“Because my truck has all the weapons,” I answer, gritting my teeth. “And before you say it, it would be idiotic for us to go separately and chance arriving at different times. We have no idea how many of those fuckers are there.”
Kaleb gives me a hard look. “I don’t care what they said, I’m coming too.”
“Fucking duh,” I reply, ducking under a low arch of fake spider web. “Like I’m going to leave one of the best swordsmen I know sitting on his ass. Do I look like an idiot?”
“You don’t want me to answer that,” he replies deadpan, eyebrow raised at me still dressed in nothing but leather pants and boots.
Like he isn’t dressed as a fucking comic book character.
Felix, Connor, and Nolan snort. Callie has a strong case of crazy eyes and the wind, thunder, and cracks of lightning in the sky have not died down.We need to do something about that soon.
“If you want me to go, then why not my parents? They’re the ones that trained us?” Kaleb questions, his eyes drifting to Callie with his typical‘must save the girl’expression.
All he’s missing is the suit of armor and a damn white horse.
“Because we need Felix to do his dream walking shit and try to wake up Mildred. No offense to Keziah and Ray, but they can’t light assholes on fire with a few words,” I grunt, getting real tired of explaining myself.
“Wait. What now?” Felix pipes up, thankfully dressed in normal clothes instead of as a comic con reject. “Can I do that with someone who’s been knocked unconscious?”
“Only one way to find out,” I answer.
When we make it to the parking lot, in a voice so hauntingly detached that the hair on the back of my neck stands up, Callie announces, “I’m going too.”
She’s barefoot, her wavy blonde hair whipping around her head like Medusa’s snakes, and she’s clutching her phone so tight I’m surprised it’s not cracked in two. She is beautiful and terrifying, and I really hope she doesn’t turn me into a meat mist.
I trade looks with the other guys to get an idea what they’re thinking. Kaleb and Nolan appear to agree with me that Callie coming is a horrible idea, while Connor looks like he’s ready to shift so she can ride in on him like a giant furry steed. And Felix looks like he’s walked into a movie and is wondering what will happen next.
“Callie,” I say, approaching her slowly. “I need you to look at me.”
She does as I ask, her grey eyes the color of raging storms and her face a pale mask of the deranged. Dirt cakes up her legs from walking down the makeshift path, and her free hand clutches the stone hanging around her neck.Shit!
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Nolan cross his arms over his chest, his head tilted down while his eyes flick from Callie to the rest of us. He’s trying to hold his shit together, but it’s obvious seeing her this way, witnessing only the cusp of her destructive power, is making him more than nervous.
Expelling a deep breath, I tell Callie, “It’s too dangerous for you to go.” Her eyes narrow, mouth open to argue, and I add, “For us. Your magic isn’t stable.”
Her face drops into a frown, wheels turning over what I’ve said, and I’m ecstatic that I’m not a bloody nephilim spray raining over the entire parking lot.
Connor stands behind her like a sentinel, his hand placed protectively over her shoulder. Kaleb walks the few steps to be near her, his hand open in invitation. She looks at it, her mouth wobbling, and more of the girl we know comes back to the surface. There are visible burn marks from her necklace on her palm as she takes his hand.
“Columba mea,everything is going to be okay,” Kaleb assures in his ‘spooked animals’voice, his thumb sliding along her knuckles. “We’ll save Mildred, while you make sure the rest of the town is okay… by gaining control of your power.”
Did he just call her a pigeon? I’m so going to razz the shit out of him later.
“Kaleb’s right, pretty girl,” Felix agrees, moving beside her. “It won’t matter what we do if the whole town is destroyed.”
She nods, and thank fuck, the wind starts to die down. My shoulders slump, relieved that’s one huge crisis averted, only to have her turn and look at what’s happened.The fire!
“No no no no,” she breathes, her eyes so wide I can see the whites all the way around her irises. I’m waiting for full meltdown, but instead, she turns to Connor, ordering, “Get me out of here. Get me as far away from everyone as you can.”
Connor doesn’t ask any questions. Just picks her up, her legs wrapping around his waist, and starts booking it toward his car.
“Please don’t die,” Callie yells over his shoulder, her face twisted in fear.
A chill runs down my spine, because it feels like she’s talking about more than surviving the demons.
“That was weird, right?” Felix comments, a finger pointing at their retreating backs. “I know that’s what we wanted her to do, but uh…”
Kaleb frowns. “Maybe it’s healthy caution considering we just said her magic was unstable.”
