FALL (The Senses) (34 page)

“Xamien has gone after them?”

“No sir, he Traced to the Realm,”
Max said.

“Why?”

“Edan, sir. He appeared here, but
he was drugged and could barely stand. He said you were unreachable, so he
sought out Xamien. He said something about the Wraiths being wrong.”

Of course Edan couldn’t reach
him; he’d been chained to his wall. “What?”

His cell rang. He glanced at the
lit display—Zurina. He answered it. “Yes?”

He listened for a few seconds.
Zurina’s words ripped his heart out.

Then he fractured. It was like a
grenade had detonated and his insides had fragmented into scraps of himself.
His lungs were unable to find breath. His blood filled his veins with fear and
his limbs froze. He was left with nothing. He was empty; everything was taken
from him.

Tarek had Delara.

Waleron dropped the phone and
stumbled backwards until his spine hit the doorframe. He could feel the snake
awakening as his emotions grabbed hold; there was rage and fear, and
insurmountable grief.

No. Impossible. He’d done
everything to keep her safe.

The realization that he’d
delivered Delara to the Realm—right into Zurina’s waiting arms—to Tarek… He
fell to his knees. The inner scream that refused to emerge from his throat
reflected his devastation. It ate into him. It fed his Scar.

He didn’t even realize the snake
was swirling across his skin, until it stretched further than it ever had
before. The burning. The pain. It was nothing compared to the turmoil he was
feeling inside.

Delara.

Images plagued him. The moment
he’d found her in the ditch. Her suffering. The horror of what Tarek had done.
What he’d do to her now.

His Scar tried to take over, but
then he’d be useless to Delara. She was still alive. He’d find her. No matter
what, he’d find her.

“You stay alive, Delara. Don’t
you dare leave me. God, I beg of you, baby. Don’t leave me.”
The words were lost in the abyss. He knew she’d never hear him.

He felt a hand on his arm and
started to react to the violence of the contact when coolness invaded his body.
It was calming the burning of his Scar. It swept through his veins, his mind,
healing the rage so it lay smothered beneath a blanket of snow. The snake
hissed, its forked tongue and fanged teeth revealed as it fought against the cold.

Waleron met Max’s eyes as she
stood beside him. Her fingers rested gently on his arm. She jerked her gaze to
his Scar and her eyes narrowed while her grip tightened. He felt the snake
slither back to its resting place.

Max dropped her hand from him,
face expressionless and unstrained. He’d felt her power, knew what she was the
moment she touched him. A Healer with the gift of healing Scars.

She stepped away and he stood.

“Zurina took Delara from the
Realm. Tarek now has her.” His voice was controlled, but the words made him
want to vomit.

Glunk still held the grimoire. It
was ancient, covered in dust and the leather casing was cracked along the
seams. “Edan said Zurina was responsible. Xamien went to search for her. I’ve
been attempting to contact Delara, but it’s been hours and nothing. I cannot
reach her telepathically, but,” he patted the book, “I thought I’d be able to
with a spell.”

Waleron glanced briefly at the
grimoire’s spine—Dreamstepping. “Do it.” She wasn’t dead. He’d know if she was
and nothing in him said she no longer breathed.

“I tried. I cannot connect with
her.” Waleron noticed Glunk glance at Max. Her eyes held his for several
seconds then turned to Waleron. He was taken aback by her unflinching stare.
Her body language read submission, yet nothing in this woman staring back at
him was fearful.

“It appears sir, the link isn’t
strong enough,” Max said, her voice steady and her eyes unwavering. “It must be
Xamien who does it.”

Glunk continued, “They’ve shared
mindweaving before, their link will be strong enough no matter where she is.”

“And if she’s dead already?” The
words ripped apart his vocal chords, but he tried to focus. Control. Don’t give
up. Never give up on her. But he had—he’d given up on them. He’d pushed her
away. Hurt her. He’d kept her on a long leash, but never unclipped it, just as
Anstice once told him. All because he was afraid she’d run away if she saw what
he’d become. The excuse that he would hurt her was just that. It kept her at a
distance. Now the distance was so great that he may never be able to get her
back. God, what had he done? He’d destroyed them. He’d destroyed her.

He strode towards Glunk.

Glunk straightened. “When I tried
to reach her there was an ominous cloud over her.” He dropped the book on the
desk and flipped through pages until he came to one. He tapped his finger. “It
says right here. ‘Reaching another in an unconscious state through a dark cloud
of mist. Do not go further or you will join them in the state of
lifelessness.’” Waleron put his hand flat on the desk and leaned over, reading
the words while Glunk explained. “I pushed further to try and reach her,
but...” Glunk raised his head. “I know I felt the cloud, sir. It was brief,
maybe a second or two, but if she were dead—you cannot reach a dead person in dreamstepping.”

The possibility. The hope. How
reliable was dreamstepping? “What do you need?”

“Xamien. And he will need as much
of her as possible. Any personal effects and perhaps others who are close to
her.”

“Then you will fly to Toronto immediately.”

Glunk raised his brows and the
right side of his mouth lifted in a mischievous smirk. “No worries, sir. I will
merely Trace there.”

Before Waleron had the chance to
react to Glunk’s revelation, he was gone is a swirl of red mist. Waleron turned
to Max. “I will assume Xamien knows about Glunk’s ability to Trace?”

Max nodded.

“Is there anything else I should
be aware of?”

“Sir, you will have to ask Xamien
that question when he returns.”

He stared at her, unable to take
his eyes away from the woman that refused to cower under his relentless gaze.

Her chin rose. “Sir, Delara is a
survivor.” She nodded to the Scar. “He hurts. Just as you do. Give him what he
wants.”

“What does that mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Max’s eyes
shone for a brief second. “He wants her.” Max strode from the library.

Delara? But his Scar fed off his
rage. That is how he lived. He kept it calm with pills, but it…it wanted her? Waleron
stared for a moment at the empty space where Max had been then Traced.

****

Jedrik waited impatiently, pacing
the length of Keir’s living room. Xamien had called, explained what went down
in the Realm and said that he’d be back after he searched a few more locations.
Zurina likely Traced Delara from the Realm—something she could only do because they
were both was
in
the Realm—so Delara had to be in a place Zurina had
been before.

Balen and Danielle stood by the
door with their hands interlinked while Ryker stood close to the kitchen, his
back against the doorframe, his ankles crossed. He held his knife in hand and
was running his thumb along the blade.

Anstice stood with Keir who was
speaking quietly with his brother Galen by the mantel. Galen gave an abrupt nod
then ran upstairs, more than likely trying to get some kind of lead through
that computer of his.

Suddenly Jedrik stopped pacing
and his eyes darted to the front door as a man appeared then a few seconds
later Waleron.

The guy was short and stocky with
a balding head and a bulbous nose. Not like Senses which were usually tall and
good-looking, although by the way he strode into the room, bowing his head to
each of them in turn, the guy was self-assured like one.

Jedrik was about to demand to
know who the devil this guy was when the stranger addressed them. “I’m Glunk.
Xamien’s personal assistant.”

He’s got to be kidding. “Personal
assistant that can Trace? Who the frig are you?” Jedrik asked. “Waleron, what
the hell?”

When Jedrik looked at his
Taldeburu he immediately noticed his pale complexion. Waleron looked sick. Did
he take too many of his pills? Why was this Glunk guy addressing them instead
of Waleron? Where the hell was Delara, damn it? They were standing around
talking when they should be out searching for her like Xamien was.

Glunk met Jedrik’s eyes and
Jedrik immediately felt the calm energy seeping from Glunk’s skin into his own
pores. His heated rage slowly simmered and his heart began to pump rhythmic and
slow again.

Glunk was definitely a Senses and
a damn powerful one. Jedrik guessed what Glunk used on him was a Reflection’s
ability to manipulate emotions. A Reflection would normally smother the
emotion. What Glunk did made Jedrik feel like he was being stripped of one
emotion and being slowly fed another. Like Rayne’s ability. Delara and
Waleron’s daughter stole people’s emotions, but didn’t give new ones back. Instead
she kept taking the emotions until the person died.

“I believe we will be able to
reach Delara through dreamstepping,” Glunk said. “Where’s Xamien?”

“Dreamstepping?” Keir asked with
surprise. “Dangerous and complicated. Not really liking the risk.”

Keir had Dreamstepped with
Anstice when she’d first learned about the Senses. She’d been freaking out
about the concept of them existing, so they put her in DS and Keir had Dreamstepped
with her. In the dream world Keir could control the images and manipulate
Anstice’s emotions by changing the vision and how she felt. But, if you died in
dreamstepping, you died in real life and vice versa. A person could be lost in
the abyss of dreams and never be found again. Xamien had to be able to have
complete control over his dreams and over Delara’s.

Jedrik noticed Glunk was
completely at ease around them. There was effortlessness and subtle confidence
in his movements, like he was unconcerned about the pressing issue. Or Glunk
was so overly confident that he had no doubts Delara would be found unharmed.

“Xamien’s mother is a witch. She
practiced dreamstepping with him numerous times while he was growing up,” Glunk
said.

Keir rested his hand on the back
of Anstice’s neck. “Delara’s location is off the grid. Won’t be easy. She can’t
be woken if shit goes down.”

Glunk shrugged. “Nothing
worthwhile is easy. Now, where is he?”

“Here,” Xamien said striding into
the living room from a cloud of mist in the foyer. “I searched every place I
could think of. There is no sign of Zurina, Tarek, or Delara. The Wraiths are
combing the land, but it’s too vast. It will take too long.” Jedrik saw the
tension in both Taldeburu’s; they looked as if they were going to combust at
any second. He felt like he was going to join them.

“Zurina called me.” Waleron’s
words sounded strained. “She Traced Delara to Tarek. She claims he will…”
Jedrik saw him swallow a few times as if he was having trouble forming words,
“make her suffer. Then kill her.”

Jedrik collapsed onto the couch,
his head in his hands. “Friggin’ hell. Jesus.”

Xamien shook his head. “I can
reach her. We’ve mind weaved before. Our connection will be strong.”

“I’ve been trying telepathy since
I heard,” Danielle said. Balen tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I
can’t get anything. She may be drugged or unconscious.”

Jedrik jumped to his feet, his
control faltering. The thought of his best friend in the hands of Tarek…of her
never coming back. No. It was not happening. “This is friggin’ bullcrap. If
anything happens to her, I swear I will—” A knife came flying through the air
and embeded in the wood behind Jedrik’s ear.

Ryker raised his brows. “Shut it.
Empty threats and losing your cool wastes my time and everyone else’s.” He
casually walked across the room, yanked the knife from the wall and walked
back.

Jedrik punched his fist through
the drywall.

“Even if she’s drugged, I can
reach her,” Xamien said. “Though reaching anyone while drugged unconscious
is…well it’s a risk.”

“Xamien,” Glunk warned.

“We will see.” Xamien was looking
at Waleron, though, when he said it.

“Let’s get this done. What do you
need?” Keir asked.

Xamien nodded to Jedrik. “You’re
her closest friend. I need you and anything that you think can link me to her.”

“I’ll get her room ready,”
Anstice offered already heading to the basement stairs.

Glunk clapped his hands together.
“
Beuno
. No time to waste.”

Jedrik noticed Waleron approach
Balen and speak quietly to him. Then he Traced from the room. Where was he
going so quickly?

Jedrik walked over to Balen and
Danielle. He hadn’t seen Danielle in weeks and he greeted her with a kiss on
both cheeks. She squeezed his hands with reassurance. She knew how close he and
Delara were.