Ablaze (Indestructible Trilogy Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

clenched teeth.
    “I knew you’d come back.” Nolan’s pale face is crusted with dried blood, and his nose looks broken, though it’s hard to tell in this light.
    “I didn’t come to set you free,” I say, pressing the dagger to his neck as close as I can without drawing blood. “I came to ask you something.”
    “What?” Nolan asks, one eyebrow raised. “You want something from me?”
    “The tattoo,” I say. “Murray’s working on a way to stop them affecting people.”
    “He what?” Disbelief is etched on his face. I guess no one told him.
    “It’s true,” I say. “He stopped Elle’s.” Using my blood. Why? Perhaps it’s because I’m Transcendent. I don’t know. Apparently, Jared used fiend blood in the original marks, and Transcendents can make mincemeat of the fiends.
    “Murray didn’t tell me that.”
    “You probably never gave him the chance.” I tilt my head. “I don’t suppose you want to tell me who else Jared marked?”
    “I have no idea.”
    I narrow my eyes at him. “How’d that go down, anyway? Did you see him mark you?”
    “See him?” Nolan gives a hollow laugh. “He told me it was a rite of passage. He took his time. God. I still feel it.” He rubs his arm, lifts the sleeve to expose the tattoo, scabbed over from where he sliced it open to pass onto Elle. “You can’t imagine it, Leah.”
    “Oh, I can,” I say. “You know what being Transcendent means? I feel what Cas does. Including… that.”
    Why did you tell him that? Maybe it’s because Nolan looks so defeated, slumped under my dagger point. Maybe it’s because I’m sick of being angry. Or maybe it’s because Nolan, of all people, knows what it’s like to be at Jared’s mercy.
    “No shit?” Nolan shakes his head. “Damn. You’re something else.”
    “At least I’m not a liar.”
    I have to say that, to remind myself he’s the enemy. Who was he pretending to be before? Was it all an act?
    Does it matter? Get your answers. Get out.
    “I didn’t lie to you, Leah, not at first. We all thought he died. That’s why none of us went back to check the old place. It was crawling with fiends, too, the ones he was experimenting on. They got out when we lost the war.”
    I hold back a shudder at the image. “And the tattoos? They stopped working afterwards?”
    My blood counters it, I think. My blood. If I use my own blood on Cas’s tattoo…
    Nolan dips his head, confusion pulling his mouth down at the corners. He holds up his arm, letting the sleeve fall down to reveal the crisscrossing lines. Like a sketch of a flame.
    “Right,” I say. “Jared has Cas prisoner. I’m the only one who can get him out of there. So I need to know where he is.”‘
    Nolan blinks. “You’re going after him? I thought you hated Cas.” For a second he sounds like his old self.
    Now I’m angry. “Yes, and thanks to you, the enemy has him. I’m going to stop Jared provoking the fiends into another invasion.” And if I don’t save Cas, I die, too. The words are like bitter-tasting dust caught in my throat. Jared as good as said so. The visions will drive me to madness, like the others. Even being Transcendent doesn’t change anything.
    “Right.” It’s plain he doesn’t believe me. Not that it matters. “How am I to know where he is?”
    “The old lab was destroyed,” I say. “So he won’t be there. I need a guide.”
    “You want me to come with you? No thanks. I’d rather stay here, thank you.” He compulsively rubs the tattoo again, but his gaze remains on the knife at his throat.
    “You think you’re safe from him here?” I ask. “You know he can hurt you wherever you are. I don’t think Murray has any intention of letting you go… or removing your mark.”
    Nolan blinks at me.
    “I killed Jared,” I say, softly. “I killed him once already—stuck my dagger right in his chest. I don’t know how he survived, if he did, but I’m more than happy to finish him off.”
    Nolan stares at me.