Taken (Ava Delaney #4) (24 page)

“Hurry,” Helena
said, and the word compelled me to leave her there and join the
others.

“Are you
ready?” I asked Val.

She nodded, and
Folsom offered me a satchel. I stared at it in confusion.

He pressed it
into my hand. “Some food and water, and a first aid kit. You don’t
have any idea what will happen or how long you’ll be. At least this
will have you somewhat prepared.”

“I’m counting
on being back before I get hungry,” I said, but my stomach was
churning. I had no idea if we would ever make it back.

“What do you
need from me?” Val asked.

“What can you
do?”

“Kill
things.”

“Good stuff.” I
wandered around the hallway while they watched, probably thinking I
was a gigantic psycho. I brushed my fingers along the stone, trying
to feel for something: energy, a sign, a place that would be easy
to pass through.

“Feel the
thinnest place,” an arrogant voice said behind me.

“What would you
know, angel?” I snapped, irrationally embarrassed.

“More than
you,” he replied. “You were born to walk on all sides of the wall,
but you need to find the gaps in the fence. Do you understand?”

“I think
so.”

Energy thrummed
in the walls, under my feet, and over my head. The hotspot was all
around me once I paid attention. I closed my eyes and reached out
with my other senses until I found a weakness in the wall, a crack
in the boundary. I moved, eyes still closed, toward the shaky part
of the structure and reached out with one hand.

“Here,” I said.
“This is the right place.” I opened my eyes. The spot was in the
corner, and it was dark, but it felt right to me. If I was some
kind of hell spawn-ish tainted whatever, then I should fit right at
home with the creatures beyond that wall.

“Sure you’re
ready?” I asked my newest partner in crime.

Val nodded.

I shrugged,
turning to Folsom. “If we don’t make it back, be careful.”

“Tainted,” Cam
said. I turned to look at him, holding my breath. “Don’t get lost,”
he added with a grin.

I rested my
hands on the wall, leaning my forehead against brick. I pushed out
with my other sense, moving from one plane to another until I was
back in that sticky place. The air turned dusky mauve and grey, and
sound stopped. Breathing stopped. I concentrated on the twins, on
the brands burning my arms, on Esther and her stupidly big bear
claws. I sought them out, and suddenly, I was flying,
freefalling.

I moved so fast
that if I had been breathing, I wouldn’t have been able to still
manage it. The journey was breathtaking; I flew under water and
above clouds, in darkness and in light. It took years and a split
second, but I felt the end of my journey approaching. I skidded to
a stop right outside the old Georgian-style house that had once had
an upside down nine on the front door.

Esther lay on
the ground, apparently injured, and Lucia knelt next to her. Lorcan
stood in front of them, his face determined, fae sword in hand. I
saw it then. The barrier around them was breaking. Someone outside
had the magic to tear it down slowly. Time was almost out.

With a silent
gasp, I flew back, quicker than an instant, and was back with
Folsom, Val, and Cam again.

“We don’t have
much time. They’re in serious danger,” I said hurriedly. “Hold on
to my shoulder.”

Val gripped my
shoulder, and I winced. Closing my eyes, I imagined myself passing
through, creating a new gateway. I saw the veil, lifted it, and
made sure the twins and Esther were on my mind.

I almost
screamed when I faced Val coming straight at me, but then I was
sent straight back into my body, and all was normal, except for the
long passageway. A shimmering archway stood behind us, darkness in
front of us, and we had only one way to move if we wanted to keep
going.

“Let’s go,” I
whispered. I used my senses again as we moved. “Nothing’s around.
It’s just us.”

“Good,” she
said, looking grim.

“Val, I have no
idea how to close the door behind us. Anything could follow
us.”

“We’ll deal
with that when, or if, the time comes. Let’s go.”

We jogged for a
little while, and I began to worry. “I meant to walk straight into
their place,” I admitted.

“I don’t think
that’s how it’s supposed to work. Let’s keep moving. We’ll get
there.”

We walked
without speaking for about twenty minutes.

“Helena told me
you and Leah were in the market,” I said, mostly to cut through the
eerie silence.

“Yes, when they
realised I was almost as strong as my father, they made me guard
the market instead. I wasn’t the only one, but I stayed closest to
the children, and I got to know Helena.”

“What was your
father?”

She sighed. “A
hell hound.”

“Are you having
a laugh?” It was too dark to see her expression, but I could almost
feel her glare ripping into my skin. “How did you end up in the
market anyway?” I carefully watched for any sudden movements. I
didn’t know for sure that I could trust her, and I had already
pissed her off.

“I was born
there,” she said briskly. “My mother grew up in the market. One of
the stolen humans, apparently. My father was a guard. He raped her,
and when I grew in her belly and killed her by clawing my way out
of her, he laughed. He delighted in telling me that story. So when
I escaped with Leah, I made sure I killed
him
on my way
out.”

“I’m
sorry.”

She looked
askance at me. “Cam told me what you are.”

“I thought you
didn’t like him.”

“I don’t.” She
paused for a beat. “But he helped us when we needed it, so I
suppose I owe him. He’s a bastard, though.”

I bit down on
my laughter. “Seems to be a species trait.”

She gave me a
rare smile as we passed under a strangely glowing light that
reflected eerily in her eyes. She was probably the most striking
person I had ever met in my life. Everything about her seemed
alien, but in a way that demanded a second glance. I liked her, I
realised. I wanted to trust her. I wanted her to stay on my side,
and not just because I didn’t think I could take her.

She chuckled.
“I should probably cut him some slack. After all, his kind and mine
should be natural enemies.”

That brought me
back to the hell hound aspect. “So your father… he was… like
a…”

“He wasn’t a
dog, Ava. He was a person who happened to turn into something
ferocious if he needed to. Don’t take everything so literally.”

“Sorry. I’m new
to most of this.”

“Sadly, I’m
not.”

Ten minutes
later, I decided to take another shot. “What’s the deal with
Leah?”

Her voice
softened. “She’s special. Valuable. And I took my fate into my own
hands to become her guardian.”

“What is it she
can do?”

“Do you always
talk this much, Ava?”

“More, usually.
Lots of quiet time to make up for.”

She laughed
softly. “Leah thinks you could help us.”

“Help you do
what?”

“Change
everything.”

We made it to
the end of the hallway, and I said, “Keep your hand on my shoulder
again. Just in case. I know you’re from here, but I could have
messed up somehow.”

“You didn’t.”
She put her hand on my shoulder anyway, with a little less
circulation-numbing strength in her grip.

I leaned
against the wall, feeling my way to the other side. That time, I
barely noticed what looked like Val walking straight into me, but I
did see the darkening of the sky as she passed through onto the
twins’ street, and I wondered how long we had really been in that
tunnel.

“Hey!” I
shouted, relieved to see we had arrived in the right place.
Everything was as I had seen it: Esther, injured, and the twins
waiting to protect her. Esther and Lorcan jumped at my yell, but
Lucia smiled as though she had been expecting me.

I nodded in
greeting. “Time to go. I need you all to hold on to each
other.”

“Where are we
going?” Lorcan asked, eyeing the doorway behind me while helping
Esther to her feet.

“Not enough
time. Come on!”

The way back
would be harder, partly because I could sense the old barrier
protecting the twins’ home tearing behind me. But we all moved
through the doorway I had made.

“It’s a long
way, but we have to run,” I said.

“The vampires
sent a group after Esther,” Lorcan said. “They’ve been out there
all night with a witch, trying to break down the barrier. You came
just in time. They’re almost through the protection.”

I pushed him
ahead of me. “Which is why we have to run. They could follow us.
I’ve no idea. I don’t know how to close it.”

“Ava, wait,”
Esther said weakly. “Leave me here. I can’t run. Just get your
friends to safety.”

“Shut up,
Esther. Val, help me.”

Val and I
grabbed Esther and half-carried her along between us. Lorcan bade
Lucia to join him ahead of us.

“Where are we
going?” Lorcan asked again, more persistently this time.

“Somewhere
safe. Just trust me.”

We heard yells
behind us, and then screams.

“The door
closed on them,” Val said confidently. “It couldn’t let them all
through.”

“They close by
themselves?” I asked.

She glanced at
me as we ran. “Let’s hope not all of them.”

Footsteps
running behind us grew close enough to make me sweat.

“Run ahead,” I
said, letting go of Esther. “I’ll stall this one.”

They moved on,
and I waited, jumping from one foot to another, my dagger in hand.
The blue blade gleamed. I felt the hilt tremor in my fingers and
wondered if some part of it had woken up so close to hell, ready to
do the job it was created for.

A vampire ran
at me, its eyes wide and blood-red. It screamed with an inhuman
voice, and for a split second, it reminded me of Becca. But then it
grinned, and it was just an ordinary vampire after all. He made
some ridiculously vague threat, while I looked him over for a
weakness.

I ducked under
his strike, driving my shoulder into his stomach. He fell against
the wall, and I stabbed him in the heart with my dagger. He
spluttered soundlessly before burning up in front me, vein by
vein.

I didn’t stay
to watch the show. Other footsteps were coming. I caught up to my
friends, my stomach sinking at how short a distance they had
moved.

“Should you
phase?” I asked Esther.

“Can’t. Not
enough room.”

The ceiling was
quite low. Too low for a ginormous bear, I supposed. As we ran, I
threw out my senses and discovered we weren’t so far away from our
destination. It had seemed a lot further the previous trip.

A few feet away
from the doorway, I heard the vampires getting too close.

“Run!” I
screamed. I stayed behind. I couldn’t let the vampires through the
doorway I had made. I couldn’t let them into the sanctuary.

But Val came
back to grab my arm. “We’ll make it,” she said. So we ran.

Lucia got
through the doorway first. It opened wide for her. Then Lorcan and
Esther passed, but the opening closed just as Val and I got there.
We ran right into solid wall, colliding heavily.

“Shit.” I felt
around the wall, overwhelmed by a mixture of panic and relief. The
deal I had made was over. If I could just survive this one last
thing…

“Make another
one. I’ll hold them off.” Val pulled out what looked like an overly
large studded hammer. She flexed, cracking an obscene amount of
bones at once. With a death roar, she held up her weapon and waited
for them to charge.

I laid my hands
on the wall, but I couldn’t help watching as Val’s shoulders and
neck bulged, the bumps along her skin extending into sharp hornlike
growths, and her eyes darkened into something terrible. She took
one vampire off his feet with a single blow, and I turned my
attention to creating a new doorway.

I thought of
the twins, Esther, Helena, and even Leah. I had to find my way
back. My soul seemed to gush out of my body and whirl through the
air haphazardly until it came to the twins. Instantly, I pulled
back, creating the door.

A female
vampire was on Val’s back, but I tore her down to the ground and
stomped on her face, feeling her nose crunch under my foot.

“Come on!” I
cried.

Val was in the
middle of a rather Peter-like blood rage. She tore a vampire’s head
off with her bare hands as I watched in horror, and then trampled
over the one I had taken down, shattering her skull, to get to me.
She had killed them all herself. No wonder the market had kept her
as a guard.

Val’s eyes and
shoulders died down as we passed through the door, but I kept
glancing at her in concern.

“I’m done,” she
said quietly, and I nodded.

But
we
weren’t done. We stepped into a very different corridor than
expected. I had taken us on a wrong turn.

Flames
surrounded us, and I edged closer to Val, suddenly terrified.

“We belong,”
she said, surprise clear on her face at my reaction. “They won’t
hurt us today.” She strode forward confidently, and the flames all
died away as if they had never been there at all.

“I don’t like
it here,” I said, shivering. “It feels… funny.”

She glanced at
me askance. “You’ll be fine. But watch out. This path isn’t as
secure as the other. You did it too quickly.”

“Why did the
first door close on us like that?”

“I’ve no idea.
Maybe enough passed through. Maybe your panic did something. I
don’t think I’ve met one like you before, so I can’t say for
sure.”

The newest
doorway behind us had closed too, but I thought that might have
been because I had prayed so fervently for it to happen. Maybe I
had some sort of control over the doorways I opened, after all.