Soul to Shepherd (46 page)

“So.” I paused to kiss his chest. “When do I get to see whatever you have planned next?”

“So impatient.” He chuckled slightly and then sighed. “Give me five minutes.” He brushed the tip of my nose with his index finger before readjusting the blanket around himself and walking down the hall towards our bedroom.

The next five minutes seemed to take forever. I tried not to think about what he was doing because I didn’t want to accidentally guess what he had planned or, even worse, let my expectations run wild, miss the mark completely, and then secretly be disappointed. Still, thoughts of the culinary experience Quinn surprised me with last summer popped into my head, as did memories of the surprise music playlist he’d made me, his out of the blue wedding proposal, his spontaneous idea to exchange vows, the unexpected candlelit reunion in the Falls’ cave when I returned to him nearly two months ago, the unbelievable arctic excursion he’d just given me … What else could he possibly do?

Bring it down a notch,
I counseled myself. I took a deep breath and told myself that after the wonderful night he’d already planned, the rest of the “surprise” was likely nothing more than an excuse to make time for just the two of us—which, honestly, was perfectly fine with me. He probably just wanted a few minutes to jump into a hot shower and warm up. I listened for the sound of running water but heard nothing. In fact, it was so quiet I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d decided to lie down for a minute and fell asleep. I crept down the hall.

“Quinn?” I called out. “Are you awake?” A strong floral scent was emanating from our room. I rapped on the door softly. “Quinn? Are you in there?” When there was no response, I opened the door slowly and smiled in awe at the scene before me, which seemed like it was right out of a movie—but unlike any movie I’d ever seen. There were white flowers everywhere—lilies, roses, orchids, dahlias, peonies, mums, hydrangeas, and many others I didn’t recognize—except for on the bed, which was covered in red rose petals, in the center of which was a little blue box.

I walked over to the bed and picked up the box. “Quinn?” I called out again. Again, no response. I noticed a trail of red rose petals that led out of the French doors in our room and onto the veranda. The doors were open and a soft breeze made the gauzy white curtains billow gently.

“Quinn?” I called more loudly.

“Out here,” he replied.

Anticipation swelled inside of me. I had to take a deep breath to calm myself so I could take everything in as I walked slowly across the room. I drew the curtains aside to discover the entire veranda had been blanketed in a thick layer of white flower petals. It looked like the entire backyard had been covered in snow right up to the edge of the pool. And as if that weren’t enough, floating in the water were ribbons of green leaves, blue and violet flowers petals, and lit votive candles, mimicking the northern lights and the stars of the portal we’d just visited. It was absolutely stunning.

I looked at Quinn in complete awe. “How? … When?”

Standing across the pool from me, Quinn was showered and dressed in jeans with the cuffs rolled up and an untucked white linen shirt—the same thing he’d been wearing at the Falls the night we exchanged vows. He smiled, but in an oddly humble, almost insecure way as he slowly made his way around the pool towards me. “I didn’t know how long I’d be able to stand the cold, and I didn’t want to be the one responsible for cheating you out of the view.”

“This is so much more incredible than the portal.”

“You don’t have to say that.”

“Yes, I do. I mean it. The portal was awesome, but
this—
” I looked around me. “You went through all the trouble to make this happen.” Tears sprung to my eyes just thinking about the effort Quinn had put into my birthday—just knowing he was capable of imagining something on this grand of a scale. “There are no words—” And there weren’t any words meaningful enough to tell him how happy and loved I felt at that moment, so I simply ran over to him and jumped into his arms. “Thank you,” I choked out.

He set me down and looked into my tear-filled eyes. “If I’d known tossing around a few flower petals would be your Achilles’ heel, I would’ve done this a long time ago.” He grinned.

I shook my head slightly and chuckled. “Oh, just hush up and kiss me.”

He smiled and leaned down to kiss me, but he pulled back just before our lips met. “Hey, you still have to open your present.”

I’d been so swept up in the moment, I’d completely forgotten all about it. I looked at the little blue box in my hand and then at him.

“Well, go ahead and open it,” he urged.

I untied the white satin ribbon around the box and removed the lid. I looked up at him in wonderment and then tipped the box to its side, allowing the dark blue suede jewelry box tucked inside to slide into my hand. I glanced at Quinn again, who just smiled at me and nodded his head to encourage me to continue. I flipped open the lid of jewelry box and saw two platinum bands—wedding rings. I gasped.

Quinn took the smaller of the two rings and slid it onto my left ring finger; it was a perfect fit. “I will love you for as long as I have my soul.”

I took the other ring and slid it onto his left ring finger. “And I will love you for as long as I have mine.”

“Happy birthday, Evie.” When his lips touched mine, my entire body began to sing and my soul began to dance—with his.

“How in the world did you come up with all of this?” I had to ask. Quinn and I were on a lounge chair by the outdoor fireplace, snuggled up under a blanket.

“The rings were easy,” he said. “I’d wanted to give you one for a while now. The rest was chance. A couple of weeks ago, Dylan mentioned he’d discovered a new portal. He described all the snow, the Northern Lights, and the hot springs, and I had to check it out for myself. When I saw it, I knew it was the perfect place to celebrate your birthday—with one small exception.”

“The below-freezing temperatures?”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “Even with the hot springs, I knew I couldn’t tolerate the cold for too long, so I got the idea to recreate the portal here. But seeing it’s too hot for snow, I decided to go with flower petals.”

I shook my head in wonderment as I surveyed the thousands of petals required to create the scene before me. “How did you get so many flowers?”

“Dylan is very resourceful,” he replied with a grin. “I just told him what I needed and he came through.”

“It’s truly amazing.”

“I could say the same thing about you.”

I rolled onto my side to face Quinn. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

“I’m counting on that.” He kissed me.

“This is nice,” I said as we sat in the hot tub the rest of the night and watched the sun rise—twice. I leaned back against his chest and he wrapped his arms around me.

“Yes, it is.”

“It almost makes me forget about all the bad stuff,” I said.

“I know what you mean.”

I turned around to face Quinn. “It wasn’t all that long ago we were up here and you told me you wanted to know
all
of your options. So are you sure you won’t reconsider them now? I mean, we’re here. We’re safe. We don’t have to go back until the next full moon has passed.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Because of Brady?” I fought the tears springing into my eyes and the knot forming in my throat.

“This isn’t only about saving Brady.” Quinn shifted, putting some space between us. “I think we’ve both known it would come to this. Regardless if we stand up to the Servants now or run and hide from them, at some point they will find me.”

“I just don’t understand why you’re rushing into this—why you want to risk leaving me so soon.”

“That’s not what I’m doing. I just want to settle this once and for all. I hate constantly having to look over my shoulder, always being prepared to go into hiding, and forever waking up wondering if today is the day I’m going to die. That’s not the life I want to live, understand?”

I nodded.

“Have you reconsidered my request?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“And?”

“I don’t think I could end your life under any circumstance.”

“Not even to save me from becoming a cold-blooded demon?” He started to get that far away look in his eyes; he was withdrawing emotionally, which was the last thing I wanted him to do tonight.

“Quinn,” I whispered in his ear. “Don’t shut me out.” I looked into his eyes and kissed him, but he barely responded. “Hey, look at me.” I cupped Quinn’s face with both hands and waited for his eyes to meet mine. The next words out of my mouth were the hardest words I’ve ever had to say. “I’ll do it. I promise I’ll do whatever I can to stop you from becoming a Servant.”

“You’re serious?” He sounded relieved.

“Yes,” I barely managed as I choked back my tears.

“Bye, Mom!” Quinn called out as he grabbed his wallet, keys, and phone.

“Where are you going?” Maggie asked, wiping her hands on a dishtowel as she walked out of the kitchen into the foyer.

“To Dougie’s to watch the Air and Water Show from his rooftop.”

“Oh, okay. Should I expect you home for dinner tonight?”

“No. I’ll probably spend the night downtown.”

“Well, let me know if you change your mind.”

“Will do.” Quinn walked over and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Quinn drove off, and Dylan, Minerva, and I phased in as passengers a few minutes later. Since we were going downtown, and it was only three days until the August full moon, we thought it best to be highly visible and glued to Quinn’s side the entire day.

The traffic to the city was insane, but it was nothing like the traffic
in
the city.

“Everyone and their brother must be down here—and, yes, pun intended.” Dylan chuckled at this own joke.

“It’s a madhouse,” I agreed, getting more and more nervous about Quinn being here. Quinn gently squeezed my thigh in an attempt to ease my nerves.

“I think we’d do better on foot,” Quinn stated. “There’s a parking garage over there to the right. We’re only a few blocks from Doug’s apartment.”

Quinn pulled into the garage and parked the car. He texted Tommy to let him know we were nearby.

“BRING BEER!” Tommy replied. “THE GOOD STUFF!!” he followed up.

Quinn laughed. “When
I’m
buying, it’s always get the ‘good stuff.’”

We picked up a couple of six packs from a nearby market and set off on the short trek to Doug’s. It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day—warm, without a cloud in the sky. I closed my eyes for a moment to feel the sun on my skin.
Perfect.
But that feeling didn’t last long.

As I inhaled again to catch the scent of some nearby flowers, I was hit with traces of a rank, familiar odor. Instantly, my body tensed, and I grabbed hold of Quinn’s arm. Panic raced through me, pumping my body full of adrenaline.

“Crap!” I muttered under my breath. “You guys catch a whiff of that?”

“Yeah,” Dylan growled in a low voice, while Minerva nodded.

“What?” Quinn asked uneasily.

“Servants,” I replied in a somber tone. I took a deep breath and went into emergency autopilot mode, mentally running through all the options and methodically listing the steps we needed to take to get Quinn to safety. I looked at the hundreds of people around us. “We can’t teleport here,” I stated. “There were way too many witnesses. No alleys either.”

“There, three o’clock, a quarter mile ahead,” Dylan said under his breath. “Thing One and Thing Two.”

Sure enough, there were the two Servants who attacked me and Quinn the night I’d last dealt with Jaegar and Chase. They were standing there, waiting for us in their human forms as plain as day, but I could see their red eyes gleaming from behind their sunglasses.

“Wait, there are two more closing in on us,” Minerva added. “At one and two o’clock.”

“Okay,” I said calmly. “Let’s not panic. The garage is close by. We can make our way back there and escape unseen.” I was still clutching Quinn’s left arm as we did a one-eighty and started walking back towards the garage. Minerva stayed two feet behind and to Quinn’s right, and Dylan walked a few feet in front of us.

Quinn was breathing quickly, and I could hear his heart pounding. I squeezed his arm gently to reassure him that we were going to be fine, but to be honest, I was trying to reassure myself of the same. Quinn’s cell phone buzzed, and he nearly jumped out of his skin, which in turn, startled the three of us. Quinn grabbed his phone and checked the caller ID: it was Tommy.

He silenced his phone and stuffed it back into his pocket as we kept walking.

“Crap!” Dylan muttered under his breath. “Over there, nine and ten o’clock at forty yards.”

“Shit,” I said. “That makes six.”

“No, nine,” Minerva said anxiously. “Three, four, and five o’clock at twenty yards.”

“Son of a bitch,” Dylan growled. “How can all these people
not
notice them?”

“Because they don’t want to,” I replied. “C’mon, we have to pick up the pace before we’re completely surrounded. Let’s cut through that gas station to put some distance between us and them.”

We quickly jaywalked across a four-lane street towards one of the only gas stations in the Gold Coast. It was empty except for one car—a black limousine. A chill immediately ran down my spine.
The limo reminded me of the one I’d seen lurking around Quinn’s loft last summer—the same one that tried to run us down.

“Wait!” I whispered frantically as I stopped dead in my tracks. “I think I know that limo.”

“Oh crap!” Quinn said under his breath as the confused expression on his face changed to one of instant recognition.

“We’ve got to get out of here,
fast
.” I scanned the area. All nine Servants were closing in on us, circling us like vultures.

“I’m not seeing a lot of options here,” Dylan observed.

“Inside the gas station!” Minerva exclaimed. “One witness is better than hundreds.”

“Let’s go!” I gripped Quinn’s arm protectively, while Dylan gripped the other, and we beelined our way to the small enclosure.

“What is that?” I asked, noticing a faint hissing sound.

“I don’t know,” Dylan said, also perplexed.

Keeping our distance from the limo, it wasn’t until we walked around the back of the vehicle that I realized what was making the noise—gas fumes from a cut line. Suddenly, another puzzle piece locked into place—the explosion at the gas station in Amsterdam that had destroyed Peter and five others.

“Run!” I screamed, but it was already too late.

Everything seemed to shift into slow motion, beginning with the limo exploding, the force of which catapulted the four of us into the air like ragdolls. I couldn’t keep hold of Quinn—none of us could. We landed scattered on the ground, with Quinn and Dylan closest to each other—and to the fiery inferno that now was the vehicle. I knew they didn’t have much time before the neighboring gas pump would explode.

“Get him out of here!” I screamed. I tried to teleport myself to Quinn, who was unconscious, but I couldn’t. Something had grabbed me by the arm. I looked behind me and saw Rex.

“Nice to see you again,” it sneered before yanking me into another black Mercedes limo and slamming the door shut. No matter how much I struggled to get free, I was no match for the demon; he must have been jacked up on Shepherd’s blood—probably mine.

“Go!” the Servant commanded the driver.

“I got Quinn! You go after K.C.!” I heard Dylan shout.

I wrenched my neck and looked outside the car window just in time to see another, much bigger explosion. I could feel the limo shake from the impact. As I watched the huge mushroom cloud of smoke form, I knew a gas pump had blown.

“No!” I wailed.

“Say bye-bye to your boyfriend.” Rex laughed.

Please let Dylan have gotten to Quinn on time,
I prayed.
Please let them both be okay.

“Hi there!” Minerva greeted Rex cheerfully as she materialized in the vehicle.

“What the—” the Servant exclaimed. But before it could even finish, she phased out only to rematerialize in its lap and thrust a knife right in between its eyes.

“Time to go.” Minerva grabbed me and teleported us from the car. We heard a gut-wrenching, ear-splitting shriek from inside the vehicle. A couple of seconds later, the limo came to a screeching halt.

“One down,” Minerva said triumphantly we phased back into view in an alley a half-block from the gas station. She wiped the dust from her hands. “Now let’s go find the boys.”

By now, a sea of people had created a perimeter around the gas station. Two of the eight pumps were engulfed in flames, and I heard sirens coming from every direction.

The gas station attendant was giving his report to a police officer. I overheard him say there were two women and two men caught in the explosion. He went on to say it looked like one of the girls had been rescued and the other escaped, but the two guys were trapped by a ten-foot high ring of flames and couldn’t get out before the second explosion occurred. He didn’t think there was any possible way they could have survived.

Minerva and I looked at each other. I didn’t know whether to scream, cry, or laugh. The flames would’ve concealed them, allowing Dylan to teleport Quinn to safety. On the other hand, if Dylan couldn’t reach him on time—if he’d been a second too late …

“C’mon,” Minerva said. “We gotta go. People are starting to stare.”

I glanced around and realized she was right. Then I looked at myself and realized that my clothes were torn and I had black soot and oil smudges all over me. Minerva didn’t look any better. Hoping Quinn and Dylan escaped, we slipped through the crowd as quickly as possible and headed back into the alley, where we teleported ourselves to La Casa.

“Quinn?” I called out frantically when we got there. “Dylan? You up here?”

Silence.

“Dylan, love?” Minerva called out.

More silence.

I don’t like this
, I thought to myself.

“Neither do I,” Minerva replied aloud, having read my thoughts.

We walked through the house, finding no sign of the boys anywhere. I ran out onto the veranda and saw Dylan standing atop the retaining wall at the far edge of the property, which overlooked a hundred-foot drop to the rocks below. He dropped a pebble and then scooped it up before it fell out of reach, almost losing his balance in the process.

“Dylan!” Minerva cried out. “What are you doing?”

“I was so close,” he mumbled, looking out over the horizon. “He was within my grasp.”

“Dylan,” I said, my voice trembling with fear. “Where’s Quinn?”

“I tried my best, I swear.”

“Dylan, where’s Quinn?” I repeated, sheer terror creeping up my spine as I frantically scanned the patio for him.

He turned to face me. “They got him, K.C.,” he replied in a shaky voice.

“What?” I couldn’t have heard him correctly.

“Those bastards got him.”

“No.” I shook my head, refusing to believe what Dylan had told me. “No. We went through every scenario. We played them out a hundred times—”

“Not this one,” Dylan stated. “Just after you were taken, Quinn and I were trapped in the flames. It was so damn hot, and Quinn was pretty beat up. I grabbed his arm and was about to teleport him here when I swear to everything that is holy, three Servants walked
through
the flames. One crushed my hand that was holding onto Quinn with the heel of his boot.” He held up a broken hand he’d yet to heal. “Then another dragged me away from Quinn by my feet while the last one grabbed him. The next thing I knew, all three Servants were gone—Quinn was gone. I barely managed to get the hell out of there before the second explosion.”

“This can’t be happening.” My head was spinning. “Please tell me this isn’t happening,” I begged.

Dylan’s tortured expression confirmed it was, indeed, happening. “Evie, I’m so sorry. I never meant to let you down—to let Quinn down.”

I looked at Dylan’s battered body. I saw the tears welling up in his eyes.

“Quinn’s
gone?”
I felt like the breath had been knocked clear out of my lungs. No mater how hard I tried, I couldn’t breathe, which I knew was silly because we didn’t need to, and yet, I felt like I was suffocating. I dropped to my knees.

“Evie, breathe,” Minerva instructed, dropping to her knees in front of me. “Just breathe.”

I looked at her, but I couldn’t see her. I couldn’t see anything.
The Servants had Quinn.
It was all I could hear echoing in my head.

And then a different thought popped into my mind—if only I’d been able to fend for myself, if Minerva hadn’t had to come to my rescue, it would’ve been two Shepherds against three Servants. The Servants took Quinn because of me.

“It’s all my fault,” I mumbled before my body slumped completely to the ground and I blacked out.

“K.C., can you hear me?”

I opened my eyes to see Dylan and Minerva hovering over me.

“What—where am I?”

“You’re still in La Casa,” Dylan explained. “We managed to stop you from phasing to the Archives after you passed out.”

“I passed out? Why—” I stopped myself when I remembered our conversation. “How long was I out?” Panic stirred within me again. I tried to sit up in the lounge chair, but Dylan held me down.

“Whoa! Just a minute or two,” Dylan exclaimed. “Take it easy.”

“Take it easy?” I snapped angrily. “The Servants are doing who knows what horrible things to Quinn, and you want me to take it easy?”

“And she’s back,” Dylan smirked, letting up on his hold of me.

I stood up and stretched me neck. “Hey, I feel—”

“As strong as an ox?” Dylan asked.

“Something like that.”

“That’s ‘cause you’ve got Big D coursing through you,” he winked.

“That’s a description I never want to hear again.”

“I gave you some of his energy to keep you from phasing to the Archives and reawaken your conscious mind,” Minerva explained.

“You gave us quite a scare there, missy.” Dylan’s expression changed and his voice took on a more a reprimanding tone. “We need you—
Quinn
needs you—so don’t be making a habit of going catatonic on us, got it?”

“Yeah, sorry.” Dylan was right. Quinn was in danger, and yet again, Minerva had to come to my aid
.
I was so angry with myself for being this weak. Enough was enough. I promised to be there for Quinn, and I couldn’t do that if I was a basket case. I could feel myself shift back into my autopilot mode. “No more emotional meltdowns, no more freak-outs—I promise.”

“Look, we’re all a mess, and you’ve got every right to be mad at me for what happened—”

I grabbed his good hand. “I know you did everything you could to try to save Quinn. This one’s on me. This was my fault,” I managed.

“We were ambushed, K.C. The Servants had this all planned right down to the last detail. They wanted us to take that shortcut through that gas station.”