Consequences Read online

  I gave in. She was right. I envisioned a soft, blue blanket lying over Femi, and she mumbled thanks. A moment later I was resting on a sleeping bag, staring up at the ceiling. Sleep was unlikely though I was exhausted.

  Three

  Finding the focus to drive with her little hands curled into my shirt was damn near impossible. Olivia’s mind had been going nonstop since Quintus and Femi found us. I stopped trying to keep up over an hour ago. How did she function with so many thoughts streaming through her head, many of them in opposition to the one just before it? It didn’t matter what she was thinking or feeling. I was happy to drown in her thoughts. Olivia was back and I wasn’t letting go again—ever.

  She was mad. That much was clear. Getting her to release the anger rather than letting it fester and grow was another trick. Luckily, pushing people’s buttons was my specialty. I confessed the right sins to make her snap, but I had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last I heard of my indiscretions. However, if I learned anything about her from our short time together, it was that she had the amazing ability to forgive. I wasn’t sure how much of a threat the guardian posed, but he wasn’t on the same level n which we existed. She was still mine, just not ready to admit it. And he’d learn that, one way or the other.

  As the miles passed beneath us and the morning traffic picked up, Olivia relaxed against me. Too relaxed. Her hands went slack and her mind simmered to a slow boil. Shit. I pulled over before she fell off. I couldn’t drive a motorcycle with one arm. Even stopping didn’t wake her up. I shook her slightly, but she didn’t respond, her head listlessly tipping to the side. Worry clawed at me, but her exhaustion was still heavy in my mind. Maybe she just needed the sleep. I retrieved one of my shirts from the emergency bag and tore a long strip from it. I got back on the bike and tied her arms around me. It wasn’t as secure as I would’ve liked, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I divided my attention between the road and keeping her on the bike until a minivan cut us off. I swerved, struggling to keep the bike on the road and Liv upright. I pulled up next to the van and yelled a few choice obscenities at the careless driver. The person made no indication she noticed us at all. I pulled closer to the vehicle, too close for safety, and slapped my hand against the window. The woman jerked her head and the wheel, making me once again avoid her, and looked right through me with startled, blank eyes. I waved my hand. Nothing. She couldn’t see us. I’d grown so used to Olivia’s glowing I didn’t even think about it. Her light obscured me and the bike. Fan-fucking-tastic.

  I exited the highway and pulled into the parking lot of the seedy building that offered Girls, Girls, Girls and an adult bookstore. The impenetrable sleep continued to concern me. Liv, I said in her mind hoping to break through.

  “Mmmm.” She swallowed and her cheek twitched.

  Satisfied if I pushed her I could probably wake her up, I used another strip of the shirt to tie around her waist and into the belt loop of my jeans. She felt more secure when we started again. Knowing we were invisible to the police, I maxed out the speed and wove in and out of cars. We made it to Memphis much sooner than I anticipated.

  I parked the bike away from my safe house and retrieved the emergency bag from the compartment. Olivia curled her hand against my chest as I carried her to the house. Her breath rippled against the collar of my shirt and the sweet smell of her skin filled my senses. No matter what, I would keep her safe this time. I wouldn’t fail her again. I took her to the bedroom, pulled the covers back, and deposited her in the bed. She made a small sound of protest and reached out for me, her eyes fluttering like she might wake up.

  “Shhhh, rest. I’ll be close,” I whispered, stroking the back of my hand down her soft check. Her eyes went still and her hand fell to her side.

  When her breathing evened, I went out for groceries and dinner. She still wasn’t awake when I got back to the bunker. I physically checked on Olivia multiple times before Femi and Quintus arrived, but I kept a constant mental check on her, waiting for the exhaustion to subside.

  Femi’s odd cat eyes expanded and contracted as she took in every detail. “And I thought my apartment sucked.”

  I shrugged. “Lock the door. Feel free to fight over the couch.” With that I turned around and joined Liv.

  I closed the bedroom door behind me and flipped the lock. If Quintus beamed his way in, I’d make him regret ever setting eyes on my Olivia.

  Liv’s peaceful glow melted away all of my irritation. I waited for a few minutes to see if the guardian would try anything, but he didn’t. I slipped into bed next to her and hoped she was dreaming. She drifted closer to me like I was a magnet. I wrapped my arm around her, squeezing her to my chest. For the first time in four years everything felt right.

  The next morning I awoke to the smell of coffee. Olivia’s face nestled into the place where my neck and shoulder met like it was designed for her. I pulled away, and she was still sound asleep.

  “Liv,” I whispered and her lashes flickered for a moment before settling back down. I climbed out of bed, knowing we had too much to do for me to stay in bed all day, but I would let her rest.

  “Where is she?” Quintus asked as soon as I opened the door.

  His focused interest in her struck a nerve, crushing all thoughts of asking whether the persistent sleep was normal. “Resting.” He started for the bedroom, but I cut him off. “I said she’s resting.”

  “Get out of my way, jinni.”

  “Not a chance in hell. Make me or sit down and shut the fuck up.” A smile crept onto my face at the vague hope he’d be stupid enough to try to make me.

  “What have you done to her?” Quintus demanded, not stepping back.

  I slammed my head against his face and the satisfying crack of his nose filled the room. He stumbled a couple steps. I advanced on him.

  Quintus was stupid enough to lunge back at me, but Femi stopped him with surprising strength for someone who looked so lithe and graceful. “No matter what you think of jinn, this one doesn’t appear to want to harm her. Let Olivia rest, I imagine she needs it. It’s not every day she rips souls from purgatory, is it?”

  I dared him with my eyes to let this continue.

  “I want to see her,” Quintus insisted.

  He wasn’t going to do it, spineless. “And I want a pony,” I told him, making Femi snicker. I shook my head. “We need a plan.”

  “I need to take her to the elders,” Quintus said as if that was an option. “They’ll know what to do and how to fix this.”

  Femi rolled her eyes. “I’m not doing anything or letting either of you do anything until Olivia weighs in. I have no idea what she wants and this is her life so she gets to decide. We wait.”

  We’d be safe here for a while so long as the guardian didn’t do anything stupid.

  Four

  “If you wake her up, I’ll rip out your god-damned throat,” Holden snarled. His anger coursing through my veins startled me awake. Where was I? My eyes had trouble staying open, so I let them close again while I listened.

  “Can't you leave her alone? Haven't you done enough?” Quintus said, not backing down, but also not talking as loudly as before. What set off this latest tiff? We were never going to accomplish anything if we all couldn't be in the same room without death threats.

  “I'm not the only one who’s fucked up her life. You've been doing a pretty proficient job,” Holden snarled.

  “Despite what you think, and despite her obvious weakness, you don't belong together. It'd be better for everyone if you left and never came back.”

  I had enough. I was out of bed, head throbbing and filled with irritation, but I felt better—stronger than I did before. I followed the sound of their voices into a living room.

  “The only way I'm leaving is in a coffin,” Holden said.

  “That can be arranged!”

  “Stop it. Both of you stop,” I snapped.

  Quintus stared at the floor, but didn't say anything, like a little kid who got in trou
ble, yet still believed he was right.

  Holden glanced at me then back at Quintus, his eyes filled with rage. Tearing his throat out wasn't an idle threat. He had every intention of doing it.

  “Holden,” I said with a strong edge of warning.

  He was motionless except for slight twitches in his fingers like he was strangling Quintus in his mind.

  Femi looked up from her magazine and smiled sympathetically.

  “We don't have time for this. If you need to kill each other, go outside and do it. Your bitching is giving me a headache.” I gave them both a pointed look. “Otherwise, we need to come up with a plan and find out how bad all of this is. Can you stay civil long enough to do that, or does one of you have to die and leave us in the lurch?”

  “You’re right.” Quintus nodded, his spine stiff. “I apologize. He wouldn’t let us see you and...” His voice trailed off as if he didn’t quite know how to explain himself. He shook his head. “I’m glad you’re awake. I didn’t know what that kind of power exertion would do to you.”

  “I told you she was fine,” Holden said.

  “Seriously, what is the big deal? So I slept for a few hours. I needed it.” The last thing I needed was Quintus to go into extreme babysitter mode—but Femi’s eyebrows lifted and gave me pause. “Wait—how long have I been asleep?”

  “Three days,” Holden said like it was normal.

  “Are you kidding?”

  Holden frowned. “You were very tired.”

  “So you stood guard outside my room for three days?”

  “When I had to.” He tossed an annoyed look in Quintus’s direction.

  “Where did you sleep?” I hadn’t noticed any of furniture in the room besides the bed. In fact the entire building consisted of four rooms: a bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen and not one window. Where were we?

  “With you.”

  Holden said the words for what they were, a statement of fact. No commentary, no implications intended. He’d shared a bed with me for the last three days. But now I understood the problem—what had upset Quintus. Not only would Holden not let him see or speak with me, but he was also disappearing behind closed doors with me at night. Holden sharing my bed didn’t bother me. We’d shared a bed every night the weeks before I died and almost nothing happened, but Quintus wouldn’t know that. He would assume, which annoyed me. I didn’t want to have to smooth things out between the two of them. This wasn’t his business, but Holden shouldn’t have kept him out either.

  “I told him you wouldn’t like it,” Quintus sputtered. “I explained the aversion guardians have to jinn, but he wouldn’t listen.”

  Holden smirked. “Olivia doesn’t have an aversion to me.”

  I felt my cheeks color remembering the motorcycle. Other jinn may make my skin crawl, but Holden made me melt. He always had. I sighed. “Have they been like this the whole time?” I asked Femi.

  “Every single day,” she said. “I thought about hog tying and gagging both of them until you woke up.”

  I shuffled over and sat next to her on the sofa. “So are you guys ready to work together or should Femi and I handle this?”

  Holden crossed his solid arms in front of his chest. “I know what kind of plans you make. I’ll leave him alone.”

  Quintus nodded his agreement.

  “Excellent. What do we know?” They all looked at me blankly. “I've been asleep for three days, you haven't learned anything?”

  “We know that you retrieved my soul—thank you for that, by the way,” Holden said with a wink. “Other than that, I have nothing. Quintus is determined your people will be pissy.”

  “Ezra has been calling me since the night we left. I've been ignoring his calls until we knew where we stood.”

  “Who's Ezra?” Holden’s voice was clipped.

  “He's an elder. He assigned me to keep an eye on Olivia, train her, and to stop the war your people were starting. I gave him weekly reports.”

  I stood up and moved next to Holden where I could face Quintus. “Reports? On what? How long have you known about the guardians dying?”

  “Not long.” Quintus shifted. “Most of my reports were about you.”

  Holden glanced in my direction, but I had no idea what to say. Why would Quintus be reporting about me to anyone? “What have you been telling him, Quintus?” I asked with a little more bite than I intended, and Femi stood on the other side of me, her hands on her narrow hips.

  “Nothing really. He wanted to know your progress and any special abilities you exhibited. They didn’t expect another elder to be sent. I imagine they’re all curious about you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Holden beat me to my question.

  Quintus shuffled his feet. “It means what I said. According to the prophecy there were a set number of souls created to form our governing council. Each was born into the human race just as other guardians except when they die they are stronger and more powerful than a normal guardian. Olivia was... unexpected. No one knows why she wasn't born with the rest of them.”

  “None of the elders knew? And Olivia—why doesn’t she know about them?” Again Holden was quick on the draw with questions while I tried to process what Quintus was saying about me.

  “They’re being cautious. The fact that she could pull you from purgatory is astounding.”

  “Why didn't you tell me any of this?” I asked, beating Holden to a question. Femi’s eyes darted back and forth between us like she was watching a tennis match.

  “I was following orders. Ezra didn't think you should know. He wanted you trained as a normal guardian and then planned to ease you into the role as an elder. And he was right, Olivia. You were already overwhelmed; could you have taken any more change?”

  Holden blinked, but to his credit he didn't say anything. He stepped back and waited for my reaction.

  I took several deep breaths, calming the urge to yell at him. “More secrets.” I bit my lip to keep my anger from getting the better of me. “What else?”

  Quintus radiated innocence. “What do you mean?”

  “What else, Quintus? You never have one secret. It's always a slew of them that you drop on me at the worst moment, so let's get it out of the way. What else are you hiding?”

  “Nothing.”

  How could he have done this again? He’d hidden that he went to see Holden, he’d withheld what I was capable of doing, and God knows what else. Quintus looked like I’d stolen his puppy and Holden enjoyed this all too much. I took a few deep breaths before I spoke again. “Okay, this is neither here nor there. We need a plan. You’ve had three days. What’ve you come up with?”

  “I think we should turn ourselves in to the elders. Explain everything to them and make them understand. They can’t punish you; you didn’t know what you were doing. In a couple weeks all of this will blow over and we can get back to our normal lives, and you can start training to be an elder.”

  “Over my dead body.” Holden stepped closer to me.

  “If you insist,” Quintus shot Holden’s earlier witticism back at him.

  “What’s your plan, Holden?”

  “We leave. You wouldn’t do it last time, and you should have. We can have a life together. I’ve thought about this. It will work.”

  “Femi, please tell me you have a better idea than these two.”

  Femi crossed her long legs. “In my experience, running away has never solved anything. Go back, Olivia, but don’t throw yourself down to the mercy of anyone. Figure out what you want out of this life and fight like hell to get it.”

  “But Heaven and Hell are both looking for me. How can I fight against them?”

  “Who says they are? I don’t know that. They,” she jerked her chin toward Holden and Quintus, “don’t know that, and you don’t know that. Right now, we don’t know anything. Besides, guardians aren’t the vengeful sort, otherwise grumpy and dimples here would’ve started using each other as punching bags oh, seventy-one hours an
d fifty eight minutes ago.”

  “That might be true, but that doesn’t take care of the Hell problem.” Holden paced the room with a serious expression.

  “I doubt they even know you have your soul back. Do you think someone’s sitting in purgatory taking inventory? They won’t know until they see you.”

  “The jinn we left behind could’ve reported us.”

  “They broke the truce. Would they want to draw attention to themselves? Kill them and stay away from demons and your problem is solved.”

  I looked at her and wondered if she was right. Could it be that simple? Kill a few jinn and get off scot-free. “Is that it? How’s that possible?”

  “It isn't,” Quintus said moodily.

  Holden rubbed his jaw. “It’s a thought though. We don’t know.”

  Five

  “Olivia is a guardian, an elder no less. They won’t let her go just because she wants to.” Holden look unimpressed by my words, Femi all but shrugged, and Olivia looked thoughtful. They didn’t understand. “You are important to our world. Can’t you see there will be repercussions? Let me take you to the elders. I will stand with you, and they will be fair. I promise. If you go off on your own, they will be forced to make an example of you.”

  “I’m not saying no, I want to know my options. And no more secrets,” she said.

  I counted to ten trying to be patient. Arguing with her would never change her mind. But when her eyes strayed to the jinni and a little smile curled the edges of her lips, I snapped. “And I'm not the only one keeping secrets.”

  “I didn't keep secrets from you.” Olivia’s eyes darted back to me.

  I looked back and forth between Olivia and Holden, stabbed with jealousy. I hated the jinni. Hated him with every fiber of my being!