Angel Seduced (25 page)

He disabled all the doors. Gods, so many children. Would his own magick dry up before he could Leap them out of here?

T
reylon watched Kye pull the last vestiges of her magick to bond two more children. Demis had told him they were close to having enough power thirty minutes earlier. The angels were beginning to pull free. Victory, finally!

Only two more rooms of children remained. Demis thought that would be enough. The Dragon and Deuce gods would get any leftover power. As much as Treylon liked the idea of having them indebted to him, or at least grateful, the angels were his first priority.

He felt the familiar prickle of Demis's presence. A summons. “I have to talk with Demis,” he told Silva. “Take her to the next room.”

Kye slid to the floor as though her bones had disintegrated. Tears streamed down her face. “I can't,” she said on a hoarse voice. “I can't help anymore. I don't have anything left.”

“Make her,” Treylon mouthed to Silva, who eagerly nodded. He seemed to have some personal aversion to the woman. As long as he didn't kill her before her usefulness was through, Treylon didn't care.

Demis usually wanted to see Treylon alone, a request he was glad to honor. The angel did not like to deal with the more diluted versions of his progeny. Treylon went down the stairs and out the front door. Where was the guy who was supposed to be guarding it? A quick glance didn't find him, but nothing looked out of sorts, so he continued.

Maybe Demis was going to tell him it was done. Treylon's chest swelled just imagining it. He searched the sky, seeing the angels pulling against some unseen bond. Not yet then. As the solar storm approached, the angels, and now the gods, had to come close to receive the power.

“Sir!” A member of his staff ran toward him. “Dragon…girl.” The Caido heaved in deep breaths. “One of the new arrivals turned Dragon and killed a worker. She's at large.” Another breath. “What do we do with her?”

One of his people, dead. That was annoying. Silva was supposed to make sure the kids were too young to be Awakened. He called Silva. “A girl Catalyzed to Dragon and is on the loose. I need you to send the wraiths after her. I can't afford to take any of our people away from their duties.”

Silva grunted. “That must be the girl Gemini just brought us. I knew she was Awakened, but I didn't think she'd be a problem, being new and meek. I'll take care of her.”

“If she's newly Awakened, you should be able to get her under control quickly. Kill her only if necessary.”

He continued heading toward his suite. Demis was already waiting, his ethereal image filling the room. It was translucent, probably because Demis was projecting from his place near the vessel. “Trouble,” he said. “We have intruders.”

Silva hung up with Treylon. “I have to attend to a matter.”

Kye didn't appear to be at risk of running again, but he couldn't take any chances at this point. He stepped out in the hallway and asked the Caido standing guard to watch her.

He would no doubt hear about the Awakened Dragon later. Hopefully Treylon would be so happy at his success that he'd forget the incident.

Silva Leaped to the cafeteria, where a bubble of Light contained two black beasts. They had once been Gren and Beldeen but were now soulless spirits—shorter and looking vaguely like gargoyles.

“I am your Wraithlord,” he said to the horrid little beasts.

They scurried to his side of their prison cell, awaiting his orders. Without wills of their own, they drifted aimlessly. If they had no master, they created their own kind of mayhem, sometimes being mistaken for ghosts or demons. Wraithlords could command their will. He had used them before on another pesky female Dragon and her Caido cohort. Hopefully they would succeed this time.

“There is a Dragon on the property. You will hunt her down and bring her here. If she resists, tear her limb from limb.”

They clawed the side of their cell, eager to do his bidding. He opened the door of the bubble, and they loped off. He watched them disappear around the corner. Then he looked up to the mass of angels hovering above the grounds. They had made themselves visible, and Silva could see the ties that bound them to their progeny. His life—all Caidos' lives—would be different once the curse was lifted.

Even if it worked, Silva would still be in pain. A pain that had nothing to do with the curse and everything to do with Kasabian.

Silva returned to Kye and dragged her to the next room; dragged because she could barely stand, much less walk. He wasn't brutal, just impatient. She couldn't stand the feel of his hands around her waist as he guided her to the door. There was something she'd wanted to say to him, but she couldn't seem to remember.

A quick blast of an alarm shook her. “What was that?”

“One of the kids went Dragon on us. They'll find her.”

Fear squeezed Kye's throat. “What will they do to her?”

“She'll be killed,” he told her in a flat tone. He opened the door and led her inside the next room. He gave the children his standard speech.

Kye could barely focus on the two children holding each other in the far corner. Choked sobs erupted from her throat as she sank to the side of the bed. “I can't do it.”

Silva sat on the bed beside her. He waved his hands, and a warmth stole over her. That took away a little of her fatigue. In a low voice, he said, “We have to use them one way or the other. In five minutes, I must start them channeling.”

Kye managed to push herself up. She wiped at her face, not wanting the kids to see her like this. Poor things were already terrified.

Silva tilted his head, studying her as though she were some curiosity. “You would sacrifice yourself to save one more child.”

“They're innocent, and it's our responsibility, as a race, to protect. To cherish and love them.”

Silva's face twisted in a grimace of pain. “No one protected me for most of my so-called childhood.” He removed the emotion from his expression. “Just as you would sacrifice your soul for them, I would do the same for my father. He was the only one who protected me.”

“He
kidnapped
you.”

“He took me out of my own personal hell.”

“Treylon used you, just like he used his own son. The same as he uses all of these children.”

“No, it's different with me. He…” Silva couldn't say the word.

“Loves you? Is that what you believe?”

The muscles in his jaw twitched. “Love is a silly concept that belongs on greeting cards and in empty promises. What matters is loyalty. Dedication. But I don't understand what drives you to squeeze out the last of your magick to save people you don't even know.” His dark blue eyes implored hers. “Can you explain that to me?” His gaze flicked to his watch. “In two minutes or less.”

She nearly laughed, despite the tricky conversation. “I'm not sure I could explain it in a day. Love is not some concept. It's real. First you have to love yourself, despite your faults and the shadows you harbor. Like my Cobra, love is about giving away part of yourself and accepting a part of someone else. It's never about giving away all of yourself. Or taking all of someone.”

She forced herself to place her hand over his. “You're in love with Kasabian because he's a Wraithlord like you, and you think that alone should bond you. You want to possess him, to force him into submission and salve those old wounds of betrayal. But he never betrayed you, Silva. You placed your need for acceptance by Treylon above everything else. Kasabian placed the safety of a group of children above all. You know him. Could he have done anything else?”

Her heart swelled with affection and admiration for Kasabian. She knew he was doing everything in his power to find this place. “You've placed your affection, hopes, and fantasies on two very different men. One as a father figure and one as a love interest. Think about who they are and what they've done in their lives.” She gestured to the kids. “What kind of
father
subjects children to torture?”

“But it's for the good of all Caidos.”

“That's what Hitler said. Not the Caidos part, of course, but he believed that killing all those innocent people was for the good of mankind. Do you believe that, or are you just repeating what you've been told for so long?”

Silva slowly blinked as her words seemed to register, saying nothing.

“But isn't he really after the gratitude of the angels?” she continued. “Even he admitted that motivates him. You've no doubt suspected that his real cause is self-serving.”

“He wants the respect of all the Caidos,” Silva said. “Maybe even more than the angels' gratitude.”

“You have pledged your allegiance to a man who would allow children to die for their freedom. But does he care about you beyond what you can do for the cause? Or are you only rewarded with affection when you please him?”

She had seen enough of their dynamic to feel comfortable with that guess. And by the way Silva's expression crumbled she knew she was right. Suddenly he was the sad, needy boy in the dream who craved love and approval. Reaching Silva's humanity was the key to gaining him as an ally. If that were even possible. “I took my value from what I could do for others. I'm only now realizing that I'm valuable just as I am. So are you.”

Silva's mouth tightened, and his chin trembled. As he started to say something, the guy outside banged on the door. “Are you finished? We need to move to the next room.”

“In a minute,” Silva said, his voice hoarse.

She thought maybe she was getting through, but then he said, “It's easier to come to that conclusion when the person you most want in the world loves you back. The way Kasabian looked at you, the way he shifted his body to protect you, that's why I wanted to kill you earlier.” He reached out, grazing her neck. “Why I want to kill you…”

A
thump
sounded in the hallway, and the door flew open. Kasabian stood there, in all of his winged glory—and Wraithlord rage. As scary as he looked, relief and a whole range of emotions bombarded her. His eyes flashed black when he saw Silva's hand at her neck, and the Dragon Shadow took him over. He threw Silva into the wall so hard the drywall cracked. Black ropes bound him before he could even try to extricate himself.

“No!” Kye pulled herself from the bed and fell against Kasabian. “He wasn't…”

Kasabian wrapped his arm around her and held her up. He took in the sight of her, relief on his face. The rage returned though. “I heard him say he was going to kill you.”

“Before,” Silva said, struggling to get free. “I wanted to kill her before.”

“That isn't helping your case,” Kasabian said, curling his fingers into fists that made the ropes pull tighter.

“The vision,” Kye whispered. “That's what Sarai saw, a Wraithlord about to kill me in a jealous rage. Only it was Silva who was jealous.” She wrapped her fingers over Kasabian's arm, feeling the barely restrained rage pulsing through him. “Pull yourself back. Silva and I were coming to an understanding.”

Movement made her turn to the hallway to find Lyle stepping over a Caido's body and rushing in. He came to an abrupt stop at the scene before him.

“Get the kids out,” Kasabian told him.

Lyle nodded and urged the two kids to go with him. They would escape the channeling. She hadn't failed them after all.

While keeping Silva pinned, Kasabian asked, “What kind of understanding could you possibly come to with this man?”

“We have something in common. We didn't get the approval we needed. I found people who appreciated me because of it. Treylon used Silva's needs to brainwash him into—”

“A sadistic monster who kills children,” Kasabian finished.

“Into what Treylon needed.”

“I can't just let him go, Kye. We have to get these kids out of here, and he'll stop us. Like he would have stopped me before.”

Lyle rushed back in. “I've got them all downstairs, but the Dragons and Deuces are fading fast.”

Kye shook her head. “No. Not after getting this far.”

Kasabian brushed his hand against her cheek. “You did everything you could. Don't blame yourself.”

“She was willing to sacrifice the last of herself to save them,” Silva said, admiration in his voice. “I thought what Treylon was doing was noble. Maybe…I was wrong.”

Kye gained her balance, standing on her own. “Taking the kids out of here isn't going to help. They've lost their essence, and there's no essence transfusion.”

Lyle looked as though he was about to cry. “So…there's no hope?”

“Yes. Yes, there is,” Kye said as an idea formed. “We reverse the essence channeling. The Caidos sent it up to the vessel. We get them to channel it back to the children.” She looked at Lyle. “Could you manage to do that? I know you're exhausted—”

“We could,” Lyle said. “We could try.”

“Rally the Caidos,” she told him.

Kasabian used that strange black magick to lasso Silva and pull him away from the wall. “You're coming with us.” He shot Kye a look that clearly said,
Though I'd rather kill him.

Hayden started when an alarm squawked once. Enough to warn the Caidos that there was trouble, but not enough to bring outside attention. Damn, their element of surprise was gone.

As he swept the grounds, he'd dropped four minions, only one fatally. He understood Kasabian's directive to leave as many unharmed as possible. But it went against Hayden's instincts and training not to whack some asshole who was trying to whack you. They were no doubt being told that they were part of some grand plan, and the intruders were threatening that plan.

Movement in the sky caught his eye. He could see the angels trying to pull free of what looked like ropes that were binding them. The vessel was almost full.