Chapter 15 #2
“What are you looking at? Why do you keep—gods are you looking at Death on me?” Seth started to swat at his shoulders, like he could shoo Death away. “You just cast ominous glances over people’s shoulders like some creepy crypt keeper? That’s not normal.”
Kieran reached the door first, preparing to open it and locate this second stairwell, but it was kicked in before he could. Kieran jumped in front of Seth, his broken weapon poised in defense, but it was not an assassin.
“Sera!” Seth sprang forward and threw his arms around her. “Thank gods. We were just on our way to the back stairs. And please, you can’t leave me alone with him.”
Sera returned the hug, but her eyes were on Kieran. Piercing him. Destroying him.
She was okay.
Kieran remained in place, watching, overcome quite enough by just the sight of her unharm—
“The back way is blocked. I used a ladder to get above the flames,” Sera said, “but the fire’s too high now to go back that way.”
He was not paying attention to her words. His focus was fixated on her face. A very dangerous calm settled through his body, deafening him to the entire room. Sera’s mouth continued to move, but he saw only the red marks on her jaw. Long. Thin. Like fingers.
He strode forward without speaking, reaching out for her face, then hesitating as he feared causing her further pain. Sera was speaking, he could hear it distantly, but the calm was starting to dissolve, eroding into panic and rage. Cole had hurt her.
“Kieran?” Sera took his hand, the one he hadn’t realized still hovered near her face. She set his fingers against her cheek and his entire chest tightened until he couldn’t take another breath. “I’m fine, I promise.”
Words existed, he was sure he still understood language, though at the moment he lacked the capacity.
He wanted nothing more than to hold her, touch her, bask in the utter relief that she was here and alive.
But they were all in danger and Cole had hurt her.
Touched her. Were there other marks, other scars, hidden from view?
Had he hurt her in ways that didn’t leave a visual trail?
Kieran's fingers resting on her skin started to tremble.
And somewhere outside, but certainly not far from the chaos, there was little doubt that a shadow had formed over Cole’s shoulder. Death was on his heels. A certainty. And for the first time in his life, Kieran intended to be the executioner.
For the moment, however, there were more pressing matters at hand. Kieran was nothing if not patient. In fact, he may create a few marks of his own before delivering the fatal blow.
Resolved, Kieran removed his hand from Sera’s cheek. The fire still raged below and they needed a way out of this building. A shadow lingered over Seth, but Sera’s shoulders remained bare. A confirmation that his heart was well and truly hers.
“You should not have come inside,” he said quietly, his anger placated by the knowledge that Cole’s reckoning would come, once they were safe, and now fear curdled the iron and heat exhaustion in his stomach. Fear for her safety.
Her eyes narrowed, a defensive quip likely rising in her throat.
“I can’t lose you, Sera.” He had tried to keep his voice neutral, but fear and longing coated every word.
Kieran pulled her into him, slowly, wrapping his arms around her and simply savoring the ability to hold her again.
He had feared the worst when she disappeared and had pushed it all down in that buried part of him where all emotion went to die.
Except it hadn’t and now it threatened to overpower him.
“Touching. Really. But can we maybe save this for when we’re not in a burning building?” Seth was right. Kieran began to pull back, but not before she yanked him to her height and kissed him.
“Sorry,” she said, her lips still close enough to brush his with each word, “but if we don’t make it, I had to do that one last time.”
He blinked, dumbfounded.
“Now,” Sera said, “the structure has been weakened on the eastern side and all the paths down are impassible. But I think I have a plan.” She ran to the door and opened it, checking the hall, which had started to fill with smoke, she motioned for them to follow.
“Stay low,” she warned, before crouching and heading to the apartments on the opposite side of the building.
She tried to push in the door of the first apartment she reached, but it wouldn’t budge. Knocking yielded no response.
Kieran moved in front of her and kicked. He chose not to comment on Seth’s low whistle of approval nor Sera’s audible intake of breath.
The door swung inward revealing a vacated apartment. The occupants things were strewn about the place. Once they had all shuffled inside, Sera shouldered the door back into its frame.
The air was clean in here, but they wouldn’t be safe until they were outside. Sera seemed sure of her plans when she moved to the window and shook her head. “Nope, next one over.”
While she shuffled through the apartment, searching for something, Kieran looked out the window to try and figure out what she was looking for. The building was much closer on this side, but still too far to jump.
“Perfect!” She hefted a large screwdriver with a heavy wood handle. Then she strode to the interior wall and studied it.
“Nothing in here was built to last, just to work.” She tapped the wall, listening with her ear pressed to the panel.
“Most of this is tacked up or glued or just so hastily…” She paused, then jammed the screwdriver in the visible border of the panel and pried.
With the barest obvious effort, the entire panel fell forward, two rusty nails the only signs of what held it in place.
“See. Whatever worked at the time. Although, that’s worse than I thought. ”
Sera stepped over the panel then used her shoulder to push through another, revealing the adjacent apartment.
“Here.” She handed off the screwdriver to Seth. “Don’t lose that.”
“Wouldn’t it be faster to just use the hall?” Seth asked, clutching the screwdriver and his box in a white knuckled grip.
“There’s smoke out there and more locked doors. If any of the tenants attempted their own repairs and upgrades, it would be in securing their front doors. But no one would think about the poor craftsmanship of interior walls.”
Gods, who approved this construction? None of this was to code.
Kieran would have to save his indignation for when they were not in mortal jeopardy, but he was mentally tallying the violations he would have to add to his list when he returned to the office.
“Don’t we want the structure to remain upright?” Seth questioned.
“We do, but only until we don’t,” Sera replied. Then she stopped, her feet rocking on the panel she’d dislodged. “In fact…”
She pressed on without finishing the thought.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Seth insisted.
A quick check of the front door as she shouted, “Close all doors you find. They’ll keep the fire back.”
Bolting to the window, Sera looked out. “Not here, either.”
She found the next interior wall and studied it. This one was made of numerous planks. She gave it a few kicks until one by one, the planks were jarred free and slammed to the floor in a cloud of dust.
The next apartment already had flames licking at the doorway, whoever had occupied it must have escaped in a hurry.
Sera shielded her face to get to the door, but Kieran was already ahead of her.
He coughed, smoke catching in his lungs before he could get it closed fully.
He tried to brush the smoke from his hair, the scent adhering to his body in a way that muddled his senses.
The air began to clear, but the sting lingered in Kieran’s lungs and throat.
The air was heating faster now, the flames adding to the already hot summer atmosphere.
He’d never heard of a Winter Fae dying from heat exposure, but it felt possible right then.
His body was reaching its limit of functionality and might fail him altogether if he didn’t get to some fresh air soon.
Seth wouldn’t notice, his body thriving in the blazing temperatures.
Sera might be uncomfortable, but humans could handle heat much better than he could.
He turned away from her, catching his breath.
He spied something shiny, metal looking and tested the surface with a finger.
It was cool to the touch and did not send numbing tingles down his arm to indicate it contained iron.
The relief was minor as he pressed the cooking pot against his cheek, but it was better than nothing.
A cup of water sat half full on a side table. He splashed it over his face before turning back to the apartment to check on Sera’s progress.
This apartment was a similar basic square shape as the others, but Sera was already examining the window. He’d never seen her so decisive and confident. Both traits suited her, but were more arousing than suited the situation.
“Aha, here we go.” She threw open the window and started to climb onto the sill. Because, of course she would. Why not dangle herself from a precarious ledge six stories above the ground?
“Kieran, I need you to brace here!” She pointed below her feet as she twisted on the sill so she was fully outside the window, holding on by the lip of the sill. When she realized he had already darted to hold her in place. She smiled. He, however, found none of this amusing.
“This is a step too far. You could fall.”
“It’s necessary. I promise,” she assured.
His eyes narrowed, but he trusted her judgment.
“Seth, screwdriver,” Sera called. “Kieran, you have to let me go. I need you to brace here.” She gestured with her foot.
Kieran locked his jaw as he released her, not entirely sure what he was supposed to be bracing. He could see the adjacent building from here and the window that aligned with theirs.