Burn Page 16

  Based on everything I’d learned, I had to admit Paul had a point. Not a completely new viewpoint on the situation, granted, but still valid input toward Kindred’s character. The character of a man now nearly as obsessed with Brennan as he had been with Jason. At least, from what I could tell.

  “No,” Lena broke through my thoughts.

  I frowned. “No, what?”

  “He’s not fully done with Jason,” she explained with an apologetic smile aimed toward Paul. “He may have tried to convince himself he is, but I can still tell; they have some sort of… connection.”

  Paul’s eyes widened, and he stood, clearly agitated by the idea that his friend could still be at risk.

  “Relax, Paul. He won’t do anything now. As I said, Kindred is convinced he is done with him. For all I know, he will keep that conviction long enough for us to stop him. Then he will have no chance to harm Jason again.” Lena had attempted to infuse her voice with confidence, but deep inside I could hear her most hidden doubts.

  Doubts Paul was apparently able to sense even without special abilities. “You don’t think that’s how this will play out, do you?” he asked softly.

  The younger man’s temper was under control again, but he was still deeply worried for his friend.

  “I can’t see the future, Paul,” Lena argued. “Or even sense it. But I do worry Jason will be dragged into this mess again before it’s all over.”

  I shook my head. “We can’t worry about what might happen. Stay focused on what’s happening now. Brennan is the center of this. Let’s not forget him.”

  Tray, who’d remained silent until that point, suddenly bounced his ball off my head. “Settle, Jade,” he scolded gently. “No one can forget about the wildfire in the room. Brennan is on all our minds. Trust me. But you can’t blame them for worrying about their already injured friend getting dragged back into this mess. They’ve been through a lot with Kindred already.”

  My temper flared for a moment but faded almost as fast. “I’m sorry. You’re right. So, now that we’re all on the same page about how dangerous this guy is: how do we stop him?”

  “Set some sort of trap?” Tray suggested. “All of us figure out some way to use our powers to prevent him from using his?”

  Lena sat on one of the beds and tapped the mattress thoughtfully. “We do know Kindred feels pain when Brennan puts up his fire wall. Maybe there’s some way to use that?”

  “In conjunction with other things, maybe,” I agreed. “If Tray can use his power to hold him in place, maybe you, Cole, and Cade can somehow get into his head and put a block in place. You know, like the one in Brennan’s mind.”

  Lena’s face paled at the suggestion. “The one that nearly killed him when he used his powers? In my cousin’s case, that’s nearly a guaranteed death sentence.”

  Tray snorted, but nodded in agreement. “Yeah. For him, using his power is like breathing. We take them away, and he’s likely to self-destruct.”

  “Maybe not such a bad concept,” Paul added. “He would have a choice. We’d tell him the risk. It’s better than he does for the people he’s damaged.”

  The boy’s anger was on the rise, this time aimed toward Lena, who he thought might risk the lives of innocents in order to protect her cousin. Paul might play at being okay with the idea of leaving Kindred alive, but his every thought screamed that he wanted the man dead.

  After everything I’d learned about the killer… how he’d made so many suffer, and his plans to continue more of the same…

  I had to admit… so did I.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  Lena

  Everyone in the room thought they could play me. They all tried to pretend they wanted some outcome where Jeremiah came out alive. I could understand the desire to have him gone, but I just… I couldn’t get behind a plan that would kill anyone. Even if it was the only way to be sure he was no longer a threat.

  Was it ego on my part that made me think we could save him? Probably. I had to be honest with myself about that, at least. What Paul suggested could be true. Maybe Jeremiah would realize the danger of using his powers, and simply fade into a normal life.

  Right, and maybe the tooth fairy was real.

  My cousin hadn’t known a normal life for years. He’d been an unwilling slave in my father’s empire, and it had destroyed him. Was I deluding myself by thinking he could somehow become that good man again?

  Or maybe, maybe I was trying to find some way to fix what my father had broken.

  To their credit, no one seemed overly happy about the suggestion to basically sign Kindred’s death warrant. Even through his anger, Paul had seen fit to shrug and smile an apology to me. He—more than any of them—had the reasons to want Kindred out of the picture.

  My problem now was that I couldn’t think of a different solution. Other than one I’d heard considered by Jason to trap him deep within the earth. Not a great solution since Jason would be the only one with the ability to care for him. It would be like trapping our best friend with our worst enemy.

  Not a job I wanted to saddle him with. I heaved a deep sigh, and my companions turned to me.

  “You’re right,” Jade said. “There are no great options in this case. No matter what we do, someone suffers.”

  “Including if we fail to stop him at all,” Tray added.

  Paul wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward him. I allowed his warmth to comfort me, and finally nodded. “We don’t have great choices. Even theoretically as we are thinking now. We were unsuccessful in our attempt to combine our powers earlier. Why should it work to shut down his mind?”

  Jade frowned, and Tray’s ball froze in midair as they considered what I said. They’d both been there. Nothing I said was news.

  “True enough,” Jade admitted. “Except Cole and Cade were able to get in. So, if Kindred is distracted by something, they might have a shot at getting in long enough to place a block.”

  There was a knock on the door. “It’s the others,” Jade said.

  Tray—without getting up—unlocked and opened the door. “Come on in, guys. Join the party.”

  “Did you find anything?” I asked when they’d all settled in.

  Laurie nodded. “We think so. The timing seems to work, anyway.”

  “What’s happening?” I asked.

  Laurie settled on the edge of one of the beds and began. “We know the people Kindred has been targeting were part of Trevor Mason’s gang. What we found is that those in charge of the gang since Mason’s death decided staying in the same city wasn’t worth the risk. With so many of the top tier of the organization arrested or killed, they decided to pack up and shift to a new city.”

  “And they settled here,” I concluded.

  “They wanted to, anyway,” Cole agreed. “They had no way of knowing Kindred had kept tabs on them enough to know their plan. Or that he would then find a pyrokinetic to use against them.”

  Laurie nodded and gave a slight shrug. “Kindred must have been watching, and—when he found out about Brennan—decided to follow the organization here and stop them.”

  And the cycle continued. This use of Brennan while stopping Mason’s gang was nearly identical to what Paul and Jason had told me about. A deep sigh escaped when I realized my cousin seemed destined to continue the same bleak existence he’d known since my father had twisted him into a soulless killer.

  A hand rested on my shoulder and I glanced up to see Paul giving me a gentle smile. “I don’t deny that I want Kindred stopped in a more permanent way,” he began. “But I know how hard this is for you. I’m sorry you found out such terrible things about your family.”

  I reached up to rest my hand over his and leaned into him. “Thanks, Paul. I’m glad you’re here with me for this.”

  It wasn’t lost on me that the rest of the group had paused in their discussion and were currently thinking about how cute the two of us were. My face heated, but I didn’t move from my position reclined agains
t Paul. He too only wrapped his arm around me more tightly and turned back to the group.

  “If you’re all done fawning over us, we need to figure out our next move,” he said.

  We all stared at each other for a few seconds before I yawned. Rae and Jade giggled a bit when, shortly after I yawned, so did Cade and Tray.

  Between giggles, Jade gave her suggestion. “Maybe it’s time for us to call it a night. Brennan works through the night, so we’ll meet up with him tomorrow.”

  My smile faded at the thought that while Brennan dealt with things on his own overnight, we would be asleep. “I don’t know… there’s something wrong with the idea of all of us leaving Brennan on his own.”

  “He has our phone numbers if he needs anything. What else are we supposed to do? We can’t be there all night,” Tray said.

  Still, I couldn’t let go. “I think we need to monitor him. If his shield fails for any reason, he wouldn’t have time to alert us to the problem. Kindred could get him before we’d have any idea there was anything wrong.”

  The two brothers exchanged a look, the blond tilting his head slightly to the dark brunette. “Yeah,” Cole acknowledged. “Good idea. The three of us should take shifts in order to focus on Brennan. If his shield falls and we need to intervene, we can wake everyone else and go to him.”

  “I’ll take first shift,” Cade offered. “Then I’ll wake Cole for his.” He turned toward me. “He can text you when it comes to be your turn. Will that work?”

  My anxiety had eased at the suggestion, but I still felt a bit uneasy.

  “What is it?” Rae asked. “You’re worried. What’s going through your mind, Lena?”

  My problem was, I couldn’t figure out exactly what bothered me. “I don’t know. I feel like we’re missing something. Forgetting something that’s going to end up coming back to bite us.”

  I tried to shake off the concern that remained in my mind. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just because I’m tired. Let’s do what Cole suggested, and we’ll make sure Brennan is safe.”

  Our immediate plan set, we separated into our own rooms to get some sleep. Paul walked me back to my room before he went to his. He lingered at the door for a moment, then finally spoke up. “I’m worried too,” he admitted. “I’m worried Kindred knows you too well. That he’ll push your buttons until you can’t see a path to stop him.”

  “I can see some options to stop him,” I told him. “I’m simply looking for alternate paths. Ways that don’t require us to take a life.”

  He nodded, his intense gaze seemed to peer directly into my soul. “I understand. Kindred is clever though, Lena. He’s been several steps ahead of us pretty much every time we’ve dealt with him. Who’s to say he doesn’t have plans for every situation now?”

  “We’ve already disrupted his plans by helping Brennan take control of his fire wall,” I argued. “He couldn’t have planned for that.”

  His mouth twitched, and he shook his head. “Maybe not initially,” he agreed. “But now he’s had some time to think about it. We already know he’s planning something. What we don’t know is how far ahead he’s already plotting.”

  “On that note,” I said lightly, “I’m going to bed. It’ll be a bit of a short night with having to keep an eye on Brennan.”

  A wry chuckle came from Paul as he nodded. “Yeah, okay. Get some sleep. See you in the morning.”

  He walked the short distance back to his room, and I let the door swing closed. I locked the deadbolt and the chain before I collapsed onto the bed.

  Paul was right. Kindred was too smart to get stuck on a problem for too long. He had likely already started to work on a way to get to Brennan around or through the shield since Brennan used it the first time.

  I could only hope he hadn’t come up with anything yet.

  THIRTY-SIX

  Tray

  Cool air seemed to caress my face. For a moment it felt good. Then my brain woke up, and I began to wonder why a cool breeze would be able to reach me in my hotel room.

  A chuckle drew me from my confusion and I found myself now able to look around. Through the dark, I could see shadowy buildings and a dark rectangular shape I assumed—from the smell—was a dumpster. It was dark, and there was a silhouette of a man standing at the corner of the alley.

  “Figured it out yet, Tray?”

  “Kindred.” I strove to keep my voice steady, but I could feel a shiver of fear working its way up my spine. “Why am I here?”

  He gestured toward the area behind me, and I turned. The fire station. “You are going to get me close to the fire-child,” he said.

  I realized suddenly that this was what Lena had been worried about earlier. Something we’d forgotten to consider: Kindred could take control of me, too.

  “To be fair, I helped my little cousin to forget. I know I can’t get through Inferno’s fire wall,” he said, giving Brennan a new name without even a thought. “But then I thought of my good friend, Tray.”

  For now, Kindred allowed me to move. I suspected that if I tried anything he didn’t like, he would take control once again.

  “What exactly did you think I could do?” I asked carefully.

  “You’re trusted. You can get in there and bring him to me.”

  The man actually sounded hopeful. As if he thought I would be willing to go in of my own volition and talk Brennan out. I narrowed my eyes and tilted my head away from my view of the fire station toward Kindred’s scarred face.

  “You feel kinship with him because of your burn scars, don’t you?” I asked. It was a guess, but there had to be something more than the simple ‘the Mastermind told me about him’ explanation we’d heard before.

  The blink of surprise told me I was on the right track. “He was burned when his family died,” he said. “My burns were after I lost mine, although I didn’t remember at the time.”

  “He has nothing to do with you, Kindred.” Everyone had already tried this tact, but face-to-face, he might take it a bit more seriously. “Jason rescued you. I can understand how you connected to him. Brennan is just trying to live his life.”

  Kindred’s brow furrowed, he was deep in thought for a moment. “You aren’t afraid. I’ve noticed. You hold much power, but even knowing I could make you do anything, you are not afraid. Why?”

  To be fair, I was feeling a fair amount of trepidation over how this encounter would turn out. However, my previous experiences with Kindred had painted a picture of someone who—at least at the time—wanted to do the right thing. To be helpful, and have people accept him. Definitely not something that would happen with anyone around here right now. Still, even with the jarring realization that he had forced me out of my hotel room, he honestly seemed to want me to understand what he was doing.

  “I don’t believe you’re going to hurt me. Unfortunately, I can’t do what you want me to do. If you think about it calmly, you’ll understand why,” I answered finally.

  Despite my hope that he wouldn’t freak out on me for my refusal, I was honestly surprised when he didn’t. He considered me and my words with a gravity I recognized from our previous encounters.

  “I may have underestimated you, Tray,” he admitted. “You are correct. I understand that you cannot stand to perform what would be seen as a betrayal of trust to someone who is a friend. I can respect your position. However, my plan requires him.”

  I shook my head. “Why?” I snapped. “You have enough power to do whatever you want to these people. You do not need to keep dragging people into your vendettas.”

  He straightened and glared at me.

  My only response was to step into his space. “You’re a smart guy, Kindred. You have to understand that forcing people to do this kind of thing is not right. Did you learn nothing from what happened with Jason?”

  He flinched back and almost walked away before he realized he couldn’t move. “You aren’t leaving yet,” I warned. “You need to listen to me.”

  “I’m listening
,” he said. “But you need to understand that your power is nothing to me.”

  “Until you stop me, I’m going to keep holding you here. I understand you going after the group that allowed you to be tortured and turned into a killing machine. I can even see how it would appear to be better to stop them permanently than to allow the justice system to free them again.”

  He seemed to relax at my words, and I used my power to shake him slightly before I continued. “What I can’t see is using innocent people to kill others. What you are doing to him is no better than what Mason did to you. You’re ruining him. Risking his life and his career on your own personal feud.”

  I grinned. “You know me pretty well by now, Kindred,” I admitted. “Do you doubt my words? Do you doubt that if you continue on this track, we will do everything in our power to stop you?”

  My control over him snapped and he shook his head angrily. “I do not. Your resolve is clear.”

  Any anger I felt now shifted to fear when I felt his thoughts in my mind. “You doubt my resolve. The fire-child is my plaything, and you will not keep me from him.”

  No answer as to why he was so adamant, only the fact that he so clearly was. “Why?” I asked, once again unable to move, and cut off from using my power.

  His response was to shrug. “You and many others have already said it. The good man I used to be is broken. Why should I yearn to be someone I am not? This is enjoyable. It is challenging.”

  His head tilted thoughtfully once again, and he nodded almost as if to himself. “You want to know why I do not use my own power to sneak in and kill these people,” he stated. “The simple answer is; it’s too easy. I can get to anyone, anywhere. This allows me to stretch my abilities and to enjoy my work once again.”

  My body began to move as Kindred walked toward the fire station. “I respect that you will not do this of your own volition,” he said. Once again, he turned to face me. “You are a good man. I am not. I won’t make you betray your friend. You will remain innocent, despite my use of you.”