Love Beyond Loyalty (21 page)

"I don't think it'll kill him like it killed Veli. I think I can only hold his powers long enough to make him really mad and bring him down here in a hurry." He sighed. His wrists really ached like all the blood from his body could no longer make it up his extended arms.

"How will that make us better off than we already are?"

"I know your wrists are bound, tethered to the floor, right?"

She sighed. "That's right."

"You're going to have to find a way to hit him over the head, disable him some way and take his keys using your hands. You can hold something, right?"

"I guess I can. It'll be hard, but if you can take his powers, I can manage to do that. I'll grab something."

He hoped she looked around and found something soon because he was taking the demon powers, and he was doing it now.

Chapter Sixteen

Gabriel dove to the floor. Hitting the ground hurt like hell but he was sure it was less painful than getting hit by whatever energy Sebastian hurled at him. Wow, he'd counted on pissing the demon off when he'd chucked him out the window, but he hadn't expected to make him quite
this
mad.

It didn't really matter. If it gave Loraine enough time to acquire the books, it was worth the effort.

"You thought you could destroy me, you pathetic creature? You thought you alone were enough to bring me down?"

No way did he think he could handle Sebastian on his own. Only an idiot would be that foolish. However, he did think Sebastian was enough of an egomaniac to not notice that Loraine had run from the room because Gabe had attacked him.

"I may not have killed you, but I pushed you out the damn window and that was pretty fucking funny."

Sebastian roared, and the sound was more akin to a beast than a human. Everything about his 'foster brother' was becoming more and more animalistic as time went on. His voice sounded thicker, his eyes seemed to be moving inwards. Any second Gabriel anticipated seeing the man grow horns.

With a flick of his wrist, Gabriel backed Sebastian up another few feet. "You smell Sebastian. I can't have that much radiating sulfur coming at me. It just stinks. I'm going to have to keep moving you back, man."

Sebastian's eyes glowed red. "I'm going to eat your soul."

"I'm going to give you indigestion."

He needed a minute to collect his thoughts and come up with a plan of action. Leonardo, Kal, and Isabelle weren't anywhere he could see, which most likely meant Sebastian had put them in the basement.

Whatever he did, he needed to not overuse his power supply. One way or another, he had to have enough energy left to send Loraine back to Maine if she needed rescue. Hoping he was stronger than he'd been in the past, if for no other reason than pure adrenaline, he pushed forward sending Sebastian out of the house.

He hadn't practiced with his power well enough to know exactly how far he'd sent the demon but hopefully it was enough time to get them all out of the building. His warrior instincts demanded he fight, but he was smart enough to know that his powers were mostly defensive not offensive, and sometimes the best strategy was to retreat and regroup.

Jumping to his feet, he tried to ignore the pain in his left knee as he ran down the hall. He must have jammed it with his last fall. There was no time to deal with it now.

Throwing open the door, he found Loraine standing over a group of books. She looked up and smiled when he came in.

"Did you win?"

"No, I temporarily sent him away. What are you still doing here?"

The feeling of relief at seeing her okay was tempered greatly by his annoyance that she hadn't gotten out of the house.

"Gabriel, this whole room is filled with stuff we need. These are Abraxas's journals and almost every book in here is about us. I can't leave any of it."

He wanted to pull out his hair. "Then forget about all of it and run for safety."

Her eyes flared, but he didn't care.

"I might get afraid, that doesn't mean I'm a coward."

"I never said you were."

Damn it, his powers were significantly drained, but it looked like he had no choice. It wasn't like he could bring in a damn moving van and pack up the boxes full of books.

"Move out of the way."

Loraine stepped to the side, and he waved his hand through the air imagining the Outsider living room. With luck, the books would land there. A whoosh filled the room as objects disappeared from where they had just been.

He looked up at his beloved who had narrowed her eyes. "You're exhausted."

Holding out his hand, he tried to smile. "Come on. We're not done."

"I think you're the one who should leave, not me."

"Sweetheart, I don't have the energy to fight you. For once, just take my hand and let's get the hell out of here."

He was never more grateful for anything in his life than he was when he felt her soft fingers touch his.

They stepped out into the hall and they'd not taken more then two steps when Gabriel heard a dog barking. Loraine gasped and ran in the opposite direction from where they needed to go.

She let go of his hand even as he called for her to come back. "What are you doing?"

"It's Futon. He's here!"

"He's going to have to wait. I can't come with you. I have to get the others out of the basement."

She whirled around. Before she spoke, he could see the determination written all over her face with her mouth thinned and narrowed gaze. "You go get them out. I have to find my dog. I
have
to."

Hell
. "Okay, you have five minutes, and then I'm coming to find you. Tell Futon that, and if I have to seek you out I'm going to fucking yell at him for not bringing you to me sooner."

He turned around as fast as he could so he didn't have to watch her move away from him. Seeing her do that would be too much. He'd have to follow her. Sebastian was momentarily gone. Hopefully they could get this all under control and be gone before he returned.

Opening the door to the basement, he heard Leonardo and Isabelle speaking below. Taking the stairs two at a time, Isabelle gasped when he approached. Looking up, he immediately noticed Kal and Leonardo dangling from the ceiling and Isabelle chained to the floor.

Fuck
.

"Gabriel." Isabelle's relief at seeing him made him smile. Most people had the opposite reaction when he arrived in the room. It was, he supposed, possible that these people might someday be akin to family to him. A fucked up family, but family nonetheless.

Leonardo's feet jumped but Kal stayed motionless. Gabriel moved closer. "Is Kal dead?"

Isabelle gasped. "No, he's unconscious. Don't say things like that."

He shrugged. There went her excitement at seeing him. "Okay."

"I'm not dead either but thanks for your concern."

Gabriel smiled at Leonardo. "Nah, you're too mean to kill."

He looked around until he saw what he needed. Grabbing a chair, he pulled it so he could climb up to examine Leonardo's restraints.

From down below, Isabelle spoke. "Where is the demon? What was that bang? Leonardo thinks he can take the demon's powers."

Gabriel whistled through his teeth. That was a bad idea. "Please don't do that. I've temporarily sent him on his way." Climbing up, he looked at the restraints. Metal.
Of course, they were
.

Having no way to get Leonardo or Kal down, Gabriel knew he had no choice. It wasn't a great option. Taxing his powers to the max in a short period of time was bound to drain him dry.

He stepped down from the chair and wrapped his arms around Kal's legs. "Leonardo, prepare to hit the ground."

Without another word, he pictured their restraints and sent them away. Leonardo let out a yell as he tumbled to the floor. Kal fell into his arms thanks to his grip on the other man. Isabelle jumped up and helped him get Kal onto the floor.

"Thanks for the warning."

Gabriel glared at Leonardo. It was time to find Loraine.
Probably past time
. But then Isabelle looked up from the floor. Her eyes filled with tears, she barely whispered. "I can't rouse him at all."

All he wanted to do was to collapse onto the ground and sleep for a week with Loraine tucked beside him. The way he had overused his abilities today he'd be lucky if he lived through the rest of the night let alone got somewhere where he could actually pass out.

There was just no choice. Kal had to get to Jason, and he needed to be there immediately. "Okay, I'm going to send you guys back."

Leonardo shook his head. "I love Kal like a brother. I would do anything for him. He would never, ever want you to do that right now. Your whole body seems like you're two seconds away from collapsing."

"Don't say that Leonardo. We have to get Kal home."

Gabe understood her desperation. Dear gods, the very thought of Loraine getting hurt was more than he could tolerate. He stood. "I'm fine. Perfectly capable of sending you guys back to Maine. Don't worry about me."

He smiled his best 'give me what I want' grin. It was a trick he'd learned on the street. He'd conned many an old lady into buying him food with just a grin and a wink. The truth was he would do it whether Leonardo wanted him to or not, but he preferred not to piss off the unofficial leader of the group he had sort of chosen to join.

Leonardo rubbed his wrists and Gabe's estimation of him increased tenfold. The man hadn't complained about how much his confinement must have hurt him. "We can't afford to lose any of us. You have to promise me that if you do this you'll still be okay to get yourself home."

He nodded. "I'm fine."
I'm also a really good liar
.

Without another word he waved his hand and even though he felt his power stutter for a second, he managed to send the three of them back to Maine. They blinked out of his eyesight and he hoped Jason was able to give Kal what he needed.

For a second, he stood still and then the world went black around him. Hell, he had overdone it and he wasn't going to get to Loraine. Tears that he hadn't cried since he was five-years-old filled his eyes. He was so fucking sorry.

* * * *

Light passed through his closed eyelids and he opened his eyes to blink. A massive throb pounded just above his nose and he groaned.

"Are you okay?"

The husky voice asking him that question was not the one he wanted to hear. As his vision cleared, he became aware that he was in Alexa's bedroom. Rubbing his face with his hand, he sat up.

"I over did it with my abilities."

To Alexa he would still not call them
powers
. She would find that too odd.

"Did you and Sebastian fight? The living room is destroyed."

What should he say? And where was Loraine? "Um, we had a disagreement of sorts."

It was an incredibly complicated situation dealing with Alexa's issues. On one hand, he wanted to just level with her. 'Sebastian is a demon, Alexa, and you are supposed to be helping me kill him not living here sharing meals'. On the other hand, he knew her as well as he knew anyone—well, not as well as he knew beautiful Loraine—and he knew that when Alexa got her back up to the wall she tended to do the wrong thing. Somehow, it had to be her idea to come with him.

Or at least that was what he had been telling himself for a year.

Fuck, he was hungry and achy. He wanted his girl.

Mostly, he just wanted to be able to talk to Alexa as if she were a regular person instead of walking on eggshells with a woman brainwashed by a demon.

She shook her head and crossed to her window. A lot of his friends found her incredibly attractive. It was amazing how the soul mate business worked. She did nothing for him. No, only one particular girl with long red curls could turn his head.

"I wish you wouldn't fight with him." She sighed. "You're family."

He shook his head. "He and I are
not
family. How did I get up here?"

"I dragged you up the stairs. It wasn't easy. I had to manipulate you onto a rug and then I pulled the rug."

For Alexa, who didn't usually like tasks that required her to engineer something, that was a big undertaking.

"Thank you."

She shook her head and looked at him. "You're welcome."

There was no time like the present to put his cards on the table. "Alexa, at what point did I become the bad guy in your life? At what point did you decide to believe everything Sebastian said as gospel?"

Her eyes flared with anger and he thought he saw a spark of red in them. Hell, just how influential had Sebastian become to her? How much evil did she carry around in her soul?

He shuddered at the thought of her turning to the Darkness. The little girl who he'd huddled with under a liquor store's awning to wait out a rainstorm could not become a minion of the demon. It was too sick for words.

"When you ran off and joined the very people we'd always sworn to protect the world from."

He stood. Awash with dizziness, he thought he might vomit all over her floor, which was amusing considering he couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten anything. Sitting down would relieve his discomfort. However, he had no wish to have this conversation at a disadvantage with Alexa. If she stood, he needed to as well.

Forcing himself back up, he was relieved when the earlier dizziness held off.

"When we made those promises, Lexie, we didn't know the truth of things. A person who didn't have our best interests at heart misled us. In fact, Sebastian has had his own agenda where we are concerned since before he was born."

She threw her hands in the air. "How far has this gone, Gabe? Does the cult now have you believing there are past lives involved here?"

"They're not a cult."

As she stormed to the other side of the room, he tried to remind himself that this was Alexa who he cared about and not some petulant child he wanted to put in time out.