Iniquity (The Premonition, #5)(36)

Pure emotion ignites from me in the form of fire, causin’ several whirlin’ flames to dance forth in spinnin’ orange tornadoes from my chest. Hot and angry, the first whirlin’ fireball finds the silver-winged Power as he makes another pass at Anya. When the fire crashes into him, his body ignites, flames eatin’ him until he’s nothin’ more than rollin’, churnin’ ashes.

While the other fallen angels surroundin’ Anya meet a similar fate, I use my rage to push the more fallen angels back with an invisible protective field that I wind around Anya, Zee, and me. The Fallen are thrust from the room back outside. I seal the broken window frames with a spell. Zephyr drops his sword. He pulls the remainin’ golden butterflies off his back and deposit them in the portal he still holds. “Thank you, Russell,” he says as the last butterfly disappears inside the portal. “Anya, you’re next.” He tilts the portal in Anya’s direction as an invitation to depart.

The air becomes thinner; it seems to wither. Energy shifts and flows away from me so fast it leaves me with tunnel vision. Closin’ my eyes, I grit my teeth, tryin’ to unrattle my brain. When I open them again, I stare into the eyes of the menace I had hoped to never see again in this or any other lifetime. I remember his eyes; they used to be the blackest of black, but now they’re the bluest of blues. His hair is no longer the dark of midnight either, but a light blond with rust-colored highlights that makes him seem young and vibrant. But I know him; I’ve seen him in far too many lifetimes not to recognize him now.

My stomach tightens as I cringe. “Djet!” My eyes narrow to slits. “You. Royal. Psycho! What the fuuuaaaa—” My entire body is compelled forward, my feet draggin’ across the floor until I slam up against the barrier I created to keep all the evil freaks back. “Bastard!” I groan as my hand goes to my bloody nose.

Djet smiles. “You remember me. Tell me, where is Zahra?”

I rub my nose. “You look a little different, but I remember you—you still have those lazy eyes, ‘cept now they’re blue,” I say sullenly. I take in his new form. He has an angel shine to him, somethin’ he never had before.

“You remember my eyes?”

“How could I forget ‘em? They never looked away from mine when you had me burned alive. I’m still pissed about that!”

“You stole Zahra from me, Iah,” Djet retorts as he moves closer to the barrier between us, comin’ within inches of it. “She was everything to me then.”

“She was your sister, ya sick psycho!”

“She was my half-sister in that lifetime, and she was perfection.” He eyes the broken window in front of him, placin’ his hand on the energy to test it. Energy bows out from it, I feel it crackle in the air between us, but it holds him back.

“Who is this?” Zephyr demands. He sets the fragile portal down on the small table next to the sofa.

Over my shoulder, I explain to Zee, “Remember when Evie cut you with her knife when you were trainin’ us and I told you that she was once a mistress to an Egyptian Pharaoh who taught her to spar with daggers?” I ask him.

“Yes,” Zephyr growls.

“Meet Djet the incest-lovin’-royal-pain-in-my-ass who hunted us down and killed Evie and me for tryin’ to be together.”

Djet’s ivory skin shines bright, far from a rottin’ king wrapped in decayin’ linens and sealed away in a stone coffin. I’d much prefer him buried in a tomb. “I have had many names,” Djet says casually.

“So ya have. I probably know most of them, don’t I?”

“As I know yours, Nicolas. Where have the Seraphim hidden Simone?”

I stiffen. “How do you know her as Simone?” I growl. “I don’t remember you in our last lifetime.”

“Who do you think murdered her? You want to know how I did it?” he baits me. I want to grab his knotted scarf from around his neck and choke him with it.

“I’m gonna rip your ugly head off!” I lose my mind and claw at my own magic to get to him, but Zephyr has his arms ‘round me from behind, pullin’ me back from the barrier. I point at him, “You touch her again and you’re dead!”

“There is no saving her, Iah. You couldn’t do it when she was Zahra or Simone, shall I go on?” he asks with a smug smile.

“My name is Russell now, not Iah, and I whooped your ass in most of our lifetimes—even when I was the girl! You think I don’t know you? You think I don’t remember them all?” I smile back. He looks like what I just said threw him off his game. Was he expectin’ me not to remember everythin’?

“You get lucky,” he says, but his smile is gone. “Your luck is played out. She made a deal. There is nothing left to chance. She’s at my mercy...and she’ll suffer.” A vein pulses in his neck and the house creaks like he’s squeezin’ it in his fist.

I ignore the oppressive shift in the air. “You know what I remember the most about ya, Djet? You’re a confident liar.”

“Why would I lie when the truth is so much more devastating? And why are you here? You weren’t supposed to be. It wasn’t what was agreed upon.”

“I wasn’t ready to leave,” I shrug like his words don’t affect me even though I feel a chill creepin’ down my spine.