Unborn (22 page)

“And why would they?” Oz snapped, no longer able to contain his rage. “They knew instantly who and what I am. They knew I slaughtered a hundred of their own last night without even breaking a sweat. Do you think they wanted to die?”

“Last night, in the street,” I started, recalling our battle. “The one that tried to take me called you by name.” I looked at Oz curiously. “He knew you.”

“Of course he did,” Oz snapped. “I’m what legends are made of. Do you think there are many supernaturals in this world who don’t know me by name?”

“That’s a convenient excuse,” Drew retorted, his eyes burning with distrust.

“The truth usually is, Drew. But, please, feel free to continue wasting time. Time that we don’t have.”

Ignoring both Oz’s attempt to defend himself and his warning, Drew continued his incrimination.

“I sat outside that building for an hour or two, waiting for any sign of distress or sound of a fight, but there were none,” Drew explained, continuing to ignore Oz. “Eventually, you walked out just as easily as you went in. No problems at all. I wonder why that ider sts?”

“You asked me to find them, and I did. You asked me to get the information you wanted, and I did. And now you’re fucking around about semantics when you need to get her the fuck out of Dodge, Drew,” Oz shouted. “Put your petty shit aside for right now. You can be pissed at me later—when she’s safe from Deimos!”

“You’re really pushing hard for us to leave here, Oz. I can’t help but wonder why you want us to flee from the one place she is most safe,” Drew pondered aloud, baiting Oz with every word. “She’s protected here, not only by us but also the wards. Leaving here would remove the latter obstacle for the enemy. It also removes Sean from the equation, too, because he’s due to show up any time now, but you know that already, don’t you? And who else would better know the warring abilities of Sean than you, who has been on the receiving end of them before?” Oz silently scowled, allowing Drew to arrive at his conclusion, which everyone—including myself—could now see coming. “You are hardly a novice in the art of war, Ozereus. You are as cunning and shrewd as any I have ever fought beside, and you of all people would know that the simplest way to take a target out is to drive it away from its optimal place of defense.”

“True,” replied Oz, clipping that single word so short it was barely audible.

“Drew,” Pierson called, directing attention away from Oz. “Where is all of this coming from? I agree that it is no coincidence that Oz so easily tracked the Stealers down, but it is quite a leap from questioning Oz’s previous knowledge of the Stealers to purposely trying to put Khara in harm’s way.” Pierson assessed Drew’s expression for a moment, reading something in it that I could not see. “Your argument, though logical in a sense, seems largely unfounded. You have never doubted Oz’s judgment in battle before. Why now? What has changed your mind?”

“Because I saw something in Oz the night that Khara was attacked that I have never seen in him before—
guilt
.” His eyes wandered back to Oz. “And, at the time, I could not place what you would have to feel guilty about. At first, I thought that maybe you felt badly that one of your own was attacked because of what she was and that you could not change that for her, but then, really, if you lack that power, is it really your fault? You can do no more for her in that regard than the rest of us. And you, more than anyone I know, would not feel guilty about something you could not control. So I knew that could not be the reason.”

Drew strode slowly toward Oz, who maintained his remarkable silence, despite being slandered.

“The more I thought about it, the more I realized that your behavior had not made sense. Your reaction at the club when she exposed herself, your call to us in the Heidelberg Project, and your insistence to track down the Stealers alone today,” he continued, pressing closer and closer to Oz, blade drawn. “I wonder how you can stand here and face us after lying and scheming the way you have. You may have felt guilt for what you’ve done, but it has done nothing to stifle your deceitful ways, has it? You’re setting Khara up, and I want to know why. What price was high enough to make you willing to send her to slaughter with little more than a pang of guilt?”

“She’s going to be taken if we stay here,” Oz countered, maintaining his original story.

“Oh, yes . . . because Deimos is coming for her,” Drew replied sardonically. “You might have tried to find a better reason than that, since even Khara does not believe your lie.” Oz looked to me, a rare pain in his expression that could not be ignored. “See!” Drew shouted. “That itedn. “I ws what I saw the other night. Deny that what I’m saying is true, Oz.”

Those pain-filled eyes stayed fixed on mine as Oz addressed me and me alone.

“We have to go, Khara. They are coming for you,” he said softly. “You believed I was not a liar only hours ago. Believe that still. I never lied to you, and I am not lying about this.”

“You betrayed us,” Drew spat, cutting off Oz’s line of sight. “You betrayed us all.”

“
No!
” Oz shouted, cracking under the pressure of Drew’s words. “I betrayed you and your brothers.” He thrust his finger into Drew’s chest, shoving him backward. “You want to know why I knew what I knew and did what I did? Because the Stealers have been paying me off, that’s why. They’ve been back for longer than you’ll care to know, and my job was to make sure you didn’t know about it.” His face contorted into a smug smile as he turned to address the brothers. “Seems like I’m better at my job than you are at yours.”

“You motherfucker,” Kierson snarled.

“Helloooo . . . fallen, remember?” Oz mocked, sweeping his arms wide in a grand gesture. “I never claimed to be loyal. And I certainly don’t have the unlimited financial resources that the PC has. I saw an opportunity, and I took it. You can hardly fault me for that.”

“Wanna bet?” Casey growled, launching himself across the room at Oz. I stepped before him just as he raised his blade to slice down upon his intended victim. He looked at me curiously through fiery eyes. I was certain that I had only further solidified his thoughts about me being a “crazy bitch.”

“Let him finish,” I said softly, holding Casey back weakly with my outstretched arm. When I knew he would not advance, I turned to face Oz, my expression remaining impassive.

“I betrayed them, that much is true. But I have never betrayed you.” Again his sad eyes found mine and held them captive. “I went to the Stealers today to try and find a way to stop this by offering them something else in trade, but there was no deal to be had. Deimos was behind the Heidelberg fight, and, I assure you, he is coming for you now. I don’t know when he came into the picture or what he wants. They weren’t overly forthcoming with that information, and I didn’t want to waste any more time to try and force it out of them. Khara, we can’t protect you from Deimos. The only way to escape is to run. You need to do this,” he pressured, quickly looking off to the west through the walls of the house. “There’s no more time.”

Not awaiting a response, he grabbed my hand and started up the stairs, dragging me behind him. Just as we crested the landing of the second floor, Pierson let out a shrill cry that stopped me cold. Yanking my hand out of Oz’s grasp, I descended the steps as quickly as I could until I saw Pierson lying on the ground, his hands clamped violently around his skull. Kierson was by his side, trying to determine what was attacking his twin. Helplessness overtook him, and he looked up to me for some shred of an answer.

At that very moment, I realized that I had one for him, though it was not one that I wanted to share. The familiar tremors that I felt whenever Deimos was present started up my spine before I could stifle them. He was near. Oz had not lied.

Pierson grabbed Kierson’s wrist while he continued to writhe on the floor. The second they touched, Kierson joined his brother, fighting the unseen alongside him. Oz came down to join me, observing the twins to assess what was causing their identical behavior.

“The wards,” he finally said franticallaidme, y, rushing past me to Drew. “How does Pierson feed them?”

“I don’t know,” Drew replied tightly, running over to Pierson. “Is it the wards? Are they falling?” His words were a plea. I could hear the desperation in them, begging for Oz to be wrong.

“Can’t . . . hold them,” Pierson panted before his and Kierson’s pain ended, the two laboring to catch their breath.

“Incoming!” Casey shouted, looking out the back windows. From where I stood, I could not see what he did, nor was I permitted the chance. Grabbing my hand again, Oz rushed me up the stairs and down the hall. He ran with purpose, whispering the same words he had the night we fought the Stealers in the street.

“Khara,” he called over his shoulder once he had completed his chant. “We may be too late.” The look on his face was one I had seen before, though not on him. His expression was coated with the same fear my father wore when I was taken from the Underworld, though the danger that advanced upon us now was far greater than a single Dark One. It was far greater than I, or any of my brothers, had expected. Oz, however, had not underestimated it.

He had a plan.

Whipping me up the final set of stairs to his room, he dragged me through the door, then paused for a moment to look at me. His jaw worked furiously, doing its best to contain the thoughts he was struggling with. I stood steadfast, awaiting his directive, though none ever came. Instead, he shoved me toward the spiraling staircase, forcing me up the steps and through the window that led onto the third-floor rooftop. He followed close behind. I wasn’t certain how being on an exposed rooftop was an improvement to our situation, but I trusted that his plan had accounted for this risk.

When he stepped onto the roof behind me, his eyes immediately turned to the sky, a scowl overtaking his strained expression. I followed his gaze up to the heavens, only to find them blocked out entirely. A black, leathery, swirling sky converged upon us. The missing gargoyles had been found.

“I guess those fuckers really wanted to cover all their bases,” he scoffed under his breath.

“Am I to assume that we won’t be flying out of here then?” I queried, watching him as he stalked to each edge of the roof, peeking over to see if there was an acceptable alternative. The look in his eyes when he turned to me told me that none existed.

“We weren’t flying out of here in the first place,” he muttered, walking back to me. “Seems like nobody around here really understands what ‘fallen’ means. It’s hard to fly when you no longer have wings.”

A shot of electricity arced between my shoulder blades, behind my markings, as though somewhere deep inside me understood what the potential absence of my wings might feel like. I may not yet have birthed them, but I had not lost them either, a distinction that was now painfully clear.

“Oz—”

“There’s no way out,” he said softly, cutting me off. “They’ve got the whole house surrounded.” His eyes were heavily weighted with an emotion I had only recently come to recognize—sadness.

“Then we will stay and fight,” I told him. “I will fight alongside my brothers, as is my birthright.” I started for the window, but he intercepted me.

“No,” he boomed. “I told you what will happen if they get you, and neither option presents a pleasant outcome. Pierson’s magic has fallen, don’t you see? There’s nothing to protect you from their pull . . . the darkness. And I cannot protect you frorotasantm yourself and fight them at the same time. There are too many, and the risk too great. Letting you anywhere near the Stealers in this war would be madness.”

In a rare moment, I felt my mouth lift ever so slightly at its corner, mimicking an expression I had so often seen Oz wear. A so-called smirk assumed its place upon my face.

“Is that not one of your specialties, Oz? Madness?”

“This is no time for you to find your sense of humor!” he yelled, snatching my arms up violently in his hands. His grip was harsh and punishing. “They cannot have you. Do you understand me? They cannot have you!” His attention snapped back toward the house, a commotion coming from deep inside. I pulled my arms from his hands and drew my blade, turning to go and aid my own. As I strode toward the window, I heard him mutter under his breath, a plea to someone I did not know.

“You failed her once, Celia. I pray your choices do not fail her again.”

Then, from behind me, a great wind blew, carrying words not unlike the call to battle he had spoken earlier—words as old as time. Oz was chanting something that called to me, but in a way quite different from the call of the darkness that was upon me. A softness characterized it. A caress.

I looked back to see him in the most glorious light. Though it burned my eyes, it felt like home, willing me to it. I was of the Light, and they wanted me back.

Suddenly, I saw what made Oz so powerful. His formidable silhouette was highlighted by the glow that emanated from all around him, and I stood in awe. Slowly, he approached me, still shrouded in the burning light.

“Khara,” he said, his voice carrying a divine power. “I tried to keep you from this fate. I did not wish for it to come to this.” I looked at him as if he was the world. “But I see no other way. I have no choice.”

With his aura of godliness surrounding him, he muttered hypnotically in that same ancient tongue, but this time his words were discernibly different than those he had spoken before. As his melodic chanting surrounded me, lulling me softly into a state of calm, I felt a nagging sensation as something sought to interrupt it.

Darkness. It was coming for me.

I turned to look back to the window behind me, but the second I did I felt the markings on my back rage in protest, burning violently. I wanted to cry out against the pain as my skin protested the awakening it withheld, but I could not. No sooner had Oz finished his own call—the call to the Light One within me—when his lips fell upon mine, strong and brutal. He held me tightly while my knees threatened to give out from the pain stabbing through my back, but his intentions never faltered. He kissed me with the desperation of one who truly saw no means of escape. I tasted the fear on his lips as mine met his, and that is when I sensed what he was doing.