Avenge (8 page)

Chapter
Eight

We didn’t even make it to the Commons
before James caught up with us, sort of. A ping flashed in my eyes,
letting me know I had an urgent message. As I glanced at the rest
of the group and heard their collective groans, I knew we’d all
gotten the same one. We were needed in the debriefing room-
STAT.

“
This had better be good,”
Lola sulked, wringing drops of salty water from her still-damp hair
from getting in one last swim before heading back. “I had a long
hot bath calling my name.”

“
You and me both, sister.
Cass, do you think this is about—” I couldn’t finish my statement.
For months, every time an urgent message came across, my hopes
would inflate to this finally being the time I get Jessica back.
And after my resolution on the beach last night, I wouldn’t keep
doing that to myself. As much as it pained me, I needed to learn to
let go of my control-freak nature.

“
Let’s hold off on the
‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ for now. It could be as simple as him
wanting to see us and live vicariously through us for a bit as we
tell him how much fun we had. I really wish he’d come with us, that
man needs to let loose more often.” Cassie shook her head in
pity.

“
I tried to convince him,
but he said he had a meeting with the Council. Oh! I bet that’s
what this is about. I bet something happened at that
meeting.”

We trotted down to the south end of
the campus, passing the courtyard full of waiting souls happily
playing chess and baccarat. I came upon a rear hidden entrance,
which to everyone else looked like a boring storage locker next to
a dilapidated men’s room. The window to the room showed it was
filled with files and paperwork strewn about, but as members of the
Gideon team, we could see past the illusion. We filed in, and each
presented our bracelet to the first locked door to gain approval.
As we entered, we greeted James and took our usual seats. Elizabeth
was nowhere to be seen, not that I was complaining. She was
probably out obtaining more creepy footwear to freak me out. Maybe
she’d bedazzle the next pair. I covered my mouth with my hand to
stifle the giggle at the ridiculous picture in my head. A few
minutes later, and after sharing my hysterical mental images with
Cassie and Lola via the Instagram in my head, James began the
meeting.

“
I hope you all had a
wonderfully relaxing weekend, but much has happened since you’ve
been gone. I met with the heads of several divisions across the US,
and we have pooled our resources to gain more intelligence on the
recent influx of attempted soul snatchings across the country. We
believe that our team—you all—have intimidated the vampires and
werewolves so much that they are becoming scared. Five other teams
like ours have popped up across the States, and all together we
have retrieved over double the amount of previously stolen or
runaway souls than in the last two years combined. That’s something
worth celebrating, folks! Give yourselves a round of
applause.”

We all began clapping, proud our hard
work had paid off. Adam let out a long, loud whistle and even Max
started whooping like Arsenio Hall! James chuckled, but we all
simmered down so he could continue. “The leaders of the packs and
covens know this, are feeling the losses, and it’s making them
sloppy. About four hours ago—ah, there she is now.”

Elizabeth came rushing into the room,
huffing with a report of some kind in her hand and began whispering
in James’ ear. Whatever was going on, it was big.

“
Yes, excellent. Thank you.
Why don’t you take over and explain?” He took an empty seat and
handed the floor to Elizabeth.

“
As James was saying, about
four hours ago a recovery team like ours from Louisiana was on a
mission where they captured several higher-ups in the vampire
hierarchy. These were souls that had been missing for decades, and
ones that to the core were rotten. The Omega is practically
salivating to get them back. They begged for mercy and agreed to
hand over valuable information if the Council agreed to a new
trial, one based solely on their living time and omitting anything
they did as vampires. The deal was made, much to my chagrin, and
they cooperated with the Louisiana team fully.

“
I got the report that
spelled out their intelligence, and it has been authenticated. The
head of the vampire coven has been making their headquarters in New
Orleans of all places, and they are still there. If we leave soon,
we’ll have the element of surprise when we face them. The Louisiana
team will back us up since we have more experience, and by the end
of tonight we should have some of the most notorious souls back in
our possession.”

Elizabeth stopped to look at her
bracelet and typed into it quickly. “Coordinates, departure time,
Alpha and Bravo teams have all been sent to you. Get ready quickly;
you’re going to need to be on top of your game for this
mission.”

And with that, she turned on her heel
and strode out of the room. No one spoke or moved for several
seconds, all stunned by the news we’d been delivered. This was the
big one, the moment most of us had been waiting for since joining
this team, and it seemed a little surreal that it was actually upon
us.

“
Well, what are we all
still doing here?” Cassie spoke, jostling us out of our stupor.
“Let’s go steal some souls back!”

Everyone popped out of their chairs to
prepare. Lola was the first out the door, running back toward her
room to get in a quick shower before we left. Even Zander and Adam
high-tailed it to the weapons room to load up. But I couldn’t move.
My feet were cemented to the floor. My chest felt like it had
bricks thrown on it, and my mouth was suddenly dryer than the
Sahara. I could hear the voices fading as they all left, but
couldn’t focus on anything in particular. Everything became out of
focus and blurred as panic and fear raced through my body. Before I
could dwell on it, a hand was gently squeezing my
shoulder.

“
Don’t let it control you.
You’re stronger than you realize. Stronger than most people can
imagine. Stay focused and never forget the goal.”

I blinked a few times, sure I was
hallucinating. Elizabeth gave my shoulder one last squeeze and
turned to leave. I stood, no longer feeling weak or shaky, and took
a deep breath. My confidence returned with my voice.

“
Thank you.”

“
You know, Donovan, you can
kick ass and take names better than most, but your emotions—not to
mention hormones—tend to screw things up for you more often than
not. Take it from someone who knows: when everything is pulling you
in a hundred directions and everyone wants a piece of you, the only
person you can depend on in the end is yourself. So suck it up,
quit sniveling like a girl, and grow a pair.”

She turned and walked out,
the rubber of her freaky shoes squeaking on the tile floor and not
giving me a chance to do anything but laugh. In the end, she was
right. And finally—finally after months of riding my emotional
roller coaster, it was go time.

Chapter Nine

“
Knives?”

“
Check.”

“
Silver tipped
boots?”

“
On, and very
adorable.”

“
Then are we ready to rock
this?”

“
I’m gonna rock this like a
geologist!” Cassie giggled at her lame joke, and our eye rolling
only spurred her on. “Oh come on, that was funny!”

“
That was seriously
cheesy.” I shook my head, but her giggles only increased until she
was laughing so hard she was snorting. “Lola, back me
up.”

“
Girls, I think you’re both
cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.” Lola teased, blowing a giant bubble and
popping it next to Cassie’s head.

I shook my head, slid my favorite
dagger into the back of my pants and zipped up my boots. I smoothed
my hair into a tight bun and gave a final glance in the mirror. “If
you two comedians are ready, I think the boys are waiting for
us.”

“
All right, let’s go.
Besides, you’re no fun tonight.”

“
I know, Cass. I’m just
nervous about this mission. We’ve never gone to another
jurisdiction headquarters, and if what James said is true and this
is a huge lead, then—” I couldn’t finish my thought. A huge lump
formed in my throat and prevented any other words from
escaping.

“
You have nothing to be
worried about. Especially not with that wicked cool power you
received. I mean seriously, how freakin’ awesome is it that you got
a second silver skin that makes you look like a liquid mercury
Catwoman?”

“
It is pretty fantastic.
And it feels so cold, which is especially wonderful after I’ve been
sweating up a storm for hours.”

“
Lucy, haven’t I told you a
hundred times?” Cassie rolled her eyes at me.

“
Yeah, yeah. Girls don’t
sweat, they glisten. Well, when I’m dripping from glistening so
much, that second skin feels fantastic.”

“
I wonder what my new power
will be? I hope it’s the ability to fly! Or invisibility, that
would be so cool!” Cassie swirled the tip of her knife around as
she tallied off all the cool powers she wanted to have.

A sharp whistle stopped our chatter.
“We gotta roll, ladies. Quit primpin’ already,” Adam yelled
in.

We came out of the locker room locked
and loaded. Having no idea what we’d face after we arrived in
Louisiana, we prepared for the worst. James, Zander, Adam, Max, and
Elizabeth were all waiting for us at the realm transfer door.
Surprisingly, Amelia was there too. I shot a look to James to see
how he was taking this, but he was busying himself showing Zander a
new technique for drawing weapons from his bracelet.

I walked up to Amelia and gave her a
quick hug. “Hey, you! Where have you been recently? I’ve missed
hanging out with you!”

“
Oh I know, I miss you guys
too. You must have tons of new gossip for me. This hard ass,” she
pointed to Elizabeth who simply rolled her eyes, “keeps me running
rampant night and day. I was coming to talk to her about taking on
an assistant now that I’m in charge of the Guides. I haven’t slept
more than an hour at a time for weeks! This job is
exhausting!”

“
Oh I bet! I wish you could
have come on vacation with us. That would have been so much fun!
But I can’t thank you enough for babysitting Frenchie during our
vacation. And for watching her again now.”

“
It’s not a problem. She’s
a doll! I’m gonna have to get one of my own soon. Or steal her from
you since you seem to be quite the jetsetter these
days.”

I blushed, feeling guilty for rubbing
it in. I knew she would have loved to have been a part of our team,
but someone needed to take over now that Elizabeth was with us and
Amelia was the best one for the job. Still, I didn’t want to make
her feel worse. Especially since she was helping me out so much. I
bent down and scratched Frenchie behind the ears. She happily
rolled on to her back, and I took the hint and rubbed her belly
too.

“
I’m so sorry,
Amelia—”

She waved her arm dismissively at me.
“Forget it. I’m cranky today. Tell me all about your fun vacation,
and don’t leave any details out! I want to live vicariously through
you.”

“
Max pulled some strings
and got us a long weekend to Tasnim. It was amazing! Four days of
nothing but sand, surf, and sun. I seriously haven’t been that
relaxed since I was alive. You’ll definitely have to come with next
time!”

“
And did Elizabeth go with
you too?” Amelia crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her
eyes.

“
God, no! I shudder at the
thought of her in nothing but a Speedo and those freaky ass shoes.
Seriously, what is her fascination with those things?”

Amelia relaxed her posture and smiled.
She must really be stressed out. “Oh, okay. It sounds like you had
fun. Let me know the next time you have some time off, though I
doubt I’ll be able to take any myself.”

“
Sure. By the way, how are
you doing after—” I let the rest go unsaid, not wanting to make her
uncomfortable.

“
Some things aren’t meant
to be.” She shrugged her shoulders, but swallowed hard. I wanted to
talk to her more about it, but I could see James signaling me that
it was time to go out of the corner of my eye.