Empower (11 page)

I laughed out loud, surprising myself. ‘I’ve missed you, too.’

He seemed to remember himself and stood back, clearing his throat. ‘Yeah, well. People round here never stop talking about you,’ he said with a tinge of his old gruffness. ‘Makes it hard to forget all the trouble you cause.’

I found it hard
to forget, too.

‘When did you come to New York? What happened to Hades?’ I asked. His old bar back in our home city had been his pride and joy.

Dapper grabbed my bag and started to walk me towards a narrow staircase behind the bar. ‘Come on, let’s get you settled in.’

Gray and I followed Dapper past the bar, where Onyx was sitting with a large glass of something toxic-looking in front of him. He raised it as we went by.

‘Anyone tried to kill you?’ he asked.

I rolled my eyes. ‘Not yet,’ I replied.

He shrugged. ‘Blow anything up?’

‘Not yet,’ I said again, fighting the urge to smile.

‘Eh. Still early days.’

I shook my head and kept walking.

‘Think I might stay down here for a drink,’ Gray said, eyeing the pretty blonde bartender as he pulled out the stool beside Onyx and dumped his bag.

‘Suit yourself, but be ready to go first thing,’ I said, knowing I probably wouldn’t see him again before morning.

He gave me a salute and picked up the drink Onyx poured him.

‘So?’ I tried again, walking into the apartment with Dapper. ‘Why the move?’

Dapper flicked on lights as we walked through. The apartment was different from his one above Hades, but it once again showcased his outstanding flair for interior design and love of Italian furniture.

‘I’ve still
got Hades,’ Dapper said, taking my bag into a stylish bedroom, decorated in a cream palette with splashes of chocolate and lime. He opened a door to show me the neat en suite bathroom and took two folded white towels from the cabinet below the sink, resting them on the vanity unit.

‘I’ll head back there one day. But I decided to give New York a try for a while. Someone had to watch the girl,’ he continued. ‘Plus, she tried to steal half my books when she left. I figured it was easier to bring the whole lot.’

I smiled to hear Dapper speak so lovingly of Steph. ‘So, you just bought Ascension?’

‘I saw the opportunity.’ He winked. ‘Near-immortal regulars who can seriously hold their liquor make for good repeat business.’ Then, before he seemed to realise it, he had enveloped me in another hug. ‘It’s good to see you, kid. Things just aren’t the same.’

I wriggled free of Dapper’s arms, overwhelmed by the emotion behind his words but also annoyed with myself for my reaction.

Get a grip, Vi.

Dapper gave a small nod as if he understood. ‘You need anything, just yell out. Kitchen’s down the hall if you’re hungry, though don’t get your hopes up. Onyx’s idea of shopping consists of bourbon and Pop-Tarts.’

Actually, a Pop-Tart sounded kind of delicious.

‘So, you and Onyx? You’re happy?’ I asked, surprising myself. Generally, I avoided these types of conversations and I knew Dapper wasn’t a big sharer of personal information, but there was a part of me that was desperate to know.

Dapper stared into
space for a time before a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. ‘It hasn’t all been a yellow brick road, if you get my drift, but yes,’ his eyes softened. ‘We’re happy.’

I nodded, pleased that they had one another.

He waited a beat before asking, ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

I knew ‘it’ translated to ‘Lincoln’, and to how I’d run away.

I looked down and unfastened the belt holding my sheathed dagger, setting it on the bedside table before looking back at Dapper. ‘I’d really rather not.’

I sensed Phoenix in my room that night as I tried to sleep. I couldn’t see him. I didn’t need to. I could feel his anxiety but I was already on absolute overload and it was taking all my energy to hold back the cold and constantly keep my walls up.

I could feel his sadness eating away at him and it only intensified my own soul-deep pain. I wondered if we were doomed to feel each other’s agony for all eternity. What a way to live.

‘Just give me tonight, Phoenix. I can’t deal with any more right now,’ I whispered shakily to the empty room.

His presence faded away. Unfortunately the dreams, just like the one I’d had on the plane, did not.

The infirmary was
on the level below the main operations, which occupied the top floors of the Academy skyscrapers, and was not far from where Josephine had once held my parents prisoner. It was early and Steph – dressed in a killer pair of apricot skinny jeans and an off-white peasant-style shirt – had met me outside the Academy first thing with a couple of to-go coffees.

God, I’ve missed my best friend.

‘Where’s Gray?’ she asked.

I followed her through the back entrance and towards the private lifts, where I took the opportunity to throw on the cloak I still had from the previous night. I knew it was now a futile disguise, but that didn’t stop me from clinging to it. I could already feel Lincoln nearby and my insides were flipping like a fish out of water.

‘He and Onyx bonded over bourbon. I tossed a glass of water on his face before I left this morning. He won’t be far behind.’

‘Got it,’ she said with a snicker.

I noticed as we walked through the halls that no evidence of the damage caused the day Lilith and Phoenix blew up the majority of the Academy remained. It all looked new.

Pity you can’t cover up memories with a fresh coat of paint.

When we reached the entrance I wasn’t surprised to see that the infirmary was well-guarded by Grigori. I didn’t, however, expect them to immediately stand aside as we neared. At first I wondered if Josephine had informed them I would be coming down, only to remember they wouldn’t be able to recognise me beneath my black hood.

It wasn’t me for whom they stood aside so quickly. It was Steph.

‘I see Lincoln
isn’t the only one who’s moved up in the ranks,’ I said. ‘Last time I was here a human would never be allowed any authority.’

Steph smiled and I didn’t miss her pride. ‘Griffin gave his seat of power to me a while back. He didn’t want to leave our city unprotected but the Assembly kept pushing for him to play a part here.’

I tried not to react to her mention of our home city and all the memories it stirred.

‘In the end he sent me as a kind of proxy until he could find the right Grigori to take over from him there. Spence had already left to bring Chloe here for her training and I knew Sal and Zoe were keen for us to all stay together. I didn’t have anything else holding me to home, so …’ She shrugged. ‘Here I am.’

‘What about Jase?’ I asked, knowing that she might not have stayed behind for her dysfunctional relationship with her parents, but she and her brother, Jase, had always been tight.

Her smile slipped. ‘After everything that went down, he knew too much to leave it alone. In the end I gave in and told him and he … he just couldn’t accept it. He didn’t want to be part of this world and he didn’t want me in it either. He gave me an ultimatum: him or Grigori.’ She shook her head. ‘I tried to explain that it wouldn’t make any difference to just pretend exiles and Grigori didn’t exist and I told him how I loved Sal completely and that meant I couldn’t ever leave him.’

My eyes dropped.

Steph briefly covered her mouth with hand looking mortified. ‘Oh, Vi. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. You and Lincoln are different, I know that.’

I shook my
head. ‘I know. So, what happened?’

‘It was gradual. He called me less and less. I spent more and more time staying with Sal, and Jase spent more and more time avoiding home. Finally, one day I called him and he didn’t answer. He never called me back.’

‘Oh, Steph, I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me?’

She grimaced. ‘I don’t know. We’ve spoken so little and I never really knew what you did and didn’t want to hear. I guess I just tried to stick to the good stuff, hoping it might make you want to come back.’

Guilt gnawed away at me from the inside. ‘I’ve been such a terrible friend. To you and Spence.’

‘Don’t, Vi. Spence and I above anyone else understood you did what you had to do. We’ve never blamed you for anything.’

I nodded, feeling ashamed anyway. ‘So,’ I said, reverting to our original subject. ‘How did Josephine react when you showed up in New York?’

‘She went nuts, of course. She called an Assembly vote to veto Griffin’s decision, but Griffin has a lot of support and the votes in his favour won out. So much so that he’s been approached more than once to consider moving for a seat on the Assembly, but he insists he isn’t interested. Anyway, since then Josephine has had to accept my position here.’ Steph grinned. ‘We have our run-ins every now and then but I think I’ve grown on her.’

I absorbed all
of this. I was so proud of Steph for standing her ground and carving out a place for herself in this reality. Mostly, I was impressed to see she really believed in her position within this world and not because I’d brought her into it, but because of her own endeavours.

‘Do you ever regret it?’ I asked. ‘Wish you could go back to that day I told you everything and just not know?’

‘Never. Not even
for a fleeting moment,’ she answered. And her sureness left me envious.

‘God sends meat and the devil sends cooks.’

Thomas Deloney

a
s we approached Chloe’s room, a closed door to our right drew my attention. Holding my coffee in one hand, my other rested flat on the door, but I made no move to open it. I looked over my shoulder to where Steph watched silently.

‘Nyla?’ I asked.

Steph nodded sadly. ‘Rainer won’t let her go. She says she’ll know when the time is right and when all hope is gone. She says she’ll feel it.’

I nodded, my hand slipping away.

Another wave of guilt crashed over me. I’d meant to visit Nyla when I’d last been here but I’d put it off constantly. And then it had all been too late.

I knew that before I left New York this time, I would return to this room. Even standing on the other side of the door I could feel an odd pull.

But right now, I needed to focus on Spence.

‘Let’s see Chloe,’ I said, dropping my hand.

Steph showed
me into Chloe’s room, where Salvatore and Zoe were waiting.

‘Holy shit, is it really you?’ Zoe blurted the moment I stepped into the room.

I lowered my hood. ‘I guess so.’

Salvatore came straight at me, encasing me in a warm hug. ‘Welcome home,’ he said.

I moved stiffly out of his teddy-bear arms. ‘Thank you, but this isn’t my home.’

He nodded sombrely, putting a protective arm around Steph. ‘That may be the case. But it is your family.’

I didn’t know how to respond, so I took a sip of my coffee and placed the paper cup on the table where a few vases of flowers and get-well cards were displayed, and turned to Zoe. ‘Long time,’ I hedged.

Silence met me.