.” Dylan flared her flat nose in what he assumed was disdain. “Or your devoted sycophant.”
“Arel isn’t going to be happy to be called a sycophant,” he drawled. “And I don’t give a shit if you’re scared or not. All I need to do is keep you cornered until the cavalry rides to the rescue.”
She pretended indifference, but Niko didn’t miss the sudden tension that gripped her body.
“What do you mean?”
“Arel contacted Wolfe when he found me unconscious,” he smoothly lied, betting on the fact this female wouldn’t have any inside connections left at Valhalla. One phone call and his fib would blow up in his face. “The Tagos wasn’t pleased to discover you’re carrying around an illegal weapon, let alone kidnapping a scientist who they hope will be the salvation of those high-bloods who can’t survive their mutations.”
Her laugh was strained. “I suppose you want me to believe he’s sending a hundred—oh wait, maybe it’s a thousand—warriors to capture me?”
“I don’t have a clue, but since the guardians can only transport two or three at a time, you won’t have to worry about a thousand arriving on your doorstep.” He waved a languid hand toward the empty road. “At least not in the next hour or so.”
Dylan frowned, proving she hadn’t had word that the guardians were refusing to leave their necros, and that there was no possibility of any backup arriving in time.
“No,” she hissed. “You won’t ruin this for me. Not now.”
He smiled in open challenge. “There’s no escape.”
The crimson eyes at last smoldered with the panic he’d been hoping for.
Even a Sentinel made stupid decisions when driven by fear.
“I can go through you,” she rasped.
He held out his arms in mocking invitation. “You can’t kill two of us.”
“Watch me.”
Lifting her arm she released a blast from her shockwave. Already anticipating the shot, Niko lunged to the side, allowing the electrical charge to slam into the tree behind him.
“Is that all you got?” he taunted, brushing off the bits of bark and shattered wood that clung to his jeans.
“And the healers told me that I was the one with the death wish,” Dylan snarled, leaping off the front steps of the trailer even as she was sending another invisible bolt of power in his direction.
He felt his hair rise as the electricity filled the air, his gaze trained on the female launching a kick at his head.
Distantly he was aware of the wary humans peeking out their windows and a few braver souls who stepped out of their shabby homes, but he didn’t worry they would interfere.
Life was difficult enough for these norms. They didn’t willingly place themselves in danger.
He was far more concerned by the barely audible sound of Arel’s soft murmur as he spoke to Angela. No doubt he was trying to convince her to slip through the back door rather than charging into the fray. His scientist might be brilliant, but she could be as stubborn as hell.
Reassured by the sudden fading of her scent, Niko grasped Dylan’s foot and twisted it to the side. The well-trained Sentinel flowed through the air, easily landing on her feet as she let off another shot.
Niko hissed as the bolt went just above his ducked head, close enough to make his ears ring.
Christ. He had to disable the shockwave. Sooner or later he was going to run out of luck. And then . . .
Bad, bad things were going to happen.
Avoiding a punch aimed at his chin, he charged forward, ramming his larger form into Dylan’s slender body. Together they hit the ground with enough impact to rattle Niko’s teeth and knock the air from his lungs.
She jerked her head backward, making him see stars as she connected with his chin. Then, when he maintained his grim hold, she turned her head to sink her sharp teeth into his forearm.
“Shit, Dylan,” he growled.
“Let me go,” she demanded.
He ignored the pain of his torn flesh. “Not a chance in hell.”
“Then we’ll both die.”
“You’re in no position to threaten—” He forgot what he was going to say as she twisted to the side, managing to lift her arm far enough to press a button on her homemade weapon. A clock appeared on a digital panel, the numbers counting backward. “What have you done?”
“Every evil villain has a way to self-destruct,” she jeered. “Unless you release me then we both go boom.”
He believed her.
Dylan might be crazy as a hatter, but she didn’t bluff.
If she said the thing was going to self-destruct, then that’s exactly what it was going to do.
The question was whether he held on or risked letting her go so she could disarm the weapon. He wasn’t a martyr. Not by a long shot, but he knew if he let go of Dylan there was no guarantee that she wouldn’t escape. Or even manage to kill him with her stun-gun-from-hell.
Hearing the sound of his name, he lifted his head to see Arel standing at the back of the trailer with a struggling Angela in his arms.
She was clearly trying to break free so she could get to him, even knowing she was no match for a Sentinel.
And in that moment his decision was made.
The fragile, precious female would never be safe so long as Dylan lived.
And if that meant he had to sacrifice himself in the bargain . . . then it was a price he would pay without regret.
“Then we both die,” he said, his gaze glued on Angela as time ran out.
Angela hadn’t wanted to sneak out the back door with Arel. Not when she heard Niko baiting the deranged female Sentinel.
The aggravating man was risking his own life so she could be rescued.
But Arel hadn’t given her much choice as he’d simply grabbed her by the waist and hauled her down the narrow hall and out the door. It wasn’t until they rounded the trailer to see Niko on the ground with Dylan that Arel came to an abrupt halt, as transfixed as Angela by the sight of the two warriors lying so still.
Something was happening.
Something . . . terrible.
Futilely trying to squirm out of Arel’s ruthless grasp, she turned her head to glare at her captor in frustration.
“Dammit, what are you doing? We have to help him.”
Arel’s handsome features looked as if they’d been carved from granite. “He made me swear to keep you safe.”
“I don’t care, I—”
She was still turned toward Arel when an explosion sent them both tumbling to the ground.
“Shit,” Arel rasped, already on his feet and racing across the pavement before Angela managed to regain her senses.
Holy crap.
With her ears ringing and her skin raw from being peppered by the barrage of small stones and shattered glass that had been caught in the blast, she lurched upright, her blurry gaze immediately searching for Niko.
He was still on the ground, but Dylan—or at least what was left of the female Sentinel—had been blown several feet away. Arel was standing over her, his face twisted with an odd combination of fury and sorrow as he bent to pick up the weapon that lay beside her ruined body.
That bit of twisted metal had to have been the source of the explosion, but Angela didn’t give a shit about the how or even the why.
She just needed to know that Niko was okay.
Falling to her knees at his side, she reached to brush her hand over his cheek.
“Niko,” she breathed, a savage pain clawing at her heart as she felt the heat rapidly draining from his skin.
Arel crossed to kneel next to her, the force of his anger a tangible sizzle in the air as he gently turned Niko onto his back to reveal the gaping wound that marred his chest.
“Goddamn that bitch.”
Angela’s fingers frantically moved to Niko’s throat. She was unable to look at his bloody, torn flesh.
“I can’t find a pulse,” she said on a soft sob. “What can we do?”
There was a long, agonizing hesitation before Arel awkwardly rose to his feet and pulled a phone from his pocket.
“I’ll call for a healer.”
“They’ll never get here in time.”
“Just—” Arel gave a helpless shake of his head. “Stay here.”
Angela watched the younger Sentinel walk away with the phone pressed to his ear before she turned back to the terrifyingly motionless man lying at her knees.
“Oh, Niko. Don’t you dare leave me,” she quietly murmured, her hands running a path along the gruesome injury as she willed his shredded heart to beat. “Not after you forced me out of my laboratory. And made me discover who I am.” Her teardrops trailed down her cheek and dropped into Niko’s tousled hair, shimmering in the copper highlights. Oh . . . God. He couldn’t die. She wouldn’t let him. “And then you went and made me fall in love with you, you irritating man.” There were more tears, and a strange heat that seemed to flow from her palms. She ignored both as she continued to pour out her raw, mindless grief. “I can’t do this alone. I need you.” She lowered her head until her face was buried in his throat, drowning in his familiar scent. “Please, Niko, please.”
She wasn’t sure how long she knelt there, rubbing her hands over Niko’s chest, but it was at last the feel of fingers lightly touching her shoulder that brought her back to her surroundings.
“Angela,” Arel murmured softly.
“No, I can’t bear it.”
“Angela, look.”
Reluctantly she straightened, assuming that Arel was warning someone was approaching.
“What?” she demanded when she realized the lot was empty.
With a bemused expression, he pointed toward her hands, which remained on Niko’s chest.
“That.”
It took a minute to see through the tears, then slowly she focused on the torn flesh that had started to knit back together.
“Oh my God,” she breathed in shock. “He’s healing.”
“You’re healing him,” Arel insisted.
She froze at his astonishing claim. “Me?”
“He has a heartbeat.” Arel’s fingers tightened on her shoulder, his urgent tone sending a flare of hope through her heavy anguish. “Don’t stop.”
“Niko.” Her hand resumed its soft strokes, her gaze glued to his face. Did he have more color than before? And was that a breath she heard? “Niko, can you hear me?”
There was nothing for long, agonizing minutes. Then, when she was beginning to fear that her grief was making her imagination run wild, there was a flutter of his lashes.
“Angela?” he croaked in husky tones.
She gave a choked cry, overwhelmed with relief. “It’s a miracle.”
Arel released a joyous laugh, his fingers giving her shoulder a squeeze.
“You’re the miracle.”
“Finally, you got something right, amigo,” Niko whispered, his gaze trained on Angela’s flushed face. “She is a miracle. My miracle.”
She shook her head. “I can’t believe it. I mean . . . I’ve been able to alter cells on a small scale, but this—”
“Gifts often reveal themselves under stress,” Arel said. “Although not usually with such spectacular results.”
“I’m not sure I could ever do it again,” she admitted, still shaken by the thought of how close she’d come to losing the man she loved.
“Your powers are yours, angel. No one will ever force you to offer more than you’re comfortable giving.” Niko lifted a hand to brush away her tears. “Now can we go home?”
“Home?” She studied his beloved features, knowing he wasn’t referring to her empty apartment. “You mean Valhalla?”
“Yes.” He managed a weak smile, his thumb tracing her lower lip. “You’re one of us now.”
Her eyes shifted to the wound that was continuing to heal before returning to meet his steady gaze.
She was one of them.
A freak.
A high-blood.
A Sentinel’s lover.
And nothing had ever made her happier.
“You’re right,” she murmured, bending down to gently kiss the man who offered her a future she never dreamed possible. “It’s time to go home.”
Hello Readers!
I hope you enjoyed Angela and Niko’s story. This is a short introduction to my new series, The Sentinels. This series will revolve around people who are “gifted” with special abilities and the warriors who protect them. Next up is Duncan O’Conner’s story. He’s a hard-nosed police detective who requests the services of Callie Brown, a high-blood necromancer, when a young woman is found murdered in her kitchen. Callie’s skill allows her to view the last memories of the dead before the soul leaves the body. Most cops consider it a gruesome talent, but Duncan isn’t so squeamish. Callie has managed to solve a dozen murders over the past five years. Besides, he can’t deny a fascination with the beautiful high-blood. She stirs a passion in him that threatens to consume them both.
Coming in June 2013 will be Darkness Avenged, Santiago and Nefri’s story. Can you believe this is the tenth book in the Guardians of Eternity series? I never imagined when I first came up with the idea of a clan of vampires in Chicago that it would grow and expand to include such a wide variety of creatures. Weres, witches, Sylvermyst, and of course, one naughty gargoyle. And it’s all because of you!
So thank you dear readers, and happy reading!
Alexandra Ivy