Indebted: The Premonition Series (9 page)

Reed, looking tense, says, “They are not invincible, Evie, but they are endowed with powers that make it hard for us to kill them. Their skin is virtually impenetrable, so force and strength doesn’t mean much. There was a purpose for that. They are angel hunters—angel assassins. They were created to annihilate the Fallen and they were highly effective. But they grew…disgruntled and stopped hunting just Fallen. They saw all angels as a threat—inferior to them.”

“Why?’ I whisper, feeling like I’m drowning.

“Who can say? Maybe they don’t like competition. They have a weakness though,” he says.

“What kills them?” I ask.

“Magic,” Reed replies with absolute seriousness. I want to laugh and pretend he didn’t just say “magic.” The very word “magic” makes me want to roll my eyes. “It’s probably only one Ifrit, the princes don’t usually work together—they are not social creatures,” he continues, not seeing the complete unreality of the situation.

“Princes?” I repeat, latching on to the word.

“The princes are the only Ifrits left. The most powerful had set themselves up as a monarchy—royalty. With help, we managed to wipe out most Ifrits, but the royals just won’t die. They have pacts with the Fallen now, they work together when it’s convenient for the Ifrits.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” I whisper to myself.

“Yes,” Reed agrees. “The Fallen could have gotten the Ifrits involved to search for you, but that takes things to a different level.”

“Why?” I ask.

“That would mean that the Fallen are more afraid of what you are capable of doing than what the Ifrits are capable of doing,” Reed says, watching my reaction.

“Or they are better buddies than you know,” I reply, hoping we are both wrong.

Reed blinks slowly, surprised that I’m keeping up with him. I am, but just barely. I have had to brush off the chill that is creeping all through me, like someone is walking on my grave, and an equal feeling that I’m really insane and haven’t taken my meds today.

“Or, they just
want
Evie,” Buns says in a soft tone. “She is part human…remember? Maybe they heard of her and want to see her for themselves.”

Reed’s face turns livid and I think for a second that he might smash something. “I didn’t need that visual, Buns,” Reed mutters through his teeth.

“Sorry, sweetie,” she says, “but aren’t human women their thing? I mean, they find angels appalling, but they would probably be psyched to run across someone like Evie. She is human with the endurance of an angel. For a dying race, that would be significant.”

Reed does freak then, he barks out orders in his Angelic language to the angels just outside our room. They are the ones he had ordered to follow us earlier. Then he turns to me, grasping my upper arms. “Promise me that you will stay here,” he says in a tone that he hasn’t used with me in a long time. It’s his icy tone.

I nod shakily. He leans down and quickly brushes his lips to mine, and then he turns and leaves the room without any other explanation.

I walk to the bed in confusion. “Did you just tell Reed that an Ifrit wants to make me his baby-mama?” I ask Buns, sitting rigidly on the corner of the bed.

“Uh huh,” Buns replies, letting go of Zephyr and coming to sit next to me on the bed. Taking my hand, she leans her head on my shoulder. “They love human women. They fall in love with their souls…but they usually end up killing what they love because, well, they are freaking monsters and human women are frail. But, that’s not the case with you, is it?”

“What…there aren’t any female Ifrits?” I ask her.

“Nope,” she says.

“So they fall in love with human women?” I ask.

“Yep, they got it goin’ on,” she says without a hint of humor.

Goose bumps rise on my arms. “What do they look like?” I ask.

“Whatever they want,” she says in a low tone, “they shapeshift, but I’m told they have a few…traits.”

“Traits?” I ask, trying to sound calm so she will continue to tell me what I need to know.

“They mostly like to be human looking. Since they’re attracted to women, they want to look pleasing to them,” she says and I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse. “They have wings, too, but not like ours or yours.”

“What are they like?” I ask, puzzled.

“They aren’t separate limbs, like ours. Their wings sprout from their arms. Like pterodactyls would be the best description,” she says. “Or bats.”

“Sexy,” I say, feeling appalled. “So they can fly?”

“Uh huh, that makes them dangerous, because they’re hard to escape.”

“So they’re fast,” I say, listening intently. “What else?”

“They have an ability to manipulate fire,” she says.

“Manipulate it, how?” I ask.

“Oh, well, they can roll around in it…pick it up…throw it… eat it…become it,” she says, not smiling.

“Hah,” I whimper, and then swallow hard. “Okay, that’s a little scary.”

Buns shivers in agreement. “Sweetie, if it wants you, it won’t want to hurt you,” she murmurs.

“That’s a big if, Buns,” I reply. “The first thing we need to do is find out where they are.”

“I tried calling Brownie, she’s not answering her phone. Neither is Russell,” Buns says and we are both silent for a moment.

“What if I ask Russell where he is?” I ask in a thoughtful tone.

Buns’s brow wrinkles. “He’s not answering his phone,” Buns says.

“I’m not going to call him,” I reply, standing up.

Zephyr growls and says, “Let’s discuss this further. You want to send him one of your clones?”

“Yeah,” I nod.

“If he is with the Ifrit, then you run the risk of exposing the fact that you do, indeed, exist,” Zephyr reasons.

“Okay,” I say with a shrug.

Zephyr’s eyes narrow dangerously. “Okay?” he asks, shaking his head like he didn’t hear me.

“Yeah, maybe the freak will stop torturing Russell if he sees me. I’ll tell Russell to come clean, to tell him about me,” I say, pacing the floor. “I only wish that I could send one that I can control, but I don’t know how I’ll find him that way. When I let them burst out of me, they seem to know where they are going.”

“We do not know if it will be able to follow the trail of your clone straight to you,” Zephyr says, using logic. “We need to have a back up plan in place in the event it comes for you. You must wait…”

“No way, Zee,” I shoot back. “You didn’t feel the torture. If there is a way to stop it, I have to try.”

“What if it kills us all?” Zephyr asks me in a quiet tone.

“Can one Ifrit kill all of the angels we have here?” I ask, freaking out at the thought of one creature being that powerful.

“I honestly don’t know,” Zephyr replies. “We should discuss this with Reed. He has the most experience with Ifrits. I do recall him telling me once that he led missions against them in the past.”

“But it’s Brownie and Russell we’re talking about here, Zee,” I say pleadingly. “The time that we’re killing here might be killing them.”

“Or, we are keeping them alive because the Ifrit doesn’t know where we are yet,” Zephyr counters. “I will go talk to Reed if you promise not to succumb to your emotions.”

“Okay,” I say when I see Buns nod in agreement with Zephyr.

CHAPTER 6

Undines And Ifrits

“So, we are in agreement?” Phaedrus asks, searching the faces of everyone around the table. I watch as Zephyr, Buns, and Preben all give their assent. Turning my head to look at Reed, I see that he is sitting stonily, staring at me. He hates this plan. He also completely hates my new ability right now. He made the argument that we don’t know if the Ifrit can track my clone back to me if I release one and send it to Russell.

A plan B is being put into place to counter the risks. The Undines have been sent for and should be arriving soon. I thought that nothing would surprise me after hearing about Ifrits, but it turns out that I was wrong. I’m in complete shock when I learn that water sprites are coming to perform their magic to defend us against the Ifrit, should it become necessary.

“Evie will send her messenger to Russell. I will try to track it. If I can follow it, then I will report back their location. If I’m unable to keep up with it, there is still a chance I can find where it’s going. If I can track it like all of my other targets, its heat may lead me to Russell,” Phaedrus says.

Reed remains silent, not agreeing to our plan. I sigh because I know all of his reasons. He thinks that I’m not able to see the big picture. He thinks that I still look at all of the scary creatures that I’m learning about as myths. He’s wrong. I’m learning that “myth” doesn’t mean what I thought it did. It really means, “based on truth” and the truth is terrifying.

“It’s all right, Reed,” I say in a gentle tone. “I know what the princes are…and I know what I am. I was created to do this, or else I wouldn’t have been given this ability—this gift.”

“
No
, you don’t know the princes, Evie,” Reed states, putting both his hands on the table and leaning across it to glare at me.

Meeting him halfway, I say in a placating voice, “Well then, this will be my baptism by fire.”

That is the exact wrong thing to say. Before I know what’s happening, Reed picks me up and flies with me out the door. He flies straight up into the dusky twilight at a speed that I couldn’t have matched if I were running. He takes me up high enough that there is not even a whisper of sound but our breathing.

Reed murmurs in my ear, “I don’t possess magic. I cannot protect you from the Ifrits. I’m not made to withstand them.” He says it like he is admitting to the worst crime imaginable.

“Reed,” I whisper back, hugging him close to me as we hover in the air. “We have to trust that this is meant, because I can’t leave them there. You can’t either.”

We begin to lose altitude as he leans his forehead against mine. “I can’t lose you again,” he says.

“I will always find my way back to you, no matter what. I love you…just promise me you’ll never let me go,” I say, looking in his eyes.

“Never. I will never let you go,” he agrees as we begin to slowly descend. “I’m fighting my own war here. I don’t want to tell you this, but I know you haven’t even considered the possibility that we might not be able to save them.”

“Don’t say that,” I hush him, feeling ill.

“There may not be a compromise,” he says, searching my face for signs of understanding.

I shake my head, “I can’t just let them die.”

“You may not have a choice,” he says quickly. “Bargaining with the enemy is never a good idea. We need to defeat them, but I cannot see a clear way to do that without the loss of the hostages.”

“We’ll find them and a plan will present itself. We have Phaedrus. He can work miracles,” I say, grasping at any argument that will keep fear from crushing me. I see uncertainty in his eyes.

“You can send Russell the message, but you’re not going to them,” Reed says in a way that makes me think that arguing isn’t going to help.

I try anyway. “But if Phaedrus finds them, then—”

“Then, a rescue attempt will be mounted, but you won’t be involved,” he says with finality.

“What if I can help?” I retort.

“You can’t,” Reed states without a hint of doubt.

“You don’t know that,” I counter.

“I will not risk you beyond the messenger. You may send it, but that will be the extent of your involvement,” he replies.

“Reed, you’re being unreasonable,” I say.

“No, I’m protecting you,” he says stiffly. I can see that he is completely serious about this.

“You can’t keep me in the dark—they’re my family. I need to know what’s happening to them. Will you tell me if you find them?” I ask. I want to know how far he plans to go to protect me.

“I don’t know,” he answers.

My eyes narrow, “I don’t want that kind of protection,” I respond.

“I’m not interested in what you want right now. I’m only focused on what you need,’” he says in a calm voice.

“What makes you an expert on what I need?” I ask him heatedly.

He points to the symbol of my wings that are branded on his chest, “This makes me the expert and the authority on what you need.”

I pull my shirt back so that he can see his wings branded on my chest and ask angrily, “Then, what does this make me?”

“Mine,” he replies. I begin to shake my head and feel him tighten his grasp on me. “You are mine and you will listen to me,” he says as my feet touch back down on the ground in the courtyard outside of the main pagoda. “Do you think that it’s a coincidence that I am as old as I am? That I have lived this long?” he asks. “I know what we are facing. I’ve faced it before.”

Pulling away from him, I turn and begin walking back towards the conference room. As Reed walks next to me, his jaw sets as he reaches out and takes my hand in his. Looking at his profile, I stop walking and say, “In case you haven’t noticed, I have a brain. I can think for myself.”

“Yes, I know,” he says. “That is precisely the reason I don’t want you involved in this.”

“WHAT?” I shout.

“You are too unpredictable. You’ll do something rash,” he says positively, like there is no doubt that I will go off like a loose cannon.

“That sounds much better to me than doing
nothing!”
I retort.

“I have no doubt that you see it that way,” he replies, giving me his severest frown.

We’re on the threshold of the pagoda and I’m sure that everyone inside can hear everything that we are saying now so I just glare at Reed. Before I can think of a reply, a voice sounds from inside the pagoda.

“REED!” The musical-twinkling voice says, just as a lithe, beautiful woman runs out of the pagoda ahead of us and launches herself into Reed’s arms. Reed lets go of my hand as she wraps her arms around his neck, clinging to his body seductively. Her long, blond hair trails down her back like waves of gold. “I am very angry with you, Reed. Why weren’t you here to greet me when I arrived?” she asks as her lovely mouth pushes out in a pretty pout while she trails her fingertip slowly down his chest.

Before I can check my reaction, a low growl emanates from me as jealousy at seeing this woman pressed to Reed overwhelms me. Hearing my warning, her face snaps in my direction. Her sapphire eyes narrow in anger as her glare rakes me up and down. She raises her hand in my direction and I notice that her fingers are webbed. High-pitched sounds flow from her mouth as the wind picks up around me blowing my hair.