Taken (Ava Delaney #4) (26 page)

“I was about to
go shower,” I muttered. “What’s the meeting about?”

“Everything.
The shifter has returned somehow. She called the meeting. Her
brother backed her up, then Koda and Gabe. You know how it goes. We
need to be there; it affects us.”

The driver
drove faster than usual, and we made it to the meeting place pretty
quickly. When we stepped into the room, I was surprised to see just
how many beings were attending. Esther was up front, looking as
done up as always. When she saw me, she gave a little shriek,
interrupting her brother’s speech, and limped toward me.

“We need to
talk, and quick,” I whispered.

“We’ll be
back,” Esther called out, leading me outside the room.

“Half of them
are going to be listening anyway,” she said with a careless
sigh.

“Esther. Do you
understand what happened before? How little you need to say?”

She gripped my
hands and nodded vehemently. “What are you on about? I’m going to
say exactly what happened over there.”

Her wink
reassured me, but I figured we needed to be on the same page. I
hoped I wouldn’t be asked any questions I couldn’t answer, or
worse, that I wouldn’t inadvertently give an answer that directly
contradicted Esther’s.

She led me back
inside, ignoring her older brother’s glare. Aiden sent hate vibes
my way, but all I could see was Coyle, the demon Guardian who never
failed to chill me to the bone. Strangely, he was avoiding my gaze,
and I realised that I hadn’t felt any sign of shadows near me since
I threatened him. Whether that meant I should worry or relax
remained to be seen.

“I’d like to
hear what happened directly from Esther,” Fionnuala said, perched
on a stool at the front of the room. Her long blond hair flowed out
in a non-existent breeze, and I remembered she was a
weather-warden, a fae whose magic mostly stemmed from nature. She
was strong enough to be involved in the market, in all sorts of
things, but would she smear her snow-white reputation? She had
created a similar sort of shroud around the trial area as the
twins’ father had on the Féinics. I wished I could risk asking her
about that.

Koda knelt next
to Fionnuala, his translucent appearance making me blink. He looked
so ill that I couldn’t believe he had anything to do with the
market. But it was so easy to be wrong in that world.

Gabe and Erossi
sat on comfortable chairs behind Koda and Fionnuala. Both had hard
expressions, an arrogance that said they were better than everyone
else. I didn’t trust Gabe, yet I kept turning to him. He had known
my mother, was of a similar kind to her, and he gave the appearance
of doing the right thing, but who knew what he was capable of? He
hadn’t even told me the truth about myself. Cam, an angel I barely
knew, had. But maybe Cam had his own reasons for that, too.

I could well
believe anything negative of Erossi, but I wasn’t sure he had the
smarts to pull off such a scheme. His ego was too big to keep his
antics hidden, I reckoned. Also, he was a runner-in on the Council
in the grand scheme of things. He had replaced Eddie, who lost his
seat when he disgraced himself somehow. The market had probably
been going on for a very long time. And that could implicate Koda,
Fionnuala, or even Eddie Brogan.

I turned my
gaze to the Consultants: Eddie, the Keeper of Knowledge and Watcher
of Sleeping Gods, aka he who steals souls; Aiden, Head Guardian and
Shifter Alpha; Reuben, vampire ancient and virgin-blood drinker;
Elathan, a dark-eyed demon I hadn’t actually met; and the witch,
who looked very different from the first time I had seen her. The
witch brimmed with power and dealt in black magic. The witch had
also been spending a lot of private time with Eddie.

I took a seat
behind Daimhín’s crowd and watched Esther move toward her brother.
Sitting next to him, she spoke clearly, and everyone listened. She
was young and pretty, and people underestimated her, but her bear
form was ferocious, and her older alpha brother made sure people
gave her attention and respect.

“I went to
England a couple of days before the others. As planned, I headed to
Liverpool to join them. I never saw them there, and I believe they
were murdered. I made contact with two vampire slaves who filled me
in on what’s been happening. The BVA were outraged that nominations
took place without them. They returned early, and from what I
heard, murdered the recent members of the Committee in front of an
audience to make a point.”

A lot of
murmuring followed.

Esther held up
her hand. “There is no longer a Committee in the UK. I tried to
check out the situation, but I was attacked by vampires. I barely
made it away, and I was protected by the slaves I already
mentioned. They risked their lives to care for me, and I name them
friends of the pack and under our protection.”

Aiden didn’t
seem surprised, and I wondered whose idea that had been. Once
spoken, it couldn’t be undone; that was the pack’s way,
apparently.

“There’s open
fighting in the streets. Humans are being dragged from their homes
and drained publicly. Alliances are being made, and it sounds as
though the tides are turning against any fae over there in
particular. I haven’t discovered who the UK vampires have allied
with, but as soon as they take full control there, I am certain
they will move here next.”

Koda glanced at
Daimhín. “Can we depend on you?”

“I haven’t
allied myself with anyone. Not even you, Koda. Winston hasn’t
contacted me directly, but it’s been made clear that I ally with
him or die.”

“Ally with him,
and you
will
die,” Erossi snapped.

“I have a few
secret weapons,” she said with a lazy smile. “I will do what’s best
for my coven first and foremost. The rest of the vampire clans will
follow; I’ve seen to that. Of course, if you wish to use my seer,
I’m sure we can work out some kind of mutually beneficial
deal.”

Erossi’s
nostrils flared with anger. Daimhín had them by the balls because
they needed the seer to get them ahead.

“Instead of
waiting around,” the witch said suddenly, distracting everyone, “we
should attack. I belong to a strong coven of witches who would be
willing to take drastic measures to protect our country.”

“Marina, what
do you propose?” Koda asked.

“Destroy the
island itself,” she said with a queer smile. A shiver ran down my
spine.

“You mean kill
everyone, including millions of innocent people,” I said, unable to
keep my mouth shut any longer.

She gave me a
hateful look. “I mean protect
our
people, by any means
possible.”

“Bullshit,” I
said. “If they come, we fight, but we have enough trouble here
without asking for more. Murdering innocents… what the hell is
wrong with you?”

“Normally, I
would be inclined to agree with you, but they outnumber us,” Koda
said.

“So? You think
they’re going to send every single body over here to fight us? No.
Despite their numbers, they can’t afford to divide the protection
so drastically. They think we’re useless, and in fairness, right
now they’re correct about that. Point is, they think so little of
us that they’ll likely send a few people over, threaten us a couple
of times, yada yada yada. They aren’t going to launch a full-scale
attack when they still have to control their own country. The
people they killed have others behind them. They aren’t going to
lie down without putting up a fight. No, they aren’t going to come
for us in huge numbers.”

I stood up.
“But if they did decide to attack, they would do something like,
oh, I don’t know, create an entire army of beasts and send them
over here. But of course, you’ve all been dealing with the formula
situation, right? Couldn’t be possible if you’ve actually done what
you were supposed to do.”

I sat back
down, breathless, and the room erupted into arguments, accusations,
and more. Everyone turned on each other within seconds. Fionnuala
had to send a blast of wind around the room to get them to settle
down again. Daimhín’s hidden smile barely concealed her
pleasure.

“Instigator,”
Fionnuala hissed at me.

“Because I’m
honest?” I asked. “There’s more than one seer out there, and I’ve
been told what the vampires are up to. I’m warning you all, like
I’ve warned you before, but as always, you aren’t going to
listen.”

“What seer?”
Gabe asked, his voice less harsh than usual, and everyone else
quietened to listen to us.

“One under
protection,” I said. “One who might be persuaded to help, as long
as a few promises are made first.”

“She’s as bad
as Daimhín,” Erossi said.

The vampire
queen snarled, but I knew her displeasure was focused on me.

“I can get to
the slave market,” I said. “But I need more people to get the
children out of there safely. I need help arresting everyone
involved, so we can find out who exactly is in charge of it.”

“Why would we
involve ourselves in that?” Marina asked scornfully. “Give up our
fighters for a lost cause? Idiotic.”

“Because it’s
the right thing to do,” I said. “There are children down there.
Innocent people. And the goodwill bonus would be worth it,” I added
hastily, still hoping to persuade Fionnuala and Koda.

“I’ll go with
you,” Esther said, winking at me.

“How can we
even be sure she can find her way to the market?” Fionnuala said.
“What if she’s leading our people into danger?”

“It
is
dangerous,” I said. “The market’s in hell.”

Again, control
was lost in the room. All kinds of accusations and protests mingled
with the greater good comments. What if I was leading them to their
deaths purposely? What if I opened the gates to let something out?
What if the children themselves were more dangerous than the beings
who had taken them in the first place?

While everyone
argued, Gabe confronted me privately. “Do you know what you’re
doing?”

“No. But it’s
worth a shot. The whole point of being a leader is protecting your
people. That means everyone, even the weakest. Nobody gets left
behind. That’s what your Guardians say, right? Well, that’s how it
should be. We’re all a part of this country, and if the shit really
does hit the fan, we’ll need everyone we can get to join the
fight.”

He nodded, and
I could see he was taking my words under consideration for a
change.

“And I told you
to take the formula situation seriously,” I scolded as we watched
people argue vehemently.

“I know.” He
sighed. “Old rules make bad decisions in a modern world.”

“So change it.
Do something good.”

“When I do,
I’ll be gone. I’ll leave them all to their own devices. And then
where would you be?”

I stared at
him, but I couldn’t get any idea of what he was really
thinking.

Once Fionnuala
got everyone settled again, opinions remained divided.

“We can’t go to
Hell,” Fionnuala said. “It’s too dangerous. How do you even know
you can find the way?”

“She found me,”
Esther said. “She can do it. I still volunteer, and I encourage
Guardians and shifters alike to join me.”

“But the beings
down there are just half-breeds,” Erossi said. “Either they’re not
useful, or they have power that could harm us all. Better to let
them rot.”

“Hold on,” I
said, fury burning through my veins. “They’re children. And you
really think it’s better to let a child with power be bought by
something evil? To be trained to do bad things? Because that’s what
they’re learning down there. To hate and hurt. They’re taken away
from their families, they lose their names, and they lose their
sense of worth. The only thing keeping most of us on the right
track is what we have to do for the greater good. They have no
sense of that. They have nobody to do it for. There’s power in a
stolen child. And it’s about time we were seen to make a
stand.”

Gabe stood.
“I’m on her side. She’s right. She’s always been right.” He sounded
so weary that I almost felt sorry for him.

Koda agreed
with Gabe. “I’d like to see this happen before I pass on.”

Erossi refused.
Marina refused. Aiden stood next to his sister, but he didn’t look
happy about it. Coyle stood with him, to my surprise. Or maybe he
needed to be there to make sure we didn’t figure out who was really
in charge. It wouldn’t have surprised me if I found out he was
heavily involved in the slave market.

Esther’s
Guardian circle volunteered to accompany me. Random people spoke
out in favour, and before long, the room was buzzing with
excitement.

“I still have a
few rules,” I said. “I have someone who will guide the way, but I
need assurances that she will not be harmed afterward. She needs
protection, too.”

“Protection
from who?” Koda asked.

“Uh, the
Council,” I admitted. “She’s pretty much outlawed right now. But
it’s through no fault of her own. Or, at least, not all of her own
fault, so I’ll need any possible charges against her dropped.”

Fionnuala swore
under her breath, and a strange heat rose from the ground.

I carried on
hurriedly. “Also, I decide who stands with me in the leading
attack. We’ll need others to tend to the children afterward. The
children cannot be taken into the cells, especially not if that’s
where their captors will be. Some of the bodyguards are innocent. I
don’t want any deaths to come out of this.”

“You ask too
much.” Fionnuala’s agitation was obvious.

“No, I don’t. I
don’t ask enough. The people down there were most likely raised in
the market. They don’t have a say in what they’re doing. We need
them to talk so we can get to the top of the chain. It’s the only
way.”

“We’ll discuss
it amongst ourselves,” Fionnuala replied. “But it must happen as
efficiently as possible. There will be a plan of attack, and you
will not be in charge of my people. I don’t trust you, and I fear
you’re leading us into a battle we cannot win.”