Bound to Blackwood (37 page)

She rose to pace the room again, her teeth worrying her bottom lip as she considered what to do next. She wanted to go home. Her place had become a sanctuary she could escape to when all the rules and macho crap inherent in the Order got too much.

So why was it she didn't want to leave? It was madness. But if the King was Falling, she needed to know. More importantly, she needed to stop him. Kaden, as Keeper of the Watch, had a responsibility to protect the royal family. But since she'd been promoted to Steward of the Watch, her duty was to the Law.

She decided to head for the Command Centre. She was out of the loop on so many things, including the Greenshire case, and she needed that rectified.

As she strode down the wood-panelled hallway, heading for the stairs, her vision blurred. Steadying herself on the dado-rail, she shook her head to focus. The well-worn floor board undulated, the browns and greens of the carpet runner span in hypnotic swirls as they both closed their distance on her.

Her view of the familiar hallway changed; the walls became taller, the stairwell suddenly much further away. Her grip on the dado-rail failed as she felt much smaller than she should. She took deep breaths as she tried to push away the panic rising in her chest.

For a moment, she assumed she'd fainted or fallen, but as she stared at her feet, she realised they were still firmly planted on the floor. Panic welling, she tried to move, but it was if her body had fallen into a vat of glue.

An overwhelming sense of loss rushed through her as she heard footsteps at the end of the corridor. Rooted to the spot, she strained to catch a glimpse of the owner of the unfamiliar footfall. All she saw were indistinguishable shadows. Paralysed, she called out, but her voice failed her too.

A shape moved towards her, morphing into two people as it drew closer. Their voices floated on the air in whispers, so that she struggled to catch everything they said. They spoke in the old language but she forced herself to concentrate and certain words penetrated her consciousness: Greenshire child, key, retribution.

Lena sucked in a harsh breath as realisation dawned. Jesus Christ, they were talking about Eden. They had to be.

The more she concentrated, the more she understood. The joy and satisfaction in their voices made her sick to her stomach. They revelled in the success of their operation to kidnap the youngling, delighted in the pain and misery they had caused to the Greenshire family and in turn, House Blackwood. What frightened her though, was the confidence with which they spoke.

This one action was to be their victory. Eden Greenshire was the key to everything that was to come. The cruel laugh hiding behind the seriousness of their words was unmistakable.

She tried desperately to move, to speak, anything that would help her understand what was happening. Through the confusion, one thing became clear; there was something more to the kidnapping than just retribution for Karag's demise. Of the myriad of thoughts tornadoing their way around her mind, one shouted the loudest; they had planned this all along.

One of the figures turned towards her, revealing his face for the first time. If she hadn't already been paralysed, that face would have frozen her to the spot. She felt her eyes widen as her jaw slackened. She knew him, yet he couldn't possibly be here. His cruel obsidian eyes looked right at her, piercing her soul, sending icy shards of fear through her heart.

Joker, the Fallen she executed in Soho Square, the same man whose body Thorn had obliterated, stood before her without a mark on him. He smiled at her, just as he'd done in Soho, with a knowing grin.
This could not be real.
 

Her blood roared in her ears as she struggled to escape whatever evil had its hold on her. Somewhere in the distance, she heard screaming. A high pitched scream, full of fear and dread, got louder and louder until it drowned out everything else. Joker's face twisted into a macabre, toothy smile as he continued to stare at her. His black eyes shone with an evil so pure it took Lena's breath away.

The screaming stopped and everything went black.

"You found anything else useful?" Kaden barked at Mercury as he strode into the Command Centre.

Mercury looked up from the countless virtual files flying around on the central, transparent screen. His hands continued to work through the images as he replied, "Mildly interesting, yes. Useful? No."

Kaden walked around to Mercury's side of the screen to see what he was working on. Dozens of decryption programs ran simultaneously as Mercury worked his way through a number of other files. "Still no luck with the archives then?"

Mercury just grunted.

"Lena seemed sure you'd get there," Kaden offered.

"Yeah, well I 'aven't," Mercury snapped.

Kaden held his hands up in mock surrender. "Sorry I spoke."

Mercury stopped moving his hands across the screen and lifted one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I'm just pissed off. We should 'ave cracked this weeks ago." He returned to the screen to bring up an eight digit code. Only the first three figures were filled in. "We're not even half-way through it yet."

Kaden's mouth set in a grim line. He expected them to be further along with the whole case by now, not just the code to the archives. Thorn's words came back to haunt him:
We're just about keeping our heads above water
.
 

"When are you gonna see Marin?" Mercury asked bringing Kaden's attention back to the situation at hand.

Kaden took a deep breath, not relishing his trip north. "I'm leaving in a minute."

Mercury shook his head. "I don't envy you, Boss."

Kaden barked a laugh. "You haven't heard the best bit yet."

Mercury cocked an eyebrow.

"Lena killed Marin's kid brother last night."

"What?" Mercury roared.

"Seems I'm losing my touch. I didn't even know he'd Fallen."

Kaden watched Mercury's jaw go slack in disbelief. "Holy Fuck!"

"You can say that again!"

"Let me get this straight. You've gotta go and ask the guy none of us can stand for 'elp?"

"Yep."

"And then you've gotta tell him that the new Steward of the Watch killed his baby brother?"

Kaden winced. Mercury could always be relied on to call a spade a spade. "Thanks, Mercury."

Mercury shrugged. "Just calling it as…"

He never finished his reply.

A terrifying scream ripped through the House, echoing through the hallways and reverberating around the Command Centre. Both of them froze for a moment. Kaden saw Mercury rub his sternum as the shared pain hit him. Kaden swallowed hard as the assault hit him too. He knew even without the physical evidence that the scream belonged to Lena.

When their blood bond ignited, it near broke his heart; she wasn't physically hurt, but she was still in terrible pain. "Where is she?" Mercury rasped.

Kaden was already making his way to the door, knowing exactly where she was. "Top corridor, outside her room," he replied as Mercury joined him on his way up to the main house.

Frustrated that his own security measures made dematerialising within the confines of the House impossible, Kaden ran hard for the stairs. He and Mercury took the steps two at a time. As they reached the second floor, they were joined by Ryver and Phoenix who careened along the landing that joined both wings of the house. Neither of them asked Kaden where they were headed; they just fell in behind him and Mercury. All the while, Lena's blood-curdling screams thundered in Kaden's ears, making his heart thud and his legs pound faster.

The screaming stopped as they reached the top corridor. Kaden took point and raced down the landing to the dimly-lit hallway that led to Lena's quarters. He slowed his pace as he saw her and his heart sank. Huddled against the oak wainscoting, curled into a ball, Lena looked smaller than he'd ever seen her, even as a child. Signalling to the others to hang back, Kaden approached her with slow, careful movements.

He knelt in front of her. "Lena? Can you hear me?" Her eyes were open but unfocused, unseeing. Kaden waved his hand in front of her face, clicked his fingers next to her ear. Nothing.

He turned his attention to the rest of the guys hovering uncomfortably a few yards away. "Phoenix, page Soraya. If she isn't already on her way, I need her here." Sighing, he turned his attention to Ryver. He didn't say anything, knowing Ryver would hear him loud and clear anyway.

Ryver hung his head. "Seriously?" the Guardian asked.

Kaden scowled back at him. "Get over here."

Ryver really didn't want to do this. Recently, the more he heard, the more he wished he didn't know.

The things he learnt by accident were bad enough; what he discovered when he actually tried was frightening. This thing with Lena and Thorn terrified him. With the exception of Kaden, those two were the strongest beings he knew, but what he heard showed their weaknesses, made him realise they had issues just like everyone else. Like a child discovering Santa isn't real, Ryver just wanted everything to go back to the way it was. He liked his heroes on their pedestals where they belonged.

Shaking his head, he took slow, deliberate steps towards Lena. Her blue eyes may look glazed and unfocused, but Ryver knew better than to approach an injured lioness with anything but the utmost care.

He didn't really need to be this close to listen. In fact, being so close to her made him feel ill. It did make him feel better about intruding on his friends' thoughts if he could be upfront about it though. He jacked up his trousers an inch or two before squatting down on his haunches in front of Lena.

He gave Kaden one last, hopeful look in case the boss had changed his mind. One arched eyebrow over a piercing aqua-marine eye told him everything he needed to know. No last minute reprieve then.

He turned his attention back to Lena. Stray thoughts whirled around the small hallway, crashing into each other so that nothing made sense. Ryver inhaled sharply, still surprised by just how fractured Lena's mind had become. Swallowing hard, he forced his own mind to focus, to pick through the disparate images, to find order in the chaos.

A set of cruel obsidian eyes burned through it all and Ryver couldn't stop the shudder that ran down his spine.

"What is it?" Kaden interrupted.

Ryver repeated Lena's own thoughts. "He shouldn't be here."

"What do you mean? Who shouldn't be here?"

Ryver's brown knitted. "I'm not sure," he replied. "I don't recognise him."

Kaden scowled, clearly dissatisfied with his answer, but Ryver ignored him. Returning to Lena, he pushed his ability further. He saw more of the nameless man, this time from shifting angles. Ryver's view of that cruel face switched from looking down on him with a sense of triumph to looking up with fear and disbelief.

Another thought rushed forward. "London isn't just my home town."

Ryver repeated it to Kaden who frowned as he thought on it. Ryver could hear him thinking, but as usual, his access to the Keeper's mind was limited. Ryver watched as realisation dawned in Kaden's sharp eyes, but had to wait patiently for him to voice his understanding; Ryver still couldn't hear squat when he listened to him.

"She doesn't mean Vance of House London, does she?" Kaden asked.

Ryver had heard the name, but didn't know the man. "What does he look like?" Ryver asked in reply.

Kaden projected an image of a noble looking Vampire. Dark-brown hair swept away from a broad forehead, yet hung loose on the man's shoulders. Smiling chocolate-brown eyes shone over chiselled cheekbones, a proud, aquiline nose and a pleasant, kind looking mouth.

"Well?" Kaden prompted.

Ryver pursed his lips as he considered the man in Kaden's mind. "He looks too kind, too noble."

"He hadn't Fallen the last time I saw him."

Kaden's image changed and took on a much more sinister edge. The fine cheekbones became gaunt, the friendly smile became twisted and cruel. The eyes did it though, sliding from warm chocolate to a shining, jet black.

Ryver gasped.

Kaden might not have known the man after he
Fell
, but he knew well enough the effects of Falling to project a near perfect image. The resemblance to the Vampire marauding through Lena's mind was undeniable. "That's definitely him."