CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Will looks like he’s been hit over the head with a blunt object. More than once. Eyebrows gathered in the center, he shakes his head with a mumble of the word no. “That’s not possible. Eric put her to sleep himself. And besides, she’s locked in a cell beneath the church at The Compound. There’s no way they could have gotten her out.”

“They didn’t. Get her out, that is,” Kat says, somewhat tripping over her words as though she’s afraid to finish her sentence. “Your dad did. I overheard him and Eric arguing about it just before—”

“My dad did what now? What the fu—!” He cuts himself off then punches the wall hard enough to bust his knuckles open. Without another word, he yanks the door to my bedroom open with enough force, I’m half afraid he’s going to rip it right off the hinges. He dashes out into the hall without so much as a backward glance.

Echoes of an all out brawl reverberate up the stairs. Shouting, glass breaking, and the undeniable sound of metal scraping against metal. Kat stares at the open doorway while Jared stares at Rain, taking in all her Goth glory. Black combat boots, ankle length black skirt, black tank top that’s a little on the small side and way too suggestive, black beaded necklaces, silver rings on her fingers and her face – nose, lip, and eyebrow—all shining like a beacon against the dark black eye-shadow, lipstick, and dyed hair. The only other spark of color on her at all is the bright red of blood on the side of her neck where I’d stabbed her with the tweezers.

“We should get out of here before she decides to wake up,” Jared says as his eyes shift from Rain to the floor, where they land on the shirt I took off of him earlier. Slipping the toe of his shoe under the fabric, he kicks it straight up, then snatches it from the air. He pulls it over his head, slipping his arms through the holes with ease now that his wound has healed. The only thing left of it now is a faint white scar.

“Agreed.”

Kat grabs the bat near the doorway, giving it a once over. There’s a long crack starting at the top and ending near the handle. “Do you think Adam will be mad I broke his bat?”

The absurdity of the question given the circumstances, along with the way she asks—as though she’s temporarily forgotten she just whacked a half angel over the back with it and was then nearly strangled to death because of said whacking—has me choking on a laugh. “Possibly. I guess it depends on which bat it is. He has a few autographed ones he’s always fussing over. But truthfully Kat, I think he’ll probably be too impressed by how you broke it to be mad.”

“I was pretty badass, wasn’t I?” She taps the business end of the bat against the palm of her hand with a smirk. “Let’s see if I can add a few more cracks downstairs.” Before I can protest and remind her about how she nearly just died and that she’s only human with no added supernatural abilities, she’s already out the door.

Jared rolls his eyes as he follows her out into the hall.

Sharp fingernails scrape against my scalp as a handful of my hair is grabbed and yanked hard enough to bring the sting of tears to my eyes.

Jerking me back into the room, Rain kicks the door shut with her foot as she mumbles things under her breath. Swiping a finger through the blood on her neck, she draws a symbol onto the door in hurried streaks. Her chanting intensifies, and the blood symbol flares a bright neon color before it fades into a dark brownish red against the wood.

“Hanna!” Kat and Jared both yell from the other side. The doorknob jiggles violently before they both begin to bang their fists against the sealed door.

Pulling me to the center of the room, Rain holds me out in front of her, the tips of my Converse barely scraping over the floor as she jerks my head backward. Shocks of pain shoot throughout my neck and I cry out. Jerking me again out of spite, she wrenches my head further around giving me a prime view of the ugly gaping hole on the side of her throat where the tweezers had been, the edges gnarled and inflamed where she’d dug it out. Vomit creeps up my throat, leaving a bad taste in the back of my mouth as I force it back down.

“You should have killed me when you had the chance,” Rain taunts. “Now your hesitation will be my gain.” She watches me with a smirk. I audibly swallow as I try to pry her fingers from my hair causing her to laugh at my obvious futile efforts. “To answer the question your eyes are screaming, no, I’m not going to kill you. Yet. I told you I needed Jared’s blood and now I have it.”

She stretches her arm out toward the floor as the pupils of her eyes dilate, consuming all but a thin ring of color left around the outer edges. Lips parting, harsh words in a demonic sounding language tumble forth and I watch in horror as the puddles of Jared’s blood spilt over the blankets and floor fuse into a giant blood ball hovering in the air. She wiggles her fingers, and the blood ball moves forward where it then sits in the palm of her hand. Twisting apart into a liquid ribbon, the blood wraps around her arm from wrist to shoulder until lying flat and dry against her skin like a tattoo.

“More would be preferable, but this should be enough to get us started.” She turns her arm, studying the blood ribbon. The corners of her painted-black mouth twitch into a grin, her eyes shifting to the black winged angel I’d painted in art class. “Almost time to wake up dear old dad. But first.” She smiles, her teeth absurdly white in contrast to her black lips. Her fingers tighten their hold on my hair and she carries me the few steps it takes to reach my computer desk.

I claw at her hand until I feel the slipperiness of blood under my fingertips. But still, it’s without success. It’s like my efforts don’t faze her at all.

Maybe I can blast her away? Why on earth didn’t I think of this sooner?

Energy bubbles up from the pit of my stomach, building in intensity. Any second now, she’s going to regret ever having stepped foot into my house.

“I can feel you summoning your strength, but sadly, it’s too little too late to do you any good. Points for effort though.” And with that, my feet finally hit the floor as the upper portion of me is thrust downward and I’m slammed face first into the hard wood of my desk. A sickening crack splits the air either from my head or from the desk, possibly from both. Blood and stars fill my eyes, and the last thing I see is the quickly approaching floor before darkness slips in to take me away.

 

 

***

My body bounces, rousing my mind from the depths of unconsciousness. Eyes still closed, I lay the palm of my hand over the throbbing ache in the middle of my forehead. A grunt of pain drags itself out of my mouth as I probe around making sure my head’s not actually split in two. Other than a large tender gash still in the process of stitching itself back together, my head—miraculously—appears to be in one piece.

Fingers run through the loose strands of my hair, gently stroking it away from my face. “Hey, how are you feeling?” Jared asks softly.

“Like my brain is trying to burst through my skull.” I shift, feeling his legs beneath my head and finally open my eyes. I blink a few times until the back of Eric’s seat comes into focus. We’re in the SUV. That explains all the jostling. “What happened anyway?” My eyes seek out the interior of the vehicle, noting Eric and Owen sitting silently up front. “Did everybody else get out okay? What happened with Tyler, Zoe an—” I grip ahold of Jared’s leg as the SUV suddenly jerks to the left for a half a second before being righted. “And Rain?” I finish. Sheesh, I guess Will’s not the only one twitchy when it comes to the mention of Zoe’s name.

“They’re okay,” Jared says with a slight hesitation. He’s keeping something from me. I can feel it. And the look held in Eric’s tear stained bloodshot eyes reflected in the rearview mirror only confirms it. Something bad had to have happened. “They teleported out with Emory. She would have teleported us too, but she said it would be too dangerous with you unconscious, so we’re going to meet up with them the old-fashioned way.” He pats at the seat for emphasis. “After Rain attacked you, Tyler and,” he lowers his voice, “Zoe, dropped the fight like they suddenly had somewhere else they needed to be.”

Because they got what they came for, my ‘you’re a total failure for not protecting Jared once again’ voice whispers in my head.

The fight with Rain, or more accurately, my ass being handed to me on a silver platter, surfaces in my mind and I latch onto the part where she summoned Jared’s blood from the floor.

We are so screwed.

Oblivious to every muscle in my body tensing at the ramifications of what she took, Jared continues absentmindedly playing with my hair. Goose bumps spread over the back of my neck where his fingertips graze over my skin, the relaxing sensations conflicting with the bubbling panic taking root in the pit of my stomach. I hold my breath for a moment, working up the courage to tell him what she did when he says, “I tried to heal you like how I did at the church.” He pauses, his hand momentarily resting, fingers tangled up in my hair. “But I couldn’t get it to work,” he whispers so low I have to strain to hear.

I angle my head to see his face. Shame hangs off of his features, pulling his mouth down at the corners. I can’t tell him about Rain now. Not when he’s already carrying around so much blame. Most of it unwarranted, like now. It’ll probably be better if I tell the whole group about Rain all at once anyway so we can come up with some sort of plan together.

The world sways a little, but at least the pain in my head isn’t as bad as before now that my self-healing capabilities have really kicked into gear, as I pull myself up into a seated position. “Don’t blame yourself, Jared. After what you went through, there’s no way you would have had the energy to pull it off anyway. Plus, you’re still new to this world, and I can attest from my own personal experiences that learning control over your new abilities is not an easy feat. Half the time, I still don’t know what I’m doing, especially when some new ability pops up from out of nowhere. I like to pretend I do, but I don’t.” I take his hand in mine. “Remember the time I kept trying to move the boot in my room and nothing at all would happen?”

A small smile plays at his mouth. “Until I showed you the half naked text photo Amber had sent me.”

“Yes. And we learned first hand how sudden intense emotions are my trigger. All we have to do now is find yours.” I nudge him with my shoulder. “You did delete that photo right?”

“Maybe.” With a slight grin he wiggles one eyebrow. “But I guess you’ll never really know since I had to ditch my phone for a new one.” The playful tone of his voice falls flat. “You know, after faking my death.”

And just like that, the fluffy moment is gone and we’re both back to the sad reality of our lives. What I wouldn’t give to be able to go back before all this started. To be ignorant of this hellish world I now find myself a part of. I’d do everything differently, starting with Jared. I’d shove away my shy girl insecurities and constant questioning over whether or not it was a good idea to have feelings for my best friend. And instead, I’d go straight up to him, grab his face and kiss him like I was suffocating and he was oxygen. And we’d definitely go on that first date we’ve so far missed out on. We’d be all nerves and giddy excitement. He’d bring me flowers, because that’s the kind of guy he is, and then he’d open the door for me as we got in the Jeep—ever the gentleman. We’d have a low-key meal at Frank’s Pizzeria, followed by a friendly game of pool, and afterwards we’d cuddle up with a shared bucket of popcorn at the movies, where we’d spend the majority of the time making goo goo eyes at each other. Then we’d end the evening sitting on the porch stairs of my house talking into the wee hours of the night while holding hands.

A sad sort of smile tugs at my lips as I drift out of my daydream and back into the real world. Maybe some day when everything isn’t teetering on the edge of chaos and we don’t have to worry about being snuffed out by Jasper or some other fallen angel, a half-breed, a marked psychopath, a Guardian turned dark side, or Thomas and his band of misguided followers we’ll have our moment.

I turn my gaze to Jared. He watches me intently with his own happy/sad smile. It’s like he knows exactly what I’m thinking, and then I notice the soft glow of the symbol on my wrist. He squeezes my hand and I flick my eyes back up to his face.

“I wish it would have happened that way too.”

“Wait, did you…” Trailing off, I reach across the seat tugging the neck of his shirt down just enough to see the glow of his symbol. I flick my eyes to the front of the SUV. Eric seems overly focused on the road, his knuckles white with the strain of his grip around the steering wheel, and Owen continues to do nothing but stare blankly out the passenger window, neither paying much attention to Jared and me in the back. Not for the first time, I wonder what exactly happened back at my house to have them both so…I don’t know…disconnected and barely keeping it together, at least in Eric’s case.

Horrible what if thoughts start running through my head. What if something happened to Will and that’s why Eric’s eyes are so red from obvious recent crying? I squeeze my eyes shut, forcing the thoughts away. It can’t be Will or anybody else because surely they wouldn’t keep something like that from me.

Turning my attention back to Jared, I lower my voice just in case Eric and Owen aren’t as disconnected as they seem to be. “Did you read my mind?”

Jared shrugs his shoulder with a slight tip of his head. “I’m not sure if I was reading it or if you were sharing it,” he whispers back.

“Maybe I directly connected with you again and didn’t realize it?”

“Again?”

“Yeah. I, uh, connected to you a few times before when Thomas had you locked up,” I say purposely leaving out the consequences of it. He doesn’t need to know I felt him getting carved open like a turkey on Thanksgiving. He’d only blame himself if he did. And I don’t want that because it wasn’t his fault. “Eric says we’re connected on another level now because of how our symbols merged back in the clearing after I…” nearly killed you, “brought my symbol to yours after you had ascended. So now, whenever I heal you or connect our symbols together in some way, our link is stronger and we are able to share... Wait.” I look at him in confusion, my mind replaying everything that’s happened since I regained consciousness. “I don’t remember connecting our symbols recently, so I couldn’t have directly connected to you just now. So how…”

“I think I did it.” His eyes flick to my forehead and I touch it tenderly. The wound from having my head slammed into the computer desk is completely gone, and so is the headache that went along with it. “I kept thinking I wanted you to be okay, really okay, and when my thumb brushed over your symbol, I got this intense feeling, like I needed to touch mine too, so I did.” He stares down at his thumb laying over the symbol on my wrist. Moving it aside, the symbol underneath fades to a pale blue so it’s now resting dormant. Pulling the neck of his shirt down to get a better view, he takes a peek at the symbol on his chest. It’s dormant now too. “Huh.” He lets go of his shirt then meets my eye. “So I’m getting this straight, whenever we touch our symbols or heal each other, we directly connect ourselves? And that somehow let me read your thoughts, cause that’s kind of freaky?”

If only that were all it was capable of. “Yeah, definitely freaky. Can you read my mind now?” I ask, if only to keep him from asking any more questions about direct link ups.

He gazes into my eyes with concentration. “No. Can you read mine?”

I shift in my seat so I’m angled more toward him. Unconsciously we both lean in toward each other, our gazes locked onto one another. The little flecks of yellow scattered throughout the green of his eyes seem to shimmer in the soft morning light filtering through the window. Open and willing, I see so many things in them, but it’s not because I can read his mind.

“Anything?” Jared whispers.

I blink a few times at the sound of his voice. “Nothing.”

He pulls the neck of his shirt out to peer inside once more. “Hmm, I guess the effects of directly linking together don’t last long after we’re no longer harnessing the energy of the symbols.”

“Yeah.” I lean back into my seat, relieved he can no longer read my mind because some things should definitely be kept private. Like secrets about what else direct connecting can do. Flashes of being cut open replay in my mind’s eye, and I find myself rubbing at my back as though the lashes are still there. Besides, I think I’ve already had my fair share of people rooting around in my head to last a lifetime. Blondie when he ripped through all of my memories to get to the part that was Sam. Zoe when she forced me to do terrible things against my will. Piper when she needed access to my memories to find Jared. Suffice it to say, I don’t really want anyone else in my head. Nor do I want to be privy to what’s going on in Jared’s head. A person’s thoughts should be their own.

“I wonder what else we can do with our shared connection.” Jared looks over at me from the corner of his eye with a raised eyebrow. He wiggles it a few times, making it dance on his forehead as his mouth curves upwards at the corners. “Maybe we can combine our powers and be like Firestorm.”

I crack a smile. “That could be cool. Kind of creepy, you know with the whole physical merging thing, but still kind of cool. Also, I think maybe you’ve been reading too many comic books.”

“I don’t know.” His eyes slowly rake over my body with enough suggestion to have me blushing from head to toe. “I think physically merging might feel…nice.”

“Jared.” I glance at the front seat, completely embarrassed and hoping Eric and Owen aren’t listening in before shoving Jared into the backseat door. He chuckles under his breath and I shove him again. “Seriously, Rain nearly killed you before making off with a large amount of your blood and you’re choosing now to think about—”

The playful look on his face falls away in a matter of seconds. His whole body stiffens. “What do you mean Rain took off with a large amount of my blood?” Jared asks rather loudly.

Eric slams the brakes, and I lurch forward, pressing my hands against the back of Owen’s seat to keep from crashing into it. A man holding a large flat screen TV stares at us with bulging eyes before continuing to dart across the road. Behind him, glass litters the sidewalk in front of a gaping window leading into an electronics store. I force my heart back into place, as a sinking feeling weighs in my gut because I’m pretty sure the thief who ran out in front of us was only half the reason why Eric slammed the brakes.

“Why do people always loot the TVs?” I ask, attempting to deflect the escalating tension filling up the SUV. “What good is a TV going to do? Do people just sit around thinking, ‘Okay, so angels are showing up all over the world, the military is taking over the streets, I think I’ll go steal a TV’? It makes no sense.”

“Answer the question, Hanna,” Jared prompts. He twists in his seat, his chest heaving with rapid breaths as he stares at me like I’m both the scene of a gory crash site he can’t tear his eyes from as well as the one who caused it.

Eric shifts the SUV into park even though we’re in the middle of the road. He and Owen then turn to stare at me just as intently as Jared is.

Squishing myself up against the door panel, I swallow hard, the sound loud in the sudden silence. “I was going to tell you,” I say to Jared, “I was going to tell all of you,” I add looking from Eric to Owen then back to Jared, “I was just waiting until we got to wherever it is we’re going. Where are we going anyway?”

Jared clenches his teeth together, his hands balled into tight fists at his side. “Don’t do that.” The expression on his face is angry, but the look in his eye is all fear.

“Don’t do what?” But I know exactly what. I’m still deflecting, and the way he’s looking at me right now is exactly why. Because underneath the fear in his eyes is guilt. He’s already blaming himself for this even though the entire situation was out of his control. It’s exactly what I wanted to avoid.

His jaw twitches and he huffs. “Start talking.”

“Is it okay if I roll down the window?” I ask Eric. I fumble around for the button. “It’s too hot in here and I can’t breathe. I need some air.”

Before Eric has a chance to vocalize a syllable, Jared smacks his hand down on the leather seat, making me jump. “Stop stalling, Hanna, and start talking.”

“Okay.” I lick my lips, then pinch them between my teeth because how am I supposed to tell him, to tell them all how screwed we are? Jared’s barely hanging on as it is. The bouts of playfulness, the impromptu make-outs, they’re all just a way for him to escape the craziness, and if I tell him this, if I tell him how much blood she really took, the gravity of it is going to pull him down so far, I’m afraid I’ll lose him—really lose him. Because if he knows there’s even the slightest chance Rain can raise The Deceiver, he’ll never forgive himself, and he’ll let his guilt consume him like a black hole, crushing everything it touches until there’s nothing. And I don’t know if I can bring him back from that.

I swallow the nerves bundled in my throat. They go down like sharp knives. “After you and Kat went into the hallway—”

All four of us jump to the sound of the driver’s side door being torn from its hinges.