Chapter Nineteen

They were in position. April had instructed them to go to Volunteer Park, one of the few green spaces on Seattle's Capitol Hill. In addition to a giant fountain, the park contained a large conservatory — a Victorian glass-walled greenhouse stuffed with tropical plants. There was also an art museum with broad, shallow steps in front, and an old water tower, surrounded by a thick growth of trees.

The shrubbery at the base of the water tower was a notorious cruising ground, and after they rattled the bushes to chase away any civilians, Greg stationed two of his sharpshooters at the top. He and another sharpshooter were on the top floor of the art museum, which gave them a broader view of the whole area. Layla and Brandon were huddled against the door of the conservatory, where they had a decent view of Stef.

Who stood by himself on the lip of the fountain, out in the open. Exposed. Alone.

In the dark.

Brandon found it difficult to breathe. He had a burn in his chest like someone had set his gut on fire. He understood why they were there, and what he needed to do, but now, in the moment, he wanted to be anywhere else. The moon was missing in action and the tall streetlights covered a very limited distance.

Stef was a silhouette in a pool of darkness.

His posture was relaxed, though. He stared at his phone, probably playing solitaire. What games does he have on his phone? Brandon had the sudden need to know.

A shadow crossed the field, and Brandon's heartbeat kicked up. The shadow drifted between him and Stef, making it harder for him to see. He shifted, anxious. "Do you see that?" he muttered to Layla.

"What?" she whispered.

"There's something…" It wasn't a wraith, of that he was sure. Then a second shadow joined the first.

And then a third, darker than the others, with AJ's characteristic swagger.

Tears rolled down Brandon's cheek. "They're here," he croaked out.

"Who?"

"My guys." Brandon couldn't afford to get into it or he'd start sobbing. "I'll explain later."

If he'd thought he had a handle on his intention before, now it was hardwired. He'd do it for Stef, but he'd do it for them, too.

Stef shifted his position, sitting down on the edge of the fountain. He swung a leg, for all the world as if he had nothing better to do than take in the view. Which, to be honest, was amazing. The fountain surveyed downtown Seattle and out over Puget Sound. Under the right circumstances, it would be quite romantic.

These weren't the right circumstances.

The minutes ticked by, tension tightening Brandon's gut, his jaw. What if all of this was a waste of time? There was no guarantee the wraith would show. They'd just baited the trap. The rest was up to a creature of pure evil.

Brandon shouldn't have worried. They'd been out there close to two hours when a heavy silence settled over the area. The kind of silence that thickened the air and made breathing difficult. The shades of his friends arrayed themselves around Stef, something that bolstered Brandon's confidence.

If Brandon couldn't stop the wraith, his friends would do what they could to help.

But he would stop the wraith. He had to.

When it appeared, the wraith had more substance than Brandon expected. He could make out details: the breadth of its shoulders, the sharp curve of its jaw. He nudged Layla, who gave one of her wild yells and held out her hands.

The wraith had a loose-limbed stride, moving some six or so inches above the surface of the earth. It strolled along, casual-like, ever closer to Stef.

If Stef sensed the thing's presence, he did not let it affect him. He got to his feet, his attention still on the view to the west. Brandon hissed, warning Layla that it would soon be time to lower her shield. She gave another quiet yelp, and the buzzing dropped in pitch.

With no warning, the wraith lunged at Stef. It closed the distance between them in less than a heartbeat. Brandon yelled, surging upward. Layla dropped her shield.

This time he used an incantation he'd pulled from the book. "You who draw your power from the forces of hell have no business here in the land of the living. I order you to freeze in place, and I call upon your Lord Satan to make it so." He spoke the words firmly, every fiber of his being aimed at stopping the wraith. There was no doubt, no time for uncertainty. Power flowed through him. He forced all of his pain and fear and anguish into it.

He was here to stop the wraith. He had to.

And in truth, he did. The wraith stopped just short of Stef. It reached for him, its arms stretching longer and longer.

"Move, Stef," Brandon shouted. If the wraith touched him, Brandon wouldn't be able to do anything. But, like a mouse frozen by the gaze of a cobra, Stef did not move away.

Brandon started to run. He'd shove Stef out of the way and face the wraith himself if he had to. Halfway there, he realized two things.

He would not reach Stef before the wraith did, and…

The air between the wraith and Stef grew thick and dark. Shades. AJ, MJ, and Tom. His friends brought their essences to protect Stef, creating a barrier that slowed the wraith down.

It also snapped the hold it had on Stef, who brought out a long, narrow object from his pocket. With a sharp click, a flame burst out of one end.

"I hear you fuckers are flammable," Stef said, his voice carrying over the thudding of Brandon's heart. Stef pointed the flame at the wraith.

The thing would have tried to make an escape, but Brandon's power trapped it and his friends added an extra layer of defense. Working together, they held it in place while Stef jabbed it with the flame.

With a whoosh and the smell of charred flesh, the wraith was gone.

Brandon ran faster, then, catching Stef around the shoulders when his lover's knees gave way. Holding him close, bearing his weight while lowering them both to the edge of the fountain. "We did it," he murmured, tasting salt. "You did it."

"No, you did." Stef was dead weight in his arms, but he still started laughing.

"And you guys helped." Looking past Stef's shoulder, Brandon smiled at his friends, who had paid so much for his idiocy. "Thank you. So much."

AJ's shade came forward and held out a hand. Brandon reached for him, his fingers passing through cool air. "Love you," he said quietly.

Then the three faded, leaving Brandon and Stef alone.

Well, alone except for Layla. She stood to one side, arms wide, the telltale buzz of her magic still shielding them. Greg and his team had scattered, intent on rounding up whoever had come with the wraith. From the occasional shouts and one or two gunshots, they seemed to be having some success.

Brandon sure hoped so. He and Stef sank down on the lip of the fountain. They probably would have stayed there all night except the surface was the pebbly kind of concrete and it bit into Brandon's ass.

Stef shifted in Brandon's arms. He turned so they faced each other, and Brandon had to kiss him. This man had risked everything. "You were so brave."

"I was never in any danger," Stef said. "I knew you wouldn't let the wraith get to me."

"It was all in the intention."

"Mm-hmm." Stef shut his eyes, snuggling in closer to Brandon.

They were still huddled together when members of Greg's team surrounded the fountain, laughing and talking and exchanging increasingly exaggerated stories of how things had gone down. They were so sure they'd cleaned up the mess that Layla lowered her arms and let her shield drop.

"We got 'em all," Greg told Brandon, his tone solemn. "Except the ringleader, some asshole named Corbin Blande."

"Sounds about right. Greasy fucker." Brandon shut his eyes against the memory of that man and that room and what they'd forced him to do.

"He won't get very far. SPAM is on it."

Brandon wasn't terribly reassured by that, but he smiled anyway.

"Okay, gang," Greg announced. "Time to go."

Brandon stood, with Stef on one side and Layla on the other. "Can we go home home? Or back to the safe house?"

Several phones chirped with incoming texts. Layla got to hers first. "April says we should spend tonight at the safe house, but once they locate Corbin, we can go home."

Home. Brandon hadn't realized how attached he'd grown to that big barn of a rental house until he'd been forced to sleep elsewhere. Still, as long as Stef was with him, he'd be okay.