Burn Page 18

  Okay, maybe not the most diplomatic approach. Lack of sleep plus anger at being left behind had worn down my normally easy going nature. Could I tear his mind apart? Maybe. If I could force enough power through his mental shield to do so.

  A better question: would I do it if I could?

  Much harder to answer. Although I did try to come up with something. But nothing struck me.

  Kindred seemed surprised by my response and took a few moments to respond. We were parked by the fire station by the time he did.

  “I suppose you have no reason not to do so,” he answered formally. “Other than one: it is hard to destroy an already damaged mind. Remember, I am this way because who I used to be was destroyed. Who can say whether the person I’d become if you tried to shatter me wouldn’t be worse?”

  An oddly logical argument from an illogical mind. Still, it might be worth the effort to try. There might even be a way to cut him off from his powers the way Brennan had been cut off from his.

  “Why are you even talking to me?” I asked. It made no sense for him to reach out.

  I could almost feel his mental shrug when he answered. “To gloat. I took your friends right out from under you. You play at being able to stand against me, but you haven’t even come close to doing so. Now, I’m going to make Inferno into my partner. He will be to me what I was to your father.”

  My eyes widened. A distant part of me saw Paul’s eyes crinkle with concern as I held my mental conversation, but I quickly dismissed the knowledge as unimportant.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Your father took my family. Then he took me. I couldn’t harm the Earthshaker. You are blood, so I couldn’t take you. The fire-child… was a gift.”

  A gift. A gift from the demented man known as the Mastermind. Somehow, in his last moments, he had managed to make Kindred obsessive over Brennan. Even in death, the man had been manipulative. From what I’d known of Kindred, he’d always had an obsessive personality. It’s why he couldn’t pull himself away from Jason.

  I couldn’t see him getting this possessive over a man he hadn’t known even existed until a couple weeks ago. Not without a bit of a push from another mental manipulator.

  “Mastermind. The gift that keeps on giving,” I answered wryly.

  It was a bit of a gamble. Would the knowledge he had been pushed toward Brennan make him less likely to follow through on his plan? Or would he simply shrug it off and do it anyway?

  “What do you mean?”

  “Read me and find out. You aren’t the only person who can screw around in people’s brains, cousin. Did you think no one could do it to you?”

  “What’s going on, Lena?” Paul asked softly.

  I held up a hand to stall him for a few more seconds. Kindred pushed into my mind. It was an uncomfortable sensation; like squirmy tendrils under my skull. He read my suspicions about what the Mastermind had done to him. Some form of vengeance, apparently. Somehow, he’d messed with Kindred’s mind enough to cause his obsession with Brennan. It took everything I had not to expel him from my mind.

  “I see. You may be right. The Mastermind may well have done what you say. Still, this feels like the correct course of action for me. I’ve warned you before what could happen if a broken mind was broken further. I said it could be worse. That I had no idea it happened does not negate that fact.”

  My whole body slumped in the seat. He wouldn’t give up.

  “His training starts tonight.” Kindred’s voice, which had been soft and thoughtful, now sounded certain. His mind had been broken more indeed if he was willing to do to Brennan what my father had done to him. He absolutely loathed my father, and everything to do with him.

  With this change, I realized the better man Jeremiah had tried to become would never be possible. This version of Kindred may have similarities to the former one, but the main motives had definitely changed.

  His next words made my heart sink.

  “He will be my assassin.”

  FOURTY

  Tray

  My head throbbed all through my friends’ discussion about what to do about Brennan, and their plan to spill his secrets to his coworkers. When they pulled me to my feet, it took several deep breaths and some serious prayer to avoid losing my supper all over Cole.

  I was out of it enough that it took me until we got inside to register exactly what they planned to do. “You can’t tell them,” I muttered. “Brennan might never forgive us. He’s hardly comfortable talking to us about his power, and we already know.”

  Jade shook her head. Her green eyes brimmed with tears, but she swiped angrily at them and shook her head again. “I know the risk. But what else can we do?”

  “Family emergency,” I suggested. “Sudden onset of sickness. Anything but betray his trust.”

  She took a shuddering breath and nodded. “You’re right. Maybe we can… Jim, what would be an excuse for Brennan to have run out without telling anyone? Family emergency?”

  “He has little siblings,” Jim answered. “He doesn’t talk about his adoptive parents, but he has mentioned the kids a few times. If something happened to one of them… I’m guessing he would run as fast as possible without even thinking about work.”

  “Good. We’re going to stay here. You and Tray go in and tell Quentin one of Brennan’s siblings was injured and had to be taken to the hospital. Hopefully he won’t check.”

  It might be a bit of a hard sell, but there were a couple people who might be able to make it happen. “Cole or Cade, push the idea into his head. Make him believe it without needing to check.”

  My mind cleared more the longer I was up, and I felt more like myself. “It won’t hurt him and has the bonus of us not giving away Brennan’s secret. Any objections?”

  A quick look around showed none. I’d noticed Jade winced a bit each time I said something about Brennan’s secret. I couldn’t let her believe I thought she’d betray him so easily.

  “I know,” I soothed. “You don’t want to betray his trust. You’re just worried and overwhelmed. Sometimes simple answers elude us until only the wrong one remains.”

  She chuckled and raised an eyebrow. “You woke up all philosophical,” she said.

  I snorted. “Right. I think I read that in a fortune somewhere or something. It did seem to fit here though.”

  “That it does, Tray,” Cade said. He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Glad you’re okay.”

  He ducked his head sheepishly. “I hope you can forgive us for not protecting you. We literally fell asleep on the job, and you and Brennan suffered for it.”

  “We’re all good, bro,” I assured. In turn, I pulled both him and Cole in for a quick hug. “We’re only human. Mistakes happen.”

  “Speaking of…” Jade’s voice trailed off as she turned to look out the still open door. “We must have made a mistake in leaving Lena and Paul behind. Because they’re outside now.”

  I met Jim’s eyes, and nodded. “We’ll go now. You guys go find out what they’re doing here. Maybe something else happened.”

  Jade nodded and the three of them walked out. Jim and I went the opposite direction into the common area. “Quentin, Brennan had to head out,” I said. “One of his little brothers had to go to the ER tonight.”

  Jim nodded. “He said to tell you he was sorry he couldn’t come back in, but he was in a rush to get to his family. We should be good to go without him for the rest of shift.”

  Initially I could see the suspicion in both Quentin and Nick’s eyes. It took only a few seconds for whatever Cole or Cade did to have an effect.

  Both men blinked, then their faces went blank for just a split second before they were back to normal. “Thanks for letting us know. That’s what you came to tell him?”

  Quentin’s question was aimed at me. “Uh… yeah. They knew Brennan doesn’t like to get calls at work, so they called me.”

  I almost kicked myself for the lame answer. This story would fall apart in a heartbeat
without Cole and Cade. All it would take was one phone call, and they would know none of Brennan’s family had been taken in. And one second of clear thought to realize my claimed role was nonsense. They would have called the firehouse. I had only been part of Brennan’s life for a couple days. His family would never call me.

  “Anyway, I have to go meet him at the hospital. You know… moral support,” I continued. “Hope the rest of your shift passes smoothly. Sorry again for the inconvenience.”

  With that, I turned and almost ran out of the room, through the garage, and back outside. “That was terrible. I’m a terrible actor,” I muttered to myself right before I reached my friends.

  “Forget it,” Jade said. “Lena thinks she knows what Kindred is going to make Brennan do. I think some of it may have transferred into you when he was in your head, too.”

  My look of confusion made her smile. “How else would you explain coming up with using his estranged family as a way to get him out of work? He’s barely mentioned them since we’ve been here.”

  “Wait… his family? That’s Kindred’s plan?”

  Lena nodded. “He’s trying to make Brennan into… well… another him, I guess. He’s using the same methods my father used on him.”

  As realization dawned, her expression warped. Her eyes were wide, and her face pale when she finished. “He’s going to make Brennan kill his family.”

  FORTY-ONE

  Brennan

  “You are going to make an excellent assassin, Inferno.”

  The words were the first I heard, and they echoed oddly through the drug haze. I tried to shake my head, but once again found myself unable to do so. I could feel my eyes widen, and my breathing sped up.

  My fire wall was down.

  “That’s right. I’m in control,” Kindred’s face swam into my view. I squinted up at him in an attempt to clear the blurry image.

  He peered down at me curiously. “For now, anyway. For how long depends on you.”

  “H-how?” I stuttered.

  The other man would understand my full meaning. He was inside my head, after all.

  The scarred man broke into a smile. “It depends on how long you insist on holding on to who you used to be. They’ll try to find you, but even if they do you won’t be who you used to be.”

  I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to hear any more. “Look… I just want to go back home. Just let me go?” What I’d intended to be a strong statement turned into more of a plea.

  The other man rolled up my long-sleeved shirt. “Look at this. You’ve marked yourself with your power, even while you try to deny it.”

  To be honest, the tattoos on my forearms had occurred without my knowledge. On one night when I’d blacked out, I’d apparently managed to go to a tattoo parlor and get them.

  “Ah… I see. Not your idea.”

  I opened my eyes again, and he tapped his chin. “My predecessor had interesting taste. He marked you. For what purpose?”

  I huffed and tried to turn away. He chuckled. It was an oddly happy sound coming from such a dark personality. Goose bumps broke out over my arms, and I shivered.

  “You don’t know. It’s simply lovely how much you’re capable of without even realizing. We’re going to get started. Time to get up.”

  My body rose, and I tried to step back when I saw where we were. “No,” I denied.

  A sense of dread filled me, and I had a horrible feeling I knew exactly what Kindred had planned. My family, I knew, would be asleep inside the house we stood in front of.

  “Please, no,” I begged. I’d lost one family to fire. I couldn’t lose another.

  For a split second I saw what looked like regret flash across Kindred’s face. Then he frowned. “You need to be trained. This is how it’s done.”

  I stepped forward and—despite my attempt to fight every step—I couldn’t stop until I entered the house. Either Joe and Angie had forgotten to lock the door, or Kindred had already picked the lock. Nothing stopped me from entering what had, at one point, been my sanctuary.

  Joe stepped out of his room as I walked down the hall. He wore loose-fitting pajama pants and a t-shirt. “Brennan? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

  I did everything I could to warn him. To scream at him to grab Angie and the kids and get out. Instead, I felt my mouth twist into a sneer. “You failed me. You almost let me get killed, and then you let me run away.”

  Sudden heat erupted from my hands when Kindred activated my power. I pushed my thoughts inward—toward the tiny part of my mind that controlled my power—instead of my previous push toward his control over my body.

  Joe took a step back, his eyes wide at the flames that danced along my forearms. He eyed me with look I couldn’t quite identify. Fear? Concern? Regret? Before I could figure it out, he called out. “Angie? Wake up. You need to get the kids.”

  “Go ahead and try,” my voice gloated. “You’ll never escape.”

  My main focus had to be to retake control of my power. Still, I couldn’t ignore when Kindred made the flames on my arms grow. “I had to remove the block Mastermind placed in order to do this. You can thank me later,” Kindred spoke into my head. He completely expected me to be grateful for his interference.

  I managed to close my eyes and turned every bit of my focus toward the push against Kindred. Still, I could feel the heat increase as flames grew around me. Flames jumped from my hands to engulf my home. The twins screamed in terror and little Sara whimpered. I assumed Angie had grabbed her, but I heard nothing from the woman who had become my mother.

  “You will not hurt my family!” My mental voice held every ounce of my desire to protect the people who had taken me in after Joe rescued me from the abusive man who’d nearly killed me.

  A playful laugh rang through my head. “You can’t stop me.”

  My mental probe finally reached the seat of my power. “Yeah?” I responded with a mental smirk. “Watch me.”

  I pushed the power and almost immediately felt my fire wall spring to life. The full effect. Every corner of my mind now protected. I had it up so quickly I almost missed Kindred’s pained outcry.

  I opened my eyes. Fire still covered my arms. The house was still on fire. Angie and Sara were nowhere to be seen. Tommy clung to Joe’s leg in fear. Where Bobby was, I had no idea.

  Joe stood exactly where he’d been the whole time. His face was red, and he coughed as the smoke began to overcome him. But still, he remained.

  “Joe?” I said. “I… this wasn’t me.”

  “It’s okay, son,” he assured me. “Just… try to stop, okay? We can talk this out.”

  Tommy stared up at me fearfully. “You’re on fire, B. Why are you on fire? Your eyes are glowing.”

  I took a step back and raised my blazing hands in front of me. Through the flames, I saw my fingers wiggle and marveled at the lack of pain. “I want to turn it off. I don’t know how. I… I’ve never had control of this part. I don’t know… You need to get out, Dad. Please!”

  “I can’t… You called me dad?”

  “Now! Take Tommy and go. I’ll be fine. Just GET OUT!” More flames erupted from my arms, nearly shooting right at Joe as I gestured for them to leave.

  My body shook with tension, and I had to force myself to look away from my family. I dreaded the fear I would see if I looked.

  Joe pulled Tommy up and raced past me. A quick look showed me his eyes were wide with terror.

  “Wait,” I urged before he made it down the steps. “Where’s Bobby?”

  Joe’s eyes widened in panic and he looked around frantically. “I don’t know!”

  The roar of the flames filled my ears. “Go. I’ll get him out, okay? I promise.” Whatever that promise would mean to him at this point. I’d just put the entire family in danger, and was still inadvertently adding to the inferno.

  Tommy coughed, and his head sank to Joe’s shoulder wearily. “Go!” I said again. This time I kept my hands at my sides to avoid hitting
him with more flame.

  Finally, he left, and I headed toward the twin’s bedroom. In so many fires I’d dealt with, the kids would get scared and hide either in closets or under the bed.

  I felt the heat on my arms recede as I pushed my focus to my little brother. He needed me. “Bobby! It’s Brennan. If you can hear me, make some noise.”

  I raised an arm to cover my mouth. If the situation was different, I’d have been pleased to notice my arms were no longer on fire. As it was, flames surrounded me, and black smoke filled the hallway. My throat burned, and I dropped to my knees in order to get below the smoke. A harsh cough escaped. “Bo-Bobby!”

  My ears strained to hear anything over the crackle of the hungry fire, and my eyes burned from the smoke as I searched through the haze. “Bobby,” I called one more time.

  There was a thump against the closet door, and I sent up a quick prayer of thanks for the sign. I stood in a crouch and moved as quickly as I could toward the closet. When I opened the door, the first thing I saw was Bobby’s blond hair. It was slightly blackened from the smoke. The next thing I noticed was that he had fallen unconscious.

  “Come on, little brother,” I pleaded. “Don’t do this to me, okay?”

  My eyes burned and tears fell freely. In the back of my mind, I wondered what it looked like when I cried while my fire wall was visible in my eyes.

  I grabbed Bobby and desperately felt for a pulse. I let out a sob of relief when I found one. “All right… all right. Let’s get out of here, okay?”

  Flames threatened to enter the bedroom. We needed to get out. I cradled Bobby to my chest and focused on the fire once again. With one hand I reached for the angry flames.

  I cried out at the burn that filled my body as I took in as much of the fire as I could possibly handle. My arms shook around the precious bundle I carried. It took every ounce of effort I could squeeze out to prevent the fire I absorbed from bursting out of me again.

  No matter what, I couldn’t allow more harm to come to my brother. I looked down at the young boy in my arms, and forced myself to continue forward. I’d absorbed all the flames from the hall, so our way out appeared clear. The top of the steps was in reach, then I only had to clear the steps, so we could make it downstairs.