The Sight Read online

  Aminata had us watch it to aid in her “research.” It was most illuminating.

  I also have it on good authority that it was one of Amie’s favorite movies growing up too.

  The two do not have to serve mutually exclusive purposes.

  “I hear a ‘but’ in your tone,” Aaliyah accused.

  Jaie and the Vampire Fraction leader met eyes. Orion arched a brow. Aaliyah remained as implacable as ever and Micah, Jaie’s former charge, wrapped his arm tighter around his love’s waist.

  “No ‘but,’” Orion promised. “But you can’t blame us all for our curiosity about who this person is.”

  “Do you really want me to narc on my source?”

  “Please.” Orion scoffed, disdain flitting across his visage. “This isn’t one of those normals’ cop procedural shows. I know you have…erm…contacts most of us don’t. We thank you for bringing what you can to us.”

  Aaliyah frowned but she didn’t challenge Orion outright. The integrity of her “source” was obviously more important than any slight to her pride.

  “Besides, this source has helped us thwart Donas before. You know Aaliyah’s good for it,” Micah vouched, his hand running idly up and down Aaliyah’s side.

  “Right,” Jaie said and Orion shrugged, thankfully not willing to continue arguing the point, either. “The angels are posted up everywhere like they were last year with the added benefit of Aaliyah and Julia’s wards.” An older, yet lovely dark-skinned woman nodded her head with the acknowledgment while both Aaliyah and Micah smiled in her direction. Julia was a witch and Aaliyah’s mother.

  “He won’t be sneaking in like he did last time,” Aaliyah vowed. “I can promise you that.”

  After one more verbal walk-through regarding security and protocols should the party be breached, the Fraction leaders for the Werewolves, Dragons, and Aos Sí left Orion’s palatial office, leaving just the core group behind. A knock on the door sounded moments later.

  “You can come in,” Orion called, and the door swung open to reveal Melody Marshall, Aminata’s best friend; Ariella, his former lieutenant; and Bot, Aminata’s guide dog that Ariella had informally adopted. They hadn’t been allowed inside the meeting—supernormals only—and while Ariella was, technically, still an angel, she was in the process of relearning what that meant.

  Bot immediately came to him and started sniffing his fingers heavily. She began whining low in her throat then look around, her tail wagging rapidly.

  Jaie sucked in a sharp breath.

  “What’s the matter?” Melody asked, frowning at Jaie. “What’s got her so hopped up?”

  Jaie didn’t answer the question, crouching low and offering his hands to the canine’s nose. Bot licked his fingers, then butted her head against his palm, huffing out a breath.

  “I know she likes you, but she’s never done all that,” Aaliyah said, her brows furrowing.

  His heart started to fill even more with hope. Could it be possible? Could Bot smell her former owner on his person?

  Melody, also frowning, approached him and stroked a hand along Bot’s back. “Jaie, why’s she doing this?”

  Melody’s voice trembled just a little, as if her own hope couldn’t be contained. Jaie shrugged, unwilling to give voice to something so fragile, especially when a battle was on the horizon.

  “I’ll tell you later,” he promised, and Melody nodded, taking Bot’s leash, and walking her away from Jaie.

  “Yes, well,” Orion said, clearing his throat. “We should be good to go for tonight. I have personnel all over the city, however, to support your angels. Although I think that may be rather redundant.”

  “No such thing,” Jaie assured him. “We can use whatever help you are able to provide.”

  Orion grunted but didn’t say more. The others lapsed into silence, making Jaie’s own thoughts far too loud. He had to remain focused. Intel said Donas was attacking along the Strip today, which meant Orion and the other establishments on the famous street had near triple the surveillance. Last year, Donas hadn’t planned so coordinated an attack, but he’d done just enough to instill fear in his djinni. Now, Aminata wasn’t here, and her absence was a gaping wound that had yet to heal.

  “Where should I be?”

  The question pulled Jaie out of his thoughts and he looked at his lieutenant. Ariella certainly wasn’t ready to go into the field.

  “You are to stay inside and watch over Melody and Bot,” Jaie said.

  “I’m not an infant,” Melody said, scowling fiercely. The expression did nothing to diminish her golden beauty, although part of him thought Aminata would laugh at the indignation stark in her friend’s voice.

  “This is way beyond your pay grade, Mel,” Aaliyah said.

  “And yet, I’m one of the few normals who knows what’s going on,” Melody countered. “And maybe there are more if they were paying the least bit of attention to Amie’s broadcasts, or that story she told before she…”

  Her voice frayed into a whisper, then nothing. Jaie’s own throat squeezed with a grief that was still too raw for him to process. Now this possibility of Aminata still being alive sent whatever small progress he'd made into a tailspin.

  “And we want to make sure you and other normals and supernormals survive,” Orion said, his tone brooking no argument. “You will stay with Ariella. She’ll be able to communicate with us in ways you can’t.”

  “An old-fashioned shout won’t cut it?” Melody mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Aaliyah snorted and even Jaie had to grin before he answered, “It’s possible it won’t. We have to prepare for anything.”

  “Amie was good for that,” Melody said absently, automatically. The sharpness of loss almost had Jaie hunching over.

  “She was good,” Orion said, his tone uncharacteristically tender.

  That she was.

  They left the room, Jaie preceding Orion who closed and locked his office. The pair walked slowly, Jaie’s eyes fixed on Ariella, Melody, and Bot. Bot kept looking back to Jaie, the canine’s expression the very definition of “puppy-dog eyes.”

  “That canine is still acting strangely,” Orion said. Despite the nature of the conversation, Jaie had to grin at the mild derision in Orion’s voice. No matter what, there would always be little love lost between Orion and anything remotely related to the lupine family.

  “She smells Aminata on me.”

  Orion arched an eyebrow. “And why is that?”

  “I went to where her ashes were spread,” Jaie revealed. “I saw her there.”

  Orion stopped walking, compelling Jaie to do the same. “You saw Amie’s ghost?”

  “One cannot touch ghosts,” Jaie said. Can’t hold them. Can’t kiss them.

  “You touched Amie’s ghost?”

  “Yes,” Jaie said, his eyes skipping to the high ceiling of the corridor. “She still had scars from the last time I saw her—more, actually—but she looked ethereal. I knew she wasn’t an angel. Her aura wasn’t right for it.”

  “She still had an aura?”

  “Yes,” Jaie said. “Gold and blue, like usual.”

  Orion continued to look contemplative, then he began down the hall again. Jaie fell in step. People walked toward them or by them, none looking in their direction. They were Unseen so they could have this private conversation.

  “Cremation is a terribly convenient way to dispose of a dead body,” Orion said after a moment.

  “Terribly,” Jaie said dryly.

  “Well, I don’t want to hope, but is that not what the New Year is for?” Orion asked. “The possibility of new beginnings?”

  “Yes,” Jaie said with a nod. “But one thing at a time. We can further investigate Aminata after we have stopped Donas.”

  “Yet again,” Orion said, smirking a little.

  “Yet again,” Jaie agreed, his sunlit brown eyes flashing.

  Jaie went to the roof, his wings outstretched as he listened to Las Vegas ramp up its New Year�
��s Eve celebrations. There was a light breeze that gently ruffled his purple-silver feathers and his scepter was deployed and readied. He could hear laughter, car horns honking, and squeals of delight amid thumping bass and electric guitar riffs popping up from all over the city. Las Vegas, the City of Sin, certainly lived up to its name, but that didn’t mean Donas had any right to it or her citizens. He would do his best to protect everyone here, even if he hadn’t been able to protect Aminata.

  The breeze that had been teasing his feathers suddenly stopped as if a vacuum had dropped over the city. The revelers below hadn’t noticed anything different, particularly since the countdown to midnight was beginning. Lights flickered, subtly at first, but then the signs and marquees went crazy as the countdown dwindled to zero. The onlookers in the street seemed to think the bizarre light show was part of the countdown, but it very much wasn’t.

  Orion! We must—!

  Total darkness descended upon zero as midnight hit. Screams rent the air, first in excitement, then with terror. Jaie jumped down into La Cascade where the party was.

  The music wasn’t playing but the crowd was incredibly confused, looking around as if trying to find the source of the power loss. Jaie looked for Orion and found him by the entrance, kneeling on the ground. Bot was barking and Jaie felt dread coalesce in his belly. Hurriedly, he went over to where the small crowd was. Melody lay on the floor, her body twitching and a trickle of blood seeping from her nose.

  “What’s happening?” Jaie asked.

  “We don’t know,” Aaliyah said, fear stark in her voice. “When the lights went out she fell immediately and—”

  Ariella, Micah, and Jaie gasped and flinched as a cacophony of screams filled their heads. Abrupt silence followed as the lights and music turned back on. Jaie immediately locked eyes with both Ariella and Micah, then he turned to Orion.

  “Go,” Orion said. “We have her.”

  Jaie was in the air in a flash, calling out to the other angels to get status reports. However, just looking at the Strip, he had a clear view of a battle already lost. Bodies were strewn everywhere. The silence in the city was only broken by car horns and alarms that were going off streets over and in the various nearby parking garages. The fireworks that should’ve started immediately didn’t brighten the desert sky, but an ominous red glow filled the streets.

  A whistle was the only warning Jaie got before blazing heat spread across his chest. He gripped his deployed scepter tight as he started spiraling down from the sky, but he caught himself before impact with the ground. The daemons were on a full attack, one his fellow soldiers couldn’t fight. Not now.

  Not when they’d already lost.

  Retreat! he called into the other angels’ minds. They all flew as fast as they could. The wound Jaie had sustained made his progress slower than he’d like, but the daemons’ attacks could only reach so high. Jaie looked back and locked eyes with the Donas. He smirked, his black eyes foreboding, as he gave Jaie a mock salute.

  Do tell your djinni I said hello, Donas taunted in his head. She has been a great deal of assistance for our cause.

  CHAPTER THREE

  It took Amie a few moments to realize the scream that had woken her up was hers. The final echoes of it faded in the cavern and her silk pajamas clung to her skin with perspiration. Taking measured breaths, Amie got out of bed. There was no use trying to sleep now.

  Not for the first time, she wished the cavern were smaller. It was larger than her former condo in terms of square footage but more sparsely furnished. There was a bed in one corner of the cavern, far away from the pool. In the opposite corner was the kitchen and dining area, which was a generous way of saying a fire pit with boulders around it for eating. She was stocked up with plenty of nonperishables: canned beans, canned tuna and salmon, lots of crackers, prepackaged fruit, and jerky. Sometimes, Aaliyah would bring hot foods; but since she had no refrigerator, those were at a premium. Amie didn’t mind, however. She had more pressing things to worry about.

  Amie peeled out of her pajamas and waded into the pool. Normally, swimming a few strokes would soothe her, but her nerves wouldn’t be calmed. What she’d Seen was so much worse than the earlier glimpses she’d had. Donas hadn’t just kept his attack contained to that block of the Strip where he’d stood, but every normal who’d been near the famous street had fallen to the daemons.

  Amie’s heart dropped. “Melody!”

  She closed her eyes and focused, searching for Melody’s aura through time and space. She found it on the Peak. Melody was in one of the numerous bedrooms in the compound, lying unresponsive. Jaie, Ariella, and several other angels Amie didn’t know by name flitted about to bring Melody back to consciousness.

  “It will be all right, Melody. You will be fine…” Amie whispered, wishing it so, willing it so.

  Her body trembled like a naked mole rat on a glacier as she left the pool several laps later. She didn’t dare speak, shaky hands finding her towel to dry her body before wrapping herself in a robe. Though Amie couldn’t see anything, she did sense a vibe that didn’t belong to Aaliyah, yet to someone who was just as dear.

  Admittedly more, albeit in a different way.

  But how did he find her here? Who let—?

  A bark jerked her from her musings five seconds before she felt the solid, warm weight of her favorite canine. The enthusiastic snuggles and kisses she received had Amie bursting into tears and hiding her face in her dog’s neck.

  “I’ve missed you,” she whispered to Bot, but the sentiment applied to Jaie, too, even if she had just seen him hours ago. She missed having them both in her space in real time, missed the sensation of their vibrations falling into the same speed and cadence. He hadn’t spoken directly to her yet, which was fine. In fact, if he simply left without saying anything to her at all, Amie would consider it a mercy.

  A gentle hand pressed against her shoulder. Without even glimpsing the aura, Amie knew Aaliyah had approached.

  “He confronted me about you,” Aaliyah said quietly. “Again. This time I couldn’t say no considering…”

  “I understand,” Amie whispered, not even thinking of the ramifications this reveal could bring. She didn’t have enough mental space for that right now. Everything had condensed to this cavern. She cared nothing for the past or the future.

  “Amie,” Aaliyah continued, her tone hesitant. “Amie, did you know it’d be this bad?”

  Amie shook her head. Of course there would be limits to what she could do, especially since she was trying to do it clandestinely, but this was beyond terrible. She’d been okay with sacrificing a block of revelers—as much as one could be okay with a massacre like that—but apparently, the entirety of downtown Las Vegas had been affected, not merely the normals on the Strip. And not everyone had a Dominion angel at her disposal like Melody did to take her to the safety of the Peak.

  Aaliyah simply squeezed her shoulder again and Amie tightened her arms around Bot. The dog whined softly but adjusted her position in her owner’s hold, leaning heavily into her body. Bot’s more energetic tail wagging signaled to Amie Jaie was coming closer. She didn’t look up, especially since he remained Unseen to her.

  “Aminata,” Jaie said, still invisible to her. The lack of warmth in her name made her shiver. “I have many questions of you, but I am too enraged to ask them.”

  She could only nod. Her tongue felt as if it weighed a ton and she was too weak to lift it. Nevertheless, Jaie’s obvious censure cut deeply into her soul.

  Whatever was left of it, anyway.

  “How is Melody?” Amie asked quietly.

  It felt like an eternity passed before he answered. “She will make a full recovery.”

  Guilt overwhelmed Amie’s relief upon hearing the news but she nodded anyway. “I’m glad.”

  Another long, fraught stretch of silence filled the space between them before Jaie spoke softly once more. “I hope the souls of thousands of normals were worth whatever game you are playing.”
/>
  The boulder that lodged into Amie’s throat prevented her from saying anything in her defense, as did the oppressive and frigid air that had infiltrated the cavern. Amie still didn’t speak when she felt Bot leave her arms to follow Jaie out the cavern. She just sat limply, not registering anything at all, her heart shattering in her chest.

  “You know, if you say the word, I’ll kick his ass for you.”

  Amie was supposed to laugh at that, she knew, but she was too numb to feel any emotions. She didn’t even deserve to laugh. She’d sacrificed thousands because she’d thought allowing one significant victory for the daemon would ultimately lead to his demise. Except now she knew what she could See wasn’t infallible. But she’d been told that already. Her own Sire had warned her thus. And now the Donas had exploited that fact. Or maybe, it was worse than she thought. Maybe Donas knew what she was doing before she even did.

  She sucked in a sharp breath. That laugh in her vision…that hadn’t been for Jaie.

  It’d been for her.

  Amie collapsed to the ground, a bloodcurdling wail exploding from deep inside her. She’d gambled the souls of hundreds and had lost thousands, and Donas had let her. How could she beat a daemon at its own game? She was barely a djinni, after all. How could she have done this? How could she have—!

  “Amie!”

  Strong, comforting arms surrounded her. Amie tried to shrug out of the embrace but Aaliyah was too strong and stubborn to be denied. Amie sank into her, too tired and heartbroken to fight anymore. She’d been so confident in her Gifts, so assured in what she’d been trying to do…

  “I killed them,” she whispered. “I killed those people.”

  “You didn’t,” Aaliyah said. “Don’t listen to Jaie. He’s just upset.”

  “He’s not wrong!” Amie cried, squeezing her unseeing eyes shut as tears fell down her cheeks.

  Aaliyah grasped her shoulders and shook her firmly but carefully. “Listen to me! This is a war! There will be setbacks and devastating losses. Yeah, this was bad and we messed up, but think of where we’d be without you, Amie. Think!”