Chapter Thirty-Eight
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“IS EVERYONE READY?” Xanthia asked, turning to scan her family. They’d moved more couches and chairs around the gigantic gaming TV to watch the movie she’d made.
“We’re ready,” Qiana said in anticipation. Koach had filled her in on the drama she’d missed during breakfast. At least she wouldn’t miss out on this.
“Here we go,” Xan said and set the movie rolling on her computer. Semiaza patted the seat beside him. She sank down onto it to snuggle against her knight’s side.
The females had made snacks and coffee for them all. They dug in as they watched the disaster reels Xanthia had compiled.
“Ha, ha!” Grace crowed, pointing at the TV as a human opened a door to an apartment building and was promptly knocked off her feet in a torrent of water.
“What an idiot!” the kid exclaimed. “She should have known that was going to happen when she saw water spurting out around the edges of the door higher than her head!”
Even Amaros chuckled at some of the antics they witnessed.
Zoe laughed so hard she was crying. Tor kept cackling and letting off sparks that kept zapping Jacquin.
The knight eventually pulled his mate onto his lap.
He held her hands over the armrest to spare them both from the tiny electrical volts.
“This is way more fun than I’d expected,” Tolas admitted as Wynter laughed hysterically beside him. “Humans can be incredibly stupid at times.”
Xanthia watched her father wade in and turn off the water in some of the worst flooding episodes. It was always amusing to see Xathan’s stoic facade and knowing he was resisting the urge to murder some of his incompetent human allies.
“Wait a minute,” Grace said as the hour-long video came to an end. “Did anyone else notice who was missing?”
“Who?” Vic asked, stomach hurting from laughing so hard.
“The soldiers,” Amaros said. “They don’t appear to be searching Manhattan for their offspring anymore.”
“Bingo,” the teen said. “I wonder why they’ve stopped looking for us?”
Zoe had been feeling on the verge of receiving a vision ever since lunchtime. That had been five hours ago. “Check the footage near the bridges and tunnels,” she requested, aiming the comment at Xan.
Her sister hurried to her computer and checked the footage she’d captured earlier.
She focused on the cameras at all of the entrances to the city.
“Soldiers were stationed near every bridge and tunnel,” she said after locating their enemies.
“They’re the ones who’ve been searching Manhattan for us. ”
“I have a feeling the latest knight and cambion reached Manhattan hours ago,” Zoe said uneasily. “It looks like Rahab was waiting for them to appear.”
“So they can capture them and force them to breed babies for their army,” Wynter said with a grimace. She instinctively put a protective hand on her abdomen.
“Should we teleport to the city and try to find them?” Amaros asked. He hated knowing one of his men was in danger and not being able to help him.
“I recognize this soldier,” Xan said, pointing at the screen. “He’s one of the ones who’s been searching Manhattan.”
“That’s Yonove,” Cam said. “He’s just a mid-level soldier of no great importance.”
“He’s heading to Rahab’s gym,” the cambion said, tracking him and three other soldiers. “Where’s his other guard?” she asked with a frown. “There should be four of them.”
They watched Yonove pause at the door to the gym, then enter. He returned a short while later, pale faced and shaking.
“Rahab’s in a temper,” Grace said when the enemy commander stormed out of the gym. Rage filled his red-tinged brown eyes. His chestnut hair was disheveled as if he’d run his hand through it.
“It looks like he just received some bad news,” Amaros said in satisfaction. “I hope my knight killed the missing soldier and escaped with his cambion.”
Xanthia followed her instincts and searched the footage she’d taken near the Henry Hudson Bridge. It took a couple of minutes before she spotted something. “Am I going crazy, or is that a headless body lying on the street in a pool of blood?” she asked.
“You’re not crazy, my mate,” Semi said. “I can see the head resting a few feet away.”
“It’s one of Rahab’s men,” Tolas noted.
“They just left the body there this time,” Kochab said. “They’re getting sloppy.”
“It’s not like there are any scientist left to take samples and discover they aren’t human,” Qi figured.
“It’s disrespectful to leave a comrade behind,” Jacquin said. “Or it is now that we don’t return to the Void when we die anyway,” he added.
Vic got up and crossed to the sideboard where they were keeping a tally of their enemies on a clipboard.
“That’s eight down and only eighty-nine to go,” she said, gleefully changing the tally.
“From the holes in Yonove’s and his guards’ clothes, the knight and cambion put up a hell of a fight,” she added, putting the clipboard back down.
“There were no signs of either of them near the bridge,” Tori said. “It looks like they got away.”
“But where are they going now?” Grace asked. Everyone turned to Zoe expectantly. Their matriarch was beginning to look like something bad was coming. Her expression had changed to dread.
“I can’t see it yet,” Zo said in frustration, wishing she didn’t have the weight of expectation resting on her shoulders all the time.
“Can you make Zoe some fresh coffee, Grace?” Amaros asked. “I’m sure she could use another snack, too.”
“Sure thing,” the kid said and leaped to her feet to hurry away.
Realizing the mystic needed a moment, everyone headed to the kitchen after her.
“Is Zo going to be okay?” Wynter asked. She was still getting used to seeing someone who received visions regularly.
“She gets a bit stressed when we expect too much from her,” Grace whispered. “I’d hate to have her talent. I’d cave under the pressure in a day.”
“Is there anything we can do?” Tol asked, rubbing his mate’s tense shoulders. Wynter sank back against him and he wrapped his arms around her.
“Just give her some space for now,” the kid said as she went through the motions of boiling water.
Amaros stayed with his mate. He held Zoe’s hand as she stared sightlessly at the computer screen.
Xan had left it set to the camera that was aimed at the corpse of their enemy.
A woman wearing several layers of clothing cautiously approached it.
She crouched down, looked around, then started going through his pockets.
Zoe snorted out a laugh. “She won’t find anything of value on his body,” she said in tired amusement.
“Wrong,” Amaros corrected her. “She found his walky-talky.”
The woman stood up and shoved the device into her pocket, then hurried away, furtively glancing back over her shoulder.
“Maybe she’s one of Pastor Hogan’s flock,” Zo mused, wishing her vision would hurry up and arrive already. She hated hanging on the edge like this, knowing there was something she needed to see, but unable to witness it.
Grace crept into the room a few minutes later, carrying a mug of coffee and some cookies. They wouldn’t stay fresh forever, so they were slowly working their way through their supplies. “How is she?” she whispered to Amaros.
“She’s doing better,” the knight replied, taking the mug and plate from her.
“Amaros,” his mate said in a faraway voice.
He was standing next to her an instant later. Placing the items on the coffee table, he knelt in front of her. “What do you need, love?” he asked, putting his hands on her knees.
Her gaze was distant as she looked over his head at the stone wall. “Qi and Koach will need to move fast,” she said, sounding like her voice was coming from the far end of a long tunnel.
“When and where?” her knight asked as everyone crowded into the doorway to listen.
“Soon and I don’t know yet,” Zoe replied. “I just know the doc will need to use her power to save one of them. Tori should go with them.”
“I’ll grab our jackets and boots,” Koach said, speeding to the mudroom near the front entrance.
Qiana and Tori took their coats from him and pulled them on.
They toed their slippers off and stepped into their boots.
Kochab donned his jacket and boots as well, then they waited for the oracle to tell them what to do.