When Silver Moons Rise (Lost Immortals Saga #2) (18 page)

“Now see, you just screwed up a nice little intimate moment between my girl and me,” Seth says, smiling. “Now, I’m ticked off.” I narrow my eyes at him, but he doesn’t pay me any attention.

“Too bad, guy. You and your girl are coming with us,” the tall dark-haired guy says to him. He aims some kind of primitive weapon at us. I don’t underestimate its power just because the shell looks about as old as the plantation houses back home.

Seth folds his arms, and says, “I don’t think so.”

“Told ya he’d make this hard,” the shorter guy on his right side says. He’s holding a gun that reminds me of the tasers used by the soldiers back in Castle Hayne. “He don’t look like the type to go easy.”

“Oh, he’ll be a wanting to cooperate,” the tallest guy says, cocking his gun. And then he aims it straight at me. “Come nicely, and your pretty girl, here, won’t get her head blown off.”

“Move the gun away from her,” Seth says in measured words. If he goes crazy-guy on them, then our cover will be blown. Obviously, these guys have no clue that we’re angel-bloods. By now, we’d be dead if they did.

Outside the doorway, another group of people have gathered around our car. There must be almost thirty of these strangely dressed men surrounding the area.  Seth actually backs down. This must be hard for him. Confrontation and conflict rules his vocabulary.

Two young guys ease around the larger man, and head toward Seth. The shorter one stops behind me. I glance back at him and find that
he
is actually a
she
.

“Move it, fancy girl,” she orders and presses a gun into my back, pushing me toward the door.

“Okay, I need to get my things,” I say, bending down to pick up Mother’s sword.

“Don’t think so. That stays,” the girl blurts.

“No way. I’m not leaving it,” I say, feeling heated. To leave Mother’s sword would be like leaving a part of me.

“Do you have a hearing problem? I said no,” she repeats. I stand up and stare her down.

We’re total opposites in physical appearance, and she reminds me of someone, but I can’t think straight at the moment. I’m too angry. I bend down and attempt to pick up the sword again. This earns me a tap on the back of the head from the rifle butt of the other guy standing near us. He doesn’t hit me hard enough to knock me out, but I can tell I’ve now been warned.

Seth jumps on him in a flash, twisting my assailant’s arm around until I hear the bones crack. The guy screams.

“Do I hear an apology somewhere in all of that yelling?” Seth hisses in his ear. I reach for Mother’s sword again. The girl kicks it across the floor and smiles at me. Rubbing the back of my head, I glance up at her and narrow my eyes.

Behind Seth, a new guy stands inside the doorway now. Something about his buzzed haircut and meaty neck seems familiar. But he wears a patch on one eye, and that’s throwing me off for some reason. He heads straight toward Seth who is caught up in pulverizing the guy who hit me on the head.

“Watch out!” I yell, warning Seth. Too late. The guy with the eye patch sends the butt of his rifle into the back of his head, knocking Seth to his knees.

The girl rushes forward and secures Seth inside of a long chain. He’s still weakened by his experience with the gangs who ripped off his wings. The strength of the one-eyed giant rivals Seth’s. Now, I remember where I last saw this guy. He glances at me and grins, a set of pearly white teeth highlighted by one gold front tooth.

Zeke.
Wonderful.

Chapter  Twenty One

The Gift (Faris)

Chela’s image evaporates, leaving me feeling lonelier than ever. The place she chooses to hide inside is dangerous. Something else hovers over her too. What drives me most crazy is the feeling that the darkness I felt around her belongs to a person and not a thing.

Letting go of the sudden pang of loneliness, I fall right back into my childhood memories.

This time, three years has passed. Asa, Seth, and me compare our strange new abilities, gifts from Rabia’s spell she has placed on us. We stand outside the palace, well hidden in our secret spot as Rabia teaches us how to use our powers. My sister and her shadow, Seth, enjoy every moment.

Me? I’m not so thrilled, just yet.

“Come, Faris.” Rabia holds out her hand and smiles at me. The white dress she wears never gets dirty, and her empty clear-blue eyes don’t reflect the smile on her face. I wonder if sometimes we’ve sold our soul to a demon. Asa disagrees. And Seth is her lapdog, so he nods his head to anything my sister says.

“Don’t be afraid,” Rabia says, her voice smooth and hypnotic, but deadly like the hornets Father keeps in a special collection. I wonder if this girl will eventually sting us to death the way Father says the hornets can.

I wish I hadn’t drunk her stupid potion. I don’t want to spoil the fun for Asa, though. The deal was that we make a wish to become our favorite animal, a temporary thing that sounded fun to Asa and Seth, of course. Her eighteenth birthday happens in two weeks. The boy she has been set up to marry, a baron in a distant land, came to visit us last week. My sister doesn’t want to get married. She wants to train in the Caducean arts the same way I’m doing. It’s not possible for her, though. Only males are allowed to join the Sons of Gabriel, the demon slayers of Bardonia.

Still, I want to see her smile. Just like Seth, I’ll do anything for her, too. What real harm could there be in drinking a little potion. Besides, the thought of all this excites Asa. I walk over to Rabia and take her hand. A slight tingle passes through my palm.

Glancing deep in my eyes, she says, “I want you to go first. The gift I’ve given you is a special one, Prince Indrail. Let us use it to entertain your sister and her friend.”

I glance at Asa, trying to hide my worry. I’m going to regret this. I can feel it.

It hits me before I have the chance to think about anything else. The feeling shoots through my shoulder blade, as though someone shot me with an arrow, or something.
Curse it. This isn’t fun.
And it sure as hell isn’t  what I thought I’d be doing to entertain my sister. Something that feels like a punch to my gut winds me. I double over, dropping to the ground, my hands and knees spread apart like a dog.

My breath catches in my throat. I’m drowning, but there’s no water. I panic and glance at Asa who starts toward me. Seth holds her back, and says, “Wait. I want to see this.” Asa obeys him. I feel like punching him in the face for holding her back, and I want to shake my sister for listening. The wind increases and whips Seth and Asa’s hair around their faces. It’s crazy, but I realize for the first time how much they resemble one another while they stand there gawking at me.

“What the hell are you doing to me?” I manage to gasp out. Rabia doesn’t answer. Instead, she lifts her hands and shouts a phrase in Dscarsii, the ancient language of the seraphim queens. Throwing her head back, her phrases become faster, louder, and a foul stench fills the air.

“Stop this!” Asa yells as she struggles in Seth’s arms. Our mysterious guest who could almost pass as my sister’s twin tightens his grip on her.

The pain. I have never felt anything like this. I try to stand. No luck. Fine black hairs emerge across my hands and arms. Something claws inside my stomach. I want to scream, but I can’t even do that because I’m paralyzed. My left shoulder dislocates first, and then my right shoulder. Asa screams, but doesn’t move. Rabia stares at me now, the grin of a manic girl spread across her ruby red lips. She’s finished performing her tribute to the sky.

I open my mouth to speak, to scream, to breathe. None of that happens. Instead, a growling roar comes out of my mouth. My heart beats so fast I’m sure it’ll eventually burst.

“What have you done to my brother, you witch?” Asa yells.

“No worries, Princess. Keep watching. You’ll see,” Rabia says, smiling at Asa and then back at me.

The black hair on my arms thickens and my limbs shrink. The nails on my hands turn silver as they extend into claws. I’m terrified and amazed at the same time. It isn’t long before the pain starts to ease up and my bones stop cracking.

My transformation is complete. I am now a jaguar with fur as shiny and black as Asa’s hair. A hunger comes along with the new cat-like body I now sport, a craving for blood and death. The sensation overwhelms me, drowning out the boy I used to be, and planting a memory of the new person I’m about to become.

“Now go, baby jaguar. Run! Destroy all of those who stand in your path to getting what you want,” Rabia orders. I obey, even though I don’t want to. Surging forward, I run with the speed of a cheetah, moving faster than I’ve ever done before. I sprint about fifty feet before I turn around.

“What have you done to my brother?” Asa cries out.

“I’ve given you the gift of immortality, Princess. Surely, you’re thankful for that,” Rabia blurts.

Asa covers her mouth. Only now do the three of us realize that we’ve been dealing with a girl with a black heart. I stop running and glance back at my sister one last time. She doesn’t look the same to me. As I look at her with my jaguar’s eyes, her usual image turns into something different for me. I don’t have the words to describe what has happened; so I turn away before I do something to her that I’ll regret.

I run through the trees, passing by the spot where we found Seth all those years ago. I jump around. I’m both excited and scared, a newborn version of the mature creature that now lives inside me. If I had known what the future held for me, for all three of us, then I would’ve hurled my body over the cliffs that day, washing away my curse in the sea’s hungry waters.

Chapter Twenty Two

The Rebels Yell (Chela)

Seth struggles against whatever demons haunt his dreams. These nightmares of his seem to be getting worse. I’ve watched him tug against his restraints for most of the night. I can never sleep when I’m stressed out. The ropes holding him are reinforced by a single silver chain wrapped around his abdomen, chest, and shoulders. The metal must be made of galena, the one thing that can bind an angel-blood’s power. How something so flimsy holds someone so strong amazes me.

I’ve held on to so much hate for him over these past few months. He kidnapped my brother, not to mention he murdered Muriel. Some cruel, invisible force despises me. How else does one go about explaining a situation where your greatest enemy, the person who has caused you the most pain out of all the baddies in your life, suddenly becomes your savior?

As though on cue, Seth’s head pops up and his eyes open. They don’t flutter or anything. His gaze locks dead on me. Questions swim in his eyes and dried blood is caked on the left side of his face. But he’s completely alert, now. I can’t help thinking he wasn’t even asleep at all.

“About time you decided to wake up and get with it,” I tease, but still feeling relieved to see the hero of the moment awake.

He gives me a lazy smile, and says, “Can’t give you too much time alone. You have a bad habit of bringing trouble along with you.”

We sit facing each other, our bodies tied to chairs. The building we’re being held inside reminds me of a phantom library: dirty walls, thin metal doors that don’t keep the chill in the air outside, and a moldy smell that kind of stings my nose. Shelves filled with dusty books surround us. Small lights that are nothing like the ones back home in Castle Hayne sit on tables, giving the room a strangely depressing look.

Zeke’s companions must either be angel-bloods, or he hasn’t told them about Seth just yet. The bounty on the blood of celestials is being offered at crazy-high prices. The rebels should’ve attached him to a bleeder right away, but they didn’t. Why?

The front door creaks open. A woman steps through and walks over to a desk sitting about ten feet away from where Seth and I sit. She leans against it and folds her arms across her chest. With her black eyes and long dark braid to match, she takes me back to a place inside my mind I can’t quite recall. The girl from the old subway station and another young, auburn-haired boy walk in behind her and stand on either of her sides.

“Answer me, now, and answer me well. Otherwise, this room will be the last place you ever see,” the woman begins. “Are you one of the fallen? The Angel of Chaos’s filth.”

“Think about it. If we had that kind of power, would we still be sitting here right now? Last I checked, relatives of the Tainted have some pretty badass abilities,” Seth says without even flinching. Lying comes naturally to him. But the woman doesn’t look convinced. Her gaze drifts towards me.

“Forgive my manners,” she says to me, “I’m Jade. This is my camp. You two are my prisoners, for the moment. And if you’re clean humans, meaning no angel-blood in your systems, then you’ll be released.”

“Lilith, test serum. Lionel, fill the vials,” Jade says to the kids who came in behind her.

The girl who looks like someone who would be named Lilith, pulls a tube filled with blue liquid from off of a strange bangle she wears. Small glass vials that contain different colors of fluids are attached all around the metal that forms the bracelet. I pass a nervous glance to Seth.

“If you’re not Tainted, as you say, I’m sure you won’t mind a test or two,” Jade says, keeping her gaze locked on Seth.

“Test away,” he answers. I’m confused by Seth’s reaction and terrified of what will happen once the results come back positive. Jade doesn’t look like someone who’ll fall for a bluff. She nods her head toward Lilith, the girl who caused me to lose Mother’s sword. She can’t be anymore more than sixteen or seventeen-years-old. It feels strange to have someone my age standing nearby.

Lilith stalks over to my chair, walks behind me, and lifts my hand up. Lionel does the same thing to Seth. The pinch makes me jump more than I normally would have done. But there’s something about being tested for angel-blood that can rattle your nerves—especially when you live inside a society that singles out and murders your kind.

Lionel moves back over to stand beside Jade, takes out something that looks like a metal card, and smears Seth’s blood across the top. Lilith does the same thing with mine.