Angel Seduced (24 page)

Kasabian already knew that much. “And?”

“It's not a residence. My guess is it's a small, private hotel. I saw a sign pointing to the laundry room, for instance.” He started to walk away. “If that's all…”

“If you can't supply me with an address or specific location, I want you to call Silva and tell him you have a girl for him. She's newly Awakened, but assure him she's no threat. And you will not Leap her to him or vice versa. Make up some reason that you have to physically deliver her.”

“You're providing this girl, I presume?”

“Yes. As a bonus, you can keep the money Silva pays for her.”

Gemini gave a slow nod. “All right.”

“Call him now. We need to get this in motion. And put it on speaker.”

“Man, you're as pushy as your old man.” He pulled out his cell phone and thumbed down his phone directory. Then he initiated the call.

Silva answered. “Yes?”

“It's Gemini. I have a teenage girl, about fourteen. A runaway looking for a better situation. You still interested?”

“Is she Awakened?”

“Yes, but only recently. She has no handle on her power. She's shy, meek, won't cause any problems.”

Kasabian nodded his approval at the improvisation.

“Sure,” Silva said.

“The fee is double.”

Kasabian lunged forward and twisted his hands in Gemini's shirt. He did not approve of that improvisation.
Take it back
, he mouthed.

Silva said, “You know what? We're good. Thanks anyway.” He hung up.

Kasabian shoved Gemini back, his Shadow pressing close to the surface. “You son of a bitch! You just fucked the whole deal. Call him back and tell him it's the normal price.”

Gemini fumbled with his phone and redialed, watching Kasabian closely. No doubt watching the shadows cross his eyes. “All right, normal price.”

Silva paused, making them wait a few seconds. “Is she at the Bend?”

“No, she's with me and she does not want to be Leaped. The thought terrifies her. I can meet you anywhere.”

“I'll call when I'm available.” And Silva disconnected.

Kasabian paced the living room, waiting for Gemini's call. Why wasn't Silva jumping at the bait? At least it had given them time to buy a Hello Kitty shirt for Cecily and a grown-up shirt for Mallory.

Kasabian's phone rang, and he saw Gemini's name on the screen. “Finally.”

“Silva just called back. We meet in thirty minutes.”

Kasabian took down the details, set up an interim meeting place, and hung up. “We're on,” he told the others. The need to get to Kye and make sure she was all right raged through him. His phone rang again: Cory at Harbor. “Yeah?”

“Someone took the bus,” he said, words spilling out in a breathless gush. “A Deuce couple just brought four of the kids back, said they were found on Alligator Alley waving down cars. The kids wouldn't talk until we were alone. Steven said that Lyle pushed him and some other kids off the bus to save them. He stayed on board. Then the bus disappeared. I don't know what to do. Call the Guard?”

The whole bus. Kasabian fell back against the wall, his knees weak.

“Okay, tell him,” Cory was saying to someone else. A kid came on the line. “Lyle told the kids to tell you it was Daniel. And that he was going to find his brother.”

Lyle had gone willingly.

“Kasabian?” Cory asked, sounding lost.

“Don't tell anyone at the Guard for now. The last kid who escaped and ended up at headquarters was taken back. Calm the kids, tell them we're on the case. We have to go.”

He could barely breathe or tell the others what had happened.

Cecily's eyes ignited. “I hate that the Guard can't be trusted. But we will find these kids. We'll bring them home.”

Kasabian rested his hand on Cecily's back. “I need to ask you a big favor.”

“You mean besides handing myself over to the enemy?” She gave him a grin.

“This is a little easier. Have you ever heard of an Essex?” At her puzzled expression, he said, “It's where we exchange a little of our essences.” Normally Kasabian didn't explain why he needed their essence, only that it was part of the healing process for the Crescent.

Now she frowned. “This hardly seems the time for any kind of weird sex play.”

Hayden came over and held out his hands. She slid hers into his, clearly perplexed. “We've been friends for a while now,” he said.

“Friends,” she echoed. “Yeah, sure.”

“I know I can trust you with a big secret. The well-being of all Caidos depends on it. When we go to the resort, we will be bombarded by the children's fear and pain. Because Caidos feel it. I can feel your emotions now, your apprehension, the way my holding your hand makes you…” He let that hang.

“You feel what I feel? When I've been angry or happy or…” She let that hang, too.

“Emotions are like a knife cutting into my soul. Good or bad, doesn't matter. It's why most Caidos don't associate with non-Caidos.”

Her expression fell. “So every time I flirted with you, it hurt?”

He gave her a long, slow nod. “You didn't know.”

Cecily glanced at Kasabian. “That's what you meant by ‘it's complicated'?”

“Yep.”

She turned back to Hayden. “It's fracked up is what it is. And sad. Of course, if you're rescuing scared children, it will be debilitating. And I'm also guessing there's something I can do to help.”

“The Essex is a temporary balm,” Hayden said. “Your essence balances ours so we're not as sensitive.”

“And you need me to do it with all of you?” When he nodded, she said, “All right.”

“We do it through our linked hands.” Hayden tightened his hold on her. “Just relax and let me pull your essence toward me. You'll feel mine going into you.”

“Sounds rather intimate.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Hayden threw his head back and sank into it. His body shuddered, and he pulled her flush against him and wrapped his arms around her. “Thank you,” he whispered, now sinking into the bliss of being able to feel without pain. He would feel Cecily's rush of joy at being held in Hayden's arms at last. Kasabian felt it prickling along his skin.

Her arms had gone around his waist. “You're welcome,” she whispered back.

They stepped apart, and Hayden said, “Next.”

Once Mallory and Kasabian had done the Essex as well, they headed out to their cars. Cecily rode with Kasabian. He didn't want Gemini to know that someone else was following. They met up with him twenty minutes later.

“Anything happens to her, we'll tango,” Kasabian said.

Gemini lifted his hands. “I can only keep her safe until I hand her off.”

“Until then, I hold you responsible. No games like you tried to pull earlier. No last-minute bids for more money. Play it straight.”

“Yeah, yeah.” But when he saw the Shadow rolling across Kasabian's eyes, his cavalier smirk disappeared. “Straight. Got it.”

Kasabian followed from a safe distance, his gaze never leaving Gemini's Cadillac. It pulled into a parking lot, and a Caido gestured for him to park next to his car. It wasn't Silva or either of the Caidos he'd seen at the resort. Cecily played the part of a scared girl about to start a new life. Gemini accepted a manila envelope that was no doubt filled with cash and got back into his car. Cecily eased into the Caido's car, and Kasabian followed them out of the lot.

Kasabian kept his focus glued on the car taking Cecily to his father. Hayden had pulled in the lane next to the car. Good, they had her covered. So why was he finding it hard to breathe? It wasn't, he realized, from the tension of what lay ahead. The air shimmered, the way the heat did as it radiated off an asphalt road.

The storm. Invisible particles rushing into the earth's atmosphere. It was beginning.

K
ye was jarred from sleep by a hand shaking her. “Wake up. We have more kids.”

She sat up so fast that her head swam for a few seconds. The morning light spilled in through the drapes, casting lines across the bed from the bars on the window. Silva stood beside her, his eyes bright and triumphant. More kids. Is that what she'd heard?

“You have more bonding to do,” he said.

“Can't.” She couldn't get her mouth to work right. Exhaustion still clung to her.

“You can and you will. Do you want those kids to die? Are you so selfish that you'd put your comfort before their lives?”

“You already know I'm not.”
Bastard
.

It hit her then, that the plan was still moving forward. She wanted to ask if Kasabian had come but held the question. Silva would have told her. She pushed herself to the edge of the bed, preparing to stand on legs that felt like strands of cooked spaghetti.

“You were dreaming about Kasabian,” Silva said, a bite to his voice.

“How do you know? Oh, that's right. You can creep into people's dreams, you voyeuristic son of a bitch.” She was so tired she wasn't even censoring herself.

He narrowed his eyes. “How do you know? Did Kasabian tell you?”

“I was there when you poked into his dream about the past. When you were sad that he didn't want to be your friend. That's how I knew you were meeting.”

“How? Can you dream walk?”

“I was bonded to him.”

“You did the Cobra with him. Because you and he are…lovers?” It seemed that he could barely say the word.

“Yes.” Suddenly she wanted to hurt Silva, to drive home that he could never possess Kasabian. She could see how Silva ached for that, how fragile he was when it came to his obsession. Kasabian was his weakness, and Kye would use it. “We made love all night long, and he could enjoy it without any pain because of our bond.”

A Shadow crossed his eyes, the same one she'd seen in Kasabian's. “Shut up.”

“I touched him everywhere, and he adored my body with his hands, his mouth. He said that with me, he felt like he belonged for the first time.”

Remembering brought it all back, his hands on her, the taste of him, and the perfection of him buried inside her. But his confession moved her the most. She knew Silva could feel the emotions the memories evoked.

Silva flew at her so fast she didn't even see him move. He body-slammed her into the wall, his arm pressed against her throat. The Wraithlord pulled away, a dark and violent Shadow with the snout of a Dragon. She had miscalculated his reaction. He had become stronger, not weaker. Damn it, she couldn't get anything right.

“I. Said. Shut. Up,” he ground out, barely reining the beast within. “I will rip you to pieces when this is over so you will never experience any of that with him again.”

Killed in a jealous rage. Sarai hadn't seen Kasabian; she'd seen Silva!

“I won't experience it again,” she managed. “We are no longer bonded. He left me the same way he left you.”

He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but at least he pulled his arm back so she could breathe. “How?”

“He cut the cord.”

“He found you wanting? Lost interest?”

She gathered her thoughts quickly. Which tack to try? She went with the truth because the rage thing wasn't exactly working. “He's not a callous person. Everything he does, he does for the good. He left you to save the children, but he intended to save you, too. He left me so I would not get hurt. He is blinded by his love for others.”

“He does not love me, never did. But I thought he cared about me, a long time ago.”

Silva's pain and emptiness went far beyond his obsession for Kasabian. Her anger had made her miscalculate. His weakness could not be mined by taunting him with what he couldn't have, but by seeing his humanity. The speck of it she could find, anyway. He wanted to matter to someone. Wasn't that what she wanted, too? It pained her to realize that they had something in common. That they both had gone to great lengths to feel valued.
That
was something she could mine.

“Silva!” Treylon's voice boomed from down the hallway. Damn, she needed more time.

Silva gripped her wrist and pulled her with him. He still longed for a father's love and approval. She doubted he got it much.

Silva followed Treylon upstairs, where two of their minions opened the first door. Six kids huddled together inside, Caido and non-Caido. Her stomach turned. Then it leaped when she saw Lyle. His eyes widened as he saw her in the same moment.

“Kye? What are you doing here…with
them
?” Then he saw Silva's grip on her wrist, must have seen the fear in her own eyes.

“You know this boy?” Treylon asked.

“From Harbor,” she said simply. She pulled away from Silva and approached Lyle, taking his hands in hers. “How did you get here?”

“They took our bus.”

The trip to the Everglades. So many kids at once. Lyle had mentioned it during their ride to the Bend. She really thought she would be sick, but she held back the nausea. “Jonathan's here,” she whispered. “He's all right.” For now.

Lyle's eyes filled with emotion. “Where?” he whispered.

“Bond him and the Dragon over there,” Treylon said, pulling the girl over. “There will be no time for resting in between.”

Kye could feel a difference in the air. The storm's effects had arrived. But there was something else going on, too. Through the window, she could see the vessel, not quite full enough.

Treylon told the kids how the bonding worked and that the Caidos would draw their essence to send to the angels above. He clasped his hands together and smiled. “You will help free them. They will be very grateful.”

The children would never understand his way of thinking. She took Lyle's hand and that of the girl. She needed to protect them, all of them, as fast as she could.

Kasabian and the others gathered outside the gate. “We incapacitate when we can, kill only when necessary,” Kasabian reminded them. “Some of these minions could have been taken the same way I was, against their will. One of them helped a boy escape. At least that's what I suspect.”

“But there's only one way to get inside the barrier,” Hayden reminded him.

“We kill one to get in and play the rest by ear.”

Their plan was simple. Disable as many minions as possible. Kill Treylon and Silva. “We gather all the kids together and Leap them to Harbor. We'll get them all home from there. No one gets left behind.”

Hayden looked at the buildings in the distance, his expression tense with worry. “And we find Cecily.”

“She'll be with the kids,” Kasabian said, but his mind kept chanting,
Kye, Kye, Kye.
Finding her, laying eyes on her, pounded through his head.

He led them around to the right, where he'd been caught before. They stripped off their shirts and Invoked. He spotted one of the minions in the distance and made a sound to draw his attention. The guy headed over on full alert. The three were hidden, leaving only Kasabian visible. He ducked behind a bush just as the Caido headed over.

The Caido passed through the barrier to investigate the shape he saw in hiding. The Caido who would die to allow him passage inside. Kasabian didn't recognize the man whose own wings were out, his Light ready to annihilate. Kasabian released his Wraithlord, lunging at the Caido and whipping black vines all around him. One slapped over his mouth just as the man was about to scream.

Kasabian leaned close. “Where is the woman Treylon brought here?” He loosened the cord.

“Another demon freak,” he spat out. “Go to hell where you belong.”

“You first.” Kasabian drew the vines so tight that the man's flesh bulged between them. Something popped inside him, and he fell still. Kasabian released him and turned to the three who stood in silence watching.

Hayden cleared his throat. “Glad you're on our side.”

Mallory stepped closer to Hayden, her eyes wide. Great. Kasabian had lost both his friends.

The power of his Wraithlord pulsed through him. He hoisted the body over his shoulder and held out his hand to Mallory, who was the closest. “We have to link together to get through.”

She stared at his hand for a second, then clasped it. Hayden took hers, and they passed through.

Mallory pointed up. “What is
that
?”

They all turned to a formation of clouds moving in unnatural ways above the compound. No, not clouds but forms that were stretching, pulling. Angels, he realized, their enormous wings smashed against one another's as they crammed into this one space.

“It's happening,” Kasabian whispered. “They're freeing the angels.” Kye would be with the kids. “I'll take the building in the center. Mallory, go right. Hayden, left.” He shot toward the pathway, staying close to the lush foliage. Another Caido patrolled the path, approaching from the right.

Kill.

The urge to take him out rushed through him, fed from his last kill. Kasabian crouched like a predator, waiting for the Caido to come near. He was barely out of childhood himself, brainwashed into loyalty. And he would kill Kasabian if given the chance. But Kasabian would not kill him if he could help it. He waited until the young man was nearly even with him and then sent out the vines to snag him around the ankles and jerk him off his feet.

The Caido sent a jolt of Light at him as he fell, his expression angry and determined. Kasabian shifted out of the bolt's way and Leaped to the Caido just as he hit the ground, gagging him with more magick. His Wraithlord strained to eviscerate the terrified Caido. Kasabian stuffed the urge back and sent a benign blast of Light into his head, putting him into a deep sleep. He pulled the young man into the bushes and continued toward the building.

The windows had bars on them. So not a resort. He dashed toward the blind corner and peered around the edge of one of those windows. Children were sprawled on the beds like rag dolls. One boy was curled up in a chair crying. They were too late.

No.

The boy looked up. A Caido who had been spared by Kye's magick. Kasabian pressed his finger to his mouth. He would be back. His wings brushed against the bushes as he moved on. The next room held more children, all asleep. He had to believe they were asleep and not…

The memory of that girl dying in his arms rose like a treacherous swell, threatening to suck him under.

A rattling sound came from the next window, and the sound of labored breathing. Kasabian inched over slowly, stopping when a bloody hand thrust out through the broken glass and curled around the bars. A child's hand. Kasabian stepped into view, his finger over his mouth. He came face-to-face with Lyle.

Relief suffused the kid's face. “You're here! I have to get to Jonathan. Kye said he's here.”

Kye, alive. Close by. “You saw her?”

“She did some kind of magick to help us, but it only helped me. Not her.” He nodded toward the girl lying on the bed.

Kasabian's chest squeezed so tight he could hardly breathe. “Is she dead?”

“No, but she's dying. And I can't help her.”

“Back away from the bars.” Kasabian sent power surging through his hands. Black tendrils coiled around the bars, bending and melting them.

Lyle just stared. “Dude, that's sick.”

Kasabian didn't get some of the kids' lingo these days, but he thought that was a good thing. The bars sagged to allow space enough for Kasabian to climb inside. He pressed his fingers against the girl's forehead, sending her a dose of healing Light.

Her eyes fluttered, and she tried in vain to open them. It wasn't enough. She needed her essence back. He went to the door and listened for sound in the hallway. “How long ago was Kye here?”

“A while. She looked tired. And really sad.”

She would use up all her magick, her life force, to save the kids. Because that's who she was.

Kasabian heard nothing in the hallway. They'd come and gone, at least from this floor. “I know you're desperate to find Jonathan.” As desperate as he was to find Kye. “And we will find him and bring him to Harbor. But you running all over the place is only going to alert the scumbags that something's going on. So I need you to be cool and logical. Can you do that?”

“I think so. Yes. I can do it.”

“I'm going to open all the doors on this floor. I need you to corral the kids in here, close the door, and wait for me, Hayden, or a female Caido named Mallory. One of us will come and get you.” He gripped the kid's shoulders. “I need to be able to count on you, Lyle.”

The kid was shaking with fear and adrenaline. “You can.”

“I'm going upstairs. I'll call for you if it's clear. Then you can bring any kids who are up there down to this room. Got it?”

Lyle nodded.

He rubbed the kid's head and worked on the doorknob. The metal bubbled and melted away, dripping down to the floor.

He stepped into the hallway, Lyle right behind. One of the minions stood just outside the building's glass door, his back to Kasabian. He Leaped, landing right behind him. The Caido turned just as he materialized. Kasabian had to silence him immediately. He tried to shoot him with the same sleep jolt, but the minion took him by surprise and shot Kasabian in the legs with searing Light. The minion started to open his mouth to scream, forcing Kasabian to slice Light across his throat. He collapsed into Kasabian's arms, and he pulled him into the foliage by the building. At least this one wasn't young.

Lyle continued gaping, even when Kasabian Leaped back to where he stood.

“I'm sorry you had to see that.”

“No, I'm glad I saw it. I wish I could do it and kill these bastards.” He mimicked the action.

Kasabian worked on the doorknob to the room closest to them. “Get the Caidos to help you with the Dragon and Deuce kids. You've got some strength left.”