Succubus Ascendant: An Urban Fantasy (The Telepathic Clans Saga Book 4) (32 page)

She parked the car on a side street and began jogging toward the O’Byrne building. It was raining steadily, and she used Aerokinesis to create an umbrella. Soon, she reached the edge of the security zone the authorities had set up. Forcing down the panic rising inside her and blurring the minds of those around her, she worked her way past the gendarmes. The streets leading toward the building were almost deserted, with occasional groups of gendarmes. Many of them were wearing tactical assault gear, and their fear hammered against her.

Le Marais is one of the oldest parts of Paris, and the O’Byrne building had originally been a noble’s palace. Built in the sixteenth century and six stories high, it covered a city block. Two wide boulevards bordered it at the front and back. On one side was a narrow street, barely wide enough for a car, and on the other side an alley that carried only foot traffic.

Slipping past more pockets of heavily armed gendarmes and Protectors, she came at last within sight of the building. Helicopters clattered overhead, shining spotlights on the scene. Gunfire could be heard inside and those strange flashes of light she had seen on the television sometimes lit up the interior. The gunfire and fireballs were oddly reassuring, telling her that the attackers were still meeting resistance. She reached out with her mind and found Brian O’Byrne.

*
Brian? Are you all right?*
she sent.

*
Yes,*
he answered, *
but getting tired. I’m not sure how much longer we can hold out. We’re badly outnumbered.*

*What’s going on? How many are there?*

*Andrew hit us with about three hundred men. They’re killing anyone they find. About forty of us are holed up on the fifth floor and we’ve beaten them off twice already. Got to go, Rhi. It looks as though they’re coming for us again.*

He broke the connection.

She slipped around the gendarmes’ perimeter until she was on the side with the small alley. Broadcasting confusion to blur people’s minds, she leaped up and raced into the alley. Halfway across the boulevard, she thought she heard someone call her name, and then attempt to contact her mind. She recognized the mental signature of an O’Byrne Protector, a friend of hers, but she ignored him.

Crouching in the dark alley, she reached out for the minds of the helicopter pilots. One by one, she told all three to fly away from the building and shine their spotlights in a different direction.

Expanding her air shield so that it completely surrounded her, she used her Telekinesis to push off from the ground. Rising into the air, she looked toward the mouth of the ally. A lone Protector stood there, watching her. A flash of lightning showed his face, the twin of the man across the street who had called to her.

She saw Davin shake his head. *
Take me with you.*

*I can’t. You’ll slow me down,*
she replied, and saw him slump against the wall in resignation.

As she rose past the parapet, she saw several gunmen on the roof. A bolt of lightning split the air, backlighting her for Andrew’s men. She reached for the lightning, drew it into her, and channeled it toward the rooftop. A second explosion of thunder joined that from the lightning itself.

Half-blind, she pushed herself onto the rooftop. Hurriedly looking around, she found the bodies of the guards. All were dead, sprawled where the lightning had blasted them.

Rhiannon cautiously opened the door to descend into the building. Everything inside was pitch black. She felt for minds ahead of her and found a couple of hundred people in the building.

*
Brian,*
she sent, *
are all of your people on the fifth floor?*

*I don’t know. Probably. And everything is dark. I think Andrew killed the electricity at the main switch. Rhi, I’m not going to make it out of here. They’re massed for another attack and there are only twenty of us left. I need to tell you something. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I kept pushing you away because I didn’t think Father would approve. Same stupid reason I never killed Andrew. Rhi, the next time you fall in love, don’t let him be a damn fool.*

*Brian, I’m here. In the building. Just hold on a few more minutes.*

*Goddess, no! Get out of here!*

*Just hold on. I’ll be there.*

Checking her air shield, she plunged down the stairs, broadcasting Neural Disruption ahead of her. At the bottom of the first flight of stairs, she tripped over something and flew into the opposite wall. Sitting up, she created a tiny fireball. A man’s body lay at the bottom of the stairs.

Maintaining her light, she worked her way down to the fifth floor. The halls were full of the bodies of both sexes, and the walls showed scorch marks and bullet holes. Twice she touched living minds ahead of her and burned them out. Gunshots rang out ahead of her. The shooting went on for some time and then there was silence again.

*
Brian?*

There was no answer. Reaching the area of Brian’s office, she found more bodies—a lot more bodies, wearing both normal office clothing and black commando gear. She had to step over them, and sometimes on them, to make her way through.

Up ahead she could see light. From the way it moved, she assumed Andrew’s men had electric torches, or flashlights as Rebecca called them. Entering the reception area of Brian’s office, she found piles of bodies and a dozen men passing around a bottle of whiskey. Without a second thought, she killed them all.

Peeking around the edge of the doorway into Brian’s office, she saw Andrew sitting in Brian’s chair with another bottle of whiskey. Six men were with him and they were all laughing. Among the bodies, Brian lay on the floor, staring at her. His upper body was drenched in blood and there was a single bullet hole in his forehead.

~~~

Chapter 23

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. - Thomas Jefferson

When Brenna teleported out of the command center, she reappeared in her room. Quickly stripping out of her clothes, she put on the bulletproof corset and the Protector clothes she had worn when she confronted Hugh.

*
Rebecca, I need a landing spot.*

*No, you’re not coming to Paris.*

*Rhiannon is in Paris and she needs backup.*

*She asked you for backup?*
Rebecca’s mental voice dripped with skepticism.

*Of course not. Neither would you. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t need it.*

*I’ll do it.*

*Neither of you is a teleport. I don’t plan on assaulting Andrew’s forces, just pulling her out of there.*

Rebecca was silent for so long that Brenna checked if the link still was active.

*
Rebecca?*

An image of an empty stretch of floor appeared in Brenna’s mind, and she immediately teleported to it.

“I’m going with you,” Rebecca said.

Brenna glanced at Carlos. He stood with his eyes closed, shaking his head, an agonized expression on his face.

“I’m not sure where, or if, I’m going,” Brenna said. “Rhiannon is blocking me.”

“Then how do you know she’s in Paris?” Rebecca asked. “And how did she supposedly get here?”

“Fergus is blocking me, too.”

Teleportation is one of the extremely rare Gifts. Brenna and both of her grandfathers had it, but only a few other teleports were known to the Irish Clans.

“Do you have any contacts with the Protectors on the scene?” Brenna asked. She gestured at the TV across the room. “I’d like to get a better idea as to what’s going on there.”

“I’ve been getting updates from Edwin,” Rebecca said, referring to one of her friends among the O’Byrne Protectors. “I have him on speed dial.” She held up her phone.

“Can you use my Distance Communication Gift to contact him?”

“Sure,” Rebecca said, taking the invitation to slide into Brenna’s mind and trigger that Gift. She reached out to Edwin.

*Edwin, this is Brenna,*
Brenna sent.
*The only visuals we have are from the damn TV cameras. Can you please let me see through your eyes and scan the scene?*

*Certainly, Brenna,*
Edwin replied. He let her into his mind and obligingly turned his head side-to-side so she could see the crowd beyond the gendarmes’ perimeter, the helicopters overhead, and the building across the boulevard.

*
Thank you,*
Brenna sent.

*
RB is here,*
Edwin told her.
*I saw her in the ally next to the building. Davin followed her.*

Rebecca was a bit disoriented with two people in her head. In addition, she was seeing through Edwin’s eyes at the O’Byrne building, as well as with her own eyes in the hotel room. As a result, her reactions were slower than usual. When Brenna’s hair turned the exact shade of burnished copper as Rhiannon’s, Rebecca realized she’d been scammed.

“Brenna! Nooo!”

Brenna disappeared.

Through Edwin’s eyes, Rebecca saw a redheaded woman appear in front of the O’Byrne building. A bright flash of lightning split the night and the lights trained on the building dimmed.

“Rebecca,” Carlos said, grabbing her by the arm and spinning her around, “the television.”

For a brief moment, the TV showed a redheaded woman floating above the building and another, almost a twin, standing in front of it. The scene on the TV screen dimmed. The woman on the ground waved to the camera, then turned and raced toward the entrance. But what the voice on the television was saying riveted Rebecca’s interest.

“We don’t know where the helicopters are going, but it appears as though a woman is floating above the building,” the reporter on the scene said. The camera panned up and zoomed in on Rhiannon floating in the air.

Through Edwin’s eyes, a bolt of lightning lit the whole scene brighter than day. On the TV, with the camera pointing straight at the lightning, it was so bright that nothing but white registered. Then a second lightning bolt struck, hitting the roof. All the lights in the building went out.

Both through Edwin’s eyes and the TV camera, the two women disappeared.

~~~

Brenna landed a bit roughly, stumbling over the rubble from the explosions. Righting herself, she looked back at where Edwin was standing and waved. She drew electricity from the surrounding area into her, seeing the lights trained on her dim. Then she sprinted for the entrance to the building.

A crash of thunder caused her involuntarily to look up. Rhiannon was silhouetted against the sky. A bolt of lightning leapt from her hand toward the building, and another deafening explosion of thunder echoed amongst the buildings. All the lights in the O’Byrne building went out.

Locking down her mental shields to the point she was practically invisible and covering herself with an air shield, she cautiously peered inside. It was totally dark. Sending her mind ahead, she felt her way toward a stairwell and started climbing.

She could feel other minds throughout the building, but the largest concentration was on one of the upper floors. Casting her mind ahead, she could tell the lights going out had caused a lot of confusion.

“Halt! Who are you?” a tall man said, shining his flashlight in Brenna’s face.

“Your worst nightmare, asshole,” Brenna responded, smashing his shields and those of the three men with him, and capturing their minds. None of them was very bright, but they had the layout of the building memorized and knew where the current fighting was. She drained their life energy, stopped their hearts, and then picked her way past their bodies.

She encountered more men in the halls as she worked her way through the building and dealt with them the same way. Reaching the fourth floor, she felt the last of the O’Byrne defenders die. Leaning back against the wall, she took several deep breaths. The pain she felt made her want to just sit down and cry.

Shaking off her emotions, she pushed on, reaching the executive suites. Only one mind remained in front of her, so she lit a flame on her palm and held it ahead of her.

Rhiannon sat on the floor of Brian’s office, cradling him in her lap and sobbing as if her heart would never mend. They were both drenched in blood, but his torn body gave Brenna hope that all the blood was his. His blank stare told her he was dead. Looking around, she saw a couple of dozen bodies. Andrew sat in the chair behind the desk with a single hole in the middle of his forehead.

Squatting next to Rhiannon, Brenna reached out with her Healing Gift and touched her cousin’s face, reading her body. Rhiannon wasn’t physically injured, but the emotional pain that flooded through the link sat Brenna back on her heels. Sudden tears sprang to her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

As gently as she could, Brenna entered Rhiannon’s mind and laid a mild Comfort on her. The gut-wrenching sobbing slowed, and Rhiannon turned a tear-stained face toward her.

“He loved me, Brenna. He told me at the last. Goddess, it hurts so bad. It hurts so damned bad.”

“We have to go, Rhiannon. We can’t stay here,” Brenna said.

She had to repeat herself before Rhiannon seemed to hear her. “Rhiannon, we have to get out of here. There are a hundred of Andrew’s men still in the building, and the police are getting ready to storm the place.”