“Fernandez probably took it back to his house.He’s beyond desperate to save his wife.”Cyn led her by the hand down the hall and stopped near one of the guard’s bodies.“We can’t leave here like this.We’ll have to borrow their clothes.”
“Eww.”
But she started wrestling with the man’s clothing as Cyn did the same with the second man.He nearly burst out of the skin-tight clothing.She drowned in hers.Barefoot, they ran to the entrance and headed to Fernandez’s.
24
Cyn had been surprised by a lot in the last thirty minutes: that Purcell got the better of him, that Ruby had risked everything to save him.He couldn’t dwell on them now or anything else but what lay ahead.Because what didn’t surprise him was finding Purcell’s car at Fernandez’s home.
They parked along the road and walked down to the entrance.Cyn automatically linked his fingers with Ruby’s as they stayed close to the shrubbery.She looked ridiculous in the black dress pants and white button-down shirt that swamped her, and adorable, and vulnerable all at once.She had blood in her braid, which had half-unraveled.God, but he wanted to pull her against him, feel her body, her heartbeat.No time for that either.
Voices floated on the air from the vicinity of the back yard.He nodded to go around the right side, where the bushes grew thickest.
“Give me the reactor, you idiot.You are not thinking logically.Go get your wife, and we’ll return to the club.You can’t keep it to yourself.”
They peered through the bushes, where Cyn could see the two men facing off in the glow of security lights at the corner of the house.Fernandez gripped the reactor against his chest like an infant.His face was a mask of pain and desperation, no trace of logic left.
“Andyoucan’t select who gets saved.Who made you God?”
“One of the gods did, as a matter of fact.”
One of the gods?Was he serious?
Purcell lifted his face to the skies.“Fallon, show this pitiful mortal your face!”
Amazingly, a mist formed several feet above the ground, luminescent against the night sky.A man appeared, his face long and his eyes angry.“Release the reactor, Crescent.You know not what you do.”
Cyn started stripping out of his clothes and leaned close to Ruby.“I’m going to grab Purcell and take him for a swim.Try to keep Fernandez calm and where he is.”
She nodded, gripping his arm.“Be careful.”
Fernandez held it closer to his chest.“I do know.This will save my wife, and her family.Our friends.Ichoose who lives!Me!”
“Kill him,” Purcell said, pointing at Fernandez.
“No!”Ruby raced out of hiding.“If you shoot him with magick or fire or whatever, you’ll detonate that thing.”She slowed as she reached the three faces looking at her now.“It’s a dangerous mix of magick and science, like a friggin’ hydrogen bomb.What you’re doing is going to kill thousands of Crescents.Why?Why are you doing this?”
Damn it, Ruby.Cyn started to follow but remained.No, he would let her do what she needed to do, which, he suspected, was enlightening Purcell.
“There are too many of you!”the god boomed.“You clutter the earth and suck all the energy away.”
He hated them.Cyn could hear it in his voice.
She turned to Purcell.“And you’re all right with this?”
Purcell was watching the reactor in Fernandez’s hands, though he briefly met her gaze.“Fallon is right.You do clutter Miami, so many of you with your mixed bloodlines.I am merely facilitating a return to simpler times.”He searched behind her.“Where is your Dragon friend?”
“Did you know that the reactor could take out the entire state of Florida?Darren must have realized the risks.”
“Fallon would not let that happen.”
She glanced up to the god, who could probably detonate everything with a look.“You don’t care, do you?”
“I care about regaining what was once mine.”
Interestingly, Fallon wasn’t detonating anything.Regaining what he’d once had… power?The gods hadn’t interfered physically with this plane since Cyn could remember.Purcell was working on an orange orb behind his back.Time to move.Once Cyn ascertained the best approach, he Catalyzed and flew at him.His out-of-practice wings only kept him a few feet above the ground, but that was all he needed.Night vision made everything stand out in shades of gray and black.His talons reached out just as Purcell, either hearing him or seeing the shocked look on Fernandez’s face, turned.
Too late.
