The Flame Never Dies (12 page)

“You cannot know for sure that Peter was possessed,” Brother Isaiah insisted. “Maybe
Grayson
was Unclean.”

Eli shook his head, but Devi's explanation came faster. “If Grayson had been possessed, she wouldn't have needed a hammer to kill someone.”

“And Kastor wouldn't have needed to kidnap her,” Finn pointed out, holding Reese's gaze to reassure him. “If she'd been possessed, she would have just driven off in one of our vehicles, daring us to come get her. But that's not what happened. They had to
abduct
her because they're not
inside
her.”

“She's bait,” Maddock clarified, his voice so soft that several of us actually leaned in to hear him better. “They want the rest of Anathema to follow her to Pandemonia. They left both of our cars so we can do just that.”

Devi shrugged. “If they're on foot, they can't have gotten very far.”

“They're on horseback.” Eli looked up from where he knelt next to Peter's body. “I saw at least two sets of hoofprints. Are any of our mounts missing?”

A murmur rolled through the crowd as half a dozen members of the Lord's Army went to check on their horses. A couple of minutes later little Joanna pushed her way to the front of the crowd, her pink cowboy hat hanging at her back from its braided cord. She was breathing hard, her dark eyes wide with fear. “Naomi and Serah are gone! So are their horses.”

Naomi, I remembered, was Joanna's older sister. She and her friend Serah were among the young women who'd been teaching Grayson and Melanie to bake.

“Did they get kidnapped too?” Joanna fiddled nervously with the knot on her hat cord while she stared up at Brother Isaiah, clearly terrified.

“No, my dear.” The elder's joints popped and creaked as he knelt next to her. “It looks like Finn is right. The Unclean likely got to Naomi, Serah, and Peter in their sleep, then took Grayson as bait to draw her friends to Pandemonia.”

“I'm
so
sorry,” I said, watching helplessly as the news spread in a ripple of somber whispers. By traveling with Eli and the Lord's Army, we'd made them all targets.

It was my idea to help Melanie.
I'd
done this to them.

Before I could figure out how to better express my devastated mea culpa to a girl who'd now lost both her little brother and her older sister, Damaris stepped forward and put one arm around her young granddaughter.

Brother Isaiah stood to address the crowd. “Naomi and Serah are gone, but not forgotten. Our sentinels will free their souls and return them to the well, as is our sacred duty and our honor.”

“We'll leave at first light,” Eli confirmed.

But all I could think about was that
I'd
brought this loss upon Eli's friends and family when they'd done nothing but help us, and the losses might not be over. How long had Naomi, Serah, and Peter been possessed? How many more of Brother Isaiah's people had already fallen to the invisible predators we'd led straight to them?

Were more Unclean hidden in the crowd, watching the chaos play out in silent glee?

“I'm not waiting until morning.” Reese's declaration drew me out of my terrifying thoughts. “Grayson can't afford the delay.” Rage exploded across his face, reddening his pale features as fear and grief for his girlfriend crested. “This is
your
fault!” He grabbed Eli by the throat and lifted him from the ground one-handed.

“Reese!” Maddock pulled on one of Reese's massive arms. Finn took the other one, but Reese was too big. Too strong. Too terrified and angry.

“You let her go off by herself before her transformation was triggered. Before she was even trained to fight.
You
did this!”

“Reese, let him go!” I shouted as Eli kicked frantically and the crowd began to close in, many bearing blunt weapons.

Devi's beautiful features sharpened into a scowl. She grabbed a handful of Reese's light brown hair and pulled as hard as she could. Reese shouted as his head was jerked back. His hand opened, and Eli fell to the ground, gasping and rubbing his throat. Devi dragged Reese back several steps, then stood on her toes to speak as close to his ear as she could get.

“Reese. Eli didn't take Grayson. In fact,
we're
the reason three of his friends and relatives are dead. Five, if you count Tobias and Micah. Kastor's after
us.
”

When he nodded awkwardly, jaw clenched, Devi finally let him go.

Reese immediately turned to Maddock. “Give me the keys.”

“Wait,” Eli croaked from the ground, rubbing his throat. “Even if you could track them in the dark with nothing but headlights, they'll go off-road. Somewhere hooves can go but tires can't. Why else would they leave on horseback?”

Reese's cheeks were scarlet with fury. His eyes were narrowed, his jaw clenched. He was still close to losing it.

“We don't have to follow them,” I pointed out. “We know where they're taking her, and our cars will go faster than their horses. We'll cut them off before they get to Pandemonia, and we'll get her back, Reese. We'll go as soon as Mellie's had her baby.”

The last word was still hanging in the air when the problem hit me.
I
wouldn't be going
anywhere
after my sister had her baby. Not ever again.

But even if Reese and the others waited for her, Mellie couldn't go with them—I didn't want her and the baby anywhere near Pandemonia. Yet Eli and his people were much less capable of protecting my last family members than Anathema was.

There were no good options. My death would give the baby life yet leave no one capable of defending that life.

Oblivious to the choice I was wrestling with, Reese glanced over my shoulder to where my sister was laboring next to our campfire with only Anabelle in attendance. “No. Nina, we have to go
now,
” he whispered. “She could be in labor all night. Grayson can't wait that long.”

“Son, they've probably already claimed her as a host,” Brother Isaiah said, and I turned to find him watching our exchange with many of his followers fanned out behind him. “If that's the case, the most you can offer her is the release of her immortal soul.”

“He's an atheist.” Eli pushed himself to his feet, still rubbing his throat. “He doesn't believe her soul can find peace.”

“It doesn't matter. She's not possessed,” Finn said, and we all turned to him in surprise. “Not yet.”

Reese swiped one thick arm across his face, wiping away tears that seemed to be part grief, part rage. “How do you know?”

“I know because Peter has a dent in his head rather than a smoking hole in his chest. She didn't exorcise him, so she hasn't triggered her transition yet, and she's safe until she does. Exorcist hosts are a
very
rare luxury, even in Pandemonia, and they all know that if she's possessed before she enters transition, she never
will
enter transition.”

“How much time do we have?” Reese asked, and I noticed that his gaze had lost focus. He was concentrating on the plan to get Grayson back.

“As much time as she gives us,” Finn said softly. “As long as she refuses to exorcise her first demon, they can't possess her.” He cleared his throat and glanced at the ground. “But there's nothing they won't do to try to
make
her trigger her transition. They have no compassion and no boundaries. They have no souls.”

His last statement echoed into stunned silence as the rest of us considered what that might mean.

“I almost helped trigger her…,” Reese whispered, and I'm not sure anyone beyond our immediate circle heard him. “I could have gotten her killed.” He looked up suddenly, and his gaze found mine. “Stay with your sister, if you need to. I understand. But I'm going after Grayson now, and I'm taking the SUV. Any of you who want to come are welcome.” His gaze skipped over Finn—probably assuming we wouldn't be split up—and found Maddock and Devi. Before they could answer, I laid one hand on Reese's arm, panic swelling deep inside me.

“Let me check on Mellie. It could be false labor.” That was the only hope I had left to cling to. “And even if it's not, maybe it won't take as long as we expect.”

Reese nodded. “Check on her. But I'm going in fifteen minutes, with or without you.”

I jogged back to our campfire, Finn's footsteps echoing at my back. Damaris was right behind him.

“What happened to Grayson?” Mellie asked when I knelt next to her. She had both hands on her belly, but she wasn't sweaty or pale. She looked pretty good, considering.

“Some of Kastor's demons possessed a few of the Lord's Army's members and took her.”

Melanie's eyes widened. “Here? Kastor's people are
here
?
Now?
”

“They were, but they're gone, and I don't want you to worry about that right now.” Nor did I want her to know that Reese would be leaving in minutes, with or without us. “How do you feel?” I glanced at Anabelle, who had stopped consulting her watch; then I turned to Damaris, who frowned as she felt my sister's bulging stomach.

“I can't feel any contractions,” the midwife said.

“Maybe she's not having another one yet.”

“The first two were eight minutes apart,” Anabelle said. “But now she's gone ten minutes without one.”

I studied my sister's face, brushing her hair back from her forehead. She looked confused and scared but physically comfortable, and it was hard not to get my hopes up. “Is that unusual?”

“Not particularly. I'd like to check her cervix, to rule out false labor.” Damaris turned back to the patient. “Honey, we need to get your pants off.”

“No, I think I'm fine now.” Mellie's arms tightened protectively around her stomach. “The contractions have stopped. It was probably false labor, just like you said. We have to go get Grayson.”

“Okay, but we need to be sure,” I insisted, while Damaris and Anabelle turned one of our mats to face the fire because no one had returned with a flashlight. “I mean, is there any chance of that? I don't want to move her if she's going to have a baby in the next day or so.”

“Nina, I'm fine,” Melanie insisted. “It was false labor—the books even have a fancy name for that—but it's over now.” She sat up and reached around her belly for her shoes. “Let's go.”

“How long would it take to check her cervix?” If I knew for
sure
that we had more time…

Please let us have more time….

Damaris glanced at one of the neighboring campfires. “We're still trying to get water to boil so I can sterilize my equipment. That'll take another ten or fifteen minutes.”

“I…” I frowned, glancing back at Reese, who was carrying a bag of supplies from the cargo truck to the SUV. “If it happens again while we're on the road…”

“I'll be there to help.” Eli stepped into the circle of light from our campfire with a backpack over one shoulder and a full duffel over the other. His voice was still hoarse and his neck was red. “I'm going with you.”

“The hell you are!” Reese stomped toward us from the direction of the truck, his thick arms swinging at his sides, his eyes narrowed in fury. “It's
your
fault Grayson's missing.”

“That's part of the reason I'm going,” Eli insisted. “I owe Grayson a debt, and I'm going to help you get her back. And it's my sacred duty to release Naomi's and Serah's souls. Also, if Melanie goes into labor, you'll need me,” he added, tossing a reassuring glance at both me and my sister.

“Reese,” Finn said, “he's a good fighter, and we can't afford to turn down help.”

“Fine.” Reese stomped backward toward the cargo truck. “But he's riding with
you.
”

“Agreed. But we're taking the SUV.” I turned back to Finn. “Could you move some of our stuff to the back of the cargo truck to make room for Eli in the SUV?”

“Of course.” Finn headed toward the edge of the campsite while Melanie and I said our goodbyes to the Lord's Army, thanking Eli's friends and family for everything they'd shown and taught us, as well as their company. With any luck, we'd be back with Grayson and my sister would still be pregnant. But we'd learned never to rely on luck in the badlands….

By the time we got to the SUV, Finn was on his way to the truck with our extra supplies and Eli was wedging his belongings into the SUV's cargo hold.

“Here, some of that can come up front with me.” Melanie handed me her bag, then headed toward the rear of the vehicle, where Eli had dropped his crowbar on the ground to free up both hands for wedging luggage into the tight space.

“Thanks,” he said as I leaned into the third row to set my sister's bag on the floorboard.

A thud echoed from the back of the car, and I froze, startled. “Mellie?” Goose bumps rose on my arms as I stood. The back hatch closed with a heavy clunk, and the light from the cargo area went out, which left me staring into the darkness behind the SUV. “Eli?”

“He was in the way.” My sister stepped into the light pouring from the backseat of the car, and the first thing I noticed was that she held herself strangely. Instead of caressing or rubbing her stomach, which she'd been doing nonstop for months, Mellie stood with both arms hanging at her sides. Her right hand held Eli's crowbar. “I might have swung a little too hard. Let's hope I get it right this time.”

She raised the crowbar, and fear leapt into the back of my throat, bitter and acidic. “Mellie?” I tried to back away but bumped into the open rear door of the SUV. Melanie raised the crowbar with a grunt, and in the instant before it hit the side of my head and darkness slammed into me, I realized Mellie wasn't the one swinging a metal club at my head.