Every Broken Part (Series)

Chapter Twelve.

D E V I N

I had never been to New York before. Come to think of it, before I was introduced to Donum, I hadn't stepped foot out of my hometown. My life was dull, humane. Everything changed the day I chose to walk away from the broken girl I once was. I stared at my golden eyes in the rearview mirror as I parked in the busy city streets. The woman staring back at me had been through hell and back. She was not weak. Not anymore. She will do anything it takes to find her link. Even if it results in death.

"We don't know that Inferno is here, Dev." Ryker said once again as we got out of the car.

I tried my best not to shoot him another glare as I walked through crowds of people. Stares were thrown our way. Humans. Too many humans in sight. I have to remind myself I don't belong to this group of people anymore. How the hell am I supposed to find someone who knows about Inferno in this crowd of people? An eerie feeling ran through me as I stopped dead in my tracks. I closed my eyes, trying to recognize the sensation. Silver eyes appeared in the back of my mind as a sense of familiarity flowed through me. Graizen. He was here, somewhere. I can feel it. The need to call out his name until my lungs failed was high as my eyes searched through every face I could see. I felt even more lost as silver eyes did not stare back at me. Frustration was building inside of me as I collapsed onto a bench, pulling at my hair. I sighed as I opened my eyes. Ryker. I snapped up from the spot I was sitting in. Ryker! He was just behind me. How could I have lost him in the hundreds of people? How could I be so careless? I sprinted back to the car as fast as my legs could carry me. Ryker was not there. He had disappeared. Gone in an instant.

"Ryker!"

I slammed my hands against the side of the car, cursing as I felt a crack beneath the tender skin of my hand. It healed within seconds. I looked down at my hands in amazement. My powers were only growing with each second.

Graizen is here. I can sense him.

I thought my eyes were deceiving me as I heard a voice that will always bring my comfort.

"Graizen, calm down. You're drawing the wrong attention."

Rayner. Tears brimmed at my eyes as I slowly approached where his voice was coming from. Unmistakable silver eyes locked with mine as I felt my breath stop. Without a second passing, I was floating. I could no longer feel a muscle in my body as the presence of Graizen overwhelmed me. His scent hit my bones, engulfing me. Every emotion was hitting me at once as I felt his lips hungrily brush against my face. He let out a low cry as I felt his body tremble against mine. His thoughts were echoing in my brain as he opened up his mind to me.

-You're alive. You're alive. You're alive-

I tried to fight back a sob as I gripped onto his body as if he might disappear in my arms. Not a single thing mattered but him in my arms at this moment as I felt the steady beat of his heart against mine.

"Th-" Graizen's voice caught in his throat. "Thia. My Thia."

Hearing his voice caused me to drop to my knees. Graizen crouched with me, holding my head with one hand while he pulled me to him with the other. This moment felt surreal, it felt like a dream.

"Hey, lovebirds." Rayner coughed. "Remember me?"

I quickly got up from Graizen and ran to my brother. Graizen let out a huff of defeat, but it was overshadowed as I encased Rayner in a bear hug. He let out a sigh of relief as I pulled away from him.

"Sis, you missed a lot."

My eyes widened as I gripped onto Graizen. His eyes gave me a soft look, he didn't look away from me for a second. I wanted to leave with him in this moment, take us away from any sign of danger for the rest of our time. But I couldn't.

"Ryker." I cried. "We came here together, and I lost him right before I found you."

A flash of pain hit Rayner's eyes as he took in the information.

"How did you guys make it out of inferno?"

There was a brief silence before Graizen spoke.

"We didn't." He said with regret. "We joined them."

Before I could process this, gunshots filled the air. Graizen reached to shield me, but I had already forced his body behind me. He gave me an annoyed glance before switching our bodies so that his was covering mine.

"Ah. New York City."

My hair rose on ends at the unfamiliar voice. I turned to see a tall and built man with jet black hair and sharp features. Rayner visually stiffened beside me as his entire mood change. Graizen's grip on me tightened as I shot him a glare.

"My apologies, I haven't introduced myself to you, dear."

His eyes fell on me.

"I'm Killiam." He gave me a questioning smile. "I'm sure your link told you all about Inferno."

Graizen's hands warmed on my skin as I felt his shaky breath in my ear. "We need to leave. Now."

I nodded, surveying the area. Rayner quickly grabbed my hand, before shaking his head. His eyes were pleading with me, trying to convey a message that I could not understand.

"We can't leave, Dev." His voice was trembling. "We can't."

"Pretty face is right." Killiam jumped back into the conversation. "You haven't been initiated into Inferno."

The last thing I heard was Graizen'srage as Killiam grabbed my arm, causing us to disappear into thin air.