Libra Ascending: An Epic Urban Fantasy Romance (Zodiac Guardians Book 1) by Tamar Sloan (adult books to read .TXT) 📗

the handful of Skins left go still. Like puppets, their arms drop by their sides, their heads flopping down like the strings have been cut.

Tristan and Zarius straighten, glancing at each other. Instinctively, they take a couple of steps back, closer to Brielle and Tess.

“What’s going on?” Tess asks quietly.

Tristan waits for Zarius to answer, but nothing comes. Which means he doesn’t know.

Whatever’s going on, it isn’t good.

“I say we get the hell out of here,” mutters Tristan. He reaches back, finding Brielle already coming up beside him. He grasps her hand tightly. “Now.”

Zarius is running on adrenaline and doesn’t have a suit to protect him.

Brielle’s powers don’t work on Skins.

Tess has been close to death enough as it is.

Suddenly, a click reverberates through the silent warehouse, and the door to their right opens slowly.

They all freeze. It was too slow for a breeze to have pushed it open.

Yet no one is coming through.

Tristan indicates the others stay where they are as he takes a few cautious steps to the side. It could be the door popping open at the wrong moment, but they need to be careful.

Tristan's taken two steps then stops.

A man enters through the door, his stride casual. He stops a few feet in, adjusting his cuffs as he maintains a side profile.

Tristan's breath disintegrates. It can't be…

The man is tall, ink black hair combed back from his pale face. Slowly, deliberately, he glances up at Tristan, half his head in shadow. A wide smile creeps up his flawless face. His gaze flickers past Tristan, finding Zarius, Tess and Brielle, but then quickly returns to him. A few more steps and the door whooshes closed behind him.

Instinctively, Tristan knows who he's facing.

Chardis.

Just like his hair, he's dressed in ink, from his collared shirt to his creased slacks to his polished shoes. Of course, he is. Chardis likes to think he's the new black.

Finally, he turns his face toward them. Tristan almost does something he’s never done in his life. He has to physically stop himself from stepping back.

Chardis’s left eye is missing. No, not missing. Nonexistent.

Nothing but a socket of nothingness, thin spidery veins the color of black blood extend from it, creeping across his face and disappearing into his hairline. It’s the coldest, creepiest thing Tristan has ever seen.

He goes to step back beside his parents and Brielle when Chardis speaks.

"Don't move."

Like hell he won’t.

Another step and Tess cries out. Tristan stills, fear spearing through him. Tess is clutching her chest, her eyes wide with panic and pain.

Tristan spins around, facing Chardis. "Leave her alone!"

"When I was told there was not one, but two, Zodiac Guardians here, I knew I had to come. I mean, what if you found your Gemini Twin, Tristan? Why, I could’ve been in a spot of trouble.” His gaze flickers to Brielle. “But instead you found yourself a Libra.” The black lines that are his brows hike up, stretching the spidery veins on his face. “I bet that was disappointing.”

Tristan’s teeth are clenched too hard to respond. He needs to get to Zarius and Tess. And yet the darkest evil in the Universe is right in front of him.

“You do know what dark matter is, don't you Tristan? It's the glue between atoms, the fascinating, mysterious substance that holds our Universe together. It's the foundation of everything, yet undetectable on this primitive planet." Chardis's lips twitch. "If you have the ability to harness it, there’s no limit to what you can do."

"Enough of the physics lesson," Tristan growls. "What do you want?"

But Chardis continues as if Tristan didn't speak. "Considering it's tucked between every atom in this Universe, it means all I have to do is squeeze and it contracts."

Tess cries out again, and from the corner of his eye, Tristan sees her collapse in Zarius’s arms.

"I can crush a can. A car." His black gaze flares with obsidian fire. "Or a heart."

Zarius roars an objection only for it to be cut off. Chardis chuckles. "Or a throat."

Tristan's hands flex helplessly by his side. "What do you want?" he growls again.

Chardis levels his cold gaze on him. "Remove your suits."

Brielle's gasp splinters across Tristan's ears. Just like him, she realizes they'll be far too vulnerable if they do that. They'll lose what little advantage they have.

It's Zarius's groan as he drops to his knees that propels Tristan into action. "We'll do as you ask. Just leave them alone!"

With a short nod to Brielle, he says the word. In a blink, his suit is gone, Brielle's disappearing a second later.

Chardis's smile grows. "Ah, what fine young Guardians you are." He angles his head. "And yet you have so much to learn."

Turning to look at Zarius and Tess, Chardis raises his hand. Insidiously, a black mist starts to form around him. It grows, creeping along the warehouse floor like coal-colored cancer. The moment it touches anything—poles, walls, the silent bodies of the Skins—it creeps up, defying gravity in its quest to devour.

Including the legs of Tristan’s parents.

"What are you doing?" Tristan demands.

But Chardis is focused. Unwavering.

In his determination to kill Tristan's parents.

"No!" he screams, his hand reaching back for his stone. Except he can't lift it. It's like gravity has multiplied, chaining him with invisible bonds no matter how much he strains against it. It pulls down on him, anchoring his feet into the floor. Leaving him immobile.

Helpless as he watches Tess and Zarius collapse, gripping their chests. The black mist licks hungrily at them, tendrils winding their way around their waists.

"No," Tristan screams through his tight throat.

But there's nothing he can do.

Zarius looks up at him. He mouths two words. “Find them.”

His face contorts with agony, and he draws Tess to his chest. His parents cling to each other as their hearts are crushed within their ribs. Blood appears at Tess's mouth as Zarius presses a kiss to her forehead. Their eyes close simultaneously as their bodies crumple into the inky mist that now covers the floor.

This time, the denial screams through