1. Chapter 1 #2
As they walked outside, the breeze chilled the sweat on Kate’s exposed skin. Close to the ocean, the nights in San Diego still brought a chill even in the spring. Clubbers stood in line to their left while cars rolled past on the busy downtown street.
“Should have changed,” Kate said, squeezing her arms to her exposed body.
“Frank will be here soon,” Sajani said, heading for the curb.
Anthony was acting exactly how Sajani said he would—possessive and impatient, making this plan too easy. She needed a dark and secluded place to use her abilities on him.
An SUV pulled up, its passenger windows tinted pitch black to match the paint. Sajani opened the back door and climbed inside where the modified seats faced each other. She sat on the row of three with a flat-screen TV behind them. Kate joined her on the soft leather.
Anthony’s palm slapped the door, halting Sajani from closing it. Excitement fluttered in Kate’s fingertips. This is it.
As he climbed inside, Sajani clutched his waist and pulled him down between them. The stiffness of his wool suit itched against Kate’s skin. His expensive, pungent cologne clashed with his spicy scent. Kate recoiled with disgust but kept it from reaching her face.
“Frank, drive around and give us privacy,” Anthony said.
The visor closed with a snick, plunging them into darkness except for the blue LED strips along the floorboard. Anthony’s hand grasped Kate’s bare thigh. Her skin crawled.
I’m going to enjoy this.
Kate sank her nails into his arm as he had Sajani earlier in the night.
Before he could turn toward her, Kate concentrated on her hidden Fallen wings, pulled energy from a feather there, and shoved his mind through time, rewinding his life back a day.
Anthony’s skin turned frigid from her miracle ability, and Kate snatched her hand away.
Anthony hunched, passed out from the brain-to-body disconnect, his face blue from freezing.
Kate rubbed her back against the chair, feeling the itch of feathers that, once disturbed by her movement, turned into dust. Kate may have needed her feathers to atone and return to her prior existence, but since collecting enough within one of her human lifetimes was futile, she only killed demons to gather feathers for miracles like this one.
“That was fast,” Sajani said, voice shaking as she opened the drawer at the bottom of the seat across from her. She pulled out a plush blanket and threw it over him.
Kate swallowed. “Bear with me. This will take longer than what I demonstrated on the waiter at the restaurant.”
“I don’t know what I’ll do if this doesn’t—“
Kate grasped her shoulder. “It will work. But you have to stick to the story.”
Sajani nodded. “Give him hell.”
Kate gave a determined smile. Matsuda had stolen Naomi, and his goon here hurt Sajani.
Kate was determined to punish Matsuda for his foul deeds and steal back her sister if there was anything left of her.
What Kate was about to do to Anthony was a needed step in her plan.
She’d risked showing Sajani, a human, her abilities, but she didn’t have any other choice as it was the only quick way to earn Sajani’s trust.
Kate breathed out and placed her fingers against his cold temples.
On a breath in, she flexed her blue Influence power.
Drawing the energy from her core, a warm liquid waiting to be manipulated, she threw it into Anthony’s mind, morphing it into images.
Minute by slow minute, she constructed new memories for him, all too aware that she didn’t possess the power to wipe Sajani completely from his memory.
That morning, he had met his dream woman. They shared a conversation over drinks at the cafe, and then she joined him at his hotel room—both of them too impatient to get their clothes off.
And she had given him the best sex of his life.
So magical that he could have no other. Kate manipulated the same receptors in his brain that would simulate addiction.
He only craved her. Could only have her.
Nothing else would compare. But she’d left him.
He’d gone out with Sajani and picked Kate up, but he found it didn’t fill him.
In the end, he would let Sajani go from his life.
He’d wake up tomorrow, hungover from drowning himself in booze.
Kate meticulously used images of the hotel they stayed at but kept pictures too vague for him to find the one that got away.
She would be a person he would always search for and never find—hell for him. And Sajani would be free.
Kate flopped back into her seat, sagging from fatigue and achy muscles, her Influence draining. “It’s done.”
“Are you sure?” Sajani tucked the blanket around the man who had abused her for years. She stroked a lock of hair from his eyes as if remembering only the good parts of their relationship. He’d manipulated Sajani for so long that Kate wasn’t surprised.
“You’re free.” The words hung heavily in Kate’s caged mind. Now I just have to free Naomi.
“Thank you,” Sajani said, wiping the tears rolling down her face. “When this all pans out. I’ll be ready to help you. I promise.”
Kate closed her eyes as a soft smile graced her lips. She was looking forward to the next part of her plan. And after that…
Matsuda, say goodbye to your secret weapon.