Her mind raced. “I have another idea.” Gideon’s eyes glowed, but she ignored him. “Just to be sure, what if I touch her? Don’t you want irrefutable evidence?”
She took a few steps closer to the girl, placing herself between the chair and the cart. She glanced back and forth. She had never tried it before, but she wondered what would happen if she touched both at the same time.
Her fingers tingled. Talia would do whatever it took to prove the little girl innocent, even if it meant going against the council and spending a few years in jail. Talia wanted to use her gift to help the girl. The council had used it to send people to their deaths or to jail. She now had the option to help someone and prove her innocence.
Gideon took a step closer. His nostrils flared, and his black eyes glared at her as if he knew what Talia was thinking. “Don’t!” he shouted, but Arrow had left the room a moment earlier, leaving just the three of them, and there was no one to pull the knife from her hand. She wasn’t even sure Alida would let her touch her, but as the tips of her fingers began to wrap around the handle, the girl grabbed her hand, and there was a flash of light that completely blinded Talia. Since she didn’t know what it was, and she feared for the little girl, she clutched her all the more tightly.
She was in darkness again. A wave of dizziness overcame her. Alida shushed her and pulled her into a closet. Talia’s mind couldn’t even process what had happened. Where’d the closet come from? Then she realized she wasn’t in the interrogation room. She wasn’t in the warehouse. Where the hell am I?
Beside her, Alida leaned in sadly. “My house.”
“Why are we whispering?” Talia murmured, her heart full of dread.
“Because I don’t know when,” Alida explained calmly.
4
Kirin
Kirin parked his Harley next to an old Toyota Corolla. His leather boots crunched on the gravel parking lot. The warehouse looked the same as always, but something was off. He didn’t need to enter the building to smell fear and anger. Something had gone down, and it wasn’t good. Kirin’s dragon perked up at the scent of rage. He wanted to come out and play.
But just because he was immortal didn’t mean he was immune to injury. The night before, a wizard had taken a chunk out of his side. Hell, being immortal didn’t mean death would never come either, although it was a lot harder and required a specific method. All three of his brothers were immortal and had dragons. Each dragon could only die a certain way.
Gary wasn’t at his normal guard post outside. Kirin slowly entered the building, weapon drawn in case he needed to protect himself and there wasn’t time to shift. He made it past the security desk, which usually had a cheerful fairy behind it. He’d had to dodge her on multiple occasions as she tried to throw glitter on him. Kirin’s dragon wanted to eat her for her cheerfulness and need to spread glitter. He passed into the inner sanctum, where the TVs on the back wall played the local news, and then toward the white hallway, his Glock in his hand. Gideon, Arrow, and Kael—the second in command—were all storming down the hall toward him. He glanced behind him, but no, they were definitely trying to meet up with Kirin.
“What’s going on?” Kirin asked quietly.
“One of our trusted psychics escaped with a fugitive. I will pay you double the usual price. You have two targets to bring in. Follow me.” Gideon wasn’t even trying to control his powers.
Kirin leaned over to Kael as they followed Gideon down the hall. “Why is no one in the building?”
Kael looked at Gideon’s back. “Gideon lost his temper when the fugitive escaped. I thought it would be better to send everyone home.”
Kirin followed Gideon down the hall to his office. The white walls closed in around him, and his brother’s voice rang through his mind about doing the job for the money. Maybe it was time to ask questions.
Gideon swung open the door to his office with a flick of his hand. No matter how many times he set foot in Gideon’s office, Kirin felt transported back in time to the Renaissance era. Gideon had been around for a thousand years. The Renaissance must have been his favorite time, because he’d painted the walls in dark, rich blues and reds, depicting a village of women and children looking off into the distance as a warlock burned the surrounding area to ashes. Kirin wondered if the warlock was Gideon.
Gideon sat in the high-back leather chair and nodded for Kirin to take one of the two chairs in front of the large dark wooden desk. He continued to keep his hands inside his robe. The only contemporary thing in the room was the Apple computer on his desk. Kirin wondered if Gideon took his hands out of the robe to use it.
“Can you tell me who I’m after?” Kirin’s dragon paced around, wanting out. In the past three hundred years, his dragon had never been this agitated.
Arrow walked over to the computer and turned the monitor so that Kirin could see. An image of a beautiful woman flashed across the screen. Her blue eyes shone as she looked at the camera. Whoever had taken the picture must have made her laugh. Her smile looked real, not faked for a photo. She had to be in her midthirties. Her long blond hair was tied up, and she wore a black T-shirt that was tight and accented her breasts. Kirin wondered what it would be like to feel them in his hands. His dragon immediately yelled Mine! in his mind. Kirin couldn’t help but roll his eyes. She was not theirs. They were going to bring her in for justice.
Arrow’s voice brought him out of his trance. “Talia has worked for the council for fifteen years.”
“What’s her gift?”
“She can touch an object and get a vision. The visions can be past, present, or future, whatever is strongest.”
Kirin glanced back at the photo. “What did she do?”
Gideon rose from his chair and paced behind the desk. “It doesn’t matter what she did. I want her back in my custody by morning.”
“I would like to understand what I’m heading into.”
The air became thick in the room. Gideon’s eyes turned pitch-black. “All you need to know is she can get visions, and I want her back here.”
Once again, Kirin’s brother’s words floated through his mind. Ask more questions. Did this Talia ask too many questions? What did she do to mess up so badly, and how can someone with visions overpower the three men in the room and escape?
The screen flicked to a new picture of an adorable girl who couldn’t have been more than eight years old. Her curly blond locks were in pigtails. Kirin hoped Gideon didn’t expect him to bring in a young girl. He would need more information.
“She’s a little girl,” he noted.
Gideon put his hands on the desk and leaned over. This was the first time Kirin had seen him take his hands out of his robes.
“She’s a murderer. Killed her parents.” Kael stared at her picture, a flicker of emotion passing over his face so quickly that Kirin would have missed it if he hadn’t been watching closely.
“Is this going to be a problem?” Gideon asked.
Kirin shook his head. “No, sir.” He continued, “Does the girl have powers?”
“No,” Gideon replied too fast.
Kirin rolled his head. “How did they escape?”