I unleashed my power, sending it out towards the river end of the road. I could feel as my power spread to a few, then a few more, then twenty, then thirty and finally, close to forty exiles. It was the most I’d ever held at one time.
Holding my concentration, I squeezed Lincoln’s hand. He knew exactly what I needed.
‘Gray!’ he yelled. ‘Clear the path!’
Gray’s Rogues charged forward, taking out the exiles who were under my control, and as we ran, arrows tipped in my silvered blood started to fly. Exiles around us dropped to the ground briefly before disappearing.
Gray’s team then moved into a defensive position, creating a wall around Lincoln and me.
‘How far have you got to go?’ Gray asked Lincoln as we ran.
‘Right there,’ Lincoln said. Fifty metres away stood the tall building that marked the end of Canal Street and the edge of the riverbank. It stood at the border of the French Quarter and the Warehouse District and smack bang in the middle of what had now become the division between the exiles of light and dark.
‘Doesn’t anyone ever get tired of the symbolism?’ Carter grunted, looking up.
I took in the building, which was about forty storeys high. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ I said. Sure, I’d noticed that the building was an odd shape from the steamboat last night, but I hadn’t even considered that it would continue on like this on the other side. ‘It’s a cross.’
‘Yep, pointing to the sky,’ Carter said.
Of course it was.
‘Get them to the doors!’ Gray shouted, and our convoy pushed forward.
As we neared the entrance to the building, the exiles stopped pursuing us.
‘Are they scared?’ I asked, baffled by their restraint.
Lincoln watched them retreat. ‘They don’t look happy about pulling back.’
We watched as one exile tried to get closer to us but failed to cross an invisible threshold. ‘It’s a force field.’
The exile continued to push in his attempt to get closer to us, but it looked as if someone had put him on a treadmill. Gray saw the same thing and gave us a nod. ‘You’ll be protected from them in here. But hell knows what’s waiting for you inside. You should take a few of the Rogues with you,’ he suggested.
But the battle was only growing and we could hear screams coming from the riverbank where we’d left Josephine and Griffin’s team.
I shook my head. ‘Go back and help the conductors’ team. We’ll be okay.’
Grudgingly Gray nodded and then working with Carter, they split their team in two and scurried down a side street where they could re-join the battle on their own terms.
Lincoln and I made for the front doors, which stood open, torches alight with fire on either side. ‘What do you want to bet that this isn’t really a dilapidated abandoned building inside?’ I asked.
‘Nothing I want to keep,’ Lincoln replied as we stepped into the empty white-marbled foyer.
‘Wow,’ I said, looking around. Apart from the outer walls, there was nothing in this building except a set of cables in the centre of the room reaching from the ground to the ceiling forty-odd storeys above.
As we watched, a glass elevator made its way smoothly down the cables, stopping in front of us. We could see that it was empty, but even so, when the doors slid open I tensed.
‘Vi?’ Lincoln prompted, his voice gentle, and I knew what he was asking.
Anything.
He’d do anything I needed right then. He’d turn around and walk out; he’d run; he’d fight. Anything.
I licked my dry lips. ‘I love you, Linc,’ I said, throwing every last piece of my heart deep into the words.
‘Don’t you dare say goodbye, Vi.’
I stared ahead at the elevator waiting for us. ‘I’m not saying goodbye. Just that I get it now, that saying: A life without love is no life at all. It’s true. And now, live or die, I know I’ve really experienced life. With you.’
I held out my hand and his slid smoothly into its rightful place.
‘I love you, too.’
We walked into the elevator and the doors closed automatically. As we began our incline, Lincoln turned to me. ‘And you and I will experience everything this world has to offer and then we will grow old together, with our family.’
I swallowed hard at his words. It seemed like a fantasy to even contemplate being here and together for so long that, as Grigori, we would grow old together.
How many years would that take?
Family? Does that mean he wants to have children?
What would that mean?
Can we even …
Sensing my runaway mind, Lincoln squeezed my hand, bringing me back to the here and now.
The elevator slowed and finally crested right through the ceiling and stopped on the open rooftop. When the door opened we were assaulted by heavy winds and rain sheeting sideways, and I raised my hand to protect my eyes.