Page 28 of Forbidden

Rubble.

“Kill them!”

Talon cut in. “You’re saying they would force you to continue working for them? Telling them your visions? Even if you didn’t want to?”

It had never been done before, but… “Yes. Without the prophets, the guild would be operating blind. They wouldn’t know where to go, who to fight. They’re very protective of us. They don’t let us go into the field or interact with others in the guild who might compromise the order of things. They want us to stay in our bubbles and feed them information.”

“But you’d been having visions of us,” Talon said. “Visions of Wolf and the rest of us all working together.”

There was so much more to it than that, but essentially, “Yes. For six months now, since that first vision that I gave to Alex.”

“But telling them that would be suicide,” Talon deduced.

“Most likely. I couldn’t risk telling them any of it. Can you imagine what they would’ve done to Alex or Luke if someone had told them ahead of time that they would be leaving to… be with a demon?”

Alex ducked his head, while Talon scowled dangerously at the road. “Yeah, I imagine that would’ve been bad. It was bad enough the way things played out—although seeing Malachi get all bloodthirsty was pretty fun, and I suppose things have worked out for the better so far.”

Alex elbowed him in admonishment. “Luke nearly died.”

“But he’s fine now,” Talon said. “A little near-death experience never hurt anybody.”

Alex looked like he was fighting laughter. “I don’t think that’s trueat all.”

Talon chuckled, reaching over to take Alex’s hand. His dark eyes found Ira’s through the rearview mirror. “Well, you have my thanks for keeping those visions to yourself. We definitely benefitted from your discretion.”

Ira shrugged one shoulder. “It benefitted me, too. And I was afraid it would’ve driven them to something even more drastic than what actually happened. If they had any idea that we three wouldn’t be the only ones…” He shook his head. “I couldn’t risk something like that happening. And I believe it would have. They would’ve insisted on knowing the names of everyone who was going to leave.”

“Do youknowexactly who all is going to leave?” Talon asked.

Ira fidgeted. “I’m honestly not sure. I knowsome. I can’t say for sure if that’s all of them, though. It’s hard to tell how much of the big picture I actually have.”

Talon hummed curiously. “Wait. You said you receive these visions fromGod, right?”

“That’s what we believe, yes.”

The car came to a stop at a red light, and Talon turned in his seat to cast him a smirk. “So it’s almost like you’ve been receiving these visions becauseGodwants you guys to be with us.” He shot Alex a smug look. “I knew you were meant to be mine.”

Alex chuckled. “I never had a doubt.”

Ira smiled, turning to look out the window as the city night continued to pass by in streaks of color and darkness. Was Talon right? Was this all part of God’s plan? If the visions were from God, and the visions led him down this path, what else could he assume but that this was how things were meant to be? Maybe they were the beginning of a bridge between the humans and demons. He couldn’t be sure, but it didn’t feelwrong. Nothing that involved being with Wolf felt wrong.

When the city lights gave way to darkened streets and pockmarked parking lots, Ira leaned forward and said, “We’re getting close. There’s something you should know.”

“Okay,” Alex said.

“There are demons inside the building, and there are a couple of kids inside who’ll need our help.”

“Shit, kids?”

“Yeah, some teens who were spray-painting the back wall, I think,” he said with a snort.

“Petty vandalism,” Talon drawled, turning off the highway. “Nice.”

“They’ll make up for it. They’re good kids. But anyway,they should be the priority. The demons aren’t going anywhere. Get the kids out, then go back in for the demons.”

“Good plan,” Alex agreed.

The old parking lot was full of potholes and weeds sprouting through the cracks in the asphalt. The ancient chain-link fence around the property was bent and broken in places. The building itself was a squat, wide thing with metal siding and no visible windows. A big sign was taped to the inside of the glass front door, written in permanent marker.‘For Sale,’ with a phone number scrawled underneath.

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