Blood Before Sunrise (24 page)

Fallon rounded a corner just past Delilah’s cell and paused before disappearing from sight. “Hurry up, damn it!” he called.

“Darian!” a familiar voice called out from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Adare shoulder to shoulder with Moira. Great. Just great. The whole of Xander’s kingdom would know about this clusterfuck by sunrise. “It isn’t too late to turn yourself in! Think about what you’re doing. Stop!”

I rounded the corner just as one arrow buried itself in
the wall, another barely clipping my boot. Moira’s enraged scream put a smile on my face as I took the stairs, two at a time. With no idea where I was going, I ran up the stairs, taking two flights before a hand grabbed me hard around the arm, hauling me through a doorway.

“Be still!” Fallon seethed, giving me a shake. “I’ll get you out of here with your head still attached, but you’ve got to be quiet.”

“How are you going to do that?” I asked. “This place is swarming with PNT security, including that Sidhe bitch. Oh, and did I mention she’s got some wicked fucking arrows to sling?”

“Moira,” Fallon replied with disgust. “Her power is nothing. Shut your mouth and don’t move.”

Fallon set Delilah down, and she stood like a mannequin as he went to work. Muttering words I couldn’t decipher, he passed his hands over me from toe to head, ending by combing his fingers through my hair. He repeated the procedure with Delilah who didn’t bat a lash, and then in the same sweeping gesture, passed his hands over his own body. “There. We’ll walk out right under the bastards’ noses.”

“Are you off your nut?” I asked before I really looked at my companions and my jaw dropped. “Holy hell, how did you do that?”

Delilah and Fallon were no longer recognizable as themselves. And as I passed my hand over my face and through my now-short hair, I realized neither was I. If Fallon scoffed at Moira’s power and managed to do this to me, he was jacked up with more magic than any preternatural creature I’d ever met—except, maybe, for Ty.

“A glamour,” he said. “But it won’t last long, so I suggest we get the hell out of here.”

I marveled at my hands, no longer small and thin, but rough and corded. A man’s hands. I didn’t even want to think about what other attributes Fallon had given me. Wouldn’t Anya be jealous? I probably had the balls she wished she had! “Where to from here?” I asked. “I don’t want to look like this for any longer than I have to.”

Fallon answered with a chuckle. “The Oracle will be our only problem, as she’s a bit on the lethargic side. This corridor leads to the elevators. We should be able to hit the main floor and walk right through the gate.”

Yeah, well, the best-laid plans and all of that…If it ended up being that easy, I’d shit my pants. Frantic voices echoed throughout the complex and finally, thank God, they shut off the alarms. We walked to the elevator without incident, although I have to admit anyone with half a brain would have noticed we looked a little suspicious with the third member of our party dragging “his” feet as he followed us along.

We rode the elevator to the main floor in tense silence. I was scared shitless to step even a toe out of line. But as the doors glided open and we stepped into the lobby, I let out a deep breath. The search had migrated to other areas of the compound, and we were nearly home free. I pushed Delilah in front of me, urging her out the front entry just behind Fallon. One hundred and fifty yards stood between us and safety. One way in, one way out. Right through the front gate.

“Put your sword away,” Fallon said. “That’s not a standard-issue weapon.”

I tucked the blade in its scabbard, though doing so made me feel twice as vulnerable. “Don’t speak to anyone,” he continued as we walked down the long driveway to the main gate. “I didn’t have time to glamour your voice. You’ll betray us if you open your mouth.”

Again, no one stopped us or questioned our actions. Fallon played his part well, searching bushes as we walked as if sweeping the property for any sign of—well—
us
. My skin tingled as I sensed the approaching dawn, warm and scratchy, made more stifling by the effects of Fallon’s glamour. Already we’d been here longer than I’d hoped. I wanted nothing more than to be rid of both Fallon and Delilah. Now they stood at my side, partners in crime.

The guard at the gate stood at attention, sword drawn and wary. “No one is allowed off the property,” he said, moving between us and the gate. “Adare’s orders.”

“We’re not leaving the property,” Fallon said. “Just checking the perimeter. Also, Adare’s orders.”

“What’s your name?” the guard asked. “I’ve never seen you before.”

I noticed from the corner of my eye Fallon reaching for his dagger, and I stepped in front of him, not willing to risk any lives for what I’d done. I pulled my arm back and swung, striking the guard square on his chin. His head jerked and lolled to the side before he crumpled to the ground.

“I had the situation under control,” Fallon said between clenched teeth.

“No, you didn’t. I’m not about to kill innocents doing nothing more than their jobs.”

Fallon looked at me as if he thought me foolish. Stepping over the fallen guard, he traced his finger down the center of the gate, using his magic to let us out the way he’d let me in a few hours earlier. Why he didn’t just reach into the control booth and open it manually was beyond me, but I didn’t care as long as he got us the hell out of there with Delilah in one piece. He retrieved the dazed Oracle and stepped through the gate. “Are you coming?”

I looked over my shoulder and back to the gate. What would Tyler think of what I’d done? What would Xander or Raif think? For that matter, what did I think?

Fuck it. What was done was done. I wasn’t coming back without Brakae anyway, and with any luck, I’d have the hourglass with me as well. I looked to Fallon and Delilah in their glamoured forms. I’d walked through these gates a woman on a mission, bent on helping a friend and obsessed with discovering the truth.

I walked out a fugitive.

Chapter 20

“W
hat are you so sullen about?” Fallon asked.

I hadn’t said a word since we’d escaped from the PNT facility. Dawn approached, and the eastern gray skies were smeared with red. It seemed appropriate, considering the circumstances. An omen of sorts. Blood before the sunrise. I watched the scenery passing us by through the passenger-side window. We’d left Seattle behind, headed down the I-5.

“Where the hell are we going?” I asked, my nerves winding tighter with every mile we drove.

Fallon shrugged. “As far as this tank of gas will take us. I figure we have enough to get to Spokane. I want to put as much distance between us and Moira as possible.”

She definitely wanted both of us dead, so I couldn’t really blame him for wanting to get the hell out of Dodge. I wondered why she made him so nervous, though. Fallon wasn’t exactly helpless; he’d demonstrated he had power and then some. Yet Fallon was spooked. I only wished I knew why. I decided not to press the matter, though; I had nothing more to say to him and didn’t feel like drawing the SOB into conversation. I turned in my seat to check on Delilah, who sat in the back of the unassuming VW sedan, just as much a vegetable as she’d been when we’d hauled her out of her cell. I rode shotgun—lucky me—and the man whose throat I wanted to slit wide open drove. Not well, I might add. Jesus, I’d seen newly licensed teens with better driving skills.

I’d spent the better part of three hours berating myself for letting this situation get so out of hand. If only Adare
had met me at the door that day. If only I’d asked Tyler for help. If only I’d quit fighting against Xander and tried to convince him to work with me. Instead of letting people in, I’d done what I’d trained myself to do for years: I’d shut everyone out—everyone, that is, but Raif.

“Are you going to answer me?” Fallon said. “Or are you going to pout the rest of the way?”

I pressed my palm to the pocket holding my cell. GPS was a hell of a safety net. Even though I’d fled Seattle with Fallon, Raif could find me. I never—ever—went out on a job without a backup plan. The night Tyler had come to my rescue at Reaver’s had been the last straw. I couldn’t bear for him to endanger himself for a task that was none of his concern. Raif, on the other hand, was just as much a part of this as I was. His worried expression was fresh in my mind as I thought back to our last encounter before I’d left with Fallon.

“Raif, hear me out.” I turned to face my friend, hugging my arms to myself to ease the emptiness I felt. It worried me that I’d had to wish Tyler out of my apartment and to The Pit, where Levi could keep an eye on him. His control was held together by the barest of threads. “You don’t want to reopen old wounds. I get that. But Delilah wouldn’t have mentioned Brakae just to piss you off. She knew the PNT would more than likely lock her away for good…or worse. She’d planned on using your daughter as a bargaining chip if she happened to get caught.”

“It’s been centuries, Darian. With no word. Not even a trace of where she might have gone. Why would Delilah keep such a secret for so long?”

I cocked a brow. “Why? Why not? You killed her sister, Raif. I wouldn’t have willingly supplied you with that information either. You wanted answers. I believe she’s got them. But we won’t know for sure unless we can unlock whatever spell Adare put on her so I can get to the bottom of this.”

“Why not just go to Adare?”

“Do you think he’d put our issues before PNT justice?”

Raif sighed. “No.”

“So let’s use Fallon to our advantage. I’ve already stolen this goddamned hourglass; it’s too late to change course now. I’ll make the trade, get what we need from Delilah, and when it’s all said and done, we’ll bring Adare and Reaver into it.”

“And what if Fallon double-crosses you?”

The thought hadn’t escaped me. He didn’t strike me as particularly trustworthy. “When I meet up with him to exchange the hourglass, I’ll activate the GPS on my phone. If he tries anything, you can keep track of where we are. If things go south, you call in the cavalry and you’ll know how to get to me. It’s doable. We can make this work.”

Raif gave me a sad smile. “Darian, are
you
prepared to face PNT justice over this? There could be serious repercussions for what you’re doing.”

“I know,” I replied with a sigh. “And yes, I’m ready to accept the consequences of my actions. Whatever they might be.”

“All right, then.” Raif’s expression changed from concern to resignation. “We’ll try.”

Though he had no idea how his daughter’s disappearance could be connected to the “Man” Delilah had mentioned or the mysterious Shaede women of my dreams, he promised to see this through to the very end—his daughter returned to him or not. Now, I just had to wait him out. He was tracking me—no doubt there—and as soon as Delilah spilled her little secret, I had to trust he’d get me the hell away from Fallon so I could return the hourglass to Reaver. From there, we’d find his daughter together.

“You’re not much of a travel companion.” Fallon’s voice broke into my reverie. As if he had nothing better to do than listen to himself talk, he continued. “I hope the next hundred miles are better than the last.”

Since we’d confined ourselves to the ridiculously cramped car, my feelings of unease had mounted. Something about Fallon pulled and repulsed me, simultaneously urging me to flee; yet I wanted to lean in closer. My
phone continued to vibrate in my pocket at five-minute intervals, and I was pretty sure my voice mail was full because that alert had quit going off an hour ago. Though I worried he’d run the battery down with his repeated calls, that vibrating phone connected me to Tyler and let me know he still cared about me despite everything I’d done to crush him.

“Darian, speak to me.”

“What do you want me to say?” I looked away, preferring blurry scenery and car sickness to Fallon’s attempts at conversation. Why had I begun to feel more like a prisoner and less like an accomplice?

Spokane struck me as a city built upon a foundation of churches. From the freeway, they jutted up everywhere and farther out, toward the city proper as well. It was a city of old architecture peppered with new—and a variety of gods watching over it all.

I’d taken jobs for Tyler that led me to other cities, but not often. I liked to stay close to home, to what felt familiar. I didn’t like leaving my comfort zone. Despite its size, Spokane felt small at about two-thirds the population of Seattle, and in turn made me feel exposed. I blended into the Seattle scenery. Here, I stuck out like a sore thumb. There wasn’t the same press of bodies or quick pace that allowed me to go unnoticed. There was too much room to breathe. Too easygoing. Spokane had more of a Small Town, USA, feel: eye contact, open smiles, and friendly curiosity. Not that Seattle wasn’t friendly, but with the big-city pace, people just didn’t have time for much more than a passing glance. We wouldn’t blend in quite as well here. No one in our trio of preternatural fugitives needed that kind of attention.

Fallon abandoned the downtown area, continuing down the freeway toward the Idaho border. We’d be more exposed as we left the population behind, and I wondered at his choice in direction. “Where are we going?” As though it mattered. Every mile we drove was a mile too far. All I wanted was to return home.

“We’ll need to find a hotel. A quiet place where I can lift the magic that imprisons Delilah in her own mind. Isn’t that what you want? To unlock her secrets? I can’t do it from the driver’s seat of this car.”

“And then you’ll get the hourglass. So don’t act like all of this is one magnanimous gesture. Look around you, Fallon,” I said, indicating the thinning urban landscape. “You don’t think we’re going to arouse suspicion?”

“I won’t,” he said. “Glamour, remember?”

I refused to look at him. And why should his ability to glamour bother me? Fae wore glamour to hide from the human populace all the time. Maybe it wasn’t the glamour at all. Since we’d left Seattle, Fallon’s mood and personality had done a complete one-eighty. He’d been uptight, done, and demanding before. Now, he seemed relaxed, cheerful even. He hadn’t mentioned the hourglass since we’d left the city. Why? He’d been itching to get his hands on it before. The damn thing wasn’t out of his reach, though. It was right in the backseat, resting next to Delilah, who might as well have been luggage herself.