Enflame (Insight #6)(55)

“Xavier’s girl.”

“Are you serious? Xavier sent someone after Landen?”

“Right. That’s the word on the street. I also heard he’s pretty focused on your group of seers, bet he thought all of you would fall that night. Lazy fools, him and Donalt. Trying to take you all out at once.”

“Paths crossed,” I said with a tilt of my head. Pointing out that we should be at home working this out as a team. Not in a graveyard, or veil for that matter.

“We’ll see.” He glanced to where Landen was. “Deal is a deal. We’re going to burn Drake right now.”

“What? No!”

“Don’t ‘what’ me. He would want this. So should you.”

“That is not the point. You hurt Landen when you did that,” I argued.

“I did not,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Listen, Sunshine, according to your mate over there, Drake and your doppelganger are going to put on a show for his court. If he has Guardian’s energy in him, she will never see him the way you want her to.”

“It’s not Landen’s energy standing in their way. They are both stubborn. Trust me I had a nice chat with Madison not long after we met.”

“Rightly so,” he said with wink. “Lets not give them any more barriers.” He put his arm around me. “Guardian,” he said to get Landen’s attention, “I’m going to go burn this bloke, taking her. Meet us there.”

Before Landen could say anything or I could move, heated wind surrounded me and the next thing I saw was Drake’s chambers.





Chapter Twelve


After a second of hesitation, realizing that being separated from Landen no longer brought my body agony, I turned and beat my fist into Phoenix’s rock hard chest.

“He’s going to kill you!”

Phoenix caught my hands. “I’m already dead,” he said, fairly unconcerned with Landen’s reaction.

I ripped my wrist from him. “You can’t just zap people around whenever you feel like it!”

“Oh, cool it, Sunshine,” he said, shaking his head. “Call me crazy, but Landen and Drake are not the best of friends. How well do you think Drake would take Landen standing here and wanting to burn him?”

“Who would take that news well?”

“Right then. Let’s find lover boy before Guardian figures out how to ‘zap’ himself around.”

Something caught my eye. It was a servant adjusting the flowers on the nightstand. At first glance it was easy for me to see she was not alive either.

“You there: where is your master?” Phoenix asked.

The ghost looked at him and must have offered an answer because Phoenix gripped the back of my arm and led me out of the room. My insight stretched out immediately, looking for my family.

August was here, as well as Marc and Stella. I was almost sure Draven was, but his energy was faint, so it was hard to tell. Phoenix led me out of the room, down the hall, and into another room. There was a bookcase on the sidewall, and he moved it aside with a wave of his hand, revealing a narrow stoned staircase. It was too small for us to walk side by side, so he went first, ensuring he kept his hold on me.

What I felt of Draven was getting stronger as we descended the stairway. I could hear grunts and feel the vibration in the air. When we reached the bottom stair, I saw an open room completely made of stone. Only massive torches lit the room, and there was a table that looked like an altar off to the side with a few open books on it, but nothing else.

Draven was pinned to one wall by energy, and Drake was standing in the center of the room. A second later, the positions reversed. I was sure that somehow Drake had felt me and his distraction had let Draven get a hold on him.

Draven noticed me and sighed, shaking his head as he let Drake go. “I thought that was a legit win.”

“It was,” Drake said, slowly walking toward us with a vicious expression on his face. “Every enemy has a weakness. Sometimes it’s just a thought you can see in their eyes. Strike then.”

Draven nodded and grinned slightly at me.

“Phoenix” Drake seethed.

I knew Phoenix well enough to know that he would strike first, then ask questions, so I held up my arm in a lame attempt to hold him back. The grin of Draven’s expression vanished as he appraised who Phoenix was.

“We have to talk.” I said.

“Don’t tell me there is another contender for your heart, where’s Landen.” Drake fumed as his magnetic eyes moved over Phoenix.

“There is only one and if you see otherwise, we have more to talk about than I thought,” Phoenix answered coolly.

“He’s not talking about him,” Draven said to Drake, clearly using his insight of seeing souls to tell him that.

Drake didn’t seem to care, though. In that instant, I was pulled across the room and was in Drake’s arms.

Phoenix laughed in response. “Move, Sunshine, so I can get this over with.”

Drake looked down at me with betrayal in his eyes. I swallowed nervously.

“It’s not bad,” I whispered. I glanced at Draven, noticing he was prepared to fight for Drake. “In The Realm...in The Realm your energy was twisted with Landen’s. Part of him is in you.”

Drake furrowed his brow like he was trying to see if I was under some kind of mind spell or something.