Marina squeezed her fingers. "I didn't know any of them well. I tried not to."
"Smarter." Alexa liked her so much.
"Right, well, Gabriel seemed fine when last I saw him. And Loraine used to try to be kind."
"I don't know her at all." Even though she hated her. Detested everything to do with the woman and how she had taken Gabriel away. Alexa stepped back. "Get some rest. We can talk more in the morning about what to do next. You've been through quite an ordeal."
"Okay." Marina smiled. "I think you're going to be fine."
Why would she say such a thing? Of course she was going to be okay. There was nothing wrong with her. Just the opposite. She was better than ever. She'd wanted to never be alone and boy had she gotten her wish. Her boyfriend loved her so much he still communicated with her from beyond the grave. And brought her friends when he knew she needed one.
Damn, she sounded manic even in her own thoughts. "I'll just go to bed then. Goodnight. And don't try to leave, Marina. It's important you don't. If you do, I'll know and you won't like what happens."
Marina nodded. "I thought you might say something like that."
Alexa turned and headed toward her own bedroom. What made her speak so? They were getting along, she liked Marina. Why threaten Marina?
Closing the door behind her in the rented condo she could afford only because she had access to Sebastian's old accounts, Alexa sat down on top of her made bed. Not only did her hands shake now but her whole body seemed to vibrate.
She closed her eyes and started the rocking motion that seemed to help every night to get the strange need to feed, to lash out, to hurt people under control. Back and forth, back and forth.
Somehow she needed to remember herself. Who she was before it all went to hell. The girl of her youth had to be around somewhere. Back and forth. She rocked.
* * * *
Leonardo waited in silence for the group to gather. He'd been a big giant coward when he found a way to delay Gabriel from contacting Alexa. Even hearing the woman's name made him want to throw something, destroy worlds, or find a way to poof out of existence. His soul mate, Alexa. Who had been fucking the demon before Sebastian had been killed and gone incorporeal. Presumably she wasn't fucking him anymore.
But, really, what did Leonardo know? Maybe they had hot, invisible sex every night? He didn't want to find out. One out of body experience resulting in witnessing the two of them had been enough for Leonardo. He never needed to see the woman in the flesh.
Prophecy or no prophecy.
They'd find another way to get Marina back. His best friend would understand his reluctance as she was the only person to know what Leonardo saw that day and she'd not told a soul. Even Drew, the soul mate who didn't want her.
The whole group of Outsiders gathered in the room, and this time hopefully they'd get through whatever story Drew felt compelled to tell; without needing to run for their lives from a magical earthquake. Leonardo didn't know how much more their makeshift home could take before they'd have to evacuate altogether.
"Drew, you can start." Leonardo wanted to get the ball rolling.
Sometimes, he felt like he was back teaching history to freshmen. Actually, dealing with the new college kids had been better than trying to lasso the Outsiders. It was like herding cats.
They wanted him to lead yet never wanted to do what he said. At least when Marina had known who she was, she'd been there to help him. He'd done this to himself. The day Leonardo killed Veli, the man who had cared for four of them when they'd been babies, all the responsibility fell to Leonardo to take over, as if by doing the act he'd inherited the problem of leadership. All he'd done was save every one of them from destruction and they rewarded him with a lifetime of hell.
"When I was eight years old, I decided I had to save Marina."
"From what?" Leonardo said.
He'd always been curious about Drew. The soul mate who didn't want to be soul mated. He could certainly understand the feeling. But while Alexa had sex with demonic beings, Marina waited patiently for Drew even after he hurt her time and again. What made Drew stay away? Were they finally getting some answers?
Drew shook his head. "I thought she was still in danger. She stopped communicating with me years earlier in our shared dreams. I never forgot her, never believed she was a figment of my imagination, and I believed she vanished because she was in so much trouble."
"Hey"—Jason laughed as he called out—"you're going to get me back in the dog house over the figment bit. Charma still hasn't forgiven me for thinking she was my own personal invention."
"Never." Charma took Jason's head. "You're going to be paying for your error forever."
The room erupted to laughter but not Leonardo. He watched Drew, the other person not amused by the story.
"By the time she was eight, she was living with us. Out of danger. No need for much rescue. Veli would have been glad to find you and then you could have been dragged around the world in a state of perpetual agony with Charma, Leonardo, Marina, and me," Kal said from the corner, but Leonardo didn't turn to look at him. He already knew that much; had been there when the finding and dragging all went down, year after year. What he didn't know was Drew's history. What had Drew done? They needed him for battle, if they ever had one. Why did he keep turning away?
"Yes, well I didn't know. I thought she was still lost. Far from me. I was eight. What can I say? I was young and stupid and I wanted my secret friend back."
No one remarked on to Drew's comment and Leonardo couldn't blame them for their silence. With the exception of himself, and even then only recently, there wasn't a soul among them who didn't crave his or her other half. They'd been born to be a pair, should never have been separated. Outsiders always had soul mates, but even with as intensely as their ancestors had felt love, the eighteen of them experienced it more acutely. They were warriors—born to fight. Nine connected pairs who fought together. Lost without each other.
Or so they kept hearing. And reading. And dreaming about.
And so he had witnessed over and over again as each one of his people found their other half.
"Go on," Leonardo said. Always his role was to push them forward, to make what had to happen take place. He was sick to death of it.
Drew rocked back on his heels. "I was eight and I was poor. What was I going to do? I could fly away but even then I knew I'd eventually have to eat. I didn't want to end up on the streets. How would I help Marina then? Years would pass before the rest of my powers came in."
Gabriel nodded. "You were right to avoid homelessness. It royally sucked."
For Gabe, that was a calm statement. He usually sounded so profane Leonardo had started to think of his swearing as a verbal tic and tuned it out most of the time. His lack of foul language spoke to how profoundly he felt what he said. Loraine reached out and took Gabe's hand. Another gesture. Another duo. Another reminder of what he'd never have.
"We got pen pals at school. From Louisiana. We were supposed to be talking about things like food and Mardi Gras. Most of the kids got asked about lobster—I'd only had it a scant few times so it was actually kind of good I never had to describe it—and maple syrup, and the leaves changing."
Gabe jumped up. "You were Sebastian's pen pal? Dude, he used to talk about you to Alexa and me."
Leonardo tried not to jolt at the sound of her name. He had to get control of his reactions before he gave himself away. The last thing he wanted was pity and horror. Or worse, to be told he had to deal with Alexa whether he wanted to or not because of the always present prophecy problem.
"I was. And instead of talking about nothing, we wrote constantly about things. He promised he knew how to make me stronger and I believed him. Letter after letter came. I now know they were spell-cast. He got inside of me and even as my powers came in, he found ways to make me weak. There is part of me that will always be connected to the demon." Drew turned his back on the room. "It's why I can't have Marina. Why y
ou all have to protect her from me. If we mate, I'll give part of Sebastian to her."
"Drew." Charma, always the emotional savior, stepped toward him. "I don't think Sebastian is inside of you and I don't think you can infect anyone with him if he were. He's not a virus spreadable by contact. Right, Jason?"
For once, her soul mate didn't jump to agree with her. "Honestly? I have no clue when it comes to the demon. I have no idea what he can do. Is it possible he's inside Drew? Yeah, maybe. We'd have to take a look."
"Drew." Leonardo had to speak the words no one wanted to hear. He never got to be anyone's good buddy. "Are you a risk to us?"
His fellow Outsider turned from the window. "Not so long as I keep it pushed down. In my gut. Clenched. Cut off. Away."
Leonardo walked toward him. Sometimes the answers he needed were so simple they were beautiful in the utter easiness of their perfection. "The demon is in you, Drew. Can you feel him if you open up? Could you bring him more inside of you? Could you use this to track him?"
Drew's answer of "I could" coincided at the exact same moment as Charma squeaked "Leonardo."
Yes, he knew he was being a dick. But he wanted Marina back and he didn't want to deal with Alexa. Marina was with the demon, Drew could track the demon. And they'd learn in the process exactly what it meant to have the demon inside of Drew, information Leonardo needed to know. Drew thought he was being so noble denying himself Marina, stopping their union to protect her from the demon. Leonardo got the idea.
"You want to be self-sacrificing, Drew? Let's see you do this. Find Marina. Save her."
"I could call Alexa." Gabriel interrupted them.
Leonardo whirled around. "We both know there's a ninety to ten chance the girl helps you, Gabriel. We need to know what this all means. End of story. No one is going to die. Jason's here."
"I appreciate your faith in me, Leonardo, but…"
Leonardo didn't let Jason finish. "This is how it has to be. Drew knows it. You were going to tell us right before the earthquake. You knew the time had come to present what you could do and use it."
Drew's jaw looked tight. "I did."
"The fact remains." Charma's fists were clenched. She so rarely got mad he was always somewhat shocked to see her in a real temper. "Using one of our own people when we don't know the ultimate outcome is not what family does. It's not the loving thing to do."
"And yet we do it all the time." Leonardo had long since gotten used to having every eye in the room on him. He turned around to look them all. "Before Eden had Samuel we didn't know what her prophetic dreams would do to her. We did nothing to stop her from having them. Gabriel can barely breathe after he has to swing us all around through space. Has anyone asked him to stop? How about Isabelle? Do any of us really know if she's going to always be able to come back from her time travels? No. We all have our roles to play in this battle." He pointed to Drew. "This is his."
Silence met his statement, so deep and vast he could feel a moat forming around him. The ever present channel, so wide they'd never be able to get to him. Not that they would want to anymore.
Christophe finally spoke. "We're not the good guys, so Leonardo is always reminding us. This isn't a battle of good versus evil. Outsiders have always brought balance to the universe. This time we're fighting a demon. Who is to say sometimes we don't have to fight evil using less than savory motives, no?" His English was always flawless even as he uttered it with his French accent. "I don't want to see Drew hurt. He gets to say he won't do this. And we'll call Alexa."
Leonardo shrugged. "Did I ever suggest differently?"
Drew finally nodded. "I'll do it. To find Marina. But not because you want me to for whatever real reasons you've got going on now."
Kal walked up next to Leonardo. In a voice too low for the others to hear, he said, "In case you thought you fooled any of us." His oldest friend shook his head. "Sometimes I don't recognize you anymore."
Yeah…he didn't either.
* * * *
Zane Walsh's Outsider abilities weren't always useful. As he stood outside his mark's house and stared upwards, he wished he'd been born with better magical powers. Did the other fools fighting a battle he had no interest in have cooler tricks than he did? If it hadn't meant joining a bunch of strangers in a struggle he wasn't at all invested in, he'd find them and ask them outright. He sighed. What the fuck? Did he have the right address? Usually, when he picked up a job he stood outside the homes in very well-to-do neighborhoods. Nothing about where he was spoke to affluence. The buildings around him were falling apart. A dog barked in the distance and a fire alarm sounded blocks away.
Whoever lived in apartment 32B had ordered a very expensive safe. The kind of security device available to the very wealthy to protect their stuff. Zane used to install them. Now, he used his powerful hearing and his ability to make things and people do what he wanted to open up the safes and see what was inside of them. Then if anything called out as useful, he took what he wanted. Easy as pie…
Three months ago, 32B had one installed. Now, Zane would see if there was anything on the inside worth taking or using for blackmail. He wasn't proud of his jobs, but, given his background, his life of crime surprised no one, not even himself.
Since moving to Maine, thanks to the interference of an angel and an old woman who had insisted he was an Outsider and outright ordered him to make an appearance or be turned over to the police, he had fewer and fewer marks to hit. His roommate, and fellow Outsider who was also not participating in any battles that didn't affect her directly, Gia wanted him to pay his portion of the bills and he intended to oblige. They were weird creatures from another dimension but they still had to eat in this one.
By now he figured they'd have had no choice except to have joined up with the others like them. Shouldn't his so-called destiny have found him already? Only those folks had gone and disappeared from their island before he'd ever had a chance to even check them out. So back to the good life; he took the stairs of the beaten-down, converted former warehouse two at a time. There were five apartments in the place and Zane didn't hear life in any of them. Not even a sneeze or a snore. It was past midnight. Surely, someone would be home in bed. But, no, the place sounded empty, which made the job easier on him.
He reached 32B and tried the handle. It turned easily and he stopped moving. Nothing about this job made any sense. Why would someone purchase an expensive safe only to leave their door unlocked?
Zane survived in his chosen profession because he was smart, skilled, and his extrasensory abilities went a long way to make things easier. He'd never been caught in a trap and this certainly seemed like someone was setting him up. The remote, poor location he could deal with as camouflage. The empty he could handle. The open door? Not so much.
Still, his hand itched to turn the handle more and see what was inside. He stood silently and considered his options when the chanting in his ears started again. Zane gritted his teeth. It wasn't that he disliked or even cared about the singsong nonsense he periodically heard. No one else could ever hear the music and he chalked it up in a long line of weird things about himself. At least with Gia around, he didn't have to be totally alone in his oddities anymore. But as far as he knew, Gia never heard singers. Chanters, really.
Whenever they showed up it only made him want to do the things he was doing even more, as though their singing was actually approval of his actions.
Zane, you are so fucked in the head.
Even his own internal voice couldn't stand him. He turned the handle and walked in. In for a penny, in for a pound. The door swung open with a creak and there standing in the center of the room was one of the most expensive safes ever made, with the door half open and nothing inside.
"Shit." So much for figuring any of this out.
He heard the noise then. From the back of the apartment. A slight cough and then nothing more. No one else would have tuned in but he couldn't help himself. Zane pressed his senses further, willi
ng himself to hear more, to know what was back there before he saw it. Or it saw him.
Human. The noise didn't sound animal and the steady, if a little faint, heartbeat he heard beat at a human level. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Zane crept forward. Someone was back there and, like a man compelled, he had to see who.
Chapter Four
Marina sat in her bed, leaning against the wall behind her. Alexa had decorated the room nicely. Nothing about it screamed crazy lunatic, and despite all evidence to the contrary, Marina couldn't get over the feeling that maybe her new captor wasn't as nuts as she initially seemed. Alexa looked like she needed a hug.
Marina closed her eyes. What the hell did she know about solving people's mental issues? She had no idea if she had a single qualification to do so or not. Except the hallucination who looked just like her told her she needed to help Alexa.
Whatever.
Marina needed to sleep, only the dream world wouldn't come. Instead, all she could see when she closed her eyes was Drew's face. The way he looked at her in the cave when he told her she felt the evil beneath her feet, when he explained he experienced the sensation, too.
His face looked hard, it always did, but his dark eyes…they were something else entirely. Heated, wanting…longing. The man had secrets.
Not her problem.
No, she had to focus on the cuckoo bird in the other room who needed to be held. What the hell was her deal? One second she spouted off about blood drinking, the next she acted like she wanted to be best friends. Marina opened her eyelids and stared at the dark room. Had Alexa put a dolphin sticker on the wall?
Why wasn't Marina running for her life?
"Because we've never been a coward." Her identical hallucination popped back into the room. "We don't avoid problems. We fix them. And Alexa is an issue we have to handle."
Marina scooted to the end of the bed. "Let's assume for a second I believe you are real and not a figment of my imagination I'm inventing to survive trauma after trauma after trauma."