Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (27 page)

Anya’s hand squeezes
mine tighter, makin’ me
inch
away from the cr
eature
that
’s
caus
in
’
my skin
to
crawl.
With my he
art poundin’ in my chest, I take
slow, patient steps,
easin’ down the sidewalk. When we make
it to the corner,
I immediately turn
down the next street, increasin’ my speed. He
arin’ Red gasp behind me, I feel
the rest of the energy she was holdin’ flow ou
t of her. We all become instantly visible again.

“Sorry,” Red whispers
, soundin’ weak.

“Naw, it’s cool, Red.
We’re almost there,” I whisper
back, wrappin’ my arm '
round Anya’s shoulder and usherin’ her quicker up the street, so we don’t draw att
ention to ourselves by
holdin’ hands.

Hearin’ singin’ and the comfortin’
sound of human voices, I open
the door of the pub, feelin’ warm
air tumblin’ out. I hold the door for them and follow
them in, headin’ down the stairs to the club below.
Located in old town,
this club is built in a cellar,
consisting of three large rooms. Two rooms have
rounded sofas and private alcoves.
A third room is set up for dancin’ with a bar
in it
that is hoppin’.

Reed moves
to one of the private
alcoves. He leans down and
speaks
to the people seated there
and they all immediately get
up
from their
loungin’ positions on the sofa, vacating their seats without a word
. Knowin’ that he just used his power of persuasion to
make the humans leave, I grin
at him.

I usher Anya to sit and I sit beside her on the soft sofa
. As I take off my coat, I say
, “Reed, remind me to bring you
with me to the next keg party. Y
ou
can clear the line for us.”

“Now what, Ru
ssell?” Reed asks
, lookin’ across the table at me from his seat on
the opposite
sofa.

“Now we chill,” I reply
, watchin’ Reed pull Evie against
his side and feelin’ the familiar flare of jealousy that he’s touchin’ her.

“That’s it?” he asks
, lookin’ frustrated.

“Listen,
the plan is to keep it simple—
be
human,
” I reply
. “I’ve been a sailor in a few of my lives. I’ve learned that sometimes it’s better to drop the anchor when you can
’t
steer. We act human. We find out where the youth hostel is and we get a few beds for the night. We stay away from all the transportation in the area. Brennus is gonna put his feelers out and he’s gonna come up with
nothin’
‘cuz he won’t be askin’ the right people
. Just make sure Red doesn’t
cut herself and we’ll be fine.”

“We avoid
you
th hostels, Russell,” Evie says
, lookin’ grim. “The Gancanagh frequent them like diners. Young women traveling abroad are…
tasty.
”

“Ah, that’s awful,” I say
, my brows drawin’ together. “W
here should we go then?” I ask
her.

“Did you happen to see any
furniture stores?” she counters
.

“Why?” I wonder aloud
.

“They have the softest beds on display…maybe
a mattress carnival?” she asks
with a small smile.

I grunt
, my
lips twistin’ in
to
a
grudgin’ smile
as I remember bein’ with her in Houghto
n before we even knew
Gancanagh
exist
ed
. “
Y’all hungry?” I ask
, lookin’ at Anya for the
first time. She’s star
in’ at everythin’ ‘r
ound her li
ke a tourist and s
milin’ as she’s runnin’
her fingers over the danglin’ crystal fringe hangin’ off the candlestick in the center of the table.

“Yes,” Reed says
, holdin’ a menu out to me.
Orderin’ food
and drinks, we eat
quietly, while the
club-
goers pour
in around us.
Reed and I take
turns checkin’ our position, covertly tryin’ to maintain recon on the freaks only blocks away.

Comin’ back from checkin’ the door,
I
stumble
to a halt by the archway that leads to the room with the DJ and dance fl
oor. The party is in full swing
as mad beats pulse from the sound system,
but it i
s
seein’ Anya near the dance floor
that makes
me stop
. She’s holdin’ on to her glass of water, watchin’ a crowd of young dancers m
ovin’ to the music
.

She’s not goin’ unnoticed. She’s drawin’ a
small crowd of her own as men have definitely taken notice of her. One in particular is circlin’ her, signalin’ his buddies ‘bout how hot she is behind her back
and indicatin’ that she’s his
. Feelin’
anger flare up in me, I change
my direction, enterin’ the bar room instead of headin’ back to the table.
I begi
n stalkin’ the silly boy who’s
stalkin’ my—

“Russell,” Reed says behind me, “w
hat’s the status?”

“Huh?” I reply
, stoppin’, but not takin’ my eyes off Anya. Freak boy has made contact with her, leanin’ close to her and sayin’ somethin’ in her ear as his eyes rove over her body. Feelin
’ my neck gettin’ hot, I ru
n my hand through my hair.

“Did you se
e anything upstairs?” Reed asks
, followin’ my eyes to Anya.

“Naw,” I murmur
distractedly. “It’s a
ll good. Where’s Evie?” I ask
.

“Bathroom,” he replies. As if on cue, Red appears
by Anya’s side. Now, e
very male in the place has their
eyes on my girls.

As if in slow motion
, the guy talkin’ to Anya, moves
his hand, brushin’ it over the curve of her breast. A fraction of a sec
ond after that, Reed’s arms go around me as I tense
to spring
in the direction of
the unfortunate man touchin’ Anya.

When I try
to throw Reed off of me, he
says
in my ear, “You can’t kill him, Russell.
And look—”

Tensin
’, I watch as Anya grasps
the human
by his little finger, bendin’ it
back
so that he fa
ll
s
on his knees at her f
eet. She smiles
down at him
, waggin’ the index finger of her other hand in
his face before lettin’ him go.

Breathin’ hard, I
relax
a little
, feelin’ Reed
’s
grasp on me loosen, but he’s not lettin’ me go completely.

“What was that?” I ask
, feelin’ like I need to break somethin’.

“Instinct,” Reed replies
calmly.

“What?” I ask
.

“You’re Seraphim. You’l
l protect what’s yours,” he explains
.

I begin to argue, “Reed, she’s not mine—”

“She’s yours—
she’s definitely yours. Some part of you remembers her, or you wouldn’t be ready to kill
that boy,” he replies
, noddin’ toward the boy getti
n
’ up from his knees.

“I
still want to kill him,” I admit
, grindin’ my teeth.

“Here,” Reed says
, handin’ me an empty wine bottle from a table. Crushin’ it in my hands,
it pours like sand to the floor.

“Thanks,” I mutter
.

“Are yo
u in control now?” Reed asks
.

“Yeah…maybe
…I don’t know
,” I reply
, and Reed let
s
me go, but he’s still watchin’ me. “Let’s go scare them away.”

Reed grins
. “Okay,”
he agrees
, walkin’ by my side.
Comin’ up on the men
eyein’ Anya and Evie, I tower
over them, scowlin’ and invadin’ the personal
space of a few of them. They retreat from me, turnin’ and
headin’ toward the bar.

M
usical laughter
sounds behind me. I turn
to see Anya grinnin’ at m
e. Somethin’ in my chest twists
, and my knees fee
l a little weak. “What?” I ask
, pretendin’ innocence.

Appro
achin’ me slowly, Anya’s hand
rests on my chest. She gazes up at me and her eyebrow
quir
ks as she says
, “
Ne-ol
.” The word
mean
s “storm
.
”

“Yeah, somethin’
is
goin’ on in there
and it ain’t pretty,” I agree
, watchin’ as she
trails
her finger down my sweater.
Heat coils in me again and I stop
her, coverin’ her hand with mine.

“
They’re closing soon,” Red says
next to us.
“What should we do?”

“Nothin’
,” I reply
. “We stay here. Reed, persuade the staff that we don’t exist. We can sleep on the couches. The sun will be up soon. I say we stay here durin’ the day. When it gets dark again, we’ll move out.”

Reed smiles
at me again, noddin’. “I located a computer i
n the office. I’ll work on find
ing
Brownie,
Zee
,
and Buns while you and Evie sleep.
You two look exhausted.”

“
I’m walkin’ wounded,” I mutter
, rubbin’ my eyes again.

Reed
then
talks
t
o Anya, and she immediately takes
my hand, leadin’ me back to the couches
. Movin’ our coats, she gestures
for me to sit down
on a long couch
. I sink into the seat and she gently nudges me to lie down. She covers me with my coat, and then sits
ac
ross from me. Takin’ out a gold-
tipped arrow from her quiver stashed under her c
oat, she notches it in her b
ow and places them in her lap.
She shrouds
the weapon from view with Reed’s coat over he
r
lap. She’s guardin’ me.

I raise
my
eye
brow in
question as I look at her face.

With a determined look, she says
, “Anya
yah-a-da-hal-yon-ih
Russell,”
tellin’
me
that
she’ll take care of me.

Bow To The Champion

Evie

I awake and stare
at the fake
-
crystal chandelier over my head
while
the scent of stale
cigarette smoke cl
ings to my clothes and my hair.
Russell’s long body is stretched out on the couch across from me
,
asleep
. Rubbing my eyes and wishing I had a toothbrush, I
si
t up on the couch. W
e’
re still in the basement club a few blocks from Reed’s house in Torun. The place is completely empty, but I have no idea what time it is because there are no windows down here.

Glancing
at
the chair next to me, I startle
, seeing Anya studying me with a b
lank expression. “Hah,” I gasp
, feeling as if I’
ve just been performing for an audience of one. “You scared me, Anya.”
Her expression does
n’t change, so
I ask
, “Is it me, or do you feel like everything is
being
written in reverse?”
H
er green eyes
scan
me as if she’s picking
out all of my weaknesses.
I ru
n my fingers through my hair, trying to smooth the tangles.