Eve of Darkness

Yet she continued bravely, worrying over both Cain and himself. She’d only been marked a couple of weeks, but she was more concerned about the oldest members of the mark system than she was about her novice self.



Where the hell was Sara’s team? After what he’d paid for them, they should be here.



Reed reached into his pocket, withdrew his cell phone, and turned it on. The phone played a little tune as it powered up, followed shortly by the beeping that said he had text messages and voicemails waiting. The subdued sounds were loud in the stillness. He glanced around warily, then moved toward the receptionist’s station. It was time to shed some light on the situation.



He was reaching for the switch on the wall when the stench of rotting soul wafted by his nostrils. Reed shifted from behind the desk to the waiting area. He sniffed the air around the kid and frowned. Werewolf.



“It wears off,” he murmured, a smile forming. If they destroyed all knowledge of the masking agent, things could go back to the way they’d been before.



Reed turned the lights on in the showroom, then took off down the hallway in search of the employee and purchasing records. Anyone or anything connected to the masonry would have to be secured. He dialed Mariel.



“Abel,” she greeted. “Where are you?”



“At the masonry, where are you?”



“Cain found some suspicious materials and he wanted me to get them to the Gadara lab immediately.”



“Cain is with you?” Reed spun around and headed back into the waiting area. Eve was on a goose chase. Or worse, walking into danger.



He paused at the end of the hallway. The couch was bare but for a gnawed length of rope.



The wolf was gone.



Reed was so horrified by the thought of Eve in danger that he failed to sense any hazard to himself until a sharp-ended metal rod pierced clean through his right shoulder from back to front.



Bellowing in pain, he dropped the phone. He gripped the protruding end of the pipe and yanked it free. It was four feet in length, hollow, and about an inch in diameter. Pivoting, Reed wielded it against his attacker. The blow struck the assailant in the face and he crumpled.



It was an elderly man, if the silver threading the dark hair at his temples was any indication. A mage. Sprawled at Reed’s feet in his mortal guise—khaki slacks, loafers, and polo shirt. Harmless by all appearances.



Reed healed his wound and freed his wings. They unfurled through his garments to extend their full span. His features and voice contorted, taking on the face of his fury. The air stirred around him, swirling in response to the surge of his power.



The mage recoiled as he realized his mistake. A wand lay on the floor next to him, but he was too stunned to reach for it. He’d thought he wounded a fragile Mark, perhaps even Cain, not a mal’akh with full gifts.



Stupid. He should have smelled the difference.



“Vengeance is mine!” Reed roared, thrusting the pipe through the mage’s heart with such strength it cracked the floor beneath him.



Blood bubbled on the mage’s lips, but he smiled. “And mine.” He exploded in a burst of white hot embers, leaving only a body-shaped pile of ashes around the protruding spear.



Reed scowled. Then he smelled the smoke. His gaze lifted to the hallway. Shadows danced on the walls, betraying licks of flame.



“Eve.”



Retracting his wings, he turned toward the front door. As he neared the exit, it wrenched open and Cain raced in.



“Where is she?” his brother demanded.



Three of Sara’s guards came in after him. Followed by a group of wolves. One was clearly an Alpha—Charles Grimshaw, one of the more powerful pack leaders.



“Where are the tengu?” Reed queried. “Wherever they are, is where she is.”



Alec gestured toward the blood on Reed’s shirt and vest. “What happened to you?”



“That happened.” Reed pointed to the ashes on the floor. “A mage.”



Smoke began to pour from the back rooms, rolling down the hallway like a churning wave.



“Malachai,” Grimshaw said. “Where is my son?”



“Down there.” Reed pointed toward the rear of the building.



The wolves ran headlong into the fire.



Reed looked at Cain. There was a flash of comprehension in his brother’s eyes.



Together, they raced after Eve.



Eve backed warily away from the Nix, who took on a human shape but remained clear as water. She’d seen something like it in a movie once. The Abyss, she thought it was. A bark of laughter escaped her. She was losing her mind. Here she was, about to die, and she was thinking about motion pictures.



“It’s warmer in Las Vegas,” the Nix purred.



She would have expected that his words would come out garbled because of the water, but he sounded normal. At least as normal as Germanic-accented English could sound.



“Why would I care about the weather in Vegas?” she retorted, reaching into her pocket.



“Have you seen the water show at the Bellagio? It’s magnificent. You always come away with something new. Tonight, I found out where you were.”



“Lucky you.”



“Not so lucky for you.”



Eve shook her head. “Why me?”



“I do what I’m told,” he said, his lower half beginning to swirl like a vortex.



“What?”



The door opened. Eve gasped in relief and turned her head to find Reed.



What she found was the wolf.



Her heart went to her throat. Reed. Are you okay?



“Sorry to interrupt.” The kid grinned. “I’ll leave you two alone.”



“You little shit!” She lunged toward him.



But he skipped out, slamming the door. A second later a heavy thud against it suggested he’d blocked the exit in some way.



The Nix laughed and sidled closer. He was toying with her. She knew he could nab her in less than a heartbeat, but he wanted her to squirm. He wanted to frighten her half to death before he killed her.



Eve backtracked toward the kiln. Her plan was lame and probably doomed, but it was all she had. As she moved closer to the kiln it became warmer. The Nix advanced, smiling.



She pulled the small pouch from her pocket, praying the plasticized lining was intact. Otherwise, she was screwed.



“What is that?” he asked, his lower half spinning with such agitation that he looked like a genie.



“A present for you.”



“Oh?”



Tearing the package open, she was relieved to find green powder inside. It hadn’t gotten wet. “Do you like limes?”



“What?”



Eve leaped to the side of the kiln opening and the Nix surged toward her. She tossed the powder at him and the water took on a verdant cast. The eddy slowed and he tilted precariously. She quickly ripped open another and chucked that at him, too. The Nix tottered toward her.



“W-what have you d-done?” he gurgled.



Focusing on her super strength, Eve caught him as he tipped. She tossed him onto the rollers, then shoved his inert, semigelatinous form straight into the kiln.



He screamed and she stared, horrified. The floor began to shudder, then the walls. Dust sifted down from the exposed metal rafters. The pallet truck bounced along the violently vibrating floor and the door to the tengu room dislodged.



Eve grabbed the downed Mark and dragged him to the exit. She tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. Pounding against the door, she shouted for help, trying to be heard over the horrible whining that emanated from the kiln. The tengu raced toward her in a rambunctious aggregation.



“Help!” she yelled, beating at the door. “Help!”



Suddenly the door gave way and she fell . . .



. . . straight into Alec’s arms. He squeezed the air from her.



“Time to go,” he muttered, tugging her out. He reached back in for the Mark, tossing him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.



Reed stepped out of the shadows. He held the young wolf by the scruff of his neck. He tossed him into the kiln room and shut the door. Then he picked up a length of wood and propped it against the portal, trapping him inside.



The sound of sirens turned Eve’s head and she saw the showroom engulfed in flames.



“The animals!” she cried, setting off at a run.



Hard arms caught her about the waist and held her back. She fought against Reed’s hold, but he was too strong.



“Eve,” he said, his voice to her ear. “It’s the Lord’s will.”



But it was too senseless for her to accept. If God had loved them, he would never have allowed them to suffer as they had. He would have allowed them some tiny bit of comfort before death. Instead he’d used her to give them hope, then cruelly shattered it.



“We’ve got to go,” Alec said, running toward a group of people dressed like the guy he had slung over his back.



“Where are the wolves?” he asked when they reached them.



“Still inside,” a female Mark replied. She stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled.



Another Mark came running from a shedlike building. As he drew to a halt before them, he reported, “It would take days to sort through all the materials in there.”



A tremendous whining noise came from the kiln building, the sound of metal stretching and tearing. Alec shook his head. “We don’t even have minutes.” He looked at Eve. “What did you do to it?”



“I put the Nix in there.”



“Dear God,” the female Mark breathed.



“Shit,” Alec muttered. “That thing is going to blow. Run!”



Eve sprinted behind him to the car in a daze. They managed to drive a block’s distance before the kiln exploded.



The fireball was seen from miles away.



CHAPTER 21



Gadara paced behind his desk in the penthouse office of Gadara Tower. Dressed in jeans and a white denim button-down shirt, he looked both handsome and leisurely. However, he definitely wasn’t the latter.



“You are a menace, Ms. Hollis,” he said grimly. “There is no other word for you.”



From her seat in front of the archangel’s desk, Eve glanced first at Alec, who sat on her left, and then Reed, who sat on her right. Two days had passed since the incident in Upland. Yesterday had been recovery time to make up for the twenty-four hours without sleep the day before. Today was the day of reckoning.