Kim Harrison - Something Deadly This Way Comes

He’s brushing his teeth, Madison, came Nakita’s bored thought into mine as I saw through her eyes and she saw through mine, our connection that tight. This might be a while.

The apartment is on fire! I thought back at her, but she was already wide awake, having glimpsed my reality of another car slamming on its brakes only to be rear-ended and shoved forward another three feet, almost hitting me. I felt Barnabas take my elbow, shifting my path to avoid another car.

Madison, don’t go in there! she shouted into my thoughts.

Scared, I wondered if I could enter a burning building and be okay. I was dead. I didn’t need to breathe. She’s not in there, but there are black wings. Nakita, I need you!

I looked up as Barnabas hesitated at the curb until I took the step up. Nakita saw the black wings through my eyes, and panic iced both of us at the memory of the pain of being eaten alive. I held my amulet tighter. Black wings couldn’t see me as long as I was wearing it. I was safe. I was safe, damn it! But it was hard to walk under them.

I’m coming! Nakita exclaimed, and the double vision vanished.

I took a deep breath, snapping myself out of the almost-trance. Barnabas was holding my elbow. Turning at the noise behind us, I blanched. Stopped cars were everywhere. Good thing the emergency people were here already. “Thanks, Barnabas,” I whispered, knowing he had guided me through it. “Nakita was at Josh’s. She’s on her way. I’m not going to let a dark reaper kill Tammy. I won’t!”

“And I won’t let a light reaper give her a guardian angel,” Barnabas said as his touch fell from me. “Not this time. I saved Sarah. Maybe I just need to try harder. Like you.”

The strength of his words hit me, and I turned, surprised at his clenched jaw. He’d always supported me, but never had he looked this determined. It had to be the reminder of Sarah. “Thank you,” I whispered, and he turned away, seeming embarrassed.

My attention went over his shoulder to the glow among the frightened people gathering in the parking lot of the apartments. I caught a flash of an amulet, then it was gone behind a wave of choking black.

“Look, it’s Nakita,” I said, eyes stinging as I started that way. But Barnabas jerked me to a halt.

“That’s not Nakita,” Barnabas said, his expression alarmed. “That’s a dark reaper!”

My eyes darted back into the crowd, seeing nothing, then went back to Barnabas. “Crap,” I whispered, feeling my knees go watery. “We’re in trouble. Look, there’s a light reaper, too. What in bloody heaven is going on? The seraphs know I’m here! Why are they interfering?!”

But it was obvious as to why. I’d really messed it up by saving Tammy’s life.

Barnabas’s lips pressed together as he watched the beautiful light reaper standing in front of the building, her hands on her hips as she looked appraisingly at the fire, not yet having identified who she was here to save. “It’s Arariel,” he said stiffly. “She’s good. We’re in trouble. She keeps guardian angels in her pocket. And the dark reaper? I recognize him, too. That’s Demus.”

Things were spiraling out of control. Clearly neither reaper had found Tammy yet, and though we could find her by way of her aura, so could Arariel if Ron had flashed and passed the description of it on to his light reaper. I’m sure the dark reaper had a description of her by now, too, thanks to the seraphs. And that is what ticked me off the most. The seraphs had written my attempt off without giving me a real chance. I was trying to fix this! They had no right to call in a dark reaper yet. Not yet!

But my hope was fading. Maybe they had given up on my ideas altogether?

“Maybe I can change Tammy’s resonance,” I said, barely breathing the words, but I knew he had heard me despite the roar of the fire trucks and the calls of frightened people. “If Ron has flashed forward, he’s given a description to his reaper, and if I can change it, she’ll be safe.”

“Do you think you can?” he asked, and I winced. “That’s timekeeper magic. Even I can’t do that.”

“I don’t know, but if we can get close enough to her, you can at least shield her resonance.” But Tammy thought we were crazy, and she’d probably run if she saw us.

“It’s worth a try.” Barnabas’s eyes flashed silver as he touched on the divine. “Found her,” he said, hunching closer as if the surrounding reapers could read his mind. “She’s scared. Alone. She’s not in the parking lot. She’s in an alley.”

He turned, and I followed his gaze to a nearby self-serve storage site with rows of single-story buildings and garage doors. “There?” I asked him. It was noisy with the fire trucks’ engines, and the lights from the emergency vehicles made come-and-go shadows on him as he nodded.

“Can you see her aura?” he asked me in turn, and I closed my eyes, trying to relax with the noise and commotion.

“No,” I said. “Barnabas, I don’t think that I can figure out how to change her aura.” My eyes opened, finding him looking frustrated. “Let’s just get over there and hide her resonance, even if we have to sit on her to keep her from running away.”

He nodded, but as we turned to go, I saw a flash of amulet. I froze, my chest seeming to clench at the red hair and short stature. I’d never met any of my dark reapers except for Nakita, but by his unearthly beauty, I knew it had to be Demus. And as I watched him search the crowd for Tammy, anger kindled in me. This was my reap.

Taking a breath, I pulled myself straight. My eyes never left the beautiful angel who looked like he’d just gotten off a boat from Ireland. He was one of my reapers, and my hand gripped my amulet as determination filled me. He was going to do what I said.

“Go shield her, Barnabas,” I said, and he grunted as he followed my gaze and saw Demus as well. “I’m going to go talk to Demus. Distract him at the least.”

“Demus?” Barnabas said, looking shaken as his gaze darted back and away. “I know you’re the dark timekeeper, but he’s here on seraph business. He’s not going to listen to you.”

“The hell he isn’t,” I muttered. “I’m his boss.”

Barnabas furrowed his brow and his eyes shifted to worry. “Madison—”

“Don’t you Madison me!” I exclaimed. “I’m not going to let this go, and neither are you! Go find Tammy. Hide her resonance from the reapers. She likes you. I’m the one she thinks is crazy. I’ve got this! It’s not like he can kill me!”

Barnabas stiffened. People carrying dogs and terrified cats stood between us and the dark reaper, shouting and gesturing about their lives going up in flames. The firemen ignored them the best they could as they worked, and the cops were trying to get them to go into the nearby skating rink. Smoke billowed between us, and when it cleared, Demus was gone.

Crap, where did he go? A black wing flew over, and we both ducked, the scent of decay and roses seeming to catch in my throat. “Madison!” came a familiar shout, and we turned to see Nakita elbowing her way through the frightened people. “Who is watching Tammy?”

A surge of pride came and went. She cared. Nakita cared about Tammy. If I could make a dark reaper care, then maybe this wasn’t as impossible as everyone said it was. “Barnabas is,” I said, and her wide eyes flicked at him, as if asking how when he was standing right beside us. “Nakita, you take Arariel,” I said, pointing, then blinked when I realized that the light reaper in the black jumpsuit had seen us and had her sword bared and was grinning at us, waiting. “Don’t let her put a guardian angel on Tammy, okay? Barnabas is going to hide Tammy’s resonance and protect her. I’m talking to Demus.”