Emblaze (6 page)

Dad stood up like a rocket. „Violet," he coughed. „It"s just an after-work drink." He took his cup to the sink and emptied it before reaching over to give me his signature kiss on the forehead. „I"m going to bed."

„Sweet dreams," I teased as he walked into his room at double speed and I had to stifle a laugh.

That worked out well.

Not only had I slipped in that I wasn"t coming home tomorrow night, but he"d also closed himself in his room and I knew following
that
conversation that he would not resurface tonight.

I took my coffee and went to my art studio. I considered doing some painting, but then I walked in there I was reminded I had jammed all my art stuff up against the wall - exercise mats now took up the majority of the space. I couldn"t get to anything without rearranging everything. There was no point doing a workout. I"d get on shortly anyway, so instead, I found myself sitting on the windowsill where my angel marker always hovered.

I looked out, down over the city street as cars flew by, headlights blazing on one side of the road, red black lights flashing on the other. I looked towards the park at the end of the road and then pushed out my senses.

The park it was.

„My love lies bleeding."

Thomas Campbell

I changed into leggings and a grey turtle-neck and slipped on a beanie. I was pretty sure Dad was asleep but if I left through the building"s front door the security guy might say something to him in the morning, so I headed for the balcony off the living room instead.

Twelve storeys was a big drop. Fortunately for me, on this side of the building every floor had a balcony at the same spot. Quietly, I slid the door open, just enough so I could shimmy out. It had a squeaky spot, but I"d closed it enough times to know just when to lift it a little to avoid the tell-tale noise. Getting down was tricky, getting back up … just plain hard.

I hoisted myself over the railing, sitting on it and letting my feet dangle down.

Come on, Vi, you"ve got this.

If Zoe could catapult herself up here from a tree and Spence could scale I could bounce down. I held out my bad arm and fisted my hand a few times, deciding it would hold up. I slid down so my feet balanced on the small ledge, turned so I was facing the wall and let myself fall.

With a slap, I caught the railing of the balcony below as my feet scrambled until they found a grip. My heart was in my throat, but I"d done it.

Only ten more!

Each time, the adrenaline rose as I let go and dropped another storey. By the time I reached the fifth floor, I had it in the bag. When I landed on the pavement I almost took out some poor guy going for a night jog. He swerved and looked at me like I was some kind of lunatic, but kept going.

I brushed myself down without making much improvement - the outside of the building really needed a clean, and cobwebs are hard to shift. At least I was in grey.

Once I was reasonably presentable, I felt for my dagger and headed towards the park.

Despite my slip-ups in art class, I had become increasingly good at keeping my guards up.

unless I wanted them to, exiles couldn"t sense me as easily as they had once been able to.

It didn"t take long for me to connect with my angelic senses. An exile was near and not bothering with stealth. By the energy he was releasing that was now pulsing through my body, I suspected he was hunting.

I kept my guard up while I moved closer, wanting to size up my opponent before letting him sense me. I weaved between the trees rather than taking the path, using the shadows for cover. The anticipation of conflict ignited the combatant in me and I found myself almost hungry for the confrontation.

It didn"t take long to find him and when I did I was surprised. I"d assumed it would have been one of Phoenix"s crew but now I wasn"t so sure. Phoenix kept his followers on a tight leash. If he"d sent this exile after me, he wouldn"t be dragging a petrified woman to the back of the park instead.

I stopped behind a tree, testing my arm again, straightening it out to be sure it wouldn"t be a problem when I needed it. It screamed in pain, worsened by its recent workout, but it was functioning. I closed my eyes and used a tiny bit of power to see what everyone else was seeing. Sometimes it was the other way round. Sometimes the exile was so strong that I"d be seeing what he was putting into the human imaginations and I"d have to use my power to break it down, show me the truth, but in the case of the weaker ones, which was this one - it worked the other way. A light misting of my power filtered out into the night sky, the purple glitter was absorbed in the darkness quickly and allowed me to see the glamour being used.

As far as any normal human was concerned, the exile was just some well-dressed guy walking through the park with a woman, as if they were out on a midnight stroll. I closed my eyes again and reopened them to the reality. He had her by the hair, dragging her as she clawed at the ground and screamed for help.

She"ll be dead in minutes.

I felt for my dagger again, apprehensively. The only way to get the exile away from her was to give him something better to play with. It hadn"t exactly been my plan heading out tonight. But it was now.

I took a step out from the cover of the trees and felt him instantly. I froze, biting down on my lip as I realised my mistake. I"d let myself get distracted by the exile and hadn"t felt him approach. Now, his nearness washed through me, making me rigid yet like jelly at the same time.

I guess the original plan is going to work out after all.

„You shouldn"t be here," Lincoln said, his voice low and gravely. I couldn"t stop it from vibrating through my whole body, teasing me beyond relief.

I didn"t turn. I needed to keep my eyes on the exile who still hadn"t us. And it was easier not to look at him.

„Look who"s talking," I replied quietly. "Do you even sleep any more?"

The exile pushed the woman into a tree and she crumpled to the ground.

„Just staying fit," he said.

„So I hear."

He sighed and then said something bad under his breath, followed by Spence"s name.

„Don"t blame Spence," I said.

„I don"t," he said. I wasn"t really sure what he meant by that. Maybe he blamed me.

Taking in the scene ahead of us he added. "She"s covered in shadow. He"s been preying on her for a long time," and now he was angry.

Lincoln was a shadow-finder. He could see the marks left on humans after exiles had penetrated their minds. The residue. It made him one of the best people for tracking exiles.

Find the shadowed humans and you could bet on finding exiles soon after. But there was a price - he carried the burden that came with knowing their victims" pain, The exile moved above the woman, he was going to hit her. Suddenly, the image of Claudia popped into my mind, remembering how defenceless my old classmate had been when an exile had attacked and murdered her.

It"s now or never.

I dropped my shields, quickly and completely.

„Violet!" Lincoln growled, unhappy with my decision.

I didn"t care, I wasn"t about to let that woman get hurt, and neither was he. I"d just beat him to it.

The exile"s attention sprang up like a dog that smelled a bone. He turned, his interest in his victim now fully extinguished. He started for me and his victim crawled away, fast.

Smart woman.

The exile, tall like so many of them, stepped into the glow of light from the street. He was strikingly handsome, also like many of them. Dressed in a well-fitted suit, perfectly fixed hair, he looked like a modern-day metro sexual. It was easy to see how he"d lured that poor woman into his old.

He stalled on his approach, feeling my power.

„What? You need an invitation?" I asked, sounding angry as I felt. It was a shame having this kind of power didn"t mean they ran away and hid from me. No, instead it meant he leaped into the air with freakish speed and height and headed straight for me with what could only be described as malice-fuelled determination.

I stepped out of his way just in time and had my fist in his face before he"d even landed both feet on the ground. Of course, that barely slowed him. He spun, going for the obvious target - my neck. I let him take it - I was better off if he was one hand down - and quickly delivered a knee to his groin. In that split second, when his head dropped and his grip on my throat loosened, I followed through with a flat palm up and into his nose. It was neat and efficient and I had him.

„Choose," I demanded, holding my dagger that had slid into my hand smoothly.

He stumbled back and laughed. „I know who you are."

„Good, then you"ll know to choose quickly," I said, getting ready.

They never
chose
humanity. None of them believed they would truly be beaten, narcissists that they were. And even if they did, they couldn"t live without the power that came with their exile status.

He spat at the ground. Blood. I saw that as a compliment. It took a lot to get blood from an exile. I"d probably smashed his nose right back into his throat.

„You"re Phoenix"s whore," he said, laughing again.

I shrank back in shock. Part of me wanted to run and hide, the other wanted to make sure his nose was headed for his stomach. Lincoln put a hand on my shoulder.

„Violet?"

„It"s only a matter of time. We have numbers beyond what you could dream of. Grigori are all but extinct!"

I just nodded and watched through glassy eyes as Lincoln, who"d been respectfully letting me take point, moved forwards swiftly - showing no signs of his injury - put one hard kick into the exile"s head and followed through planting his dagger into his chest. Like that, he was gone, disappeared.

„Not before you," Lincoln said, putting his blade away.

But words linger
.

„Was he one of Phoenix"s?" I asked, still looking at the spot where the exile had stood. If Phoenix had sent him to attack me, he shouldn"t have been sidetracked with that woman.

Lincoln nodded. „Phoenix doesn"t have as much control as he would have you think. A lot will never follow, despite what they promised him and no matter what the cause." He walked towards me and suddenly I was on the defensive.

„You can"t protect me twenty-four seven!" I said, using my anger to cover everything else.

He didn"t respond for some time. Finally, he took another step closer to me. Closer than was safe.

„Violet," he began calmly. „Are you okay?"

„Am I okay?" I repeated, shaking my head at him. I took the last step to close the distance and he flinched as if he wanted to back away.

Just perfect.

I put a hand below his chest. I let my power run from me to him. It almost galloped out of me, so pleased to find him. His body"s resistance dropped a notch, moving into my hand, and his chest heaved. His hand went out instinctively to my arm, returning the favour. I felt the warm honey of his power trickle through me and worked to stop myself from crying out in relief.

Stupid powers, betraying me.

„You shouldn"t be hunting on your own," I said, my voice thick with want, my hand still resting below his chest. I could feel him breathing, his firm muscles moving up and down, each breath increasingly deep and at the end of each intake, the slightest tremor. I couldn"t stop my eyes travelling over that perfect chest, its contours showing through his black cotton jumper just enough.

„Like you just were," he said, sounding like he was feeling exactly the same way as me.

His hand was still on my arms, sending a lick of fire through my body.

I dropped my hand, scared of what I"d do if I left it there a moment longer.

„I knew you were out here somewhere," I said, defending myself. „I"m not about to let you go out every night all Lone Ranger, just to protect me."

Lincoln let his hand drop, too, and took a small step back before grumbling Spence"s name again. I felt his power pick up, the honey and cream that was unique to him and in that the intoxicating smell of early-morning sun on a hot day. I didn"t know what had his power working so hard, but before I could ask he had his own question for me.

„What did Phoenix want?" he asked, softly.

I should have know he"d seen. Following me, playing protector in the shadows.

„He took the Brighton building, we have the Maddox."

He nodded, looking past me. „Anything else?"

I shrugged, uncomfortable.

He stiffened. „He still gets to you, doesn"t he?"

I"ve never fully explained to Lincoln just how much Phoenix"s power affected me, but I suspected he had a good idea.

„I can handle it. We don"t have any other choice, right?"

It had been the condition of negotiations. We had the Exile Scripture, Phoenix had the Grigori Scripture and the only way he had agreed to the trade was if he dealt with me.
Only
me. It was a spiteful thing to do but we all knew that until he had the Exile Scripture, he wouldn"t kill me.

He"ll wait until after.

Which was why tomorrow night would be so dangerous.

Lincoln was watching me.

„Looking to see if I"m falling apart?" I asked bitter as well as testing.

„No, I just know there"s something you"re not telling me. And I"m wondering what he did to make you hit him."

I hated that he knew me that well, could read me like no one else. I guess it made sense now why he above all others had that ability - I wished that was the only side effect of being soul mates. I considered telling him what I"d discovered - that Phoenix had ensure Rudyard was killed so we would witness what happened to Nyla - but it would only hurt him.

„It"s nothing," I said.

„If you say so," he said, still keeping a close eye on me. „I know you"d tell me if you thought I needed to know. And … what that exile said, about Phoenix and you …" he sighed with frustration and I wondered if it was at me at me, but then he surprised us both by stretching his arm out and letting his fingers glide over my forehead, tracing the rim of my beanie. „It"s not true."