Chapter 92
Chapter Ninety-Two
APRIL
The street is quiet as we approach the jutting pastel blue building, the tip of the towering middle that is pretending to resemble an obelisk reaching for the dark sky like an accusing finger pointing at the heavens.
The elaborate facade with curves and swirls framing thick black letters spelling “Culture and Commerce in Leimert Park” stands stark against the white background of a permanently attached sign with a few lights missing and the rest struggling to illuminate it.
They must’ve restored the building since the last time I scuttered past it, while I was still human.
There was fire next to it a few years back that spread over everything around it, and scorch marks were splattered almost all the way to the top of the theatre.
Now it looked new.
The glass entrance with its long, narrow window panels is boarded up as if renovations are still taking place and no one is there, but I can tell from quite a few doors down that it’s busting with activity.
Like the men trying to blend in with the shadows around the two tall trees standing on either side of its front doors with lush crowns full of leaves.
Or the couple crouched behind the frame of the sign just above the entrance, their heads poking out occasionally to scan up and down the long street.
My eyes narrow on the building when the letters spelling Vision up the long, tall part flicker and buzz, blinking muted gold with light before darkening.
It does it a few times while we stand waiting, telling me they might be doing magic inside that triggers the electricity wired through the theatre.
“There are at least a few dozen inside,” Marcus says from behind me, returning from his slinking around the building to give us at least somewhat of a heads up on their numbers.
“And at least ten outside from what I’ve noticed,” I counter, pointing at the front doors. “Three on each side hiding between the building and the trees, two that I can see on top, but let’s say four up there to be safe.”
Sebastian says nothing.
Standing next to me, a step behind my shoulder, he glowers at everything around him as if the night offends him for daring to be dark.
A puff of wind slaps me in the face, rustling the leaves all down the street, and the sound travels like erratic whispers of long-forgotten ghosts that haunt the city.
A shiver slithers down my spine, and I run my hand over my arm to ward off the chill.
I know Sebastian is pissed that I totally ignored him, and instead of debating for hours why I need to be here, why it’s so important for me to do this, I said nothing.
Just jumped in the car when everyone was ready to leave, and the Guardians that flock to me every time we do something like this prevented him from dragging me back and locking me up.
He has too much pride to cause a scene like that, which worked in my favor.
A handful of Guardians, male and female, all dressed in black tactical gear fan out behind us like silent death waiting to snatch your soul when you least expect it.
Their eyes glint occasionally when they catch a reflection of the streetlights bringing attention to the stern set lines of their features.
Everyone is pissed.
After what the mages did with their attack when we were at our weakest, having just finished the fight of our lives, they want blood.
So do I, for that matter.
Regardless of how much I hate the fact Sebastian acts like I’m some fragile flower that needs to be placed in a glass cage and protected at all cost, I can’t walk in in the middle of a magic-infested building while he is angry at me.
I have many regrets for a lot of things in my life, but dying here tonight while he is not talking to me will not be one of them.
Reaching behind me without turning, I take hold of his hand.
He stiffens.
The fingers I’m holding straighten, and I can feel the tension radiating off him like heat from the sun if you dare stand too long out in the open in the middle of summer.
My skin feels tight when his power prickles along my nerve endings, but I just grip him more, refusing to let this stand between us.
“We’ll be fine.” I’m not sure if I’m trying to convince him or myself. Maybe both.
“You understand how stupid and dangerous this is, do you not?” he bursts out, and I turn then, taken aback by the uncharacteristic outburst.
My eyes lock on his, and although my own frustration claws its way to the forefront, I can’t help it when my breath gets stuck in my throat at seeing him like this.
Dark, coiled up to pounce, with a burning gaze focused entirely on my face, he sucks all the air from my lungs.
Danger clings to his sculpted body like a cloak and makes it look like he is growing larger with each blink of an eye.
“I do know, Sebastian.” Pitching my tone low, I squeeze his fingers.
He simply glares. “But you know this is important to me. Yes, Andrei is alive, but that does not absolve them from their crimes. They need to pay, and I’m here to collect.
” Before he says anything else, I narrow my eyes on him. “It is my right.”
From the corner of my peripheral vision, I can see Marcus and the Guardians want to be anywhere else but here right now.
Even being unnaturally still and barely visible in the darkness, I can tell they are uncomfortable witnessing this moment that should be private.
Too bad I don’t have Sebastian’s arrogance. This won’t make my crown crooked.
I don’t even have a crown.
Ha! Suck on that, Khan, you lousy piece of shit. I hope he is turning in whatever hell he ended up in. It must show on my face that I got stuck in my head because Sebastian tugs on my arm to bring my attention back to him.
“If they get to you, all of this will be for nothing.” His free hand slices through the air, encompassing the area around us.
He is playing off my guilt.
I know he is.
And I feel it, more than anything else at this moment, but I refuse to show him that.
It’s not like it didn’t dawn on me that if I get killed all of them will perish along with me.
That knowledge sits on my shoulders, pressing down, and it can snap my spine any second from the weight.
But every time I think about hiding like a coward behind a sea of Guardians and dictating how they should risk their lives so I can get my revenge, bile burns the back of my throat.
The faces of Sara and Eddie taunt me in those moments, and that’s the reason the guilt does not last long.
“That is why I agreed to wait until the last moment.” I try to reason with him.
“I will do it to give you peace of mind, but don’t think for a second that I’ll stand back when we find them.
” My stern gaze travels from him to the faces of those around us, landing on Marcus.
“Sara and Eddie are mine. Are we clear?”
“I don’t think they are the head of this group of scum, anyway,” Marcus mutters but nods in acknowledgment to my demand. “Whoever it is, they are just using those two idiots to get to what they want. You.”
“Even better.” I give Sebastian a “you see this is not dangerous at all” look, but his features only tighten. “You’ll deal with all the scary mages while I play with those two vermin. This will go great.”
“April.”
How can anyone say a name and also deliver an entire speech without using any other words is beyond me. It must be an inherent talent that only brooding, overbearing men possess. Or it could just be a Sebastian thing.
What sucks is that the numb feeling, the all-consuming darkness which swallowed me whole when I was trying to free Andrei, reacts to it like an enthusiastic pet wiggling its tail and preparing to pounce.
Not to play, or purr, or whatever.
No.
It wants to devour everything in its path.
“I’m doing this, Sebastian.” Gulping down the unease stirring inside me, I square my shoulders. “You can go with me or do whatever it is you think is smart and not stupid. We are wasting time.”
He stares at me so intently that if I wasn’t desperate to stand my ground and do this, I would be running back to my room right now. As it stands, I meet him stare for stare, not backing down.
“We are not wasting time,” Marcus pipes in, no doubt trying to break the tension. “Just waiting on a green light.”
When my eyebrow rises in question, he points to the right side of the theater, at the roof of the adjoining building to be exact.
A figure emerges as if spat out by the thick shadows, and without bringing notice to themselves, they dart as fast as a bullet across and down the street to join us.
When they are close enough for me to distinguish their features, my back stiffens.
Eshe steps up to us, her full, blood-red lips set in a firm line.