Borrowed Ember (22 page)

27 -
Being Too Early is Almost as Rude as Being Too Late

It was six o’ clock. Six hours until the meet. The meet that would change it al. He hoped.

Too much adrenaline was making his nerves ragged and his stomach sick. Charlie heaved another huge sigh, running a hand through his hair as he paced up and

down the motel room. He just wanted out. He wanted out now. He wanted his hand around the emerald and he wanted to torture the evil scum who had destroyed his family’s life.

He wanted to be at peace at last.

He wanted Mikey to be at peace at last.

He
needed
Mikey to know that he
cared
…

…
The late afternoon sun beat down on the car as Charlie waited outside the grounds of the park Mike’s Little League team used for practice. His knee

shaking up and down with growing impatience, Charlie checked the clock. Crap. He was going to be late to pick up Ari, and if they didn’t make their dinner
reservations the whole night would start to fall to pieces. It had to be perfect. He had her sixteenth birthday all planned out. This was the night. This was the
night they finally became a couple.

So where the hell was his little brother?

Charlie growled, watching the other kids come out to meet their parents. The practice had obviously run over, but nearly every other single kid had been
picked up.

Fear suddenly knifed Charlie in the chest.

Had something happened to Mikey?

Unbuckling his seat belt, fingers fumbling with worry now, Charlie launched out of the car heading in towards the park. Some of the moms threw him

curious smiles. He was wearing slacks and a dress shirt. He felt like a dork.

Seeing Mrs. Myer and her daughter, Jane, Charlie stopped them. “Have you seen Mike?”

Mrs. Myer looked down at Jane expectantly. The little girl from Mike’s grade shook her head, her tongue gluing down in Charlie’s presence as it always

did. Mrs. Myer smiled apologetically at Charlie. “I guess that’s a no. Check the park. There are still some kids in there.”

“Thanks.”

He hurried down the path bordered by a chain link fence and growled with a mixture of relief and anger as the park came into view behind the dugout.

Mikey was standing in the middle of the field with a bunch of friends, messing around.

Little pain in the ass, Charlie seethed. He knew Charlie had to be on time and he was kicking around with his friends? Where the hell was the coach?

“Get your ass over here now, Mike!” Charlie yelled.

“Mr. Creagh!” a familiar voice snapped as Mike blanched at the sight of his big brother, shoving a friend aside as they sing-songed ‘ooh, you’re in

trouble’. Charlie turned to face Mike’s Little League coach who was busy clearing equipment away. She glared at him. “Watch your mouth.”

“Sorry, Coach, but I’m late for something and the little sh… idiot knows it.”

“Hmm. Mikey, get moving!” Coach yelled and Charlie gave her a brittle nod of thanks.

Mike trundled towards him, dragging his feet. As soon as he was in reaching distance, Charlie snagged him by the scruff of his shirt and gently pushed

him in front of him.

“Hey, watch it!” Mike snapped.

“Watch it?” Charlie huffed. “Watch it? I’m going to be late for my date with Ari. The date I told you about! Get in the damn car.” He jumped into the

driver’s seat, slamming the door.

Deliberately riling him, Mike took painfully slow steps towards the car until Charlie smacked his hand on the horn. He picked his pace up a little, but not
enough to temper Charlie’s growing anger.

“You’re a little shit, you know that,” Charlie groaned as Mike buckled up. He sighed, trying to rein in his bad mood.

“You’re an asshole.”

“Mike…” Clenching the steering wheel, Charlie took deep breaths as he pulled away from the curb. “I told you I had dinner reservations with Ari and

that you needed to be ready and waiting for me to pick you up, and not only does Little League run over its time, but you hung out back with your friends
with a complete disregard to what I asked you to do!”

“You’re not dad.” Mike shrugged. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“What is your problem?” Charlie asked in disbelief.

“I forgot! Okay! You didn’t have to pull me away from my friends and make me look like a baby.”

“You’re acting like a baby.”

“I’m acting like a baby? You’re the one who swore in front of Coach Delia and then called me a little shit.”

“You called me an asshole,” Charlie’s voice lowered as he winced at the underlying tone of hurt in Mike’s voice. He was taking his nervousness over

tonight out on Mike. It wasn’t fair.

“You are an asshole.”

“Don’t use that language.”

“But you’re allowed to?”

Feeling his irritation build again, Charlie slapped the wheel. “Can you just for five seconds not act like a little brat?”

“Oh now I’m a brat and an asshole.”

Charlie whipped his head around to glare at him. “Seriously, dude, what is going on?”

“Nothing.” Mike shrugged and then shot him a look when he wouldn’t turn away. “Nothing!”

Charlie turned back to face the road and his heart jerked in his chest at the sight of the cyclist who seemed to have come out of nowhere. The sound of

Mike’s yells became garbled among the sound of screeching tires and the crunching of metal…

… “You’re making me nervous, pacing up and down like that.” Falon glowered at him from her position, leaning against the bathroom doorframe. “Stop it. I don’t
do
nervous.”

Charlie gave her a weak smile as she puled him from his last memory of Mike. A terrible memory. He continued to pace as he checked his watch. Only six fifteen.

Jesus.

A playful knock at the door stopped him in his tracks, his eyes clashing with Falon’s. They were both frozen, silently communicating on what to do. Finaly Falon nodded.

Treading softly so whoever was at the door wouldn’t hear his footsteps, Charlie crossed the room and looked through the peephole. He frowned. No one. A sense of unease rippled over him as he gripped the door knob and began to ease the motel room door open, his magic bubbling at his fingertips. Like he’d been hit with a gale force gust of wind, Charlie staggered back as a streak of color tore past him and into the room. He whirled around, dazed, his eyes widening on the tal, skinny woman who stood beside Falon. She was plain-looking with red hair, pale skin and… yelow eyes. Yelow eyes?

“Looking for me?” she smirked and just as Charlie registered that this was the Labartu, that this was Akasha, she had Falon’s head between her hands.

CRACK
.

Falon’s delicate neck snapped, the life abandoning her body as it crumpled uselessly, empty, souless to the floor. Unreality washed over Charlie as he stared at the place his dead girlfriend’s body had been discarded.

He fought a sudden rush of vomit, gagging as he reached for a wal to lean against.

“Now that’s two people you’l want to exact revenge from me for, little boy.”

Breathing hard, Charlie pushed himself back off the wal to face her, his hand dipping into his pocket with a mind of its own, considering his own mind was numb with shock. Akasha was too fast. The wind of her departure blew him back again and Charlie stood befuddled for a moment, Falon’s body lying at the edge of his vision, taunting him to look.

Instead he curled his fingers around the emerald.
Find her
, he whispered inwardly, his rage quiet but inextinguishable.
Find her
. The flames of the
Peripatos
engulfed him and Charlie closed his eyes, preparing himself for a slaughter.

28 -
And They Say a Wealth of Emeralds Won’t Change You…

Ari watched as Michael Roe comforted his sobbing wife while Falon’s Uncle Gerard and Jacob Balendine arranged Falon’s body into a wooden crate lined with

blankets. They’d
Cloak
it as they removed her from the motel, using the one piece of emerald The Roe Guild kept in their safe.

Jai’s hand lay on Ari’s shoulder, offering her quiet comfort, but she was numb. Falon’s body looked so tiny and that cute face that had been so ful of character was pale and slack. Empty. She was no longer in there.

It was too much.

Too much death to deal with al at once. Too much aching loss.

“Charlie didn’t do this,” Trey announced to the room as he snapped his cel shut. “Glass confirmed that Akasha was sent here by Azazil. She must have kiled…” his eyes grew narrow with fury at the sight of Falon’s body. “…She kiled Falon and she took Charlie. Or Charlie took off after her.”

Caroline’s sobs grew quieter but Ari’s own grief only intensified as she watched Gerard wipe a tear away from his cheek as the lid on the crate shut his niece in. It seemed impossible to believe that Falon would never talk to her again. That they would never exchange playful barbs and insults, or just hang out…. Theirs had been an open, honest kind of friendship. One Ari had truly appreciated.

She had lost the one girlfriend who realy knew and understood her…

… And worse… Charlie had lost her too.

She couldn’t imagine what he was going through right now. What he was thinking. How he was reacting.

“He realy cared about her,” she whispered almost to herself. “They were together. Together, together. God,” she choked, “He must be going nuts.” Turning to Jai, Ari was demanding, determined. “We have to find him. We have to stop him.”

“If you find him,” Michael’s flat voice drew everyone’s attention. “If you stop him, he’s out of The Guild and no longer under the Roe’s protection. His bitter need for revenge has gotten my daughter murdered.”

Ari blanched, even in that moment, feeling like she needed to defend Charlie somehow. Falon had known what she was doing when she came after Charlie. Falon

had cared about him. She was just trying to protect him. Charlie would never have wanted anything to happen to her.

“Michael…” she didn’t realy know how to respond.

“He’s out, Ari. That’s final. I understand if that means you’re out too.”

The truth was she couldn’t answer that right now. The thought of leaving Charlie defenseless when he needed her seemed unthinkable. But for now, it wasn’t what mattered. What mattered, Ari realized, as she took in the pure agony on Michael’s face, was that the Roes needed to grieve in private, and they were al intruding.

“I understand.” This might be the last time she saw them. Charlie was her best friend, although it may not have seemed like it lately. They were bonded by years of friendship, and he needed her just as the Roes needed one another. “We better go.” Ari tugged on Jai and Trey’s arms.

“If there’s anything we can do,” Jai suddenly spoke up, his voice grave and strong, the kind of guy who could be believed when he said he’d take care of something.

“Michael… please let me know.”

Caroline was deaf to everything but her own loss, but Michael heard and he gave Jai a grateful nod before curling his wife deeper into his arms.

Outside the motel, standing in the badly-lit parking lot, Ari finaly felt like she could breathe again. “This is unreal,” she mumbled, trying to shake off the deep sadness that was making her shiver to the very depth of her bones. Later, she could curl up in Jai’s arms and cry until there was nothing left, but not right now.

Glancing with renewed determination between Jai and Trey, Ari tried to mask her fragility. “How can we pick up Charlie and the Labartu’s trail?”

Trey’s cel pinged and he flipped it open, his eyes scanning the message with satisfaction. “Sometimes it’s like a god listening in,” he murmured with a smirk. “We don’t need to.” He looked up at them, the smirk replaced by something grimmer. “Glass. He says Akasha has fled to Sydney Marone Middle School here in Alief. It’s a new school, stil under construction.”

Ari’s mouth dropped open, her eyes on Trey’s cel. “Should Glass be doing that? I thought Azazil wanted him out of it.”

“Technicaly, the Sultan said that Red should stay out of it. Plus, it’s not like he’s physicaly helping.”

“Jinn and there technicalities,” Ari grumbled. Then she frowned, a new thought occurring to her. “I thought you and Glass disliked one another?”

Trey was utterly beautiful as he grinned at her; his exotic grey eyes were wicked beneath their dark lashes. “Oh we definitely have our moments.”

Bemused by his enigmatic comments when it came to The Glass King, Ari shrugged him off. She turned to her boyfriend. He stil looked so tired, and concern for him flooded her. She wanted him out of this. He hadn’t fuly recovered his strength yet. “I’m going with Trey. I want you to stay with the Roes.”

“Oh, so it’s okay for me to die?” Trey cracked. “I’m touched. Realy.”

Ari glared at his inappropriate humor only to find her glower faltering under Jai’s.

“There is no way in hel I’m letting you do this alone.”

He was using
that
voice. Ari heaved a sigh, knowing he wouldn’t budge on it. “Fine. I’l meet you guys there.” Al three of them looked around to make sure no one watched as they melted back into the shadows behind three cars. Assured they had some privacy, they let the
Cloak
shroud them from visibility and then each of them caled on the
Peripatos
to take them to a sorcerer who desperately needed some sense driled into him.

The Labartu was
playing with him.

Charlie’s head was bleeding from where she’d thrown him against some scaffolding outside of the school as he arrived. A middle school, he thought distastefuly.

Fitting, for someone who liked to destroy little kids. Akasha was the worst kind of bad guy, Charlie sneered as he tread carefuly and slowly down a halway. A bad guy who was a bad guy for going after children? They were the lowest, vile, dregs found on the scum of the earth.

Even bad guys hated those kinds of bad guys.

Charlie stopped, his ears pricking up at the sound of Akasha’s boot buckles clanking softly. The sound echoed from every direction, deliberately confusing Charlie.

This was the sixth time she’d played that trick.

“You’re a coward!” he caled out, sounding far more calm and together than he felt.

The footsteps stopped.

Then started again, leading him this time in the one direction. A hole in the wal with doors piled near, waiting to be hung, led Charlie into a huge room. Checking out the counter at the opposite end and the large, shalow hatch that stretched the length of the counter, Charlie would have to guess this was the cafeteria.

Akasha was nowhere in sight.

The eerie quiet alowed his ears to give reign to his imagination. It wasn’t her he heard as he spun slowly around, his eyes drinking in every shadow. It was Falon’s laughter, her wicked chuckle echoing inside his head, the images of her, the smel of her, the sound… it al started to become confused with his memories of Mike.

Falon was gone.

Just like Mike, she was just a memory now too.

Charlie grew stil, his face crumpling with pain as an icy anger bled into his veins. Letting out a roar of grief, he wrapped his hand around the emerald stil hidden in his pocket.

What did he have left to lose? Right?

He flinched back, raising an arm to protect his eyes against the blinding light that lit up the darkness as someone approached from the
Peripatos
. Or someones—plural. His chest tightened as the spots across his eyes faded and he found himself facing Ari, Jai and Trey.

“Charlie.” Ari rushed at him and a voice far back in his head pleaded with him to let her wrap her arms around him and save him. The other voice, the one in control, shook that weakness off, and whatever Ari saw in his expression made her stop.

“Charlie, you don’t want to do this,” she pleaded.

At his silence, her eyes widened as though she’d just thought of something.

Absentmindedly Charlie wondered how anyone could be so beautiful.

“I can.” Ari nodded franticaly. “Yeah. I can do this for you. I won’t be tried. I’m a ful-blood.”

Surprise squeezed his heart. “You’d kil her for me?”

She nodded again, grasping anxiously at the idea. “She kiled Mike. She kiled Falon. I can do this.”

The sight of her always made him catch his breath a little. He’d felt guilty, the whole time he was with Falon, that the sight of Ari walking into a room could stil make the hair on the back of his neck rise. For a moment, the warmth in her gaze broke through the haze around him and he felt like the Charlie he’d been before al this monstrous crap had happened. His eyes filed with tears as he drank her in. Those strange but beautiful eyes that couldn’t hide how good she was. He had lost Mike and Falon, but he stil had Ari. And God, he stil loved her so much. He loved her husky laugh and her quick quips, her loyalty, her ability to listen to any idiot’s problems with patience and sincerity.

Charlie realized with a dawning sad acceptance that he loved how
pure
she was. So much had happened to her, so much had been stolen from her—people that she loved—and yet somehow she hadn’t let it poison her. Ari would never understand revenge. Justice, yes. But not revenge.

Charlie couldn’t let her kil Akasha for him. It would change her. It would be another thing he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself for.

The familiar sound of buckles brought his head around and his entire being tensed at the sight of Akasha smiling at him from her perch on the counter. The yelow-eyed bitch tilted her head to inspect Ari, Jai and Trey.

“You brought back up.” She curled her lip in disappointment. “Figures.”

Charlie glanced back at Ari, the emerald’s power warring with the way he felt for her as it had done these last few weeks. It had always won because it had been there and Ari hadn’t. But having her there in front of him, her eyes filed with love…

… If he did this, he’d lose her too. First Mike. Then Falon.

Could he handle losing Ari?

“Charlie?” Jai’s voice cut through al the fog as the tal Ginnaye took a step towards him. It broke Charlie’s focus from Ari.

His heart slowed as his eyes took in Jai and the emerald seemed to push images at him he didn’t want to see. Jai gazing at Ari when she wasn’t looking. Ari gazing back, looking at him in a way she had never looked at Charlie, even when she thought she was in love with him. Ari looked at Jai as though he would always take care of everything, that everything would be alright as long as he was around.

And it probably would.

Worse, most of the time, Ari looked at Charlie with a crease of concern between her brows. Just like now.

Who was he kidding? He railed bitterly.

He’d already lost her. He lost her two years ago when Akasha kiled his brother!

With a roar of impotent rage, Charlie withdrew the emerald from his pocket and turned its power on Akasha.

Her eyes had barely widened with shock before her body was torn apart—an explosion of guts, blood, innards and brain splattering the wals and floors around her.

Disbelief.

A disconnected sense of disappointment filed Charlie to the brim and his chest rose and fel rapidly as he tried to draw breath.

The emerald pulsed in his hand and he calmed instantly, looking down at it with awe. Its sweet, exciting power soothed over him and Charlie sighed with relief as though he’d been in agony only to have someone administer a huge dose of morphine.

He’d wanted to torture Akasha.

To punish her.

It had been over too quickly.

He’d meant to drag it out.

But the emerald—he needed to learn how to control his use of it.

“Charlie?” Ari practicaly squeaked.

Charlie glanced over his shoulder at her. One last bitter look. He didn’t have much time.

“That’s got to be Mount Qaf emerald,” Trey pointed out hoarsely, gesturing at the rock in Charlie’s hand. His eyes flew up to Charlie’s face. “It was you. At the Roe’s. It was you. Glass lied. The son-of-a-bitch lied.”

“What? What is going on?” Ari asked franticaly, her own eyes trained on the emerald.

“Red,” Charlie responded quietly as he began to back away from her. When he looked at her the peace the emerald was giving him began to fade a little. He needed that peace. He needed it more than he needed her. She’d been unfaithful to their friendship. She’d falen so easily in love with someone else.

Is she really that pure?
An insidious voice whispered in his ear.

“Red gave it to me.” He eyed the emerald adoringly. “To help me escape when al this was over.”

“Charlie, no…” Ari started towards him but Jai reached out and grabbed her arm, holding her back, his gaze suspicious and uncertain upon Charlie.

Charlie hated him for holding her back. For being able to. The things he could do to bring down the powerful Ginnaye who had Ari under his spel; the things he could do now that he had Mount Qaf emerald in his hand.

“Charlie. Drop the emerald,” Ari demanded.

“No.” He wasn’t a pawn anymore and al because he had the emerald.

“Charlie.”

The grief in her voice drew his gaze away from the emerald and he saw her eyes were filing with tears. For him. Something tried to crack its way through as his gaze dropped to her lush, trembling mouth. She had been his to protect before Mike died. She would have been stil, he had no doubt.

One day
, the soft voice in the back of his murmured,
one day she might be mine to protect again.

The emerald throbbed in his palm and he glanced back down at it. One day when had proven he was capable of it, he’d come back to protect her—but not today

when just the sight of her ripped him apart and filed him with uncertainty, regret and hatred.

“Goodbye, Ari,” he whispered and then he stepped back summoning the flames of the
Peripatos
as though he had been born to do it al of his life. The sound of Ari’s grief stricken cries drew a grin to his face, and he tightened his fist around the emerald wondering where it would take him next.