Fate: California Obscura

I wasn’t going to make it.

The gap narrowed to just three or four inches, and I fell to my knees and cradled Elias to my chest. I poured everything I had into holding those walls of energy apart, because once they closed, we were trapped. I was too stubborn to let it go, but I knew I didn’t have enough strength left to open them enough to slip through.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered into Elias’s ear, as my body trembled and tears and blood streamed down my face. “I thought I could save you. God, I’m sorry.”

In the next instant, a shiny, black Chevelle pulled up alongside the opening in the fence. Carter jumped out of the car and thrust both hands in front of him, then pulled them apart. The gap between the walls of energy widened to about three feet, and from behind the wheel, Tinder yelled, “Run, Mateo!”

I struggled to my feet and somehow found the strength to carry Elias to safety. Behind me, people were shouting as I clambered over the flattened gate.

As soon as I stepped through the gap, Carter let the wards slam shut. I glanced behind me as a barrage of bullets hit the now-invisible wall of energy and fell to the ground.

Carter flipped up the passenger seat and I slid in behind it, collapsing onto the backseat with Elias. The demon barely had a chance to sit down and close the door before Tinder slammed on the gas.

As we pulled away with a squeal of rubber on asphalt, I glanced into the compound. A tall man with shoulder-length white hair had just stepped out of one of the buildings. Even across a distance of more than a hundred yards, he managed to lock eyes with me. Then he smiled, and it sent a trickle of fear down my spine. Somehow, I just knew he was one of the brothers, and that smile was a promise he’d be seeing me soon.

Carter turned to me and frowned as we sped down the street. He closed the wound on my forehead with a small gesture, and I took off the apron and used it to wipe the blood, tears, and sweat off my face as he asked, “How’s Elias?”

“They broke his arms and legs. I used a spell to ease his pain and let him rest, but I don’t have enough energy left to heal him. Can you do it?”

He reached back and rested a hand on his friend’s chest as he said, “I have to think about how to do this. It’s pretty far outside my usual skill set.”

He knit his brows in concentration. Elias was still out, but I soon felt his body shifting in my arms. After maybe a minute, Carter removed his hand and said, “It’s done. He should be okay now.” I thanked him and ran my hand over Elias’s hair.

Tinder glanced in the rearview mirror and said, “We have company.”

As the Chevy began to accelerate, I glanced over my shoulder and spotted a black Porsche Carrera gaining fast. I asked, “Are either of the brothers in that car?”

Carter shook his head, and then he gestured at the sports car. “It’s just a couple of their lackeys, but the car’s bespelled, so I can’t knock out its engine. We’ll have to lose them.”

Tinder grinned and said, “On it. You might want to hold onto something,” as he shifted gears. The muscle car surged forward.

Carter asked him, “Can I assume your license plate leads to a dead-end, or will we have to worry because the brothers know who you are now?”

“It’s registered to a fake name and address in Burbank, so no worries there,” Tinder said, as he shifted gears. Of course it was. My plates were registered to a phony name and address in Pasadena. Most nonhumans knew to fly under the radar, which meant avoiding things like the DMV.

As Tinder dodged around a car ahead of us at about seventy miles an hour, I held Elias securely and asked, “Where are Desiree and August?”

“We split into two groups,” Carter explained, grabbing the handle above the door as Tinder flung the car around a corner with a screech of tires. Once we were on the straightaway again, Carter continued, “They went around to the front of the complex and were prepared to cause a distraction if we needed one. They borrowed your Barracuda, by the way, since that was the only other car at the house. Now they’re headed to Tinder and August’s place up the coast, which is where we’ll rendezvous with them once we lose the Porsche.”

I asked, “Who picked the teams?”

“You mean, why didn’t Tinder and his husband pair up? That was Desiree’s doing. She said something about eye candy and insisted on working with August,” Carter explained, as he tried to push a parked car into our pursuers’ path. When it instantly swung out of the way, he muttered, “At least one of the people chasing us is part warlock.”